ack!

Ravelry = the devil.

Seriously. All the pretty photos makes me want to cast on new and exciting projects. But I can't!! I must finish my niece's sweater (Friday is her b-day) I've joined that monkey swap so I have to knit those, but I don't think that will sooth my casting on urge. I want to knit mittens. Lots and lots of mittens. Tons even. But I mustn't!! So sad.

My little dog was FREEZING on Friday, so I made him some new jammies. They alpine fleece and have sushi all over them. So cute! Must get a photo to post.

That is all. Off to knit. Or, do laundry. One of the two.

Dude!

If I ever say I need more sock yarn.... smack me upside the head. Seriously.

Oh, and Cpurl won the yarn. Email me will you? :)

yeah!

Thank you all for donating to the puppy walk. I promised a drawing today and well.... I liead. I shall do it tomorrow. Because I am lazy, and sore, and I need to go to bed now.

New month. New projects.

I cast on 2 new projects today. The first one is that sweater for my brother, that has taken me a freaking year to find a decent pattern for. Attempt #3 is going to be "Cobblestone" from the laterst interweave knits.

And the second is a hat for my niece. But when she makes a request for knitting, how can you say no? :)

Dude!

Must. Stop. Surfing. Raverly.

Hey! My user name in valkryie. Add me so I feel cool. :)

almost....almost...

130 in front of me on Ravelry!

Monkey Swap!

Monkey Sock Swap THREE Questionnaire
(sign ups go until Aug 31)

The basics:
Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep?

Urm...intermediate. I think. I guess.


The measurements:
Shoe Size: 8 to 8 1/2 depending on the shoe size
Foot circumference: 8
Foot length: 8 1/2

Yarn Preferences:
What colors do you love?
Pink, turquios, purples, deep jewel tones, bright shocking colors. Greens, reds, blues, even black and brown. You know. COLORS!

Do you prefer solids or variegated?
I like semi-solids and varigated.

Do you prefer wool, cotton or acrylic yarn?
There can be only wool.

What colors would you never wear?
baby puke

What are your favorite brands of yarn?
I loves me some Lorna Laces, Vesper, Scouts Swag, Yarn Pirate. I also love me some cheap-0 knit picks.

Are there any new brands you would like to try?
Yes. Some of the smaller indy dyers are also a must try. I've never tried that yarn that all of Cookies patters are made from.

Cookie A. Patterns:
Which of her patterns have you already knit?
I started Rhiannon, but frogged it as it was too big. I've also made Hedra. I own Millicent, and someday will knit that.

Which pattern(s) would you like to knit and don’t already own?
I'd love to do the Pomatomus someday. As well as baudelaire, German Stocking.

Other pertinent information:
I like monkeys.

Would you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer one in the US?
International is fine

Do you have any allergies?
no

Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals?
Dogs. I try not to let them near the knitting... but you know. Dog hair everywhere. :)

Are you on Ravelry yet? If you don’t mind having new friends, what is your Ravelry name?
Give me one week and I'll tell you!

Socks!

I just finished the toe on the second swap sock. All I have ti di us block, make sure I've picked out the dog hair, and mail them off! :)

Yeah! Well ahead of the deadline.

Holy Golden Carp Batman!

I think I may, someday.. be invited to Raverly.

I heard about it, and thought it would be a lot of work. And then, heard about it some more... and finally, I heard about it again! So, being the lemming I am, I joined. On June 23. Now, currently there are 346 people ahead of me.

I'm starting the toe on my second swap sock! woot woot!

Socks! Lots of socks!

Sorry for the crappy dark picture. I snapped it before I wrapped them up. I used leftover yarn from Cpurl17's socks, and the pattern was Matthews leftover baby socks.

Next up, only singles. :)
First up, AquaMelon from Vesper. It's knit in garter rib, from Sensational Knitted Socks, the first.

Next, my swap sock for the Knitty Sock Swap. It's out of Tufootsie, pattern is 'foot the bill' from the Soysilk page.


Last up, finished last night. It's knitpicks yarn, handdyed by me. Just a generic sock pattern.

HEY! A Contest! Of sorts.

I decided to do it. I'm going to do the Tri-County Humane Society walk this year.

You like my puppies?

http://www.firstgiving.com/knelsen

Go give them monies. They promise to walk really nicely.

