*snort*

Yeah, I know. I owe peeps pics of socks I received in the mail. I had the camera out this weekend, too. I such a slacker...

I received my Knit Picks Options needles this week. YEAH! I have been knitting like banshee on the AFGHAN OF DOOM with them. Man, it's so nice to NOT have to fight with the plastic cables of circular needles anymore. Makes knitting SO much easier. However, I wish I would have purchased a longer set of cables. This thing is HUGE! I ordered some permanent circulars for sock knitting, too. I can't wait to put my Lady of Cups on those. I may take those with me this weekend on our trip through the Blue Ridge. We hit the Skyline Drive part this weekend and had a BLAST! I need something to relax with, though, if I'm not too exhausted.

We hiked 4.6 miles with 1000 difference in elevation from start to finish. It was KILLER and I was tired, so I'm glad I didn't bring them with me. But this weekend, we're supposed to camp, and I may need something for some down time from all the excitement of the day and that might help. Just have to see.

I'm ALMOST done with the AFGHAN OF DOOM though. I have about 10 rows of red, then about 3 rows of grey and four rows of white then I'm done with the pattern. I just hope I can finish it before his birthday! That would be a cool present! If not, I'll just have to order an Indians jersey for him. *giggle*

SUPAH Blogger Slacker

Yes, I finished these a looooooooooooooooooooong time ago. And yes, I just around to photographing this past weekend. I'm a SUPAH SLACKAH! *snort* Anyway, they look weird in this picture, but they fit me fine. I just hope they fit the intended sockee fine. They're 100% alpaca. I had it laying around and just thought I'd make some REALLY warm socks for my switchee.

No, I haven't taken a picture of the AFGHAN OF DOOM yet. I should. It's getting pretty big. I'm probably about a month away from finishing it. It looks cool from the front. The back is decent for my first colorwork piece. We'll see what it looks like when it's completely finished. I can't wait. It's warm, that's for sure! I try to work on it when it's cold outside like it'll be tonight.

Queen of Cups Socks Part 2!

Here's a pic of the new BF and me from June when we moved his stuff from Cleveland. That was our last trip to C-Land! YEAH!

THEY'RE DONE! I need to take a picture of them. They're fuzzier than the picture on knitty.com, but they're ALPACA FFS! They SHOULD be! I had such a great time making them, that I decided to start a pair using my Kool-Aid dyed yarn. I needed a project for the bus. I have to take the bus. Long story, but it involves my SOON TO BE EX (effing) HUSBAND! He's such a D.A!!

Anyway, I'm still working on the AFGHAN OF DOOM! I'm FINALLY past all the many different colors and just have the black and grey for right now so I should be able to FLY through that part. It SHOULD be done in time for his birthday. At least that's what I'm shooting for. Then I'll finish the top down raglan. I don't know if I'll wear it. I think I've grown out of the yarn. It would have made a cool, funky, scarf, though. I'll finish it anyway. Someone could use it. Along those same lines, I'm going to finish the SWEATER OF DIVORCE! *snicker* I figure I can give it to my BIL (brother-in-law) for Christmas or sumfin. I'll just have to see how it goes and if it's big enough. If not, I might just donate it. Someone could use it, too.

After that, I'm going to start some socks for my new BF, whom I LOVE very much and seriously think I could even knit a sweater for him and it would be fine. But, I'll wait a few years on that one. *snort* I need to knit SEVERAL baby things, too. Almost all my friends are preggers. Those are fun though...and SO CUTE!

I will take a pic of the socks BEFORE I mail them out, along with the blanket and the top down raglan, maybe even MY queen of cups socks, too.

Queen of Cups Socks

So, I'm making these for our sock exchange on the WW KnitWits board. Of course, I haven't posted there in EONS! I can barely keep up with the two threads I post on now as it is. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to post on three. Forgot about that third one!

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTqueenofcups.html

I set aside the afghan of doom to start on these socks. I was gonna make them outta this blue wool sock yarn I bought, but I really didn't thin the color suited the pattern, so I decided to pull the alpaca outta the car from my de-stashing bin and double up on that to make these socks. Well, they don't QUITE look like the picture because it's double stranded yarn, but they look cool non the less!! I'm having a blast making them.

