NaKniSweMo

Yay, another thing to join and not keep up with! National Knit Sweater Month. Another thing for November, which is now really Acronym Month. Acronym? Is that when you use bunches of letters, or is that only when you're using the first letter? Hmmm....Wikipedia to the rescue! Yup, acronym is for words made up using bits of other words, so it's all good. Acronym Month it is!

Instead of knitting a sweater, my goal has been to finish things. Not in the way I have been, like socks and stuff, but finishing some long-term large WIP/UFOs. Pullovers and blankets, large. I should be finishing a blanket tonight, which is awesome, since I started it almost a year ago to go to RIT hockey games and I'm about to graduate from RIT...

I also have a pullover I've been working on for almost a year and a half that just won't go the way I want it to go. I had a very definite idea of what I wanted it to be, knit it that way after fiddling with things like ease for awhile, and it was not working. At all. So I ripped back to the point it stopped working and put it aside. It's time to finish it, since it's done on size 10 needles. I think.

Crapola. I just looked on my drive for that sweater pattern. That pattern that is umm...not there. Which means it was on my other drive. The crispy one. !#%!#$^$%^. Times like ten. Anyway, maybe it's on my laptop...fingers crossed...

So I'm definitely finishing one blanket, and I'm working on another one, along with a couple of sweaters. If I can free up the project bags, I can bring other yarn to school! I'm really trying to compact the stash as much as possible by transforming as much yarn larger than fingering weight as I can to items that travel in other areas. Blanket goes with the blankets, sweater goes with the sweaters, so it's not yarn anymore, and therefore good. Mostly because the empty project bags get filled with other new projects, so if I'm careful about it, I can sneak almost all of my yarn to school because it'll be in project bags, not in the Rubbermaid bin...And if I can make it so that everything is in either project bags, the Christmas box, or the Bin, it will be all nice and organized and all, at least for the move.

Anyway, wish me luck with the finishing of the large projects...I might need it!

I Fail

So I suck at the posting daily thing. Oh well. I've had a post in mind for every day I've missed. So it's not the lack of ideas, it's the lack of getting on the @!%!#$ computer and posting. A couple days I can blame on Lee for usurping the computer, but mostly it's just laziness and not thinking of posting when I have the chance.

Cabled Baglet
Originally uploaded by UnFrogged

Anyway, on to other things. I found my two missing US7 DPNs, along with my original set of US1.5s, the ones I first used to see if I'd like the sock thing before I bought the KnitPicks set. They were in my back pack. I found them Sunday, and bought new US7s Saturday. D'oh! It's not really a tragedy, I kinda needed a set of 5 DPNs for one project I'd like to make again, and it wasn't fun working with a circular for the most part. The Cabled Baglet works with a circular, but it's difficult the first couple of inches. By the way, for those of you who really liked it, the pattern is currently available in 101 Designer One Skein Wonders and will be available soon on Gardiner Yarn Works for anyone who doesn't want the $15 book and would rather spend $3 on the pattern alone.

I'll probably get the book because it might have other things in it, and it just doesn't feel right making multiple items from a test knit pattern when the designer is trying to make money from their designs. One test knit item to make sure the pattern is okay is fine in my book, but if I like the design enough to make it again, I feel the need to pay for it. And I rarely buy patterns, almost everything I make comes free. I've bought three patterns as just the pattern, and a few books for reference, but the majority of my knitting money goes for yarn. Therefore, this pattern is awesome, a quick knit, uses a skein or less of worsted weight yarn, and with cute lining fabric, would be perfect as a gift. Only takes a weekend of knitting, so is highly recommended by me!

Back to finding the needles. You know how when you drop something, the automatic reflex response is to catch it as it falls? And how that really doesn't work with a knife or when you're sitting on the floor and drop something? Yeah. It doesn't work when you drop the teeny 2.5mm DPN on the floor and it lands pointy end (well, one of them) into the rug while your hand is rushing down to save it from impending doom. Impending doom, all right, I now have a nice puncture in the middle of my left palm. Right where any and all errant DPNs brush up against while I'm knitting. Because when one pointy end is in the rug, the other pointy end is sticking up and is very lethal. Very lethal indeed.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Mmmmmmmmm, yarn!

Last bit on Ron Paul for now: The average contribution was $103 dollars, and he actually made $4.2 million in a 24 hour period. The 3.8 was midnight to midnight, eastern time. Also, his site is www.ronpaul2008.com, sorry for not adding it the other day and thanks Krista for letting me know!

