Losing Mojo

I haven't been knitting much lately. Mainly, probably, to the fact that I have my online game back and I've been engulfed in my own super dork-fest. Also, I've run into another one of those stages where nothing I do seems to turn out right. I have all this sock yarn, and I mean A.L.O.T. of sock yarn, so I feel this need to knit socks. the past two pairs I've made though have really let me down. I did a Coriolis sock from the new book by Cat Bordhi and really was pumped about it. I finished the first sock and the bind off was awful. I ripped it out and tried another, supposedly more elastic bind off. No go. I tried again. Better, but no cigar. Now sock number one is sitting matchless in a basket while the second sock is stalled on the needles. I had actually forgotten why it was that I didn't feel like working on them, but someone gave me a tip today on Ravelry that reminded me. Then there was another pair of Regia socks that I was so excited about and I was working on teeny-tiny needles to get a super cushy fabric. Turns out the needles were just a bit too teeny-tiny and they hardly go over my foot. Bah.
And then there's the issue of gift knitting. I'm just never satisfied with it. Everything is the wrong shade of purple, or the wrong color all together.....or too wide/narrow. I must have ripped out one scarf 8 times before coming up with something I deemed acceptable. But I still think the shade is a bit off. Anyhow, I gotta get my groove back. I'm heading to Vegas in two weeks and that will be the perfect opportunity to knock some of the half done socks off my list. Good for transport and all :)
Alright, I'm out. Just didn't want to leave the blog stagnant for too long.

Kick. Ass.

~*~*~*~*~ WARNING: BOOTY CLUB SPOILERS!!!!!~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I got a killer surprise in my email the other day. A shipping notification for the Yarn Pirate Booty Club package! I thought this might be in error because I didn't think I was supposed to be getting anything until the start of the new year. I checked with Georgia though and it turns out that my subscription started much earlier than I had thought. Woohoo!!
So this is what I got today-

Rock.On.

It's named Killer Bees. I think it's awsome-us maximus. As you can see, I also got my little booty club extras: 2 hot pink size 2 circs, a YP sticker and button. Woot! I am a happy, happy girl.

In other news, my super secret super-project arrived in the mail yesterday. Sorry I can't go into detail, but some of you already know what it is. I was a bit peeved after I took the time to wind everything last night, hunt for needles and cast on only to find that the pattern had great big errors in it. I had to do math (gag) and fix it. Still, I should have realized when I saw the blaring error in the pattern that the CO number would be off, too. Anyhow, all is well now. My time w/my SSSP had to be cut short last night because I had to go to hell....I mean the dentists office, today. I swear, I could have teeth hand carved out of pearl by God himself and I'd still feel like a guilty, filthy, non-teeth cleaning nasty person while having my teeth picked at by the dentist. I was asked like 20 times if I floss. And asked with a concerned frown what kind of toothbrush I use. Then they said my teeth look great. I was also told that when the dentist looks at my open mouth, she feels like she's looking at a ten year old. Just what every lady likes to hear. This is on account of my apparently large tonsils. Maybe that's the new rage with ten year olds. Who knows. I suppose this is better than two visits ago when I was told that I appear to be anatomically normal so they couldn't guess as to why their giant shots only inflict pain, not numbness. Hmm.

Okay, that's it for now. Super secrecy calls.

To add to my last post.....

I wanted to add to my previous comments on Brooks Farm. Seeing as how I was a touch p.o.'d, shall we say, at Stitches, I was very happy to find an order confirmation and shipping notice in my email this morning. Those are some quick ladies, especially coming right out of Stitches and headed straight into Rhinebeck. Anyhow, I'm very happy with the service I got from them so I just wanted to post that I'm not some crazy hater.

