There are a million reasons...

...why Max is my hero.

Yesterday, I had quite an emotional afternoon. I spent most of my morning writing. I wanted to keep track of my daily word count. So, to make it easier, I was just typing it up in a blank document to copy and paste into the actual document later. Just as I was about to do it, after five single spaced pages, the whole program crashed and I was devastated. Devastated and Angry. I hadn't saved the untitled document I had been typing in all morning and the situation was very frustrating and dire. I could not bear the thought of having to write it all again. I had been in the flow and did not reread it as I went along for fear of disrupting said flow. The Flow was also why I failed to save it until five pages in. I was too angry to do anything so I took a shower...while in the shower, I tried to remember what I wrote and I couldn't think of most of it. More anger, more cursing...

But Max, he came along and saved five pages of my writing from oblivion. Apparently, Appleworks has an autosave feature for your saved documents, which I knew. However, this document was NOT A SAVED DOCUMENT. I had not clicked that little button to create a permanent file. Still, Appleworks had saved it under a numerical name 20 characters long someplace random on my computer and Max found it!! It was a jumbled mess and spread out over something like five separate files, but it was there. All of it. Max is my hero...and God bless Macintosh...

Other than being generally wonderful and good with computers, he bought me these for my birthday:



The Knit Picks Options Interchangeable Needle Set!! I'm so excited and I can't wait to use them! They feel really nice and the join seems like it will be smooth. I love the case and the very notion of it all being neat and organized (not to mention very shiny) is very exciting to me.

He really is the greatest...and handsome too:


Hehehe...are you blushing yet, honey? :p

Ok, enough of that. I don't want to make anyone puke. Onto the knitting pictures!

My mom's socks look like this:


I hope she likes them...

My Swallowtail Shawl looks like this:



I love Edgar Allan Poe, btw...

My most recently started project looks like this!:


It's the Inga Hat. I'm knitting it with three colors throughout instead of only two. I think it looks cool. The photo doesn't do the colors justice. I took about a thousand shots in different lighting and none of them really captured it. This is the closest one. They are very bright...nearly florescent...and they really pop against the brown background. I'm not usually into those kinds of colors, but for this, they rock!! I can't wait to wear this thing! It's halfway finished.

So, I do believe that is all for today. Happy Knitting!

My favorite hibernation

And now... Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for, the first bind off edge of the Estonian Garden Stole:


Dun, dun, DUN!!!!

I know it's silly, but part of me considers this half-a-stole to be a finished object. I'm ignoring the fact that I have to create another half just like this one. That's just inconceivable to me right now. In other words, I took a picture of my pretty half-a-stole and shoved it into the closet for an indefinite period of hibernation. I will finish it, but I want to work on something else... something more triangular in nature... something I'll be using this yarn for:


THE SWALLOWTAIL SHAWL!!!! So far, so good. I'm not sure about my needle size to yarn ratio as of yet. I'll knit a few more repeats and then decide where to take it from there. I think it is going quite nicely as it is.

Right this instant, I am sitting at Bread Co. (what is also called Panera everywhere but my place of origin. I insist on calling it Bread Co. because I am quite stubborn). I am supposed to be working on the great novel, but I'm having problems...which I am about to share with you. Aren't you excited??

By midnight of November 30th, I am supposed to have accumulated a minimum of 50,000 words on my novel. Now, that will not necessarily mean that the novel is finished, so to speak, but in order to "win," I must at least have that much. Today is the 27th and I have a total of 39,584 words. Now, there is no reason to panic upon simply reading these numbers and doing the appropriate subtraction. I am perfectly capable of pounding out the required 2,604 words a day for the next four days to reach my goal.

Usually...

Right now, however, I am struggling. I know exactly what I need to do. I have a very clear climax in mind as well as a nice little dreamed up plot leading up to it. So, why am I not able to just sit my butt in this chair and pound out the rest of my story, a story I love and have great hopes for in the future? I have a few theories.

