Spider Pig

Yeah, so I've had the Spider Pig song in my head ever since Sunday. I just can't seem to get it out of there! Oh well, I can think of worse songs to get stuck in my head.

Last night I went to play poker at the free league. I made final table, but it was only 8:30 when I finally was put out of the tournament, so it was a short night. I went home and worked some more on the stole. I'm about to be done with clue 3 and by lunch time, I should be able to start on clue 4. I did the math, and to be done with clue 4 by Thursday night, I need to knit 47 rows each day starting today. I can probably get that done since I don't really have much going on this week, but knowing me, it won't happen :oP I did work on the sock last night and turned the heel and worked the gusset:One day I will take some pictures at the house where there is better lighting, I promise. I also finished the increases for the fitted tank, but I have no pictures of that to show you today.

Today is SnB and I'm determined to take something healthy with me tonight. I'm leaning towards a fruit tray. We'll see what interests me this afternoon.

Knit on...

You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em...

Know when to hold 'em...

Yeah, so DBF and I went to the casino on Friday night to celebrate our anniversary and play in a poker tournament that DBF had won entry into for the free poker league. They limited the number of players to 40 and they were paying top 5. DBF finished seventh. I always hate being that close to the pay out. I finished fifth though and won 100 bucks! DBF and I split the winnings, played some penny slots, then went home.

Saturday we went to this thing called A Glimpse of India. It was a show that had traditional dance and singing and it was pretty good. At the end, they had some Indian food, but not knowing what anything was (nothing was labeled and it all looked deep fried), I didn't try it.

Sunday we went to go see the Simpsons Movie. It was pretty funny and if you're a fan of the show, you'll like the movie. Of course you will come out of the theater with the Spider Pig song in your head...

I also did some knitting this weekend. I worked on clue 3 to the mystery stole. I'm hoping to be done with clue 3 by tonight so that I can start working on clue 4 and have a fighting chance of getting that done by Friday. How many times have I had this grand plan to finish the current clues before the next one comes out though? :oP Here's the stole in all its unblocked curly gloriousness:I also worked on the fitted tank out of Blue Sky Cotton. The more I look at the color, the more it's growing on me. We'll see how the finished product looks when it's all done.That was the weekend in a nutshell. Hope everyone had a good weekend too!

Knit on...

Four Years

Today is DBF and my's four year anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been four years already now. Four years ago today, I was playing the Star Wars TCG at a game store, waiting until my friend Erica and I could go to a production of Robin Hood at the local arboretum. Erica called and said that she had to cancel because her mom had been in an accident in Georgetown and her mom had been trampled by a horse. I told her to get on over there to make sure her mom was OK, went back in to the card players and said that my evening plans had just been canceled.

That's when DBF spoke up and said, you know, I could always go with you. That was our first date. It was cheap, had funnel cake, and was a gorgeous evening. I think we hit it off pretty good right from the start and the rest is history :o)

So, tonight we're going to take a trip that he had won and go play in a poker tournament. It's someone else's money since he won the trip at the free poker league in town, so we're both really glad about that. It should be fun. As always, I will be taking knitting with me.

Speaking of (don't you love my topic change there...), I worked on a new pair of socks for my grandma.It's Knit Picks Dancing yarn. She picked it out from my stash. I'm already to the heel flap since she likes a shorter cuff on her socks. It's nice to be almost half way done with the first sock after just a couple of hours knitting. The Jaywalkers seemed to just take forever compared to this. Sometimes you just need some plain stockinette.

The other day, I had won a contest on the Virtual Vacation Swap group. I won four skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton in the Circus colorway and the pattern for the fitted tank. I'm working on it now, but I can just see this color clashing horribly with my hair. Worse case scenario, this will make a nice Christmas present for someone!
I better go get some work done since DBF and I will be leaving this afternoon for our trip. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Knit on...

Better Late Than Never

I'm a little late getting this post up this morning. I woke up with a migraine and took a massive dose of tylenol and then laid back down until 8 this morning. So, now I'm here sans migraine, and thought I would do my daily post.

