The knitting goes on and on and on…

That’s my first sock. It fits… mostly well. Not perfectly, but it’s my first sock. Sue me. Still waiting on needle replacements, since I somehow LOST one somewhere between work and home. Joy. Then I’ll start the matchy matchy sock! Actually, I am almost positive that if I make my next sock slightly longer, and slightly better, I could probably get three socks out of my two balls of yarn, and, like, hang this first, not so perfect sock up for Santa this year. But maybe I won’t bother with that. I don’t know yet.

That’s the Lacy Kerchief Scarf in progress. I’m knitting it with Elann Sonanta (100% Mercerized Cotton, a nice sheen, but kinda stiff - hopefully it’ll soften up in the wash!), and Size 6 needles. Not bad to knit so far, but the cotton doesn’t stretch, of course, and… that’s hard on the wrists.

And last but certainly not least, my yarn and beads for the upcoming Mystery Stole 3! I’m so excited! The yarn is JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk, in pewter, and my god is it gorgeous. It looks like spun silver and feels like my Persian cat. Really. Actually, looks like my Persian cat, too. Hahaha. Moving on. The beads are all from The Beadwrangler (and oh, the yarn is from Sarah’s Yarns) And I would recommend either in a heartbeat. Ordered both this weekend (Saturday & Sunday). Received the yarn on WEDNESDAY, and I know it didn’t ship until Monday - holy cow, the service!) and the beads arrived today! So hoorah - buy from them! (Oh, and the prices on both are excellent - especially the Zephyr. Love it. Sarah also added in some color cards - for free - for all of her personal lines, and for the Zephyr.)

Anyway, I’ve decided to use the bead jar on the far left. (In the beads-in-the-yarn sample, this is the second bead from the left.) While the camera doesn’t showcase the glorious glimmer, let me just say that those beads look like raindrops on my yarn. Sooo pretty. But I really wouldn’t mind using the dark rainbow beads on my spare ball in some smaller project sometime! Wonder what else I can do with these beads…?

Now I’m off to put the chickens in for the night. Gotta take care of my babies!

I’m knitting a sock (very very slowly, due to severe tendonitis-arm-hand-pain attack) in the gorgeous yarn my SP10 sent me.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Clay. Oh, so earthy and so wonderful! It’s really sort of… late summery colors, or even autumn, and I considered waiting until… well, late summer or autumn to knit it. But she is a GODDESS and balled it up for me so I didn’t have to, and that sealed the deal. The very springtime/summery colorway (Daffodil? Something like that) that I purchased for myself was still in skeins. And there was no way I was going to mess with balling it up when I had a perfectly yummilicious yarn sitting there ready to knit.

Note to self: it would obviously be worth your time to invest in a ballwinder along with your beautiful swift. Really. You can spend $40 and make your life easier.

Anyway. On that note - my entire SP10 package for May is heavenly. And my pal outdid herself, really. She sent me an AUTOGRAPHED copy of No Sheep For You (drool drool - though granted, if the little “Your book has been autographed!” bookmarky thing hadn’t fallen out when I was flipping through pages, I never would’ve realized it, because I just went straight to the patterns!), and a delicious smelling soap that looks all earthy and mysterious, and some very lovely incense from a Japanese company.

There were two skeins of yarn in the package, but only one is show in that picture.

And that was not the end of my mail. Just the end of that package. The same day, I also got some other happy things that I ordered, including yarn for my spring fling pal (it’s on its way Monday!!), a cute pincushion, and happily, yarn from elann.

Some of that yarn is shown here, in a swatch I’ve begun (also on hold due to pain) for the Lacy Kerchief Scarf out of Interweave’s Holiday Gifts magazine.

Also, in other news, I finished Mom’s lavender sachet! I changed the pattern, deciding to do a lovely triangle instead of a 4″ square, which was neither as cute (I thought) nor as fun. This has the worst seaming job ever. Have I mentioned that I really have no idea how to seam?

Yesterday, I ended up a closeout sale at a quilt store. I bought lots. This first is for a quilt. The fabric line is called Almost Poppy, and I’ve been drooling for over a year. The only fabric that doesn’t go is the coral polka dot stuff, but it ‘matches’, even if it isn’t from the same line.

This, I picked up for a gardening apron:

And lastly, I picked up some charm squares in Moda’s “Sonnet” line. Love it.

I also got a few patterns. I wish I’d had the money for lots, lots more. As it is, I borrowed from Mom…

Anyway, I got my garden all planted at last, and now I’m just waiting for my muscles to stop spasming in pain so I can knit freely again. Hurry up, arms! Hurry up!