Stitches Sunday and liars

So no that Stitches is over with, I have time to reflect on all that transpired. For the most part everything was wonderful. Sunday was not so happy time for me as I was experiencing a mixture of PMS, Ravens induced parking issues, tiredness, and the now standard horrible abdominal pain. While I was planning on not doing any shopping Sunday, I underwent such stress getting there that retail therapy was called for. While I very much enjoy the items I purchased, I had to deal with some not so favorable people. I will catalog my experiences here, in chronological order.

1) My first stop through the door was at the Children in Common table. First off, I want to say that I was really on the fence about putting this on the web. I think the project is great and I don't want anyone to think that I'm downing it. However, what I'm going to bitch about here really has nothing to do with the cause and it's a pet peeve of mine. Should anyone from the group see this, maybe it'll give them some insight. Anyhow, I went to buy these cute stacking doll stitch markers that SheeperThanTherapy pointed out to me on Friday. I quickly picked them out and asked if they took Visa. The woman looked at me sternly and said, " Well, we can take Visa.", then stood there making no movement towards taking my card. I just looked at her with an "Okay. Take my money now please" look. Then she goes, "If I take your visa, then more money will go to credit card company and less money will go to the children we're trying to save!". Then more standing there looking at each other. Finally, after I see she's not going to go for the card, I tell her that I don't carry cash, so oh well for her. I ended up paying with check. The thing is this. If you don't want to take a card, put up a sign that says you don't accept credit cards. Otherwise suck it up and lose the ten cents of whatever trivial amount the card company is going to deduct and move on with your day. I was doing my part by buying from them at all.

2) I went to the Celtic Knot/Eleanor Francis Designs/ Storm Moon Knits and bout more of Lindsay's yarn because I have issues. I also got two sets of her stitch markers.

3)I did a little bit of early Christmas shopping at a booth for some alpaca farm in Minnesota. They had yarn, but I opted for these semi creepy alpaca figures made of, what else? Alpaca. the brown one of for one of my nephews and the white/blackish one of pour moi.

4) I then headed one booth over to Brooks Farm. Here, again, I must insert a disclaimer. I have bought from Brooks Farm before and not had any issues whatsoever. I asked around and no one else reported anything but nice service. I must have just caught this lady in the midst of Sunday "Hurry up and Finish" syndrome. Here's the background. Brooks Farm has had a sample knit up out of a shade of Duet that I've been lusting after through like 3 fiber festivals. I asked the woman if they had anymore of it and she said no. I asked if I could order it off the website. She then gave a great big huff and told me that all the fiber show colors are special and that once she's done with the show, she moves on to dying different things. I wandered around a bit more and found the color in Riata. I came back to her and happily said, "Found it!". She looked at me stone faced and said, "Well, I guess that color is similar." I bought it and moved on, thinking that she was a bit of a crab. The thing with this one is that her story was essentially bullshit, and if it was true, then she shouldn't have the colorway on display. Issue #1 is that I know the colorways aren't all specific to one particular show. Some of them, maybe, but not all. #2 is that is the color I've been wanting was a show specific colorway, it had to have been from a show years ago because I've personally seen it a few times. If it's that old and unavailable, don't use it as a model! And #3, I went onto the Brooks Farm website and found the supposedly unavailable color right there in plain sight, proving that it is not a one-show invention and yes, it is available on the website. Now it's mine so HAH, Lady!

5) I bought more yarn from Lindsay. Damn.

6) I got some cool needles that have beads strung through the top of them and a row counter bracelet. I've been meaning to try one of those.

7) After I thought I was through for the day, Carole came over with some BMFA Laci in Backstabber that was to die for. So I had to haul ass back over there and buy some. I also picked up a skein of lightweight Pond Scum while I was there. My justification for that is that it has some darker green splotches on it like real pond scum does. It sounded more reasonable at the time.

That's it! I'll have work backwards from here since I still haven't shown the goods of the previous days. Oh, and I also should add that I insanely decided to knit the alpaca nephew an alpaca sweater to go with the figure. If no one sees me again before the holidays, you'll know what's up.