Well, I had to rip the heel. The pattern doesn't say how many stitches to pick up for the gusset, but I think I picked up too many. So, I ripped it out and started that part over. My hands get soooooo tired working with those little needles. I wish I knew how to do them on one circular. I should Google that....hm...

I knitted about 15 min on them this morning, too. It's getting easier to knit them on the DPNs, so I'm making more progress on them. BF just laughs at me and says, "Knit, baby, Knit!" He's so funny. I need to restart his dish cloth to just all knit for right now. The knit then pearl thing gets him confused right now. I miss our knitting nights. Guess I should start them back up again. At least we're there in spirit!! Maybe?? okay

I'm going to take a picture of me first, because I look HAWT today and then my sock in progress ON FOOT as usual. *giggle*

I'm a blogger slacker!!

Yes yes, I know. I haven't been to SLK Knitters in toooooo long! I'm still working on the AFGHAN OF DOOM, though not as often as I should. Something about laying in the floor watching movies with my boyfriend that seems OH SO more appealing.

Okay, I can SQUEAK by and pay bills and rent, but I cannot afford extra expenses, hence not going to SLK. That and the honeymoon phase of him moving in hasn't left yet, so I just don't know if I want to drive an hour there, knit for an hour, then drive an hour back. Yeah, I'm a whiner because I know Lynn drives MUCH FARTHER than me to join y'all. Just burns up too much gas for me.

BUT, I am still with the SLK knitters in spirit every Thursday as I sit down to knit on the afghan. I will have to set it aside though because I need to get the socks done for my exchange in September. I'm looking forward to making them, but I'm not happy about having another project on needles... *SIGH*

Okay, This One's Not About Knitting

It was a rough weekend physically and emotionally. I'm ready for this weekend, even if it means I have to sit in hours worth of traffic to get out of here. I missed knitting two weeks in a row due to moving into my new apartment. I hope to be able to make it next week.

A LOT has happened these last two weeks. I don't think I could be happier if I tried. I came to realize that the only thing my mother will be happy with are the things I do that are her suggestion/idea. She hated my apartment and my new friend even though he drove 6 hours to help me move. Man, if I was unsure about his intentions, I'm not anymore!! *giggle*

Dad thought he was great, even in the little time we spent with Dad. I KNOW they will get along and Dad's opinion is the one that counts the most right now. I've about had it with my mother and her sneaky ways. Yeah, I bet she reads my blog, too, to see what's going on because I won't tell her every little thing that's going on in my life. When I refrain from doing that, she thinks I've gone astray and need her help to get back on track. I'm 34 FFS! (If you don't know what that means, you probably don't want to.) I've got to be an adult at some point in my life and she seems to think I need her help to be one.

Alright, enough about that...

So the AFGHAN OF DOOM is coming right along. I'm making some more dish clothes for myself. I LOVE the one that I'm using that someone made me. I can't wait to try them all out! They're awesome!

So, I finally slept in my bed for the first time last night. I was sleeping on an air mattress in the living room until I got some of the boxes and bag put away. I still have more shit to pick up at the condo, but that's going to take some time. I want the tax write off so I'm taking my time downsizing considerably!! Need to make sure I have room, just in case. *giggle* OH OH OH and SHE was bitching about all the yarn I have. She bought MOST OF IT FOR ME FFS!! *SIGH* Sorry, just had to throw that in there. I'm sure my stash is pathetic compared to some of y'alls!! *sigh*

Okay, enough complaining. I'm still happy as a clam and hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend hope to see everyone next week at the knitting group!

The Afghan of DOOM!

At least that's what I think Nina called it. Yes, folks, I am INSAIGN! (I spelled it incorrect on purpose, don't ask me why!) Okay, so apartment hunting and commissary trips prevented me from attending these last two weeks and BOY did I miss it!! Everyone looked so good! All the projects looked awesome! I just LOVE the toe socks!! I can't wait to see how the lace pattern turns out!! I need to start my exchange socks at the end of next month, so I need get cranking on this AFGHAN OF DOOM!

