Where in the World is Knitting Magic Girl Going?

I shall give you a hint. It involves all the stuff I packed last night:

For the closer view:

Magic deck boxes, Star Wars TCG shirt, random magic cards, D20s...
Knitting and books for the trip...

DnD Notebook/Trade Binder, more magic cards, and what you don't see...lots of money.

Anyone know where I'm going? There will be knitting events there, but I will not be attending. They are for beginners anyways and I've got that down. This event has occurred the past 32 years now every year in the same location. Anyone know where I'm going?

The last hint I leave is that it leans more towards my Magic side.

Knit on...I'll write soon

WIP It Out

OK, here are some WIPS and a few FOs for this Wednesday. Today is the last day I will be posting until I get back from vacation. If something happens on vacation that just screams to be blogged, I will blog since I'm taking my computer with me. Anyhoo, here's a few pictures of stuff I've been working on, starting with the recently finished stuff.
My first decent skein of hand spun yarn. Terrible picture, but there it is in all its fuzzy glory. Any spinner out there know how to get rid of the super fuzziness? Is that just something that comes with practice?

Ah, the wrist warmers. I don't know why I am so fascinated with these right now. Maybe it's because I can finish them in a day and everything else I'm working on right now takes a month to finish. Now for some WIPs.

This is the purple homespun lace shawl. You can't see the diamond pattern in this picture, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it's there. No matter what crazy position I managed to get myself into, I was not able to shoot a picture and spread out the large lace diamonds. Probably because I had too big of a lens attached to the camera and didn't try the macro setting. But I digress...

Oh yes, the forgotten sock. Not much has changed since the last time he made an appearance on this blog, so I decided to show you a close-up of his stitches instead. I love the coloring, I love the yarn, I just hate this heel flap. Next time it's just going to be plain stockinette so I can get it done faster. And now, blogger won't let me publish anymore pictures, so I'll post later in the day and give you a preview of where I might be going on vacation. I can't tell you flat out, else I would be forced to kill you, but I can give you hints and if you figure it out, more power to you. Perhaps I should do a contest for this? I suppose not. Please don't forget the Diabetes Awareness Contest link to the right under my email contact. You can win yarn or a 20 buck gift certificate to Bath and Body Works. You only have two more days to comment on that post to be entered into the contest. If you can't post for some reason, please just email me and I'll add your name to the drawing. I will be drawing names on July 3 when I get back from vacation.

Anyways, I need to get some stuff done before I take off tonight. Knit on!

Almost forgot!

I almost forgot to mention that while we were celebrating my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, I was making a quick buck! I brought in my crocheted felted messenger bag since I had to lug a bunch of stuff around and sure enough, I sold three of them! I charged 25 bucks a piece for them, so that will be some much needed extra income. I guess I should write this pattern down. I didn't think there was that much of a special-ness to the design, but apparently people liked it. Here's what the thing looks like, albeit, not that great of a picture of it.

People want different buttons on theirs though. I like my little dinosaurs that Erica gave me! I'm about to make a cardigan with them on them too since I have some left over!

Anyways, I should probably get back to work :oP

Knit on...

I am still alive

My parents left this morning to head back home, so things are quieting down some here at the Magic Girl residence. I have knit on the sock, the shawl, the secret possible AntiCraft submission, a new shawl, and baby kimono. I have made little progress on any of them. I doubt I will be making much progress on them now since I'm getting ready for my vacation. I might post first thing when I get back, but you more than likely won't hear random musings until after July 4 when I get back and have a day of rest. I'm tired now, so I'll be needing that rest I think.

Anyways, it was a nice visit with the parental units. Mom ended up taking the blue crocheted tee because it fit her like it was designed just for her. I'm glad it worked out like that. I tried to force dishcloths on them, but they are so spoiled by that dishwasher of theirs that they don't want any more. They are still using the same ones from Christmas. Now holiday patterns are fine, say through February, but you'd think they might want something else come June. Oh well.

I'm going to continue popping the caffeine into my veins and get some work done before the end of the day tomorrow. Then it's vacation time!

Knit on...

Hummer Pictures Finally

OK, here are the Hummer pictures I promised yesterday, but blogger would not comply.
Here is DBF playing with his new toy. The car is actually really big for a remote controlled thing and it's super fast. We have now discovered that it doesn't do well in wet grass. Apparently is clogs the weel's ability to spin. We played with the hummer until the battery wore down. It might have worn down faster because...

The Hummer wrecked into my flower garden. the white thing to the left the the car is the battery that go ejected after it crashed. The chipmunks are probably not very happy about this incident. I expect complaints in the form of an eaten mum in response to this :oP

My parents came in yesterday. DBF and I had dinner with them and my grandparents and then my parents showed us a slide show of their trip to Israel. It was interesting. Grandpa just about fell asleep during it, so once it was over, he went straight to his chair and crashed. I wasn't too far behind. Allergies hit and I was down for the count by 9:30.

