It's Not Much, But...

At least it's something:Crocheted eyeglasses case. It's not the most elaborate thing I've ever crocheted, but it's functional and it left me enough Amaizing yarn left to make something else. I'm leaning towards a market bag of some sort or something that would do well with one ball of the stuff.

Uh, what Knit Picks order?This yarn will become Clessidra from Knitty. I also picked up some size 1 harmony wood DPNs so that I can knit on the plane in a week. I can't say where I'm going since it's a surprise, and not that this person reads this blog, but if they did, I don't want the surprise to be spoiled.

I also had another moment of weakness last week:Yeah, Jimmy Bean Wool had/still has a sale going on for mill-ends of Lorna's Laces. If I had tons of money, I would have gone crazy. Had I not put in the Knit Picks order the day before, I would have gone crazier. Instead, I just picked up two skeins of Shepherd Sock in the Aslan colorway. It does look very lionish I have to admit and I can't wait to turn it into something. You can never have too much Lorna's Laces right?

I also am getting ready to start a new project tomorrow. The Christian Knitters and Crocheters group on Ravelry is having a knit-a-long for March and it's going to be Little Slip of a Thing from Knitty.com. Here's the yarn I chose for this project:It's Cascade 220 wool in a teal and black colorway. The black will be the primary color and the teal will be the square color. I'm looking forward to this project since my last felted bag project created the Felted Bag from Hell.

That's it for today. On Monday, I'll be celebrating my two-year blogoversary. Yep, it's been two years of knitting, crocheting, ranting, whining, and spinning already! There might even be a celebratory contest going on too.

Yeah, the official blogoversary is tomorrow, but I don't have internet access worth a darn at my house, so we'll just save the festivities for Monday.

Knit on...

A Lack of Knitting

Yesterday I had every intention of knitting. It was lunch SnB day and I didn't have any plans in the evening, so I was planning on at least one repeat of the Monkey sock and a couple of rounds at least of Donegal. Nope, didn't happen. Why?Behold, the sexiness that is my bruised, battered, and swollen leg! My leg is lumpy because of the swelling, and this picture doesn't quite do it justice since the WHOLE lower leg is nice and purply as of this point. What happened? K-Lair happened. I went to grab some mini corn dogs for lunch and as I was walking out, hit the solid sheet of ice that had taken over the top step of the place and proceeded to fall down the rest of the steps and land on my left leg. I wasn't in much of a knitting mood after the fall and was just trying to get through the rest of the day without whimpering that my leg was swelling and I wanted to go home and sit under the electric blanket. I'm super-sore this morning, but quite thankful that nothing is broken that I'm aware of and that my knee didn't get as much damage as I thought I had originally done to it.

But, the story also presents a perfect example of why someone should be allowed to slap college students and remind them of common courtesy. The guy behind me witnessed me fall and curse (I've developed quite a knack for getting out a long string of obscenities every time I fall) and came down the stairs and asked if I was OK. I said, no, I'm not OK. I hurt my knee pretty bad. This is the kicker though: he kept on walking! Ack! I would rather that he not of asked me if I were OK than to ask it rhetorically and keep on walking after I said that I am not OK. Common sense people! Don't ask if you really don't care what the answer is!

So, I bought some consolation yarn at ReBelle when Kim picked me up. I'm going to make eyeglass cases for my glasses and my sunglasses out of this.It's the A-Maizing yarn that's made out of corn fiber. I decided to give it a shot. I really like the texture of this yarn. If I were ever really ambitious and really rich, I could see a pretty summer top being made out of this stuff. In the meantime though, I'll stick with the eyeglass cases.

Maybe by tomorrow I'll have some actual knitting or crocheting progress to show you instead of swollen and purple legs.

Knit on...

