Easily Distracted

This pretty much sums me up:

I mean, really. I have no stick-to-it-ness for projects. (I'm still amazed that I get as much done as I do. Thank the powers that be that I can multitask effectively!) Because of this lack of stick-to-it-ness, I have but one-half a Sekrit Project finished, and am showing marked reluctance to make the other half. (There's a name for this, and most of you can probably guess what it is.)

SEKRIT PROJIKTknitting

It said 50% before, which it *almost* was on Sunday morning, but it is now Truly 50% done. And I don't wanna play anymore. *sigh*

On the upside, I made a pretty cool Ravatar for my Ravelympics team, so that's something!

Even more shopping...!

On Sunday, I was forced to go shopping again. This turned out to be a good thing, because I was able to get some sock display shoes! Really! See?


Simple clear plastic - yet ventilated, with a bit of sparkle
And you can see socks right through them! Wheeee!


My lovely Toe-up Fern Lace Socks,
with all details visible!
Wendy Johnson had gotten a pair of Skechers "Cali Surfer Girl" shoes that were clear, with the same idea in mind, but getting myself a pair would involve (a) the credit card and (b) three times what I paid for these little darlings (which is key right now). They're pretty comfy, too, which is a plus. But now I can wear my socks, and people will be able to see them!

Shopping, shopping...

There was more to the shopping trip on Saturday. In addition to the very loud, but very-perfect-for-me shawl yarn, I also obtained:

One more ball of Tofutsies (in oranges and yellows that are much brighter than they appear here...


Some badly-needed blocking wires (that's two shawls that will suddenly be much larger one of these days)...


And, much to my joy, the Yarn Harlot Page-a-Day calendar!


The really wonderful thing was that, including the fee to be a club member at Nature's Yarns, I came in under $80, which was what I had available to spend! Lots of stuff, much of which I needed (the shawl yarn, blocking wires) or was going to buy eventually anyway (the calendar), and only one thing I didn't (that stray ball of Tofutsies). I haven't actually spent with my credit card for some time now, I haven't drained my account with totally Foolish Spending, and I was able to put back lots of stuff (several different sets of Addi turbos, some Sox that Rock yarn, a batt that I don't have the capability of spinning just yet, a lot of Tillie Thomas silk, some stitch markers, several pattern books...). Even though I did spend almost $80, that's what I expected to spend on just the yarn for my shawl - so I feel that I got yarn, plus all this bonus FREE stuff!

Weekend Update

First, I did work on some projects this weekend. One, my lovely red, white and blue crocheted bag, which went from 40% done up to 60% done - yay! Progress! Discernable progress! And, though I did an hour of stitching on my Small Ferocious Beast, there's still a really long way to go, and if you'd held up the piece quickly in front of someone who hadn't seen it before, and then did the same after all of yesterday's stitching... they wouldn't have noticed the difference. Sigh. Now that I knit, cross-stitch seems to take forever, even when it doesn't!

Inga's Haeckelbeutel IIcrochet, up from 40%

Small but Ferocious Gryphoncross-stitch, no discernable change

But, for all that, I also managed time to shop. And shop I did... and oh, my heavens, I made A Find.




Yes, that's 1,400 yards of laceweight merino in BLAZE ORANGE. Now I know that DK suggested solid pastels for SotS-3 to go with the theme... but oh, I just *have* to knit it with this! I'll have to find a plethora (well, 700 or so) little coppery gold beads - although I'm thinking of doing copper, gold and ruby, mixed hither and thither. But oh, the happy! Oh, the "Lookit what I found!!"

Waaaay too early on a Sunday...

The following is a list of ALL my UFOs, and about how far along they are. It'll take a while to load (lots of tiny graphics), so feel free to run away from this page if you wish. It's mostly just so I have it to track.

