We may end up going with the house-without-a-dining-room (HWADR?). We went back to see it again on Tuesday, and it really is a great house, in a great neighborhood (it's across the street from a lake, which you can just about see from the upstairs--and certainly could in the fall and winter), and Mark's commuting time wouldn't change (mine would be three minutes longer, no big deal). Last night I came home to Mark playing with a furniture planner. A baby grand does make it more complicated to figure out where the furniture will fit (especially because I will actually be using the piano, and moving around in front of it), but it's nice to know our huge furniture would actually fit. (Mark even wondered if we should sell ours and buy smaller stuff from IKEA, so we could have more than four seats!) Anyway, I think my parents are coming up Sunday to take a look--and if all goes well, we might even make an offer. It is kind of nervewracking...

Finally, a picture of my Fountain Pen Shawl!


Mark took a bunch more (which are here). It was really, really hot that day, and we were out on the newly-refinished parking lot.

I've made decent progress on the Wavy Lace Cardigan as well:


At this point I've finished both fronts and am working on the back. Then sleeves, edging, a huge amount of blocking (this is stretchier than I thought it'd be!) and I'll be done. It's pretty fast.

I saw a Knitting Daily video a while back where Eunny Jang was talking about jogless striping. One of the techniques was to divide a project in the round equally onto circular needles, then knitting a different color for each needle; the colors "barber pole" around, and there aren't any abrupt changes. I decided to try this out in a pair of toe-up stockinette socks. I'm using three great leftover yarns in complementary colors: Malabrigo Sock, Trekking XXL and SHEEPAINTS BambooLaine.


These are really cool! I like how they look more variegated than striped. I'm on the second sock now, but I want to finish it before Wednesday so I can take a new sock on our long trip next week.

The house-hunting has been, well, going. I guess I'm getting a little frustrated. We found a cute older brick house (sing the song! do it!) in a good neighborhood that met all our needs, and then we found out the utilities are $300 a month (my parents' house is half that, and they have a hot tub). There was one other house we liked a lot which was newer, but it doesn't have a dining room so we'd need to sacrifice that. We do like to entertain, and feel like we ought to have one, but the house does have a killer brand-new kitchen, and a decent-sized eat-in area; maybe we don't really need it. As I orginally expected, most of the houses in our price range are either cute but too small or not private, or private but older (and apparently not energy efficient). We have only seen ten houses, so it's probably too soon to get too frustrated yet. We are seeing four more tonight, and hopefully there will be another good one to choose from. We really don't want to push our price any higher than we have to...

I finally finished my Fountain Pen Shawl last week, but I still need Mark to take pictures. Then I even finished my mystery project--so it was time to start something new. Because it's July, I thought a wool cardigan would be perfect (/irony). I have a dozen or more on my Ravelry queue at any given time, and I decided it was time for this Wavy Lace Cardigan. There are only four projects on Ravelry, including mine--I presume this is because there's no project photo. Maybe I can be an ambassador for this poor neglected pattern. I decided to add a LOT of shaping in the body (the pattern doesn't have any), so I changed the side ribbing a bit, and added eight stitches to the largest size so I'd have an inch or so of ease. It's kind of a stretchy sweater, so that may have been a really good idea. I am 3/4 of the way to the underarm, and am using Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in Natural--an underrated yarn, I think. I may even have a picture of this next week.

We're keeping busy over here. I've had a bunch of rehearsals and lessons and meetings to try and stay motivated with my singing through this drought. In house news, the pre-approval is complete, and tomorrow we're meeting with a second agent (one with Zip Realty, incidentally) recommended by a knitting friend. We'll make a decision between the two agents, then actually start shopping! Exciting times. I have been checking out this awesome A-frame for a month or two, and it will be interesting to actually get inside and see whether the kitchen is too small, or the bathrooms are awful (the online pictures aren't clear in these issues)--we don't mind buying a place that's a bit outdated, as long as it doesn't have grody carpets or nasty bathrooms. We shall see...

Radio Note: stations have understandably had Michael Jackson on heavy rotation--but I've also been hearing way more Fleetwood Mac, Boston and The Black Crowes (my third-favorite band from high school) than seems normal. Monday I heard "Livin' on a Prayer" twice in two hours. What is up?!

Here's some knitting:


Remember a few months ago, when I started St. James but had to frog after a gauge disaster? Well, here's what it's supposed to look like... I found this cotton yarn at A.C. Moore--$3.50 after a 50% off coupon. it only took about ten days, and I am quite pleased with the results. I'm wearing it today, and I think I calculated enough negative ease that it's not stretching out the way I expected. Now I totally feel like a Mad Men character--without the secondhand smoke and sexual harrassment and three-martini lunches. (Though I could always use the latter...)

Also, I've finished the second half of the socks I test-knitted (TdF Socks):



The pattern is here--fast, simple without being mindless, and husband-approved. Plus I get a shout-out at the end of the pattern!

My main project right now is a secret one, so no pictures! Also, I am almost finished with my Fountain Pen Shawl (I'm halfway through the border chart). I'll be glad to finally be done--it is huge. Once I finish I'll get back to the afghan. My goal is to finish it for Mark's birthday in October.

Speaking of patterns, here is an tutorial for making an adorable pincushion from a baby food jar. I don't have any baby food jars, but I do have a salsa jar. I was thinking it would be perfect for holding buttons.

Oh, since I'm posting links, check out this interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I think I want to be her when I grow up...

I found out something interesting today that makes me feel a lot better... Back in December, I sang a pretty great audition for a fantastic role with a smaller Midwestern company. A few months later I got a rejection-with-encouragement note from the company. I found out several weeks later that one of my Facebook contacts (just a singer I've worked with, not a friend--I don't respect this person very much) is singing the lead role in the same production. We weren't up for the same thing, but given the scarcity of jobs right now (and that she's a bimbo--sorry, it must be said) I was rather pissed and kind of jealous. Anyway, just now she posted a link to the production page, and I saw who's singing the role I auditioned for: she's a few years older than me (judging by the picture), and has sung several roles with the company already. For all I know, they had all but cast her before they even heard me. Anyway, now I don't feel so bad. I feel kind of badass, actually. But not as badass as if I were actually making some money singing right now...

Speaking of Facebook, I have a dilemma: my cousin has tried to friend me. I don't remember how old she is, but she cannot be any older than twelve. TWELVE YEARS OLD. Um, don't you have to be eighteen to use Facebook? Am I weird to see a problem with this? Clearly her older sister (who's 19) and her aunts know how old she is, and they've friended her. She is a baby. I don't post nude pictures to Facebook or anything, but I do occasionally link to adult-oriented things. And I think that's fine; it's a space for ADULTS. I should not have to censor myself because my tween cousin's mother (who I thought was raising them in a very strict Catholic way, which makes this even more surprising) made an error in judgment. I already censor myself to a point, since I have a number of singing contacts in my friends--this is the place I don't censor! yay blog!--but I should at least be able to be myself, which includes sometimes linking to crazy stuff that isn't appropriate for everyone. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to friend her. I feel a little bad, but I'm sorry. I think she was born in 1998, for heaven's sake!

My secret projects have now finally reached their recipients, so I can post pictures.



This is the Bird's Nest Smoke Ring, which I made for my cowl swap partner. It was a fun pattern, easy to memorize with just enough complexity to keep me interested. I used the ever-versatile and cushy Cascade Heritage sock yarn--it's actually purple, despite the off colors in the photo. (She sent me the most fantastic, generous package in return--a cashmere cowl and wristwarmers, two skeins of Noro, yummy chocolate and a bunch of lavender-scented L'Occitane, but I can't find the adapter for the camera so that will have to wait until next time.)

And speaking of purple and lousy photos, here are the socks I made for Cathy's birthday:



These are Drunken Bees, though you can't really tell from the picture. Cathy is a rather statuesque young lady, and we wear different-sized socks--hence this is a bit big on yours truly (the foot model), and you can't see the pattern much at all. This pattern took a bit more concentration, but it wasn't too bad. (Fiber artists in the know may recognize the yarn as Malabrigo Sock in Abril, which is apparently--and understandably--a pretty popular and hard-to-find colorway. Nothing but the best for Cathy. Plus it was wonderful to play with.)

Since the pattern is about to be released, I can show you one of my test knits. They were inspired by the Tour de France; the circles are meant to represent the way riders in the peloton navigate traffic circles. (And that is all I know about the Tour de France, yay me.) Here is the first sock, modeled by my lovely recipient:



The pattern called for solid sock yarn, which I didn't have on hand...I had a really tough time eschewing all the amazing handpainted stuff at Hillsborough Yarn in favor of some perfectly nice and relatively indestructible (but not particularly sexy) Fortissima Socka. Sometimes it's a good thing that store is 45 minutes and two counties away...

Okay, I know I promised sewing, but there really isn't much of it other than some mending and a tote bag I made from an old Billy Joel T-shirt. I did, however, replace a zipper on a pair of pants (clamdiggers? capris? I don't know). I used the zipper foot! Crazy! Maybe one day I'll actually graduate into making clothes.

Other than crafting and kvetching about Facebook-related items, our main concern here is buying a house. The goal for this week is pre-approval--and to our surprise, it is actually the kind of thing we can get done in an afternoon. Who knows, by next weekend we may actually be putting in an offer! (Though I seriously doubt it...) We have actually found a well-recommended real estate agent, and she seems to be pretty savvy, but we haven't discussed commission--which, while the seller pays commissions, apparently in this area people are negotiating lower commissions with lots of success. Our financial planner has recommended we not take a full-commission deal, but I don't feel so great about it...hopefully Mark can be "Bad Cop" when we have that conversation with the agent. We do have another recommendation, if this doesn't fly, but I'm dreading it a bit!

Damn, that is a lot of blanket.

We have finally killed our television! We'd had bundled internet, cable and digital phone with the diabolical Time Warner Cable for several years. A few weeks ago we realized that porting our home number to a cell phone for Mark (added to my plan), in conjunction with losing the cable (which is an enormous time-suck, of course), would save us about $100 a month, so we did it! The phone thing took a week or two to be finalized, and TWC actually makes you go down to their office and return your box to cancel your account--apparently assuming that many people are too lazy to make the effort--but Mark took it back Saturday morning. We couldn't live without the interwebs, clearly, and we plan to exploit Hulu for all it's worth and keep our NetFlix account quite active, but not having the cable means we'll both get a lot more done. I cannot tell you how much time I've spent vegging in front of HGTV...okay, I was probably knitting at the time, but still. So it's a brave new world here. Already I can tell we're going to get a lot more sleep, since I won't be forcing myself to go to bed after the first segment of Colbert. That, and I think the laundry will be folded in a more timely manner. Mark even volunteered to help tonight. :)

Dude, I owe you all some knitting content. I have two secret projects currently en route to their recipients, and I just finished two test-knits last week. Hmmm... I know what I can show you! Really ugly socks.



It's not the pattern, of course (the quick and fun Sprucey Lucy, by the ever-awesome Wendy)--it's this nasty yarn (JL Vinca--avoid!), which is made up of two plies that in this particular skein generally managed to clash with each other 75% of the time. Plus I am no fan of yellow, and there's a hell of a lot of it here. So I overdyed them with a pellet of red Easter egg dye and a mess of vinegar. Voila:



They're still pretty funky, but the yellow is now a pretty orange, and the red and purple bits are very vivid.

What else? Well, several cozies have been constructed. This one is for my DivaCup, which I should be receiving in the next few days:



Get it? Teehee. There are several more on Ravelry in this exact colorway of Peaches and Creme. And then there's this one (kind of NSFW, so I won't post it here), which I made for a knitting friend who had a birthday last week. Apparently she enjoys it. (Pattern here--probably also NSFW.) How could I resist making both of those in the same week?! There's also a pattern out there for a rather scandalous crocheted maxipad holder that uses fun fur to its best advantage...but I'm not even going to link to that. I think it's kind of gross, actually... But in G-rated cozy news, I decided to replace my leaking microwavable hot-cold pack with an old-school rubber hot water bottle--and since it needed a cover, I made one, also out of yarn I dyed myself:



I had 120 yards of vintage (and scratchy) off-white wool I picked up at a thrift store. I first dyed the whole thing with leftover store-brand rooibos tea, then drizzled cherry Kool-Aid randomly over the tan hanks. It looked pretty awful before it was knitted, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks now. I ran out of yarn a few yards from the top, so I finished with a few yards of Patons Classic Wool. It's much softer now that I've washed it with some conditioner (Flex, for more of that old-school flavor).

But wait! Before I go, here's something totally normal, so you don't think I've completely lost my mind:



My Berlin socks, out of some awesome Cherry Tree Hill yarn, hooray. At first I was planning to reknit the feet, since they got a little baggy the first time I wore them, but they fit better now that they've been washed. They should be fine with my clogs in the fall.

Next blog post: actual sewing! On the sewing machine!

