After a week of housesitting, it's strange to be home again. I love this little apartment, but it was really nice to take a jacuzzi bath every night. I did check out this thing they call cable tv and there was never anything on but cheesy reality shows and crappy movies. Do people really watch that show about Scott Baio? He was cute in Charles In Charge, but it's been 20 something years. Waiting for me at my doorstep was a flyer from the cable company, and it's safe to say that it's not worth the money.

So far I don't think any mice are dead. The traps haven't worked, but they have been eating the poison. Thanks to a heads up from Betty, I picked up a thingie you plug into an outlet and it's supposed to emit a sound that scares away rodents and spiders and such. We'll see if it works.

It's been over a week since the mousetrap went off on my finger (twice) and here's the progress:


It still hurts, but only if I bump into something.

While it's been a fun week, there hasn't been much knitting. I'm still trying to finish a kickass Christmas present and am about 2/3 of the way there. It's the Uncle Argyle Scarf from Son of Stitch 'N Bitch, and it is so much freakin' fun to knit! The recipient saw it last week, and loves it, so the home stretch shouldn't be bad.


Isn't it purty? Notice the little red thing attached to the working yarn - it's a yarn guide and I couldn't do fair isle or double knitting without it. Because I'm a continental knitter, I hold both yarns in my left hand and the guide keeps them from getting tangled.

This scarf is so cool that I'm now about to design another one for me. Other than this scarf, I'm working on a couple of designs and a whole lotta socks. The vacation socks still need to be finished, and I'm teaching a class and have to do homework along with everyone else.

It might be time to make some hot chocolate and look through my favorite book - 1000 Great Knitting Motifs - and start thinking about the next double knitting scarf. Maybe I'll dream of a jacuzzi tub...

Score: Mouse - 1, ESP - 0

Bad news. He ate the peanut butter off 2 traps and they didn't go off. So, like a big dumb human, I decided to mess with the traps to figure out the problem.

I know better than to stick my fingers in a mouse trap, so I used a plastic knife. And yes, I set it off on my finger. Then my thumb. Then my other finger. Then broke the knife. I reset all 4 traps, added peanut butter in other places hoping it might get him, and set them down again.

Then I found mouse droppings on the floor of my closet.

While I am usually a pacifist, this mouse needs to DIE. He's eating my food, pooping on my stuff, and living here without paying rent. I'll get you, rat bastard, and soon.

If anyone has any better ideas about how to deal with this evil stowaway, let me know!

Eek!

Plans are made to be broken, right? I was so looking forward to a relaxing day of knitting and watching football, but alas, a small creature has ruined it.

Friday night I heard a noise on my kitchen counter. When I went to investigate, I saw a tiny little mouse coming out of a box of soft batch cookies. Eeeewwwwww! I don't hate mice, but they sure aren't my favorite roommates. I bought poison and traps and haven't caught one yet. So today I am deep cleaning my apartment, with the game on in the background. The home is due for a good clean anyway, but I was hoping to put it off a little longer.

The kitchen is now CLEAN, and the only place I've seen droppings is there, so hopefully I won't find mouse poop anywhere else. The thing that freaks me out the most is that it's a studio, and my bed is 2 feet away from the kitchen counter. It's no fun to be in bed, trying to sleep, and thinking that there might be a mouse near the end of my feet. Gross. I'll get that rat bastard and kill him. Trust me.

The good news is that I'm housesitting this week, and will hopefully kill him before I'm home again.

Last night was best friend's birthday party, and we had a blast. I was almost done with her socks when the mouse appeared, and didn't quite finish them in time, but there was plenty of time to knit the legs while playing Charades.

Of course I ripped and started over with a new pattern shortly after I turned the heel on the first design. She ended up getting socks with baby cables: that 2-stitch cable where instead of doing a real cable, you knit 2 together and knit the first stitch again. They were a lot of fun and there's enough yarn leftover to make myself some too!


The best part is that she LOVES her socks! This picture was taken after breakfast this morning - she put them on last night and has not taken them off since. And they fit perfectly!

As of yesterday, Abbie and I have now been friends for half our lives. We are so different - in looks, personality, careers, family lives - every way. But we get each other. And we're always there for each other. When we hang out it feels like we're in high school again, but instead of sneaking out of my parent's house to smoke cigarettes, we're sneaking around her house trying not to laugh too loud or else we'll wake her baby. Life's funny like that.


I'm so thankful for Abbie, and all of my closest friends. I'm thankful for their families, who have become my family. They make life so sweet!

Icky

I'm sick. It's my annual sinus infection, and it's a bad one. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon.