I knit six rows on clue three of the mystery stole, but wasn't in the mood for much else. So, I decided to spin last night instead since Wednesdays are my spinning day. I've been working on some merino hand-dyed roving from Insubordiknit and I've really enjoyed it. Here's the finished project:It's really not that dark, but that's as good as my camera would get. The colorway is Polyamorous, so go check out her site and see what it really looks like.

That was all I ended up doing last night. I was tired, so I did a little writing and then went to bed. Terribly exciting, I know :oP

Knit on...

Quote of the Night

Last night at SnB, Abby had a great quote:

I bought a fleece, but it hasn't gotten here yet because it's still on the hoof and they can't catch her

That cracked me up. Now, on to Jaywalker news. I finished the pair last night and here they are:These are quite possibly my new favorite pair of socks. They fit snug, but I like that, although for the next pair, I'm definitely making the bigger size so that I can get them over the heel easier. I've been assured that they still stay pretty tight even at the bigger size. They hug my foot well and...They are Spooky approved. She was already in her cage for the night and I knew if I let her out to approve of the socks, she wouldn't be going back in for a while. So, I'm wearing my new socks today and I really love them. I started another pair of socks last night, but these are going to be plain stockinette. I need something simple right now before starting my second pair of Jaywalkers.

Knit on...

Awe, Shucks...

I have been nominated by Erica for the Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I'm all giddy now :oP

So, now it's my turn to nominate 5 people for this award. Here they are in no particular order:

Robyn
Zabet
Emily (now you have to update your blog :oP )
Kim (same to you, Chica)
Michelle

A Little Knitting, a Little Poker, a Little Bellydancing

As is tradition on Monday nights, I went and played poker in the free league. I sucked and was out by the first break (two pair gets beaten by trips...kinda hard to know he had trips though since there wasn't a pair on the board...), but I did get some knitting in. I worked on the Jaywalkers some and I'm hoping to finish them by tonight. Here's the progress so far:It doesn't show it very well, but I'm about 2-3 inches beyond the heel now. Hopefully with lunchtime SnB and SnB at Jane's tonight I'll be able to finish this pair. I still really like the pattern and would like to make it again with the bumblebee stripe Lorna's that I have at the house, I think right now I would like to make a simple basic sock so that I can see it get finished quickly. Sometimes I like patterns and sometimes I like simplicity.

I also rented some bellydancing fitness videos from the library the other day. My friend Courtney was talking about how much fun she was having in her class, so I thought I would take the free way out and go see what the library had. They are fun videos, but I feel like a dork doing them. The videos have these two skinny Indian twins on them and then you have me, chubby, tall, red-head girl trying to keep her coordination together enough not to trip over her own two feet. Anyways, they're still fun and I can do them in the small space in my room, so that is also helpful since I don't want to look like an idiot in front of anyone.

Pictures tomorrow of hopefully a completed Jaywalker. We'll see.

Knit on...

Next time anyone says I have too much yarn...

Clicky Here.

Let it be known that I do not have as much as she does. Mine fits into one cabinet right now. Albeit sock yarn is really good at squishing, I'm contained into one room!

Sleepy....but finished....

OK, so this weekend was mostly about Harry Potter. My book arrived late Saturday morning with the mail and I immediately cracked it open and got about half way through it when DBF came over and I put it down. I needed to walk away from it for a little before my eyes became permanently glued to the pages. So, we went to see a movie called The Golden Door (not worth seeing, btw) and then played 9 holes of disc golf. We grabbed some dinner at Carrabas and then I went back to reading.

Sunday morning DBF and I were baptized at our church. We're now (whoops, I had put not first, but DBF caught that) full members and he was baptized for the first time and I was re-baptized since I didn't remember anything from my first one as a kid, so I made a profession as an adult. After church we went out to eat with my grandparents and then DBF and I played Conquest of Pangea (please get at least 3 players. A 2 player game is strictly luck of the time cards) then went to see a concert at the church. After that, it was back to Harry Potter.

I finished the book at 10:30 last night then crashed and went to bed. My theory was right, but for all of those who are still reading, I won't tell. I'm sure it's all over the internet already as it is. There was a lack of knitting this weekend, but maybe today I'll get back to that :oP

Knit on...

We Interrupt this Regular Scheduled Blogging...

In case you all don't hear from me on Monday, depending on if my book arrives tomorrow, I may be reading. I will take a break from reading to do stuff with DBF, go to church, and other such things, but if I have not finished by Monday when I would normally have internet access, I may be, cough cough, sick, cough cough.