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted a single thing. I’d say that life’s been hectic, and in a way, it has, but it’s more an emotional thing than anything else. I spend the same amount of time on the computer or doing random shit as I always have. I haven’t been caught up in any /activities/, per se. I guess I just haven’t really wanted to acknowledge my own life online. Acknowledge that I haven’t done a thing worthy of talking about in, what, 3 weeks?

I’ve raised chicks to semi-chickens. They’re in the coop now. I will have to get pictures. (And chickens aren’t the only thing I need pictures of. I actually still don’t have a picture up yet of my Spring Fling secret pal package, either…. *begs forgiveness*) They’re growing great. Haven’t lost a one since the initial die-off, though I at times have /lost/ a couple… and had to chase them down and around and all that.

They’re endlessly amusing, if barbaric little monsters. I have a favorite. Her name’s Feather. I lurves her. I have some other favorites, but none as special as her. Except maybe Lazy Sue, who’s bald. I suspect some picking has been going on. Picking her feathers right out of her poor head.

I’ve been knitting in the last few days. The bloody backyard leaves scarf. It’ll be done tomorrow night if it kills me. Well, at least, the /knitting/ part will be done. I have yarn settled onto my pretty swift for Mom’s mother’s day gift. I have yet to wind it into a ball, let alone knit it, and tomorrow is Mother’s day. Hah. Way to go.

I have read… very little.

I have sewed… nothing.

Though, I have gotten some of my garden planted, and the chickens moved to the coop, and I have been working on a very geeky hobby called conlanging, which is… constructing a language. From scratch. Oh yeah, it’s geeky. I love it, though.

I bought some new clothes. Need to take some others back to the store. I have just ordered a second fountain pen and some $30 of new inks. Because… yeah, I totally needed to blow some money.

I don’t know what my issue is these days. A strange bout of apathy. I need to get over it.

This is the first step. Soon, I’m sure, I’ll be on a roll once again.

So I decided to make myself a cake on Valentine’s Day - and not just any old cake, but a Red Devil’s Food cake, which I’ve loved for years, but have never actually made. My mother or grandmother or someone always did the making, and I just did the eating. But this year, for my birthday (which actually isn’t until late March) I decided I wanted one. And I figured that asking for such a complicated cake (it’s layered) wouldn’t get me very far, so I expected I’d have to make it myself. But it /is/ a complicated cake, so I wanted to try it out first. Give myself a practice run at it, so to speak.

And a good thing I did, because the cake was a disaster. Oh, it tastes good. A little on the dry side, but it’s definitately good. But… well, look:

And that’s the good side - the side that hasn’t crumbled to pieces, the side that actually looks /okay/. The thing fell in the middle, and then the top slid nearly off the bottom when I went to take this picture (and gosh, it’s so dark in the background, and I don’t know why!), and I didn’t get enough frosting in the middle, and I had a helluva time getting the cakes out of the pans and properly stacked on top of each other.

But it is good. And the frosting? To DIE for. I’ll post the whole recipe up later tonight.

But for now, I’ve got a few more pics to share - like this beautiful package of goodies from my secret pal, Stephani - who was such a wonderful secret pal all through SP9! I was thrilled to know her and to have been spoiled by her! Everything in the photo EXCEPT the little heart dish was from Stephani.

A book on coffees and treats (soo many good things in here to make!) and some coffee flavored chocolatey things that spilled all over the box and made everything smell coffeeish, and the cutest little cup and saucer… actually, there’s two saucers, and there WAS two cups, but one got busted in the mail *sniffsniff*… and some uberdark chocolate that I’m tempted to shave up and make some real hot chocolate, and of course, the YARN. Holy cow, do I love this yarn:

It’s cotton. SOFT cotton. Sooo delicious. Patagonia’s Nature Cotton or something like that. I’m at work and can’t possibly look, but it’s gorgeous and soft and… it smells like coffee! *laugh*

And last but not least, something I made up a couple weeks ago - some flannel pillowcases, wintery themed! I love the material, and wish I’d had enough money at the time to buy much more of this, for a blanket or quilt.

So I put The Sock off for a while. My screwup is irritating, and once I showed it to A, novice knitter that she is, I knew it was impossible to continue without starting over. I don’t like to start over. At all. I mean, I’m sure nobody likes to start over, but I think I have a mild phobia of it. So The Sock is on the dining table, and in its place I picked up two balls of Twilley’s Freedom Wool and started on a scarf.

