It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's also feeling a ton like Christmas. I've been unemployed again for a few weeks but that will end again after the beginning of the new year. I got a call with an offer Friday afternoon while I was packing to head out to my parents' house and it was like a huge weight being lifted off my chest. I wish anyone in a similar situation all kinds of luck.

Also on Friday, I cast on a sock as last minute Christmas gift and I'm about 3/4 the way done with the first one. I have a feeling one completed sock and one still on the needles will be going in the box.

Yesterday, my sister and I went to our grandma's house to make krumkake, pizzelles, and rosettes. Grandma supervised while we turned out piles of fried and baked goods. I had one rosette slip off the iron into the batter bowl, Erin burned one krumkake, and we both managed to have pizzelles that oozed over the patterned parts of the iron but we still produced plenty of treats for Christmas day. Tomorrow, we're going to arm ourselves with YouTube videos and our other grandma's phone number as we attempt to make lefse.

Now, I'm off to continue my futile attempt to finish a pair of socks by Christmas Eve. Stop laughing.

Craftiness to an Unhealthy Degree

Being at my parents' house gives me access to my mom's leftover acrylic, much of which is from the 70s and 80s. Combine that with my recent but basic knowledge of crochet and you get this:

It's my '70s-Inspired Crocheted Monstrosity. It's nowhere near being a monstrosity but it's on its way. I never thought I'd be caught dead crocheting a gigantic acrylic granny square. My inner fine-gauge-knitting fiber squad is screaming for help. My tiny ironic hipster is cackling with glee.

Another project I made this weekend was a mouse for my mom.

It's for her to use as a prop when she sings a version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas"--a.k.a. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"--set to chopsticks. The levels of kitsch and quirk are high in my family.

ETA: I used Monty, a free pattern from Berroco, for the mouse. I used Wool Ease held double for the body instead of a bulky weight. I also stitched on the eyes and nose instead of using French knots because I was using some scrap sport weight for them and the French knots would have disappeared into the fabric.

Feeling a Little Sepia

There's a quiz going around the internet on what shade your rainbow is. Here's mine:

Your rainbow is shaded brown and gray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What this says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You appreciate tradition and wisdom that comes with age. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections. You depend on modern technology and may feel uncomfortable without it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

I would say that this is pretty accurate, especially appreciating tradition and depending on modern technology. I am a walking contradiction.

I went shopping again today and my grandma wants to go somewhere tomorrow, too. My family is exhausting. It's a damned good thing that I love them.

Black Friday

I got talked into going shopping at Ridgedale today. I'm not entirely certain how this happened. We didn't leave my parents' house until around 9 so we weren't really dealing with the doorbusting craziness. The Target near there wasn't too bad although the mall did get a little too much to handle by the time we were done.

My mother decided that I needed new clothes for "professional reasons" so she bought me a few separates to use as suits for interviews. I really do appreciate this a lot because it's one less thing for me to worry about if I have any job developments coming up. It was also kind of fun helping my parents pick out my sister's Christmas presents.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a happy day with lots of good food and fun times. Also? Watching your parents do the hula hoop on the Wii Fit is possibly one of the best things to ever happen. If only we could have talked Grandma into it.

Stupid!

I'm typing this entry on my mother's laptop for a very stupid reason. My laptop has decided to no longer charge the battery and only works if it is plugged in. I brought the laptop with me but left the charger sitting on the futon in my apartment. No laptop for me. Good thing I have the iPod loaded up with plenty of podcasts for the drive back. It will make blogging through the time I'm here a little more inconvenient but I've now made it 26 days through NaBloPoMo so I might as well make it through the last 4 days. I'm apologizing now if the already low quality of this blog sinks further into the depths of unreadability.

Up side: I just ate a piece of my mom's fudge.

Interrobanging

Out of all of the podcasts that I have recently begun to listen to, I think Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is my favorite. Not because I'm applying what I'm learning in this podcast to my blogging. There is a flagrant disregard for several grammar rules all over this page. No, the reason I'm loving the Grammar Girl (aka Mignon Fogarty) is that she has introduced me to the interrobang, pictured at the left.

It's almost comforting to know that this (!?) has a real symbol and name. It would most appropriately be used in something like, "You did what‽" See, interrobang. The exclamatory skeptic of the punctuation marks.

Short-Row Heel

I finally feel like I'm getting someplace on a kind of boring sock. This is only the second pair I've done a short row heel on and it went petty well. It was kind of nice not to have to pick up a bunch of stitches or have to pay attention to decreases. I like the fit of the other pair I made with a short row heel which I know is a common complaint of why a lot of people prefer a heel flap.

I'm ready for it to be Wednesday afternoon. I don't know if spending some time with my family is going to do me good or not but I think I'm ready for a change in scenery for a few days. My mom already warned me that I might be roped into singing at Christmas Eve service at my family's church. At least I get a heads-up. Any one know a way to guarantee laryngitis by December 24th?

Random Awesomeness

Last night I decided I needed to add more podcasts to my life. I've now got Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Knitters Uncensored, NPR: Science Friday, The Ricky Gervais Podcast, The Savage Lovecast (note: this is a sex advice podcast), Sweaters for Dragons, Videos from the President-Elect (which includes Barack Obama's weekly radio address), WNYC's Radio Lab, and Y Knit. I haven't really gotten a chance to listen to any of them yet but I'll have all sorts of new excitement for driving to and from my parents' house for Thankgiving.

Tonight, though, I have something awesome to watch. Stephen Colbert's Christmas special. It airs at 9:00 PM CT and it looks like it will be reaired a few times. I already heard a bit of it when Colbert was on Fresh Air last week and it was hilarious. Catch it when you can!

Banana Bread

Around 8:00 last night, I was hit by a bit of a baking bug. Fortunately for me, I had stuck some bananas that were on their way to going bad in the freezer awhile back. Less then two hours later, I had two loaves of banana bread and my apartment smelled fantastic. My one hand smelled a little too much of vanilla, though, as I had a little slip with the bottle of vanilla extract. At least I hadn't dumped it into the bowlful of batter, I guess.

Today was a bit of a lazy day. Had a bit of last night's banana bread for breakfast and read The Wordy Shipmates for most of the day. I did pause a bit to clean the bathroom and get some other things done and I may knit a bit while watching some TV. I think I'm in the mood for Veronica Mars since I've decided Kristen Bell is one of the few things left worth watching on Heroes these days. I wish she wasn't just a guest star.

Owl Sweater

DSCF3722.JPG
Originally uploaded by chromate_stew

I was way too excited to see this sweater while browsing Ravelry today. I'm pretty sure I had one in light blue when I was little made by my grandma. The nostalgia is making me happy but I'm now wondering if it isn't actually kind of creepy. I'll have to see if Grandma still has the book with the pattern in it.

Cake Wrecks

I have found a new blog to love. It's Cake Wrecks and it pokes fun at professionally made cakes that went horribly wrong, like this one:

This is actually not even close to being the worst example of bad, bad cakes. Also, on Sundays the blogger posts actual good cakes that are kind of like a visual palate cleanser.

Bonus? I believe I spotted a little making fun of Sandra Lee, she of the dreadful Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee. That woman is crazy.

Amazon Wish List

Today I updated my Amazon.com wish list which mainly consisted of getting rid of some older items on it. Even after I added a few new things I still ended up having only 4 pages when I started with 13. Hopefully I convince my parents to work off of this for Christmas shopping. Unless they want to buy me yarn. That would be perfectly acceptable.

I had to add a copy of The Catcher in the Rye to the list because my old one suffered an accidental coffee dump about two years ago. It was a sad day. Any suggestions of other items I should add? A fantastic movie or television show I may have missed out on. A must read novel. A truly great knitting book.

I'm still tempted to add a Kitchenaid mixer. That's so not going to happen. At least the parents would understand that more than the complete sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel. Sadly.

Wordy Shipmates

Just when I couldn't decide what I wanted to read, my library request for The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell came in. I haven't picked it up yet but I'm really excited. I enjoyed her previous books a lot and I'm excited to read her take on the Massachusetts Bay Puritans. I realize this makes me a big huge history dork (goes well with all of my other flavors of dork) but I have a feeling this is going to be awesome.

I Think I'm Becoming My Mother

Is that the beginning of a crocheted ripple afghan made out of random acrylic worsted weight yarn I had lying about? I believe it is. It's addicting. It's also an afghan that has been made in many variations by my mother and her sisters over the year. This new afghan crocheting is a frightening development.

Also, the picture is crappier than usual as I seem to have misplaced my digital camera. I took it with my phone. I transferred it to my laptop using Bluetooth. Embracing technology in this way reassures me that I am, imperically, not my mother.

Freud would have some kind of field day with all of the feelings I have associated with one crappy cell phone picture.

