There's a yarn store on my way home from work--I pass by literally every day, but I almost never go there because other stores in the area have a better selection, and they can be unfriendly. Well, today takes the cake. I went in with certain yarn requirements in mind, but the store is not laid out by fiber or weight so I had to look around (plus I just wanted to squish some stuff). There was this woman who was kind of under my feet the whole time, who I later realized was an employee. It just occurred to me that she was following me around the store. There were other customers--okay, it was one or two little old ladies--and this woman apparently decided that I was a shoplifting risk! I didn't have a tote bag with me or anything--what, was I going to shove a skein in my purse?! (Okay, I guess there was room, but that's beside the point.) Not only that, but when I checked out they were extremely unfriendly. As God is my witness, I am NEVER shopping in that store again. This is fricking ridiculous. In fact, I bought some size 0 dpns that I don't need for this project, and they are going back to that store TOMORROW. At one point, one of the other employees (manager?) asked me if I was finding everything okay. She had to ask twice, since she'd come up behind me and I didn't hear her (hello, bum ear), and when I did turn around she had this awful look on her face like I was unpleasant in her eyes. I had come from my office job--I wasn't exactly wearing dirty sweatpants. Ugh, I am just beyond PISSED. Although...I do have to say, the yarn is lovely--not anything rare, but very nice (and also secret, for now). Granted, if I hadn't already started swatching I would return it, too...

Rant over. Here's one of Mark's finished socks:


It's a plain stockinette sock, toe-up; I used Judy's Magic Cast On and a short-row heel. He likes them, and no longer thinks the yarn looks purple.

Here are the socks I just finished for myself (Elfine's Socks):


I made the leg a bit longer than I meant to (these were also toe-up), so it's a little snugger than I would've liked. I haven't washed or worn them yet, though, so maybe the patterm will relax a bit. If not, I may frog an inch or two and do a ribbed cuff instead.

So I was going to crochet this Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired afghan for our bed, but after crocheting a test square I realized it was going to take close to 40 skeins of Caron Simply Soft. Can you imagine? I decided instead to make one of these.


I have four more squares done; I'm doing four together as suggested on Mason-Dixon Knitting, so I can minimize seaming (basically you pick up half the stitches for your new square from the cast-on row from a previous square). Still, at my gauge I'll need to knit 81 squares. So I have 7.4%* of the squares done. Then the sewing, then a border, which I will probably crochet... Well, I should be done well before next fall. The mitered squares are great TV knitting. The eight colors and all their combinations are Mark-approved, which is a miracle...

This weekend my parents came up to deliver my great-grandmother's baby grand to a storage locker we've rented (they're having carpet installed this week in preparation for selling their house). Once we buy a house (which will hopefully be soon (!!!) since we'll finally be meeting with our financial planner on Saturday) we'll have it put back together and begin the protracted process of making it moderately playable again. It will never be concert-quality again, and that's fine--but I would like to get it in good enough shape to be able to use it for my meager purposes (i.e. vocal lines, harmonies and very simple stuff--I'm a pretty mediocre player, so I won't be attempting any concertos). I only hope it's actually worth shaping up. It has been sorely neglected since my great-grandmother died in 1992--I doubt it's been tuned once since then, and my parents actually left it in their garage (disassembled) for more than a few months, which I am still angry about. I know there's a crack in the soundboard (which is apparently not a big deal), and the strings and hammers will probably all have to be replaced. I hope there's nothing else wrong... Also, it will apparently take several tuning sessions--and maybe a year's time!--before it can be brought up to the proper pitch. I have no idea how much this will cost. I guess even if it's not worth bringing up to playing, it's still a family heirloom, the delight of my wonderful great-grandmother--and plus it's an antique (made of mahogany, with scrollwork and ivory keys) made by a good New York maker. I don't know how good I feel about a half-ton knickknack holder, but what could we do?

*Edited: I made an algebra mistake! On my blog, for all to see! Oh the shame... Anyway, this is the corrected number.

I had a very weird morning. I slept in waaaay too long, after having a crazy dream that woke me up at 5:30 AM and kept me up for a while. (To summarize: I had flown to Toronto for the day to visit the Yarn Harlot, and had a great time hanging out with her and her daughters, who were really silly and fun. One of them was dressed up for The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I apparently left home without a printed itinerary, which is very unlike me, but I had written the time "9:30" in my planner. At 9:30 I said it was time for me to get to the airport. Then I remembered that 9:30 was the departure time for my flight. So I try to call home on a very weird telephone, and one of our friends answers the phone--the name not matching the person's voice--and I hear little kids playing in the background, as if there's some child's birthday party going on. Yeah, crazy dream.) So I got ready for work in under fifteen minutes, drove to work (where I was tailgated by a Division of Highways van, nice)--and at the door to my building is a huge Canada goose (damn things), guarding the place. There was a nest behind the building last spring, and the geese were very territorial and threatening, so we've learned to avoid the things. I waved my arms in the air and started yelling at it, but it didn't even move. I ended up using the back door. Anyway, weird.

