Friday, September 12, 2008

Little Notes From The Procrastinator

...heh. Right now I'm procrastinating on my exercise. I'll get there, I just have to blog first. Urgently!

1. Yesterday was me and the man's 7th wedding anniversary. !!! We had a pretty sweet day. He is off on vacation and I requested the day off, so we had a late lunch at a Mexican place, a couple of drinks from Sonic during Happy Hour, a leisurely nap in the early evening, and then dinner at our favourite Greek place. A lovely way to spend the day. And, of course, there were gifts - I got him the complete series of "Spaced" on DVD (a Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright production from about 10 years ago, which we have wanted to watch, but been denied a Region 1 release... until now! Also, is the origin of the phrase "fried gold"), and he picked me up a couple of knitting books - "Knit Aid" by Vickie Howell, and "Super Stitches Knitting" by Karen Hemingway. What can I say, the dude knows me ;) ♥

2. New knitting mag: Debbie Bliss Magazine. Of course I bought it. It has a very pretty layout, lovely colours, a scone recipe (!!) and some very promising patterns. As soon as I can find a yarn I like in both colour and quantity for a project bigger than a scarf/socks/armwarmers, I will totally make one of the shrugs/cardigans. I've even been sketching some ideas for my own shrug, though it might take me forever to get around to the actual construction. Anyway, I've only really skimmed through the mag but I already think it's a winner. I'll post on it in more depth once I've read it through.

3. Visited Hobby Lobby today on the spur of the moment during my lunchbreak, to see if there were any copies of Vogue "Knit.1" magazine (are they even still making it? My brief web search really didn't tell me anything). Well, they didn't, so I went forth to look at yarn. And knock me over with a feather, but they've started carrying sock yarn! I saw cotton/elastic blend (can't remember the brand), and wool/nylon in Lion Brand and - gasp - Red Heart. Yes, real wool, from Red Heart! And the colour selection was really very nice. The Lion Brand comes in a skein big enough to knit an actual pair, for $9.99, and they even had a variegated yellow (my dream right now is to knit yellow socks). Since I splurged on the magazine I didn't buy any yarn, but I'll be making a trip as soon as it's financially viable. It's a good thing I didn't totally write off Hob Lob as a knitting wasteland!

4. Sending out good vibes to anyone in the path of Hurricane Ike. Be safe out there, kids.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

OMG YAY!!!!

The Fall issue of Knitty is up...! If you're reading this, then you probably know. But I've been anxiously checking every day to see if it had arrived yet... and today it has. Huzzah! I'm so excited...!! :D

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Yarn Talk, Plus Bonus Sushi

From top to bottom:

1. The Crystal Palace Yarns "Bamboo Silk", in denim, with which I will be knitting Jo's garter
2. Close-up of the yarn yumminess
3. Plate of sushi enjoyed last Wednesday night at the delightful Fuji restaurant in a neighbouring town




I have actually started the garter - but due to improper storage techniques (that is to say... the way things get randomly jostled in my knitting-bag-slash-handbag, even when projects are safely stored in their own ziploc bags) I lost a couple of stitches. I also thought about how I haven't knitted on it in a while and thought that my gauge might get all effed up if I continue along. Sooooo... you know me. But I did it after careful consideration. It wasn't "woe is me, I shall frog instead of being rational". I decided that I'm going to devote part of my Saturday to nothing but sheer knitting madness and get it all done in one fell swoop. I only had a couple of inches to show for my progress, and Eloping knits up fast, y'all. So I'm prepared to knock it out of the park. Watch this space for updates!

The special sushi treat was to celebrate my mum. It would have been her 62nd birthday last Wednesday. Love ya, mum.

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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

More Photos: Part Three!

From top to bottom:

1. Feet... in socks
2. Feet... in socks again
3. Close up of the heel
4. My blue sock making its soccer game debut :P

 
 
 
 
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Okay, now I'm going to bed. I braved the scary technological bit by getting my photos onto the computer (I think all the sock-knitting is turning me into a Luddite!). Stay tuned for more pictures of the blue sock. I hope to have it finished tomorrow. That's a lot of hope for such a small sock.

Recent Knitting Photos: second part of last post

From top to bottom:
1. Sock on Boodie
2. Sock on my lap
3. Close up of sock pattern
4. Socks on my feet, in weird light

 
 

 




 
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Quick post for Sarah!

I finished the second of the "Spring Forward" socks on Saturday night (08/30/08) and promptly took pictures, which have not been pulled off my camera yet - but I'm heading upstairs to do that right now and hope to edit this post with an image! (Or just, you know, flood this blog with image posts, haha.)

I'm currently working on finishing another sock - ribbing for the whole tube, then ribbing on top of the foot and I'm trying an idea called a "princess foot" for the sole, where you do the sole in purl so the inside of the foot is stockinette, and is supposed to feel smoother on the skin. I picked up this sock Sunday - I'd already done about three inches in ribbing but forgot all about it until I needed my size 2 dpns for another sock project, and I thought I'd ribbed too far to give it up, so I'm following through. Sunday afternoon I knitted on the sock while watching the Arkansas women's soccer team trounce Oral Roberts University (go Razorbacks!). I also earned a wicked sunburn because my stupid ass forgot to put on sunscreen. Heh.

New book in the library (I succumbed to peer pressure at work and bought something I've had on the hold shelf for months on account of never having any money): "101 Designer One-Skein Wonders", edited by Judith Durant. This morning I was looking lovingly at the pattern for a Dogwood Blossom Wrap, made of a very fine silk. I was completely into it until I realised the recommended silk is FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS A SKEIN. Erm... no thanks! Maybe when I'm a BAZILLIONAIRE.

Poor knitters unite! :P