I did a bad bad thing.....

So I spent quiet a bit of my holiday $ on yarn... I was just going in to get yarn for a few things really....

Ok admitting you have a problem is the first step. I think I'm going to have to enroll my self into the TenProject Challenge.

Any way. The Panda Silk, this is for the Tuscany shawl. I was going to get black but I like green and it will go with all my fancy outfits.






This is going to be the Abotanicity. It will be pretty and blue and I'll get some skinny black jeans to match it with when it's finished.









I was hoping that they had 5 skins of this, but they did not. So it will be socks.... eventually. It was just too pretty to leave there.
















HT has requested that we make a few more wrist bands. So these will be the yarns that we make them out of. One Link, one red cross, one Sargent and so on.















This will be next years gift scarf for my sister. Yes they are more my colors but they will be nice and understated for her at work. Nursing that is. I didn't buy the yarn on the left, that was a gift. The Yarn on the right was bought to go with the yarn on the left and make it long enough for a scarf.



So yep I have a bit of a yarn buying problem but I will not buy anything but needles for projects for a Ten Projects.

Here's to hoping I can do it.

books are fun

I got a few more books with some of my Christmas dollars. I figure it's good to spend a bit of it on yourself before it all goes to bills.

They are now in my Knitting shelves. But they aren't only my knitting shelves, they are Siren's perching spots. She really likes getting on top and looking down at the world.

We went to a cocktail party thing tonight at a friends house. I found my talking to people like I do when I'm at work. Though I don't think it comes off as fake.... it's just forced. Definitely not as easy as talking with my Knitting Ladies.

I'm going to head to the yarn store tomorrow and get yarn for a sweater for me. HT has picked out a few things from the "Son of Stich n'Bitch" book that he would like. That and it's time to start thinking about next years gifts. Yes i know they are along way off, but if a do a few every now and then, well holiday time wont be frantic.

For now I'm just going to start my fish-leftover-afghan. Hopefully it will work out ok and hopefully I'll figure out these progress bars a bit more.

a day off in pictures

This is the first time i've had 2 days off in one week in about.... a month and a 1/2. I'm liking it. :)

This is the HT Sweater. It's finished. You may notice the blacks don't seem to line up. Well I think I might have been reading the Large part of the pattern when I made the sleeves. So that they wouldn't have a funny pucker (and because HT has grown a little since it started) side panels were added. It's just about done blocking. He's going to wear it to work tomorrow if its' dry.







I can't remember if I posted about the Beer cozies. Well here they are and HT's Dad thinks they are quite neat. That and on the next ladies trip I might see if there is a felting class we could all take or something. HT's Mom was intrested in me showing her how... though sence i just wing most of this I don't know if that would be supper helpful.
Hence the class.





This is the great thing about my guy. While he doesn't like all my random papers and he wants to get rid of a lot of my super random things(i really do have alot of them), well he gets me this.

What is it you may ask, well. It's a place to store my knitting stuff. Baskets for yarn, I'm going to get magazen holders for patterns, and drawers for needles. He was even going to get some yarn stuff (his words) to fill it up with, but he didn't get time to run to my yarn store when I wasn't around.
Oh and I should note, this is also the cat fort.


And these are to more coffee holders for gifts. The gray one is for Julie and the Yellow/Green one for one of my emps. I just have one or 2 more to go and then I think i'm done with coffee holders for a while.

Also everyone at home got their gifts and thought they were neat. Well i'm not sure what Bro thinks of his hat yet, but it was to be fun, so it doesn't matter if he never opens it.

Thats all for now. Back to work tomorrow, time to convince people to keep their gifts.

Hello again!

Grimlock though that my 2nd Birthday cake was for him. Now I know that 2 cakes in one say may seem like a bit much, but it was a shitty day. So 2 cakes is just right. There was one at work and then one at home.... ummm cake.

Right so what's been going on. Well I finished off the left sleeve for HT's sweater. I'm making another Calo... ermaty for my head to go with my Dashing fingerless gloves. And I got 2 more coffee holders done, but i still have 3 to go :(

Oh yahs got to love the links.

I saw the physiologist today. It was ok. We mostly just tryed to give a diagnosis. He said that i was a dysthymic. It makes since. Hopefully knowing is half the battle as they say.

Right, back to knitting. So i just have one sleeve and then seams to do then HT's sweeter will be done. It has taken a year, but i'm pretty sure it will turn out nice. Though I'm really not going to do another sweeter for a while. If you are just getting in to knitting and you are reading this...

