Crap.

So I've been reading blogs reading about people and their long list of Christmas knitting projects. I've been feeling pretty superior since I opted out of that. I admit I laughed and thought FOOL to each blog I read... My smugness came to an abrupt end last night at 1:46am when I asked my SIL what we (WHN and me) should get my MIL for Christmas. Without skipping a beat she suggested a scarf. I've knitted her a scarf before, so we came up with either the felted clogs or One Skein's slipper socks. SHIT! Then she said how she would like a pair and it's not like I could say no... I mean it is Christmas. (Now if it was Arbor Day I would tell her to...)

SHIT! I'm no longer better than you! I'm worse because I am trying to pull this together now. I tried to kid myself that I could have a year off. And have I mentioned my last few felting projects haven't turned out so hot? Sonofa... This month I was going to leisurely work on convertible mittens and spin. You know work on projects that I would keep so I could drink during the making of them. Now I have pressure knitting that I will have to do sober.

Why did I have to ask her... I should have just gone with my first idea of a Vegas shot class and a t-shirt:
(I'm saving the poker chips and ash tray for her birthday)

some yarny goodness and not so goodness!!!

I have so much sock yarn, I could open a shop. But that didn't stop me from getting more yarn at Stitches East. Yes, I had a personal yarn shopper there. I feel yarned out now. A yarny confession... I like going yarn shopping, but the actual selection process is too stressful for me. I have the worse time with decisions. It is so much easier to give someone parameters and just be surprised. I know. I know.

But this time it worked out well! Among some of my gems:
Fleece Artist (sock yarn)



Shelridge Farms finger weight that will be turned into gloves:


Interlacements:
Alabama cotton yarn (with a funny smell)... 800 yds. Size 7 needles. What can should I make with this... hmmm. I wonder how clapotis would work with it. Or actually because it is a cotton the spiral scarf would be cute or a bag. So many ideas are going through my mind. It has short color repeats so fair isle I dont think would work.


100% wool dyers choice (I think these could be really cute felted bags among other things):



I have also been making yarn! I use the term yarn loosely. My begininng spinning efforts aren't so hot. I have some brown Lincoln spun that I don't think is ready for it's close up if you now what I am mean. But I thought I would post skein #2:



I can't remember what it is made from. These are pics from my cellphone, so picture quality not so hot, but let's just say that close-ups and good lighting aren't going to be doing this yarn any favors. What it lacks in spun consistency, it makes up for with horrible scratchiness! Like if a baby ass is smooth and soft, I guess this is the baby at age 104. It is rough. So I'm thinking rough and low yardage... hmmm a little bag? Striped into something else? I spun it too thin to felt. (That's what I have been saying about all my spinning... ahh I'll felt it and it will look fine!)

I've also spun my first ply of Corriedale. It's nice and soft and springy until I get ahold of it! I hope my poor spinning skills are just a matter of days on the job and will improve.


My new spot for taking yarn pictures is my neighbors front rock lawn. I don't know if she has noticed my photo shoots, but my neighbors across the street have. They wave to me I think so I know that I am not alone and should stop this odd behavior. Or maybe they do it to check if I am OK like this is the first step before the next which is running down the street naked becuase yarn monsters are chasing me. I wish the yarn monster would fix my roof because I am on day 5 of car out of commission!

button!

I have a button now!!! Thank you Javajem!

More German stuff!

I received a package earlier this week, and promptly took pics, but I can't find my USB cable (again) I even went to Best Buy last night to buy another one (which ofcourse would then make the loss one appear) but they didn't have any my size. They did have a 30 person line waiting for the PS3 though!

Tonight I figured a way around the USB cable to at least get a couple pics up.

SOCK YARN! Because I don't have enough of it. Trekking and Opal, but the real excitement is the hand dyed sock yarn. Equivalent to the hand dyed you can get in the US, but for a great deal less. WOO! WOO! I normally don't get these colors (oranges, yellows) but I decided to step out of my box. At first I thought what was I thinking, but once I took them outside to take pictures of them (that I can't upload to my computer) I really saw how gorgeous they are! I can't wait to find the perfect patterns for them. And if I dont want to get slippy with them, Sibille sent me non-slip pads.

Once I get my camera connected, I will put better pics up that better show the wonderfully vibrant colors of the yarn. On my camera are pictures of the 2 balls in front before I wound them and they are truly gorgeous!

I'm really interested in why German yarn is cheaper. I figured Opal would be because it's made there, but now this sock yarn is working out less expensive too. I've been getting so spoiled though that when I find yarn with a German sounding name I immediately email the info to my German connection.

