teh yarn post for teh day

Just a yarn post now - go watch the trailer again!!!!

• 1 100g hank Dyeabolical Yarns "Alter Ego" (100% superwash) in colorway Primaries (red, yellow, blue, green) Purchased from Knitorious, but you can also get yarn from Rachel's online store, at Etsy at the moment and soon to be at her own site.
• 1 127g hank Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Socks That Rock Lightweight" (100% superwash) in colorway Christmas Bells (red, white, yellow, silver, green, purple, pink) from Teh Sue in NE!

I had a heck of a time with the photo for the STR: when I took it, the purple was blue on the photo! I had to go in and color-correct it in Paint.net (thanks, Julia, for pointing me at that program! It's terrific!). I wonder if I can do that with the shots I took of the Blue that made it look...Blue. it's actually purple (amethyst) yarn - I was using it as the 'design' yarn.

Yeah, I'm babbling. I'm tired. Cheers!

ETA: It would help if I linked the photo, yes? Said I was tired. Ohh...I want the red yarn on the BMFA site....this is baaaad....

yarn and dan rad on conan

Well, I'm still here. Sue thinks I'm MIA, but I'm not.

I did find a sock yarn cache of epic proportions in my storage room, so be prepared! This is a scary list, considering that it is NOT counting the (mostly hand-dyed) yarn I have in the office. Note that I haven't bought (much) yarn in the last month - I'd say that the Kroy Stretch and the Baby Jacquard have been the last purchases....I do have one from Dyeabolical that I need to shoot and list. Later.

The mondo list:

• 1 5oz skein Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" (100% acrylic) in colorway Freedom Ombre (red, white and blue)
• 1 5oz skein Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" (100% acrylic) in colorway Autumn Stripe (sage, rust, green, burgundy, orange)
• 1 5oz skein Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" (100% acrylic) in colorway Cranapple Stripe (cream, cranberry, red, green)
• 1 4 oz skein Red Heart "Hokey Pokey" (100% acrylic) in colorway Sunshine (yellow with red, blue, green, purple and yellow fleck)
• 2 5oz skeins Red Heart "Super Saver Multi" (100% acrylic) in colorway Lipstick (red, burgundy, pink, rouge)
• 2 5oz Red Heart "Super Saver Fleck" (96% acrylic, 4% other fibers) in colorway Aran Fleck (cream with brown, black, rust, and dark green donagal fleck)
• 1 100g ball King Cole "Stonewash Double Knitting" (70% acrylic, 30% cotton) in colorway Denim (blue and white)
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #13 (white, grey, charcoal, sky blue). I call it "Glacier".
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #11 (grey, blue, yellow, orange)
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #15 (red, green, blue, yellow, orange)
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #16 (purple, charcoal, orange, pink)
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #09 (charcoal, grey, white, blue)
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #08 (medium to very pale blue)
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (45% cotton, 40% SW wool, 15% nylon) in colorway #12 (bright green, red, yellow, blue, pink, orange)
• 1 100g ball Colorado Yarns "Worsted" (100% superwash) in colorway #1415 (blue)
• 1 100g ball Fortissima "Colori 1000" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #490 (blue, forest green, leaf green, red, yellow, burgundy, orange)
• 1 100g ball Regia "Plus Cotton Jacquard Color" (25% nylon, 37% cotton, 38% wool) in colorway #5274 (dark to light blue, cream to chocolate brown, white/grey dot)
• 2 50g balls Lane Cervinia "Forever Jacquard" (75% superwash, 25% nylon) in colorway #10 (red, green, purple-blue, white/black dot)
• 2 50g balls Regia "Ringel Color" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #5048 (pink, light orange, blue, lime green, yellow)
• 2 50 g balls Regia "Stretch" (70% wool, 23% nylon, 7% polyester) in colorway #88 (olive, pea green, tan, brown, charcoal)
• 1 100g ball Scheepjes "Invicta Coloris" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #1702 (burgundy, dark yellow, purple, blue, green, cream, white/black dot)
• 1 100g ball Scheepjes "Invicta Coloris" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #1700 (bronze, blue, grey, white/black dot) Ravenclaw house colors!
• 2 50g balls Regia "Jacquard Color" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #5274 (dark blue, sky blue, light chocolate brown, tan, white/black dot)
• 1 100g ball Rellana "Flotte Socke" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #828 (white, red, yellow, blue)
• 1 100g ball Trekking "XXL" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #23 (red, white, yellow, purple, green)
• 2 50g balls Regia "Mini Ringel Color" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #5220 (purple-blue, sky blue, med green, leaf green, black)
• 1 50g ball DGB "Confetti" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #236 (charcoal, grey, white/black dot) Souvenir yarn from Wool & Wicker in Richmond, BC.
• 3 50g balls Patons "Kroy" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway #54040 (black)
  1 3.5oz skein Bernat "Baby Jacquard" (90% acrylic, 10% nylon) in colorway Berries & Cream (yellow, very light pink, pink)
• 1 3.5oz skein Bernat "Baby Jacquard" (90% acrylic, 10% nylon) in colorway Cherry Berry (white, pink)
• 2 50g balls Patons "Kroy Socks" (75% wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Flax (grey)
• 2 50g balls Patons "Stretch Sock" (41% cotton, 29% wool, 13% nylon, 7% elastic) in colorway Mineral (sky blue, medium blue, grey, orange, brown)
• 2 50g balls Patons "Stretch Sock" (41% cotton, 29% wool, 13% nylon, 7% elastic) in colorway Licorice (black, grey, charcoal)
• 2 50g balls Patons "Stretch Sock" (41% cotton, 29% wool, 13% nylon, 7% elastic) in colorway Taffy (cream, caramel, chocolate brown)
• 2 50g balls Red Heart "Heart & Sole with Aloe" (70% superwash wool, 30% nylon) in colorway Rustica (medium brown, orange, blue, red, white, sky blue)
• 1 7oz skein Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" (100% acrylic) in colorway Orange. This is for Karen's fingerless mitts (Fetching).
• 1 3.5oz ball Yarn Bee "Haute Fur" (100% Exoline) in colorway Rouge Wiles (red)
• 1 3oz ball Yarn Bee "Gilt Eyelash" (55% polyester, 45% lurex glitter) in colorway Passionspark (peachy pink)
• 1 3oz ball Yarn Bee "Gilt Eyelash" (55% polyester, 45% lurex glitter) in colorway Star Ruby (red)
• 1 3.5 oz ball Yarn Bee "Elvish" (100% polyester) in colorway Almond (cream, tan, white) Hedwig colors.
• 1 3.5 oz ball Yarn Bee "Elvish" (100% polyester) in colorway Raisin (pink and dark purple)

Some notes on some of these:

I bought the King Cole Stonewash Denim along with a ball of the same yarn in pink that were knitted into my very first pair of socks. I don't have those socks anymore - they were 'borrowed' by Steve R. just after I finished them because he had no thick socks for hunting! He still wears them, and it's been at least 10 years since I knitted those.