My mistake. You see, two balls of Freedom wool is not enough. I’m almost halfway through the first ball, and I’ve only got something like, 7-8″ of scarf. Granted, I am not doing garter stitch or even stockinette, but this is a drag. I fear I’m gonna end up with this skimpy assed scarf that barely fits around my neck. So I might have to start over on IT too. Did I somehow offend the knitting gods or what? I’m thinking about ripping it out and skinnifying it by a couple stitches to see what that does. It’d take an inch off the width and maybe give me a bit more length. Though I’m also second-guessing my pattern, bamboo stitch. With this fat wool, it’s rather dense. So maybe I’ll pick up my big fat needles and just do something lame like… garter stitch, with some lacey yarn-overs or something. I dunno.

I’ll definitely be using some different needles, however, because… these beautiful size 11 bamboo ones that I JUST got for Christmas are…. cracked. I was incredibly disappointed. I’ve emailed Clover, but if they don’t respond or help me out here, I’m gonna have to call my aunt who gave them to me and explain the situation and see what yarn shop she went to and call THEM. Hopefully I can avoid that by talking to Clover, though. I’d hate to tell her that she bought me a defective product.

Thirteen Random Things About This Week

1. I have finally ordered my mother a Christmas gift! From eBay, no less.
2. Some of my gifts are wrapped, but not all. I like to do special wrap jobs - no “wrap it in paper and put a sticky bow on it” for me. Nope nope. I go all out. This year, the theme is red and white (like last year) - however, I’m doing white paper this year, with red trim, instead of last year, where I pretty well did the opposite.





3. I have decided that while my tree has enough decor, the rest of my house is not near decorated enough.



4. I am not in the mood to knit. I’m just /not/. Post-shawl rebellion, perhaps?
5. My lastest QPB review has a LOT of books in it that I’d like to read. Or at least skim through at a bookstore to check over.
6. I am waiting anxiously for DIYplanner’s 2007 calendar templates to come out, so I can redo my planner. This time, I swear, I’ll do better.



7. It’s that time of the month again and I’m mourning being female and eating pretty much nonstop.
8. So what better time to make cookies, anyway? Mom and A came over, and we baked. And baked. And baked some more. We have about 16 dozen cookies. Chocolate chip, chocolate chip without the chocolate chips (this sounds bizarre, I know, but it’s my dad’s favorite), cry babies, raisin puffs, (all three of these are my mom’s recipes - rather, my grandma’s), and then we tried a couple new recipes, too - cinnamon coins (not so hot), and kiflins (an almondy cookie that’s VERY good!)



9. I am not done baking yet. I intend to bake more - peanut butter cookies, and sugar cookies, and gingerbread cookies, maybe. Mmm.
10. In light of the fact that my Windows computer just doesn’t want to return to a state of happy life, I’ve ordered myself pieces for a new one. Will gut this baby out and pop in a new motherboard, a beautiful dual core AMD processor, sadly only a gig of ram (gugh, the DDR2 stuff is pricey!) and a new SATA hard disk. Hopefully, I’ll get no DOA parts, and all will be well!
11. My cross-stitch project is nearly done! Just working on all the backstitching, which is going pretty fast, and then I just have to put the buttons on! Of course, then I must make it into a pillow or something.
12. I love Maddy the puppy!



13. I am getting a mixer (Kitchen Aid Artisan!) for Christmas! Except, I’m getting it early. Like… as soon as Amazon ships it here! Thank you Mom! I’ve been wanting one for a while now. Saving up the money. Figures that as soon as I have enough to buy it and it goes on sale, Mom tells me she’ll buy it for me for Christmas! *laugh* But that works for me! Mine will be Empire Red. Perfect.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Yep, all is well again with my beloved. A quick downgrade solved all my problems. First up is the finished Tea Cozy Hat! It’s cute. I could’ve made it a bit bigger, and the ribbing needs to be tighter, but oh well! I like it anyway!

Yarn: One of the bulky yarns at handpaintedyarn.com
Needles: Clover Bamboo, circ & dpns, size 8.
Pattern: Tea-Cozy Hat, available at handpaintedyarn.com (free)

And next up, of course, is my new sock-knitting venture. I’ve knitted another 3/4 inch or so on this since this photo, but it doesn’t look much different. This is the Universal Toe-Up Sock, from Knitty. I’m knitting it in Knitpicks’ Gloss, with Clover Bamboo size 1 dpns.

So I finished the tea-cozy hat and am now working on my first pair of socks that might actually fit me. I’m using the Universal Toe-Up Sock Pattern from Knitty. Mom’s Stole has not yet been blocked, so I’m holding off on pictures for that, but I do have pics of the hat, and the beginning of my new pretty sock…

However.

Just a couple days ago (hell, yesterday, even?) Adept pops up with a notification of updates to the OS. I look them over, and click ‘accept’. All goes well. Then, today, I plug in the camera, and poof… “An unknown error has occured.” I plug it in again. Same thing. I take the card out of the camera and put it into my photo printer to see if I can connect from there. Same error. I take my usb thumb drive and put it in… same error. HAL, my beloved HAL, is broken.

