Good luck and bad luck and a Happy New Year!

The good luck, 2 FOs and a clean closet:)
A hat for me:

(I'll post a modeled shot when Jake gets home and can take it. . . the hat is even cuter on!)
A dishcloth for swapping:

The closet: (this may not seem that impressive, but there have been the remnants of our move into this house since December of last year still in boxes, which are now recycled - very exciting to be box free and a great way to start the year! This also may not really look like a closet, but it's under our staircase so the coat hanging portion is not in the photo! And yes, our dogs really DO have that many treats!!)

The bad luck, I can't read a pattern very well :( I've had Sizzle on my 'must knit' list for quite some time. I bought the yarn with Birthday gift money. I downloaded the pattern last night and was all set to swatch when I re-looked at the yarn requirements. I thought I read the yarn requirements right. . and technically I did. . .. for the wrong size! I bought 6 balls, which is 576 yards. Plenty for the XS. . but I need to knit a S, which requires 650 yards and thus an additional ball. Crap! So now comes decision time. Buy another ball and deal with the dye lot mismatch by alternating rows on the back piece? Squeeze my not-so-large chest into a smaller size? Pick a new yarn altogether? Shorten the top to save yarn? Squeezing probably isn't the best option, I'm one inch smaller than the size S, so 3 inches bigger that the XS. Even though the top is knit in stockinette, I don't think that will look too attractive! I'd like to shorten the top. . . it's shoulder to bottom length is 22", which on me hits below my hips. I'd like it more 18" or 19", but even doing that, I don't know how much yardage that will save me. GRRR! What would you do? Any guesses on how to calculate the yardage savings by shaving 3 inches from the bottom? I'm really really REALLY excited to knit this, but I want it to fit when I'm done!!

Feeling the Noro love (sort of)

So I try to play with yarns that catch my eye, not necessarily what seemingly everyone in the knitting universe is working with. I am a little gun shy after a few experiences with Lorna's laces. Everyone else seems to love it, but I think it's pretty in a skein but I've never seen a colorway that knits up pretty (in my opinion, of course!). Anyhow, I've been curious about Noro. I found a skein on eBay for $4 so I got it and finally had inspiration to knit this hat for my friend Karen (yes, I just got on a hat kick. . .love the immediacy of getting a FO after having so much Christmas knitting that was no so quick!) I have to say. . . I may be a convert. In the ball, the colors look very odd all together, but it knits together so amazingly beautifully! Check it out (this is Silk Garden color #3). Gorgeous, right? I definitely see more Noro in my future!!

The only problem is that I didn't do a swatch (of course) and I got 4 inches of the hat and I definitely don't have enough yarn to finish, so I checked gauge and I am too tight. So, now I'll need to rip out and hopefully Size 8s will give me gauge since I don't have 7 DPNs or a circ either small or big enough to use :( I hate magic loop though, so I'm kind of glad I don't have a long circ :) Worst case with 8s I think I can take a few stitches out and still make it the right size.

And, please don't ask, I have NOT finished mom's bag. . . just enjoying a diversion from it :)

Fixing vs Frogging

While I consider myself a 'verging on advanced' intermediate knitter, I suck at fixing errors. Anything besides a basic dropped stitch/wrong stitch/wrong slanting decrease, I typically resort to frogging. I was working on my hat tonight, and started decreasing for the crown too soon. Once I tried it on again and realized this, I had to rip back an inch or so to where the increases started. No biggie. . .until I picked up all my stitches again and was one stitch short. I found the pattern repeat where the stitch was missing without a problem. Given there was no hanging loop, I was smart enough to realize I was missing a YO. Should be an easy fix, right? So I pick up a YO and knit around. When I knit the next pattern row on top of my 'fix' it suddenly didn't look right. No problem, I think, I'll just drop down and move the YO to the other side of the stitch. After I did that, the pattern still didn't look right. OK, I can still fix it, I'll just drop two stitches down the two rows and move the YO again. You can see where this is going, right?

I spent about 2 hours, all in all dropping the entire pattern repeat of 7 stitches trying to make it 8 stitches and it never looked right. Big bummer :( So I had to rip all the way back to the last place I could see all the right stitches, about 1.5 inches. I started to knitting again (undaunted, can you believe it?!?! but I really like the pattern!) and then it hit me. . . . I realized that where the pattern repeat landed straddled where I had started my decreasing. . . . DOH! I wasn't missing a stitch, it had been legitimately decreased and I just needed to tink back that one pattern repeat and I would have been good to go. . . . Knitting irony is much funnier when it happens to someone else. . . . so go ahead. . . have a good chuckle at my expense!

Sniffles and snot

Ugh. . . I am sick. It started yesterday afternoon. Sleeping last night was accomplished only by stuffing tissues in my nose to keep me from constantly blowing (sorry, I'm sure you could do without that visual image). I'm the annoying kind of sick where I'm not achy, just full of snot. So I've been on the couch all day. Around 1pm, I couldn't knit one more row on the Via Diagonale without stabbing my eyes out with the needles, so I cast on a few new projects ;)

I was going to use a pattern from the dishcloth book Tuulia sent me, but I brought down size 8s to knit it on and the pattern called for 50 stitches, which would have been GINORMOUS. Yes, I could modify the pattern to less stitches, or I could have walked my butt back upstairs to get smaller needles, but as I mentioned, I'm sick, and moving off the couch for any reason other than getting more Kleenex must be avoided. Instead, I used a late Christmas gift. (last night Jake gave me Nancy Wiseman's Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques and also More Sensational Knitted Socks) The latter I had borrowed for so long from Jessica that I was having withdrawl after I gave it back to her, so it was a nice surprise Jake had bought it. Anyway, I am using the Grapevine pattern from the sock book to make a dishcloth, because I need some quick satisfaction.

I also cast on for a hat for me, Dizzy. I had enough leftover Malabrigo (thank you, new scale!) from Jake's hat to use for this. I finished the ribbing and then got to the 'decrease evenly'. Grrrr. . .. the pattern is only one size, why would the not give you the pattern to decrease 8 of 98 stitches?!?! I am in no mood for math, but I stumbled on this website that kept the hat from going back to whence it came. I really like the pattern, though I'm unsure how WARM it will keep me with all those holes. Oh Well, it's never THAT cold in Virginia, and I can look cute wearing it, right?!

