Happy Valentines Day

Considering that I haven't updated in God knows how long and have completely fallen short of my New Year's goals of keeping better records of my projects........I decided today would be a good day to do ne of my standard "Hi, I'm here and not dead" photoless posts. I HAVE been knitting and even crocheting a bit. I have NOT managed to tae any pictures......because I suck at such things. This past month hasbeen filled with familial sickness, having to go out of town to help a friend, and just more chaos than my life normally is immersed in. Hopefully things are slowing down, though I'll be going ou of town again this upcomming week for a few days. Anyhow, I'll break out the camera soon and give a real update.

What???

So the other day we were out and my mom said something about how messed up it was that she had a daughter who knits and she's the only person she knows who doesn't own a scarf or hat. This is from the woman who has specifically told me on several occasions not to knit anything for her because she wouldn't use it. From this experience, I opted to ignore her comment. Night before last, though, she called me to say that she had been feeling sorry for herself because she didn't have a scarf and gloves. I reminded her again today of her earlier comments, but it's been decided that I'll make her the scarf and gloves that she wants. She wanted some cashmere but for the set, that would be quite expensive. I ended up choosing Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky for the scarf and some DK for the gloves. I've never tried the stuff myself, but I've heard good things. Here's hoping.

Yay for Sock Clubs....as if I need more

For whatever crazy reason, I thought that if I signed up fora bunch of clubs this year I would slow down my yarn acquisition. My reasoning fall somewhere in the lines of that if I don't feel the obsessive need to check out what everyone else who's in the sock cubs is getting, I'll spend less time perusing yarn websites and feel less of an overwhelming need to compensate for my sadness. As of now, I have received two club packages. I have also placed 2 orders for Vesper sock yarn, one with Wollmeise, one with Joann's, and one with Yarnmarket. Oh well. To be fair to myself, the Joann's order was for the red yarn-of-hell, with which I am to duplicate stitch the aforementioned "B". For the sake of my sanity, I'll just leave that one alone for now.
On to the yarn goodies!

Yarn Pirate Superwash Merino in Kalamata

and

Lucky Lurker Sock Club DK Duets

This was my first time seeing the Duet sock yarn in person. I've heard fabulous things, though. This is my second round of the Booty Club, and I've loved everything I've received thus far. I'm fairly certain that my first ever BMFA Rockin' Sock Club package will be shipped this coming week, so stay tuned for my dip into mania when it arrives.

Trick Weekend

Hmmm...now that I've typed that, the chosen title may give slightly the wrong impression of me. No, no....It was not that kind of weekend. In the typical way my life seems to go, even after checking, checking, confirming, and checking again that I had no obligations associated with the MSMTA conference this weekend, I still somehow ended up staying at the Marriott all weekend and playing driver girl. While this considerably cut into my planned ass-sitting time, I was able to make the most of my time by knitting and taking baths. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the shower head there because to me, it is a marvel. One of my favorite things to do in hotels is make use of their superior shower equipment and water pressure. However, I've found that the showers at various Marriott's across the nation are more suited to say.....the under 4'3 crowd. Trying to take a shower while bent over backwards in a bridge formation is not my idea of relaxation. The room service was fabulous though, so I was able to survive. And knit!

Brian's sweater.....dubbed the "special" sweater. Right now one cannot truly witness its "specialness". I just looks like a little brown.....well, a large brown hat, really. That's because 1) I have yet to separate the arms from the body and 2) It won't have the giant red "B" that he demands be put on it until after it's finished. Hopefully the process of duplicate stitching a giant red "B" on my freshly knit sweater will induce such alcohol consumption that the letter will come out looking more like cool abstract art. Now, I'm not particularly old. I'm aged enough to know that I don't always understand all the lingo of the tiny aged people, but I like to think that I'm still pretty on top of fashion. I'd hate to think that wearing giant red initials, a la Alvin and the Chipmunks, had somehow gone into style and I completely missed it. I mean, the whole point of the Scarlet Letter was that it was going to be a noticeable label. As the book goes, people would notice the letter and go , "Oh my....that woman's a whore!!!". In my version of the story, The Scarlet "B", I see people taking notice of the letter and thinking, "Oh my....that boy's a reta-,uhhhh, I mean...BRAVE!!!". We'll see. As I should have learned many ties over from past endeavours, it's not always wise to confer with the giftee beforehand. Just make and give! Hopefully my sweater won't get mangled in a schoolyard brawl, or anything like that. That's my big concern. You know how certain "things" can happen to certain kids.....on a daily basis in the lunchroom by one group of kids, then again at recess by another....then again on the bus ride back home, only to start over again the next day when you wear a sweater with a giant red "B" on it.
Alright, time for dinner. Then maybe I'll feel like gambling and breaking off the arms of this bad boy. Not the kid, just the sweater. I'm not really THAT upset of the "B". My sisters family moving 45 minutes away has put a serious damper on my responsible plans of actually trying the thing on him. It's looking more and more like it's going to be more a game what I like to call "Wow, I sure hope this fits!!". I like to live on the edge.

