chatter.

The wind is back. No sixty miles per hour madness, but it's still windy. It's sunny out, but the wind just steals any warmth you can get from the sun. And it seems like I always blog when the weather sucks. Maybe I just find crappy weather inspiring or something.

I have a lot to blog about. I've actually got a list sitting on the desk next to me. I've been taking a lot of pictures lately, so if you really want to know what I've been doing check out flickr. I'm trying to not be lazy and make sure that every single one of my pictures is tagged and described. Especially since it bugs me when other people don't tell me exactly what every single item in all their photos is! hey, I'm nosy. I'll admit it.

Speaking of things I'm trying to do, I've been participating in the 2008 ABC-along for a little while. I've been doing things the lazy way (of course) and just putting things into the flickr pool. Hopefully from now on I will get an entry up about every letter.
I'm also trying to participate in 52 weeks, and in Ravelry's Project 365 (but again, 52 weeks-style). I really need to get in the habit of taking pictures and putting them up right after they are taken, when things are still fresh in my mind.

In getting things done news, I finished two projects this week! I finally finished theBoy's giant silver and black afghan! It was getting to the point where I just wanted to finish it so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore and I could just sleep under it. You know when you make something like an afghan as a gift that you have to test it out for a night or two. it's a quality control thing; you've got to make sure you've made a good, warm afghan.
I also finished my toe-up Charades last night! I'll take some pictures soon, when the wind isn't blowing a million miles an hour. I washed them as soon as I was done, and was hoping they might be dry by this morning. I really wanted to wear them today, but they were still wet.

I've been spending a lot of time at my new favorite "place": folia. It's like ravelry, but for gardeners. (I almost typed, 'It's like ravelry but for knitters'! Which is just confusing.) I've got a good portion of my plants in there, and almost all of my seeds. Everything, I think, but 3 packets. In doing this I've discovered that I'm really not a yarn stasher, but I am a big time seed stasher! I don't have a lot, but most of them I have no particular plans for. I just want to have them in case I need them, or something. Anyway if you're on folia add me as a friend. If you're not, you should check it out. It's still very small. And it has great new features, more of which are being added daily. It seems like every time I comeback there is something new, much like ravelry.

It has been raining since Tuesday.

I'm sitting backwards on the toilet in the downstairs bathroom of theBoy's house because this is the only place I can get a good internet connection. And even here it's not very good. I'm in the process of cleaning his room for him. I'm getting paid for it, which makes it better but it still sucks. However, it brings peace of mind. I don't have to sit and think about how filthy everything is anymore. At the moment I'm working on a massive laundry pile. And once I get through it, it's on to the dreaded closet. But at least I will have a place to hang all the clean laundry up! I'm doing a load of sheets right now, including a blanket I crocheted for him but have never taken pictures of.

I've really not been doing that much crafting lately. I haven't had a lot of uninterrupted time to really have marathon crafting sessions, and that's really how I get things done. I'm working on the silver and black afghan (ravelry link) but it is sometimes taking me half an hour to get across one row. Slow going!
I was doing a bit of work on my toe-up Charades (ravelry link) but I can't seem to find the first sock! So I have temporarily stalled progress on the second. I'm at the crucial heel-turning point, and I want them to match. (Seems like I should be spending time cleaning my own bedroom, huh?)

I did take some stash photos the other day, so check ravelry in a week or so and they may be up. Nothing exciting.

In exciting news, I made some awesome earrings!



They are made with fishing lures. I had talked about making jewelry out of fishing stuff, at first as a joke when at the sporting goods store with theBoy. But pretty much immediately I realized that would be a great idea. It took me a little while to actually get stuff for it, but I'm super happy with my results so far. I may even make some more and list them on etsy. They are easy, fun, and cute! They were super hard to photograph, though!


The weather here has been sucking! It's been raining since Tuesday, maybe Monday, and there are clouds if not rain for the rest of the forecast ('til next Friday). Yuck!

Watch for falling gazebos.