When not sick, you forget just how much sickness affects your mood (and knitting). I'm mad because the doctor's visit and prescriptions cost way too much money, because all food tastes terrible, because my nose is chapped from kleenex, because the medicine makes me drowsy, and most of all, because the knitting mojo is shaky at best. It also sucks that I'm missing work. I had to cancel a knitting lesson and am missing stitch 'n bleep. Ugh.

This morning I decided to knit some worsted weight toe-up socks to help pass the time. I'm wearing my favorite handknit socks - lime green mini-cable socks out of Cascade 220 superwash - and there's some off-white 220 in the stash. I swatched and swatched but nothing seemed to work. I'm too lazy to purl, so that rules out ribbing, and lace doesn't work with the bigger gauge.

So I called my dearest best friend to talk about our plans for her birthday this weekend. I was sitting there, staring down at my favorite pajama pants (that I stole from her years and years ago) thinking 'what a pretty stitch pattern':


Then I thought about how I have some time on my hands and should make her something for her birthday. It took way too long for me to put 2 and 2 together, but once I got it, I started knitting.


Abbie will be getting a pair of toe-up eyelet birthday socks! It's an easy knit, and works up fast on just 40 stitches. I'll do a short row heel and a 5" leg, and will be able to make a pair out of 1 ball of yarn. Now I'm much happier and instead of thinking about how bad I feel, I'm thinking about my amazing best friend and how much she will love her cozy socks.

Knitting makes everything better.

Back From Cali

Long Beach was a blast!!! It was tiring and overwhelming, but Dana and I managed to cover the entire show floor, take some cool classes, hang out with some amazing people, and made it home with about 200 pounds of luggage between us. We saw some cool fibers too, from buffalo to possum. Yes, you read it right - possum. It was surprisingly soft too.

While the last few weeks of traveling have been fun, I am so glad to be home. The nephews and I had a lot of fun play time today, I caught up on some knitting this evening, and am about to crash.

To Market, To Market

Tomorrow morning Dana and I are hopping on a plane for LA - we're going to Market!

It's the TNNA show (The National Needlework Arts Association), and I'm very very excited! We'll be roaming the Long Beach Convention Center checking out all kinds of cool vendors and seeing what's new in the knitting world. Unfortunately, the dreaded ankle is not much better. I'm hoping that the yarn will drown out the pain.

I've got a few knitting projects for the trip: the vacation socks from Florida are still not finished, and that's an easy plane knit. I just cast on for gloves made out of Colinette's Jitterbug, colorway Toscana, and I'm kinda winging it and not really using a pattern, more like a guideline. Should be interesting. I really want to get some work done on my double knitting project, seeing as how it was a Christmas present, but it's so bulky and doesn't travel well. We'll see if it fits in the knitting bag. I'd better finish some projects soon because there will be so many cool ideas at market that I'll want to knit when I get home.

Please send my ankle good healing vibes, and wish us luck!

Just Call Me Princess Crankypants

Vacation letdown is setting in.

From my couch, I can see piles of Christmas pj fabric, yarn, books, needles, and patterns that need to be put away in the stash closet, there are even more piles of dirty laundry, and a decent pile of dirty dishes in the sink. My fridge is starting to smell funky, and my bathroom is a wreck too. I actually want to clean and get things done, but this darn ankle is driving me insane.

Why is it that when you're in vacation mode, nothing seems to get to you? I'm glad to be back at work, but all I do is run around all day and by mid-afternoon the ankle is freakin killing me. That's when I turn into Princess Crankypants. I've called bro several times to ask if there's anything else I can do to heal faster, and his answer is to rest. Not what I want to hear. So I sit here and look at the piles and piles of things that need to be done.

I tried to rest last night, but the knitting mojo is off. My current favorite project is a belated Christmas present for a good friend, and I want to finish it as soon as possible, but I keep messing up the pattern and not realizing there's a mistake until 5 rows later. This isn't the kind of thing you can frog - it has to be tinked stitch by stitch because it's double knitting and the whole idea is new to me. It's amazingly fun to do, and I hope to get the mojo back tonight.

There's a really good reason for me to heal the ankle asap - and I'll talk more about it later - but I'm going out of town on Thursday and will be walking and walking and walking all weekend. It's a really cool trip and I want to be in top form.

So tonight I rest. I'm not going out with my friends (which really sucks) and I'm not getting anything done but knitting. It's time for pj's and hot chocolate, and maybe a little icing of the ankle, and there's a great football game on tv. Hopefully the crankiness is on its way out.

Best Vacation Ever!!

