SP10 - The Questionnaire

So, having heard lovely things from many local and net-friends about the joy of the Secret Pal exchange, I've signed up for Secret Pal 10. I don't know if I'm in or not for sure, but will do The Questionnaire anyway - here goes:

The Questionnaire

Here are is the questionnaire for SP10. Please be sure to post it in a spot on your blog where your pal can easily find it. Since your pal will use this to help create your packages you'll want to have it posted to your blog no later than the last day of February.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I'm a total sucker for alpaca - it's my absolute favourite. Anything hand-dyed makes me go all wobbly, but I like a lot of "regular" yarn too (Patons Classic Wool and Shetland Chunky for instance). As for *not* like - well, I did have a brief fling with Fun Fur and Vespa, but really I'm not keen on novelty yarns, especially anything disco-shiny.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A toolbox. Straights in the bottom, DPNs and circs in their pouches (or a ziploc bag) in the divided top tray.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Self-taught from the Lion Brand/Boye "teach yourself to knit" kit, on the August long weekend 2005. Wow, a year and a half already! I think I'd say intermediate - I've done two whole sweaters (1 pullover, 1 cardigan) and have another in the works, socks in various gauges, cables... haven't tried lace yet but have a few patterns and yarn waiting in the stash for that.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have an Amazon one for my upcoming wedding, but it's all CSI dvds - no fiber content!

5. What's your favorite scent?
Cookies. Or really, anything homemade cooking. As far as scents that can be sent (ha ha), I think probably vanilla is a safe bet - I also adore sandalwood but hubby's not keen on it. And chocolate always smells good!

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I am a walking sweet tooth! Favourite candies would be ju jubes (I keep a HUGE jar in my living room), anything chocolate (especially with nuts!). So the dream combination would be chocolate-covered ju jubes, but I've never seen them.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I am resisting spinning - if I spun I'd have even less time to knit. :) I read a lot and write (two novels in the works), and love to cook and bake. I'd call baking my main non-knitting "craft."

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Anything but rap and opera. Really, when it comes to music there is no such thing as TOO diverse for my taste. MP3s are awesome, I love my iPod!

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Hm. I am usually drawn to earth tones or "neutrals" (black, blue, brown). I love red but it's not one of my best colours. Not a fan of orange or pastels.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live with one adult male human and two formerly female cats (one elderly, one young). None of them get into my yarn. :) The human and I are getting married in a little under three months' time.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes to all but ponchos, although I am going to attempt the Very Harlot Poncho as Peter thinks it will look good on me.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Judging by what I've made the most of, I'd say probably hats. And shawls are my default "comfort knitting". I like socks but am bad about finishing a pair. Lately I'm in love with cables. Oh heck, anything but baby/kid clothing.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A zip-neck pullover for my honey, a pair of socks for my honey, and I have about 20 UFOs in the bin. Socks, shawls, scarves. Soon I need to start a new cardigan for me, because Spring is coming and that means they'll crank the air-conditioning in my office.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes. Even more so now that I really understand all the hours of work and love that go into them. I treasure them very much, but if they're wearable, they get worn, not tucked away in a drawer!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
All-time faves are Addi Turbo circulars, which I use probably 60% of the time. I have started using bamboo circs and DPNs for hats and mitts and I like them also. I use metal DPNs for most of my sock knitting. Hardly ever use plastic - only a couple of large-gauge circs. Aluminum straights if I don't have an Addi of the right size available.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Winder yes, swift no.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
About a year. I started a pair of socks for myself last year, knit one, started the other and got all the way through the heel before I found some major errors in it. Frogged the second sock and the pair (one knit, one un-knit) are marinating in the UFO bin as punishment.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
I'd usually answer "Christmas" and probably still it is, but I'm starting to enjoy the August long weekend more - there's usually more relaxation and less stress. Plus, that's when I learned to knit!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn. :) Books - we have a complete wall of bookcases, stuffed to the brim. Cookbooks I like and don't have as many as I'd like - I especially like the "community" kind with favourite recipes from all over.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I could really use a good stitch dictionary - I don't have one at all. For yarn - well, I would love to see what the fuss is about for Socks that Rock, and I *adore* any and all Fleece Artist or Handmaiden yarns. And any alpaca (see #1!) I don't subscribe to any knitmags because I can buy them at a discount at work.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Reading lace charts. They boggle me.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I am, but a slow one! My foot - hang on, I need my sheep... ok, heel to toe 10", ankle bone 10", calf muscle 14.5", floor to widest part of calf 12". Those look REALLY big - I wear a ladies' shoe size 8.5 or 9 (North American). If someone knit socks for me I would love them forever - really, you'd be in my will. Really. I mean it!

