Ugh *headdesk*

That is pretty much the way I feel right now. Just, ugh. I'm so tired from Christmas and shopping, and knitting that all I want to do is sleep for the next 2 weeks.

Christmas was amazingly wonderful though. I got more stuff then I know what to do with. All my goodies from my Mom and sister for instance are still sitting in their giant box by my desk because I have no room for them. My Mother got me a ton of sock yarn from KnitPicks, as well as their cup cozy kit, which now gives me 23 more balls of yarn that I simply can not fit into my stash bin. Even with me sitting on it, it just won't fit. So they are in the box.

She also got me the most amazing drop spindles; one top whorl and one bottom whorl. They are from the Ma & Pa Spindle website. These suckers spin for nearly ever. And it makes such smooth single ply's that I keep grinning at my work in awe and periodically running to family members to shout, "Look at it! It's amazing!" The in-laws don't really understand my excitement.
I've decided that the next logical step is to buy a modest student spinning wheel, and then a sheep.

Stil pretending

I'm still pretending it's not December.

I'm pretty much done with most of my major knitting, including the scarf for the sister, but now I have to make 2 felted slippers, and manage to crank out a pair of socks within the week because the lady I have been making them decided she needed one more pair. *growl* Oh, and make a pair of fingerless gloves for my sister-in-law. But I'm not worried about those. I have a 4 hours pattern that will be a cinch to knit up.

Now if only I could find something to make or buy for the brother-in-law. But I'm still good...it's not December after all.

*sticks fingers in ears* Lalalala, I can't hear you December

It's December.
I'm not sure where all the extra days went, but I'm sure someone else stole them. Thus I am ignoring the fact that it's December and am happily walking around in my ignorance. It's sorta working for me.

My list of knitted gifts has been dramatically shortened and some items have been thrown out the window in favor if other, less time consuming projects. Like Pinky's Hat and Scarf set that I was going to make which has been transformed into a charming pair of French Press Felted Slippers; in pink naturally. With flowery buttons I'm thinking...or maybe little skulls...we'll see.
The husbands Hat/glove set is done, although I'll have to fix a few things on both. Apparently he doesn't want the circulation in his fingers to be cut off; I told him he needs to stop being such a baby.
My sister Maggie is now only getting a scarf, made out of this fuzzy yarn that I've had at the bottom of my stash for ages. It was going to be turned into arm warmers to go with the sweater our Mom made her, but you know how things go.
Katie is getting store bought socks. I don't think I'll have the time to actually make her the Bell Mitts, even though I'm thinking she would love them.
As for Chamaguchi (Brianne is her actual name but I met her online and that was her username, ergo she's Chamaguchi to me. =3 ) orange scarf, it's pretty much been at the same 6 inches that it was at in June. I'm horrible with motivation. But the way I see it, she doesn't actually know about the scarf, so I can just send it to her next year, right? Right? Anybody?

In unrelated news I am pretty much done with my shopping for the rest of my family. Safe for of course the in-laws. But when a whole family doesn't really have any interests or hobbies it's hard to shop for them! At this point I'm ready to give them all a packet of socks and call it a day.

The Amazing Scarf

A few months ago I thought my friend how to knit. She's still not very good at it, but getting there. When Pinky first learned she joked that her first scarf was going to look horrible, with holes all over the place. "We'll just fold it in half, and wherever there is a hole we'll put a button on the other side. You'll have a button up scarf, no biggie," I teased her. And thus was born the idea of The Amazing Scarf; or TAS for short.

It going to be a project that we are going to work on together, sending the scarf back and forth between us. Each time that we have the scarf we will work on it a little bit (for as many rows as we want), using a different pattern then the one used before. We're also making it multi-colored. Once it's all done we'll be adding pompoms, tassels, buttons, googly-eyes (as per Pinkys' request), and anything else that we could possibly think of to put into a scarf.

Now as a fellow knitter, or even as a fellow human, you might wonder "Why the hell would they do this? That's going to be hideous." And you're right, it IS going to be hideous. But we're doing this because we can. Because it gives us something funny to do when we are out of other meaningful knitting projects. And it will be a great way for both of us to expand our knitting pattern horizon (her more so then me).

We used to send this scarf via mail since she moved to Florida right before we started the scarf, but now she's back in Washington State so we don't have to anymore. Although as long as it takes that girl to make one friggen patch we might as well be. >.> Anyways, I was going to post an entry about it every time that a section was finished but pretty much spaced out about it....so here are all the posts up to now.




This section was done by me. It was the start of our scarf. I had this color left over from my first pair of socks (the ones that turned out like fish) and figured it was a great color to start with.




This charming part was done by Pinky. I think you can still see some of mine on there, but who cares.

That was done by me. I liked the color, and didn't want to put green into it just yet. The funny thing is that once Pinky got it she texted me something along the lines of "You know that's our school colors, right?" I didn't even think about that. xD

Yes, this last section is also that same pretty blue. But Pinky took the picture with the BlackBerry and I'm guessing the lighting was horrible. I like the checker board look of it though.

