Summer Knitty is up. Re: Annette...

The beauty of this top is how easy you can lengthen the body and the sleeves. There is no shaping on either of them, so just knit as long as you want before beginning the raglan decreases.

Great! That's totally flattering on everyone! Waist shaping is there for a reason and unless you're shaped like a rectangle (which very few women are), this is going to look like butt on whoever wears it.

Otherwise known as, when did a boxy, frumpy sweater become a good thing?

ETA: And a cotton halter top? I mean it's cute, but um... cotton stretches. I would want more than just that holding up my boobs.

I'm 1 row and a cast off away from FINALLY finishing the darn wedding afghan. SO CLOSE. Except that, at this point, knitting a row takes about an hour. So... yeah. Then I have to create the mini-blankie that goes with. Then I can... wait for it... pursue other knitting interests. I know! I'm thinking it's time to finally start that awesome fair isle vest I bought yarn for last year.

Winter Knitty's out and I'm seriously underwhelmed. I'm sorry, how do you tout an embroidered felt bag and not provide an embroidery chart? Sure, that bird isn't rocket science, but some of us are not artistically inclined when it comes to drawing.

OK, the ox slippers are freaking awesome, but otherwise...

In other news of things I want to do until it comes time to actually do them, I want to knit myself a shawl for the office. Because it's so freaking cold here, OMG. I also think I want to knit myself a more colorful scarf or two and another Rogue sweater. And finish zillahsgin's wedding blanket and start the Christmast socks and...

Have I mentioned I'm not actually into knitting right now? Yeah, I know. It freaks me out. But I want the stuff! I also need to start taking some pictures for No Pants.

I was thinking about making a circular afghan for the wedding afghan after finding a nice, simple but easily customizable pattern online. But then I thought giving a circular afghan to adults (and not a baby who gets it wrapped around them) might be weird. So, I put it to you, my adoring public.

Poll #1248445 Afghans
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16

Circular Afghan for adults =

The ticky box.

Current Knitting Projects:
Lucky Sweater from S'n'B nation (sleeves, block & seam)
B&J's wedding afghan (find the next skein of yarn)
Mystery Stole (on hold since it involves detangling a shitload of laceweight cashmere)
Print of the Waves stole (started then dumped for Mystery Stole)
Koolaid dyed purple sweater vest (rip back to add 1" length, finish and shoulder & neck ribbing)
Block stentoriansista's clapotis

Knitting Projects to Start Soon:
Clapotis for Ms. Vicki (yarn floating around the living room accumulating dust)
L&W's wedding afghan (yarn not bought) (yarn ordered)
Fair Isle sweater vest (yarn bought, afraid of swatch)
Cardinized Rogue in a yarn that actually feels nice to wear (current wool is super scratchy and heavy - not comfortable unless wearing long sleeves - project idea is floating around the back of my head)
Christmas socks (x3) (it's never, ever too early)

Etc...
Finish westerly style dress before winter
Hem purple dress stentoriansista made me before she strangles me with it
Make wrap dress
T-shirt surgery?
Dye and make pretty the 'White Stripes' dress from last Halloween?

Over the past year and a half, something weird has been happening. I've stopped wanting to knit. I still want to buy yarn, look at patterns, make things, but I don't want to knit. And I think there are a few reasons for it. I have a lovely spinning wheel, which works erratically. I love to spin (when it works properly, which is not particularly often these days, grr arg), I like the idea of sewing, if not the application. (Too much to set up for me - I feel like I need to have a dedicated day to sew) But lately, knitting has been a big bag of blah for me.

I have too many projects I feel like I should be working on. A couple of wedding blankets, a couple of sweaters stalled on sleeves (from 2005), the rest of mystery stole, a fair isle sweater vest I want to get started on but am afraid of swatching, Christmas socks... the whole idea of working on those makes me tired.