I love Sockotta - and at one time had every color that had been dreamed of at the time. Several of the ones listed above have been discontinued for at least 6 years.

It amused me that two of the yarns - the Scheepjes Invicta "Ravenclaw" colors and the Regia immediately following the Invicta are both Ravenclaw house colors - and I'd bought them long before I'd even read the Potter books, let alone before I was sorted into Ravenclaw!

The Colorado Yarn was bought as a test skein for the Aran-styled sweater Jack which is still in design and test phase. I've designed 5 sweaters for the Stargate: SG-1 team (original team plus Jonas) that are on paper only. I'd seriously considered doing them in colors, but I think I've decided to make them all cream-colored. It is a pretty blue, though.

I also found several pairs of socks that I'd finished knitting, and for some reason hadn't finished grafting and weaving in the ends. One was in Regia Plus Cotton, one was Swizzle greys, one was in Sockotta stone browns (I think that was the same pattern that I sent Linds when she went from crutch to cane for the first time many years ago!) and one knee-hi pair in what looks like Fortissima Colori self-striping. Go me!

I'm almost finished with Lisa's scarf - I soooo want to be done with this thing. I've been sneaking in more rows on the Ron socks...and I really want to finish Seeker.

Dan Radcliffe was on Conan O'Brien again this past week - the clip is on YouTube...er, it WAS on YouTube. Removed. oops!

Sue in OR and I were talking about Mr. Rad a little tonight - I know this sounds odd, but I'm starting really see what he's going to look like in a few years, when the rest of the adolescent 'baby fat' has melted away. His features are becoming sharper. It's rather hard to explain, and not sound like a perv. ;) He is (imho) good-looking now, and will be striking in a few more years.

The Japanese version of the international trailer for HBP was capped over on the hbpmoviepics comm on LiveJournal - there are a few caps that I haven't seen yet, and so we're all waiting anxiously for the English version! The new caps had the Harry/Ginny kiss literally a breath away...I think they're trying to kill us. Guh.

Pitchers and catchers report in 26 days. YAY!!!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Tomorrow - Inauguration Day! Going to be a busy news day, I think.

Cheers!!

omg, no yarn this time

No, I haven't taken leave of my senses. I just didn't buy any yarn this weekend. I didn't say I wasn't gonna talk about knitting, though.

I am working on Julia's Challot cloth - I discovered a major problem in looking at finished projects in Ravelry: The blessing is misspelled. On the third line! Aaaaaaaargh. I think I'll just rip and re-do the entire middle section. Sigh. I'd finished the pointed lace edging, and I'm currently doing the braid. I think it looks cool - the braid is an alternating cable, and really looks like it's three segments braided together. Re-doing the middle section's gonna set me back a bit, though - I was hoping to have this finished by the end of the month, but I don't think that's going to happen.

I have about 10-15 more rows of Seeker's Sleeve #2 before binding off for the armpit. I've been seriously looking at how to make this pattern into a seamless raglan, but it's going to be a challenge with all those different stitch patterns. I really need to sit down and chart it, so I can see what I'm doing, but I need to find the activation key for my software. It's in a box in the office closet, I think. I hope! I don't want to have to purchase the software again.

Comfort Sock #2 is on hold with me working on the Challot cloth. It's my carry-around project at the moment, and since I haven't had time to do anything while I'm out and about (busy busy at work), I haven't touched it. It'll get there.

Jim doing fine, as far as I know.

Happy Birthday to Dan Radcliffe - 19 years old today. I am still amazed that it's been an entire year since Deathly Hallows hit the bookshelves, and a year today that I went and saw Order of the Phoenix in the theatre. I talked to Alli a little about it last night - I called her about 10:30 my time and blubbered with her on the phone about Remus and Tonks and Fred and Dobby and Hedwig. A whole year. Wow.

Work is continuing on the recording of Battle of Wills, but I haven't heard from the author yet. :(

I think that's all for me for right now - got another meeting to go to, and you know me - I'm boring!

Oh, one last thing - if you get a chance, go watch this video. It looks like a lot of fun!!

Cheers!

i was attacked, i swear...

Never go to a craft store and 'accidentally' walk past the clearance rack. I went to Hobby Lobby to see if they'd received any "Sock-Ease" (they had!) and walked out with 16 - SIXTEEN - balls of yarn. Most of it was a buck or so each, but still! Oh, and Hobby Lobby sellers? Two things. Firstly, if you're going to send a new sock yarn to a store, make sure you send enough of each color to MAKE A PAIR OF SOCKS. The new Red Heart "Heart and Sole" yarn is only 50g, and they sent one of about 6 different colors to the store. *rolls eyes* I mean, come on. Luckily, the LB yarn is 100g, which is enough for a pair of socks. Secondly, if you are going to carry sock yarn, you also need to carry the needles for it. The smallest circ or DPNs they carry? US4. Hellooooo....

I can see that I'm going to have to take pics of the Yarn Bee yarns - there are very few shots of it online (according to Google). I'll post the haul here, and when I get the pics taken I'll update the links.

• 1 100g ball Lion Brand yarn "Sock-Ease" (75% wool/25% nylon, finished with aloe vera) in colorway Toffee (brown, olive, orange, yellow)
• 1 4oz ball Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Baby" (60% acrylic/40% polymide) in colorway Giggles Ombre (yellow, pink, orange, green)
• 4 4oz balls Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Baby" (60% acrylic/40% polymide) in colorway Ladybug Ombre (light red, sky blue, very light pink, charcoal)
• 2 4oz balls Baby Bee "Sweet Delight Baby" (60% acrylic/40% polymide) in colorway Baby Camo (tan, light to forest green, brown)
• 1 3.5oz ball Yarn Bee "Featherwisp" (100% nylon) in colorway Tempting (blue, rust, olive green, yellow)
• 1 3.5oz ball Yarn Bee "Airy" (100% nylon) in colorway Royal (bright amethyst)
• 1 3.5oz ball Yarn Bee "Paradox" (49% acrylic, 40% nylon, 9% polyester, 2% spandex) in colorway Wild Night (black core with rainbow twist, hot pink eyelash)
• 5 3oz balls Yarn Bee "Intrigue" (57% polymide, 43% Lurex glitter) in 5 different colors: Bunny (blush pink), True Love (dark red), Rouge (lipstick red), Blushing (blush bronze), and Midnight (deep blue)
• 1 4oz hank Scarlet Fleece "Totally Tubular x2" (80% merino, 20% nylon) in colorway Painted Desert (rust to deep black-brown, dusty blue-grey to deep teal, dusty pinks) from Loopy.
• 1 100g hank of Spindle City Yarns "SCY" (75% superwash, 25% nylon) in colorway Copper Pot (verdigris green to olive, sky blue to deep blue, red rust to medium burgundy), also from Loopy. Yummy yarn.