Sanctuary/Drawn Threadcross-stitch	Peacock Tapestrycross-stitch	Abundant Acornscross-stitch
Pocahontas Proud Princesscross-stitch	Arcadian Angelcross-stitch	Once Upon a Time [M2]cross-stitch
English Knot Gardencross-stitch	Dreamcatchers IIcross-stitch	Tropical Dreamscross-stitch
Gueniverecross-stitch	Fairy Talescross-stitch	Stoney Creek Chivalry Samplercross-stitch
Tiffany Wisteria Window (1)cross-stitch	Waiting for Ships/Mermaid of the Pearls"cross-stitch	Water Dragon (from M)cross-stitch
Autumn Samplercross-stitch	Autumn Queencross-stitch	Pocahontas Beautiful Braidscross-stitch
Welcome Friendscross-stitch	Angel of Christmascross-stitch	Tiffany Wisteria Window (2)cross-stitch
Spirit of Christmascross-stitch	Wedding Sampler [M1]cross-stitch	Firebirdcross-stitch
Castle Samplercross-stitch	[NAME] - Christmas Signpostcross-stitch	M & I's Samplercross-stitch
Daycross-stitch	Angel of Hope (FIL)cross-stitch	Small but Ferocious Gryphoncross-stitch
Unicorn (Night Watch)cross-stitch	Mysterious Spirit Womancross-stitch	Margaret Sherry Hammock Kittycross-stitch
		VS 12 Days of Christmas Bellpullcross-stitch
September 11 Patriotic Shoo-Fly Quiltletquilt	Dragonfly Windowcanvaswork	Illusion Dragon Blanketknitting
Optical Illusion Squares Quiltquilt	Bargello Flames Bagcanvaswork	Stoplight Sweater, Take IIIknitting
Block-Of-The-Month/ Red, Green, Goldquilt	Partridge in a Pear Tree stockingcanvaswork	The Cat Sweater/Kitty Loveknitting
Blue Triangles Quiltquilt	Fishing Pillow (for Dad)canvaswork	Secret of the Stoleknitting
Northwoods Challenge Quiltquilt	Stained Glass Peacock Kitcanvaswork	Peacock Scarfknitting
A Very Broncos Christmasquilt		Secret of the Stole IIknitting
Quilt Block Exchange Quiltquilt	White [NAME] Afghancrochet	Titania Sweaterknitting
Quilted Christmas Chessboardquilt	Inga's Haeckelbeutel IIcrochet	Snowball's Chance in Hell Ninja Armwarmersknitting
		Tailored Scallopsknitting
MS 2000cross-stitch set	Lounging Leopard Ruglatch hook	Koigu Lace Scarfknitting
Eight Joy Ornaments (JCS Ornament issue '06)cross-stitch set	Nova (Starburst)latch hook	Forget-me-Not Lace Shawlknitting
Six Williamsburg Mini Ornamentscross-stitch set		SEKRIT PROJIKTknitting

Secret of the Stole III

OMG, SQUEEE!!!

Secret of the Stole III is open to join!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so glad something told me "Hey, go check DK's site to see if there's another knitalong yet..."

Remember, kids, always listen to the Voices, they lead to knitting....!

Mind you, I haven't *quite* finishes Sots-1


Take II; I got a huge hole in Take I
...or Sots-2...


Actually over halfway done on this one
... but I'll start SotS-3 anyway. Now I just have to wander through my stash, and see what I've got that would work. (Or, darn it, go to the Yarn Store this weekend and find something...)

Really pretty sock pattern - found!

I avoided knitting socks for a really long time. Socks seemed to call for wool (to which I can have bad reactions). Socks required doing the same thing twice, and I'm lucky to finish one thing once. Socks required some sort of footwear to show them off. Clogs, usually, which I can't wear comfortably because of my knees, or sandals, which I won't wear. (It's a long story. I used to ice skate. Use your imagination.)

