Fancy Ball

There has been much knitting. My dad's sweater is now fully assembled. All that remains is to finish the collar, do the crochet edging on the bottom and the sleeves, and sew the zipper in (but I'll probably coerce my mom to do that anyway. The lace is around 70% done. And I managed to make a larger, simpler lace scarf out of cashmere, that remains to be grafted and blocked. These things will be blogged in due time. However.

I went to a fancy ball!
The boy's family has been going to this fancy ball at the Drake in Chicago for many a year. This year, he invited me (with two weeks notice). I panicked for a dress. I've
never even been to a real black tie event before. And this is at the Drake, and celebrities are rumored to attend (though I didn't see any). I couldn't really go to this thing in a random dress from the mall. (Or so I thought. Judging by the other dresses there, I probably could have, but still.)

I scoured the internet for a vintage dress, because I figured at least that would be cool. If someone asked me where it was from, I could casually say, "Oh, it's vintage," because then I would be smooth like that. Unfortunately, nothing in my size and price range appeared. I found every possible site, I sent out scores of emails (okay, maybe half a score), and still no luck. Finally, on etsy , I found a guy that made corsets to order. Since my dream dress was a red corset top and flowy skirt, I thought that sounded like a plan.

It was an insane plan, it turned out. It was difficult to take my own measurements, for one thing. There was a lot of stress about the shipping. First, he got my measurements. Then, he had to ship me the sample. Then, I had to ship it back so he could use it in the final measurements. All these were rushed. But the very rushed part was where he mailed it out on Thursday, and I was to get it Friday by noon. The ball was Friday evening. Not even night, it started at 6.

The packaged arrived before noon, but I was out. The packages are supposed to go to the office, but for some reason, it didn't. The slip said I'd be able to pick it up from the post office at 4:30. I screamed. Literally, I screamed. I think it scared the neighbors. I flew to the post office. There was a humongous line. I begged to ask to talk to the manager. I begged the manager to talk to the delivery person. She was still out delivering other packages, but at least I could hunt her down. I drove around a random neighborhood for a good half hour before I found her. Luckily, I got the package.

I picked the boy up, and gave his mom a lift as well. Turns out, I also happened to save their lives. They would have taken the train otherwise, and while we were driving a crazed gunman started taking hostages at the station they would have been at. I'm not just a pretty face after all.

I rushed to get ready, and we made it to the ball. His family was staying in the executive suite at the Drake, so we went there for cocktails first. He has a huge family, and they're all loud, charming, and completely insane. I felt right at home. His grandfather went around proud to be kissing all the pretty girls. He called me gorgeous, so I like him the best. He reminds me of my own grandfather a little.

The ballroom at the Drake was huge. There must have been 500 people there. There was a fantastic dinner, and his family even remembered to ask for a vegetarian meal for me. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but it was good, and I ate too much of it. Then there was a live band and dancing. Jim broke his ankle several weeks ago (Don't believe him when he says I hit him with a crowbar. I only tripped him and pushed him down.), so he had a cane all night. It was funny, but far more stylish than crutches, and people kept stealing it to dance with it.

We danced as much as we could, but the ankle slowed him down, and the corset and highly uncomfortable shoes slowed me down. But even his family kept pulling me out to dance too. It's a fun and crazy bunch. He says they liked me. But how could they resist? We were by far the best dressed couple there. Jim said we'll have to attend more gala events, and I heartily agree. I also intend to get my money's worth out of this corset.

Monsters of the Midway

Now, those of you who know me even the slightest, know that I am a huge football fan. In particular, I am a fan of a certain team from a certain midwestern town that starts with "c", ends with an "o", and the middle is "hicag".

I certainly wouldn't want to violate any licensing laws, but I just happend to make some blue and orange hats with little ears on them, perhaps resembling the ears of a certain animal. And these hats are badass.

I made them last weekend while bumming around. The blue one is for me, and served as a prototype. It's a little on the small side, but fits more or less. It can certainly be added to the Sunday gear. It has a medium sized ribbed band with the knit stitches knit through the back loop. Someone recommended this to me once and it really makes the stiches pop. The orange one is for my best friend as part of her Christmas gift. It's got a wider band with normal ribbing. I knew she'd be jealous of mine, so I had to make her one. She has expressed enthusiasm in hats with ears before.

