Yarn shopping, illness

First off, I love that people are actually reading this blog. My real life friends, strangers on the internet, people that otherwise aren't into knitting. I feel sort of famous, sort of fabulous. I turned on "Webmaster Tools" to see how people are getting to my blog. Apparently I attract the suicidal and people with blister fetishes. Good God, I love the internet. This just fuels me to blog more, since I want to see what other crazy keywords are bringing people to me.

I've been watching home shopping for almost 3 hours. My grandmother had it on when I got home because Quacker Factory was on. It's this insane collection of bedazzled bullshit created by a woman with what appears to be a toilet seat on her head. I guess it's a headband or something. I swear, her stuff used to be even weirder, but The Soup made fun of her a lot and it got toned down. Damn. It's worth watching for mockery purposes. We ended up just leaving the channel on and watching how everything got progressively worse with each new show. (So this is life after baseball season)

I went shopping today. 4 of us from knitting group went on a yarn crawl and to Friendly's. This would have been better had I not come down with a horrible death cold yesterday afternoon. I was so embarrassed, sneezing in the yarn store. Fortunately, the second store we hit also sells tea, so I tried to Earl Grey this shit out of me. I also hopped up on Sudafed and Theraflu thin strips. I don't like medications, but I have no tolerance for this bullshit.

I bought 4 new yarns today. I got some Malabrigo Sock in Abril and a red Zauberball at Purl Diva. At The Knitting Experience, after my tea, I bought 2 Mini Mochis in purple/blue/green and a blob of Cascade Magnum in blue. I've been cuddling it like it was a teddy bear. I may not actually knit it, just love on it for a while. I had originally intended to do socks with the Mochi, but I think it might be pretty kickass as a sweater. Obviously not with just two of them, but I'll collect a few more. Just as soon as I had cleared some space on my sweater yarn shelves.

Oh. Yeah. I also bought Wollmeise.

I AM SO POWERLESS.

I rolled out of bed earlier than I might have, since I was, after all, very awake thanks to shitty sleep from my cold, and because I thought hey, I could refresh Wollmeise until my ride gets here. I took a very long shower and brushed my teeth forever, then turned my computer on. I went right to the in stock list to get ready to start refreshing, but the grab bags were already there. I stuck to my plan of buying just 2-packs instead of 5-packs, and bought a kunterbunt (could be anything) 2 pack and a gemischt (could also be anything, but the colors coordinate) 2 pack. I'm living dangerously! And if they suck, I can always trade. A friend actually sold me my favorite color recently for just $30. She could have gotten much more for it - I'm very grateful for her kindness. It's going to be a long 2 weeks waiting for surprise yarn to come in.

My Baana scarf is progressing, sort of. I don't know if I'm just distractable or what, but I'm only getting a few rows done a day. But I finally settled on a needle size. I'm now up to NINES to get the right hand. This is so ridiculous. I was feeling bold using FOURS on this SOCK YARN. Linen stitch is so weird.

I have to work tomorrow. Hopefully, the cold will have gotten better. And even if it hasn't, high school ed tech subbing is pretty low key. It's when I'm at the middle school on Wednesday that I'm always running all over the place. Hopefully, I'll get at least one more day of work in the week.

Almost time for dinner. Hopefully, I'll actually taste it.

The Argyle Purl Scarf 2: Step Up Your Game

Like any moderately successful movie, a moderately successful pattern earns a sequel. Get ready, because I've decided there needs to be a colorwork version of that scarf. But wouldn't the back be fug as hell? And don't I don't wanna mess with intarsia. So...

DOUBLEKNITTING MOTHERFUCKER.

I'm thinking navy blue, white, acid green.

And I'm totally going to give it that long and ridiculous title.

Destashing my life

I have too damn much of everything. Yarn, tea, clothes, lotion, makeup, books. Everything. And should I ever want to move out, there's no way I can just fill up my theoretical car and go. I moved a year ago and got rid of so much then, so it scares me just how much I somehow still have. I've also got a real conundrum with the yarn, since it's not like I need more sweaters/socks/hats/scarves, either. So here's a list of what I cleaned out today:

Easter candy (I bought a bunch when I worked at the pharmacy and had been rationing it out. I kind of forgot about it.)
10 books
14 shirts/sweaters
A large pair of men's shorts I used to wear to work but have many suitable replacements for
Denim shorts I haven't worn in years
Capris
2 pairs of underwear
1 bra
the box a bracelet came in
a gift bag
2 transaction registers for checks
Some papers
5 tea bags to be sent to someone else in a package with yarn I will never use, but she will
An extra lab coat from when I was a pharmacy technician - I'd keep it but it has the name of the store on it and that just rises the bile for me.

I live like a hoarder. But I cleaned out my trunk so well that not only does everything fit in, I don't have any junk on top of it, so I can easily get into it when I get dressed. This means I'll be much more likely to wear the stuff in it rather than get what's easiest. And the yearly "fill a bag for a dollar" book sale and new store with a million different pieces of clothing and lots of cheap stuff (like t-shirts for $3 and jeans for $12.50) were probably the worst thing to ever happen to me.

I still have infinitely more clothes than I need, and more than I'm comfortable with, but I don't have to do it all at once. After the winter, I'll reassess again and see what I didn't wear. I like the way I set up my drawers - I have one drawer with polo shirts, camisole tops, and long sleeve shirts - it's my layering drawer. I managed to get everything in well, without squishing things too badly.

I finally got a tea strainer today. I'm not mad about it - as soon as I stuck it in the water, a bunch of tiny tea pieces immediately shot out of it. I still really want the ball-on-a-chain style (like the assassin in the movie version of Angels and Demons had) but this will suffice for now. And it looks like I have a giant safety pin sticking out of my mug. Right now I'm enjoying some Teavana Chocolate Mint tea. I'm working on destashing tea and food, as well. I love grocery shopping, so I tend to buy more than I really need or will use. Then I end up throwing out good stuff that I forgot about or lost interest in and has now spoiled. Raspberries are the absolute worst. I get home with them and they're already a day away from going bad - and if I wait more than a few days to finish them, they're moldy. Always end up wasting money on them. So I'm considering it a victory to finish up a box of tea or blackberries.

Tonight, a friend and I are going to see Zombieland and go to a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. I've been craving Chinese SO bad. I'm also thinking about maybe getting some sushi. Here's the menu. I have no idea what I'm going to eat - it all looks good.

I've been neglectful.

Okay, trying to sneak in a quick post during some down time at work. It's not so much that I've been busy as I have been either too lazy or too focused on knitting. The Toni sweater is almost done, just needs a finished sleeve and to be sewn up. I dread this. I ran out of yarn, though, and I'm not having any luck finding it online. My yarn store says they have two in stock, but they can't find them. Crap.

I'm subbing today. I've been getting around 3 days a week lately, and I'm so glad for it. It's nice to have some sense of purpose. Getting up at 6:30 is hard, but I'd rather be doing that than waking up at noon because I have nothing to do with my life. It's been all special ed stuff, but I should be doing some regular ed subbing later in the month when teachers go out to grade writing prompts. Last year, I taught a day of first grade and a day of third. It was truly horrific and I don't know why I wish to repeat it, but I'm one of those people that does things just for the sake of the stories it'll generate.

I never actually blogged about the fair. I owned that competition. 8 white ribbons, 3 red, and 5 blue. I'm tempted to keep the ribbons on the garments and just wear them as accessories. The baby hat I designed came in first. I shamelessly added that info to the pattern description on Ravelry. You never know, maybe it'll convince someone else to make it. I like to check my designs and see if they're actually popular. I'd love to design something that really catches on. Maybe it'll happen with some socks. I just have a hard time writing up sock patterns because I just tend to make things up as I go once I get to the ankle, and it's hard to replicate that or put it in words. Or I'm just following the basic sock chart for those steps and I don't feel like I deserve to call that "my" pattern. Which is why I put everything up for free.

I'll put up some pics of the ribbons eventually. I took some pictures of some of the items with the ribbons on them, but the people at the fair stapled the ribbon directly to the tags this year. I have to be careful to take out the staples, lest I ruin the ribbon, but since the tag is on the front instead of the back, I wouldn't know what it's for. But I can't take pics of the ribbons that way because my home address is right on the front.

I also need to take pictures of my new Wollmeise, Campari Orange and Frosch. I will probably trade the Frosch, but I'm not sure what for. I've had offers for Limone and Fruhling, but I'm not sure. It's not like I'm going to use it right away. If I can convince someone that they totally want to part with a Libelle for it, though, that'd be a different story. I didn't stay up for the stalk last night, since I had to get up for work today, and there was a lot of good stuff there. But that's okay - I also went shopping and bought a bunch of new shirts at the mall. That's my frivolous spending for the week.

Speaking of frivolous spending, I figured out today that I can go yarn shopping with my friends on Columbus Day after all. I thought that was the day I was going to a Red Sox game, but no, I'm going on Sunday. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't realize that. I guess I had remembered saying "good, then I won't even have to get up for work the next day because it's Columbus day" as "good, it's Columbus day." And I do have work on Tuesday and Wednesday so far. But this means my week is Boston-shopping-work-work! Awesome! It's not that I need to do any shopping, nor do I want to, but I want to go out to lunch with my friends and I was sad at the prospect of missing out on it.

