On Hiatus

Yay! The day has finally come! Brian and I leave tomorrow for Ireland to visit super duper kid sister, lots of castles, and Irish sheep.

So I'll be on hiatus for the next week and a half or so.

On the crafting side of things, my sewing machine came yesterday. It's killing me not to take it out and play with it. But I need to focus on the tasks at hand.

I just realized I've taken on a new craft every year.
2005- soapmaking and other bath and body products
2006- knitting
2007- quilting????

It's a good thing I haven't had to quit any of them for the other one.

My computer is still at the repair shop. So there it will have to stay for awhile. I miss it lots. And that pretty much rules out posting from the trip.

Send good travel thoughts my way. And have a great week!

Lesson of the Day

Back up your hard drive.

You know those computer issues I'm having? Yup. My hard drive is dead. And no, they can't recover anything from it. Boo!

Thank goodness I don't have a lot on there. My pictures are all on Flickr. I had some school papers but I had recently emailed them to myself at work. The itunes I bought and some school work is gone but I'll survive. Besides, there's nothing I can do.

The biggest loss is my yarn stash spreadsheet. sigh.... But I can recreate that. It'll just take time.

This sucks! I didn't know how dependant I am on that thing until it died. No more email after work for me.

Thank goodness I bought the extended warranty.

This Picture is Crap

My cold rages on. Well, really, I'm coughing and snorting and making all manner of really lovely noises. Brian and I slept until noon. Thanks, Nyquil! And this is shaping up to be one very lazy Sunday. Too bad I have so much to do.

Here's a picture of the Yarn Pirate I picked up from the Loopy Ewe. There's no light here today. It's raining and grey. And even the bathroom lighting didn't seem to work this time. Storm is on the left. Frost is on the right. The merino/tencel blend does give them a nice sheen and a very soft hand feel. Love it!!!


I haven't knit too much this week. Unfortunately, the rest of my life has been in the way. I'm still working on the Christmas legwarmers and a couple of socks. The focus of today is cleaning and getting the last 2 grad school applications out. I know, that sounds like lots of fun. But it has to get finished.

I've Been Bad

Wednesday night I finished all my Thanksgiving prep and went to sleep knowing I was all set to go. Unfortunately, I woke up with a terrible sore throat and a plugged up nose. UGH! Seriously, I haven't been sick this many times in one year EVER! My symptoms are changing daily. Now the sore throat is gone but I'm quite stuffed up and constantly blowing my nose. Very sexy, let me tell you. I just hope I can kick it before we head to Ireland on Friday!!!

My computer has caught a cold too. On Wednesday night, it stopped recognizing the hard drive. Yeah- that's not good. Thank goodness I bought the extended warranty since I only bought my new laptop in March. This morning we toddled over to CompUSA. So hopefully, in 24-48 hours, we'll have a verdict. Funniest question of the day... CompUSA guy: "Is there any data you want us to save?" Me: "Save whatever you can, it's my computer." Seriously??? Why wouldn't you save any information you can. DUH! Now I'm on Brian's work computer. This is one of those days it's really good to live with a geek.

In the midst of my phlegm and computer issues, I have not lost my purchasing power. Walmart had a great Post-Thanksgiving deal on a Brother sewing machine. Normally, I hate Walmart. Not for any political reason but the store I go to is always a disaster. There are kids running around everywhere and some lady had an iguana at the jewelry counter last time I was there. It's a long story. ANYWAY, I scored this little baby. Now, just so you know, I don't know how to sew. But I've wanted to learn for a while. I've been mulling a different Brother model, a Janome, or a Baby Lock. All of those were $200 and up. So when I saw this deal, I had to snap it up. I mean, $55?!?!?! Even if I grow out of it quickly, this should be a good learning machine. And I think I'll be able to quilt on it pretty easily. YAY!!!! As if I need a new hobby. Hopefully, owning the machine will give me the impetus to clean out the junk room and make it my office/craft room. That's the plan at least.