I used to get home from work, eat dinner, sit in front of the television and knit until it was time for bed. I don't do that anymore. I still sit in front of the television more than I should, but it's not as constant and I get to spend quality time with my girly. I used to knit on the bus, at the movies, with friends, longily wished to knit in class and meetings, at parties, in bars, in restaurants. I... don't anymore. Really. I get a little fidgety sometimes while watching TV, but that frenetic energy that made me reach for a pair of needles seems to have calmed down. I'd rather play text twist or look at my friends page. Mindless knitting is too boring and mindful knitting is too much of a distraction.

It's weird. It worries me. I've spent thousands of dollars over this obsession over the past ten years and it's petering out. And that worries me. Not because I feel like I should want to knit more (except that I guess that I do because my unfinished projects sit in bags, taunting me), but because this was the core of who I was for a really long time. My obsession with writing stories and angsty poetry translated into a love of acryllic and $2 knitting needles into a Denise kit and Cascade 220 or handspun.

Of course, as stentoriansista pointed out, I have more of a life now. I used to wake up around noon on Fridays, knit and watch Judging Amy, go to the grocery store, cook a little, watch Netflix and knit and then hopefully go out with friends in the evening. Saturdays, I'd wake up around noon, knit, eat dinner, and then go work a concessions shift. I was content with my life, but it was a quieter life than I lead these days.

I guess I want to know... if this isn't what I excel at and what makes me different from everyone else... what will it be? I'll figure it out, I'm sure, but I don't feel crafty and I haven't in a while and that concerns me, yanno?

Really bizarre dreams last night: First was a bizarre sort of movie thing where I didn't watch the plot because an extra in the background looked like stentoriansista if she was wearing robes and a commedia del arte mask. Then I went to a yarn store where they were trying to raise $5,000 to match contributions that helped fund fellowships. I asked them how much money it made the yarn store... about $100. I said that they needed to worry about making a profit before funding fellowships. I also examined my contributions / credit card statement online and realized that I was giving $10 a month to several different organizations.

I went to the doctor (blond, female), who examined me on the courtyard-like roof of a building. My roommate R was inside a smaller building on the roof with a stomachache and could hear the entire thing. The doctor handed me a pair of forceps and told me to take off the cardboard and to... um... insert them in the appropriate place. Then we had to get my pants off and I was freaked out that I was completely naked on a roof with my roommate a wall away. I got my clothes back on and the doctor asked me if I wanted to talk to some girl about "... well, you know" because she was a junior and had experience in these things. I shouted back that I was 26. I realized I was in some bizarro world filled only with teenage girls and tried to run away.

In other, non-subconscious news - the house painters did a pretty good job but didn't paint any of the ceilings or the trim, painted over the three outlet plates we missed taking off, painted all of the outlets anyway (WHY?!?!?!), broke a bathroom ceiling fan, puttied and painted over screw anchors (without removing them) that we'd ask them to leave and didn't really fix the mold in the garage. And, as it turns out, they were supposed to paint the ceilings and the trim. I don't know if I should be more mad that they didn't do what they were paid to do or that I have to take everything off my walls and rearrange my furniture. Again. On the bright side, this hopefully means I can get them to fix my wall after I broke it hanging a picture (I used one of the circle things from the Rugga kit which was defective - after banging on it for 5 minutes, I realized that the nails weren't going to go in, but when I took it off the wall, I realized I'd basically shoved it into the wall completely. Whoops)

In other, other news, I have one round of triple crochet left to FINISH THE GODDAMN WEDDING BLANKET. The downsides - one round takes 3 hours and once I finally finish this blanket... I don't know that I can give it to someone else. No, really.

I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do, but I thought I'd ask my adoring public anyway. I'm operating on a couple of t-shirts and want some opinions. The first is a "Shout out to my sheeps" T shirt - I'm planning on replacing the black sleeves with white one and making the shirt a v-neck hoodie. The second is a clothes swap cashmere sweater that had some holes in it. So I appliqued flowers over the two and added a third to the back to make it pretty like. I'm trying to decide if/where they should be on the front.

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My head hurts.

