Now I have no knitting!

Sorry for the crappy image quality, I didn’t get a good photo of my Mom wearing the socks. But she really loved them! She was so impressed that they were so soft, and was dyed with cake icing dye. KitKat, you did an awesome job on the yarn, sorry it took me TWO MONTHS to knit these! And they were my only project!

Now I am trying to choose what to knit. I am just… I don’t know! I don’t want to buy any yarn, I want to use stash yarn. I’ve got 1000 yards of white with flecks of gold and purple Brooks Farm Four Play (har har), I want to use that for something. But I don’t know what. I don’t want to make an accessory. I thought I would make my Clapotis out of it, but I have a black coat, and I just don’t think it would work. I want something sleeveless and young and cute. I like Ms. Marigold, so maybe something like that, but w/o ruffle sleeves. Is there anything other than Green Gable, too? Something similar, but not those patterns (I know, am I picky or what??).

I think I will start on Ms. Marigold, though. I have some Paton’s Classic Merino in this pretty Tomato red. I think it will be smashing, dahling. I’ll do a gauge swatch today at a BBQ.

eHeeeee

I don’t know why, but things got hairy when I went to do the short-row/heel-flap combo I yoinked off of Knitty’s Baudelaire pattern. I could no longer keep the socks on two needles, it was weird. So I just switched to the good old-fashioned one sock at a time method. I’m doing the second heel now, and when I get to about 3cm of ribbing, I’ll go back to two at once. I’m sure there was a way to do both heels at once, but I just was like, “hur??”.

I had a horrible week involving work drama and a blow out on a scary highway, and I had to take two whole days off because of transportation issues. So that’s why there’s real progress on the socks! I don’t generally knit for long stretches anymore. I had a great weekend, though. I saw ABBA with my sister, sis-in-law, and my niece last night. It was fabulous. The only original members were a drummer and the saxaphonist, but it was reallllllly fun nonetheless. The outfits the two women had on were HILARIOUS!!! One set involved colored spandex, tunics with a fox for one and a rabbit for the other, and gold knee high boots. So strange. Then let’s not forget the satin floor-length white and purple ponchos. So great. We had a lot of fun!

Time? What time?

Had a long car trip to Ohio for a funeral/family reunion this past weekend, and I got a lot of knitting done on these sockies. I went with just my parents, and of course Mom loved the socks, so I guess they aren’t for me anymore. What can you do?

I made up the pattern, not hard, really. Cast on 12 sts for both socks using the Turkish cast on method, increase until you have 64, then insert 2×2 ribbing on the front. Turns out you get 7 ridges, so they’re lucky!! Now I have to work out the heel. I hate short row heels– they *NEVER* fit someone with feet over size 9 with high arches. Unless you increase out the ass. Which looks stupid. So I need to find a heel flap that I like.

Dye-o-rama!!

Look what I got for my Dye-O-Rama swap!!!! Can you believe it! I waited a few days to post, we had no sunny weather all this week and I wanted to take the best photo of the colors. KitKatKnits dyed it for me, she used Louet Gems and Wilton Icing Dyes!! ICING DYES!! With those colors! She sure knows her stuff! I've always been to scared to try icing dyes. Now I sure know better. She included a bag of gummi bears in the packages, too– you don't see them because they are looooong one. I love gummi bears.This week at work was awesome, awesome, awesome. My boss said, "Now you know what research is really like!!", and I was just like, "COOL!". Give me more of it! I was basically beta testing software/hardware for an upcoming study, and we had major bugs with it. I was like, "Bring it on!"

Mike and I woke up early yesterday morning and drove down the shore to eat breakfast. We like to do this during the summer, it's been our thing for a while. We get up at 5, drive down to Point Pleasant, then drive around until we find something open. The place we found was at Point Beach, and it was open for the fisherman crowd. They used real, fresh potatoes for their hash browns (not frozen!), but they didn't serve pancakes until 8 and the coffee was terrible! So we got eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns and toast. 'Twas pretty good, greasy just how I like it.