I'm using my first hank of Wollmeise. I started a Baana scarf, which is a linen stitch triangle scarf. Ew, linen stitch. I've gotten the hang of it, but it's kind of slow going. I'm using Lowenzahn, a variegated green/yellow. It's cheerful. I'm actually up to size 7 needles because of the tightness of the stitch. I could go even bigger but that's okay. I wanted it to be light and flowing, but it's fingering weight yarn, so I was thinking I would still get that with 4s. Nope. It was rigid, like a bib. It's not a pattern I could easily bring to knitting group with me, since it's a 4 row repeat with increases every other row, and it's hard to keep track of if they're left or right leaning - yes, I'm actually bothering to check this time. Usually I just pretend it doesn't matter. For Wollmeise, I put in the extra effort.

Clearly, I hate myself.

Hey, you know what would be a great use for all my blue and purple Wollmeise?



http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/autumn-rose-pullover

Yeah. Because that wouldn't be stressful AT ALL. For me, the biggest issue would be picking the colors. The original has 11. That would result in me making the biggest Crayola piece of shit sweater ever. Or all the colors would blend together and it would just look like a blue sweater. I think I would really need a kit for this - or better yet, someone to pick out my yarn for me and assign each color to a spot. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

Perhaps I should ease into a fair isle sweater a little more slowly.

I was thinking of a deep-v sweater vest with a center pattern that mimics my Argyle Purl scarf, but with just elongated reverse stockinette diamonds. I'm seeing it in Wollmeise Petit Poison No. 5. It's kind of a deep mulberry. I just don't know what I'd wear it with. I look so ugly in button down shirts. I keep buying them, though, because I always think "oh hey, that's stylish!" and it never is. Love them on men. Heinous on me. And googling "sexy sweater vest" isn't giving me any reinforcement. It did give me Ellen Degeneres, and that helps a little, but somehow I doubt looking like Ellen is going to get me laid. Well, it might. Just not in the way I was intending.

I've got 11 inches for you, baby.

11 inches of pure sweater ecstasy.

That's the back part of my Toni sweater, from The Mirasol Collection Book 5. I bought that book at Seaport Yarn in Portland, and I'm using Cascade Venezia Worsted from The Knitting Experience that I had been loving for so long, and finally bought when it was on sale. I'm also being terribly uncreative and using yarn that is totally the same color as the pattern photo, which you can see in someone else's WIP here. I got through that much, plus two pocket liners, before I had to wind the next ball. I guess that counts as destashing. At the very least, it let me make another visit to the personal yarn store to pull out the next hank.

I brought all 15 items to the Cumberland fairgrounds tonight. I'm so nervous. All my babies are gone, waiting to be judged. I feel like I have a reasonable shot in many of the categories. In a repeat of last year, my plain knit socks entry (the pom pom socks) were an immediate attention-getter. That's the one I took a blue ribbon in last year. It's hard not to aim for a repeat performance this year. Which may have been a major motivator in submitting 15 items to the fair. I like ribbons.

I went to the Y for the third time today. I saw a woman that I've subbed with before (yesterday, actually - I got a half day covering for my former boss) and she was telling me about proctoring SAT exams. That must be coming up soon, so I sent an e-mail to the contact person as soon as I got home. It's great money, so hopefully that turns into something for me.

Takashi Saito is killing me right now. After Ramon Ramirez prevented a shut out. Oh bullpen, you never make it easy.

September

The weather was great today, not a cloud in the sky and perfectly warm. I took my 2 hour walk/tiny bit of running and worked up a hell of a sweat. Granted, I live on top of a 90 degree hill. That alone may be the reason my pants are now dangling off my ass. You can just call me Ms. No Booty. I'm not sure what the official weight loss is, but I know I lost 3.3 pounds between last Monday and Saturday. Perhaps I'll weigh again later in the week.

I've been drinking tea again this week. I've never been someone that could make a big pot of tea and drink 8 cups before it gets cold, but 1-2 a day is pretty good for me. I'm finishing up some vanilla black that a friend sent me. The internet has been my main tea source - it's easy enough to post on the Random Acts of Kindness board on Ravelry and someone will send you samples. I've been working through those for a while, and recently bought some chocolate mint black tea at Teavana. That store can eat a dick, though. They were pushing me to buy this $7 tin I have no place for because otherwise my tea would somehow be ruined. It was even to the point of saying they wouldn't let me leave without it. What the fuck ever. I'd never really heard anything good about them, anyways, but I was so excited that our mall actually had a tea store. Little did I know all the tea was kept hidden behind the counter and it was staffed by jackasses. No thanks, I don't need an $80 teapot in the shape of an elephant, anyway.

I started a new sweater today. It's a pattern called Toni, from a Mirasol pattern book. I'm using Cascade Venezia Worsted, a yarn that I got on sale from The Knitting Experience during their Summer sale. So far I've made pocket liners (that's a first) and a bit over an inch of the back. I opted not to do the back and 2 fronts at the same time because I was having a hard time conceptualizing the different stitch patterns they have and the whole pocket thing. Let's see how bad my sewing turns out when I have to put this thing together. Ugh.

I'm going to the Y tomorrow. I'll use the machines there for a couple hours, since I have a free pass. I do like it there, but I'm not sure I could get there often enough to buy a monthly/yearly membership. It's a change from the UNH gym in a few ways - it sucks having to actually pay to work out, but it's awesome that I'm not standing around awkwardly waiting for a treadmill or a bike. And I'm not surrounded by frat boys and Barbie dolls when I'm trying to figure out how to adjust the seat height.

Now I'm googling for tea. I guess fall's here.

Finishing up prep for the fair

I like my blog so much better when there's pictures in the entries. Accordingly, there's a penguin. And here's a penguin butt.



I know I already put up a picture, a very awkward one of the penguin on my countertop in front of a piece of foam core, but I felt all artsy and shit. I'm alone during the day sometimes now, and one of the other residents in this building moved out, so I've been frolicking about the front and back yards more, since no one's around to see me putting a penguin in a tree or taking pictures of Wollmeise topless (because I'm sweaty after running and why bother putting on a clean shirt). I also put a pillow in a tree.



It JUST makes it to fair size specification. And I am so in love with it. For something that was made on a whim as a total destasher, it couldn't be prettier. The other side has a tier of black diamonds right across the middle - it fits perfectly. My friend Vivian had suggested entrelac for it, and that led me to the Kureyon, since Kureyon is just made for this sort of stuff. I changed balls every tier, and occasionally worked from a scrap ball or the other end of a ball when both balls were at a similar color. I used two full balls and a bit of scrap leftover from the Noro scarves I made last Summer. Got three things out of my stash, hallejuah. And then I bought 16 Wollmeises. I am powerless. Want to see them?



That's all 16 of them in my Lantern Moon basket, or, the one useful thing from the "basket of yarn" I bid on and won at my last NHPTV auction. If anyone wants an autographed copy of The Friday Night Knitting Club, let's negotiate. And if you want a more dramatic shot of my collection, here you go (this is also my background on my desktop and twitter now):



I think I'm finished making things for the fair. I made a baby hat that was so damn cute, I ended up writing the pattern and putting it up on Rav - The Little Lady Baby Hat. I know, I sicken myself. And I only made it for the fair - I have no idea what I'll do with it after. Maybe it'll become the next Clapotis and I can send it over to the LYS that I got the yarn from to use as a shop sample. Or, you know, that has no chance of happening. But one of my internet friends is making it, at least! It has a ruffle, after all. You can't beat the ruffle. Except for the part where I make you cast on like 300 stitches. That was pretty cruel of me.

I've done a little less knitting this week because I've been taking advantage of the fact that September actually has a few decent weeks of weather and going outside walking/running for hours. I accidentally wandered to the next town yesterday. And the day before that, I accidentally locked myself in a community garden. But that's a story for another time. A story about why I should join a gym instead, I guess.

Right now I'm working on a slouchy hat with Manos Silk Blend. It's so soft and so nice to work with. I just fear that I'll run a bit short, so I had to go into this project with a willingness to frog. That's never anything fun to think about. So instead, think about a bed covered in sock yarn.



There's a reasonable chance I'm mentally ill.

Half a pair!

I bound off a sock tonight. It's made with Regia Pompon (not pompoM, mind you) yarn, which is pretty much if Fancy Fur was sock yarn. It's interesting, certainly, but I'll never be able to get shoes on with it. So they're slipper socks. I made them as the second go at an entry in the plain knit socks category at the fair. I just didn't feel like the self-striping ones had enough pizazz. Last year, my blue ribbon winners were made with sparkly yarn, and that totally nailed it for me (Patons Brilliant, FYI). So I made giant knee socks for no reason and wasted a week. Eh, whatever. Usually I'd follow that up with "it's not like I had anything better to do," but this week, I actually do. I have those four days of subbing. Of course, it's midnight now and I have to get up at 6:15, but I accidentally slept until 11:38 this morning and I just can't force myself to sleep even if I know I have to get to bed. I'll just be a little draggy in the morning, but anxiety will certainly keep me alert. Especially if I have to wipe anyone. Dear god.

