Sorry guys. I’m far too sick to blog today. I appear to have contracted the flu. Good times! So, I will blog more tomorrow… Assuming things improve.
Second Verse, same as the first March 29, 2009
Yep- today was pretty much exactly the same as yesterday, except that I’m sicker today. Cory went to watch the rest of the Dune series with Chris, and Janelle came over here to veg and play FFIX.
I knit some more on the socks,
(that color is nearly accurate)
and made some stitch markers. These are specifically for the socks above, and there are actually five but two are already in use:
And these are some just for fun, made with beads Janelle found for me.
And now, back to sneezing on the sofa.
*gasp* Pictures?! March 28, 2009
I remembered to take photos today- plus I actually have something to take photos of.
Janelle came over today, and we spent most of the day in the living room- her on the ps2 replaying FFIX, and me knitting.
My sock yarn for the sock swap I’m in came in the mail today, and I cast on- I’m doing toe-up Monkey socks, two at once using magic loop. I love this technique!
I cannot get an accurate color on this yarn in photos. The green isn’t THAT bright, and the pink is more vivid, but my camera doesn’t seem to understand that. Ah well, it’s very pretty and VERY soft. It’s this yarn- merino cashmere nylon. Great stuff.
Also, since I didn’t share this before- Autumn and Tiffany gave me a birthday present last weekend that is just awesome- an elephant tea set and tray!
Really cute, and a good sized pot for 2-3 people. Thanks guys!
I promise I still own a camera March 27, 2009
I just haven’t done/made/seen anything worth taking a photo of while also in posession of said camera. I seem to forget it every time it would actually come in handy.
In any case, I’m actually blogging from Autumn and Tiffany’s place today. We’re over here drinking beer and playing rock band. Other than that, today has been fairly uneventful. So today, a yarn review!
Today’s review:
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight, 100% superwash merino wool, fingering weight. 360 yd per 128g ball.
Rating: ●●●●●
I’ve used this yarn three times- my Leyburns, some socks for my dad for last father’s day that I never got a photo of, and my still in progress Lapis socks.
Pros:
- Soft and squishy. Very comfy to wear.
- Incredible colors, and a huge huge variety- semisolids, variegateds of all kinds, even pastels and nearly-blacks.
- Not terribly expensive- $18 a skein for the Lightweight.
- Machine washable, so easy care and excellent for gifts.
- Very tightly plied, so it will wear very well.
Cons:
- A bit thick for fingering weight, so it takes some getting used to.
- The variegated colors pool- a lot. There are patterns you can use to get around it, but if you hate pooling, you might want to stick to semi-solids. (Or the Leyburn pattern!)
- Not fabulous yardage. If you have very large feet or want tall socks, get two skeins (though then it’s pretty pricey).
This is my all-time favorite sock yarn, honestly. It has great “sproing”, and is by far the most comfy on my feet of any sock yarn. The colors are rich and Tina has the most incredible eye for variegated yarns. I can honestly say I would be delighted to receive ANY of the colors on the Blue Moon website. I have only once found a knot in a skein, and it wasn’t a jump in color, so it was just a matter of doing a quick russian join. I heartily recommend this yarn to anyone that likes squishy socks!
…I got nothin’ March 26, 2009
Today was a much better day than yesterday, but since I spent it doing precisely nada, I don’t really have a whole lot to say. Random Thursdays strike again!
- I bought this mitten pattern today. That’s what I got the rowan 4-ply soft in tan and brown for. I probably won’t knit them for a few months, though, since trees with leaves are what I’m lookin’ for now.
- Did I ever mention that I bought Knitting New Mittens and Gloves a few days ago? Coz, I did. It’s fabulous. Highly recommended.
- Here is an awesome Mythbusters clip, if you haven’t seen it. I watched it three times today.
- Cory and I have decided to attempt to be less lame, since we now don’t have to get up until 7am… so we’re going to try staying up until 11. Whee!
- The fact that the previous item even made it into this post is proof of how little happened today.
- I finished that spreadsheet at work today, which was a huge, huge load off of my mind. Now I can go to work and not get headaches! …as much, anyway!
- My sock yarn for the sock swap I’m doing shipped yesterday. I’m excited to start on those, though I still haven’t decided if I’m going to do more Leyburns, or try something else.
That’s, uh… that’s really about it for me. I’ll try to be more interesting tomorrow, but no promises. Nothing I’m knitting is near any sort of completion stage, and I have no plans to start anything new.
Short, yes. Sweet not so much March 25, 2009
I will refrain from going into much detail about today. Suffice to say it was a Very Bad Day up until about 4:00 pm. Not long-term bad- I still have a job (though I was very close to quitting) and I didn’t kill anyone (though mentally there was a wee slasher film playing in my head most of the day), but that’s really the best you can say for it. Here’s hoping for a better tomorrow.
In the mean time, how about some nice pictures of yarn, eh?
Yep, I finished spinning the angora/ramboulliet blend last night. I only had 1.5 oz, so it’s a small skein (about 84 yds of sportweight yarn) but it’s quite soft and bloomed nicely. The angora gives it a bit of a halo.
I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. For those keeping track, I spun it on a 0.9oz Butterfly Girl Designs spindle that Nicole gave me for my birthday, and Janelle gave me the fiber.