My Loopy Ewe Order #3 present was a mini red sock kit! It's so cute. I may have to make that this weekend. I have another hank of yarn, but it's a surprise. *waves to Teh Sue*

Jim is doing fine as far as I know - he still doesn't want visitors, and Mom hasn't called me (I specifically told her to if she needed anything, like to be kidnapped or something), so I'm clueless on the recovery front.

I picked up and worked on Seeker a bit yesterday - I'm past the increases on sleeve #2, so I have about 4 inches of 'straight' knitting in pattern before the armpit and raglan decreases.

I'm catching up on my podcasts again - I got behind while listening to the Born In series - and sooo want to send Violet a hank of the fibraNATURA yarn that I found at Kirkwood Knittery in the Seattle Skies colorway. She's nutz about the PNW. Who else would buy ROCKS from there??

Latest rumor about the HBP trailer is that it might might might be attached to the newest Mummy movie. *sigh* At this point, I don't care. I just want to seeeee.

There's a new promo pic - this one is from EW, and looks like it's the Felix Felicis potion. :) The covers for the calendar and sticker books are out too (here, here and here). The same pose that was used for the Opal Yarn poster is on the cover of the calendar - and I STILL don't think it looks like Dan. It just doesn't. *shrug* I can't put my finger on it. The first link for the sticker books doesn't look like him, either. The second and the third ones are him, though. They all look.....I dunno. Photoshopped.

Scott (the Hufflepuff King), Dan (the Pwncast of Wrock guy/aspiring broadcaster dude) and me (*cough*) are collaborating on a new audiobook. The PFW Reading Group is discussing Jocelyn's Harry Potter and the Battle of Wills and Scott had the brilliant idea to record it. We're still waiting for actual posting permissions from the author (hope that Hotmail account still works!) and we'll be trading off the chapters. 51 in all, which will break down to 17 for each of us.

I desperately need to edit and upload the next chapter or three of AtE, too.

The American League beat the National Leage on Tuesday in the longest All-Star Game on record: 4 hours and 50 minutes. 15 innings. the NL lost, and someone needs to nominate Uggla (from FL) as the Least Valuable Player. 3 errors. THREE! Meh.

I think I've wound down now - it's going to be very hot this weekend, so I'll either be staying inside where it's cool, or I'll be out for a drive. I'm thinking the former, as the A/C in the car is kaput.

Cheers!!

happy easter

Busy week...plus a brush with what may have been the flu.

A few yarn arrivals first:

• 2 50g hanks of 100% superwash merino of Stone Barn Fibers' "Gypsy Girl Creations" in colorway Goblin (leaf green, grass green, black, lilac to amethyst)
• 1 100g hank of 100% superwash merino of Sunshine Yarns "Twist" in colorway Horcrux (yellow/gold, rust, black, blue, deep emerald green, grey to charcoal) A very Harry color!

I finally finished the knitting on the House Pouch for my spoilee - it's blocking now. It's a little bigger than I thought it was going to be, which is very good. Mine is next! I'm not overly thrilled with fair isle, because I'm afraid I don't 'float' very well. Practice makes perfect.

I've been working on PK's Twinkle Toes using the Fleece Artist yarn she picked out. I may have enough for a pair of crew socks! I'll have to check the weight when I'm finished with the pair.

No progress on the Big Blue - except a new name. It's now Seeker!

Oh the HP front, the fandom is still squeeing about the announcement last week about a 2 part DH. Theories are flying around about where they will split it...lots of opinions. There was an article that Adri on PFW translated for us from Spanish that covered a visit to the set - there was an excerpt that was posted quoting Dan and the fact that the movie appears to revolve around Harry and his ships. ;-) The H/G shipper in me is, as I posted on the forum earlier, dancing around the room with jazz hands! Squeee! Dan says that this movie has a lot more comedy in it than the others - ought to be interesting to see, since we also have a major character death at the end of it.

PotterCast talks about last week's news on Ep #143: Of Two Minds - linked on the sidebar.

My second squee is that Alton Brown is coming to St. Louis on April 27! Yay!! He'll be at a book signing at the Ethical Society in Clayton at 4PM. The link here shows his schedule, but it has the wrong address for the venue here - it's supposed to be 9001 Clayton Rd. Anyway, I think D and I will be standing in line - at least, I will be. The book tour is for his new book, Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run. *g* I'll bet he has to take a detour through Alton, Illinois! Mwhahaha! We all pronounce the town across the river like "AWLton" instead of how AB pronounces his name (ALton), and we'll have to see what he says to that.

Squee #3 is that the Stitch 'N Pitch date has been set for May 28, which is a Wednesday. It had originally been set for April 28, but that changed three days ago. I'm dragging PK along, and I think I'll take a vacation day for it. We're playing Houston! The link for SNP is on the sidebar - there are a lot of dates set, and I'm sure it will be as popular as it was last year. I'm glad that it's earlier in the season - here's hoping that it won't be 96F again.

Well, I think that's all for me. There are a few pics of PK's Twinkles on the Flickr group and the Ravelry site...oh! The HW now have a group on Ravelry, so if you're a SJHW, and you don't have your name on the list for Ravelry yet, get thee to the website! If you're not a SJHW, you should still go. ;-) I created the group so we can have a place to yak about our projects and yarn.

Chapter 17 of AtE is uploaded on the site - subscribe to the feed for the page on the right side. You can use any podcatcher or iTunes. :)

Cheers!!

long time no....post

Well, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, I promise.

The week totally zoomed by at work - one day it was Tuesday, and then it was Saturday. Don't ask me what happened to Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, because I swear I've been in a time warp.

I helped with the sale on the 10th, and had several people leave happy knowing how to do cables! We also said goodbye to one of the workers at the Weaving Dept - Shani is moving to Oregon the end of the month, and Nancy very kindly took her out to dinner and included me! *hearts Nancy*

The Blue (yet Purple) Monster hasn't been worked on this week - I've been working on finishing up my Twinkles for the Sockdown. I only have a week to do sock #2! Eep! I finished the first one at the hockey game and tried to cast on the toe of the second one, but it's hard to knit and cheer and clap at the same time. The Blues beat the Blue Jackets last Sunday 5-1 (we got taaa-cooos) and Paula and I had a good time, even if she did have to go to the yarn shop with me first. ;-)

The Navy Nite yarn came in this week and is now waiting for me to finish the design version. I think I've decided to call the pattern Seeker. *g* I still need to chart it, and it'll join Jack, Daniel, Samantha, Jonas, and Quest. More on those patterns in a few weeks, or maybe a month or so. Sweater designs from a few years ago.

