Mystery Theme Swap 2

Thanks to everyone for their lovely comments on the sweater & socks! They gave me warm, fuzzies! :)

I just wanted to let you all know that I've started registration for round 2 of the Mystery Theme Swap. Come, join us. You know you want to. ;)

Now It Can Be Shown

I hope everyone had a safe & happy holiday! With x-mas over I can now finally show you what I've been working on for the last 3 months!

This is the Ultimate Gift sweater by Michele Rose Orne knit in Silky Wool on size 4 (yes, US4!) needles.

This was definitely the most ambitious project I've ever knit and I'm so thrilled that a. I finished it in time, b. it looks nice, and c. it fits! And most importantly, honey loves it!

The pattern was pretty easy to follow, but the staggered cables were a pain to keep track of. Because of that I would rate it a difficult. Really, the most difficult part was sewing it up. I've never made a sweater with set-in raglan sleeves before, but I really like the way it looks!

The other project you've already seen, but here are the completed socks upon the feet of their recipient!
Because a few of you have expressed interest in the pattern I will be writing it up. However, you're going to have to wait a little bit for it. I think I've figured out how to make the pattern work top-down, and want to give that a go before posting it. Also, I think I might have a few people give this one a "test knit" before posting the pattern for general consumption.

My Soundtrack

Here's a little music meme I swiped from Devin's blog. It looked like fun!

RULES:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. tag someone.
5. Optional: Give your own comments on how it (the song title) relates to the question.

Opening Credits : Opera Singer by Cake

Waking Up : Tender Love by Jill Sobule

First Day of School : Army Ants by Tom Waits

Falling In Love : Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.

Losing Your Virginity : American Music by Violent Femmes (not the most suitable song by them, but close!)

Fight Song : Memories (Can't Wait) by Talking Heads

Break Up : The Ledge by Fleetwood Mac

Prom : Wounded Horse by XTC

Life : Cupid's Got A Brand New Gun by Michael Penn

Mental Breakdown : Gli Impermeabili by Paolo Conte

Driving : Johnsburg, Illinois by Tom Waits

Flashback : Baby You're A Rich Man by The Beatles

Getting Back Together : Here I Am by Lyle Lovett (very appropriate!)

Wedding : When The Hangover Strikes by Squeeze (lol)

Birth of a Child : Out The Window by Violent Femmes

Final Battle : Mother by Tori Amos

Death Scene : My Humps by Black Eyed Peas

Final Credits : Joe Harper Saturday Morning by Van Morrison

Sequel Teaser Trailer : Aquarium by Robyn Hitchcock

Very silly fun! Ok, I tag Joanne & Mary! :)

Happy Ho Ho Ho To You!

X-mas knitting finished in the nick of time, cookies baked, house cleaned, presents wrapped, dinner prepared & waiting to go in the oven!

Now time to grab some hot cocoa and watch A Christmas Story.

Hope everyone has a happy & safe holiday!

Why Can't We Be Friends

Not usually the type of thing that I post here, but it's something that I've been pondering the last few days.

Within Ravelry there is a groups/forum page. It's wonderful, it allows people to make specialized group based on interest. I'm in quiet a few and every one has it's own group dynamic, although most are dominated by the posts of just a handful of members.

Now I am the first to admit that I am not everyone's cup of tea. I've always had very few, select friends. I sometimes feel like I'm a cult film, not for general consumption but loved by those few who get me.

That being said, there is one particular group that I'm involved in that I thought I would fit right in with. I really enjoyed it for about a month until it started to be dominated by just a few people and I realized that my opinions were drastically different from those that were being espoused. And being the type of person who dislikes conflict, I don't feel comfortable making my opinions known because I'm afraid that a. it would hurt someone's feelings and b. I would be attacked for them. So instead of having an actual debate about things, I sit here reading posts and start to feel contemptuous of the people who are posting.

It all makes me think that I should just leave the group, which makes me very sad.

Help Name A Sheep, Win Valuable Prizes!

My dear Hogwarts Sock Swap partner is having a contest for her 100th post! Go check it out!

Ok, off to frantically knit.. how many days left till Christmas? EEK!

Inner Daemon

If, like I, you've read the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman, you are probably geeked about the movie coming out as well. I just found out that the website allows you to see what your daemon is, and allows others to comment on your daemon to make sure that it really fits your personality! :) Here's mine...



If you don't think this quite fits me, click on the "is my daemon a match" link above & answer a few questions. You can change Klitus and help determine his final shape! XD

Not Much

That's what's been going on. Ok, a LOT has been going on, but not much worth noting.

