The pain, the agony, the...chocolate?

When I went to collect my mail on Wednesday, I saw it. There the package was, all nice and priority-mail-itized. It sat there, screaming at me to not open it. Don't reveal the horrors that lay inside. But alas, I smelled chocolate and I had to open it. Inside was all this:

Contents: International Socks of Doom, Kisses Dark Chocolate, Ghiradelli dark chocolate, teas, crafty girl mints, and drink-to-go packets. Thanks Squirrel Girl!

I of course had to try on the socks:

They fit my giant US size 10.5 foot perfectly. They'll make nice slipper socks. But I cannot let International Socks of Doom into the house without the rabbit's approval:

She chewed on them which means she approved. Now she's telling me to go update her blog since I've been a lazy human with that.

I missed my SNB yesterday at work. I ended up eating bad tuna (stupid fish!) and was sick yesterday. On the bright side, I got two Magic decks built (I was lazy and net-decked), and another symbol done on DBF's secret project which he may or may not have seen last night. If he did, he can just pretend that he doesn't know what it is :oP

Knit on...

Mending, mending, mending, and a sock

So I had a bunch of my sock of doom yarn left over after finishing the pair. I couldn't decide whether or not to make it into a pair of voodoo wrist warmers for someone for Christmas or start making slipper socks for people for Christmas. The slipper socks won out, so I'm working on a pair now for someone. Haven't decided who. Might be for mom since they look like something she would wear.

I also have been mending a sweater. A guy at work had given me a sweater several months ago to mend after the moths got into it and chewed lots of little holes in it. It's amazing what a crochet hook can do for sweaters like that. So he came in yesterday with another sweater. First off, moth balls are a wonderful invention. Secondly, please store woolen items in a plastic air-tight tote. Oh well. I mended it last night. At least I get a little money for doing that.

I have a chiropractor visit today. Last time I went, my back had been doing better, but after the adjustment, the pain came right back and made for a rather miserable weekend. My back is feeling fine again today, so we'll see how this goes. I also need to go work out at Curves. According to my scale at home, I lost another pound and a half. Now, Erica, don't go absorbing that! Make someone else do it!

I have a presentation for class I have to work on. For anyone who is interested, here's what I've been looking at:

Fossilized algae in coal. It's called alginite. It's really tiny, but looks almost like modern day algae under blue light. You have been educated today :oP I took this picture yesterday afternoon using the camera attached to the microscope in the lab.

Knit on...

Realizations

Ever have one of those moments where you look at whatever it is that you're knitting and you go, hmm...could that be big enough? That's what I did with the sock I've been working on for DBF. I looked at it, then decided to try it on since we have almost the same sized foot. Yep, KnitPicks simple stripes has no stretch to it. It's tighter than hell. If it's tight on me, then it's definitely going to be too tight on him since his legs have more muscle in them than mine. Time to go frogging...

Today is normally my stitch n' bitch day at work, but I have to work on a lab assignment instead. Gotta catalogue some macerals for class. It's interesting at least. I have to go make a rank suite for a project and show the different ranks of coals and the macerals that make up the coal.

OK, I probably just lost some of you. That was the science dork in me coming out again. I'll suppress her for a little while now. On a good note, I went to Curves yesterday to work out and weigh in since I'm doing that 6-week solution. I lost 4 pounds this week, so I was quite happy about that. I better have lost some weight with as strict as I have been eating. Aside from blowing it on Saturday (Magic events just have to be accompanied by breakfast at McDonald's, papa john's pizza, and ice cream), I did pretty well on the program. Woot!

Knit on...

Done and Gone

The socks I made for my target are done and gone now. In the mail. I will knock out at least one person before I get knocked out anyways! My goal has been reached for Sock Wars. Now I must pick formation tops.

Knit on...

I should be done with a pair of socks...

But instead am still working on that second sock. If I were a true sock warrior, I would have stayed up all night on Friday and knit the socks and mailed them on Saturday. I am not a true warrior. Even the best assassins can't help it when their backs give them trouble and they don't feel like knitting. No knitting while playing Magic. I did however knit in the car on the way up at least.