I hope I feel better tomorrow. I have the house to myself all weekend. . .no Jake, no dogs. . . . I want to enjoy it! (Though if I'm sick, I will have to work on my Scavenger Hunt Swap categories & questionnaire, so maybe not so bad!).

Hope you're feeling better than me and have much excitement planned for Monday night! I'll post pictures when I am not too lazy to move from the couch to take them!

Finally, some knitting!

So I hope you all had a great Christmas!! We had a wonderfully relaxing holiday. I got many wonderful gifts, I'll just share with you the knitting ones :)

The Knitters Book of Yarn and the scale and knitting counter are from Jake. I am SO excited and have been busily weighing all my leftovers to see what I can make with them. The Arctic Lace book and the Qiviut kit are from Anna in Alaska. I was very, very excited to get this (and I hear Anna was very excited to find it for me!). The yarn in the kit is bulky, which is very interesting, as I've only seen Qiviut in lace weight. It will certainly make a darn toasty hat!! Finally, the stitch markers are from my friend Karen. They are both glass and fimo beads from Zecca.

I have some other knitting gifts coming down from NY and MI, but not for a bit yet :) I do know one of them, though, is a subscription to Interweave Knits! Yay!

So, aside from Christmas gifts and cooking, I finally got to knitting. I finished Tricia's scarf. I like the thinner version better than the one I knit for me. I haven't talked to her yet, though, to see if she liked it. I also finished Deb's socks, but had to wrap the box and it was too cloudy to get a photo. I totally love both the Felici yarn and the pattern. I kinda want to knit a pair for me :) The last gift project is my mom's bag, which I have about 6 of 9 inches knit. I will head to the fabric store this weekend to pick out the lining and hopefully will be done with the knitting to sew it in next weekend. Finally, I 'surprised' Jake with his hat for Christmas. He knew he was getting a hat. . . eventually (the first one went to David because it was too big for Jake). I cast it on and finished it the same day. .. gotta love super chunky yarn. I love how it turned out and he seems happy with it and is glad to have it before heading up to cold and snowy New York tomorrow!

So, not long before I can start projects for me again! I'm horribly indecisive and am unsure what to do next, which probably means I'll cast on for like 6 projects all in one week. I need to restart Lelah, I want to get started on Sizzle, I am dying to try the BSJ, and I do need to knit that before Addi outgrows it :) I also really want to do something lace. And I ordered some chunky Malabrigo today to make myself a hat for going back to Michigan. And Jake wants a pair of slippers, but I don't have any felting wool I want to use, so I'll have to make a trip to get some. I see a busy January ahead :)

I've also been doing a bit of sewing (gasp - do you believe it!!) I made some Christmas gift bags to hold the knitted dishcloths I made for some family. The fabric was originally intended for making a tree skirt, but then I found some really obnoxious fabric for that,
so I was left with 6 yards of Christmas fabric with no use. I like how the bags turned out. I wish I could have figured out how to embed the tie inside it, but I was also in a hurry to finish them, so. . . .maybe next time :) I got a new iron for Christmas so now I really am all set for getting going on the sewing (and I have some awesome fabric for making a few new couch pillows!).

On a 'what were they thinking?' note. . . I have a self cleaning oven (it's quite old). I have built in wall ovens. I had a monkey bread issue in my oven that resulted in lots of brown sugar on the bottom, so I dug out the owners manual to figure out how to clean. Only to learn the 'self cleaning' oven is only the top oven. The bottom oven must be cleaned by hand. . . but not with any of the Easy oven cleaners. . . because those can't be used in a self clean oven. . . I'm so not into the work it is going to take to clean it, so I have my oven on 500 degrees right now, hoping if I leave it on all day it will clean just like a self cleaner :) On a knitting 'what were they thinking', if you own the Winter 2004/05 Vogue Knitting International, please turn to page 78. Seriously?!?! Mitre Square Pants??!?! Possibly the worst knitted item I've ever seen. Of course, I had to go look on Ravelry to see if anyone knit it, but no FOs to chuckle at :) (I got a slew of old knitting magazines from a girl in my knitting group and have been looking through them for some inspiration!)

So I think that's all I've been up to! I hope you have a safe and happy New Year (in case I don't post again before January!!)

ps- Apologies for the blurry pictures. Something funky is going on getting my pix off Flickr because these aren't compressed, so I have no idea why they come fuzzy on blogger but are not on Flickr. .

Christmas Wishes & a Meme

It's 1pm on Christmas Eve. I have 6 dozen sugar cookies to bake and decorate. I have a ham that needs baking. I have a few presents left to wrap and two knitted gifts that need to be finished. So what am I doing? Avoiding it all by blogging :) It's a reward, really. . . I've done a lot so far today! The sauerkraut is cooked (I'm polish, it's not Christmas without sauerkraut!). The potatoes are cut up an in a pot of water on the stove. Jake's surprise knitted hat is finished, wrapped and under the tree. The kitchen compost was taken to the pile. The cheesecake is baked and the cranberries are jelling (sorry, you can opener types. . . I make cranberries fresh).

I don't have any fun pictures to share yet (well I do have one, but my computer is broken and I'm waiting for DHL to deliver my replacement today so I'm using Jake's) but I did finish and ship the Imagiknit scarf and a hat for Jake. Rather than knits, I share this meme, taken from Becca.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, for sure. I enjoy wrapping gifts and I love buying all the paper the day after Christmas at 50% off :) I am picky about how many boxes are wrapped with each paper to ensure even distribution of color and pattern under the tree (can you say control freak??).

2. Real or artificial tree? Real. Definitely real, though the convenience of an artificial (no stringing lights!) may win out one of these days!

3. When do you put up the tree? No specific time, I try to have it up in early December, but not so early that I think it will die by Christmas!

4. When do you take the tree down? Normally we keep up the tree until Three Kings, though last year it came down sooner because the poor tree had past it's usefulness and there were more needles on the ground than the tree.