I'm taking half a day at work today to go have lunch with my parents. Hopefully it'll be a nice lunch time. They're coming to see my office today, so I guess I better clean up my desk and stuff.

I finished my second pair of voodoo wrist warmers from Knitty. Now it just needs to get cool again so that I can wear them! I picked up the sock and brought it with me this morning. I doubt I'll work on it any, but you never know. Figured it was worth bringing with me.

Knit on...

WIP it out Thursday

OK, without any further ramblings at the moment, here are the latest WIP and a new FO projects.
This is my second pair of Voodoo wrist warmers. By the way, this is the colorway that one of the prizes for my contest happens to be. You'll get a full ball of it, all 200 grams I believe (if I remember correctly). It's enough to get two pairs of wrist warmers out of at least!

This is the finished blue betrayal tee. It looks so nice on the hanger. I love the color, the shaping, the sleeve length, but I don't like the fact that it's, oh yeah, too FREAKING SMALL! My gauge is correct, I did everything right, but I guess either I expanded or the cotton shrunk. Oh well. Grandma is going to see if she can wear it. If not, someone is getting it for Christmas if I don't drop the rest of this weight (dropped 4 pounds since getting my butt back on WW!!).

This is the most terrible picture I could have taken of this project. It's the baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting, only it's all squished on one needle and there's just not much I can do about that right now. It's being made from sari silk (something else you can win!) and is super cute.

Finally, this is another WIP. This is yarn that I have been spinning from a tourquois roving that Kim picked up for me. Shoot, I just realized that I haven't paid her yet for that! Guess I should do that sometime. I'm actually spinning a very even worsted weight yarn. It's got its share of slubs and thin spots, but I'm getting much better the more that I spin. Now that I have learned to do this, I can't wait to make something out of it. I have 16 ounces of this roving, so that should make enough yarn for a pretty good sized project.

I was going to post pictures of DBF and me playing with the Hummer last night, but blogger appears to be done allowing me to upload pictures. Maybe I should think about switching to another blog service. I don't know. Anyways, we played with the Hummer last night. DBF crashed it into my flower garden, so I'm hoping that scares away the dumb chipmunks that seem to be devouring anythinng they can get their paws on. It's a good thing they are cute, else I would have killed all of them by now!

My parents come in today to visit. My grandparents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday, so the rents are driving in for that from Florida. I'm looking forward to seeing them since it's been over a year now. I'll post pictures of the hummer tomorrow if blogger will let me...

Knit on...

DBF won a Hummer!

I couldn't believe it when he emailed me this morning. He won a Hummer! Here's a picture of it:

OK, yes it's remote controlled and it's not big enough for us to drive in, but DBF won a Hummer! :oP

There's a long story behind him winning this, but it involves the poker league that we play in. I completely sucked arse last night, so I went home at 9 and did some knitting on the baby kimono then went to bed. I will try to get pictures tonight of the WIPs and the finished blue tee (which looks really cute on the hanger I might add....). Aparently after I left, the luck started flowing for DBF in the second tournament. They had 47 people play, so the Hummer became the top prize.

DBF was down to just one 500 buck chip and came back and won the whole shibang. Of course he chose the Hummer. I'm sure the playboy poker book looked appealing earlier in the night until the Hummer came up for grabs. I wish I would have been there to cheer him on and see him win it, but he didn't get home until 2:30 AM and I had already been asleep for 4 hours by then :oP

In other Knitting Magic Girl news, the baby kimono is now over 1/2 way done. I didn't work on the purple shawl anymore last night either. I'm going to try to knock out a pair of voodoo wrist warmers today while scanning so I can use up the last 1/2 ball of lamb's pride worsted (not the one up for grabs in the contest!). Speaking of the contest, you only have a few more days to enter! So far, I think just about everyone entered is going to win something, so the chances are really good for you!

Will someone please buy me a spinning wheel or sell me one really cheap? I am using my drop spindle and I know this would go faster if I had a wheel. I'm finally producing an even yarn now. By the time I get done spinning this roving, I'll have around 16 ounces of worsted weight wool to use. I have no clue what to use it on, but I'm thinking that I just might make a sweater (who here is surprised by that!?) with a modified pattern from the latest issue of Creative Knitting. It's the herringbone tank, but I think I'll add some sleeves in that pattern as well.

We also have a construction crew outside of our building. They're driving me crazy with the jackhammering. I'll need to get away at lunch for Stitch and Bitch for sure!

Knit on...

The looong weekend

Yep, I ended up taking yesterday off from work to allow myself a nice 4 day weekend mini-vacation. It was very tiring, but it was something different at least. The pictures are coming, but I have to get my film developed, so we know how long that might take...I'll try to pick up the film tomorrow sometime. It all started on Friday...