Also, did you notice I've now learned to use the self-timer function on my camera? Pretty clever.

In summary:
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% wool) One skein of each color made both hats and there's easily enough left over for another. - $8.95 a skein.
Needles: Size 7, 12" circular and dpn, in the collection
Pattern: Flying by the seat of my pants (ears based on the Russian Winter hat with ears from Stitch and Bitch Nation)
Time: About 4 hours a hat
Cost: $17.90 makes at least two hats for adult women

Obnoxiously Fuzzy Scarves

The stash has reached outrageous proportions. Someone asked me if I could fill a bathtub with it, as a measure of insanity. I could fill the tub with the amount of yarn I have hidden in the living room alone, let alone the main stash in my closet.

Now, I admit it. There were times in my life where I bought acrylic yarn. Maybe it was called for by a pattern, maybe it was on sale. But these things happen. And then these yarny bits hang around my apartment. They're not exactly begging to be knit, but they're also taking up valuable yarn space.

So, yes, these are garter stitch scarves on humongous needles made of acrylic yarn. I'm re-living my "just learned to knit" days. They're also fairly soft, machine washable, and fuzzy pastels, making them perfect for part of my sister's late-birthday/Christmas gift extravaganza.
The pink is an unidentified fuzzy acrylic mixed with Bernat Softee Bulky, leftover from a crochet project I did a while ago. The purple is two strands of another unidentified fuzzy acrylic mixed with two strands of Sinforia, which is a nice (but cheap yarn) that is 100% mercerized cotton, leftover from another crochet project. (It appears I have never blogged this project. It's a really cute little crochet shell from the Happy Hooker. I'll devote a post to things I've never blogged about later.) They were quick, fun, and saved my sanity when I was alternating between gigantic sweater and complicated lace. I make no apologies.

In summary:
Yarn: Unidentified acrylics, Bernat Softee Bulky (pink), Sinforia mercerized cotton (lavender, doubled)
Needles: Size 15. Yep.
Pattern: Big Ol' Garter Stitch
Time: Probably about 2 - 3 hours each. They are fairly long.
Cost: Since these are stash rescues/leftovers - nothing!

Obnoxiously Fuzzy Sweater

Look at that sweater. It doesn't do you any good. You know why? Because you have to touch it to experience it. It's handspun, handpainted, 100% angora. You could touch a cloud and it wouldn't be this soft.
I'd been craving this Malabrigo angora ever since I first saw it at Fringe, probably six months ago. I was good for a long time. Also, I couldn't think of what to do with it. It's absurdly expensive, but Fringe finally offered it at 15% off. Still, we're not going to talk about how much the whole sweater cost.
Luckily, after I foun the right price, I found the right project. Veronica had made an adorable sweater for her daughter based on the ballet T, but with sleeves and a pocket. Well, I didn't need a pocket, but the ballet T was the perfect design. You know I love that pattern. I've never come across anything that goes faster or uses less yarn. So that's what this sweater is. Thanks to the way the angora fluffs out, I didn't even have to double it, which saved a lot on the cost. And thanks to the size 15 needles, I had this whole sweater done in a weekend.
The body really just is the ballet T, but made longer by an extra skein. The stitches you would bind off for the sleeves are left live. Then once you finish the body, you go back, get those stitches and pick up an extra 5 or so stitches at the underarm and knit to length. This was all Veronica's idea, I totally can't claim credit for it, but I wish I could. The sweater is perfect. It's also extremely warm.
I was going to make myself wait to knit it until all the holiday knitting was done, but I went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving and I couldn't very well knit their respective gifts in front of them. So my secrets are safe, and I have a gorgeous sweater to wear for the holidays.

In summary:
Pattern: Ballet T w/ Veronica's sleeves
Needles: Size 15, 24"circular and set of 5 dpn
Yarn: Malabrigo angora, 9 skeins
Cost: We're not going to talk about that
Time: Two lazy evenings of TV, could have been one if I applied myself

20 Questions

1. Is it a reasonable goal to plan to finish my Ph.D. in physics, then devote the rest of my life to knitting?

2. At what point do you need to seriously examine and attempt to reduce your yarn stash?

3. Is it ever okay to get rid of yarn? Even Red Heart acrylic? What do you do with it?

4. When do you give up on a UFO?

5. When did this go from "hobby" to "obsession"?

6. Will I always be this fanatical about knitting?

7. What does my cat dream about?

8. How can I justify that really cute, $40 circular needle organizer at the LYS?

9. Will I ever realistically gauge how much time/money I will spend on a given project?

10. What is my deal with socks?

11. Is it okay to not want to fix my deal with socks?

12. Is it possible to completely finish a project without daydreaming about the next one?

13. Do the non-knitters know?

14. Is everyone a knitter at heart, they just haven't learned yet? Or are there fibers wound directly into a knitter's DNA?

15. What made me think a 26 color intarsia blanket was a great idea?

16. Will I eventually have every needle in every length? Or will I still find a way to buy more needles?

17. Is a switch to entirely circular needles inevitable?

18. Why am I always hungry?

19. Will I ever be one of those people who casually design their own complicated sweater patterns?

20. Should I be more of a perfectionist?

Bad Blogger, Bad!

It's not that I haven't been knitting. I really have, even on the scuba trip. It's just that I'm still knitting the same thing. It's true. That pretty grey thing I have in my hands on the boat? That's just one piece (left front) of the sweater I'm making for my dad (who is aparently the size of the entire state of Washington, judging by this sweater) for Christmas.
He's gotten hats and scarves for Christmas before (including the year I started knitting, in which he got some cleverly expanding hats that could just about fit the Lincoln memorial), but this year I decided he needed a sweater. The truth is, I just got cocky. A sweater, I scoffed. How long can that take? I made a sweater for someone my size in just five days. I didn't really take into account that my dad is a foot taller and more than a hundred pounds heavier than someone my size. It's three weeks later, and I've been knitting, and knitting, and knitting. I'm nearing the end of the first sleeve. I could have knit at least two small sweaters in this time, but I'm still only at about the halfway point on this monster. And did I mention I picked a pattern that requires a lot of finishing? So even once I'm done with the bulk of the knitting, I have to block it, assemble it, pick up stitches at the neck and make the collar, crochet the edging all around, and then sew in the zipper. Then it might be done. It's good thing I started this in October.
There's also a slight problem, in that I didn't really check my row gauge very clearly. And while this worked out just fine on the body, when I got to the right number of stitches for the sleeve, the length was too long by about 3". The pattern didn't call for a cuffed sleeve, but it has one now.
Since I'm reasonably sure my dad only reads my blog when my mom tells him there's something funny, I may post some WIP pictures at some point. Really, a lot of knitting has been done around here, it just doesn't look like it.
Mom don't read this. [The other thing that I'm working on is a fantastic lace scarf for my mom for Christmas. (Clearly, I love my parents dearly. And if they can't tell that by the amount of knitting I'm doing, I'll murder them in their sleep.) I can't wait to blog about it once it's done and the holidays are over. The scarf is suprisingly fun, and a huge relief from the vast expanses of stockinette stitch in the sweater sleeves. The trouble is, it's still a lace scarf, that is to say, lace weight yarn (gorgeous 100% merino, btw) on size 2 needles. It's like knitting with thread on toothpicks. I don't know how some people (Elizabeth, Jessica) turn out lace like it's garter stitch, I only know I am not one of them.]
All this ranting and raving brings me to my final rant/rave, which is this. I have a massive amount of knitting left before the holidays. I'm going home for Thanksgiving, so I'll have a nice amount of leisure time with the family during which I can knit. However, I cannot knit the two things I desperately need to be knitting! This means I have to come up with some kind of buffer project that is interesting enough to keep me entertained, but not interesting enough so as to distract me from the real knitting that needs to get done once I'm back in the fortresss of solitude. Hats, anyone?