Well first, dang how on earth did you wander over hear and welcome :)
And second, don't start with a sweeter. It's like a really long scarf. You will get sick of it by the time you are done. Yes the finished project will be really cool, but dang it takes a long time.

Right, back to knitting now. Laters.

PSO

Your friendly neighborhood Grimlock would like to remind you that this is the season of giving and being kind. So when you are out shopping, please remember to be kind to the workers. And don't forget to get something for Toys-For-Tots. They are a good organization that brings smiles to little and sometimes bigger faces.

( I purchased a few Knitting Kits to donate. I mean what better way to spread knitting to another generation then by giving gifts of kits. links to kits 1, 2 )

Thank You, and now back to your regularly scheduled knitting talk.
This is the hat for HT's mom. I think it turned out pretty well. I didn't get to go to knitting with the Moonies and show it off this week. I was busy hunting through old bills looking for proof. Boy do i hate medial stuff.

I've got a sleeve almost finished on HT's sweeter. Then it's on to the next one. I've got the knit-picks yarn for the coffee holders for the emps. I'm almost finished with a DS-Lite holder for Panda. All in all a lot of good knitting has been happening.

I'm not going as fast as I would like though because HT got Mass Effect this last week. I've been playing it and it's pretty fun. I like that I can be a female and don't have to run around as a guy all the time. Mind you it's a sexy female but at least she doesn't have huge boobs. It helps make her like able. That and there's quite the little love store developing with the cute second in command guy. Your the first in command. I'm kinda wondering how that goes.

So......

.....this is why you block your socks before you wear them. :) I didn't bother, thinking hey I'll have to wash them after anyway. So now I have blue feet. (and yes i haven't painted my toes in a long long time.)

My Scar socks are done. If i was still in the Sock Wars I wouldn't have won. I've finished the hat for my brother, just have to block it and show it off at knit night. I tried to knit a hat for HT's mom, but I think it's a bit too small. So I'm going to pop by the yarn store tomorrow and pick up some new yarn and needles and try again.

We went to the ButterBall the other night. It was packed with people. I looked pretty and so did HT and BFR (best friend R). I've decided that I need to knit up a black wrap though. It would have helped keep some of the creepy peoples hands of my back. And it will be something pretty that i've made.

Off to look at more warp patterns.

hi, it's been a while

Thought I would drop by and post. I got my package from my swap pal Gail. It was really nice. Lots of pumpkin things, new yarn, and a really tasty treat. HT and I dug in to it last night. It was hard to get through all the tasty outside to the tasty apple inside. Oh boy was there a sugar rush happening. :)

I've been keeping the little sheep that she sent at work. He's my little, stay calm its only a job, fuzzy yarn sheep guy. It's nice.

I've made a hat for HT's Mom. But i think I might have to give it to the baby. It's a bit on the small side. I think I had a gage issue. I'm going to try to pick up some us8c to try and do a different hat for her.

I got notice from Knitpicks today that they shipped my order. Though I had to have them ship it slow because the gift card thing i was using only had $25 on it. But it should come right as things get hectic at work so that will be nice. It's yarn for the "Thanks for surviving the Holiday" gift for my emps. Is it too nice to knit your emps something? There is only 5 of them. It's going to be the Sling from Knitty. It's are really clever idea. That and when We do coffee runs it will be easier to bring them all back.

Well time to write up the meeting notes for tomorrow.

Old School.

" R2! Where are you?!" That's easy, on my head. I'm making the R2-D2 hat from CasandraKnits. I modified the pattern a little bit. Added a red eye for the droid. I hope my Brother likes it. It was the only thing I could think to knit that would really suit him.

You see he was the one who introduced me to all the geeky things I love. Star Wars, Final Fantasy, JRRTolken, and then I took it from there. Then I took it on to things like Firefly, Shadow Run, Katamari and so on.

So what better to give my first geeky friend than an R2-D2 hat. Maybe next year it will be a Jayne hat. That is if i can get him into FireFly.

:)

"Just keep swimming.."

*picture is grainy as hell due to 1600 iso.
Sometime the song that the Elene fish, from Finding Nemo, would sing is my montra. Helps get through the day.

Slowly things are getting put back together at work. The nice thing about the new carpet is it helps to put a "This is new, lets keep our store clean." Or in some cases "Iki's store clean." I also got one sock war sock finished (still have to graft the toe). I got on the heel of the second sock today.

