Sunday, November 29, 2009

We've moved beyond the frozen di*dos

So, yesterday, I FINISHED a pair of socks! That's right, I finished something else. Me. It was a pair of socks that Angie and I were making for our friend Barrett. He's our friend, so we thought it was appropriate if we each made one sock. Well, then I got to the heel first and I couldn't stand it, so Angie did the heel and the rest of that sock, and I did the rest of the other sock. That was in August... I just finished the rest of sock number 2 lol. We had different gauges, so I had to use a 1.5 and she used a 1.

He has HUGE feet... ok so they're only like an inch or so longer than mine but still, sheesh. It felt like I was knitting forever. (Why no, my ends are not woven in yet. Why do you ask? lol). The yarn is Trekking XXL, color 184. I love the color, it's perfect for him. For some reason though, every time I worked on these I felt sick to my stomach... not really sure what that's about lol. Here's a close up of the stitch pattern.

It's hard to see, but it's 3 rows of k2p1 rib, and then one row is purled across (not on the bottom of the foot, of course).

I had to cast on for something different, I had to. I did finish two of the three things I wanted finished, so yay me! The problem was that the last two projects, those socks and Angie's scarf (see the posts a few days ago) were both basically k2p1 across. I can only take so much of that, ya know? So I cast on the second sock of a pair that Angie started and didn't like, so she gave me the finished first one and said I could make the second. :) Should be fun. I'll take pics as it progresses.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

It's only funny when there's no blood involved

Hiya! Just a quick post. I'm about to finish a pair of socks, I'll show them off tomorrow. I got the yarn in the mail yesterday! I ordered it from Slackford studio, it's the Stalwart Sock in Origanum. It's going to be socks with a turtle on them for Angie. :) There were also two pretty stitch markers in it! I love it!!

And just to prove that it's just a quickie post, look! Lily is not pleased with my ignoring her. ;)

Hmm... maybe I should say something else, since I am using a perfectly good blog post title lol... how about a book review?

Well, I've been reading a series called "The black dagger brotherhood." It's a romance series, so there's some s.e.x. lol, and some danger. It's about Vampires, and it's like, a whole different world. Each book is primarily about one of the brothers, who are the guys who defend the rest of the vampire society from the bad guys, who are called Lessers. The entire series has been great; I think my favorite part about them is that you could reach each book individually, but they all go together as a whole too. There's even an "insider's guide" to the books, which is about the books, with "interviews" with the characters done by the author, and a couple of little stories and things too, along with behind the scenes stuff that you don't see during the books. I think that was a very clever idea for her to write that, to tie the books together. I've bought all of the books that are out in paperback, and the companion. Well, except for one, Angie gave me that one lol. :)

Friday, November 27, 2009

I do not need a penis hat

That's right, I said penis on the blog. :P First of all, happy black Friday! Did you do any shopping? Me, absolutely not. lol I HATE black Friday. I've worked in retail too much to enjoy it lol.

Secondly, I wanted to tell everyone to keep my friend Sinclair's son in your thoughts... one of his best friends was killed overseas this past Tuesday. :( My heart goes out to his family, especially his 7 year old daughter... this was his third tour, and he was supposed to come home for Christmas, which somehow makes it even worse. That is so very sad and horrible.

And as I try not to talk about politics at all if I can help it in my blog... onto the knitting?

I finally got pictures of my Vita Cloche.


The yarn is malabrigo worsted, in "bobby blue." I changed the brim of it, and the details are on my project page on ravelry. If you're not on ravelry (why not?? get thyself there, you know you wanna...) and you want to know how I did it, let me know and I'll email you the details. :)

I also finished the gloves I was testing knitting for my friend Paula, Bonnie Belle.


The yarn was a gift from Dave's mom last Christmas, it's called Marvelous Merino, and the color is "Dark Winter Nights." It's REALLY soft, and I love the colors. I have 135 yards left, and I think I'm going to turn that into a cowl in the same stitch pattern. Or maybe not the same stitch pattern, just a plain cowl, so that they match. I'm not sure yet. :)


I really like how the colors pooled, it makes the gloves look neat. :)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

You enjoy your hate; I'm distracted by mine

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US. How was your Turkey (or Turkeyless) day? Mine has kinda sucked. I'm all alone (except for Angie on the phone...) and I miss my family.