23. When is your birthday?
August 19. I'm a Leo!

Ok, so the idea behind this is that some incredibly kind and generous person will read the above, and send me surprise package(s) in the mail and I will do the Dance of Joy at the mailbox. In return, I do not send this lovely person package(s). I send a totally different but equally lovely person package(s), and they send package(s) to yet another lovely person, and so forth. It's an exceptionally cool idea, and I salute the lovely people at Secret Pal who must put in a whackofalot of work to make it all - work. I really hope I get in. Happiness by mail is among the best kinds of happiness.

Oh yeah, I'm totally over the crankies from yesterday. Can you tell? :) Today was lovely and sunny and +2 degrees (celsius), which is "I don't need to zip up my winter coat" weather. JOY! Spring is coming, oh yeah. Even the fact that I need to do a pile of laundry AND a pile of dishes this evening does not diminish the happiness of Spring coming. Plus I've got nearly half the foot of Peter's sock done - there might be a finished sock by the weekend, all going well. Good times.

Marvin Monday

Life. Don't talk to me about life.

I have so many pains in the butt right now, I'm surprised I can sit down. Peter too. How many days left in this cursed month?

That's it, I'm too cranky to post right now. I'll come back when I'm cheerier.

A really LONG sock

I don't remember when I started this sock - last spring, I think - but it just reappeared in the UFO/WIP bin and now it's back IP. Yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch, in a nameless colourway that, surprisingly, came out pretty true-to-life in this photo - denimy-blue and dark blue and light and dark grey in soft stripes with a light grey marl running through.

The pattern is from a sock calculator I found at http://www.panix.com

So far it's working out pretty well although it does bag a bit at the ankle - looking at the pattern notes I see I had a circumference of 11" at the ankle and that does seem a bit big - I must have measured at the bone, not the skinny part. Oh, did I mention this is a sock for Peter? Yeah, let me give you the specs:
Height (Length) from floor to just below knee: 16"
Height from floor to widest part of calf muscle: 12"
Height from floor to ankle bone: 2.5"
Circumference just below knee: 12.5"
Circumference at widest part of calf: 13.5"
Circumference at ankle: 11" (yeah, too big, too bad, I'm not ripping back!)
Foot length from heel to toe: 9"

My honey has BIG FEET and LONG LEGS and MUSCLES. Fortunately, the calf shaping worked beautifully, and fits perfect. And he doesn't mind the little bagginess at the ankle, the heel depth is perfect. Now just to see how well the foot instructions work out... I'm past the decreases (which somehow came up weird, I had 44 across top of foot and only 19 each instead of 22 on the two bottom needles, so I fudged a three-stitch increase on each needle after I finished the gussets). I have to now knit 7" even and then do toe decreases. And then - I get to do it all over again. Mega Boots Stretch is intended to make 2 socks of one ball. Not. Happening. I got an extra before I turned the heel - these puppies are LONG!

And now, goodnight. Tomorrow's a working day, plus I'm cooking a turkey for dinner. Mm. stuffing.

TGIF, everyone's ok.

So, it's Friday - huzzah! We have survived another week. My mom and sister and mom's dog NEARLY did not. Some moron in a cube van ran and intersection and hit two other vehicles before smacking into my Mom's car. Is it selfish of me to be glad that those other two cars got in the way? The lady in the first car had to go to hospital - I pray she's all right. The guy in the second car was okay. Mom and Karen and Tian (the dog) are ok, although since Karen has previous vehicle-incident injuries (bad back and neck) and Mom's prone to back pain also, I have told them both to be vigilant about any stiffness or soreness in the next little while. Mom's car is - broken.

Luckily the nice insurance people got them a rental car right away, and there was a Good Samaritan lady in the van behind Mom's car who kept the dog contained (and reasonably calm) and then hung around and drove Mom and Karen home. And Dad came home from work early, and everyone is ok. Which is good, because when the phone rings and someone says there's been a car accident, it's scary.

Me, I've got through about 70% of the paperwork hell at my day job this week. I will be going into the office tomorrow (yes, I know it's Saturday) to try and do about 20% more of it. That leaves the rest of March to finish the last 10% and deal with the "normal" workload. I also have a term paper due a week from Monday, so I've taken off NEXT Friday to do that. And Sunday I start back to the store, because as much as I like having weekends of leisure, I much prefer having bills paid and a little bit left over for a Starbucks (or, *sigh*, some yarn) now and then.

I have some friends (good friends, caring friends) who say I work too much. And, they might be right, but I was thinking - it's only from about the mid-20th century onward that there has been this culture of entitlement to leisure. And then, only in certain parts of our culture. Really - think about it. If I were a farmer and had livestock, would people say "Hey, you're working too hard, stop feeding those animals two days a week!" ? Farmers work seven days a week, 365 days a year. So do most restaurant people. So do many others. So what's wrong if I do it? Don't get me wrong, I love to sit on my arse and goof off, watch TV, knit, read, play golf, go to movies, hang out with people. BUT - I'm starting to see that time as a reward for my work, not work as an interruption of my leisure. Maybe it's that responsibility gene kicking in, maybe it's adulthood finally hitting me. Maybe it's just that I don't feel I need to apologize for how I live my life.