Organization

Crap, I didn't blog yesterday. I thought about it just as I was about to get into bed, but couldn't be bothered to go back down and pour out some drivel just to say I kept a streak alive. So, the count begins again.

I did this today:



That's my sweater yarn, neatly organized to give me a personal yarn store. Now, when I want to make a sweater, I can pick any of 9 choices of color/fiber, and I don't have to hunt around for it. After this fair madness, I definitely plan to get cracking on that. Plus, now I get to look at yarn while I fall asleep. Many happy dreams are sure to occur.

My day, in pictures

---

My day started with a coffee date with a fantastic guy. Mmm. Can't beat chai lattes and three fabulous hours of conversation.

When I came home, there was a big box of Wollmeise waiting for me - the aforementioned Lowenzahn, Pfefferminz Prinz, and Lavendel. Lavendel is definitely my favorite. None of these skeins are ever quite what I'm expecting. Sometimes they're much prettier, sometimes they take a little getting used to, but they've all grown on me. A friend of mine ordered some PP and her skein from the same update had much more contrast between the green and blue. Mine almost looks semi-solid. Very strange. But still lovely. I also expected the Lowenzahn to have more yellow in it, but I'm learning to not always trust the pictures on TLE.

I also got some Yarn Pirate I had swapped for a few weeks ago. It's a fantastic aqua blue. It'll be perfect for some intense cabling on socks.

I watched a frighteningly bad Red Sox loss - 12-2, White Sox. But it was actually somewhat entertaining, because with nothing good to talk about, Don Orsillo and Dennis Eckersley, who is a MILLION times better than Dave Roberts, just started talking about random shit, like how to shave your own head or setting people's feet on fire. It was worth it just for the commentary.

I finished a project I started in 2005. I don't know what my issue was with this penguin. I just lost interest in the thought of making the beak and feet. After doing so tonight, I totally understand why. I was not about to make 6 individual toes, seam them, and then sew them all on. Hell. No. So I figured out my own stitch count, knit in the round, and then divided up the toes like glove fingers. I hate making gloves. This should have been a clue. I was working with standard size DPNs with TWO stitches on each one. Goddamn. I couldn't have been happier to be done with that. I've been hoarding this bag of Polyfil much longer than I've been knitting, for reasons that will eventually get me on A&E, so I had plenty to stuff the penguin with. Of course, when it came time to do the feet, I'd already brought it upstairs. So I just cut a few yards of Kureyon off my scrap ball and shoved them in there. That's one way to work through the stash.

Tomorrow I'm going out to lunch with my knitting group. We'll be sitting on the patio in the warm sun, eating fancy food overlooking the ocean. I see some vodka and cranberries in my future, although from that fancypants description, a mint julep sounds more obvious. Three of us booked a trip to Camden, ME for March, for a long "knitter's weekend." I can be talked into anything. Sadly, I can be talked into $275. The yarn store sort of hosting it wants a $75 fee... but you get 20% off in the store and a goodie bag! If I spend enough that I end up saving $75 thanks to that discount, I officially have to stop buying food so I can use the cabinets to store yarn. As it is, my bedroom is a personal yarn store. It's getting sick, really. Nevermind the Wollmeise basket. I'm actually pretty glad there wasn't an update tonight. I have got to cut it out. That said, I'm bringing my ipod touch to knitting tomorrow, just in case there's an update while I'm out and I can grab it through the coffee shop's free wifi. I'm beginning to totally understand drug addiction.

Three boxes came to my door today.

From two updates, because I absolutely love paying more shipping. Look, it's WOLLMEISE.



That's my collection until 11:15 tomorrow morning, when three more will be delivered. From left to right: Birkenrinde, Roter Himbeermund, Sonne, Wasabi, Hortensie, Versuchskaninchen I, Petit Poison No. 5 Dark

I love them like they're puppies. Someone is interested in trading for my Wasabi, but now that I've taken it out in the sunlight, I'm not sure I can let it go. All of these colors grow on me even more the more I look at them. I think Sonne might be my favorite of the ones I had today (V1 was previously the only member of my collection). 3 more will be delivered tomorrow, and then I kinda sorta bought 5 today. There were two updates, it couldn't be helped. I think there may still be more coming - I can only imagine what Sheri at The Loopy Ewe is saving. And at some point, she has to run out of Safran and Birkenrinde, the colors that are always the last to go. If I miss an update Saturday while I'm at knitting... that's probably for the best. Unless they've been saving some Pfauenauge or Sultan. Then I'll just have to cry.

I finished and stuffed my pillow! I'll take pics tomorrow. It looks fantastic. Can't wait to submit it to the fair. Got a good bit of Kureyon out of my stash, too. You know, make room for the Wollmeise that's invading.

Ice cream boyfriend strikes again.

So I used to live next door to an ice cream window. WHY DID WE EVER MOVE. Being that it's September 2nd, I realized that time is running out on ice cream. It was a gorgeous day, so I walked a couple miles (okay, maybe it just feels like it. But it's at least one of them. and a half.) to get some. There's this guy there that's been flirting with me via ice cream for years. I have no idea how old he is, because he looks pretty young, but I did see him smoking recently (heartbreaking). Like I said, he's been there a few years, but this place is pretty into the child labor. I applied there myself when I was 15. But anyways, I'm not a cougar, so I just take the ice cream, not the dude. He always gives me an obscene amount. Today I walked home with this:



Hot damn. It was the best walk home ever. That's all chocolate soft serve ice cream and crushed up Oreos. I eat like a god. I got a kick out of the "it's the end of the season, this is all the crap that didn't sell" hard serve flavors they had today: Indian Pudding, Almond Joy (they have had Almond Joy the entire Summer... usually flavors rotate every day or two), Pumpkin Pecan... not pretty. Indian Pudding, sweet Jesus.

I had a great day to myself, knitting, eating broccoli-cheese-and-bacon soup, watching some classy episodes of Trading Spouses. I even sent the secretary in charge of assigning substitutes an e-mail to remind her that I have full availability now, and she wrote right back with a four day assignment for me! It's even ed teching! The best part of that is that you get hourly pay instead of a flat rate, and it works out to be a lot more than the flat rate. Plus, it's one on one instead of "oh my God, there are 20 first graders here and they are solely my problem." Then, I went out for the best time I've had in weeks (and I've had some great times!), mini-golfing and out to dinner with five friends. It was SO much fun, and, odd as it sounds, even better because none of us are any good at mini golf. It's better when you can all laugh about being terrible, you know? I tied for fourth place, which, all things considered, was pretty amazing. I hit the ball over onto the next hole at one point. I'm like the mini golf hulk.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, after repeatedly yelling "YES!" in the mini golf parking lot in order to convince a skeptical friend that yes, she really did want to go out. I'm not used to drinking with my original two friends, but the new three were more comfortable. My friend Anna and I decided to join the guys in drinks. I apparently ordered A BUCKET OF MARGARITA.



Totally drank it all, too. Didn't get wasted off of it, like the last time I had a margarita. Granted, last time was two margaritas and two vodkas, the vodkas being consumed one right after another, and having never had that many drinks in one night before. My face got warm, but I didn't get silly off it. I was already plenty silly from having a WONDERFUL time with my friends. It was a shame to have to go home. I can't wait to see them all again - it was such a fantastic time. I'm so glad that I'm getting out more, trying new things, opening myself up, meeting new people, and finally being comfortable being myself. Things have gotten so much better because of it.

I've now blogged 5 days in a row! I know the time stamps don't reflect it, but I say, even if it's after midnight, if I'm still up, it still counts as the same day. I don't want to commit to writing every single day for a year, since that'll just lead to failure and disappointment (I'm so optimistic) but I think I'm on a good roll. And I've really enjoyed this, after being pushed by my friend Jennifer to do so.

Entrelac pillow

It's coming along - behold:



I don't know if I'm going to have enough to get it done, even with two full balls of Kureyon in my stash. Crap. If all else fails, I'll just do a regular background - maybe striping some stash yarn. This pillow is the ultimate stash buster. It would make it harder to felt, like I was intending to do for a Christmas present, but I could always pick it apart closer to winter, felting the entrelac half and then removing as many rows as necessary from the back and then re-attaching it. Of course, then the width wouldn't be right. Argh.

Got a huge amount done tonight. Hoping to make some more progress before I go out tomorrow. And really hoping WM doesn't update while I'm out, too.

Hi Jennifer!

:)

Madness? This is Wollmeise!

I haven't gone to bed yet, so this post still counts as Monday.

I got cartjacked on a WM 80/20 update tonight, so I missed the V3 and Ulura I had in my cart. More than made up for it when there was a 100 update later in the night:

Lowenzahn
Lavendel
Pfefferminz Prinz

Holy crap.

