The wonder of holiday cookie baking

Cookies and holidays. What could be more joyous than that combination? Well, baking cookies for the masses during the holiday rush dampens joy.

My friend Pat has been baking cookies for her church, neighbors, family and other friends since her daughters were babies. They're really big babies now but still she bakes and somehow hooks me into it. It's been happening for a long, long time. Her kitchen takes on cookie factory proportions and honestly, I have no idea how so many of us fit comfortably in the kitchen and baking area but we do somehow.

 There is CHRISTMAS music playing on the iPod stereo and her house is decorated brightly with a dazzling tree and hanging, dangling festive holiday flare is everywhere. Her house is warm and toasty and alive with the scents of cinnamon and ginger and melting chocolate. The peace is interrupted only by her exclamations of "WHY DO I SMELL COOKIES BURNING?" and "HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!" as she races from the kitchen with a tray of cookies fresh out of the oven. 


You really don't want to be in her way when this happens. Don't ask me how I know.

 She's a task mistress and there is no farking around with her. She will give you The Look if you don't fall in line. She has recipes and a schedule and things must roll at a good clip. She has it down to a science. She knows how long it will take to measure, sift, mix and place dollops and how long it will take to roll dough and she knows when her daughters will reach saturation point but these days with teenagers, she's reaching saturation first.

She has peanut butter cookies with a giant chocolate candy kiss center, traditional chocolate chip cookies, pecan balls dipped in confectioner's sugar, raspberry strippers with a lemony drizzle. Oh my goodness, the raspberry strippers are so yummy. 

This year, in memory of her dear friend Barbara who recently died, Pat added Barbara's own absolutely delicious Ginger Snap cookies. It was a sweet and poignant 
addition to her line-up. 


The cookies were all finally baked after a day of slaving and whip cracking and there we all sat while flour floating through the air like mist. I sat and knit with no cookie related stress.

 Pat, on the other hand, was exhausted and she would truly kill me if I posted the photo of her once the last batch of cookies were out of the oven and cooling on the racks. 

A few moments of rest before the horrific realization that the Christmas Turkey was yet to be purchased and thawed. I think I left right around that same time. lol

 

Neglect

Wow. I'm a bad blogger. I haven't been very attentive. But that will change this weekend when I catch up with myself.

 

Barns in the office

There is a woman in my office who brings a huge Ziploc of Cheerios in every day and eats … wait, that’s too civil … snarfs, wolfs, vacuums, snorts them down. Inhale wouldn’t be right because inhaling implies a smooth transition down with no hang-ups. Wrong.

She sits a couple of people away and yes, it is 7:30 when she arrives but still … I can hear her tossing them in and SNAP, the steel trap closing on them. Obviously, she chomps with her mouth wide open because the smell of decimated Cheerios makes it way to my area and I tell you, I want to throw up.

The closest description I can give you is a horse chomping on the side of the stable. An exaggerated CRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCH CHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMP CRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCH. Just imagine the sound you’d make describing the noisiest eater you have ever heard to someone who hasn’t heard it before and that is what The Horse sounds like. And again, I sit two cubicles away. The aroma of chewed up nasty Cheerios. Gaggaggaggag.

I have dry heaves. And I haven’t even begun on the noise and how my body cringes each time the CRUNCHCHOMPCRUNCH begins. The new VP sits RIGHT THERE. I mean RIGHT THERE beside me. Too close in my opinion. VPs need offices but that’s another rant for another entry. He arrives at 7 so he’s held hostage to her Cheerios Crunch Fest. He has to wonder why they put him in the center of a barn. 

I had to walk by her desk because I really didn’t believe a lone human could generate so much damned noise. I casually cruised by and looked over. The Ziploc bag was ¾ empty (Thank GOD! The torment is almost over) and her hand was resting inside. 

Does she really think eating a half box of dry Cheerios is healthy? Did she see a mother give a kid dry Cheerios and think, “WOW, that’s a healthy snack!!” Well, the portion the mother gave to her kid probably WAS healthy. Pretty sure it wasn’t half the damned box.
 

When does she go on vacation so the rest of us can have a vacation?