The latest yarn haul:

• 1 100g hank of Chameleon Colorworks "Twinkle Toes" (50% superwash merino/50% tencel) in colorway Indian Wedding (orange, light burgundy) - very nearly Gryffindor colors! Got it from Kirkwood Knittery
• 1 110g hank of Colinette "Jitterbug" (100% merino) in colorway Sahara (orange, tan, black, brown) - Weaving Department now has this! Yay!
• 1 110g hank of Colinette "Jitterbug" (100% merino) in colorway Mardi Gras (jewel tone rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, teal, purple)
• A ball of Fleece Artist "Somoko" (65% merino, 20% kid, 10% nylon, 5% silk) in yet another unnamed colorway. I think I read that Fleece Artist does this on purpose so they wn't be hemmed in by one dye lot. PK picked this one, and it's purple, blue, pine green and indigo. It kinda looks like this, but a lot darker blue and with more green.
• 2 50g hanks of Stone Barn Fibers "Gypsy Girl Creations" (100% superwash merino fingering) in colorway Wizard's Pride (burgundy and gold). Yes, go ahead, laugh. I saw the name and just could NOT pass it up. And I'm not a Gryffindor!! I'm a Ravenclaw, FPS!
• 2 100g hanks of Cascade Yarns "220 Paint" (100% Peruvian Wool) in colorway Alaskan Twilight (black/brown, deep magenta, deep yellow/golds, deep olive greens, very dark purples). This is for an entrelac scarf I'd like to try.

I'm waiting on the arrival of my spoilee's yarn for the Sock Kit Swap, and I need to work more on the house pouch! Eep!

I've been obsessed this week with reading Potterfic - you'll see a list over in the sidebar. Remember that all of the 'books' listed are at least 50K long and are completed. There is a sequel to Evanescence that I think has been abandoned, which is too bad. I need to read A Year Like No Other so that I can listen to more of the PotterFicWeekly podcasts - I think I'm at Ep #24, and there are 39 eps and 8 special editions I still need to listen to to be caught up.

Well, I think that's enough from me for now. Cheers!!

okay, false alarm

It's been a busy week.

Lots of stuff going on at work, including 2 totally new projects that are taking up the whole day as we learn how to do what we do. *reads that* Okay, that's cryptic, but that's why I'm in Security. Oh well.

The funniest thing that happened was the entire SRT department getting trapped in the elevator at work for 45 minutes last Saturday. Yes, we had me, DN, LW, and GC all trapped in the elevator on the 4th floor. The call box in the elevator calls *Connecticut*, and the nearest tech was an hour away. How can they be an hour away when we're in the middle of St. Louis County is beyond me! Sheesh. We called Tam and she called Corp Escalations, which answers at the call center 4 miles away, which in turn called the Telephony Care on the third floor of our building. We were rescued by one of the supervisors! Yay Ryan @ Charter! We were lucky that there are 5 people who work on Saturdays besides us.

Needless to say, we've all been taking the stairs a lot this week, even though we're on 4. Good exercise.

I went to go pick up the blue yarn at the Weaving Department on Monday, and discovered that Brown Sheep sent the wrong color. WAH! They sent China Blue instead of Navy Nite. *grumbles* The good news is that Nancy called them, and they're gonna send out the right color and not charge her for shipping.

They did have the royal purple, and I have been asked to demonstrate cabling at the February Sale at my LYS! I’ll be showing off the completed back and sleeve, and working on the second sleeve as my example. Come by the Weaving Department if you’re in the St. Louis area on Feb 10 (that's tomorrow). I'm up to the end of the second repeat, and it's moving along smartly.

Oops, forgot a yarn I bought:

• 2 50g skeins of Cascade Yarns "Sassy Stripes" (superwash wool/nylon) in colorway #718 (black, grey, gold, red) - it's a very Harry color. *grins at t'other Nancy who agreed with me*

One of the podcasts that I listen to is PotterFicWeekly (which is a complete laugh riot, OMG), and one of the hosts had her house wrecked by a tornado spawned from the storm system that passed thru last weekend. We had rain rain rain from it, but no severe weather. She's fine, her hubby is fine, her dogs are fine, but she's basically homeless at the moment. The forum is waiting to see if she needs stuff, so keep Rinna in your thoughts.

Lastly, I finished the Blues Jaywalkers! Yay! No new pics yet, but they'll come when I get them taken. I'm working up the leg of the first Twinkle that I cast on before the end of January, so I'd qualify for the Sockdown on Ravelry. I have yarn everywhere!

Okay, that's all for me. Cheers!

yay!!!!

Five words:

MY BLUE YARN HAS ARRIVED!

*happydances*

That is all.

yarny goodness

I had yarn in my mailbox and the invisible UPS guy dropped a box off at the back door after I walked the pooch! Yay! I'm still waiting for the international shipment to arrive, but I know that's on the way.

The haul so far:

• 2 50g hanks of 100% superwash merino of "Louet Gems" in colorway Cabin Fever (red, burgundy, orange, tan, ash brown, charcoal) handpainted by Cherry Tree Hill


• A 4oz hank of 100% superwash merino of "Jumbo Gems" in colorway Rustic Roost (lime green, powder blue, yellow-gold, light terracotta, pink, olive) handpainted by Cherry Tree Hill


• A 100g hank of superwash/nylon blend "Sockittome" in colorway Caribou Creek (deep purple, chocolate brown, wine) from Cherry Tree Hill


• A 4oz hank of superwash/nylon blend from dkKnits in colorway Mother Earth (powder blue, rust to light orange, olive to forest green) that just screams "Ron" at me. Go fig.


• A 4oz hank of superwash/nylon blend also from dkKnits in colorway Partridge In A Pear Tree (burgundy to orange, light emerald green to forest green, gold to yellow) You tell me who it reminds you of. ;-)

I finished knitting on the hooded towel (the first approaching-finished object of the FinishALongaPalooza over on the Lime & Violet Ravelry group) and now it needs to be sewn up. Back to work on the Blues Socks (they won tonight - 4-2 against the Stars! woot!) and then, back to Big Blue.

I've been reading the Harlot's blog (you should too!) and she posted about a yarn from Webs called Valley Yarns Northampton that has a dark blue. *ponders this* I STILL have not heard anything from Brown Sheep about the 2 lone balls of royal purple I need to finish the design sweater, let alone the 8 balls I'll need for the 'production version'. *sigh* Nancy's having issues with them, methinks. I'd like to swatch the Northampton before I commit, but I'm starting to lean in that direction. It costs a little less than Nature Spun (4.99 vs. 6.50), but I really hate to not buy from my LYS. You know how it is.

