A contest! But not my own Post 200!!!

Let's Knit 2 Gether is having a contest. Anyone who's been reading me for a while knows that this is one of my favorite podcasts (back when I actually posted about podcasts haha) so please, go check it out. Cat shows many awesome techniques, and gets to go to awesome places, and they are looking for suggestions of what to do next. Their most recent video is a tour of the Lion Brand studios and Knit 1 magazine!

Also, if you watch the video you will notice they put out very high quality video. They are hoping to raise money to purchase a better editing system so that it does't take quite so long to get out new episodes. So please, if you enjoy the videos think about donating a few dollars.

I couldn't think of a contest to do for myself, but I also still can't believe this is my 200th post!!


Well, here's a few cat pictures, and my shawl progress so far... this is the end of Clue #1 and clue # 2 will be out on Monday! So I will hopefully be able to finish my hat today and then I can show that off too :) I opened the back blinds to get all the natural light I could, and the cats loved it :)




Oh and yes, the ring is back :) And it fits without the help of Socks that rock.


And last but definitely not least, Happy Birthday Thomas!!!!


May all your birthday wishes come true

Lace knitting

*pops my back*
Oooh I've been hunched over working on this for nearly 2 hours now, but I am so proud of myself!!
As I mentioned before, I'm doing my very first lace shawl knit along!

Here is my progress so far.



It will look much more impressive once its on the circular needles. I just haven't worked up to quite enough stitches yet.


And check out my super technologically advanced Storage container!!


It keeps my yarn, the project itself, and the chart (which I cheated and wrote out for myself) safe from YOU KNOW WHO



(doesn't her tail look better?)


I'm hoping maybe to have extra time to knit tomorrow, as this is what our trees looked like when I got home from work.



Pretty to look at, but not so much fun for driving.

I'm thinking overnight the roads will be the same? EEK!

PS. To the asshat in the white truck right behind me, when there's ice on the trees, I don't go over the speed limit, and following right behind me isn't gonna make me go any faster. Also, when you go onto an exit ramp its generally a good idea to stay there. If you change your mind, you can go to the top and go across and come out the other side.
KTHNXBAI!

Also, for anyone who's keeping track besides me, this is blog post 199!!! SO I need to come up with something to do for the big 200. Egads!

New Meme

Yup, that's right, I"m going to start a new internet meme!
Anytime you leave a comment anywhere, or sign up for anything, and it has one of those nifty word verification boxes, come up with a definition.

For example:

Abionsog. Small bird, local to bogs, make their nests out of peat moss.

See? Its fun! Try it in the comments below, and spread it like peat moss fires. Only maybe faster and warmer.

Weekend update

Not much going on... I realized it had been a while since I reported any knitting news :)
I'm working on a Better Bucket Hat in Mmmmmmmmmmmalabrigo.
The color is called Burgundy Dash, but I think it should be called Rose Garden. There's lovely little spots of green and peach!

Also, I had a baby shower to go to today, so last night I whipped up these cute purple washcloths. I love hand-knit washcloths, they're so soft!
Its hard to tell, but they were purple and white (a very light lilac shade)

I also dropped off my rings to be sized, I have itty bitty fingers.. so I had been keeping it on with only the best available!!!


About a yard of Socks that Rock :P its all curly now. But after February 4th (eek that feels so long away) my ring will fit just fine!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!!

Cats and yarn

Kitty seems to be feeling a little bit better, so Sam was trying to get him to play with some yarn. Of course Tripisie had to come help.



Hey guys, whatcha doin??


Weeee!!! This is fun!!! *sigh* Not again.



The yarn is mine!!!!


Aww, daddy's sorry Kitty.


That's ok, I get lovins.

Wedding Wednesdays

I'm gonna totally steal this from another blogger friend who recently got married.
Every Wednesday I'll post a progress of the wedding plans!
Not too much to report just yet, we have thought of a date that we like, but my grandmother is out of town on vacation, so I haven't been able to tell her yet.

We're going to take my ring to get it sized this weekend. I have some Socks that Rock wound around it for now ;) Only the best!

Many have asked how he asked me.