I *like* to work. I *like* to study and learn new things. I *like* to have my bills paid, my laundry clean, my house reasonably tidy and my fridge and freezer full of food, preferably that I've cooked. There's still time for relaxation. Someone said to me, shortly after Peter's mom died, "No one ever said on their deathbed, 'I wish I spent more time at work.' " That's probably true. But when I'm on mine, I'd like to be able to say "I worked hard for what I had. I earned my happiness."

Ok, so that was long and self-indulgent and maybe a little self-righteous. (Ok, maybe a LOT). But that's just how I'm feeling about things lately.

The first sleeve of Peter's sweater is half done. There, knitting content. Now I'm going to enjoy my Friday night of leisure, which I've earned.

What's that noise?

I was sitting at the computer reading blogs, and Miss Squeeky was meowing her head off at me - about what, I didn't know, so I turned my head around and saw - EIGHT cardinals on the clothesline out back! Six females and two males - I swear there's some kind of cardinal-harem in our backyard trees.

Sadly, they would not cooperate in having their collective picture taken, but I did get a snap of one of the males - that's him on the top rail of the clothesline, framed by the break in the fence (guess what needs fixing in the spring?) See that feeder? Peter filled it yesterday. These cardinals, and the bluejays, and the chickadees, and the other ones I haven't identified yet, are little piggy-birds! One of the lovely things about living in the country is the wildlife, and I do love "our" birds, especially in this cold weather. I figure if they can make it, so can I!

Hee hee. Peter just got home and is wearing his new toque, so I asked him to fill the bird feeder again. Here he is, very intent on his task:

What a sweet hubby I have. :)

In other news, here's a cautionary tale on the perils of doing laundry on one's birthday. Don't Do It.

Tonight we're having chicken & rice and then I think I'll try to get some more done on Peter's sweater - I started the first sleeve last night and it's got 200 rows of increases (every fifth row). This could take a while.

FO Sunday

Wow, what a terrific feeling it is to be having a normal (non-working) weekend. Friday night was total relax-time; in fact Peter and I both fell asleep watching "Gorky Park". Saturday we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more, in anticipation of my family coming out for Mom's birthday dinner. Roast beef and veggies in the slow cooker, homemade garlic bread, and fresh (frozen from last year's pickings) strawberries and blueberries on pastry with loads of whipped cream and/or ice cream, as people preferred. Very tasty.

Then we all sat and watched the hockey game, and I wish I had thought to have Peter take a picture - sis Karen was crocheting, Mom was knitting, I was knitting! Our own familial SnB. :) Karen's recently got back into crocheting and Mom has rediscovered knitting, so I let them go through my big bag of "to donate" yarn and have at it. Yarn all over the living room floor, thank heavens the cats were hiding out. Karen picked a few balls of Phentex Merit acrylic worsted to make a chevron-style shawl, and Mom grabbed a ball of blue Divine and two balls of LB Homespun, for a couple of triangle shawls. They cast on right after dinner. Nice!

Meanwhile, I was working steady on Mom's birthday present, a silk scarf which (dammit) I forgot to take a picture of. It's a kind of lizard-y iridescent green, chunky weight, which I knit in a double moss stitch. Looks like green chain mail - she loved it. Ran the ends in and handed it over, then got back to Peter's toque, which is now DONE!

Here it is - the pattern is "Basic Cable" from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation, but I added several pattern repeats for length because he wanted it long enough to fold over his ears. This picture is odd - the stripes are actually black and dark green, not dark and light green! Sunday morning light I guess. Anyway, I had to break stash diet for this one and buy the yarn to match his coat - Patons Classic Wool in black and bottle green. Funny thing about this - Peter requested the hat because he lost the one I made him last year (same colours, different pattern). Guess what we found yesterday while cleaning? Yup. Last year's hat. Ah well, you can never have too many toques. I may make myself a "Basic Cable" for next winter - it's a fun pattern and the cables and ribs make it extra warm - "insulated cable", as I said last night, to no amusement of my family. They got no sense of ha-ha. :)

Then I pulled out Yumi's Fire Shawl, which got LOTS of work done on it while I was on course Friday. There's only a wee little ball of yarn left, so I'm going to finish it up today on breaks between researching my term paper. Here's the shawl at "almost-done" stage:

Again, the camera is not seeing what I see - the colours are deep burgundy and gold and hot red and smoky purple. This is Fleece Artist "Kiss Curls".