Then I saw the Nutkin socks. My mother is more than slightly obsessed with all things Peter Rabbit (and Beatrix Potter by extension). Peter Rabbit was the first book I learned to read; Squirrel Nutkin was the second. And squirrelkind and I have a long, eventful (if adversarial) relationship. It seemed, if I was ever going to try a sock, Nutkin would be it.

So I did, and they happened. Both of them. The next pair I knit was my own Fern Lace Socks design. Then a basic sock, just to see what would happen (photos and pattern will be forthcoming). Then the Briar Rose Socks from the Fairy Tale Sock Club. Now I'm working feverishly on the Sekrit Projikt (which, surprise, is socks), and thanks to my Ravelry friends, I found The Glamour Socks by Stephanie van der Linden. (It's a Ravelry link, sorry, they don't appear to be out in the world elswise.) I think these are the most beautiful socks I've ever seen (which isn't to say there aren't prettier socks out there; I think it's a matter of taste, and this is evidently mine), and I just happen to have the perfect yarn and beads to make them.

No, really, I do. Of course, I got the yarn at the big 20% off sale at Stitch DC in Georgetown - which I totally didn't know was happening - last night, and the beads on the way into work this morning. It's the Katia Mississippi3 Solid White. But I'm doing pink beads, with green "leaf" beads underneath. Because I never met a pattern that didn't get some sort of personal touch.

At least I paid in cash?

Bars for, not TO, progress

So, I've fallen in extreme like with the little progress-minders over on Courtney's knitting blog. I've seen variations on the same, and have been thinking about making my own set, and actually tracking The Projects and How Much is Done. Unlike Courtney (brave Courtney!), I won't be projecting when I think I'm going to finish something. That never goes well.

Plus, there's the whole "over 60 UFOs". I'd have a lot of little bars out there. But it might not be a bad idea. I can keep track of the knitting stuff on Ravelry, of course, but that's not where the main bulk of the UFOs live (although it's becoming a healthy percentage). Work being insanely busy, and me not wanting to kill anything or anyone, I took short three minute breaks throughout the morning to make the following:


I'm debating whether or not to go through and attach a progress bar to each and every one of my UFOs. I'm not sure I will, but not because it'd be overwhelming to see it all out there like that.

It's because I don't quite exactly know where over half of them are right now!

Stuff from the Daily Chum

Image from Presents Knits
I just love this wonderfuly Floopy Hat (free pattern!) by Presents Knits (click on pic to go there!). I'm probably going to do one - not for me, but for the Spouse.

The spouse who has spent major chunks of his free time playing "[fill-in-the-blank] of Zelda", and, while he'd be a really tall elf, really should have a Link costume.

And wouldn't the Floopy Hat just be perfect for it?

Too many weddings, not enough wedding samplers...

(I was knitting all weekend on the Sekrit Projikt, so I can't actually say anything about knitting today, other than it happened, and it's going well.)

So, other crafts, just for today. It's time to start working on my sister's *actual* wedding sampler, as opposed to the pillow I just made for her.

Deacon Joe, who performed the ceremony, wrote a lovely poem, "My Vow to You", that he read during the ceremony, and I'm going to use the words of that as the sampler. Her flowers were lillies, and her color was blue. The basic design will be a blue "ribbon" (cross-stitched) border, with a spray of lillies in the bottom left corner, and a few lillies in the top right, or along the sides, or something.

Problem: I'm not really sure about Lilly Construction. So, off to Michael's, to photograph some fake flowers for reference (and, okay, to buy all the stuff I'll need for the sampler - they had a 25% off everything sale yesterday). Here's what I got:

Hopefully, I'll be able to use these photos to give me an idea of how the lillies should look when stitched up. I won't have to worry about it for a while; I'll be stitching the words first, then most of the ribbon, then the flowers (which will have pearl and Austrian crystal accents). Unlike most samplers, where I give myself however long it takes (usually two to three years, or more), I've got both my mother and the mother of the bride standing over me asking me if it's done yet.