Well, as I mentioned before, he suggested that we go visit my parents for the 3 day weekend. He spent most of the time downstairs with Dad, working on their computer, and then watching football ;) while Mom and I knit upstairs.
Well, at one point he must have had a little chat with Dad, and then Dad asked me to come downstairs to check out the cats' new toy (they have one of those carpeted tower thingies) so that Sam could talk to Mom. When I came back upstairs, Dad and Mom disappeared and left us alone, and Sam got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :D

He says I got a little Vaklempt and then got a huge grin on my face. We went downstairs to share the news, and mom poked her head out the door and we all hugged and smiled and bounced. A man at my parents' church asked how hard they'd have to slap me to get that grin off my face ;)

So, that is how it happened. And here is a clearer picture :)

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Sam's a sneaky devil. "We should go visit your parents" he says.
"Your dad's having trouble with his modem" he says.


ps. I said yes!

Spin me round round (now with better picture and yarn and kitties)

Sorry to go back to my icky laptop's cam pictures, but I wanted to share what has finally come in from the trunk of Sam's car, and my batteries are dead in my camera.




(better picture here)


This was given to me when I was a weee girl and I kept it in my bedroom as decoration. When my parents moved to North Carolina it was put in my grandmother's attic and almost completely forgotten! Until, I was reminded of its existance earlier this year, and went over early on Christmas day to get it down from the attic.

Its missing quite a few bits, but for the most part I think its salvageable.


Weeee!

Also, last week I signed up for a shawl KAL (I am insane) and I got the yarn for it yesterday and wound it up.

Tripsie says YAY! Yarn, AND A bag I can lick!!!

Kitty says "That chick is WEIRD"

I'm so proud

Last week one of my friends came up to me and asked me to teach him how to knit. Excitedly, I asked what his favorite color was, and made sure to bring several shades of "blue" yarn and some knitting needles with me for when we podcasted Friday night.

Here's his work so far!
No dropped stitches or wonky increases to be found. Awesome job James! Next up? Purl!

The three little kittens who lost their mittens

Can bugger off, 'cause I'm not knitting ANY MORE of these :)

Although it really wasn't hard, until I nearly gave myself a heart attack thinking I'd knit a pair of right gloves.

All is correct though.


I shall call them, my Cobra Commander mittens. Here's why

They're in the dryer now, getting just a weee bit felted.

Next up, my Magical Matching-but-only-kinda Malabrigo Hat. (Mitten yarn included for color comparison)


Mmmmmmmmmmmalabrigo!!! I can't wait :)

5 things - a Meme

Saw this and decided to do it since I haven't done a Meme in a while. From Wendy knits & her pretty Ragdoll Lucy

5 things in my bag: I'm not sure which bag is referred to and seeing as how I carry several I will chose from each

1. cell phone in purse
   
2. iPod in purse
   
3. Emergency Knitting kit (in grocery bag... I have tons of totes but always carry a grocery bag)
   
4. crackers (also in grocery bag)
   
5. work laptop.. in.. .laptop bag :)
   

5 favorite things in my room: I'm not sure there ARE 5 things in my room - mostly just bed and dressers and a lamp. I love lamp. Oh and of course Yarlow. He's my favorite then. Anyways, so I'll go with 5 favorite things in THIS room, the Den

1. my laptop
   
2. my external hard drive with my entire itunes library and a few movies.
   
3. Kitty (napping by the back door)
   
4. Tripsie (licking herself in front of the bookshelf)
   
5. Yarn Stash
   

5 things I have always wanted to do: Always is kind of a tough qualifier don't you think? I've never had anything that I ALWAYS wanted to do...

1. Go to outer space.
   
2. Travel backwards in time
   
3. Run a no-kill cat shelter.
   
4. knit faster!
   
5. be able to understand what cats are thinking. Those times when it isn't obvious that is ;)
   

5 things I am currently into:

1. evil mini games on facebook and elsewhere.
2. Losing Weight
   
3. destashing yarn
   
4. worrying about the future
   
5. Wondering how this can be comfortable

And why Tripsie has done this to her tail. :(


If you want to join in, consider yourself tagged.

Update on 2009 goals

Despite the crappy week, I did manage not to go too overboard with eating and stuff. Even after drinking a bit Friday night, when I input my nutrition info on Gyminee I still had not gone over my calorie goal, and had only gone over the "fat" goal by like 6 grams. I consider that pretty good considering I had a burger and fries for supper.