I stuffed the baby blanket in progress into the WIP/UFO bin and stuffed the bin in the closet before the family came over, so no pics of that right now. Next week!

And now, since (almost) all the house is clean and (almost) all the laundry and dishes done, I'm going to make a big batch of blueberry pancakes and bacon, and dive into my research. And NOT have to stop what I'm doing at 1 or 2 o'clock to get ready to go to work - ah, luxury! I just hope the budget will hold up to me not working the second job for a couple weeks; if it does, I may become a lady of leisure on weekends again. We shall see.

You don't know what you don't know

So I'm on a training course today, "Excel Level 1". This is the basic-basic introductory level. We've been in training for a little over three hours and already I've had four moments of "oh my god, how did I not know that?" Simple. I didn't know that I didn't know. And now I know. And it will make my life (work and home, because I use Excel for home stuff too) just that little bit easier.

Same with knitting. Sometimes the most obvious things, the most simple things, you just don't know. And then someone shows you, or you read about it, and - AHA! Look what I can do now! I love that.

Today, I'm knitting as I learn (woohoo, twice in two weeks!), working on Yumi's Fleece Artist Fire Shawl. Knit a bit, learn a bit, knit a bit, learn a bit. It's a good rythym to the day. And, it's Friday and the sun is shining and I'm not working at Michaels ALL WEEKEND! But tomorrow I have to clean and cook for Mom's birthday party. Pictures of shawl, Peter's sweater and hat to be posted on the weekend.

Productive knitting week

So, two nights' hard work produced a 2x2 ribbed, striped toque which was very well received by Peter's friend Terry (he has a rather large bald spot and it's pretty cold lately!). Next up was the back of Peter's sweater, which I finished off yesterday - just the sleeves to go but I can't find my 4mm Addi, so I may have to start those on the straights instead.

When Peter saw the toque for Terry, he wanted one "just like it - but in black and green, in wool, with cables..." so, not at all like it other than it being a striped toque. Fortunately I found a fairly easy pattern - Basic Cable, in "Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation". It's working up nicely but looks a little small - although the ribs and cables should make it stretchy. It's about 1/2 done, started today.

Unfortunately, productive knitting week has meant a very unproductive housework week - I've got a mountain of (clean) laundry to put away and muffins to make for lunches this week. Which will be happening later this evening, because we've got a dinner invite in - oh gods, an hour. Time to boogie!

Febrrrrary!

Groundhog says "early spring" and immediately winter settles in... ah life in Canada! It's been very VERY cold of late, which makes me cranky and antisocial. I want to stay home in the warm and bake and knit and be under blankets as much as possible. But work must be done, so out I must go.

Haven't blogged for a bit so here's a quick (no pics) project update:
1) Peter's sweater - back is past the cable stripe, on the homestretch of navy. About 6" more and I can bind it off and start sleeves. He may actually get this for his birthday!

2) Baby blanket - yes, another one. See, I ran into this old friend on the weekend, and we got talking, and his ladylove is about to have his baby. Sweet. So stupid me, says, "I'll have to knit you a blanket!". Yeah... she's due in two weeks. DOH! And it has to be wool because she's a freak about natural fibres only, yadda ya. Fine. I had a pile of bright blue and red KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in stash anyway. It won't take long, babies are small. :)

3) New thing - toque! Peter emailed me at work today and asked if I could knit a toque for his friend/co-worker. This gentleman recently lost his wife to cancer and Peter just decided that a toque would be a Good Thing. I concur. I'm going to make it out of the same yarn (Patons Decor) as Peter's sweater, in black 2x2 rib with a wide burgundy stripe or maybe a wide one near the bottom and a narrow one near the crown. Casting on as soon as I finish here.

Still working away on Yumi's fire shawl (hi Yumi! it's coming!) and damned if I can't find my sock-in-progress! It's hiding on me as punishment, I know it. Ah well. It will turn up again when I need it, I'm sure.

Off to toque-land. Hockey tonight (mechant Mardi!) and maybe "House" later too, if I can stay awake that long. Our next door neighbour got a skidoo recently and has decided that between 8:30 and 10 pm is the ideal time to run up and down the street in front of our house with it. Did I mention that the street is right outside our bedroom window? Argh.

Happy Groundhog Day!

It's also the Feast of Brigid, and - yikes - a full moon. And Jiff's birthday! Many layers of good and weird all intermingling like trifle from The Swan (moment of silence to be observed here for the late lamented Swan).

The weird - I ran into someone today I haven't seen in several years. This was also good. And when I came home tonight and started reading blogs, I found this: The Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading. So to honour the good and the weird, here is an old favourite that's meant a lot to me over the years, and was proven true yet again tonight.

