An FO and a new WIP

First and foremost, I finished my grandmother's socks yesterday at lunch. Here they are being modeled by her since she has a tiny foot and there was no way I could get them on mine. One of these days I will buy a set of sock blockers just for pictures' sake.She says that she loves them and I'm glad that they actually fit her. The yarn is KnitPicks Dancing in a colorway that I can't remember what it is for the life of me. It's my usual 64 stitch size 1 needles sock. And because I must have a pair of socks on the needles at all times...I started a new pair of Jaywalkers for myself. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Bee Stripe yarn. I think these will be perfect fall colored socks since I'm hoping that fall will get here soon. Have I mentioned that it's been freaking hot? We're beyond just hot, it's been freaking hot.

Oh, and no worries on the Paypal issue from yesterday. My account was still set up for when DF and I had our business website and we had a shipping scale set up, so that's why the odd shipping charges were showing up. I deleted the old shopping cart shipping scale and now there's no problems with it and it's showing up as normal on the Etsy shop (I checked by ordering one of my own skeins and seeing how the payment showed up with another email address).

Today I'm going to work on that fitted tank some. I am making myself finish some projects and I need to get cracking on some Christmas stuff. September first is always the beginning of my Christmas knitting season, so time to start planning what to make. After making 4 sweaters, a few scarves, and some socks and dishcloths last year, I'm thinking this year may be a tad more toned down when it comes to the knitting. Dishcloths for everyone! :oP

Knit on...

Paypal Woes

So, I got an email yesterday saying that Paypal is charging 5 dollars per item for shipping when someone orders through my etsy store. I'm trying to figure out why it's doing this, so if you want to order an item from there, just order it and then I'll send an invoice with the correct shipping charges on it.

Yesterday I spent half the day getting pampered at a local salon. It was a really nice half a day and very relaxing. I can't believe how much it would cost had I had to pay for it! The rest of the day, I worked on DF's computer trying to move stuff over to the second partition to free up space on the first partition. It looks like everything worked OK and it's definitely running faster. I do have a question though. His properties tab that allows you to change the desktop background is locked up and you can't change the wallpaper. All it is is a dark blue background even though it should be something else. How can this be fixed and what is causing it?

I'm really sleepy today too. It stormed pretty good last night which means that I didn't sleep well at all. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Knit on...

I Brought Cheese and I Left With Bras and Maybe a Wedding Dress

Last night at SnB, I think we were all in a cheese mood or something. Everyone who brought stuff brought cheese, and it was almost all gone by the time I left. We had some wine, I almost finished a sock, Jane was clearing things out and I was given some sports bras that actually fit me and Jessie took some boots that fit her (I'm quite jealous, the boots fit my feet, but not my calves), and next week,Jessie's bringing her size 20, A-line wedding dress that she would like to sell and I would like to look at and see if I would like to buy it. We're pretty close to the same size, just a little height difference, so if it fits and looks as good on as it sounds, then I may have one of my biggest expenses taken care of well in advance of when I need it.

Oh, the sock? Yeah, I'm almost to the toe decreases and should have it done today sometime.I'm very excited. I get to go to a spa at lunch today and get a massage, a facial, and a manicure. I won the second place prize in a drawing that I entered out of one of the advertisers' pamphlets that I picked up at the bridal show this weekend. I registered online and figured I stood no chance as I usually stand in the contests, but I actually got a cool prize! So I'm going to be pampered and then go home and be a lazy bum the rest of the day.

Knit on...

The Get Out of Debt Fund

OK, so as promised on Friday, I took pictures of the yarn that I'll be selling for the help Leah get out of debt fund. All the yarn for sale is handspun and it's all animal-based products, though most of it is certified humane raised. Here's what I've got:75% humane wool/25% soysilk. Bigger skein is 115 yards, smaller is 90 yards. It's a heavy worsted to light bulky weight yarn with about 10-12 WPI. It's a nice seafoam color and is pretty true to how the picture looks. Take both skeins for15 dollars. Email me or see my etsy store listing which should be up soon after this.Humane 100% llama handspun from a llama named Razzleberry. It's a natural brown color. There are 6 skeins totalling 544 yards. It's a heavy worsted weight with 11-12 WPI. Take it all for 40 bucks.3 skeins of a colonial mix in a dark denim colorway. Yardage is 198 yards. This is a bulky 2-ply yarn. Have all three for 20 bucks.100% humane merino wool, hand-dyed by Insubordiknit in the colorway Polyamorous. This is a nice super bulky, thick and thin yarn that would make a great hat or short scarf. I forgot to take the yardage measurement, but it's probably close to 100 yards. 10 bucks for the two skeins.
merino/mohair blend in a deep blue color. It has a nice halo on it. Only reason I'm parting with this is that I have discovered mohair doesn't like me very much and I think I may have a skin sensitivity to it. I forgot to measure this one too, but I think it's probably 125-150 yards and will measure it sometime tonight to give a proper number. It's a light bulky weight yarn. 15 dollars for the two skeins.

OK, now that you're tired of me trying to sell stuff, I'll stop :oP All this will be on Etsy sometime today too and you can find me at knittingmagicgirl.etsy.com All the yarns were handspun by yours truly, but I have found while I love to spin, I don't use my own yarn because I find it too pretty and it becomes a pet. I can't have twenty pet skeins and growing sitting around gathering dust. Plus all proceeds go straight to Bank of America :oP

Today is SnB. We'll see if I can come close to finishing the sock. It'll be close I think.

Knit on...

Of Bridal Shows and Lack of Knitting

So, this weekend I went to the Brides Against Breast Cancer wedding gown sale. I went with my grandma and we figured if nothing else, this would give me a chance to try on a bunch of gowns, see what looks good and what makes me look like Moby Dick, and not have a salesperson sitting there eyeballing us constantly. We were the first ones to show up and I immediately went to the size 16s since that's about the size dress I have been wearing.

Wow, wedding gowns run really tiny. After realizing that unless my boobs shrink by 5 inches before I get married I'll never fit into a size 16 (I'm partial to my boobage, so shrinking 5 inches isn't happening), I went to the 20s and found some that fit. I found one that I really liked aside from the super long train that would probably take me and all three bridesmaids out if I turned suddenly during the ceremony. It was also not detachable, so screw that. But, I found out that I need an A-line style, about a size 20 to fit my boobs, and then some alterations done so that it'll shrink around my waist and not look like a white garbage bag.

DF and I went to the Keith Anderson concert on Saturday night. He does a few pretty big country hits that are on the radio right now and the tickets were only 10 bucks each because of my student discount (just because I'm not enrolled right now doesn't mean I don't want a discount...). It was a pretty good concert. My pictures turned out like crap, but my digital camera has never done well when it comes to dark indoor events. DF's camera does pretty good, so if I get any pictures from him, I'll post them. There was this one woman in front of us who cracked us up the entire evening. She was really getting into it and was just dancing like no one was watching. That and she was punching air like it was Mike Tyson. Very entertaining. Several students around us were shooting video of her which I assume will be YouTube fodder pretty soon :oP

The rest of the weekend, we just took it easy and watched some movies and TV. I finally watched The Departed last night. It was pretty good and has a nice twist at the end of the movie. I can see why it won Best Picture this past year. Oh, and I didn't knit a single stitch this weekend. I just wasn't in a knitting mood, and when I don't want to knit, I don't force myself. I'll probably work on the sock some more today, so pictures tomorrow!

Knit on...

Cats, Socks, and Yarn

Last night I went over to my friend Erica's and we pigged out on pizza and coffee while playing with her four cats (at least, I think it's only four, there may be more hidden in there somewhere). My favorite cat over there? His name is MoJo.Mojo is just a lazy calico who strikes some of the funniest poses I have ever seen. He's a prime candidate for Stuff on my Cat. I knit some yesterday too.I'm to the heel just about on the second sock now. I should be done with a heel by lunch today, so the foot will hopefully be done by this weekend. The dragon cross-stitch? I'm still working on it, but it gave me the break I needed for a little while and now I'm back to knitting all the time. I also spun some on Wednesday, but not enough to deem a picture of it.

The last thing today is that I'm announcing the Help Leah Get Out of Debt Fund. I'm going to be selling a bunch of my handspun on here and I'm going to try to get an etsy store set up for the rest too. Today I have two hanks of 100% merino two ply in a bulky to super bulky weight lumpy bumpy yarn. The dying was done by Insubordiknit and it was a pleasure to spin. The color is called Polyamorous.It's actually quite lighter than this with more blues than purples. I need to take a final measurement of the yardage before I tag these skeins, but I think it's about 160 yards between the two hanks. They can both be yours for 20 bucks or make me an offer. If interested, email me at knittingmagicgirl@gmail.com. Free shipping anywhere too.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Knit on...

Insert Witty Title Here

Yeah, nothing is coming to mind today for a title, so make up your own. I forgot to take pictures of the sock this morning, so tomorrow you'll have some, but for today, just imagine a sock that is about 3 inches long now.

Last night I went to a Mary Kay pampering thing that I won and I took my grandmother. I figure I haven't done anything with her in a while, and most of my friends were taking night classes, so we went to what we knew would be a night of playing with products and pushing the sales lady away at every turn because we didn't want to buy anything. We played with the stuff and my grandma even found an eye makeup product that she wanted to try, so we picked up a few things, but not the 500 dollars worth of stuff that the big package offered. It was a nice package, but I'll stick with my bare minerals makeup, Aveeno wash and Seabreeze astringent. Anyways, it was nice to spend some time with my grandma aside from just sitting there watching TV or eating dinner.

Terribly exciting post today, I know. I'll work on getting something more witty or fun for tomorrow. I think I'm just sad that I didn't win the powerball last night :oP

Knit on...

One Down, One to Go

Yesterday was about my grandmother's socks. I worked on them at lunch SnB, then I worked on them at evening SnB. Here's where they stand right now:One sock down, cuff on second sock down. They knit up quick, so I should have another FO sometime this week or next maybe. I'll go back to the baby blanket or the sleeveless tank next. I still need to work on Mystery Stole 3 too. The clues are all done, but I'm only on clue 4 as of this point and haven't had any desire to work on it right now. Maybe after I get some other stuff done, I'll make myself work on it at least once a week.

Knit on...

The Joys of Cars

So on Friday, I was in a minor traffic accident. Thankfully no one was hurt, but my car was the only one that suffered any damage, which figures. The grill cover, a headlight, and my hood were pretty well crunched, except I couldn't tell about the hood until I got home and tried to pop it. So right now, I'm filing my own complaint over the matter (the person who caused the wreck appears to be uninsured and is probably illegal in this country from what I can tell so far, still waiting on the final report to be put in so I can get my copy) and I'm having to draw out little boxes where cars were because the form says to diagram what happened.

So, I'm trying to get a copy of the report so I can call the insurance company and make my claim. I've got to get the hood fixed and who knows how much that can cost. My car only bluebooks for 700, so I'm thinking that all the damage done has now totalled it, but I'd still like that money in case I can find someone to pop that hood.

My car is a gas-guzzler, but I have never had a better ride in a car. It's a freaking land yacht! That's why I was surprised that it was damaged so much from just a little fender bender. Oh well.

There's my rant for today. I'll be knitting at lunch and tonight, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to show you tomorrow.

Knit on...

Finished Fox

The fox is felted and finished and quite cute if I do say so myself. I sewed him together and then needle felted the tail in place and used the needle felting to blend in the sewing stitches which stood out a little more than the felted pieces. Here he is:Uh, yeah, I didn't win Powerball this Saturday :oP I still haven't put any accents on his eyes yet, but I'll do that sometime. Here's a close-up of the little guy.I think Maggie will like him :oP

I'm still in a little jaw pain as of this morning, but it's nothing compared to what it has been. I've got to go to the dentist today to make sure everything is healing up properly. It seems to be good and I'm finally talking more normal now. I just wish my jaw wouldn't feel so tired all the time. I'm sure it'll get better every day.


Knit on...

How About Some Pictures

Edited on 9/27/07: Needed a place to put the ravelry button for the sidebar!

Ok, I've been promising pictures for a while and I actually have them today. First, let's look at the ring:Isn't it purty :o) DF (hey, first time I can say DF instead of DBF) got a good deal on it at the jewelry store we went to, so that was also good.

Next up is Courtney's baby blanket. I found out she's having a girl, but I had bought this yarn a while back. It's actually kinda girly anyways. It's baby coordinates in the aqua pink colorway.Sorry it's dark, but it was last night when I took this one since the blanket grew some more after I worked on it. I've used up one skein and am moving to skein 2. I always make baby blankets with two skeins of the stuff so they'll be nice and thick. Last, but not least, is a little felted fox kit that I picked up at ReBelle last week. I finally felted the pieces and just laid them the way they will be sewn together later today.He's quite cute. This is going to my friend Maggie who collects foxes. I've got to stitch him together and then stuff him. He is really cute and I might just have to make another one for me since I have enough yarn left over.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm hoping mine is nice and pain-free and full of some good sleep.

Knit on...

If I hear one more wasp buzzing...

I may just scream. We appear to have an infestation in my office. The maintenance guy says he alerted the campus people in charge of killing bugs that should not be in buildings. Stinging insects should be a priority, I would think...

Uh, yeah....

Yeah, so I was supposed to be back at work yesterday, but my jaw had other plans. I came in for a little while, but then the pain medicine made me about half sick, so back home I went. The good news is that my jaw isn't hurting as bad today for the first time. The bad news is that I forgot the little memory card hook-up thing so that I could post pictures up here. Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow.

So, imagine if you will, a 1/3 carat round-cut diamond set prong-style in 14k gold ring.