Yes, I am insaign. So, yes, I'm dating this guy from Cleveland. I mean, he lives in Cleveland. *sigh* Long distance relationships just suck, but I always manage to wind up in one every now and then. He's DA BOMB, though. I couldn't be happier!! So, I'm making him this intarsia Ohio State logo blanket. Yes, I'm insaign. Not only that, but I try and drive up as often as I can. As soon as I get an apartment, he will drive down and see me, too. *giggle* Hence the push to find an apartment!! So, here's the chart and part of the blanket. We have a running joke that I commute to VA every week for work. I wish I didn't have to, but time will tell what will happen. I'm gonna try my damnedest to keep this one. He treats me like a queen. I HONESTLY couldn't be happier! So, here's the logo that the chart is based on. Yes, the chart is 33 squares per inch. It doesn't look THAT small to me!! *giggle*

Okay, so I just checked my voicemail from Friday and I WAS APPROVED AND GOT THE APARTMENT! I have no idea when I move in, but I can't wait!! Of course, I need to find peeps to help me move because I have NO ONE here to help out. Guess I may have to shell out for some starving students to help me move my furniture. That's all I would need help with. All the other stuff I can take piece meal. I'm thinking the furniture will take at least a day to deal with. I just hope it all fits so I don't have to put any in storage. That would defeat the purpose. I'll just have to see how it all works out.

So this blog wasn't so much about knitting this time. Guess life just comes out eventually in any blog. *giggle snort*

Twas the Night of FO's and Mass Txting

Yeah, well, he's usually not like that and doesn't bother me much while I'm knitting. For some reason this particular Thursday he was VERY MUCH into txting me. *giggle* He's probably gonna kill me for saying something. Then again, I don't think he reads this blog much. If he does...*smooches sweetie*

It was also a night of finished objects for me...and the night to show off my dish cloth exchange items. So, I'm on this message board and we've done a scarf exchange (see my archive around V-day time), now this dish cloth exchange, and we're going to do a socks exchange in September! So the scarf idea was mine, and it just sort of took off!! *beaming* So, here are the dish clothes that I received (on the right). They are GORGEOUS and I can't wait to use them. The mottled one is actually a potholder. On the left are the ones that I sent to my exchangee (supah supah late because I'm a supah slackah). Actually, my life was so messed up these last two months I just couldn't get my head on straight! The top pictures is some Williamsburg soaps I sent with mine. Felt a "special" gift was warranted being as I was so late. The second one is a yellow fan shaped lace on, the third and fourth are of the same cloth. I knitted it reversible, meaning I used both hands to knit in continental and throw at the same time. It was fun! It's a drunk looking star. What it is with me and the drunken knitting? The fifth one is a standard basketweave pattern. I felt something functional was needed. The sixth one is some other lacy pattern. I can't remember at this point. They all kind of look the same to me. It was fun to make, though. This last one is another lacey one. I used all dish cloth patterns from www.knittingpatterncentral.com, well, except the reversible knit one. That's from www.diynet.com.

Okay, so I FINALLY finished that lace, toddler sweater from www.knitty.com. I feel like I've been working on that thing FOREVAH! It is the cutest little sweater I've ever made and will TOTALLY make one for my friend if she's having a girl. Of course, at this point, I have no idea if my friend is coming to see me or not. I hope so so I can give him the sweater, but it's a long story as to why I hope he doesn't, too. Sometimes platonic is hard.

Finally, I brought in the cammo, baby hoodie I made for my friend who has three, count them, THREE boys and they're all big into hunting and outdoors stuff. so I told her I'd make her a cammo baby sweater. Isn't it just the cutest? I used the Bernat cammo yarn. Not the itchy Red Heart stuff. ICK!

AND, last but not least, is a picture of me working on my top down raglan sweater. I need to put the stiches on waste yarn so I can see how it's fitting. Seriously, I need a cape...a bedazzled cape wiht SUPAH SLACKAH on it.

Limo Rides to Middleburg for Dinner!