I got my package for winning the random drawing from the Sock A Month knitalong, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Black Pearl, a color I would have chosen for myself, along with some really amazingly gorgeous stitch markers. Like amazingly amazingly gorgeous. And my first real stitch markers. Something other than paperclips to mark my place with, what a novelty!

{There will be a picture here of the gorgeousness, when I get home to take it!}

I've never used Lorna's Laces before, and now I need a perfect pattern to use for it. Any suggestions? Lee thinks I'm crazy for stroking the yarn as much as I have been since opening it and petting it, and cooing over it, and considering all the different patterns I've made and wanted to make, and how none of them are good enough. I know, I know, it's just sock yarn, but I'm a KnitPicks girl and this is better than that. I'm just lucky that the other sock yarn with the Monkey Sock Swap came with its own pattern! A pattern that I am slowly losing the battle with - I am not to cast on until I have other things done. Doesn't matter what, I just gotta finish stuff before I can have the enjoyment of running that yarn through my fingers. Socks are good for school projects, and as my housing has fallen through, I may be back in the dorms, so not all the yarn will be coming, I'm thinking. Well, maybe all the yarn, it really doesn't take up that much room, but if all the yarn, then no fleeces. So probably a box of fleece and the box of Christmas yarn along with whatever else fits in that box. Socks will fit. Lace will fit. Therefore, must not cast on new socks (except Christmas ones to make more room in the box!) or lace items until at school. So there. Crap, I think I just jinxed myself!

Politics

I've always been kind of into politics. Not to the point of watching CNN obsessively, but to the point of liking to know what the different candidates stand for. I didn't actually vote in the last election (I know, bad me) but that was because I'm from New York, didn't get the absentee stuff done on time, and there's no way Bush would have won in New York anyway. This time, however, I've even changed my party affiliation so I can vote in the primaries as that vote will certainly count for something.

I like Ron Paul. Many other candidates are just not all that good. Giuliani will take us to war with Iran if he wins, Clinton actually supports many of Bush's things like the war in Iraq, and I don't particularly like many other candidate's platforms. Obama's okay, but I really like Dr. Ron Paul. He sticks to his guns, doesn't flip flop for politics' sake, believes in smaller governments and so will be decreasing the amount of programs and things we currently pay taxes on, and will take the troops out of Iraq ASAP. Sure, he's against abortion, but that's because he's an obstetrician. He also believes in allowing the states to decide, so he's not for banning it, just for making it a state and not federal issue. I'm okay with that. I'm not really for abortion hardcore or anything, I just think that the choice should be available. People should live with their mistakes, but sometimes it just isn't possible to bring a child into this world, even if you're going to adopt it out right away. I also know people who have used it as their preferred form of birth control, and that is not right at all.

Anyway, back to the original point. Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes' Day? Is there supposed to be an apostrophe? Is is the day belonging to him, or just his name is the name of the day? Google will tell me...No, no apostrophe. Guy Fawkes Day. This guy wanted to blow up Parliament. He's for smaller governments. So is Ron Paul. So a bunch of his Internet fan club (he has a HUGE Internet following) decided that that day would be the perfect day for a fundraiser. Over 35,000 people donated to his cause, including Lee and I. Granted, we didn't donate much, but we donated. He made over 3.8 million dollars, breaking the record for the most money donated to a 2008 Republican presidential candidate. The record was Mitt Romney's, at 3.1 million, but Paul's supporters broke it. Pretty darn good for one of the ones the media hasn't decided to back.

He's mostly Libertarian, and ran under that party at one point. I agree a lot with Libertarian beliefs. The basis of this is that anything that doesn't need to be regulated by law shouldn't be. So if you're stupid enough to blow your own hand off with fireworks, crash your motorcycle without wearing a helmet, or drop the toaster into the bathtub, it's your own fault and you can't sue the manufacturer or anything, and the government allows you to make that decision instead of seat belt checks or helmet laws. Sobriety checks and speed limits? Needed, because you're not just controlling a couple thousand pound piece of machinery, you're also driving it in close proximity to others attempting to control their thousand pound pieces of machinery, and not everyone is paying as much attention as they should. So there needs to be some laws and government intervention. Not as much as there is sometimes though.