One: I am doubting myself and my ability. For some reason, I do this all the time, with everything I do, no matter how great I know I am at the task at hand. I do it when I brush my teeth in the morning (maybe not really, but I do it quite a bit). I have reached the point in my story where things need to turn a bit more sinister. My character has to change...the entire mood of the story needs to shift away from the woe-is-me and more towards the oh-fuck-what's-going-on. Usually, I'm pretty good at the darkness, but something is holding me back from it this time. I think it is the filler. I am bored with their lives, but their lives are so valuable because of how regular they are. These people aren't necessarily special in any way, which is something I appreciate. I am normal. I am regular. There isn't much to me, which I think is a good thing. However, it's difficult to write it. I need to get the story rolling, but I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to the point where the writing just pours out of me. I need to reach the approaching threshold so that I can pull this off.

Two: I feel that this is the most important part of the book and I need to be careful in how I deal with it. I know that I can always edit it later, but I want to edit the thing NOT rewrite it entirely. I am bothered by the time limit and part of me wants to just forget about the 50,000 words and go about this in such a way that would make me more comfortable. Part of me wants to take my time with this and not just write to write. That being said, I need to get over it. If I can't write it now, what makes me think that I will be able to write it any better later on? It's fresh in my mind and I'm very excited about it. I don't want that excitement to go away because I'm trying to be an artist or something ridiculous like that. Still, each time I scold myself, I come back to these thoughts and have difficulty getting words on "paper."

So, there you have it. I have writer's block, but not really. It's a strange phenomenon.

Does anyone commiserate? Please, feel free to tell me your writing horror stories! lol :p

It came! It came!

I love the yarn. I hate the pattern.

I just needed to show you...

I have been slowly working on my well past-due wedding stole on the sidelines. I will finish it eventually.


I just needed to show it to you. I have finished one repeat with the nupps (a new technique I learned with this neverending project) and I am so proud of myself. This stole will be so beautiful...someday...when it's older.

In an attempt to avoid working on my novel, today I played with one of my birthday gifts. Max bought me Phantom Hourglass for the DS, and while I wasn't goofing off on Ravelry, I was playing it. SO FUN! I just love Zelda. Have any readers played it yet?? I'm just curious.

I need to make something for Thanksgivng, but I haven't decided what. A large chunk of my afternoon will be spent grappling with that decision. I want to bake and I know I want to make a pie of some kind for dessert, but I don't know what I'll make to eat with dinner. It needs to be good. Last night, I made this for dinner:


mmmm...Yaki Soba...easy and good.

All that's left now...

...are the sleeves!! The front and back of my sweater are finished! Yay! It only seemed to take forever.

I started a scarf to learn continental knitting. I'll show it to you later.

So, normally, I hate to purl. However, I have found that I love to purl continental style! Actually, I love a lot about the continental style and want to master it and make the switch!! I knit so much more loosely, which is good because I am a very tight knitter and it makes things frustrating when starting new projects. Yay, continental!

I had a knit night with some friends the other night. Our antics looked like this:




Alana is wearing the scarf that she cast off THAT NIGHT!! Can you tell how excited she is, even with the dangling loose ends? lol I taught her how to bind off! Yay!

My novel has been neglected for the past two days and will probably be absolutely starving for attention by this evening. I've been feeling down and not up to writing. I don't know. My birthday was on the 14th and I'm not who I thought I'd be at this point. I mean, I'm me...and I know that I'm great...it's just other crap that I've dealt with my whole life that hasn't gone away now that I'm a "grown up," even though I really thought it would. Stupid stuff...I won't go on about it.

I wound up some two year old yarn that was in a tangled hank in my bedroom:


Oh, and I knit my pregnant buddy, Michelle, some super cute baby booties:


That's all. :P

How I tried to learn continental knitting

I really want to be a continental knitter, simply for the sake of my shoulders. Throwing hurts. However, I can't seem to keep the tension on the yarn when I knit continental and it ends up looking sloppy and loose. I think I'm going to grab some of my knit picks stuff that I'm not using for anything and knit up an enormous "swatch." I think it will be the only way. I don't want to try it on anything I'm currently working on because it would be a disaster (um...I mean, it actually WAS a disaster...because...ehem...I tried it on my mom's socks).

