Laundry Day
Yup, that’s right. Today is laundry day. Usually on laundry day, I take my knitting and my MP3 player to keep myself occupied, but today is different. Today DH and our two friends are coming along. (I never knew doing laundry was a spectator sport) Really, we’ll be making our characters for a new D&D campaign, since Eyebrows (guess why we call him that) has his laptop with him at all times.
I’ll be remaking Neko Hito, a favorite character of mine from way back. She’s so happy and optimistic it borders on insanity. She’s an all white catlike humanoid…in other words Cat Human/Person (that’s what neko hito means) Although, if I make her a rogue this time, hito can also mean bandit. She’s very much like any other cat you’ve seen; severely distracted my shiny or moving objects, likes sleeping at random times- particularly when there’s lots of sun, loves milk, and just goes crazy with cat nip. I can’t wait to play her again.
On a different note, I think I’ll still bring my knitting with me to do laundry, since there are four of us making characters and we can’t all use his computer at the same time. I finished the first sock of what I’ve named the “Purple Rain” pair. (guess what color!) I didn’t even cast-on the second one yet, so I’ve got some work to do. I also realized yesterday that I can’t expect everyone getting socks from me to have size seven feet, so the next pairs will be for sizes 9, 8, 6, and 5. (not in that order)
I’ve decided as well, that I’m going to use these Christmas gifts as guinea pigs. I want to make my own patterns to sell on Ravelry, and I can’t do that without trying out a few things… not that trying out my own ideas in knitting has ever really worked out that well…
Three days off and what will I do?
I’ll be sick, that’s what. Monday night at work I found myself running to the restroom three times before going home to do the same twice more. Yesterday I was nauseous all day and today…well, so far so good. DH was also sick, so I’m hoping he feels better too. (we’ll see when he wakes up)
I did manage to get some knitting done yesterday though. I started a pair of socks last Wednesday, got about a half an inch in and then promptly put them away in favor of a book. Now I have about half a sock with the instep done and the foot and toe left to do. To be fair though, I only made the leg part 4 inches. I decided I’d like to make a pair of ankle socks. Plus with Ravelympics coming up soon, I don’t want to have a pair on the needles that wont count toward the games.
The book, if you were wondering was Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. It’s about the Leprosy outbreak in Hawai’i around 1890. It’s a really good story if you ever need something to read. (this is a fictional novel, with some characters based on real people)
Anywho, I also get to go get my taxes done today. I’ve been waiting for the bloody W2 forms to come in, since both of my jobs think that it’s fun to wait till the last day to send them out. And I came to the realization yesterday that I’ll have to wait for the forms from Borders next year too, since my store didn’t close until after the new year. arg.
As always I have so many bills that my tax return will be used up the very day I get it. My stupid Jeep needs a new head, so there goes $100-500. I owe Dad’s gf around $600. Oh, and lets not forget about car insurance, the water bill, and the fact that we have to save up to rent a house.
I’ll tell you right now, I can’t get that severance pay quick enough. Too bad I have to wait till the 26th to just get the paperwork for it. I can’t really complain though. Lots of places aren’t even offering severance anymore with the economy the way it is. Heck some places didn’t even know they were closing till the day they closed. I think I made it out alright.
Brain Numb
I always get a little caught up with the Post Title thingy. I don’t really feel like putting a title up. I’d then have to try to keep (a little) on topic, and my brain just doesn’t work that way. But it would be weird with no title. (can you even do that?)
So, anyway, we met up on Thursday for our first-ever knitting thing and we ended up just hanging out at Amanda’s place instead of the Raven (car troubles donchaknow). Poor Shawna had a small accident at work earlier in the week and had a doctors appointment, so was only there for about an hour, but I think this week will even out, since Amanda has classes most of the day Wednesday.
I did get Amanda started on slippers, but she still needs work on the pearl stitch, so I’ll have to see what’s going on there. Shawna should be getting the knit stitch down soon. I think the main problem there is holding the working yarn. She’ll get it. ^^
Also, while I was there Thursday, Amanda introduced me to her adorable beagles. Cooper and Comet. (Cooper’s still a pup) Very cute dogs. She introduced me to the show “Lie To Me” as well. I admit to being a little distracted by it while I was supposed to be knitting. Lesson learned. No t.v. while knitting with these guys. 
And to update a little, Walden’s is closing tomorrow. I worked my last shift there yesterday. It was a bit depressing, but…you know. Good things are coming!
