Oh, look! A Chicken!

My husband has a co-worker who is easily distracted, by all reports. The running joke at his place of employment seems to center on the appearance of a mysterious chicken, running by to catch the attention of this poor soul.

I know how he feels. I've seen the chicken.

I worked almost exclusively on the February Lady Sweater and the Garter Stitch Block afghan this past weekend. I made quite a bit of progress on the afghan but I'm suffering no delusions about getting it done any time soon. I'm making it for a king-sized bed, after all. I probably would have made even more progress if I hadn't been distracted by something pretty and shiny.

These:

I've been resisting the pull of working with beads for quite a long time. I finally discovered something I could do with them that didn't involve making scads of gaudy earrings and necklaces that looked like I should be hawking them at a Ren Fest. Yes, Virginia - stitch markers.

I've been sucked in so badly now that I'm about to take a trip up to this humongous beading store up in Frankenmuth today to get more beads and findings. Do I have a talent for this sort of thing? I guess that's up for others to decide. Personally, I'm loving what I've come up with so far.

These are just a few examples of what pulled me away from my knitting at odd intervals Friday and Saturday. The dining room table is a mess of yarn, knitting, my laptop and assorted beading implements. My back still hurts and I'm loving it all. If I could make a living do this for the rest of my life, I'd die happy.

The yarn for my next DNA scarf arrived, so I really need to get that on the needles today. I've been feeling the pull of another sock project, especially since I don't have any socks on the needles right now. It's like caffeine. Or crack. I just can't go for any length of time without a sock hit. I'm sure you all know how that is. My intervention is a long time in coming, too.

Excuse me - I need to get ready to go bead hunting.

Cheating

I've undertaken two similar, yet completely different types of diets in the past month. I'm back on the 'try not to consume every piece of chocolate in the house, will ya?' diet. My husband assures me that I'm thinner now than when we got married but, well, you know how that goes. So far, I've been reasonably successful in conquering my inner junk food whore.

I've yet to meet a carb I didn't like.

Since our decision to buy carpet (finally) and its subsequent arrival in the next two weeks, I've also been trying not to spend so much on yarn and assorted knitting goodies. I haven't been quite so successful with that, I'm afraid. We always crave what we cannot have, right? However, in my defense, the chocolate mint stripe yarn by Lorna's Laces finally came back in stock over at Twilight's Dream. Heaven knows when that'll be back if I miss this opportunity. Over at Plurk, I've become acquainted with a young knitter/dyer who was profiled by Lime & Violet in a recent show: nerdclub2000. She's whipping up a custom order for me, based on a colorway I saw in a blog awhile ago and haven't been able to find anywhere in the known universe for sale. I placed that KnitPicks order I spoke of previously, adding some acid dyes and some much needed circular needles to the queue. It is, after all, time to start working on Christmas presents soon.

Yesterday, I drifted into JoAnn's on a quest that I've been meaning to undertake for some time. I'm going to try to make my own stitchmarkers! I'm not sure how this is going to work out but here's my first effort, for consideration:

I used a lobster claw clasp for this, largely because the headpins I selected were too small. I like the idea of the clasp for making split ring markers, instead of the usual circular type, if that makes sense. I can't claim this is an original idea, though - I saw it used on Etsy and thought it was a neat idea. I bought a bunch of crystal beads and tools and, once I get the proper size headpins, I'll give it another whirl.

Meanwhile, I managed to finish not one, but TWO, projects last night. My first marker is gracing the side of the finished Ilene Bag. I could have made the handle longer but I didn't want to break into a new skein of yarn to do so. Besides, I'm sure once it's used for its intended purpose, it'll stretch out nicely.

I also finished up the Lace Wing Fixation Socks. Sadly, I discovered an error that I'm not about to go back and correct. I hate to say it but Dubai Stretch by Needful Yarns is just a pain in the ass to knit with. It splits and comes unraveled and is just not fun at all. The end product is great but...never again.


I've been knitting almost exclusively on the February Lady Sweater and making great progress. The pattern is just so incredibly easy it just flows by. Sorry for lack of photos but both my camera batteries just died.

The Michigan Renaissance Festival begins tomorrow and Barry and I will be there with garb on at some point. Its getting harder and harder to motivate myself to attend the festival every year. Unfortunately, nothing changes and all I do is spend money on crap I don't need. I'm leaving cash at home tomorrow, though. Seriously. All I'm buying is incense and that's it, I swear.

