Kippahs Ahoy

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a .... UFO?!?


Nope, this funny looking contraption is a tupperware bowl, a bunch of clothespins, and my first kippah/yarmulke/skullcap. And, for your information, it is very much a FO. In fact, it only took me one night from start to finish.

I wasn't going to bother knitting a kippah for Boy; I figured I'd just pick one up for him at one of the judaica stores and add this task to the list of things I flaked out on. I'm glad I didn't; he absolutely loves that I knit this for him. I'm not sure I like how drape-y it is, so I'll probably whip him up another one knit on smaller needles. The best part? This was made from sock yarn left over from the first pair of socks I knit for him. Doesn't it just make you sick?

In other news:

Does that green/grey crap look like mold in our ceiling? Maybe that's why I'm coughing stuff up?

Rain Delay

It's raining in our bathroom:

The shiny spots you see is water seeping through my bathroom ceiling. The source:

This pipe that the plumbers so graciously yanked out of my bathroom wall. One must expect some difficulties with 80-year-old pipes, but you know it's bad when the plumbers say, "aw shit".

As the only doors in my apartment are the bathroom and front doors, both of which must stay open to let the plumbers do their thing, Stinker and I have been barricaded into the main room all day. While I kept an eye on my little escape artist, I also gained a day off from running around like a loony-to-be and had a chance to finish yet another project!

The Knit.1 Heart Tank (seen here unblocked) has been completed and is much more flattering than this picture would lead you to believe. Remember the ball of yarn I traded for because I thought I would run short?

The first person who emails me at lastinsiteATverizonDOTnet will get 1.75 balls of Knit One Crochet Too Angora Soft Color #635, Lot #050224-9.

Jill of Adventures of Bean asked how the needlecase I bought from her last year during my Syracuse trip was holding up. It is performing excellently and I have been extremely happy with it. She has an Etsy shop, why not go take a peek?

In One Month...

... I can toss out all these wedding magazines and go back to my knitting magazines.

... I can stop wearing heels while I do laundry.

... I can start eating crap again without worrying if my dress will fit or not.

... there will be about 100 less rubber duckies in my closet.

... I can go back to obsessing about my career and not about guestlists.

... Boy will be my husband and we will be on our first ever vacation together.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Viva La Calcetera

Warning: Spanglish Ahead

So, what is a knitter to do when she gets to the let's-see-how-much-yarn-is-left-after-the-second-sock point on the first of Boy's Holiday Socks?

That's right! Take the second sock to Mexico! Viva La Calcetera!

La calcetera translates to "hosier" in English, but since I was knitting a sock in Mexico it was just bueno. My father has been promising to take me across the border for anos y anos y anos, and I think he wanted to get this trip in before I got all esposa'ed.

We ate lamb burritos and lobster and picked up some tchochkes (that's actually Yiddish-ish, aren't I international today), but I know what you came to see...

The sock's favorite stop on our trip was Fox Studios Baja, where they filmed Titanic, Master & Commander, and other big-budget water movies.

Here is the sock on the set of X-Men III, in the X-Hallway.

They even let the sock stand at the helm of the ship from Master & Commander. (If you look very closely you can see that the ship is land-locked, but we didn't bother the sock with that detail.)

Back at home, the chuppah is stretch-blocked, trimmed, and ready for April. My LYS is hosting a Knit Til You Drop night the Friday before the wedding. I told Boy I was thinking of attending to give myself a last-minute break from the wedding. He said that I'd probably be working furiously on the wedding shawl. The Boy knows me too well...

Lazy Blogger = Pictures

The weaving on the chuppah is done, praise whoever it is that you praise.



And a new project is afoot:

In Google news, I am the sole user of the word Stashonomics (there was a 'stashonomics, but they were referring to mustaches. Doesn't count). It's a great title, I might need to write a book!

I Gots My Bag

Isn't it lovely!

I received a faboo bag, Reese's (my favorite!), orange tea (my favorite!), sock yarn, local specialties (super awesome), and something for Stinker.

The knitted toy you see her trying to rip apart is a catnip mouse with two tails. She normally gets bored with her toys waaaaay too quickly, but she loves things with little tails.

I think she likes them. Thank you Annie!

Felting and Fiber

A finished project? No way!

Way.

Say hello to my little birdhouse tote, all felted up and ready for shipping tomorrow. Or maybe Wednesday, my work schedule is a nightmare this week.

This project was a huge departure for me; I don't usually felt and I never even thought of knitting a birdhouse. It was a lot of fun and taught me a few things, such as needle-felting, that I may not have picked up otherwise. I'm really hoping my ITE3 buddy likes it!


Stashonomically, I did pretty well on this project. I ended up purchasing two balls of WotA for the main body of the tote, but everything else came from the stash. I didn't use up anything, but the colors are compatable and may become another little felted something...



On the subject of other fibers, I randomly picked up this book at the library the other day. My hair has always been a bit of a frizzy mop; I'd wrestle with it and swear at it and eventually give up on it ever looking even half decent. After reading this book, I not only found that my hair is curly (which is why it only looks nice until I brush it out), but I found a hair-related philosophy I could live with (here's the knitting content): All Hair Is Fiber. Now, I may be the dumbest person to slog the Earth, but while I understood that wool is hair, I never turned it around to think about what I was doing to my own fibers. So, I have curly hair and, so far, it's been looking half-decent. Wish me luck!

Making Progress... Occasionally

Believe it or not, knitting-related progress has started to slowly reappear in the Knitting Wounded Tent.

A nice chunk of weaving has been done on the chuppah. I won't bore you with details; it looks exactly like every picture before it.

The birdhouse is nearly done! It is felted, assembled, and embellished with little silk flowers. That big blank spot in the front?

Oh yeah, a place for the yarny bird to get in.... I can't seem to get the hang of needle-felting, so I'm looking for a Plan D, but it will go out to my secret tote buddy on time and just a little over budget.

And look, actual knitting! My team at work almost never get to do anything together due to our funky scheduling, so when the office is closed we try to do something "team-building" (if I say that often enough maybe we'll get reimbursed). We've been going to Disneyland during the week when the place is relatively dead. No lines = no knitting gets done. The long lines at Disneyland on Sunday allowed me time to finish the foot on Boy's holiday sock and put in my first short-row heel ever!

Look at that huge sock foot! Now for the long trudge up the ankle.... Darn Boy's gigantic feet!

Bad Blah-gger

This is the first time in days that I've been online, and it's not because I've been knitting, because I haven't. I'm just feeling, well, BLAH. I think that part of it is that it took me THREE DAYS TO FELT A BIRDHOUSE!!!

Day One:

One thing you should know about me. I rent a teensy-weensy studio apartment that, thankfully, has a laundry room in the basement. The bad thing? It cost a dollar in quarters to wash anything.

When I came home from work at 9:30 that night, there were only 3 quarters in the dish. Since Boy and I have been working opposing shifts, I have not seen him conscious so I can properly punish him.

Day Two:

Get the quarters on the way home and cautiously run the birdhouse through a hot wash inside a lingerie bag (the Woolite bag is awesome). After about five minutes of agitation, I wince and put my hand in the water to check it's progress. The water turns out to be lukewarm, not hot at all. The bag felts a little, but is not properly felty. I hang it up for the night and go to sleep.

Day Three (Today):

Success!

Now to just let it dry, needle felt the darn thing, then stuff it and post it! Now, if I could only get some work done on the chuppah!