A Brief Diversion

Ladies and gentlemen, we interupt our reguarly scheduled knitting program to bring you this exciting announcement: I went scuba diving!

The best part of the story is the part where I was learning to scuba dive, so I'll save that for last. But I did learn, got temporarily certified and left Puerto Vallarta for an island region called Marietas. Did I mention I'm at a physics conference? A group of nerds went, including one of the lecturers, who is also the advisor of several of the people I went with. Also, I met the girl pictured here, who has just invented this very interesting crochet pet carrier. She's got a patent and everything. I did knit a little on the way out, which is how we started talking, but I was not feeling particularly steady on the boat, so I didn't do much. Okay, mostly I tried to put my head down and not move at all. I did manage to lift my head up in time to see a giant sea turtle swimming by. But as soon as we stopped, I felt better and the islands were ridiculously beautiful.

So you know how you see those Jacques Cousteau films and they flip backwards out of the boat? Surely, you think, there must be a more modern, efficient way to do this. You're wrong. That's exactly what happens. You can barely walk with the huge scuba tank on your back, and you just sit on the edge of the boat and fall backwards. That may have been the scariest part. Well, that and the sinking to the bottom of the ocean part.

The other girl, who may have been even more scared than I was, and I were completely last on the sinking part. The dive master (although I prefer the name "dive dude," which is how I shall refer to him from now on) held on to us and made us sink. We clung for dear life to the rope on the way down. Eventually, you realize there are a lot of cool things to look at down there, and you start being more interested than scared. I swam over to dive dude #2 (who, incidentally, looked good in a wet suit, and that's really saying something), and dug my fingers into his hand. He led me around for a while, and I wouldn't have let go, except that the other girl let go of dive dude #1, and that guilted me into it. It was really beautiful down there, the water was the perfect temperature, and everything was completely calm. We saw all sorts of interesting rocks, coral, shiny tropical fish. It was like being in a fish tank. The other group of more experienced divers got to see an octupus and several blowfish, but I was pretty happy with just staying alive.
After the first dive and little snack break, we went out to a pristine sandy beach on a little island. We played around on the shore a little bit. The water comes in really fast. If you're sitting right on the water line, a big wave can knock you over. I rolled around in the sand like a little kid, and wandered around and looked at some cool crabs. One of the guys on the boat caught a little one.
Now, my dad is quite a fisherman. I've seen a lot of fish that he's caught. Most of them have teeth. Add to this that I was once bit by a fish in a small lake, the guy throwing bread to the fish just outside the boat did not make me happy. While I was swimming the surface over to the dive dude, they swished away. When I was in the water, they seemed to think I was just some big weird fish and seemed mildly interested in me. Especially the big, thin silver onces that kind of look like they had teeth. Did you know it's possible to scream under water? However, you're the only one that will hear you. Once we got under the fish, it got insanely beautiful once again. There were walls of rock covered in colorful plants and exotic fish. We saw a huge eel (I screamed once again) and a blowfish (but it was far enough away).

The starfish were about the size of my head. It was definitely fun, and I'm glad I did it, but I'm not sure I'll ever do more than beginner trips. We were down at about 50 - 60 feet, and 40 is all you can recover from if you don't go slowly. I'm not sure I need to do more than that. Especially since I needed to cling to the dive dude just to handle descent and ascent. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I might go on another beginner trip.

Now, back to the beginning. I had to be trained in the hotel pool to be able to go on the official trip. I waited for two of the people I was with to go through their training, and then it was my turn. There's a huge pavillion area right by the beach and pools are right next to it. As I was having my training, they were setting up for a wedding. Then they performed the wedding. I saw the ceremony from the pool in my scuba gear. The wedding reception started and lots of people were taking pictures. The crazy guy (Max) I was training with and I decided it would be great to get a picture of the wedding in the scuba gear. So we hopped out of the pool like frog men and got a picture with the reception in the background. We, and the guests, thought this was hysterical, so someone went and got the bride and groom. We got several pictures with the bride and groom, who were very good sports about this, and even the official wedding photographer came and got our picture. I love the thought of being in this nice young Mexican couple's wedding album for the rest of their lives. It's a good story all around. Pictures will come as soon as I get a copy of them.