Sunday though, the urge to be a competitor kicked in again. I stayed up until 11, frantically turning the heel of the second sock and decreasing the gusset. At 11, I decided that I should go to bed because I had to go into work this morning. If I d0n't make money, I can't buy Magic cards and yarn, and no Magic and no yarn make Knitting Magic Girl a dull girl...

I should have knit during church. I might have been done by this morning if I had. I should have knit during Snakes on a Plane. I really wouldn't have missed much. I should have sent the girl asking me to buy stuff to help her school chorus to leave so that I could finish the sock. Instead I bought cookie dough. Coulda Woulda Shoulda. I may still get the sock mailed out today assuming I can find an hour to finish it. I have 30 minutes worth of breaks that I can use, but my lunch is taken up by the class. I might be able to squeeze some more time in there, you never know.

I just want to get this pair of socks out before I get a pair of socks in the mail. I want to knock out just one person before I get knocked out. I must knit like the wind and forsake all human interaction until the second sock is finished. Oh, you want to see what they look like? Here they are:

International Sock of Doom with it's partner in crime in the works.

Knit on...

OK, so we'll give Yarn Monkey a break...

OK, so maybe she's been affected by the power outages in Ireland courtesy of what's left of hurricane Gordon...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/5369650.stm

If not, then she's just enjoying torturing us...

Dear Yarn Monkey,

You're killing me right now. You're killing a lot of people. I keep checking my email, waiting for the pattern for the International Sock of Doom and I have yet to see it. No one has seen it. It's almost 3PM your time now...Where is the pattern? You're really enjoying this, aren't you?

You're making me have to do work today instead of look at the pattern and cast on!

::drops head::

Bring It!

Bring it on, Sock Wars. Today is supposed to be the day that the competition starts. I am waiting to receive the pattern in my email and cast on the sock, so come on Yarn Monkey...I be needin' to start this! (pirate talk, my SNB is all about it right now!). I have my arsenal down and ready to start:
Computer, Sock Yarn, Needles, and Caffeine. I'm ready. A closer look at the yarn:

Hand-dyed super wash merino made by Robyn. She's selling this colorway at ReBelle too and I love it. I have enough to make the International Sock of Doom as well as a pair for myself if I really like the pattern. I just loved the dark blue and blacks in it. I decided on this yarn because I figure it could really go unisex in case I have to knit a sock for a guy since I know quite a few are participating.

As for the current sock:

It is still blurry, but it now has a heel and is starting to have a foot. I worked on it last night during camera club. Good thing too, because I learned nothing from the speaker except the collectibility of certain books. Oh well. I did win a first and a second in intermediate color slides for my pictures though. DBF got an honorable mention in advanced slides. He had some tough competition this time. The category is Sports/Action, so it was hard to shoot pictures for it anyways. I used some of a horse race at Keeneland.

Come on pattern...I need to start this. I hope to have my first pair done by Monday so I can ship them out. :oP That means I'll have to knit tonight, tomorrow at the Magic tournament (hell, I knit at poker, so it hopefully won't be much worse), in church on Sunday, and until the sucker is done :oP

Knit on...

A Sign of the Times

So I went to Barnes and Noble last night with a friend and when I go to look at knitting magazines, I notice a glaring lack of them. There are 10 different beading magazines, two crochet, and three knitting. I already had the Interweave Knits issue, so I picked up Simply Knitting (one of my personal favorites) and Knit1 (which every now and then has a good pattern. I like the cables in this one). Where was Vogue Knitting, Knitting, Knit 'N Style? Where were the mass amounts of knitting magazines they used to carry?!

I decided to pop my head in the knitting book section. Same thing, glaring lack of stuff. The section has been slashed. What happened? Where are the crochet books even? I thought crochet was the next big thing! :oP

So I think knitting is losing it's popularity with those who just pick up on a fad and then change the next season. This is good and bad. Good, because we may now get some more classic designs in books unlike some that have been produced where everything is made of fun fur (shiver). We'll see.

