Entrelac is addictive

I finished the Mini-Lady E/Danica hybrid scarf last night. I'm amazed how quickly that went. I'm really happy with the results. Haven't sewn in the two ends yet (hooray for spit-splicing) and will have to block it as soon as I can find a place. The colors are wonderful. No photos yet.

Also started my full size Lady E. Finished the beginning triangles before bed (insomnia... again). Sat it on the table before falling asleep. I've had surprisingly good luck being able to leave my knitting lying around even though we have so many cats but I finally learned my lesson today. Someone, probably the female, who happens to hate me, made a giant mess out of my poor ball of Karaoke. Didn't hurt the WIP itself, thank goodness. But I spent all day trying to untangle that freakin' ball! Of course this would happen to the yarn that's way more expensive than my usual stuff *and* special ordered. Lesson learned.
After a maddening but mostly successful untangling session, I managed to get a little knitting in. I'm now partway into the second ball, almost through the 5th tier. :) It's really pretty. The colors are subtle but so pretty and multi-faceted . And it's so surprisingly light!

Going from a Kureyon project, to a couple SWS projects, to working with the Karaoke is interesting.

The Kureyon was nicer than I expected. The colors are really nice, especially in the skein. Some of the subtleties are lost once it's knit up, and more so after a wash, but the overall look is still really nice and interesting. The color combinations are interesting and kinda random-ish. Of course the biggest draw is the butt-load of colors available. The texture leaves something to be desired. It's not as bad as I expected. Not itchy but definitely rough. Decent to work with and soft enough for my mom to wear as gloves. When splicing ends together, I was surprised how much work it took to felt well. The yarn itself is a little more irregular in thickness than the other two but seems to knit up fairly uniformly.
Biggest complaint? The dye stained my fingers as I worked with it.

SWS is really nice. I love working with it. The fluffy texture is nifty. It is easy to split so sharp needles and knitting by touch alone can be a bit tricky. There aren't a ton of colorways but the colors are pretty. The striping is more uniform than with the other two. I found Natural Earth to be a bit more random and the pink/green to be a pretty set sequence. The yarn has a very alluring sheen. I wish it retained that a little more when knit up. It does to some extent, but the fuzzing does distort it a good bit. It's soft and great to knit but can be a little scratchy/prickly right against my skin and sheds a bit. Frogging is pain because it loves to stick to itself and looks pretty worn once you've ripped it out. That's not a really big deal since it looks pretty uniform once it's all knit up.

The Karaoke is really interesting. The colors are so complex. I'm using Mermaid Mix and it's very subtle overall but there are amazing variations within the yarn itself. The texture is totally different. Not as "soft" as the SWS but that makes it less fuzzy. It's more gentle than SWS though. And sooo much lighter. What I've knit up so far has almost a cottony feel. Better stitch definition than the other two. I don't think it will shed much, which is nice. My only real complaint with the Karaoke so far is that it's a bit weak. It broke on me a couple times while I was trying to untangle it. Still seems to produce a reasonably sturdy fabric though.

All three are definitely good yarn and have their places and uses.

Oooh, look... actualy knitting evidence!

Here's a bit of what I've been working on lately.

First there's the back of my first sweater. Berroco Ultra Alpaca on US5 KP Options 24" (4s for the ribbing)

Here's the lovely SWS in Natural Earth my mom got at Michael's last week:

Here's the lovely SWS swatched up for an entrelac scarf. For the left swatch I CO24 and each square is 8sts. The right I CO20 and each square is 10sts. I like the way the colors were more isolated in individual squares in the left one but the larger squares gave a nicer fabric for the scarf so I went with that one. I'll be making my Karaoke shawl using the smaller squares on larger needles.

Here's a progress shot of the scarf. This was yesterday morning. I'm now finished with the first ball you see here and partway into the second. Not bad for only a couple days work. Especially if you consider the first two failed attempts plus the second swatch as well.

Entrelac is fun! I'm getting pretty darn good at picking up stitches and all that turning it not nearly as annoying as I feared. I'm doing this scarf on my Denise needles, size 8 for knit side and 7 for purl side. I think I might be more bothered my the turning if I were using straights.
The more I use the Denise needles, the more I love 'em . My only complaint is I wish they all felt as secure as my 7s. the other sizes seem to have too much wiggle in the join area. Haven't come loose or anything but I'd prefer they be more secure. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. I think I'll take a look at another set when we go to pick up my yarn to see if they do the same thing or if mine are not quite right.