Yes, that's where I was last week. The office was in a limo that was comped to us by a client simply for blogging about it on our work blog!!! Can you believe that? So, we all piled into a Reston Limo (insert shameless plug here. http://restonlimo.com) with Mike as our driver and headed out to Middleburg. Mike was a very talkative and attentive driver. The last two limo drivers I have had were just there to do their job, but he was pleasant and took a picture with us! It was nice to have someone with a personality taking care of us!

So, we drove the loooooooooong trek through rush hour traffice to visit another client who owns Salvia Ristorante Italiano! (insert another shameless plug here http://www.salviaristorante.com) on mainstreet Middleburg! We had calamari and antipasto to start with. A bottle of champage was provided compliments of the owner. So, we toasted to........

THE BLOG! *giggle* We toasted many things, but blogging was my contribution to the toast. I thought it fitting being as blogging got us the ride there!

We had foccaccia with DELISH olive oil and spices. A nice pinot noir was purchased that was very mild and light in flavor. Dishes ranged from eggplant parm rolls to steak to veal and finally to my dish Linguine Pescatore! It was chock full of calamari that WAS NOT, I repeat, WAS NOT rubbery. It was cooked to PERFECTION! There were HUGE shrimp and muscles in there, too. The portion was not so large that I felt like I had to eat it all and be overly stuffed, nor was it so little that I thought I was would startve. I feel like Goldilocks..."Just right!" For dessert, we feasted on carrot cake, canolis, and ice cream! Yes ice cream. Angela LOVES ice cream.

You can read about the whole experience on our work blog: http://6155mcguire.blogspot.com/

You can also read about the limo service on their blog: http://www.restonlimo.com/blog/

"He HAD the Toes!"

For some reason, the story struck us as humorous. It was the way Nina kept saying, "He HAD the toes!" Don't ask me how we got on the subject, but we did. Nina was telling a story about a friend or acquaintance of hers that had their toes chopped off by a lawn mower and while he was in the hospital he got the chicken pox. Well, I think that's how the story went, anyway. Miraculously enough, the toes didn't grow back, but there was definite cartilage that did emerge from the accident so he had these kind of webbed things attached to his foot. Sharon, for some reason or another, didn't realize he HAD the toes at one point in time and then lost them in the accident. I'm not sure exactly WHY we found it funny, but we did. Then Dionne had to go and make that little gesture with her pinky and I about fell out of my chair laughing so hard! You just had to be there to appreciate it.

Yes, I am still working on the lace sweater. There's a picture of my hands making the sweater and a picture of the back of the sweater, done. I haven't really gotten much work done on the sleeves. I've had to put it on hold and I'm still not sure when my friend is coming to visit. In this picture on the right, I'm working on the sleeves. I'm making both at the same time so if I make a mistake on one, I can do the same to both. It's a neat concept, I think. It may seem like it takes that long, but once you're done, they're both done!

There was much discussion to be had on our end about socks. Not sure why, but I'm guessing that's how we segwayed into the whole toe chopping incident. Something about doing a sock KAL where you make your own pattern as you go along, king of like the raglan KAL we were doing. I'm ashamed to say that I still haven't worked on mine much. I hope to get it done sometime in the near future. I will have to make an OSU throw sometime between now and November, too, so I have THAT to think about, too. AND we're doing a sock exchange on my OTHER knitting group that I belong to.

I got some LOVELY dishrags in the mail from that exchange. I'm such a slacker and have one more to finish before I can send mine along. Just haven't had time to knit on the weekends like I have been. Hands have been occupied...er, they're being held all weekend, that is. *giggle* Really, they are. We just sit there and hold hands while we watch movies all weekend. It's nice. Doesn't leave much time for knitting though. I told him this weekend that I didn't want to waste the last night I have with him knitting. He was so cute to want to learn!! Anyway, I digress. Some of the funnier quotes of the night, besides the whole toe chopping off incident:

"I dare my socks to need darning!" "Toe jail=toe sock." You know, those socks with the places for the toes like gloves?? Toe socks? I LOVE the few pairs I have.

