Knitting Musings

Oops, Did I Buy Some Cormo?

This picture may APPEAR to be 6 skeins of sportweight/light worsted weight cormo yarn drying after a nice bath. This cormo may APPEAR to have been sent to me by the truly lovely Sue from her farm in California. But appearances can be deceiving...

And sometimes things are exactly as they appear, and I'm left with agonizing choices like - what do I want to knit with this? Do I want to dye it? If so, what color?

And can I just take a moment to remark that the internets are EVIL? And that they allow you to purchase cormo with just a few emails with a lovely person who has a whole FLOCK OF CORMO SHEEP? (Side note - has anyone studied the severely addictive properties of cormo yarn? Also, is it wrong to want to make a giant cormo pile on my bed and sleep in it?)

In other knitting news, one gigantic sock is complete. My dearest friend Jesse requested a pair of "over the calf" socks for his birthday, so I'm attempting to oblige. His feet are about the same size as S', so I used my "S Sock Formula" and attempted to incorporate enough increases to make the leg fit. We'll see...

And the latest on Lace Edging vs. Yarn Left? Barring a knitting miracle of the highest order, I'm totally going to run out of yarn. SIGH. So to show that stupid lace who's boss, I'm putting it in a corner to think about what it did. Plus, I kinda was thinking I might be dyeing some Cormo soon, so maybe I could attempt to dye up the rest of the laceweight at the same time...

Finally, here are a few pics from our latest snow day ... and a little video of Abby showing that there's nothing better than playing in the snow and getting all wet and dirty when you've just had a bath the night before.

ABBY'S SNOW DAY:

Labels: Abby, print of the wave, Socks

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Let there be enough yarn...

I'm to the edging of the Print O' The Wave. See? It's a piled up piece of cr@p (just like every piece of lace prior to blocking)... I picked up all 45,784 stitches, did my border...

... kept the lace from getting mauled by a fierce panther...

... and am currently having a heart attack with every repeat of the edging. There are 80 repeats total... I've done 5. And I'm desperately hoping that I'll have enough yarn...

It wouldn't be the END of the world if I ran out. I have more of this yarn - but it is undyed. And given the "accidental" nature of my dyeing efforts, I'm nervous about my ability to even approximate these colors - but I can make a good effort if necessary. And perhaps I could overdye the entire finished piece just to even things out if I'm not happy. But still - if the knitting gods would smile down upon me, I would really love to finish this shawl without having to bust out the dyepots...

I'm moving really slowly on my current knitting projects - I'm in the middle of running the competition to pick next year's editorial board for my law review. It should be over this weekend, though, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a little more time to sit and finish up my lace - and there may be a tiny little order of sportweight cormo being shipped to me that may need some attention as well...

But more than the editorial competition, I've been busy getting over a pretty unpleasant cold, which caused me to spend a lot more time than usual curled up under the covers. See? (I can't believe I'm posting this picture!)

Luckily, S stocked up so he wouldn't have to make a beer run while he was helping me feel better... and this is the boy who "doesn't like beer," and who wouldn't have even TRIED Guinness if I hadn't dragged him to the Guinness brewery in Dublin...

And Abby and Cricket were happy to take full advantage of me spending extra time in bed. Abby especially likes it when she gets to stick her little head on the pillow - see that huge puppy-smile?

Labels: Abby, print of the wave

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Finally, a Weekend at Home!!!

After spending the last 2 weekends travelling, I'm very excited to be spending the entire 4-day weekend at home. The only thing that will get me out of the house today is my massage appointment at 1, and then my exercise class later (assuming either (a) I can chip my car out of the ice in which it is encased, or (b) S drives me there). Otherwise, I have a date with some doggy snuggles, as many pots of tea as is humanly possible to drink, and some lace. Specifically, this little beauty here:

... which is now much MUCH bigger (this picture was pre-lots of time on airplanes). I'm done with the main body, and am currently on the instruction that tells me to "pick up and knit 240 stitches along the long edge." ARGH. Double ARGH. I HATE HATE HATE picking up stitches, so this will take some serious motivation. I would say some serious alcohol, but I'm not over the cold I've had for the last week, so I'm thinking that I'll have to attempt to pick up a total of 480 stitches stone-cold-sober. Triple ARGH.

