uuuuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhh

Went out for my brother's birthday last night...Didn't even drink that much...want to die I'm so tired...when did I get so old?

I've been found out!

Carl's weird stomach ailment flared up again yesterday and he stayed home from work. I think he should see a nutritionist because I swear this is all diet related but I'm getting off topic. Carl cannot sit still and gets bored very easily so if you leave him home alone for a while he will clean the entire apartment. This is usually really nice but yesterday he did something he never does, he cleaned up my stash! I got home and the basket looked suspiciously tidy but I said nothing. Later, over a glass of wine, he broke into his speech. I guess I had done a really good job hiding all my purchases till now because the boy was floored by the quantity of yarn stuffed into and around the basket. Honestly, I don't think my stash is that bad. I know knitters with a lot more yarn but that argument did not help me. I am now banned from buying any more yarn until I actually make a dent in what I have. I also got a little lecture about how I cannot start decorating with yarn. I never brought up the subject but I was thinking about it. Sometimes its really annoying that we're so connected, I swear he can read my mind. So I guess that yarn diet really has to happen. This really stinks. And I just figured out that if I order from The Loopy Ewe once a week the craptasticness of work seems to magically disappear. Of course the danger of that plan is that I could end up broke with more sock yarn then anyone could knit up in two lifetimes. Though I could always build a little fort out of the yarn and live in it. The wool would keep me warm!

Catching up because things have been NUTS!

Work has really been out of control these past few weeks so I apologize for the delay on showing you guys my sock wars socks.

These are the one’s I made. They’re so tiny looking I hope they fit you Ms. Jackson.

And these are the ones that killed me. I love the color and the “dead men tell no tales” antenna ball! Arrrrrrrrr matey you killed me.

We left work early on Friday to head down to Pennsylvania to see Carl’s little sister graduate from College. It was a lovely and tiring two days of graduation fun. We stayed at this awful Holiday Inn in Mechanicsburg. It was set up like a motor inn so our room opened to the parking lot which always makes me nervous. After a long drive in the rain and a long loud dinner we headed to the hotel and hoped we could get some rest. My throat has been bothering me for the past couple days and all that screaming at dinner really did me in. We settled in for the night and Carl went right to sleep which meant snoring. Loud deafening snoring combined with the sore throat meant that I didn’t fall asleep till about 4 am. This made Saturday particularly difficult. I was very happy to be home and in my own bed last night. I passed out without any problems. Also I’ve been trying not to take too much which is making some people happy. I think my voice is just strained. I’ve been talking and a lot of the time loudly because of the background noise for over a week now. It needs a rest.

I have been working on my clapotis when I can but there’s been so much going on here that I haven’t had the chance to knit as much as I like. In an effort to make me feel less stressed I’ve been working on our vacation plans. Knowing there’s a break in a few weeks has really helped me stay focused and not lose my mind. Ok its helped a little, I still feel like I’ve lost it a little.

a

Looking at Mom's bleeding hearts always seem to help.

a

Ok errand time.

Question from Monica

I received a question from Monica about the flair jacket but unfortunately I can't respond via email so I'll just respond here.

The jacket was easy. The only difficult part was setting for the neck/body and sleeves. Once you've finished the raglan its super easy. I think I knit the small version and it fits well on me and I have a 34-35 inch bust. I like the flair but personally I wish I had done a few more increase rounds so it could flair more. But I love it.

What yarn did you get? The Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton is awesome!

Happy knitting.

I'm dead...

Carl called this morning to tell me the bad news...my socks arrived, I'm dead. He also informed me that they're "EW Turquoise!" He hates turquoise but I love it! Unfortunately, I have to got to some women in business dinner thing so I won't be able to see them to much later tonight.

I guess its back to regular knitting.

Bang Bang

You're dead Ms. Jackson from Reno, NV!