Blocking is magic

The first time I knit lace, I spent most of the knitting time fretting over the wrinkled up, bunched up pile of glob hanging off the needles. The only thing that kept me going until I completed it was Ravelry. I scoured the site and was relieved beyond measure to see similar blob-like products hanging from the needles of more experienced lace knitters. But how did they get such beauty from Globbedy Blob? I kept knitting, hoping there would be some answer at the end to resolve the balled up mess that grew with each row.

When I cast off and held what should be a shawl, I knew I'd really mucked it all up somehow but knew I would not unravel it and start over. If I couldn't make it look the way it looked in the pattern photo, I would dump the entire jacked up mess into the rubbish bin.

But the answers could be found online and I soaked and nervously pinned and blocked and was absolutely amazed during the pinning. Amateur pinning, to be sure but what was opening under my inexperienced hands was astounding. AND as soon as I realized I didn't eff it all up, I was ready to cast on more lace. 

Lace = crack for knitters.

All of this to say the magic happened again for me during the Shetland Lace Triangle. I used Jo Sharp DK Wool Tweed, which felt like rope by the way, knitting until I couldn't take the rough yarn any longer (almost 5 skeins) and soaked in SOAK then soaked in fabric softener (Downy Lavender or Orchid or some such flowery goodness) and blocked. The shawl, to my delight, grew and grew and grew.
 
Already, I'm thinking about my next couple of shawls and yes, I do have the patterns at the ready. I figured out a way to block this huge thing with just the 4 interlocking squares and I must say I'm impressed with my cleverness. 


Now ... Gawain next? Tangled Yoke? Grace? Or maybe something quick like the DIC shawl. When we went to Stitch House today for their Third Anniversary Party (which was a good time, btw, until we ran out of space. It was quickly time to get out of there because I don't do crowds very well), I saw a gal wearing the shrug and it looked good. She said it barely took 2 skeins and that was good news to me because I have 2 skeins in Ruby River just waiting for something cool to become.

Shetland is dry and LOVE! It blocked beautifully and I have been waltzing around flinging it over my shoulders. It's huge, it's gorgeous and I love it.

Date me

Why do men put sexual crap into their profiles? WHY?


I have received messages from men on various websites and after checking out the photos (yes, I'm somewhat shallow. Sue me) and reading the profiles, I admit my interest being piqued.


Then, without fail, somewhere in the profile is a mention of sex. Or penis size. Something vaguely distasteful and hanky panky-esque.


WHY?


This morning I received a request for communication on eHarmony. I took a look at the profile and he seemed ok. Fun even. Then, dammit, under "The things I can't live without are:"
"icecream/lovemaking not nec. in that order"

It was the fourth or fifth thing but still. Why include it?

UGH!!!!


We all know you can't live without it. We all know you love it. Everyone does. There is no need to bring that shit up in your profile!


Another message I received:
"hi...you look interesting and would love to know more about you............xx"

Uhm, what am I, some kind of SPECIMEN? Grudgingly, I move to his profile because, hey, he could be a nice guy. Maybe he's just not good at breaking the ice.

*sigh*

Under "The most private thing I'm willing to admit", his response:
"I am well endowed down under.. "

OMG. I cannot take it. I just can't. 

Where is the damned wine? 

Knees, knitting and kneading

I finally became a big gurl and had my knee arthroscopy. *sweats* I dreaded it. I knew it had to be done but instead of pulling on those big gurl panties, I whined and limped and put on the put upon face and martyred myself for many months. 

Talking about postponing the inevitable. Ack. 

So last Friday, I had it done and my ortho and physical therapist and galpals were all right. It was far less traumatic than I previously envisioned. 

Really, I shouldn't have been such a baby. My friend H had so many surgeries on her broken foot I'm sure she lost count. She could have no weight bearing for seven (7, yes 7) long and arduous months. Stop n Shop's Peapod was her BFF. She memorized their entire home delivery list.

She communed with her favorite chair. Now her foot is as good as new but man, can you imagine crutches and no weight bearing for almost a year? I think she probably could have become an aerialist if she wanted to because she could fling herself through the air in crazy ways during those seven torturous months on crutches. And no safety net, either!

So I'm at one week post operative and the knitting is crazy. CA-RAZY. I'm almost done with M's sweater. I had to put it down because, quite frankly, I got tired of looking at it.