5. Do you like eggnog? I don't like to drink eggnog, but I have a fantastic eggnog creme brulee!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm, does it have to be as a child? I don't have a strong recollection of an awesome childhood gift. I did get a TV for my room when I was 12 or 13. But 2 years ago my mom gave me the 'Rockette Experience'. It was seriously one of the few gifts that almost made me cry. I always wanted to be a Rockette, but genetics prevented it (I am 5'1", minimum height is 5'7"). Going to Radio City and learning a routine was totally awesome!

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No. I did when I lived in Vermont, but it didn't make the move. We couldn't put it up if we did, anyway, because the dogs would never leave it alone.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Jake. He's ridiculously picky but gives you NO ideas to go on!

9. Worst Christmas present ever received? Not necessarily worst, but most thoughtless was when my step-mom bought me a panini press from my dad. I had given my dad the Williams-Sonoma link to the one I wanted, so this should have been easy, but she gave me a cheaper one instead. And not like $50 cheaper. . . $10 cheaper. . . really?!?!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. . . . email totally doesn't count!

11. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life. I cry every time the whole town starts coming into the living room.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sometime in December, but if I see something in the middle of July, I'll get it and store it away (and I only forget those like 30% of the time!)

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No. I don't feel bad returning gifts :)

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas sugar cookies.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored. I'm not into the fancy all one light/all one color ornament trees. I like a hodgepodge :)

16. Favorite Christmas song? O Come All Ye Faithful (the Latin version of it though!) Preferably sung by Bing Crosby.

17. Travel or stay home? Stay home, though this year that means no immediate family, which is kind of weird.

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. . . but do you recall. . . the most famous reindeer of all? Why yes, I do. . , it's Rudolph, thank you Bing Crosby :) (I have a freakish obsession with all Christmas songs and own a good 20 CDs of Christmas compilations. . . how could I not know all the reindeer?)

19. Star on the top of the tree? Yes, I prefer a lit one, but last year we bought a cool wood & metal one that resides atop the tree now.

20. Open presents on Eve or Morning? One present on Christmas Eve, everything else has to wait until Christmas morning, after Breakfast.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The internal debate of which friends make the gift cut-off. And the awkwardness of getting a gift from someone you did not get one for!

22. Best thing about this time of the year? Driving around at night and seeing all the Christmas trees lit up in windows. I like seeing outdoor decorations, too, but just seeing the lights on a tree makes me happy!

I hope everyone has a safe and very merry Christmas!!

No knitting, but some finishing

So I finally got around to blocking all my endpapers. (not sure why the photo is blurry. .. . must be from compressing it down from 4 MB) Blocking really did settle down and even out the floats, so the pattern looks much more even. I'm very pleased with my first (well, first 3!) attempts at color work. The turquoise pair went out to Anna today. My pair are now living in my coat pocket and the final pair will go to their giftee as soon as her scarf is dry from it's blocking.

Deb's socks & mom's bag are coming along, as well.

On an unrelated note, I'm going back to school!! No, really! I've toyed around with the idea for a while now. At first I was just going to audit some classes, but I decided to actually apply to the Associates degree program. I'm not going back full time, just one class for now in the evening. What am I studying, you ask? Interior Design! Fun, right?! I'm pretty excited. Since I've gotten back into knitting and doing house projects and sewing, I'm discovering this is something I really think I'd like, and also that I'd be good at. So I'm off to the community college tomorrow to officially enroll. Yay!

No knitting, but pretty yarn!

So I'm in the knitting black hole on mom's bag. . . lots of knitting, little visible progress. I have 3 or so inches to go. While I haven't been knitting much, I do have yarn goodness to share :) Remember Carrie's 1st Blogiversary contest where I won a skein of Socks that Rock? It came this week, colorway is Christmas Rock! (image from BMFA website, not my own photography :) I can't wait to knit with it!! Carrie also sent me a super cute Christmas stitch marker. I've got a bunch of fun yarn now, and it will be quite the decision to decide what to cast on with when Christmas is over!

I also participated in a swap on swap-bot. . .It's color themed and this month was grey. My spoiler was Angie and she sent me two skeins of Fearless Fiber lace weight in the Miracle colorway. This picture is from the shop, but doesn't do it justice.
It's positively gorgeous! She also included a Lantern Moon sweater keyring. It's way cute, though Jake has threatened to leave me if I actually put it on my keyring (I have a bit of a bulky keyring. . . car FOB, house alarm FOB, a few other trinkets. . . . only 2 actual keys on it). Since he always gets handed the keys to put in his pocket when I'm somewhere that I don't want to carry a purse, he feels he gets a say :) We shall see who wins. . . .

¿Habla español?

OK, You don't have to speak Spanish to enjoy this stuff. We randomly found it while grocery shopping last night and we were looking for something 'not so bad' for us in the Ice Cream aisle (we were trying to avoid buying Ben & Jerry's!). OH MY GOSH. . . .. This stuff is AMAZING!! You HAVE HAVE HAVE to try it. We tried the pomegranate & blueberry, but there was a raspberry and a margarita flavor, too. It's not totally fat free, but it's WAAAY better than most other options.

And if you are saying to yourself "Wow, not much knitting content these days, Carly". . . .. you're right, and that is because not much knitting is happening!! Darn Holidays! They are too busy!!!

But never mind that. . .. .go stalk your grocery store for Hola Fruta!

Feeling like Santa

Despite the nearly 80 degree temperature today, I felt a little like Santa. Today I dropped off my charity gifts! I've always wanted to adopt a family, but even for a single mom and a child you have to have a decent budget to really do it 'right'. I was really excited this year when I found out that one of the domestic violence shelters locally has not only families but also single women from their shelters with no other family. My budget could handle a single person. I had a great time shopping for my adoptee. She was a 50 year old lady. .. her wish list was mostly things for a house rather than herself. I was able to get her an outfit that I think was super cute and a CD player/radio for her, I didn't just want to get 'needs' and wanted some fun stuff. I got some house stuff, too. . .. yay for Macy's having a great sale so my budget went pretty far. I do tend to get sappy at the Holiday's and sort of get back to remembering how lucky I am to have my education and my job and Jake. . . . so I really liked being able to 'pay it forward' to someone who found herself in a pretty bad situation but had the courage to leave and start over.

So if you read this, maybe just think about being able to give to a local charity, or Toys for Tots or whatever you can. There is always someone who will be grateful for you caring.