One of my own.
On Thursday, I will be officially starting my own knitting group. Three whole members strong. I fully intend to continue to go to the Raven on Tuesdays when I can, and to bring Amanda and Shawna along with me if they want to go, but this will be nice. I’ll be teaching them so I can have that sick sense of achievement and pride. ^^
Amanda has already started learning, using the book “I Taught Myself Knitting”. Its a kit actually, with a few things you’ll inevitably need for knitting. (I used this one too) I might go out and get Shawna some needles and yarn, but I think I might have enough to lend her some needles and give her a skein from my stash.
I’ll come back here and update about how it went. Yay.
Relaxation Time
Now that I’ve finished the “Mom Socks” (I should be a little more creative when naming projects), I’m going to settle in to some comfy slipper-making. I’ve already got one half-done and it’s in this lovely variegated blue and green (and some other colors) yarn.
I like how quickly I can get these done and I’m rather proud of myself for actually starting my Christmas projects.
I was thinking about starting a hat for Lexie (Kroger) since it’s been cold out…not this week, but you know, and she never has a hat. I told her originally, that I’d make her a hat is she’s still working at Kroger next holiday, but now I think I’ve gone and said something to make me have to make it sooner…like “What color do you want you hat?”
I really need to stop asking people that. It’s much easier to just pick a color from my stash and roll with it. If someone doesn’t like blue, and I make them something blue, they shouldn’t argue. First, it’s handmade with lots of love, to offset the hated color, and second, its a damn present so there.
But, getting back to relaxy time, I think my plan will be:
slippers
slippers
hat (Laxie)
socks
slippers
mittens <–never done these before>.<
blah
blah
blah
Hm. Looks good to me. ^^
The Creeping…thing?
It’s really not all that bad. I mean, I don’t mind what it’s doing…
The sock is knitting itself.
I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. Every time I go back to work on it, it’s bigger than when it was when I set it down. I know I didn’t get that far…
Luckily, it hasn’t decided to just ruin amok. I’d end up with miles (well, yards) of “Eyes on You”.
The finished sock looks kind of small, actually, but fits really nice. (The short-row heel looks really big, and so-not-dainty) Pics of the finished product will be uploaded to my Ravelry page, as usual.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/TwistedStitch1985
I started the first sock on January 5th. I didn’t think I’d have it finished so quickly, but I’m certainly not arguing. Again, the whole knitting itself thing is working out for me. ^^
I hope to finish the second in the next 2 or 3 days. Then I’ll take pictures of them and send them out to Mom…I don’t even know her address. I’ll just have to ask my grandma about it. (she’s the one who told me Mom’s shoe size after all)
After I’m done with those, I’ll probably do a few pairs of slippers. Kim’s mom actually told her she’d pay to have me make her a pair, so I’m waiting to see if she still wants some.
On another topic, once Waldenbooks closes, I’ll be teaching two girls from Kroger how to knit. Amanda has already started, using the book “I Taught Myself Knitting”. I can’t wait to start with them. I’ll actually have real-world friends.
When Waldens is finally gone, I’ll have at least two days off a week, which, to be honest, kind of scares me. I haven’t had that much time off in over five years. (During High School, I had work, school, and dance;college was coaching dance, work, and school;after college was 2 jobs.) Okay, well over five years. It’ll be so strange. Well, as I stated before, I have a very, very big project list for Christmas presents, so that should get done anyway.
No word yet on if I’ll ever get to the house work…
FINALLY!!
The Stupid Legwarmer Project (SLP) is FINALLY finished. I just cut the last thread from sewing up the seams.
I will never, ever do this God awful pattern again. (that’s what I get for trying to design something)
I’m wrapping it in Christmas paper and delivering Saturday. If she says anything “constructive” I might just kill someone…
Fighting Temptation
One legwarmer down, one to go. I’m not proud to say this, but it’s another failure. The dang thing is too small now. But I’m pressing on. The second leg warmer is about 5 inches long so far.
But while I was laying in my bed having the last conversation of the day with DH, it came to me. I’ll pick up stitches. I’ll knit a new panel (I haven’t sewn the seam yet) and just knit for an inch or two. The panel stitches will be perpendicular to the rest, but I figured that it’s in the back, so no one should notice. Then DH says “Why not put a cable on there or something and it can be the front?”