The cats are beginning to think I'm a permanent couch fixture so they knead on me constantly. This morning, I was happy they were kneading near me because I awakened just in time to see a horrible, slithery, fast moving centipede going up the wall.

*excuse me for a moment while I scream*

I grabbed a flipflop and crushed it. Then had to calm myself down long enough to go get the Fantastic, paper towels and do my crime scene clean-up. OMG, I hate slithery creepycrawlies. I'm still shaking and it's been about half an hour. Why must they invade us? I don't go outside and slither around their space. I don't dig in their dirt or decide to hang out near their lounge area. If you enter my home, you risk the back of a handy flip flop. If you're outside, I won't bother you. It is a fair deal. Stay. out.

To console my shaky self, I immediately turned to the world inside the laptop and checked out Bloomies cos Bloomies always makes things better. Not that I can buy anything. Buying is a joke at the moment. No, I can't buy anything but I can look. Looking doesn't hurt.

I encounter the Clog Boot(ies).

Let's consider this.

One of the properties of clogs is the openness of the back, correct? UGG has closed up the back yet still calls it a Clog. If you encase a sandal, is it still a sandal or does it now become a shoedal?

The appeal of the damned thing is enough to make me want to try it on. It's the first time I'd actually want to fold down a boot. I've never folded down any boot despite the option because it seemed so 70s Little House but these are funky enough to give it a whirl.  But if I was going to dive in and just buy the whole Clog Boot concept, this is the one I'd get: tall, suede, lean.

Now I'm off to knit more while I ponder my knee. And scan the walls and floors for centipedes. *cry* 

I'm working on Irish Diamond, Hampton Cardi and Lillehammer. Yes, Lillehammer from freakin' 1994? Ok, I actually ordered the yarn kit in 2002 and was freaked out by the charts and overly complex instructions and the general fevered enthusiasm from the Yahoo Groups. Those gals were the nicest and most helpful people I've ever encountered in an online knit group but their skill set was light years ahead of mine back then and I think I was just too impatient to actually sit down and work through it. 

I did go to Staples or Kinkos or some such place and blow up the main charts to Jolly Green Giant size because the intricacy of the charts was lost in the original fairy size. Only Rowan is worse when it comes to teeny tiny maddeningly squinty sized charts. WTF? Someone needs to tell Rowan we can hardly see the chart much less see there are actually little marks inside the stitch square. *rolleyes*

I fought the law and the ... LAW WON

Not really. I'm steering clear of the law. The pattern for the Tosh shawl won and it won big. Suddenly, I was 2 stitches off and could not find where it began. Ripped a row, still not right. I'm not ripping more than that so the whole thing was frogged. Whatever. A million other shawls waiting to be knit. Not getting stuck on one temperamental pattern. *take that, shawl*

People. It's just RAIN.

It's been raining almost 40 days and 40 nights. Enough  with the rain. But more importantly, enough with the "what-do-you-think-all-that-wet-shit-coming-out-of-the-sky-is" driving. There is no acceptable reason a 23 minute drive to my office became an hour and a half two inches forward, brake, stop, sit, one inch forward, brake, stop, sit nightmare commute this morning.

And on top of all that, every impatient, entitlement suffering little arse on the road just had to pull in behind me and try to crawl up the back of my car's ass in their vain hope that pure obnoxiousness on their part would cause traffic to magically disappear.

Pardon me a moment while I roll my eyes so hard I create a migraine.

WTF? Rain, people, rain. Not ice, not snow and all evidence to the contrary, not a typhoon so why in hell did it take an extra hour and 7 minutes to get to work? What is going to happen when a) the kids go back to school, bringing more people out on the road early in the am including those lumbering school buses that if you don't leave your house by 6AM you're screwed because you sure as hell will find yourself crawling behind one allllllllllllllllllll the way to your destination and b) when the first effing snow falls. 

Oh, those two things in combination will be enough to have you scrambling through your glove box in desperate search of a plastic knife so you can saw at your wrists while you sit in traffic.

Winter ... good times to come.