I never thought this day would come. I mean, I'd hoped it would come. I dreamed it would come. Every time I looked at a knitting magazine, I'd search it for clues. I kept my fingers crossed every time I went to a yarn store. I searched for pattern books. Today, I opened my inbox and found my dream had finally come true.

Vanna White has produced her own line of yarn, Vanna's Choice. You heard me. Vanna White, turner of letters on Wheel of Fortune and published crochetwear designer has created her own line of yarn.

This beautiful, 100% acrylic worsted weight yarn in a selection of generic pastels makes my life complete. There had never been nor will there ever be an equivalent to this yarn. Thank you, Vanna, for this beautiful, beautiful gift. I'd like to buy an "OMGWTF."

Yesterday, as I was taking the stairs to get to my street, a guy across the street on a bike started hey babying me. Like, he whistled and I looked up so he started yelling and calling me 'mamacita.' At this point, I was already up and out of sight, had been at work for a very long time and was generally cranky, so I yelled back for him to fuck off. I hadn't realized that he was crossing the street and then realized that I'd just insulted a guy and walked onto my quiet, secluded street and was about where I'd been mugged. Needless to say I started panicking. He continued yelling mamacita and said something about my butt (either that I had a great one or that I had a bug up it) and then I proceeded home without incident.

One of my roommates is moving out at the end of the week. This is fine, but she contributed a majority of the silverware and plates to the house. (Old Ex-Roommate left a bunch of her old plates, but it's not really enough) (Luckily, Roommate didn't contribute much else to the household) So, I need to get some plates and silverware. And there's a Crate and Barrel outlet not too far from where I live. And these are really pretty. Assuming the outlet store still has them. I know I'd probably get a better deal from IKEA, but is it really worth it to drive an hour to save $10? Their flatware is wicked expensive (also, ugly), so I'll probably grab that from Target. At some point. Anyway, I'm going to go look after work tonight and possibly buy it.

I desperately need to clean up - I've had a knitting project & various sewing projects hanging out in the living room since May / June and I need to wash my comforter because I spilled food on it last week. Something tells me that when I get home, all I'm gonna do is sit around and knit.

Speaking of, there's been a hysterical controversy over the Mystery Stole project I'm working on. Someone was looking at the chart, thought the designs looked SATANIC, so rather than continue working on SATAN'S SHAWL, she put it aside for a while and posted about it on ravelry and asked the designer. Everybody else knitting the shawl basically laughed at her and called her stupid names (I think - I don't read anything but special notices from the yahoo!group and I'll be damned if I go back to check), causing the mods to have a smackdown. Just really, though, the idea of it being SATAN'S SHAWL is just hysterical to me.

So, problem the first - I decided to do MS3 on a size smaller needles for the first, 50 row chart, just to see if I like it better. I like it better. It's tighter, the stitch definition is better, blah blah blah, I'm redoing the whole 105 rows that have taken me a week and a half. Awesome.

Problem the second... I made goingdriftless' cheesy chili tonight but forgot the second can of tomatoes. I've only separated out one serving, I guess I can just throw in the rest, but this is annoying

ETA: I'm 76 rows on size 3s into the 106 rows that took me two week on size 4s. I guess that's what happens when I sit at home and watch bad TV all night.

I'm knitting away on my mystery stole and it's so! very! pretty! But I'm not sure I like the stitch definition. It's fine for the straight knit purl, but I wonder if it's too open for the lacework. And who knows what'll happen when I block it. I'm only 105 row in, so I could totally rip and redo... but I don't wanna! Hmm. Decisions.

Dude, the mystery stole is sexy. Like, super sexy. Like, the sexiest that lace knitting can be.

With beads.

I'll be in my bunk.

Yesterday, I got a tent from kmusser. (Well, I was sleeping when it showed up, but it's there! Whee!) Friday, I go camping. Holla!