DBF and I travelled to his cousin's house to play some golf in celebration of his cousin's 70th birthday. There were a few of us playing golf that day and DBF and I got paired with the two Chris's, one of whom was Brian's other cousin. We were super rushed while playing on Friday and since I had never played golf on a real course before, I was moving kind of slow. We had people in front of us and people behind us, so Chris suggested we skip a hole. By the time we got to tee off at the next hole, the other people had caught up to us. This is how it was the rest of the day. It wasn't much fun on Friday. I shot a 138 for my first time playing golf. I guess it could have been much worse.

Saturday we played golf again, only this time it was a scramble tournament. We were paired with two guys that I had never met before and one of them was uber competitive. Well, we gave it our best shot and we ended up winning the tournament! I couldn't believe it. What's even better is that DBF and I were able to both contribute to that win and not just be carried by the other two. No one believes that, but it actually is true.

Saturday night was DBF's cousin's birthday party which included miles of food, rivers of beer, and at least four cakes. We won a door prize (a ceramic snowman...yippee...) and drank and ate our hearts out. We were both so tired by the end of the night that the air mattress actually sounded very good that night. I did squeeze some knitting and some poker in over the weekend though.

Sunday we left around noon and went to a butterfly garden exhibit on the way home. It was pretty neat. They had butterflies from Australia that would just fly around and would land on your hand and stuff. I hope my pictures turn out well from that. We then went home, played some magic and crashed. It was a long weekend.

When I tried to wake up yesterday for work, it just wasn't happening, so I called in. I slept in and then cleaned like a mad woman since my parents are coming in to town later this week. Gotta get stuff in order and cleaned up for sure. It's my grandparents' 50th anniversary this weekend, so we're throwing a big party. I better take some knitting with me. I wonder if they would get mad if DBF and I played Magic while they had their concert...I imagine so...

Last night I played poker and went out quickly as I usually do at the free events. DBF had a good stack of chips when I left, so hopefully he did well. I went home and finished seaming the betraying blue tee. I ran out of yarn to do the side panels, so it's just too small. Nothing is going to change that unless I drop the weight I'm supposed to. Hopefully I will. I don't want to drop any bust size, but I'm going to have to in order for the shirt to fit comfortably. It looks really cute though!

I got another 20 rows knit on my homespun shawl too, so it was a productive knitting weekend. I think today I will work on my pair of voodoo wrist warmers and try to finish those up. It's getting to be the end of the month and I need some finished projects to show for it!

Well, I better get to work. Gotta get caught up from the weekend.

Knit on...

Half-way through the yarn vomit

Kathy and I at work decided I should do a comic strip about the yarn vomit. If the other skein of merino turns out like this one did after untwisting it, I will. If not, it's a hell of a lot of work to make a cute thing.

On my lunch break, I wound merino and I untangled merino, then I crocheted some of the last sleeve of my blue betrayer sweater, and then I repeated the process. Yes, it's a very productive day. I've heard this syndrome called Head and Butt disease. My head is on the golf course, but my butt is still sitting here at work. How to remedy this? Wind yarn of course!

Have you noticed that cozies are all the craze right now? I was looking at my belly roll after eating cheetos and slim-fast for lunch (nutritious, I know!) and I thought about wipping up a belly cozy...decided against that. I blame it on head and butt disease.

I also looked through the latest issue of knit.1. What happened? I only found one pattern that I found half-way decent and even then, I'm not going to make it into a sweater. I really liked the guitar motif sweater and have decided that mom needs a pillow with that design on it for Christmas. She's very particular about clothing, so I try to avoid making her stuff she won't wear. Knit.1 used to be a fairly good magazine. It's been going downhill ever since that Men's issue with the centerfold holding his big needles (still thought that was a sad excuse for an issue. If I were a male knitter, I would be very angry). The pirate issue last time was a joke. This issue is just crap.

Why?

Not sure. Is it because crochet is the next big thing?

I couldn't resist...

Knit on...

Yarn Vomit and Playtesting

Will someone please explain to me why I was possessed to start winding a ball of yarn from a misshapen skein two nights ago? I knew I should have a swift. I knew it would take me a while to wind the yarn even if I had a swift, but no, logic does not prevail in my mind! I decided that it wouldn't be too bad. So if anyone has ever wondered what yarn looks like when it throws up, I think I have found out now. It's a misshapen blob of merino yarn that comes spewing out of the beginnings of a nice ball of yarn...

Not much knitting news other than that. I haven't been knitting too much. I'm still crocheting that last sweater sleeve for the betraying blue sweater and I'm still working on the baby kimono. If I would just sit still and knit for an hour, it would be done...nope, not happening. I also started spinning again and have gotten much better at doing that than I was the first time. Sure, there's still slubs, but that's going to happen until I get much, much better at spinning. I've got some nice roving that Erica gave me when she was my secret pal a while back and I need to spin that and dye it. I had gotten so fed up with spinning after my first attempt that the roving and spindle sat there since December...

I picked up a few magazines last night. I really like this one called Creative Knitting. It doesn't tell you what yarn to use for the project, but instead just gives you the yarn weight and lets you do the deciding. Considering I have some stash to reduce, I think I like this. I already saw one shirt I want to make and there just might be two in there that I want to throw together. Interesting magazine to say the least.

