Raining/pouring...

My new basket supposedly made in Ghana to decrease the poverty levels and create financial independence amonth the women there..LOVE this basket, seriously.

It's been a 'rains and pours' kind of day, kind of couple days really. Knitting guild last night and I think the swap went pretty well, everyone seemed happy with their gifts. Nancy made me 3 cloths in chocolate and lime that were just lovely! They seemed so thick as to be double knitted and I immediately rolled them up into a basket in my guest bath, see? I hope my swap person liked her stuff - of course I forgot to take pictures before I sent it along, stupid me! I made her a Grrlfriend Bag and tried to make her a blue row counter bracelet with limited success. It was pretty though!


Jack has been working hard at designing me a skein winder in her garage and nearly has it figured out. She made me this small prototype and finished it yesterday and I'm pretty proud of her for it. I wound a little alpaca I'd tried to spin into a mini skein on it tonight and it turned out really well also. See how small it is in relation to the tennis ball? From this experiment we have decided we'd rather have a full size winder that was not a windmill style, rather a table style. She is putting a long bolt on the end so I can wind from my spinning wheel bobbins if I want.


I've been knitting a Wooly Wormhead hat in cotton to celebrate my upcoming dred-dom, Meret. This was interrupted by some yard work I tried to do today. I had the big green city can rolling it around the backyard for bits of tree I'd trimmed all over the yard. Took a step forward with my right foot and stepped onto the giant lid..lid slid forward, wheels turned, can began to tilt and I'm trapped on this wild escaping trash can thats sliding all over the place. Lovely. Ended up on my left shoulder (and my face) in the yard with some serious contusions and swelling. Double effing lovely. I get my dreds on the 12th and it will take around 3 hours to do. I'm excited because I've wanted them FOREVER!

On Friday I am going to Collierville with my friend Mary for a school's Pioneer Day. We're going to demonstrate spinning and I think knitting and it should be alot of fun! I like spending time with Mary, she's very smart and funny and her studio just makes my mouth hang open.

Last but not least here's my funny girl. She follows me everywhere and barks incessantly like someone just blew helium into her gut. Times like that I don't mind that they had her de-barked so much.....

Memphis

Different city and state, same pissy Emmy. Good to know some things don't change.

It's been awhile but we have made the move, complete with 3 unhappy felines and the moving company from HELL. Boxes were crushed, items were shattered, movers were rude bastards that refused to do anything the contract stipulated. This included putting back together the furniture they dismantled for no real reason other than it had thousands of fiddly pieces of hardware to keep up with (they didn't, btw). It's been a slow process but we're getting closer to fine and I simply love the house. The link below has various pics of the house, furniture and neurotic cats if you're interested.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30701943@N04/

Most of my knitting time has been in the car running here and there to spend money on things for the house. I haven't really gotten into a consistent routine yet and it's sort of bugging me. I 'did' finish one of the Forest Canopy Shawls I'm knitting and blocked it yesterday. I think it's beautiful! Now to finish the one in fingering weight with beads. THEN..if I'm really feeling insane I want to start another in a sport weight for a special knitting friend/mentor of mine for Christmas. We'll see. In the meantime, here's a couple of shots of the shawl in the lovely sunshine in our backyard!

I'm also trying to run an online KAL for The Great American Afghan on a group, ILoveKandCAlongs. I'm working on square 1 (not my favorite of the bunch) and like everything else here, it's slow but sure. Krista at Loopy was wonderful about helping me choose colors, I'm sure I drove her insane! This is what we finally settled on:


I'm a little discouraged about the KAL and the group in general, honestly - there are like 4 people that post and the rest of the members either aren't reading or don't care to participate. Neither of those options is a good thing to me but I don't know how to change it! At first I thought it was the season, summer is a slow knitting time but summer is long past. I can't make people read or post or knit for that matter but it is a little discouraging.