In other entrelac-related news... my SWTC Karaoke has gone missing!!! All three balls are apparantly on the lam. I have no idea how this happened. I would have sworn I put them in the stash drawers with the rest of the stuff that was in the same bag. I won't totally freak until I check the cluttered side of the room. I'll be picking up 3 more balls this week.

It's a rather nasty day here. I overslept considerably and it's soo gloomy I still don't feel awake. I think I need to knock myself out super early tonight, even though I slept in (to put it mildly). I have a lot to do tomorrow to make up for today, plus class from 2:30 - 8p. :P I want to go to the gym, do laundry, and get partially packed for Thursday. I have no idea what I'm going to wear to the show yet and it seems every article of clothing I own is dirty or missing.

Ridiculous

School was a bit trying today. First I couldn't find any parking and ended up 40miles away. Ah well, I figure I can use the walk.
Then came "Business Math." Wow. Um, yeah. So the book is from 1994 (yet still cost a hundred bucks) and starts off with "introduction to Whole Numbers," I shit you not! WTF? We seriously did addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Next week we more up to *gasp* fractions. *dies* I would have died of boredom or fidgeted out of my chair and been really tempted to smart off if not for my knitting. I havent actually knit during class before. On breaks and waiting for class to start, sure, but not while we were doing work. I don't think the teacher minded though. I participated in the work and discussions and rarely actually looked at the sock so it went over well.
Class ends at 5 but we got out at 4:30 since it was the first day an all. I found my 5:20 class, put my stuff down and went to move my car. Got back and was still really early so I knit a little and did my doofus math homework. 5:18 rolls around and still there's no one around. I started to worry about being in the right place until one other girl wandered in. Around 5:30 we were informed that class had been rescheduled for "probably the same time tomorrow." Isn't that lovely? Makes for an annoying gap in my schedule if that's the case. And how am I supposed to know if it's even then?? Just show up and pray? Stupid little tech school.

I'm dreading English again tomorrow. The class is enormous, we'll have to do "group papers" and we apparently have to do presentations for everything we write. WTF? I guess I'll be ready to knock out that much more dreaded Public Speaking after this, huh? :P The boy is excited about me taking English since he'll feel less lost when hearing about my work. His mom was a high school English teacher and he's the only person I know who grew up in this hobunk town and doesn't have the slightest accent.

I wonder if I'll be able to start Lady Eleanor over the weekend. Perhaps I should hold off until I finish another project. I'll need to sit down and figure this entrelac thing out and I'm not sire I'll get that much alone time (and have the attention span for it at the same time). I'm sure it won't be too hard once I get going but I have to sit down with the needles and yarn and sort it through first.
I'll probably just work on the sweater a bit and see if I can get a minute to do a couple Branching Out reps in. I don't like to stop in the middle of those, in case the sticky note comes off my pattern. Oh, and the hat! I keep forgetting about that darned hat! Not sure why.

So, not really a bad day (finslly got the fish tank done) but I do have a headache, burning eyes, and no dinner.

School Daze

My first class starts today at 1. Can't say I'm looking forward to taking an English class but tomorrow should be interesting (Personal Finance and Business Math).

I'm knitting news, the SWS Clapotis is done! I finished it night before last. Haven't washed/blocked it yet because I have no place to dry it. :P Trying to work that one out. Also, I'd like to get some sort of no-rinse wool wash. I'm not sure what to get or where just yet though. That, and I'm broke.
Secret Pal 9 is almost over. I need to sit down and finish my pal's last box. Wanted to do it yesterday but I had some sudden tummy bug that put me out of commission. It even made me miss the first half of the slaughter, uh, I mean game. I'm not a Gators fan at all but go SEC anyway.

Did another repeat on the Branching Out scarf yesterday. Then I messed up and had to go back to the lifeline with was two repeats below the one I had just done. Did two mre to catch back up. At least it felt like I made a little progress. LOL.

Been making more actual progress on the sweater and I finally picked the cabled hat back up for a couple rounds last night. I need to get that one out since it was originally intended as a Christmas present and it'll be too warm for it very very soon.
I'm planning to try cabling without a cable needle soon because I've found that my hands cramp up when I do cables the regular way.

I think I might frog the Fearless Fibers Clapotis and make it a Pie Are Squared shawl instead.

I wanted to spend the afternoon tending the critters, making stitch markers and maybe working on that stash organization but now the boy is suddenly off work (long story that just pisses me off) so he wants to go out to eat and stuff.