I've signed up for the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 4. Last day to sign up is tomorrow (11 Jan), and it's linked in the sidebar if you're interested.

PotterCast #133 is up and running, and has all sorts of news about the movies and the theme park - and I do NOT want to be patient. Want HBP nowwww! arrrggghhhh! I've been listening to other podcasts that are news a fic related - some I like, some I don't, as I'm not a real big fan of Harry with anyone other than Ginny. Sorry! I'm a canon OTP chick. Same goes for Ron and Hermione. I won't listen to slash either. No thanks.

Lastly, the sports! LOL! The Mizzou Tigers were ranked #4 and #5 on two different end-of-season polls. This is the highest ranking the team has ever ended a season. I'm so impressed. :) Great job guys!!!

I'm kinda tired out now, and so I think I'll post. Cheers!

i'm ba-ack home

I'm home! Yay! And back to work. Boo!

Mom is all worried that I won't sing the (now) two songs on Friday with 'feeling'. This is my mom getting married and I won't sing with feeling?? I'm trying to decide who needs the Valium more - me or her! She e-mailed me back - she's nervous.

The trip home was uneventful - the pooch calmed down after we crossed over into Iowa and was fine until about Wentzville. That was much better than the last long trip, where he was a quaking mass of fur in the back seat for the last 2 hours of the drive.

I saw 5 trucks with gigantic wind turbine blades loaded on them - 2 blades per truck - going the other direction from me on I-29 and I-70. I passed a wind farm in northern MO right off the highway, and I'm guessing that's where they were headed. The blades are HUGE. The open end was nearly the size of the semi tractor. Yay for wind power! I looked up wind farms in MO, and I think the one I passed was the Cow Branch Farm in Atchison County, which is under construction. According to the site, those blades I saw were 140 feet long. 14 stories!! Wow! None of the at least 6 visible turbines were in operation, which was unusual, since I thought it was a fairly breezy day. I didn't manage to get a pic of them since the towers weren't visible from the southbound lanes except for a glimpse right at the highway exit. I could see them in the rear-view mirror a few more miles south on the interstate, however. I'll look for them again when I go back up to visit Sue!

I bought yarn in Omaha (shocked are you? I didn't think so) and discovered that a yarn store is apparently closed. I got to meet Joe the Enabler from Personal Threads and bought some Koigu for the first time. We tried to see if Touche was open, but a. the phone number is disco'd, and b. we didn't see it on Maple. Alas. We did visit String of Purls on Sunday, and the owner was very cheerful! Sue complained that she bought more yarn that I did. Wasn't my fault! LOL! Sel made a comment about 'self-enabling' that I agree with. ;-) I told L that I was very good on the way home - there's a yarn shop right off the highway in Columbia that even had highway billboards telling me that I needed to stop. I resisted!! I'll have to go visit them on another trip. Maybe February or something.

Here's the haul from the weekend:

1. 100g ball of Schaefer Yarns "Anne" in an un-named colorway (forest green, magenta, olive, purple, brown). It feels yummy - 60% merino superwash, 25% mohair, 15% nylon. Sue says it's My Color.
2. 2 50g hanks of Koigu "KPPPM" in Crisp, Clear Colors #P852-139 (yellow, olive, orange, blue, purple, wine, grey), 100% merino.
3. 2 50g hanks of Koigu "KPPPM" in Country Sligo #P537-3 (green, yellows, tan, brown, olive), also 100% merino. Froggy colors!

I finished the first super sekret sock last night, and immediately cast on the second. The Jaywalker pattern is pretty cool! I think I'll be making Keshia's froggy (not the Koigu) socks in this pattern - she wants anklets, and the yarn is DK weight (I think), so I'll have plenty. Maybe enough left over for a lace pair. We'll see. I thought it was rather funny that every time I pulled out the sock in the presence of other knitters, they knew exactly what pattern it was. Go Jaywalkers!

Sue showed me the Grafton needles she picked up, and told me she likes the Knit Picks ones too. I'll have to check those out - I've been really concentrating on the socks now, so we'll see. Maybe as a Christmas present to myself.

Still no yarn for the Big Blue yet! Nancy's gonna call Brown Sheep again and see what the holdup is. Too bad it's only 500 miles WEST of Omaha. I jokingly asked Sue how far it was and she gave me a horrified look - "It's almost to Wyoming!" Now, that would be a nice destination....all that yarn! squee!

Last but certainly not least *drumroll* the Big 12-ruling Missouri Tigers are #1 in the country! woot!!! They are playing Oklahoma on Saturday for the Big 12 championship - and when, yes WHEN they win they'll probably be playing West Virginia for the NATIONAL TITLE. Missouri hasn't been ranked #1 in the country since 1960! Forty-seven fricking years! I can't tell you how exciting this is. Just...wow.

Okay, I've blathered enough. Cheers!

i was a baaaad girl

Well, PK backed out of the drive/ride on Sunday, and this meant only one thing: Open House! wheee! I was very very (very) bad. But Oh! I so had an excuse!

Weaving Department at Myers House was open on Sunday for the annual Open House (I asked - it's usually the Sunday after the St. Louis Weaving Guild's Annual Sale), and both the Barn and the main House were open. They were *packed*. At 12:30, you nearly couldn't move in the Barn - they had everything at 60% off (the Barn is the discounted stuff) and a bin full of $1 balls. Can you say "feeding frenzy"? Hehe. I snagged quite a bit for scarves! I escaped upstairs into the House and bought yarn for a Wonderful Wallaby for A (Encore Colorspun, in Sky), some nice mohair for a scarf, and then discovered a new yarn.

Nancy just got Classic Elite Yarns "Alpaca Sox" in on Saturday.

Me loooves this yarn. 60% Alpaca, 20% merino wool, and 20% nylon. Yum-ee. I bought 2 colorways - Pebbles and what they call Hot Pink. My Pebbles is very true to the colors on the link, but the Hot Pink is darker - it's a lot closer to a light burgundy than a magenta. You can see the difference in the color card off the CEY site (linked above). It's a lot closer to Gryffindor colors than what that link shows! *grins and ducks from L's thwacking*

I also bought Sensational Knitted Socks and More Sensational Knitted Socks since I've heard from several sources that these were the sock books to have. I can practice my short row toes and heels!

Lots of good times, food and yarn were had by all, and everyone was exhausted by the end of the day. Phew!

We have a new yarn shop in town! *plays fanfare* I haven't been there yet, since they are closed on Mondays, but I'm planning on going to 'look' *cough* on Sunday. It's called Knitty Couture, and they have all kinds of sock yarn. *fans self* I think I may have found my 'Harry' yarn. The official colorway name is Chairman of the Board and the yarn is "Tiny Toes" by Interlacements Yarns. I'll need to really see it to be sure, but I think that's it. There's another colorway in the same yarn - Taiga - that is starting to try to get my attention, as is Tapestry. This is bad. Very very bad. And that's just ONE of the yarns they carry.