Things have been busy and weird. I almost feel like I'm just kind of along for the ride sometimes... I'm also feeling kind of random.

One of my coworkers is a great baker, but her signature dish is this chocolate pie with a meringue that is WAY too sweet and doesn't even taste like chocolate, plus I hate meringue. Everybody else seems to like it, though. She brought some in today. I am supposed to be on a diet, and am generally sticking with that, but have had a few pieces of chocolate this morning. I blame it on the Benadryl I took last night--I've been really itchy from allergies, which has been keeping me up at night, but I slept through the alarm this morning so I need to halve my dose...

I am running a swap on the Cowls board on Ravelry. The other organizer is also a singer, an American who has a fest contract in Switzerland. The apprentice program at Sarasota is really one of the only programs in this country that works in a similar way (and even that is sort of a junior version). It would be really cool to have a fest contract. It involves moving to Europe, though, and that's not something we're prepared to do right now. We think we should be able to buy a house in the fall. There's this $8000 tax credit that we would love to take advantage of, but we were really hoping somebody would be able to loan us $8000 for the next few months so we could use it as part of our down payment. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like anyone in our family can do that right now. My parents are selling their house, and there has been a decent amount of interest; if they were able to close in the next month they'd be able to swing the loan, but that's a pretty unrealistic time frame. I have another family member to ask, but we talk rather infrequently so I feel pretty lousy about hitting her up. Mark has a few people to ask as well, but it's not looking so good. Bummer.

I'm not dead! I've just been really, really busy. And now I seem to have caught a cold, just when things are slowing down a bit. (The timing could've been so much worse.) I am very slowly catching up--there is much laundry to fold, and my Bloglines is full! I've also been working on some unbloggable projects. Anyway, I should be getting back into the swing of things over the next week.

My Venus is finished!



I don't think my chest looks so particularly enormous in real life...ignore that. Here are my modifications, if I'm remembering correctly:

1. I worked six decrease and increase rows instead of two, with six rows between each. (My row gauge was a tiny bit off, since I used size 8s--size 9s made a less opaque fabric than I was looking for.)
2. I lengthened the body by three inches (I made the 44" size, so have about 5" negative ease, but it basically fits like a fitted T-shirt--it's not overwhelmingly clingy).
3. I left off the final increase row for the shell, and BO after row 33.
4. The fronts are only 11.5" from the underarm--they were originally WAAAY too long--and are 32 sts at the widest point.
5. I decreased in the back to 64 sts.
6. The back seam is 14" (there's a bit more give in the back than in the collar).
7. For the sleeves, I picked up 72 sts around the armhole, worked two rounds in st st, then worked the short rows that corresponded to my stitch count twice. I worked two decs at the underarm every other row until I had 64 sts, then half an inch of 1x1 ribbing.

In general I think this is pretty successful. I definitely like having sleeves--however tiny, they do make it feel more "office- appropriate". Plus I have big arms. =p





And there are the finished socks--Phineas for Mark in Araucania Ranco (which was supposed to become Spring Forwards for ME!) and Leyburns for me in Plymouth Happy Feet's Lisa Frank colorway. (Just in time for me to not wear socks for six months.) In works-in-progress, the Berlin socks are going well--still can't get that lace pattern memorized!--and the shawl is going great after I decided to frog the acrylic and start again with the cashmere I recycled last year. This is going to be yummy... Oh, and I'm officially 30% done with the afghan. (Did the math and everything. The eighty-one squares alone will be about 84.5" square, and I'd like it to be a minimum of 88". So once I finish the squares, I'll be 97% done as far as size goes. This does not count seaming. Right. Hmm. But I'll be able to do some of that as I go, plus doing four squares at a time is a total life-saver. Factoring that in makes things more complicated.)

The office is almost entirely cleaned out, thanks to lots of work on Mark's part--looks like we'll have an ersatz dining room very soon. It will be nice not to have to eat in front of the television. I'm still not sure where my practice space will be. In the summer it gets way too hot upstairs (think upper 80s), so I don't plan on spending too much time up there during the day. Maybe we'll keep the keyboard downstairs for now. I really haven't been practicing much lately--headaches, back issues, laziness--but I have a lesson tomorrow and ought to have something to show for it... things were really weird yesterday vocally, so I couldn't do much even though my neck is feeling mostly better. Today definitely.

I finally had my neurology appointment! The doctor was nice, and referred me for a sleep study--the headaches may be caused by plain old sleep deprivation. (And if the way my parents and grandparents snore is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if I had inherited sleep apnea.) He also gave me a list of potentially headache-inducing foods to avoid. Which included all the food I like, no kidding. Fresh bread, cheese, chocolate, citrus, tea... I haven't had yogurt in about a week, and it may actually be making a difference. Still, I would much rather go at it trial-and-error than develop some monastic lifestyle where I only eat boiled chicken and rice. Truthfully, food lists do not jive well with my history of eating disorders--"off-limits" foods are so, so bad for my brain--so determining that eating feta cheese gives me a headache and avoiding it would be much preferable to the mindfrack and slippery slope of total deprivation.

We had a low-key anniversary last week, which involved an Outback Steakhouse gift card, spending the night at a nice hotel, then going to the new IKEA in Charlotte. (It would've been much more fun if the guy in the next room hadn't chosed FOUR A.M. to have a cellphone conversation about Snuggies. I am not joking. Are people actually getting MORE inconsiderate?! Maybe I shouldn't be surprised.) We had no real goals for the IKEA trip, other than to possibly address storage in our living room, but we did buy this as part of our grand plan to actually have a dining room in place of my office stuff, which is moving upstairs to the actual dedicated office. Brave new world, this. We're using it on its side so it can eventually double as a credenza, and it mainly has yarn and some scores in it right now.

In yarny news, actual finishing is going on! Mark's socks were done in record time--about five days, considering I couldn't work on them over the weekend--and he seems to approve the color choice. My Venus sweater is finished as well--I made a whole bunch of modifications, which I will catalog here once I have pictures--and I even finished my Leyburns (Lisa Frank) and a crochet dishcloth I put aside a while ago. I actually got some work done on the afghan this week, and started more socks for myself (pretty!) with some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill in shades of purple and brown that I got in a swap some time ago. Yesterday I started the Fountain Pen Shawl from the latest IK--so far so good, but I fear the anonymous cone I'm using is less mohair than acrylic. Hopefully it will still block well enough. I was never a particular fan of triangular shawls, but I love the way the model wears the shawl wrapped around her neck. Very chic.

Earth Day was Wednesday! I spent the day watching Doctor Who on Netflix because I had a back thing (still hurts, ugh) so I wasn't able to do anything particularly earthy. But today is Arbor Day, so this still works: contest for free steel bottle and shopping bag. I was a devoted Nalgene user until all that nasty stuff came out about the leaching... I could definitely use something to replace it.

I get so sleepy at work... I'm beginning to wonder if there's a carbon monoxide problem in my office. Why else would I be so tired? I do actually get enough sleep. And once I leave the office I'm much less tired. Perhaps it has to do with the dark green walls.

Anyway, thanks for your comments about my yuckiness. I have good days and bad days with the headaches. Sunday (my birthday) was a pretty bad one. Of course Mark wanted us to go on a two-mile hike (aka forced march), and we were in the parking lot of the park before the headache got bad... Not a great day in general. I am finally getting Options, though! Woo! No more crappy inflexible cords! No more needle points wearing down! I'm really looking forward to getting started with them.

In the meantime, there was this. On size 15 needles.


There's a reason I named this COOKIES!!! on Ravelry. It's a basic belted cardigan pattern, with lots of extra shaping, a change in gauge and a crocheted belt. If I have an issue, it's that the right arm is taking a beating from my purse. (The yarn is Fleece Artist Curly Locks, which has lots of little loops that catch on things. Not particularly fun to knit with, even on size 15 needles. Then again, those present problems of their own. My wrists are still sore.)

And just in time for warm weather, here's my new house sweater:


You'd think that I'd be really vigilant about counting my stitches at the ends of rows, considering my bad track record with crochet, but no. This is kind of wonky, and the yarn is particularly awful to frog in crochet (Red Heart Symphony--stay away!). It is warm, though, and the kilt pin is just right for keeping it closed.


This was a better crochet project. Isn't it adorable? It's actually a hybrid pattern (found here). Sewing in the filling was harder than you'd think. It took me a while to get it to look okay.

Another hybrid project; this is an elephant (duh) for my friend's daughter. It would've been cooler if I'd had enough bits and pieces in coordinating colors to stripe it, but no such luck. Still, so cute.