I also got some Yarn Pirate yarn in her new Frost and Storm colors. The merino/tencel blend gives the yarn a great sheen and it's oh so soft. I haven't taken my own pictures because of the computer issues and I'm lazy. So you'll have to click the links to get pics. Sorry!

OK- I'm going to go dose up on cold meds. I'll probably sleep until tomorrow. If anyone knows any snot combating secrets, please let me know. :)

The Night Before

I'm prepping tonight to go to my mother-in-law's house for the big turkey fest. I'm in charge of the veggie tray. That's right! The extremely important veggie tray. These women hardly trust me with veggies.

But what they don't know if that I'm bringing something special.... bacon wrapped water chestnuts. Yummy!!!!!

I can cook when I want to. Really. Really, I can.

P.S. Anthony Bourdain is delicious. And Top Chef is very entertaining.

One Down!

I finished the red legwarmers last night. YAY! So now, I have a week and a half to do the green ones. There's a long flight in there too. I can imagine myself furiously binding off while I stand in line for customs in Ireland. Hopefully that won't be the case, but you never know!

This Week's Wrap-up

I got some! That's right. I stalked the knitterly things website and clicked just fast enough to get a skein of knit and tonic. YAY! This yarn is really soft and the colors have great saturation. It'll be really interesting to see how this knits up. Unfortunately, I think it'll be a while. There's a lot in the queue right now.


Yarntini also had a etsy shop update. I scored some fig & plum and cherry cordial. Sometimes I think I like winning the yarn more than the actual yarn. You know, like when you finally get the boy, you figure out he's not that great. Luckily for me, this is never the case with yarntini. Jessie's yarn is so soft and squishy. And the colors! Wow- the colors! I'm working on a sock right now with yarntini hope. The stripes are just amazing. When I saw this picture, I knew I needed some Fig & Plum.


I'm working on some great stuff right now. Unfortunately, there's not a lot to show right now. There's the second sock in STR Scottish Highlands and the yarntini sock in Hope. But all this has been interrupted by Christmas knitting. My little sister wants legwarmers. So I've got those going in Lamb's Pride Bulky in blue blood red. And I have Cascade 220 in Christmas green for a second set. Really what this means is that I'm in k1, p1 hell. I love how legwarmers come out but knitting them isn't that fun. But if they keep my sister's legs warm, it's worth it.

I leave you with the best thing I've purchased at Target in awhile. Sock monkey slippers!!!!! My cat looks at them suspiciously. But I think they're hilarious!

This One's for Bo

Go Blue!!!!!

Beat the Buckeyes!!!!!

A World Gone Mad

Usually I'm not too political on this blog and I'm not really trying to convince you to subscribe to any of my beliefs. But the story I read today on MSNBC goes far beyond the reaches of taste and decency. And I'm asking you to please think about it.

O.J. Simpson is coming out with a book titles "If I did it, here's how." (or something very close to that) In the book, he describes how he would have killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman if he had actually done it.

This is nothing short of disgusting. How much more do the families of these two people need to take from the man who murdered their loved ones? How much more are we, as a society, going to allow OJ to profit from his crime?

An opinion piece (also on msnbc.com) written by Michael Ventre pretty much sums up my frustration not only with this particular incident but with the quality of television as a whole. You can read his article here.

I'm begging you. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. DO NOT WATCH THE TV SPECIAL. Somethings just need to be ignored. And then, maybe, we won't have this trash crammed down our throats anymore.

A Question for the Ages

Why don't they sell Tequila and Margarita Mix in appropriate proportions?

I always have more of one than the other.

The solution.... vodka margarita. Ruby Red Absolut is a worthy stand in.

I'm just saying.

It's Raining and Dreary

Remember this?

Well, now it is this!
Another FO this week. I'm on a little bit of a roll. Unfortunately, that makes me want to cast on more instead of focusing on what I already have on the needles.