I Am Easily Entertained

I can wear these again:Yesterday I went to the eye doctor to see about getting contacts again. I knew the technology had gotten better since the last time I wore contacts, so I was hoping that they might be able to get me into a disposable contact. I have really sucky eyesight with an astigmatism to boot, so the last time that I was in contacts, I had to wear toric lenses and they cost a buttload of money. Then I started developing calcium deposits on the contacts just to add insult to injury and instead of using a product called lid scrubbers on my eyelids, I decided to go back into glasses about 6 years ago. I always wanted to go back to contacts though.

So yesterday, I was given a trial pair of disposable contacts made for astigmatism. They're working OK right now. I'm still trying to get used to them again. I need to adjust to the focal aspects of the contacts again, but that should happen within a day or two. But mostly, I'm just happy to be out of glasses, have peripheral vision, and be able to wear sunglasses again that aren't clip-ons or script.

Knit on...

Finished Jaywalkers

Yep, I didn't knit a single stitch yesterday, but I did get to take pictures of the finished Jaywalker last night when I went over to Erica's:I think they turned out pretty good. She's happy with them and I'm happy to be done with them.
The specs are:

Cascade Sassy Stripes in a denim colorway

Size 1 US needles

Jaywalker pattern

Knit on...

Monkey

So, this weekend I finished up the Jaywalkers, gave them to Erica, and forgot to take a picture of the finished socks. Oh well. I'll try and get pictures the next time I'm over there. So, after working a couple of rounds on Donegal, I decided that I needed a new sock to work on.Meet the Purple Club Lorna's Laces Monkey. I'm really enjoying the pattern so far and I've already done two repeats. I may have done more if I didn't force myself to work on Donegal some more, but of course I forgot to take a picture of that too.

On another good note, it looks like DF's blazer sold this weekend. I'm waiting on them to call me sometime today to head over to the Clerk's office and get the thing transferred and paid for.

Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow of Donegal and other stuff.

Knit on...

Ice Storm---2008!

Uh, yeah. So we had a bunch of hype about the impending doom of an ice storm hitting us. Everyone is a little leery when an ice storm warning pops up because of the 2003 storm where all hell broke loose and trees were down, 2/3 of the city had no power, and the university even closed down for 2 days (that never happens). It was an awful event. So, yesterday we get this ice storm warning, get dismissed from work early, and then sit back and watch the bread, milk, and beer fly off the Kroger shelves (Erica and I had bread, milk, and wine personally).

So, since I spent the last ice storm with Erica, I figured it would be appropriate to hunker down and spend this one with her. That and I couldn't scrape the ice off my car when I was ready to go home, so I stayed over there. This morning, I woke up and it was rain. The ice came off my car really easy, and I cursed that I have to come in to work today. Just once I want the university to cancel so that I can have a long weekend and finish this sock:I did get quite a bit of sock knitting in yesterday while we watched the impending doom of the ice storm. I should have this pair of socks done by tonight, and I'll be glad to be done. I want to make a pair of socks that do not involve the names Jay or Walker. And I've got all this new sock yarn sitting in my stash right now that I got for Christmas and I want to make myself a pair of socks. The bee stripe socks were the last pair I made for me and how long ago was that? Anyways, I'm going to try Monkey next I think. I just have to figure out what yarn to use.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'll be knitting more than likely and wishing for a good snow for once.

Knit on...

Spooky Speaks

Hey, everyone. Yep, I'm taking over the blog for a day. You see, my human is getting a little crazy with all this knitting going on.She was knitting miters out of that yarn that kinda smells like one of my relatives, and she wasn't paying enough attention to me. Miters fell on the floor and one fell on me. I thought she was wanting to play, but turns out that she wasn't paying enough attention to me and I really wanted a nose rub tonight.So, I said, hey human (thump), pay attention to me. She kept knitting that stupid square. I yelled at her again (thump thump) and she finally looked down. She wasn't too keen on getting out of the warm bed, so I threatened to be done with my running and hopped towards my cage. She always feels sorry for me when I look bored.Don't make me hop back in here. It's bad enough that I don't have that guy around anymore who used to give me four hour foot rub sessions, but I will not be upstaged by some knitting. Nope, not going to happen, even if I have to jump on your head to get your attention.

