In Other News...

Lately around here it's been all-sock, all-the-time. I did take a break or two though. mostly to clear my head when I got confused. I tend to overthink things and when I take a break it sorts itself out in my head. Anyhoo....

My tomato plants were looking pretty wild.

So I trimmed 'em down a bit.

And I found:
Baby tomatoes! Always exciting to find the first ones.

Heelage!

It only took me 2 freaking days, but we finally have heelage!

And I do mean freaking days. I had to rip or tink back at least 3 times. It might have been more, but I stopped counting. It was pissing me off. The irritating thing is that this a basic short row heel. Nothing fancy and certainly something I've done before. I do not know why the GOK (gods of knitting) decided to test me with this particular heel, but I definintely had to overcome adversity to get it done. But it is done. The heel, not the sock.

ciao

I Haz a Stoopid

I am a bonehead. I got to the heel on my sock last night. Rather than do the heel when I was tired, I thought to myself,"Self, tomorrow when you are well rested, put a lifeline in and then do the heel. That way if it is short, as you suspect, it won't be a pain to fix."

Riiiiight. I did the heel, completely forgetting the lifeline idea. Foot too short, heel too pointy. Dammit. I ripped back. Didn't quite get all the stitches the way I was supposed to. Need my tiny crochet hook to fix. Naturally it has gone walkies. I am on my way out to get a new one, thus ensuring the old one will reappear toot sweet.

Ciao-grrrr

Speed Knitting

I think this is the fastest I have ever knit a sock! Progress so far:

You didn't think I would show you the lace yet, did you? And yes, there IS lace. Hopefully the heel will be turned this evening and I will fly up the leg after that!

Ciao

Derailed...Sorta

Remember the long list of crafty stuff I was going to do on my time off? It's become a little unhinged. In a good way. Mezzodiva is doing the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. To that end, last year she came up with a truly yummy sock pattern which was yours for a donation to her walk.

This year, the courageous woman is doing it again. Both the walk and a sock pattern. Said sock pattern is being test knitted as I type. I know this because I am one of the test knitters. She would like us testing types to report back in a couple of days. Yikes! I have to start knitting faster.

I am knitting the sock out of Mama-E sock yarn in the Beauregard colourway. It has been in my stash for a while just waiting for this sock, apparently.

So far, I have made a toe-hat.I am into about row 2 in the actual lace pattern. However, I have sneakily shown you the sole of the sock. Pretty colours,eh?

I'm off to speed-knit.

Ciao!

Sewing

I started and finished my curtains for the dining room yesterday. There was some swearing, I will admit. Mostly at Raven when he kept trying to help. Not useful when there are straight pins all over the place....

At any rate, the new curtain is done! First, the old curtain:

As you can see, there is quite alot of light coming through these curtains. This was a problem with the way the tv now sits. During the day, almost half the screen was obscured, depending on where you sat.

Here are the new curtains! You can see a little bit of light leaking around the edges, especially on the left side of the picture. That is pretty much all the light leakage, though. It can be fixed by tweaking he curtain over. That picture was taken without flash so you could see the light issue. Below is the curtain taken with the flash.

Shiny, ain't it?

All in all, I'm quite pleased. I did line it with curtain blackout material and the result is quite all I could hope for!

Project one complete!

Ciao

One Third..Almost

The dorito of the knit world continues. (betcha can't knit just one!) I am busily mitre-ing away.

That pile represents not quite 1/3 of the anticipated needs for this project. 19 squares to be exact. I estimate that I will need 60 squares for this work of art. Once I have knit up 60, I will see if the project is big enough.

Ciao

ETA: Go here and vote for the colour name AMPHIBIAN. Crafting Jen's friend Leesa entered the contest to name the new art glass shards at Avenue Beads and it's up to us knitters to change the world! Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. on June 21 (not sure what time zone that is)

Um...it's WHAT time? Oh Phooey....

Yup, that's right, I just realized that the new knit night donwtown started at 8:30. Exactly. It' is currently 8:54 and I am at home. And I am too tired to get off my bum and go. Next week. Really. I cannot believe I completely forgot about it! Brain like a sieve.



In other exciting news Chez Knot..hmmm..nope nothing. I am currently busily engaged throwing out any underwear that ride up, down or in any other direction. Yup, that is the excitment that is my life. Yee fucking haw.