I finally sucked it up, asked for and am getting a refund for the spinning wheel, though there may be a 20-40% restocking charge. I'm deciding if I want to argue against the restocking charge or not. Frankly 60-80% of the original price is probably better than what I could get on the internets for it. I'll probably get my parents to finance the rest of a new wheel as they still haven't gotten me a birthday present yet.

stentoriansista and I went berrypicking on Saturday and picked 9 pounds of blueberries in 20 minutes. 9 pounds. 20 minutes. And it cost us $20. I think we spent more on the gas to get there. Anyway, it was superfun and we've made two blueberry pies and I got my dad's blueberry lavender ice cream recipe. And I got beads for the mystery stole, though they weren't really what I wanted. But they were cheap. We'll see how they look on the yarn. If I ever start working on that.

I haven't had my allergy meds for the past couple of days and I'm now queen of grossness in my sinuses. This displeases me.

I should probably work now.

So, someone talk me out of joining Mystery Stole 3 before midnight. I have a bunch of black, laceweight cashmere that's sitting at home alone, sad, and I could easily get some lovely seed beads for it... I mean, the first mystery stole was kinda ugly but the second was pretty... Argh! I do not want to be a knitting sheep!

Also, pink dolphin!

(Yes. That too)

My spinning wheel just broke. As in, one of the metal bits completely snapped off another metal bit. This makes four major problems with a wheel in 2 years. Granted, I caused one of them, but I feel like I'd be contacting him anyway about a different issue that happened with the last repair.

I just sent the owner a bitchy email.

I really, really should have bought a fucking Ashford Kiwi.

Last night, I STEEKED! Oh sure, it was a practice steek that I did on a swatch that's been hanging out in my stash for yonks, but I steeked and the world did not end.

I wasn't even drinking.

I was all set to get started on my Knit Fuzzy Dice. I went to AC Moore, I found my pom-poms, I found my fun fur, I... could not find upholstery blocks.

The internet doesn't seem to think they exist, either. I am perplexed. I feel like I have seen these before, squished them at summer camp, etc... I'm planning on running out to 7 Corners and will hit up Michael's, Joann's, G Street and Home Depot. If I can't find them at any of those... I will stick my head down a rain barrel?

Maybe I'm just grouchy because I haven't eaten today and I had wonktastic dreams last night.

Coming in to work today, I slipped and fell on some black ice. In the middle of an intersection. I landed on my knee. It was one of those where I got up, got out of the road and then took a minute to see if I was gonna cry (I didn't). Coming soon to my right kneecap... a FREAKING HUGE BRUISE!!!

Let's see, weekend recap... Thursday, I went home after work to work on the GF's valentine's present (otherwise known as the Thinggummer's Thing), which I completed. Hooray! No one has fawned over the entry I made on stitch-witch, so I post it for you here:
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Isn't he cute?! I'm totally in love with the finished product. Went to the doctor on Friday, which was a giant game of "what will insurance cover?" My last physical was 10 months ago, so insurance might not cover that! I wanted to get something checked in my bloodwork, but insurance might not cover that! How about checking my iron count, because stentoriansista thinks I'm anemic? Insurance won't cover that either! (They'll check my platelet levels which is the same thing? I guess?). Stopped at Whole Foods and picked up the bare minimum of groceries, went home, ate lunch and then CLEANED LIKE THERE WAS NO TOMORROW. I vacuumed. I changed my sheets. I dusted. I filed financial papers. I did my taxes. All of that good stuff. (By the way, it's really disturbing to dust your room on Friday and realize on Sunday night that there's already a fine layer of dust on everything) I spun a little yarn which is being extremely problematic and too airy, so the spinning wheel may go away soon.

Headed over to stentoriansista's, where we had lentil-y food and swapped belated valentines. I gave her Ned (the owl above) and she gave me a lovely clutch purse and her old iPod (squeeee!!!!!) and an iPod holder that she'd embroidered a skull & crossbones on (double squeee!!!!!). Watched Bubba Hotep (AWESOME!).

Saturday was kind of lazy - stentoriansista had to go to Ballston for work-things, so we went and hung out at murky coffee- she did school reading and I read magazines. Wandered over to IKEA, where she got awardrobe, I got a TV stand and mel21clc got as-is Christmas lights. Went to some Italian place for dinner and made an early night of it.