I suppose I should be thankful that I can't eat the cinnamon almonds because of these damn braces. Ohhhh, but I really want to!

On Call

If you're not intimately familiar with the medical field, you won't understand my pain. I'm on call this weekend. I usually give my call away to someone else but I got stuck with it this weekend and, as Murphy would have it, I've had to stay over late Friday night (or early Saturday morning, depending on your view of things) and I just got back from an 8am case this morning. Keep in mind that I work second shift. My usual bedtime is around 1am. I'm operating on precious little sleep and this big ass cup of coffee I've got parked in front of me right now.

You know, I used to hate coffee. Now I'm calling my husband from the parking lot at work and telling him to make a pot before I get home.

I've done fits and spurts of knitting this weekend. I've been working on a cotton string bag for use at the farmer's market - the Ilene Bag. I'm using the hanks of Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton that I bought awhile back. I was going to make the honeymoon cami from it but I decide it was just too harsh for that. It's perfect for this project, however. Maybe one of these days I'll get to the farmer's market in town and actually be able to use it.

I made an error on the Montego Bay Scarf while I was in Cleveland over the weekend and, having thought I'd corrected it, realized Friday night that I had made another error in my correction. So...I frogged it back and reknit. I'm pretty confident I'll have this done by next summer at the rate I'm going.

I'm still plugging away at the February Lady Sweater. No new progress to report, I'm afraid. I'm trying to get these little projects out of the way so I can start thinking about my Christmas knitting. Yes, campers, it's getting to be that time of the year. My new sister-in-law has hinted strongly that she would not object if I were to make her a DNA scarf like the one I made my brother a couple of years ago. She'd like it in a gray hue, however. So, in order to keep peace in the family, I'm thinking I'd better place another KnitPicks order here very soon.

Its a good thing I'm working all this call this weekend. Between yarn orders and feel-good etsy orders, I'm going broke.

Sweaters for Trees

I live in a wonderful neighborhood. It's quiet, there's an elementary school within walking distance and the people, for the most part, are respectful and friendly. I've been taking walks through the subdivision for well-over four years now and I've come to know just about every dog by sight, if not by name. I know all the houses and I've watched people come and go, whether by choice or by some unknown misfortune that forced them to move. The streets are in dire need of repair but most township roads are because no one wants to pay for them to be fixed.

I thought I had a pretty good grip on my neighborhood. I never thought any of my fellow residents were as quirky as me. Boy, was I wrong.

No, you're not seeing things. I thought I was, too. I've been looking at this for the past few weeks, wondering exactly when it happened, not to mention why. I finally remembered to grab my camera on my way out the door this morning to document it for posterity.

The sad thing is, I can't tell if its hand knit. What's even sadder is that it matters to me if it is or not. Wool or acrylic? It almost looks like some sort of novelty yarn on the cuffs, doesn't it? Why is it there on this poor tree in the middle of the August heat? What is this tree hiding underneath that sweater??

This is why I knit. This sort of thing amuses me to no end. Seriously. Tree sweaters? It makes me smile every time I see it.

Speaking of sweaters:

Progress on the February Lady Sweater continues. Once you hit the lace pattern, it flows fairly quickly. I'm thinking I may actually finish this one but I don't want to jinx myself. Sweaters and I have a love-hate relationship.

Except for my little tree sweater. I'm loving that to no end.

Climbing Back

I really meant to post something before I left on my little weekend trip last Friday. Honest. Life, however, seemed to conspire against me. That, and a bit of disappointment left me completely incapable of sounding optimistic and upbeat about just about anything before we took off.

You see, after a bad week, its very hard to come home and find a letter from the place you interviewed stating 'we like you, just not enough to hire you'. I have a wide streak of sarcasm in me, not to mention the fact that I hardly take anyone at their word unless I know them very well. I've been disappointed far too many times in my life to fall for lines of false hope. 'Don't call us, we'll call you.' Yeah, right.

Anyway, I had plenty to distract me from that and I was able to look at the positive aspects of not getting the job, for a change. Taking a big pay cut was one of my biggest fears with this change and they more or less solved that quandary for me.

You see, gentle readers, something amazing happened Friday. Something that hasn't occurred in nearly 2 1/2 years.