I think I need to lie down now.



Ciao

Asian Bordello

One of the things I want to do when I take my vacation time week after next is replace the curtains in my dining room. The ones that are up right now have been there for 11 years and I think it's time for a change! I found some lovely fabric today. Although my husband, who claims I have no taste says it is fine, if you are decorating an asian bordello! I say he's wrong and that the fabric is lovely. In either case, it's what I'm putting up, so he'll have to learn to like it. Or at least keep his mouth closed...

It's an iridescent green that shades into the blue when the light hits it, as you can see. I love the edges too:
I think I'm going to leave them raw when I sew up the curtains.

One movie that made you laugh: The Princess Bride
One movie that made you cry: Beaches
One movie that you loved as a child:Aristocats
One movie you've seen more than once: The Princess Bride
One movie you loved, but were embarrased to admit it: Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo
One movie you hated: Anything with Nicholas Cage
One movie that scared you: Don't watch anything remotely scary
One movie that bored you: That movie where Mel Gibson got tricked up in blue face paint. Mel was easy on the eyes, the movie bit the big cucumberoso
One movie that made you happy: The Princess bride (Hmm, a bit repetitive)
One movie that made you miserable: Forrest Gump
One movie that you weren't brave enough to see: Philadelphia. Seriously, Tom Hanks being a dramatic actor? Ick.
One movie characted you've fallen in love with: Jack Sparrow. But then again, who wouldn't? I mean really, Johnny Depp? Mmmmm.........
The last movie you saw: Pirates of the Caribean-whatever the last one was
The next movie you hope to see: Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Or whatever it is actually called.
Now tag 5 people: Last time I wimped out, so now I will tag.....you, you and ummm....you over in the back hiding behind the fake flower arrangement. When was the last time that thing was dusted? Really, it is impossible to tell what colour the flowers are under that grime.

Belated Prize Posting

So, I was at work, melting since there is no air conditioning in this store yet (new build), when I realized that I haven't posted my prize from last year's Campanula For the Cure fund raising thingie. (yes, thingie. That is the technical term. Shaddup.)

It came very nicely wrapped in the box,

Wait a second, my assistant got in the shot. Let me try again,

Yes, my assistant is in this one too, but he didn't move the box while I was taking the picture so this is the "good" shot. Again, shaddup.

And the piece de resistance,

That's right, Mama Blue's Troika yarn (scrumptious 80% superwash merino wool,10%, cashmere,10% nylon yarn) in the Talulah colourway.

I already know what I'm gonna knit with it. This year's sock pattern! I am anxiously awaiting it's announcment.

I'm off to guzzle a gallon or 3 of H2O.

Ciao

How....?

I went to Walmart today to buy antiperspirant. I was completely out. Not a good thing when the humidex is hovering around 33C! (ETA: Humidex has now hit 36C!) Normally, I don't shop at wally-world, but it is within walking distance from my house and with gas prices being what they are, I figured I could walk a bit. The item I needed was $2.67. Here is what I spent:

That's right, $51.82. How do I do this to myself? Budget? What's that?

Oh Frabjiuos Day!

Said in a very sarcastic tone. Dishwasher broke. Lake on kitchen floor.

Door no longer shuts completely. Will be calling the company tomorrow for a service call.

In the meantime, it's paper plates and cups!

Traditional Guy

My hubby is very attached to the first pair of socks I knit him. So he was distraught when he saw this:

Holes! EEEEEEEEK!

But I made it all better.

I even had some of the original yarn . Hubby is now very happy....Maybe he'll remember to put a garbage bag in the kitchen when he takes the garbage out?

Advice Please

The hubby likes the Mansocks , but he would like them to be a bit longer. Since I have some yarn left over, I thought I would oblige.

Here is a shot of a longer sock he likes and the new cuff I knit.

A close-up:

So the question now, is how to attach. The sock was knit cuff down, so I can't just unpick a bind-off. I could snip a strand to get live stitches and then graft. But I have only ever grafted stockinette. How does one graft a K2P2? Or I could simply knit (and purl) the new cuff to the old, I suppose. Although I imagine that would give it a ridge. Not awful, but not ideal. Anyone have any ideas? Or done this before?

Ciao