Then Mike spent the day working outside, of course, while I ran errands. He had to make a lip in front of the garage, because it dips down and water gets all in there when it rains, getting everything wet. Here is is working it out 3 Little Pigs style!
I went to a jewelry party last night, and this was the hostess. Her name is Top Dog, and boy is she ever! What a friendly, sweet angel baby princess. She adopted her Mom and Dad by constantly coming up on their deck, and boy did she pick the right parents! Sue leaves a buffet of five different kinds of food out for her, and will even call the house when she is at work and talks to it over the answering machine!!How funny is that??

This little lady says, "Why don't you leave me a buffet??"

One more thing

Please, can I look any more fangirlish??

If you've ever seen the movie MURDERBALL, that is the FAMOUS (!!!) Keith Cavill and I at United Spinal's Grand Central Station Spinal Cord Injury/Disease Awareness day!!!!! He is SO nice in person– and so is his girlfriend (sorry ladies!!)!! Look at my cheesy grin– I was so excited to meet him and his girlfriend, I could hardly say anything to them. Sorry guys!

 The even was last Tuesday, you can go to the news page on United Spinal, and read all about it. United Spinal is an awesome advocacy group devoted to SCI/D, and althought they used to only allow Veterans, they now allow civilians and kids with SCI/D to join. They've accomplished SO much in their 60 years as an advocacy group– just go to the news page, alright?? The research organization I work for was there promoting our stuff– I had an awesome day and I really enjoyed myself. I was happy to meet so many awesome people (especially the 4 Wheelz City men! Hope to see you at Kessler soon!).

Been sooo busy!

Well, I’ve had a busy month! We went to 2 weddings, been busy doing outside stuff, been super busy at work, and this week I kept getting hives (allergy to *something* I ate, don’t know what yet, I think it’s beef, but isn’t that a little rare??).

First off, I didn’t neglect my dye-o-rama swap pal. Swear. I’ve just been too busy to get a card to put in it, and you know how you just forget… BAD PAL! I’m mailing the package out today.

I couldn’t figure out how to insert the photo correctly. For some reason, iPhoto let me rotate it, but it didn’t upload it that way. For some readon, there isn’t a save feature, but it just automatically saves your photos as you change them (??). I’m used to Photoshop… ANYWAY, I used 4 different color dyes: chocolate, ecru, seafoam green, and robin’s egg blue. The brand of dye is Dharma, the type of dye is their standard wool day (just add vinegar and water!). I used 4 jelly jars immersed in a big boiling bath inside a canning pot, and just draped sections inside the jelly jars. I wasn’t sure I would like the yarn after I pulled it out and it dried, but I reskeined it and I love the colors!!

Here’s a swatch: As you can tell it’s blurry, but I cast on 60 stitches on size 2 Addi Turbos, to mimic what it would look like as sock yarn. I would recommend to my pal to use SIZE 3 needles, as the resulting gauge is a bit stiff on the 2s (I included the swatch in the package). There should be enough yarn for a big pair of socks, it’s definitely over 450 yards. I didn’t really measure it, but I can tell by the weight that there’s plenty of yarn. Especially if you do toe-up socks. I think there may be a tiny bit of pooling with the natural color that I left in it, if my pal is worried about that, she can utilize a slip-stitch pattern to limit that. The Crusoe socks on Knitty would be cool, I think.

And for the record, I am able to put on a dress and lipstick when I go out to weddings. Not so much for work or anything else, but yeah! I think I even wore… PANTYHOSE! WTF?!?!

Sock pal!

So these are the socks my sock pal made me! Pretty colors, right? They’re the Gull something or other socks from SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS- I always liked that pattern a lot. Now I have the socks, and no work was involved! Ha! They’re a few inches too long, but that’s a terribly easy fix. They must have bloomed big time after being washed. My lovely knitter was http://knitternavywife.blogspot.com/ and she was super sweet and sent me BBQ sauce and seasoning in addition to the socks! Wow! Thanks!!!!