Speaking of eating... I need to improve that again. I've gained back most of the weight I lost last year and I'm really not happy about it. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good gym schedule going now since classes starting back will give my general schedule a little more structure.

Bath time.

more on the house stuff...

Ah, nothing better than a shower after all that ick. :P
I cleaned that corner again, cleaned the area between the wall and floor, put a bunch of enzyme cleaner stuff in the appropriate areas, etc. Then I drug the mattress and box springs out by myself (my bro bailed on me today :P). As soon as I got the mattress out, Kitty attacked the box springs. Then I went to get a vacuum cleaner attachment from the kitchen. When I came back there was a Kitty head sticking out of the top of my dad's doorway. LOL He didn't waste any time getting on top of the mattress, huh? Lugged the box springs out (fell on my head at one point) and, going with the theme lately, I need a new one. This one's not really springs, it's a wood frame. Well, one of the stupid pieces that go across it broke on me. *argh*
Picked up under the bed. It amazed me how much stuff slides up under there because of the Pergo-type floor. I move my bed out and clean under it more than anyone I know, yet it's always a treasure trove (and land of furballs). After cleaning and vacuuming I got down and cleaned the floor by hand. Got it all spiffed up and moved stuff back in. As soon as I got the box springs back down I realized I forgot to vacuum the bottom so it dumped a bunch of dust and stuff on the damn floor!!!!!!! I just can't win.

I think I've earned a drink. Hopefully my bro will show up soon with a movie. I'm planning to order pizza and watch a movie. We watched Click last night. Pretty good movie but I wasn't expecting it to make me cry! There was a Dirty Jobs marathon on afterward but I was too tired to watch any of 'em. I guess they'll stop playing all the old ones once the new season starts next week. Dangit. I wish I had Tivo.
Was also too tired to knit. :( I think I am again. Cleaning that floor kinda took it out of my hands. Poo.

So, how's everyone's new year going?
I'm doing well. Christmas was nice. New Years was wonderfully uneventful. (A great thing for me since I have super-duper bad luck with New Years Eve in general.)
I spent last weekend with my ass glued to the recliner watching as much football as possible and knitting up a storm. I finished the boy's socks, made my mom a pair of gloves based on Knitty's Fetching, and started my first sweater.

This week has been home-improvement based. Don't you just love how once you start home improvements/repairs, you always find more and mroe that needs doing? :P *blah* For example, we decided to replace the toilet, then noticed the floor needed to be done as well. Might as well paint then. Oh, check out the ceiling... lets get rid of the popcorn stuff and paint it too. I hate the lights and mirror/medicine cabinet and the sink is stained so there's another thing to replace. And shelves. Neeeeed shelves. Those will have to be custom though. Replacing a toilet becomes Operation Overhaul the Bathroom.

I also started on my room. Gathered up as much stash and knitting stuffs as I could find (more keeps popping up) and stuffed it in drawers to be organized soon. Find that there's no way the current drawers, *or* the extra ones I cleaned out, will contain it. So basically, I'm gonna end up with an entire wall of plastic drawers and hampers to keep it all together. LOL Took out a regular dresser to help with this. Clothes? Who needs clothes? I'll replace 'em with knits anyway. ;) Or just stuff the room with yarn and roll around in that rather than leaving the house for functions that would require clothes.

So last night I'm cleaning up the cat corner and I discover that my sweet little puss-pusses have thrown so much litter up against the wall over the past few months that it's down behind the baseboards.(My vacuum hates me and likely wants to fry itself because of cat-litter/fur overload.) So the baseboards on two of the walls have to go (note: cat corner :P) Well, actually I got all amped about it last night and armed with a paint scraper, crowbar, and hammer I got those puppies off. I was rather impressed with myself, actually. Didn't damage anything, not even the paint, with the exception of one spot of wall in the corner. Who knew it had gotten damp enought to become kinda soft? So that might mean a little area of drywall repair. And so on, and so forth.

And that's only my bath and bedroom. I'm not even gonna go into the fact that we're planning to re-floor the entire house and other such craziness.