So, now I'm sitting here at work with my sore knee, watching everyone in creation come in, despite the fact that it is Presidents Day and everybody in the office aside from me has the day off. Whatever, losers.

So, I have this lovely cashmere shirt I got from a clothes swap from westerly a while ago. It has a big hole on the back. I've decided I'm going to applique a flower or something on it. So far I have a few contenders and am trying to decide which to use. I'll probably use the pink from the wedding dress and the purple from that purple leaf print skirt and see if I can rustle up some green cotton somewhere. I'll probably put one on the back and one of the front somewhere to keep some unity. Also trying to decide if I should take it in a bit, as it is a touch large, but steeking + cashmere = EEEEEEEEEEE.

Anyone have any applique words of wisdom?

Had a schmoopy Valentines with stentoriansista. We had a low key dinner at Whole Foods, ushered for Studio and then headed home. Neither of us has finished the other's present yet, so we'll probably do a prezzie exchange on Friday. This is why I'm taking some quality cave-time tonight. Just me and my craftiness.

So, I was getting coffee this afternoon when I caught my reflection in one of the glass doors and had a whole "hey, I look good!" moment. And I just realized... I got one of the Happy Bunny shirts at a clothes swap a while ago... and it didn't fit. I mean, at all. It was more than skin tight. But it was a Happy Bunny shirt and how could I possibly turn it down?

Well, after living in a drawer for a year, it fits and it fits well. This makes me absurdly happy. Maybe now I can try wearing my pink pants and my stripey cargos that stopped fitting in September 2005 and see if they work again.

And this has nothing to do with anything, but I think my next major sewing project is redarting my purple skirt, redarting my brocade skirt and getting it not to fray and then fixing that dress I made last March. It seriously needs a lot of work... wider straps, the zipper needs to be reset, possibly redarted and I think I'll rouche the neckline like the octopus dress, which would make a huge difference. I also need to get the bottom line of rickrack straight, because it really, really wasn't. Or maybe I should just lose the rickrack and applique on some flowers. Applique and I are BFF now. Not that I've actually done any applique, unless the Thingummer's Thing (pictures soon!) counts. But I'm going to.

I am utterly, utterly exhausted. Apparently, sitting with your mouth open for 2 hours and then sitting around numb from novocaine for 3 more is very tiring.

Still, very productive day. Made another jean skirt, am very close to done with the Thinggummer's Thing (it is SO CUTE) and made chili. Did a little bit of laundry, too. Didn't get the bathtub or any of the other cleaning done, but the dentist also took two hours longer than I thought it would. I wanted to get more done, but alas, such is life. For some reason, bumming around the house by my lonesome made me feel like a loser, but whatever.

Maybe I'm going to bed early tonight. Technically, I'm not in until noon, so I could get a good long sleep that I really, really want. Or I could spin some more.

Keep your fingers crossed that it snows so hard that metro gets shut down and I can take the day off. Of course, if that happens, I can't see the GF, so... yeah.

So, I'm taking tomorrow off because I'm getting a temporary crown and a cavity filled and fun times at the dentist!

This should be over by noon (I hope) and I should get home by 12:30-1, so here is my list of plans for the rest of the day.
( I can see your eyes glazing over already... )
This may all fall by the wayside in favor of me sitting on the couch and giggling (Percoset). But I'm most decidedly NOT SPINNING. I was going to start working on the Thinggummer's Thing last night, but I was thisclose to finishing spinning the purple stuff... so I did. Then I plied it. Then I skeined it. Then it was 1am. Oops.

In other news of my sheer brilliance, I set my alarm for 8:01pm last night. I also brought my last two servings of casserole to work with me today, completely forgetting that one was to be my dinner. Luckily, I keep at least one package of Whole Foods mac 'n' cheese on hand at all times.

I already really, really do not want to go to step class tonight. But dammit, I am going!