But, enough sadness, true? I have been knitting like crazy. I have SO MANY PROJECTS I want to start. It's frightening. I should type out my list so you can all see the insanity. In no particular order I want to start...

  • A cowl to match the fingerless gloves I tested for Snapper (They're almost done! Just one more pattern repeat, the ribbing, and the thumb and that will be a whole pair! Whoo!).
  • Socks for my nephew Zach, and my nephew Austin (They're only 6 and 9, their feet aren't... that big. right?)
  • Fingerless gloves for my sister
  • Fingerless gloves for her friend Toni (Those may sound like Christmas presents but they're not I promise... they were requested and I love my sister, so...)
  • Those marywarmers I listed the other day in the Noro Sock stuff.
  • A hat for Angie in the blue malabrigo I listed the other day
  • A hat for me in the red malabrigo
  • A sock that angie made the first of and didn't want to do the second, so she gave it to me.
  • A fake isle hat (just for kicks) out of silk garden and malabrigo.
UGH! That's a LOT OF STUFF. A lot. I have no time limit but... well, you know me, I usually cast on without thinking twice. Before I start anything off of that list though, I'm going to finish the fingerless gloves, a pair of socks I'm almost finished with that were supposed to be done by now, for my friend, and the cowl/scarflet for Angie... the last of which is over a third done now, and coming along nicely, see? (The link for the pattern was in yesterday's post.)


This is not including the... oh... dozen or so other things I have going, including the five things that are relatively important for me to finish, as I want them done... yikes. lol

Wish me luck?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I'm distracted by my hate

So, a few days back in the insanity group on ravelry, James (aka Zortified) mentioned that she had some pumpkin spice tea that needed a new home, and I said that I would love it... I got it in the mail today, along with "packing material," you know, to make sure it arrived safely, I'm sure. :)


I was VERY surprised, and very happy! Yay! :) Thank you again James!!!!

In other news, I started a cowl/mini scarflet thing for Angie. It's using the pattern for this scarf. She loves it so far! Yes, I showed her. I can't keep a secret lol. The yarn is the Araucania I listed the other day. :) It looks like this so far...


Pretty, yes? And I also have a finished hat to show you, but I can't show you yet because it's still wet and I want a modeling shot. :)

I'm going to go have some pumpkin spice tea now, yay!

Also? Bonus picture of Lily. "Hmm... what have we here..."

Monday, November 23, 2009

Bam! Boobies!

Wow, so much for posting every day for a month, huh? Things have been crazy here, in the personal department... which isn't an excuse, but, the good news is, I'm posting now, so yay!

It is SO HARD for me to look at my projects OTN and tell you what I have been working on because it varies so much from day to day. I'm not doing Christmas knitting because last year my gifts weren't really appreciated, and I'm not knitting for my husband's family because he is a STBX husband... that is a LONG story, and you're here for knitting, true? So Let's get to it.

Instead of showing you all the hundreds of things I already have otn, let's talk about what I have planned. First, I bought yarn today, and a few days ago, and I'm planning on using it all. Lots of hats and things. I'm going to make a hat and cowl set for Angie (Hi Angie!!) out of this... (sorry the pics are off center... I had to go through flickr to post them, and I don't have the patience to figure out how to center them right now... click to embiggen.)

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The blue is going to be the hat, I think. It's malabrigo worsted, in Tuareg. The multi is Araucania Nature wool chunky, and it's going to be the cowl. I think.

Then I'm going to take this yarn...

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And make the red (sorry it looks wonky, still haven't figured out how to take pics of things that are red...) into a hat to match Fingerless Gloves I made about a month ago. And the green is going to be either a cowl or a hat for me... or something. I haven't really decided, but I love it. Those are both malabrigo (I'm a junkie, I can't help myself...), in vermilion and lettuce.

Then this...

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Is Noro Silk Garden sock, and it's going to be Marywarmers. Or, Krystalwarmers as the case will be. ;)

I also bought yarn yesterday from Susinok's shop, slackford studio, to make socks for Angie for Christmas. I know I said no Christmas presents but she's the exception to that rule. :)

Monday, November 16, 2009

What is in the frog's crotch?