This is what I get for knocking that dratted Shoe Pillow out in one day!

Habits: The more they change, the more they don't.

I got some bad, yet good, news about an old friend yesterday. (Bad - critical, initially potentially fatal illness; good - he's survived, and will likely recover fully.) I noticed I was moping about it all over the internet, and was wondering why I was compelled to do so, and it finally hit me.

Ten - even five - years ago, I would've been writing in one of my paper journals until my hands cramped, trying to get all the words and the feelings out out. I might not even be able to read the words later, but getting them out would be the important thing. Getting the words, the thoughts, the prayers, the fears, all of it committed to paper as fast as possible.

Now, of course, I type faster than I write, and my journals aren't made of paper. The words still spill forth, but out where they can soak others unawares. The reflex hasn't changed, just the medium - and the liklihood that someone will notice. (Believe me, frantically scribbling in a journal with tears running down one's face was a good way to get ignored in high school - and, okay, tended to be a vicious circle best left behind.)

This weekend, I think I'll be writing a LOT. Fortunately, I've got paper on hand, so all y'all will be spared.

The Great Chocolate Disaster of 2008

So, I'm innocently working on the Sekrit Projikt, and making very good progress (something about having been out three days this week sick, with not quite enough energy to actually move off the couch, which, thankfully, is still enough energy to knit), when DISASTER STRUCK. See the photo. CHOCOLATE landed right there, in the middle of the red circle.


My husband baked fresh, yummy chocolate chip cookies last night, as a treat for his Poor Sick Wife. The first batch (of six) was consumed (five by him, one by me) without incident, but deemed (by him) "too crunchy". I thought they were perfect. A few hours later, he made another batch, again consumed five-by-him, one-by-me. And that one was out to get me.

You've seen the ads where the warm cookie splits apart, and the chocolate morsels get gooey and stringy? That can actually happen.

THEN, with UNCANNY ACCURACY, the warm chocolate will LAND ON YOUR KNITTING. Without the contributing facts that (a) a Tide Fresh-Food Stain Pen was at hand and (b) the Sekrit Projikt is being knit in cheap acryllic, the chocolate would be much more visible. And it wouldn't be quite so much of a disaster, but I was planning to send the Sekrit Projikt to a new home to see if the recipient thought it actually worked at all - and "oh, don't mind the chocolate stain" just wasn't what I planned the accompanying note to say.

While I understand my husband likes the gooier cookies, I will Never Again eat one anywhere near fiber. I usually don't eat near my projects at all, but I was tired, and moving the knitting off my knee would've taken all the energy I had. (Hey, I was sick.)

There shall not be a Third Chocolate Disaster.

Oh, "third"? Yeah, there was a First Chocolate Disaster, which was almost worse.

Back in 1991, before I was crushed by grad-school debt, I got to go on a SeaTrek cruise (this is the last one before Gene passed away, so I got to meet him, yes I'm a geek). I got a totebag as a souvenir, and most of my friends have seen it. Regularly. For years. At some convention-or-other in the intervening decade, I put a bunch Hershey's Kisses in said bag... and forgot about them. Fast forward to about 2005 or so. There's a lovely little kit of a Halloween Fairy, which I start stitching. She's about half done (and, of course, stored in the SeaTrek bag), when I remove her... and discover THE STAIN. And the chocolate. I tried about fifty different things to get the bloody stain out of the fabric and floss - ORVUS ended up working (yes, you wash horses with it). I carefully removed the offending (and now ancient, and melted) Hershey's Kisses from the bag, machine-washed it (unthinkingly), and the SeaTrek logo became barely visible - and then flaked off. (Just desserts.)

There was panic all over my cross-stitch list, and a collective sigh of relief when the Halloween Fairy was presented once-again good condition.

And, since I've told you about it, here she is. (Note: The original pattern had green wings, and didn't glow in the dark. I tend to change things, as you may have noticed.)





Charge up the wings with light...