I'm really liking the Scar pattern. Though since these are just for me and not a target i'm mucking about a bit with the pattern. Just to see what i think.

One thing that I do think is that I need a ball winder and swiffer for b-day. It would be a nice present from the HT as all the yarn for his sweater is in hanks.

Haven't played Zelda in a few days. My attention span is getting shorter and shorter these days. Maybe over the holidays when I've got most of my knitting done.

My Pal got her package and liked it. Something about giving a good gift just gives wonderful warm fuzzies.

With that I have a "Fish are Friends" meeting to attend, Laters.

almost done

It looks like the Grimmers is ready to head out to my Coffee Swap Pal. :) No worries, you wont be getting a kitty, though he does like to travel.

I have almost everything ready to go for the swap. I'll have it in the mail on Monday I think. I'm going to post a few pictures after i know my Pal has received it. Or would that seem like bragging? *Shug* don't know but i have some fun picture ideas in my head so it'll happen anyway.

This week has been a long one. I've been working a little too much and my boss has noticed. I have mixed feeling about that as i want to do extremely well in everything that i do. Not a perfectionist by any means, but I really like being the "Go to" person.

This Wednesday we had new carpet put in at work. It looks really pretty. I was there till 5:30 in the morning though so I might not be the best judge. I'm pretty sure that from about 7pm when they started laying glue to about 5am I lost a lot of pretty useful brain cells. I wonder if i'll be able to beat Zelda now. :( But it does look nice and my boss made a few calls so I could have today off. Kinda a Thanks for working way to hard now go home an relax day. I'm trying.

Monday i'm going to the Doc. I made notes about all the things that are acting up. Today i can't chew on my right side of my mouth. It hurts like hell when i try. Why? From clenching and gnashing my teeth at night from stress.

The only thing that really seems to help any more with all this stress is the knitting. I finished the first SW2 sock when they were laying carpet. I got the ribbing finished when HT and I went out to SunnySide Up for breakfast. Those moments are the calmest thing I've go right now. Lately i've wished that I could be knitting all the time.

Right. Time to leave all this randomness with a happy thought. We stopped by Trader Joe's today. I picked up some Pumpkin Butter. It's really tasty and I like the label on the package too.
ummm pumpkin

Why knitting at my desk is bad.

Grimlock seems to think that my Green-Metel-US8s are a nice toy. Or at least the reflection from them is. The problem with Grimers and light-toys is that he doesn't relize that he can't catch them and gets worked up over it. *sigh*

It's been a long week and it is only Tuesday. Works not going well, mostly because I've been feeling pressured from all sides. That and i'm feeling emotional and that doesn't make you look like a strong leader. On the up side I jsut payed off all my medial bills (the things in the corrner of the vid). So on monday I can go talk to the Doc about my thoughts that all the new estrogen in my system being teh culpret for my un Iki like behavor.

Untill then it's listen to funnythings and Finaly Fantasy musica and go to knit night with my ladies, er or go knitting next week.

swach watch

Before all the knitting I thought a Swatch was a neat watch that my co-workers liked. Now I know the true meaning. :)

This is the felted up yarn for the Christmas Beer cozies. I hope HT's dad likes them.

Other than knitting I've just been trying to get some work done. I just paid all my medial bills (ouch), and did all the laundry (well almost). So now i'm going to take a break with my new Zelda game and relax. I'll finish up the beer cozies tonight when our friend the bunger comes over with cans saved from the recycling bin.

Well happy knitting and gaming and leaf jumping (it's nice and crisp outside).

back from a short internet break

So I haven't posted for a bit because I was taking a break from the Internet. I missed Blog Action Day. Global Warming is real. So if you are going to do a Yarn Shop Hop, drive a hybrid car.

That said now it's time to explain the pictures. First the Sister Socks as modeled by my soon (in a year) to be married friend with the same shoe size. I think they turned out pretty cute.
Next the prize I won from 3-Kittens. I really like the green yarn. I have no idea what to do with them though... That and when i went back to pick it up and get some yarn for a few people/projects on of the staffers said "Oh you were here yesterday, but you didn't buy anything." Yah and I shouldn't have that day either. For the most part the staff was nice but I don't think I'll be heading back.