Now she's working with a glittery white yarn, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with. Why the glitter yarn? Because Pinky wanted glitter on the yarn, and who am I to deny her that joy?

The Christmas list

For the past 2 years of my obsessive knitting I've made a Christmas list. Each year I start a little earlier, thinking I'll get everything done in plenty of time for Christmas with maybe even enough left over for me to make myself something. Every year, that turned out to be wrong.
This year my list is simple enough;

Brandon - Gloves and Hat
Maggie - Gloves and Hat
Cierra - Hat and scarf
Katie - Bella Mitts (yes, I have an actual pattern in mind!)
Chamaguchi - The orange scarf.

What have I accomplished so far? Brandon's hat. But I need to fix it a little because it doesn't even really fit him.
When did I start this list? In September. Yes, September!! I am that far behind already! *panic* Christmas may as well be tomorrow for all the good this friggen list is doing me. *headdesk* Damn....

Owl Post!!

When I opened the front door this morning I was pleasantly surprised by a packet sitting on our porch. I would have given the owl that delivered it a treat, but it was no where to be found. I took my packet in with a bouncy sense of glee and opened it right away. Here is what I received from the awesome Calypsobard (aka Piper Poplartree).




This was really an awesome kit. I have never done much beading...okay, I have never made jewelry with beads so this is a great new experience for me. And the bag she send me is super cute....in Ravenclaw Colors. >.>
Oh, and see the Orange sticky note? It say, "Ack, Jorja found my shopping bag & nommed. Thankfully all in tact save for the plastic!" I'm sorry to say that I laughed.


I adore these wonderful charms. The snitches are just too cute. And The cat was especially adorable...or maybe it's a Kneazel? You never can tell with those little buggers. I've already tied one of the snitches to my purse and will put one of the hats on my key chain as soon I removed some of the other crap dangling from it.




She even send me some coffee! (not yet in my ever present cup though) Toasted Southern Pecan, Breakfast blend, and White Chocolate Obsession. I'm especially thrilled about the White Chocolate one.





Also included where some awesome Slytherin Stitch markers, a snitch that proudly flutters around my workspace now, a wonderful Slytherin Bracelet, and a note pad with a coffee cup on it.





Thank you so much Calypso!! I love it.

I'm determined!

Yup, I'm determined to get a real head start on my Christmas knitting this year. In December I don't want to do knit a single Christmas project, unless that project is for me and I won't care if it's done on time or not. I definitely don't want a repeat of last year, where I was frantically knitting the last four inches of a hat on Christmas day, to be given as a gift to a friend in three hours. Normally that wouldn't have bothered me, but between the food, and family, and gifts, and pictures, and what-not, I didn't have a single minute to knit! It was crazy.

So, I have made a list of the projects that need to be done, and I figured that if I start right now I should be done by the time Christmas comes around.

Here's to hoping.

Almost there, just a few more things...

I am down to the last....6 inches before my first ever HSKS kit is done and able to be sent out. I am highly happy with the result. Everything is being wrapped as we speak, and stuffed back into the flat rate shipping box. Although now that I look at it, I'm thinking that maybe I won't fit everything in unless I shrink it, or vacuum pack it. Although then it would be considered "altering the packet" wouldn't it? Aww, drat.

Camp Game #6

Our Camp Director presented us with her potions trunk on Tuesday and told us that we were to guess which seven potions she kept in there at all times. She had given us some clues and we went on our merry way. So here are my guesses.

1. Drought of Peaces
2. Mandrake Drought
3. Babbling Beverage
4. Murtlap Essence
5. Pepperup Potion
6. Invigoration Drought
7. Blood-Replenishing Potion

Camp Game #5

Last weeks camp game was a disaster. We were supposed to be looking for 40 golden eggs that were hidden over the camp site. Phoenix cabin found a grand total of...0. None. Not a single egg. So this week we are determined to reclaim our slightly bruised dignity. This week we were given 10 hints to which were were supposed to find the answers too. They were each a bit tricky (I'm a Slytherin...I'm not a fan of acronym searches) but I finally got them all done.

Part I

1. Animagus
2. Daily Prophet
   
3. Bowtruckle
4. Extendable Ear
5. Radish Earring
6. Forbidden Forest
7. Golden Cherub
8. Thestral
9. High Inquisitor
10. Educational Decree

The second part was a lot easier as it involved a camera and taking (or at least finding) pictures that would go with the answers we just provided.

Part II

1.







2. Harold tried to read the Prophet, but since he can't read it mostly just stared at it.









3. I found a bowtruckle in the backyard! It was very exciting. How Harold got into the tree with him I will never figure out.








4.











5. These earrings were made by Pinkertondesigns, a seller on Etsy.












6. Harold wanted to test his luck and trespass on the forest property. I told him no and promptly stuffed him back into my purse...where he pouted and unraveled my knitting.