DBF and I playtested some Magic decks last night. My deck sucks. I thought I had come up with a janky creatureless deck, but that didn't work the way I wanted it to. It's OK though, I'll try to work on it some more and make it better. Either that or I'll save the swamps in the deck and build a green/black aggro deck... Weenies seem to be winning a lot in the tournament scene. I do love creature based decks after all.

After DBF kicked my arse at Magic, we went to hit some golf balls in leiu of playing golf this weekend. I've never been out on a golf course before. My clubs have only seen the driving range. This should be quite an experience. His uncle is an avid golfer and he's turning 70 this weekend, so he's having the whole family over to play in a golf scramble. DBF and I keep hoping we're the last group because we know that the two of us suck and that one other guy in our group probably isn't that great at golf, but you never know. We'll see. I'll take pictures and post about that on Monday.

In the meantime, have a great weekend everyone. Don't forget about the contest link to the right (I'm going to keep reminding you people of that!). Don't try to wind balls of yarn from bad skeins, and don't build creatureless Magic decks unless you think you have a trick that will win every game!

Knit on...

An Ode to Sleeping

Sleeping, it is so underrated.
Without it, I get very aggravated.
My yarn tangles too easilly and
My stitches look very wobbilly.
Three days now without much of a wink.
My lids are so heavy, I don't even dare to blink.
Take some sick time is what my body screams to me,
But vacation is coming, and more sick time I will need.
So to make it through this day caffeine I must consume,
So I better go run and get some Mountain Dew.
Will anyone miss me if I go out to my car to nap?
Does anyone really need this blasted map?
I suppose I should get to work now
Before sleep myself I allow.

Here's a random yarn shot. You can win this. Click on the contest link to the right under my profile.

Knit on...

Fish Eggs

As was promised yesterday, here is the picture of me knitting on the disc golf course:

Hooray! Blogger let me post a picture...blah. Anyways, on to today's developments.

Last night I worked on organizing and taking inventory of all my magic cards. I need to know what I'm lacking for decks I want to build so that I can pick up the cards on ebay. I don't think I'll be getting any Voidslimes anytime soon...geez. The card is going for as much as a dual land...anyhoo. I played some poker and lost miserably. I came home and worked on some cards again. I knit a little more on my dishcloth and baby kimono. Then I looked at my fish tank.

The birds and the bees were all around my tank last night. I had started to believe that Purl was actually a male paradise fish because her tail had started to grow pretty long (unusual for a female). Well, all doubts were laid to rest when I saw her and Knit getting it on and producing a massive amount of little paradise fish eggs at 11 last night. There were still some left in the tank this morning, but you could tell that some had been eaten. I had to swat Purl away so she would stop eating her eggs. It was interesting at least.

I'm sure when I get home this evening there will be no more eggs. I wasn't ready to start breeding the fish because I don't have a breeding tank, no fry food, nada. Maybe next time I'll be more prepared. Or I'll say screw it and let them do their own thing. It was still interesting to watch at least. On the bright side, Purl is now much skinnier. I thought the dumb fish was just getting obese. Turns out she was full of eggs. Gotta keep an eye out for that next time in case I want to breed them the way you should so you actually get some little fishies out of it.

Computers are supposed to be out at work today and all my bosses are gone. This means:

1. Sort Magic cards

2. Finish crocheted sweater

3. Spin the roving I brought in

4. Sleep

5. Get a little work done

And don't forget about the Diabetes Awareness contest. The link is at the right under my profile. You still have over half a month to post a comment and win yarn, or a bath and body works gift card, or magic sleeves (if you don't play Magic, I'll substitute it with some other yarny thing).

Knit on...

World Wide Knit In Public Day

While I did not participate in the local SnB WWKIPD event, I did knit in public on that day. The reason for not knitting with them? Magic. There was a Grand Prix Trial event that DBF and I went to. I did miserably, but it could have been worse. I ended up with two dual lands out of it, so my tournament was paid for and then some by just those two cards. Now I'm all about ebay, getting the rest of the cards I need for the biggest gaming conference in the eastern USA. So, here's the recap for June 10.

Early in the morning...DBF and I stop off at chik-fil-a. Yes, I am eating and yes I am knitting. It's a public place, so I decided it should be knit in. I worked on a dishcloth all day just so that I could do mindless knitting and not worry about following a pattern of any sort.

I had to throw away vegetarianism for the day. You see, Magic players are usually not too health conscious. It's OK. I was able to scarf down those little chiken nugget biscuit things without getting sick. The hashbrowns were very good too I might add :oP After eating some breakfast, DBF and I hit the road to the Magic tournament.

After registering my deck, I started to knit again in public. I got quite a few stares, but I don't know if they were from the knitting or from the really tight World Wide Knit in Public Day tee I was wearing. Tight shirts show off boobage, did anyone know that? :oP Works great in magic tournaments when you're trying to kick arse.