We have had some pretty fucking crazy weather around here! 69+ mph winds and a TON of rain. Our gazebo ended up stuck to our neighbor's roof, and put backyard looks like a hurricane struck. All the chairs and chaise longues are upside down, blown around, or in the pool. A ton of pots are broken. I have pictures, but my camera is in the process of dying. But, we are lucky enough to not have any trees/limbs on our house or car. Driving downtown, there are limbs everywhere and all over there are trees that have totally blown over. The Boy said while he was at work yesterday he saw a bunch of stuff like downed power lines on the wet ground sparking everywhere. He said it looked like it should be in a movie.
I've seen pretty crazy stuff in the past in terms of flooding, but never wind damage like this!

I will have so crafting stuff to post about soon. Really! And some pictures.

Rain, rain go away!

It going to be raining for the next week in my neck of the woods. Which is fine. It's much better than snow, and really, we need it! But it's also going to be windy which SUCKS!



Gusts around 65 mph after midnight. Which is right now! It basically sounds like the roof is going to come off. So I'm comforting myself by listening to my ipod rather loudly through headphones. I'm good with thunder and lightning and all that jazz but wind just fucks with me.

Hope things look better where you are!

Christmas!

I hope your Christmas was as good as mine! Usually holidays, and especially The Holidays, go terribly for me but I have had a pretty good last couple of days.

I'm currently typing this on my brand new laptop. Santa brought it for me. It's a Compaq Presario something or other; I don't pay attention because it's all binary to me. But hopefully it will help me be a little more consistent with my blogging. We still only have dial-up, so I don't know how much it will help. Anyway, I am happy as a clam! Especially because the monitor on our desktop sucks, so now I can actually see pictures as they're meant to be seen! yay!

If I don't post again before then, have a happy New Year too!

Christmas meme, and some thoughts about ornaments.

This Christmas meme was stolen from Amy at Boogie Knits.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, most of the time. I enjoy tearing open paper and opening a box much more than reaching into a bag.
2. Real or artificial tree? Real! And Noble firs only. I don't want a Charlie Brown-looking Christmas tree.
3. When do you put up the tree? Beginning of December. We got ours the 2nd this year and it was up later that week.
4. When do you take it down? New Years-ish.
5. Do you like eggnog? Not even Silk Nog.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A little aquarium. I accidentally leaving it on my window sill when we went on vacation later that year, and I ended up frying the poor fish.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My mom. Or the boyfriend's relatives.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Me! All of the guys are easy to buy/knit for.
10. Worst Christmas present you ever got? Plastic makeup caddy-thing from my grandparents. It look like it costed $2 and there was no thought at all put into it.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't send out my own cards but I should. My mother sends them to just about everyone she's ever met.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story. And Meet Me in St. Louis, which is not 100% Christmas movie.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start crafting as early as possible. I crocheted my mom a couple of scarves months ago, and I had forgotten that I'd even made them. I hate running around on the 23rd trying to wash/block/wrap/finish things.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? In a gift exchange last year, I got Santa Claus boxer shorts (furry red with white trim) and I regifted them to a male friend.
15. Favorite thing to eat on Christmas? Ham! We have ham on Christmas Eve and turkey on Christmas. Needless to say, Christmas Eve is my favorite.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear. A couple of years ago my mom did a tree with colored C9s, which are the big ones you usually see outside. I was not a fan.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas sung by Judy Garland. Also anything from the Judy Garland Christmas Special, which I have on cassette tape and VHS. Old school!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. Or rather go next door to my grandparents.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph. And it's definitely "Donder" and not "Donner". Donder and Blitzen (I'm not sure if those are both spelled properly) are thunder and lightning in German.
20. Angel or star on top of tree? Angel! And she's redheaded, of course!
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning at home, and at my grandma's we have to wait until after dinner on Christmas Day. Combine that with me hating turkey and it's a pretty suck day. Especially when I was a kid and bored with my new toys in about 36 seconds.
22. Most annoying thing this time of year? Shitty music on repeat. I like Christmas music (check last.fm!) but I hate hearing the same crappy songs over and over again.
23. Do you decorate your tree in any theme or color? Last year our tree had an Irish theme. (I will find picture and post them. It was tacky but good.) This year no theme. My mom has done shells, bows, and I'm sure some other stuff over the years. My grandma's tree is always flocked with all silver and some gold. It's gorgeous.
24. What do you leave for Santa? Cookies and milk. My mom has an amazing sugar cookie recipe. They're the yummiest sugar cookies I've ever had, but then again they might be the only ones I've ever had from scratch. Cookie making is a big ordeal every year. But it's worth it for those cookies!