I'm really happy with how the colors came together. Even if you twist the yarn together in the shop, you never really know. So I'm thrilled with the pumpkiny, rusty orange I got with the 4 yarns. It's just red enough to make it nice and rich looking without being too red. Too red is very bad with my hair color.

The rainy dreary weather has once again driven me to my bathroom for pictures. (And no, I haven't bothered to get out of my PJ's yet.) I love the scarf. It's the perfect length and soft as buttah. The hat's a little big. It fits, but I can see it falling off if I played too vigorously in the leaves. But I like it anyway. You can't see it in the pictures but the hat just covers my ears.
Pattern: Purl Scarf and Hat
Yarn: 2 skeins Manos del Uruguay in Persimmon, 2 skeins Lang Venezia in Rust, 1 skein Rowan Kid Silk Haze in Marmalade, and 1 skein Karabella Mirage in Oranges
Needles: Clover US 15, Bamboo


One more thing....

GO AMHERST!!!!!!! BEAT WILLIAMS!!!!!!!!

Bathroom Pictures

I have figured out the photography situation. Apparently, the best lighting in our apartment at this time of year is in the bathroom. So I give you an FO and some yarn p0rn in my bathroom! The white nubbly thing is my bathmat. It's white, for color reference.

I finished my sister's Hedera socks in Sundara yarn- Emerald Isle colorway. Note that my foot is a size 11 and my sister's is a 9. So the socks are a little stretched. I really, really, really hope they fit. I guess I'll find out in 3 weeks when I head to Cork, Ireland for a delayed honeymoon/ Christmas vacation/ family vacation. I can't wait. I know Ireland isn't the typical December destination but I think hearty stews and Guinness are just the thing to cure my early winter blahs. Plus, my Dad is going. And that man is awesome in Europe!



Here's more of my blindingly white leg and a closeup of the lace. I dig 'em. The green is just perfect. Unfortunately, she added a new project late to the holiday knitting game. She requested legwarmers in a reddish orange. All I could find was a orangish red. So that'll have to do.



Pattern: Hedera from knitty.com
Yarn: Sundara Sock yarn in Emerald Isle
Needles: KP dpn's in size 1

I also got a nice package in the mail today. This is one skein of STR lightweight in Chapman Springs. It's SOOOOOOOOOOO gorgeous!!!!!!! The colors are rich and fantastic and amazing. And I want to cuddle it and knit it immediately. The blues! The greens! The pink!!!! I'm in LOVE. There were other skeins in the package but they are for a knitty friend in the Netherlands. It was all I could do to only add my one skein to the order. Their colors are so luscious!




I also got some Posh yarns in Ivory. This yarn is so soft. It's 30% cashmere. YUMMY! YUMMY! YUMMY! These will be socks for me all me.


Finally, please check out the Cutest Baby Blanket EVER!!!! Seriously!

Sunday Nights

It seems like every Sunday I'm this close to finishing a project. Last night, it was the second Hedera for my little sis. (Pics when there's actually light.) Being so close makes me want to stay up and knit my bootie off to finish. I end up staying up way too late. Then, my little mind starts to turn and churn on my next project and I can't sleep. Vicious cycle. And this seems to happen every Sunday night. Somehow I need to alter my project progress so I finish on a Friday or Saturday. That way, I can sleep in the day after my FO celebration/brainstorm. Unfortunately, most of my knitting time is on the weekend. Maybe the Sunday night finish is inevitable.

Maybe I'm completely over thinking this.

And, yes, I know it's Monday night... But I couldn't stay up any later to blog this last night.

Bad Tum

I'm not feeling so well this weekend. I just can't seem to make my tummy happy.

I'm knitting, but slowly. And I'm sleeping a lot.

Why doesn't this happen during the week???

Squeeeee!!!!

Miss Violet commented on my blog. I'm so excited.

Seriously!

Not a stalker, I swear.