Quant......the first of '08

Wow. It's only the 3rd and I have a FO already! Granted, it is something small.....but something none the less :)

side 1

side deux

Patten: Quant, by Star Athena....from the latest Knitty.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon, No. 172

Needles: US size 8 straights and DPN's

I really liked this pattern as soon as I saw it. I've found that whenever I go to do an entrelac project, Noro is the first thing I go for. On this particular project, however, I wish I had used the Taos the pattern calls for. The color runs in the Noro are just too long for the short width. I still like the project....just not as much as I would had the color been more broken up. Luckily for me, I already have two colorways of Taos on the way from Yarnmarket. Oops. So much for that yarn diet. I like the way this one fits, though, and can see myself wearing it frequently. It covers my ears nicely which will be helpful in the freakin' miserably cold weather we've been having.

Christmas Knitting in Review....plus some other stuff

FINALLY I found my friggin' camera cord so I was able to upload some pictures. My grand plan was to post one of those murals of all my 2007 knitting. As I went looking through my old pictures, I realized how haphazardly I've photographed a lot of stuff, how many things I haven't taken anything but baby progress shots of (helloooo...Lady Eleanor? And that's a kickass project, too), and finally, how many things I just haven't bothered to take pictures of at all. It's bad. So, I decided to scrap that project. I now have a new New Year's resolution to treat my projects right and give them the photoshoots they deserve. This is, of course, somewhat dependent on my developing some picture taking skills that don't blow. I'll work on that, too.
Ok, so since I'm not doing a year in review, I can at least cover Christmas.

First:

These technically weren't Christmas gifts, but they were knit right along side all the others and gifted......so I'm just going to throw them in here. This set was knit for Sara's baby. I still have to make another set in pink for my nephews daughter. I made a tiny mistake by mentioning that I was sending a gift and hoped it would get there by Christmas in their card. Oops. I better get that started soon. Here's the info-

Pattern: Suede Bootys and Suede Baby Hat by Candi Jenkins

*available on KnittyGritty site

Needles: US sizes 2 and 3 for boots, 6's for hat

Yarn: Berroco Suede in colorways I'm not sure of and Berroco Plush in Creme

Second:

A cashmere neckwarmer knit for my awful sister. I won't go into why exactly I would knit such a thing for someone like her, but those of you who know me well understand the motives behind such gifts This is not the best picture. I took it super last minute while ppl were gathering downstairs for Christmas Eve.

Yarn: Artyarns Cashmere 5, unknown colorway

Pattern: Neckwarmer from Pretending Sanity

Needles: US 8's

Third:

The super secret super project. This is one the Colinette Ab Fab Throw kits in a colorway that's called Santa Fe something. Needle size 11. Making this makes me want to go buy one for myself REALLY. BAD. Maybe even 2 of them. I already have one that I made about 5 yrs ago but its just the vertical stripes. Not too interesting. I'd like to make this pattern and one with the mitred squares.

Fourth:

This is the scarf and hat set that I knit for one of my other sisters. I have yet to give it to her because she didn't show up for the family party and I really don't see her. I'll have to mail it, I guess. I really like the hat and am eager to make one for myself.