This is the yarn that I did buy that day :P It's for felted beer cozies for HT's dad. They are in the KU colors because he really likes that team. I'm going to felt up the blue and yellow and then needle felt the K and U on them in red. It should be fun.
Oh and I finally found something to get organized with that wouldn't break the budget. It's from knit picks and I found it at that M store. The little needle holder was way to close to the top so i just took it out and moved it down. I think it works.
Things are kinda harry at work. We still don't have enough bodies, but at least the store is getting clean. Also i've been working on my "sock war now for me sock" and it's coming along nicely. I wont get it done as fast as I would if it was for someone else now, but it will look pretty on me.

my day in pictures (and maybe captions)

Jacqueline and sister Helena

MammaGrouch and Kimara and me (reflection any way)

Our First stop, we were the first to arrive today for the Yarn Hop.

Our second stop. I won a door prize here :) Hoping to pick it up tomorrow.

Our 3rd stop. And Now Blogger doesn't want me to up load more photos so i'll just type for a bit. After this we headed to NeedleWork Unlimited. That the store I normally go to as it's close.
Then they dropped me off so that I could get ready for HT's co-workers wedding. They are a really cute couple and i'm glad they got married. Through out the reception HT and I joked about things we would and wouldn't have at our wedding. Things like kegs, jeans, cow-patties, family members, all things in good fun with humor.

I'll post a picture of the wedding favors tomorrow. Though to explain a little bit about the couple and well us, we sat at Ironforge and the Husband almost missed his second dance because we were talking about Xbox360/Halo/Gears of War. :) Got to love a geek wedding.

*sigh*

Yahoo.groups are no replacement for Forums. In fact, i've now set all but the Knitty.com yahoo.group to the "shhhhh, unless i want to look at you setting". Why? Because it's damn hard to find any relevant info in an inbox of "RE: Question", "Blarg" and my fav. "RE: I'm just writing so that I sound important." This has been a long and stressful week and I'm getting really sick of it.

Work is freeking me out. Getting things ready for the MCAD artsale is freeking me out. The un-clean/tidy state of my home is freeking me out..... *Deep breath*


Ok enough of that. The picture is of one of the finished arm-bands i'm going to put in the art sale. I've only ever sold a few things photography wise (earlier post as reference). So i thought i would see what some knitting would do.
I just finished a Cell phone/Ipod holder for the wedding couple. It has the WOW horde insig on it. And it's in those same colors only inverse. Hope it looks ok. It was supposed to be an arm-band as well (well 2 really but i haven't started the second). Though it looks more like an electronic-thing holder it will be.

Like Bob Ross always said "Happy clouds." and "Don't worry about making a little mistake, it's just a happy little mistake."

errr, or something like that.

swach... ish

I have the hardest time knitting swatches. Though it's nice to see what the yarn is going to look like. I hope my target likes it. This is the Cherry Hill yarn for the Sock Wars. I'm excited and kinda nervous about this. What if my assassin doesn't get my sock done. What if it turns out to be a horrible sock. What if my sock turns out to be a horrible sock... so many what ifs.
Today at work went ok. The owner called to see how it was going and make sure I was ok. :) He's pretty nice once you get to know him. I'm going to photograph my sisters socks on my friend Rachs' feet. She's got about the same size feet and I want to do a shot with these in some brown shoes on a bike petal.... or something like that. In action if you will. Oh and this weekend is the yarn shop hop. It looks like i can go on Saturday before the wedding. *grin* So i should be having a fun weekend.

it's finaly cold :)

And that brings a lot of things to mind.

Thing a) Coffee runs at work
Thing b) must get boiler license for work
Thing c) I hope the pipes don't freeze and flood the store this year.
Thing d) time to knit faster.

But boy am I glad it is finally colder. I just can't take 80 degree weather in Oct. It's just silly. And it's just more proof in my mind of global warming. That said, new job now lets us use less gas from driving around the dang state every day. The Sock is taking shape and is almost finished. This shot was taken at Moxie right before the hair cut. One of the ladies there knits and I know now that it's cold she's picked up the needles again.

Also with Thing A. there is also the coffee swap. The questions were posted so I'll now take a moment to answer.