"I hate the pearl in conjunction with the knit." Nina...gotta love her and the whole pearling dilemma. We were talking about needing our space when we knit and not wanting our SO's to be so close to us when we're knitting because it stresses us. "I'd rather make my yarn tickle his feet." It's so funny that I wrote this quote down. My friend was helping me this weekend by pulling the yarn out of the ball for me. He was intentionally putting the yarn so when I pulled it it tickled his leg. He was just giggling away. It was JUST the cutest thing EVAH!

So, I missed last weeks meeting. I will blog about why in a few minutes.

Still Working on the Lace Sweater

Okay, so I'm ATTEMPTING to make this lace cardigan for a friend of mine who's supposed to be here next weekend (as in the first weekend in April). Well, at least I THINK he's going to be here next weekend. I'm not so sure as to when he's actually coming. He has this CUTE AS CAN BE 2 year old daughter. It's a Knitty.com pattern. Everything as going fine with the back and made the left front. The right front was giving me one HECK of a time. I had to rip it out at least three times and have Svetlana help me figure out where I was in the pattern. This is the first time I've knitting with a chart before so I having a hard time figuring out where I was in the pattern.

Not to mention the fact that I didn't take my contacts out before I came so my eyes were REALLY tired AND found out from a friend of mine via text message that Tubby Smith was FINALLY leaving Kentucky to coach in Minnesota. I feel sorry for Minnesotans. In any event, I didn't stay long Thursday. I needed to best rested up for my EXCITING trip to Cleveland. *giggle*

No pictures of me this week as I didn't stay long enough. I finally finished the right front and it looked NOTHING like the left front. Conveniently enough, there were NO dimensions for the right and left fronts so I could make sure that I was making it correctly. So, I ripped out part of the left front and made it match the back and right fronts. Now I'm working on the sleeves. I hope I can finish it in time, but at this rate, I doubt it!! I'm supposed to have finished at least 3 dish rags for an exchange I'm on and I have been a TOTAL slacker on that exchange. I started working on them this weekend. I will be putting the sweater on hold until I can get at least 3 rags done.

Rip, Rip and Rip Again

So, I'm working on this lace sweater for a friend of mine who was supposed to be coming sometime this week. Apparently he's not. THANK GOODNESS as I am having a heck of a time with this pattern. I had to rip the back at least 4 times before I decided to utilize stitch markers to mark the pattern and keep me focused! I need one of Lynn's magentic boards so I can leave the repeat as the only thing I can see on the pattern and prevent any further confusion.

As you can see, I've come about halfway up the back in this picture. There's also a picture of the sweater I'm working on. It's Reid from knitty.com. It's CUTE AS CAN BE and I know she'll just LOVE it. I love the color, too. I can't wait until it's done, but at this rate that will be in like 2 months. I'm being such a slacker on my blogging that I can't remember much of what transpired that night. I don't think there were any memorable quotes, but if there were I can't seem to find them.

OH, I

finished

and BLOCKED the 30 stitch cable scarf. Here's a picture of it finished. I think it looks pretty cool! I might make another one in a darker color for a guy. Maybe a navy or something.

Dead Silence Fills the Air

Okay, it was just toooooooo creepy that there were NO CUSTOMERS Thursday night. We had the whole upper deck of Starbucks to ourselves. That was just weird. There was LOTS of knitting on our top down raglans. I was dilligently trying to finish the cammo baby sweater so I could get cracking on mine. The yarn is so pretty!! *giggle* This is a very interesting angle of me knitting on the baby sweater. I finally finished the durn thing this week. I forgot to bring it on Thursday so you can see how cute it is!! I will have to bring it next week.

I also started my top down raglan sweater. I've put it on hold because I'm trying to make a baby sweater for my friend who's supposed to be here sometime soon. It's a rather lacy pattern that I've had to frog three times already. I'm slowly working on it so I don't mess up the pattern. I think I will be able to finish it in time now because my friend has to have physical therapy for his back.

There was lots of sock knitting that night. Judy wanted to see someone's socks but she was eating Quiznos. Hence the quote, "Come here you Quizno's greasy handed girl!" Then there was talk about someone going to the middle. At this point, I can't remember who was talking about it. My brain is like a seive. Anyway, we were talking about there being more deaths from auto accidents than from acts of terrorism. Which lead to this quote, "When they blow up the busses, is that a traffice accident?"