I cannot say enough about how amazing my vacation was! I relaxed for 5 days straight and knitted and sat in the sun (under a big floppy hat covered in spf 1000 sunblock). I brought some Regia sock yarn (in Kaffe Fassett colors) and an Addi lace needle because socks are the perfect vacation project - small, portable, easy, and fun. I did my best imitation of the Yarn Harlot and took some shots of the sock.

A good friend of mine is from Florida and has family in Key West, so I had a free place to stay and a host who knows the area well. A couple of his friends from up north came too, and they were a lot of fun. They all grew up on the coast and were really comfortable on the water, so I felt like a fish out of water (ha ha!) because the only boats I hang out on are in lakes. I never got seasick (thanks to Dramamine) and LOVED being on the boat. Honestly, I'm a little landsick still - I keep expecting the ground beneath me to sway with the waves and it's a little frustrating.

The second I arrived on Key West we picked up some snorkel gear and headed out to a reef. I saw the coolest key lime green moray eel, a bunch of fish, bright orange coral, and some huge conchs.

The next day we hung out on the houseboat and I sunned and knitted and ate sandwiches. The view from the boat was unbelievable, and the weather was perfect.


Shortly after that picture was taken, this happened:


Yup. Sprained my ankle. I wasn't even doing anything exciting. I was walking to the bathroom to pee and just slipped. I propped it up and iced it and took Motrin and watched the end of the Titans game (We're going to the playoffs! Woo Hoo!!!)


The next day we headed to an island a little north of Key West to go camping. It was absolutely gorgeous! The ocean was on one side and there was a little canal on the other, both teeming with all kinds of fish, shrimp, crabs, and other creatures.


When we arrived I sat in the shade to knit a bit and enjoy the view.


After exploring the islands collecting firewood, we went for a dip and made some dinner. The sunset was incredible. The rest of the night involved a little music, lots of stars, a decent amount of rum and a very exhausted New Year's countdown.


The next day we went back towards Key West again and did some more snorkeling. Back at the houseboat, we found a huge grouper hanging out. It looked like a dinosaur and was about 5 feet long. It stayed there all day.


The weather turned a little sour - no rain but the wind was blowing steady at 35 knots, and I think that's around 40 mph. It was cold on Wednesday so we just hung out, ate ice cream, and I finished the sock. I'm about 4" into the second one, thanks to a couple long plane rides and a 3 hour layover in the Miami airport.


That's it. This post could have been more eloquent but I'm super duper tired and cold and had a long day.

And JP - my ankle is much better, thank you. I consulted with my favorite medical professionals tonight (my bro and his wife, both ER nurses) and found out that we don't have to amputate. To quote bro, it's a "really gnarly lower ankle sprain" and the worst is over. It will take a couple weeks to really heal, and is very sore right now, but the swelling is down and it's starting to turn into really funky colors - at the moment it's the color of the Atlantic ocean - and I have to wear a brace for a while and rest as much as possible. Of course I can't find one single Motrin in my apartment and am way too tired to go to the store.



I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, but I actually accomplished last year's (tackle fair isle knitting). This year my knitting resolution is to actually finish the sweaters I start for myself, and make bigger projects in general. Although I knit every day, my attention span only keeps up with small projects and that will change.

My other resolution is to become a better photographer. Right now I take a whole lotta pictures and hope I end up with a couple of good ones. That will change too.

And right now I'm going to bed to dream of pretty sunsets and rum drinks by a campfire.

Back to Reality

I'm home. I didn't want to come back. And it's 16 degrees here. Ugh.

This was, quite possibly, the best vacation I've ever had. No sunburn, no seasickness, not too many bug bites, and my only problem was a sprained ankle, which kinda sucked. I'm incredibly beat and got in at 1:00 this morning and am working 10 hours today, but I'll get some pictures up sometime soon.

Happy 2008 everyone!

Early Happy New Year

I'm leaving town for a few days of relaxation and sunburn. Have a happy happy New Year and see ya next week!

Merry Merry!

I'm hopped up on coffee and cream cheese braid (my favorite Christmas delicacy). Today I made 6 pairs of pajamas in 4 hours. It's a personal record.

The gifts are done, and I even had time to make myself a little somethin'. Here's the rundown:

PJ pants for Dad (goldfish), Sis-in-law (flowers) and Bro (monkeys for the monkey):

Curious George / fire engine pj pants for the nephews:

Fair isle snowflake hats for the nephews:

A shawl thingy for mom (which I gave to her last week on her birthday, although it's a birthday / Christmas gift). Back:

Front:

And of course, the Alchemy silk scarf for big Sis:

And the little somethin' for me! Tennessee Titans PJ's!