In other somewhat-related-to-knitting news, I ordered a lot of 100 spools of thread from ebay - they came all the way from India! This is what the box looked like when I opened it...

... and this is what it looked like once I had re-arranged it all by color. I think there are a few duplicates, but it was under $30, and this way I should have MUCH closer matches for zippers or buttons.

And finally, to remind myself that this time last week I was warm and could see the actual ground (green things - wow!), here are a few pictures from LA -

view from our balcony looking at the pool/fireplace

me IN the pool - it was heated, otherwise it would have been just a teeny bit too cold.

my favorite little girl at Santa Monica Beach... look at that beautiful hair!!!

Kati and I enjoying the, ummmmm, natural blow-dryer in Santa Monica...

And can someone please explain to me how I just got kicked off of MY couch by a dog? And why MY bed is currently covered by a cat?

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Where I'll Be This Weekend

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Painful Re-Entry

Quick PSA - S and I now buy Abby Pedigree canned dog food because of this ad campaign:

http://pedigree.com/dogadoption/

Seriously. Watch the ad and try to get through it without crying. And please, if you're thinking of getting a pet, check out the shelters and rescue organizations in your area. Both Cricket and Abby are shelter animals, and I couldn't imagine sweeter pets.

We now return to our regularly scheduled randomness.

On Friday, I was here:

Getting this:

In these temperatures (it got hotter, but I didn't go back and take a picture!)

Today, I'm freezing my @$ off despite being inside, wearing a parka, and sitting right next to the radiator in my freaking cold office. (and yes, I know that temps in the single digits and teens are not really that cold. S' family lives in Minnesota - in fact, the day that we were getting sunburned in the 80s, it was literally 100 degrees colder at his brother's house. But still, it's COLD.)

But before I get to the fun and excitement that was my completely rain-free weekend in Florida, I'll briefly stick in some knitting content to make sure the whole "knitting blog" label is at least nominally relevant - here are two skeins from my last dyeing adventure. I was going for browns with shades of maroon, but I think I overdid it on the reds. I still love the colors, though, so once again, a happy accident in the dyepot!

Right. That's all I've got for knitting content, so feel free to ignore the rest - especially if you're in a really cold place and will experience strong feelings of rage when confronted with pictures of sunny and warm...

The weekend was lovely. I got to really properly meet S' mom and stepdad (and, perhaps as important, his doggy Barney!) We really only had 2 full days, so we spent one of them in the Everglades.

Of course, no southern roadtrip is complete without stopping for breakfast...

And on the way there, I had to keep my eyes out for Cricket, who apparently crosses the highway for 4 miles... (and I thought she just slept all day!)

We went to Shark Valley, where we rented bikes and spent about an hour riding along the trail before I decided it was just too hot, and that I would officially wuss out and make us turn around...

Don't I just look SO happy?

But actually, it was great. I was just not dressed properly for the temperatures, that's all! And take careful note of just how wide that trail is...

... because frankly, I never thought I'd be this close...

And another fun moment? I posed for this picture with this big guy in the background.... (look just above the puddle)

Only to have him come over, swim through the storm-drain thing under the trail... (hint, that's his tail, and perhaps his posterior, but really, I don't think we know each other well enough for me to be putting pictures of his lady? man? parts on the internets...)

And then, when I was standing by the other end of the drain to catch a picture when he came out, he decided to just chill. Right underneath my feet. (Don't worry - that picture IS zoomed... just not as much as I was hoping.)

And look! Babies!!

There were tons of birds and other animals, but I'm attempting to not overflow the "internet pipes" with too many pictures, so I'll restrain myself to posting this little guy - maybe the rock was a little warm for his little feet? And how slowly do you have to move to actually grow moss on your back? Is it wrong that part of me thinks that being lazy enough to support a moss-colony should be a life-goal?

And later, on the way home, we went on a little boatride into the Gulf of Mexico, where we saw lots and lots of birds. I love this picture - especially since it was an accident - my finger slipped and I took a photo without meaning to!

And finally, here was the sky overhead - it was so beautiful.

And FINALLY finally, in a rare guest-pet appearance, here's Barney, S' doggy from home. Barney is 13, a rat terrier, and loves squeeky toys, long walks, and getting his head scratched. Although he is currently single, he's been "fixed," so sorry ladies! (speaking of, wouldn't he and abby have made such adorable puppies?)