what up, buttercup?

Oh, you know, just general malaise. The weather has been all kinds of messed up lately, and whereas if it were getting cooler in the normal swing of the seasons, I might be feeling pretty good about it, the fact that it is AUGUST and 59 degrees just makes me uneasy and kind of cranky. I mean, all my sweaters are packed away right now, so I'm having trouble staying warm, in AUGUST. Doesn't that make you uneasy? We're living in the End Of Days, man. Better enjoy it while you can...

Plus, Spanky's working on a big assignment with wonky hours, and I haven't been getting enough of the right kind of sleep, though as Barbara pointed out at knitting group last night, it doesn't matter how much sleep you get if you have to get up to go to work the next day. It's always hard. So I've really had to concentrate on just keeping it together, and any extra energy has been sucked into my actual knitting, and not writing about knitting. I know you're all crushed. Oh, and there is also this:


You like (although I have to say, he's better 'in person')? He's my new boyfriend. Spanky doesn't mind. One night when I wanted to watch TV and there was nothing on (no cable in this house), I started watching classic Battlestar Galactica on my computer thanks to Netflix's new 'watch it immediately online' feature. I love Netflix. They have everything I want to see, one way or the other. Anyway, my new boyfriend is dreamy. I love him!!! Every time he flips his feathered, highlighted hair at the camera and chomps on that disgusting cigarillo, I swoon. It is probably his fantastic smile, and the fact that I know he beat cancer by holing up in a cabin and adhering to his macrobiotic diet, and that he then went on to star as "Face" in The A-Team, my favorite show as a kid. I've watched like seven or eight episodes of Battlestar Gallactica now, and the show is very charming. I can see why they remade it, although now Starbuck is a hot chick and maybe that's for the best. Dirk is so pretty he might as well be a girl anyway. Maybe that's why I like him so much...

Anyway, this is all to say that I've been meaning to post about something else vaguely scandalous: I haven't been strictly monogamous to my knitting either:

May I present the best crochet magazine on the market? I know, you find it odd that I didn't pick one of the more established rags, but let me tell you, this one is awesome. There are so many things I want to make...


And right now (right now meaning it's charter year, I'm assuming) it is on sale for $4.99!! That's a bargain. LOVE. IT. I read my first issue during my business trip in Minneapolis, because sometimes, as you all know, there is a long drought between seasons of knitting mags, and a girl's got to get her fix somehow, you know? I guess I needed comforting reading for the long nights in the hotel. And that issue was good, but this one is GREAT. And I don't even know how to crochet. I'm going to have to learn. Seriously. It can't be harder than knitting, and I taught myself how to do that.

There are so many other projects in there that I like too, but these are my favorites. I don't usually go for knit bags, but this little crochet number is not dorky in the slightest. The one felted bag I made, I don't use much. I think most felted bags tend to look sort of 'mom-ish', and other knit bags are usually too small for all my stuff. That blue sweater is AMAZING, and I'm definitely going to put that on my Ravelry queue, whenever I get around to updating it (unskeined on ravelry--come say hi or add me as a friend!!). I'm not sure I'll ever make the dress, but it looks pretty wearable for someone of my body type, and I appreciate the design. And the baby rattles are just great baby shower gifts, and with my co-workers harvesting their current crop of babies this fall, I'm going to need to stock-pile things like this for maximum baby-shower appeal.

My next post--VK anniversary issue and the big 'eh' that was the fall IK. What universe is this that I prefer the Vogue? Crazy, I know.

man, what a week!

Apparently my whole blog organization has proven to be untenable. Well, at least for the moment. We'll see. This might have just been a crazy week. I was out every single night, but by Thursday, I was so burned out, I just stayed home and actually cooked, which was a relief. But I didn't have extra energy for blogging. boo hoo.

The biggest thing that happened this week was of course stitch and pitch. Two work friends and I met up with two of my knitting group friends at Shea Stadium for the game. I've never been to a Mets OR Yankees game, so I didn't know what to expect. Apparently it is just this big, disorganized mess. People come and go as they want, they eat bad, overpriced food, and just goof off and watch the teams play.

Baseball things: I did the 7 inning stretch, some batter broke a bat, I did the wave, I had peanuts.

Knitting things: We got AWESOME gift bags. Much better than I thought they'd be; Lily Chin was there in a crocheted/knitted Mets uniform with CHIN on the back, complete with a baseball hat and glove with baseball. Debbie Stoller was there, as were several other authors that I couldn't recognize by sight. The new Son of Stitch & Bitch book looks really cute for the most part. The accessories look better than the actual sweaters, much like the other S&B books.