This last one, I have no idea what we were talking about. I just thought it sounded REALLY funny. "I think I have the chicken on Russian Prime."

The Adventures of Knitting Girl!

Nina, Dione, myself and a few others were discussing the adventures of Knitting Girl! Mild mannered LYS owner by day and ruthless knitting vigilante by night! She knits garments and nets to capture crooks in her busy metropolis. We were trying to think of a name for her nemesis, Crochet something, because crochet is evil! *giggle* She knits nets and garments. We figured sweaters would be good because then they could just go to the homeless after the crook has been removed from the hand knit item.

We were also talking about our quirky cats, mostly, but other pets were mentioned I believe. *waving to Lynn and her cresteds* LOL Hence this quote from Dionne, "It's a saucy rat. It must be punished!" I'll just leave it up to your imagination what were were talking about. I'll give you a hint, it's a cat toy.

Nina is working on the perfect sock pattern for her foot. I think we should all alter patterns to fit is more perfectly and socks are an excellent item to play with to cater to your foot size and shape. She hand-dyed some yarn - a very pretty variegated green and other colors. However, only the cuff was knit in that yarn because, as she put it, "I didn't dye the white."

I finally finished my purse scarf. Now I just need to get some more yarn to start another one and keep it in my purse. I need to block it, though. It's a 30 stitch cable, crossing 15 stitches. It was much easier to do with a stitch marker than a cable needle. I guess if I had one of those U shaped cable needles, it might have been easier. Anyway, here's a pic of me wearing it and a somewhat close up of the cable part. I need to block it so you can see the cable crossed. It's very loose. I really like it and might make another one like it. Here's a pic of me holding it open as if it was blocked. I want to block it open enough so you can see the cable being turned, but want to try and keep some of the fluidity of the scarf. It looks really interesting NOT blocked, too. Hmmmm...what to do?

I'm still working on the cammoflouge baby sweater for my friend that hunts with her brood of boys. It's so cute! I will hopefully finish the hood tonight so I can bring it in for show and tell tomorrow. Then I'm going to make a pair of matching CARGO PANTS from Knitty.com. They are SO CUTE! Then it's on to the top down raglan. I'm a little paranoid on this one. I haven't knit without a pattern so it should be interesting to see if I can pull it off. I need to go back and re-read Svetlana's directions.

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

Well, actually it was a flying pig, seal, and many other creatures that were either knit or crochet. We talked about naughty knits and knitted lingerie. It was a very interesting to find out about those books. I can't wait to get my hands on one and see what's in it!!


I was working on a sweater for my friend in the Bernat camouflage yarn. Her and her whole brood of boys hunt and I thought it would be a cute gift for her. I'm going to make the kntty.com cargo pants for her, too! I know at least 7 people who are preggers right now, so I will be knitting my hands away.


I purchased this cool yarn while in Pennsylvania. It's Sofa yarn. I looks really cool! I called the store and ordered a different color to make a scarf for the lovely lady I'm staying with. She has a camel colored coat that this yarn would look AWESOME with. Here's the green color. The beige is soooooo pretty, too! I just got it in the mail today.


Christine was making this cool bag out of recycled plastic bags from the grocery store. You fold the bag and cut them into strips and then knot the strips together to make the "yarn." It's really cool looking. Here's a pic of the bag. That's me sticking my face through the hole. It's actually kind of a cool looking bag for the market and stuff.

So, I also went to the Socks and Lox at Wegman's on Sunday. It was a nice relaxing Sunday morning just running our mouths. I had some french bread and low fat Muenster cheese. YUM!! So there's one quote from Cindy that day. "Every time I measure it it's 11"!" She's making this GORGEOUS cowl. I can't wait to see it when its done.


Some other quotes from the Thursday night meeting:

"There's a book about Twinkle?" I know, it just struck me as a funny sentence. I immediately went to elementary school when I had to learn Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 7 different ways. Gotta love piano lessons.


"If nobody made it for us it's not that important." That's just a good way to look at life. We all meet to make hand made goods for our friends and families. It nobody made it for, then it's just stuff and has no meaning. I love it!