7.












8.












9.











10.

All I want is yarn

Knitpicks should know better then to let me track my packet from them. Because since Wednesday I have been sitting here in front of the computer checking at least every 4 hours to know where the hell my packet of yarn goodies it. Because I want it and I want it now.

Can you tell patients was never taught to me?

I would be a lot more calm about this if very important yarns weren't in the box, as well as a very important circular knitting needle for my friend Cierra. The poor girl has been trying to learn how to knit socks (she got very bored of scarfs very fast) for nearly 2 months now. For her birthday we bought her a book and she was very eager to cast on and go. Unfortunately the person she is currently staying with his a toddler son, who took one of her DPN's and lost it. Personally for me that would be grounds for a severe ass kicking against the parent...but that's just me. She has a set of circs, but the cable isn't flexible enough to do magic loops. So I order her one of the amazing knitpicks circular needles. That way she can finally learn how to make socks.

But, alas, I have to wait until Monday...friggen stupid delivery people. And that is why owls would be my number#1 choice for package delivery. No waiting.

Camp game #3

This weeks camp game was defeating a boggart. Mine ended up looking something like this. Poor guy, in his multi-colored robe and being oogled at by a wee doggy.

DONE!

I am finally done with my Such a Slytherin socks; and only after a few threats and banishment into dark corners of the room. I feel accomplished. Now I'm working on a pair of for my sister. This pair is not only slightly smaller (I've taken out 4 stitches), but because I don't have enough for an identical pair, she'll get what is basically the negative of the sock (mainly silver, with the 'S' and Snake in green). Also, I didn't do the snake in intarsia...I realized that I'm not that insane after all.

WWW and Game part 2

First, I got a Witch and Wizard Wisecrack from Bevin Mooney today. It was fabulous. She had come across some Genuine Cocobolo Wood DPN's in Slytherin colors and thought I should have them. She also included a knitting pattern for a lovely top...in French. >w< Thank you Bevin! I love it. And yes, the pattern is even in a protective sleeve in my pattern folder...as soon as I know french well enough I'll try it out. :P










Now for the second part of the Week 2 camp games. We were supposed to take the answers we came up for part 1 and solve a little puzzle to come up with the quote that was picked.

"When in doubt, go to the the Library!" is the answer I came up with. And I could have sworn it would be Hermione that said that...but of course I was wrong. It turns out it's *whisper, whisper, whisper*

Look what my sister made!

I'm totally pimping this awesome necklace that my sister made for me. It's so totally made of win. I love that girl to death!

She made me that Slytherin Necklace for the HP6 movie premier and was going to give it to me then, but couldn't contain her excitement anymore...so I got it today. Score for Nici.



And while I'm add it I'll also post the second week of camp games from HSKS. This week it's a word scramble of sorts.

1. Chrome Cab Festers - Chamber of Secrets
2. Parry He Trot - Harry Potter
3. Oral Weensy - Ron Weasley
4. Angering Her More - Hermione Granger
5. Dry Off Grin - Gryffindor
   
6. Art Darts - Dark Arts
7. Oracle Dorky Light - Gilderoy Lockhart
8. Chrome Cab Fester - Chamber of Secrets
   
9. See Flu Oh - House Elf
   
10. Parry He Trot - Harry Potter
11. My Molten Grain - Moaning Myrtle
12. Parry He Trot - Harry Potter
    
13. Oral Weensy - Ron Weasley
    
14. Parry He Trot - Harry Potter
15. Molt Voter - Voldemort
16. Crux Rho - Horcrux
    
17. Oral Weensy - Ron Weasley
18. Gayly Nine Sew - Ginny Weasley
    
19. Oracle Dorky Light - Gilderoy Lockhart
    
20. Snob In A Froze Parka - Prisoner of Azkaban.
    

I'll just tie him down

Me, very excited: "Oh look at this! I should make you a pair of these socks."
Husband: "Erm...I'm good. Thanks anyways."
Me, looking up from pattern book: "Why don't you want some socks? I never made you any before."
Husband: "Because I don't need any? Plus I'll never wear them. You've knitted me enough things already."
Me: "...I made you one beanie and a pair of crappy fingerless gloves. That is not 'enough'."
Hubby: "Sure it is. That's all the knitting I'll ever need from you."
>.> He doesn't fully understand yet that as my other half he is subject to many knitted things, does he? I should tackle him when I'm finally done knitting something for him and just put it on him....with a triumphant 'Ah ha!'

Or maybe I should just find a Knitting-husband.

Argh!

I am so ready to set these stupid socks on fire. Just a quick incendio, and I won't even have to worry about them. Then I'll find something else to wear on July 15th, and Katie can just knit her own Gryffindor house socks. I'm still not even sure why she would want a pair...oh wait...