On a serious note--and I hate even changing the subject this way--a girl I went to school with died the other day. We'd known each other for 25 years, and were even in Brownies together in second grade, but we weren't close after elementary school (I blame the bus route changing in middle school). She was nice, though. I suspect things at home were not so good, or maybe she just fell in with the wrong crowd or something, but there were some rumors about her getting pregnant a few times in middle school. She did have a baby when she was fifteen, a daughter who is now about seventeen. We reconnected on Facebook a few months ago, and if her activity is any indication, her daughter was her whole life. She'd been going through a rough patch lately, but it was beyond shocking when her sister posted that she had died a few days ago--of a heart attack, in her early 30s! She was a sweet person who had a pretty rough life. I can only hope she has found peace, and that her family will get through this. My husband lost both his parents suddenly (his father at sixteen, and his mother at twenty-two), and I just cannot imagine what that's like, but I know that he and his siblings are successful people who did eventually learn to live with their grief. (Not that it was easy--Mark had a few really awful years after his mother died where all he did was work crazy reporter hours and eat McDonald's and go out drinking, and he still has sixty extra pounds to show for it.) So I wish that for her daughter: success in spite of a terrible, heartbreaking loss.

I liked this. Yes, it's thirteen minutes long. But he's sincere and cute and funny... There is so much awesome here.
(The Prop 8 Special Comment, for which he was given the award, is here--a link to the text is also included there.)



There should be knitting content tomorrow or Thursday. To tide you over, I've been whittling down my collection of tiny balls of acrylic. Two socks finished, another cast on, and a big ass blanket in the works. Valentine's Day was uneventful--we went to a lovely, lovely place, where we purchased a chocolate bar so nice I haven't even tried it yet plus a very tasty guava truffle. The socks went over well. We haven't been feeling well (my ear thing has not improved at all, and I have an ENT appointment next week), so we've been very slack lately. I did get through quite a bit of the Verdi Requiem today, though.

Pictures, as promised.


Since it's Friday, the pencil case I finished a few weeks ago for HELPSudan. I need to get this into the mail, along with this chemo cap I've had hanging around for a while...


The obligatory secret sock for Mark for Valentine's Day. Unlike most yarn husbands, my reporter other half is incredibly observant (except when it comes to the pile of his shoes in the living room--seriously, baby, the shoe racks in the bedroom closet were your idea!). I have just one row left on the second sock! I don't usually (read: never) block socks, but these will need a bit; I dropped a stitch on the heel of the second sock and didn't notice it until about thirty rows later, so there's a nice tight spot up the back of the ankle that I have to work out.


Here's my Versatility, still blocking. I've put a few buttons on and played with the ribbon a bit, but I'm not sure... I left off almost two whole repeats to conserve yarn, but I'm short so that's not the problem. The cardigan look is OK, but kind of snug. (I'm not small-busted, in case you haven't noticed, and my shoulders are on the wider side. Oh, that and my arm fat. :'p) The shrug definitely looks better on me unbuttoned (here I could've used another repeat!), but I haven't figured out how to tie the ribbon so it looks cute like in the pictures... I haven't tried the "sleeves" option yet, but in my experience that is not a good look for me. It does make a nice wide cushy scarf.


Awesome! And it only took five months. I really love this. I can't help noticing the odd spot near the center, which showed up in other pictures, too... I have looked it over several times, and I can't find a mistake, so I'm going to let it go.


The cabled jacket, finally finished. I would show the back, but Mark didn't take any pictures of it (I wasn't feeling well and was in a bad mood, which turned into some drama, so I wasn't really in the position to ask for more pictures). I am generally satisfied with it, but will probably add a few hook-and-eye closures, especially to the collar (which is supposed to stand up straighter).

Stuff kept happening, and I ran out of time to blog! This was my post from Monday:
_____________________________________________
Wendy had this cute meme on her blog, so I stole it:

Use the first letter of your name to find a word for each of the following:

Your Name - Jennifer
Four letter word - just
Boy name - Justin
Girl name - Jessica
Occupation - journalist
Color - jaune (French for yellow)
Beverage - juice
Something found in a bathroom - jojoba oil-infused conditioner
A Place - Jamaica
Reason for being late - jerk in an SUV cut me off!
Food - Ju-Ju-Bees
Something you shout - Jumping Jehosephat!
___________________________________________

And also, I wanted to write about this No S thing that Heather has been doing. I was skeptical--this medicine I take for PCOS completely screws with my blood sugar, and I really do feel like I need to eat snacks. But eventually I said what the hell, and have been doing it for nearly four weeks. I've discovered that I can actually do it, but I need to space out my meals differently--like, eat lunch at 1:30 instead of noon (I eat breakfast at my desk, and sometimes not until after 10). Also, I need to eat a bit more for breakfast than 80 calories of yogurt. Staying away from sugar is not really a problem (though when I have a headache, damn it all if I don't want chocolate), and neither is the seconds thing--I have this issue with salad dressing or sauce "contaminating" the other food on my plate, so I leave empty space on my plate where the salad would go. It's the snacks! I'm starting to get over it--and it's partly because I usually go seven hours between lunch and dinner--but I really feel the need to consume mass quantities in the late afternoon. Funny, usually a cup of tea will tide me over. Anyway, I may or may not have lost about two pounds. And certainly not because I've upped my activity level. So there's that.

In craft news, I have finally finished my cabled jacket, and just have to block and buy buttons for Versatility--and I've even all but finished my little acorn bag--but I have no pictures right now. I'm still working on the lace socks, plus I've started a new pair for Mark in leftover grey and light blue yarn (vanilla toe-up). And I've started a very simple scarf for Knit Your Bit.