One head-jump later and I finally got what I wanted:She's a little slow, but I think I've trained her OK.

Knit on...

A Finished Sock and Multiplying Noro

So yesterday, my knitting mojo was back in full-force. I haven't been feeling the knitting love as much here recently for some reason. Maybe it was the winter blahs, maybe it was the projects I was working on, or maybe it was just some freakish thing going around in the air, but it's definitely out of my system now. Yesterday, I finished the first of Erica's socks:I always think Jaywalkers look so ratty in pictures before they're on someone's feet. I might see her tonight, so if I do, she'll be trying on this sock and I'll get a picture of it in it's natural environment.

The strangest thing happened yesterday too. The first Noro miter gave birth to a second one out of Silver Thaw:Then an even stranger thing happened. The Silver Thaw square gave birth to a skein of Kureyon:I wonder if this yarn breeding will continue or if will be a phenomenon for a while? Only time will tell!

Knit on...

Miter Addiction?

So last night, I saw the remnants of a ball of Noro Silk Garden that I had used for the last calorimetry I made, and since I've seen umpteen people using those scraps to make mitered blankets that will be completed in 20 years, I decided that I would like to start a Noro scrap blanket as well. So, I cast on for a miter using the Mason Dixon Knitting mitered blanket square pattern. I ran out of yarn before I could finish the miter, so I grabbed some of the Noro Silver Thaw I had left over and used it to finish the square:All I wanted to do after I finished this miter was cast on another one. I could see this becoming an addiction real fast. First, I can finish one in about an hour and a half or less. Second, they're pretty colors. Third, since it stripes itself, no massive weaving in of ends at the very end. Lastly, it's freaking Noro, how can you not like the look?

Anyways, I think the rest of the Silver Thaw is going into miters. I might make one at lunch. I did remember to bring my Starmore book with me today, so I can actually photocopy the colorwork pattern and enlarge it so that my eyes don't go buggy. Oh, and I did finish the heel on Erica's sock yesterday:Just have to gusset now and then it's on to the feet. Guess I should actually go find out what shoe size she wears so that her socks will fit, huh?

That's it for today. There might be more miters on here. I just have to remember that I cannot go buy Noro for a scrap blanket...it defeats the purpose, right?

Knit on...

Pictures, Pictures Everywhere

Yeah, so I knit this weekend. I was determined to finish the ribbing on Donegal and get a couple of pattern rows done, and I did. I worked on Donegal until my eyes went buggy from reading the tiny chart. I'll be making a photo copy of the chart and blowing it up today so that I can see a tad better. Anyways, here's Donegal:The front shot and the requisite back of the stranded knitting shot:And I wove in the 50 million ends from the ribbing so that I didn't have a heart attack when the whole sweater was finished. I decided that I would weave in the ends as I go so that it's less work at the very end. Anyways, I also worked on the sock some. I should have a heel by tonight:And last night after my eyes went buggy from looking at the Donegal chart, I decided to make a hat out of the Insubordiknit hand-dyed roving that I spun up a while ago. It's the polyamorous colorway which knit up prettier than I thought it would:I very loosely used the pattern for the Hot Stuff hat from Stitch 'N Bitch. I added a pom pom and knitted the hat in the round instead of having to seam it up at the end. I could have used a little more length on there if I were making it for myself. This will probably be a Christmas present for someone next year.

Yesterday was the baby shower for my cousin's new baby. She really liked the crochet baby blanket that I made and she got a ton of stuff that she needed, especially since the baby decided to come out a little earlier than anyone planned on. Here's the proud mama and papa:That's it for today. Tomorrow there may be a heel. I'll have to see how much I get done at lunch today.

Knit on...

It's Friday?

Yep, it's Friday. All three of my calendars say that it is, so I guess I should believe them. I just can't believe that it's already Friday. Seems like this week has just flown by, compared to last week which felt like it would never end. I'll start off today by saying that DF is a good guy. Not only did we get to talk on the phone yesterday, but when I went over to his mom's house to drive his car around for a little bit (Anyone want to buy a 96 blazer?) she had a box of chocolates and a stuffed super-soft dog sitting there waiting for me from him. He had asked her to hook me up with some Valentine's Day goodies since it was easier than trying to mail something and hope it got there. I need a name for the dog too. It's white, fluffy ears, with a red collar that says I love you on it.

Anyways, I accidentally left my purse out in the car last night, so the camera battery is dead this morning. The easyshare battery is running low constantly now too, but I'm sure leaving it outside was a pretty dumb thing to do. Anyways, that's my excuse as to why you get no new pictures today :oP I will try my best to have decent pictures on Monday.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I intend to sit down and knit for the majority of my weekend. I feel like I didn't get in as much knitting time as I normally do. Probably was in my pissy/feeling sorry for myself/whiny mood, so didn't feel like doing anything except reading one of the 200 Dragonlance novels.

Knit on...

Happy freaking Valentines Day

Yep, this will be a short post. Valentines day rather sucks without DF here. First time in five years. All I can say is that pizza will be the food of choice tonight and chocolate won't hurt either.

ETA: Yeah, I was bitchy this morning. I'm doing a tad better now that I got to talk to DF. That and people at work brought me candy :oP I did do some knitting last night, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I'll hopefully have a heel done on the sock tonight too, so pictures tomorrow.

Knit on...

Good Intentions

Yep, I had every intention last night to finish the ribbing on Donegal and be ready to start into the main body pattern by today. I brought it with me to SnB, knit until the next colorchange, and then realized that I had left one of the eleven balls of yarn at home, of course the one that I needed to change to next. So, back in the bag it went and on to the sock I knit:It's actually almost to the heel now, so it should fly from there. I'll be glad to finish one sock since then I'll be half way done. It's cold enough that Erica could probably stand to use wool socks right now. Plus, I would like to give her her birthday present before over a month has past...

Today at lunch is SnB with Kim, so I'm looking forward to that. I even brought Donegal, ALL of Donegal, with me today so I can make some progress on the ribbing. I doubt I'll finish it at lunch, but I have a chance to finish it tonight when I stay home and curse how cold it is and icy and everything.

On a personal note, yesterday my great-grandfather had to be put into a nursing home. I knew the thought would hit me hard yesterday, but it didn't really sink in until I saw how hard it was on my grandmother. My great-grandmother had a very hard time coming to this decision and she feels awful about having to do this, but she's just not physically able to take care of Papa anymore. I know I would never want to have to make that decision, so I can only imagine the pain she's going through right now. Papa may or may not remember what's going on, but I just pray that he doesn't get resentful or angry towards her in any way. So keep my family in your prayers if you don't mind, especially for my great-grandparents and my grandmother.

Knit on...

If you have an extra 400 bucks lying around...

Can you buy me this?

Kindle from Amazon

Maybe once I get all my bills paid off....

If they only had knitting books on this thing too...

Well...

Yeah, we got a 2 hour delay at work today. Lot of good 2 hours does...

Anyways, I made it, minus an ice scraper that bit the dust on my car this morning. No knitting pictures since I was trying to get into my car instead. I'll have some tomorrow for sure since I'll be heading to SnB tonight!

Knit on...

Bring It On..er, or not...

Hey, you! Yeah, you big old icy winter storm that's got my city in your sights? Yeah, I want to have a word with you for a minute.

Last time they actually predicted ice accumulation of 1/10 to 1/4 of an inch, we lost power for 9 days straight. Look, I know that I have said I like snow, and I do, but ice is a different matter entirely. Snow is pretty. Ice, while it can be pretty, leaves a train-wreck behind once it melts.