My Sock Wars socks are done and DHL is picking them up and sending them out! I succeed in killing someone before getting killed. I'm happy and I never want to knit these socks again. I feel bad for my target though. I didn't kitchner the 36 sts left on each toe and did a three needles bind off to save time. They're kind of ugly but the rules say you need to finish them not you need to finish them AND have them be pretty.

I have pictures and stories and all kinds of fun things but those will have to wait.

YAY! I killed someone woooo!

Itchin to knit

I didn't get the sock wars pattern till 10/11 this morning so I was already at work and unable to start. With 10 minutes left here I'm starting to get super impatient. I know that some people are already half way done with their first sock and I haven't even started! I'm going to be dead before dawn folks...

I made yarn!

Wooo my first yarn!

Hello Kitty would you like some grape vodka?

On my way to work yesterday I noticed that the Lever House building on Park Avenue had changed their art installation from many naked men to little Hello Kitty fountains. Now these aren’t just any fountain, they're fountains of Hello Kitty tears. Look she’s crying!

WEIRD

Last night my knitting group had a little going away tea party for one of the girls who is leaving us for a month or so. It's very sad. I really like Sarah and will miss her terribly. We went to Alice’s Tea Cup on 64^th street and it was a lot of fun. When the tea pots came we noticed (well Jess did) that the little kitty on top had a little ball of yarn. Its almost like they knew we were knitters.

I promised pictures of the new sock so here you go! They’re really comfy. I like this yarn a lot. With the help of my knittery friends I figured out what this colorway reminds me of – Light Brite! These are now my Light Brite socks!

Oh and my Namaste bag came! And at the perfect time as I was starting to feel really shitty and thought I was actually getting sick and not just suffering from allergies. Then my package arrived and for some reason I felt much better! I love it! It’s soft and easy to clean and HUGE. I might be able to fit a whole sweater in here!

Carl came home with vodka tonic ingredients just now and he noticed as he took the bottle out of the bag that he bought grape vodka. We are now experimenting with our nightly drink and its actually good even if it does smells a little like children’s cold medicine.

If you don’t hear from me for a while it’s because of sock wars. I should be receiving the pattern around 6 am tomorrow and I’ve got a lot of knitting to do. Wish me luck!

There's a break on the horizon

We finally booked a vacation. June 18th to the 24th we will be in San Fransisco and Northern Cali. We thought we'd stay the first two nights in San Fran and then head up North to wine country and do some camping then B&B then camping then back to San Fran for our last night. However, this is all we have planned so far. We've got tickets and I think a car. If any of you have any suggestions on where we could stay in San Fran, Napa/Sonoma and camping please throw them out there. I'm also looking for any yarn related suggestions. I'm allowed to go to a few yarn stores if I go to a baseball game or something equally Carl-like. So where do I go? Are there any fairs or fiber shows at that time? I think we're also looking for general tourist info and since I have a blog and you guys are so awesome I thought I'd press you guys for info while Carl reads the travel books (I'm also lazy) so let it rip people you have a few weeks to tell me what I should do on vacay...oooo the power!

Of course this means I can't spend money since we put the flights on my credit card (thank goodness AMEX raised my limit) and well my income hasn't increased so I think I'm going to be on a strict budget for a while. Luckily I have tons of knitting to do. Including all that sock wars knitting and the 8+ ozs of roving that arrived on my doorstep the other day that now needs to become yarn and the 11 balls of Bernat Cashmere I bought this weekend to make the Somewhat Cowl. All this should keep me busy but we all know I like to stray...we'll see how good I do.

I finished a sock from the Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Soxie in the black magic with pictures to come. I used one of sockpixies' patterns. I really want to cast on the second one but I noticed that I need those needles for sock wars and I won't be able to finish sock #2 before the 9th so the second sock will have to wait. Its really killing me not to cast on the second one though. I don't have Second Sock Syndrome because I'm compulsive about finishing a pair, its like the opposite of SSS. To not cast the second one on is just torture.

New contest over on Learnersperknit I never win these things but I thought I'd help spread the word and increase my chances of losing! Seriously though, who doesn't love a good contest?