Pattern: Scarf-basic seed stitch, Hat-Monk Hat over at RedThreadsUntangling

Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande and Eros Glitz...don't know colors

Needles: Scarf, 15?? Hat, 10

If I did this again, I would have used a larger needle on the hat. I had to do it fast and I the 16" tens were what had sitting near me. It is QUITE dense, but still very nice.

Okay, there it is. Soon, b/c I'm really, really going to work on this, I'll have some pics of what all I'm working on now. Till then......Happy New Year everybody:)

Crappers

Well, I had myself all set up to do a real update post with pictures and all. I painstakingly photographed all my Christmas gifts and other various items of interest in addition to snapping pics of a whole drawer full if old stash for Ravelry. I joined a stash-burning group for 2008 and the first step is to log all of your stash. Anyhow, I did all this and was all ready to go.....and then I realized that I have no clue in hell where the cord to my camera is. Considering that I had absolutely WRECKED both my office and bedroom during a frantic last minute search for Christmas yarn that was MIA, it may take me awhile to find it. It was not pretty. As it became more and more apparent that the yarn was nowhere to be found while I was mere moments away from having to wrap the thing, my search quickly moved from shifting things here and there to pulling out/dumping entire drawers, haphazardly yanking out/dumping storage units.....it just wasn't good. The yarn turned out to still be in the shipping box on my little table downstairs, btw. Absolute destruction for nothing. On the bright side of things, this will at least give me reason to get a jump on my New Years cleaning and organization effort.
Alright, so another post w/out pictures. I suck. This I know......at least with this.
Oh, and guess who guest starred at the Celtic Knot this afternoon? Moi. I'll be doing an encore performance tomorrow morning and afternoon, so if anyone wants to stop by and say hello, that's where I'll be.

Meryy Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I'm having a good day relaxing and plan on knitting myself a new pair of socks. I'm thinking something chevron-esque out of my now giant stash of Storm Moon Knits Twilight Sock. Either that, or some Charades. I had the urge last night after the super fun "please kill me now!!!" family gathering, but I thought back on all the nights I've acted on my last minute knitting urges and been sad afterwards. I just don't do well starting things when I'm exhausted. Anyhow, I'll be back later with some photos (gasp) and a mini-run down of our Chistmasy events.

I'm trying here.....

Okay, so Yes. I haven't posted since Thanksgiving. Evil, evil me. For those of you who don't know, things have gotten just a tad crazy here and my knitting time has....well, it's pretty much vanished. The little time I have has been (supposedly) spent on gifts for the fast approaching holiday.....though I may have knocked out a hat or something for myself in there, too. Anyhow, nothing to show b/c it's all secret, but I am here, I am knitting some, and I will post some pics of what I can show when it's ready to be shown.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Non-knitting in Vegas

I started for Vegas with all the supplies to make my double knit diamond scarf and swatch/start my nephews Christmas sweater. I had bought some of the new needles from the shop for the former, and I brought it all in my purse on the plane out there. I got a wee bit done on the scarf but it was a bit uncomfortable knitting on the plane, at least while fumbling around with my not-so-great double knitting skills. Once at the hotel, I eagerly went for my project to knit in comfort only to find that one of my new needles ha evidently not made it off the plane. So that was sucky thing number one. Sucky thing number two was that when I started to swatch for the sweater, my fabric was all holey and gross. I had assumed when packing that I would be doing it on size 9's s the ball band suggests a size 10.5. Being the loose knitter that I am, I figured the 9 would be great. Being me, I figured entirely wrong. On to massive suckfest item numero trois. I had the swift idea to look up the "local" knitting shop in the phone book and hopped a cab out there Tuesday morning. $55 later, the cab driver pull up to the address and says,"Oh, you just wanted to get your nails done??".....because the knitting store was now a great big ol' nail salon. I had him wait for me while I wandered around the shopping center and eventually found someone who could give me a vague description of where the store had moved. The cabbie took me there, then informed me that there was no way in hell that I was going to ever get a cab back to the strip because we were in the middle of bum-fuck. He was kind enough wait for me at no additional charge. So I went into the store and was icily greeted by about 9 women sitting around a table knitting. I swear, I've never been given such a noticeable once over before in my life. I stood there until they went back to their knitting and then proceeded to head back where I saw yarn. Before I reached my destination, a woman jumped up fro her chair at the table and very rudely demanded of me," Can I help you!?!?!". I asked her where needles were, to which she huffed and said "Over here!". There selection sucked ass, but I was able to make out with a pair of plastic 6's and 8's. I started back to the front, then remembered that I also needed a tape measure. Here is out dialog:
Me: Excuse me, but where are your notions?
Mean,Evil Lady: WHAT!!
Me: Your notions.
MEL: What do you mean!?
Me: I need a tape measure. Where are your knitting notions?
MEL: Oh, you mean accessories????
Me: Yeah, I guess so.
MEL: Back where the needles were! I don't know how much we have back there though.
Me: Thanks....(and in my head, I hope you get gonorrhea that envelops your entire body)

