Oh, I love blogging days like these...

Because on days like these, I blog about things people care about around these parts!

FO'S!!!! And today, I have my favorite FO to date: My Rusted Root!!

((Also, you can see my new spectacles, I heart them dearly))

But seriously, let's not waste any more time here!





This one took me about a month to finish (I was finished blocking on September 1st). All in all it was a good time. Cotton really dries out my hands, I've noticed, but the pattern was so fun and the color was so...I don't know...red...that I couldn't help but work on it all the time!

The fit is basically PERFECT, if you ask me. I have no complaints so far. It is perfectly comfortable and good item to have while the seasons are changing. Yay! Fall is coming, and I have a leafy autumn colored sweater!

...and how about them specs? Do they work? I quite like them.

I also have some Japanese uber-cute to show you all. I bought this book today:


Mainly because I saw this little cute on one of the first pages I opened up to:


Hello, snuckie-wookums...you're a cute little wool-bearer, aren't you?

I also got my hands on a Temari book, because I wanted it:


Eh, let's throw a cute shoe shot in there for good measure:

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Hip, hip, hooray! I have finished my Rusted Root. It is gorgeous!!!! It fits me PERfectly!!!! It's all blocked and lovely, but I don't have any photos of me wearing it just yet. I'm planning on doing a proper photo shoot and FO blog post later this week. I don't know, I may decide to wait until I have my new glasses and do a combined shoot! Regardless of how I plan to present them, you will get to see both (even if I don't like the glasses too much). They told me 7-10 days on the glasses...Naturally, I'm really impatient...if only because my eyes are constantly yelling at me to take out my contacts, while my aching head is telling me, "don't you dare put those old, heavy, black frames with the thick plastic lenses on me...I'll kill you...I'll keeeeeel you!"

Ok...just wanted to let you all know that I have an FO. Check back soon for an FO post proper!

Curry Peanut Butter Chicken

Yeah...sounds good, doesn't it? Yeah...it was good. I made it. No pictures, sorry.

Guess what. I am nearly finished with my Rusted Root! All I have to do is weave in the loose ends and block the sucker.



Gues what. I FINISHED my Breeze Socks.




Yeah...I'm happy.

The thing about today

It's funny. I am near the end on two of my UFOs: the Breeze Socks and Rusted Root. Now, all I can think about is just getting...them...done. I woke up at 8am for the sole purpose of working on them both today. Great. Fine. Good. That's wonderful.

But what about your wedding stole? OK...tomorrow is September 1st. I'm not even halfway finished. I'm still planning on working on the thing, I'm just not planning on getting my hopes up. The possibility that it will not be finished in time is not one that is nagging on me, but it is certainly the most probable of all the possibilities regarding the subject. It's OK. I knew when I started it that it most likely wasn't going to happen. No harm, no foul. I can just find a nice wrap of sorts the new-fashioned way: buy it at the store.

It is quite pretty, though, and I will finish it. I will continue to work on it up until the day, but that day is no longer a deadline. If it isn't done in time for my wedding, I will trudge onward and wrap this luscious draping fabric around myself throughout the fall and winter seasons. Again, no harm, no foul.

On the personal front, I have finally decided that I can no longer put off going in for an eye exam. My contact lenses have been driving me absolutely insane. I can hardly get through the day without them feeling all dry. I have glasses, but because I am headache prone and they are thick, black, and heavy (not to mention all bent out of shape), I do not like to wear them when I'm out and about. I need glasses that I can wear out in public for prolonged periods of time. I need to give my eyes a break because they are yelling at me to do so! This really sucks too because I now have to spend my money on it, but I've decided to not be a princess about the whole thing. The exam is free, I'll choose cheap lightweight frames. This is my resolve. I only hope that the fancy lenses I need (because they are light and thin...really bad eyes here, I don't want goggles) aren't incredibly expensive. We shall see. Wish me luck...I'm sort of nervous. I hate going to doctor's offices.

T. O. Let's Go! (I mean...with an E at the end...)

My Breeze socks will be finishing themselves soon enough. I'm at the toe now, and I'm actually pretty excited to work it. There is a continuation of the pattern onto the toe, which I've never done before. Yay for new things! Not that it will be difficult or anything...


Oh, stole...please...pretty, pretty please...knit yourself by my wedding day. Yes, it is slow moving. I know I said I'd work on solely the stole for awhile, but I am only human. There is only so much stole I can handle at a time. Maybe it's the pressure...

On the Rusted Root front, I have started to work the ribbing around the bottom edge of the sweater. I've been reading EZ's Knitting Without Tears on the sidelines, and have decided to use twisted knit stitches in the ribbing. I chose (at the suggestion of a wise ravelry-ite) to NOT go down a needle size as the pattern specifies. Apparently, some people have found it to be too tight. I knit very tightly, so I didn't want to take any chances. However, I didn't feel completely comfortable with the idea. So, EZ saves the day. It will naturally be a bit tighter than the rest of the garment due to the twisted stitches, but maybe not as horribly tight as it would be if I had gone down a needle size. Get it? We shall see.

Oh, and the twisted stitches make for a nice effect in the ribbing and really set it off from the rest of the garment:


See?

I got my yarn from Knit Picks for the two hats I'll be starting as projects leave my needles. I'll start Max's We Call Them Pirates hat first, because he deserves it (every 7 projects I cast on for myself, I only cast on half of one for him...see Gentleman's Fancy Sock...half finished pair of socks....boo). I love him, I should knit for him.

I have some serious, big news...but I'm not ready to talk about it yet...

Verly Interlesting

So, I was reading a thread on Ravelry about Rusted Root. One girl said that one shouldn't switch to smaller needles for the ribbing and edges because a lot of people have found it to be too tight around the arm and neck holes.