I've been sitting here with a little black cloud over my head for the last two hours, working on these damned heels, on these damned socks, using this thrice-damned pattern!! (Don't get me wrong, that pattern is great, I'm just too stupid to read it.) No one has even attempted to want to get close to me, as I glare daggers of death at anyone that is within five feet of my personal bubble.

And just now I realize that I have gotten the Heel turn totally wrong, so now I have to un-knit the whole thing, figure out where I went wrong and re-knit it. Remember how I said that I would use intarsia on both the 'S' on the heel and the Snake on the foot? I don't think that will happen anymore. I am so done with these stupid stupid sock. (Again this is not that patterns fault, nor Lykkefanten's fault, but my own, since I apparently can't even turn a heel when there are suddenly two colors and a pretty 'S' to work withl.)

OH! Did I mention that sock number 2 had to be moved to a completely different set of needles to be froggen and then knitted up again 4 times before I relized why I was inverting the second 'S'? I didn't?! Well let's just say that the whole thing was a very scary experience for everyone in the house and anyone who dared call me at such a moment. Horrible, horrible experience.

On the bright side -- yes, there is a bright side -- I got all the supplies I need to make some great looking , IMHO, stitch markers. First attempt too! I'm pretty thrilled.



Edit: After being threatened to be thrown into the trash and then run over by the hubbies Van repeatedly, the socks are behaving, and actually knitting up the way they are supposed to. Who ever said threats solved nothing?

Because I'm crazy like that

Finished with the leg portion of my Slytherin socks. On to the heel! Aaaas soon as I get an e-mail back from the creator of the pattern, Lykkefanten, explaining the pattern to me. It's not that I don't get it, I'm just wondering if it's a typo, or if my brain is having a dead moment.

The heel is worked over half the stitches (32), with two picked up along the side as a base for the heel stitches (makes it 34)...but then I'm supposed to knit 36 on the first row? I'm thinking it's a typo, but because I'm not sure, and I don't want to mess the whole thing up because I was being stupid and couldn't read right, I asked her.

Here is the crazy part I was talking about: Lykkenfante states in her pattern that both the 'S' on the heel and the Snake on the top of the foot can be added after the sock is done with duplicate stitch, although she also said that one could intarsia the 'S' if one really wants to do that. And guess what? I'm going to intarsia both!

So that's my laps in sanity, and I'm going to keep blindly skipping down the path of selfinduced knit-trauma until the snake hits the fan. Wish me luck.

Part 2 of the camp games

I've been up since 6 and have already done everything I could think of doing. I've taken a shower, the laundry is finished, the kneazle box has been cleaned out, all my owls have been checked and replied to, and all important muggle sites have been gone through, replied to, and read. So I'm doing the last of the Week 1 camp games.

As the last...second part of the camp games, we are playing Wingo! Which I totally put off until I had nothing else to do. Technically I do have things I should do, like spell my yarn back into its bin, as it has once again escaped and it currently happily laying all over the floor. Free range yarn. lol
Anywho, here is my Wingo.

In other news, I have just realized that my work desk as been taken over by yarn. It's not just one skein or ball or even hank...it's 7 balls/skeins. And three different sets of circs. I'm surrounded! And I swear the green and silver for my Slytherin socks keeps moving toward my mouse in the night when I sleep. There is just no other explanation for it, because every morning I have to move one of the green balls off to the side.

I supposed I could just move all the projects into the small laundry basket my mother gave me...but then I wouldn't have anything to knit that was close at hand. Choices, choices. Well...at least my coaster for my coffee mug hasn't been eaten...so I'm happy.

I think I'll work on those sneaky slithering socks. Maybe the yarn is just telling me I have deadline. *pets yarn fondly* So well trained.

Argh! Delete, delete!!

*nervous giggle* I am SO glad that I found out that unfortunately due to our cabin having more people, and this making the numbers uneven, some of us (me for example) have been matched up with our own cabin mates for the swap!! o.O
Shelbyknits is in my cabin, so she'll be able to get on our cabin blog, and had I posted anything about her kit (not knowing she could see it) I would have given it all away! I am so glad Ophelia, our counselor wrote us that owl to let us know. This could have been a disaster, and I would have needed to start from scratch!...*purses lips* Not that it would have been that dramatic, since I like both patterns I chose for the container...it would have still sucked though.

That is all.

Finally!

I received and Owl today with the information of my spoilee and my spoiler. I'm not sure the Owl was very happy when he didn't get a treat, but honestly I have more important things to do then feed a stray bird. And there was toast of the table...it was more then welcome to take some.

Anyways, my spoilee is Emma Scamander, and my Spoiler is Piper...something or other. God, I'm horrible with names. Note to self, send for sticky notes. Not that I would ever admit it out loud, but they are rather great muggle inventions.

I thought I would have at the third part of the games the camp staff have posted. Part II is a game of Wingo, and I'm not sure if I want to play that...I've never been good at hunting things down...although since everyone has already given their answers I might just browse through the posts and take what I need. *evil chuckle*.