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

My road has led me to where I am, and damn if it isn't right where I'm supposed to be. :) Life, as I know it, is Good. Indulge me, if you will, in a little prayer:

Dear God (whoever happens to be listening),
Thank you for this day, and all that was in it.
The good things made me smile.
The bad things weren't all that bad.
There was chocolate, knitting, several cups of good tea and a cinnamon bun fresh from the oven (God bless Barry!).
There was a bright but cloudy day (God bless Shubenacadie Sam!)
I came home safely to my beloved (God bless Peter!).
I am alive.
God, bless me and please let tomorrow be as good, or maybe even a little better, than today.
Thanks.

FOs- Fuzzy warm things

It took three attempts to get the right mitten right, but finally, it's done. The headband wasn't very cooperative either - I wanted to do it in 2x2 2-colour ribbing but apparently the mechanics of that are a bit beyond my understanding - today, anyway. So it's stripes instead, in 2x2 broken rib.

I like having the left and right mitts in reverse colour schemes, it makes the set a bit more playful looking. A word of warning though: Moda Dea Aerie does not like to be frogged. It especially does not like to be frogged more than once. Fortunately you do get good yardage out of their 50g balls; I had a bunch of little balls left over, probably enough to do another headband. Into the charity bag it goes.

I also sewed in the ends on the baby blanket and put the leftover yarn from that into stash. SO... -4 balls for the fuzzy mitts and hat, +5 balls of baby yarn = 174 balls left in stash. Not that I'm counting. :)

Now I'm back to Peter's sweater, Yumi's shawl, and my socks. I need to fit in Mom's birthday present soon, but it's small and already WIP, so I'm not too worried about that today.

Two days left in January. Thank heavens that's nearly over!

Knitten Kitten Mittens... and movies!

Ok, so I was working on the 2nd mitten while watching movie with Peter, B&K last night (review to follow). Did not pay attention, knit it too long, said "oops" and put it away to fix today. Today, frogged it, put on another movie (review to follow), and reknit. The left mitten. Again. This was supposed to be the right mitten. Oops. This I discovered when I had finished seaming it up and was about to knit the thumb. Frog again. Remember, this is muppety yarn, so this is now a Kermit mitten (ha ha funny me). It doesn't like to be frogged more than once, due to the fuzzy. It resisted. It broke in a couple places. It is now a completely frogged and re-wound into several smaller balls, pile of fuzz.

So I said to myself: "Self, you need to step away from the mitten and start the hat." Started the hat. Shaker rib in stripes. Nice! Except the shaker rib eats yarn, and there wouldn't be enough for the hat. Crap. Frog again. Go to work. Explain to Alison why her mitts/hat are going to be slightly delayed. She says, "oh, could I not have a hat? I don't wear hats. Could I have a headband, instead?" YAY!!! Because there IS enough for a headband, once I finish the mittens. I will make it in ribbit... er ribbing, and it will be lovely and soft and warm. But not tomorrow, I have chores and homework to do. :(

So now: movie reviews!

Bon Cop, Bad Cop - Very, very clever, witty in a purely Canadian way. A few disturbing moments (this is about a serial killer, so can't be all funny banter!), but overall a well-crafted and smart piece of filmmaking. All four of us enjoyed it immensely.

Accepted - Ok, didn't have very high expectations of this, being from the "American Pie" factory, but it was actually a charming little movie. Think "Revenge of the Nerds" meets "Animal House", with a few other cliches thrown in. Basically a long homage to post-secondary comedy films, but with a good message in there about what higher education really should be about. AND - Lewis Black. That was a very cool surprise. :)

And now, bedtime for me. Tomorrow is laundry and food inventory (let's play "what the hell is in my freezer?", kids!), and I have to drop a load of stuff off to Sally Ann and hit the library for my research books before I go to work. Maybe whip up some lunch/dinner for Peter. He cleaned the kitchen again while I was at work. :)

My first mitten!

At the request of Alison (a sweet girl I work with at Michael's), I've finally learned to knit mittens. She had two balls of each colour left over from when I finished her scarf, and could I please make her a hat and mittens? So, figuring the yarn (Aerie by Moda Dea) is approximately the same weight as Patons Shetland Chunky, I grabbed the "Cool Weather Accessories" booklet and finally cast on for the "hands" portion of Happy Hands 'n Feet. The feet, are of course the chunky socks that I love. :)

The mitts are knit flat on a 4.5mm needle and then seamed up and the thumb knit last (also flat) and seamed up. I made an "oops" on the first attempt (dropped a stitch about 6 rows above the thumb hole, rippity rip!), but the second attempt came out great. I did change the pattern a little bit, using more contrast colour on the cuff and thumb. I think it looks awfully cute, and is VERY fuzzy and warm! You might remember Aerie is the yarn I knit my blue fuzzy shawl and the muppet hat from, last year. Fun stuff.