This:

Dad got out of the house and traveled to Cleveland with us for a weekend getaway. Despite all the setbacks in the last few years, health-wise, you can see he's just as goofy as ever. We were able to find a company that rents wheelchair-accessible vans so he could travel. My brother and his new wife held a reception at their apartment to celebrate their wedding on Saturday. As you can see by the picture, they live in a horrible location with a rotten view of Lake Erie. I don't know how they can stand it, personally.

The company is Wheelchair Getaways, if you're interested or curious. The rates were downright cheap ($100/day for a sweet van) and my father had no trouble at all getting in and out of the vehicle. To say it was a God-send is an understatement in the least. He was thrilled to finally be able to get out of the house and see not only where his son lives but where he works. He also got to meet the new members of our extended family. I wish I could show you some pictures of them but my camera batteries died and, in keeping with the theme of my weekend, I didn't have the battery charger with me. C'est la vie.

I didn't have much internet access, either, which is why I didn't post anything over the weekend. I fully intended to to a little yarn shop hunting while I was in Cleveland but things just didn't work out to my advantage. We spent most of Saturday getting ready for the reception that evening and Sunday, Barry and I took advantage of our location to visit one of our favorite Renaissance festivals in the area: The Great Lakes Medieval Faire.

It's located in Geneva-on-the-Lake, which is about 45 minutes east of Cleveland. A bit smaller than the Michigan Renaissance Festival (which starts up in two weeks) or the Ohio Renaissance Festival but we like it because it seems to have missed a lot of the commercialization that's hit these events over the last ten years. The vendors, for the most part, are actual artisans plying their craft and they even had an alpaca there (but no yarn, alas).

So...once I get all the laundry done and the house tidied up, I'll be back to knitting. I promise.

Bad Week

I've never been more happy to say goodbye to a week.

Work was hell. Work is becoming more and more an exercise in how high my blood pressure can rise before the cork pops off. I've yet to hear from the place I interviewed but I haven't lost hope. They told me it might be the end of August before I heard back from them. Needless to say, I'll miss the three-day work weeks and long weekends but I think that, in the end, the change of scenery will be worth it.

I have nothing to report on the knitting front because I haven't really done much knitting since Wednesday. I think I knit all of two rows on the February Lady Sweater yesterday and a few rows on the Montego Bay Scarf in the car yesterday afternoon. Problems at work, problems with my new iPhone and just problems in general have all stymied any chance I've had this weekend of doing anything relaxing. I'm hoping I'll be able to sit down tonight but I'm not holding my breath.

Wish me luck.

How to Piss off a Knitter


That one's easy. Sell her crap.

For the most part, everything I've ever gotten from Knitpicks has been wonderful. Their customer service is stellar. I've never had a problem with anything I've gotten from them.

Other than these:

My Knitpicks Options Needles. This, dear readers, is the second cable join to come apart on me from this set. The first was replaced by Knitpicks. Despite that, this really pisses me off. I was using it at the time it flew apart in my hands, causing several stitches of my project (The February Lady Sweater) to drop off. Fortunately, I was able to pick them up quickly and without much trauma. I picked them up on an Addi turbo needle. I'm done with the Options needles for the moment.

It's really rather disappointing, as you can well imagine. I figured this set was the solution to my lifetime needle hunt. No more would I have to buy expensive needles to work on a project. Once I had enough cables, I'd be set for life. They were relatively inexpensive and, when they worked, were slick and smooth and no trouble at all.

Famous last words.

I haven't yet complain to Knitpicks and I'm debating whether or not I'm going to, either. I don't think I need to describe the utter horror of having a needle fly apart in your hands and watching your stitches fly off on a project that would be a disaster to have to start over again (I /did/ have a lifeline in my work, though. I'm not a total idiot.)

We purchased our carpet and the man came over to take precise measurements of the house today. Hopefully we can get this process underway relatively soon. I'm eager to get the place back together and this office space arranged the way I want it. Needless to say, I'm totally freaked out about the amount of money we're spending on this project. We both agree that it's something that needs to be done, however. Only problem is, it's seriously curtailing my yarn-buying options right now. That is to say, I'm not buying any yarn right now.

I seriously need to stop listening to Lime N' Violet. Dudes, they're the worst enablers on the planet.