Part III asked us to go to our spoilee and and spoilers project page on rav, and find one to write something nice about. So here it goes! If I can find both of them that is. Where did I put that owl with their Rav ID's? Ah ha! There it is.

So for shelbyknits (spoilee) I picked her Monkey #2 socks.
I love the color that she picked, since blue is my favorite color, but the fact that it isn't just a solid blue - but variegated - makes all the difference. It gives her sock such a different look from the one the designer made. And I love that the blue does this ripply effect thing, kind of like water. Just beautiful.

For Calysobard (spoiler) I picked her Daisy Afghan.
It's Crochet, and made for her. *giggles* It's a plain black background, with dozens of color full Daisy's in the middle of each square. It's so attention grabbing, since the flowers just pop out at you. And the fact that it's a friggen afghan is impressive in itself. I was done after making Ben's baby blanket, I could never sit down and make an afghan.
I like the bright pink boarder she put around it, and my favorite color by far on this afghan is the orange. It's just so bright and in your face.
...I totally want one now. >.>

In other news, I already know what I want to make to put all the stuff for my spoilee into, and thanks to Sonya from Yorkshire, and her awesome 'Thank-you' gift for having me help her in the store, I can buy the yarn for it! Although I'm torn between two different options, I'll either make both and say "fudge it" or I'll have people at the shop help me pick.

All in all I'm loving camp so far. Although no one thought to bring a small army of house elves, and I'm about to send for one of my own. I'm so not digging this get out of bed and get my own coffee thing.

Thank you for posting. Please hold...

*elevator music*
Info about my spoilee and my cabin blog, and other important thingies should be coming my way hopefully today; or so I've been told. I'm really hoping that my spoilee didn't sign up for potions...'cause I suck at making anything with edible stuff. I might end up poisoning the poor dear. *keeps fingers crossed*

The lovely camp counselors came up with a few camp games, and I figured that I might as well do one of them to make this post longer then one paragraph.

Part 1: "What's in your trunk?" (post 10 things that start with the first letter of your camp name)
Honoria brought:
Hair brush
Half eaten bagel
Hard candies
Herbal Tea
Harmonica
Harpoon (for fishing)
(this is harder then I thought)
Hose (you know, pantyhose)
Hat
High Heels
Harold!

(<---This is Harold. I've had him forever. When I was 16 I re-discovered him in the bottom of a box and for some reason I put him in my purse. When my friends found him and asked what the heck that was I told him "That's Harold, my boyfriend that lives in my purse. He has no arms, no legs, and he can't read." It was an on-going joke with all of us, since Katie had her own purse boyfriend; a Popsicle stick pig named Charles.)

Well, there's my ten!

At the moment I'm actually having more fun posting on the threads in our group. Although it's starting to get hard keeping track of all the posts, and playing catch-up is starting to get tiring. I read through like 30 posts to get on the same page as everyone else. I wonder if not sleeping for the next few months can be an option. xD

Oh knittery things, and HSKS

Just a quick one before I collapse into bed, hoping that I don't have to get back up for a long, long time.

Today was my father-in-laws graduation ceremony for his Masters Degree. I think, besides his parents, I am the only one in the family that is rather proud of that. And I was the only one cheering for him when his name was called. Brandon just kinda went "whoo" and Brittany did a strange grunting noise (and she was wondering why I suggested she goes as Milicent for the movie premier)

I learned how to do Intarsia!! I'm making a orange scarf for an online friend of mine, and since she is really bubbly I thought I would add polka dots to it. My Mother suggested I do Intarsia to make it look pretty, and what do you know, it looks great!

Also, I finally got my package from knit picks, and was finally able to start on my Such a Slytherin socks (free pattern on rav). I did a ridiculous little dance through the house, and then sat at my desk for the rest of the afternoon, watching lame horror movies (although Salem's Lot was really good), and knitting. I'm knitting them using the Magic Loop 2-at-a-time method. It's really fast, but can get a bit confusing; also, after hours of knitting your progress doesn't seem to be that big, which sucks.

So I've already been sorted into a cabin at HSKS. We should be getting out spoilee's information by the end of the weekend...and I have yet to know what the personal and cabin blogs are for, but I'll figure it out. =D On the bright side, I already know what kind of bag I want to make for them. Woot for preparedness.

Sorted!

So I got sorted into my cabin already, along with eight other lovely ladies.
The camp officially starts on Monday, but so far we're "chilling" in the cabin, getting to know each other. Me is highly excited.

I wonder who my spoilee is going to be.

HSKS8

Thanks to Ravelry I have joined a Swap. It's the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap and I can't wait to get started. I found the group through a bunch of other group posts and links and after reading their blog and figuring out what the heck the swap is, I said "what the hey" and signed up. *is excited*

In other news: I finished the first ever pair of socks for myself. That's right, a pair of sock I don't have to give away to anyone. I'll edit the post and show you pictures just as soon as I get my hands on a camera.