Oops!

Forgot the funniest non-knitting blog that was entered in my contest!! If you like doggies, you must check it out!

Blogs from the Dogs

Also, in Knitting blogs, I forgot the following:
The Amazing Adventures of the Kelly Green-Rogue
Skyline Chilly
The Boogeymans Wife
Infiknity
La Fuji Mama
Posie Gets Cozy

Sorry if I left you out the first time. I thought I filed everything in out email inbox, but I left some in my inbox that I just noticed today. I've updated the original post to include those that were missing!

Copper, it is!

Goodness the days get away from you at the Holiday's, don't they?? Last I knew I was pot shopping, now here I am 16 days from Christmas and very little knitting progress has been made. Yikes!!

So most excitingly, I ended up with the copper pots. Here are an array of photos of me opening them. Can I just say how cool the friggin' box is? It's real wood, with the logo burnished on it.

This weekend was Christmas decorating time. I adore the Holidays and I love decorating. My least favorite part is putting the lights on the tree, though, so Jake did it this year. In like 15 minutes. . . . it takes me like 2 hours. . . .I was only slightly bitter that I clearly have been doing something wrong!! I haven't decorated the mantle yet, hopefully one day this week. I've also decided to try my hand at making my own wreath. We have holly trees in the backyard. So I bought some wire wreath frames and my plan is to snip branches and Voila! have my own wreaths. My pine wreaths died in like 3 days last year, so I need something more hearty! The trick will be in seeing if I can make two that are close enough to identical that they won't look ridiculous hanging on the double doors. The most bizarre thing happened while decorating, though. It was like a scene straight out of the birds. There were, without exaggeration HUNDREDS of black birds. These pictures really don't convey it, but it was unreal. They would fly from lawns to roofs to trees and back down to the lawn. It sounded like a small plane taking off when they all began to fly together. There were so many you could still hear the squawking even when they had flown away where you couldn't see them. They stayed near our house for a good 10 minutes and Jake & I stood on the porch and just watched in awe. Thankfully, unlike the movie, there were no attacks by the birds themselves nor by their 'byproducts' :) (If you're interested, you can view the individual pictures here.)

Knitting wise, I've made woefully little progress. The only thing I've worked on is mom's purse. I've got about 4 inches completed. I still have to block Anna's Endpapers and finish off the ribbing on Tricia's. I also have to get back into the swing on Deb's socks, but since I have to sort through the yarn to find the right stripe to start with, I've been avoiding it!

Hope you all are progressing as desired on Christmas Knitting AND shopping :)

Blogs to peruse

So next time you're bored, check out some of these! I've compiled all the entrants and their favorite blogs from my contest. . . definitely some great new ones in there!

Blogs from the Dogs
Tea Leaves
The Ravell'd Sleeve
Eat My Oxygen
Kathryn Ivy
redheadskydiver
The Yarn Harlot
Knitting Today and Everyday
Green Apples
Knit for Joy!
Knitspot
Tribal Phoenix
The Purly Gate (a Knitters Cult)
Knitterly things and other stuff
Louhittaren Luola
s t r i k k e r
Little Miss Loopy
What the Deuce?
Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn Floozies
TECHknitting
Krystal's World
Crafty Andy
Tsuki's World
Grumperina
Yada Yada
Knit and Tonic
Knit and Knag
Stick a brinn
Knitting in the Dark
Ysolda
Yarn Abuse
Very Pink
Lime & Vilot's Daily Chum
LaLa's Knits
Girly with a Twist
nuttinbutknittin - ok and Sofee too!
Stellify
carrieoke's knitting blog
Knitting Ajour
Soulemama
The Amazing Adventures of the Kelly Green-Rogue
Skyline Chilly
The Boogeymans Wife
Infiknity
La Fuji Mama
Posie Gets Cozy


Happy Procrastinating!!

(ETA missing blogs on 12/11 - sorry if I missed you in the first pass!!! Nothing personal, just bad filing!)

And the winner is. . .

Sqeaky!

Congratulations! Email me your address to kasiaiscarly at yahoo dot com and I'll get the yarn shipped out to you sometime next week!

I've been really busy. . .so I'll post more tomorrow!

Thanks to everyone for entering!

I'm going to compile a list of entrant blogs and favorite blogs. There are some really great ones next time you feel like blog surfing!

Today is the Day!!

In a mere 3 or so hours, Jake and I will be venturing to the mall to buy my new pots and pans! I'm very excited.
We are actually second guessing the copper pots and are going to spend some time exploring All-Clad at the store today. It's odd to say we're considering anything other than the copper, because that is what I've wanted for no less than 2 years, but now that it's here. . . the 8 piece Mauviel has a stock pot that we don't need (we have 3 already), so that's only 6 functional pieces, and only one frying pan. . . .so I'm not sure the make-up of the set is ideal. And I get that it's never going to be PERFECT, but when it comes to the $$ for these pots, it does make me think long and hard.
I'll be sure to share photos of the final decision tomorrow!

PRGE Box #2

The mailman came at a very inopportune time yesterday. I work out of my house and, with two dogs, this is sometimes challenging. I was in my office on the phone pitching my charts to my Vice President when the mail man arrived and woke my dogs from their very quiet slumber (normally they pick an important meeting as the time to play with squeaky toys). Once they heard the mail truck, they went OFF barking. . .no one on the phone could hear me speak, so I had to mute, instant message my boss to tell everyone that I would be back on momentarily, then come back on and apologize for the interruption. Yuk! However, the mailman brought such an awesome box, so I can't complain too much!

It was box #2 from the PRGE swap. Angela was my spoiler and this box totally rocked!

Inside were so many goodies! First, 2 skully dishcloths (Dishcloth pattern here). I've never seen black cotton yarn before, I think it's awesome! There were two notebooks, a small one perfect for a travelling knit bag, and a large lace & skull pattern notebook that will work great as my current knitting notebook is nearly full! There were Cougar Mountain Chocolate Chip Cookies that I can't WAIT to try, but they are currently hidden in the freezer because I ate WAAAY too much peppermint bark the last couple days (both at home and on the job!), a Mt Hood Postcard and the final installation of Cast On, Bet's Off!. Finally, and the part I'm most excited about, Angela printed out Eunny Jang's 'Majoring in Lace' along with 2 lace patterns and compiled it into this great folder to attempt to tackle my first lace project! She also included one skein of lace weight that she dyed, and a bare skein to attempt to dye myself (Jess - I see you helping me with this!). Pretty awesome, right?! Of course, I have to finish holiday gifts before I can tackle something else , but maybe this will be my New Year's Resolution!