Stitches East and some dissapointment

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Originally uploaded by knitglit

Stitches East has been a fun experience, and I've picked up a good number of very nice items. My main purchases have been at the BMFA booth (big surprise there) and from Storm Moon Knits. The above photo is of a small portion of my haul from the latter. I must say, it's fabulous. I also got two things from Karida at Neighborhood Fiber Co., some Tess Silk Boucle and sock yarn that I was coveting, a few skeins of some odd, super inexpensive yarn to make a throw or something, and then two things from a really nice German weaver guy who has a booth across from the Celtic Knot. I also came home on Thursday night to find not one, but two packages from Wollmeise. Now all I have to do is find time to knit all of this stuff up.
Speaking of time, I was quite put off today to learn that one of my super secret projects that was shipped on the 6th may not get here for three weeks. That's going to throw a major wrench in my plans because 1) it's a project of some involvement , 2) it's on the larger side, and 3) it has a completion deadline which I previously had been sure to meet. While I had been looking forward to this endeavor, now it's just sort of sucking. Only thing I can do now is wait it out and see what happens.
So today was my day off from Stitches. Not that much has been required of me while I've been there. Still, I needed a day to just sit. Thursday night I developed some sort of abdominal issue that has yet to be resolved or identified. At first I thought I just had bad heartburn because I stuffed my face on Thursday night after not eating all day getting ready for/going to Stitches. The whole not eating anything is super bad for me because since I have no gall bladder, bile just sort of builds up in my belly. If there's nothing in there for it to play with, it just eats away at me instead. This supposed "heartburn" thing kept getting worse and worse though until I was doubled over in pain for a number of hours, even after taking both Tums and Pepto Bismal. It eventually started to subside around 3am so I tried to go to bed. That didn't work out so well, but I did get to sleep after awhile and I felt better when I woke up. I was a little late going up to Stitches on Friday because I wanted to see how my body reacted to food. Everything was going well until I ate a cheese bread thing and the pain started to come back, but only briefly.Anyway, long story short...I've had bouts of this pain now for three days and have eliminated various possible causes such as an ulcer and appendicitis. I guess horrible heartburn is still on the table, though I find it hard to believe that it would strike this bad in such a short period of time. It also doesn't seem to be diet related as I've tried eating or not eating foods from various categories. I guess this, too, is another thing I'll just have to wait out.
Okay, that's all for now. I'll update again after Stitches is over and hopefully by then I will have had the chance to take pictures of everything. Hope everyone is having an adventurous and yarn filled Stitches weekend!

Special thanks

I just wanted to give a great big thank you to a certain someone for RUINING ME!!! Thank you oh.so.much. Unfortunately, I don't have the blue tooth bit to send photos from my phone to my computer otherwise I would share the bone chilling picture she sent me from the convention center. Let's just say that I'm considering calmly packing up my stuff and going to cam out with the Baltimore homeless so I can be first in line for the BMFA booth.

ETA: If you want to see the spoken of cell phone picture, look here. If you know me, it won't be too hard to guess which picture I'm referring to. And, now that the Stitches preview is over, the picture in question may as well have been taken in my house. Except I'm not as well organized.

Recent Happenings

I don't have much to say knit-wise but for those of you who have been asking, I'm starting to upload all my Italy pictures onto my flickr account. It's going to take some time because I have hundreds of them, but I think I have one hundred or so up now. Not a bad record for me.....after only 4 months.

Knit news: I have a pile of blanket sitting next to me that I'm about to frog and redo. I've found that anytime have to keep track of the right side of garter stitch, things go awry. I was going to leave it, but I know it's going to mess with my head if I have picked up stitches showing on both sides. Adios, blanket! You'll be reincarnated soon.....like as soon as I rip you out and roll you back into a nice, neat little ball. Also, while I really, really want to love my Rainbow socks, they're beginning to severely piss me off. It's like no matter what I do my stitch count is off. I have to frog the heel on that one and continue on. Grrrr.