Just so you know :oP

I didn't do much knitting yesterday. I did a couple of rounds on the Jaywalker and I'm hoping I can get some more done today. I'll have pictures on Monday if I'm not sick ::cough cough::

Knit on and have a good weekend!

Push Through

I've been working on the slog for too long now. And it even seemed that just when I thought it was completely done, there was something else to add. The slog caused me to curse more than I think I have ever cursed at a project and the sweater is probably so karmically fused with negativity that the person wearing it will just shudder involuntarily. But, she loves it, she says, so at least one person is happy with this project.

When I first started the slog, I had visions of this grand sweater pattern that I might be able to market. I pictured lovely cables running up the front, cables on the sleeves, perhaps a nice shawl-type collar. I had these pictures in my head until she chose Homespun to be the yarn for it.

Insert deflated bubble of hope here.

Don't get me wrong, Homespun is not the most God-awful yarn that she could have chosen. I would have refused if she had brought me fun fur or midnight mohair. Homespun I could deal with. So, I swatched because I still wanted cables on this jacket and so help me God, I was going to put cables on it, even if you couldn't see them...

When I first cast on the sweater, I was amazed at how fast it was going. Size 10.5 needles + giant yarn = fast. However, I forgot to take into account how long the thing was going to be. About 25 inches into the back of the slog, I threw it down and stomped off. Plain stockinette in a yarn you hate for more than 25 inches is just a recipe for disaster. But, as with most projects that I loathe, I picked it up again, reminding myself that I would get paid for this coat and then I could go buy yarn that I liked and go crazy with lace and cables and any other stitch pattern I wanted (Consequently, I bought Helen's Laces and the Heere Be Dragonne shawl pattern...tiny yarn...ridiculously difficult pattern...go figure...).

So, I knit. I finished the back and then I sighed in relief. That was the only plain stockinette part on the whole thing. So, I cast on for sleeves and marveled at how fast I could knit a sleeve compared to 55 inches of stockinette that was double the width. I completed the sleeves and in my excitement, I cast on for the first front panel. I knit for a while, and then once again I threw the project down and said screw it because homespun was making my hands so dry and sucked.

During the time away from the slog, I realized that it wasn't the yarn. It was the idea of HAVING to finish a project that bothered me. Sure, I had finished lots of things on a deadline before, but something about this bothered me. I felt like I had to get it right because I was being paid to do it. I didn't pick up that slog again until some tragedies struck at work and in my life.

The day Luanne died, I picked up the slog and knit. I knit on that front panel for probably five hours straight that night while Kathy's dog licked me in her crazy compulsive way. I cried and I knit, but I was actually thankful for the slog.

Insert jaw dropping here. Yes, I said I was thankful for the slog.

The slog was mindless. My mind needed something that it didn't have to think about. I finished the first front panel the night Luanne died and then over the next couple of days, I finished the second one. I bound off the whole thing on the way home from the last funeral service.

It took me a week to be really happy about being finished. The moral of this story is to push through. If you're stuck on a project and you really hate it, ask yourself why you hate it. Is there a reason? The yarn? The pattern? You? Try and push through it. If it's something you wanted to do, you'll be happy when it's done.

So, without any further babbling on my part, here is Kathy modeling the finished slog. No, she wasn't the one I made it for, but she was the one I had around and threw the thing on.Yeah, I still think it looks like a giant black bathrobe, but apparently that's what this person wanted. So, she got a really expensive bathrobe.So there it is, in all it's robey-gloriousness. I have also come to the conclusion that the slog will add about 10 pounds to your frame. Kathy is not that big looking in real life. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hell, it was starting to feel like a slog all over again :oP Oh, and if you want a pattern for this, please, don't ask. I'm never speaking of the slog again...

Knit on...

We Have a Man Down!

Sorry, no knitting pictures today. I forgot the memory card reader this morning, so I can't get the pictures I took this morning off the camera until tomorrow. But in the meantime, there's a man down.

Yes, that's right, I have the first hole in a pair of hand-made socks I have ever gotten. It stared at me blatantly when I tried to put the sock on and my toe got caught in it. It's a shame too because those socks were good merino.