Finally, to close with more puppy debauchery. . . .Jimmy Ray's quest to find the critter evolved to this:In case you can't tell, that is this much carpet torn up, and moulding scratched. Good thing the carpet is already planned for removal, else this household MAY have ended up one puppy smaller! Meanwhile, Zosia says 'Can you just leave me alone with my menagerie?' (This is her collection of stuffed squeaky toys!)

Paranoia

It's a good thing I'm not a paranoid person. . . otherwise I would think my dogs were out to get me. They are driving us nuts. Zosia has discovered the backyard compost pile. Now every time she goes outside, she races over and goes to town trying to dig up as much kitchen scrap as she can. Of course, she's fixated on the edamame pods, despite her allergy to soy. So I have to trudge out after her to drag her away from the pile, then she gets sick. Yuk! Jake has piled more yard clippings on top of where she's digging, but it's not stopping her. Now I have to take her out on leash, which is a huge pain. Jimmy Ray is not without his annoyance, either. He is CONVINCED there is a critter living behind the radiator in our den. He has been convinced of this since last Tuesday. He spends the entire day whining, scratching, sniffing and sometimes barking at the radiator cover. He has the tenacity to move boxes of books that have been stacked around it to try to deter him. He is undaunted by the multiple cleaning techniques that have been employed. He is unconvinced by us removing the cover to show him, in fact, there is nothing there. Right now, he is laying beside it, eyes closed but sniffer working madly. It's enough to drive me to drink. . . . at 9am. . . .

Happy 1st Blogiversary. . .

No, not to me :) To Carrie! Go say hello and enter her contest for Socks that Rock yarn. I myself happened to win one skein yesterday :)

Not much knitting this weekend, as I spent most of my time working at WS. I'm buying my new pots this week . . . . soooooo excited!!!! I also got into an almost argument with a woman there today who refused to buy a meat thermometer because she was looking for a meat TEMPERATURE. Honest to goodness. . . she insisted there was a temperature, that was NOT a thermometer. I tried to explain to her that you TAKE the temperature with a THERMOMETER, but she was not having any of it. So then I told her we only had thermometers and to try another kitchen store! Seriously, any of you who work full time in retail. . . . I don't know how you do it. Damn my 'bubbly personality'. Even though I was hired for gift wrap, sitting in the back not talking to customers, they decided I'm better on the floor :(

And a reminder. . . don't forget to tell me about your favorite blog and pattern to enter my 100th post contest here! Folks are submitting some great ones, I'll compile a list when the contest ends!

No longer Secret Pal 11 Revealed!

I got my final package from SP11 yesterday and, in addition to being AWESOME, I got the reveal. The fabulous knitter who has been spoiling me these past 3 months is Tuulia! Go visit her and say hello ;) And admire her incredible skill! I so want to make the Pohjan Neito - it's so beautiful (I'll wait while you go look at it on Ravelry).
Welcome back! Pretty, isn't it??!?!?
OK, now for the goods.

Two skeins of KnitPicks Merino that she dyed herself. (seriously, she knits, crochets, cross-stitches, makes markers (and the cute little knitting granny on her Ravelry profile) and now DYEs too?!?!?) The green I want to make up into a baby sweater and the rose I think will become socks for me.

A set of *GREEN* stitch markers that, again, she made! A yarn guide (which I'm excited to try out when I work on the Endpapers again!) and a sample of Eucalan wool wash, which she highly recommends and I'll be using to soak the Endpapers to block them.

A fun book with dishcloth patterns and box of chocolates (caramels are already gone).
And I saved the best for last. . .

Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I was excited when I opened and saw it, because so many people rave about EZ and I've never ventured into her world, so I'm looking forward to it. Then I got even more excited when I saw that the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern is in here! I think I am going to nix the MD Baby Kimono I've stalled on re-sizing for Addi and make the BSJ instead. Yay!!

Thank you so much Tuulia :) You've been an awesome pal and made my first SP great! I'm bummed by all the bad experiences folks have had (self included with my original downstream pal, but Tracey made up for that!). Probably a good thing there will be a break before SP12. In the meantime, you all can join my swap that I'm opening in January :) OK not all of you, because I'm capping it at 30 (and my daily average for visits is 32 - thank you Google Analytics!) or so, but you know what I mean!

I'm still waiting for Knitpicks to deliver my replacement yarn. It just occurred to me yesterday that the dark blue may be the error. I really hope not. I just assumed the darker was the 'correct' one, but I have no basis for that. So if I get two new skeins with the 'lighter' version of the dark blue, that means I still have 2 socks to knit! Boo! I did finish up Anna's Endpapers. (finished knitting, not finished finishing as evidenced by the dangling yarn!) They are shorter on the pattern repeats both on the cuff and for the hand length, because she has freakishly tiny hands for an adult. I'm making good progress on the burgundy/grey endpapers, too. Then I'll be taking an endpaper break for a while :) The slip stitch bag is much more aggravating than I expected, because I really have to pay attention to how the slips repeat thru the row and from row to row. I like how it's looking now that I'm into the 2nd pattern repeat, though. I think mum will like it, too. Finishing Anna's endpapers freed up my Sz 2s, so I can also get back to my Jeezney Cricket socks, which I'll work on until the new Felici comes. And somewhere in here, now I'm going to work in the BSJ (in pink & orange cotton). Strangely enough, I don't feel overwhelmed, despite this list!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog

to bring you the latest in political ridiculousness. If you wish to avoid politics, skip down to the pretty picture, I promise knitting content and a contest follow.