Also took some time yesterday to go buy books and get some last minute stuff straight before classes start next week. My brother starts Monday evening but I don't have a class until Thursday afternoon. I'm taking three classes but anticipate spending way more time on school-related stuff because I have to keep an eye on the bro. He started pulling this super-stealthy class skipping BS so we've switched him to the tech school where I can stay up his ass and make sure everything's on the up 'n up. Can't complain too much though since I also went through my f*cking-off instead of going to anxiety inducing classes phase and my parents got me through that. Mom's at the end of her rope with him (and other things) right now though so I get to step in on this one. It's pretty much shape up or ship out, literally. As in Coast Guard. That's certainly not a bad idea, but hopefully we can get him back on track without resorting to military action. :P

Well, that's all I have for now. I'll get a shot of the sweater progress soon. Forgot to take pics of the gloves so I'll have to get Mom to model for me soon. I need pics of the "crayon socks" as well. And the boy's socks. I forgot to shoot those too. Not surprising since there's so much other stuff going on.

Now I'm off to figure out where the heck to move my mattress so I can clean under the bed. This house is waaaaaaay too tiny for the two biggest packrats in town. Well, actually not the biggest since the boy's mom is worse and I'm getting better but anyway...

more yarn pr0n...

In case you can't tell, I just love yarn porn. I'd like to have more WIP pictures but I can't ever get 'em to look right or do the WIP justice. I'll have more FO pictures soon too. But by far my favorite is the yarn porn.
I'm so freaking lucky to be able to get/have all I do. I don't mean to come across like "oooh, check ou my tons of stuff" at all. I just get so excited about yarn that I must share. I don't have much disposable income but what I do have tends to go toward yarn and other knitterly goodness.
Most of it is stuff from swaps and gifts. I'm super lucky to have a momma and fella who support my yarn addiction pretty well. And I'm a good bargain shopper.
Yarn/knitting makes me happy, is the most economical entertainment around, and keeps me out of trouble. Also, I like to collect things. This is one of the better collection habits I've had. Since I'm finally purgin all the useless crap I've been lugging around over the years, I've picked up this new yarn addiction. Yarn is lighter, prettier, and more useful than all that other crap so it's a definite improvement.
Anyway, I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this. It's just that I read something on a blog a while back complaining about people posting yarn pictures rather than "real" knitting pictures. But it's my darn blog anyway, right?

So yeah, enough rambling... on to the yarn and stuff...



Yes, I have given in. I'm dabbling in the dark side. I bought some *gasp* Noro.
The first time I met some Noro in person I was horrified. I'd hear all these wonderful things from people drooling over it. I expected beautiful, magical, irresistable yarn. I picked up a skein and actually squeaked in disgust and threw it back in the bin. LOL. Horrified. I couldn't believe this was what people had made such a fuss about. Weird uneven yarn that made burlap seem cuddly! WTF? At those prices? And wait... is that a twig?! Well, I've decided it's time I give it a fair shot. What brought this about? Two works yarn sale. Of course. ;) When I went to pick up some stuff I put on hold last week, I found a new basket that said "We are the last of our kind so take us home for 20% off" Had to poke through. I already had a skein of Malabrigo in my hand but found this neat brown w/ pinkish in the sale basket so I picked it up. Underneath I noticed some magical colors. Upon closer inspection, I realized that was some Kureyon makin' eyes at me. Who'da thunk? Under that was a skein of Silk Garden also eyein' me.
Short story long, I ended up with two balls of Kureyon and one Silk Garden. I figure if nothing else, the colors will be fun to work with and my mom can wear anything without it bothering her skin.

But what's that buttery goodness poking out in the middle of the Noro? Blue Sky Organic Cotton. Only non-sale item I got. Whatever comes of that fabulousness is mine all mine. I've been admiring the Blue Sky Cotton for a couple months and almost had to buy a skein of hot-ass pink but resisted until I saw the organic, unbleached skein underneath. Same price too. It had to go home with me.

And behing it all (no, not the stupid towel that hiding the chair) is the awesome container of needles I found on the doorstap a couple days ago!! My dad's friend is a retired knitter and she gave me her collection! 11 pairs of well-used aluminum straights, in smaller sizes I actually use. So exciting. The larger ones are a few I was given by a friend of my mom. She tried to knit and gave up. Inheriting her stuff was nice enough but kinda sad. Getting these well-loved needles excited me. The color is worn off of some of the tips. These were actually used. Makes me happy. :) You know it's a Knitter's collection when the US3s have the color worn off and one set of 7s is two different colors, indicating the inevitable disappearing needle syndrome. Hehe.

And here we have some more yarn sale goodness:

10 skeins of Cascade Pima Tencel. This will be a lacy tank for me. In from, best I can tell, ~825yrds of fabulously soft Chinese laceweight lambswool. Mmmmm... I almost bought this yarn in red or black in NC but it was $22-24. I got this pink for $11!!! Woohoo!