Knitting on the Beach

They don't have a drink named for it yet, but they should.

Ha ha!

I'm in Mexico and you're not.

Is Needle Felting for You?

A quick online quiz:

1. Would you enjoy stabbing something repeatedly with a sharp object?

If you answered yes, you might enjoy needle felting!

I just took Veronica's class at Fringe on how to needle felt a little pumpkin for fall. I'd never needle felted before, but it turns out it is exactly as described above. You start with roving (or even yarn, if you really want) and stab it with a special felting needle. The needle is special because it is extremely sharp and it has little barbs on it. This make it both painful when you stab yourself, and useful for grabbing the individual fibers and encouraging them to lock together. Veronica dyed all the pretty orange roving for us, and produced the rest out of a magic box.
So here is the absurdly adorable pumpkin I made on Tuesday. We formed the base with some paper towels, then built up the rest of the pumpkin with roving. The grooves were formed by stabbing in the lines particularly hard and repeatedly. Absorb the cuteness.

But it gets cuter.
Inside lives a little brown mouse.

And he has collected an autumn leaf,

a walnut shell (not the best picture, but I swear it's cute in real life),

and an acorn.

Here he is with all his loot in his little home.

As cute as he is, I think he's going to my mom as an autumn gift. I'm not really into decorations. For years, my Christmas tree has been a neon light in the shape of a Christmas tree. It's not that I don't like holidays, I love them in fact. But I create enough clutter in my daily life that I really don't need to add seasonal clutter to it as well. Anyway, she'll appreciate it (although I hope she appreciates it $55 worth). (Also, it's a really good thing I don't factor labor into these things. The woman has her own knitting sweat shop.)

Birthday Hat

In unrelated news, I turned 22 last Sunday. And new friend Jim turned 23 two days before that. I thought he needed a hat to mark the occasion. He's the brother of a friend of mine, a friend who has an enormous head. Fortunately, his head is not quite so big. It's not small, but it doesn't have its own gravitational pull.
The yarn is Rowan's lovely Cashsoft Aran (57% extrafine merino, 33% microfiber, 10% cashmere) in black (a safe guy color) on size 7 needles (ones I know I have). I kind of made up the pattern as I went along, with no idea of the actual size of his head. I did okay, but it's a little wide. I can take that in though. In general, it's a k2, p4 rib until the shaping, with a little flip-up brim.
Here it is on me. The hat looks cute, but it's surprisingly hard to take an attractive picture of yourself. I'm determined to get a picture of it on him as well. I don't actually know if he likes the hat, but I'm getting a picture of him either way.

MMMMMMmmmmalabrigo

Now that the cold weather has hit, and hit hard, it's time to break out my brand new sweater.
It's the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The last one was a shop sample, this one is all mine. It's not colors I would have chosen, except that the malabrigo was on sale.
My gauge must have been a little off, because the sweater wound up about a size too big. Not that there's anything wrong with big comfy sweaters, it's just that this was supposed to be a sexy one. I'm debating taking it in, but then again, I'm wearing it now, and it's soft, warm and comfortable. Really, I think that's all you can ask from a sweater. I'll get reviews at the yarn shop later.
It took considerably longer than the last hourglass sweater, but I'm a very understanding customer. Total cost was around $50, I think. I ran out of yarn unexpectedly through it, and barely made it through with the extra I purchased, which should have been my first clue that it would be a little big.
I'm proud of it, but I'm not sure I can wear it myself. We'll see how it goes.

Socks of Doom

I wore the Socks of Doom today. I think it was appropriate.

Dead and Loving It

*Cough cough*

It's the end of Sock Wars for me. I didn't even realize it started until the other day, and I'm dead already. Well, here are the International Socks of Doom. They're very lovely, Handsome Pete. You were a worthy opponent. Maybe next year I'll take down one opponent....

Who knows, maybe some day I'll actually finish a pair of attractive socks? Wouldn't that be interesting?

