I don't make resolutions...

...no, seriously. Every year I get all worked up and have that "this is it" attitude, only to see it crumple within a few months due to circumstances beyond my control.
So for 2013 I just try to keep everything level. I plan on knitting some sweaters and cardigans. I am starting college January 2nd to get my Master's in Anthropology and a Minor in Arts. I work now part time at Michaels and I could seriously just leave my paycheck in that store. The have added some really nice yarns to their line-up. Not just the dreaded Red Heart Super Saver anymore (which, knitted three strands on a small needle, makes actually a surprisingly sturdy bath mat. It will survive the apocalypse together with cockroaches and Twinkies).
I also plan to finish most of the WIP's in my project bin. I am already off to a head start by pulling out the Hwaet! socks. They have been languishing for a while. There was errata available on the website, but I missed that. Then the store closed that website. So I fudged the heel, which (as you can see on the photo) did not work well. And I couldn't remember how I fudged it.
 I contacted the designer, who was very nice about it and sent me an updated copy of the pattern.
I inserted a needle last night into the last round before the heel increases and just frogged it. I straightened out the stitches (some of them were twisted) and started over with the heel with a new pattern and renewed vigor. This time I will get them done right.

I also accepted another sample knit from KnitPicks. I have the yarn and the beads and I am supposed to start by pre-stringing 700 size 8/0 seed beads. Say what??
I had to ask my friend Kelly (a bead store owner whose website is here: www.beadweaver.com ,awesome beads and awesome customer service) how to do that most efficiently. She recommended a twisted wire beading needle. Well, how lucky that I work at a craft store!!! We have those in stock!!!
I will get started on this one tonight.
I also want to spend a little more time designing and keeping up with my Etsy stores. Maybe next Christmas I can actually make a little spending money with them.
So I will keep this blog updated on how many WIP's I will finish over the course of 2013. Luckily we are all still here...Honestly..did anybody actually believe we would just blow up  on Dec. 21st?

Anyway...I wish a happy, successful and mostly stress free 2013 to all my followers and friends. You make my life a little easier and a little richer. And for that I thank you.

Mission almost complete

17:15, Sunday: Both projects have been finished and are ready to mail. I have sent my assistant on a small recon mission to find out about preferences on candy, tea or coffee and the such. A few small supplies are still needed after all. But the mission is almost complete.

Dyeforsocks - Superhero!

Well, not really. But it got your attention, right?

So. I would like you to picture this whole post as a mix between black&white private detective movie and James Bond, okay? Now that the mood is set...here we go:

10:40 pm, Saturday. Received message from Z. A swapper has gone AWOL and a rescue package is needed. I previously volunteered. Am I up for it?

10:45 pm: After brief consideration of supplies and resources I accept. TO THE YARN CAVE!

11:00 pm: Yarn found, pattern pulled up on computer, needle acquired, wine poured, music looped. I am ready to go.

11:15 pm: After watching a short briefing video, which auto - destructed after viewing, my skills in Magic Cast-on are polished up and the correct number of stitches has been on the needles
.
11:30 pm: Small oversight: I should have gotten the details on the subject's preferences and sizes first. Error corrected and all is going according to plan.

11:48 pm: Dividing the project in 8ths and I need two of them. The instructions given are easy to follow and one 8th has been completed. A refill on the nourishment is needed. A short survey of the music provides assurance that there are still 7 hrs 28 minutes of songs left.

12:15 am, Sunday: Four 8ths of the assignment have been completed. I am way ahead of schedule.

12:23 am: Decided to leave the projects first half unfinished for tonight. I need to be on top of my game to finish this mission successfully.

End of transmission.