In Cotton-Ease news, I decided to try on my St. James when I finished the waist decreases. It was five sizes too big, no kidding. I must've misread my gauge swatch: I was clearly getting 4 stitches per inch instead of 4.5. I think that means my sweater was about ten percent too big. So I'm making Venus instead, for which I get spot-on gauge if I go down a needle size. I'm about half done, but I had to put it aside the other day when I remembered that my anniversary is next week.

They're going way faster than I thought they would. (The pattern is Phineas--modified for a 64-st foot.) At this rate I may have two days to spare...

Blarg. I had been losing a pound a week on No S, until the middle of March when things stalled. I chalked that up to my cycle, but three weeks later I'm still stuck. Plus I've been feeling like crap. Maybe I do need a snack in the afternoons. I don't know. I've been having headaches nearly every day for more than six months--probably due to TMJ disorder (which I've known about for years, but I didn't think it was that bad), plus possibly migraines on top of that--and I have an appointment with a neurologist in a few weeks (TWO MONTH lead time for that appointment, which made me very upset at the time--now I'm just irritated). Just not having a lot of fun here lately...

Much knitting and crocheting going on chez moi (including a crocheted cardigan that showcases my spazztacular crochet skills), but no pictures. I should be able to enlist Mark this weekend.

Speaking of which, Sunday is my birthday! And we have no plans so far, other than my customary ice cream cake. That's how gross and unmotivated I feel. I'm sure we'll figure something out--it's supposed to be gorgeous weather.

Success!



The Noro is finally happy. (I still take bad pictures.) Askew from Knitty, almost two skeins of Noro Big Kureyon on size 10.5 needles. I added waist shaping, and knit the back in a smaller size because I was between sizes. The straps are placed a bit too wide in front, but fixing that would've been way too complicated. Generally I am quite happy, though I was hoping I'd be able to pull it off with V-neck tops (not so much). Temperatures have been below average all year so far, so I should be able to wear this a few more times before I have to put it away.

I have actually been making progress on other projects; maybe I've shaken the frog monster at last! I've finally finished the yoke on St. James (this picture is from a few days ago)...


...and I'm at the cuff of the first Leyburn (aka Lisa Frank socks). I have completed 18 squares of my mitered blanket; I decided this weekend that sewing in the ends as I go is for the best (otherwise I'd have 324 ends to sew in at the end, before any assembly or borders; I did the math!), so I spent a while this past weekend doing just that. Boring... Also, I have a new plan for my crazy Cookie Monster yarn, which seems to be going well. I hope I never have to frog that stuff again...

Also, since the package has been received, I can post a picture of the mitts I made for a swap (This is What a Feminist Swaps Like, on Ravelry):


If the pattern looks familiar, it's because it's the Monkey lace pattern; I was on a deadline, and I figured if I was going to knit lace on size 1 needles I should pick something I already had memorized! The yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace held doubled. It was great to work with; there's something about it that feels and looks like there's some silk content. I think I'm less allergic to baby alpaca than adult alpaca. Does that make any sense?

So since I've been immersed in fiber (sometimes literally), it would be safe to assume that there's not much happening on the singing front. I did have school performances last Thursday--and a lesson tomorrow, rescheduled from two weeks ago--but other than that, nada. I did get my first rejection-with-encouragement letter ever the other day, from one of my December auditions. And I found out that my spring show is being moved to the fall for budgetary reasons; I'm just glad the company is not in immediate danger, you know? And I've been pretty unmotivated to practice lately--which is partly cycle-related (Midol is currently keeping me upright and semi-alert), and partly because it's a lot easier to stay motivated when you have gigs on the horizon...

What else is new? Um, well, we're trying to decide where to go for our anniversary (a short weekend trip, probably in-state). At this point it looks like Mount Airy, so we can hike on Pilot Mountain and get pork chop sandwiches at this landmark lunch place. It's Andy Griffith's hometown, and they have all this touristy Mayberry stuff to do, but I'm not a huge fan of the show or anything...

I've been living in Frogland lately... First there was the Lisa Frank sock yarn (which is Plymouth Happy Feet, by the way), for which I found an appropriate pattern on the fifth try... Then I was all gung ho for the Sweet Tee from the new Interweave Knits. I thought it would be a perfect three-season sweater in Cotton-Ease. My gauge seemed okay, so I cast on. Miles of garter stitch later, it was clearly way too big. After playing around a bit more, I realized that the yarn had a lot more elasticity than I thought. It would've taken a little math and a huge leap of faith to make the sweater fit. So what to do with 1000 yards of Cotton-Ease? I'm making St. James instead. Very cute, very Sweater Girl, plus it was in my Ravelry queue already. I'm about halfway down the interminable yoke. (Why so many stockinette patterns lately? My brain is melting out my ears. I need to make a lace shawl, ASAP.)

Then there's my lovely Big Kureyon. I frogged my Versatility--it didn't fit right as a cardigan, shrugs look nasty on me, and I don't need another big wrap--and looked far and wide for a vest pattern that would work. I started with Heartening, because it is adorable; I changed the gauge, but I realized 2/3 of the way through that I wasn't going to have enough yarn. So I switched to this asymmetrical vest, which I was planning to elongate after also changing the gauge; my attempt came out more fugly than funky, so that got frogged as well. Now I've moved on to Askew, which I added to my Ravelry queue very soon after getting my invite--with a note saying I could make it with the Big Kureyon after changing the gauge and adding shaping. Both of which are pretty simply done, considering the entire thing is three rectangles (two mitered, one not) with straps. It's a pretty ingenious design for Noro, since it helps avoid the evil horizontal stripes. I've finished the two fronts, and the back should be fast; I won't know how well it fits until it's blocked (you're supposed to block the hell out of it), but it sure does look pretty. Noro, how I love thee. It's not even that scratchy; I don't know what people complain about. That, and it holds up surprisingly well to frogging. You wouldn't think... I do hope this is the last time in a while I have to do so much gauge-changing. The disappointment is not good for my soul...

Not much else going on here. It's been cold and raining for three days straight (Binghamton weather, if you are at all familiar with my alma mater). Last Wednesday it was 80 degrees. By Friday it was 40. Ugh, when will spring stay put?!

I ended up going back to the infamous store (I had store credit, after all, plus I needed to pick up something for a swap), and they were actually nice to me, mostly. Plus the store had a much better selection in this particular item than the newer store in town, where everyone was super nice but they didn't have what I needed. Anyway, I'm gonna consider the karmic debt paid. But I'm still not going to go in there any more unless there's a YARN EMERGENCY. I'm not sure what really qualifies. I do have a decent-sized stash--nothing enormous, but I could go for a while just working from stash.

Speaking of which: I decided to start making socks from my oldest yarn first. I bought this yarn in Charlottesville, Va. last March when I was there for a competition. I tried five patterns, and I've finally found one that works.


The pattern is Leyburn, recently immortalized by the Yarn Harlot (she made them for the BSG premiere, if I remember); I've made a few MintyFresh patterns, and they're always cute and well-written, but I am just SO glad I found a pattern that (a) can be knit at a gauge under 8 stitches per inch (it's a heavier fingering weight); (b) actually fits on my foot; and (c) doesn't look like utter crap. I have dubbed this colorway Lisa Frank Unicorn Barf.

The mitered square blanket is moving along, and it's rather more preppy than psychedelic...

Though I should've known, since I let Mark pick the colors. Should I expect a call from James Spader circa 1984, checking on the status of his blanket? (Actually, that would be a good thing...) I have nearly 14 squares done--17.3% of the 81 total I will need--but then there's the border to think about. I'll probably go with a few rows of crochet. I think I have a month or two to decide.

In actual life, minor disappointments have been the theme this week. Last Saturday we had our long-awaited financial planning meeting; we are in very good shape, but we were really hoping we'll be able to buy a house this spring. Because the banks are so skittish these days (and rightfully so, I suppose), we'll need to save more money for a bigger down payment--so now we're looking at late fall. If I don't kill my A-hole neighbors first... Sunday we were supposed to visit my parents (it was my mother's birthday Saturday) and then go to a knitting friend's birthday party, but there was a snowstorm coming so we canceled everything. It didn't start snowing until after 11 P.M. No wonder I got so many of those damn mitered squares finished! Then the other day I found out there's a serious chance that the show I've been looking forward to this spring may be postponed or canceled because of the financial situation. The company wouldn't be the first to shorten their season this year; I've even heard about several companies that have gone bankrupt. It would be a shame if the show got canceled, but it's understandable...

So the economy sucks. These two links might help some people:

*A yarn bank for charity knitters--donate or claim yarn for your charity projects. I don't do a whole lot of charity knitting, but it is rather popular...

*Lunapads has a program where you can donate cloth pads to African girls who would otherwise miss school during their periods. This is such an awesome idea.

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.