Cast On

This weekend I finally decided to knit something, other than socks, for myself. I finally frogged the Lift & Separate Wrap that I started knitting in September 2006. I had finished the sleeves, but never got around to knitting the body of the sweater and after almost 2 years I figured it was time to reclaim the yarn, which is yummy Alpaca With A Twist Baby Alpaca in fawn.

This is it's current incarnation...

The Highland Triangle Shawl from Folk Shawls. This is the center portion of the shawl and that beautiful trim will be knit on after the body is complete. The lace pattern is fairly easy to memorize and it's moving along rather quickly since it's knit on whopping Size 8 needles! ;)

Lets just hope I don't get too distracted by this...
Shibui Knits Sock yarn in Midnight. Isn't it gorgeous? The color was a bit of a surprise because the website's image showed it as being much darker, but I love it. This is for Trek's socks, although I may have a hard time parting with it. The yarn is super soft & springy! I can't wait to get knitting with it.

All Sewn Up

The weekend before last I went out to my folks and my mother very obviously hinted that she would like a lap blanket for when she is in her wheelchair. She even showed me a knitting pattern, which was absolutely hideous.

Now, I love my mum, but there is no way I was going to spend the time and energy knitting a blanket only to have it destroyed the first time she uses it. Because of her medical conditions, she is uncoordinated and she often falls asleep in mid-sentence... this combined with a full cup of juice or food and a hand knit blanket spells disaster.

Instead I decided to sew her a blanket. This would fulfill her wish, would make life easier on my sister & father because it would be machine washer/dryer friendly, and save me a lot of time, money & sanity.

So Saturday afternoon I spent a few hours whipping this up while watching Jane Austen movies. I got a baseline for the size from the pattern she showed me. The pattern also had a strap that fastened around the waist to keep it from falling off. It used buttons, but I figured velcro would work much better. :)

Materials: 2 1/4 yds cotton fabric (45" width),
45x60 cotton batting & sew-on velcro

The finished blanket is about 34"x43". Unfortunately I made the fastening straps a bit too long and will have to trim & resew them. Still, I'm happy with it and honey thinks my mom will love it and that's all that matters. :)

Hubby Meme

Mary tagged me with this great meme that is all about hubby! :)

Where did you meet? I was in a play, fancied this guy and he dragged me to a party at his friends' house. Honey was the friend. I know it sounds awful, but we didn't actually start dating until 6 months after I broke up with the guy who introduced us. Still, said guy was none too pleased about the whole thing. :)

How long did you date? About 6 weeks & then he proposed. However, we waited a year & a half to get married.

How old is he? 4 years older (he'll be 40 this year).

Who eats more? We eat about the same. Sometimes he eats more, sometimes I do.

Who said “I love you” first? Hubby. Immediately after he got a nasty phone message from my ex.

Who is taller? Hubby. He's 6'2", I'm only 5'5"

Who sings better? Him, without a doubt. He is a fantastic musician and singer. He writes great songs too, even wrote one for me. :) He used to perform a lot in his twenties, but now me, the dog & cats are pretty much his audience. I always wanted to sing well, but as my sister will tell you, I can't. I can carry a tune but that's it.

Who is smarter? We both have higher than average IQs and I believe we are of equal intelligence, although he may be a bit more cunning than I.

Whose temper is worse? Mine. Hands down. I have a pretty short fuse and get snippy quite easily. Kris is pretty unflappable. I think I've only really seen him mad twice in 12 years.

Who does the laundry? Pretty much me. He does the odd load, but that is usually his own clothes. He's a bit leery about doing mine after a few disasters early in our relationship

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

Who pays the bills? He does.

Who cooks dinner? We both do. It's about 25/25/50 (him/me/take-out). :)

Who drives when you are together? Usually me. I'm a driving control freak. Unless we are taking a road trip, then he does all the driving.

Who is more stubborn? I think we are both pretty flexible, I don't think either of us is particularly stubborn.

Who kissed whom first? He kissed me. It was so cute. He asked if I minded if he kissed me.

Who is the first to admit to being wrong? I think we are both pretty good at recognizing when we are being irrational. No one is always apologizing first.

Whose parents do you see the most? I'd say it's about 50/50. But he talks to his mom way more than I talk to my parents, like almost every day.

Who proposed? He did. It was our first Valentine's Day together and we were at a Chinese restaurant. He got down on his knees and proposed after reading his fortune cookie. Since then I have to screen all his fortune cookies. :)

What’s his best physical attribute? I love his eyes and his giant nose! :)

Who has more friends? Him. He is a people person and gets along with everyone. I sooo do not.

What are you most proud of him for? For having the courage to follow his passion, even though it means I'm spending most weekends alone.

Who has more siblings? we each have a sibling.

Who wears the pants in the family? Well, since his salary is 3x mine, I guess that would be him. However, he is not my "lord & master" and doesn't have veto power. We are partners.

Ok. So, who to tag? How about Devin (you're engaged so you're qualified), Christy, Claudia & Ruinwen.

Clapotis Scarf

OMG! A F.O.! :)

Behold the Clapotis Scarf...

detail

Project Notes:
Yarn: J. Knits Softee Alpaca in New Jersey (which I received in the Discworld swap)
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)

Modifications: Because I was going for a scarf and the pattern is actually for a shawl I had to make a modification, I increased to 47 stitches instead of 107. I also sized down the needle to a US 4 instead of a US 8, so as to work better with the yarn.

I love the result. It's a beautiful, light & airy scarf that is perfect for warmer weather, which is what I was going for. The yarn is a bit scratchy on the neck, but I'm hoping that will disappear with the addition of a little fabric softener.