In life news (also tagged: News that makes me look like a GIANT dork): The online RPG I used to obsessively (OBSESSIVELY) play in my late teens/early twenties is back online and I have completely flattened my ass sitting here for hours on end playing it.. I'm hoping the rekindled obsession will subside and I can go back to my normal life of only obsessing about yarn, patterns, bags, shoes, wrestling, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Ravelry and OCC. A girl has only so many minutes in a day you know. Also, Stitches is mere moments away an that will surely light a fire under me. I will buy Storm Moon Knits out of stock, and I will raid the BMFA booth like a looting pirate (except my credit card will be my sword), and I will probably become fast friends with a number of other yarn manufacturers. Hooray!

My very first charity project

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Originally uploaded by knitglit

I decided semi last minute that I'd like to knit some stuff up to donate at the Columbia Annul Knit-a-Thon tomorrow. Taking into account the "AHHhhh!! i have no time!" factor, I opted to make some preemie caps. They're small, supposedly quick to make, and are all around a good cause. The thing is this. I know little to nothing about babies, little to nothing about making things for babies, and little to nothing about charities. I will admit, I knit about half of one cap and before thoughts of grand suckiness started running through my head. To spice things up a little bit I raided my stash and pulled out a bunch of stuff I wanted to be rid of. Lion Brand "Cashmere" (all of 5%), Patons Melody in a God awful color that hate to admit was actually purchased a few years go to make something for myself (gag), and some assorted acrylic blends that I have for whatever reason. My goal was to knit through all of this yarn. Needless to say, I failed miserably. It didn't help that the Rainbow Socks from Magknits happened to be published in the midst of my mania. I finally broke down and even crocheted a few in the hopes of eating up extraordinary amounts of yarn in a quick fashion. This did not work as I don't really crochet. Still, I managed to whip out about 4 or 5 of them. Altogether I ended up making about 15, though I swear I made at least one more red one that's somehow vanished. I also had 5 or 6 kindly donated to me to add to my collection by shop-frequenter and crochet instructor Eudora. So that's that. I now have it for a charity.....not counting the few times I've knit for someone I deem to be a charity-case. Perhaps I'll even do it again next year. I bet I can work through all the extra yarn by then.

I need to maintain composer

Tonight I successfully picked up some of the raffle prizes for the Columbia Annual Knit-a-Thon. (See here for more details on that.) These were very kindly donated by Neighborhood Fiber Co. Seeing as how some people have not been exposed to this yarns fabulosity, here is a teaser.

Studio Sock in the Capital Hill colorway

and

Studio Sock in Brightwood

Ahhhhh.....lovely, lovely, lovely. Now they just have to stay out of my reach until they can be handed off on Saturday. Luckily, I just bought a few skeins for myself so I should be satiated....for now. Thanks a ton to Karida for her genius and to Erika for being so kind as to get it to me.

Short Attention Span

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Originally uploaded by knitglit

As I perusing the forums on Ravelry Monday I happened across a post saying that the new Magknits was up. A lot of the time, I'm not too thrilled with Magknits. I'm a touch picky about patterns and of the 5 or so they offer I usually only will even concider 1 or 2....if any at all. Anyway, I popped over there and saw what I consider t be my current socks of destiny. I love them. I didn't wait a heartbeat before immediately going back to Ravelry and adding them to my queue. In a more normal persons life, they might have cast on for them or something like that, but not me. Later that night I began. I decided to use some STR lightweight because 1) It always stripes for me and 2) I could get away with using larger needles to accommodate my massive feet. As you can see, they're not exactly striping in the short row pattern. I still think they look cool and I like the way they showcase the color of the yarn. Next time I'll try them with some of the Trekking I have laying around so I can really see some self-striping action. Oh! And I also got to use my new, ultra-cool Knitpicks Harmony circulars. They're purty.....and sharp as hell! Watch out for that.