... and they GLOW in the DARK!

More on the Ninja Mittens

While out sick, I also managed to get a distance on my Ninja Mitten (right hand).




I've almost done another 40 rows since these photos... and they really don't look all that different. *sigh* The next photos, when they come, should be dramatic, because the Anti-Craft's Snowball's Chance in Hell glyphs will be duplicate-stitched in bright white down the backs. Should look v. cool!!

Finished Objects - Briar Rose Socks!

Okay, I've been sick the last two days, and haven't posted. During that time, though, I Accomplished Something. I've finished my Briar Rose Socks, the first installment of Sanguine Gryphon's Fairy Tale Sock Club! (This is good, as the second installment just shipped!)

What can I say about these socks? They're comfy, they're gorgeous, they were great fun to knit. I did deviate from the actual pattern by adding thorns and knitting, instead of crocheting, my roses. But I love them, and I'm so glad I joined this for my first Sock Club!! Thanks, Gryphon!!

On to the photos:

Outside Sides

Inside Sides

Knitted Big Rose	Better (?) Picture
Knitted Rosebud	Fun Wallpaper

Socks On

Oh, the Pretty!

These were such fun - I can't wait to get the next kit - any day now!!!

Bicycle!!

Friday thoughts center around Bicycles. Specifically, this one:


I would like to get a bicycle, just for riding around the development (no way would I go on Actual Roads in this area!!), or perhaps back & forth to mom's house.

P.S., I should have some cool knitting stuff to show you next week!

Well, at least I've been knitting...

I got *this* far!



Oh, you notice the "no picture"? That's because I didn't get anything done. Prepare to be underwhelmed. After three more mornings and evenings of not actually stitching, the photo from Monday is *still* as far as I've gotten on the Twelve Days sampler. (Remember, I was over halfway done with the Three French Hens band as of Monday morning.)

If I could carry the dratted thing around, it would've had at least six more hours of work done on it, but samplers this complicated, with this many different color changes, just don't work well at ALL on public transportation. (I've done VS samplers on the train in the past, but those were the "Elements" series, which are about ten colors, max, and use lots-and-lots of any given color at a time. This one may have two stitches of a color per band, if that!)

Oh well. I'm going to keep going as fast as I can on this, so I can have it Beautifully Finished by the end of the month, and class doesn't actually end until Sunday, so there's still some hope (and a night race for NASCAR Saturday night, which always helps).

Then I'm going to start on the set of Christmas ornaments based on same. (Yes, my dears, I'm completely insane. You knew that.)

Yarn Curiosities.

So, shopping Sunday afternoon with mom - actually, "returning stuff and buying other stuff", not really shopping. Anyway, we stumbled upon two yarn-related items that I just have to share. First up: the Giant Yarn Basket.


Mom standing in front of basket, for scale
Okay, it might not actually be a yarn basket, but it's about 3.5 feet wide, just under 5 feet long, and 3.5 feet deep. This is a LOT of cubic yarn storage. It might actually be big enough for ALL my yarn (not counting the stuff in my mother's attic, of course). The mind boggles at the bigness of this basket. If the second handle hadn't been broken off, I would've seriously considered getting it. (Well, that, and if I'd won the lottery Saturday night.)

The other curious item was a CROCHETED bird house.

Yeah. Someone actually decided to crochet a cover for a birdhouse. More frightening, is it's mass-produced somewhere and sold first-hand to Upscale Retail Establishments, then a single one wafted into the T.J. Maxx. Crochet. Birdhouse. These are two thoughts I'd never before put together. Maybe it's just me.