The Mystery Swap is wrapping up.. I've only got about 5 people left who haven't received their packages yet and most of those are caught up in the backlog from the UK postal strike. There were some ups & downs with this, but overall I'm happy with the way it went and my participants seem to be very happy so all is well. I'm actually going to do a round 2 in January! :)

The Circus was in town this past weekend and we got to hang a bit, which was nice. My sis & Autumn went to their show. I think sis enjoyed it, but Autumn not so much. Still a little young for this type of thing I think. She said she liked the music, but she was bored before the first song finished and was extremely tired by the end of the night. Kris won't be doing much with the band this month because the acquisition of our office should be finalized soon and he will be a busy boy during the change over. We will definitely be working the New Year's Eve show in Philly though, it sounds like I'll be doing video for them.

Knitting has been happening, but not as much as I would like. I'm glad that I limited my X-mas knitting this year. As it is I'm not sure I will get it all done in time. :( However, I am just about done with my shopping! Yippie!

Zombie Love

As some of you know I am a bit of a horror freak, and I have a particular soft spot for zombies. My dear hubby found this for me yesterday.

The singer is Jonathan Coulton, who we were actually introduced to by our niece Sofia this summer. She is a fan of the Code Monkey song. Funny stuff.

Ups & Downs

It has been a roller-coaster week of stress. On Tuesday we had an all-company meeting, the topic of which was top secret until we arrived. I actually knew some of what was going on thanks to Kris being management & all, but people were seriously wigged out all day. So what's going on? We are in the process of being sold to a big, public corporation. This isn't a big surprise to people, AMG has been on the market for the entire time Kris has worked there (6+ years). And the company that is buying us seems to be genuinely interested in preserving the company culture as much as possible. However, it is a big transition with lots of small unknowns that are causing big stress for most of us. Especially since the sale will most likely be finalized around Christmas and they have stated there will be a few "redundancies". Thankfully I know my job is safe and we have had assurances that Kris' position is safe as well. But nothing is finalized yet and I'll not be easy until it is.

Goddess? Well, Maybe...

I've seen this quiz before, but don't remember every taking it. Apparently I'm a...

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there's a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others.http://marniemaclean.com Take this quiz!

Happy Halloween!

She's so evil, even the eyes glow! ;)

I hope everyone had a great & safe holiday! I got home to find my sister & Autumn had already arrived at my house for some trick or treating! My Mystery Swap package had also arrived, but it would have to wait until later. We had a quick pizza dinner and took off, leaving Kris in charge of handing out the candy.

After her bag was full and they left for home I finally got to open my package!

Items individually wrapped & numbered
to heighten the suspense!

4 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca yarn (how did she know I’m a sucker for alpaca?!), bamboo needles, point protectors, and The Knitter’s Bible Knitted Accessories book. She picked the Magic Mitten Gloves for me. I absolutely love the pattern and am currently fighting the urge to shove my other projects aside and start this right away.

The theme she picked was Autumn, and I think Meaghan filled it perfectly!

Overwhelmed!

I got home today to find a lovely package on my doorstep! It's my Knitter's Tea Swap 4 package from the fantabulous Ruth! I have to say this was the most fun I've ever had with a swap. When I got my partner assignment I thought they had made a mistake at first and sent me my own questionnaire back, our answers were almost identical! Ruth is just a great person, I'm so glad I got to meet her! Ok, now for the goodies...

Everything individually wrapped
with neat little tags!

Bounty of goodies! Lime & Violet yarn in Greensleeves, CTH in Misty Moor, 3 packages of loose leaf Darjeeling!! (2 black & 1 green), 1 box of Organic Green Darjeeling bags, Honey, Honey dipper, Mesquite incense, beeswax bear candle (labeled as a b-day gift), assorted Dark Chocolate, Vanilla wafers, sock pattern, toys (notice the awesome boxing frog pen!) & treaties for the babies (organic cat nip & raw hide -see below)!

Corrina enjoying her treat.
She thinks Ruth is awesome too!

I am completely overwhelmed! She definitely went above and beyond and I'm feeling a bit guilty that I didn't do more for her. Her package is currently waiting at the post office for her and I really hope she likes it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Autumn's Bittersweet Heart

That's the tentative name I've got for these socks. I've finished the first & am really happy with it so far. I'm casting on the second tonight and will hopefully get a fair bit done this weekend. I'm really glad I went with the folded picot edge for this, I think it really finishes the sock off well.

I wasn't going to post about them until after Christmas, but I just couldn't wait.

So, Autumn... No Peeking!

Tagged

I know I've been remiss on the posting, but I didn't really have any updates for you. Luckily, I've been tagged for a meme by Anita from the Mystery Swap.

The Rules:Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I turned 35 yesterday. Ouch.
2. The first time I went to college I majored in Theater. I dropped out after the 1^st semester. When I went back to college I majored in Psychology & minored in Philosophy, so I could be completely unemployable. I need 20 credits to graduate, but I haven’t taken classes for 6yrs.
3. I LOVE horror movies & books. I watched my first horror movie when I was 6 and have been addicted ever since.
4. I am clumsy. Very clumsy. I am constantly dropping things at work and have fallen down the stairs (usually sliding on my ass) many times. I also trip over my own feet.
5. I’ve been going through infertility treatments on & off for about 8 yrs and am about to give up.
6. I hate cleaning. Really, really hate it.
7. My dream is to own a yarn store. I have no idea what to do to accomplish this.
8. I am terrified of spiders.
   