Yeah, I know I could fix them. See, Spooky has a thing for socks and she really liked these socks when I was knitting them. She tried to steal the yarn many times from me and run it back to her cage to build a nice bunny nest. So, since it was that same sock she liked so much, I gave it to her.

Insert cute bunny sitting on sock picture here.

I also went to SnB at lunch and at Jane's last night and worked on the Jaywalkers. I finished the heel flap and turned the heel on the second sock, so it's getting there. Maybe by this weekend I'll have them finished, you never know. Today at lunch though, I'm really hoping to finish clue 2 for the mystery stole 3. Hopefully I'll get that done. I'm hoping if I can get it done at lunch that I can finish clue 3 after work today since I'm taking my car in for service tonight since the check engine light keeps coming on. It's an older car, so I just would rather be safe than sorry.

Speaking of cars, DBF's Blazer blew up yesterday. He sent me some pictures, so here, look at a blown up radiator.Sure, it looks all OK sitting there, but the radiator blew and even managed to catch on fire. It just sucks, but it looks like the radiator was the only thing that was hurt and the rest of the engine should be fine. I guess he'll find out today.

On that note, I'll get my butt to work. I actually have a bunch of stuff to do today.

Knit on...

A Little Knitting, a Little Poker

So it goes on Monday nights :oP

I played poker after work and made it to the final table at least. DBF is off all this week, so he got to play too and he won the first tournament. While playing poker, I knit as always.Has anyone else noticed how horribly the Jaywalker sock photographs for me? When I get the pair all finished, I'll be sure to take some pictures outside so that you can see the colors and pattern better. I really am pleased that the yarn is doing that spiral stripe thing again so that I'll have matching socks when it comes to that pattern.

I also knit some on the mystery stole clue number 2. I'm about 1/4 way done with it and I'm hoping to have the majority of clue 2 done by tonight if not all of it. I'll work on it some at home before SnB. I learned my lesson last week, don't bring lace to SnB, even if it is easy lace.

Knit on...

A Magical Weekend

Yeah, so this weekend, DBF and I headed to Louisville to play in Magic Game Day. We had some tournaments that were a little more local, but we like the people in Louisville better and generally have a better time. So, we packed up some sleeves, some money, and took off for the games. I managed to do pretty good this time and finished fifth (that's what I was pre-top 8 cut, so I'll say that's where I ended up since I lost my first round in the top 8), so I won some cards and a nicely illustrated card box that I forgot to take a picture of. I wish I would have won a door prize, but I guess the packs I won for finishing 5th made up for it :oP

Knitting-wise, I finished clue one on the mystery stole 3.Now it's on to clue 2. I'm really hoping I can get caught up with the clues by Friday when she releases clue 4. It's a really nice pattern so far. I had to rip the whole thing out once though because I was stupid and didn't put in any lifelines. You can see from the picture that I have since done so. Stupid missed YO.

Anyways, that's all the knitting I got done this weekend. I played Magic, read the Dragonlance book, and that's about it. Hope everyone had a good weekend. Last night there was a very nice sunset and I'll leave you with my crappy digital shot from my car as I was driving home.Knit on...

Some Days

There are some days when you really don't want to get out of bed and come in to work. Today is definitely one of those days for me. I've been having really bad allergy attacks the past couple of nights as I've gone to bed and I haven't been able to sleep really well because of it. This morning I tried to stay in bed, but I know my grandparents and I know how much noise they make, so I decided that it would be quieter to just come in to work and deal with the lack of sleep and clogged up head.

Joy.

Anyways, not much knitting happened yesterday. Instead, I have begun the first steps to writing a book. I finished the first chapter and part of the second chapter last night. I've always wanted to write a full-length novel and I think I finally have a character and a storyline that can make it. Oh, I did work a little on the Jaywalker. Didn't think I would avoid knitting altogether yesterday, did ya?Yeah, it's really dark, I know. Like I said, it's just one of those days. Anyways, it is quiet around here and I could probably take a nap at my desk and no one would know it. Speaking of, that sounds good to me...

Knit on...

If I were in the Simpsons...

This is how they would draw me...Just in case you ever wanted to know :oP

You can create your own Simpsons drawing at the movie site, so go on, you know you want to...