I then went to check out, where the other woman completely ignored me while she stood there printing out color cards. Finally she said to me, " I am going to help you, really". Eventually she did and I was able to get back into my cab and bitch about the bitches to my cabbie.

So after my $35 cab ride back, I was able to play with my new shitty needles. Yay. I think in the end I only knit maybe 10 rows after that. I think the whole ordeal just disgruntled me. So now I'm back and madly working on stuff for the holidays. Oh, the joy. On the bright side, I came home to a confirmation email welcoming me to the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club. Kick. Ass. Also, the new Raven Series is out! I got me some Laci and two skeins of lightweight. I can't really recall he colors offhand, but I'm sure they'll be fabulous.

One little FO

IMG_1620
Originally uploaded by knitglit

Hmmmm...for some reason, when I took this, I didn't think that it was such a vomitous picture. However, now that I'm not looking at it in the middle of the night, I'm thinking that I'm a jackass for posting such things on the internet. Oh well. Jackass it is.

Pattern: Basic Seed Stitch-I think I cast on something like 27sts
Yarn: Something Brown and something brownish gold
Needles: US 13

Sorry I can't be more specific, but this was another stash buster. I'm fairly sure that the ladder yarn is either something from FFF or Whimsey from Plymouth. It's something I had picked up back in store #3 to make a brown butterfly shawl that never happened. I don't know what I got the brown base yarn for, but I'm sure it couldn't have been anything too important. The fringe on this is killer. Too bad I didn't think to photograph it. I maxed it out bigtime.
So I'm leaving for Vegas in the morning and an still about 70% unprepared. I'm going to attempt to clean up my office for my nephew, but you know me....no guarantees. I also have to be on call to possibly pick him up from Towson tonight so he can get the key and van.
I think I've decided what I'm going to knit in Vegas. I'm bringing along some yarn and a HUGE boys shirt to swatch for a Christmas gift, and I picked up some Fantasy today at work to make a double knit diamond scarf designed by Karoline. I would link to her blog, but I don't have the addy at the time being. I swear though....I went to Target after work to pick up this shirt to use as a measuring tool. I was told to do about a boys 14, and that shirt was just friggin' monsterous. Literally, I could even have worn back when I was slimmer, yet still a boob filled adult woman. I decided to go a size down, but still, this thing is going to be far more time consuming than I had thought. Oh well. I should have learned from past experiences (like my nephews 3 years scarf/hat set) that I shouldn't open my mouth about knitted gifts until they're done.
Alrighty, I'm off to clean up and pack. Be back in a week, hopefully not madly in debt.

Cripes....what am I gonna talk about now???

So A&E pulled Dog the Bounty Hunter off air. I don't really know what to do now. I have yet to listen to this taped conversation where he drops the "n" word, but I hear it's pretty fierce. I don't know if can take it.

Nothing new on the knitting front. I'm still plugging away on my SSSP, which is turning out nicely. I need to figure out what all I'm going to take to Vegas with me. I know what I should take, but size matters when travelling and I'm thinking some socks may be on the menu. Surprise, surprise. Oh! And I sent in my info today for the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club, but I have yet to get a confirmation email so I'm beginning to sweat bullets. Hopefully it'll come tomorrow. Also, I guess I'm going to miss the premiere of the Raven series. Bah! I suppose I'll be able to hold off until I get back from my trip.

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!