So, I'm down 4.5 lbs so far :)


As you may remember, another goal was to not buy as much yarn and to knit from my stash. Well, I've already fallen down on that one a little bit... but thankfully Ravelry is helping me out.
Quite a few people have the same goals, and so we have started a Sock Marathon. There's no winners or losers. You simply add up how much sock yarn you have, and make a goal to knit up a certain amount of it.

Here's a picture of my sock yarn stash. I realized a lot of it I had never put into Ravelry so I did that this morning.

I still won't really get ahead because I'm in a few sock clubs. Cables and Lace started this month (that very bright pink one to the left is from there).
I'm still in the Yarn Pirate Booty club which I have quite a few skeins from last year that I have not knit yet (bottom right corner is all her)

And, a new club I joined last year is the Unique Sheep's Lord of the Rings sock club. Now you know I couldn't resist that one!

Lucky for my poor storage tub, that one is only every other month. I can't wait to see what we get though :)


I'm also excited because fellow Lancast member James is learning to knit. I brought him some needles and yarn Friday night and he got a good 5 rows done on a scarf :)

I have some more yarn related news coming up, but don't want to jinx it so more to come on that towards the end of the month.
I hope everyone had a good weekend. Back to work tomorrow. I'm hoping to finish my 2nd mitten so that I can have warmer hands this week.

What a week...

Its been a pretty rough week at work.. Right before the holidays, the company I work for advised that there would be some head-count reductions after the new year. What wonderful timing they have. Anyways, this week everyone was on pins and needles of course.
They began Wednesday, but the bulk of the cuts were on Thursday. One of my best friends on my team, who I've known since before he was hired at this company was let go. It was a complete shock. Others were let go as well that didn't make any sense. Slackers were allowed to stay. Some decisions made sense....
Also, an entire team who I worked very closely with were let go. I am very sad for all of my friends (and my ex-father in law, who is such a nice man).
But I'm also angry at whoever made these decisions. They never seem to think about all the work that these people do that will now be foisted onto someone else.

Last night was podcast night, I messaged the guys and asked what we were doing for supper beforehand. They asked what I wanted? "Beer."
So I got a little toasted... but I wasn't the only one. Designated driver changed 2 times during the course of our meal. On the way back I noticed it was 9 and that Sam was off of work, so Josh called him and we all talked him into coming to record with us, which was fun :)

During the break on the show I went upstairs and borrowed Chris' wife's stuffed banana and did the Peanut Butter Jelly time dance.
Feeling much better now.



Just in case you're unfamiliar with Peanut Butter Jelly time (since i know at least one of you who lives under a rock) click here

I can has haircut

For those of you who have known me for sometime, you know that generally I get one, maybe 2 haircuts a year.
And when I get it cut I GET IT CUT!!
Here's last year's.

Here's a recentish picture of me
My hair had actually grown a good 2 inches since then.

Here it is tonight!
I love it.

Here's the back


And the best part is, I can still put it in a ponytail.... mostly.

*+5 points to myself for taking pictures of the back of my own head*
Of course, this is after being blow dried, sprayed with something that smelled wonderful and made me want to tip extra, and then being flat ironed, all are things I do not do.... ever. So we'll see how it looks after its been in my care for 24 hours, but for now? *joy*

Its Caturday

I has a mitten

Well, minus the thumb anyways . But that shouldn't take long.

I'm just perplexed as to what I'm doing wrong with my kichener stitch.

It looks perfect in this picture yes?


Except that's the inside!!

Here's the outside. Stoopid seam line just staring at me.


Maybe I should just turn things right side out before I kichener?

A flash of the crazy

Woooboy. I don't know of its feeling better from the bug, or maybe being organized thanks to this handy dandy notebook Sam's brother gave me for Christmas.
Here's the cover.



Oh also, I have my Yarn Harlot daily calendar!!



Or maybe its the lack of smoke in the air! That's right, Sam's quit!

Though I think Tripsie will miss sitting back there. That seems to be the only time she likes to sit on your lap.

But I've been hit by inspiration the likes of which is never seen by people other than Miss Violet. Some big things are coming my way and I am very excited!

More to come on that later ;)
But for now I'm designing a pattern. Inspired by the Fetching fingerless gloves I was making last month, I'm making myself a pair of mittens.
But I'm making some changes with the cables. I alternated them! Look at what it does.

Kinda hard to see so far, but I think it'll look really neat.