Also, imagine half a baby blanket out of blue and pink Baby Coordinates (Courtney's baby will be getting here sooner than I realize if I didn't start working on this).

Ok, that's enough of imagining things for today. Time to go try to catch up on a ton of stuff in case I can't make it all the way through today.

Knit on...

My Wisdom is Gone

Yep, at least my wisdom teeth are gone. I'm a little loopy on Lortab right now (good stuff, not feeling the teeth hurt, but also not feeling anything else, so not too keen on that), but thought that I would post that I made it out of surgery OK, minus four teeth, and that I am about to go and knit. I should have some pictures on Wednesday when I go back to work. I could probably go back tomorrow, but meh, I have sick time :oP

Knit on...

Happy Friday

Yep, I'm still drugged up, so I can't come up with anything better to say than happy Friday! I haven't done a bit of knitting, crocheting, or cross-stitching this week. I blame my tooth for acting up and the excitement over getting engaged on Sunday. Maybe I'll get a little done this weekend. I seriously doubt that I'll be getting much done on Monday or Tuesday. There probably won't be a post here until Wednesday unless I feel that there is some earth-shattering news that I must post while I'm drugged up and swollen and look like a chipmunk.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Knit on...

My Toof, My Toof!

OK, so only a few people may get that reference, but yesterday I was out of the office with a tooth problem. I woke up in the morning and my jaw was so sore that I could hardly open it. Turns out that it's a wisdom tooth that has decided to go and get the gum around it all infected. So, I spent a good 4 hours in various dentists offices trying to get the tooth taken care of. Finally, I was referred to an oral surgeon who will have to yank all four of my wisdom teeth out on Monday.

Joy.

No pictures today, I'm too drugged up and my tooth still hurts really bad.

Knit on...

How It Happened

He is quite sneaky as you can see from the video he took! Of course I'm totally surprised as of this point too and just keep giggling :oP Oh, and for those of you who have gone and looked up Ephesians 5:22 and realize it is the "Wives, submit to your husbands" verse, it's actually become and inside joke between us. Our pastor preached on this Ephesians passage and says everyone forgets the whole Ephesians 5:25 in there which is the "Husbands, love your wives" verse. So, periodically, he'll just say, Ephesians 5:22 and I'll shoot back with 5:25 or something like that. Yes, we're dorks :oP

Priceless

Buying a Star Wars TCG starter deck to be able to play with a group of guys: $11

Two tickets to Robin Hood, a funnel cake, and a couple of drinks: $20

Four years of dating: $3,000

The way he proposed while playing Magic: The Gathering:Priceless!

Just What I Needed

So, as I was cross-stitching yesterday at lunch and yesterday evening, I realized that it was just what I needed to take my mind off of the myriad of knitting projects that are currently on the needles. Sure, I still knit a little on grandma's sock while waiting to get my hair cut at the salon last night (it's still long, just now it's got some shape to it) since it's easier to knit than to drag out the cross-stitch.

Sadly, I have no pictures for you today. You can't tell much of a difference on the cross-stitch from a picture, but I can tell how much it changed. The sock is in that crummy photograph stage, but it will probably be finished this weekend. Who knows, I may even work on some lace. We'll see.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Knit on...

Still Stitching and Bitching

Yeah, so I still knit a little yesterday on my grandma's sock and started the toe decreases. That's all the knitting I got done. Instead, I stitched on the never-ending dragon cross-stitch. Here's how it's looking so far:Once the tail is completed, all I have left is a border and then it's done. I'm actually looking forward to finishing this cross-stitch since I've only been working on it for about 5 years now...

In some other news, I was looking at some fashion websites yesterday at lunch since someone told me that knitwear would be popular this fall. I was intrigued and I went and saw this...This alone inspires me to go burn all the size 50 needles in the world...

This sweater would be perfect fodder for You Knit What if they were still working on it. Anyways, I'll leave you with that wonderful piece of fug there.

Knit on...

Taking a Break

So, last night I was at SnB at Jane's and I just didn't feel like knitting at all. I've been feeling this coming for a little while now and I think I may have burned myself out a little with the slog and everything else, so I'm going to put the needles down for a little bit and pull out the old dragon cross-stitch which is still in progress five years later, and finish the darned thing. I should be able to finish it within a week, so hopefully a week away from knitting will do the trick.

I'll probably be knitting tomorrow. Come on, you all know me better than that! I'm just not going to force myself to knit on the stole, the sock, the sweater, or anything else right now. I'm going to work on the needlework and see how quickly I can finish that up. As Jane said, it's all about sticks and string anyways.

Knit on...