Victory over beads - yeah, I'm a BAD ASS ... *rolleyes*

Clearly, I need a more exciting life. Wait. I need a life. Period. I'm declaring victory over inanimate objects. There is something seriously wrong with that. 

Yeaaaaah.

Well, screw it. I'm grabbing victory where I find it and right now, victory resides in the successful placement of beads in a shawl. And yeah, it is geeky and corny and screw political correctness but ya gotta admit getting so excited over knitting with fucking beads is queer don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I can see your lips twitching at the corners cos you're just as geeky as I am about getting those damn beads to sit properly on the damn yarn. 

*crickets*

Don't act like it's just me!! 


Anyway, the lace is defying my authority a little and the count keeps getting screwy but I'm pretty sure it's me getting sloppy with the yarn overs and stubbornly knitting on when my ass is tired and ready to go to sleep. Whatever. Fixing it is pretty easy and not so stress inducing since I can block the hell out of it when it's done.


I think. 


*whistles*

Bead me up, baby

Beads and I have never hit it off. I always end up flinging them across the room and then cursing like a drunken sailor while I round the effin' things up with a broom and dustpan.

Just like the insane person who keeps slamming his head against the wall thinking things will be different after the next head bang, I came home with another vial of beads swearing things are gonna be different this time. Whatever. It's time to start the lace. If the beads don't work out, the cats will get their workout chasing the suckers around the room.

Hey Vogue, Is that a WEDGIE??

I picked up the new Vogue Knitting while in the yarn store visiting my Knit Geek Buddy.  Annisa opened the box to show us the new issue and we immediately began flipping through the pages hungrily.

We encountered #16 from Rebecca Taylor and both of us actually screeched, "Ewwww!" I said, "She has a wedgie!!"

Why, Lord, WHY would the editor allow this? What was the designer thinking?  Does she have some childhood horror memory of her skirt stuck into her panties as she walked around school and no one told her that has been long buried into the deepest, darkest recesses of her brain? For God's sake girlfriend, go see a shrink! Projection, party of one, your table is ready.

The front of this cardigan like thingy isn't horrible; weirdly shaped with strange sleeves but the pattern is pretty cool. Why in hell she didn't make the back straight escapes me. It just has to go back to her repressed memory of her skirt all jacked up in her panties and it was probably in high school. It's her nightmare relived way of working out the trauma? Whatever it is, that thing will never look as if it's stuck up my butt. Over and out.

I want to not have a queue

Ever have so many projects lined up that you don't know where to start? You look at this pattern then remember that pattern then cast on for another pattern only to feel as if you're neglecting the old pattern and then you realize you haven't knit a darned thing. Why? Because you've spent hours going 'round and 'round in your mind or out loud to your friends or just to your cats. You haven't knit a stitch because you can't get out of your own way.

My queue is stressing me. 

It's full of pretty stuff. Intricate lace. Bulky, toasty sweater. Gorgeous lacy shawls. Cabled goodness. All still in queue, mocking me. 


I'm afraid to look anymore. It's that "ravel it" button followed immediately by the "add to ravelry queue" button that gets me into so much trouble as I saunter across the internet ... I'm going to remove those buttons from my browser, at least until I get the queue under control. Move some items out. Actually knit a few. There's a concept: knitting something in the queue rather than just adding to it every time I sign on. *rolleyes*


No queue = no pressure.


No pressure = happy knitter.

My shawl is growing like crazy. I think I can finish this within a few days if I just concentrate on completing this project before beginning another. 


I think I can. I think I can.

 

Mara me, please

When I first saw Mara, I loved her but when I took a closer look at the styling in the photo, I hated it. Too "I'm a cowgurl and I'm about to eat a big ass lobster and I need a big ass wool bib." And since I don't like seafood, the image burned on my brain of the model with her wool bib pulling up to the table holding a huge knife and fork in each hand with her elbows firmly planted on the table was just too much for me. 


All of this is not to say the model isn't pretty and feminine but the sight of this chick slouching against the wall while wearing her lobster bib, shorts and high heels made me click on the red "X" and look for something else. Is that a barn door she's leaning against or the lobby of a well-heeled restaurant? Is she about to go ride a raging bull? Did she leave her hair salon in a hurry? Is she just waiting for a galpal for drinks?