All of that said, I'm liking it here so far. We live on a nice cul de sac with friendly neighbors and it's so wonderful to be running around in shorts in October! I'm working on Halloween crafts for the house in between unpacking (and cooking!). I'm looking forward to a Halloween where there are actually children coming to the door! It's been years since I experienced that living in Chicago.

Ok, I've probably killed enough time for now. Off to keep trying to organize my craft/knitting stuff in the spare bedroom so it's reasonable!

So...

This is what it looks like around here.

well, actually Emmy always looks that pissy

boxes in the kitchen

what used to be our vintage living room

more boxes

I haven't blogged for a few reasons, all the boxes you see being the primary. Also, I've discovered (much to my surprise) how very intertwined my being has become with Jack's. She has been working in Memphis for several weeks and drives home each Friday to spend Saturday with me (it makes me want to cry) and every Sunday morning she gets back in the Jeep and drives back to Memphis to go to work on Monday. I function here...I mean, things are getting done and I'm knitting and spending time on my beloved beach but it's not "right" without her and when she's here and it is "right", time is too brief to waste it on typing out a post.

I've gotten in the habit of heading for Loopy on Sunday afternoons after Jack leaves and it's been so wonderful. I piddle at knitting this crazy cabled sock that has no business being knit with distractions at all and talk to the people there without haste or urgency (another thing that surprises me in that I never realized I've "always" been in a hurry while there). This means I spend alot of time with the ends of my dpn's either waving in the air or pressed into my lower lip depending on whether or not I'm running my mouth.

I also started The Great American Afghan (as in swatching) in the hopes that I could reduce the size of the WIP box that I currently guard against movers as "must go with Lisa in the Jeep". It seemed (in the moment) that squares out of a yarn that is readily available anywhere was a good idea for a transitional project.

The WIP box is freaking ridiculous in size, not as WIP's but as things I refuse to let out of my grubby little paws to be loaded into a moving van. I mean, why would I entrust nearly THREE THOUSAND yards of Emerald Laceweight from Sarah's Yarns to moving people? (never mind why I have that much of that color of 'that' yarn from there to begin with, if you needed that information you'd be Jack and you aren't)

I've been told it could be 3 days before they appear with our belongings. They can't have my Ott light.

Promised pictures!

My stitch markers from Cat

(very difficult to force them to all look at the camera at once!)

Marking the important boxes...

My new drill/screwdriver thingee!

See how small?
Bleh..my former living room

My beautiful wheel
(had to sneak that in again)

Insanity

That's what I have in my life right now. Job insanity, house insanity,

MOVING INSANITY.

I kid you not. We move in 10 days (that until recently was like 20 days and suddenly things change) I am in full blown "throw it away" mode, only bother to Freecycle stuff I really know is of value that someone might want and leaving the rest in our alley neatly exposed for the time honored Chicago tradition of Alley Shopping (aka dumpster diving).

My house is an utter, total wreck. Our 3 cats have become schiztoid alien monsters darting around our ankles, entangling us dangerously every time we begin to move with a box. They're freaked out because they've done this before. They know there's a whole new house coming for them to inspect (secretly fear) , a new (GASP) cat bathroom spot (which is almost the worst fate EVER for a cat) and the absolute WORST fate, a C-A-R-R-I-D-E-I-N-T-H-E-F-R-I-G-G-I-N-C-A-R-R-I-E-R (aka Alcatraz, Prison, Nylon Death Sentence)

I want to kill everyone here except the Pleco in the fishtank. I feel sorry for him, I think he's slowly starving while the grotesque black moor greedily grabs his algae tabs. He and I could cohabit happily right now, I think. (he is formally known as a Rubber Lipped Plecostomus and I'm prolly spelling the P word wrong, so what)

I've had a little job stress recently that expands my feelings of murderous lack of patience to an explosive level. I can only applaud my partner, Jack. She is acquiring the patience of a saint in dealing with me these days. Working all day and packing all night makes Lis a cranky monkey.

I have pictures to post but of course now that I have a new computer I can't find most of the software for my stuff, like my camera. I took the pics tonight (including the yet neglected cat stitch markers from my friend) and will upload all of them tomorrow without fail with very little dialogue.

Good news in my world is that I have tickets to hear the Yarn Harlot speak in Oak Lawn, IL in late April, actually the night before the Margaret Cho concert that Jack and I are going to. We also have tickets to Cyndi Lauper (hmmmmm) who has the B52's (squee!) opening for her in June and a Chicago Philharmonic event in May.

May? WAIT..that's my Avon Breast Cancer Walk.

I need to start training to knit simple socks while walking. I will kill the women I walk with if I cannot occupy my hands for 39 miles. In addition I have Lorna's Lace's breast cancer donation colorway here to use! I would love to be able to memorize one of the ribbon sock patterns I've seen to do during this walk but that might be stretching it..k2, p2 ribbing might be best.

Good news again..Jack bought me an early Easter prezzie. I've been grumbling about disassembling furniture here and I have a brand new, very cool electric screwdriver sort of thingee. It has many many lil bits that fit into it's hex drill bittie thingee, it reverses to unscrew with the touch of a finger and it's so totally comfortable in the hand. So much so that I performed weird and uncomfortable machinations to photograph this for you. Something to look forward to tomorrow. (All of you butch women laughing at me for my description of the hex drill opening can kiss my arse-ask my butch, I'm so anal about my tools it makes her look careless AND she works for Home Freakin Depot!)

So far I'm at 27% of my goal for my breast cancer walk which I guess is not so bad with 2 months to go! I worry a little since I had to sign to guarantee 1800 bucks on Walk day whether or not I'd fundraised it but I think there's time. We'll see..

Until next time!

Oh wait, that's tomorrow with the pics..nearly forgot, getting old, yanno.

Lis

Obsessed

I've come to the conclusion that obsessive and knitter go hand in hand. If this isn't true, I don't really want to know!

I've been obsessively swatching for my first sweater and was AMAZED last night at my LYS when Zoe said "I don't want to bust your bubble but you should swatch again" and I didn't lose it..I didn't get upset, I said "ok, if that's what you think" and here I am swatching again with new needles that I actually intend to USE to knit this sweater.

Never mind the new obsession with Lantern Moon needles and my firm conviction that I must have one of EVERY size possible in Ebony or Blond wood like yesterday.

On a different note, I'm very excited to be travelling to Raleigh, NC next week and an opportunity to meet Cat, the owner of a group I help moderate, I Love KandCAlongs!

Just a short update...I'd do pics but my home computer no longer 'see's' my digital camera so it's a pain..We have new laptops on the way so soon it will be better!

Branching Out

I came right down to the wire on the Branching Out scarf for my mother's birthday, what with spinning my homework and my typical 'home stretch' loss of interest in looking at that yarn for several more inches. I stopped at 37 inches in the Panda Cotton yarn which has a bit of elastic.

After blocking (and I'm sure I was tenatively blocking, it's the first time I've done this!) I ended up with 57 inches of 6 inch-wide lace. I was blocking Saturday morning and it had to be dry by 6 PM for the birthday dinner so outside it went into the breezy day. (I nearly died later while out running errands when it looked like rain). I'm quite pleased with it (and myself!) now that all is said and done. So pleased that like a total masochist I signed up for the Mystic Water KAL. Sign ups are open till 10/24. (yes, I'm enabling, so what).

Spun out!

It was a really exciting week for me - I had to spin what seemed like MILES of yarn on my wooden-dowel-old-CD spindle for my Tuesday night class at Loopy. I worked very hard and finished the required 120 feet during my lunch break that day. I went to class only to find no one else had made their yarn! Pah! I got to spin on 4 different wheels that night and it was comical. I had twist for miles and nothing drafted for it! Out of the 4 I tried, I think I liked the Ashford Joy the best but it was really brief trials, just 15 or 20 minutes on each. I'll have to go back and try some more!

Below is some of my spindling - the green on the right is shetland that I learned has been carded but not combed, which explains why I have such difficulty trying to work with it.

And here is the distaff I made with my first spun yarn:

I also finished the Branching Out scarf just in time for mom's birthday - I blocked it this morning (the birthday is TODAY) and put it out on the balcony to dry. I'll get pictures of that up Monday. Needing mindless knitting for public transportation, I grabbed this:

Only to find that I had grabbed the WRONG size needles once I got on the bus. ARGH! Once I got to work I tried to utilize a pair of chopsticks:

Clearly that didn't work very well. Finally an understanding co-worker lent me their car and I ran out for needles on my lunch break. I ended up carting the Miski home (I am LOVING the Marisol yarns!) and instead started this hat. We are off to take Mom to My Pie - I can't wait to see how she likes her scarf!

Another Hat!

I'm happy to report that the Mirasol Sulka worked up just beautifully into a lovely hat. It is so yummy to work with that I've had to FORCE myself back to mom's birthday scarf that must be finished by the 29th. (Feh! I'm so mad at myself over the scarf, I'm continually miscounting and having to tink) I want to finish a nice gift for her though; she's bringing me back WOOL from Ireland and if I know my mother she'll say "Oh..that doesn't look like very much, I better get several!" My stash is drooling in anticipation of such esteemed foreign travellers!

As you may have noticed, I haven't 'quite' mastered the art of blog-buttons just yet but I'm working on it.

Slowly.

We're off to the casino tonight to celebrate our friend Debera's birthday. I could give a hoot for gambling but Jack gave me fun money..if I don't spend it all I can buy more Marisol on Tuesday at my spinning class......The spinning class was cool - Meg's a great teacher but I Am A Klutz. I can't get that whole drafting while spinning thing yet. I draft a bit then spin it (badly) then draft a bit and on and on. Still I persist. Heh.

IMG_1233, originally uploaded by yarnballer.

http://www.mirasolperu.com/mirasolx.swf

Lace Scarf

Again, a sorta grainy shot from my cameraphone. This yarn is working up beautifully now!

Knitters Virtual Vacation Swap

I had never joined a swap before although I swapped yarns with a lady overseas for a bit. I'd read the etiquette and made darn sure that I overnighted my tourist's package so it would arrive on Friday.

No Word.

Ok, maybe she went away for the weekend (while my evil inner voice is whispering "She HATED it, you're the worst swapper EVER")

So today I check and still No Word.

The evil whisper escalates to a mad cackle and I begin to lose all faith in my package (even though I thought it was pretty damn nice on Thursday). Finally, a light flickers and I call my shipping guy for a tracking number.

There was some glitcho with the address "Cannot deliver without a valid street number. We have sent the recipient a postcard requesting the correct information". HUH? I mean, if you can't deliver it how in the hell is the postcard going to arrive? Does a postcard stealthily slip through where a shoebox size package cannot?

I had one of the tour guides email my tourist and I left the info in comments on her blog since I didn't want to blow the surprise. She's on her way to pick it up now!

Oh me of little faith.

Panda Cotton

This yarn is BEAUTIFUL. Their colors ROCK. That said, I cannot produce a sock out of this stuff. It is splitty, ravelly, I can't get gauge, etc. etc. etc. Of course I own a zillion balls of it. I decided to experiment and knitted the lace pattern for the Branching Out scarf and wet it and blocked it. I've since decided I Like It and unorthodox as it may be I'm going to do the scarf in it. (This is not the blocked tester, this is the work in progress.



The KnitPicks Shimmer just wasn't right for this pattern. The solid areas didn't 'pop' and the holes didn't look like lace, they just looked like holes.

It was a good 3 day weekend even though I had work related stuff to attend. We rode our bikes and mostly ate healthy so it's all good.

I hope my tourist got her package for the Virtual Knitters Vacation Swap! It should have arrived Friday via UPS but I haven't heard!

This and That

The Adara Shawl and I are fighting. I am not speaking to it until it stops removing yarnovers that I know I placed and messing up my count. I have put her in the basket for a time out. I cannot tink the same 200 stitches again this week!

As a distraction I decided to try an easy lace pattern with an actual laceweight. (Note: laceweight and Chicago public transportation do not mix well)

I love the yarn, KnitPicks Shimmer and now that I've tinked it a few times I'm alot more comfortable handling what seems like a thread. Sorry for the grainy shot, it's my cameraphone.

Yesterday I picked up the last item for my tourist in the Virtual Knitting Vacation Swap and got all that mailed off today. It had been awhile since I spent any time at LoopyYarns so it was good to see the ladies there! With volleyball over, I've sworn to make Friday night knitting there a priority at least twice a month!

I have been messing alot with Ravelry too now that I finally got my invite - it is pretty amazing! It kind of boggles me too, I mean I feel rude being able to 'add friends' that bloody well have no clue who I am! The Harlot must be innundated! (No, I didn't add her but I was tempted)

Knitting Helper

This is one of 3 furry helpers I have in my home - her name is Chloe. Her favorite thing in the WORLD is to chase the knob end of a long knitting needle and she does it whether or not I happen to be using the other end! I'll introduce the other 2 in a later post.

This is my boss on his birthday. Welcome to my world. He does, however tolerate the knitting on my desk.

ARGH!

ravelry > antsy
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Projects and Yarn!

This is my ever growing shawl and first effort at 'lace' knitting.....below is THE BAG FROM HELL, my vacation yarns and my yummy wool and spindle. Oh yes, and the Skully facecloth and finally finished wonderful table runner!

WOW!

I swear, I didn't realize I'd totally abandoned this blog! No way has it been a month since I posted anything!

Actually it has - I was depressed over losing Louise (thanks for the kind thoughts, everyone!) and then we had a little vacation trip to D.C. and then the re-entry into the real world after vacation..bleh! Time just flies!

So, D.C. was cool, I'd never been there. We stayed in Baltimore and commuted each day to see different stuff. My sweetie mapped out a trail to several different yarn stores and very patiently spent an entire day driving me to them and waiting while I prowled around. I bought some souvenier yarn here and there but really didn't go crazy. I 'did' treat myself to a pair of Lantern Moon wooden needles that I loved!

I finished 3 dishcloths on the trip as well as forging ahead on the table runner I was making. BAG from hell. I knitted like crazy to finish this thing and was soooo excited about felting it and 70 dollars worth of yarn later um...it just doesn't work right for me. The straps won't stay over my shoulder and it now sits home hanging over a doorknob. Lovely decoration. Pffffffffffttttttttt.

Stitches Midwest was here last weekend! I began knitting after all the cool classes had sold out but I went to the market on Sunday. I ran across Franklin, this great guy who is doing a photo shoot of a thousand knitters. I was really, REALLY shy but worked up the nerve to sit for him. He was funny and very easy to talk to! The best part of the market was finding the ladies at the wool coop booth and getting a lesson on a drop spindle with some lovely green shetland. OH YEAH! I've been dying to learn to spin but know better than to bring home a wheel before I've exhibited the correct fortitude to Jack by learning the cheaper version first! I'm still struggling with tension and stuff but it is such an awesome process and I feel incredibly smart for trying! Ha! Modest too!

Ok, that's enough psycho babble for now. Here are a few pictures I happen to have downloaded to my work PC.

Really Sad

I'm very sad tonight. I woke up this morning sick with a fever and many icky symptoms and I just have to say that when I was smoking feeling sick was evidently just a way of life. Now that I don't smoke getting sick is a whole other awful world and I hate it.

I stayed home because I couldn't be vertical and functional even though I can't afford time away from my desk. During one of my lucid moments I went to the living room for more yarn and snagged the mouse's cage for feeding/attention/love.

Our mouse was dead. :( Her name was Louise and she'd gotten mega vet care recently after ripping her ear somehow in her habitat. We'd administered antibiotics and continued lots of hands on handling but she's gone and it makes me so sad and afraid that I should have done more. She was fine yesterday, ran into my hand and up my shirt and we talked in that she squeaked and I made appropriate noises back and we had mousie love.

I hate losing a pet. In fact I live in fear of my old cat dying, she's 11 and hugely overweight and the light of my life. When she dies I will be using vacation time because I know I won't be able to go to work and act as if just a cat has gone elsewhere. Honestly, I'll be postal and imagine my doctor will prescribe nerve thingees and recommend counseling. I look at her alive and sleepy here, imagine her moving on and it makes me cry. Ick.

Catching Up!

I kept avoiding posting because I have all these pictures I want to share but really NEED to set up a photo storage account to link to and I really just NEVER take the time to figure all of that out…I mean, I need knitting time here!

That said there’s been a lot going on here in our little world. Pride was the 29th and as usual it was a great day with great friends! Not so great was the mini van that had parked directly behind us blocking our exit…bleh!

Work is very hectic for us both and most evenings we’re exhausted but I still manage to knit. I finished the gargantuan entrelac market bag and took it to my LYS to felt it. I LOVE how it turned out! I’ll post pics later today, I swear! I also finished the purple socks pictured below and I cast on another sock in an absolutely gorgeous yarn by Lorna’s Laces called Hawaii. The pattern for it is here: http://www.knitlist.com/00gift/japanese-feather-socks.htm I’m hoping that the white will really make the pattern pop – the purples and blues are really short segments within the yarn.

I am also working on the Adara Rainbow Shawl but in 3 colors instead of 12. I can’t do all those pinks and stuff, I am a green kinda gal so I picked 3 in the green/blue spectrum. It’s my first (successful so far) attempt at lace techniques and I am finally getting to know the pattern well enough that I’m not constantly ripping out as much as I knit! I’m starting to worry already about the size – it doesn’t look big in the picture but I’ve used 1 ball (of 12) and it is already like 20 inches wide when I stretch it a little! And yes, my gauge swatch was right on even though it says the gauge isn’t critical. I may end up with a triangular blanket, who knows.

The sock monkey has been adventuring – he traveled to Lincoln Park via bicycle recently and stopped with us on the way for pizza. Soon there will be pics of him in his travels! I also was assigned my 'traveler' in the Virtual Knitter's Vacation Swap and have been shopping for her already!

Another week

The Knit in Public Day gathering was very fun. The day was beautiful and it seemed like around a 100 knitters working away or wandering about admiring everyone's work. I saw some beautiful sweaters, socks, bags, you name it! I took my camera but since I knew not one person there I was too shy to take photographs - I just parked my chair near a friendly looking group of knitters and took off on another round of the endless Market Bag. I really Really REALLY want to finish this x0!% bag after nearly 7 skeins of yarn. I miss my unfinished socks (I'm truly afraid I'll forget how to do the gussets) and I know I have to finish them so I can start something new as a vacation project. I'm trying to keep to a small project, suitable for keeping my hands busy for a week since Jack has already asked with a tone of fear "Honey..how MUCH yarn are you going to have to haul on vacation?" I have a gorgeous stash of Lorna's Laces superwash in the Hawaii color..mostly white with sections of striking purple and teal. I found this free pattern for a very lacy sock that I think will showcase the yarn beautifully.

Of course I am swatching up a cotton/linen blend for a before-mentioned shawl as well. Hmm. All the yarn for that might appear before the end of July, who knows?

Jack and I play on a beach volleyball league here in Chicago. It's a lot of fun but it basically means that neither of us can move on Saturday. Ugh. I was called into work today so I'll ride my bike and hope to stretch out the soreness.

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of CAT - Crochet-A-Thon (from Crochetlist of Yahoo Groups). CAT is an amazing thing to me, a charity is picked each month and crocheters (and knitters!) donate their time and stitching for the chosen charity and it's needs. They pick a 24 hour time frame and meet in an MIRC chatroom over that 24 hours to yak while they work..pretty amazing! I was to have hosted an hour tonight but work is going to interfere and that bums me out. Hopefully next month but I'm sorry to be missing an anniversary month. Bleh. Work.