Let's see, who to tag. Joanne, Mary, Denise, Ruinwen, Devin, Ruth and anyone else who might want to do it. Can't think of 2 more right now. :)

Indian Summer

Gosh its hot. Mid-80s here today. Had to turn the air conditioning on as soon as I got home. It's supposed to be in the mid-upper 80s all weekend. This is definitely not proper weather for October in Michigan! And I was just getting all my sweaters out. :(

So, you're probably wondering if I've actually been knitting lately. I have been, but it's all on super-secret Christmas stuff, which makes posting about it neigh on impossible! Still, I am making good progress and am about 1/4 way through the big one.

That's about it for now. Excepting that I want to put in plug for Bryan Fuller's new series Pushing Daises. It's great fun. Very whimsical, and Jim Dale was narrating the first episode! It's also keeping in the Fuller tradition of calling female characters by male names (George, Reggie, Jaye & Chuck!). I hope this series lasts, I was very upset when Wonderfalls was canceled... I wrote my very first angry letter to a network because of it! :)
So... check it out. The first episode is available for streaming on ABC's website.

Knitters Tea Swap

So no sooner do I complete all the swaps I'm involved with (not counting the one I'm hosting), but then I go and sign-up for another!

This one I've been waiting for though. I always seem to miss the deadline. Sign-ups started today & will end once there are 200 participants. I'm so excited! :)

One Happy Ravenclaw

My package from Avada arrived today! Whee! She told me the other day that she was finishing much sooner than anticipated and should be mailing soon. She certainly spoiled me!

Super comfy House Socks, pretty stitch markers, Empress size 2 needles, Cascade fixation yarn, pedicure set, lotion, magnet, Harry notepad, dark chocolate (mmmm moose munch, won't last long...) & jam! I'm overwhelmed!

Not only were there yummy treats for me, but there were even goodies for Corrina. The greenie is already history and the freezer pops are being eagerly awaited. :)

Close up of stitch markers

Ravenclaw House Socks

The socks fit perfectly & are super comfy. They are warming the feets even as I type! :) Thanks so much for making this the most fun swap ever!

My Friday Night

Grant you, kinda boring & fuddy-duddy but more excitement than I usually have! So what are the little doughballs? Well, you may remember me writing of the fantastic bagels my bil made for us when we were out in Seattle. Honey tried to make them the weekend after we go back, but they didn't turn out quite right. I think its because he just scooped the flour into the batter with the measuring cup instead of measuring it properly. The dough was extremely stiff, but the bagels were still quite tasty. So last night I decided to give it a try myself!
This is what they looked like before being put into the frig overnight. And this is what they look like after being baked this morning...

Bagel with asiago cheese,
oregano & basil

OMG! I am the bagel master! XD Seriously, best bagels ever! The recipe is quite easy, it's just a bit time consuming what with waiting for the dough to rise and all, and the ingredients are what most people already have in their house except for the yeast and the malt powder, which we couldn't even find and used malt syrup instead. I'm so excited! All my previous attempts at any kind of bread making were disasterous (not counting quick breads which don't have yeast). I think I'll be making these for Christmas morning. :)

Muggle Post Comes Through

My fair Gryffindor's package arrived safely! Yippie! And she's loves it! XD

So, now I can talk about what I sent. First off, I want to show you the adorable stitch markers I got for her from Sunneshine's Etsy shop.

Aren't they friggin' adorable?! Sunneshine is a great seller too, they arrived within 2 days of me ordering them!

Ok, now for the socks.
I made her Fawkes socks using Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Sugar Maple. Let me say, totally love that yarn! It's the first time I've used it but it won't be the last. Really, a super joy to knit with! So soft & warm, unfortunately it's not superwash, but it's worth the little extra care.

Pattern Notes: I used size 2 dpns for this pattern. Really easy lace pattern. Quickly memorized & very quickly knit. Unfortunately the flame pattern doesn't pop as much with the variegated yarn, but I think its lovely anyways. Will probably knit these again.

This was actually the 3rd pattern, as well as the 3rd yarn choice I had for this swap. I initially picked one of the simple house sock patterns, then the quidditch socks. I was unable to get proper sizing with either even though I was using the recommended needles & yarn (Lang's Jawoll), which is really crappy yarn & will never be purchased by me again. Seriously, bleck! I will mostly likely just bin the skeins I have.

So that's it for me with the swapping for now. Avada is about half-way done with my socks and will mostly likely be sending my package towards the end of October, which is the actual ship date. The Mystery Theme Swap I'm hosting has finished registration & I've got 54 people signed up! I'm just managing this, unless someone backs out. :)