I have a funny story for you- on Saturday, my husband and I went down to my parent’s house near Princeton to go out to eat in Lambertville (Laaaa-aaa-aaaambertville, say it like a lamb!). We’re headed down their long drive, and all of a sudden my Dad exclaims, “Oh! There’s the sheep!” I say “WTF?”, and look out the window- there was a SHEEP *peering* into the neighbor’s basement window! She wash hunched down on all fours, totally SPYING! She apparently escaped from the farm across the street (a hobby farm, not really a working farm), and decided to go and do a little spying. We had to stop at the house across the road and my Dad had to find someone to tell, “Hey, I found your sheep!!” You don’t get to do that everyday in NJ, that’s for sure!!

Work is going well, I am still trying to get used to everything and everyone. Been going out to eat a lot for one of our studies- I never thought I’s say this, but please, no more restaurants! I’ve been out to eat about 10 times in the past two weeks- my pants are getting too tight! No good!

Dunzo!

These socks are over like a celebrity couple– they only lasted a few weeks, but made their mark on my world!!!!!!! Apologies to Trent of http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com for stealing the Dunzo phrase.

Sorry for the crappy photo, by the time I charged the batteries for the camera, the sun had gone down (y'see, *someone* left the camera on yesterday when he updated his blog…). Also, I can't try them on, they're too small for my high instep. And they're for a sz 7 foot, and while I have narrow feets, I am a sz 10! Rar!! Bigfoot! Well, not really if you take into consideration my height. Rar!!! Giant!!

Sorry. Happy to be finished! I hope my sock pal ooozer likes them. I will go soak them in a nice little bath now. Yay! Socks!!

Oh, the pattern was *great*- no complaints. Easy repeats. Awesome. For those who aren't following along, I used Anna's Nautilus Pattern, which only deserves to be done in Koigu. I wish I could model them on my feet, the pattern I'm sure is really nice on the foot. Sort of like little embossed honeycombs. One thing stupid that I did was to not look at the W&T instructions, which I didn't know were on pg 1 of the pattern (the directions are on pg 2). So I did the heels with YOs, which is okay, but not as neat as the W&T heels. But the toes! Turkish Cast-on!! I'm never doing a toe any other way. So SEAMLESS. No KITCHENER. You *know* what I mean. And I'm not afraid to try things, but I am annoyed at things that don't immediately take. Kitchener is one of those things.

Now. What's next? Will I finish the Angelina Jacket? Will I start the Hourglass Sweater? Who knows.  The grant at work is due to the Gubbermint on Friday, but we're to have it out on Thur. so we can take off and go to the Abilites Expo on Fri (Dude, it's seriously EXCITING–we can meet the Murderball guys!!). So until Thursday at like 6ish, I may be too tired to knit. Tomorrow I am definitely staying late, as there's a class at 7 I'm to attend (the last one on pressure ulcers really made me lose my appetite, but I was able to keep a straight face! Go me!).

Snock knitting and my future office

Here is Nautilus sock #1, almost finished! I think I would have been finished sooner if they made a 40" circ that could handle lace making. The Addi Turbo needles are too blunt. I think I might order a 32" Inox to finish the other one.

And also, I think I would have finished earlier if I wasn't so tired after work! Starting a new job takes a lot out of you, and I was told I wasn't going to feel completely comfortable until after about 6 months. Which in the long run, is really good. I like the environment of my new job, the people are all really interesting and very nice. It will *greatly* benefit where I want to go in life, too, as I can have this job while I do my post-Bacc (where I go and take all the science classes/labs I missed while doing a BA), and I might even be able to combine the two when I have to do my research requirement for the post-Bacc.