I was blog browsing last night and caught wind of this on Kelly's blog. In Virginia, primaries are open. This is the same way it was in both Michigan and Virginia. Though I'd normally consider myself a Democrat, in 2000 I did vote in the Republican primary in Michigan to vote for John McCain, who I would have voted for in the general election. Well Virginia Republicans are apparently so scared a motley bunch of Democrats will mess with their nominee (umm, did anyone tell them the primary here is too late to actually affect the national nominee?), that they have been given the green light by the State Board of Elections to require voters requesting a Republican ballot to sign an oath of allegiance to promise to vote for the Republican nominee in November. Yes, you read that right. Anyone else floored by this? I cannot understand the legality of this. Everyone seems to agree it's not enforceable, as it would violate your constitutional right to voter privacy to essentially require a voting official to have a list of names and accompany them to a voting booth and make sure they pull the Republican lever. But regardless of enforceability in November, what about February? Honestly, because of the timing of the primary, I hadn't planned on voting because it is irrelevant after 'Super Tuesday'. If it was earlier, though, I actually would vote in the Republican primary again and vote for Giuliani. But now I feel compelled to go, ask for a Republican ballot and refuse to sign the oath. I want to see the election official try to deny me my right to vote based on Republican paranoia. This has served as major fodder on the state political blogs, and I'm sure will continue to develop as people are certain to challenge the legality. But so much for 'free and open' elections, huh?

OK, off my soap box.

So YAY! for 100 posts :) As promised, I am having a contest. The prize is this skein of Cherry Tree Hill Orenburg Lace.

The color is 'Candy Apple' but it is much pinikier than red. It's beautiful yarn, but I know I won't use it and still don't know what possessed me to buy it. So hopefully it will go to a good home and turn into a lovely shawl. How do you enter the contest? Just leave me a comment here with the following: 1) a link to your favorite blog (s) and 2) a link to (or just the name if it's not free) your favorite knitting pattern. Your favorite pattern can be something you knit, or just something you admire! The contest will stay open until next Friday, December 7 at 11:59pm EST. I will use a random number generator to choose the winner over the following weekend! Good Luck!

Last night I went to Yarn for Supper. The group was fun and chatty, as usual. I knew I'd talk to much to pay attention to knitting on the Endpapers, so I cast on for a bag for my mom. I'm using Patons Mercerized Cotton. It's not nearly as nice as the Thaki mercerized Cotton I made Laura's Dream Swatch out of. I love the red/taupe color combo though. I'm only on round 8, so you can't really see much of a pattern yet. I did my share of tinking only because you actually have to pay attention to this pattern, too! I really can't chit chat and knit anything other than plain stockinette or garter stitch, I guess!

Happy almost end of the week! And get to deciding on your favorites for me!

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. . .

99 posts to my blog, Take one down pass it around. .. . Whoa! Triple digits coming! And in the spirit of 'passing it around', I am going to have a contest in my 100th post. I must say, the timing is fortuitous, as the prize is going to be an item I recently received that I purchased and I can't for the life of me figure out WHY I ordered it! It's lovely, just not something I will EVER use. . . well at least not in the near future! So check back for details, I haven't figured out what it will be yet :)


In the headlight department, I am functioning again. Jake expected it was going to be a big ordeal, but lo and behold - both my headlights were actually burnt out. Seriously, what are the odds?!?! I think I should pay the lottery. I might believe the odds weren't that low if they were both still the original headlamps, but the passenger side lamp had to be replaced in 2004 after an accident, while the driver side is the original one that came in the car. Jake thinks there is a 'bigger problem' that cause a short and blew both the lamps at the same time. He thinks diagnosing that is beyond him, though, so if they go out again, off to the repair shop I will have to go! Fingers crossed they don't, but my car IS getting to that point. She is just about to turn 100K miles and she will turn 7 in January. She's served me well, and she was the first brand new car I bought all by myself (and she still looks pretty good in a photo)! I want her to stick around mostly because I love not having a car payment!! I'm so not a 'car' person, it's just not that important to me, so I mostly plan to drive it into the ground.


Christmas knitting continues. . .Anna's 2nd endpaper is almost complete. One item got removed from the list, though. The 'number' socks for Jake's dad will be no more. Instead he's getting a block of wood. No, seriously, a block of wood. It's a big 'ol block of Zebra wood. Last year he got a lathe, and hasn't done much with it yet. This year, Jake is giving him a set of lathe tools, so I'm giving him the wood to try to turn a bowl with. Fancy, huh? :)

State Trooper = Electrician?

Last night I had to work at W-S. It was a VERY long & slow night. Not without an array of idiot customers (slow night = no real need for gift wrap, so I was working on the floor.) Seriously, a woman came in and said 'I'm looking for a cookbook I saw here this summer. When I saw it, it was here' (gestures to the big wall full of cookbooks). Umm. . . . . do you remember anything about the cookbook? 'No, it was just here'. Lo and behold, by some crazy retail magic, another associate actually FOUND the cookbook. . . .. then the woman left without buying it. I really don't understand people.
I got off work, paid for my parking and headed home. No tunnel traffic, which was a bonus. Half way through the tunnel, I noticed a State Trooper. So did the guy driving next to me, who was driving about 70mph (tunnel is a 35mph). I was also speeding, but much more reasonably at 45mph. The 70mph guy SLAMS on the brakes. I'm so not one of those people. Once you notice a cop, they've seen you, so I just pretty much continue at whatever speed I was. I always figure the cop DOESN'T want you slamming on brakes and causing an accident, you know. Nevertheless, the cop gets over, I pass him, he gets back behind me and flips on the lights. I'm positively floored that he's pulling me over. So I get out of the tunnel and pull over.
"Evening ma'am, is there a reason you're driving with headlights on tonight*"
*this is what Carly thinks she hears and looks very confused at the Trooper
"Excuse me? Why do I have my lights on? Because it's night?"
"No, ma'am, I asked why you DO NOT have your lights on."
(I look at my console, which is all lit up, and also at my headlight control, which is in the 'on' position.)
"My lights ARE on. . . .see (points to headlight control in 'on' position)"
Then I turn them 'off' and notice my console lights go off but no illumination changes in front of my car. Hmmm. "Well that's weird, I just turned them off and nothing happened".
"Yes, ma'am, because your headlights were not on."
"Well, I can't imagine both lights could burn out at the same time. . . so I have absolutely no idea why they aren't lit. Maybe it's a fuse. . . . do you know how to check fuses?"
Boy. . . . bet the trooper had no idea he wasn't just pulling over a doofus who forgot to turn on their lights. He's under the hood playing with wires and the fuse box. He's in the passenger compartment playing with the fuse box in there. He's perplexed. . nothing appears to be wrong.
"Well, ma'am, you can't drive with no headlights."
"Uhhhhhhhhh, how am I supposed to get home?"
"Well, how far do you have to go?"
I am not liking how this conversation is going, given that where I pulled over is not where I'd like to leave a car.
Rest of the story short, after a good 30 minutes of him fiddling, turns out both my high beams and my fog lamps would come on, just not my regular lights, so he let me drive home with high beams. Now Jake gets to try to figure this out after work so I can actually leave the house past 5PM. I really hope he can fix it so I don't end up with a ridiculous car repair bill!
I did have knitting in the car, but somehow thought he may frown on my knitting away while he was fiddling around with my vehicle, so I restrained myself. :)
Hope you had a less eventful evening!