I actually had two more in my cart but I looked at it and said out loud "I can't do this." I hope the two I put back went to someone that hadn't gotten a chance to get some before - I've been a piggy lately. And I went to Seaport Yarn, a store where some friends are often unable to spend less than several hundred dollars. I had been there once before and didn't have that problem, but today I found so much wonderful Mirasol yarn that I needed to make sweaters out of. I grabbed a few other things for socks and hats, as well as a pattern book. The woman that works there is very nice, too.

School started today. Although I didn't get an ed tech job, I'm on the sub list. Hopefully I'll be getting a little work sometime soon. I guess I can always hope the rumors about Swine Flu getting stronger are true. Because I'm going to hell.

I'm working on an entrelac pillow in Kureyon as an entry for the fair. I am so shameless. I figured I could bang it out fast, but I ended up going out today and then the WM update got me all thrown off, as well as lots of Twittering with my friends. Let's see if I can at least finish this tier without getting too distracted. I think the pillow might get felted after the fair and become a Christmas present. I'm too afraid to felt it now and have it shrink below fair size standards.

Brilliant!

I was a few rows away from being done with my second pair of socks in two days... and I forgot to do the ribbing.

It's like a jigsaw puzzle - you can pull it apart and have the fun all over again!

Or not.

Damn you, Wollmeise

For the uninitiated following my blog, I guess I need to give some backstory. Think about when Beanie Babies were in their heydey - total fucking madness, and people bought them just because they existed and it was such a fucking thrill to actually find them, so who cares if you even like what you just bought. This leads to, essentially, a black market where people sell what they've got for higher prices to people that had no chance of getting it in the first place, or trade what they bought on a whim for what someone else bought on a whim. While no one does this with most Beanie Babies any more (side note: this was the most sought after, most expensive Beanie Baby ever - I looked it up to say "hahaha look how much the price has gone down" but WTF WHO IS STILL PAYING THAT?! And why did I give so many of these things to Goodwill last year?) the practice is alive and well... with yarn.

I know, wtf, right?

Yeah, well, I'm realizing that there comes a time in every hobby where you get so into it that anything is logical.

To my credit, I never was interested in paying premium prices for Wollmeise. For a long time, I had no real interest in most of the colors. I had no plans on ever being able to buy it directly because there's only one US supplier and it sells out very quickly, and the German woman who dyes it puts it up on her site early in the morning in Germany, but more like 3-5 am here. And there's no advance notice. Some people will sit at their computers refreshing the website every Thursday night/Friday morning (that's when it usually updates, but not necessarily) and I'm really not that hardcore about anything. That could be my only option to get a new kidney and I'd still say "fuck it, I'm tired."

Wollmeise (or WM) is $30 on The Loopy Ewe (TLE), the US distributor's website, and it works out to be about that same price when you convert Euros to dollars when buying directly from Claudia, the dyer. And then shipping is $5.95. So when you see people selling it on Ravelry, for $35-$45, that's actually a very fair price. I know, insanity. But it's 510 yards of fingering weight yarn, and I'm rarely opposed to paying $20 for 300-400 yards of fingering weight yarn for socks. And what draws people to WM is the intensity of the colors. I couldn't tell at first what made WM so different from anything else you can find in a yarn store or on etsy, but with the right photography, I could tell that yeah, the colors really are incredibly saturated and just jump out at you.

I caved and bought my first skein at the end of July from a Ravelry destasher. The color is called Versuchskainenchen I. Hell yes, I typed that without looking it up. Versuchskainenchen is German for "guinea pigs," and these colors are "test" colors not supposed to be part of the regular line. I did pay $40 for it, shipping included, but goddamn, look at it:

I really couldn't capture its majesty in a picture - I'm not a very good photographer, and I couldn't get the sun to be in the right spot (as physically moving sunlight is rather difficult) when I took the pictures. But still. It's gorgeous. Take my word for it.

I thought I was done with the WM thing until I checked twitter earlier this week and saw a post that it was up on Claudia's website. I flew for my credit card and hurried to remember what the address was, and then find the button that made it be in English instead. The "in stock list" was very hard to navigate and didn't have pictures of some. Many of the yarns had already sold out, but I did manage to grab one in Clementine, a bright blaze orange. I checked out as fast as I could, because people tend to get cartjacked: there's only one skein left, but it's been simaltaneously put into 10 people's carts. Whoever checks out first gets it. I totally got that shit. Still high on the thrill, I noticed there was also a bright yellow and an orange/yellow variegated that I liked, and tried to place a second order. As I was checking out, I got an automated phone call from my credit card company, asking if I had authorized a payment to "The hardware store" in Germany. Wtf, no. I had to press buttons for more info and figured out that yes, I had. In that time, I got cartjacked. Boo.

So that was Thursday. Fabulous, right? I got the joy of celebrating with a bunch of online friends who had also scored, many of whom had caught their first update, like me. I was still pleased when I got up Friday. I lazed in bed, made my bed, then came down and turned on my computer. Immediately, a friend messaged me to tell me that now it was up on TLE, too. WTF?! The thing about WM is that it's SO hard to get and so unpredictable - were there really 2 updates in 24 hours? Hurriedly, I selected a different red/yellow/orange yarn and tried to check out. Immediate cartjacking. There wasn't anything left in colors I liked. Having just scored, I felt ok passing up a brownish orange - a little smug, too. Oh look, I could have WM, and I'm choosing not. Aren't I just a fancypants.

So it didn't it just blow my fucking mind when the same friend IMed me later to say that TLE had just put up MORE.

I ended up placing two separate orders, out of fear of cartjacking. And paying shipping twice. Because I am AWESOME with money. I got Wasabi, a bright crazy green, and Birkenrinde, which I am madly in love for the fact that it looks like cookies and cream.

And then TLE updated again on Saturday night.

Hilariously, I was supposed to be out, but rain intervened. And, uh...
Hortensie
Petit Poison No. 5
Roter Himbeermund
Sonne

I had a little bit of a frenzy.

I guess it's a good thing I didn't make it to that yarn sale this morning.

Doubleknitting = magic, roughly

I started a new project last week, after I totally gave up on the Clapotis. The end datefor the KAL was announced and I didn't think I was going to make it. I'm also not happy with what may end up being the finished length of it, since I'm out of yarn and it's one of a kind. And it's not like it's some etsy seller I can convo to get them to make me something similar, it's Fleece Artist. So, I'm boned. I've got half a Clap. Maybe I can swap it to someone for their kid, or something. I mean, swap it to someone that would give it to their kid, not get a kid in trade. That would be a pretty bad swap. Anyways, the new scarf is Vice Versa, by Lauren Aylor, the woman who designed the Lizard Ridge blanket. It's pretty simple, but I wanted a pattern since I had never done the technique before and tend to be pretty skittish about learning new things. It was pretty easy to get started, though. I even taught my best friend to do it, and she did a few rows on my scarf. They came out so well I can't even tell which ones are hers and which are mine.

Sarayu bought yarn so I could make her socks. I suppose that should be the next thing on my list, but I do really want to focus on the Cumberland Fair. That's in mid-September, so I'd love to devote this month to grinding out stuff for the fair. I know I've made a million things since the last one, but I'd love to do some pretty complex socks so I feel confident about my entry in that category. I'd also like to do some baby items just so I can expand into more categories this year. It's not like it'd take me terribly long to make a baby hat. I'd just donate it to charity after, since I don't know anyone with a baby.

I made brownies today. They had chunks of Andes mints and Oreos in them, after I watched Rachael Ray this morning and she did the same thing. So good. Granted, each bite probably puts four pounds on me. But damn if they weren't fun to make. I had my cutting board out to cut up all the mix ins. It was like my old personal Coldstone Creamery.

I also did a bunch of job stuff today. I asked for reccomendations, applied for jobs, did paperwork for unemployment, updated the resume, made phone calls. You know, all that stuff I should be doing. I just haven't felt too inspired since I was pretty sure about the fall, but now I'm seeing that the job is no longer posted, so they've probably had a big response. You can never be too safe, so I might as well expand my search base. So I might be doing my job in a new town, or I might be doing something entirely different. It'll be okay.

I need somewhere to write down ideas. Oh look, a blog.

Don't mind me, I have sock ideas. I just need to vocalize them. In a non-vocal way. And then maybe remember them. Or even pursue them.

I think I might do Broadripple again with the Poems yarn. I have no idea what to do for the modular knit socks but I know that pattern is very much stuck in my head right now. I think it might be good with a solid and a variegated, or at least a semi solid and a variegated. I'm not ballsy enough to attempt two variegateds, since all mine have a thousand or so colors in them. I wish the pattern gave an approximate yardage for each color. It looks like it has stash-busting opportunities, but I'd be afraid of running out. So, like everything else, it'll inevitably be a stash-creating opportunity. Maybe I could work from both ends of the Ty Dy Socks rainbow yarn. Assuming I can actually get to the middle end. YARN IS HARD.