First round, I won 2-0. Second round, I had to mulligan down to four cards for the first game, and second game I was trying to come back and pull something out, but didn't quite work. I was at table one for a brief moment at least. Third round, I have to play DBF! WTF? Anyways, we took a draw and grabbed some grub at subway. Fourth round I have to play the best female magic player in the state...I lost needless to say. She crippled me with a psychic drain that ended up getting rid of every big thing in my deck, including the only way I had to get anything back from my graveyard. I should have scooped then, but we played it out. I dropped after being 1-2-1 for the day. Blah, terrible showing. DBF played in round 5 and had to play the chick I had to play before. He lost and then dropped and she dropped which pissed us both off to no end...anyways...

After that, we left to go find a disc golf course that we had looked up on the internet. Since it was close to the tournament site, we headed there. I shot a 2 over par and DBF shot a 2 under par. Not too bad for our first time at that course. So of course it's a public place...I knit in public and blogger won't let me upload any more pictures for this post. I'm really starting to hate blogger...I'll try to post the picture later on when it might let me...

Knit on...

Part Two of 6/9/06's Post

Here's the yarn that goes in those merino knit kits.

And now for the Thursday Knit Group last night. We all sat around and stitched, bitched, and ate really good food. The banana cream pie was to die for, I might add (Thanks, Chris!)

I was asked to bring in one of DBF and mine's dinosaur eggs to show the group. Here's Zabet(from the anticraft.com) holding a 68 million year old egg from China. It was a real hit with the group. We're knitters and we're geeks!

We had a canine companion most of the night as well. He performed all kinds of tricks for us and made me once again want a puppy.

We had lots of space, so we all spread out and knit away.

And Kim even got a chance to come to her first SnB evening gathering. She got to meet all the people she had emailed from the listserve and stitched away.

DBF won a poker tournament last night too, so all in all I think it was a good evening. I'm sleepy today from getting to bed late for me on a weekday, but it was a good time. Tonight DBF and I are going to a dinner theater where there will be country food and a musical called Phantom of the Grand Old Oprey. Should be fun.

Oh, and I started to spin again last night. Kim picked me up some roving from her LYS and Renee gave me a new top whorl drop spindle that she had an extra of lying around the house. I'm not a good spinner, but I did notice that I'm a heck of a lot better than when I first attempted to spin. My first attempt is a blob sitting on my desk and my second attempt is a woolen creature that resides at Kim's house. She is still saying she's going to put ears and eyes on it and make it into a yarn bunny. I don't know what I'm going to make with the yarn I'm spinning now. I'm thinking a scarf might not be bad. I'm only spinning 16 ounces of roving, so it's not that much.

Well, time to get to work.

Knit on...

WIP it out

OK, I have pictures thanks to DBF letting me borrow his digital camera! The first batch is the WIPs. So, without further anticipation, I give you...

This is a crocheted sunglass case that I started. It's about that same size since I haven't worked on it anymore. It's made out of a yarn that came from a place I will never be able to go...the 1970s! Erica gave me two balls of this yarn when she was my secret pal. I had just never figured out what to make with it, but when I started thinking of a sunglasses case, I knew this was the stuff because it is so soft and also machine washable.

This is the sari silk baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting. I worked on it some last night, so it's looking more like a garment than a giant garter stitch swatch :oP

This is the diamond lace shawl I'm making out of homespun that was left over from my knitting olympics project. More stash reduction! I haven't worked on it for a while though. Maybe this weekend...

This is the blue betrayal sweater in all its too smallness glory. It's going to be quite cute whenever I get it done. I finished sleeve number one and am now on sleeve 2. Once I get that one done, I'll wip up the two side panels so that the damn thing will actually fit...

I got my Morehouse Farm Merino knit kits on Wednesday. The yarn is gorgeous. I'll post pictures of that on the next post.

Proof! I have Proof!

I have been talking for well over a month and a half now about meeting the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Yes, I wasn't lying. Because now that I have forsaken my film developing laziness, I have proof! Here's the recap of that day:

Step one: Buy the Yarn Harlot some goodies. Lamb's Pride bulky, Happy Balls bourbon balls, shotglass, keychains, and mini cards.

Step Two: Find the Lexington Center

Step three: Find Rupp Arena and take a picture...Go Big Blue!

Step four: Scare Stephanie with a large camera lens and back up 30 feet to take a quick picture before anyone walks in front of you.

Finally, marvel at stuff that makes fun of Kentuckians and shows that we can't spell. We had a book festival for crying out loud!

There you go...proof that I did actually meet the Harlot, aside from showing up on her blog. Tonight is a big SnB gathering, so I'll have pictures of the girls and guys knitting, spinning, and consuming a lot of alcohol. But for now, I suppose I should get to work. Kathy is back from her vacation and brought me the coolest Saber Tooth cast from the Tar Pits in California. She brought back some tar from vacation too and it stinks to high heavens, but it's cool. I'll also have pictures of my WIPs tomorrow too hopefully. If not then, then I'll get them posted as soon as I can. Where have you heard that before? :oP

Knit on...