In spite of all the inner commotion caused by this badly styled photo, I continued to be drawn to Mara over and over. I took a look at other project photos and she began to grow on me all over again. I looked at the remainder of the photos from the pattern and all I can say is, it is truly astounding what better styled photos can do for your garment design. 

(Can someone please, please talk to the "stylists" over at Interweave Press and let them know they do a fairly shitty job of styling what are often lovely garments ... Show-off Ruffle skirt being a prime example ... thanks).   

I have the most glorious yarn for Mara. It was purchased a year and a half ago at Seed Stitch during one of their clearance sales. It was still pretty spendy but not nearly as much as the original cost per skein which was about $25.00 and I think that's obscene for yarn that isn't even 70 yards. I'm not bending over for that. It's Road to China from The Fibre Company and while the temptation is strong to purchase it full  price and feast on peanut butter for the remainder of the month, someone has to reign you in and talk some sense into you. There is pretty yarn and there is pretty yarn on clearance. Indulging in the latter is best for everyone, again considering each skein is barely 70 yards. The color is  Topaz and it's 65% alpaca, 15% silk, 10% camel and 10% cashmere. All in all a fine smooshy, squishy, soft piece of heaven. I cast on last night just before giving in and going to sleep. It's going to be quite something.

Cure for the Greens

Yes, I found even more green and green mixtures in my stash. It is really quite absurd that I have so much of a color that really doesn't excite me very much. Something Must Be Done. 


Since that early morning Green Epiphany, I've begun the long road back to Other Colors. I headed out to Seed Stitch and told myself I would not buy anymore yarn (I didn't) or any more pattern books (I didn't - again, yay me) but I'd exchange the ocean of green Creative Focus Linen I'd purchased there. Five skeins were already put into cakes so I was out of luck on those but the remaining five were still in hanks so I was able to exchange them for a color that is NOT GREEN.

 Is that not a gorgeous lavender? It's far more interesting than the green. Ok, maybe not as interesting but at least it constitutes variation on theme.

This is a very good start. The Cure is to stay out of yarn stores and if I'm in a yarn store, stay by the door while I wait for friends and resist the urge to get sucked in by NEW AND EXCITING new fall colors and IMAGINATIVE NEW PATTERNS.  But fail miserably.  You GOTS TO BE STRONG, I say.


Yeah. That's the plan.

What am I, a Leprechaun?

I seem to have a problem with green yarn. I'm not sure why or how I accumulated so much damned green yarn since it isn't even one of my favorite colors. But everywhere I look, I see green. 

This honking hank was purchased early last year to make a shawl I loved on Twist. Or maybe it was the year before. I found I needed another one so now I have two. This was dyed by Chris and the color variegation is hard to capture but the work is genius. Genius I tell you. 

Then there is Noro Silk Garden. I'm not a big Noro fan ... yet I have a ton of Noro. I think this is because Jill at Yarns in the Farms is a Noro fan and whenever she puts together a kit for a skirt, there is always Noro in there. I routinely take the kit apart because I get home and experiment with other combinations and all the Noro ends up in a separate bag, blatantly discriminated against by me, the ultimate Yarn Ho. Noro generally cannot be trusted, that's part of the problem. Noro looks so beautiful in the skeins. The colors are beautifully mixed and contrasted and you fall in love with the rich and often vibrant but sometimes subtle mixes. You take a bag of serene and elegant mauves and emeralds and chocolates and begin your project. Suddenly, inexplicably and without any kind of effing warning, out comes a huge splat of lime green mixed with orange tinged with purple. WTF? You grab the other skeins thinking it is some kind of evil, awful fluke and lo and behold, more orange and purple yarn vomit.  You realize Noro has sold you a bag of wood. Looks so innocent there in all it's green and grey splendor but I'm telling you, there is a hot mess of orange/purple/lime green waiting to spring at you. Although I admit Iro is what-you-see-is-what-you-get - no plunks of weirdly colored yarn vomit in those and for that, I'm grateful.