Look, I'm blogging! Actually, in my one group on ravelry, we're doing a "blog-along" for a month, so I'm going to try to blog every day. I'm sure this will last all of two days. But I'm gonna try it. :)

What have I been up to? Well, not a whole lot. Not as much knitting as I would like, though I have tested a few projects (Ok, so I knit half of a pair of everything I tested... I have issues lol), and I made some things for my friends... I made a hat, the "boyfriend hat," for my friend Phil, out of malabrigo in burgundy. I made a pair of fingerless gloves for my friend Liz, and actually I did the same pattern for myself, both out of malabrigo, in cactus flower and vermillion, respectively. I also made a pair of plain black ribbed fingerless gloves for my friend Bryan. That's a lot of gifts, for me, isn't it? :)

Currently I'm working on a hat for a KAL in "FGF: The Hat group" on ravelry, among other things... I'll take some pictures tomorrow of some of the other things I'm working on. :)

How has everyone been?

Saturday, October 24, 2009

All sea monkeys must be supervised

Holy crap!! We haven't updated since July???

Ok, I promise I'll try to blog more. Honest.

I have knitted a BUNCH. If I wanted to share everything with you, we'd be here till January lol. But I will share with you my Icarus that I finished. The project page is here if you're on ravelry.

I started this waaay back in January (of 09, not like, 07 lol), and just finished it last month. I LOVE IT. I would wear it always if it wasn't so delicate.


The yarn is jojoland Harmony, color "05," it sounds so romantic and pretty lol... It used less than one ball, around 650 yards.

Why yes, this is my second Icarus. The first went to Angie, you can see it if you click here.

I love love love that shawl. I want to knit it into a throw blanket or something someday. But for now, I'm done with it. Next on the agenda is the peacock feathers shawl... and yes, yes I am insane. Thank you for asking.

I also finished a pair of socks, plain, my own pattern...

Yarn is Araucania Ranco Multi and... I'm not sure what colorway. Pretty though lol. And a few pairs of fingerless gloves that look like this...


Only... pretty and not weird cause the camera freaked out. The pattern is Smariek's four rib braid cable mitts, the yarn is of course malabrigo. I also made a pink pair, and I have plans for a possible matching hat (for the red.)

In other news, Angie will be moving back to Ohio soon, and so will I... more details as it happens. Right now, I'm living (temporarily) in Vermont. My husband is working here until the end of December. I LOVE it in Vermont, but I just want to go home now.

Nothing else really new... how is everyone in blog land? Miss us? :)

Friday, July 24, 2009

Criss Angel is not the messiah!

Hey everybody!  I've been waiting to blog till I got my new digital camera (I'm still shopping around for the best deal but it looks like I'm going to have to suck it up and pay full price, damnit lol) But I have something really important to blog about and it needs no pictures so...

I got something really awesome in the mail today.  It's my permanent resident card.  What that means is that since the 30th of June I've been a landed immigrant here in Canada.  I can work here, go to school here, basically do everything a Canadian can except vote.  And in a few years I can apply for citizenship, which I'm going to do.

It's been a really rough journey to get here.  They should include a warning on the things you'll go through when you start this process.  I haven't seen my family in nearly 3 years.  I lost a dear friend because the distance was just too much and he's not a phone or chatting on the internet type of guy.  I lost my grandmother.  We paid nearly $3,000 (this is an estimate, I didn't keep track because I didn't want to know).  We took a trip to Calgary where I got sick and then suffered the whole trip home.  We've lived in a house with a person who doesn't like me and doesn't want us here for three years.  And there were several times we nearly got divorced because the stress was just too much.

But all that's over now.  I'm trying to get into school in October to study graphic design.  And next month?  I'm gonna go home and hug my mother.  :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

It's a very tangled web of Kahootsness

Hey guys! Look, I'm alive! We both are. Angie's been in a not blogging mood (but say hi to her!!) and I've been out of commission. My husband had lost his job, and we were living with my mom, which was horrible. So I was anxious and depressed, but I'm doing much better now because we're out of there. He got a job with a traveling company, which means that his company foudn him a temporary job and they're paying for our place to live, plus he gets paid normal salary and then extra stuff, which is really nice. We're staying at a hotel (because they couldn't find an apartment that would let us have both dogs and the cat) near Burlington, VT. lol I love the area, it's gorgeous, though the people are sometimes not very nice.

I left my camera cord at home, so I won't have pictures for a while. I can tell you that I've started some new stuff, and I've been working on some old stuff (like, for instance, Sheherezade), and I've recently gotten some new sock yarn. I'll show you asap, ok?

How is everyone in blog land doing?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

You are 46% Bacon

Today is MAY 14TH.  MAY 14TH!!!!