The Fix

Here's how I plan to fix the damn blue tee. Yes, it will defeat the whole point of shaping the blasted shirt, but it will fit, and after all the work gone into it, screw it, I'd rather it fit than be fitted :oP It'll stretch more lengthwise, so this is why I'm making it bigger around than usual. That's the thing with crocheted wearables...they drape much differently than knitted ones. Anyways, you can tell how productive I am at work today...

Knit on...

The Great Blue Betrayal

I am nearly done with the blue tee that turns out is too small. I'm on sleeve number one and I'm half way done with that. I should finish one sleeve and move to the next on lunch break today. After much cursing yesterday, I think I have decided on how to make this tee bigger without having to rip out the whole thing (which is not happening, in case you were wondering...)

I'm going to put in a side panel on each side. Nothing fancy. Last night I talked about doing a lacy thing on the sides and after picturing my love handles sticking out of lace, I have decided against that idea. Instead, I'll crochet a couple of quick side panels to add enough relaxing to the sweater so that I can wear the dumb thing. I panicked last night too thinking that I wouldn't have enough yarn to make side panels. Turns out that I have a shawl that I made out of the blue crayon yarn and that I really don't like anyways. So, me thinks it will be ripped out and turned into my fat, er, side panels.

I'm still frustrated by the sweater. How did I measure this sucker that wrong from the git-go? Something went wrong and I think it was me and chaining the first foundation row...blah.

I didn't work on anything else last night at Stitch and Bitch except the dumb blue tee. I did at one point pull out the sari silk baby kimono, but after fondling the yarn some, I realized it was time to go.

I have two knit kits coming in from Morehouse Farm Merino. I can't decide which one to make first. I'm thinking of this one first since it's lacy and would be cooler to make over the summer. I had to get this because it's call Fiddlehead Scarf. DBF and I go to photography competitions and one of our favorite things to photograph are fiddlehead ferns.

I definitely can't wait to finish this little guy too. He'll get some comments at work for sure :oP

I think today is moving day at work. I will have to move all my crap into a cubicle. Turns out they need my office now. Oh well. I hope I can fit all my yarn and Magic player's guides into the cubicle...

Knit on...

Having a Harlot Moment

I just read her post for today about her stole not becoming what she wanted it to be. I used my lunch break to work on the crocheted tee and as I got to the increases for the bust, I had a sudden realization.

Gee, this looks smaller than the last time I looked at this...

I counted stitches...nope, no missed one. I counted rows...nope, no change there. I wipped out the handy dandy tape measure and gasped in horror.

It's been too damn *%@#ing small from the start!

I must have been having delusions of greatness in Weight Watchers. Somewhere in my mind, I decided that this was the size I really am. I think that this might be the size that I would LIKE to be, but it is definitely NOT the size that I am.

Dammit.

I decided to take my measurements just to prove to myself that I am not that freaking small. Waist on sweater: 35 inches. Waist on KnittingMagicGirl: 37 inches.

Dammit.

Bust on sweater: 37 inches. Bust on KnittingMagicGirl: 41 inches.

Dammit, but whoo-hoo on the big boobage!

Is Knitting Losing Its Popularity?

So last night after I ate the best falafil of my life (nature's bulk mix from my local co-op), I decided to run to the bookstore that is only about a mile from my store. The reason I like this bookstore is that it has lots, and I mean LOTS of knitting magazines. It has Knitter's Magazine, Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting and all its spin-offs, Easy Knitting plus Crochet, etc. I went in to the bookstore last night with a purpose in mind. I needed a good vegetarian cookbook since I really don't have all that many recipes to work with in my conventional cookbooks. I went up there, picked out two cookbooks that I liked and then headed over to the knitting magazine section.

I gasped in horror when all I saw was last month's Knitter's Magazine. What happened to Interweave? What happened to Vogue? What the hell? I did however see four, count them, four beading magazines. I don't bead anymore, so I didn't want those. I really wanted my Interweave...

I go up to the store manager who I know because she also knits and of course knitters always can spot another knitter. I asked her where the mags were, and she said that they weren't selling anymore. She said they sold like crazy a year ago and have steadily declined. Now, I would understand if they were all crap magazines, but you can almost always count on Interweave being good. Nope, gone, they're all gone...

So I went home, very saddened, and looked at my crocheted shirt. It's coming along quite nicely too I might add. I worked a little bit on that and then decided I would rather do some mindless knitting. I looked at my desk and I saw the sari silk gleaming at me. It spoke to me and said "Make me into something adorable". I can't argue with the silk, so I began to make the baby kimono out of Mason Dixon Knitting. I have a cousin who will be having a baby in the dead of winter, so they need a long sleeved sweater thing that is so cute you want a big version for yourself...wait, maybe that last part is just my weird self coming through. It's working up very soft and fluffy and I love how the garter stitch just gleams with the silk. Don't worry for those of you enterting the Diabetes Awareness contest. I'm not using the yarn that you can win :oP I happen to have seven other balls of this yarn lying around. Looks like three will be enough to make a kimono and a hat and possibly booties if I so choose. I think I will just make the kimono for now.