I have too much guilt to actually start socks while this stupid Clap is still on the needles. Not enough guilt to do more than 4 rows a day, of course. It's not like it's even hard. I just lose interest, and then I also know I am so not going to have enough yarn and I do not want to spend $25 for more, not in the least. Not to mention, every time I measure it, it gets short. Seriously. This is why I do not sew clothing, just curtains. I've had urges to sew lately, too. It's just that the only things I might sew are things I would get even less use out of than my 35th pair of socks.

I get to work next week! I ran into someone that needs a sub for this week at summer school. Apparently you can just tell central office that someone is subbing for you and that's good enough. Works for me. So I get 24 hours. I know Summer pay is higher in other districts. I doubt that's the case in Yarmouth, though. That would be way too awesome. It'll also get me introduced to the students I'll be teaching next year if all goes well. Sent the application in as soon as I saw the posting on Thursday. And if nothing else, I'll be a sub. I guess it's not the loftiest aspiration, but I like the randomness of it. Half of my life is just for the purpose of having stories. You'd think I would have had a more exciting life then.

I can never think of post titles.

Every time I see Vince The Sham Wow Douche, I just get mad at the fact that Billy Mays is dead, and this hooker assaulter is alive.

I've been knitting a lot, just not blogging it. I did the whole Stella sweater, which is fairly awesome, but still needs a button. I finished some socks that were in progress, and they flew off the needles. I've been going like nuts on my scrap yarn blanket. Megi taught me how to graft as I go, so the blanket is growing, and beginning to resemble a blanket, instead of lots of fucked up scarves sewn together. Poorly.

The Clap is going nowhere, mostly due to it being laceweight on ones, and for the number of repeats I've done, it should totally be done, but, of course, the row gauge is a bit different when it's LACEWEIGHT on ONES. There's a reason this thing shares a name with a horrific sexual disease that if it goes on long enough, will make you insane. Also, thank you Urban Dictionary:

Nick name for disease Ghonoreah , comes from the noise when back in civil war where they would breakup the puss build up by banging the butt of their rifles on the penis laying on a table.

OH MY GOD.

I'd post more but it's a Josh Beckett day and I'd rather ogle that than a computer.

More work

3 more balls of Malabrigo and one ball of KP Essential Multi down.

Will do an actual post sometime later this week.

The past week.

St. James = completely used 2 balls of Comfort
Swap = Gave away 2 hanks of Lorna's Laces
Stella = Complete use of 2 balls of Malabrigo

Net loss = 6 balls

Swap = Claimed one hank of Sockittome
The Knitting Experience = Bought 2 hanks of Supersock Select

Net gain = 3 balls

Total change in stash = -3 balls

That's progress, right?

Lovely day!

First, in knitting realted wharrgarbl, I did officially complete the two-ball challenge by using the entirety of the two blue balls of Berroco Comfort... plus A YARD of the third. oh god that's infuriating. So if anybody is looking for an almost-completely-whole ball of royal blue, holler. And my top came out super gorgeous and got lots of compliments and I felt ravishing in it. Here, have a look.



You'd hit it.

It went really fast, even the seed stitch part. I definitely want another one - maybe in orange with a pink band. It's just so hard to find a good orange. I'm thinking blaze orange, because that's how I do things, but I always have a hard time finding something that isn't pumpkin or rust. Speaking of which, I have some pumpkiny rust stashed away. One of which has been wound since mid-May under the delusion that I was going to start the project it's intended for "right away." And now I've kind of lost desire. Oops.

So I had a perfect day yesterday. It was my "last" meeting with my knitting group. I say "last" because it so isn't. I don't see any reason we should stop seeing each other until October just because the library will be closed on weekends, so I've been pushing to keep up our monthly lunches and start meeting elsewhere. We've decided on a coffee shop in town, right up the street from the library. I think we'll feel welcome there. I'm also really hoping that this will attract some new people. I love the people I knit with now, but it would be great to attract some new faces. Particularly some within 20 years of my age. But anyways, we went out to a nice restaurant in town, one that happens to be right down the hill from me. I walked, blisters and all. I had a lovely lunch and creme brulee for dessert. We sat out back on the patio and had a great view of the water and the boats. It was even warm out, and for once, not raining. It was absolutely perfect. Everyone was in good spirits and had a great time. I elft a $7 tip on an $18 check, I was so pleased.

Knitting itself commenced after, and we made plans to start meeting at the new place, and another person invited me to a Sea Dogs game with her on Friday. Although I try not to carry bags for things like that, because I'm always the assface that has to get patted down, I think I may bring my knitting. Some people like to do what's called a stitch and pitch, where they, this should be hard to guess, bring knitting to a baseball game. We're just going to be in general admission seats, so I'm going to post on Sox Knitters and Mainely Fiber Arts on Ravelry seeing if anyone is interested in an informal stitch and pitch. There will even be fireworks after the game, since it's right before the fourth. Awesome!

After knitting, I was home for just a few minutes, and then a friend picked me up to go out to an IMAX theater and see Transformers. Of course, by the time we got there, the IMAX version was sold out, and we had to see the regular one, but I'm okay with that. It saved us $5 each. I might like to go back there and see Up! in 3D, too. If I can ever remember to invite the friend that I think might want to see it.

The movie was pretty good, better than I expected. But the new characters were just entirely comic relief and really didn't add anything. And I love the fact that the thing I found most unbelievable in a movie about giant robots disguised as cars fuckin' shit up was that after 2 years of dating, the main characters hadn't said "I love you."

After that, we decided to get something to eat. I was thinking of a place, but couldn't remember the name. He came up with a name, which I thought was right. We got horribly lost getting there, and once we arrived... totally not the place I was thinking of. Oh well. I had a really awesome pizza, with onions and chicken and barbecue sauce.

So yesterday was great, and I got some work done on my Clapotis. I'll try to do more today. It doesn't look like a good day for walking, of course, because it's Maine and it just rains constantly, especially after an almost 3 day reprieve, but I might try some yoga. I've been interested in that lately. What the hell, I might as well hurt in entirely new places.

Here's a disgusting picture of a blister.

You can't say you weren't warned.

Yeah, so, I did that to myself, in conjunction with a few other crappy but not as horrific blisters. Apparently my "stand all day" shoes are not good walking shoes. Apparently you don't wear leather shoes with no socks when it's warm. Oops. I was going to celebrate two days of sun in a row (when's the last time that happenned? May?) with another walk, but it looks like there's a reasonable chance my left foot may explode. Bones and all. Not that it's readily apparent that I don't move around enough or anything. Maybe I'll run up and down the stairs a few times, just to further punish my muscles into shape.

I just finished my St. James! Or, as I like to think of it, James St. James. Of course, do you think I can find a decently fabulous picture of him now? Not even from Party Monster. The only one I could find of Seth Green from that movie, he was covered in warts or something. And really, that doesn't help with either my assertations of having a fabulous top or my lust for Seth Green. Also, seed stitch can go right to hell. And then I'll run back after it, full of apologies, because I love it so. Even if it's a total bitch to do and takes forever to get done (like your mom).

So, my project options for today: wind some Malabrigo and start my sweater coat, work on my float stitch socks, work on my Clapotis, re-organize the living room yarn basket, do absolutely nothing and play Facebook games all day. I can probably guess which way this is going to go.

It's the end of the week! Time to start waiting for the job to not call.

Well, would you look at that.

There's multiple attractive men following me. My ego, it is well-fed.

Oh, look. It's raining.

I live in Maine, so there's two things that are going to put me in a sanitarium if they continue much longer: rain every single day and that godforsaken kid from Bonny Eagle that didn't get his diploma. Between the combination of the two, I'm this close to being found in my closet, rocking back and forth and mumbling to myself.

2 ball challenge has been a technical success. I used the entirety of one ball to make the start of my St. James, and then I finished another scrap ball for a washcloth I was working on. A washcloth which I made out of wool. Because I'm brilliant. (what happenned to the Guinness "Brilliant!" ads?) I really thought it was just really nice cotton. I was so excited to have found a cotton I actually liked. Fuck me.

But it doesn't matter. One of my friends overspent herself on the last trip and doesn't want to go anymore. So, that sucks. I guess I can still take it as a personal challenge to see how much yarn I can use by July 3rd, though.

Speaking of personal challenges, I might join the WIPs Wrestlemania. I'm not really someone to start something and then just leave it alone for a year (except those entrelac socks, which can fuck off) but I have a couple of things I might be able to enter. I could also take it as a challenge to grind out some work on my scrapghan. I won't even get half of it done, but it would be nice to assemble some bits. I kinda said I was going to join the LSG team, but now I'm thinking I might join with C2S2. I just... like it better there lately. Maybe someday I'll actually swap something.

I had a job interview yesterday. $14 an hour/40 hours a week. Because I'm a hustla. I should know "by the end of this week or beginning of next week." So, July. I know this game. And crap, I was going to write a thank you note. Ass. I hate that. Ok, enough blogging, guess I have to actually do something that involves effort.

Please make it stop raining.

The fact that there's an attractive dude following me makes me want to post about things other than ridiculous knitting shit. If only my life was a little more interesting.