Why am I so worked up about today's date?  Here's how I was dressed to go for a walk tonight.

Confused?  Here, here's another hint

Why yes, that is snow.  I think I died and went to hell.  Except I believe in reincarnation.  *cracks up*

Anyway, I didn't blog to show you that.  I blogged to show you this.

That's Olivia's birthday sweater.  Well, it's the first one.  I want to make another one that has a hood.  Probably a tomten like last year (there aren't any pictures of the tomten there.  Apparently I didn't get any.  Just Olivia's first birthday pics).  It's Bernat Baby Sport in "Rosey Posey".  I'd say the color is close in that picture.  It's just a tiny bit lighter than that.  I loved knitting this sweater and I think I managed to crank it out in 48 hours.  I'm not sure.  I used size 8 needles to get 4.5 spi so that it would come out around a size 3/4.  It's actually a little shorter than I planned because I failed to account for the weight of the sweater stretching it out when I did my last measurement before starting the garter on the bottom.  Oh well, I don't imagine it'll fit for long anyway.  I hear she's a chunky little monkey.  *smile*

Sunday, May 3, 2009

You're a zombie, haha!

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while for me at least, but life has been rough. My husband lost his job, and so we have to move. It really stinks, we're going to be staying with my mom for a few weeks, and it's going to be sooooooo hard on me. So, as a reprieve, or just because I can, I made a bunch, and I mean, a BUNCH of baby booties.

The green ones are crocheted, yeah, I CROCHETED them. They're mock baby crocs. I used cotton-ease in lime, and a size h hook. The other two in that picture and these two...

Are seamless saarje's booties, aka (in Angie's post...) those "hard to pronounce booties." These ones, the green and pink ones, are my favorites.

The red and gray ones are made from Claudia Hand painted in the special buckeye colorway; the blue, green, and purple ones are Bernat Sox in color Hippi Hot; the pink and green ones, and the purple and yellow ones, are Bernat baby jacquards, in spearmint candy and easter basket.

I also made these booties...

Which are the simple t-bar shoes from the book 50 baby booties to knit. I made them out of Bernat softee baby in pink, obviously. :) See, I told you, lots and lots of baby booties.

I've also been working on random socks, and I test knit a pair of secret fingerless gloves for my friend Knitasaur on ravelry, out of malabrigo, and I made a matching bucket hat. The color is Pollen.

The inside is also malabrigo, in Oceanos. Aaaaand I started, last night, an Estonian Garden Scarf, in malabrigo lace, color verde adriana.

And Oliver is totally bored by all of this. Isn't he getting big?

Saturday, May 2, 2009

It's like playing charades with a blind person!

I've beaten the camera into submission so that I can finally blog again! lol  So recently Krystal told me that someone needed baby stuff and that's all I needed to hear.  I made a blanket, a pair of socks, a pair of those hard to pronounce booties, a little pair of cotton sandals, and a hat.  I love to knit for babies so any excuse is a good one.  

The color on everything is right except the blanket isn't so... neon.  You can hardly see the little colored speckles in the booties, which totally disappointed me.  I love the little speckles.  I'm seriously going to have to force myself to put those in the mailer on Monday!  I actually made the hat because I noticed that readingknitter01 (the lovely lady that started all this baby knitting insanity) had the first hat I made like that in her favorites on ravelry.  I just made this one bigger because I don't think a very warm hat in a newborn size is really a necessity for a baby born at the end of April in California.  lol  Want to see a close up of the edging cause it's so cute?

Of course you do!  lol  That color is totally off.  I fidgeted with that picture forever to try to get it right.  My camera just doesn't like that color.  I do though.  I'm making a mitered square blanket with that color and a darker blue.  I don't have any pictures of that though.  It was interesting getting the three pictures I took.

Yes, three pictures.  *praying Mom doesn't read the blog*  I made Mom a scarf for Mother's Day.

It's the Estonian Garden Scarf pattern by Evelyn A. Clark in my beloved Zephyr in "blueberry".  I loved making this scarf.  Even when it popped off the needles *sob* and I lost about 10 repeats.  I worked on this mostly while watching Twilight so in my head this is the Twilight scarf.  I loved making this so much that I cast on for another one today for me in dark grey Merino Oro.  I'm not loving the Merino Oro though.  We'll see if I can keep plugging along or if there's another ball of Zephyr in my future.  Oh what a sacrifice!  *grin*

(PS readingknitter01 didn't really start the baby knitting insanity.  It's been all baby knitting insanity all the time for me since I learned to knit lol)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Mickey Mouse... wanted to kill them.