Right now I'm passing the time with some Ballerina slippers until my order from knit picks comes in, so I can get started on a pair of slytherin socks that I found on ravelry. I had the hardest time finding colors that would look good together from knit picks, and then wouldn't you know I found a link to a site where someone from knit picks actually told us what colors would work well together for the houses. Friggen great. *pouts* Oh well. I'll be happy either way. I also have to make and finish a pair of gryffindor socks for my friend Katie, and all of this before the new movie premier in July.

And I just know that I'm going to have a complete melt down by the end of June because I'm just not getting the socks right. *sighs* Why do I give myself such bad dead lines?

Of finished things, cakes, and civil war

First off, Maggie's twilight socks are done and she is proudly wearing them. When I had first finished them I had seriously considered not giving them to her for a few days/weeks, but figured she would catch on sooner rather then later when I was working on something else during knit night.


The pattern is a simple knit 4 rows, knit1 purl3 for 2 rows, repeat. And the cuff is knit1 purl3 for about 2". Totally simple and would have been rather boring otherwise but the yarn was pooling so nicely. There are even some sports were it was doing this cool zigzag effect. I should have my sister pick yarn more often.

On Friday we went to her annual school carnival. It was fun as always. Although this year it was even better for her since she was able to go into the dunk tank, now that she is a 5th grader. Mom and I got bored standing around to wait her turn so we played the silly little games they had for kids (I won a magnifying glass, a whale, a pink fuzzy pen, and a sticky hand) and even got our faces painted to kill some time.

This time I even got to see the "please bring us cakes" flier the school hands out every year so there are enough cakes and other goodies available for the cake walk (like musical chairs but when the music stops and you're on the numbered square they call out you get a ticket to pick a cake or cupcakes, etc.). It made no sense to me and my sister however since not 3 weeks prior to the carnival they had to cancel their bake sale in fear of children getting the swine flu from the home make goodies. So we thought it would be hilarious to make a piggy cake with buggers coming out of it's nose, bags under its eyes and a tissue by its side. We had the cake all backed up and were ready to frost when our mother told us that wouldn't be such a good idea since some people wouldn't find it as funny. So instead we made this.


I would have still preferred the sick piggy.










We also managed to go to the civil war re-enactment that was going on in our park on the weekend. Having never seen on before I was rather surprised that the people go into such depth with the whole thing. There were camps set up with people walking around in period clothing (I loved the dresses the woman were wearing), making fires, yelling orders at under ranking "soldiers" and answering any questions that you could throw at them. I was a little surprised that there were so many knitters among the women there and even two spinners.

Although they were all totally cheating by using pretty non-period yarns; I'm sure getting your hands on aqua colored silk was pretty damn hard in 1861.

It's a sock!!

I just finished weaving in the last end of the first of the twilight socks, and you know what? It FITS PERFECTLY!! It's my first ever, perfectly fitting, amazing looking, totally awesome sock. And I have to give it away once it's twin is made. *sighs* Go figure.

Pictures to follow soon.

Lakeside Knit

On Sunday it was such a nice day that my sister and I decided to go to the park and sit at our favorite spot by the lake; the concrete shell of a old water drain...or so I think. It's nice and closer to the water and most people don't go there, opting instead for one of the benched areas.

We ate lunch there and fed the geese which turned out to be so much more assertive then the ducks, coming right up to us and staring us down for pieces of our bread. We took a ton of geese pictures (for absolutely no reason) and even two videos (again for no reason). I even got some sock time in.

A frog I didn't mind

The Kermit the frog socks I've been making for Will are finally done. It only took me forever and a day. I call them Kermit socks because when he first saw me knitting the pair previously shown he said, "I want a pair of socks too. A bright green pair." "What, like Kermit the frog?" I asked. "Yeah, like that."

They don't look very green but that's because of the horrible light, and the crappy camera on my phone (the only one at hand for the moment), and I know they look kinda big, but they are on my hubbies feet which are a size or two smaller then Wills.

On the needles right now are socks for my sister Maggie, inspired by her love for the Twilight book series. It's the Twilight sock pattern from 2-at-a-time socks. This is actually the fourth time I'm attempting to make these socks. The first time they laddered horribly, the second time I made them on one circular needle at one time and couldn't find instructions on what to do after the leg, the third time I was doing them both on a really long needle, ended up dropping like 10 stitches and really couldn't be bothered to pick them all up when I knew it was just going to get worst if I tried. So here we are...at try number 4. Hopefully this will be the one that actually goes somewhere.












After that I'm not sure what I'll work on. Maybe that orange scarf for Chama-chan. Or maybe I'll go find that pattern for the little red cardigan that is floating around here somewhere and I'll finally knit something for myself that isn't a hat...or scarf. OH! I still have to work on my mothers Christmas present. Damn...

It's finally done!