What is HAL? It’s the hardware abstraction layer for linux. It is, in other words, what makes things you plug into your computer /work/. In a nutshell. To be honest, I don’t understand it a whole lot more deeply than that, and that explanation will do. The hal was updated in the update, I know that. And everything worked fine first. And now it doesn’t. So now, I’m working on downgrading it back to its previous version, so I can hopefully get some friggin pictures up. Otherwise, I’ll have to head over to the other computer and do it that way.

On a related geekery note… Windoze is broketh, too. Explorer won’t load, so I can’t do a shittin’ thing, unless I ctrl-alt-del and click ‘run’ and then find me programs. How bloody annoying. I’m hunting up my windows disc to do a rescue or reinstall (oh dread, oh dread), but that seems to have been misplaced in the move. Can you say I’m having some bad luck? Is Mercury in retrograde or something?

Anyway. Photos coming when I can fix one of my bloody computers to do their jobs properly.

The sock. Let’s talk about the sock. I’m using Knitpicks’ Gloss, which is soooo sooo soft. Wool and silk, baby, wool and silk. Merino, at that. It’s in Cocoa, a… well, cocoa-y brown. I’m using size 1 Clover Bamboo needles, which feel terribly fragile in my hands, and I am terrified of breakage. But so far, they’ve held up through some dreaded “purl three together through the back loops” so hopefully they’ll be okay.

Either that or I’ll be hunting for some metal 1s. Brrr. Metal in this weather, not fun. Did I mention it’s been below zero?? With wind chill last night and the night before, it was in the -50s. Once, I saw it drop down to -63. Crapola, that’s cold. Tonight, ti’s somehow warmed up to friggin 22 degrees! Weird. But we’re supposed to get fierce winds, so… I don’t expect it to last. Poo.

Reminds me… must knit mittens. Soon.

So tonight I wound up a skein of thick and thin bulky handpainted yarn from (where else?) handpaintedyarn.com. And boy was I mad - that skein was all tangled up from the start, and it took me ages to wind. By hand, mind you - I am not so lucky to have a ball winder or a swift (would rather have the latter, since I tend not to have any chairs, lampshades, or anything else that any skein I get fits around, and annoying as it is, my hands do work just fine). But, once it was all wound up in a not-so neat little ball (we’ll call it ‘unique’, okay?) I started in on the Tea-Cozy Hat (pattern available at handpaintedyarn.com for free). It’s really quite cute - it’s knitted like a tea cozy, with a drawstring on top that closes it together, and is actually meant to be worn with a ponytail! Or without. Doesn’t matter. *laugh*

Anyway, it’s coming along so nice - because goshdarnit, after months and MONTHS of lace, it’s nothing but heaven to be knitting with bulky yarn on size 8 needles, doing nothing but stockinette, round and round and round. Knitknitknit. Ahhh…

I’m already 6.5 inches into it, and in another 2-3 rounds, I can start the decreases before I set the eyelets and finish off a couple inches later. So I’m close to halfway done, but not quite. Then I get to knit i-cord, which I hate hate hate, but I’ll survive. Hopefully. I may not have enough yarn, come to think of it, and then… I guess I’ll, uh, I dunno, go buy something solid but matchy to go with? Sure. Why not?

But hopefully, I’ll have enough yarn, and it won’t be a problem.

Speaking of, I got the needles I needed for this project - and, I believe, the next! Size 8 circs and dpns, and I /think/ I have both size 9 circs and dpns… I’m sure on the dpns, but not so positive on the circ. Must doublecheck before I head off to the city again this weekend.

Also, my crosstitch project for X-mas is coming along nicely, too! Photos soon, of everything, I swear.

It’s done! It. is. Done. The last stitches have been stitched. The Mystery Stole II is finished. All that remains is finishing work - weaving in ends and washing/blocking it, and my mother can at last lay claim to this gorgeous, soft, squishy, heavenly piece of art. What she’ll do with it, neither of us can say.

She’s had a look at it, nearly finished, and she does like it, but being as it’s 100% wool, and lacey, she won’t be wearing it often. Dogs who love to jump on people could create a nightmare. And having to hand wash and block it every time strikes terror in her heart. But… it was worth the time, for sure. Worth the accomplishment, even if she only wears it once. :)

I loved knitting it, even when I hated knitting it. I’m happy. I’m even more happy it’s done with. Now I can move onto something with bulkier yarn, bigger needles, and a much smaller knitting-time-frame.

Pictures coming soon…