A Couple of Distractions

Yeah, so knitting was pretty much non-existent for me yesterday. I took the day off work so that I could go see Harry Potter with DBF and enjoy a day away from the office. I also had another reason to stay home since the newest Dragonlance novel came out. Anyone who knows me well, knows that when a Dragonlance book comes out, I will buy it on day one and sit down and read through the whole thing. If it happens to come out on the day that Harry Potter came out, which in this case it did, I am only able to manage reading half of it. Hopefully I'll get the second half done today sometime.

No knitting content today. I should have some to show you tomorrow though.

Knit on...

A Little Lace

So, on Friday I joined Mystery Stole 3 like everyone else in blogland. I read about it on Stephanie's blog and decided that I should give it a shot. Yeah, I know I'm working on a lace dragon shawl right now, but I needed some much easier lace that I can fly through and see some real progress. The dragon shawl is becoming sloggish, but I am enjoying knitting it.

Speaking of the slog, I passed it on to its recipient last night and got my money. Now I get to deposit the check and go shopping for something nice. I think I'm going to get a DVD set off ebay that I've been wanting for the past year now. It's the complete Sailormoon series in the original Japanese with English subs. Sounds silly, but I really have been wanting that set for a while. The slog should bring me some joy I think :oP

But anyways, I knit on the first clue for the mystery stole. I'm about 15 rows away from being done with clue one and clue two looks like I'll be able to fly through that a lot faster than clue one. Here's my progress so far:Pretend that it's a good picture. This will be a Christmas present for someone, but I don't know who yet. It's made out of the Shimmer from KnitPicks that has been sitting in my stash for a little bit now.

I also made a little obscure Harry Potter creature called a Pygmy Puff. They appeared in book six and Ginny Weasley had one named Arnold. Here's my version of one of the Puffs:Today is SnB at lunch where I'll work some more on Jaywalkers and I'll pick up the finishing touches for my Virtual Vacation Swap secret pal. I know of a few things that I still need to get, plus I need all the random touristy stuff too. I'll work on the Jaywalkers some more tonight at SnB at Jane's as well.

Knit on...

I Hate Pig

Ok, so I hate pork anyways. It's a deceptive little meat. Yesterday morning I ate a piece of bacon to test whether or not I can have pork since I'm still in the trial and error part of this food intolerance thing. I ate the bacon and was fine. So, last night for dinner, I had some baby back ribs...

Yeah, I came in to work late. I was miserable after eating the ribs and for most of the night. Around 4 AM, my stomach calmed down and by 6 when I normally get up, I was not moving. So, now I'm in to work. Blah.

I didn't knit a single stitch this weekend. Instead, I was busy on the sewing machine. I'll have some pictures of what exactly I was making tomorrow when I blog.

Right now though, I think I want to take a nap.

Knit on...

First Jaywalker Done

OK, these socks are addicting. I really want to cast on for the second sock right now, but stupid me grabbed the ziploc with the sock in it, forgetting that I should also grab the second ball of Lorna's which is sitting in the yarn closet. Oh well, I suppose it won't be the end of me not to cast on for the second sock until tonight. Here are the requisite sock photos:Forgive the darkness of the pictures. These were taken at work this morning and the lighting sucks here.I thought they were going to be too tight, but turns out they fit perfectly. Sure, they're a little snug trying to get them over the heel, but once they're on, they're the best fitting pair of socks I have ever made for myself.I really like the colorway here, but I wonder if it wouldn't look better in some other pattern, like Monkey perhaps. The gray striping fascinates me though.All it has done is make me want to knit the second sock so that I can wear the darned things. That and start the next pair since it will be in that bumblebee striping Lorna's. I think those will make for interesting Jaywalkers.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm going to try not too eat too much at the family's BBQ, but we all know how that's going to turn out!

Knit on...

Happy Belated Fourth

Yeah, I had forgotten to mention that there would be no blogging yesterday due to the fourth of July and being off work. Unfortunately, I didn't get much rest yesterday since I woke up early because my grandparents make a lot of noise in the mornings and then I stayed up later so we could shoot off fireworks and go see Transformers. The movie was actually kind of boring, and I'm a Transformers fan since I grew up with the cartoon. Oh well.