I'm gonna be in so much trouble. LOL!

Recorded up to um...oh yeah, Chapter 27 - The Seeker. L-at-work wanted me to keep the chapter name for 26 intact, so that chapter is entitled "The Very Late, Really Long Chapter from Hell". And it was. Oi. I've started editing again - I'd stopped, and was only recording for a while there. I have about 9 chapters to edit, and have decided to re-record Chapters 1-4, maybe 5. I changed headsets around that time, and the first chapter sounds terribly muffled to me now.

I'm finally getting my cable back (pauses for the hysterical laughter echoing across the planet since I WORK for a cable company and didn't HAVE cable) - okay now? - next Monday. I'll have to wait for a DVR, since they're out of them till the 16th, but I want one, what with the stuff coming up on TV and the fact that I work till 8PM. Must...see...ABC Family...version....of....HPSS.....

Still waiting for the yarn to come in for the Big Blue - not like I don't have any OTHER projects going, you know ;-)

No pics from S yet from Halloween - I think we're waiting for Daddy to put them online.

Okay, that's all from me for now.

Cheers!

end of month update

Hi all - miss me?

According to a friend of mine (and to paraphrase), 10 days is too long to go between posts. Heh. I've been playing catch-up a bit, and unfortunately, the 'yarn' section of the post will be another time, as the yarn I need to list is at home!

I finally finished The Pirate Costume. *ducks flying paper wads* Yes, I know it's October 30th. The sweater was finished on Saturday and the leggings were seamed during lunch today. I took the sweater over to S&J's last night, and it fits A *perfectly*. Plus, it appears that the leggings won't be too long - he's got a long torso and getting-longer legs, so that'll fit too. Phew. The only issue I see is that the crotch depth on the leggings is a bit long - I'm going to weave a tie thru the top ribbing to snug around his little waist. I thought for a while I was going to have to knit some suspenders, because it looked like the leggings were going to reach his armpits!!

I'll get S to send me some pics of A in the outfit so I can post them for you - it's cute!

I didn't post last week due to the fact that I feel like I lost a few days to a migraine. I did go into work on Thursday (when it was at its worst) and just felt like someone had hit me with a bludger over and around my right eye. It wasn't nearly as bad on Friday, but by then, I just couldn't bear to look at a computer screen for 9 hours, so I stayed home. I've never had a migraine before - I've had tension and sinus headaches, but never one that lasted for 3 days and wasn't affected by drugs, sleep or caffeine. Thankfully, I wasn't nauseated - to the contrary, I was hungry - but was very motion and light sensitive. For those of you who suffer from migraines, I'm sure mine was a 'mild' case, but I feel for you.

Still no word on yarn for the HP sweater - I'll be buttonholing Nancy (maybe tonight!) to see where the order is. Now that Teh Pirate is finished, I'd like to work on Big (Purple) Blue some. Yes, I have tons of socks to make, but I'm getting twitchy.

I've recorded a few more chapters of the HP fanfic audiobook, but now that I've taken a few days off, I'm concerned about what the earlier parts sound like compared to the recent ones! I've been trying to modulate between voices - the fic is set with the Trio at 18 just after the end of seventh year, and Ron in particular has a deeper voice. Harry's is a little lighter (but not much) and Ginny and Hermione's voices are different as well. I have to say, trying to express a Howler at 1 AM in one of the female voices is interesting (and No, I'm not telling you which female voice it is...you'll have to read it to find out). At least it's now a little too cool to have the windows open at night, so the neighbors don't think I'm having a row with my computer! lol

I think I'm starting to characterize the 'lesser' voices as well, and I'm having quality issues with the desktop. I'm going to have an objective person listen to the different tracks and let me know which machine to use for the recording (laptop vs. desktop). I really don't want to re-record 15+ hours, but if it comes to that....well, this is the first time I've done this. We'll see.

D-in-STL has now taken an interest in reading for audiobooks, and I thought I'd post some info here for it as well - there's a project underway to transform public domain works into audio format via the internet. The main site - which has free audiobooks, tips, volunteer forums, the works - is Librivox.org. Basically what you need to participate is a moderately good microphone, a goodly amount of space on a hard drive, some free time, and recording software. I use Audacity which has a mixer and an absolute ton of things I've never used. I did an experiment with the Noise Reducer yesterday, and got rid of a strong hum on an entire chapter section that hadn't been edited yet - it was really easy. The learning curve can be steep (as it usually is with open-source programs) but it's a very very nice little FREE program. From what I understand, quite a few podcasters also use Audacity to record their shows. Check it out. It's a good cause and it's fun.

The SRT department (that's us) here at Charter decorated for Halloween - we did a 'virus/id theft/spam' theme, complete with a 'quarantine' section and cubicles with different 'evil internet' themes. I'm the 'web pirate', so I have old VHS tapes and CD/DVDs scattered all over my cube. My two primary projects are DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) violations and password protection for users/subscribers, so me having a cubicle full of 'pirated' stuff was perfect. We'll find out tomorrow if we won the departmental competition - and then I can have my desk space back!

Well, baseball is finished for the year - and right now I think one of two things we here in St. Louis have to look forward to is maybe a good year for the Blues. They've done surprisingly well so far, but there's a loooong way to go. The Rockies got swept by the BoSox (boy does THAT sound familiar! 2004, anyone?) and so Boston is going apeshite at the moment - and Sel on her world tour is in Boston right now. What a zoo. Pro football here stinks as well - we're 0-8 (yes I said oh and eight) and the only reason we won't be losing a game this weekend is that we're on a BYE. Oi. The other bright spot is that the Missouri Tigers are ranked #9 in the country right now (woot!) and stand behind Kansas at the top of the Big 12. Yay! Go Tigers! And that is all for the sports segment of the news.

I think I'm all typed out - I'll post pics of Teh Pirate and the list of sock yarn that I managed to accrue in the past 2 weeks.

Cheers!

Edit: Sheesh, I just posted and forgot a squee - I got a comment a few days ago from one of the filkers on the SwishandFilk site (waves at ann!!!) - again, if you're interested in Potterfilk (and even if you aren't!) you should go visit this site. There are about 15 songs from there that I have a playlist on my mp3 player, and they are really good. Go!

just a little update

It's been a week since I posted - nothing much new going on here. This is not the boring life you are looking for - move along, move along.