At knittin’ kitten tonight (which was bizarrely empty- only three of us showed up!) I didn’t accomplish much. I was very tired, so I just knit a bit of my woodland scarf and spun a little BFL. No noticeable progress, really.
Now all that remains to decide is whether I shower tonight or tomorrow morning. I’m leaning toward the latter… I just want to go to bed.
Transformation March 24, 2009
Tonight, I decided to do a little bit of magic.
First, I took perfectly ordinary white and mint green angora/ramboulliet blend
And with a flick of the wrist (well, many flicks), I turned into this amazing single!
crowd ooohs and ahhhhs
For my next trick, I took ordinary pantry ingredients- just a bit of flour, sugar, chocolate chips, butter, and a few other odds and ends
And after a few moments in a magical box, we have cookies!!
wild cheering and eating noises from the crowd
That’s what I did with my evening. What magic did you do today?
Greys and Greens March 23, 2009
Today was a strange day… the morning was grey, and bad, and full of awful. The evening, however, was quite lovely, and full of glimpses of green.
I got to work this morning (in the rain) and found a huge, huge project in my inbox. 2748 entries in a dense, hard to read spreadsheet; each one had to be looked up in a directory, and my boss wanted it done by tomorrow. As if. I got 1070 done and by that time, had a blinding headache and a burst blood vessel in one eye. I got some mild sympathy from coworkers, but didn’t get an offer of help until about 2:30, and nothing came of it (a project leader said something about automating the process, but didn’t elaborate- I think he had a phone call or something to deal with). My lunch didn’t heat right, so the bread was hot and tough, and the gnocchi were cold and slimy.
Just after lunch, though, things looked up. My team lead (not the boss who gave me the project) let me go home at 3 because of the headache, and then I had a lovely nap that banished the headache. I made a quick dinner and headed out to knit with Kelly for a few hours at a coffee shop. On the way there, I was surprised to see that a neighbor had populated their entire deck with huge green plants- plants with leaves. Green leaves. I forgot about leaves.
I had a lovely time with Kelly. I forgot my camera, so here are some phone pictures.
Kelly, working on her FIL’s scarf- which she finished while we were there, yaaay!
The very cool statue next to me at the coffee shop.
While there, I worked on some more green to offset the grey- my woodland scarf, which I had cast on in December as a bit of a break from Christmas knitting and set aside for a few months. I’d like to finish it for spring, if I can.
It’s the Woodland Shawl, only narrower. The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in colorway Juniper, which I think is the perfect name for it. It is exactly the color of summer juniper bushes, just like the ones I used to play with at my Grandma’s as a child. I love this yarn. It has a slight halo, from the mohair, and the colors are just stunning.
Here’s hoping tomorrow yields less grey… and more green. After that rain, it’s a possibility, though the forecast says rain. And then snow. And then more rain.
Socktime March 22, 2009
Some days are for lace. Other days are for socks. Today was a sock day, and a productive one at that, because guess what.
Aw yeah. Leyburns complete! I’m really pleased with how they came out. The fit is a tiny bit big, but still wearable inside of shoes, and they are so, so, so comfortable and warm. Great pattern, all ’round- I would do it again, and that’s saying something. I wasn’t sick of it by the end! That never happens!
I’m quite pleased.
We picked up Corpse Bride today in the used section of Electric Fetus– I still can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before, but at least I have now (I’d never been to EF either and I live 2 blocks from it!). It was cute. Not nearly as good as Nightmare Before Christmas, but I’ll definitely watch it again. Fun little movie, and short enough that you don’t feel like you’re using your whole afternoon just to watch it.
Tomorrow, assuming I hear back from my partner, I’ll be starting in on my swap socks. I’m thinking I’ll use my skein of Malabrigo Sock in Caribeno, though I’m not sure on pattern yet. All I know is I’ll be trying two-at-once on one circ, toe up, to use as much yarn as possible.
The longest day March 21, 2009
Today has been probably the equivilent of 3 days already, and I’m sure tonight’s shenanigans will add to the total. I can’t believe it is still Saturday. Feels like it should be Tuesday, at least!
This morning, we got up, made waffles, and headed out to the MN Zoo with some friends to celebrate our friend Kaitlyn’s birthday. The zoo was very cool, but going from the cool, dry outside to the hot, humid “tropics” exhibit gave me one horrendous sinus headache. After the zoo, we went back to Kaitlyn’s and walked up to Mickey’s Diner (a local landmark of sorts) for lunch. We were given the trademark heckofatime finding a seat and horrible service, but the trademark delicious eats as well.
After returning home, I checked the mail and was delighted to find these in the mailbox (I used the etsy seller’s photos as mine didn’t turn out):
4 oz merino/bamboo, 2 oz tussah silk, and 4 oz sea cell/merino. My birthday present from mom! Thanks mom! These are all from Dyeing for Colour on etsy. All gorgeous, I can’t wait to start spinning them up!
I also dyed my hair, today, though I can’t get a good photo of that, either. It is a weird camera day, apparently. Here’s the best one I got.
It’s red, again, only lighter this time- for spring/summer- with some subtle highlights.
Tonight, we are going out with Autumn and Tiffany to belatedly celebrate my birthday. We’re going to “Psycho Suzie’s”– it’s a tiki bar, apparently. Should be awesome times.