Have you heard, crochet is the next big thing...sorry, after last night, had to throw that in. They did have two crochet mags there and only one knitting mag. Blah.

On another knitting note, I just picked up two kits from morehouse farms merino. I just couldn't resist and it was my one day a month I was allowed to buy yarn. I got the fiddlehead lace scarf which I just love the look of. You can find it here since blogger doesn't want to let me post pictures right now for some reason....Grr blogger...

I also got the gecko scarf in the prarie colors. I just couldn't resist. Click here to see it.

Knit on...

Meme Monday

1.My favorite yarn to knit with is: Currently Morehouse Farms Merino anything

2.I really do not enjoy knitting with: crappy acrylic yarn

3.If I had a choice, I would banish this yarn from my LYS novelty yarns: Fun Fur

4.If I could knit only one more project for the rest of my life, it would be: not happening

5.My favorite flower is: Tulips

6.My current color obsession is: true blue

7.My other interests are: Magic: the Gathering, DnD, books, disc golf

8.Something I wish I knew more about is: How to build a good Magic deck...

9.A knitting technique I want to learn is: Irish Cottage Knitting

10.My favorite needles to knit with are: Addi Turbos

11.Do you knit socks? I'm attempting too

12.Where would you like to visit? Anywhere in the World, starting with Ireland and Spain

13.What was your favorite childhood movie? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

14.What is one thing in your knitting bag that you can't live without? My little sheep tape measure

15.What is lacking in your notions bag that you really, really want? I want some DPN holders so my sock will stop falling off the needles

16.What is currently on the needles at your house? Sock, voodoo wrist warmers for me, lace homespun shawl, sunglass case, and on the hook is a blue tee.

17.If you could do nothing but knit all day, every day, for the next month (and get paid for it!), what would you knit? Sweaters

18.Least favorite color(s): Red, yellow

19.Favorite genre of music? Classic Rock, country, new age

20.Favorite candy or sweet: Blizzards of any type

21.What is the most challenging thing you have ever knit? Olympic Sweater because I hate Homespun so much

22.How long have you been knitting? One year in July

What is a relaxing weekend?

I would really like to know what a relaxing weekend is...This weekend made me and DBF so tired that we pretty much just sat on our butts all day Sunday and slept. We may have stayed there for the rest of the day if the words Dairy and Queen didn't make it into the same sentence :oP

Friday night we helped my friend Laura move a bunch of stuff from her old apartment to her new apartment. I had thought this would be a one day thing, but it turned into two. Saturday morning DBF and I walked in the American Diabetes Association walk at Keeneland racetrack. There were over 1500 people there! It was a good turn out for sure. They had a dedication wall, so I brought in a picture of my mom and added it to the rest. Not many people brought in pictures, so it was a sad dedication wall. DBF did take a picture of me by it, so hopefully I can get that turned digital.

After we walked 2.5 miles, we decided to go play disc golf. It was the closest match we have ever had, which was good for me! I think we're both getting much better now, so that's good. After disc golf, we grabbed some grub at my place and then I took a shower, thinking that it would be the end of the physical exertion. Nope. Laura called and wanted us to help her some more, so off DBF and I go again to move stuff. We finally got all the stuff moved that we were going to move for her and then went over to DBF's and crashed. After that, we went to Cracker Barrel for food and to his friend's party on a farm. Sacked out around 1 AM.

When I woke up yesterday, the first words out of my mouth were expletives because I was so sore. It's hard to believe that I could get so sore from just moving crap, but apparently I can. Went to church, slept on the couch and then went to go see a movie last night.

Anyways, that was my weekend. Notice a lack of knitting in there? I did play some Magic on Sunday with DBF. I really want to play Owling Mine in a tournament I think. It seems to be pretty darn hard to beat anyways. No knitting, a little bit of Magic, and a cool cartoon sent to be by Erica:

In case you can't read it, the guy on the left asks what this thing is that Graal knitted him. He then tells him it's an axe cozy to put over his axe. The other guy says, nope, not happening. I also found out there's a bunch of DnD playing knitters out there on the thread with this comic on it! You can find it here:

http://community.livejournal.com/punk_knitters/1494702.html?style=mine#cutid1

Still haven't gotten my Harlot film developed. Still haven't gotten pictures of the blue tee I'm making. I will get those sometime soon though. If I keep saying that though, you'll stop believing me :oP

Knit on...

More Prizes for the Diabetes Awareness Month

OK, I've gotten some emails from people who have said I might get some more response if I add some more prizes. Now, if you post a comment under the diabetes awareness post (click the link to the right under my profile) you have a chance to not only win the three balls of sari silk yarn, but also a 200 gram skein of lamb's pride worsted in Spring Garden colorway already wound into a ball, beaded stitch markers (hand made by yours truly), 100 dragon shield card sleeves (for the card floppers out there), or a $20 dollar gift card to Bath and Body Works (Ok, so this is a selfish prize...I can't use their stuff and I got it as a gift...)