My Reading Tastes Need to Grow Up

I can't decide what to read lately so I've turned to children's books. I've been alternating between reading my old Anne of Green Gables books and listening to Harry Potter. I've managed to get my hands on the Stephen Fry-narrated ones which are a lot more straight forward than the Jim Dale ones. Dale's reading is good if you want voices for all of the characters but I think my tastes are more suited to Fry's interpretation.

Speaking of Jim Dale, I do enjoy his narration of Pushing Daisies. It's such a good show but all of the cancellation rumors I've heard make me nervous. Here's to hoping that Ned, Chuck, Emerson (a PI that knits!), et al get to live beyond episode 13 of this season.

Quick Post

I almost forgot to blog today so this is going to be really fast.

There is something that I see that grates on my nerves every time it crosses my visual field. It's petty and ridiculous that I care this much about this thing but I can't help it. I cannot stand Comic Sans MS font.

It looks silly and cutesy to an unhealthy degree. It reminds me of the bubble letters I used to use when playing M. A. S. H. in elementary school. I mean, take the pound symbol in that picture. Who can take that pound symbol seriously? This is international finance we're talking about here, people. Just say no to Comic Sans MS, my friends. My optic nerve will thank you.

I Have an Earworm

Nothing wrong with singing along with The Supremes on a Friday evening. Enjoy!

Mouth of a Sailor

I'm not in the mood to blog much and I made no sock progress last night due to swatching various crochet stitches It really is quite frightening how much time I spent crocheting last night. Tonight, I'm going to knitting so I thought I'd blog now. I took a quiz about my dirty, filthy mouth.

Your result for The Verbal Obscenity Test...

Champion Cusser

You are 67% capable of making other people's ears hurt!

So, how'd you do?

I'm in awe, since you're clearly not afraid of a little rough language! At
the same time, you don't go completely mad with it, and I'm guessing you know
when to hold your tongue so people don't want to punch you. Which is awesome,
since being beaten up is such a drag anyway. You might pull out the swear words
- and you might know the various slang fairly well - but you probably also
appreciate that its use is mainly just to show that you mean business.

What occasion, I hear you ask? Well, some people find talking dirty arousing.
Sometimes swearing can be helpful in looking tough when one of those
hoodlum-types approaches you. Using some language on your boss may also be
effective in stirring things up, but maybe that's just me. Either way, be
careful, as getting your timing wrong can result in getting fired, or sleeping
alone for the next month. Use your good judgement!

Take
The Verbal Obscenity Test at HelloQuizzy

I'm generally good at reigning in the swearing but ocassionally I will go on a bit of a tear. I also managed to say fuck in front of my grandmother when she was in my car when my air conditioning went out. I hadn't even noticed until my sister told me I had after the fact. It's actually one of the things I feel worse about having done in my life despite knowing that I have done far worse.

Amateur Hooker

I bit the bullet last night and hauled out my copy of Happy Hooker. I actually managed to get going without once hurling my crochet hook across the room. Result!



Is it more than a little bit shite? Absolutely. But I got over my big crochet block and made a bunch of stitches. Then I did this.



Still boring as hell but at least I no longer feel like crochet is mocking me.

Veterans Day

Whatever your feelings on war, today isn't about that. It's time to remember the men and women that have served in the past and to support those still serving today.


I don't know how to say anything else on the subject without coming of as trite or condescending so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Edit: It also appears that I've become way too anglicized as of late. While poppies are worn in the UK for Remembrance Day (today also), they're worn in the US on Memorial Day. I knew this, too. I still like my red and white poppies, they're staying.

The Most Boring "Inspiration" Ever

I had a fair amount of the green alpaca remaining so I decided to pair it with another solid colored fingering weight yarn I had to use as the cuff, heel, and toe of a pair of socks.



It's coming off rather Slytherin-y. Evil mastermind socks!

I May Be Ill

I can't figure out what to knit. I certainly have a few WIPs to complete and I could always just start something new but I just don't know. I guess I'm just in a bit of a funk.

While browsing through books and the internet for inspiration, I watched 10 Things I Hate About You. It's still good, even with it's late-'90s music. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy quite a bit of the soundtrack but for every Letters to Cleo or Semisonic there's also a Barenaked Ladies or Smash Mouth.

Now I'm watching Casanova. I may have come for the David Tennant, but I'm totally staying for the Peter O'Toole. It's very Russel T. Davies and all of the good and bad which that entails. It's generally good but O'Toole is fantastic.