Are you kidding me? Not only is that idea pure genius, it’s downright doable. I love cables, but as I hate these legwarmers, I wasn’t willing, this whole time, to do anything that would make it take longer. But a panel of about two inches and 17 inches long wouldn’t take that long. I could use purl on RS and then a nice cable (4) in knit every so often. Of course I’ll have to do some math to figure out how many stitches I end up with and make the cables look even.
Just now a light bulb went on. Stay with me here…
What if I just picked up stitches AFTER the ribbing and BEFORE the end ribbing for the panel, and then picked up stitches at the top and bottom of the panel to make more ribbing?? It would (hopefully) look like the ribbing went all the way around.
I like it!
Once I finish the second legwarmer I’ll take one to Dad’s and fit it around Anna’s leg to find out how big to make the panel. I should be done with this project…oh I’d say in 2 days since I have Friday off.
Now, the whole title of this post was referring to the fact that it’s killing me to still be doing these legwarmers when I’ve got new yarn and a new sock book just waiting for me. I’ve also got a client. Yeah, weird. My friend Kim showed her family the slippers I made her (which are like the slippers her grandmother used to make) and her mom told her she would pay for me to make her some as well. I told Kim I’d just make her a pair, but she said no and that her mom wanted to buy them and I should charge for them anyway. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve accepted payment for a knitted item. So anyway, I should probably get some slippers knit as well. I’ve got enough new yarn for four pairs of slippers and three pairs of socks. I think that should hold me over for a while.
But I just have to finished the stupid legwarmers! If they turn out really nice, I’ll change from “stupid legwarmers” to “nifty legwarmers that I’ll never make again”.
Testing..One, two, three…
Okay, this is the first time using the Dragon Naturally Speaking product to dictate a blog… All right, I’m going to multitask while doing this, that’s the whole point of the thing after all.I’m going to continue knitting this stupid leg warmer project and cut everything in half…not literally. The pattern started with 57 stitches and is down to 26 stitches. Personally I don’t think that this is gonna fit around anybody’s leg, but I digress. Its not my job to make sure it’s the right size, just that it’s done.
I got $30 in Mary Maxim’s gift cards for Christmas so I went and bought some yarn. I got four skeins of the Starllete yarn from Mary Maxim’s, (really great colors) and three skeins of Bernat satin… really luscious yarn. I can’t wait to make socks with it.
Speaking of socks, I finally finished my dad’s Christmas socks and deliverd them yesterday. He was sick, so he had to open them today. They were well received, thanks goodness. Of course, he’s my dad and even if they were ugly… wait, no, he would have said they weren’t great,and would’ve told me what was wrong with them.
So far this Dragon product is doing a poor job of dictating properly. Of course it’s got to get used to my dialect, I guess if you want to call it that. I don’t mind editing really, but some of the things you wouldn’t believe it says. Of course you won’t see it because of the editing before publishing.
Okay husband just had a great idea. We’re going to go ahead and keep this and then add the edited post after before the work unedited portion, so you can see how the product works on my blog. Now it isn’t about reviewing this product, but I thought everyone should know about it. The blog is about the stupid knitting project that I can’t seem to get done. Really, this looks like it’s supposed to be a washcloth. I don’t know how this is going to fit on anyone’s leg.
All right, also at Mary Maxim’s today in I picked up a double pointed needle keeper for my 7 inch DPN’s and also a set of two pom-pom makers. So I can just make pom-poms out of all my scrap yarn and put pom-poms on anything that needs a pom-pom. I’m kind of a pom-pom making freak. Emphasis on freak. I look like a telemarketer rapped in string…lovely.
Since I can’t seem to stay on topic, I’ll have you notice in the unedited version of this post that for some reason, The Dragon keeps adding extra letters onto things like yesterday and anything. There’s no reason for it to be making that mistake at all. Another thing I noticed last night when messing around is that if you whistle and change the sound of your whistle, it will produce words, sometimes like this:
He he and he
So, he he and he is what I get for whistling so far. I started annoying myself so I stopped whistling before I annoy every other living creature in my house. My cats started meowing at me. It just said “a gay him”. That’s not right.
Now, on this program, you’re supposed to be able to make the program go through this whole setup thing that gets it used to your voice and your writing style and all kinds of cool things, but it asks for your Windows ID and password which I can’t seem to figure out on my computer. I have no idea what it is or where it’s supposed to be. If my internet were a little more reliable, I could probably look up that information and figure it out. But no, there’s also the fact that I’m sort of lazy.