Tell the knitting and card flopping community about your experiences with those who have diabetes and you could win some good prizes while helping people realize they are not alone!

Knit on...

Random Musings and a Contest!

OK, here's a few random musings for you that have come up between yesterday and today.

First, have you heard? Crochet is the next big thing! If I hear one more person say that to me while I'm crocheting this tee, I'm going to hook their eyeball out. I was talking to Zabet yesterday and she said I should organize the first crochet in public day so that I could just say, you know, crochet is the next big thing!

Second, when coming off Lexapro, you are very alcohol sensitive. Yeah, 1/2 a rum runner last night and I was snockered. That's really unusual for me. Seemed to work well since I finished second in the poker tournament despite the med withdraw.

Third and finally, I am walking in the American Diabetes Association walk for a cure tomorrow. I have raised money and I'm walking for the local college team. This is a big university and we've only raised 2600 bucks combined. That's really rather sad...What could be even sadder you ask? To reach our goal of 3000 bucks, we're having a bake sale...does anyone else see the irony of having a bake sale of non-sugar-free stuff to raise awareness about diabetes? I guess we'll give people type 2 diabetes to help raise awareness for it!

My mom has type 1 diabates also known as juvenille diabetes because it usually manifests when the person is very young. She's had it since she was 14, so she's dealt with this for most of her life. In honor of her, I'm having a little contest. You have a month. I declare June as Knitting Magic Girl's Diabetes Awareness Month! If you comment under this post telling about someone you know who has diabetes, I will enter your name in a drawing. On July 3, after I get back from a vacation, I'll draw a name from the list. Whoever is picked will win...drumroll please...

Three balls of recycled sari silk yarn! They are already wound into center pull balls. Each is approximately 100 grams of silk goodness. It's enough to make a very pretty scarf or some other accent piece. I personally love this silk because it adds a little splash of color to a plain item.

OK, all you have to do is comment here with your name and some way I can know who you are for a drawing such as your blog address or initials or something. You could also comment with your email address too if you want. Just write about someone you know who has diabetes and how this has affected your life or that person's life. Contest begins now!

Knit on...

More prizes now added! Prizes include: 3 balls sari silk, one 200 gram ball lamb's pride worsted in spring garden colorway, beaded stitch markers, 100 dragon shield card sleeves, and a 20 dollar gift card to bath and body works!

Thunderstorms and more thunderstorms

Yep, yesterday was all about the lightning and thunder here at work. About 3:00 in the afternoon, I started to hear some rumbling in the distance. By 3:15, we were getting hit by lightning strike after strike. I tried to pop on the internet to see what was going on and I get the window open and bzzzt, computer fries. Great, there goes that project I've been working on the past two months...blah.

So with nothing to do until the IT guy gets here, I go next door and see what's going on. Meg and I stand by the giant window and watch monsoon-like winds blow by. Seriously, I haven't seen rain go horizontal since I was in Florida for hurricane Charlie. We started seriously contemplating going downstairs when the storm stopped as abruptly as it started. The computers all came to life again and life at the geology survey continued.

I went to dinner last night with my friend Laura. It was fun. Laura is all stressed about moving this weekend. She's moving closer to where she works so that she can save money and gas getting to and from her jobs. The original plan was to go to a movie, but she didn't think she could stay awake for a 3 hour DaVinci Code movie. Since I have already seen the movie, that was fine by me. We finished up dinner and headed to Meijer's to pick up a few things she needed for her new apartment. While there, I of course looked at the yarn...damn are they overpriced for their stuff! Crappy acrylic yarn for over 2.50 a skein?!!? Whatever.

The score of the night was a new pair of jeans for me. While making our way to the checkout line, I spotted a sale rack. Never let me near a sale rack...There before me were 40 buck jeans marked down to 11.87. Hm...I took a look and most were size 30 and up, but there in the back was a pair of 15/16 jeans that called out to me. I go to the register and pay for them and turns out they were only 9 bucks instead!

Score one for Knitting Magic Girl!

So Laura went home and I decided to run to Big Lots to look around some before heading home. Why did no one tell me that Big Lots is selling yarn now? Why did they have fun fur and fancy fur for only 1.99 each...why did they have italian ladder yarn for only 1.99 each? How in the hell did I come out of there with no yarn? :oP

Yes, that's right, I managed to not buy any yarn. Woot for me!

I'm done with the front panel of my crochet boatneck tee now, so it's on to the second panel. It's uber soft and I want it to be done so that I can wear it. Hopefully it will turn out nice. It's shaped more than most sweaters I've made. We'll see. I'll try to get some pictures soon. And why won't blogger let me upload pictures today?

Well, I better get my butt to work. Time to redo all the stuff I've been doing the past 2 months on this project. Blah.

Knit on...