Wha wha WHAT? Did I just say FO?

Well, yes and no. While it is true that these items (yes, plural!) are indeed now FOs, I ust confess they were only UFOs because they still needed to be felted. Which I was putting off pre move because my washer in the old place wasnt exactly conducive to felting. But since i uncovered these guys in the unpacking (which I am not doing too much more of, whats the point, since we’re renting here with the intent of buying by the time out lease is up anyway) I figured their time had come.

Remember these?

These are from NOVEMBER 2005!!

Today:

And remember that bag I was knitting for the Knit Sock Kit Swap back in july?

I ended up not liking how it turned out unfelted, so I just kind of tossed it aside. When I felted the FF, I felted it too. I think with the right closure, this might be a good small project carrier. Maybe. Im still not loving it so it may end up being given away to little someone I know who loves black and red things. I dont like giving away stuff im not happy with but this lil missy always likes stuff to play with, and if it will get used, I guess thats enough.

I’m also still plugging away on the fingerless gloves! We have thumbhole, and im just about ready to start the actual fingers! (I know, slowest project ever! But Im stealing my knitting moments these days.)

I know, hard to see the glove. Better shot when it’s done, which I hope is soon! This weekend is nothing but knitting, reading, and maybe some laundry and digging out some stuff I want to bring in to my office. (We’re nearing the end of the 6 week training classes, and my team will hit the floor soon. I want to have my space ready to go)

Did you notice the book? That’s the reading I have planned for the weekend.

I was lucky enough to get an advance publisher’s edition, and while Ive only just started it, Im enjoying it already. I really need to learn to knit and read at the same time!

And finally, it IS Saturday, and the last Saturday of the year no less!

Overcast, but at 57 degress on Dec 30, it can be as overcast as it wants!

That’s it from me for now. There will be one more post before the year is out, I’m sure. It’s one of those holidays that gets me reflective…

Yes, that’s right. It is December 2nd and it is 64 degrees right now. It is bright and crisp and just absolutely gorgeous outside! And I can (sort of) prove it!

Our neighbor across the street was funny last night, complaining about how cold it was going to be this weekend – low of 54. FIFTY FOUR! Couldn’t help but laugh…

When I said last post that I was exhausted and very busy, some of you (a surprising number actually!) emailed me and asked if I was pregnant. No, my mystery is just that I have taken a new job, full time, and will no longer be working from home as my primary job. I am not giving up with graphic and web stuff though, it will remain a side project. I think having an outside the house job will help me get out of the house, meet people, and acclimate to my new home faster, and I am very very happy with the position I took. It’s only been a week, and we have 6 weeks of training, but the people are AWESOME and I am excited about all the possibilities. And when I tell you the people are awesome, I’m not just being nice – how about I have known these people a week, and I was surprised with a birthday cake, and a gift card yesterday! I was really touched, and very excited to be joining such a great team.

Since we just moved down here and have been buying lots of stuff for the house, and replacing things we tossed before the move, I told my honey no gifts were necessary this year. He took me to dinner at Maggiano’s in South Charlotte. The food was good, although there was a piece of plastic in my honey’s crabcake. Thankfully, it didn’t cut his mouth and he didn’t swallow it. We told the waiter just so the kitchen would be aware – we are SO not the “we’re gonna sure you” types – and the manager came over, as did the owner. We were fine, we were just wanting to let them know so no one got hurt. They ended up taking that off the bill, of course, and insisted on sending over dessert and coffee after the meal at no charge. I know, some of you are thinking it was the least they could do, but honestly, we weren’t looking for anything. I will admit though, I was not going to refuse what may have been the 2nd best Tiramisu I have EVER had.

The camera phone does it NO justice, trust me!

The cappuccino was really good too!

Anyway, despite the minor issue, we had a nice dinner. And even though I said no gifts, I got a little something besides dinner anyway. Knowing how much of a House fan I am, and how much I adore Hugh Laurie, he bought me The Gun Seller.

In addition to the roses from my Dad, I also got some nice cards and gifts from friends, and notes that some other gifts were on their way (since apparently NC mail is much slower than NY mail….)

Erica sent me a very funny card, and a pretty dishcloth, and balls of yummy yarn. I need to figure out how to best use them to show off their pretty colors and textures! Yes, that is a box of angel hair pasta in the pic, a gag gift that certainly made me laugh. No, I’m not explaining it. Also pictured is the Sonic gift card from my new team at work, and some of the cards from my honey. My dad said if I dont pick something nice soon, I can bank it, and because I can’t think of anything I want other than what’s on my wish lists already I will end up doing just that.