QUESTIONS
1. Whole bean or ground? I like the whole bean because then I can grind it at my whim.
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully-loaded please.
3. Regular or flavored? I like either. They both tend to be tasty. Though some can be just perfumy and not tasty at all.
4. How do you drink your coffee? Black with raw sugar
5. Favorite coffee ever? Can't really say that I have a favorite. I've been mostly trying all kinds lately. I always go for Fair-Trade over any others though.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? No not fussy, but I do prefer the above mentioned.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Any kind of baked sweet. Lately pumpkin anything. This is one of the things I love about October, pumpkins everywhere
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I'm medium roasts are the most plaitable for my taste buds.
9. Yarn/fiber you love? I have a Lana Grossa fixation. A lot of my yarn is that. I'm a pretty big fan of yarns that have microfibers blended into them too. One yarn I've never tryed is the bamboo or hemp stuff. Though i would like to.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Anything scratchy, or ruff. Soft and smooth.
11. What's on your needles? Jaywalkers for the Sis, and Sweater for the HT.
12. Favorite colors? Greens! dark and rich.
13. Allergies? I don't think so... though i do have some pretty lama yarn that after a few hours of working with my hands feel slightly ichy... i hope I'm not allergic to it. I want to make a hat out of it.
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I'm a bit of a gamer. Love anything Final Fantasy, Link, or Katamari. Love my kitties. Love my photography (and other peoples too ;) ). Don't like people who come into my local camera store to touch/buy on internets. Though with yarn i do think that etsy online shops are just fine because that's like someones little store.

So I think this is quite a long post and I'll be quiet now.

oooo more Dr Who soon :)

Day off

It's always fun to have some new toys. And on your day off from work it's easy to look for a new yarn store. Well new for me any way. Borealis Yarns is a pretty little store. The staff was friendly and they let me walk around while they worked on store-knits all by my lonesome. After they asked what I was looking for and showed me where it was.

So I'm armed and ready to go for the Sock War. I need to work it into a ball and knit up a swatch. That will be done after I finish the walkers.

It's been a pretty lazy day today. Took out the trash, looked up routs for the yarn hop. Wondered how many shops I could get to before heading home to get ready for the wedding. I think I'll be able to hit 2 or 3 on Saturday, comfortably and then on Sunday hit the rest.

Now to geek out for a moment. Yarn Shops need better Signage and Websites! Now the reason I'm bothering to say this is that I have had a bitch of a time finding places that have tiny signs. Now i'm not saying that they need to be Neon and Gotty. They need to be large and knowticable. As for the websites... *sigh* There is too much scrolling on a lot of them, and bad bad bad design. Yes the sites need to be informative, but you have to want to look at them too. Good design will get the information out to the user. So all this said, if anyone needs a better website or signage let me know. I've got people. /end rant

So everyone enjoy your days off.

I feel the need to organize

I really think the Namaste Binder is the thing I want to organize my needles in (why do i always think of those little needle bins at the Dr's Office when I say that?). Namaste inc.
It looks like they are big enough and they look kinda classy too.

The organizers at the organized knitter are kinda cute too, but the self-owned creator doesn't seem to be around. :(
Things have been moving along on my projects. Jaywalkers are on second sock. Manly Sweater gets worked on here and there. The socks I have on the sticks for HT may or may not get finished. Why? Because the sock wars are starting soon and I just got a promotion @ work. Hummm now i have to organize there too.

Getting Better all the time....

(camera picture notes)
My Canon 20d with 50mm 1.8 lens ( thats what makes only one section sharp and the rest falling out of focus)
The light is early(ish) morning light coming through the window. (this is what gives the whites a blue tone)
Doing a slight crop after the shot helps to give it a pop.


Right enough of that. So I didn't get to go to the Blue Moon Coffee Cafe last night but i did get to knit. We had Manfrotto training yesterday so I had some time on my hands for about 1&1/2 hours. I don't think the Trainer liked that i was knitting but :P
I have to keep my hands busy it helps me consentrate. When i finished the heal guset i put it down. Mostly because I thought it might be rude to look at the pattern to duble check. When I put down the knitting, I started to do the head bob. You know the one where you all the sudden knowtice your head on your chest... oops.

That said the Jay walker is coming along swimingly now. I made it a short ankle because it's for my Sis and she doesn't like tall socks. My progress on it might slow down a bit right now though because Halo 3 is now here and, well I need to find out what happened to Cortana. I really need to know.

When I was knitting it befor class last night (it's the thing i do to get into the teaching zone) the Beatles song "Getting Better" popped into my head. And, it is.

3rd attempt

It finaly makes since! Though I was a bit worried when i started the heal flap.

I really think this looks good with the Jitterbug yarn. I think I like my picture of it better, the colors are a little extreme on the web site.

We went out to see a movie and have some lunch to day with Target Friend. I got a little KIPing going with this sock. Though I don't think the waitress thought it was cool. But she was a bit snotty anyway because TF only got a drink. *shrug* Isn't it better not to eat if you aren't hungry?

On thing I've found out is that I shouldn't work on patterned knits when HT is playing BioShock or Halo3 (when that comes out and to the house on Tuesday). Oh and I downloaded a WOW Alliance wall paper today. I'm going to try and figure out how to make it into a color-work pattern.

It's going to be tricky.

heating the head.

I finished Nicole's B-day/X-mas present today. The button is a nice clam/oster shell button from Joan's and the yarn is from the pedicure socks I was going to make. I think this Calorimetry turned out pretty well.

I got to go to the Blue Moonies last night. :)
It was great. I got to see MamaGrouch's Jaywalker up close. I think it will help. I'm going to try this one more time before I give up on it for ever.

I'm working on socks for HT. It's his B-day tonight. They aren't done yet, but he generally doesn't celebrate his B-day so they can be a late gift. Well of to knit more gifts.

jitterbugs and jaywalkers

They have both been Frogged and now the yarn is back in a state like this. I don't know what it is about those patterns but I just wasn't feeling them. The Jitterbug was just too plain maybe. The jaywalker I just didn't get the pattern.

It's probably the way it was written, but it just wasn't making sense to me. I might ask some of the Blue Moonies if they can bring their Jaywalkers so that I can see what the pattern looks like up close or i may just not jump on this band wagon.
Besides there are a lot of Cookie A. socks out there to knit still.

the electronic sock

" You make for mez?"

Because isn't everything for the kitties? :)

Sorry Girmlock, but this sock is for Dad's camera. *pats kitty on the head*

So yes i finished a sock and graffed it properly, but it not for toes. It is for the Olympus 720 that I got of my Dad. He's broken a few of his digital cameras. Not intentionaly of course, so i thought i would get him the shock/drop/crush proof one. I hope he likes it. He should be up today and so are HT's parents. So our 2 families are finaly going to get to meet.

That's a good thing right?

jitterb....

... bug? I think i goofed up and made it a little short.

What do you think?

I think I'm going to frog back to where i started the decrese and go again.

Or if anyone knows anyone who has short, stubby feet I could always make one like this for them.

I need to work on my grafting too. I haven't quiet got that down yet.

Ah well still learning.

maybe one day.

Grimlock is wondering if someday I should do a contest on my little blog? Maybe when I get myself to 25 or 50 posts.

It seems to be the thing to do on knitting blogs.

On Becky knits too there is a contest about what to do with 4ply Rowan yarn.

Knittymama has a contest to raise $ for flooded organic farms in southern MN.

um, don't quiet know if i will. I signed up for Sock Wars 2, so i guess that mean i'm up for random knitting strangeness.

internet vs. RL stores

I can't remember if I posted about Happy Hour at the Yarn Cafe in Maple Grove last week. If I did sorry for the repeat.

It was different. I really like the store and lay out. It was easy to walk through and look at things. All the yarn was tagged with price and the workers were helpful but not to pushy.

The ladies that came to knit were different too. Jacqueline and I went to check it out for the Moonies. "Bless yer' heart" was said a few times about knitting and holding 2 yarns at once. There were strong personalities, knitters making babies sweaters with size 2s and an Internet compute set up. I showed them Ravelry and then i was shown a site or 2.

Now here's where it gets a little uncomfortable. I'm not the best with new people anyway (shocked aren't you), but when new people show me the website they like to buy yarn from in a LYS, well that just gets me in the wrong mood. I truly believe in supporting local business. It makes our economy stronger and it makes for better neighborhoods. But there's something about the suburbs that makes people think "I'll look at it in the store, get help from staff, and then buy it on line." *Sigh* it just makes me want to shake people.

Other than that. I was a pretty good evening. Jacqueline found a place near work to hang out at and I found a model for my "If I win the lotto, I'll have a yarn store/cafe" dream. It's also a place I'm going to take my Mom to the next time she comes up for a visit.

jitterbug...

"Wake me up! Before you go go!" has been stuck in my head all day. Why? because i'm knitting the Jitterbug Sock yarn and pattern. That still doesn't make sence? Well right be for the song starts there is a deep booming voice saying/singing/intoning "Jitterbug". And well I tend to make random connections that of things to songs that will get stuck in my head. Fun hun?

In other random knitty news I blocked my Monkey socks and something about the smell of wool/man made yarn has made my girl cat go a bit balmy. Siren had to first sit on the socks that were drying. Then when they were moved (she likes to munch on yarn), she had to sit at the base of the tall thing they were placed on and cry about how i wouldn't put her up there so she could play with the yarn. Even after the socks have been put away she still sits there thinking she needs to be on top. *Sigh* She can be quiet demanding sometimes.

Though other times (like the picture) she doesn't care about yarn at all. *Shrug*

knitty people like my photos :)

Real quick i'll give you the run down about my photography and other people.









In High School: (yes it started back then) people in class and teachers liked it. I was even asked to be in a small art-fest. Then only one person at the art-fest bought something. A sweet girl that i will always remember bought a picture of my boots for $5. The rest of the people just made stupid comments.

In College: people in class though i was technicly good, but they didn't like my ideas behind the work. (important to note that they understood the idea i was trying to get across) Only a few really liked them or would try to give helpful cits of the work. That said the visiting artists (not the visiting journalist teacher, he was an ass) all seemed to like my work. Which of course startled and freeked me out.

After College: I've been asked to have my work in 3 shows.
One at the Spyhouse (boy they need a website) with a painter.
One at the SooVac in the "Untitled 4" group show. Techincly i submitted for that one, but 4 of my photographs were picked :)
One at the Around the Coyote gallery in Chicago for the Gameplay: Video Games in Contemporary Art Practice show. The courator found me. I didn't sell anything, but they kept the work to show at a big Chicago touristy show.

So i still haven't sold anything but people seem to like it. Humm that wasn't that short was it. Anyway, now i have my photographs of Lana Grossa Quattro yarn up on the Ravelry main page for that. :) Though i don't like that the entry says that it is discontinued. I love making wrist warmers out of that yarn! :(

I think that's enough for now. Laters.

day one (in the middle)

So today is day one of "You can't make me work anymore" Vacation.
This morning i went out to wander by the river. I saw an Eagle take off and fly across the river. It was breath taking. I didn't get my camera out in time to photograph it though.
Then it was back home to take some pictures of the "stash" and think about the best ways to do it for the ladies. I do think that scanning knits and yarn is a great way to document your work. It isn't the funnest way though :)

Well i'm going to check out the Happy-hour Knits soon and i hope that the rest of this vacation goes like today.

Y.C.M2.W. Vacation

Better known as You Can't Make Me Work, Vacation.

So this week is going to be full of shooting knitting. I'll post a few pictures here, but most will be on Ravelry.

I'm so excited. :)

I'm In!

Ravelry here i come.

318th in line

• ou signed up on June 20, 2007
• You are #10258 on the list.
• 317 people are ahead of you in line.
• 18143 people are behind you in line.
• 34% of the list has been invited so far

oh ravelry. I so want to be in your club.

well the bag....

Finished! I took it to Needle Work Unlimited the other day and got some more sock yarn.
I really do seem to like this Lana Grosa yarn. I keep seeming to buy that brand. First wrist warmers, then socks... next? The world. (insert evil laughter)

I wanted to post a pick, but it wasn't cooperating. So if you would like to see the month-long bag, head on over to ikisti

Right, now it's time to make a nice dinner for some friends. After 5years of each other they have put the old engagement ring on the finger. Since their other friends aren't to excited HT and I thought we would make them dinner.


( note: HT stands for Husband-in-training. a nice little name that KnittyMomma though up for our, 5 is year going on forever with out a paper(yet) commitment. boy that was a mouth full)

bags and learning

This is a nice bag that I've been working on. I got the pattern from knitty.com
I messed it up a bit. I didn't realize that YO didn't mean that you just tossed the yarn over the needle and not that you knit one, tossed the yarn, and knit another. Oh well. I like the slightly wavy way it looks.

The Yarn: Louet, North American
Euroflax, colors Shamrock and Charcoal
It's a 100% linen.

I'm almost finished with it. I don't know what I will use for the straps.

Hello

Welcome to the all knitting Ikisti Blog.

This will chronicle the items I'm working on, the things I would like to work on, and random thoughts about knitting.

I have a live journal site as well. Just look for Ikisti. Though I tend to ramble more there than I will here.... maybe.

Enjoy!


(picture from my first visit to the Tuesday night Moonies)