Done enough to blog about

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the Rectangle Bobble Bag of the Geometric Accessory Bags from One Skein. It really is just one skein, with a little left over. I'm done with all the crocheting, but I still need to put a zipper in before I can actually use it. I probably didn't need to tell you that, and could have just pretended it was done here, but that would be lazy and wrong. Instead, I'll just stick with lazy.

This is some of the yarn that I dyed in Veronica's class. It's just plain old Lamb's Pride worsted, originally natural, then dyed with Kool Aid. I think the stitch pattern shows the colors off really well, though the flash from my camera doesn't.
I'm getting creative with the photos here. I think this one is a bobble garden.
I highly recommend the book, and this pattern in particular. I'm tempted to make the other little bags in the series too.
It's a vicious cycle, really. Find a great yarn, so then you have to find a good pattern for it. Then you find another good pattern, and you have to find the right yarn. On and on it goes, until yarn and pattern books are taking over your wallet and apartment like a pervasive creeper moss. Oh well. I surrender.

Sock Wars!

I'm so going to get killed soon. I didn't even realize Sock Wars started Friday until today! I was browsing blogs, and people are already saying they have their first socks done. Yipe! I'm a little short on knitting time too, and I have sock issues.
But....I'll try. I really will. And I'll get a pair of socks out of it.

Finally

Those of you (Mom) who have been following my blog since the beginning may remember this scarf. You may ask why I have just finally finished it.
Because it was tedious. Painfully so. Worfy apparently likes it, as he wouldn't get out of the picture.
At first, I was fully enamored of double knitting. Both sides of a fabric at one time! How cool! This enthusiasm lasted only for about the first four inches. Then I realized that it combined all the pain of ribbing (moving the yarn from back to front) with all the pain of Fair Isle (twisted color strands).

I have to admit, it is really cool looking. I'm glad I did it. But I couldn't stand to knit more than an inch or so at a time on it. The pattern is Iris Schreier's Double Knit Striped Scarf, bought as a stand-alone pattern. (It's not in Modular Knits, though I do have and love that book.) The yarn is, I believe, Rowan Cotton, a 50/50 cotton/wool blend, one skein of each color. I lost the ball bands so long ago, I really don't remember. I know it's some kind of natural cotton blend though, and I bought it at Sheep's Clothing. It took me about 6 months to finish, but only because of my 6 minute attention span. I have absolutely no memory of what it cost, but I want to say it was about $30 including the pattern. Will I be making it again? NO. But I may pass it on to an unsuspecting friend.
*Edit* That friend is Amanda. Muahahaha.

Just in time for the cold weather

I sold my hats last night! I meant to take a picture of them, but I finished the second one while I was at the bar, and gave them both to Angel right away. He's thrilled, though, and says they fit perfectly.
I really didn't know how much to charge for the hats until I talked to Nancy at the yarn shop. She said 2-3 times the cost of the yarn. The yarn, one skein of Malabrigo and one of Aurora 8, cost about $20, and I sold the two hats for a $25 each, exactly 2.5 times the cost of the yarn. I guess I'm good at taking instruction. I probably could have asked for more, but I'm such a sucker when I actually like the person I'm selling to.
Still, in the end, it's all profit. I bought the yarn on store credit I earned knitting for the shop. Now if I can only find more people like him to sell hats to...
Actually, I am working on a crochet shawl for a woman I met through the shop. I'll be sure to get a picture of this one. It will be very colorful and unique. But she's a massage therapist, and has offered to pay me in massages. Sounds awfully good to me.
Does this make me some kind of fashion designer? Well, in my daydreams it does, anyway.