The pattern is fairly quick & easy to knit up as well. And I got great satisfaction in purposely dropping stitches!

Overall, I'm very happy. I'm a little upset it took me so long to finish, but as long as I'm typing for a living my hands/wrists are going to continue bothering me and that means no knitting during the week. :(

Contest Results

I hit 20,000 visits! Whee!

Thanks so much to every who has visited my blog, especially those of you have commented. I really appreciate it and enjoy reading your comments. I wish I could give you all a prize, but a girl can only knit so much. :)

Now, onto the results. I placed all the entries into a hat and had honey draw.

The winner is...

Trek!

Congrats! I'll be sending an email to you shortly to get your details.

I'm Such A Dumbass

I finally started typing up the pattern for the Bittersweet Heart socks. In fact, I've got the whole pattern done including charts.

I was just going to start calculating the stitches needed for different sizes when I discovered that I didn't actually write down my GAUGE when I was making up the pattern.

I guess I'm going to have to reknit.

Idiot.


(btw- less than 100 hits to go for the contest! squee!)

Seriously Peeved

I just watched I Am Legend...

I knew better. Really I did, but I just couldn't help myself. I knew from the moment I saw the first preview before it was even released that my viewing this movie could really tick me off. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Now you may be thinking, it wasn't the best movie but what's there to be peeved about? The fact that other than the title and the name of the main character the movie bares no relation whatsoever to the actual novel. Really. None. Read the book. It won't take you long, it's only a few hundred pages.

You'll be struck immediately by the fact that in the novel Robert Neville is not a doctor, he's actually a blue collar guy who lives in a suburban area (in Kansas if I remember correctly). And while he is looking for a cure, he's winging it from stuff he's picked up in library books. Oh, and the monsters are actually vampires who have all there cognitive functions... not mindless zombies. There is actual interaction between him and the vampires, in particular his former coworker/neighbor.

I don't want to give away the whole plot, but the book is an excellent study of isolation & morality. The ending is brilliant. It actually gives you something to think about and discuss. Not the sappy movie ending "he saved us all" crap.

(sigh) Perhaps Beowulf will be better...

I Can Haz Theremin?

How friggin' cute is this?

Shamless Plug

Registration has started for the Mystery Theme Swap 3, which I host. Come join us, it's loads of fun. XD

btw- only 260 more hits until 20,000! I'm so excited!! I can't wait to see who I get to knit for!!! :)

50 Greatest?

First off I want to thank everyone who has commented on my contest post. I must say I'm overwhelmed! The last time I had a contest there were maybe a dozen entries, there are about 35 now and counting! Amazing! Thanks so much for the well wishes... and I wish you all good luck in winning the sox! :)

Okay, now onto this post.

Recently IFC teamed up with Nerve and they compiled a "50 Best Comedy Sketches of All Time" list. Now anytime someone does a list like this the results end up being controversial... let's face it, this is a highly subjective medium. What I find funny isn't necessarily funny to you. Even so, I think they did a pretty fair job.

The Python boys are fairly represented. Honey is a bit upset that the Fish Slapping Dance didn't make the cut, but Dead Parrot is #1 and the Spanish Inquisition is #33, so I'm happy. Kids in the Hall have a few sketches on the list as well, although I think there were better ones that could have been chosen.

In general I think that SNL is a little over-represented. I knew the "More Cowbell" sketch would be there and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dan Akyroyd's Julia Child sketch made the cut and that "Synchronized Swimming" with Harry Shearer & Martin Short was #10. However, the only Eddie Murphy sketch they included was Buckwheat sings, which is funny but personally I prefer Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood (Kill my landlord, Kill my landlord) or Velvet Johnson's How To Be A Ho (but that's just me).

The biggest and best surprise was that "Nairobi Trio" from the Ernie Kovacs show was #7. This is perhaps the silliest thing I've ever seen. I think it's brilliant and most people my age have never seen it because it aired in the 50s.

So, that's my little 2 cents worth. If you like sketch comedy you should definitely check it out, especially since there are YouTube clips of almost every sketch!

20,000th Visitor Contest

I'm quickly coming up on my 20,000th visitor to my blog and I think that deserves a celebration!

Originally I was thinking of just giving away a couple skeins of handspun or maybe custom dyed yarn, but upon further consideration I realized that a) not everyone who reads my blog knits or crochets and b) this is a little more special and therefore deserves a prize that's a little more special.

So in honour of my 20,000th visitor, one lucky person will receive a pair of custom handknit socks of their very own. They may chose the colors & pattern if they like and the socks will be knit to their unique foot/leg measurements. :)

To enter, simply post a comment to this post. I will randomly select one winner when 20,000 visits have been reached.

Good luck and thanks for visiting!!

WOW! Actual Knitting Content!

As promised, knitting is once again in progress! Unfortunately I was a little rustier than I had thought and decided to put the Noro Sock Yarn aside until I've gotten back into the swing of things. It's too purty to be wasted on crap socks!

Instead I started a fairly simple pattern on bigger needles; a scarf version of Clapotis. I'm using the J. Knits Softee Alpaca that I received in the Discworld swap, which is really lovely to work with, and am knitting 47 sts on size 4US needles. I'm about 1/3 of the way finished and am happy with the way it's coming so far.

Can't wait to see how it looks once blocked. I think this will be a lovely, light scarf for spring.

P.S. I'm going to be having a contest soon in celebration of 20,000 visitors to my blog! Details soon. :)