"We don't need no stinkin pattern!" Yes, we're doing a raglan top down patternless KAL. I'm scared sh*tless! I've never made anything without a pattern. I hope it works!!


"It's a voodoo seal!" Yes, we had little figures knit or crochet. The seal did leave something to be desired. It was cute, but, like we said, if we had seen a picture of it beforehand, we probably wouldn't have made it.

Lots of Pictures Tonight!

Okay, so I missed our meeting last week. Some people know why...if you don't just ask. I'll tell ya! So, last week I intended to show off the possum merino yarn that Mom brought back from New Zealand. *giggle* My friend from there thinks I'm nuts for having a wool fetish. *giggle*

I had also planned on showing off my attempt at Kool-Aid dying! It was soo much fun!! And messy! The microwave is a little dyed itself. LOL The yellow was lemonade. I put it in a jar and followed the directions completely, but I guess the skein was too big and it came out slightly mottled. So, I thought, why couldn't you try multi-colored? So I did! The one on the right is Orange and Black Cherry. The black cherry never did turn clear after about 10 minutes of dying. I had Lemonade in there, too, but it didn't come out right so I stuck the whole skein in the Black Cherry and let it cool in there. Don't know what I'm going to do with the yellow one, but I'd like to make a pair of socks with the two skeins on the right. Yes, there's two there. Hope there's enough for socks!!

Okay, so I was on this scarf exchange. I suggested it on an MB that I'm on and someone took it and just ran with it! We had a GREAT time with it and plan on having a dish cloth swap in April sometime. I receive this GORGEOUS scarf in the mail, (thank you Laura) and have worn it almost every day since! It's SUPAH warm and just beautiful! The general consensus is that it's Malabrigio. I haven't heard from her as to whether it is or not. As soon as I find out, I'll update this post.

There are a couple of quotes from that night, but I didn't bring that bag with me. I will post them with next week's quotes. Here's a link to the pattern that was used for my scarf:

http://firebrunette.blogharbor.com/blog/FREEPATTERNS

Okay, here's a picture of the scarf I made for my exchange person being as I had to send it off without getting a picture of it!

I'm a Slacker!

So, this post belongs with the group meeting from January 25. I'm a slacker, I know. BUT I have a good excuse...I work in an accounting office. That means 10 hours days and 5 hour Saturdays, which I WILL be looking forward to this weekend. Those that know are giggling to themselves right now.

So, here's a picture of the shrug that I wore to the VERY interesting Operation Smile benefit January 20, 2007. I spent most of the night staring at the wall listening to lots of famous Vietnamese people talking in Vietnamese. I have no clue what they were saying, but the food was decent. My co-worker and her date had the most fun I think. There's a picture floating around the office of him pulling a dollar out of her cleavage. It's very funny, but I didn't post it here. This is a PG rated blog!!

Things overheard while I was there that night:
"The Knitting Nijas!"

Poor Lynn was playing air hockey puck with her car in Maryland and was all battered and bruised from her seat belt and air bag. Someone suggested, "You could say it was a sexual asphyxiation accident."

"So if I knit that I would I look like that?"

"We should have head we can stick in there." This is the picture that prompted that last quote. It's a recycled sweater tote and the collar is a
pocket at the top of the bag.

Went to Mom's last weekend we took pictures of us in our matching turquoise sweaters. Doesn't she look like fun? She's just the most awesome Mom!!

I can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the possum merino that Mom brought me from NZ this week!!

A Trend Has Started!

So the shrug was ALMOST done for me to wear tonight. I have like 30 more rows before I can REALLY cast off, but I tightly cast it off and used a pin to keep it on my shoulder. It needs to shrink a little so I might toss it in the washer and dryer when I'm done. It's always a toss up if the sleeves will fit my batwings or not. I will finish it before Thursday and get on with the scarf exchange scarf I'm working on. As we're chatting away the night, everyone is listening to the good quotes to post on the blog. I, luckily, had a book and Judy had a pen so here are some of the goodies that spewed forth on Thursday night:

"Sometimes you gotta have hot pink toes." Ain't that the truth! The pattern calls for X amount of yarn and for some reason or another you just don't have enough. For those that buy hand dyed yarsn...well they're screwed! You can TRY and match the same dye lot or just go for the hot pink toes!!