So now, I need to make the mate. And I'm thinking, since these are definitely left-hand and right-hand mitts, that I might reverse the colour scheme for the opposite hand. That would use equal amounts of the opposite colours, so whatever's left will be even for the hat (I hope there's enough for a hat, IIRC there should be. I'll have to go back and look at the muppet hat post).

Got a couple more rows done on Peter's sweater too, but these mitts have my full attention now. They're fun! I guess the next step would be mitts knit in the round, and then gloves... maybe next year. So many things to do and learn. I have to say though, Peter was totally impressed by the mitt-making process. He thinks it's clever that "someone figured that out, and wrote it down, way back when." He's very right. :)

FO! Baby Blanket

It needs the ends woven in, but the "Be Mine" baby blanket is done! The pattern called for 31 1/2" wide x 42" long, with the checkerboard border on all sides; I "downsized" it to a 27" square with the checkerboard on the start/finish ends only. It's certainly big enough for a wrap-up or to drape over a carseat/carrier, I think, and it's very cute and soft!

Today didn't run quite according to plan (does it ever?), I ended up doing a fair bit of housework alongside my frighteningly-motivated hubby. Now our kitchen, living room, and dining room are all clean, tidy, and presentable. No small achievement! And we got groceries, had a visit with Sandy&Dan (go Bears!), and had a lovely stir-fry for dinner. I even baked brownies.

Now, time for a bath and bed. It's been a Good Day. Look! A blankie!

Why sleeping in is bad...

Something wonky is going on with my subconscious/REM sleep whenever I sleep late on the weekends lately. I've just woken up from a series of increasingly messed up dreams, one of which involved stabbing a dear friend through the eye with a piece of commemorative silverware because he stole my story. Weird, but just in case - N8an, sorry about the eye, but get out of my brain, ok hon?

So now it is Sunday, and I'm prying open my eyelids and preparing for a day of quiet domesticity. Going to bake some Amish bread, knit, do laundry, knit, do a small and quick grocery run, knit, make some honey-garlic chicken & stir-fry veggies, knit, watch some TV, knit, and go to bed early. And hopefully, not dream weird stuff. Honestly - I dreamt I was awake, in bed, but couldn't move - how screwed up is that?

Ok, tea is ready. We have normality - I repeat, we have normality.

Stash = 192

I had already decided to knit from stash for this year when Wendy started the "knit from stash-along" on her blog. And, I had decided to do a stash sort/organize/inventory/purge over the holidays (ok, I'm a month late, sue me!). Today I got 'er done. Only took about three hours too!

192 balls or skeins, not currently in use. I didn't count stuff for WIPs because they are, well, In Progress. 192 balls or skeins, inventoried by manufacturer, name, colour, dye lot, weight, fibre content, and intended project (if any). That's also not including the nearly-full green garbage bag of purged stuff (part balls, oddballs, and stuff I just don't like anymore), which is going to one of the local gals - she's collecting yarn and needles to send overseas (Kenya, maybe?).

So the four bins is now down to three bins and a rolling tower cart. One bin 2/3 full of heavy weight yarns - mostly White Buffalo. One bin 3/4 full of chunky weight yarns - mostly Patons Shetland Chunky. One bin 3/4 full of worsted weight yarns - whoa, what a mix! And the rolling tower cart (two big drawers, four little ones) full of DK, sock yarn, and laceweight.

One WEE catch though - the fourth bin? The empty one? Yeah, it's going to be full again tout suite - with WIPs. See, I found in the bins many many MANY UFO's. And some I went, "Oh, cool!" And some I went, "aw, geez...", and some I just threw in a corner to be evaluated later. So I have a new strategy. Wanna hear it? Sure you do! My new strategy is for every WIP I finish, I resurrect one UFO and am allowed to start one NEW project. So I won't get bored of the old stuff and will progress on the project list; also I'm going to stick to my "no more than four WIPs at a time" system. Which means throwing two WIPs out of rotation for every one finished... hm. This could get complicated. Let's call the strategy itself a WIP, shall we?

And now, work. Dagnabit. But tomorrow, knit knit knit!!! Woohoo!

Non-knitting post, for Friday fun!

Got this from Leanne, an intriguing meme... mine is brought to you by the letter "N"...
"So here's how it works. You get a letter from someone, and then you list ten things, themes, theories etc in your life that begin with that letter."

Disclaimer: It's 10:30 at night, I've worked both jobs today and had a minor injury [1], so who knows how this will come out. Ok, here goes:

1) Nutrition. As in, mine sucks, but I do try. I hate most fruits and veggies, can't digest beef and most dairy. I frequently forget to take my vitamins. Still, I function. It's a WIP.

