December 1st.  Wow.  Where did time go?

Oh ya…

1. Work has been NUTS.  Just nuts.  That’s all.  But ya know… I love it when the pressure is on, honestly.
2. Helped my much-loved local yarn shop with their new website.  Check it out at NeighborhoodKnitShop.com.  The site launched last night and is still growing and evolving, but I think it’s off to a great start.
3. Nick and I put an offer in on our first house on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  We’re currently working through the whole counter-offer process.  We should know by 5 p.m. today if we got the house or not (then the only hitch will be if it passes a home inspection).  I’m both excited and nervous (’cause they’ve just today decided we’re officially in a recession, ya know).  We requested a closing date of December 24th.  Merry Christmas to us.  Heh.

So, I’ve kept busy over the last month or so.

What am I knitting?  I’m still working on assorted Christmas gifts.  I’ve made lots of hats and I am still working on one seemingly never-ending scarf.  I’m also working on the February Lady Sweater for myself.  I can’t wait till that’s done.

I want to make these ornaments.  NOW.  Aren’t they fantastic?  I’m envisioning a white tree covered in nothing but these ornaments, filled with yarn in every color of the rainbow.  YES!

Thanks to accelerated/AP English classes in high school, I learned to hate reading.  Or more accurately, I hated the reading that was assigned to us.  On the rare occasions we got to choose a book to read, I usually liked my choice quite a lot.  (A Clockwork Orange was one of those few.)  I’ve only recently started learning to really enjoy reading again, and that’s because I came to the realization that reading doesn’t always have to teach you deep lessons on life, nor do you always have to pick books apart looking for themes and motifs and hidden meaning. I guess you could say I’ve rediscovered the idea of reading for just pure pleasure.

Just lately I’ve been devouring all the “knit-lit” that’s being published right now.  Combining my interest in knitting with a good story? — Heck yes!

The first bit of knit-lit that I read was The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  I absolutely loved it, and it’s still probably my favorite in the genre.  I’ve heard there’s plans of making it into a movie too, which would be fantastic.

I’ve also been reading Debbie MacComber’s Blossom Street series.  I just picked up the third book, Back on Blossom Street.  I guess Debbie MacComber is “technically” a romance-writer.  I know I feel awkward (and a bit dirty) browsing for her books in the romance section of the bookstore.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with romance novels; it’s just that those Fabio-graced covers kind of squick me out!)  But her books are well worth it.  She’s really good at making you care about her characters.

Then there’s all the knit-lit books that fall into the mystery category.  Both Maggie Sefton and Mary Kruger have written knitting mysteries.  I’ve read Maggie Sefton’s Knit One, Kill Two and I’m almost finished with Needled to Death.  Her books qualify as a sort of guilty pleasure.  They’re rather repetitive (see Alison’s blog post) and maybe even a bit cheesy, but I can’t help wanting to read all of them.  I’ve heard that Mary Kruger’s knitting mysteries are better, so I picked up her book, Died in the Wool, as well. Come to find out, that’s her second book though, so I need to go back to the store and get the first one.

Finally, while not knitting-related, Kelley Petkun’s blog recently mentioned the Coffeehouse Mystery series.  Being that coffee-addiction and fiber-addiction are my two biggest vices, I decided this series of books was probably right up my alley as well.  I can’t wait to read the first book.

What’s on your summer reading list?

No knitting this weekend. We spent the weekend moving.

I’m exhausted. Nick is exhausted. We could never have done it without help from my father-in-law and our friends Erica and Alan. They were all amazing.

It wouldn’t have been so hard, except we decided to move on Thursday of last week(!), signed the papers Friday afternoon, and started moving in the evening.  We only moved to a different apartment in the same complex (to escape our psychotic neighbor who has keyed my car and generally made our lives hell) but it was still a lot of work.

I’m determined to get rid of a LOT of stuff before we have to move again.

Unfortunately, my craft room is a mess and my knitting is pretty much buried at the moment.  But Erica said she’d come over and help me catch up on laundry and sort out the craft room, so hopefully things will be dug out soon.  I think I’m going to need some knitting-therapy/relaxation after this hectic weekend!

Saturday was the sock workshop with Antje Gillingham at The Neighborhood Knit Shop. She was there to teach her technique for knitting two socks at a time, from her new book Knitting Circles Around Socks.

I was lucky enough to be asked to come help with the class because I’d gotten the book already for Christmas and had knitted a couple pairs using her method. (Which I adore and will never go back to doing socks the old way…)

The class was really large but I think everyone was able to get plenty of personal attention and help when they needed it. Antje was an amazing teacher and was so sweet and funny.

The project for our class was a pair of baby socks (pictured to the left), knit out of Cascade Fixation.

I’d never worked with Fixation yarn before. It’s a cotton-blend, I believe, and it’s extremely elastic. I think a lot of people weren’t too fond of it, but I thought it was kind of fun (at least for something different).

The booties are turning out quite adorable too. By the end of the workshop, most everyone had picked up their gussets and were working on the decreases to the foot.

I got Antje to sign my book too:

The workshop was from 9 till 4:30 and I think I hung out at the knit shop after that till 6. It was a long day. I picked up some yarn to finally make a Melly bag. I’m extremely excited about that! I also picked up a ball of Berocco Comfort to play with. I have an idea in my head of a sweater I want to try and design and I’m thinking of using that yarn for it. I’m working on some swatches with it right now.

Sunday was my 26th birthday. I wound up sleeping in till 1 o’clock. (For shame, I know!) I went out for a late lunch with Erica to Logan’s. Then she and I went shopping at some of our favorite places: Jo-Ann’s and Office Depot. (What can I say? I love crafts and office supplies!) Jo-Ann’s had a lot of cute stuff on sale: I got a cute coffee mug that was 70% off because it had the word “Love” on it and was in the Valentine’s clearance. I also got some rubber stamps 40% off that say “Designed by:” and “Handmade by:” — I thought they’d be nice for making tags for some of my knitted things.

Nick got off work at 4:30 and came home with a frozen custard cake from Ritter’s. (Mmm!) Erica hung out for a while and had cake with us. I opened cards and presents. All totaled, I got $125 toward my spinning wheel! Nick also got me an iTunes gift card. He said I could use it for audiobooks because he knows I like to listen to them while I knit. His parents got me lots of goodies — his mom has the most amazing knack for finding fun stuff. She managed to find me a calendar that has a different knitting pattern on every single day!

So now I’m recovering from my busy weekend. It was a heck of a good time.

(a.k.a. The entry in which I gush about the lovely people I am lucky enough to call family.)

My mom called this weekend to tell me she finished her socks! She posted a photo to her Flickr page but set it as friends-only viewing. I asked her why and she said because she didn’t think anyone would be interested in seeing them. I disagree.

Aren’t they lovely?! (Click to see a larger version of the photo.)

I can’t believe those are her first pair. I don’t think my first pair of socks looked nearly that good. If I remember correctly, she used Wool in the Woods Cherub and the pattern was Heather Strips and Stripes.

One of these days I’m going to get my mom to start blogging. (I’m currently working on setting up a site for her custom embroidery and quilting at UnbrokenThread.com.) I’d love to see her share some of her beautiful work online and get into the whole craft-blogging “scene” too. I mean, look at what else she finished over the weekend:

I wish you could see the detail of the quilting. It was the first project she’s completed on her long-arm quilting machine. I’m telling you, my mom is a crafty wonder-woman.

Then Nick surprised me over the weekend when he interrupted my knitting and audiobook-listening to ask if I had some scrap fleece around.

He wanted to make… get this… a radar detector cozy. Seriously.

Well, perhaps “cozy” isn’t quite the right term. More of a little sack to put it into so he could safely tuck it under the seat in his car out of sight… or something. (I don’t really claim to get it.)

I was so pleased that he wanted to do something (*gasp*) crafty that I was more than happy to put down my knitting and help. Not that he needed much help, really. He was in luck because I had some leftover blue fleece from the bedding I’d made for the ferrets not long ago. So he set to work crafting himself a little bag for his radar detector.

He wielded a rotary cutter like a pro and seemed as “at home” at the pedal of a sewing machine as he is at the gas pedal of his car.

I had this weird sense of pride watching him work on this project. (He’d probably think I was nuts if I told him that.) I just think it’s so cool that he can tear apart cars and rewire electronics but that he can also sew if the mood strikes him. He’s a pretty impressive guy.

I’m really not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, or a traitor to the female gender… but I’m just not a fan of ooey-gooey romantic, mushy stuff. It all makes me kind of uncomfortable and squicked-out.

Therefore, I told my husband yesterday to not do anything special for Valentine’s Day. He and I agreed not to exchange anything. But of course, when I came home from work today, we both had cards for each other and he got me a box of chocolates that we’re sharing (he likes the milk chocolate, I like the dark — it works perfectly).

We’re both terrible with this. I hope this isn’t setting the precedent for our Valentine’s Days to come — agreeing not to get/do anything but then getting/doing things anyway. Silliness.

Anyway.

I also got a package with Loopy-kisses from The Loopy Ewe today! Here’s a picture of the fibery goodness in this order:

The top skein is Paca Peds from The Alpaca Yarn Company and the name of the colorway is “Singin’ the Blues”. I’ve been eagerly waiting for this yarn to come in stock at TLE. It’s for another pair of socks for my grandmother. She likes wearing her hand-knitted socks to bed because her feet get so cold. So I thought alpaca, warm as it is, would be perfect for the next pair of socks I make for her. She’s also a blue-jeans sort of lady, so that’s why I picked this particular colorway. I can’t wait to cast this on. I’m going to have to find the perfect pattern for it. (Suggestions?)

The second skein is Spritely Goods Sylph in “Sage”. I picked this color for myself. Purples and greens are pretty different for what I typically pick for myself (normally I gravitate toward blues and pinks). The way the muted colors mix together really appealed to me and I thought they would make a lovely pair of socks for springtime.

I love my kitty, Gidget, so much. I adore her so much that I don’t even mind the new habit she’s developed: jumping on my stomach at 3 a.m. every night to wake me up for cuddle-time. She’s so cute that I can’t resist. Besides, I rarely get to hold or cuddle her any other time because our dog, Gracie, won’t stand for it and chases her away from me (jealous, much?).

However, during last night’s 3 a.m. visit, Gidget managed to try and poke my eye out. She laid down on my chest so I could scratch her ears, as normal. She was happily purring away and I was drowsily petting her. Then she decided to stretch and roll over onto her side. Well, you know how cats stretch, with their paws strait out, claws bared? She did it so fast I didn’t have time to really react. She managed to poke me in the right eye with one of her claws. I have a scratch on my eyelid, running from where my eyelashes are rooted upwards toward my brow. It’s red and sore and itchy. I have a headache right behind my eye which is the most miserable part really. At least my right eye is my “bad” eye anyway (I had a lazy-eye as a kid… shut up).

Damn cat. But I love her. Really.

In other news… my parents are coming to visit! I’m so excited! And not only that — they’ve decided to come a day early! They’re leaving tonight and should be here sometime very early in the morning. I was able to take tomorrow off work so I get to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday with them.

My mom is bringing her knitting needles with her (’cause that’s the sort of family we are). She dug out some size 1 DPNs. She wants me to teach her to knit socks! I’m psyched. There’s few things I love more than trying to push my knitting-addiction onto others.

I think my mom would probably characterize herself primarily as a quilter these days, but throughout my lifetime she’s done countless crafty things (and excelled at them all… don’t ya hate people like that!?). When I was very little, we had a kiln in our basement and she worked with ceramics. She also sewed a lot: clothes, Halloween costumes, and housewares/decorations. She knits and crochets. She paints. She’s dabbled in scrapbooking. Before I was born, I know she did macramé and leather-work. I’m sure I’m probably forgetting things. Basically the woman is a craft-prodigy.

Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll really be doing much teaching. She told me that she’s never knitted in the round before but I’m sure even if she didn’t have me to help, she’d be able to read a sock pattern and figure it out without trouble. Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to being able to sit and knit with my mom and help her out when (or if) she gets stuck.

I’m planning to take her up to my local yarn shop too. I’m sure she’ll love it. (Because really, how could you not love a store packed with fibery-goodness and fun, friendly people!?) My goal is to get her as hooked on knitting as I am, so that when I call her and blather on about different fibers or new patterns, she’ll share my excitement. Though, I think she “gets it” even now, because she’s the same exact way telling me about her quilting things (like her beloved new Tin Lizzie long-arm quilting machine).

Yup, we’re totally cut from the same cloth.

Where does the time go? I blame it on the time change. Now that it’s dark when I get home from work, it makes the hours in the day seem less and less.

I have so much I want to get done before Christmas, as I’m sure many people do. And I’m constantly discovering new things I want to try or do or make.

For instance: when I was at Michael’s yesterday picking up my stamping goodies, I also popped into the scrapbooking aisle. We finally got back all our wedding photos, and I was thinking I really ought to put them into a nice scrapbook. I had good intentions of making a beautiful scrapbook with lots of journaling and embellishments and pretty papers… but ya know what? I’ll never get it done. I have a backlog of photos from four years ago that are still waiting to be scrapbooked. I’m ready to admit defeat, scrapbooking is just too time-consuming and I’m just not willing to devote the time and money it takes to make nice albums.

… But then I thought, maybe I should try digital scrapbooking. It almost feels like cheating, but at the same time, I’m betting I could get a lot more done if I didn’t have to actually get the photos printed and then go find all those stickers and papers and doo-dads. Thus began my search for scrapbooking software for the Mac — pickin’s are slim, my friends. I decided I’m going to try downloading the trial version of iScrapbook to see how that works. I realize I could do it all in Photoshop/InDesign but I’m going for simplicity here. I like the idea of just editing my photos and then being able to drag and drop them into pretty little layouts with frames and pictures and spots for journaling. Yup. Laziness wins out.

Then I got a bug up my butt today over my craft studio. I really haven’t been spending much time in there at all, except to wind a hank of yarn every now and then. My desk is covered in… well who knows what. Half-done projects, paperwork that needs filing, etc. And then there’s the whole issue of the “cat stuff”. When Gidget arrived at our house, we had problems with Gracie (our dog) trying to eat her food and (*cringe*) scavenge in her litter box. (WTF is up with dogs doing that!?) To solve the problem, all the cat stuff (food, litterbox) wound up in the craft room. That’s fine, but to make room for the cat necessities, all my things had to shift (in a hurry) so it’s just a mess. Nothing is in its place. Things are piled on top of eachother. It’s making me crazy. Like most cluttery messes, I can tolerate it for so long, and then I go ape-shit and turn into a clutter-busting tornado. So, that’s #1 on my agenda tonight. I even made a little sketch of how I want to rearrange the furniture and whatnot. Because I’m a dork like that. I also have the idea in my head that I want to go to Home Depot and buy some shelving. Then get pretty baskets for the shelving, and fill the pretty baskets with pretty yarn… oh yes. *drool*

Anyway.

So then, on top of that, I mentioned to Nick my idea about making Christmas cards (stamping/coloring) and he thought it was a great idea. Nick rarely shows any interest in my crafty endeavors, so when he actually is enthusiastic about something, I feel I have to do it then. So another trip to Michael’s is in store for me (tonight probably) to find some cute Christmas stamps for cards.

Oh but wait, there’s more! There’s also the three pairs of socks I’m knitting for Christmas gifts. And the hats/scarves I thought I was going to make (but may abandon hope on) for other gifts.

And it’s my own fault, ya know? None of these things (well, except perhaps for tidying up the studio) are necessities. I decide to take it all on because it’s things I want to do. But I feel like I can’t not do them! I would be sad to not have handmade gifts to give to people, for instance.

It’s scary sometimes because in times like this, I can plainly see how much like my mother I am. She’s always taking on these incredible projects as gifts for people (quilts in particular). She works on them to the point of exhaustion, but never complains because she wants to do it. I always kind of wondered why she was so crazy, working so hard when it wasn’t necessary. Now I understand. You do it because you love it, and because you love the people you make these things for.