Okay, I'll start packing... NOW!

I am a last-minute packer, I'll admit it. I have packed a few things already: Chocolate Mariah, trench coat, every scarf I own (I'm knitting another one out of black Caron acrylic and red fun fur, but I don't think it will be ready on time), my e-ticket, hotel reservation, two knitting murder mysteries (I am such a nerd), my fully-loaded mp3 player, all my work slacks, and a few skirts. Hey, it's a start; every time I go out to my grandmother's in Hawaii I pack the night before. Like, three hours before I go to the airport.

I am still worried about Stinker. The pigeon from heck is still torturing us with his ceaseless squawking, which is already stressing her out. She also sees me packing and knows that something is up. Since my last trip to Maui she gets nervous and unhappy whenever it looks like I'm going somewhere. I'm not sure what this two weeks away is going to do to her, but at least she won't be alone; Boy and Stinker will keep each other from withering away and dying without the sunshine of my love. Will you all do me a favor and think good thoughts for them while I'm away?

I have tons to do; I need to dye my hair, get my eyebrows done, PACK, cook pizza for the girls and maybe Mikey (dude who crashed his truck last week), get some sunglasses, PACK, and get gauge for the ribble socks. I'm up to my size 4 needles and I'm still not getting 6.5 stitches per inch. I've decided to say "Screw this!" to the gauge and just buckle down and do some math. Let's hope I can successfully convert 6.5 to 8.3 per inch. I'm loving the yarn though, the colorway is very rainbow sherbert. It's not something I would have picked up for myself, but I'm enjoying the experimentation.

Ooooh, look what I'm getting in Syracuse: Hawaiian Chocolate! Jill from Bean's Stock is going to hook me up while I'm out there. I am really excited; I've wanted a needle case for so long! Everyone go over there and check out her goodies! I'll also be hitting The Knitting Connection if I get a chance to while they are open. Their website has a coupon for 10% off, so I'll definitely be making the effort to get there between 10 am and 5 pm, hopefully Saturday.

SO MUCH FOR THE CONTEST
The contest, such as it was, is now over. The winner is the intrepid Trek, who was the only respondent. Unfortunately, she is also far too wrapped up in socks to care for my dinky prize, so it will be added to the pot if I try this again.

I Just Started Packing...

I'm finding myself less and less excited about my trip to Syracuse. I am really going to miss Boy and Stinker. We look at each other and get bummed looks on our faces. Stinker has been a little despondent lately, but it might because of the squawking demon bird that has moved in. My coworker is on vacation and I somehow volunteered to babysit Pumpkin, the bird who won't shut up. Some things soothe the beast, like sitting on my shoulder while I type (this does not help Boy while I'm at work) and Billy Idol songs.

I've started swatching my airplane knitting, ribble socks out of Lorna's Laces Shepard sock yarn, pattern and yarn compliments of the girls. I am also packing the chocolate mariah; I'm hoping the bitter cold of the Syracuse tundra will prompt me to finally finish the darn thing. I put the final touches on my nifty brown armlets, they are super sweet and warm. I had some left over green cashmere/merino from Boy's socks, so I decided to duplicate-stitch a pattern on my hands. I went through my fair isle pattern book, nothing struck my fancy. Then I got the idea to stitch some kanji (Japanese symbols). About.Com has a good directory for popular kanji for tattoos, but I didn't find a combination for both hands that I liked. Then, inspiration struck me. I put left (hidari) on the left hand and right (migi) on the right. I graphed the symbols, but can't figure out how to upload them. If anyone's interested, just drop me a line!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep packing...

Now I really give up...

Okay, remember when I dug out my old SLR and took pictures of all my goodies? Well, I took the film to the Rite-Aid down the street and put my film in and requested a photo CD with them. I go back to pick them up, no CD included. I ask about it, and the snotty girl behind the counter gets off her cell phone just long enough to tell me they don't do the photo CD's there. Then why have it advertised?!?

Okay, I'm breathing again.

One of my coworkers got into a car accident Wednesday (hurt his hand a bit, totalled the truck), so I went and covered his shift on Thursday and totally forgot to call my dad and wish him happy birthday. I'm such a putz. I called him tonight and he was totally cool with it. He's 51 as of yesterday; I think the fact that he's getting older and has gotten no grandchildren out of his "slutty" daughter is starting to get to him. We don't argue about Boy anymore, but we don't talk about him either... Dad's birthday socks are done and waiting to be shipped out. I've also finished one of my arm warmies out of the cashmere/merino blend. I am really getting to love Rowan yarn, but it's an expensive affair.