Super tight knitter, here. Point well taken.

Since I sort of don't plan on sleeping tonight, I think it is going to be a knitting marathon tonight. I know that I said I would only work on Estonian Garden when I'm at home, but I'm only human. Besides, the more I think about it the less I believe it will actually be finished in time.

That isn't to say that I shouldn't keep going. I'm seven repeats in on this section. That means I have 34 more repeats to go (for a total of 41) until the next section. Then, I undo my provisional cast-on and do the same thing for the other side. So, really, I've not made much progress. And, really, my wedding is September 29th. I'm not giving up yet, though!! I will work on this thing right up until the night before, if I have to!!!! I think I'll probably take out a few repeats, maybe a total of 30 instead of 40. I'll just see how long it looks when I get to that point and decide then if I want to knit further.

But since tonight is so empty and I don't have to wake up at any particular time tomorrow morning, I can work on more than one thing tonight. Although, I DO need to make time to watch Arsenic and Old Lace. God, I love that movie...and no, I don't love it because of the knitting reference in the title even though I now realize the hilarity and the appropriateness of it now.

Speaking of old movies, I love them. What happened to that nice, light-hearted energy that used to exist in film? Granted, I love me a great dark as night comedy bordering on depressing, but I also appreciate the simplicity of films like Harvey. Man, is Harvey good! I guess what I'm saying is, this world is too difficult and that difficulty is definitely being transferred over to film and even music too. Not to say that the masterpieces of great composers and filmmakers were not complex. Difficulty and complexity are two different things and I'll go out on a limb and say that one is certainly better than the other.

I'm cutting in on my knitting marathon time, here. So, I'll bring it to a close. What are your thoughts?

Oh, Lord...

The girl who has yet to finish a complete pair of socks in the whole of her knitting career has just joined a freakin' sock yarn club. It's through Hill Country Yarns. I've heard good things about their yarns, but have never used them...or felt the thrill of their strands through my fingers.

Ok, before you get all preachy-preach-face on me...here's the thing. It's not a full year; I am not making a serious long term commitment to sock knitting. It's six months long, but I get a shipment every other month...so that's a lot of time in between and I won't be overwhelmed with a monthly shipment of a yarn and a sock pattern. And the last reason is completely social in nature. I want to be a part of something somewhat exclusive...I want to have a pattern that only a few people will have. The patterns that are sent with the yarn are chosen from a sock pattern contest...and I like the idea of giving a great designer props and recognition for their creations. Who knows? This could become the tiny spark needed for one of the winners to get going on a designing career, if you will. Kind of cool to think of it that way, right?

So, I am doing a service. ^.^ Now, I'm going to do everything I can to find as many forums and groups on the club to stalk and lurk around! Yay! Maybe I should make a goal to finish those socks before the first shipment in September. That's plenty of time, right? Maybe I'll try really hard to work on a sock tonight...maybe.

Rusted Root looks like this:


I'm finally to the end of those sleeves. Sheesh, this is taking a long time.

But really, why am I so impatient? Is it summer?

P.S.--I'm going to twist Max's arm and convince him that we should do this, as soon as I'm off work tomorrow!! We won't have much time there, though...so maybe Sunday would be a better day.

Jeez

A word of advice...don't do business with these people, unless you don't want to get any responses to emails and want wait FOREVER for your package to arrive. Oh, and when you do send emails, you specifically state that you would like some sort of notification from them WHETHER OR NOT they can cancel your order...they still don't respond...

Oh...and weeks later, you check your account and the money is about to come out and then the doorbell rings and you have a box of yarn that you tried to cancel but BECAUSE OF POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE you were UNABLE to do. Oh and, by the way, STILL no responses to your emails.

So...now I have more Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Candy Apple than I know what to do with. Jeez. It's not that I had to wait...that's not why I wanted to cancel the order. The reason was that I was not responded to. If I send an email about the status of an order...it is NOT crazy to expect a response, even if that response is a "no, I'm sorry, but we cannot cancel orders." If that had happened I would have just waited...I would have been annoyed...but I would have waited...I WOULDN'T have assumed that the store was a joke/not real/closed down and went elsewhere with my business. But I did...and now I have tons of really red yarn...whatever.

You've been warned. Do with that what you will.

I've been working "hard" on my Rusted Root. I think it is going to be really cute...once it's finished. Right now, it is just an odd blob that is slowly overtaking the circular it is on. Today was a day of laundry and knitting...but all I worked on was Rusted Root, because I want to get done with the arms before I work on something else (the fronts of the purple Lace Blouse).


Oh, I bought another knitting book:


Believe it or not, I actually bought it because there are two sweaters in my queue that are NOT FOR ME in this particular book. They are planned for Max...can you believe it?? I let him browse the book and choose his next sweater and he picked one of the two!! This one:


It's Jarret...It's sexy. Of course in browsing the book, I found about a million sweaters for me too...but I can't think about it right now. I have too much on the needles right now.

Let's talk about that:
1. Rusted Root
2. Lace Blouse
3. Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern
4. Gentleman's Fancy Sock **not technically on the needles...I have to start sock two.

Yet...I can't stop thinking about new projects...that I don't have the yarn for.

What I DO have the yarn for:
1. Butterfly dress (Alpacas with a twist fingering)
2. Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern (that Regia Bamboo Color)
3. Breeze sock (Panda cotton sock yarn)
4. Hanami stole **still deciding if I really want to make it...it's gorgeous (Pink AlpacaWare fingering)

So...that's two pairs of socks that I have yarn for...a dress and a stole. ALL LACE. Part of me thinks I need to work on something non-lace for a while...but I guess Rusted Root is mostly stockinette. Oh, I really want an FO someday soon...I really, really do...If only to have something better to blog about.