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.

Just writing to say I have finally caught up on all the blog posts I didn't get the chance to read last week. Maybe I'll even leave some comments tomorrow.

(p.s., Heather, your short story is still freaking me out...)

When it snows in North Carolina, the place shuts down. And that is a good thing, considering how lousy everybody drives around here in the first place--plus there are too few plows and too little rock salt to really be anything but a Band-Aid. My office was closed on Monday for MLK Day, then again on Tuesday and Wednesday because of poor management of a lousy six inches of snow. I wish it had seemed like a five-day weekend, but I had a conference call on Tuesday and was planning to stay home to watch umpteen hours of inauguration coverage (woohoooo!!!) anchored by my TV boyfriend and my TV BFF anyway so I had the work laptop with me. The day job is beginning to consume waaay too much time and energy; even now, it looks like I'll miss the chance to apply for a competition in the spring because I have to be in Salt Lake City for work that weekend. Five days sitting behind a table in a convention center. Whoopee. Maybe I should live-blog. Anyway, it's making private teaching look increasingly more attractive. I was supposed to get specifics by email earlier this week (ought to follow up)...but we'll see if I really like teaching for hours at a time, versus sitting at a computer. I guess ideally I'd only sing and/or sit on my ass all day, but until I have regular major gigs that would get pretty boring after a while. How much HGTV can one person watch?! Also, it might seem a bit selfish, while Mark works all day. You think?

Oh, I finally got a picture of Mark's socks the other day:



Paraphernalia, available on Ravelry, etc., etc. It's such a striking pattern, and pretty simple (it's mainly 3x1 ribbing).

Since it's Friday, here's a (bad) picture of my pencil pouch project for HELPSudan:


(Will I ever develop photography skills? Stay tuned.) I have a few repeats left, and should be done very soon. Also, I'm almost done with my cabled cardigan. Finally! I had to unravel and change the yoke construction, since it was coming out way too large, but I'm now half done with the final collar band. After I block it and pick out closures, I'll be DONE! This is a five-month project--it'll be so good to be finished.

Speaking of long-term projects, check this out. I'm in love! And Mark really likes Frank Lloyd Wright, so it's perfect. But I'll make it for our bed. A queen-sized bed. It would be 7x7 squares, and come out approximately 94" square. I may have lost my mind. But can you imagine how irritating it would be to make a queen-sized afghan out of granny squares?! Not me, not ever. Forty-nine squares is more than enough, thank you. At least it'll keep me out of trouble...

One last knitted item: I got started on Versatility the other day. I may well run out of yarn before the end, but I've been holding onto two skeins of now-discontinued Noro Big Kureyon for more than three years. I'll figure something out. I mean, hell, it's NORO.



The colors are more muted in real life. It's glorious, and it really does create a pretty soft fabric. I've left off the bobbles, by the way--otherwise Niki would kick my butt... Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of bobbles, plus I wanted to conserve more yarn (I'm already leaving off a pattern repeat). I've substituted single purl stitches instead, which can be interesting with the Noro color changes. I have to say, the pattern is marked "piquant", but it's really not that hard. Or maybe I'm just too used to the cabled jacket to have any sort of perspective.

Audition tomorrow--and we're going to stay with a friend of ours we haven't seen for over a year. Should be a blast!

(p.s. top picture = the mittens in action)

I want this. If anyone wants to buy it for me, my birthday's in April. But can you imagine? I'd never get out of bed. I'd just keep hitting the snooze so I could hear Stephen Fry again.

On Saturday we went to the inauguration of the new governor (the first female governor in state history) and other state officials. The weather was actually quite nice, and we sat in the sun so we weren't really even cold. It offered an excuse to get a picture of Mark's fakey Noro scarf.


It was absolutely hellish to work with (did I mention before? Debbie Mumm Traditions, looks pretty but it's just awful!), but look! He's actually wearing the scarf! And it looks good on him and everything.


Behold my second Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret. Mark takes better pictures of me than I take of myself. This should not surprise anyone.

Last week was kind of crappy for me, but this week is looking up. I have an audition in two weeks (for someone I've been trying to get a coaching with for a year), and it looks like I'm going to start teaching soon. My day job has been getting on my nerves lately--way more commitment than I signed up for!--and it might be nice to teach instead. It is definitely more lucrative, but I can't exactly, say, blog while I'm giving a voice lesson. Ahem. Anyway, I should have more details in a few days about that.

Oh, also, I finished my mittens! I'll have Mark take pictures for me this time.

This is going around today, so if you're lurking, de-lurk!

There were also some minor stash acquisitions while I was away. I generally avoid the New Jersey Turnpike at all costs, so I planned a route through Lancaster, Pennsylvania to stop at an LYS. It was a store in an old house, crammed to the rafters with yarn (which is how I like my yarn stores), and I bought this:


More sock yarn, yes, I know, but it's kettle-dyed! And I don't actually have pink socks. I was quite tempted by some possum-blend laceweight (New Zealand possum, though not from the linked company--somebody based out of New England, I don't remember now), but with the allergies I decided against it. Very soft and fluffy, though.

Also, that same day I went Olbermann-watching and froze my butt off, I stopped at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio downtown. I don't know what I was expecting, but...eh. Kind of underwhelming. The store looks great, at least. I bought some Sock-Ease, since you can't buy it around here in stores.


Does that look grey or lavender to you? I think it's supposed to be grey, but I definitely see purple there. I swear, though, every single damn colorway has chartreuse in it! Who are these people clamoring for neon green stripes in their socks?! Nobody I know.

Still no photos of Mark's completed socks, or his fake Noro scarf, or my remade beret--I'll make him do it this weekend if it kills me. But in the meantime, a PSA. There's a Darfur awareness group on Ravelry, and they're knitting pencil cases for donation and/or sale. I'll be making Wendy's as soon as I finish the damn stranded mittens. I'm not big into the charity knitting, but this seems like important and useful charity knitting. Read more below...

______________________________________________________
Sudan is an extremely war-torn country, and that for a long time. The current genocide in Darfur, before that the Second Sudanese Civil War, in which over 2 million people were killed have made it difficult for the Sudanese people to go on living normally, like sending their children to school.

HELPSudan was formed by the Lost Boys of Sudan to establish learning facilities, recruit teachers and provide school supplies as well as provide health resources and clean water especially in Southern Sudan. HELPSudan is raising funds for the purpose of starting more schools in Southern Sudan; ”providing pencils and notebooks for hands that might have taken up arms, and an education for minds that once only understood war.”

The Ravelry Darfur group thought the knitting and crocheting community could help raising funds, and at the same time making something useful for the Sudanese children.

The object to be made is a pencil case, because they’re easy, quick, inexpensive and light, and because they can be both sold to benefit HELPSudan financially as well as given to the Sudanese school children along with pens and notebooks.

Some other generous designers have made patterns for the project, too, and are publishing them in their own blogs and Ravelry. You will find the current link list of available patterns at www.worsted-knitt.net.

Once the knitting gets going, there’ll be a voting on the most beautiful pencil case on Flickr with lovely prizes!

The challenge is here: HELPSudan’s next Annual Fund Raiser is just few weeks away. They say some pencil cases would be a great addition to their Silent Auction of arts and crafts… however, HELPSudan have said that they will have need for pencil cases after the event, too, so this KAL/CAL will be active for at least until the end of March. Updates will be published at www.worsted-knitt.net as well as Ravelry Darfur group.

The finished pencil cases can be sent directly to HELPSudan at

HELPSudan
5255 N. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640 USA

What happens when you don't take pictures for a month? This post. And this isn't even everything...

First off: my Estonian lace shawl is ready to block.


I am over the moon about it. I don't seem to be allergic to it (as I was to the last project I made from alpaca, though this is an alpaca-silk blend), and I think I finally have the hang of nupps--there were a hell of a lot of them, and the video at the above link was extremely helpful.

Another project--I made Mark a Tychus when I first started knitting, and it is quite pointy on top. The man doesn't need any help to look like an elf. So I made him a new hat last week.


He wasn't so keen on modeling (what else is new). I really didn't use the pattern much--I knit it from the top down, and of course my gauge was completely different--but the concept is the same. The yarn is the star here--handspun by Michelle, and a wool-mohair blend that feels very light and is wonderful to work with. (The black stripe is leftover Patons--big melons call for big hats, and I ran out with five rows to spare.) Mark actually had the nerve to say it wasn't very warm when he tried it on. There is no possible way this hat wouldn't keep you warm! He must've been reacting to the smooshiness...

I was expecting some KnitPicks action for Christmas, but Mark got me Spafinder gift certificates instead. That will subsidize two hot stone massages. I think he made the right choice. Anyway... I did get one yarny gift, from my (knitter) sister-in-law:


Portable swift! No longer will I need to use the lampshade when I have to wind yarn! It's a neat setup (purchased on etsy, nice), and the wood is quite pretty. The first thing I wound was (of course) some sock yarn. I decided I need to work through my sock yarn stash from the rear. I bought this (SHEEPaints BambooLaine) from a girl at my SnB in March, I think. I was cautious, since the projects on Ravelry in this colorway have been, honestly, kind of gross-looking. Nothing really the users' fault--lots of pooling and general misbehavior. So you can imagine my surprise when it looked so pretty in the ball. And check it out in action:


No pooling at all! I love that the colors are so complex--there's rust, burgundy, light blue and a gorgeous inky blue along with the jacquard. The pattern is Elfine's Socks, which seemed to work well with other handpainted yarns on Ravelry--I was not disappointed.

You know what does disappoint me? Having ginormous man hands. I'm gearing up to make Tatiana--Matryoskhas rock my world--so I decided to make some worsted-weight stranded mittens first to hone my (meager) skills. I picked out a cool pattern--The Green Hand, which sounds ominous but totally isn't--and I got cracking. I have like, a ton of leftover Patons from my frogged Drops jacket, and I had some great Kool-Aid dyed wool from a trade for the contrast color (two different batches, so I overdyed them with more Cherry). Here's how far I let myself get before I acknowledged that there was a problem:




And it's too small across the palm. Way too small for blocking to correct. Of course I tried it on every two rows to admire my handiwork. Of course I noticed that it was pulling across the palm. But for some reason I thought I could make up for it with the thumb. Seriously?! Ugh. So I ripped the whole damn thing out, down to the cuff, and started again up a needle size. It's still snug, but it's not pulling anymore, and I'm sure this will relax when I block it. Bah. Hubris strikes again! I am finally starting to get the hang of colorwork, though...

Still no pictures! Mark is dragging his butt. I will get on him tonight about it. So, without further ado, crazy New York items:

*Two really good auditions! One of which I think could even be promising! I may never hear anything, but I'm happy to have done my best.

*I waited for Mark, my brother and his fiancee for nearly an hour at Rockefeller Center, right across the street from the tree. It was twenty degrees, so I was not happy. It was too cold to knit. I spent the time scoping out the crowd for a tall, handsome man dressed like a capofamiglia, but no dice. (He was off that week.) I also would've been quite happy to see Tina Fey.

*I had to shovel. I hate shoveling.

*I lost my cute beret on my first trip into Manhattan (I made another this weekend), so the next day I wore my crazy hood-scarf thing. Okay, not only do I now feel it looks foolish, but it did not keep me warm at ALL. Compared to the beret and little neckwarmer the day before. The secret is wool. Acrylic does a half-assed job keeping you warm!! I never really believed this before, but now I know. Case in point: when I took off the orange hood and wrapped myself in my flimsy pashmina, I was instantly warmer! Still not warm, but it was pretty windy that day. Anyway, I am now a total wool convert. Natural fibers only for me, from now on!

*My husband's nephews are antisocial and weird. Okay, the two-year-old is in a biting, "mine mine mine" phase, which is to be expected, but the five-year-old is cutting girls' hair in school, barely acknowledges his brother's existence except to steal whatever toy he has, is kind of a terror in general... I do hope he grows out of this. And that our children don't act like this. I will leave them at the orphanage, I swear. My brothers and I were NOT like this. We definitely fought--and I'm sure our parents wanted to drop us off on the side of the highway on several occasions--but we also played together all the time. And nobody ever cut anybody's hair, ever.

*Speaking of child development, my only first cousin is now a senior in high school, and possibly a Unabomber-in-training himself. Got interested in girls less than a year ago, has NO interest in college--wouldn't a normal 17-year-old be itching to go out on his own? My uncle is basically filling out applications for him. I will be interested to see how this turns out.

*In happier family news, Jeff's fiancee L. has invited me to be an attendant. I'll get to match other people and everything! :) And she has good (usually expensive) taste, so prospects are good that I won't look like an enormous eggplant.

*Oh, hey, and I got to see my friend Michele from college, who I hadn't seen in more than nine years, I think. We had a great time--took up right where we left off. Facebook comes through in the end...

Happy New Year! I had very intermittent internet access while I was away, and now I'm getting over a cold, so I've been rather slow to update. Plus I have to take a bunch of FO photos. But here's one from a while ago: my gift to Cathy.


Funniest picture ever? Remember that pattern I translated from French while watching a Doctor Who marathon on my day off? This is it. Don't I look like one of the Fatima sisters, or that my head is covered for some religious reason? It looks pretty as a neckwarmer, anyway.

More pictures--more updates later.

I'm getting some stuff squared away at the day job before I leave for two weeks (though I'm bringing the work laptop with me so I can keep on top of things). There is always a new wrinkle, and I wouldn't put a minor calamity past the editor.

Mark's socks are scooting along, but they are way longer than I wanted--it's just the nature of the pattern. I'm actually going to need another ball of yarn. Now I'm worried that the cuff will be too tight. I guess I could always snip the cast-on and do a really loose bind off, if I have to. Hopefully they'll be okay, but I won't know until December 25!

Here's a quiz from Knotty Mouse--Question 11 made me laugh out loud. Extra credit if you can guess which response I chose! (By the way, I am the opposite of cold, calm and calculating--not to mention amoral!! So I don't think the quiz is particularly accurate.)

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Sorceror   Control is the name of your game. You are a studied tactician and scientist and you seek a kingdom where things make sense, damn the morals, even if you have to create it. You are cold, calm and calculating.
Werewolf
Cthulu Spawn
Ghost
Incubus/Succubus
Vampire
Demon
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

The other night we had hockey tickets, and they were giving away Christmas ornaments. I got one of the 20 signed ornaments in the arena! And it was signed by this man, Tuomo Ruutu:



Pretty, hmm? There's a reason so many ladies were wearing his sweater at the game. (Also, I don't understand this commercial. It's like a Mentos commercial, minus the plot. Do Europeans laugh at our commercials, I wonder? I doubt it, since they're mostly stupid and/or about boobs.)

I frogged the sock I was working on for Mark--you had to pick up the heel flap stitches in such a way that the cables looked continuous, and I just couldn't get it to look right. So I'm making these. (Have fun reading Finnish! I think the pattern's only available on Ravelry.) Here was my progress Sunday:


Yet another absolutely awful photo, courtesy of yours truly! These are really fun, and surprisingly quick. It's basically a 3x1 rib, with cables every 4 or 6 rows. I'm working on the heel flap now.

I just realized I've made two completely unrelated references to Finland. Does that mean I have to like lutefisk? Mark's mother had two cousins (brothers) who both married unrelated Finnish exchange students. When we were in Colorado for Christmas in 2003, we visited one of the couples in Breckenridge (they live there full-time, so they're only kind of rich). Indeed, there were various dried/jellied fish items served. Luckily our very sweet Finnish hostess (whose name escapes me) understood that she'd probably be the only person enjoying them. I think I did try something, and it was very salty and fishy. I'm no fan of my own cultural touchstone, bacalhau--and it at least looks appetizing, like a little super-salty fried fish doughnut--so it's understandable that these delicacies wouldn't appeal to me...

Speaking of Portuguese food, I've been meaning to pick up some linguica (and I always buy this brand, for reasons that would be clear to some of you)... Mark doesn't like it, ostensibly because the sausage bleeds orange paprika-colored oil when you bite or cut it. But it actually works really well on pizza, or in spaghetti sauce, and the carnage is not noticeable in these applications. I am much looking forward to the Portuguese food extravaganza that is staying at my grandmother's house.

Michelle posted a link to this contest to win a pretty apron. Her aprons are so cute! I wish I were a more talented seamstress. Also, she has fun recipes.

Speaking of making aprons, I have to break out the sewing machine this weekend anyway...Lane Bryant had an enormous sale last weekend, and I managed to pick up a cute top and a pair of jeans for $20. Total! Anyway, the jeans are literally about eight inches too long. (Cathy, maybe I should give them to you.) I should probably hem them by hand, since it's hard on the machine to handle denim (ask me how I know), but I have a few other things I need to mend and/or make before I leave for New York.

Gah! That trip is coming up way quicker than I thought it would. I do need to get my butt in gear.

I have turned the heel on Mark's socks, but things are getting confusing. I think I need to break down and use stitch markers.

My supervisor joked that we should all get these at work:



I wonder how many takes they had to do before the actors stopped falling out of the chairs...

I finally have some progress to show on Mark's socks, though it is a crappy picture:


Can you even see the cable up the side? It was a huge pain in the ass at first, but then I remembered how to knit the stitches out of order, and it's not so bad (I only use cable needles when I've got really big cables to deal with--it's so much faster). I may add an extra repeat or two to make them a little longer. I also finished my father's felted slippers the other day--Mark even helped a little with needle-felting the "thrums" to the insides--but I won't bore you with another (even crappier) picture. Trying to take pictures of dark yarn at night is just a bad idea.

No holiday decorating yet--last night's House was just too captivating. Tonight, probably.

True story: A few weeks ago we got a Hickory Farms catalog in the mail. I left it for Mark to look at, assuming he'd just recycle it. A week or so later, I found him snuffling in the living room, looking around for his "cheese magazine". Yes, he was reading the Hickory Farms catalog like a magazine. I mean, I like to hang onto KnitPicks and Lion Brand catalogs for a while, but they actually contain valuable information (and yarn pr0n). Apparently my husband likes to look at pictures of summer sausage and cheese logs. I don't know if I ought to be worried.

Had another successfully productive day, though not as productive as I'd like. Arias do not learn themselves, folks. I did finally finish the cuff on Mark's first sock, though. I'm using Patons Kroy, which I'd never worked with before. I understand why this is such a popular yarn in Canada! It makes a lovely soft fabric for a great price ($5 a skein at Michael's!).

Getting ready for my trip to New York! I'm hoping to catch up with a few friends from college--one of whom I've been out of touch with for five years or so, and have just caught up with on Facebook. (Oh yes, I was a doubter, but you can count me as a fan.) That, and I'm trying to schedule a time with my vocal coach. I hope I can work that out.

You must watch this video. Disturbingly adorable!

Because I'm leaving in two weeks for New York, we have to accelerate our holiday stuff a bit. I wrapped all the presents today--there are a few I still need to take care of, but not many. We're decorating a garland instead of a tree, and we'll probably put that up tomorrow. I'm not in a "Christmas mood" or anything--it's just a matter of getting things done...

It was funny getting back to my pink cabled jacket after working with the fur stuff--I never knew how much more I liked working with small needles. So I decided to work on some Korknisse for ornaments. After making one, I realized they'd be much faster to crochet. I'll take some pictures when I have a few more assembled.

So this is the last day of NaBloPoMo, and I did it!! I should be able to keep up posting a few times a week.

I was tagged for this the other day by Heather and Diana, but I didn't get a chance to do it. So here goes:

1) Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Okay.
1. My husband heard me sing before he heard me speak, eight years ago next month. I was in a community choir, and he was invited to the holiday concert by a mutual friend. I sang the "Qui sedes" from the Vivaldi Gloria, incidentally.
2. I was extremely reluctant to join Facebook, but my arm had been twisted by too many people, so I joined today. There ya' go. (Oh, and my freshman-year boyfriend, who has never come up on Google searches, is on there. I'd never have believed it was him, but it's quite obvious from the photo... Should I message him? It's been more than twelve years since we've spoken, after all. Might be fun for a few minutes.)
4. I learned to crochet because I wanted to recreate some doll toilet paper cozies my Portuguese great-grandmother had. At least one of my original creations still exists, in my parents' guest bathroom.
5. My first crush ever (if you can call it that) was when I was four. It was on Captain Kirk. I think William Shatner is a year older than my grandmother.
6. I really want to have an herb garden. We don't have enough light where we live now for anything besides impatiens and begonias. Planting herbs will be one of the first things we do when we buy a house.
7. I hate peas--but only out of the pod. They taste different in the pod!

Yeah, and I'm not going to tag anyone, since so many people have done this already.

Today Mark made a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat to fulfill our turkey needs. It was lovely, and the leftovers are abundant. What I did today: crochet a scarf for my Share Tree recipient from church. It took some trial and error to find a stitch pattern that worked with the yarn (Fancy Fur plus some worsted weight acrylic held together); I ended up making it the long way, alternating stitches per row. Pretty boring, but it's warm, and I hope the woman likes it. I do have to buy her pants, in a size large. Do they sell non-sweatpants in S-M-L? I guess I'll find out tomorrow at the store.