I'm going to sleep now; I am going to start packing in the morning. Moonbeam will also be calling and waking me up as soon as she lands in Pennsylvania (she hates flying, so I hoped that having someone to call at the end of the ordeal would make her feel better). Goodnight!

I Give Up

I finally dug out my old Canon SLR and took a bunch of pictures of my finished projects, works-in-progress, and stash... As soon as I get my film/photos/picture cd back I will augment the blog with the pictures it should have had from the beginning.

I am almost done with Dad's birthday socks; I can mail them out tomorrow and they will still get to him on time (I hope). I knit on my first cashmere arm-warmy at Monkey's birthday party on Sunday. A bunch of children and a bounce house... I am one sore old woman. I am hoping to have the set done before heading to the frozen tundra that is Syracuse.

Oh, and I got Boy and I free Razr phones! They should be here tomorrow! I am so excited!!!

Stinker's Favorite Project

Have you met Stinker?

Stinker is my sweet baby (insert disgusting baby talk here) kitty. She is black with gray swirlies on each side of her tummy. When we picked her up from the foster home she was just a kitten. She had been sleeping in the litter box and was a little ripe, so in case you're wondering how she got her name, there you go. She must have been abused before I got her; acclimating her to people has been a hard, sometimes heartbreaking process. She is now to the point where she will not only hang out with us, but will even hang out with the girls when they come over.

But this isn't Stinker's life story. This is the story of her favorite project.

Stinker has always been, uhm, different. When I first adopted her, she promptly holed herself up in my mother's disaster of a closet, only coming out to eat and use the litter box (thank goodness). She is violently allergic to Friskies dry food, but loves it canned. She is not interested in all the yarn I have hanging so invitingly from my yarn shelf. I have knit and crocheted her little toys, to which she showed a polite interest before dropping the charade and abandoning them for some cheap Walmart mouse-hussy. Even dangling it in front of her would not hold her attention. Until now.

She is mad for the $1 sweater I brought home and destroyed. She slept on it when I brought it home. She stared intently as I butchered the poor thing, winding the first batch onto an empty toilet paper roll. She pawed at the unraveling stitches as I started making proper skeins out of it. She sat on her hind legs like a groundhog to watch as I used my makeshift un-winder (toilet paper holder) to get my first yarn into skeins like its sisters. I washed the skeins in the sink and rinsed them in the tub, then left them hanging from the shower-rod for two days with a fan on them and a candle lit in the room to keep some heat in the room. I hit them a few times with the hairdryer. It was cold and damp work, so she kept her distance during this portion. She was back as soon as I started winding the skeins into balls by hand. The smallest skeins I just curled up, hoping I won't need it for the project. She has had some great fun playing with these tiny skeins!

And what will I make? Something for Stinker? Nope. Well, maybe a toy from the scraps. I have decided to dub my project the Sweet Pear Shawl, named after the candle used to keep the bathroom above freezing. I will be using the Knitting Geek's simplest shawl pattern and making a cotton shawl for my grandma's birthday (I hope it's done by then).

And no, I haven't forgotten about Dad's birthday socks either. They are both nearly done, the afterthought heels are all that's left, and since I have nine size 1 needles, both are standing by fully needled and ready to go! I should have them done this weekend, in plenty of time for my March 20 deadline.

And the finger-puppets for Ava? I think she'll like these better.

CONTEST UPDATE:

I got a response! Only one response, but, beggars can't be choosers. I'm trying to become part of a few blog-rings and get some more circulation, but I haven't heard back from any of them yet.

There is one problem with making Jen socks: she's allergic to wool and I haven't found any cotton sock yarn I don't hate. She is interested in learning, so I'm going to put together a nifty kit for her with some pretty yarn (prolly recycled silk), a scarf pattern, a beginners book, and the solemn promise that I will help her. Not everyone has dreams that teach them to purl.

Let's try a Contest!

In an attempt to find out if anyone is reading my blog, I will now be hosting the first Knitting Wounded Comment Contest! I need your help to figure out what knitting to take on my first business trip, and I am willing to bribe you with this:

This, my dear duckies, is a damn-near ancient book of patterns for men's sweaters. The one in the picture is not the one you'll get. The one you get comes with three defunct dollar-off coupons too (they expired in 1983)! It was published in 1982 and includes a whopping 15 classic men's sweater patterns and one golf club mitten pattern with color (sepia and green are colors) photographs. I think this book is especially nifty since Bucilla doesn't even love us knitters anymore... I checked: their website is all needlepoint stuff.

The best part? All you have to do is delurk and drop a suggestion in the leetle box...

There are a few things to consider:
~Jen's 20th birthday is April 30.
~Boy and I have our 3 year anniversary coming up on April 23, but I am not knitting him anything else until after we're legally stuck with one another. Don't feel bad for him though, because then I will be making him this.
~I am from Southern California. I will freeze in New York.

