It's 4:30am, do you know where your knitting is?

It is currently 4:27am. I have been awake since 3am. I am very tired and I have an icky headache brewing in the back of my head. Today may be a sick day if this turns into a migraine. BOO :( I knew I shouldn't have eaten that pizza last night. . ..

School wise, I got an A+++ (seriously - the teacher gives degrees of A+s) on my drawings. I'm not sure if this is gratification for all the hard work (optimist in me) or if it just means I over thought and spent too much time working on it (the pessimist). You see, my general MO is somewhat slacker-ish: If I can get a B doing 2 hours of work, but it takes 10 hours to get an A. . . well, that is diminishing returns in my book and the 8 extra hours can be used for something much more fruitful than silly homework! (This is why I finished undergrad with barely a 3.6). Surprisingly, I'm leaning more toward the feeling happy my hard work paid off. That said, I have to 'tweak' my drawings to lower my wall mounted TV, slightly change the patterning on the built-in bunk beds, find a taller plant and draw in all my accessories. In case you missed it, that means ALL NEW DRAWINGS! At least I can trace 80% of what I've already done, so this should be much less time consuming!

Since I finished class early yesterday, I got home before Jake went to bed to be able to give him his surprise. For as long as I've known him (and surely before) Jake ALWAYS carries a small notebook and pen in his back pocket. Always when he is wearing pants at least (no, I'm not talking about him being naked! Get your mind out of the gutter! He doesn't always carry it when wearing shorts for some reason, is what I meant!) A friend of ours who rebuilds motorcycles knows a girl who does custom leather work - Heyltje Rose. Before you ask, no, I don't know how you pronounce that, but her MySpace says it means 'of the Heavens'. So, I asked her if she could make a notebook cover for him. OH MY FREAKIN' GOSH. . .. . It is amazingly awesome. (These are the photos she took and sent me before I got the finished product - I couldn't get Jake to let me take photos after he got it, plus it was dark out!).

Front ViewBack View

The pattern, which reminds me of a Phoenix the more I look at it, is the pattern that is on his cowboy boots. His initials are at the top. The whole thing is hand tooled. This girl is seriously talented in a way I only hope my knitting will some day be! If you have a reason for custom leather, now you know where to go! She is not cheap, but well worth it! Jake, who is notoriously difficult to buy for, absolutely loves it, which makes me happy. It was just a little 'just because' gift and I managed not to spoil the surprise, a big deal for me since I suck at keeping secrets.

With 4 days left in February, I have not much hope of finishing all my WIPs, but I am just about wrapped on my Jeezny Cricket socks, so if I can manage to do that, do the applied I-cord for Sheldon and sew the lining in my felted bag, that will make the count 5 FOs, no new WIPs for February, which isn't too shabby. Hopefully,writing this did not jinx it!

Yesterday I couldn't resist 3 skeins of Fearless Fiber sock yarn. Two are intended for swap packages (Blue Rain and Brick House), and so I just had to throw something in for myself (Sublime). Now, though, I have to stop buying yarn. I have enough stash for knitting projects that could last me for the year, plus I'll end up with more in swaps, so I just need to cool it for a while before the craft room gets totally out of control!

Enough rambling for now, I'm going to try to sleep on the couch until Jake wakes up!