After a lot of complaining about it, and throwing it into several corners in frustration I finally finished Ben's baby blanket. And it even managed to still look good after I put it into the wash; I figured it could use it since the poor thing has been dragged around quite a lot.








Honestly though, I hated making the thing. It was fun for the first two stripes but then when I realized that I would keep having to make the same thing 16 more times, I was getting really bored. The twisty fake cabling was kinda fun though. The biggest pain in the butt however was the border! They wanted me to pick up a grand total of 400 some stitches onto the circs I had been using, and then knit in the round, increasing every other round in the corners. Not that big of a deal one would think...not when you hold the yarn double and now have 800 some stitches on a 38" needle. >.> Never again shall I do something like this.

But the mock cable is pretty. So I'm happy.











I'll see Katie tomorrow, which is when she'll get the blanket. Hopefully this knit I will actually see being used. I swear the two hats I made her haven't see the light of day since I handed them over. My poor hats.

It's overflowing!!

One should really consider buying a new stash bin, when one has to sit on the lid in order to secure the latches on the side. Or maybe I should just use up some of that yarn....naw! I'll just buy another bin.

At the moment I am staying with Brandon at his place, because my mother decided that she wanted the house to herself while she is off work this week, and while Maggie is at school. Selfish little thing that she is. It's not that bad I suppose. I love his roommates, and since they don't have any food in the house that I would ever consider eating, I'll drop 10 pounds in no time!! Yaaayy!! Ugh.

Before I came here I even stopped by Yorkshire Yarn to buy some more sock yarn, in the event that I should actually finish the socks I'm working on now, as well as the baby blanket I haven't looked at let alone picked up in 3 weeks. It's all good though. Even if I don't get that far, I'll have the yarn to play with later. Woot.

That crazy Mary Kay girl

At the last second Carrie one of my sister consultants called me to ask if I would be able to stand in for her at the Home and Garden Show at the Tacoma Dome. After checking with Brandon I told her that I would be happy to do so. It was really scary at first, since I am not a people person in any way (most of the time I avoid talking to people I don't know). After the first 30 min though it was really easy. So easy infact that half the time I was doing little dances to keep myself entertained; there is only so much standing right under the speakers that I can handle.

But I'm sure I worried a few people when I raced after an elderly couple, just because I wanted to know where they had gotten their bag from. It was one of the mesh bags that are so popular these days, with clips of newspaper cartoons on it. I had seen like 3 people walk passed with them but never managed to catch their attention. So when I saw these poor people walk past I ran after them, heels clicking on the floor, clip board flailing in one hand, sample cards in the other, yelling "Excuse me!" after them like they had just lost a baby, or an arm. The lady gave me the strangest look (I would have looked that way too if a sales girl was running after me) but laughed and patted my arm when I told her what I wanted from them....and then she and her husband (who had the most pretty blue eyes...is it sad that I noticed that?) argued about where they had gotten it. They agreed that it was from a booth at the Dome, but that was where the agreeing pretty much stoped. She said it was at a booth in the main entrance, he said it was at the other entrance by the hot tubs (dude, do you know how many hot tub sales people were there?). It was cute.

In other news, I'm pretty sure that I won't catch up with The Project...not unless I get help from someone else...which I might just do actually. A friend of mine, Cierra, has offered to work on the really simple squares for me. Which is cool...because if she can make like half of the one I need, and I make the other half, then I'll be at least cought up to the point that I can work on somethine else as well as on the squares. Like socks. Which reminds me to find all that sock yarn that I bought...and the one that my wonderful little sis got me for Christmas. *sighs* It's wonderful when your have enablers in your family.

Socks that don't look like fish

Explaining the title would be an entry in itself so I'll give you the short and sweet version. My first attempt at socks was with the instructions my Mother had remembered from way back when she used to still make socks. They ended up with feet that were way too big, and when my little sister held them side ways she laughed and said, "Sew the end top together, add a fin and some eyes and you have a pair of goldfish!" (The yarn was a really pretty orange).

Anyways, I finally bought a book that gave clear sock instructions; 2-at-a-time Socks. It's an amazing book teaching one the finer details of knitting socks on one pair of circs, so one never gets second-sock-syndrome again. It's amazing. The book suggested that for the sake of practice I should get different colored yarn, and it just so happened that I had two skeins of the same baby yarn in different in teal and blue-gray. I happily cast on, followed the instructions perfectly until I got to the heel, got really bored for about 2 weeks, and when I finally finished the socks I had a pair that looked something like this.

Since there were toddler size I made Aiden the boy I babysit try them on for me. If he hadn't refused to keep wiggling around the picture might have actually turned out well. Instead I got this

And after the sock fitting, which turned into an adventure of me trying to case Aiden around to put the sock on him in the first place (the child just has some weird issue with socks), it was some quality art time with Miss Nici. Here is a picture of what the kitchen looked like afterward. If you are a clean freak, please find a chair to sit in first before viewing the image.

It was a very productive day. If a bit messy.