Not-Wedding Present

So, we took tons of photos at my little sister's wedding, and finally got them onto DVD and mailed. Because packages with just DVDs are pretty boring, we sent along gifts for her new husband and stepson, and I whipped up (seriously, 1 day, that's all this took, and I totally winged it as I went) this pillow for her:

. Now, not only did I find the PERFECT shoe button (IMHO), but I actually found girly-pink shamrock and 4-leaf clover fabric IN JUNE. The whole thing is 12"x12", and it's soft and fluffy and adorable. It was a LOT of fun to do, and I've gotta chart out the pattern and see if Sarah Lee would be willing to distribute it - I think there's a market. (I've just gotta find a wholesale supplier for the shoe button. Thank heavens I've got a corporation hidden away for "no, really, I"m a retailer, sell it to me wholesale" purposes!)

Note the sparkly on the red shoes!!


I mean, really. I couldn't have found better shoes for this thing. Every girl should have a pair of Ruby Slippers!!

Running behind the times...

It's now the last week of the Victoria Sampler Cyberclass I was so excited about. I realized this last Thursday, when I downloaded all the rest of the class lessons... which means I've managed to go four weeks without stitching on a project I've been squeaking about for over a YEAR. I blame my sister's wedding; otherwise, it'd be done now. Anyway, Friday, being declared a Holiday from Everything, was the perfect day to finally get started. I needed to sort my floss, first, so I'd be able to use it, and hey... have you ever noticed how an umbrella swift is just PERFECT for floss sorting? No? Well, I hadn't either, but look:


It actually works great, and with my scissors on the shelf next to it, I don't have to do anything other than snip off short lenghts of whatever-color-it-is. I'm going to have to try setting up my next Teresa Wentzler this way - it works really well.

Oh yeah, stitching. After all day Friday, and on-and-off over the weekend, this is as far as I got:


*Sigh.* I was hoping I'd get much more done, but this *is* a Victoria Sampler sampler. That means W-O-R-K. On the other hand, I'm not having any trouble with any of the specialty stitches thus far (and I haven't seen a couple of them before, which is cool!), so I'll probably be okay even if class ends without me. I'm still going to try to get as much as I can done before Thursday, though!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Basically, I spent my summer vacation stitching my Small Ferocious Beastie when I wasn't attending one of the various Wedding-Related Events for my sister. (If anyone *wasn't* expecting me to switch the dragon out of the original pattern... really, what were you thinking?) She's all done, as are the words, with Added Metallic Stuff. I'm using the border (and, okay, the gryphon) from the "A Bird and Its Friends" chart, and will be doing the fill-in around the edge-critters in gold. The hope is the whole thing will look like a page from an illuminated manuscript when it's done.

So, that's another project that's just two colors away from being done... and I have to switch. My Cyberclass (that I squeaked about so much back on June 23) ends on July 13th, and I'd really REALLY like to have most of the bellpull done before that date - so I'll be stitching frantically all weekend on this project, hoping to pull off a small miracle (or twelve!) and trying to finish an entire Victoria Sampler piece in three days.

Sadly, I'm also redoing my bathrooms this weekend (both of them), so time may be scarce.

Happy 4th!

Wheeeee!

Sekrit Stuff

Behold, the Sekrit Projikt, aka "that danged warm fuzzy thing that keeps trying to hide on me and take all my size 1 DPNs with it!" I'm going to try to have this be my Knitting for the Weekend at Home, since carrying around the four (big) skeins of not-sock yarn would be a bit much in the summer. This will be the only photo you get, since it's Waaaaaay Sekrit.

Ninja Mittens!

So, I was driving myself nuts trying to write down the "pattern" for these mittens in case anyone else wanted a pair. BAH to that, I say - y'all can probably figure it out from the pictures!!



See? It looks pretty easy, and it is. May still try to write it up, but at this point, I'm just hoping I remember what I did long enough to make a mitten to match this one. They'll eventually be decorated with the "Snowball's Chance in Hell" glyphs.

Must take pics of mitts, when finished, with shuriken.

Back, sort of.

Back in town, back at work, and back to waaaaay too much stuff on my desk. Thus, time to post, but no time for photos...

Current project: the Ninja Mittens!!