So, just leave a suggestion in the comments, win a prize. Deadline will be, oh, let's say Friday, March 31, it will give me time to send out the book and hit the yarn shop if I need to. The bestest one (or the only one, as the case may be) will get an email from me as well as accolades on the blog. Email me your address and your goody will be on its way!

In other news: I went to Google and typed in "knitting wounded" and I am the 6th site on the list! Okay, I'll admit that knitting wounded is not that common of a word combination, but I'll take what I can get... I tried to add my own blog to my Verizon Yahoo! page; dang thing can't find my feed or something... Any advice out there?

Oh, I finished unraveling the green sweater, I wish I had found neaveau.com earlier and read the Recycled Yarn Tutorial earlier... I'm off to wash the yarn, I'll let you know how it goes!

She's Going.... Going....

To Syracuse?!?

Yes, Syracuse. The nice folks at Verizon have decided to invest a solid-gold buttload of money in me and will be sending me to Syracuse for training for two weeks. I will be staying in a suite (yes, a SUITE) that is bigger than my apartment. I get an expense account, for crying out loud! I feel so growny-up! I leave first Sunday in April and come back the second Friday. How will I handle my new adultness? What will I eat? What will Boy do while I'm gone?

What am I going to knit in Syracuse for two weeks?

The Question No One Asked...

This is a bit of a bummer; no one reads my lame-ass blog...

Well, nuts to you, I'm going to read my own blog and ask myself a question:

What exactly are your "millions of projects" waiting in the wings?

That's a very good question, Me. Here's a list of projects I want to make and have yarn set aside for:

Socks
~Dad's blue birthday socks, done in KnitPick's Essential ripping off of this pattern.
~My Lorna's Laces Birthday Socks, done in the Ribble pattern from this book.
~Jessie's blue self-striped socks in KnitPick's Parade, pattern undetermined.
~KnitPick's Simple Stripes, exact pattern and recipient undetermined.
~KnitPick's Essential again, this time in brown, some lacy pattern, recipient undetermined.
~Pair of striped socks out of all my sock yarn leftovers, pattern and recipient undetermined.

Sweaters/Shawls/Wraps
~The Chocolate Mariah (In slow progress, I'm on the boring back part)
~For my Grandma Biggs, the Knitting Geek's Simplest Shawl out of this green cotton/ramie sweater I got a thrift store for a dollar. This depends a lot on my ability to frog the sweater without destroying the yarn and my sanity. She'll even appreciate that I got the yarn on the cheap; she's a bargain fiend =)
~The Twisty Turns wrap(?) from Wrap Style
~I'd like to do a striped shawl/sweater/thingy out of all the brown acrylics I've got lying around.

Hats/Scarves/Misc.
~Birthday Noro Hat (almost done)
~Another hat or a scarf out of the other ball of Birthday Noro
~Finger Puppets for Ava using this pattern.
~Arm warmies out Rowan CashSoft, probably adapting from this pattern.
~Stuffed toys for Jen and Jessie's sister Caitlyn.

That's all I can think of right now... I'll add on as I move along through my Stash O' Doom.

Oh, guess what? Boy's been reading At Knit's End. He likes it and thinks you should read it too. He might just read this book next...

The Rule Of Three

I have a million things I want to knit up, and I have more than enough yarn to do some of them. As I found my stash and dream-projects piling up in a new and frightening way, I decided to institute the Rule of Three in an attempt to keep me and those around me sane. As an attempt to be useful instead of just irritating, I'd like to share this infinitely useful rule o' thumb:

THE RULE OF THREE

~There will be no more than 3 projects on the needles at any time.

~The three projects will be different objects (ie: no more than one pair of socks in progress).

~A project is not "off the needles" until it's bound off, woven in, and completely finished.

It's not that I cannot be monogamous to one project; I just don't want to be. On the other hand, working on the same project eat holes in your brain. And, to be quite honest, not all projects can go everywhere. For example, I found out quickly that if I try to work on my sweater with my long size 6's on a crowded bus, I will promptly poke out someone's eye. This would not only hurt a fellow commuter, but might get eye juice on my sweater. Eww! So, the sweater stays home.

Here's how I like to break it down:

Long Term Project (LTP): This is going to take me a while, but I always have something to work on.
Current LTP: Chocolate Mariah

Go-Anywhere Project (GAP): Pretty self-explanatory. It fits in my bag and goes everywhere. This is usually a sock, but it can be anything small and relatively mindless.
Current GAP: Birthday Noro Hat

Looming Deadline Project (LDP): Birthday/holiday/special event coming up? Project, this is the spot for you! This project is usually a little more involved, but not a LTP.
Current LDP: Dad's B-Day Socks, due March 20 so they'll get there by the 23rd.

I'm only human so of course there are loopholes:

Loophole 1: Emergency Projects
If I need to knit something, I can temporarily retire another project until the emergency project is done.

Loophole 2: Hover Projects
If I start a project out of desperation (no GAP available before going to the movies), I can start a project I have no intention of adding to the regular rotation. There can only be one of these hovering projects at a time, hopefully ensuring that I finish the little pink hat.

Loophole 3: Grandfathered Projects
I have a few things that I have been working on for, well, years now. I finished most of them up when I hauled off and created the perfect storm of knitting, but there's one left over: The blue afghan in the closet that I started over a year ago, but stopped working on because I lost the pattern when we moved. This may or may not become my LTP once I finish up the Chocolate Mariah, we'll have to see. I don't think it should count; it's crochet...

Loophole 4: Screw It!!!
This is supposed to be fun. If I wanna knit it, screw it, I'm gonna.

And that, my loyal (okay, non-existent) readers, is the almighty Rule Of Three. It sounds more confusing than it actually is and, so far, has worked out famously for me. Use/modify/ignore it in good health!

The Knittingest Place on Earth!

We went to Disneyland the day after my birthday.

It poured.

I was crabby and blew up in front of Boy's sweet little Jewish family.

I cried and conked out as soon as I got home.

But it's okay, because we got our annual passes so we can terrorize the magic kingdom for the rest of the year (except weekends and the summer, like I want to fight those crazy crowds), and I have started a new public spectacle:

Disney Knitting

in which one amazes and astonishes the tourists standing in line around you by whipping out a sock and getting several rows done waiting to get on Space Mountain.

I got my gold name badge made and almost bought this really neat Mickey pattern knitted hat, but it was small; it didn't even reach my Dopey ears... I should have held up my sock ala Yarn Harlot for the picture on Splash Mountain, but it's just as well. In the picture you can see Boy's stepbrother's hat in the process of flying off. It's pretty awesome, but not worth the price of the photo without the yarn... And there's always next time, I have a annual pass =)



In the meantime, I've started Big-BossLady (coach) training at work in anticipation of Teenie's maternity leave. It feels funny having SO MUCH FREEKING AUTHORITAY, but I think I'm going to enjoy this! Wish me luck!

Post-Birthday Blog

I wanted to do a Birthday Blog, really I did, but I was just too friggin' tired. So, here's the Post-Birthday Blog:

I worked the night before, then came in for the morning shift. I did a hell of a job, left just in time to take the boat across the harbor. I then left a surprisingly well-prepared Adam (book and MP3 player) outside the yarn shop where I then spent an hour agonizing over what Birthday Yarn I wanted. I finally decided on two skeins of Japanese Noro yarn. It's 45% silk, 55% wool, and totally gorgeous. It even came with a copy of the pattern for the hat I saw that made me yearn for the yarn =) I just started said hat today, it is super-yummy! I even learned something from it: the circular cast on =D

Okay, so I've paid for my Birthday Yarn (20% off cuz it's my Birthday!) and ask if I can use the ball winder for the Lorna's Laces that the girls gave me for my birthday. The super-friendly woman behind the counter says to go right ahead, and to ask one of the other women who were standing over there for help since I'd never used one before.

I've never had a bad experience at the Alamitos Bay Yarn Store, but the woman I asked was downright nasty. She asked if I had gotten it there, and I explained that my friends had bought it there yesterday. She then said, "It doesn't have our barcode." Before I hauled out and verbally (26 year-olds shouldn't hit) ripped this woman a new one for virtually calling me a liar, the other two women working the shop stepped in and said "Her friends probably took the tags off, it was a BIRTHDAY present." Duh.

Long story short, that woman sucks and I love using a ball winder. It was ridiculously easy and super fun! I think I'll have to divert some of my yarn fund towards a ball winder...

Okay, after the Birthday Yarn debacle, I took Adam for Birthday In-N-Out, we went to Barnes and Noble and bought Jessie a juggling set to go with the unicycle that Jen got her (it's okay, she got it already), went home, washed my hair, gave Jessie her Kate Kitty from Knitty and Winter Star hat, then we all went to the Olive Garden. It was the bestest Birthday ever, except that my dad totally forgot... His Birthday socks don't seem so pressing anymore, but I will have them done, if only to make him feel like a schmuck. His girlfriend did send my this Thomas Kinkade lighthouse necklace thingy, but it really bummed me out that he didn't remember.


Oooh, Ooooh, check this out:























Later on, the Disney Knitting Report!