Now all I have to do is wrap the gifts and try not to eat any more cream cheese braid until morning, which is easier said than done.

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone has a happy happy holiday!

Making Plans

First, a fish picture. Just Fish is just pretty and he's the best roommate I've had since his predecessor went to fishy heaven. He was a Beta too, named Buju Banton, and that poor fish had to live in several apartments, with several roomies, until he died a couple years ago. The nephews are so excited because I'm going out of town for New Year's and Just Fish is living with them for a few days. Just Fish would probably be fine at my house, but it's an excuse for the nephews to have some fun.


I jumped on the Quant bandwagon yesterday and am loving it! This is yet another Christmas gift, and a very manageable one at that. I used a yarn called Teseo, by Dive. It's a soft, fluffy wool that stripes perfectly for this design.


In order to make it through the last week or so before Christmas, I've been daydreaming about my post-holiday plans. I bought some gorgeous yarn yesterday - Lana D'Oro in charcoal and teal for a New Year's present, the Teseo for Quant, and some sock yarn for me - Regia in Kaffe Fassett colors, and some Lana Grossa that I've been drooling over.


I am desperately waiting until I can make myself some socks. I finally bought plane tickets to Florida for New Year's, and then started to remember how much I hate flying. And I have 2 long plane trips planned in the next month. Ugh. So I'm stocking up on plane necessities, like audiobooks, Dramamine, and portable knitting. My idea of a perfect vacation definitely involves knitting, and I'll have plenty of time to relax, but also have to think about which projects will be suitable for planes and boats. Socks are perfect.

It's been over 3 years since I've had a vacation, and cannot freaking wait! It's hard to leave my job for more than a weekend without missing the store and everyone there (I know, it's strange, but I work at the best place in the world). But once I feel the warm sunshine and see the ocean again, I'll forget all about TN and will come home ready to start a new year.

I just have to get through the next couple weeks.

The Titans gave me some great knitting time today - we won!!!!! The final score was Titans 26- Chiefs 17. It was a great day for football. Brett Favre broke Dan Marino's record for all-time yardage, and the Dolphins got their first win of the year. Better late than never.

Next week we play the Jets, then finish out the season with the Colts. The only problem with the vacation is that I will be away from the tv, internet, and civilization in general (which is generally a good thing) but won't be able to watch the game. It'll be tough to stay away, but maybe I can call friends in Nashville to get a recap. Go Titans!

Sugar, Yarn, and Wine

Whew! Yet again, December is doing a number on me. I really tried to have my Christmas / birthday knitting done in time so I could enjoy this wonderful month, but it hasn't worked out like I planned. Oh well. I'm still having a blast!

My favorite day of the year is Christmas Cookie Day. Bro, sis and I made cookies every year as children, and never stopped as adults because it's so much fun. We listen to the same A Very Special Christmas cd over and over, make the same psychedelic cracked-out cookies, and now we have 2 more cute little helpers.


Sis, sis-in-law and I cut out the cookies while bro puts together the colors. This year we had red, green, white, yellow, orange, burnt orange, brown, black, 3 shades of blue, spearmint, and a couple more that I can't quite describe. We make the usual Christmas shapes but don't stop there. There are numbers, elephants, rhinos, monkeys, fish, whales, aliens, hearts, guitars, cacti, pigs... you get the idea.


Note that there's wine in most pictures, because that makes it a little easier to deal with the little boys who have been pouring sugar sprinkles straight into their mouths. After an hour Buddha Bear was running in circles around the table screaming and Hoss was jumping up and down in the corner and then shaking his booty to the music.



These are the bleeding hearts courtesy of bro. The political beliefs in my family are all across the board, so we make fun of each other (and ourselves). I think the grey/green blob is some sort of camouflage camel.


And of course, most of the cookies have been eaten by now (I've got one left - saving it for breakfast in the morning).

I've been using the sugar high to knit even faster. Here's a goofy picture of yours truly in my unblocked new hat - Misti Alpaca Chunky. So pretty! It's now on my hat blocking thingy - a canister with an upside down bowl on top of it. It should be plenty cold this weekend so I'll put it to good use.


Everything is at least started, except the pajamas. Best Friend is getting an alpaca scarf - Cascade's Baby Alpaca Chunky - in her signature color. I got lazy on this one and am using a pattern from a fabulous gift book, One Skein. It's coming up quickly and is so darn soft!!!


My super cool totally awesome project is for mom. She has a big birthday coming up next week and asked me to design something based on a shawl thing we saw this fall. The original was not shaped, made in garter stitch out of cheap acrylic, and the shawl collar was a total joke. She picked out some Pastaza to match one of her favorite outfits and we took some measurements. The fronts and back worked up fine, but the shawl collar was more of a challenge. It's all done with short row shaping and took a few tries to get it right, but that part is done. Now all I have to do is pick up about 300 stitches for the border, weave in ends, and block.

But at the moment it looks like one of those sea creatures that only lives miles below the ocean's surface.


The knitting has taken over my life and I've completely forgotten about dishes, laundry, and general apartment tidiness, so I must clean now. Hopefully there will be more updates soon...

Just Fish

See what I've been up to? Having fun with scarves. I still have a whole lotta knitting to do before Christmas, but am making headway. The boys' hats still need to be blocked, the hat for my "niece" needs to be embroidered, Dad's socks are 75% done, but they're not due until January 2nd, Sassy's present is in the works, and I still have to start mom and Abbie's presents, and finish some knitting work for the store. OK, I don't have a handle on things, but look at the pretty scarves!

The one on the right is an entrelac scarf for me, just because. It's knitty's Danica scarf, and I completely stole the idea from Lauren. And she quoted me on her blog recently. I used K1Ctoo's Paintbox, and it was one of the most addictive patterns I've ever knitted.

The gorgeous red one is for my sister. It's Alchemy's Silk Purse, a yarn that I am completely obsessed with, and the picture doesn't come near to giving it justice. It's the prettiest red I've ever seen in my life. I got all I could out of 163 yards, and it's a good length. The pattern is Fir Cone from one of my Barbara Walker Treasuries. I pinned it to my towel and grabbed my iron to steam it, but realized I made a big mistake by letting my neighbor borrow my iron and now it's broken and they're not home, so it's just chillin out waiting for blocking.


Nephew Hoss and I had a fun little adventure this week. We went to my dad's favorite store, Aquatic Critter, and had a ball checking out all of the funky reptiles and cool fish. I really liked the boas and caymans, but Hoss only wanted to look at the tarantula. He knows I'm terrified of spiders and I think he just wanted to torture me. We decided on a gorgeous orange Beta, picked out some blue marbles and a pretty little fishbowl, and went to Starbucks for a cookie (and Auntie needed caffeine).


We had a tough time picking out a name. I suggested all kinds of crazy names, from Elmo to Orangina to Bob Marley to Macchiato (we were at Starbucks and I was getting desperate). Hoss said "No!" to everything I said. I asked him, for the 100th time, "What should we name him?" and Hoss looked into my eyes and replied, "Just fish." I asked "Fish? Or Just Fish?". He replied again, "Just Fish." So say hello to my new pet, Just Fish. That's what I get for letting a 2-year-old name my pet.

Mmmmmm... Leftovers

There's still some dressing and rolls in the fridge, and my pants are still a little tight. I'm sad Thanksgiving is over. It's always fun to sit around with your family and eat all kinds of good stuff. And this year, somehow, I didn't have to bring any food!

After our early Thanksgiving lunch I went home to drink hot chocolate and watch football and knit with a friend. It's now officially Christmas / December birthday / Hanukkah gift crunchtime, and I am writing and re-writing lists and even made a spreadsheet to see if I can maintain sanity.

I LOVE this time of year! I might seem stressed out and slightly overwhelmed with all of the knitting to be done, but it is so much fun! I've got some pretty things done so far:
(and this is a spoiler alert for sis, dad, nephews, and Carrie)


I've started Dad's second sock with a fair isle border, sis's scarf is looking beautiful (but you can't really tell in the picture). The nephews' hats look great, although I'm still trying to figure out if earflaps will be added. The pale greenish thing in the middle is a crocheted washcloth out of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille. I bought 3 skeins for 3 washcloths, and think that I can squeeze out a bath mitt from the leftovers.


I'm head over heels in love with Misti Alpaca's Handpaint Chunky Alpaca yarn. It's starting to really cool off here, and every girl needs a new hat for winter. The picture is blurry and fuzzy (kinda like I feel right now when I've only had half a cup of coffee) but the hat is gorgeous. I brought it in to work with me on Saturday and all of a sudden we only have 3 hanks left. The sad part is that I dreamed about chunky alpaca yarn last night - my friend was knitting a hat out of Cascade's Baby Alpaca Chunky, and it was way too big so I was helping him with decreases and it was the prettiest shade of light blue-grey. Wonder if I'll dream about Alchemy Silk Purse tonight...