The contest part? You donate something, even 1 dollar, and I'll enter you in a drawing to win a prize. Just post a little note here or something there to let me know you donated, and then on the day of the walk (or day after) I will randomly draw a winner. For every 10 donations, I will toss in another prize.

Prize #1

1 skein of Yarn Pirate in Inferno colorway (picture stolen from the Yarn Pirate herself. Hey, it's her yarn, it's a good picture, and it's raining out here, so no good photos right now. )

Very bad. No good day.

Dog ate my knitting needles. No idea what size I was using, and I can't find a piece big enough to measure.

Feel like crap. Need a nap. Belly button infected.

Vesper!

I got home from work, and some vesper just fell into my shopping cart and I paid for it. No idea how that happened.

Know what? There's still some left as of 10:33 pm. Dude. Go buy me some Astro. :) I was good. I only got 2 skeins. Which brings my count to.... 6? or is it 8? And how many socks knitted from it? Exactly 1 1/4.

Anyway. Still alive. felling better. Still feel like I got hit by a truck. But now it's just a little truck.
And, my belly button is bruised. So weird looking.

I made it!

Survived my lap today.

I guess they found some Endo on my left ovary, which caused it to stick to my uterus and cause all the pain.

Lasered it off, and we're good to go.

Now if I can just git rid of all the CO2 they pumped in, I'll be golden.

I picked up some supplies to make Bauble yesterday. I really want to start it, but I'm trying to be good and finish cleaning the house first. :) I want to do a heavy 'spring clean'. I've started in the bedroom, and I'm tossing out (well. giving to goodwill actually) things I haven't worn in a while, or stuff that just doesn't fit right anymore. Then a good dust and vacuum, and I may even do the windows. But, my goal is to be done with the whole house before my surgery on the 10th, so I can be lazy for about a week or so. I'm sure it won't take that long to recover, but I'd like to just not feel guilty about being lazy. I'm planning a Buffy marathon and lots of knitting.

I've been working on making some baby socks for one of my coworkers wives. They had a baby on Tuesday. So, I must knit socks. I have the toe to do on the second one, then weave up the ends and done! I should get that finished today. I also need to weave int he ends of my swap socks, and get them in the mail on Monday.

I think that's about all the news that is news. Once I finish those baby socks, I'll post a picture. They're just too cute not to share.

Sunburn and Socks.

So, I finally blocked those socks. So, here's a picture. I hope my sock pal doesn't mind me spoiling her surprise. :)


I just love the colors is in this sock. I'm normally not a yellow person, but for this yarn, I'd change me stance on yellow. The yarn is from Scouts Swag. It's Puesta del Sol. 350 yards of Superwash/tencel light sport weight. Knit on a size 2 needle.
The pattern is from Nancy Bush's book "Knitting Vintage Socks" it's "Fancy Silk Sock".


Here's the pair. I really need to get myself some decent sock blockers. Can you tell where my homemade ghetto fabulous ones ended? Yeah, wire hangers are cheap, but they're just not long enough.

Oh to the sunburn!

We went to the lake yesterday.
These pictures are actually from the last time we wet, but... same lake, same dogs. Who would know?

Siris loves the water. Loves it. Now, Cleo I can understand. She's part lab. But the Italian Greyhound? He gets cold super fast. He'll stop playing and just start shivering. In 80 degree weather. So that's when I have to pick him up, and wrap him up in a towel.

What a strange little dog.

Anyway, after being out in the sun for a little while, both Hubby and I are burnt. It sucks. I went from "hey... no color" to "hey! Lobster girl!" in like... 10 seconds. The aloe is getting liberally applied often.

I did finish knitting my AquaMelon sock. I started the second one yesterday. I love it. Now I know why vesper yarn is so coveted. It's lovely.

Update.

So I finished the yellow socks. Yeah! I just need to block them and they can go to their new home.

That is all.

Shit-tastic.

That is how my week has been. Yours?

I'm so freaking happy that this week from hell is over. I have a Margarita in my hand, and life will get better.

Oh, and to top it off, I just realized I left my knitting at work. Fuck. I was so going to finish knitting my sock.

Dear Ovary. I hate you.

So yesterday went sort of like this.

get up.
go to couch.
Lay down all day.
Get up.
take shower.
Go lay on couch.
get up.
go to bed.


Yeah. Fun. Anyone want to buy a slightly damaged ovary?

I <3 Nerds!

My score on The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test:

Pure Nerd

(69 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 34% Dork)

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.


You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!