I fell for lace. Hard. I have so much lace and so little nerve. *snicker* I love it but I can't bring myself to actually pick a pattern and dive in. While I do have pink silk lace and chocolate alpaca lace, of course I have green lace. Green lace in all textures and variegations. Oh, lookey here. Tosh Lace. In green. It doesn't look green in the photo and that's what fooled me. Hah. It's green Trust me. I told myself it was more brownish blue-ish but when I got it home in the natural light, it was clear as day that it's green. Just a different saturation level of green but green all the damned same.

I also have been bitten by the linen bug and the other day, I found a bag of Euroflax in my trunk. I'd purchased it long ago to make a lace sweater. Guess what color the linen is? You'll never, ever guess. Actually, there was a yellow hank in there but the main colors are ... light green and dark green with the mutant yellow in there for variety. *rolleyes* The photo doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of the yellow and the dark green. The lighter green is a good balance. What is behind this accumulation of green?


Could it be a desire for more money? I can't imagine why I would want more money ... oh, I know. All of my disposable income is represented by bins and bags and baskets of yarn in my house. I'm overrun with yarn. Yarn and pattern books. Yarn and projects in varying stages of completion. I'm the crazy lady with the cats AND the yarn. Double whammy. But just so you fully understand and appreciate the depths of my newly discovered and completely unforeseen love of green, let me show you more. 

This Alpaca lace is from when I wanted to make a lime Citron. This shawl is the cutest thing ever. I'd make it much larger and wider but I love it. And it is one of the only projects I'd make using the same color as the model. The green is fabulous and I don't say that simply because I seem to have a freakish amount of green but the green really does suit this shawl.

I haven't made the shawl yet. But rest assured, I have all the green makings for it. In alpaca lace, in the Bramble silk lace ... in green. I even have Briggs Little big honking Atlantic in pale green. I have Tosh DK in Jade. I have Cocoon in green, thanks to Jill and one of her skirt kits.

It would be fabulous. But then I pick it up to admire it and teeny tiny little string of silky alpaca makes me crazy so back into the bin it goes. This is about when the chunky yarn begins to look more attractive to me and I pull it out and revel in the fact that I can whip out a project using chunky yarn in no time as opposed to cursing and screaming and ripping out dental floss yarn.

See how more inviting the chunky looks over the teeny lace? And what do you know, the Debbie Bliss Chunky Tweed is in ... green.


All righty now. I'm off to work on a new version of Swallowtail using fingering weight in Schaefer. Dammit all to hell, the yarn is green. Sue me.

Getting your Knit Geek on ...

So Chelsea at Stitch House and Annisa (and everyone else there) loved Flower Basket. She is so pretty and I'm really proud of her. Chelsea put her on the form, took photos and posted to their blog. *beams* 

Chelsea and I always like to hang because we really get into the patterns and yarns and designers and just rock the geekiness in us. Annisa just laughed at us and made fun of us. Claire came in and headed to the bowels of the basement to dye. Hah! She was there when I selected Glazed Pecan in the Tosh to use for the edging on Flower B. 

I have decided to use Cascade Heritage (from Seed Stitch ages ago) for Swallowtail and so far, the yarn loves Swallow, unlike Cascade Pure Alpaca. So unambitious that pure alpaca. It just wanted to fuzz, create halo and totally obscure the lacework. You may think the color I've chosen (Camel) is boring but rock that camel shawl with a red sweater or pink jacket or black coat and it will be beyond. Trust me. Plus I'm going to bling it out with beads instead of nupps. Not feeling the nupps. Aside from just not really liking big blobs of twisted yarn on my stuff, it sounds vaguely breast like and I'm betting if you really look at nupps, you'll see that they even look breast like so I'll just pass on the whole thing. Beads it will be. Blingy, shiny, sparkly, lovely beads. It's the kid in me. What of it?

Damned yarn won't bend to my will

Why? WHY? I want this baby alpaca to be Swallowtail but it is resistant. The stitches won't pop and give me great stitch definition. Clearly this baby alpaca just wants to be stockinette. So my ambitions are lost in the fuzzy floppiness of alpaca.

Sigh. I don't know if it wants to be this sweater or the higher neck sweater. 

Swallowtail Re-visited

Returning to our regularly scheduled blogging, I actually found pretty 40% off baby alpaca yarn yesterday and I've decided to do Swallowtail in this. I also have gorgeous beads to replace the nupps. I don't like nupps in the way that I don't like bobbles.