So I guess overall the shopping and Mary Maxim’s today went well. I spent $30 on some wonderful yarn. Even though I ended up not buying a yarn I really wanted, I got lots of useful yarns — I’ll probably use within the next two months, if everything goes well. The yarn I gave up was a bamboo silk yarn, I can’t remember the brain brand name, but it was the softest yarn I have ever felt.
As an aside, when I said the last sentence. Just know my cursor went crazy and I have no idea why. What just happened? Go Dragon, go.
But back to the yarn. I think the next time I have some money to spend on myself, I’ll get some of that yarn. Each hank was 50 g. So I should be able to get a really nice pair of socks out of two hanks. Also, on the plus side of this test, I got a bit more of this leg warmer done. And I think I’m ready to change needles, which I won’t be doing while I’m concentrating on the blog. I’m going to go edit and post this now. Let me know your opinions if you’ve ever used this Dragon device or any questions about it if you’d like to know anything.
Okay, this is the first time using the Dragon naturally speaking, product to dictate a blog. all rights on going to multitask while doing this that’s the whole point of the thing after own going to continue knitting this stupid leg warmer project and cut everything and have not literally. But the pattern so I started with 57 stitches and gone down to 26 stitches. Personally any don’t think that this is benefit around anybody’s leg, but I digress. Its not my job to make sure it’s runaway just that it’s done.
I got $30 and Mary Manson’s gift card to spur Christmas so I went and bought some yarn. I got for schemes of the starlets ran from Mary Maxim’s really great colors and three skeins of the knots satin really luscious yarn. I can’t wait to make socks with it.
Speaking of socks on the finally finished my dad’s Christmas socks and deliver them worse. He was sick yesterdayy so he had to open them today. They were well received thanks goodness. Of course he’s my dad and even if they were ugly. While no use one of said they were great, he would’ve told me what was wrong with them
So far this drag and products is doing a poor job of dictating properly. Of course it’s got to get used to my dialect, I guess if you want to call it that I don’t mind editing really, but some of the things you wouldn’t believe it says. Of course you won’t see it because of the editing before publishing
Okay husband just had a great idea were going to go ahead and keep this and then add the edited post after work. So you can see how the product works know my blog isn’t about she reading this product. I thought everyone should know blog is about the stupid knitting project projects that I can’t seem to get done really this looks like it’s supposed to be a washcloth now know how this is going to fit on anyone’s leg.
All rights also at Mary Maxim’s today in I picked up a double pointed needles keep yours for my 7 inch DPN’s and also a set of two pom-pom makers. So I can just make pom-poms out of all my scrap yarn in the tom-toms on anythingg that needs a pom-pom I’m good of the pom-pom making freak. Emphasis on freak like a telemarketer rafts in string lovely.
Since I can’t seem to stay on topic I’ll have you noticed in the unedited version of this post for some reason. The Dragon keeps adding extra letters onto things like yesterday, and anything is no reason for it to be making that mistake all and another thing I noticed last night when messing around. If you whistle and change the sound of your whistle. It will produce words, sometimes like this:
He he and he
So, he he and he is what I get for whistling so far. I started knowing myself so I whipped whistling before, I know it every other living creature In my house my cat started yelling at me a gay him that right.
It just cites a gay him. That’s not right no on this program you’re supposed to be able to make the program go through this whole setup thing that gets It used to your voice and your writing style and all kinds of cool things, but it asks for your window will ID and password which I can’t seem to figure out on my computer I have no idea what it Is or where it’s supposed to be if my Internet for a littlee more reliable. I could probably look up that information and figure it out. But so, there’s also the fact that I’m sort of lazy
So I guess overall and the shopping and Mary Maximus today went well. I spent $30 in God’s wonderful yarn. Even though I ended up not buying a yarn I really wanted it out loud useful great yarns — I’ll probably use within the next two months, if everything goes well beyond I gave up was a bamboo silk yarn I can’t remember the brain brand name. But to him it was the softest yarn I have ever felt
As an aside, when I said, the last sentence. Just know my purse or went crazy and I have no idea what. What just happened go Dragon go.
But back to the yarn. I think the next time I have some money to spend on myself. Get some of that yarn each change was 50 g. So I should get a reuse the really nice pair of socks out of two tanks, and also on the plus side of his test I guess a high gun a bit more of this leg warmer done. And I think I’m ready to change needles, which I won’t be doing while a concentration on the blog. I’m going to go edit this now, and post it let me know your opinions if you’ve ever used this Dragon device or any questions about it a few like to know
