FOs & WIPs

Yay, I finally have photos of my recent work!

Here's the progress on the Fearless Fibers Clapotis. It's coming along nicely. Still in the rolly-polly stage so I had to weight it down. I also included the pen for size reference. A few more increases to go.



Here's that Branching Out. Drops Alpaca, fingering weight-ish on my US8 bamboos. 17 repeats, 16 of which were done in one sitting. :)



A close up of the yarn blob that is unblocked lace.

I cat this on last night. It's the My So Called Scarf in Patons SWS on US10 Knit Picks Options circ. I'm loving these needles. Did have some cord malfunctions but the replacements should be on their way. My set was fine but the additional cords I ordered had problems.

Close-up. I really like this stitch pattern and it's nicer on the SWS than I expected. The SWS seemed to cry out for texture, if you ask me.

Here we have the Silver-toed Socks! Finally wrapped these puppies up last night. I still have a couple ends to sew in but that's it. Whew! I'm so sick of these socks it's not even funny. Can't wait to give them away. :P

Last but certainly not least, the finished Mini-Clap. I couldn't get the full length in the photo so here's a bunched up shot. I'm happy with it. It's super duper long. Washed it once and it's really soft now.

Finishing things is good. :) FInally measured Daddy's foot last night so I should get started on his socks, I guess. My scarves are more appealing to me at the moment though.

Won't be doing much of anything today considering I feel like death. My throat is killing me and I'm generally sick other than that. Hopefully it's a cold and not strep or anything. I had a job interview tomorrow that I had to cancel so I can go see the doc. That sucks. I hope I don't lose out because of it.

I guess we'll see.

Mmm... leftovers...

That was a darn good leftover barbequed turkey sammich. :)
Thanksgiving went OK. The next day was super busy and involved a lot more furniture moving than expected. Saturday morning as well (yard sale). Then the Clemson vs USC game at noon. We won!! This means many things... #1 - We WON! Certainly been a long time coming this time around. Beat 'em on their own field as well. #2 - The boy lost a two fold bet which involves a silly and embarassing statement to be made at the close of every phone conversation, and buying me that Denise set. Hehehehe. ;) Hey, the wager was his idea! Silly boy didn't think we had it in us yet. #3- Bragging rights all year and hopefully people will stop trying to push around rumors about our ball coach straying. Give it up, he's stickin' around, people.
We cooked out after the game. John made some of the tastiest chicken I've had in years, at least. I was very impressed, particularly because I generally loathe chicken breast.

The boy randomly decided to buy me a skein of Soysilk Friday!! It should be here tomorrow or so I reckon. My needles were scheduled for delivery today but that didn't happen. *sob* I woke up all excited and there are no packages to be found.

My two personal WIPs are still advancing nicely. Everything else is still on hold. This is unfortunate and unwise. I should change it tonight. I don't feel like it though. *sigh* I was kinda using the needle delivery to postpone things though so I guess since they're not here yet... ;P
Ok, I better go finish my sammich and get in the tub. Massage at 3. Mmmmm... massaaaaaage.

Happy Turkey Day

Well, last night didn't involve sleep but it was pretty good nonetheless. I frogged the 28" Branching Out I started almost a year ago. The yarn wasn't suited for the pattern and I finally accepted it. Actually, I accepted it a few weeks ago but I finally got around to taking action. And action was certainly taken. I now have a lovely new 27" alpaca Branching Out in progress! I got 16 repeats done!! Watched the mob stuff of the National Geographic Channel, then watched bad movies the rest of the night (and most of the morning). I formatted the pattern a bit differently and printed out a new copy that I was able to follow along with easily. I still can't believe I knit lace and watched TV at the same time. Or that I got so much done! I'm hardwired to pull an unintentional all-nighter on a pretty regular basis so it's nice to have something to show for it. Something lovely! I can't wait to block it. I'm not sure where the heck I'll do it though. I really need a blocking board.

Got a great massage yesterday afternoon so my back isn't even sore from knitting all night. It's great!

We were supposed to be eating at Mom's around 4 so I figured I'd just wait until afterward to lay down. Of course Mom called to push it back to "6-ish" due to a late start so I'll probably be ready to fall out just in time for dinner. :P

I think I might try to go to knit night at the LYS in Charleston next Thursday, or the following one. I want to go check out a few things anyway so I might as well go when they're open late and having social time. I'm a little nervous about a knitterly gathering though. I've never knit with anyone else before. I do have a pretty cool WIP to show off now though. ;)

Well, 4 hours til dinner... I think I may have to go lay down for a few.

I was *just* thinking about that!

After I posted a minute ago, I checked my email and started thinking about the fact that I hadn't heard from the Rowan rep about my replacement yarn in a couple weeks. Even considered sending her an email to see what was up but decided I was too lazy to dredge up the address right now. (I have the most cluttered inbox ever. No, really.)
Well, not 10 minutes later, Dad came home. He walked in with a big envelope addressed to me, no return address. I was perplexed. I was please to find two balls of Cashsoft inside!
I love the mailman now that he brings me more than just bills and junk mail. ;)

Good lordy it's cold out there! Well, it's only 40 but it's raining and windy. Wind chill is 20-something! That damn wet wind is sharp. My toes say it's time to make myself some socks!
I was told I had a massage appointment at 1pm today but someone's lines got crossed so I'm now scheduled for 1pm tomorrow. Never let my dad schedule anything for you. :P
My yoga lady is having a class at 8 in the morning. I should try to go to that. I woke up at 5:30 today even though I didn't have to be at school until 8. This was not intentional, of course. Woke up at 3:30 and freaked out because I swore I saw someone in the doorway... again. I'm getting pretty sick of that sort of thing happening. Went back to sleep and woke up again at 5:30 (in the middle of an odd dream involving my crush from the 6th/7th grade). There was no going back to sleep that time because my nose started acting up so I just went ahead and got up.
Lately I've been waking up at 3:30a and then 5:30 or 6:30. Usually I just go back to sleep or lay there for a while. I haven't slept through a full night in weeks. Doesn't matter what time I go to bed either. Weird.
This weather makes me want to go back to bed right now. Of course that wouldn't be wise so instead I'll work on some schoolwork for a bit. Then I might go snuggle down in the bed and knit. I'll need to get to sleep pretty early if I want to get up for that class.

--------------------------------------------------
YAY! I keep checking the KP site to see if my order shipped yet but it says "In Process." I was worried it wouldn't get out before the holiday so I called to check. The ever so lovely customer service lady said it already shipped! Yippee! :) Darn you, lying website for making me worry!

I just updated my Blogger account to the new beta version. I'll hafta poke around and see what options I have now. I see the post label thingy has been added. Of course, I have no idea how I should group my posts or what labels I should use. Eh, maybe I'll use it eventually. I guess I could at least lump 'em by project or something.

I wish they'd add an option where you could reply to comments though. That's the thing I miss most from LiveJournal. I hate not being able to directly reply to comments! *rah*

Along that line... A reply to the comment on my last entry:

M - I was going to reply to your comment on your blogger but I couldn't pull it up.
I haven't tried the Denise set yet but I have seen it and looked at it a bit. They had a display one at my favorite (kinda-local)LYS. I'm going to be up that way in a couple weeks so I think I'll inspect it further and see if maybe I can try it out or something. I guess if I decide to break down and buy one, I could do it through them. Nice to support the LYS. I hope their price is comprable to the online prices. I can't afford to spend too much extra to get it locally. I'd pay a few bucks more since I wouldn't have to pay shipping but not too much more.
Of course, I'd *much* rather get a used set though. I'm not sure that'll even be an option though. Everyone leves theirs too much to get rid of them. :P

I am sure I'll love the KPO set. I love the classic circ I have now and, barring any huge defects, I'm sure the set will be even more lovely. There are two reasons I want a Denise set as well though.
First, I like to make hats on short circs. The Denise set is the only noe that comfortably makes circs short enough for adult hats.
Second, as much as I love my Addis and the KP circ I have, super slippy metal isn't good for every yarn. I have some bamboo I want to use that I already tried on the Addis. It was a pain. Since the Denise needles are resin, I think they'd be a nice compliment to the Options, working better for stuff that needs a little more grip.

I'm waiting for an email from my LYS about their Denise pricing and availability. I have an itchy ordering finger though. Good thing I have to use the boy's card (I just give him the cash), so I can't order anything spur of the moment. ;)

Oh how I wish a used set would come my way. *sigh*

Oh and...

If anyone knows of anyone looking to unload their Denise Interchangable set, I'm really interested in picking up a used set. I don't really wanna go all out for a new one since I'm doing that with the Options, but I'd really like a set of Denises as well and I'm not at all against some gently used ones. Of course, if you know of a great price on a new set, I'm game for tat as well. I just don't want to pay full price since sparklin' new isn't a necessity for me as long as everything functions properly and is at least mostly complete.
Any offers or suggestions would be highly appreciated. :)
Thanks!

Little update before bed

Whew, I'm about pooped. Made the 2.5 -3hr drive (each way) to a family get together today. Early Thanksgiving. It was nice and the food was great buy I barely slept last night so I'm tuckered out, despite the nap I took in the car. (I rarely nap in the car.)

So the mini-clap is complete!! Finished it up Thursday night. Haven't worn it yet because I wanna wash it first.
The FearlessFibers-clap is coming along nicely. I've gotten a few more increase repeats done this weekend. I hope to work on it more tomorrow after studying.
The socks are at a stand-still. I'll change that soon.

Placed a good sized KnitPicks order today. :) My Options set is on the way!! I also picked up a couple more fixed circs to try out socks on 2circs and a 40" cord to try Magic Loop. I love my DPNs, I just want to mess around with some new techniques. If I like the 2 at once method, it might make my Christmas stuff go a little faster.
I also ordered a lot of single balls and color cards to help plan a couple things I'm kicking around.

Happened across some Noro discussions and now I really want to try South West Trading Co. Karaoke. I like some of the Noro color styles but I just can't knit something I know I'm risking splinters with. Plus I'd be spending a fortune on something I could never wear since it's so unpleasant to touch. :P Apparently the SWTC Karaoke colors are similar. As if my longing for SWTC Bamboo wasn't bad enough.

I still haven't gotten back on the swatches I need to do for my next projects. I'm pretty into my purple clapotis at the moment. Especially since I finished the Simply Soft one. I'll try to finally get some pictures up this week. :P

Realized today that I need the extended family Christmas gift(s) done by the 17th. I'm doing baskets with a washcloths/dishcloths and nice soap or natural cleansers. I want to include the fabulous goat's milk soap I got in NC but it's a small Asheville operation so I don't think I'll be able to get any more any time soon. :( Gotta find a replacement.

Must. sleeeeeeeeeep. noooow.

Honey, I'm hooome!

Yay!!
Decided to go ahead and come on back Saturday. I'll explore Greenville one weekend soon. For now, I'm glad to be home. I do miss the scenery and the weather of the mountains though.
Got my first Secret Pal package today!! It's the book Lavish Lace and some lovely chocolate covered dried fruit (quite tasty, as I have already discovered). There are some beautiful projects in the book and they're of the size that I can afford to try out some really cool spurge-y yarns! (*Thank you Secret Pal!*)

I'm swatching for my first sweater now. Swatched up some of the Ultra Alpaca. I'm thinking I'll modify the Donna pattern from Magknits. I want to make it just a smidge smaller. I think I can do that without jacking the whole thing up. I guess we'll see. ;) I love the swatch and can't wait to get started!

The boy made me dinner and we watched Cars. Cute movie.

I'm still tired. Planned a little sleeping in but we're having work done on the roof so that's proven to be a bit difficult. Guess I should just turn in earlier, huh?

I should be unpacking today but I may save that for tomorrow. I want to work up another swatch for the sweater and one for the cabled hat. I'm pretty excited about both.
I should also knock out the rest of that sock soon and work on my mini and maxi claps (that sounds really gross, not that I look at it LOL). I can't cast on for my new projects until I finish the sock and mini-clap. Thems the rules. I also have a secret project I need to get crackin' on. And of course there's the Christmas stuff but we're not talking about that right now. ;P

Well, I have a bunch to do so I'll be going now. Photos soon. Hafta get the camera back from my brother.

Almost done...

On the home stretch of the silver-toed sock! Had the urge to impale a certain someone with a DPN earlier but I decided that blood-red simpley wouldn't work with the pink/silver color scheme. ;P
I'm on the final ball of the mini-clap, finally. I've decided I can't cast on anything new until I finish it. I love how it's turning out.

I got my package from Mom so right after work I'm going to run downtown and snatch up the rest of that Ultra Alpaca. I hope I can get an accurate photo of the color when I get home. It's really pretty.

Tomorrow is my last day of work! Yay!
I can't wait for my hands to heal up. All these chores have made this new eczema problem flare up worse. I'm going to get some shea butter at Greenlife tonight. Hopefully that will help.
Y'know that woman made me clean her *baseboards* today?!?! WTF? With a rag!
Anyway, not getting started on that stuff. Gotta get showered before the munchkins wake up.

*yanks hair out*

Holding my tongue around here is getting difficult. For one thing, these people should be completely restricted from being pet owners. Poor neglected bunny, frogs, and cats. Things involving lack of food, moldy water, and even open wounds. I'm not gonna get into it right now because I don't have the time or energy plus I don't wanna shit-talk. I do wanna slap some people though. *sigh*
I've decided to take a stand on the really nasty job they want me to do. I'm drawing the line. I've been more than happy to accomodate everything else but I'm just not doing that.
Gonna start packing tomorrow. Might need to do some laundry tonight. I hate to do it here though. They only have powdered detergent and it won't dissolve so it sticks all over my clothes even after two rinses! Plus no fabric softener. Bleh. Hopefully I can get by without washing anything yet. Just a few more days.
I decided to just not let it get to me today. After a somewhat bumpy morning, I decided that my iPod would help me tune it all out. That worked well through lunch but couldn't swing it after that. I wish I wasn't broke (only until tomorrow though) so I could go do something tonight. I'm tired but I just can't stand hanging around here after work anymore. Last week it was fine but attitudes have changed drastically.
It's a dreary day. Rainy and blah. One of the kids is having a birthday party at 5:30. I want to go so I can see his (really cool) parents' place. I'm not sure I can get motivated for it though. I really should. We'll see.

In knitting news...
I've actually been able to get a bit done in the past 24hrs or so. I am ready to pick up the gusset stitches on the second silver-toed sock. I also finished frogging and reknitting the necessary part of the hearts washrag. All I have left now is the cast-off.
The yarn shop downtown is holding a few more balls of beautiful purple Ultra Alpaca for me. I'm planning to pick them up Thurs. I should have enough for a sweater once I get those. How exciting!
I found the perfect pattern for my friend's Christmas hat yesterday. A lovely braided cable rib design. Wound the yaarn today. I might get started on the swatch tonight.

I'd kill for a beer and a huge bathtub right about now. Scratch that... a few beers and a tub that just isn't yucky. :P

I would have loved to get the extra week of work in but I'm 'bout ready to get the heck out of dodge now. I miss my kitties. I'm sad that Daddy ham died last week and I wanna check on the last lil' girl and my fishies. I even miss my tiny bed.
Mom says she might have some more work lined up for me at home. I hope so. I'm ready to start saving for the move and such.

Ok, naptime is probbly coming to a close now. I'm ready for this day to be over.

Still here...

I'm still up in Asheville. The weather has been lovely. Got to do some yarn shopping. Of course that's where the largest chunk of the budget went. ;) Mostly sale/clearance stuff though. Finally got some SWS. I loooove the colorway and can't wait to work it up.

Finished Mom's Knucks. I can verify their loveliness since I wore them for a bit yesterday. I'm not pleased with the cast-on edges and they're a bit short on me but overall they're nice for my first go and I'll impliment the changes on the next pair. I have plans for two more. Got some marked down Debbie Bliss Merino is a lovely brown to make a pair for myself. I also still have the Cashsoft for Mom's second pair. That eggplant color is fabulous.

Found out that the best stuff at ACMoore (Luxury Yarns and the hand dyed 100% natural fiber lines)really are being discontinued. I think that's a big mistake on their part. Hopefully they'll be replaced with something else cool. On the upside, I got a great deal on some cashmere blend and handpainted alpaca. Everything else was 25% off so I picked up a few other things as well. More on that when I have more time. Maybe some pictures too. :)

I hardly had any time to knit and no time to study. I thought for sure I'd be on the home stretch of the mini-clap by now. Nope. It's a little icky to knit anything right now though. I've been cleaning and washing my hands every five minutes so my skin is less than pleased. It's already been pretty dry in general too.

Last week, work went pretty well. I'm not happy with the way this week is shaping up though. They don't want to pay me for another week so it seems I'm being asked to do a lot more this week. I don't think that's fair. I at least wish she'd have let me know about this list of nastiness last week so I could have spread it out. I feel like some of it isn't really my job. I don't want to be rude but there's one job on the list that I'm just flat out not doing. It's really f-ing gross and totally not my problem. I've more than stayed on top of everything else and I draw the line at cleaning out a moldy sandbox that's been sitting outside under the bunny hutch with cornstarch in it for a month! She even told me that last time it gagged her and she deals with gross stuff all the time. I'm sorry but I'm just not touching that. Not unless I'm getting extra money for it. Yuck!
I'm disappointed about not getting to make another week's pay and stuff but I'm 'bout ready to get out of heree anyway. At first, they were all "make yourself at home," "have this... let me get you that... hang out with us... etc" Over the weekend though, things suddenly became oddly more uncomfortable. Not like they're being horrible but I wasn't even here most of the weekend and I still felt "in the way" when I was. I'll probably go stay with my cousin Saturday than staart heading back. Might spend a night or so at my uncle's place in Greer. I'd like to check out the tech campus there since I'm considereing transferring next year.

Overall, I've enjoyed my stay though. I don't mean to make it sound horrible, I'm just not really into their lack of clear communication and stuff.
I love this area though. I'll have to upload the pictures from my Blue Ridge adventure I went on yesterday. :D

Well, nap is almost over so I better go get the snaacks together. I wanna get everything handled so I can gete the hell out of here right after the kids leave at 5. I'm apparently expected to stay late at least one day this week (the list looks like it might require more though) so I need to get my stuff out of the way. Going to the health food store to tally up what I need and what my mom needs so she can send me a little money. Then I might hit the bookstore to read up on a few more trails and waterfalls I'd like to see before I go or when I come back. Depends on how tired I am. I'm pretty pooped at the moment though. :P