We also got Knit.1 and Interweave Knits (summer issues, both of which I have, so if you're reading this and would like me to send these on to you, please leave a comment, and I'll send them on for free). There were like 5 balls of yarn. My friend Constance got a cashmere blend yarn, so it wasn't all the same, and it wasn't all crap. I still haven't totally gone through it all--too much to do. It was such a hot day on Wednesday. God, I was dripping sweat the entire time, and so was everyone else. My feet were so swollen by the end of the game. We actually left in the 8th inning because everyone had worked all day and I had to get all the way back to the JC, so we took off. That was also the day when the entire mass transit system of New York shut down because of that rainstorm. Anyway, some pictures:

1. in case you thought I wasn't watching the game:


2. for this one, click through to make it bigger (you can click all of them, but this one has the skyline) so you can check out that skyline on the top of the Mets sign:


3. the skyline with the stadium so you can see how high up we were. Also, you can see the bridge in the distance. I can't tell for sure, but I think that must be the Queensborough bridge?


4. Mr. Met:


5. Gorgeous, despite the heat:


I took the second Lombard Street Sock with me. So far, I'm just past the cuff, because I haven't had any chance to work on it at all since Wednesday.

Hopefully this weekend, Spanky will get to sleep in, and I'll be able to make some progress on her sweater (soo close to finishing the back! why can't I just finish it!?!), and the second sock. I closed the toe on the first one, and totally screwed up the kitchener, but I don't care. I tried it on with my clogs and it looks so good, I can't wait to finish the second one. Of course, the weather also has to cooperate by getting cooler. Seriously, it is almost painful to wear socks and shoes right now.

brought to you by the word "procrastination"

Tuesday I had my knitting group, which keeps me out until nearly 10pm. When I get home, there is just enough time to get ready for bed and spend some quality time with my honey before I have to get up and do it all again, so it will be the rare Tuesday night that I have a post up.

Wednesday, what can I tell you? We were waiting for Fresh Direct to come, and to pass the time, I decided to put in another Netflix, Cousin Bette. It was awesome!!! Jessica Lange is so great. Also in the movie: Kelly MacDonald, Hugh Laurie, and Elizabeth Shue (HOTT). Anyway, the movie was so engrossing that I forgot to knit, and I certainly didn't have time to update, so you get Wednesday's post today!

I was planning to do a WIP update on Wednesday, so I've taken some rough pics to show you what I'm working on now. I've never had so many projects on the needles, and although I am enjoying the variety, I really want to finish all three of these projects so I can move on to something new.

1. First up:


Spanky's sweater. The black one on the bottom is one of her other sweaters that she says she likes the fit of, and the brown is obviously the one I'm working on. I don't know why I didn't start it on circs! Do you think it would affect my gauge if I switch now? It is so hard to tell how much more I have to go before I start the arm holes, and it is definitely starting to get pretty heavy and hard on my wrists. I can't wait to finish the back. I'm definitely doing the sleeves at the same time on a long circ. They're next up on this project.

2. Next:


When I went through my stash and organized/photographed/repackaged it all for ravelry, I discovered two big color groupings of the vintage acrylic that I got from the ebay debacle. One was these browns, and one is purples--lilacs and pinks, mostly. Anyway, I decided to use them up making blankets for the local animal shelter. Stella really likes this one already, but I think I would feel too guilty keeping it for her. We have so many pet beds already, and she sleeps on our bed with us at night, so I feel like the blankies should go to dogs who really need some love. I worked on this compulsively when it was little, but now that the rows are long, they take so much time to finish that it isn't as fun anymore. I have been taking this to my knitting group, and sometimes I use it as tv/movie watching knitting, because it is so mindless... The biggest decision is which color to use next. Also, I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but somewhere in there I realized I was doing it wrong! Well, wrong according to the directions in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, but it is turning out much the same anyway. I'm just working counter-clockwise, instead of clockwise. I figure it isn't going to matter to the dogs, and once I finish these two blankies, I'm not going to be doing this particular pattern again for a very long time, if ever.

3. Finally:


The Lombard Street socks are my first fancy sock knitting experience. I've knit 1.5 pairs of plain stockinette socks, one pair ribbed, and one pair of anklets, but I thought the second of the toe-up stockinette ones would kill me (I never finished it, and when I screwed up the short row heel, frogged the whole thing), so I figured I didn't like knitting socks. Well, this sock has changed all that. I love the fancy pattern! I like the yarn ok, but I do worry that I should have knit it a bit tighter. Susan Lawrence, in the pattern, warns that it can be tight getting your ankle into this sock if your gauge isn't right on, but I still think that my sock is a little tiny bit big for my foot and the fabric isn't dense enough on the bottom of the foot, and from what I gather, that can make them wear out sooner than they would otherwise. I may do the second one on 1's instead of the 2's that this one was knit with.

I had to go to the LYS by my office today for a new set of US2 dpns, because I broke one in my bag yesterday. I can still work on the sock, since it is on three needles right now, but I wanted to make sure I had a full set of five in case I needed them for anything. Today's visit was a small victory, as I didn't buy ANY yarn while there (you hear that, Sue? I didn't buy anything but the needles!!!). You might say that my stash-busting experience isn't going so well. But it will be. Once I clear some of these bigger projects out of the way...

Anyway, that's it. I want to save Fridays for FOs, but in the absence of anything to show you, I'm probably going to go back and talk about the magazines in more depth, because, oh yeah, look what came in the mail today!



YIPPEE!!