KnitPicks is Redeemed

So in the light of day, the poor 2nd sock looked much much worse. ... unfortunately the camera doesn't capture it in today's light, so I won't share. So I rang Customer Service. . . their solution. . . not send me ONE but TWO replacement skeins! She said she'd send the 2nd 'to be sure' I got another without a problem. The extra nice side of this generosity is that, since I'm not nearly as picky as Deb and I can live with mis-matched color stripes, I can make myself a pair of socks, too :)

KnitPicks be Damned!

I am very annoyed. . . .but I can't determine if I'm annoyed enough to call KnitPicks in the morning, tell them I want new yarn, wait for it to arrive and THEN start my 2nd sock over again. I cast on for Deb's sock #2. . after being very careful to start with the right color block to get matching stripes (she is much to particular to be OK with non-matching stripes!). When I got to the first dark blue section, it's like the yarn missed a second dunk in the dye or something. (I'll add a photo in the AM if there is sun). It is absolutely not matching the first sock, even though it's the same dye lot. What to do, what to do. . . . the light blue, green and lavender all match, it's only the dark blue that's off. Maybe in the light of day it will look better. . . or maybe I can chalk it up to the 'uniqueness' of hand knit socks. . .this was definitely not in my holiday knitting plans!

Thanksgiving Bellyache

So this year was my first 'official', traditional Thanksgiving dinner. All in all, it turned out quite well. I didn't burn the pie crust for once. . . my pumpkin creme brulee is a new favorite. This good showing is despite Reynolds Cooking Bags TOTALLY lying to me. They told me for my turkey size, with stuffing, the bird should take 3.5-4 hours. WRONG! Thank goodness for my fabulous electronic meat thermometer. . . because less than 3 hours in, my meat registered done. I was quite confused, and debated if the thermometer was lying. Hoping it was lying, actually, as I hadn't started the potatoes to boil yet. Luckily, I have a 15,000BTU power burner on my cooktop, so I was able to rush cook the potatoes. We have an insane amount of leftovers, though. . . I hope I have the motivation to make turkey soup tomorrow. I also hope I can brave the K-Mart crowd. . . they have a 6-foot folding table on sale. . . just what I've been looking for to put in my sewing room, and I can't pass up the price. Wish me luck!

Hope you had a fabulous day, and that your belly aches less than mine!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Aaah . . . a 4 - day weekend :)

This is the 2nd year I'm not spending Thanksgiving with my mom. Last year, Jake and I moved over Thanksgiving weekend. Dinner was very low key because we were EXHAUSTED. I did cook, but just a turkey breast and some stovetop! This year will be more traditional and I'm prepping tonight. The cranberry relish is in the fridge. The potatoes are cut up and in water. The pumpkin pie is cooling. Last thing on the agenda is a quick trip to Kroger for heavy cream to make pumpkin creme brulee. . . . . . YUM. . . I LOVE LOVE LOVE creme brulee!!!

I'm also looking forward to a whole day of not feeling guilty about knitting in every spare moment!

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy time with your family or whoever you are spending it with!

ps - Good luck Black Friday if you are going out shopping, too. . . . I know some of you are the crazy people who will be up before dawn! Especially since this year it's getting crazier. . . Kohls is opening at 4AM. . . really? Good Lord!

Meet my new friend :)

So SP11 was my first secret pal. I've had a great time, despite the poor start with a first pal who was just trying to get gifts without passing on the goodness. Unfortunately, it seems from Ravelry that a lot of people had poor experiences. Bummer. However, my 'replacement' spoilee was great! Meet Tracey, and go check out her blog ;) She got my reveal package today. She has been very gracious and I've enjoyed picking gifts for her immensely! She lives very near my mom's home, so I'm hoping when I go home in January we can meet in person. I've had a great time with my spoiler, too. She is currently gallivanting around Colorado & Utah and I don't have my final package yet, so I will introduce her when it arrives (even though I kind of know who she is, just haven't visited her blog!).
Knitting is moving along. Both endpapers are done up the the top ribbing, which is just waiting for the 1st sock to be done so I can use the Sz 1 DPNs. Once I wrap up sock one (hopefully tonite) I'll finish both those then cast on for the mates. I feel very calm about Christmas knitting now, but I know it will be here way earlier than I'm prepared for!!
Hope your holiday preparations are going well and Happy Thanksgiving Early!!

An Innocuous WIP

Aaaah, a Christmas Endpaper Mitt. Nothing special about it. . . . unless you are photographing it at halftime of the UM-OSU game. Then, it becomes a strange omen. . . while this is technically burgundy (KnitPicks Essential), it looks oddly like Scarlet. . . . hmmm . . .
It was nice and sunny, so here are a few more project pictures. I definitely have an endpaper problem!
And I think I'm done with dishcloths for a while, too :) The last thing OTN is the first of Deb's socks. I'm REALLY enjoying the yarn. . it's KnitPicks Felici. I have to say it's one of the nicest yarns I've knit with in a while. I expected it to be self striping essential, but it is not splitty like I'm noticing with the Essential. I just hope the socks fit her. I couldn't remember her shoe size, just that it's near my size. The sock so far is a smidgen tight on me, so fingers crossed.
I'm also starting to tackle stash organization. Currently, all my yarn lives in bags shoved in a closet. Or on top of my sewing machine. Or on top of the cabinet in my sewing room. I need something more manageable. I bought two pieces to start and unfortunately it's only holding a small amount of stash, but at least it's a start! I'll show pictures when it's organized. But for now.. . . off to painting!