Anyway, I'm very impressed that Ron Paul has managed to raise the funds he has, and very impressed at the way he's running his campaign. He's going to be in Philadelphia this weekend, and I'm going to see. He's changed speaking venues due to the cost, and is using his supporters' money as wisely as he can. He's also conscious of his fans, changing his television ads after the Internets decided they were not so good. He may not be media savvy or as big-name as some like Giuliani, but his ideas are good and he has a huge following. All he needs to do is start turning some heads and getting his message out to the not-so-Internet-savvy crowd, and maybe he has a chance. I think it would be a very positive thing for this country. As long as Bush doesn't attack Iran and then invoke the part of the Homeland Security bill that says everything including elections gets put on hold due to the national state of emergency, becoming a dictator and causing the US to be even more hated and feared. Fingers crossed!

Monkey Stuff

I got my Monkey package, yay! There was an adorable monkey sticker on the front too, but I did not want to show off either the sender's address or my own, so I didn't show it. Adorable!

Here's the inside. Look, a candy bar jumping right out to meet me! Obviously a good package.

Here's all the Monkey goodness. And Lee's hand. It's the only place where I could get good lighting at that time. There's a finger puppet monkey which when confiscated by Lee promptly attacked my belly button. There's a monkey that makes monkey sounds, to the very great enjoyment of both Lee and I. And one that walks. Much too much enjoyment was had from the monkeys, much more than should have been had by two twenty-somethings about to graduate college. Like this was five year old enjoyment we're talking here. Also a monkey notebook, which is freakin' cute!

This is the yarn and pattern that came with it. I definitely wanted this pattern, and the yarn is awesome. A bit more muted than shown in the picture, flowing from pink to violet very smoothly. Also about the squishiest yarn I've ever felt, and I can't wait to play! My first time using 100% superwash merino too, and it looks amazing and lovely and wonderful. I thought I took a picture of the Monkey socks themselves while on my feets, but apparently I did not. They are soft and wonderful too, and I wore them for the rest of the day.

Thank you ever so much!!!

Well THAT lasted awhile...

I blame Lee. He usurped the computer for nefarious deeds. Like Alpha Centuri, a video game that has taken over his soul. I attempted to entice him away with promises of food and Other Things, but he resisted. How am I dating the only guy to choose video games over Other Things?!?!?!

Ah well. Today I shall post thrice (and backdate, don'cha love Blogger?) to compensate. Seriously, the boy was gaming on Friday from the time he got home, stopped for about an hour and a half for us to deal with food, and then before I could claim the computer, continued with his game until 1 am. I had gone to sleep well before. So technically I could have fished out my laptop, the external keyboard now required to use it, and found another Ethernet cable and blogged from there, but we really don't have any good places to use such a setup here. And it's a major pain in the behind, and I didn't think of it until I was ready to sleep. Yesterday, I had the computer just long enough to upload the photos that I wanted to post about. But not long enough to post about them. Ah well.

In good news, I have two packages on their way to me, my Monkey Swap package and my winnings from the Sock a Month knitalong. My swapee still hasn't sent her address, so my Monkey package is still sitting here, waiting to be sent off to its home. I'll post after she has it, though I'm not sure if I'll unpack it to take pictures of the things I neglected to photograph. Like the cutest ever sock project bag. It is a floral denim print with sock monkey insides, a pocket outside for notions and things, and a square of the sock monkey fabric on the outside. MadCaterpillar on Etsy sells them, and here is the link to the one I got. I highly considered getting the orange corduroy one for my pal and keeping the floral one for me, but I could not justify such an expense for myself. So it is off to my pal, as soon as there is a place for it to go.

FOs to Show

Here are some of my latest FOs.

I did finish the Thujas today, so they are done and ready to be wrapped for Christmas. The variation really isn't much, so I'm going to deal with it.

They were done in Caron Simply Soft Shadows, for ease of care later, softness, interesting colors, and niceness to my wallet.


I've been cooking a LOT these past couple of weeks. Every meal. I made amazing crepes, if I do say so myself. This right here is one of my two FOs for the day food-wise. I made Focaccia bread to go with the stuffed shells I made to use up some of the pasta sauce I made yesterday. I really made the bread because I'm making Garbage Bread on Tuesday, and won't have time to make the dough so made it today. It uses pizza dough, then you sprinkle on garlic salt and oregano and basil, cover with mozzarella and pepperonis, roll it into a loaf, cut vents in the top, then bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it's all nice nd golden brown. Anyway, the bread is noteworthy though, because it tastes exactly like Goldfish crackers. Not lying here. Exactly. I made the bread the way it is listed in Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition, by making pizza dough, not rolling it out all the way, drizzling it with olive oil, and adding toppings. The toppings were Parmesan cheese, a sprinkle of garlic salt, and a dash of oregano. Just enough garlic salt and oregano to be tasted in every bite, not enough to overwhelm. I usually take an engineering approach to my cooking and measure it all exactly, but I didn't this time. Apparently it makes bread that tastes like Goldfish. Who knew?

These are a test knit for Gardiner Yarn Works, Seeded Rib Wristwarmers. I used up the leftover yarn from the Hemlock Ring Blanket (next) and man, they are nice! We've had a cold snap, and they've been warm and comfy. Lee said it looks like the knitting is taking over, as I was wearing a knit cardigan (bought, not made), these, and a scarf.

Yarn is Vanna's Choice in Chocolate, took a bit more than half a skein for the pair. I weighed them at work so I can use other leftover yarns if I had enough, and they are about 28 grams apiece, so a little more than half of the 100g skein.

This is the Hemlock Ring blanket. It's for my grandfather as a recover quickly present for his hip surgery. He's good now, and I do believe he has the blanket, though I haven't called to confirm. That's my official blocking blanket for anything that is too large for the board, not my bedspread or anything. The bedspread is zebra printed!

This took just over three skeins of Vanna's Choice 100% acrylic in Chocolate. Again, the acrylic was for ease of use and lack of strain on my wallet. $10 for a whole lap blanket and a pair of wristwarmers? Count me in! I didn't quite block it well enough. I did the steam thing after washing it and letting it air dry for awhile, but I think it was still wet enough that I didn't allow the steam to penetrate enough. I tried the hold the iron less than an inch above the surface, but it didn't work too well. Next I'll try the cotton sheet version, and see if it works better. Damn acrylic.

Socks

The Christmas present of the year is socks. Everyone is getting socks. Well, almost everyone. A couple people probably aren't, they're getting fingerless gloves instead. I'm making socks for Lee's mom. I got a skein of Caron's Simply Soft Shadows, thinking it would be about right. Not quite. It's just a little bit off. If the toe had finished before the orange ended, I'd have been able to make both socks out of one skein. As you can see, it continued through the yellow.

Off to A.C. Moore I went. Another skein was bought, and since I pull from the center but it isn't really nice to leave little bits of yarn barf with the yarn you won't buy, I brought the bit of leftover and tried to find a skein that ended around the same place in the colorway as the other one. I found one that looked good. But of course, it starts a few yards further in the colorway. Like eight rounds. Can you tell?

Lee says it's fine, don't worry about it, it's close enough you can't even tell. But LOOK, it's totally off! I suppose that I could live with it, but they're not for me. What do you think?

In other news, MONKEY SOCKS ARE HERE!!! And we're such lazy bums that we didn't see the package outside our door that was left sometime Saturday afternoon until sometime Sunday morning. Tee hee. And did you know that it's the time change today? Yeah, neither did we, the computer said 9 am but the microwave said 10, so that's how we found out. Yeah.

P.S. - This is the first of two backdated posts, so I can make up for being a bad blogger during NaBloPoMoEIEIEO - so the date says Friday, but I say it's Sunday. So there.

NaBloPoMoEIEIO

So I figure I'll give this a try. The whole, post daily thing. It may or may not work. I'll tell you now, I am going to cheat slightly. I have three or four blog posts worth of stuff, and I'm going to write them all as drafts tonight. Then I just need to add pictures, edit, and publish on those days I just don't have time for an actual post. So I can maybe get a full post in daily.

As for a general update, which will be much more in depth later, I have gotten the nine sock WIPs down to six. One frogged, two finished, and one almost done - more on that one tomorrow. Ooooh, foreshadowing! I can't show off the two finished ones yet, but the frogged one I posted about last time. I also have another pair that would be as done as it's going to get until Christmas finished, but I've been working on stoles instead. I'm knitting socks for all my aunts for Christmas, same pattern, and I'm not putting on the toes. I'm going to measure their feets with the socks to make them exactly right. So I'm going to knit to about a size 7 foot, as they're all size 7 - 8, and then have them try them on on Christmas Eve. Everyone's pretty toasted by that point, so it'll be a really good time, trying on toeless socks so I can measure how much further I have to go before adding the toes. Yippee!!!

I'm keeping up (mostly) with the Secret of the Stole and working on Swan Lake (MS3) which is still not done. I figure if I keep it so I only allow myself to work on the same clue for SOTS as MS3 I'll actually finish both. I'm headed to the yarn store to pick up some Addi Lace US4 needles, since I really like KnitPicks Merino for lace and US4 is my preferred size, so I may as well get a better needle for such projects. The price tag is very off-putting, but I figure if I build it slowly, someday I'll have my Boye set and a set of Addis for special projects. Someday.

'Kay, gonna go home now.