Why can't time stand still?

There are so many projects that need doing, and for some reason time is totally against me and brings around a new day just when I think I'm making a dent in my pile. And the yarn stores are against me too, with their sales, and uberly soft yarn that turns out to be less expensive then I first thought.



So far I am 16 days behind on The Project. I managed to knit 2.5 squares yesterday in record time, and I felt really good about myself. So good in fact that I couldn't help but text Brandon that I finished even more squares. He wasn't half as exited as I was. And then our neighbors came over and deflated my bubble of success. When I told them both about my brilliant idea, Adam looked at the calander and said, "Aren't you like...16 days behind?" Thanks for the confidence boost...



Now I know that babies are usually born 9 months after conception, and so I should have been able to do simple math to figure out the general due date of Katie's baby. The "Your Nephew will be due in March" line should have tipped me off too. But instead I put wads of cotton in my ears and started humming really loud so I wouldn't have to listen to the the approaching deadline. The baby blanket pattern I had finally picked out was really cute, and I figured I would have pleanty of time -- I mean a baby blanket is totally dueable in two months, right? And now I found out that little Bengamin (her pick), is probably going to be early since he's bigger then they thought. This kids isn't even born yet and he's making knitting for him difficult.


I worked a little on his blanket today (the first 8 rows), and I came to the conclusion that if Katie is really expecting a baby shower gift from me other then this stupid blanket, she's got to be crazy.

If it weren't for knitting...

For the last 28 hours, I have been watching my friends children while he is doing his Army weekend thingy. And for the last 24 hours I have been supressing the strong urge to strangle both boys with the knitting in my bag.

Stephen and Aiden are 4 and 2. So you can imagine the trouble those two can get into when you're not keeping your eyes glued on them. Aiden tends to do whatever Stephen is doing, which leads to a lot of crying, getting scolded, a ton of tears, and the phrase "You're mean Miss Nici," thrown my way more then once. It's great! Ugh. Don't get me wrong, they're wonderful kids, as long as they play in their playroom, and don't get that wild hair up their arse that makes me want to pull my own hair out because it doesn't seem that anything I say or do is going to make them calm down. It's times like those when I want to kiss the person that invented TV and shows like the Wonder Pets, Go Diego Go, and Batman. I am forever in your debt.

Also, The Project is now 7 days behind schedule...mostly because I have discovered that most of the knitting patterns are lacey and thus the yarn I have been using won't work....since I'll lose any and all detail and it will just look like a bunch of regular knitted swatches. And I want to see that pretty patterns. Soooo I'm going to go and buy some fingering weight yarn and start all over again. Granted I'll have to knit like two squares every day just to catch up, but I think it will be worth it.

And then there were only two

Remember how I said that I had a feeling I would lose interest with The Project by the time Feburary rolled around? Yeah...well...it seems that loss of interest has come way sooner then I thought. xD I have block #2 done, #3 is on the needles and I'm almost done with it, and I still have to make #4 and 5 if I want to stay on track...not counting the other projects I have to still work on, like those sockies of mine. Ugh.

Mind you I also still have to: Clean the house, do some serious laundry, find something to wear to tomorrows MK meeting, work on a mosaic, and get my room into a semi organized state. I think that unless I manage to grow a second set of hands on my back so the knitting doesn't get into the way of everything else, I won't be able to sit down and knit those 2 and a half squares.

Oh! And you wanna know the kicker? I looked through the calendar, only to discover that some of the blocks are going to be lace work...how the heck am I going to do lace work with worsted weight yarn? Why don't they write a yarn recommendation on the back flap or something? Why does no one think of these things?! Argh!

The Project

For Christmas my Mother gave me a 365 knitting stitches a year calender. And as I was sitting there, flipping through the pages, totally thrilled that I had such a great referance, a thought occured to me; Each day I could knit a 4x4 swatch of the displayed stitch pattern and at the end of the year I'll sew them all together. And thus I started The Project.

Thus far, I have the 1st block done (the one for Jan 1st)

and only have 364 more to go. Block #2 is on the needles and I'll get that one done lickity-split, and #3 hasn't even been started yet. You can see how enthusiastic and on the ball I am about this Project. I have a strong feeling that by the time February rolls around I'll either have lost all interest, or I'll be so behind in blocks, that it will take me until the next year to catch up. Have I mentioned that I'm really bad about keeping up with things? Yeah...

I also started back up on knitting socks. Thanks to a great book called 2-at-a-time socks, it's not that bad this time. I'm actually understanding all the instructions, I'm not losing stitches and adding them where they really shouldn't go, and my friends 2 year old will have some hand knit socks to wear. In the end everyone wins.

Yes, I realize that their different colored, and that I'll have to make another set for the little guy, but the book said that for practice's sake it's best if I use two different colores yarns. And the book was right, as my fiance Brandon pointed out "You might end up knitting the stitches together and end up with one huge sock with two little openings."