Not pictured are the Regia 4ply, Skacel Trampoline, and ball-band-less skein of mystery yarn I got for a buck each. What's more exciting than dollar yarn?!

Well, I should probably go shower and get ready for the evening's non-yarn related activities. Dinner and a movie w/ the boy.

Oh, in completely unrelated news, I just found out we'll be haing another lil outing next month! Rehab is coming back to Charleston Jan 18th. We'll be getting a room so it'll be a nice escape with both of us living at the parents' houses now. It's at the Music Farm. I haven't been there since the NOFX show almost a decade ago. Ah, memories. Heh. So yeah, that's really exciting. The last Rehab show was awesome even though my car broke down and we didn't have a lot of play money. This time we won't have to hitch an emergency ride with Ms. Pouty-pants and should have a little more fun money. Yay!

Ok, bath time...

F*@K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blogger just ate my effing post! RAWR! Must keep it short now to keep myself from spewing too much filthy language. I try to keep that to a minimum on my craft-y blog.

The post was mainly about my awesome LYS and my haul(s) from their we-don't-wanna-inventory-this-stuff sale. Oh, and the 11 pairs of aluminum straights passed on to me.

Instead of a quick rewrite, I'll take some photos when it's light out and post it all with those.

For now, here's some yarn porn, an FO, a WIP and some because-I-got-a-camera-that-day shots to tide you over:

Here we have :

(left to right)

- fingering weight merino dyed by one of the ladies at the LYS. Got a great scarf pattern to try out too. The sample they had was really cool.

- SWTC Karaoke in Mermaid Mix. This will become a Lady Elenor (Scarf Style), hopefully. I have 3 balls and 8 more on order. I think I'll be ok mixing dye lots on that pattern.

- UrbanGypz handpainted superwash sock yarn in "Playing With Matches". This is from Asheville. Done by a local gal up there. She has an Etsy store as well.
(front) - Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Glacier Teal or some such color. Something Teal anyway. This is gonna be a scarf for my friend in WI. Actually, it's already started but I'm not sure about my choice of needle size yet.

Here's my SWS Clapotis. I'm through 3 or 4 straight repeats now and I've moved it to my new Denises.

Here's the Simply Soft Shadows one in action. One of its many uses. I love this thing. Can't wait to use the bigger one!!

>

And here's Kitty being coy. Or sniffing the Bearfoot, whichever.

Tried to take a pic of the cabled hat and the pattern repeat counters I made but they turned out crappy.

Here's the obligatory *meh* picture of me in my car right after I got my camera (wearing my Knitphomaniac shirt... hehe)

This is my cute lil' pocketbook with wheels. I lubs muh car. Ignore the crater (F**cking drunk driver). Hopefully that'll be gone next month. Don't even ask about the other side. That's getting fixed as well.

Da' planes! (in front of the Airstation)

I'm still here

Yup, still alive. Been busy so I haven't had a lot of online time recently. Had my last test for the semester (trimester, really) last night so that's over until January. Hooray!
The boy got me a digital camera so I have some WIP and yarn pics waiting to be posted but they're on the other computer so that'll hafta wait until next time.

The My So Called Scarf is no more. I love the pattern but wanted to do something with the SWS that I'd get more use out of. And so, Clapotis III was born. I'm almost through the second ball. I picked up 5 on sale in NC but once I got going I decided I wanted to go for full sized with this one so I needed more yarn. Made a trip up to ACMoore hoping to do my best to match a couple more balls and work them in with the dye lot I already have. To my surprise, they had 3 balls of the exact dye lot I bought in NC!! Exactly the amount I was looking for. It was fate, or something. ;)
I'm working this one up to the pattern specs but on US9 needles. I'm through two straight repeats currently.

Other things I'm working on include: worsted weight house socks for the boy, merino/silk socks for Dad, an aran lace scarf in Bearfoot for a friend in Wisconsin, and a braided cable ribbed hat for a friend in FL. I have photos of most of this stuff plus a couple new aquisitions from my first knit night last week.

More on that and maybe a couple book reviews soon.

Ok, now it's bedtime. I've made it to the gym twice this week (*YAY*) and I'd like to get there again tomorrow so I should rest up. I was draggin' ass all day today so little got done besides some knitting (and a good bit of chocolate eating I'm in a bit of denial about... lol). Of course, I have lots of knitting to get done over the next week or so, so it's just as well, right? ;)
I really hope to have more energy to work with tomorrow. It'll really suck if I stay tired and half crabby all week. :P

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.

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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