Well, the end of the month deadline for the I Love Gansey socks came and went, and I'm still not finished. WAH! I think I have two more heart repeats and then the toe. Sigh. The new pattern was posted yesterday - I'm not really interested in the new pattern (it's a diamond/argyle derivative) so the next socks will be either the HP PS/SS "Hedwig" from the sock subscription list, Ash's pink socks (need to find a pattern!), PK's hawt purple crew socks, or the sekret baseball socks. I reeeeally need to do the last 3 pairs since they're Christmas prezzies, and it's OCTOBER. Ack.

Still haven't heard from Nancy to see if my yarn is in yet....note to self! Call!

I've been good this week - no new yarn purchases, but a lot of yearning for socks - see Etsy sidebar. Le sigh.

The Cardinals finished the season with a sweep of the Pirates. Yay! Now it's time to say "GO ROCKIES!" Heee!

Back to work, and then off to get my grandparents' computer back online...cheers!

socks that rock omg

Hope everyone had a nice weekend (including those who stabbed themselves with steel dblpts - OWWW!! Rachel!) - I did, and the Pirate Fest has one more weekend! Come see us, STL people.

Just a couple things to post about - I bought a ball winder yesterday, and now I need a SWIFT. OMG. Don't try winding 400+ yards of yarn without one if you have any shred of sanity. I like the winder - it's just a simple Lacis - but geeeeeeh. It should NOT take an hour to wind a ball of yarn. I saw some tabletop versions on Etsy that I'm considering. Oi.

I got my Socks That Rock Silkie yarn today in the mail - oh, my god, I'm not sure I want these on my feet. I'm thinking the rest of my body will be insanely jealous. LW here at work wants a BLANKET made out of it. It's totally yummy. I linked to the Blue Moon Fiber site in an earlier post - the colors for Philosopher's Stone are grey, rust, blue (sky and deep), tan, and a foresty green. I may have to pet it for a few weeks.

I consolidated my sock yarns into one place - and I have unknitted socks to last me till MARCH. I use one of those pop-up hamper thingys to put yarn in, and it's HALF FULL. Yikes.

Almost to the heel on the ILG socks - I have 5 days to finish these, and it might be right down to the wire. I'll post when they're finished!

Oh, one last thing: I'm listening to the PotterCast #118 - I love this podcast except for the Scribby part - and recommend it to those who haven't disowned me yet for the Potter obsession. Go listen.

No NatureSpun yet! I'm pondering starting the second sleeve of Teh Blue (but still Purple) Sweater with the yarn I have. What do you think, Pinky? Pinky?

The Cardinals are out of the pennant race - but they did win the last home game. Thanks, Albert and Rick! Great 9th inning heroics :) We can forfet the rest of the games, right? Cuz it's not like we're gonna beat anyone. Okay, maybe the Pirates. Maybe.

Cheers!

day ... pictures!

Yay! I have pictures of Teh Sweater! These pics still look blue to me, but are a closer color to the PURPLE that I'm using.

Full shot of sleeve:

Close up on sleeve:

Full shot of the back:

Closeup of decreases on back:

I finished the second sleeve of the Pirate Sweater, and will start the leggings tonight!

Ought to be a fun doggie-walk tonight - it's pouring outside. Whee. Well, we needed the rain, and thanks the good lord and green apples that it didn't do this over the weekend. Spirit of St. Louis Airport + County Fair + rain = MUD MUD MUD.

Cheers!

day...er, 35? 36? something!

Well, I finished the sweater back! *cheers*

I took the sleeve and the back up to my beleaguered LYS (Weaving Dept at Myers) and weighed the pieces to make sure we knew how much I needed to order. The back is 7.5 ounces and the sleeve is 5 ounces. That means that a women's size 48 (chest measurement 52") will be about 26 ounces of yarn, or about 8 skeins of yarn. That leaves me needing 2 more balls of yarn for the purple trial sweater, so we ordered more of that. Hopefully, we can get the same dye lot. *crosses fingers* I could start on the second sleeve, but I MUST work on the Pirate or else. I went ahead and ordered the blue yarn as well.

I will have photos up soon. I've been too busy to take pics at work, but my schedule has changed for this month, so I may be able to squeeze in a photo shoot this week.

I'm listening to the Stephen Fry version of the Potter books, and I think I like the Jim Dale version better. One of my chat buddies was complaining that the US versions of the books used too many 'Americanisms', and, as Harry & Co. are supposed to be British, he not supposed to talk like that. I've noticed about a dozen different changes in all 7 books between the US and UK versions. Is it noticeable? Um, Nope!! I have enjoyed listening to all 7 in order again now that we know how the story pans out. All the little details that JKR wrote in passing really pop out as they come up 'years' later. Can't wait till the encyclopedia comes out! Oh, and another chat buddy pointed me at this site which has some terrific sketchwork. Check it out!

I don't have too much to write tonight - it was a very busy weekend, as I worked out at the St. Louis County Fair and Airshow at the ren faire booth on Sunday and Monday. Lots of heat and dust, and my allergies decided to flare up after being relatively well-behaved all summer. It was a very cool show with the Blue Angels, and the fireworks on Sunday were nice.

That's all for now....cheers!

day 30, socks, and KIP

Greetings again :)

I ran across another HP-related sock pattern from a link on the Hogwarts Sock Swap Two that is really cool: Firenze the Centaur Socks !! I'd like to make these (of course) - and I think I'll use the Dark Knight yarn I have from Rachel! whoohoo! The centaurs watched the sky for portents, and the yarn I have in mind is yellow/blue/black - deep, rich colors that remind me of the night sky.

I've also put a link in the sidebar for Campanula for a Cure, which is a donor/KAL for the Walk for the Cure in Toronto. I've decided to use another one of Rachel's yarns for these, in the colorway Naked Flesh (red/pink/white).

I have a sock surprise in the works for a baseball friend of mine that I'll talk about at a later date ;-) Don't want her to find out about it just yet! I did order more yarn from Etsy:

1. A ball of 100% superwash merino in the colorway Dementor (black/silver/purple) from shelbyB
2. A ball of 100% superwash merico in the colorway Ronald Weasley (green/orange/brown/silver) also from Shelby's shop
3. A series of superwash merino/nylon blend yarn in 7 colorways - Potters Covers - from dharmafey on Etsy. This one is a subscription series.
4. The mystery yarn for the baseball project ;) More on that later this year.

I'm coveting the Fawkes colorway from Shelby as well, but will restrain myself! Amazing, I know.

On the sweater front, er, I mean back, I'm up to the end of the first repeat. I had issues with the increases and had to frog the same row about 4 times. It's going to take me a bit longer on the back per row - there are 142 sts across - but it's looking good. The sleeve took about 1-1/3 balls of the Nature Spun, and I just started on the third ball at the top of the first back repeat. The pattern is now memorized, but I'll need to sit down and write it out soonish.