And no, I didn’t forget I promised knitting pics…

There’s the poinsettia, waiting to be finished so it can be felted and assemeled. I have 9 pieces left to make (I think?) and then fleting, and assembly. And yes, the wallpaper on one of my monitors is one of Scout’s stunning yarn pics. And from the “coincidence?” department, Scout is actually selling the poinsettia patterns. I didnt get mine from her, I bought the kit last year from Jimmy Beans I THINK…. And the sheep pouch? That’s a Piddleloop original – I LOVE PiddleLoop stuff! I’ve had it for awhile, and it has held up to lots and lots of switching from project bag to project bag and pulling stuff out and shoving stuff in…

And finally…

I told you I have only been sneaking a row or two here and there! It’s MAYBE an inch bigger than the last time you saw it LOL But at least I’m knitting!

I was supposed to be working today, but a last minute change in the training schedule meant I got today off. I have a million errands to run, and if I can get everything done today, I can do NOTHING tomorrow, and really kick back and relax before next week, which really will begin a 6 day work week, with some long hours. Im not complaining at all – I’m just trying to plan my time so that I can not burn myself out by doing too much…

Happy Weekend!

My dad has been having PC issues that pointed towards Windows being kind of sickly, so he bought himself some extra ram and a new hard drive this weekend. I’ve always been his in-house tech, so having to walk him thru this from 700ish miles away was a bit disconcerting but I hoped between the two of us (my honey and me) we’d find our way thru it.

I’ll spare you the geeky details – suffice to say, if it could go wrong, it has. He’s formatting again (via 98 start up disk and old school DOS) and will be calling back soon. Did I mention the 1st call was at 8:15 this morning and that it is 7:40pm right now? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind helping my dad AT ALL – he is an awesome guy, I love him dearly and would do anything in the world for him – I’m just frustrated because I know if I were IN FRONT of the machine, I could get this done much quicker. If he had net connectivity (if Windows were installed) I could remote in. If if if….

I did knit a bit today though through reboots and stuff, (I LOVE my headset!) and I was all ready to show you progress on the fingerless gloves (not a ton, but some) AND to show you that I made 4 more pieces of poinsetta wreath (last you all knew, it looked like this, meaning all the bases were done, and 4 of the large petals were done. I still have 3 more large petals, 7 medium, and 7 small petal sets to complete, and then the felting and finishing, but thanks (again!) to Erica, it is once again an active WIP who may see FO status someday very soon! But alas, when I turned the camera on, it immediately gave me the dreaded “Charge Batteries Now” message and turned off. no pictures tonight, as I have NO clue which box the battery charger is in (Did I neglect to mention we haven’t finished unpacking? Yea, well, we haven’t. No, I don’t want to discuss it) I will try and pick up some batteries tomorrow as it may be faster than finding the charger.

I also realized today that between the move and everything else, I hadn’t seen the latest IK that I keep hearing is so great. I checked and sure enough, my subscription expired after the last issue. Guess I will be spending some of my Borders Holiday Rewards bucks to pick that up tomorrow!

I don’t feel like I am “home” per se, but I do feel like I am ready to relax into figuring out my new life here. I’m ready to find some sort of routine, some day to day flow. Hopefully, getting myself out of the house on a regular basis will do just that.

Anyway, my dad should be calling back soon, and the dinner dishes should be ready to be put away, so I’m off. As soon as I get those batteries, I’ll get a WIP photo shoot going – and who knows how much more headway I will have made?

Yes, it’s true. There has been knitting here in the land of corrugated cardboard and newspaper. I know, hard to believe, but look – it’s true!

That’s the Leaf-Patterned Lace dishcloth, which was the September Mid-Month pattern from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL in Sugar and Cream blue (unblocked, and in the interest of full disclosure, the ends are not yet weaved in.). That’s also a mittered square, just because I had a tiny little bit of the orange varigated cotton left over from the dishcloths I made for Val back in June (amazing what you find when you pack, huh? I could have sworn I gave her all the extras from that, I guess not!). Now that I know how quick and easy they are, I can see making up a bunch of these from cotton leftovers and piling them up until I have enough for maybe a blanket or something. And finally, because someone moving from NY to NC has SUCH a need for fingerless gloves, I cast on for these (I never claimed to make sense!)

So there you have it – 2 FOs and a WIP. (And yes, the 1st Jaywalker is still waiting to be finished, and the second one hasn’t even been conceived yet. All in good time… after all, it IS Socktober after all!)

What’s on your needles?