While I'm all for staying inside, I'm supposed to be at work tomorrow. The last time you came through, I was still in school and just looking for an excuse not to go to class. This time, unless hell freezes over, which it might judging by the temperatures, I have to actually be at work. I'm pretty sure the university actually has a hell-freezing-over clause in there somewhere, but that seems to be the only way we get out of coming into work. You're supposed to hit during the morning commute too, so see, you have really bad timing. If you don't mind, come on through earlier so that I don't have to drive in that mess.

Oh, and this time? I have candles, batteries, lanterns, and what not ready for you. You've got us all on our toes. Even Bill Meck's blog is down because there's too much traffic on it. Bring it on, winter storm, and for pity's sake give us a decent snow and if the roads are dangerous, then let the university cancel for once...

Sincerely,
Leah

Finished Baby Blanket and Progress on Donegal

I wasn't feeling up to par on Friday, so I decided to stay home from work and catch up on the sleep I lost the night before. When I finally got up, I worked on the baby blanket until it was finished. Well, turns out it was a good thing I finished it because its recipient decided to come into the world a month early and was born a healthy 6 pounds and 19 inches long on Thursday night. So, we have a new baby in the family and the knitting/crocheting allowing a baby to arrive continues to work its magic. So, since this thing never wanted to photograph well, I give you a half-decent picture of a baby blanket!And to continue my bad WIP photography, I give you super-dark Donegal.You can almost tell that something is there...

Anyways, I'm almost done with the ribbing finally. Just five more rounds and I can start the real colorwork pattern and the sweater will start to move much faster I think.

On Thursday, I drug Erica and her roommate out to go see Hal Sparks at the comedy club in town. He was just as funny as the last time DF and I saw him, just a little more raunchy. I liked his clean stuff a little better, but he was still hysterical as always. So, I had to get my picture with him again!And Erica also got her picture with him.If I had seen the look on Erica's face in this picture, I would have taken another one. At least she has one of her with him!

That's it for today. Hopefully I'll have better Donegal pictures tomorrow when I have more light.

Knit on...

Hey, Look, There's a Picture!

The camera is charged and the lights are on, so without any further blabbering in case the computer crashes, here's the baby blanket so far:The angle of the picture is a little deceptive. The thing is almost 3/4 done now and I'm really hoping to be done with it by this weekend so I can go back to my regular scheduled Donegal knitting. I also worked on the sock a little yesterday while at Lunch SnB with Kim.

Insert picture here when blogger isn't messing up...

Yeah, so good thing I uploaded the baby blanket picture because now blogger won't let me put the sock picture on here! No sock picture for you at least until I reload blogger and try again...weird.

Anyways, tonight I'm going to go see Hal Sparks perform at the comedy club in town and I'm dragging Erica and possibly her roommate with me. This way, I can get at least one of them to take a picture of me and Hal together if he doesn't remember the petting issue the last time DF and I saw him.

Knit on...

Some Days...

I feel like God really doesn't want you all to see the baby blanket. Maybe it's that hideous or something, or maybe it's just bad luck. So, we have no power at the house, therefore, no picture of the baby blanket unless you want a rather black picture from the lack of lighting.

We had some pretty bad storms come through and our area of town was one of the worst hit it looks like. Thankfully, we live in a hole practically and it hit all around us and missed our little neighborhood. There are times to be thankful for Karst topography in Kentucky!

Anyways, I worked on the baby blanket some after eating way too many pancakes at the Mardi Gras pancake supper with my grandparents. As always, it was a good time. I still haven't figured out what to give up for Lent. As of this point, I'm leaning towards carbonated beverages, so that may be it, even though I drank one at 3:30 this morning when the power was out and we had a tornado warning.

Anyways, hopefully pictures tomorrow. If something else comes up, I'm officially declaring that this baby blanket is cursed when it comes to pictures.

Knit on...

Fibertarians Unite!

Well, I'm so fed up with politics anymore, that this just makes more sense right now:
Hey, she's better than the rest of the candidates...and let's face it, if we're going to potentially wind up with a woman president, I'd rather it be Dolores!

So, I'm switching my voter registration to Fibertarian!
Vote Dolores 2008!

BTW, all the images came from Franklin's blog over at The Panopticon

Darned Camera

Yeah, so I go to take a picture of the baby blanket and the battery is dead in my camera. Most of that is my fault since I haven't charged it in around 3 weeks, but still, it couldn't give just one more picture?

Insert picture of 3/4 baby blanket finished.

Anyways, I worked on the baby blanket some last night while keeping Spooky entertained. Spooky has learned that she can jump on the bed now and is doing this every 2 minutes. The good news is that most of the time, she's jumping up on the bed to sit next to me and be petted for 20 minutes. The bad news is that her aim in jumping isn't so good and she'll sometimes just smack right into me and crash down on the floor. One day she'll learn I suppose :oP

Tonight is Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, go eat and drink yourself silly before Ash Wednesday tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to a pancake supper with my grandparents. This has kind of become a tradition with us since they are liturgical and I was raised liturgical among many other denominations. I still haven't figured out what to give up for Lent this year. Even though I don't go to a liturgical church anymore, I still haven't given up the tradition of giving something up. I think it's a good thing to do every now and again.

Anyways, I'll have to ponder and see what I'm led to give up this year. I doubt knitting or crocheting will be one of them :oP

Knit on...

We Interrupt This Normal Knit-Blogging...

To bring you a Magic: the Gathering link

3-D Magic Cards

I was sent this by Knit Fink and this is really too cool. I have a funny feeling that I have a whole stack of commons that might serve a purpose other than being made into proxies...

Eye of the Beholder, Plus a Finished Calorimetry

Yep, so for those of you who aren't aware of it, the new issue of The Anticraft is up and running.

Oh, and I have a pattern published! Go check out the Shoulder Beholder

http://theanticraft.com/archive/imbolc08/beholder.htm

Here's the pictures of the cute little monstrosity from DnD:He's kinda cute for a monster that shoots all kinds of crap out of each eye and has a tendency to sneak up on large parties of adventurers.Plus, I'm of the opinion, you can never go wrong with googly eyes :oP

Anyways, enough of the shameless self-promotion for one day. I also finished a calorimetry this weekend.This one is out of Silk Garden that I got for Christmas. I really like how the colors turned out. Here it is in action, hopefully with a better look on my face than the last time I tried to get a picture of something on my head...I don't look as demonic this way anyways. I just look more like I'm about to go to sleep, which I pretty much am this early in the morning without my requisite couple of cups of coffee. I stayed up a little later last night watching the big game. I'm quite happy the Giants won. I am a Dolphins fan and after this craptapulous season that they had, I needed some record to hold onto to keep reminding me that we used to be good. Yeah, we used to be good in the 70s and 80s, but hey, we used to be good!

That's it for today. Hopefully I'll make some progress on either the never-ending baby blanket (which needs to end by the 13th of this month) or the Jaywalker.

Knit on...

No Knitting

Yep, I was lazy last night and didn't knit at all. Instead, I took Erica to the store and showed her how to do some shopping while on Weight Watchers. Turns out she was having some issues with not eating vegetables and following the good health guidelines, so she didn't lose any weight so far. I know that was rather frustrating for her, especially since I'm down 3 pounds now.

So, we picked up some frozen vegetables, canned vegetables, some frozen foods, and a ton of junk food for her super bowl party on Sunday (also her birthday party since that's on Monday. By the time we got back to the store, we had enough time to eat and then I had to head on home for the night.

I really like the new medicine I'm on since it is actually allowing me to lose some weight and feel better, but the constant peeing is getting on my nerves now. Last night, I had to get up every two hours. At least I fell asleep again pretty fast. Anyways, there's my random Friday rant :oP

Knitting will be done this weekend, I promise. No clue what it will be though. I do see another calorimetry in my future though.

Knit on...