And it wouldn't be a package from Sibille without CANDY!!! WOOWOO!! (Seriously, candy and yarn is like a dream box for me) I love Euro choc and I think I found my new favorite candy bar (not picture because I gobbled it down pretty fast) Also notice the gummies. As I have mentioned before the Germans have taken gummies beyond the bear (which I also got, but I bit their little heads off and swallowed Yogi and his buddies) I have gummie bugs and gummie alphabet. I picture the gummie scientist experimenting with shapes in the gummie labs.



Also the German knitting mag has some cute patterns that are very chart oriented so it's not the big cruel tease it could be.

Speaking of expensive yarn, Lion Brand has learn to knit kits at Costco! For $24.99 you can get 2 skeins of wool-ease and a pattern a scarf or baby kimono.


My new convertible roof arrived in the mail last week and WHN has spent 2 days so far installing it. He was hoping I would take it somewhere but the company was insistent that with the 24 page installation instructions anyone slightly handy could install it. He is just slight enough to have to install to keep his manhood intact. I put him on the phone with the manufacturer who pretty much guilted him into it. Thank you kind manufacturer! He's been struggling with tight spaces, tough screws, exacting measurements, and cut fingers, but hopefully tomorrow I will have a brand new roof that will stay on if I drive above 10mph. As he has been getting frustrated, I have been reminding him that the cause of all this was me trying cook dinner. I don't think he will ever use my name and any form of the verb cook in a sentence again. So there is a silver lining to my car getting broken into.

OK OK new exceptions to my sock/blanket rule!

(As I type, I can hear the ferrets playing with scanner printer. I'm the only one home. Maybe Tif is scanning Babette's ass.) I got my Japanese felting books in the mail today. I bought them because there was this bracelet I thought was cool so I was hoping the rest of the book would be too. I bought the other becasue I was annoyed that a LYS was selling it for $25 when I could buy it on Amazon for $10. The books are predominately Japanese, surprise, I know, but they are good with the pics.

However, they do have little weird English sayings "The smell of my forrest is not forgotten" Say what?

Last night WHN was watching one of his heros, Gordon Ramsay on his stupid new show, The F Word. (the premise is to get women back in the kitchen... what where the belong Gordon- is that the missing part of the phrase Gordo??) One of the other features he is doing is teaching his kids where food comes from so they are fattening up X-Mas turkeys (who all have names btw) Anyway, to the point. Check out the sweater!


I don't know if it's a handknit (Noro?) or one of the color forward Euro designs. Either way I am dying to make one for WHN! It would bring me such pleasure to make a fuscia, orange, and black sweater for him to wear. I'm still working on WHN. I mean if Gordon Ramsay can still feel like a man in it (OK so fine he was wearing it out at the turkey coop and he does dress a bit goofy normally) WHN said that Gordon is married and has 4 kids to prove his hetero virility. Evidently the animals and I don't count. I should have just knitted it and given it to him with the most earnest face I could muster and say, "See just like Gordon Ramsay!" He might doubt my sincerity but wouldnt have the guts to ask.

back here again

OK so I know I moved to polliwanna, but I wanna come back here. MAC was just driving me crazy. Though their IWEB does do some neat things, there are some annoying things that I just can't get around. What I will use that site for is my yarn stash. Yes I plan to record all my yarn... ok not the acryllic (no wants to admit to owning that)... but the rest of it... definitely.

This weekend not a lot of knitting or spinning. I started a new sock. A socky confession-- somehow when I do my decreases I always end up off. Socky confession 2- I hate the way my toes turn out. So until I can hone my counting skills as well as do nice toes, I am going to do simple stockinette socks. Once I can make a perfect pair of socks, I will then do a more complicated ones. I'm tired of rewarded my sloppiness by fudging it.

Even though I have afghan squares in various stages of completion, I am going to be starting on another! (SHHH don't tell WHN I am doing more squares- he will go fucking spare. Seriously, there is a square moratorium imposed.) But I can't help myself. I decided that next year I'm going to exclusively knit blankets and socks. The only exception will be gifts... Why? As I introduce you the next couple of weeks to my blanket UFOs, you will see that this is definitely a good plan.

But I can't live on UFOs alone...

The blankets that I plan to start are the XRX blankets:
The Great American Aran Afghan:


The Great American Afgan:



I joined a KAL for the first the aran one, but the second I am knitting alone (unless there are some that want to start it up with me)

Now I am not promising that I will finish either of these in 2007. I have squares from 1979 for chrissakes. (more on those in a later post)

OK another exception to my blanket and sock rule... any project I can do with stash yarn... and purses! (and by purse, I mean any kind of bag) I love to knit cute purses.

One last bit of housekeeping. I want a button for my blog. How do I make that happen? Assume limited skills. Remember I evidently can't even count.


I leave you with my matching pets. I dont think I could ever again have a cat and dog that didn't coordinate.