Earthquake Damage

There was a 5.4 earthquake late this morning. It felt like a strong rolling and the entire building swayed back and forth, but nothing fell and no one was hurt. Except for me:

Stinker was too freaked out to realize that her mummy was holding onto her while standing in the doorway for her own good and gave me a good clawing for my trouble, but what if the ceiling fan fell on her or something? We have since forgiven each other and life has gone mostly back to normal. Going to swap laundry now, be safe all.

Elephant Pox

I have an excuse for being so tardy with my post this time (I mean, other than being myself)! No, really! Okay, first of all, a couple of good buddies of mine asked me to the Orange County Fair (this is not the one I entered the shawl and scarf into, the Los Angeles County Fair is in September). I had a lot of fun and ate way too many fried foods. For the record, chicken and Krispy Kreme sandwiches are icky (especially when made with jelly doughnuts) and the churro funnel cake was totally worth my turning green on the ride home.

The little glossy socks (which required me to dig into new skeins of the cocoa and the burgundy, thank you very much) had a lovely time as well.


They saw a very large bull,probably the same one from the LA fair last year. Just goes to show, same bull, different year (and different sock, thank goodness).

The sock had its picture taken with an immense horse's ass. I usually don't pay a dollar to see large horses' patooties, but it has been quite a while since I've been to .

Have we said "ass" enough yet? Well, check out this next picture:

It is me, sitting on an elephant's ass. The elephant in question is named Kitty, and very nicely allowed me to ride on her for five dollars. I, thinking that I hadn't ever ridden on an elephant and may not see the chance to do so again, figured this was a good deal...

Little did I know that, the very next day, none the less, that I would begin to suffer the ravages of elephant pox. Don't tell me that clap-trap about it just being an ordinary cold, this is a pox. I am the only one of our party that caught this pestilence, and the only thing I did differently than everyone else was ride that elephant. Well, that and chemotherapy, surgery, and now radiation (started today, woot!), but other than that it is all the elephant's fault. Of course, I would do it again in a heart-beat, but I believe in laying blame where it is due, squarely on the broad shoulders of an innocent animal.

So the Glossy Baby socks are finally done (did I mention that I had to go into new skeins of yarn to finish this "destash" adventure?!?) and the green Booga bag is finally felted (took at least six runs through the washing machine).

This leaves me with one single, solitary project on the needles, and it has been slow going on that as well. What have I been up to lately that my knitting has been so neglected? Fear not, I will let y'all know as soon as I get my act together.

In the meantime, if anyone is looking for anything fun & spooky, check out my cousins' at 31 Skullduggery Lane for all your necromantic needs. Don't make me start breaking out the bone jokes, because I totally will.

Anti-Tech

I don't know what to tell you guys. The last few weeks I have just been avoiding the computer. No posting, no reading blogs, no nothing. I may have popped on to check email a few times, but that's been it, sorry.

There has been knitting:

Done: Pretty Pink Vogs in Panda Cotton, color Rosewater

These socks were promised to one of our dear buddies years ago, but wool allergies and my picky-picky-ness about sock yarn delayed them for quite a bit. I'm secretly hoping they don't fit her so I can keep them.

There is a half-sized knapsack that I keep sock leftovers in, and folks, the bag is getting mighty full. My newest stash-busting effort is to knit up one colorway of left-over sock yarn before starting a new sock project. I started with the leftover cocoa Gloss from the Chapeau Marnier I knit earlier this year:

Done: Baby Vogs in Knitpicks Gloss, color Cocoa

These are very cute and are just knit at half scale (one repeat instead of two on each needle). I still had a bit of cocoa left, so I bust out the burgundy leftovers and started some plain little socks.

Nearly done: Baby Gloss socks in Knitpicks Gloss, colors burgundy and cocoa

The only reason these socks aren't done is because, now that I'm at the heel, it ends up that I may not have enough cocoa to finish it. I have another skein in the same dye lot, but that's not really the point, is it? So I'm sitting on these socks, waiting for the little bit of yarn to grow a few more yards.

The stash-busting exercises may be in vain anyway; I am so horrible at figuring out the size, length, and shape of children's feet that I cannot guarantee that these two pairs of socks will fit anyone I know (or who exists outside the realm of the supernatural). They may be toddler socks, they may be a complete disaster. I think I put the odds in my favor by knitting them way longer than I think they should be; this needs to be done with all my socks as I live with the delusion that everyone has much dinkier feet than they actually possess.

After this little sock and my perpetual stockinette scarf (you don't need a picture, honest) I will have nothing at all on the needles. Nada. Zilch. I do have two projects in the wings, both for the upcoming holiday orgy of gift giving. We are going to be a handmade holiday household (say that five times fast) this year, and there is no time to waste.

Tata-Tada

This:

plus this:

equals: Ta-Daaaa!

Trust me, the results are dramatic.

Hurt Book Sale!

Interweave Press' Hurt Book Sale started today! Go! Go! Go!

Yes, I already made my order... No, I'm not sorry.

Why are you still here? Go now! Order books!