I do love the bobbles on the Show-off skirt and may have to get over my bobble hate because the skirt is just adorable.

With the option to add beads instead of nupps, Swallowtail is even more attractive to me. The color is greenish yellow and it is heathered. It is so squishy soft as to make me *squeal* and since it is DK weight, it is kinda flying off the needles. The progress from last night until this morning has been amazing! 

The color is more accurate in the first photo but this is just rocking along. I can't wait to get to the beading section. I also found a great hint on Ravelry re: enlarging this shawl dramatically without mucking up the stitch count. Yay!

Swallowing my Swallowtail Pride

Flush with the success of Flower Basket, I've decided I'm done licking my wounds over the failed Swallowtail and I'm ready to tackle her again. I'm going to take her on using a DK weight I picked up for a song ... a song, I tell you from Yarns in the Farms. Quite a while ago, they had a sale on Green Mountain Spinnery Cotton Comfort (80% wool; 20% cotton - why is it cotton comfort rather than wool comfort considering the majority is wool but no matter ... ) for something insane like $3.00 a hank. (I also have scored Rowan Tweed Aran for $5.00 a skein *gleeful*) so I purchased it in Storm which I'm going to use here and in Suede which really looks like suede - it's an olive-y brownish goldish color that's gorgeous.

Anyway, the color is a stormy gray and it's flecked with darker gray and white. I'm really going full force here and using gunmetal beads. Holy shit, I hope this all comes together. I already know I need more beads and since I'm going to Stitch House today with H, I'll remember to get more. 

Friday was a long time coming

Just makes me appreciate Fridays even more. The shawl received a lot of attention today in my office. My work friend tied it around her waist to model it. She made me promise not to get any full body shots because she was having a "fat" day and was frustrated. Oh yeah, gurlfriend. I hear you and I feel your fat. Today was a fat day for me, too. But Flower Basket made the fat better.

Flower Basket is soaking ...

in a sea of SOAK. This shawl flew from the needles! There is a section of muckity muck up but I don't care. If you think for one second I was going to rip out the section 3 rows until the start of the edging, you're mistaken. Uh-huh. 

Pattern is extremely forgiving plus the yarn is smooshy squishy heaven. I get the Tosh love. I totally get it now.


I used size 8s and for the edging I used 9s. I would have used 10s to bind off but I was at my office and without the pattern or the needles so I was flying by the seat of my pants. The Glazed Pecan for the edging is such a pretty contrast. Already I'm deciding on my next shawl. Gail? Seraphim? Laminaria? So many gorgeous choices. So many different yarns. *sigh*

Now she's blocking and she is gorgeous! LOVE. 

Yarn, patterns & other troublesome impulse items ...

First, Emily blocked successfully! I'm stunned at the difference blocking makes. Also could have done it more aggressively but it is very pretty as is. 

My friends and I are on a self-imposed yarn restricted diet. Yarn = bad carbs. We don't need anymore yarn or patterns or books or magazines or anything else fiber related. We're going to turn into those weird ladies who knit a lot of shit and have a lot of cats. No. We are not those ladies.

I have so much yarn in my place that I'm almost out of room to store it. Ok, I'll be honest. I can barely fit ME into the space much less one more skein or hank of anything ELSE. I'm also getting back into the dating scene. What the hell do you tell a guy when he comes over to pick you up and there is nothing but yarn (I'm in a loft), yarn, yarn and more yarn taking up every available inch of space. Bins of yarn, bags of yarn, baskets of yarn. Books and patterns piled high next to the book shelves. And if that isn't weird enough, I have two cats! Lord GOD, the guy is gonna run for the hills.

I neeeeed to dive into the stash and get busy knitting. Immediately. At least get rid of the stuff not in bins because I'm telling you now, I'm not going back to Target for more bins. This is just plain silly. I have 7 large bins and 2 medium bins and I'm not telling how many shopping bags and small bins of yarn I have. 

Tomorrow, one of my favorite yarn stores is starting the Cascade sale. I'm a sucker for alpaca and some of the Cascade alpaca is drool worthy. I must stay away. I must practice self-control. I have yarn impulse control issues. This must stop now. Before there is only room for the yarn.