Lazy Yet Accomplished

Today, I sat around and knit a lot while watching some Arrested Development. That rumored movie really needs to come out (don't be difficult, Michael Cera because I'd like to keep liking you). While I was generally a lazy lump, I did manage to finish the hat.



I messed with the color a bit to make it look closer to what it actually is but I still don't know if it came out ok. Also, pay more attention to the hat and less to my generally disheveled appearance.

Please?

Look, lace close-up!



Much better, yes?

Combating the Winter Blues

It snowed this morning and for awhile it stuck. Fortunately, it warmed up enough to rain and wash it all away. Still, it won't be long until the ground will be covered for months on end. To combat that, I have pretty green lace.



The is the project I was talking about yesterday and I think it's coming along nicely. The bottom has a picot edge so I'm holding it folding under to show what it will look like when hemmed. Knitwear is definitely the upside of winter.

Not Socks!

I was browsing Ravelry looking for non-sock sock yarn projects since I already have a decent amount of sock yarn and now have a discount for over 11 months. I'm now making this hat in Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine in Pea Soup Mix that I got from 3 Kittens.

I just got into the lace repeats at lunch today and as far as I can tell it should be OK. I will say this much - Ravelry is the most perfect tool for finding DROPS patterns. I've always found that site a little daunting to navigate through and the patterns are all numbered not named. Everything just seemed to blend together into mush in my head before.

No progress picture now but I may post some at a future date.

Taking Over the World

I have further proof that fiber artists of all sort are taking over the world. Ravelry got a mention in a Slate article about how to waste time online now that the election is over:

If you knit, check out Ravelry, which has attracted tens of thousands of knitters who trade patterns, offer advice for getting through knotty problems, and critique one anothers' creation.

Of course, I'd also like to point out that Ravelry is also for crocheters and that there are in fact hundreds of thousands of us. World fiber domination!

If you're still out of things to look up on the internet, you could always take xkcd's suggestion:

The End of a Marathon

No matter what the outcome of today's elections, we've made it. As I write this entry, the polls are minutes away from closing in Minnesota and I couldn't be happier. Two years of rigorous campaigning and it's all down to watching the returns come in.



My polling place had all of the booths full but there weren't really any lines. I was voter number 1400 which makes me happy. I have no idea what would be considered to be a good turnout in my precinct but it still feels good.

The one thing I was hoping was that I would be able to use a voting machine but it was a Scantron ballot (the only kind I've ever used). Filling in all of the circles for the district court judges running unopposed was tedious but that's a first world problem. I got to vote and that's pretty awesome.

Socks. Again. Some More.

I finished the Trekking Hand Art socks last night and wore them today.



I am happy to say that the ribbed heel flap didn't cause any discomfort and I was on my feet more than usual today. On the other hand, my next project needs to be more exciting.

So Long, DST!

Mix recurring insomnia with the end of Daylight Savings Time and you get me out for a walk before 7:00 on a Sunday. I didn't go all that far as the wind was just a bit active and I also had my camera with me. It was a bit of a dreary morning so I didn't take many pictures.

More Socks

So, NaBloPoMo, we meet again. Day 1 and I'm already at a loss for what to blog about so you get more sock pictures. Thrilling, yes?



These are out of some Trekking Hand Art and have a plain 2x1 rib all the way down because I don't think they could handle much of anything else. I even carried the rib out down the heel flap for some reason.



It was pointed out to me that this might not be the most comfortable thing to wear. I guess I'll find out as long as I don't poke my eyes out with a needle from all of the mind-numbing ribbing. Hopefully I will come up with something more exciting to post about for the next 29 days.

Knitting Update

I've been doing a lot of knitting without blogging lately.

First I finished these, which I call Fe Fi Fo Fum



Hand dyed by Nerdclub2000 as part of her chemical elements, this is Iron Ions (hence the name). It spoke to my inner chem geek.

Next were these, for my mom.



The pattern is Hourglass from Knitty. I entered them in Knit'n From the Heart's Socktoberfest and despite some initial confusion I won first place. 20% off sock yarn for a year!

After all of that pattern going on I decided to knit another pair of plain socks



They're out of some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock I bought awhile ago at 3 Kittens and finally got around to using.

Now I've decided that with winter coming I need a new set of hat and mittens.



Turns out that this was a good decision as there was a wee bit of snowfall today. None sticking to the ground yet, at least.

Thus ends the crazy long update. Clearly, I need to update more frequently. That shouldn't be a problem as I'm going to attempt NaBloPoMo again this year.