I finished the heel on DBF's sock, so it's ready for the foot now. The short row heel is much shorter than the heel flap heel, but I think that just may be because I always make the heel flap too long. Oh well. As long as it fits!

Knit on...

Short Row Heels

I now am very fond of them. I turned the heel of DBF's sock and it's much better than the heel flap methods. No holes, very smooth, they're just a much better heel in my opinion. Here's a blurry picture to show the progress I made last night:

I definitely will be making the rest of my socks like this. I'm using the no wrap method that is described here. You'll need Acrobat Reader to open it since it's a PDF file. It's an easy method and since I generally drop the wraps on accident if I try to wrap and turn, it works out much better for me.

I played poker last night at the bowling alley and I sucked. On the bright side, I got to turn the heel of this sock. I did win a side table at least, so that wasn't too bad. This is what pisses me off though...DBF has worked all season long at this poker league so that he can be points leader going in to the final table to try to win the trip to Vegas. So, he's got a nice lead on just about everybody as of this point and he earned it by winning lots of tournaments. So the league organizer has decided that she is going to put a double bounty on him that is progressive which means that whoever takes him out of the tournament gets at least 100 points, but it can go up way higher than that if he's doing well. So last night he finishes 3 in the first tourney and a guy gets a bounty for 700 points. Same thing in the second tourney, only he finishes 2. So 1400 points were given out on one night for his bounty when it would have taken him 5 first place finishes to rack up those kinds of points. I don't think that's fair, and that's not just because I love him either. If you build up a huge lead, then you've earned it. He wasn't always the points leader, he just worked hard to get there. I'm waaaaaay down at the bottom of the league and I don't think it's right. OK, I'll stop ranting now.

Poker...Knitting...where's the Magic content you ask? We're going to the Time Spiral pre-release here on Saturday. I might build a new deck tonight if I have time even.

Knit on...

PS: Sock Wars starts in 2 days...

Cuteness Continued...and a diet

OK, so for the follow up pictures of Spooky from yesterday:

Spooky in full flop/relaxed position. She's funny when she starts doing stuff like this. Then she goes and does even cuter stuff like this:

She loved these socks. I need to wear them more often I suppose. Cute bunny with devil red-eye.

I cried off and on all day yesterday over Holly. It'll be weird going home for Christmas and not seeing her again. She was a good cat. I started thinking of silly things she did over her 20 year life and they cracked me up. The first Thanksgiving we got her, she jumped right into the turkey platter and started eating the cut up turkey. Only time I've ever heard mom use that word before...She also ate potato chips and nacho cheese whenever she had the opportunity. She rode the dog around the house like a horse. She thought she was a dog until the dog died. She was named Holly because she was my Christmas present for my fourth year rotating around the sun. Lots of good memories. I'm glad I got her on tape the year before on Christmas day. I couldn't find any digital pictures of her, but lots of prints. If I get ambitious enough, I'll scan one in.

I also started a diet yesterday. I won entry in to Curves Six Week Solution at my local Curves, so thought I would give it a shot. We'll see how it goes. I really want to try hard and make this work. Where have you heard that before? I've got my little meals all planned out for today and I need to go shopping tonight. Krogers has Healthy Choice dinners 10/10 bucks. Good deal.

Guess I should get something done here at work. I get to turn the heel of DBF's socks today. I'm going to try a short row heel this time instead of a heel flap. We'll see how it goes.

Knit on...

She was a good cat

Mean at times, pissed off most of the time, but she was a good cat. Just found out that my childhood pet, Holly, died this morning. She was 20 years old. I wish pets could live forever, but she was old and I've known for a few weeks now from talking to mom and dad that she wasn't doing well. I'll try to dig up a digital picture of the cat when I get home and post a picture. She was a part siamese, part persian cat. Basically a big fluffy siamese cat with the personality to go with it.

Attack of Cuteness!