Hi everybody!!!

What has everyone been up to? I've been sorta busy, sorta not. I threw out my back the other day, doing nothing, and I was seriously ticked about that for a few days. I haven't been doing much knitting, mostly just playing video games. Remember the sock from the other day? I'm almost to the heel on the second one (I'm on the gusset already) so it should be done soon. Other than that... not much in the way of knitting.

I did start this scarf in Malabrigo Lace, color Verde Adriana. But, I frogged it because... well... well, see, here's the thing. I like the picture of the scarf. I like the fabric I was getting. It looked just like it did in the picture. But... I don't like it. I don't quite get it. I'm going to try this scarf instead.

In other news, I'm off to do surgery.

Wish "new duck" a happy recovery! :)

Update: The surgery was successful, and new duck is once again a fully functional member of the toy department here!

Unfortunately, due to a slight error in judgment (in other words, the surgeon was a little buzzed)...

The leg is now off center. Oh well new duck... now, fly, fly away! Or... be tossed to the other room to be once again shredded by Storm. Whichever.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Baked goods don't give YOU this much trouble...

Hey guys, long time no see, I know. It's been kind of a rough month, so I thought I'd just catch you up on a bit of what I've been doing in a photo post. If you would like to know what the stuff is, and you're on ravelry, just check out my projects page, k? :) Except the stitch markers, I made those. lol here ya go!


Have a good week!!! :)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Man... you can't fit an alpaca into a bubble mailer

Hey there! Just a quick post, to let you all know what's up with me. I finished the first half of Sheherazade, and I'm onto chart 2 of the second half already. Here it is at the end of the first half.

You can click it to enlarge. Here's a close up of the edging.

There are more pictures of it on my projects page. I've also been a bit obsessed with my Icarus lately. You're supposed to repeat chart 1 five times, and I'm almost done with the fourth repeat. But since the yarn's smaller and the needle's smaller, I'm going to add a repeat I think. The color has changed to orange and is now yellow. I love yellow!!!

Speaking of loving yellow... I got a new Betta fish! And, he's YELLOW!

I don't know what to name him. Any ideas?

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

It hurts me when you get the lint

Ok, so I got my swap package today from Nikki (sfgwife on rav)! OMG my package was so incredibly AWESOME! It took me 20 minutes to link all the yarn she got me in ravelry!! Sheesh!

first of all, everything came in this awesomesauce mini suitcase that I am totally in love with. I think it’s the coolest thing I own now. And on top of the awesomesauce suitcase? The wollemeise. That's right. She sent me WOLLEMEISE baby!! She is so awesome! The color is “Red Hot Chili” and it’s reds and oranges and a little yellow and it’s so pretty and I’ve been petting it all freaking day. I’m in love.

I also got all of this stuff!!!

Which includes: A copy of Knit 1 magazine and Interweave knits, some stitch markers (are they handmade? They’re pretty!), a set of Harmony dpns from knitpicks, a tape measure (thanks! I needed that!!!), a pumpkin candle, one of those crocodile cases that zips closed, AND a ton of yarn!! Including Rio de la plata sock yarn (which I can’t find a link for…) in a marbled stone color, a ball of Regia stretch in burgundy, a ball of debbie bliss prima in a red color, a ball of Kauni lace weight that’s in a natural color, a ball of Sock-ease in Lemon Drop, Gedifra fashion trend sportivo (I had never heard of this, and it’s soooo soft!!!) In blues, pinks, yellows, and other colors, AND part of a ball of Bernat Sox in Hippy Hot, which will be cute for baby stuff.

Whew!! It's so AMAZING! I love it. Love love love it. Everything. I'm in love with it. All of it.

Thank you sooo much Nikki!!!

In an unrelated story, I claimed this last week on KYS. It's a gorgeous drop spindle!

I love it, and I'm going to learn to spin on it. I'm trying now. Well, not right now. Later probably. :)

Oh, and I've also finished Chart three on Sheherazade.

I'm like a woman obsessed lately, with the lace. I also worked on Icarus yesterday and today. Loving the lace. :) I'm gonna get back to it now. It and the Wollemeise.