Since today is "Flash Your Stash" day, I thought I would show some photos of the future home of my stash, since the stash is all in boxes right now. My hubbaroo is in the process of finishing it, though I may do some work on it myself today (just need to ask him what I should do!). The left photo shows a cute little mouse-cat for scale (that's my little Robin). It's a pretty small room, and I can barely stand up in it, but it will be a very nice little office/knitting nook when it is finished. We have some leftover paint from the bathroom, and it's a nice bright peach, so I think I will paint the ceilings bright white and the walls peach. The floor has linoleum covering it now, but we're going to tear it up and re-do the hardwood floors underneath. I want Mike to put in track lighting, as the only light source is that teeeny window. He also needs to put in outlets, as there are none right now (though there is a power box behind one of the walls). Eventually, I will want some skylights. I wonder how hard would that be as opposed to track lighting? It would certainly add more height to the room in those spots, too!

Here's a MooMoo photo. She always prances and preens when I have a camera in front of her, she's so coy and funny.

Haha, Hiiiii

Hi Blog. How are you? Yep. I’ve been busy. I was hired at the place I wanted to work at, so wheeee and I start on Monday. I’m nervous and excited- I’ve never actually been able to use my education in a job before, it’s only gotten me hired. So goody goody gumdrops. But the day after I gave my notice, I was “let go” and they promised to pay me until I was supposed to leave, so vacay for me!
Finished el Clappopotomous and started Anna’s Nautilus socks for my sekrit pal. Here’s where I figure out how to really add photos to me blog (sans HTML, oh my!)…
Okay, please ignore the fact that I am too lazy to go an photoshop that huuuge forehead zit off. And straighten out the photo. Just ignore it. My face is too fearsome for that zit! And my smeary mascara on my bags (I have many allergies and I still haven’t learned to buy waterproof mascara) Grr! I am wearing a Clapotis and I am glorious! No. Not really. That’s just how my face goes when I am just relaxing it. Except it doesn’t really look relaxed. I think it’s my eyebrows. I have “villain” eyebrows. And the photo of it on the table is just to show it’s size. It’s maybe 55″ long. I didn’t want it any longer, as I hate long scarves. I can’t really wear it as a shawl, as I did one less repeat than called for. The yarn is Cherry tree Hill’s Silk/Wool DK or whatever that is. Green Mountain Madness colorway. I hate the fuzziness. I don’t know if you can tell in this photo, but I swear it’s there:

And here is half a foot of Anna’s nautilus sock pattern (http://www.autoscopia.com). I learned how to do a Turkish cast-on for this, and OMG! Invisible cast on! Really! The yarn is Koigu KPPPM, obviously. Dye code P701, Lot 46. It is probably the most beautiful yarn I’ve ever worked with. Too bad the socks aren’t for me! They’re for my sock pal. I know she likes Koigu, so I’m pretty sure she’ll like the socks. The colors are so subtle, but so droolworthy. Those Koigu people sure know how to dye. But the Addi Turbos I am using do not know how to work with lace patterns. My finger huuurts from all the K2togs and the SSKs- they’re just too blunt to handle lace. And because I have to dig around the yarn to get the needle in for the stitch, these socks are slow. So, I ordered an Inox circ and that should solve the problem. I have no idea when it will get here, but hopefully soon. I feel like Happy Gilmore’s Grandma… “My fingers hurt…” and then Ben Stiller says, “Oh yeah? Well now your back’s gonna hurt, because you just pulled landscaping duty!” Oh my.

Hmmm. What else? Oh yeah. I knit an entire baby sweater out of Thick and Quick, and then I THREW IT IN THE GARBAGE! Blegh. No baby sweater should ever be knit in chunky acrylic yarn. I told Kim at Knit Knight (of Kim’s Knitting World and Sexie from SNBN fame) that it looked like a craft project I had knit on popsicle sticks. She kindly gifted me with a better pattern with worsted weight yarn, so it will still go fast. I made the Knit Knight term up. We and a few other people meet up at Panera every Thursday (okay, I’ve been 3 times, LOL). But in my head the term sounds good, as all of them are at Rutgers, and they’re the Scarlet Knights. LOL. I am pretty dorky.

Oh, and I finished Teva Durham’s turtleneck shrug from Scarf Style, but no pics yet. Maybe on my next update!