I'm decreasing for the toe of my first Jaywalker sock:SnB on Tuesday was fun. we even had a random outburst of singing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" a la Top Gun :oP That's where I got most of the sock done. I tried it on again, and it is snug, but I really like the fit, so I'll probably stick with this size. It really fits my foot well.

Anyways, that's it for today. I'm sleepy and tired now that I rode my bike in to work. Looks like I managed to beat the rain in too, so that's a good thing. This will be at least ten miles I have saved from commuting to work for two days this week. Hopefully my butt won't be too sore tomorrow that I won't be able to ride the bike in. I really need some nice, padded shorts to wear too.

Knit on...

You Spin Me Right Round...

Yep, so last night was all about spinning. As you know, I signed up for that Virtual Vacation Swap thing. Well, that wool/soysilk blend that I bought and spun up for that isn't going to work. My swapper is allergic to animal products, so I needed something vegan for sure. I went to Stone's Throw and asked Beth what she would recommend, so I came out of there with a nice soysilk roving that I forgot to take a picture of. Soysilk is interesting to spin. It's not as hard as I thought, but you do have to keep and eye on the stuff, else it'll draw in too many fibers. It seems to want to be spun medium fine to me, but mine came out a little thicker after plying relaxed some of the fibers. Without further useless babbling, here's the finished product:Let's just say that I may have to make a run back to Stone's Throw to get more for myself. I really love how this turned out. I forget which colorway this was, but I really like it. I always hate to give away yarn that turned out this nice :oP

I also had bought some roving from Insubordiknit a little while back, but the post office seems to have misplaced the stuff. Thankfully, Jacey is a wonderful person and she shot me out some new roving in the Drunk Sunset and Polyamorous colorways. Drunk is the darker and Poly is the lighter in the center. Drunk is a merino/lincoln cross and Poly is merino.These braids are going to be my next spinning project. Of course I still have a ton of llama fiber left and the blue bag that mom and dad got me for Christmas, so I may work on those some too. The braids are just so pretty that I want to leave them sitting on the wheel for a while

Today is SnB at ReBelle, but Kim won't be there. Hopefully Nikki will come and maybe a couple of others. If not, then it'll be me, knitting on the long-lost Jaywalker sock :oP

Knit on...

Finito

The slog is done!

I've been doing a happy dance since yesterday afternoon when I finished it.

I still have to make a collar for it, but compared to the miles of knitting I have already done, a collar is nothing. I seamed the thing, it looks like a giant bathrobe, so my main job is done :oP

Pictures? Uh, yeah, I'll get some when I finish the collar on it. I forgot to have DBF take pictures yesterday even though he reminded me that I should get some shots of it for my blog. Oh well, you'll get to see it eventually.

Most of my day yesterday was spent trying to get my bike in working order. I decided that I can no longer afford to feed the gas hog during the work week when I am only 2.5 miles away from my job. There are nice sidewalks the entire way, and once I get near the university, there are nice, wide bike lanes. So, DBF and I went shopping for a gel seat cover, a new lock (someone took my lock off my bike, but left the bike. Tells you a little bit about how craptapulous my bike is, huh?) and a water bottle holder that is fully adjustable, so I can pack my own water bottle and not just whatever one comes with most holders. I got all this stuff, but the bike is still crap. When it tries to go into 1 or 2 gear, it just won't stay there. It always tries to shift up to 3. I may go take it to the bike shop sometime and ask them to do a tune up on it and see if that can help.

I promised you a picture of the dragon shawl in progress too, didn't I? Well, here it is, semi-blocked out, but if you look close, you can see a tail starting...Not the greatest picture in the world, but you get the idea. Unfortunately, I can see a mistake in it, so I will be ripping back to the last lifeline and will do that section again. Allow me to highlight said mistake.I don't think I bolded it enough, but at the top where I have it circled in white is where the mess up is. Somewhere I was off in a row and it caused the slipped stitches, which should look like they do beneath the tail, to get all wonky. Anyways, I'll be ripping. I don't want any mistakes that I can avoid. Since I've been putting in lifelines like crazy too, I don't mind ripping.

That's it for today. As soon as I get a collar on the slog, I'll get pictures of it. Tonight I intend to do some spinning, so I'll show you the results of that soon.

Knit on...