Done for now...

I stayed home today. The nausea/fatigue I've been quietly (I think Boy just snickered) suffering for three weeks just became too much to bear. So I call my doctor again to try to make an appointment. One of her staff was gracious enough to answer the phone today and schedule me.

For August 1. Over a month away.

To Boy's credit, his first instinct was to go over there and rail at the injustice of the whole thing until the doctor would agree to see me. To my credit, I would not let him. Like I want 19-year-old straight out of one of those daytime tv "institutes" poking me with a needle when she's pissed off. Anyway, I'm not losing any significant weight, so it's not a huge deal. I'm just miserable...

So I stayed home, read Wicked and worked on Crusoe. The book was good, but I think it's a little pretentious to put a "what your book club should discuss" section in your book, that's what websites are for.... I also figured out that I can knit these socks and read at the same time, which is how I've made it up to the toe already, but I was too lazy miserable to take an updated picture. But I'll post this instead:



The sock rules, but the lavender kitty pants make me look impossibly huge. (The pictures in this post are all generously cropped to avoid anyone being grossed out by how pudgy I've been lately.)
May I present, for your voyuristic pleasure, the blocked Chocolate Mariah!

Too big? Even for me, yes, a little bit. Thankfully, my secret pal came to the rescue and bolstered my faith in my ability to block, so I didn't despair too much. Unfortunately, I cannot add this to my FO list as I have not procurred the necessary 24" zipper. It's too hot to mess with anything larger than a sock anyway.

Oh, and I have an RSS feed now! How the heck did that happen? I just subscribed to myself today, in hopes that seeing my blog with "no posts in the last three days" under it will shame me into more timely updates.

Blocked

Mariah has been blocked:

These are my feet stomping my wet masterpiece in the tub.

This is a bad picture of me being sheepish about standing on my wet sweater in the tub.

And here is a dark picture of Mariah laid out for drying. First impression is that it is way too big, but I want to wait until it's completely dry before passing judgement. I have read on other blogs that this might be an issue, but hesitate to try to "shrink" it and loose all the hard work I did on my cables... Any suggestions?

In Da Hood

Yo! Wuzzup my knittin' kittens?

It took stamina, commitment, and more generic pain reliever than I expected, but I did it. I knit through the original version of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies and the MST3K versions of The Sinister Urge, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, and Wild Rebels. I have a thing for bad horror movies, so sue me. Then I knit through the second episode of South Park, an episode of the Drew Cary Show, and then through Transatlanticism and half of Give Up. It was a lot of mindless knitting, but it was worth it. As of 1:23 am this morning

the Chocolate Mariah has been knit! She is not done, not by a long shot, but the endless hood has been completed! Now to the seaming and weaving in ends and blocking. Oh, and the zipper! I haven't even bought a zipper! I don't know how to put in the zipper! Crud!

I have the Mikey the Faboo to thank for my latest achievement (no, I am not on his MySpace friends list. I morally object to MySpace. Don't ask me why, I'm not too clear on my reasoning). Mikey, my intrepid coworker and work buddy, has the largest legal collection of obscure media I have ever heard of, as well as an understanding that bad zombie flicks are good for the soul...

Next time: Stinker the Spazz

Adventures in De-Stashing

Guess what found a new home today?

This bedful of yarn comprises the bulk of my acrylic stash (not including the yarn for the afghans, the wrap, and a few skeins that I just liked). Making the decision to let it go was the hardest part. I put an ad up on craigslist last night and came home to over 50 responses. There were some truly heartbreaking emails and funny ones, but I could not bring myself to try to pick a recipient on merit, so I chickened out and offered it to the first person who responded to the ad. She'll be taking home a trash-bag full of yarn tomorrow morning.

I have mixed feelings about this whole thing. I feel guilty for giving up all this yarn that I could be making into beautiful and useful things. Problem is, I felt guilty anyway for not making it into beautiful and useful things. So, my plan is to take a deep breath and try to let go, cling to the important things instead of the "just things".

Now, if you'll all excuse me, we're having waffles for dinner! Yay!

Summer O' Crap

Happy Father's day to those of you who reproduced, then made the bold move to stick around and make the effort. I salute you! I even called my dad (wonder of wonders) and gave him vague hints about what I sent him. Promise not to tell?

Buffalo Steaks. Yes, I sent the old man more meat. Never mind that my father is raising two pigs so he can trade one of the neighbors for half of their cow come slaughtering time. Never mind that he still has some of the last cow, Cheeseburger, still in his freezer (for the record, I refused to eat this cow, he emailed me so many pictures of it!). Why? For the love of god(s), why?

Because buffalo is better for you than beef. Better for his blood pressure, better for his cholesterol, better all around.

And I'd like to see a buffalo in his yard next year...

And here's what I did on Father's Day:

I obviously did not get myself the pedicure I so richly deserve, but look at Crusoe! The ankle was knit on father's day, then I made it about half way up the heel today at lunch today. The colors nauseate me just a tad, but the pattern is awesome. I am the kind of person who generally, once a pattern is conquered, never bothers to go there again. This may be one of the select few patterns that gets more than one go around...

SUMMER O' STASH UPDATE

I have been good, though it honestly has not been hard. Progress moves forward on the Chocolate Mariah apace; she is now almost completely seamed and has another two inches on her hood. Now I just have to figure out who is going to weave in all the ends... I have yet to take a decent picture of her, so you'll just have to hold tight.

Not much to report on Danica. I completed another repeat and taught myself how to purl backwards! I have made lots of progress mentally, but not enough physically to bother taking a picture...

But this whole declutter, simplify, and accomplish theme has really got me thinking (always a bad sign). In the spirit of these ideals, I sheepishly present one of my first non-yarn destashments:

My Comics on eBay

I am sad to say that these are not all my comics (not by a long shot), but these are the ones I can definitly do without. And all the proceeds go back to refurbishing my stash after the great decrapping is over =P

I did it for you!

I spent a LOT of money today. I got paid yesterday, so today was apparently "splurge before I remember I'm poor" day...

The biggest purchase was something for all of you:


Yes, I finally got that camera I've been whining about since I started blogging! It's the Kodak EasyShare C310. As a former SLR & large-format/darkroom/gallery-exhibiting photographer, I have to admit that this camera is a blow to my former photo-snob pride. But I like it! I like it because this camera will not require it's own luggage when I go somewhere (major convenience factor there) and I won't have to spend hours training Boy before he can use it, too. And, it allows me to easily show y'all things like this:

These are boy's gigantic feet. They come in at a whopping size 13, explaining why that first set of plain stockinette socks almost killed the love of socks for me. They may look dainty in this picture, but it's just the angle the shot was taken from, trust me.

Here are the finished Ribbles From Heck! They will go to Jessie and we will have action shots as soon as I remember to bring them to work with me.

And I started Crusoe last night! Turns out the colorway is actually called Hydrangea. I'm sure I have a Marigold somewhere in the sock stash; it's probably one of the skeins I'll have to buy a ball-winder for. I am thoroughly enchanted by this pattern; there is enough variation to keep the sock flying, but the stranding is easy enough to not be tedious. This may be one of the few patterns I do more than once.

To answer Heatherly's question, I would definitely recommend Mariah as a project. But (there's always a but), I would not recommend it as someone's first sweater or cabling project. The only way I made my way through five frogged sleeves was my stupid stubborn determination to not let the pattern beat me. I may continue work on the hood during Saturday Night Live, but the socks have me hooked.

Next time: Buffalo and Pittsburgh!

No Fun At All

First of all, it is really hot today.

Get-that-freakin'-wool-away-from-me hot.

I'd-rather-be-at-work-cuz-there's-air-conditioning hot.

So, no progress on Mariah today. Not much has been going on with the old girl anyhoo; the hood has been hard on my hands because of all the weight of the sweater pulling on it. I have been doing some furtive seaming though. A sleeve on one side and the side on the other and pretty decent looking first sweater starts to emerge. I am SO EXCITED!!! I'd take a picture, but that would necessitate putting the darn thing on, and that just ain't happening (see weather report above).

I am finally starting my next pair of socks! I decided on Crusoe in Marigold merino by KnitPicks, which they apparently don't sell anymore because I could not find a picture of the colorway to snatch. It's a mix of pinks and purples, which would be perfect for Jen if she wasn't allergic to wool... I wonder if I can sneak these on her? It is not that I don't take wool allergies seriously, I really do. I just don't take Jen's wool allergy seriously; she's allergic or adverse to almost everything good in the world. She may have just had a bad wool experience, so I may try to persuade her to at least try these on, they're 100% merino for crying out loud. But, in my defense here, I will exercise full disclosure. I don't believe in sneaking possibly harmful things on people...

I Learned Something Today

I've decided that, since I learn something from every project and I have my very own soapbox, I would start sharing the insights gained from each project. So, without further ado:

Jessies' Ribble Socks

I learned several things from this project:

a) Don't be cheap with the things you love.
Life is too short to work with yarn you hate and needles that break in your bag.

b) There is such thing as too much.
The striping was cool, and the ribbles would have been cool if they were easier to see. As they turned out, I did not get a good investment on the time it took to twist all those stitches.

And c) Socks Rule!
Even a sock that you despise flies by when you spend 45 minutes in the line for Space Mountain.

Finishing and Gnomes

Guess what I did for KIP day?

Nuttin. I stayed in bed most of the day. I missed my CPR class and the knitting festivities. I woke up nauseous (like I have the last week or so), picked a fight with Boy, then slept and cried most of the day. Stressed anyone? The highlight of my day was working on the Chocolate Mariah and watching Jay-Low in Anaconda, a movie that might be even worse than this. Good news, I am up to the hood on Mariah. Bad news, Ice Cube had a pimp-limp in both legs... Oh, and no pictures yet.

So, Sunday I'm better and Boy and I are friends again, so he talks me into going to another insane party at his aunt & uncles house, hereafter referred to as the Land of the Lawn Gnomes. (It's okay, most of them don't even know I have a blog). Boy's family is very sweet, but what I wouldn't give to put the bunch of silly short people in pointy red hats! So, while I'm watching the little gnomes run around the yard while the big gnomes stare and giggle at them, I'm working on the damn Ribbles... And then I'm done. Ends woven in and everything. No picture of them yet either, you have to wait until I get Jessie to try them on. In the gnomes' defense, I had a great time eating myself silly at the party. And, most of the sock was done at Disneyland on Wednesday; the line for Space Mountain must have lasted 4 pattern repeats!

SOS Update

I'm finally getting paid to do all this disciplining and mentoring I'm doing at work now, so I got a big chunk of back pay, just in time to not buy yarn! So, I went ahead and got something I have been wanting forever: the One Skein Wonder and Bulky Green Cables patterns from Glampyre! Okay, they were not expensive at all, but it feels like such a treat!

Contest Finale!

I wanted to take a picture of the goodies I'll be sending to Trek, but Stinker would not cooperate. So, I'm stealing the pics:

The good folks at Westing Bridge sent me two sets of 6" size 2 bamboo double-point needles. These new needles are working out pretty well so far, so I'm passing on the second set.

And a set of four seafoam green size 3 stitch markers! Hope they bring you socky joy!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up some stitches on my sock for more Disneyland knitting!

Summer O' Stash

Okay, I'll admit it: I like these online knitting group thingies. My newest affiliation is with Summer Of Stash.

I'm such a tool!

Hello, my name is Becka, and I have too much yarn.

I actually don't think I have too much yarn (I hear your booing), but I have a few projects that new yarn distracts me from finishing (or starting). I'm hoping that this Summer of Stash will be the Summer of Finishing something for a change...

Exception #1: My LYS is having their 6th anniversary sale August 25-27. If I want them to have a 7th anniversary, I'd better do my part.

Exception #2: If my best friends conceive I will go wild buying yarn to start whipping up baby stuff.

My reward for good behavior? Hopefully a sweater, a wrap-around shawl, several pairs of socks, and a wild next-sweater-yarn shopping spree...

And, in commemoration of jumping on yet another bandwagon, please refer to the ticker at the bottom of the page (I didn't know where else to put the darn thing).

Contest Update!

And the winner of my silly contest is Trek! All the ideas were fabulous, but only Trek's involved fire. I'm a little afraid to tell you what I have planned, but I will post pictures if I don't burn the whole joint down.

And what has Trek won? Well, I can't show you yet. Why? 'Cuz it ain't here yet. When it arrives I will take a quick picture and forward the goodness along promptly.

Goodness!

Good things are happening at the Knitting Wounded tent:

Mariah is now in one piece! All the individual sections are completed and combined on the circular needle! The heatwave has made it a little hard to have a huge mass of wool sitting in my lap while I work the decreases that will transition into the hood of this beastie, but I manage. Mostly by not sleeping; I get a lot of the work done on it after 9pm, windows open and the fans buzzing. Who needs sleep when you have lemon ginsing tea?

My first acrylic-reduction project is underway:

Danica from Knitty! I've never done entrelac before, but this seems to be a very reasonable introduction to the technique. Not to mention that it is wicked-awesome-cool looking! The constant turning was getting to me, so I am pleased to report that I can now knit in reverse. Unfortunately, I have not been able to figure out purling in reverse... Helmet please?

Have I ever mentioned that I love getting mail? Adore it? I even like getting all the political campaign ads that keep getting shoved down my mail-hole. Packages are my favorite kind of mail, of course, and this is what came in yesterday:

My secret pal sent me goodies! The box was full of Mindful Knitting and patterns and lucious brown yarn and an Eyeore keychain and varigated sock yarn and Bottle Caps and sock point protectors and duckies! Thank you Secret Pal!

Oh, and Stinker would like to thank you for the box...