Does Not Compute!

There's this article on the Nielsen ratings of cable shows followed more by Republicans, more by Democrats, and those that have a generally bipartisan viewership.

I find it generally interesting but one entry in particular doesn't quite make sense to me. Doctor Who, especially New Who. Granted, I don't know that looking at only viewers through SciFi is all that accurate for Doctor Who. Nielsen ratings puzzle me in almost any case. Plus, I think I'm really burnt out on politics.

Ummm, Uhhhh

I'm a bad, bad blogger. I have some photos of a finished pair of socks and a hat that did not go as planned but I won't be posting any of those now. Especially not the hat, the hat is better left to die and be reincarnated as a newer, better project. This hat did not go as well as the last hat I knit when I was bored.

I did buy a new coat, though. Perfect excuse to make new knitwear to wear with it, yes? Even though anything that went with my old black-and-white tweed coat will almost certainly go with the black-and-white houndstooth. Shh.

Avast!

Arr, me wenches and mateys, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! In honor of this most joyous occasion, I have found a new identity. Enjoy the day, be ye swashbuckler or landlubber and eat plenty of oranges to avoid scurvy (seriously, that stuff is nasty).

My pirate name is:

Mad Jenny Cash

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

In Which Emily Learns Things

I made snickerdoodles today. I have also learned that Firefox's built-in dictionary does not include snickerdoodles. Just on Friday, I found out that MS Word doesn't include hemorrhoidal. I think my job might be very odd sometimes.

Besides getting my bake on, I've been watching QI, which is fantastic. It's a British trivia show hosted by Stephen Fry where the questions are extremely difficult so the point is to be "quite interesting" more than being right. There are four pannelists, generally comedians of some sort, and it's great. I've learned many, generally useless, new things. For instance, there is a US Patent for a Santa Clause Detector (a sort of rigged Christmas stocking).

While gaining all of this knowledge, I finished the second test knit sock. This one (on the right) pooled more than the first creating socks that are more than a little bit fraternal. It's still nice to be on a bit of a finishing kick. Unfortunately, I only seem to be able to finish things recently started, not the many UFO's I have left in my wake.

Test Knit Spectacular

I finished a test knit sock for this lady. The pattern is Water Rescue Socks and I used Knitpicks Essential Multi in Jester and Size 1.5US needles. I had actually finished over half of a sock on 1's when I realized that I really didn't have gauge and that it wasn't going to fit. One trip to the frog pond later, some more knitting, and I have a sock. I'm actually to the heel flap of the second sock and hope to finish it this weekend.

There is a similar effect created to the Jaywalker but there are quite a few differences and things like yarn overs, twisted stitches, and purl bumps create a lot of great textural elements.

Hey, Teach! didn't win a prize at the Olympics but it wasn't perfect, it was in kind of a boring color (I wanted a neutral) and I'm still just happy to have finished it in the specified time period. I'm going to go pick it up tonight before knitting at Starbucks so I'm excited to get it back. I'll see if I can do better for Socktoberfest, which Knit'n from the Heart is doing again this year.

Lastly, for all my fellow sci-fi/Whedon fans out there, check out this picture (flickr link), especially the far right. Awesome, yes?

Crossing the Finish Line

Done on time! I bought my buttons and went straight over to Knit'n from the Heart to sew them on and then turn in my sweater for voting on the Olympics contest there. I think I finished about 15 minutes before the deadline. For now, I'm going to take a little break from knitting.

Finish Line in Sight?

The bulk of the knitting on my Ravelympics project is complete. I took this photo prior to steam blocking and tomorrow I can start the button band and/or neck band. (Hopefully) better pictures to come! I also still need to buy buttons.

Ends, Ends Everywhere

I've started the front and if I keep up at this rate I at least hope to have the main body complete by the end of the week. That'll leave me with the sleeves, button band, neckline, and finishing for week two. I'm trying not to lose momentum.

I haven't watched too much of the actual Olympics but I've caught a bit here and there. I find the Montenegro Men's Water Polo team particularly fascinating. It's their first Olympics and apparently it's a huge sport for them. I completely stumbled upon their first qualifying match against Hungary which ended in a tie and now I'm hooked. Go Montenegro!

Baby Got Back

I've divided for the armholes and I've only got about two inches left of the back before I shape the neckline. I'm totally amazed at how quickly I've managed to whip through this pattern. I'm super excited to get it done and I'm kind of sad I decided to enter it in Knit'n from the Heart's Olympics contest because that means that I have to hand it over by 5:00 next Saturday evening instead of getting some wearing enjoyment out of it first.

To break up the monotony of beige sweater pics, I've decided to go back to including music.

This is "Marry Me" by St. Vincent, the moniker of singer-songwriter Annie Clark. It's a gorgeous song. I wish I could have found a decent live version because she mimics the trumpet sounds herself when performing. Bonus, the song's name (also her album title) is an Arrested Development reference.

Behold, Bodice Lace

I might just get this crazy sweater done in time.

The lace pattern is pretty simple but interesting enough to get me through the 50 inch rows (purling the wrong side is a different story, though). In about 2 inches I can separate to shape the armholes. I think I got three rows done at lunch today so in the grand scheme of things it probably barely made a dent but all of it adds up. Dinner's been made and consumed so it's back to knitting!

Weekend Knitting

I haven't gotten as much knitting done this weekend as I would have liked but I have made some progress. I only have an inch of stockinette left on Hey, Teach!

And I finished Rose's Wristwarmers (granted, all I had left on those for the weekend was the thumb).

Will I finish my sweater on time? Maybe. No big plans for next weekend, so that should help.

Doomsday Coincidence?

I've been rewatching season two of New Who and I was just clipping off the last woven-in end when the Doctor was on the beach saying "Rose Tyler . . ." Total accident, I swear. And I may have been slightly teared up at the time. Maybe.

I still have the second one to go (as is too often the case with my projects) but maybe casting it on will distract me from wanting to cast on Hey, Teach! Just about two days to go.

Let the Games Begin!

I caved. I'm totally knitting Hey, Teach! for the Ravelympics.

I got the yarn at Knit'n from the Heart where their cottons are 20% off right now. I might also enter it in their Olympics competition, too, although their rules are a little more restrictive. Either way, going by the finished ones on Ravelry it might just be a quick knit. Remind me I said that when I'm out of time and still getting pissed at my first button band.

I'm going to try to blog my progress often so, if nothing else, this should get me back to more frequent updates. Might even do a music post again here and there if something strikes my fancy. Now I just wish it were Friday so I could cast on.

Ravelympics

Every instinct I have says that they only way I should be signing up for the Ravelympics is in the WIP Wrestling category yet I really want to make Hey, Teach! Talk me out of it, please? Although I'm thinking about stopping at Amazing Threads on the way home tonight so it may be too late.

I Wants!

I feel that I need to have this shirt

and/or this shirt

xkcd is wicked awesome

It's Getting Closer!

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Go to DrHorrible.com for more info. Definitely click on "Read the Master Plan" as it is both informative and entertaining. Joss Whedon has more than his share of awesome in this world.

Babies

One of the many reasons I shouldn't be allowed to have children.

Comic from xkcd

Four Day Weekend That Started Early

My boss let us go at 2 today and we don't have to be back until Monday. Such an exorbitant amount of time to myself. I've been working some on the stole.

It's kind of in the "black hole" zone but I'm still enjoying knitting it, albeit at a slower rate. Still nervous about working the border.

During my lunch breaks (that are an excessive hour long), I've been working on Pomatomus.

I took this last night so I'm actually a little further along than this picture and I'm really loving it. This is in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino that I've had in stash for several months and I couldn't have asked for a more suitable yarn for this project.

I tried to knit these before using Schaefer Farms Lola which is not a sock yarn so the gauge was too tight so it didn't stretch enough to fit a leg. It does fit an arm, though, so they will become arm warmers a la Jess of Ravelry and considering that when my sister saw the leg of the second sock this weekend she thought that it would make a good fingerless mitt, she might get them. Maybe. We'll see how I feel if I actually finish the mitts.

Other than still feeling my way through the new job, I've been Plurking. Lime and Violet sucked me in. I definitely agree that it is better than Twitter because it allows more direct replies and doesn't seem to have the frequent outage issues. Plurk is definitely an interesting new thing and I'm interested to see how it continues.

Finished Project

Finishing projects is fun. I should do it more often.

My third pair of Monkey socks, second in Fleece Artist, is done. These are going to my sister but I think I'm going to hold onto them until she goes back to school in August as part of a care package of sorts. Erin, if you read this, you're still waiting until you go back to school to get the socks. Not that withholding wool socks in summer is that big of a deal. And not like my sister ever really reads my blog.

As for that original sock?

1 Skein Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 = ~ 2.5 Women's US 7 socks.