No longer failures

Passing through the region on my way to a football game (we're not going to discuss which one, or how much we lost by), I stopped at my parents' house for a night. As entertaining as it always is, this is one of the more interesting visits in recent memory.
I woke up in the morning, and stumbled into the kitchen, deperate for something caffeinated. I found a cat staring into the space between the cabinet and the wall. I looked too. It was a second mouse. My dad came into the kitchen a few moments later and asked what I was doing. I informed him about the mouse situation, and he snapped awake. "Keep him there!" he said excitedly. What am I, a cat? He burst into the garage, and reemerged with a 5' tall, 1" diameter copper pipe and a large flashlight.
The flashlight, of course, was too see the dark mouse in the shadows. The giant piece of plumbing was apparently to root it out. He poked in the corner for a while, and the mouse came racing out. I had no idea those things moved so fast. Apparently, it ran across his foot, because he screamed like a little girl. (Please, take a moment to picture this. This is my father. 6' 2", 230 lbs., ex-marine)
The mouse ran into the opposite corner of the room, hidden behind an apron. The cats went wild. I told my dad to catch the mouse, and he responded, " Oh yeah, like I want to get bit!" "Catch it with something," I insisted, gesturing at the plethora of containers available in the kitchen. He reached for an oven mitt and a plastic dish. When he scooped at it, the mouse leaped at least two feet into the air. I didn't know how fast mice moved, but I also didn't know they could fly. This thing was airborne.
It made it across the kitchen and under the fridge somehow. My dad, determined to catch this mouse once and for all, decided to move the fridge. "Here," he thrust the pole at me, "Hold the pike." He backed the fridge out, and the mouse reemerged, moving so fast it was almost blurry. The cats chased it under the kitchen table, one gumming it for a second, then it ran across the dining room into the living room and under the couch.
Not to be outdone, my dad bolted into the living room, and started shaking the couch. The mouse was apparently on to our dirty tricks, because he disappeared. Or so we thought.
I saw it once later in the day, and tried to catch it, but they really do move like bullets. If the cats, who are much more nimble, better equipped, and less in need of caffeinated beverages than I could not catch it, I had no chance.
I left for a football game (which we're not going to talk about), and didn't return until late. I wound up getting stopped in traffic, and the normally one-hour trip took three. I do mean stopped; a double-trailer semi had turned over and was blocking the entire road. Everyone shut their cars off and were walking around. That's not the point. The point is that I was really, really tired when I got home, and just wanted to get into bed.
Except that there was a dead mouse in it.
I burst into the hallway and announced, "There's a dead mouse in my bed and I'm not dealing with it!" Despite my parents' roaring laughter, my dad actually did go take care of the mouse. I insisted he take the comforter it was lying on too.
I'm sure this was a present from one my parents' dear cats to show me how much they missed me. I made sure to pet them very nicely in the morning. But next time, cats, I could really just use a gift card.

Tee Party

As you know, I am madly in love with the Ballet T pattern, and I begged Nancy and Veronica at Fringe to let me teach a class on it. They had an even better idea. Since the T can be mostly finished in a matter of hours, why not up the sense of instant gratification by making it a special day to pamper yourself? Enter the masseuse.
Yes, that's right. Included in the cost of the knitting class was a 20 minute chair massage. Are these girls brilliant or what? Dawna, our masseuse, was fantastic. *When I get all her information I will edit this post and put it in. The woman deserves more business.*
And the tees came out lovely as well.
Valerie barely needed me at all. Here she is with her tee made out of Trendsetter's Dune. I think she used about 7 skeins, not a bad investment. She's committed to knitting things that are "over the top," and I think she succeeded.

Here's newcomer Karen, making the tee for herself in Cotton Fleece (just two skeins needed). She got about halfway done with hers when the class was over, and is coming back in to finish it up. She plans to make more, including one for her adorable little girl.

And this is Jeanne, with hers in Aurora 8 doubled. It really looks great in that yarn. She was past most of the shaping when she left.

And here's my little start. This is a random yarn I picked up in Prague. It has little bits of leather and several different yarns held together. It made it a serious pain to work with; the different yarns kept getting tangled all over the place. I even had to cut it and restart once. I had no idea how much yardage I had, due to the nature of the store I bought it in and my inability to speak Czech. I had hoped it was enough to make a full Ballet T out of it, but it isn't looking like it. However, I had the idea of making it empire waisted and including and eyelet row and cord. The trouble will just be finding the right yarn to finish it in. The deep, deep navy blue is kind of elasticy, and the turquoise is a cotton tape, both of which will be really hard colors and styles to find. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

Overall, I'd say the class was an amazing success. Lots of people have seen looking at the tee in the shop since then, and lots of others have been asking about the massage. Hopefully, we'll do both again. Though if you want to put in a good word for me at Fringe, feel free.