"You say that like making your child look like an artichoke as a bad thing." That one's just a visual quote. Imagine it...all green and spikey.

"If I sat papason style, I could fit all of my inside and there's a LOT of me" Okay, imagine the HUGEST sweater known to man!! Well, not THAT huge, but I think a few of us could have fit into it at the same time. It looked so puffy warm too!!

"You're good at math." "No I'm not." "You know how to count." Okay, that one needs no explanation.

Knitted Thongs and Other Topics Discussed Last Night

I'm not exactly sure how we got on the topic, but it was a rather hilarious one. Apparently, there was a knitted thong on display at a LYS. The discussion turned from innocently discussing it's whereabouts and why it was taken off the shelf to someone trying it on to see if it fits. "Honey, I think you need to add a few more short rows." Because short rows are necessary to make it larger...I'll let your imagination wander on why one would need short rows.

Then there was a mention of the thong being felted and why in the world would you want to felt it? It should be an open weave!! *giggle* To allow things to breath!! That only seems logical to me. Well, from there it all went downhill!! I don't think I've laughed so hard in a looooooong time! Tears were streaming down my face. I'd like to find that pattern, though. *giggle* I bet I'm on someone else's blog about things they overheard US say Thursday night!!

So, the person that never has more than one UFO going at once, now has three. I started a sweater for DH. Then needed circulars to finish the sleeves so I started my scarf exchange scarf. Well, then the Knit Picks Shine came in for my shrug that I need next weekend so I started it. I have to finish the shrug first! I need it for my shoulders on the blue velvet dress for the Operation Smile Benefit we're going to. This is one of the two sleeves I finished. I started casting on the back, but started

to doze whilst counting and that NEVER works.

So upon looking at the pictures from Thursday night, this picture just made me LOL. My father used to do things like that when he saw a group taking a picture. They never noticed him at the time, but I'm sure it made for some funny pictures when they developed them.

Things Overheard at Starbucks

I think I'm going to write a book called, "Things Overheard at Starbucks and Other Knitting Tales."

Jan 4, 2007 - "Like, I don't like using my brain."
Jan 7, 2007 - "Just tell Brian I'm gay."
Jan 7, 2007 - - "No, I didn't do Felicity." <-- talking about the TV show, mind you!!

I may have to compile a spreadsheet and somehow post it for peeps to see so they, too, can enjoy my eavesdropping in conversations at Starbucks. It's amazing what people will talk about in public and I'm VERY good at listening. *giggle*

My Thursday night knitting group is a hoot! I always have a GREAT time and no matter what mood I'm in, I'm always in a better one when I leave. I just could not imagine knitting without them!! As you can see, I'm laughing in the picture. I don't remember why. I was probably laughing at Judy taking the picture.

Now, my online knitting group is the most giving peeps I know and I am totally honored to be part of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Shawl. I've knitted on two so far, one of them going to a member in the group for her difficulty. We're getting ready to start two more. How MANY shawls can be traveling at one time? Who knows! I'm sure we'll try to set a record. Now if we could only get on Oprah... *giggle*

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! I went to Mike's in Springfield for an early dinner after returning home from DM (dear mothers) house. I told her I'd drive up and check on the house while they're in the land Down Undah! It's still in one piece. *giggle* She left some money to go out with for doing that so I splurged on Mike's. I LOVE their crabcake and filet mignon combo even though I hardly ate any of the filet.

Came home and watched the TV, put in a couple of movies and watched the last hour of Carson. Popped a bottle of mead and toasted the New Year! Yipee!

Now on to more important issues. Seriously! Just because it says no dye lot doesn't mean you can change the thickness of the yarn!! The new SUPAH HUGE skein I purchased to finish DH's sweater has a TOTALLY different guage than the one I bought previously. What is that about? Just to drive me insane?? Well, it's working!! I'm going with it anyway. He's not gonna notice. I'm the only one...well and fellow knitters would notice the difference and I'm sure they're not going to be pawing at my DH!