I really should have gotten stuff to make ornaments at the craft store when I went earlier this month. I thought about it, but the Christmas section was such a zoo I just avoided it. This meme really got me thinking about ornaments and stuff like that. Everyone has their favorites. I think a cool thing would be for everyone to take pictures of their favorite ornaments and decorations and post them! Definitely share the stories behind them, too. Everyone has their little traditions. I would love to look at stuff that you guys like and to share mine. I might start doing this tonight.

All this said, I've watched too much Futurama lately and wanted to call it "X-mas" he whole time but in any context other than a Futurama reference it just sucks. Being too lazy to type that out is crazy.

Thank goodness for blogger saving my post as I type it. If I was still at blogspirit. you wouldn't be reading this right now! yay!

bummer time!

I brought my yarn, needles, and pattern with me to the Boy's house today so I could start working on my Quant, which I might give to my sister for Christmas. Then I realized, I forgot DPNs. And it's really hard to do i-cord on straight needles. It's actually impossible.

Back With a Bang

It's the most wonderful timw of the year. Everyone's stressed. I always get really depressed during wintertime. I think that's because I get outside so much less and don't get to enjoy the sun. What I'm trying to say is the holidays suck! And they're just starting.

Speaking of the holidays, I went so San Francisco to do a little Christmas shopping yesterday with the ladies from the Elks Lodge down the street. And I managed to forget my camera! I did get some shopping done and I finally found a pair of grey Chuck Taylors in my size! I've been looking for some for years. I wanted to check out the yarn shops in the city, but didn't have time. I did, however, pick up the newest Debbie Stoller book, Son of Stitch n Bitch. I just picked it up on a whim with no intention to buy it at all, (I haven't been very impressed with the manly patterns in her other books) and I loved it! The 'Lucha Libre' pattern sealed the deal for me. I'm not entirely sure I would want to wear a wool mask, but it made me immediately think of a couple of friends who would love it. There are a couple of other patterns I like a lot, like the Ernie sweater and the argyle scarf. The stripper illusion scarf is just classic. A must-knit.

Since it's the holiday season, I'm knitting a lot of smaller stuff. Most of it is generic and could be given to a lot of different people. There is always at least one time where I kick myself and think, "How could I have forgotten about ____?!"



pattern: My So-Called Scarf, still a WIP
yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in a colorway I can't remember
needles: US #10s

This is one of those things that I have no idea what I'm going to do with. Give as a gift, but I don't know to whom. Best case scenario: I don't have anyone to give it to and I can sell it. (With most patterns one couldn't do that, but this is just based on a stitch pattern! whoo!)



yarn: Peaches n Cream in Daisy
hook: I-9, I think
pattern: Little Dress Dishcloth
mods: i used a small elastic hairband instead of a plastic ring in the center.

I don't know what I'm doing with this, but I know I'm not keeping it. Definitely a grandma-type gift. Way too cutesy for my taste, but it's fun to make.
I'm actually thinking about making a bunch of dishtowels for people. The kind with the little loop for hanging. You don't have to hang it from your oven (reccomended) but everyone uses towels in the kitchen!



pattern: Seaman's Cap
needles: US #7s (4.5mm)
yarn: LB Wool Ease
mods: On this hat, I did the ribbing the opposite of the pattern (k2, p1 instead of k1, p2) and I did the ribbing on the same size needles.
I've also made a TON of these hats (I'm on #4 or 5 right now, but haven't photographed those yet.). They are pretty much the perfect knit hat. I wish I didn't feel like such a homeless man wearing one, otherwiseyou would probably never get it off my head.Maybe I need to make a more feminine one. Anyway, Dad and Grandpa are all getting these for Christmas. Boyfriend already has two. The best part is, these take very little time to make. I just wish I could find a CO that I really like on reversed ribbing. I like the front of the double CO (also known as the thumb method) but the back is just purl bumps which is not my favorite. I might try a cable CO with the next hat.