2) Nothing. Nothing is something I've not been able to do, for a pretty long time now. Leisure for me is generally directed - reading, netsurfing, tv-watching, knitting (sometimes more than one at a time). Even when I was sick in bed I was knitting and listening to homework assignments on my iPod. Nothing - not so good. I tried meditating for awhile, maybe I should take a class. Then it would feel like I was doing something, when doing nothing.

3) NyQuil. Ok, this is just a funny, but that stuff used to work great for me and now it just gives me weird dreams. Which leads to...

4) Nightmares. Recurring ones, which I won't go into here, but suffice to say maybe I've got some issues in my subconscious. But hey, who doesn't?

5) Neighbours! We've got some lovely ones here, two of whom have become very close (like, how would we have got through December without them?) friends. Even ones I don't know well, I wave to and get waved from. So much nicer than my previous living area.

6) New things. As in trying, doing - not necessarily buying, but attempting to reduce guilt when I do. It's good to have new experiences, new hobbies, new habits, new friends - new yarn! Nope, no new yarn for awhile, but you follow me. Sometimes something different just peps up your whole day.

7) Needs vs. wants. (ok, that's n+w, I'm cheating a little). In the past year I've been trying to figure out the difference, and when which is appropriate. And really, there are very few things I need, other than the basics of food, shelter, clothing, and work to provide an income to pay for food, shelter and clothing. And Peter, of course. I do need him, and unabashedly so. Really, everything else is a want, and I have most things I want. About the only thing I want (ok, sometimes it's a need) is more time. Just like everyone else.

8) Nails. I need to grow mine out some and strengthen and paint them. It makes me feel girly, which is a Good Thing(TM).

9) Nicotine. I don't smoke anymore but Peter does, so it's still a daily part of my life. It's stinky and expensive but REALLY hard to give up, so I'm tolerant. Health risks aside (don't start me!), it's one of the lesser addictions, in my opinion. I'd rather him smoke a pack a day than drink a six-pack a night, or worse.

10) Nuptuals! Yes, I managed to think of an important N word. We're getting married, four months from Sunday. Holy Crap on a Stick. I think it might be time to get that organized.

And there's my "N" post. Tricky but a fun writing exercise. Not too deep I don't think? OH! Sunday I have a whole day off. Gonna finish the baby blanket and post pictures. That's a promise, folks!

[1] In an echo of Yumi's recent lunch disaster (scroll to Jan. 9), I had a microwave mishap with my corn chowdah today - air pocket or something which went "kablooie" when I stirred it. Kablooie as in an explosion of boiling veggies and liquid up the side of my neck and face. OWIE OWIE OW! Fortunately, I was next to the sink and a quick-thinking coworker basically shoved my head under the tap, and we got all the hot stuff washed off so I only have minor red spots (first degree burns), instead of nasty blisters or worse. I did, however, get to eat the chowdah once it cooled a bit, so I won. But man alive, did that hurt! Lesson: let microwaved food cool at least a minute before stirring. Seriously, that could have been very very bad. Crap, what a long footnote. Sorry, going to bed now!

Baby, it's cold... inside?

This morning it was -25 (celsius), plus windchill. So, like -40something. That was outside. Inside, inside our HOUSE, was 14. Celsius. Which, if it were outside, and the sun was shining, would be jeans and t-shirt weather. But inside, when it's bazillion below outside, in the winter, it's flippin' COLD! Yep, furnace stopped working. Crap. Need to get out of bed. But it's cold. Run straight from electric-blanketed bed to hot shower. Better. Wrap up in towels and robes and dry hair before changing (quickly!) into fleece long underwear and turtleneck sweater and warm socks and pants. Now, time to go to work.

Push button for handy-dandy remote start on car. Wait for "engine is awake" noise. It does not come. Push button again. Wait. Oh, there - no. Crap. Make grumbly noises. Bless the soul of Dearest of all Hubbies, who goes OUTSIDE to start the car. Wait a few minutes for warming-up of car. Bundle up hat, scarf, coat, boots, mitts. Go to car. Drive to work. With. No. Heat. In. Car. NO HEAT IN CAR!!!! FRAK! Park indoors in an attempt to thaw out car. Go to office. Remember (too late) that office is +25 celsius (with less than 30% humidity), and spend the day in tropical swelter. Then get back in car (still cold though parked inside) and drive home in FRIGGING COLD WITH NO HEAT.

