Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mothkiller Extraordinaire!!!

So, I was just about to close my eyes, and go to bed. I went to take off the light, and I see this thing fluttering around. Oh my God, it is a moth!!! I am in my bedroom, and the closet (where my yarn cubbie is) has the door wide open. What if it flies in there and starts to eat my precious Cascade Magnum, Socks that Rock, and Manos? I instantly get this burst of energy, and rush to get the broom, to wack the thing against a wall or something.

Sidenote - I am not afraid of bugs, but I must kill them before I go to sleep. I fear that they will fly into my nose or ears when I am sleeping. Did I just say that I am not scared of bugs? Yes, but I am afraid of what they can do when I am not watching.

OK. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.....
So, I am trying to wack this thing with a broom, and there is dust flying everywhere, and I realize that the ceiling fan is where this thing is headed, because of the lights. If I wack the ceiling fan by accident, I will have some serious broken glass and trouble falling all over my bed. Not to mention the possibility of loose electric wires. So, I have to come up with a different tactic. How do I get this thing to stop flying, so that I can kill it???

The answer... Super holding spritz for long-lasting curls. I used non-aerosol hairspray. I kept spraying that sucker until his wings got stuck, and he fell right onto my bed. Ewwwww.... now I have to wash the sheets ... AGAIN!!!! (Dust plus moth). I proceeded to pick it up with a tissue, and trash the disgusting yarn-critter. I feel so accomplished now. Changing top sheet that the moth fell on... Laundry day tomorrow. Sleepytime.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Sock Mojo!!!

So, I was happily knitting along with my Jaywalkers and then a problem occured. I tried them on, and they were not snug around my skinny ankles. I was so annoyed. I used a size 1 knitpicks needles, so what was the problem??? Well, knitpicks size 1 needles come in 2.25mm and 2.50mm sizes. Apparently, I have been knitting the smaller version of the pattern with the 2.50mm size. On Ravelry, everyone else knitting with KP Felici is using the 2.25mm size. And, their results look nice and snug, and great. So, to the frog pond I must go. AArrgghh!!!.... there goes 1 week of travel knitting down the drain. Look at how far I got? Well, at least I remember the pattern offhand. Hey, at least trying again is better than droopy socks. Who wants elephant ankles??

On another note, I have been preparing for the Summer of Socks. I have also been practicing using my camera along with my budget lightbox that I created from the Strobist's blog. I actually like the picture results. Hey, it sure beats spending $100 on photography equipment.

So, in order to get myself ready for the Summer of Socks, I decided to split my skeins down the middle to make knitting 2 at a time possible. Did I say that I am loving the 2 at a time Magic Loop technique? Pictures below are the Sit N Knit limited edition colorway from the Plucky knitter. I won it during the SNK raffle at the logo party a while back. Next to that is Lorna's Laces in Bittersweet. In the front is Socks That Rock in the Mustang Sally colorway. I plan to make Nutkins with those. Also, I must add that STR has a lot of weight to it. 81 grams per sock, as opposed to 50 grams for other sock yarns. Hmmm... I may be able to get some baby socks out of it too. We will see.

This bittersweet treat was a gift from Tawana. As a token of my gratitude, I started to make some personalized stitch markers for her. I will take pics of those tomorrow.
It has been 41 days since my self-imposed ban on buying yarn. I am still getting tempted. WEBS tent sale is this weekend, my car is tuned up and running like new, and the GPS is all ready to go. Too bad I already made plans for the weekend. I have a lot of friends visiting from out of town. But if you can get to Massachusetts, by all means, enjoy yourself. I promise, I won't stalk you with jealous hissing.

Monday, May 5, 2008

A Wonderful Knitting Weekend!!!

This is my recap of my past weekend, where I knitted more than I ever imagined I would, but have always wanted to.

I decided to spend Saturday with Tawana, because I haven't seen her in ages, and I miss my friend. So, I walk in and what do I see? Look at this beautiful blessing from God, Karen Joi. Isn't she adorable? Look at those cheeks!! Oh, I held her and she was just smiling and laughing the whole time. So, now I officially have "the touch". Hehe!! She is also wearing the Peapod Baby set that I made for her. It is so wonderful to see the children in the clothes that you make for them. I was overjoyed.
So, my knitting project of the moment was the Bittersweet Climbing Lace Socks. But on Saturday, I was under the gun. I was on a deadline to finish it by 2 PM the next day for the Sit N Knit Sock Exchange. I was having issues that I was not supposed to be having at the eleventh hour. The pattern has lace going up the middle of the sock as well as the sides, but somehow I kept losing stitches.
Hmm.. maybe they went to stitch heaven, but I couldn't find them. So, instead of going crazy, I decided to omit them.
And the socks came out lovely... ahem... at 10:30 AM the next morning. I knit on Saturday until I was knitting with my eyes closed, then I managed to really sleep in my bed and wake up at 8 AM on Sunday to complete it.

My sock exchange recipient Meghan was happy, so I was happy. Plus, she really liked the orange Nail Polish that I got for her as well.
I also received a pair of socks from Ileana, and I love them. The pattern is called BroadRipple. I think it looks amazing in the Fire Colorway of Colinette Jitterbug.

Who says Jitterbug has no yardage? Look at how high these babies are up on my leg!!!


Here is a birdseye view of everyone's socks. How cool is that??

And, this guy was checking us out the whole time. He was so busy staring at us, and wouldn't even say hello. How rude!!!

So, I started immediately to make a pair of Jaywalkers. I needed something portable to take on the train with me. So, I grabbed my Felici yarn from my last Knitpicks purchase, and got crackin'. I found that not all skeins are wound in the same direction, as I have opposite stripe patterning going on.

I figured I could live with it, but by the time I got off of the train, I was going nuts, so I decided to rip it out and start again. This is where I left off after my commute home from work. I can't really see the pattern yet, but it will appear soon enough.

I also decided to make some stitch markers that don't dangle, to make sock knitting much easier.

So, that was my lovely weekend. More surprises later on this week!!!