Oh, there's an adult Summer reading club at the library (which sounds way hotter than it is) - I think I'll walk up there and join it tomorrow, if it isn't raining. Of course, it's always raining. Always. Seriously, I'm about to lose my shit. It's been raining for two weeks, and it's going to rain all this week too. I found slugs inside the house today. That is so not cool.

On the plus side, the Yankees are losing. Excellent.

2 ball challenge

So Vivian wants to go out yarns hopping (ha! Typo but I love it!) again. At three different stores. Which involves crossing state lines. Even though none of us have started in on our yarn from the last trip and even though we're all feeling the hit on our credit cards. But, she has the day off, so why the hell not. So, in order to kindasortanotreally justify going shopping, I'm going to try to make myself use up 2 balls entirely by the trip, July 2. I know, that's pretty sad.

I'm starting by making a St. James - it's a cute Summer top based on 1950s style. I'm using Berrocco Comfort, which kinda sucks, but I hate cotton yarns and I wasn't going to repeat the mistake of making a cap sleeve sweater in wool. And it reminds me of James St. James, who was played in Party Monster by Seth Green, so the whole thing is just awesome. I'm taking a break from my Clapotis because the KAL still doesn't have an end date, and I want to actually make this Summer top in time for the Summer. Since the clap is on ONES, it may take a little while. (sob) This also means I have 6 WIPs and one hibernator, if you can actually count the scrapghan as a WIP. How unlike me. Maybe I'll actually do the 5 more rows or so that my washcloth has and get that done. And shower with it. Hooray!

Good thing I have yarn.

2.5 weeks until I'm out of a job. As an ed tech, my contract only runs until the end of the school year, and as I'm only really a long-term sub, who knows what's going to happen when I reapply for the job. Lots of talk of "longevity," which, of course, you can't have if no one will retain you. Oh, yeah, thanks for coming in and saving us and doing so much extra work and bonding so well with so many kids, but we'd rather take our chances with someone else. Not that anything even fazes me with job hunting anymore.

So, chances are, this Summer will be spent much like the last one, with me knitting like it's my job (har har) because really, job interviews fill up only just so much of the day. There's only so much I can tweak a resume and only so many times a day I can scour http://jobsinme.com/.

Hopefully one of my friends will be interested in going out more this Summer than she was last. She really became a hermit, and I think finally saw the error of her ways. And I just realized that I totally missed her birthday. Oops. But that happens when you go from January to May without seeing someone, and before that, September to January. I'm expecting to see more of my knitting friends this Summer, though. The library where we meet closes on weekends during the Summer, which leaves us without a regular meeting. I'm taking the lead in convincing everyone to continue our regular monthly lunch, as well as planning on organizing some yarn store trips, Sea Dogs games, or trips to the yarn store's knitting group. I'm also going to look into seeing if one of the two independent coffee shops in town would take us. That'll be a big step for me, as far as assertiveness goes, but the worst they can do is say no. I can try to convince them that if we're there, we're going to be tempted by coffees and pastries (chai and pastries for me). As it is, our library is across from Dunkin' Donuts, and sometimes I end up doing a chai-and-bagels run.

Tomorrow I'm supervising a student on the fifth grade class trip to Boston. I'm nervous as hell about it. Sometimes, this kid and I get on famously, and sometimes he's pouty and angry and won't listen. I'm just hoping he'll be wowed enough by the experience to be in a good mood. And I know I'm going to be chasing him the Bunker Hill monument. Dear knees, please try to survive this. But I'm also realizing that this means I'm going to be spending up to 6 hours on a school bus (why do trips always take so much longer when you're on a bus full of screaming fifth graders?) - that's some serious time to kill. I can't see anything wrong with bringing a small knitting project. Honestly, it's not like I'm going to lose the kid on the bus, so as long as I'm keeping an eye on his behavior, I think it's fine if I work on a sock. I'll probably bring some Knitpicks sock yarn. I did that before with a different color of the same yarn for when I needed a project for my trip to Boston in February. I know I'm going to get 7 stitches to the inch, so that saves me the problem of finding just the right gauge and needle. The yarn is variegated, and the only two colors in it are dark green and dark purple. That wouldn't lend itself to a complicated pattern very well, which is fine considering I'll be on a school bus with it. I'll pick something simple out of my stitch dictionary later tonight. Is it bad that I've put more thought into this than what I'll bring for food?

Enjoying the WCYY stream and listening to the top 1000 songs. AWWW YEAH, Warning by Green Day just came on. That's always been my favorite of their songs. Nice. I'm off to enjoy the song and maybe finish a sleeve. Oh, wait, that means FINISHING A SWEATER. Most excellent.

Acquisitions

Yay, my new CD arrived today. There is something about knitting to Marilyn Manson that makes me feel so deep and complex. I'm both an angsty 13 year old in 1993 and a grandmother.

I'm making good progress on Dulce De Leche, or, as I'm calling it, Blurple. I don't get this yarn. It was definitely royal blue in the store, but in my house, it's purple. I have absolutely no idea what color it really is. Sometimes I see the blue, sometimes purple. Good thing I like both colors. But I'm near the binding off for the neck, and then it'll just be a matter of getting the armholes and eventually the sleeves. So I'll have an alpaca sweater just in time for... Summer. I'm so awesome at planning these things.

I've been having so much fun turning my floppy partial skeins into tight balls on my swift and winder. It's sad, but I had 450-yard hanks of sock yarn that I bought in February and have been avoiding because the idea of winding that all up by hand was just too painful. Not to mention, I wear a lot of skirts, and there's just so much time I like to spend with my knees up to wind.

The stash has evolved into "taking over my room and living room" status thanks to a ridiculous trip to Rosemary's Gift Shop, followed by a "what the hell, we're already here" trip to Korner Knitters. We won't discuss how much I spent, but this is how much I accrued:

Sometimes I scare myself.

But you know what's even scarier? Rosemary's is having a 25% off sale "soon." And I'm on the mailing list.

I don't really need two bathrooms, right? One of them can totally be converted to a stash closet.

I have a lot of yarn.

My stashing is getting sort of ridiculous. I was on a "no yarn until my birthday" kick, then I got invited for a yarn crawl with two women I knit with. I initially declined but realised what an idiot I was being. I ended up buying 10 hanks of alpaca yarn to make a Dulce Du Leche. Which I haven't started yet. Then we went to another store, where I bought some yarn for 2 pairs of socks and a Clapotis (I KNOW. I'M SORRY.) ... which I haven't started yet. Later, I was out with my grandmother and got lost and somehow ended up at a yarn store I've never been to before. I bought 3 hanks of Kollage corn yarn, for either socks or a hat, which I haven't started yet. I also bought a hank of Maine-made sock yarn. Which.... well, guess.

Then my LYS had a sale after I had an EPICALLY HORRIBLE week and the day before my birthday, and I got invited to go there with friends, which was just part of my incredible pre-birthday extravaganza. I ended up with a bunch of yarn, which I haven't started yet, but I bought it 3 days ago so that's excusable.

Of course, I'm also going on a road trip on Sunday to two new yarn stores. I swear, I have some sort of knitting mental illness. But at least when I go shopping with these two women, I don't end up spending a fourth of what one of them does. And she can't even knit with wool, so her selections are limited.

I have a ballwinder now! And a swift! It was the 10 hanks of alpaca and silk that finally broke me. And since KP has the cheap ballwinder and I've heard good things about it, I was finally comfortable putting one on a birthday list. Oh God, I wound one hank already and it's taking all I have not to wind up every bit of yarn I have.

I'm working on a scarf made with mitred squares of sock yarn scraps. I was tempted by the ubiquitous sock yarn blanket, but have no need for blankets, so I figured out that I'd make it into a scarf. I've got 24 squares done already. Not sure how many I'll need, but I think I'll put it aside for a bit so that I can make more socks and have new colors of scrap yarn to add to it.

This post would be way more interesting if I could find the mini USB for my camera and put up pics of all my awesome new yarns. I'm also thinking of buying a Flickr pro account so I can do more with the account and see all my photos that I've uploaded, but I don't even use my free one to its full potential, so I should really work on doing tags and a few sets and comments and descriptions before I shell out $25.

I finished things!

Coraline is done, just awaiting button loops, which I won't put on until I have buttons, and it needs such a blocking, oh my god. I shudder at the thought of actually attempting to block something. Especially where it's half silk, which seems easy to fuck up.

I got in the rest of the yarn for my Sprout (and by "rest of" I mean, I ordered 3 balls, might need one and 3 yards of another) and finished the body today. I'm working on a sleeve right now. I need to go to bed soon, and tomorrow will be another kick in the ass with the two jobs, so I probably won't finish it right away, but I could probably be wearing it Friday. It might be a good spring jacket, too, although I'm only intending to do 3/4 length sleeves.

After this I think I'll do my pink scarf with Mal lace, if I can ever figure out a stitch pattern. I'd rather not do something complex because I don't want to suck up the yarn, but at the same time, I want it to be plain, not really lacy or open. So I'm at a loss. Just stockinette will obviously roll. And, as we've discussed, blocking and I are enemies.