Twist and Sigh

The new Twist Collective issue is up and, as usual, I was drawn to cables and lace cardigans. How many cable and lace cardigans are in my queue? How many are in countless magazines and books I've traded and/or purchased? I seem to have a bottomless void. Can we have a little variation on theme? I told myself this morning, "Keep it moving, don't put it in your basket" and yet somehow, against my will, Olivette appeared in my basket. 

But I didn't purchase it. I left it in my basket to ponder life. If I purchase it, I won't immediately knit it so why not just wait until I'm ready to knit it rather than having a folder filled to the brim with patterns that mock? I haven't knit Sylvi or Vaila or the others I simply "had to have." Vivian continues to tempt me but so far I've been resistant. Olivette would be gorgeous in Louisa Harding pure silk I have a ton of when Stitch House had their marvelous $2 sale. But I'm going to finish up my Flower Basket and my Sexy Scallops and Wanton Wisteria and ... and ... and ... you get the picture. *sigh*

And a public service announcement re: SOAK. Where have I been on this one? I bought Eucalan wash and was never really happy with it. Courtney at Seed Stitch told me that SOAK was heads above Eucalan and because she knows what she's talking about when it comes to fiber and fiber related things, I bought a medium sized bottle (most of the large was sold out. Now I know why), washed a few FOs and my goodness, this stuff ROCKS. I got a little carried away and hand washed a J. Crew merino cardigan and it is just lovely. Nothing else touches my handknits and delicates from this point forward. /end PSA. lol

I've also got to start on this skirt I've been staring at for about a year.  The colors are so gorgeous and the yarn was so expensive, there is just no reason whatsoever not to pick up the needles and get going already.

And finally, I'm blocking Emily! My galpal Sara gave us all the great tip that Christmas Tree Shops have the interlocking mats that can be used for blocking. The mats are huge and come in a pack of 4 for $9.99. Yes. *Hooray*

So here is Emily on the needles ... and Emily blocking. Blocking really does wonders.

SHAME

OMG. I have not updated this blog in almost a year! This is shameful.

Tonight, I watched the Red Sox game with a galpal and I forced her to take sticky buns from Flour. Flour is an amazing bakery in Boston and the sticky buns are so good as to bring pornographic moans as you consume them.

I figure sticky buns and knitting are not natural partners so I'd rather knit than eat sticky buns so that was easy.

The Sox won ... by the seat of their pants but at this point, we're claiming victory where and how we find it.

I have begun a shawl that is deceptively simple. The only thing that continues to cause me grief with it is carelessness and being too tired to knit but too stubborn to call it a night. So the following morning, I have tinking to do and it annoys me beyond reason because it all could have been so easily avoided. It's a gorgeous shawl and will block beautifully.

The yarn is madelinetosh sock in Sequoia. Gorgeous stuff. Love on the needles. I have decided to use tosh Glazed Pecan as a contrast color. Wondering if it'll be too much but we're going into fall and it is very happy harvest looking. If it looks awful, I can rip it out. Joy of creating your own.

Rain isn't the only annoying thing on the roads ...

Today is Saturday and it is raining and dreary and cold. What else is new in New England? No such thing as spring; we've stopped hoping. It's winter then straight to summer.

I'm beginning to think I may have to be prohibited from driving. My patience level drops each time I get behind the wheel. Why it still drives me insane is beyond me.

Why do people hover in your blind spot? Does it give them perverse pleasure to know that you cannot move over because they're hovering or are they just self-involved and oblivious to the fact that their holding position in your blind spot traps you in the lane behind the car operated by the driver who clearly believes it is Parade Day and driving over 15mph isn't allowed? Not only are trapped and fuming but the Hoverer refuses to speed up even when you slow down.

Oh and what about the driver who cannot bear to leave a space unfilled? There is a nice comfortable full car length of space in front of you and the driver in the next lane thinks this space is too much to resist so he jumps over in front of you and immediately slows down.

Yes, I think I need to stay home with a hot cup of tea and catch up on movies.

Such a lazy gal

OMG, I am so lazy. My poor neglected blog. I always thought I'd never get tired of talking but apparently I get tired of typing. :p