OK, before I get to the attack by the bunnies of cuteness, I will actually give you a picture of the current sock. I also finished the first panel for DBF's sweater and will cast on the other panel tonight when I get home so that I can start working on that sucker. Anyways, here's an actual knitting picture:

Knit in knitpicks Simple Stripes in the discontinued Stormy Skies colorway. I really like this yarn too, so I'm sad it's all gone now. This is for DBF. Now, to the bunnies.

The weekend started off like this:

Spooky decided she would rather be on top of her cage instead of in it. Well, she is ambitious...
On the way back from seeing The Black Dahlia (overrated movie in MHO), we had a Radar sighting. Radar is the neighborhood pet. He's a lop-eared bunny who is fed and taken care of by the neighborhood kids. He was someone's pet before, i'm sure. He's normally quite skittish, but yesterday...
I actually got to pet him! The reason he's named Radar is because that one ear shoots up when he's listening for something. Well, Spooky would not be out-done on the cute factor yesterday.

She flopped down by my feet and a towel (the reason the rabbit has a towel in the front room is because she decided to jump into the toilet on Saturday night. Where is the video camera when you need it?!). Not relaxed enough, she decided to fully flop... I would show you, but blogger now thinks I have enough pictures in this post. I'll try to remember to post the rest tomorrow.

Knit on...

The Meeting is Over and I Took a Day Off

Yep, it's a post on Saturday...I know! That never happens. I would post some pictures of the new sock, but I'm working with dial up and I don't want to be on here for a super long time, seeing as I also have a rabbit running hyper through the house. Anyways...the meeting went well on Thursday. It's over and I felt relieved that it was done. It went smoothly and I got a lot of comments about how it went, so that was good. So, to celebrate it being over, I took the day off from work yesterday. That was nice.

My back is still killing me. It seems to be doing slightly better this morning now, but not feeling 100% better. Went to the chiropractor yesterday for 2 of 4 adjustments. I have to go back on Monday as well.

I'm also starting the Curves 6 week solution on Monday. I won free entry into the class, so I thought I would give it a shot. Definitely worth trying as of this point.

Still working on the sock, DBF's sweater, and beginning a new secret project for him for Christmas. It'll be hard to keep it a secret, but I know he'll love it.

Gotta get ready to head out of here and get to the yarn store at 10. I'm going to get the rest of the yarn for the new project. That and I have to finish charting out the rest of the pattern. Yep, a Knitting Magic Girl original fair-isle pattern :oP God help us all!

You know you are tempting fate when...

You finish grafting the toe on your second sock and this is all the yarn that remains. Yes, I almost ran out of yarn. You all would have heard a blood-curdling scream if I had run out of yarn that close to being done with the damn sock. So, my mom now has a pair of socks and hopefully they fit. They looks small to me, but then again, I have a size 10.5 foot and she has a size 7.5, so of course the socks look small to me.

I had said that I wouldn't be casting on another sock with sock wars coming up in the next week or so, but I lied. I need something to travel to work with and to knit on while playing poker. Even the gecko scarf is too big to take to poker I think. Plus it involves counting rows and I need something mindless to do when trying to kick peoples' arses. And to really seal the deal, I found out I'll need size 5 needles (which means size 4 for me since I knit loose on DPN's) so my size 1s are going to be open again.

So, the next pair of socks is being made out of knit picks simple stripes in the Stormy colorway. I like the grays and blues in this, so we'll see how the striping works. While I did like that socka yarn I have been using for the past 2 pairs, I was really in need of a change. I'll be fascinated by self-striping yarn for a little while now. Then I'll go on to Dancing from Knit Picks. Yep, I bought too much yarn from them last month. Here's the newly cast on sock...

I want a better digital camera...but you get the idea!

I also noticed a glaring lack of papers on my desk this morning. This means that the bosses are really waiting until the last minute to get their stuff to me today. I have class this morning, so hopefully they remember that. I missed lab on Monday, so I definitely can't miss today without absolute hell from my thesis advisor since she is teaching the class! Guess I should go finish up these nametags for tomorrow.

Knit on...And prepare for sock wars!