Still need to photo the sleeve; one of my co-workers suggested that I use my cubicle wall to pin out the sleeve to take a pic of it. LOL! Think I will, at that.

I need to reinstall PCStitch, but I can't find the activation code I paid for! WOE! I like to use the program for knit design, as I can make the chart easily. I've used it for the SG gansey patterns, but now I can't open the pattern files to make changes :( It's an older version, and I'll need to see if I can find the receipt of payment for it.

I met some friends for dinner last night at a place called 'Sweet Tomatoes' that has salads, pasta, and soups. I got there early, as I left from work, and D and company had to run an errand before meeting me. I think it was 'funraiser' night, because there were about a hundred kids running all over the place. Since I had to wait for the rest of the group, I sat in the 'lobby' area and pulled out the red gansey sock to work on in the meantime. After about 5 minutes or so, I noticed that the light from the plate glass windows I had my back to seemed to be getting dimmer. It wasn't that it was getting dark - it was because there were seven kids all with their faces pressed against the glass watching me knit! It was way funny! I was just inside the door, so I had all sorts of people asking me about the sock. Right before my group arrived I had one lady actually sit down and ask me where the rest of my needles were, and how was I DOING that? I've been using the Magic Loop on socks for a little while now, and I think I convinced her to try it :) She told me she lived in U City, so I suggested that she go to Kirkwood Knittery or Knitorious for yarn and help. She was fascinated by the fact there was only one long circ, and no pointy ends all over the place. D & Co. arrived about then, so we got our food and went to sit down. The whole rest of the meal I had people smiling and nodding at me as they came by our table on their way out the door. All in all, it was a rather amusing evening. If you can, knit in public! It's fun! hee!

I think that's all for now - have a nice week!

day 26 and...socks

I'm being so very bad - I have a pirate sweater to work on and what do I do?

I started the "I Love Gansey" socks. *sigh*

It's a fun sock, tho - challenging pattern! I added a few stitches as well, since I have big fat feet and the cuff has mostly stockinette stitches, so won't stretch like ribbing. Here's a teaser:

I'll post a finished pic of these when they get done - they are the August/September pattern for the Six Sox Knitalong, so I have about 5 more weeks to finish. Considering I started these last night and I'm nearly done with the heel flap, I think I'll have them completed in time. *g*

I've finally finished the sleeve for the second time and it will be a much better fit. I discovered another error - this time, it was the printer that did me in. There was a row of the table that had been cut off that had me binding off 8 stitches on each side! No wonder it was far too long! I forgot to bring the digital camera (the good one) to work, so I can't take a pic of the sleeve till later.

I'm having a tussle with the fact that I've added 10 stitches to the front and back of the sweater to compensate for the cabling - now I have to determine how many to decrease so the neck won't gape. It'll get there! I've cast on the ribbing for the back, and then got distracted by the ILG sock.

I'm back to listening to the HP audiobooks again (yes, again) - this time, I'm 'reading' the Stephen Fry version. I noticed that in the very first book, the person who saved the day first was actually *Ron*, when they all met the troll in the girls' bathroom. Just on a whim, I looked up what certain names mean, and Ronald means "ruler's counsel" while Harry means "home ruler". After SS (or in the Fry version's case, PhilS), I think that Ron should be "ruler's champion" instead! Ron's got some great hidden strengths, I think. Yes, I am a geek.

I did finish the reformat of the desktop comp, and iTunes is the biggest PITA when it comes to restoring podcasts! Bleh!

That's all for now - been busy trying to mix computer geekiness and knitting, and so didn't have as much to talk about this week.

Cheers!

day 21 antics

Hello yet again.

You'll have to bear with me here, I'm in the middle of a deep scan on the computer, and may be reformatting here tomorrow night if I can't get the !#$%^& popups to go away. Yes, I do this for a living, and Yes, my computer is infected with at least one trojan, and Yes, I do know how to get rid of it, but there have been other issues with this computer and it's OS for a month or two now, and It's Time. The most painful part of a reformat is the re-installation of all my various programs. Meh.

Sweater update: I finished the first sleeve! Yay! It's 2 inches too long! Ack!

Rrrrip!

I took it back to the true 18"-from-beginning mark, and started the decreases again. It appears I took the sleeve out to a full 3 (or was it 4?) repeats before starting the decreases, which properly measured out was 19.5". This time, I started the decreases within the main moss diamond repeat. I know this will just add to the complication factor, but it won't have gorilla arms. By the length of the sleeve - and I know, it grows even longer when seamed - it would have been past my knuckles. Too long for an aran-type. I'll be decreasing a little more aggressively as well, I think - not as many 4-row decreases before starting the every-other-row decreases. It'll STILL have 35 every-other-row decreases, which means that the sleeve will still be in the neighborhood of 200 rows long, give or take 10 or so, but it will FIT.

This means I'm holding off on photographing it till I cast off again. Sorry, Rachel! I promise I'll be posting that blocked-out piece soon! If I can work on it this week, perhaps by Saturday.

I did not start another pair of socks (Yay me! Self-restraint is a virtue...) and I did manage to set Teh Pirate Sweater on the sofa to work on it....before I ripped the sleeve. I only have 3 weeks and a few days! must...work...on...sweater....

One last word - yes this is a quickie - the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is just as corny and full of skimpily-clad women as I remember it. D in KS sent me the "Complete Series" DVDs that I couldn't find at Wallyworld here (thanks D!!) and I've been having a lot of fun watching for old-school BSG props on the show as well as the totally implausible and sometimes totally illogical plots. I do still love Gil Girard, tho :)

Okay, that's all for now. Cheers!

day 19 and horcrux completed!

Been a few days - been a little busy here and there, and oh yeah, sleep!

I completed the Horcrux socks this morning, and here they are:

Yay! and Yes, I DO have big feet. They fit great! I think I'm going to make some wire-hanger blockers, tho, to wash and dry them on.

I've been working on the sweater sleeve for a while - I'm into the decreases now, and it looks like the arm will be a little long. That's okay, because the sweater needed a little hang space. It's not off-the-ends-of-the-fingers long, but enough to not expose your wrists when you bend your arm. I'm into the second ball of the purple, and nearly to the end of the 5th moss diamond repeat. I'll post a pic after I cast it off and block it. I think it looks GREAT! I'm really jazzed about this sweater.

I really need to work on Teh Pirate Sweater for my pseudo-nephew since the Pirate Fest is in 4 weeks! Ack! *tries to resist the urge to cast on another pair of socks* I really do want to start the 'I Love Gansey' socks from the Six Sox list, but...alas! So much yarn, so little time. Maybe I'll pack it along as my purse project ;-)

Not too long of a post today - gotta get back to work here and make my 'weekend' get here faster!

Cheers!