green_dreams | Entries tagged with sewing

"This pattern's more complicated than I expected. The knit stitches are knit backwards, and it's making the cabling a lot more fiddly."
"Isn't knitting backwards just purling?"
"Well-- no, not this way. Purling is backwards in that you slide the needle back to front, rather than front to back. When you go backwards by knitting through the back leg of a knit stitch instead of the front leg, you get a twisted knit stitch."
*a pause, during which the slightly yes-dear look is replaced with dawning suspicion*
"...sorcery."

I have, I believe, escaped burning for my unnatural acts. However, I suspect I may be required to prove that neither I nor the hat weigh the same as a duck.

(As ducks feature in the lyrics which were the inspiration for the hat's name, this amuses me oddly.)

Current Mood: optimistic

Just discovered there is a limit to the text Ravelry will display in a project description. Dropping notes here, under a cut.

( Socks. )

Current Mood: determined

Slice of life, from yesterday:

me: "You know that red yarn[1] I have? I was thinking of making this."
John: "You don't have the right kind of needles."
me: "I don't?" (I do!)
John: "And the colour's wrong."
(I am blinking at this point, because he does not knit but he understands knitting and that colour is not defined by pattern.[2])
"I mean, those bits?" (He points at the bottom of the page.) "The tentacles clearly have blue. Red yarn. Wrong colour."
me: (stare)
(blink)
(assemble this comment with "wrong needles" and realize that he is on about the tattoo. And he is now failing to keep a straight face.)
me: "I love you very much, dear."

Snarkbeast. But my snarkbeast.
---
[1] The colour is called "Don't Wear This On Star Trek."
[2] Suggested by, occasionally, sure! That is different.

Current Mood: content

A minute spent tailoring a CV to a job application is like a minute spent sitting on a hot stove. And it never takes just a minute.

I finally released some knitting from the blocking last night:

( Less than flattering lighting, but WTH. )

Currently taking Piper out, rather than going back to cleaning. Fresh air rarely hurts.

Current Mood: frustrated

Dear world:

I realize we are wending our way towards the end of August. I can understand Hallowe'en decorations and candy beginning to appear.

But could I please stop getting e-mails telling me that it's a great time to get started on knitting or sewing for Christmas?!

(That said, this pattern is intriguing me, but I don't know anyone who would both want it and have a use for it.)

Current Mood: rushed

No, seriously, first-world problems of the decently employed[1] who have no particular acute health issues and are operating in moderate security.

( You were warned. )
---
[1] Employed in a pleasant and well-paying albeit temporary position, not "employed as any decent person should be". That BS gets no traction here.

Current Mood: frustrated

Current Mood: content

I have galloping start-itis. And pounds of pretty fingering-weight yarn.

Right now the dearth of needles in smaller-than-4mm is keeping me in check a bit, but I worry about what will happen if this doesn't clear up by Thursday. (Thursday: knitting at the LYS. Also payday.)

Current Mood: confused

I have a scale! Little thing, sits on my desk or the shelf behind it, weighs up to 5kg.

It should make keeping track of yarn quantities easier, and makes me a *lot* more comfortable about mailing things. I can be sure I have the right postage now.

Current Mood: cheerful

I ordered some yarn on Sunday afternoon--at quarter to four (it's actually what prompted the destashing)--and it's here. Given when mail is usually delivered, I think it took less than 48 hours to get to me.

It's been a very long day. This was a nice surprise; it's from a local company, but I was expecting it later this week. (Indigo Dragonfly, by the way. The names! The colours!)

The colourway is called "A Thin Line Between Love and Batteries", and you can see it here. The grey is grey; the streaks in it are a bit less brown and more purple than they how as being on my monitor, but I can more than live with this. And it's nearly as soft and cuddly as Angus. I am thinking I will use it for the Dainty Mechanic gloves.

Also I have cleared out a chunk of the kitchen.

Current Mood: happy

The mercury (does anyone actually own a mercury thermometer?) is slowly creeping up from this morning, when it was -17°C (-26°C with the wind chill). Looking forward to Wednesday, when it's meant to get up to 11°C. Not - 11°C. 11°C. Okay, yes, that's the low of one day against the high of another, but that's still a 28 degree difference in two days, ignoring the damn wind.[1]

Oh, March. Aren't you just an interesting time, meteorologically speaking. And I cannot wait for the time when I no longer need to worry about my ereader freezing. Literally.

(Yes, yes, paper books don't freeze. However, the pages get blown around, they fare much less well in precipitation, and turning the pages takes longer, which at the temperature that causes my Kobo to freeze is actually a significant consideration because I do not want my fingers out in that cold. Also, Innsmouth Magazine.)

((Possibly this last could be remedied with knit gloves that had leather patches sewn over the fingerprints? Hmh.))
---
[1] That's 1°F, -15°F, 52°F, and a 51 degree difference for those of you using Farenheit.

Current Mood: cold

Poll #9747 Decisions.

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0

View Respondents

What next?

View Answers

Foxes.
0 (0.0%)

Jackalope.
0 (0.0%)

Teddy bear.
0 (0.0%)

Cloud.
0 (0.0%)

Highgate.
0 (0.0%)

Poison Roses.
0 (0.0%)

Old leaves.
0 (0.0%)

Slingshot.
0 (0.0%)

(Closed.)

Current Mood: confused

I finished a kerchief. Shawlette. Short triangular scarf-thing. For me. (This is actually relatively rare. It has been a while since I finished knitting that was for me--September, in fact. It feels nice.)

I used The Age of Brass and Steam pattern, and a skein of silk yarn that was a Christmas gift[1]. Decided I wanted to go with a picot bind-off to echo the cogs-and-gears effect of the eyelet rows, and then I did a lot of math and even more swearing to figure out how many repeats I could afford to knit because I didn't want to not-use any of the yarn.

I ended up with fourteen feet and eight inches left over. (Non-knitters: yes, that's good. I explain this to people who don't knit but who are on Steam by saying this is the kind of thing you get an achivement for.)

( More under the cut. )

In other knitting news, I lost one of my two gloves and am just not up to knitting a replacement yet, but I did manage to get several pictures of stash and projects up, and am looking forward to more, so that's all to the good.
---
[1] Last Christmas. Hush.

Current Mood: accomplished

Angus has managed to get a strand of fur into the display of the house phone.

Not on. Into. Behind the little plastic pane that protects the window that lights up and shows you what number you are dialling.

I am rather impressed.

Also today I have frogged two rows, knit six rows, and frogged six rows. Yes, that is a net gain that isn't a gain. I think I need a yarn scale.

Also-also... I don't recall. I lost my wallet, then I found it again. And I found out that the e-mail from the bank saying my replacement debit card had been ordered for me on the 23rd was not true, so I should get one in two-to-three weeks. And that's about it.

Current Mood: tired

I keep reminding myself that we should see a thaw in a few weeks. Not a full-on thaw, of course, but the mid-February oh-sorry-were-you-looking-at-those-ice-sculptures?-oops warmer weather is pretty reliable.

There's been a bit of a shake-up at work lately, but figure I will be okay. Hope people are seeming a bit less shell-shocked on Monday.

I keep kicking around the idea of knitting something inspired by "The Yellow Wallpaper" and the King in Yellow (not any particular story about it, just the general concept). Yellow colours and harmful sensation and creeping madness. Cheerful stuff, but I have no idea exactly where to begin. Suppose I'll file the idea and see if it's still around to come back to in a month or so.

Things to do this weekend: ~~haircut~~, edit, ~~laundry~~, ~~deliberate (verb, not adjective) jacket~~, ~~hit the pharmacy~~, ~~return library books~~, ~~finish gloves~~. And the weekend is half over. Somehow I am unoptimistic.

ETA: 1:35 Sunday morning Slightly more optimistic.

ETA2: 5:35 Sunday afternoon Distinctly more optimistic. Gloves will probably need more work after blocking, but will count it a win if I can get them blocking tonight.

Current Mood: wan

So one of the groups of local knitters is running a... a knit-along, or a mutual support thing, or the sticks-and-string equivalent of that mass hysteria dancing that I have vague impressions of having occurred six or seven hundred years ago although that's probably not reliable and oh dear I am rambling. Figured I might as well sign on. The goal's to finish a dozen projects; either UFOs from 2011 or earlier[1], or ones that use yarn that's been in your stash for six months or longer.

(I am carefully not thinking about how much of my nearly 13 miles of yarn qualifies for that guideline.)

So yeah. Something to aim for this year, I guess. Trying to keep in mind that buying books and yarn is secondary to reading and knitting them.
---
[1] I have ones from earlier. This does not fill me with pride.

Current Mood: optimistic

I got out early today, which was nice. They're asking if I can come in next week, and stay late tomorrow, and we'll see how all that plays out. But for tonight... nice.

Also! I got home to find that Future Lovecraft had made it to my mailbox, with a bookmark and a little holiday card.

I'm going to try to get in early tomorrow, and stay late if I need to. Tonight, I'm going to the SnB potluck, and I understand there are zombies to deal with in Papua New Guinea. (I may be fuzzy on the details.)

Current Mood: relieved

I am emerging from the sort of fuzzy haze of coughing bits up that has shrouded the last week, and it's occurring to me that it's oh god December December seventh waugh holidays year-end gifts flail.

(I like to think it's a bit more dignified than that. Also, I have now for the first time ever actually gone and bought an app for my phone. It's a Cthulhu countdown to Christmas, and forget the bit about it being less than a coffee at a coffee shop; it's less than a coffee at Tim Horton's. Innsmouth Press mentioned it.)

(Anyway.)

And there is something I am feeling strongly ambivalent about.[1]

(1) I am aiming to read 83 books this year. I've read a lot more than just books, mind--magazines and individual stories and etcetera--but I am aiming for the books. I am at 75. (I am also partway through five, at the moment--possibly six--so this isn't as difficult as it might sound.)

(2) I am aiming to get something knit for my mother and sister this year.

I cannot reasonably aim to do both. I might be able to get both done, but planning to do both will have me frazzle and burn out and result in neither knitting nor reading being fun, and that is sort of the antithesis of what those activities are supposed to be like. So... thoughts?
---
[1] Not ambiguous.

Current Mood: busy

A thought, upon standing outside in the dark, and being nearly but not totally insulated by wool gloves, a giant cowl, and a very comfortable jacket:

...legwarmers.

It's that time of year again.

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: 45.40007, -75.70512

Been knitting for two years, as of today.

Current Location: 45.39947, -75.69963

An important note, for dealing with your ~~local~~[1] friendly neighbourhood knitter:

You may safely assume that we know how much yarn costs, how long (roughly) it will take us to knit something, and so on.

You may safely assume that we know we can buy things other than yarn, and have some idea of what common household items cost. Like a pair of gloves. For example.

Finally, you may safely assume we know how to use scissors.

So when we tell you happily that we are knitting a pair of gloves and leaving off some of the fingertips, we don't need to hear that it would be easier to buy a pair of gloves and cut off the bits we don't want. We know that.

And if the enthusiasm and effort put into an accessory doesn't matter to you, that's fine. We can live with one less person to give knitted gifts to. Really, we can.

(See also: goddammit, my gloves will be silk and merino and fit me perfectly and have exactly the cuff lengths I want and I get to knit them. So there.)
---
[1] Stricken as not all the people I know and talk to are local. Bless you, internets.

Current Mood: hurt

I'm tired, I can't sleep, and I have just discovered that I need to tink (not frog, tink, yay for the fiddlies) seven rounds of a silk-wool yarn that is, in the eloquent technical parlance of knittery, splitty as f*ck.

I'm going to bed. It will be better in the morning, oh yes.

Current Mood: annoyed

So, there's been a hiccup with my subscription, and Taunton sent me two copies of the latest Threads magazine. Anyone want one? It's got articles on costumes at the Metropolitan Opera, finishing lace, shirring, current fall fabrics...

*shrug*

(I mean, nice magazine, but I don't need two.)

Current Mood: sleepy

I go to sleep, I wake up five hours later, and I have thirteen e-mails? The hell, world. Three is more normal.

Also, my scarf made it to its recipient. Dance, I say.

Contemplating going back to bed for a bit, but would hate to wake anyone up. (Bets on whether Angus or Piper has stolen my pillow?)

Current Mood: cheerful

I have two pairs of socks, one top, and a giant lace shawl on the needles. Currently *really* tempted to set them all aside and go knit something small and quick.

(Not helped by having one skeing of this lovely new kettle-dyed yarn in a green and yellow that will be both warm and cheerful come cooler weather. Which we are getting as I speak.)

Current Mood: annoyed

The moon looks like it has been spread with marmalade.

The abbreviation OMG dates from 1917 at least.

There is a comic about knitting here. Some of it is over-the-top. Only some.

I have a new bookshelf.

Current Mood: tired

Work seems to be going well. Have not been late, have not embarrassed myself (I think), have not annoyed anyone. Commute's a bit long, but hey--I haz an ereader. So okay. Once I get a bit more organized I will bring along knitting, too.

Speaking of which...

It's not mine. I *wish* it was mine; I think it's absolutely lovely. It's one version of the Pretty Twisted Cuff pattern from the new Knitty, and it is leading me to consider casting on. I am currently crushing the impulse like the snake in Montresor's family coat of arms, but it may yet prevail.

Still cleaning, and hope to have at least one dresser out of the house tonight. In a couple of days I'll put up some more books to get out of the house (list of those still available is here if you missed it).

Ereaders are interesting. I find them more absorbing than regular books, and I think it's due (at least in the Kobo) to the screen size. Constantly tapping on the screen to turn the pages makes you focus, and the relatively small amount of text onscreen means that if you get distracted, you don't have an entire page to glance at to reorient yourself[1] and might actually need to consciously read the last sentance or three to reorient yourself to the story.
---
[1]You know--get distracted, need to deal with something, come back, pick up the page, and without really paying attention to the text you already read you see it and your memory's refreshed. ...does anyone else do this?

Current Mood: working

I crossed the cables in a Celtic cross the wrong way.

I noticed this after I'd knitted twelve rows.

I am currently trying to figure out if the swearing that will result from dropping back the stitches in question and picking the cables up the right way round is actually likely to be less frustrating, in the end, than having the cables crossed the wrong way.

...sadly, it probably is.

Current Mood: frustrated

Back in April I started doing a lot of very very fiddly intarsia. I swore about this for a while, carefully not providing details, since the person I was making it for occasionally reads this journal. I was working on a hat for them, and since they were one of the people who got me into Echo Bazaar, and since the Brass Embassy is probably the hottest place in the setting[1], I tried to knit up something that looked vaguely flame-y.

( Before and after. )

(Because of course, taking nearly three weeks and... uhm... seventy different pieces of yarn, I think? Anyway, taking that long to knit a hat is something to brag about. Yes. >.> )

Anyway. I learnt I can do intarsia even when it doesn't get felted afterwards, and that it is possible, technically, to do reversible cables, although they work best on symmetrical abstract designs. Call it progress.
---
[1] Dances on floors of red-hot brass, dinner parties that leave one strangely unsatisfied, and, of course--Abstraction.

Current Mood: accomplished

...this is his.

He's not sleeping.

He has a paw onnit.

So it's his.

(Angus has decided he likes the catnip kick pillow I knit for him. I am well pleased.)

Current Mood: satisfied

When you are working with twenty-five separate and distinct pieces of yarn, and you are doing so on one row of 134 stitches[1], it might be worth renaming what you are doing "weaving".

(Or maybe I should save that for next row, when it will jump to ~~thirty-one~~ thirty-seven separate and distinct pieces of yarn.)
---
[1] For non-knitters: one piece of knitting maybe a foot anna half wide.

Current Mood: weird

Going by the local Bulk Barn to pick up snacks for game.

Walking down the non-dairy aisle with all the rice drinks, and seeing a new kind of carton: liquid hemp drink.

Having my first thought be "Wait, don't I knit with that?"

Current Mood: amused

I have knit my first for-me sock. Possibly my first sock, if you argue that the great floofy hand-dyed merino socks I made for John are more sort of legwarmers and slippers combined.

I need to knit up the other one, but I just have the final pattern rounds and the ribbing left. I will have some yarn left over; I can live with this. Pics to follow.

...handknit socks really *do* feel neat in a rather unique way when you put them on. It's like smugness, except it's all cuddly.

Current Mood: accomplished

Had to run out today, and the local Zellers is having a clearance sale on a lot of things. I got five pairs of socks for $7. Perfectly serviceable not-especially-fluffy work-suitable socks.

I'm sort of sitting here, staring at my knitting, thinking--wait, why do I do this again?

snakey said this morning (and I think it was a quote) "Translating Anglo-Saxon is like knitting socks: time-consuming and unnecessary, so you better do it for love." And I suppose that's it, although I think it might be for values of love which also cover my tendency to get obsessed with details.

I still haven't frogged the damn things.

Current Mood: pensive

Either GMail's down or the library connection has decided there's a problem with it specifically; I can run Google searches, but I will be shot if I can log in.

Out of the office early; I need to do some uploads, but I can't do those without a connection, so I am free, free, free. And four blocks away from the yarn store. And two days after payday. And still not buying any more yarn until I finish my green socks.

(Go me. Really. This fiscal restraint is *thrilling*, I tell you.)

Also! I took a can of compressed air and a vaccuum cleaner to my laptop. It is now running *much* more quietly. Probably a good sign.

ETA: Oh, I can log in through IE. Alright. Distinctly weird, but I have e-mail. Links that need to be pasted into Firefox tabs, but still e-mail.

Current Mood: cheerful

Light of my life recovering from whatever's going around. Co-worker called in sick today, after mentioning Thursday and Friday of last week that she was feeling a cold coming on. I am so getting hit with this thing, it's just a matter of time.

Feeling a little angry and a little sad, and not sure why exactly.

In good news, I finished a catnip kick pillow for Angus, and he is happily... well, either waltzing with it or disembowelling it, you know how cats are. Also I got a chance to knit with hemp, which is nice. (Although what I am going to do with the remaining quarter-skein...)

Also, the last Criminal Minds has just finished with a Stephen King quote - "Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win." I actually don't recognize that one--anyone?

Current Mood: melancholy

Rainfall warning in effect. You don't say.

Well. The driveway is ice-free, the dog has been walked, and I still have dry patches on my clothing. I need to go out and get a teaball, and possibly salt and pepper shakers, but I think a hot shower is in order first.

(And if the temperature goes too low before I am ready to leave, I will dump my loose tea directly into the mug and worry about picking bits of anise out of my teeth later. It's going to be an ice rink out there once the temperature hits zero.)

What else...? Working my way through American Gothic and liking it; it's entertaining small-town horror (with, insofar as I can tell, about a four-per-month homicide rate). Points for not being overly explicit about exactly what Buck and Merlyn are.

Alo, realized that depite having finished a bunch of knitting projects lately, I still haven't gotten the pair of socks I was knitting for myself off the needles, and I started them a year ago on Thursday. I am holding off on buying any more yarn until that gets straightened out.

Current Mood: okay

Job interview tomorrow. And take-home test for a different job on Wednesday, but... job interview tomorrow! :s

Also I have a new monitor, which means clearing off my desktop. It's been a while.

Also I need to grab dinner and then hit SnB. Angus will have a catnip kick pillow, ohyes. >.>

Also! I have won myself a copy of The Mysterious Flame, which is extra-good since I can't find the one I bought when it came out, and it's gone out of print so I couldn't buy another.

(I only have 17 hours before that damn interview, and I need to sleep for a bunch of them. This just does not allow proper time to panic. How can I get through these things if I can't schedule time to panic?)

ETA: The On Spec website is giving me what I think is a PHP error... can anyone else get there?

Current Mood: stressed

(1) I have turned a sock heel! I am rather proud of this.

(2) I found a skein of soft grey Arequipa sock yarn in my mailbox this morning. It helped me get through the day.

Current Mood: accomplished

Just made it home. (Work, you know. That whole thing where I start looking at Dreamweaver and two hours later I'm sort of blinking, trying to reconnect with the world around me in a way that allows for such meaningful interactions as, oh, getting around to eating, and wondering why my brains feel like pudding. But W3C-compliant pudding.)

There are no windows casually visible at work. I was surprised as hell when I got out and realized it was dark out.

Uhm... other things. Feeling a bit off, hoping it passes. Grabbed a coffee this morning to stay awake and worrying I might pay for it around 4 a.m. Baby jacket progresses. My books came in. I am reading Feed, which is actually not one of the books that came in, but it is more portable than nearly all the ones that did and really engaging besides.

I could make a triptych to represent so much of the last two days: the half-knit baby jacket, my laptop, and Feed. That worries me a little, actually. Probably just back-at-the-office nerves.

I want to go to sleep. Hopefully unwinding with a bottle of mineral water will prove to be an adequate substitute.

Current Mood: drained

I'm done a knitting project. It's just drying out after being blocked on the ironing board.

And I am itching to knit something else, and I have no idea which project to pick up or to start. (Or I could start the baby jacket I need to make my niece/nephew[1].) None of the ones I have planned are exactly quick and satisfying, and all the ones already on the needles... well, they're either garments or they involve sock yarn. Not conducive to speedy work.

By the way, best knitting advice I have seen in quite a while? It's on the label for the Cat's Pajamas yarn sold by Lucy Neatby; "Make your yarn happy - Knit it Now!" Combined with the cute little cartoon cats... it's just sort of cheerful. I like cheerful.
---
[1] Yes, baby jacket singular. I don't know which it'll be yet.

Current Mood: blank

As a wise friend of mine has observed, people what knit and crochet seem to rarely get knitted/crocheted items from others. And this should be remedied. And we have the internet and the concept of swaps.

The poll is under the cut, but if you're going to discuss, please comment here (there's a link to the LJ crosspost at the bottom of it). The deadline looks like it's gonna be reasonable, and yes, this is open to people who want to learn to knit and/or crochet. Thought I should emphasize that. :)

( What would you do for yarn? )

Current Mood: cheerful

Woke up jittery-anxious, although not as bad as some of the times it's been in the last week. I meant to get out and look for something to help me sleep yesterday, but somehow it didn't happen. (In the name of reclaiming agency: probably because I didn't go out and do it. >.< )

Will get that done today.

(Also considering possibility that it's very mild caffeine withdrawal. I know I had nightmares when I was quitting coffee this summer, and I've been having a very little coffee the past few days. I am really not sure if it's possible to drink just enough to rekindle your addiction, though.)

In other news, LYS knocked a third off the prices of some of their art yarn. I still have a dozen projects on the needles[1], so... I don't know. The idea of going down and at least looking is nice, though. Maybe if I finish this hat.

Need to find my camera and write a set of instructions on logging into GMail. I can't think of anything I need to do today, or anything I want to. I think I'm going to lie here and wait for the stuffiness in my head and the soreness in my throat to either go away or get bad enough that I don't feel guilty about going back to bed.
---
[1] And over a hundred skeins of yarn.

Current Mood: grumpy

Io9 (io9? Not sure how strict the lower-case thing is) has an article on Aly Fell's pinup art, and a link to his gallery. And while poking around for things vaguely similar to the Sam Gunn[1] picture, I also found Lovecraft is Missing, which I am actually really enjoying.[2]

Also I wandered by the MMA store, and am currently reminding myself I cannot justify the Tiffany grapevine silk scarf. And they have the neatest pencil/table sculpture, too. And notecards. Because of course the one thing I need in my life is more notecards.

I mean, come on, I haven't even bought yarn yet this year. Fiscal virtue must be maintained.

SnB was fun last night, and I think I actually figured out how I want to handle the decreases in the hat I'm working on so that I can keep the spiral effect. I was mugged by a skein of Peter Rabbit from Fleece Artist[3], this lovely fluffy 90% angora/10% nylon blend, but managed to escape unscathed. I fear returning to the store, though. It lurks in wait, and I don't know if it will sate itself upon someone else before I return.

...bit silly today, it seems. Oh well, it's a distraction from tidying up.
---
[1] You know, it just occurred to me that the titular protagonist might be the alien, rather than the human. I like the idea of it being the human, though.
[2] "As an ordained priest of the Holy Roman Catholic Church... here's mud in yer eye!" Also, showmanship.
[3] Dear yarn companies: love your stuff, but maybe you could set it up so it's possible to link directly to a specific base on your sites? Handmaiden does the great-long-scrolly thing of images as well, and it's mad annoying when I'm trying to show other people stuff.

Current Mood: busy

A brief needle-related note: I got a skein of Silken from Handmaiden in pink/red/purple, and my very own New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi! (You can't get it at Chapters. And you can get it at the library. But they only have so many copies and you have to give them *back.*)

Mine mine mine mine mine dance. Mine.

Also I got an iPod Shuffle, and am currently sort of giggling over how tiny and cute it is. I have owned watches with faces bigger than that thing.

Current Mood: happy

Somehow I get the impression I lost most of a day between today and yesterday. (This may have had something to do with not eating until about half an hour ago. Today, I mean. I ate yesterday.)

Two more days until Christmas. I find I flinch less if I think of it as "Two more days until the next Doctor Who." The holidays are throwing my schedule for a loop; I've thought of at least two days this past week as being Friday.

All presents but one have been prepared. Just need to wrap the red/blue LEDs our niece and nephew are getting. (And I need to mail something out, but that is not on a deadline. Dear God mail can get expensive around the holidays.) And I need to return a couple of library books, and pick up a double handful of things before the in-laws come over.

I think I also need to unknit six rows of Travelling Woman, which at the moment is just making me very tired. I may save it for the SnB tonight; this kind of thing always seems to go better there. (Note to self: remember to bring Small Gods.)

I think ~~I need~~ my knitting projects would need much less managing if I had another 4.5mm circular. At the moment I think I'm knitting three or four projects on one, and I really must emphasize the one.

May go and break out the Mall Santa. (Sign of Villainess occupying a disproportionate amount of your attention; you Google 'mall santa' and are vaguely surprised when the body scrub is not on the first page.) I have time before people show up, and it would be relaxing.

Current Mood: anxious

Knitters are weird. I get that. Non-knitters often look at knitters funny. And I get that too. Knitters are... what? Maybe a bit prone to being distracted, to zone out while petting the yarn, to reciting integers at odd moments. This is all fine.

Knitters may treat the fact that they have (literally) miles of yarn and more projects on the go than they have fingers as something to be cheerful about, or a situation that they are working to amplify.

None of this means that you get to volunteer a knitter for a project.[1] Seriously. Yes they can knit things up surprisingly quickly sometimes, yes they seem to want to bury themselves in sticks and string, yes they don't seem to mind being overwhelmed.

As with other hobbies, that doesn't mean you get to assign any of this to them.

Thank you. That was all.
---
[1] Possibly especially when it involves ucky[2] yarn.
[2] A highly technical term, here covering "stuff I really did not want to knit with."

Current Mood: annoyed

How the hell did I end up with an even dozen projects on the needles?

ETA: and 107 skeins of yarn. Dammit.

Current Mood: shocked

(Finished a pair of mittens! Whoot! Pics up on Ravelry shortly.)

Am currently torn between two patterns; Lamina and Crest of the Wave (pdf). First? Second? Both? If both, then which one first? Downsides of each?

Current Mood: confused

There is something weirdly satisfying about getting a decent dinner made. (Although for the record I would absolutely not have had that last soft taco with just sour cream if it hadn't been zero-fat sour cream. And I do not even know how you get that.)

Three pounds of ground beef in the freezer, in separate (approximately) one-pound bags, and the dishwasher is running. And

ashwednesday found me a recipe for mulled white wine (which I keep wanting to call white mulled wine) that I am noting down here in part so I do not forget it. Maybe I will make it tomorrow.

Plus we have ingredients for two giant easy dinners which will result in leftovers, so dinners over the next week should be pretty easy. I know I just said there was something satisfying about making dinner, but that doesn't mean I want to do it all the time.

Not much else to say today, really. Dozed on-and-off on the couch for a couple of hours before dinner, nothing I need to get done tonight... May put on a movie and read. Or possibly knit. I'm doing a lace edging in bulky yarn, and am not sure I like the looks of it.

Current Mood: cheerful

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