Baby Got Back

Or Baby Got Back Pain anyways. I threw my back out yesterday, trying to be good and actually exercise and do what I'm supposed to do at Curves. Well, on one of the machines, I raised up like always and felt that always not nice to feel pop in the bottom of my back and when I let go of the machine, that was it. The back was out. Checked out, not coming back for a while unless forced to. So, I'm going to try to force it to come back today by calling my chiropractor first thing this morning. I can't believe it chose this week to go out. Doesn't it know that I have too much crap to try to do this week before Thursday? Dumb back.

On knitting news, I'm almost done with my mom's socks. I need to get them done soon because sock wars will be starting up really soon. I won't be needing the size 1 needles, but I just hate to see that poor sock sitting there all alone after the first one is done and it only has another two inches on the foot before the toe decreases. I also knit some more on DBF's sweater. I have to measure him sometime soon so I can see how long to make the sweater and the sleeves.

Well, I have a ton to get done now that I'll probably have a doctor appointment sometime today. Blah. I'll post pictures tomorrow of my sock in progress and maybe more, you never know.

Knit on...

What Happened?

Where did the weekend go? Why did it run away so fast this time? Where did the rocks on my desk come from? Oh yeah, the last came from the field trip on Friday.

So we went down 1000 feet underground into this limestone mine. It was freaking huge. 60 foot ceilings in places, 50 foot wide passages. Miles of tunnel. It was huge. And it smelled, but it was huge. I took some film shots of it, so once I get those developed, I'll post them if they actually turned out decently.

Saturday DBF and I played in a 25 dollar poker tourney. Now I don't mind losing, I just really mind losing to bad players. There was this one guy who really was pissing me off. He put DBF out and I lost a bunch of my chips because of him, so inadvertantly, he put me out too. He called my 2000 dollar pre-flop bet with A3. He knows I don't raise unless I have something good and he calls with A3? He wins with a freaking pair of 3s. I had AQ suited on that hand. He puts DBF out, who raised again 2000 pre-flop, 3 times the big blind, with 4 5 off suit. Who calls huge raises with 4 5 off suit? OK, end rant. We lost and didn't get any money back obviously.

Sunday, we went to see Little Miss Sunshine. Go see this movie. It has some rediculously funny scenes, especially with the grandpa. After that, we hit the bookstore where I found:

Yep, new Dragonlance book. I bought it of course. It was autographed by both of them too, which was cool. Read the first chapter last night too.

Knitting? You want a post about knitting? I worked on the sock and it's almost done. Almost done with another pair. DBF's sweater is coming along too. No pictures though. I was a lazy ass yesterday. Guess I better get to it though this morning.

Knit on...

I'm Going Under

That's right, I'm heading down into a quarry today. One of the largest limestone quarries in the world to be exact. I had to go out and buy steel toed boots for the trip and now they told me I need a hard hat. Guess I'll have to borrow one from someone. I can't type much because I have to get my butt in gear and get on the road.

Turned heel on sock 2 for mom. About to do instep. Nice 1 hour car ride should allow me to finish that. Have a good weekend everyone!

Knit on...

Moving In, Moving Out

I have to vacate my house for a night tonight. The owners are coming back for two days of doctor appts for the kids, so I'll be staying with family for a night. I originally thought that it was for the whole weekend, but it's just for a night, so that won't be bad. Spooky won't have to leave the house and can just stay put, so that will be good too. Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip to a limestone quarry about an hour from here. We'll see how terribly exciting this is. I'm required to go...

In knitting news, I've been plugging away at stuff. I have decided not to take any more pictures of DBF's sweater until it's done and on him. The damn thing just doesn't like to be photographed. The front panel is now almost 20 inches long, so it's getting there now. I also worked some on the gecko:
And I am almost to the heel of the ankle sock:

I need some good sunshine to get some better pictures of things. My digital camera just sucks at inside shots. Oh well, you get the idea. Today I am going to the core barn to see if I have picked formation tops right. I've been looking at electronic logs to see what rocks are under the surface. We finally got a core from the area, so time to go see if I'm right or if I'm horribly wrong. I'm leaning towards horribly wrong :oP

And tonight is poker. I'm wearing a cool hat that DBF got me. He has one too and it looks better on him than it does me, but it does look cute on me :oP

Knit on...

Alpaca

So yesterday was just one of those crappy days. Wine and cheese right before bed made it a little bit better, but not by much. The highlight of my day, aside from seeing DBF last night, was going to the new LYS, within walking distance of where I work. God help me.

Rebelle, owned by Robyn and Sarah, is a yarn shop with a twist. They have vegan yarns, all natural yarns, sock yarns, herbs, recycled products, and natural feminine care. It's really quite nice. Kim, Emily, and I walked over there at lunch and Kim bought some bamboo yarn and I picked up a pound and a half of raw alpaca yarn. This stuff is like a furry animal. I sat it on my desk and just petted it during the day. I decided what pattern I want this yarn to turn into. It's from inspired Cable Knits and it's the sweater with the icord ties on it. It must be made into this sweater. I will start swatching for it once I get a couple of Christmas presents done.

I played poker last night and sucked. Sucked arse is more like it. I was out quick in the main tourney and out quick at the side table. That's how it goes sometimes I guess. Went home and knit a little bit on DBF's sweater, the gecko scarf, and fondled the alpaca some more before going to bed.

Guess I better get to work. I have my first test of the semester today too. Blah.

Knit on...

One of those days

Ever wake up knowing it was just going to be one of those days...I did this morning. I go to start my car at 7 AM and the battery is dead once again. Stupid autozone. So I called my grandmother and she came and drove me to work. Guess what I get to look forward to when I get home. Why is the battery dead once again when they say the alternator is fine? Oh well.

Yesterday was a sad day. Steve Irwin, of Crocodile Hunter fame was killed by a stingray barb through the heart. I always thought that he would die via crocodile or great white or something, but not a stingray. I'm rather sad that he died. He was one of those quirky personalities that I was just drawn to. Whenever the show was on, I was watching. I even watched the kids show Croc Files in the mornings just because I liked him and Terri. I wish Terri the best and hope that their kids will be fine.

I also worked on a lot of different projects this long weekend. Here's the slew on the kitchen table:
I finished the first of mom's socks:
I started a gecko scarf in honor of Irwin. The name of the gecko will be Steve.
I worked some more on the latest felted bag. This is going to take more yarn than I thought I think...
And finally, I worked on DBF's sweater which is still hating to have its picture taken...

Yep, giant black blob. It's really blue and has a nice striping pattern. Oh well. As long as it looks good on him when its done. There's the knitting/crocheting update for this weekend. Better get to work.

Knit on...

New WIPS, Old WIPS, and a Purse

I started working on a new felted bag last night. My aunt seems to really like my felted crocheted messenger bag and she wants to give a few away as gifts. Obviously fine by me since she's paying me to make them. I'll have about 10 bucks worth of yarn in each one and she's paying me 25 for each bag, so not too bad. Just means I can make a little money. Spending cash is always good right now. Better get to crocheting these suckers. Here's the base with all stitches picked up on the sides, getting ready to crochet in the round: Here's the sock for my mom. It's six inches long now, so just one more inch and I can decrease for the toe. Assuming I don't work on the bag at lunch, the sock should be done by then.

It's blurry, I know. Gotta love my crappy little digital camera. It's what I get for only paying 39 bucks for it.

While I wasn't able to knit, Kathy made me a copy of her purse that I liked so much. I thought that was just so thoughtful of her. It's lined and everything. She had surgery on Wednesday, so sending her good healing vibes right now. Hopefully she's enjoying knitting and playing with the dogs right now at her home. Lucky...I'm the only one at work today I think. Everyone else took off to make it a 4 day weekend. Not me, I had to take Tuesday off, so I don't get to take today off :o( Oh well. Get better soon, Kathy!

I love the cross-stitched flowers on the purse. It's very pretty.

I guess I should actually get some work done, even if I am the only one here today...

Knit on and have a great Labor Day weekend for all the readers in the USA.