So, that's the plan for that. I should really work on my NaKniSweMo sweater as it has been a few days since I've even thought about looking at it. BORING! Tomorrow evening, I'm supposed to be knitting with some friends and I think I will bring it to that...because I can work on it while jabbering and paying closer attention to other things.

Oh, I am waiting for the next installment of the Hill Country Yarns Sock Club. I was under the impression that it would arrive the first week in November, but it definitely didn't come. It's now two weeks in and no happy yarn mail for Jessica. Hello? I'm WAITING...and tomorrow's my birthday. Come on people!

Socks for Mommy

Today, my NaNoWriMo word count goal is 5,020. So, what am I doing? I'm writing a knitting blog post, of course!

I started a new pair of socks this afternoon. I think I'm going to be giving them to my mommy for Christmas. They are the Sweet Pea Socks and the yarn and the pattern were the September shipment from the Hill Country Yarns Sock Club. I have knit the cuffs and so far, so good.



About the novel, I am now at a turning point and I am not sure I know how to take it. I know the story, just not the details. My goal is not to write 50,000 words, but to write 66,000 words by the end of November 30th. I might be crazy, but I'm loving this. It's great to get this story that has been in my head for months finally out on electronic paper. I knew nothing about my main character going into this, only what would happen to her. I didn't know she would be an artist, for instance, but if you know anything about me that one shouldn't surprise you. (wink). It's often this way when I write. I'm not one for outlining what happens chapter by chapter. I don't care to do research before the writing...on the characters, settings, etc...I'd just prefer to let it go where it wants as long as I have some control over the major plot points. Most of the time, I'm trying to tell something to the reader...more than a story.

Blah blah blah. I just wrote all that garbage to get me into the writing mood, but it's all true in the end.

Creamy Leeky Turnip Lentil Soup

That's what I'm calling dinner tonight:
It wasn't bad, actually.

Here's my NaKniSweMo sweater so far:


I'm making progress.

Here's my NaNoWriMo word count as of one hour ago: 12,605 words...only 37,395 more words to go!

Here's a new idea I'm working on:


It's a cable-y stole and you won't see it again until it's finished and I decide whether or not I actually like it! :p

Here's some fiber I bought over the summer that I've finally prepared and started spinning:


It's merino...and I have to keep myself from slobbering on it!

That's all for tonight! I want to get more writing in!

Taking the Time

I have been feeling a bit down lately...and I've been avoiding a post as a result of it.

I'm knitting. I'm participating in NaKniSweMo and I've brought out an old WIP from my basket to finish this month. I had only finished a few inches before I threw it into oblivion and I was certain it would be a long time before it ever found its way out. So, I'm pretty proud of myself for doing it so quickly. Although, the real reason is that I wanted to participate and I can't buy yarn.

That's because I suck.

I'm writing. I'm doing the seemingly suicidal mission of NaNoWriMo ((hence my inability to resist NaKniSweMo, which is a knitting spin off of the concept)). I need 50,000 words by the end of November 30th. I'm up to 9,130 words, which actually puts me ahead of schedule. I'm trying to keep it that way.

I've started a mystery project. It's my own pattern...I hope it works. I'm not sure if I will publish the pattern or not. That will depend on how much I like it and the feedback I get from the finished object. I'm also worried that it might not actually be original enough to publish. I dreamed it up last night and thought it was the coolest idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if, through some searching, I found something similar already written up into a pattern. Bah, this just shows that the only thing I truly got out of college is a lot of paranoia. The trouble with America is...

The trouble with me is that I'm afraid of life, in a sense, and I am starting to worry about money. I'm in a terrible rut and I see that I will be here for the next 30 years to come. At least that is how I feel. I'll be 24 this month...if that answers any questions. I know how people like to generalize things into age groups and developmental processes. They are right to do so, but I'm not sure it really helps any of us twenty-somethings to point that fact out to us. Yes, I'm whining, but I feel like I don't get to express these feelings very often. So many people have no idea...my life is a closed book, I've intentionally made it that way. Sorry, I don't know where this is coming from...it just wanted to be written, I guess.