Waste of Calories

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrr......................... We have lived in Virginia for nearly 18 months. Apparently, there is not a single palatable pizza parlor in a 50 mile radius. We tried a new place, again, tonight. It was total garbage, like every other place we have tried. I refuse to believe pizza is a northern thing (and I say that NOT as one of those obnoxious New York types who think anything outside of New York City doesn't count as pizza). So why is it so hard to find a place that makes it WORTH all the fat and calories that comes with ordering pizza for dinner? I only splurge every month or less, but I really want it to be GOOD. . otherwise, what's the point?!

Alright, sorry for the completely unrelated rant, but it couldn't be helped.

I've been steadily knitting on the Christmas socks for Deb. . . and my order from JoAnn arrive today so I can block the DreamSwatch with my awesome new blocking wires :) And swatch for the bag for my mom. That means the only other Christmas project yet to get underway is the 'number' socks for Bob. Bob (Jake's dad) teaches 6th grade. One day a week, all the 6th grade teachers 'hide' numbers somewhere and the kids get something for noticing them. So, I'll be making socks with a few numbers on them so he can put his feet up on his desk to let the numbers show and see if the kids pick up on it. These will be my first attempt at toe-ups (well, OK, 2nd, but I gave up on Anastasia, so I'm discounting it!).

Tomorrow is supposed to somewhat sunny, so I can finally take some WIP photos and make my posts more interesting! Tomorrow is also the UM-OSU game. . . Big Ten Title is on the line! So you know where I'll be for the afternoon!

Finally, I realized I never introduced my spoilee from the PRGE. Please go visit Cheryl :) I had a great time with this swap and putting together packages. (I'm still waiting for my final package, but trying to work on my patience!). I hope Sunne hosts another soon! And speaking of swaps. . .. I'm actually considering starting one. . . totally stealing the idea from a sewing swap I saw online. The theme is 'scavenger hunt'. . . where I would post categories, and you have to send your partner a knitting related item representing each category. Any thoughts/interest? I wouldn't do it until after the holidays. . . . let me know. . . and GO BLUE!!!

Confessions in a Quick Post

OK, I am blogging now to avoid procrastinating later. Novel idea, I know. The weather today is going to be nearly 75 degrees. Seeing as how I still have two rooms with unpainted (or half painted) windows, I can't pass up the opportunity to get painting done without freezing with the windows open. I'm also trying to be industrious and get the 'real' paint in the foyer below the chair rail. I've had the primer on since, oh, APRIL! Good thing it's colored primer, so most people think it's just a crappy paint job! We'll see how far I get.

Yesterday was Jake and my's 1 year anniversary of buying our house. Yay for mortgage payments! LOL! We looked at our mortgage statement, quite depressing that we've been paying a BIG chunk of money every month and have payed off like $2000 total on our mortgage. Hey, at least we have a lot of interest to write off on taxes. . . looking at the bright side, you know.

KnitPicks didn't fail me and my big box 'o yarn arrived yesterday. The mailman brought it up to the door, as it won't fit in the box. He finally asked me what I order so much of, as the last months have seriously increased the days he needs to leave the truck and bring boxes to the door. I told him yarn, but he didn't seem to believe me. I cast on for Anna's Endpapers while watching Biggest Loser and am ready to start the colorwork portion.. . .when the paint is drying, of course :)

Finally, I have a confession to make. Remember how a very few days ago, I vowed not to buy more yarn? Yeah. . . . . I fell off the wagon. It's ravelry's fault. I've wanted some blocking wires for a while. I was going to order from KnitPicks, but there was a thread on Ravelry saying they had been backordered for eons. . . then someone suggested getting them from Joann with the current 50% off deal. So I went to Joann and found the wires. . . but I had to pay for shipping regardless. . .. and I could spend another $7 for the same shipping amount or another $32 and only pay $1more for shipping. Now I hate paying shipping, so I need to get the most 'bang for my buck' as it were, so I bought enough Paton's Grace to make this bag. . .I want it for myself, but I think I'll make the first for mom for Christmas. Then I bought 3 random balls of Sugar 'n Cream because they were $1.60 and I needed to get as close as possible to the max I could spend (what the heck kind of logic is that, I know!). But now, REALLY, I'm buying nothing else until January 29 when I use my coupon at Knitting Corner!

Patience is a Virtue

I really wish I was more patient. . . in lots of areas of my life, really, but particularly right now waiting for my KnitPicks order. I am trying hard NOT to start a project from the stash, or to restart Lelah, because my KnitPicks delivery will bring me 4 Christmas present yarns. . . and the clock is ticking! In the meantime, I've been knitting very boring dishcloths to pass the time (see how boring, they're all the same color!). And yes, in case you can't count from the photo that is SIX of them! I also finished Dream Swatch and the second Malabrigo scarf. They both need to be blocked, but knitting is done. I don't have the motivation to do the math to work on the baby kimono, so I cast on for another garterlac dishcloth today. I REALLY hope the yarn comes today. . . .my hands can't take much more cotton! (btw, sorry for the crummy color quality. . . no sun today for picture taking!)


Speaking of hands, check out my awesome new ring! I acquired it at the art auction on Saturday night. It was an interesting event. I wish we had friends that could have come with us. It turned out everyone had other plans. But no one there talked to us :( There was definitely some 'art snobs' and then some people who totally looked like they didn't belong! We found 3 pieces of art we really liked - all for sale, none of the pieces up for auction. They were all out of our price range (like $2000 over my budget!). There was a silent auction and jewelry sale, too, which is where I picked up the ring. I love it. It's a freshwater pearl and a pearlized sea shell. The jewelry was made by Jen of Jenstones. Pretty cool stuff.

And in 2nd job news, I officially have my Williams-Sonoma discount card! I had my 'Holiday Employee' orientation. I've never worked in retail, so this will be interesting. I've only ever worked in bar/restaurants. . . this seems like a whole different ball game. BUT, it's worth it for the pots, so I shall suck it up! I actually think I'm going to buy the pots on my first day working! Yay!