Friendships

My mother used to tell me I should chose my friends carefully. She herself chose friends on how useful they could be to her at some point in her life. She was never really close to anyone.
I always found her advice incredibly cold and calculating.
My friends just "happened". I have some really close friends that know just about everything about me and I about them. A few that are reliable, steadfast rocks in my life and are not afraid to tell me when I make an utter fool out of myself. Not that that would stop me.
There are also some friends that are not so close, but I enjoy their company and we share many interests and, most of the time, opinions.
I never thought about a person that I met how useful they could be to me. You could be the CEO of a bank, and therefore useful to me at some point. But you could be a total jerk. So I pretend to like you because I might need a loan in a couple years?
No. There is something profoundly wrong with this. And I for one am grateful for all my friendships that grew out of mutual respect (or none, lol), shared interests, weirdness and just plain "hey, I like you's".
My Dad on the other hand used to say your good friends are the ones you call when you got arrested, so they can bail you out. Your best friend will sit right next to you in the cell saying:" Man, that was awesome!!"


On to something knitting related:
I have a new pattern ready to be released soon. In the next week or so. It's called "Aliens among us". That's what happens, when you watch the History Channel Special on area 51.
 Here is a picture:
The palm is just straight up stockinette. Fingerless of course.





Here is another photo. I was playing around with the Picasa Collage feature. I rather like what you can do with it.
My youngest accused me of being lazy, because I never knit "those cut off fingers". Well, I just know where my limitations are. They either turn out so tight that they cut off the blood circulation, or they are so bulky between the fingers that they are just plain uncomfortable.
Right now I am on a sock tangent.
Maybe I come up with some sock patterns......
I think I saw some interesting swirly patterns in that puddle earlier......
Hmmmmm...
*wanders off*

Tipsy Knitting

In the following story the little insert "sip" means one little sip from a glass of Riesling wine....
"sip"...so...who's next on my list of people to knit for?....Hmmm...."sip"...Oh...right. Let's see what she has in her queue. The Favorites just have posts and stuff in it....."sip"....ah....Oh, a lot of the same things I have in my queue!...."sip"....Who the heck would wear those socks???  Hmmm....oh, I like this..."sip"....wonder in which bin that yarn is....
*checks on yarn bins*
Aha!!!! I knew I had that yarn somewhere...."sip" but I don't have enough. So that's not gonna be it. What else? "sip"....Oh... I love that song!
Okay...back to queue......she queued that one in 2010....."sip" she'll never remember...*giggles*....I have that yarn in rust or red....let's check her favorite colors.....
"sip"....oh....empty. Gotta get a refill...*giggles*
"sip"...this is good wine for 9 bucks a bottle...."sip"...ooooohhhh! I can cast that one on right now! I got the pattern printed! I liked that one too.
"sip".....wonder if she has some yarn attached to that....
She does!!!! *giggles* oohhhh....Korean Boy Band......cute song...how old is he?  Ah....24.....that would be okay I guess......"sip"..
What am I talking about????? Oh dear....*giggles*...well...I have the yarn and the pattern and I might as well cast on.....
"sip"......
"sip".....
Circular cast on.....I'm sure there is a video on YouTube.....HA! I knew it!
Uh...another song from that band.....
"sip".....empty again???? Darn....
REFILL!!!!!* giggles*
I like being by myself.....
Okay....Circular cast on 8 stitches...."sip"....hey! That's easier than I thought! Neat!
"sip"......Okay....I'm at round 14 and the bottle is empty. When did that happen?
Oh...I count those stitches later. NIGHT!
*giggles*

The hell of sweater knitting

There is a  reason why I don’t knit sweaters, jackets or cardigans. And after this I will never EVER knit another one again!!!
Started the Kiloran. A wonderful garment you can find here:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kiloran
Lots of work, fairly expensive yarn. So I swatch. I measure myself, measure the swatch. Wash it, block it..I am spot on!!!
Cast on, knit about half of the waistband and it could fit around a beer barrel! What gives?
I unravel, start over with a smaller needle size AND I go down one garment size. Hooray! The waist band fits perfectly! I pick up the stitches for the fron and the back and I finish the top part of the garment. Took a picture and it looks kinda large.
What was supposed to be a waistband of 40 inches circumference ( and was 40 inches when it was by itself) has now grown to a circumference of 48 inches!!!!
I am so mad I could spit fire.
Unless someone wants this sweater completed and has a 48 inch under-your-girls circumference this thing will be left out for moth food!
Maybe I shouldn't have swatched and just gone with my gut feeling, like I always do.
Here is a picture of the work in progress:
I don't know if I will ever finish this.
Time will tell.

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Got a booty call from life....

...apparently it still wants to screw with me.
Well, in short...moved BF in, he drinks a lot, two violent incidents later I throw him out. Last week I had emergency surgery for a "yucky" gall bladder. That is a medical term, because the surgeon used it to describe the organ he took out. I am doing fine, but quit my job on Monday. A decision that might not be smart in this day and time, but was necessary to save my sanity and my integrity. That's all I will say about that.
In all this mess I have awesome friends that help where they can and I can not tell you all how much I appreciate and love you guys. Thanks a bunch for being there. I hope I will never have to return the favor, but know I will always be there for you.
But on the bright side: I never had this much knitting time!!

I finished a test knit for the ever so talented Liz Capik from AppleTreeKnits. A very lovely shawl. Here is a pic:

The pattern has not been released yet.
I love her patterns. They are easy to understand and fun to knit.
I also finished a birthday present for my friend Lolly. It was a few days late. But we all determined that the month of your birthday still counts as being on time.
Let's see if I can insert another small picture of "Faroese Roses for Lolly".

Blogger doesn't always want to cooperate with me.
Well....what do you know! It worked.
My patterns are now also available on Patternfish.
What a delightful bunch of people to work with!
I am still working on that darn stole/shawl pattern of mine. Is it sad that I forgot how to read my own notes when I picked it up after leaving it alone for a few weeks?
It took me forever to re-create what I started!
Anyway.....send some good vibes for my job search my way...I'll see you all later.

Creative workings..

Just a little glimpse into the workings of my creative mind.
I love to check YouTube for "old" music videos...you know, the times when MTV was still actually Music Television. I usually get sidetracked really quick by other recommended videos. Last weekend I stumbled across a little gem taken from a russian vampire movie.
That triggered a Wikipedia search on Vlad the Impaler Tepesh. That taught me that he was married twice. The name of his second wife was Ilona. A name very familiar to me. I had a classmate in elementary school with that name. That lead to a search of old wood carvings and paintings of this era. And a lace pattern for a triangular shawl was born. Still in the workings...but soon it will be up for a test knit. So from YouTube to Wikipedia to a lace pattern for a shawl. And some history learned along the way. Go figure.
Without further ado....the video that made a lace shawl:

Adventures in lace

Long tail cast on sucks!.......Oh...sorry about that. I don't know how I manage it, but with that type of cast on ( and mind you the first line in the pattern says "cast on 329 stitches") I always end up about 4 to 10 stitches short, or I have enough tail left over to cast on a second shawl.
My next victim....errrr....friend on the list will get a shawl called Rosebud from the book Wrapped in Lace.

This will be a new one for me as well, because you knit the points of the shawl first, using short rows. Once you got the hang of that it is actually rather fun.
I have completed all 11 points in a day, but now the set-up row for the continuing pattern is giving me grief. I'm sure it is operator error though.
I think I will try this shawl in a fingering weight as well. I like the construction.
Here is what I got done so far...
Much to my enjoyment, Netflix has Twilight Zone available for instant viewing. Yay!!!
This shawl will be completed with Rod Serling.
I wonder if he would appreciate that honor.

Dear me!

Dear me!! Has it really been this long? Since September last year? Oh...right. Started dating then. After 7 years. Moved in with BF (BoyFriend...even though I find this term slightly ridiculous at my age...) on June 1st and already dislike it intensely. Maybe my mother was right all those years ago when she claimed :"You are just not cut out to live with anybody but yourself! Just like your Grandma Lucie!"
Which right now sparked a new pattern in my head. I am working on a rectangular stole that will bear my Grandma's name. Maybe that's why we always got along splendidly, while everyone else didn't like her.
Here is a pic of the little house....

It has definitely a cottage feel to it. Well, I shall let you know how things are going. As soon as I am totally settled in, I will need some test knitters again.
I'll keep the blog updated...