Am I the only one who is completely blown away by the fact it is September? And despite the fact I have a countdown on the sidebar, I think it’s finally sinking in that we are moving in (just less than) 2 months! I’ll be splitting the rest of my day between tossing stuff/packing and (hopefully!!) some sock knitting. Tomorrow is a BBQ at my honey’s aunt’s house, and then Monday, we will take advantage of the holiday and hopefully get more done. (will that be more packing or knitting? That remains to be seen :winky: )

The jaywalker, although progressing VERY slowly, is getting there…

Yes, that is still the 1st sock. I’ve been busy! The pooling started right after I finished the gusset decreases. I’m not sure why, but I’m ok with whatever happens. I just want to finish the 1st one, and get going on the second one already,. I KNOW I am not a speed kintter but this is crazy! (I’m hoping to redeem myself on the second sock)

It’s not helping the packing motivation that the weather is totally conducive to curling up and knitting – we’re getting the remnants of Ernesto, and it is dark, grey, rainy and chilly out there! My Saturday Sky picture is, well, dark, but a very good representation of what’s outside right now.

And finally, my wonderful, talented, amazing, dear friend Valerie has opened an Etsy store. Go, go, go and see what wonderful things she is offering up for sale, and be sure to check back, because she is adding things all the time!

Happy weekend!

Ya know, I could have been annoyed by the 30 minutes I was kept waiting for my appointment today (Technically more than that – my original appointment was for 8:30am. They called Friday and asked if they could bump me to 1, and since it was that or completely reschedule, I took the bump).

But being a knitter, I was not in the least upset. I took out my sock, and started to knit contentedly. I didn’t make MASSIVE progress, since the other people in the waiting room were aksing a million questions about why I was knitting a sock, and telling how so and so used to knit but then she stopped because she found it so boooooring, and how I was wasting my money knitting socks when I could buy them much cheaper and how much free time I would have, and that I was never going to find a man to marry me if I insisted on participating in such old maid activities. All of these unsolicited comments were made by 2 women in maybe their mid to late 60’s. Depsite the fact I hadn’t asked them for their opinions, I smiled politely and tried to avoid getting into it with them, but even though I used my best body language to say “lalalala Im not listening to you” they kept yammering away. Finally, I asked them if they had ever tried to knit, and if they knew the pleasure of creating something that could bring someone else so much joy. Of making something that was so personal, so from the heart. I told them how my grandmother, whom I miss every single day, had taught me to knit, and that it was my way of carrying her with me everywhere I went. And that I thought she would be pleased to know I was continuing on with something she had taught me.

Right about then, I was called in. The receptionist, who was walking me to the room, turns to me and says “Some people!” Some people indeed….

But that’s ok. Because those two ladies will never know what it feels like to have turned the heel, and completed the gusset decreases. And I do!

And now, I have to go pick up a prescription, and come home to get some work done, so I can sit in my comfy chair, waste my money making socks and ruin all chances of finding a man to marry me. (ETA – my honey very wisely pointed out that if I found a man to marry me in spite of the whole knitting thing, we would have a problem since he’s pretty certain polygamy is illegal in NY and NC!)

Sometimes, you just need to take a leap of faith. And my leap of faith came in the form of Jaywalking.

Yea yea, I know everyone under the sun has knit these babies up already. But I have had so many other things I needed to finish. And then when I finally got this this “knit what I want when I want to” point, I was faced with gauge issues. And unfounded fear. Not of the pattern, because it is a wonderful pattern. Fear of knitting a pair of socks with a gauge I have been told is “freakishly tight” (no really! Freakish is a quote! I’m over it now)

Several of you said you didnt check gauge when you knit socks. I listened, sort of. 1st I cast on for the largest size of Jaywalkers (since Kathy so generously upsized the pattern). And after knitting maybe 5 repeats of the zig zag I knew they were going to be huge, despite my gauge. So I ripped, and cast on again, for the 2nd biggest size. Once again, after maybe 4 or 5 repeats of the zig zag, I knew ripping was in my future. I cast on once again, this time in the 84 stitch version (the larger of the 2 original sizes) and by some twist of fate, it looked right!

If I hadn’t frogged so much I would probably be done with the 1st sock by now, but I’m so happy to finally have socks in progress, I’m not gonna stress it. (BTW, that yummy yarn is part of the amazing gift from my wonderful KSKS pal Janette. The yarn is SOOOO nice to work with, and the sock is knitting up super soft and snuggly)

Signups for Sock-ret pal are still coming in strong, which is great! (You have until Oct 1, so stop debating it and just join up already… you know you wanna! :winky: )

Since things are so busy, I’m grabbing moments of knitting where I can find them, so I’m cutting this short in favor of some tea and some jaywalking before I pass out