Ideas?

God help me.

The WEBS tent sale is on my birthday.

Stealing this one from Patience

I finally figured out how to follow people on Blogger, so now I finally have a friends list, something I'd always felt Blogger was lacking and made it inferior. Wow, Blogger. Welcome to something Livejournal figured out 10 years ago.

I'm supposed to bold the things I've tried. This will either be very empowering or very depressing.

Afghan
American/English knitting
Baby items
Bobbles
Buttonholes
Cable stitch patterns
Cardigan
Charity Knitting
Combination knitting
Continental knitting
Cuffs/fingerless mits/arm-warmers
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Domino knitting (what the hell is that?)
Drop Stitch Patterns
Dyeing Spinning Fibre
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing Yarn
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Free-form knitting
Fulling/felting
Garter stitch
Gloves
Graffiti knitting
Hair accessories (headbands count, right?)
Hats: Cuff-up
Hats: Top down
Holiday related knitting
Household Items
I-Cord
Intarsia
Jewelry
Kitchener stitch
Knitted flowers
Knitting a gift
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting art
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for Preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting Items for Weddings
Knitting on a loom
Knitting smocking
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting to make money
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Knitting with alpaca
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Knitting with beads
Knitting with Camel Yarn
Knitting with cashmere
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with cotton
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Knitting with dpns
Knitting with Linen
Knitting with metal Wire
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Knitting with silk
Knitting with someone else's hand-spun yarn
Knitting with soy yarn
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Knitting with wool
Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Machine knitting
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Participate in an exchange
Participating in a KAL
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks: toe-up
Socks: top-down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching
Sweater
Tassels
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a Male how to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy/doll clothing
Tubular CO
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting (that sounds kinky)
Writing a pattern

Apparently I'm fucking awesome.

What's kind of in progress

Man, I keep starting posts and then absolutely nothing happens. I had a whole paragraph, which was probably about nothing, last week, but then my internet went down and I pretty much gave up. I like to feel like I have something to say, but then I attempt to write it down and I just feel like a big dweeb.

I'm working on a Coraline right now. I saw the movie, I read the book, then I made the unrelated sweater. I had bought the yarn for the Silk Cocoon Cardigan originally, since I kept falling in love with that style of sweater. But I look at lots of FOs, and I see that they're not terribly flattering. I don't want to have to wear something underneath it. Maybe the women I'm looking at just aren't wrapping it enough. Either way, I decided to hold off until I can actually try on something in that style, because it would suck ass to have a complete style fail after spending a month on it. I also want to see more FOs of the SCC, to see how it *really* comes out. I have the magazine, but it won't go to waste if I don't make that sweater. I'm also madly in love with the Whisper Cardigan, and a few other things in there. I'm doing Coraline on 3s, so I should be emotionally ready for a sweater using lace yarn. It would also probably be an excuse to buy some more Malabrigo Lace. I have some that I haven't cracked into yet as a knitalong for a show which is long over, which is also just me and one other person who already finished hers. I am awesome.

One of my knitting group friends suggested bringing in her ball winder and swift to end my suffering with the ten hanks I have to wind for my sweater. If that actually happens, I'll definitely bring in those two lace hanks. Fortunately, they're "only" 450 yards each, not like the 1450 I was originally coveting online when I was first scouting out WEBS (why is it in all caps? Does it stand for something?) before my trip there. I didn't end up buying that, which my sanity thanks me for. But the Malabrigo lace is super soft. If I did have to pass that through my fingers for an hour, attempting to hand wind it, I wouldn't really be suffering.

I really need to make socks. I have way too much sock yarn. It's bordering on obscene. Granted, I'm not like some of the super stashers I see on Rav, but I'm still a little embarrassed by the size of my stash page. I'd like to try to keep the "in stash" section under 100. Right now it's at 109, but even if I use all 10 hanks for this sweater, that would only bring it to 108. So I have some serious work to do. Granted, any socks I make will still result in leftovers, which will therefore still be on the page. My grandmother is highly in favor of me making a blanket from leftover sock yarn, though. I just don't need a blanket. I make blankets from worsted and give them away, which is why I have so many hoarded worsted leftovers, but a sock yarn blanket I'd end up wanting to keep for myself. Also, instead of a yarn stash, I'd end up with a mitred square stash until it was done. I'm not sure that's an adequate solution to this problem.

What I really need is to let. it. go. and do some more RAKing. I could see if anyone else on LSG RAK is making that blanket. I just have some serious issues with mailing out stuff I paid for that there's still a very usable quantity of. Since I made one pair of Monstersocks, I feel justified in hoarding leftovers in case I do it again. But that doesn't take into account how much unused sock yarn I have/continue to acquire. So basically, I'm screwed. I need to quit both jobs and just knit socks.

Using Spa/Webs yarn

I've been working on two projects - when I'm at home, I'm doing a teeny tiny bit on my Lacunae hat with sock yarn from The Woolen Rabbit, and when I'm at work, I'm making socks with some Knitpicks Essential Multi. I'm just doing a stockinette foot so it's much easier to just pack in a bag and get a little done during my short break. The sock yarn is nice for the hat. I've never made anything with sock yarn other than socks before, so it's nice to get a little more creative. Every time I bring home sock yarn, my grandmother asks what it's for, and I tell her, "socks. Always socks." I'd rather not be an obsessive.

I'm enjoying the yarn I bought from The Woolen Rabbit at Spin, Knit, and Spa. It's a shaded solid, like Blue Moon Fiber Arts sells, so it's kind of black and white without being plied or really variegated. The booth was very nice - and exceptionally crowded. I think it took me 20 minutes just to move a foot over to see the pattern stand. Definitely worth the wait, though.

I think I'm going to do Coraline instead of the Silk Cocoon Cardigan. I see a lot of fugly wrap sweaters when I look at FOs (sorry!) for patterns I think would be sexy on me, and I really don't want to have to wear a shirt underneath it, but I don't want to look like a whore. Well, I don't when I'm teaching. Maybe it's just the way some people close them up. I don't know. I think I should at least try on a shirt in that style before I make one. I was thinking about Coraline in purple, which I don't have the yarn for, but I just remembered, the exact shade of purple I'm craving is the one I own in Malabrigo to make the Duchess Raglan. I can't wait to wind my first tiny fuschia hank. Also, fuschia is a horrible, horrible word, and whoever invented it should be killed.

Ok, seriously?

No yarn until April, aside from if the 3 hanks I need to finish my Sprout come in. I have bought a ridiculous amount the past two Saturdays because of events. So if the economy is failing, don't blame me.

I haven't photographed the new stash from Spin, Knit, and Spa, but I did dive right in to using it. I'm working with some Mostly Merino Sport Singles to make mittens. I sort of designed a fair isle pattern for them. I'm kinda following the stripe pattern from Furrow, but not quite... you'll see.

On the needles:

* Brocade diamonds socks with KNITPICKS!!!! Essential Multi
* Mittens
* Sprout (in hibernation until more yarn comes in)

Upcoming:

* At least 10 pairs of socks. *facepalm* I have an addiction.
* Team Fabio scarf for me and Megi's crotchatar KAL
* Duchess Raglan
* Coraline or Silk Cocoon Cardigan

Argyle Colorwork(?) Scarf

To my anonymous commenter from the last entry (Megi? Awk?) - I did consider that, but I've never double knit anything before. I did get an awesome idea for a double knit polka dot scarf today. Because I need to make myself completely insane.

Destashing.

Went through one of the four balls of Cascade 220 I bought at The Knitting Experience 2 weeks ago - hooray for making progress. It'd be awesome if I could get at least 2 more used up before I go to Webs. I knew I didn't need to buy 5 projects' worth of stuff at TKE, knowing I'd be going to Webs, but I couldn't help it. Plus, I was there for an hour, I felt kind of an obligation to buy like whoa.

I'm using Lagoon in the 220 to make a Corona. It's free! I'm not having a hard time with so far. I was bummed when I realized that it's bottom-up instead of top-down, but apparently it's still seamless. Thank god, because sewing sleeves just leads to me ruining things. It's been a very pleasant knit.

I'm trying to think of a good pattern for my two long train rides coming up. I have 5 hours to figure out a way to kill. I think I might start some socks on Thursday night, to make sure my needles are right and I like the pattern, rather than try to figure it out on the train. I also want to have something to do at the LSG meetup, and I refuse to be making garter stitch blanket squares.

My third pattern is up, too. The Bump Bump A Dump Cowl. My friend Patience is already making it. I'm hoping it catches on like my scarf did. I'm thinking about a colorwork version of the scarf, although the back would look horrible. Hmm. Maybe that'll be my next design, maybe not. I like writing patterns up, though. I'm definitely going to be putting more out there.

I actually did something.

I had an old blog on the e-mail account I actually use, and then this blog was on the one I don't. I was constantly logging in and out. I managed to do some sort of internet voodoo and merge them all into one. Forgive the horrific nerdiness/un-LSGness of my early posts. But there's some decent project photos in there that I figured I might as well preserve.

Put up my third design today which I was going to link but now I'm pretty much drunk with tiredness. And I've had this post open for over an hour. Oh well. Goodnight.

1x1 ribbing: why not just kill myself?

I worked on my Corona at work today. Too bad, without knowing it, I twisted the join and made something useless. I only got through 3/4s of an inch before I caught it, but oh God it stings. Especially having had to frog a whole cowl 2 days ago because of EPIC gauge fail. At Megi's insistence, the forthcoming pattern for the Bump Bump A Dump cowl will feature helpful advice on how to make a big mess of crap. It'll be very LSG.

5 inches of this crap. I was going to devote tomorrow to explosive amounts of knitting, but I discovered 3 hideous bananas I bought a week ago. Oops. But, bananas are the one food that develop a new use when rotten: banana bread! And my recipe kicks ass. I might sneak in a few chocolate chips this time, too. And smushing the bananas is so damned satisfying.

I'm going to have to work on my crochet for serious now - TheYarnBearer sent me Creepy Cute Crochet through LSG RAK! I definitely need an E hook. Maybe I already have one. I have a partial set of plastic hooks. But I hate them. I have one metal one whose heft I adore. But there's no nearby crochet hook source now that Wal-Mart got rid of the craft section. Hmm. I should go somewhere. Somewhere that has supplies.

LIKE WEBS.

Less than a week!!!!

Knitting goals for the week

• Finish my Circle Socks
• Begin a second project using the yarn I bought last Saturday at TKE - possibly using pink and brown baby alpaca and showing off my fair isle skillz
• If I recieve some unfinished socks because I successfully assassinated someone in Battle of the Soxes II, KNIT THE HELL OUT OF THEM.

I actually learned fair freaking isle. Ok, there was nothing hard about it and I'm a big whiny poop. I even took the optional step of continuing the pattern on the foot because I liked it and watned to practice. I apologize that I didn't have nicer yarn to use but the switch to worsted was kind of a last minute "FUCK IT I'M NOT LEARNING FAIR ISLE ON FINGERING" and I can't justify a new yarn purchase right now, so I had to make do with one nice leftover and one not quite as nice gift. At least it made a pretty sweet color combo.

I feel like a god.

Can't post. Must knit.

In a sock battle. No time to talk. Must destroy.

Did first fair isle. Too focused to celebrate.

Will blog Monday night, unless exhausted from 13 hours of work.

Pinks and purples

My ballband bag only took one cycle to get felted. I left it in front of the heater all day to dry, and I love how it came out. Kureyon is such an awesome yarn - even if it does feel kind of crappy, I still think it's made of pixie hairs and fairy dust. Although I did somehow manage to find the one colorway that doesn't have color transitions; it's pretty much just pink. See:

I didn't know that Cascade was such a great felting yarn. It's worlds better than the Dale I used for my first felted bag, which took three cycles and I'm still not in love with it. This bag, though, I love the little bricks of color. This was my first time using the ubiquitous ball band pattern. I totally see why it's like crack to washcloth people.

After I finished that, I cast on for some Circle Socks. And oh, look at that. Ball band pattern.

It's probably going to be bordering on obsession soon. Like that time I discovered entrelac and made 2 scarves and a Quant in rapid-fire succession.

I'm on the second sock now. I'm hoping to have them done by Saturday, because I joined a sock wars kind of thing. I'm so very afraid. I'm supposed to have certain yarn for it, but I don't, and no way to get more, so I'm hoping I can stash dive. There's a prize for wackiest socks, so I don't see why I should be limited to just one self-striping yarn. Perhaps I could do one per sock? And if you're my target, and you're reading this, watch out :) I'm springing for super-fast shipping on this one.

Here's the full sock:

Holy shit, I finally remembered how to log in.

That only took 2 or 3 months.

For some reason I was itching to start knitblogging again (we'll see how that goes in a week) and was all set to come up with a new blog name, but I finally remembered what e-mail account I had setup this one with. Thank god.

I donned my twatweasel shirt in celebration of LSG's anniversary today. It's one of those things that I need to find a way to explain to others - by which I mean "come up with a completely different explanation." Such as when my students asked about my pet frog, and his name. My frog's name is Murderface, because I'm amazing. He had red and black rocks, so I thought he was pretty goth, and I love Metalocalypse. This doesn't really work when working with mentally challenged 6th graders (did I mention one of them loves Gordon Ramsey? I'll have enough to contend with already, tyvm), so I pretended his name was Chub. Chub was my previous frog, named after the Chub Toad card in Magic: The Gathering, back when I was dating a loser who was obsessed with the game (and I was obsessed with being a good little woman).

I felted a bag today, and it only took one cycle, instead of the three my previous attempt took. My pillowcase is a very interesting color, but it was an extra one, which I'm now counting as a felting supply. I'll try to put up a pic later. I keep staring at it in all of it's shrunken glory. It's like magic.

Playing around with making a layout now.

Yay, purchasing!

I'm going to be ordering 2 balls of Kureyon from someone on Ravelry. Which makes me all nervous, since I've never really done business with anyone online other than eBay or e-stores, but it's one of those things I have to suck it up and do some day. And I am so very in love with this yarn. Even if it does go from sewing thread to climbing rope in a matter of inches. I just wish I had made the scarf half the width - I wouldn't need to buy any yarn at all. But I'd have to change balls more so the colors would be more different.

I learned spit splicing for this project, which is awesome and hilarious. And it works really well.

I'll be hearing back from the job I really want tomorrow. And if that falls through, the LYS may be hiring. There was a sign in the window, but the owner wouldn't give me a real answer about if they actually were. Bad sign and all but seriously, working in a yarn store? Match made in Heaven. And if I got a discount, they wouldn't even have to give me a paycheck. I'd just grab a few balls of Regia Silk on my way out.

I have my last meeting of Library Knitters on Saturday, which bums me out. That's my one bit of regular socialization at home, and the only knitting group that's easy for me to get to. Why would a library not be open weekends in Summer?!

I'm sorry... WHAT?

So I'm making a Lady Eleanor Stole with Kureyon, and I'm on the last ball and know I want two more. The closest yarn store doesn't carry it, so I started looking around online. Found a place with the two colors I wanted to order, and they were even on sale for $4.35 or something like that. Awwwwwwesome. And then I go to checkout, and discover that my order will be cancelled unless I bring it up to $25, pre-tax and pre-shipping.

...

What. The. Fuck.

For me, the only time I buy yarn online is usually to finish off a project with something that I didn't buy locally or can't find. So not really any huge orders. So there'd really be no way I could even buy from them without forcing myself to buy so much more than I actually wanted. Wonderful.

The stole, however, is absolutely beautiful. It's actually a scarf - I cut the pattern in half. I should have cut it again, though, because it's really twice as wide as my usual scarves. Which annoys me to no end, but I was fearful - my first entrelac, even. So when I inevitably make another one (Christmas present, perhaps) or five, I'll just do it that way. And I'm so in love with the technique that I already have mental plans for a red, black, and white felted clutch. Like I use clutches, could stand constantly holding something, or have the patience to felt a swatch. But still.

Finished two pairs of socks since I got home, and had requests for socks and a Dr. Who scarf. Not sure when/if I'll follow through on either. My aunt wants the socks, which are a carbon copy of one I just made for myself. I might just give her these - or at least, I would, if I had joined the yarn a little less sloppily on the first sock. I make so many socks that I can't even get them in my sock drawer anymore. But yet I'm constantly planning more. I am not a person of moderation when it comes to knitting, I guess. Well, I don't have the sort of insane monster stash that some of my group mates have, but at least with socks, I just keep making them. I always make them for me because I have a hard time feeling like anyone i might make them for would actually appreciate them or care for them the right way. I just found a group on Ravelry called "Selfish Knitters," which is a tongue in cheek name, for a group of those of us who have been burned by too many people thinking it's totally ok to ask someone to dedicate so much time and money to doing them a favor. Which reminds me, I better get started on that 22 foot garter stitch scarf. Yeah, right.

The first day of the rest of my life

So I graduated college yesterday.

University of New Hampshire, psychology, Summa Cum Laude... no big.

With no job, no prospects, and no tolerance for my omnipresent grandmother, assume there's about to be a whole lot of knitting going down. When I get bored with WoW. But my character hit 67 last night, so I'll probably get bored once I'm 70. I got 4 balls of Noro Kureyon for my birthday yesterday, but I for some reason only said I needed one ball per color, so I have four different colors. Crap. Well, at least half of each pair of socks is financed. Or who knows, maybe I'll actually make something different for once. Considering I have socks on the needles and in my lap in the moment and another pair queued up - you should have seen my top drawer when I packed up yesterday - all socks. And I had already sent a bunch home. Blanket squares should be getting a workout, too, if I find some more waste yarn.

I'm planning to reverse engineer an old crappy project into a purse, too. I just have to find said project. I looked through my trunk yesterday and it wasn't there. I hope I didn't have a fit of sanity a few months ago and toss it. Crap.