I did a little dyeing last weekend while the rest of the family was out picking out a Christmas tree and it turned out rather crappily, if I do say so myself. More on that, and pictures! in the future. It was probably the worst dyeing experience I've had to date. And let me tell you, hot Kool-Aid stinks!

A million voices with nothing to say.

It has been a long time since I've posted, and it really should have been. I have had a TON of stuff to blog about, and I have thought about it a lot! I'd really like to get back to posting at least once a week. That really shouldn't be too hard.

I've add a couple of current projects to ravelry that I haven't talked about here. First off, there's the grey and black ripple afghan that will go to my boyfriend once it's done. It's Red Heart Supersaver in grey heather and Caron One Pound in black. For something like this, I think an acrylic/wool blend would even be too warm, because this thing is heavy. I love it, though! It's super wide, and is really going to take a lot of yarn.

Basically, I love crocheting afghans. While sitting and working on this, I make plans for who I can make these for in the future. I really enjoy working on things where you're not obsessively counting rows, and worrying about the pattern. This is big enough that I really get into the rhythym during the row, and I am not counting the number of stitches left 'til the end. It's kind of like how it seems like it takes less time to finish a scarf when you work it long-wise instead of short-wise.

I'm also working on some Charade socks with my favorite yarn ever! The wool/elastic combination is AMAZING! So comfortable! I have one sock done, but I'm working on some Holiday socks for the boyfriend before I finish the second one. I only have one #1 circular, damn it!

I highly reccomend this yarn; I will definitely be using it again. It's Knit One Crochet Too's Soxx Appeal, by the way.

I'm working on a little Christmas knitting, if you must know. A couple of scarves and some pairs of Knucks. Maybe a dishcloth here and there, too.

And, as always I have been making a square now and then for the granny afghan. I found and old picture I took with all my squares laid out. This was what I had as of July 30th:

Check it out on flickr, I'm pretty sure the original is huge. Tell me which ones are your favorite, because i know I have mine. I'm doing a lot more squares with 3 or 4 different colors, now. I've already run out of a couple of yarns which is fantastic because my goal is to use it all!

The best thing about my week: I went to my cousin's wedding over the weekend and caught the bouquet! whoo! I won't be the next own the get married, but I was pretty excited. Pictures to come from that soon.

"My favorite punk band is My Chemical Romance."*

One of the absolute most annoying things about going to community college is that there is always someone trying to hand you a flyer, get you to sign a petition, sell you something, or the like. It is so frustrating. In less than a half hour while trying to have lunch, I was bothered by two different dudes trying to get me to buy magazines under the guise of voting for them in some "communications" class. wtf?!
I wish I were a little scarier looking! I need face tattoos or something. I look way too nice and these people always make a beeline to me!

The other annoying thing about community college is that there is a high percentage of people in places like the library, computer lab, and cafeteria with offensive body odor.

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I really have been trying to make an effort to post more than once a month. Clearly, that has not panned out. But I have been incredibly busy lately. I have thought a lot about blogging, but hadn't put finger to the keyboard 'til now.

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I've been doing a little more embroidery, with the swallow again. I love him! I put him on a quilt square, and on a hoodie! He's on the left front.




The quilt square isn't done but the hoodie is, and I really need to take a FO shot. I was planning on doing that today, but plans have changed a bit.
I really enjoy embroidery quite a bit, and the results are fantastic. I just wish things came a little more naturally to me. For some reason, chain stitch is just not my friend. Nor is stem stitch. And those are the pretty ones!

I've been doing a bit of knitting (to be discussed in a future entry concerning Socktoberfest) and quite a bit of crocheting, that really deserves its own post.

I actually really need to go through and photograph all my WIPs and update them here and on Ravelry. I feel like the stuff that I talk/photograph/post a lot about while it is in progress never goes well. (i.e. Mariah!) I never want t jinx it!

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*This is what the first guy trying to hit me up for cash said today, when he asked me what kind of music I listen to and my response was punk rock. I told him that I didn't think My Chemical Romance was a punk band. Then, I asked him if he'd heard of Rancid, he said yeah. (Who hasn't heard of Rancid?!) His response: "So you listed to like that screamo stuff?" Uh, no.
I should have told him I listen to death metal ...