Categories
Blogs

Ticker parade!

I was surfing the tags at WordPress and found an excellent idea on Put a Sock in it: Born Again Knitter–she’s using one of those ticker counters to keep track of the last time she fell off her own stash wagon and bought yarn. I fell in love with this idea immediately! Sadly, I’m an idiot and can’t figure out how to make a post that always stays at the top of the page, so I’ve placed my ticker on my About Me page. As of today, it’s been three days since I last bought yarn. My current goal is to make it to 30 days. What will I do if I reach my goal? No clue. Hopefully it won’t be “buy yarn!”

In other news, the picture of my Little Coco bag, the one I posted last week? Has been hit 98 times already on Flickr. ?! I can’t imagine why, it’s just a bag. The visitors aren’t coming from here, ’cause to be honest, I don’t get that many hits. Maybe from Ravelry? I dunno, but it has beat out the cute baby hats as my most visited knitted item on Flickr. Weird.

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

I has pictures, let me show you them!

It feels like forever since I posted (recent) pictures, but it’s true! I downloaded them off my camera a mere three minutes ago, just to bring them here to you!

ClutchFirst, we have the turquoise and white clutch from One Skein, before felting.  Even the bottom is seamed, can you believe it?! I hardly can, and I did it. The colors remind me of something, but I can’t think what.  Something commercial.  Not Microsoft, not Apple…. They’re the same colors as my own employer’s logo, but I don’t think that’s it either.  Maybe it’ll come to me, someday.

Fire ScarfNext up in our show and tell is the “What a Difference Blocking Can Make!” scarf, done in orange and red cotton in feather and fan.  The cotton was purchased from Suss Design (at least, I think that’s the name of her shop on Beverly, but you know who I mean–there’s only one Suss!) with the orange and red already wrapped together.  Next time, I’ll separate them and ball them separately, ’cause it was a nightmare trying to knit them off the same ball with their slightly different weights and tensions.  However, the colors make my heart sing, and that’s really all that’s important, right?

In other news, I cast on the purple and turquoise Little Coco last night while watching Chuck and Heroes.  It took me the full two hours just to do the bottom of the bag.  The stitch isn’t standard garter or even stockinette; it’s something for which I don’t know the name, but looks awesome and creates a stronger felted bottom than you get from garter or stockinette. I’ve always intended to make a scarf with that pattern, but so far it hasn’t happened.  The other reason it went slowly is the yarn–I’m using Lamb’s Pride, double stranded, which is thicker than I expected, and more tiring for my fingers. It should be easier once I’m working in the round, though.

And just for the hell of it, I give you Jack, trying to nibble off a piece of a dead hydrangea:

IMG_4107

Categories
Miscellaneous

100 Things About Me: 25-36

I’m way behind on my Things About Me list, so here are the entries for the past four days:

25. I studied German for three years in high school.

26. I studied Spanish for two semesters in college.

27. English is my only fluent language, despite my best efforts. *sigh*

28. I love Christmas. I love it so much that I don’t even mind that the season starts before Halloween, although I’ll bluster along with everyone else. It’s a struggle to not listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving.

29. Ever since 9/11, I can’t watch “disaster” movies–any movies where mass groups of people are killed–without having a panic attack. Even old favorites like Independence Day can trigger it.

30. I’m so afraid of confrontation that I still go to the same dentist who tortured me during a three hour wisdom teeth extraction, rather than ask for my records to go elsewhere.

31. Sob stories usually make me sob. Mistreated puppies, homeless children, victims of misjustice or government bureaucracy, even unfair treatment by someone’s boss–doesn’t take much.

32. I’m a packrat.

33. I still have the report I wrote in sixth grade about the Greek gods and goddesses.

34. I’m a slob. Actually, that should be SLOB. I hate housework and do it as little as I can possibly get away with it, which I manage by rarely inviting anyone to my home.

35. I’m not terribly good at relationships.

36. I love to wrap presents.

Breakfast today: Protein bar and tea
Weather today: Looks sunny. I hear it’s gonna be 70s.
😀

Categories
Blogs Knitting and Crochet

There is nothing cohesive about this post.

I think I’m becoming addicted to my stats.  Ever since NaBloPoMo started–heck, even before that!–I’ve had no zero-hit days.  That’s kinda nice, knowing that someone out there is reading my ramblings.  (And also sobering–more pressure not to say something stupid!)

I finished purse #4 yesterday–the knitting, that is, not the seaming or felting. It’s super-cute, with a white base yarn and a pink confetti-ish novelty carryalong that makes the whole thing look like a soft fuzzy pink. Makes me wish I’d saved it for a kid-sized purse, but fortunately I have another ball and a half to play with! I grabbed a ziploc of turquoise and purple to start a Little Coco at lunch, but didn’t have time today, so that’ll be tonight.  I still need to divy up yesterday’s yarn haul into project bags.

Tomorrow I’ll try to post a pic of a scarf I knit over a year ago–maybe even as long as two years?–that I finally got around to blocking this weekend.  It’s orange and red cotton in a feather and fan lace pattern, and holy moses, I can’t believe the difference the blocking made!  It’s a whole new scarf! I totally shouldn’t have waited so long.  Sadly, I don’t think it’s soft enough to be worthy of gifting, but at least it’s much more attractive now in its proper shape. 🙂

Categories
Miscellaneous

Mondays. Blech.

My building can’t decide if it wants to be too hot or too cold. It was a sauna when we got in this morning, but now it’s cold enough for the space heater. Plus I’m cranky, from hormones and work stress, so I’m not really enjoying today all that much, despite a pleasant dream last night and a marvelously light commute this morning (the upside to working on a holiday).

I fell off the yarn wagon yesterday and spent too much at the sale at Michael’s, but since it’s all feltable yarn to be used for Xmas presents, I gave myself a pass. After the fiber gorge, I went to visit Miss G and dropped off the cute Pooh jammies I picked up at Target last week. She seems more aware than ever, doesn’t get as cranky as she used to, and even looks directly at me when I sing to her. Such a cutiehead, she’s still the highlight of my Sundays.

Today I had to lock the cats in the bedroom–someone’s supposed to spray the termite-infested window today. *fingers crossed* Please oh please oh please let it work! After doing some cleaning yesterday, I don’t hate my place as much as I did Saturday, but it would help a lot to minimize the termite invasions.