I hate winter. However, the house is now warm, because Peter has connections with the Furnace Guy. Sweet. I do, though, need to take car to my Car Guy and get the heat fixed. Either that or knit myself a seat/steering wheel/gearshift cozy and full face mask. Get car fixed is the quicker option. :)

Speaking of quicker, before driving home in the FRIGGING COLD, I went to the 3rd Wednesday knitting group. Saw some of the gals, had a nice chat, and got some work done on (a) my sock, (b) Yumi's fire shawl, and (c) the baby blanket. All the gals are of the opinion that the baby blanket is quite big enough (Hint: babies are small!) and that I should just finish the current ball of yellow, put the checkerboard on the end (skipping the side border, which is fiddly), and call it Done. Because really, the recipient won't know the difference, and it will still be a nice gift, and (more important) done before the baby actually arrives. S-M-R-T! Of course, it will leave a couple balls of fuzzy yarn left over but there are always more babies coming... and I can get on to other things.

And now, off to my nice warm electric-blanketed bed. :)

SNOW DAY!!!

I fully intended to go to work today - got up, made breakfast for Peter and me, got dressed, cleaned off the car, got in the car, drove to the corner, realized I'd forgotten my: a) Blackberry, b) security pass, c) parking pass. Went back to house, got a.b.c., drove back to the corner and headed down Bank Street. Tiny white powdery snow + high winds = very poor visibility. I did, however, see the DUMP TRUCK slide through the intersection right in front of me, about 10 minutes away from the house. Turned in at the nearest safe place, called home, told Peter to stay put, and crept carefully back home again. Snow day!

This morning, Hilarious House of Frightenstein and knitting on the baby blanket. Then we took down the tree (finally, but I still have to take down the village), and caught three back-to-back sequential CSI: Miami episodes (apparently, there's a fourth 'to be continued', dammit). Exciting stuff, finished another ball of yellow on the baby blanket and turned to Peter's sweater, got a dozen more rows done on the back. Phone call. S&D - "let's go for a walk in the woods in the snow!". Peter says "SURE!" Note to self: answer the phone to NOT get dragged out in the snow. We went. We walked. About a foot and a half of snow on the trails (thank heavens at least there ARE trails!), and we were out for an hour or more. Came home to slow-cooker chicken stew and bread machine bread. MMMMM! (though I have to say I prefer my handmade Amish bread to the machine-made French bread. This is quicker though!).

Then, out again, to be a good girl and go to class. Slight miscommunication from the Prof last week - we had to read 4 Greek tragedies to cover the next 4 weeks of class, not just for this week. So I'm WAY ahead on readings, which is good, because I'm behind on housework. :) Next week we get our term paper topics so I'm planning to get a headstart on that also. Got a few rows on my sock done during the break at class - I'm at the heel flap now and the colours are SO cheerful - however, the horizontal stripes make my 'cankles' look very ... cankle-y. A cankle, in case you don't know the term, is where your calf muscle and ankle pretty much make a straight line without any nice tapering. You know, like a cylinder. This is what I have, and the socks will, sadly, emphasize that. However, I love the colours so phooey on the cankles. :)

And now, after a nice hot bath and a browse through the Vesey's Seed catalogue, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is supposed to be BLOODY cold, and I've got a day's worth of autoCAD to catch up on. But it was totally worth it. Snow day!

Lucky to Me!

(Title taken from a much-loved song by the Blue Shadows). This has been a Pretty Good week. Yesterday, I was given a pair of tickets to Saturday's Sens/Habs game - afternoon game, box seats, free food and beverages in abundance. SCORE!!! Hitch- game is at 2, I work at the store at 5. I stopped by the store on my way home to see about a later start (unlikely) and one of my lovely co-workers offered to take my closing shift. I. Have. A. Whole. Saturday. Free! WOOHOO! So I intend to sleep in (with Peter, of course!), putter on some house chores, go to the game (with Peter, of course!), pop in for a short visit with the folks, come home and have a relaxing evening (with Peter, of course!).

Do you get the idea that my having 24 FULL hours with my honey-bunny is a remarkable and wondrous thing? I may make French Toast for brunch, just to celebrate. With bacon. And scrambled eggs and beans and hashbrowns and strawberry smoothies. Hm. But then we wouldn't have room for all the free food (did I mention it's BOX SEATS???) at the game. Maybe a smaller breakfast and a big brunch Sunday. Yeah, that sounds good.

Oh, knitting. :) Still working on the socks, the sweater, the blanket, the shawl, and now a pair of slippers that were to be for a co-worker but he got fired (oops!) so they will go into the "by the front door" basket intended for people who come to visit, so their feet stay warm. They're in LB Homespun which is working up very nicely with my usual bootie pattern.

And now, since I just had the most FABULOUS sandwich... wait, I have to describe this sandwich. Toasted "everything" bagel. Schmear of laughing cow cheese on both halves. Fat-free mesquite turkey, pepperoni, and rosemary ham in between. Oh. My. God. was that a good sandwich... anyway, now that I've had my sandwich and tea, and gloated in the joy that is my day off (day off!) with hubby (with hubby!), I am going to bed. Have a lovely, lovely night.