So Freakin' Cute

It's probably not legal to be this cute. This is the Sock Monkey blanket and hat from the Happy Hooker. It's on a size N hook, so it went really fast. Normally I get really bored with granny squares, but these were big enough that I didn't mind. And there are only 16 of them, so that minimizes the sewing up. The monkeys were made separately and sewn on afterward, but they were so cute, I didn't mind. Worfy wasn't all that thrilled though.
I actually made two hats, one of which is going to go to my friend Steph, who loves monkeys and has a hope chest.

The yarn is Bernat Softee Chunky for the plain colors and Denim Style for the sock monkey color (it's called Rodeo Tan, but I think Sock Monkey would be far more appropriate). I think I got most of it at Walmart, which is wrong because it's both acrylic and from Walmart, but it's actually what the pattern called for. I'm not normally a stickler for that, but if they're going to call for cheap but not too nasty yarn, I'm going to go for it. I don't know where else I would have gotten a color that good.
Of course, I've forgotten how much it actually cost. I bought it a long time ago and never got around to making it because I didn't have the hook that big. In the interest of cleaning up the stash a little, and because it was ridiculously cute at the trunk show at Fringe, I finally got it done. I'm glad I did.

Take that, computer languages!

Please note the shiny new link setup on the right hand bar. I did that all by myself by messing around with the template. I don't know anything else about html. I'm pretty darn proud of myself. That is all.

I knew this thing would come back to haunt me

I just didn't think it would be this soon. Sure, my friends have teased me about it. But since there are about 5 people that read this regularly (hi, Veronica), I thought I was pretty safe in my nerdiness.
That is until recently. I've been (ahem) talking with this guy, and we got the bright idea to google each other. Now, my last name appears absolutely nowhere on this blog, yet somehow, he found it on a simple google search. And it's pretty obvious that physics + knitting + sarah = me. There aren't too many other people that fit that equation.
Generally, when one has an intense interest in a hobby (some might say obsession), one introduces it to new people slowly. You sneak up on these things kind of quietly, like with a nervous dog. I was going to work my way up to the blog. But no, right at his fingertips are six months of knitting frenzy. His response? "Wow, you really like to knit..." Yes. Yes, I do.
At least the ladies at the yarn shop were sympathetic. To quote Veronica, "That's like 5th - date, sleeping - together information!" She said it, not me. Ah well, the truth is out.
Note to guy: Yes, I'm blogging this and I'm aware you might read it. The knitting public has a right to know. Just remember I have the video clip now.

Can you find the cat in this picture?

I'll give you a hint: it's that lump in the middle. I actually made my bed this morning (the bedroom being the only clean room in my apartment), and when I went back to get some socks, this is what I saw. Worf always likes to hide under the covers, but this was particularly cute. When you disturb him, he gets all confused and meows. Naturally, I do that every chance I get.

Ballet T (encore)

I finished yet another Ballet T about a week ago. I think this is the 7th one I've made, but seriously, how can you resist something cute you can finish in three hours? This is using a cool cotton tape yarn I got in Prague. It took a lot less than I imagined. I still have a little over half of what I bought of it left, and I'm not sure what to do with it. Sure, I could do a matching hat and/or scarf, and I may actually do that with part of the leftovers, but that seems a little cheesy. I don't think I'd actually wear them together. I could make another Ballet T out of it, and give it to someone, but then I lose that whole one-of-a-kind thing I've got going on. I guess it just goes back in the stash unless someone has a good suggestion.

I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of myself wearing it, so here's Hello Kitty. It fits me a little better than it does her. And these are the cute purple flats I'm going to wear it with ($2.99 at Goodwill). The picture didn't come out so well, but I promise, it's adorable together.

Need mouse traps....

I was back visiting my parents yesterday. Although they have three cats, they evidently still have a mouse problem. As my mom and I were leaving go shopping, we found that my dad had left this note: