Slooooowly but surely...

life is returning to normal. Ish. For me. Which is to say, completely abnormal, but that's perfectly normal in this house. If you know what I mean.

Sigh.

At least I've been knitting lately.

Well, ok, so not on that one, per se. I finished that color off a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm on to oatmeal color, and when that skein is done (in two more rows), I knit up the last of the mini-skeins (a royal purple one I saved up just special for the purpose) and the knitting part of the project is done. Then I get the joy of turning the whole shebang into garland! Whee!

Tonight I had a really fabulous 50% off coupon from Favorite Big Box that I had to use before it went defunct. I need a new pattern holder, For Reasons, so I went and enjoyed the view of my new playground:

Yesssss. Miles and miles and miles of cotton prints, and that's not even the bits that are full of unnatural fibers. But I've never sewn anything with stretch, and I'm told stretch changes the game a bit, so perhaps I'll focus on my cotton apron first. Walk, jog, then run.

Anyway, I'm still crafting a bit, slowly recovering my fiber mojo, and I've discovered that this blog is invaluable for helping me keep track of what I knitted/cross stitched/whatevered when. And it's a great place to keep my pattern notes. Blogging has a purpose, other than weird, mildly pointless navel-gazing. Who knew?

Also, just in the interest of self-documentation, two weeks ago, my friend who bought the Yarnia brought in a bag of yarn to coven night. Her purpose was to rid herself of some leavings. Again, in a gang-like initiation ceremony, everyone had to take something from the bag. Even me.

So, despite the fact that I need more yarn like I need another hole in my head (although when the sinuses go up, it would be a relief), I left with four of these:

two of these (one in a dark brown, one in a rust color):

and one each of the following:

Some nice vintage stuff in there, as you can see. I admit I was originally tempted by the hot pink of the Versailles (a French yarn, the color is even listed as Flamant Rose) before, but I abstained. However, since it soon became for free...

Eh. It doesn't quite go with my skin color, but that's ok. I like it well enough to just look at it!

Oh, and before I forget:

Giraffe Hat! 

Ugh.

There's been a lot of nonsense going on, and not of any good kind. The last two months...let's just pretend they didn't happen for the most part, shall we? Hospitals, surgery and angst, oh, my. Everyone's still alive, the one in danger is mostly out of it and it's just about all done but the shouting, so it's all ok right now. But let's just say I'm drinking far more than the recommended 4 oz. daily serving of red wine right now, and it's barely making a dent in the tension in my neck.

It's been that sort of two months.

But I had to come and brag. I mean, I've hardly gotten any knitting done (hardly; I've been working on holiday twizles at work on occasion, and started knitting on a scarf while in a surgery waiting room at the hospital that I may never touch again), but I did do some research and decide to get THIS:

W00t! Now I can make my apron, and some other fun stuff, too. I mean, look at all the stitches that come with:

25 built in stitches! 59 stitch combinations, whatever the heck that means!

And and plus plus:

five extra smurfy feet, in addition to the regular one that comes with.

It was on sale. I moved on it. I feel good about that.

Or perhaps it's the wine. Hopefully, things will start returning to normal, so I can blog more. Hell, so I can knit more. I'm getting real tired of hospital waiting rooms, the regular sort of hospital rooms and just...hospitals in general.

Wish us luck.

Ugh. Stuff and nonsense, nonsense and stuff.

I've been catching up on the minutae of life, and it's dragging me down. I am still not, by and large, feeling the yarn, but if I was, I'd have no time to knit at all!

Still at least I've made plans for some crafting.


I'm going to make an apron like Abby's on NCIS. I'm not usually a skulls and roses type girl, but there's something about this fabric that's insanely cheery. And it'll hide stains a treat (except on the skull bits themselves.)

You can see a bit of it here:

I've bought the fabric (and the pattern this apron is based on), and would show you but BLOGGER IS BEING A WANKER and keeping me from uploading my pictures. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'll come back tomorrow or the next day to put my own picture up.

HA! I win the intarwebz! It only took me, what, an hour and a half to find a workaround? Yeesh.


It's pretty exciting. Of course, this means I have to get my mom's machine cleaned and primed. Or find a fairly cheap one for myself, which might be a good option, too.

In other news, I'm actually making a Lil' Giraffe Hat. I'm currently in the middle of the endless rounds of yellow knit, before the decreases. It'll be a while before I have something to show you all.

I'm overtaken today by a strange lassitude, and I don't want to do anything. I'm not sure what's sucked the motive energy out of me; perhaps, as the Harry Potter movie marathon on Family today is implying, I've attracted a dementor. Although I wouldn't say I'm depressed, per se, just...don't wanna. Whatever it is, don't wanna.

Maybe I'll do a few more rounds of hat and watch some of my DVR'd shows. Maybe that will perk me up?

For, lo, this I hath wrought.

I am so full of awesome, it's hard to be myself lately, you know?


I even learned French seams, which are a major pain in the ass, but somehow worth it. Still and all, I'm fairly chuffed. Now all I have to do is figure out what I want to do next: a decorative throw pillow (in which project I would learn trims and how to sew a pillow form into its case) or a small bag (which would be colorful and I would learn lining -- a far more useful skill to a knitter -- and adding handles and working with interfacing.)

Oh, decisions, decisions.

In the knitting news, I've decided to become mostly monogamous to my projects. Right now, I've got something like fifty gajillion projects on the needles. This is counter-productive to actually, you know, finishing anything. So for the time being I've only got three projects on the needles:

1. Double-Cross Scarf:

This is a freshly updated photo for the purposes of this post. Look at that sexy pooling! Anyway, I want this scarf, I do, so I'm going to make it one of my initial projects. The pattern is fairly simple, the yarn is like heaven in my hands, and I have a dreadful feeling Crowley is going to Come To A Well-Deserved Bad End at the end of this season (although how they'll survive without his delicious, delicious snark is beyond me).

I will cry. While wrapped warmly in my snuggly, wuggly little bit of the King of Hell.

2. Nereides Shawl:

Yeah. Still having problems with this one. She does the seafoam stitch a little differently than I'm accustomed to (but in a way that's probably oodles simpler, overall) making this far, far too complex a knit for the workplace. I can't answer calls while working on this, I can barely watch television and make my stitch counts. This is the fifth version of this that I've cast on, and in one repeat I've tinked back twice.

I think this one is going to end up being my knitting nemesis.

3. Milk Run Shawl (Adjusted):

Yes, it's an old picture. I'm not dragging this eight hundred pound monster out of its bag for a new picture. Besides, the only change is an inch of ruffle. One inch. It's heartbreaking how hours and hours of endless knit or purl stitches (oh, the curse of garter in the round -- I forgot how that would go until I'd already picked up and started knitting the ruffle stitches) will get you nowhere fast.

However it's a mind-numbingly simple piece, and will do excellently as a work project. I can answer phones, chat with visitors and probably even mop the floors (not a job duty, never fear) while finishing up the ruffle. The worst part is figuring out what I'm going to replace it with when the ruffle inevitably gets finished.

Oh, and by the bye, they tell you a knit-on ruffle will "eat up" yarn. They lie. One inch of ruffle isn't even touching the single skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease I tied on before I even finished the point. I've got at least 2/3 of the skein left to go.

Oh, well. At least when I'm done I can toss this puppy in the washer to clean out the desk-clutter-gunk before I lay it out to sorta-block. That'll be nice.

Catharsis, or How The Blogger Felt Good About Her Day

You know, I'm over-burdened with yarn. This is a truth. But sometimes, just sometimes, you need to throw petty space concerns and the knowledge of how SABLE'd* you are out the window and just treat yourself.

This would be a pair of Bonnie's Bamboo by Farmhouse Yarns in the colorway Buttercream. Isn't it beautiful? I just love the way it shades from pale yellow to a medium burnished gold. The bamboo adds just enough sheen to make it look like spun gold, too. It's so pretty I can hardly stand it.

It was my impulse buy. My whole purpose for the trip was to find yarn to replace my Fluffley scarf, which has, alas, sprung a hole. Apparently, pure silk yarn can pull apart, did you know that? I do now. Sigh.

So this is what I got to make a new Fluffley:

Rowan by Amy Butler Belle Organic DK. In a delightful warm raspberry color (the sunlight is bleaching it out, but it's more along the lines of the middle color there between the light and shadow). It's cotton and wool, but I think it' soft enough to lay against my neck. It's awful, truly awful to have such delicate, sensitive skin as I do, but I'll knit myself scarves with only the best of yarns to keep myself warm.

Pardon me as I wipe tears of laughter from my eyes. That last sentence...truly amusing.

In other crafty news, I'm taking sewing lessons. I've never sewn anything on a machine, you know that? Well, of course you do, I just told you.

So I've decided to rectify this situation because I want a medium size black dress ("little" not being an adjective any dress I wear should carry), dammit, and shopping for a formal dress with sleeves and a hemline that doesn't stop at the meatiest, dimpliest part of my knee is becoming more painful than just learning how and doing it my own self.

The lengths I go to, I swear.

Anyway, my first project (which will be assembled tomorrow night) is a pillowcase. It's going to be made of this:

The dark green is the body of the case, the batik is the outer edge and the yellow is a bit of fancy trim for in between.



I'm sort of excited. I remember my mom and I going to the fabric store (which may or may not have been Joann's; these are old memories I'm digging up here), choosing patterns, fabric and notions and making clothing and toys. These are fond memories, too, so going and buying my own fabric, for my own project, is making me nostalgic.

I think I'm going to enjoy this.

*SABLE: Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy, also known as Beginner Stash.