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.

reply delete edit

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: