omg, BRAD.

Jesus. Poor Chantal. She's gonna be fine though. She's gorgeous, rich, and has a supportive family. Even if she's saddled with that ridiculous name. I still secretly liked her best. Well, Tracey, you were right! It was a foregone conclusion--he really DOES prefer little passive Emily, cute as a button, talking around her teeth, yet raising a daughter on her own. Crazy. I especially like how they are dressed in black (bad, rejected) and white (practically already a bride...). Chantal at least was really invested in the outcome. Oh, and did you see those RINGS?! I think I had an orgasm just looking at the TV. Christ. And also quite ironic, given that they're in Africa, home of the blood diamonds... (not that S Africa is implicated in the blood diamond trade, that I know of, but still...). Man, the little diamonds along the sides of the band really make the whole damn thing sparkle! That thing is going to weigh down little Emily's delicate little finger. Whew. HOT.

Speaking of just plain awesome:

FO #5-7







All from the awesome book Baby Beanies: Happy Hats to Knit for Little Heads by Amanda Keeys. AND ALL USING STASH YARN. The only problem is that I don't think that stash was even on Ravelry--it is so old, and was all remnants of other projects. So it's great that I'm using it up--big pat on the back, Kim--but I don't get that visceral feeling of success that comes from removing the yarn from the stash page.

I haven't even put those hats on Ravelry yet. Really, I'm that far behind. Hat #1, the colorwork hat, is cotton of different types. I don't even remember what kind. Some of it was Cascade, some of it was Takhi. I think Hat #3 is Cotton Classic. The second hat is remnants of Mission Falls 1824 wool, and the purple puffs were made of alpaca/wool from Blue Sky Alpacas left over from my mom's cablerimetry. That skein is gone. The Mission Falls wool is almost gone. I do have quite a bit of the cotton stuff left over--they were all mostly full skeins, so now they're all half skeins. I could make a couple more of those hats in different color combos to use up the yarn. In fact, that's on my agenda. I have another co-worker who is pregnant, and she doesn't know the sex, so I think that yellow/green/orange hat would be perfect. Also, that whole book is just chock full of cute, cute, cute patterns! And now, I'm not scared of colorwork anymore, so I can tackle stuff like this, and maybe stuff that is a bit harder. The one thing you can't really tell from that picture is that I am not real good at the color changes, especially on DPNs. Witness:



You can see it on the left. Dunn Dunn Dunn. Bad seam. It's at least straight all the way up. It's not zig-zag like the crochet onesie. Hat #3 is much cuter in person. How I managed to take such a scraggly picture, I'll never know. But anyway...

I still have to document Spanky's hat and my citron. I've started my March socks. They're diagonal rib socks by Ann Budd, made out of some German sock yarn that you'd think I got in Germany, but NO. I got it at the Yarn Connection, which is a yarn store in NYC that has since closed. I think these are going to be thick socks. But I'm enjoying the pattern. It's only a 4 row repeat, and I've only done about 4 repeats of the first cuff, but yeah. It's the only project I'm going to take with me on my road trip, so I know they'll get done. At least the first sock will be done.

Oh, and check it, y'all. I GOT UPGRADED. I have a four hour flight to Houston tomorrow and I'M GOING FIRST CLASS. YAY!!!!

where the hell have I been?

I'll tell you--I'm in the middle of hell month right now. I just got back from a week in England (for work, my friends, for work--totally different experience...), and after a week in the office in which I frantically cleaned and organized in preparation for our move to new office space April 1, I get to leave for a two-week campus tour of Texas on Tuesday.

I'm hating life right now--it wouldn't be so bad in and of itself, but I'm just exhausted from trying to get everything done. Plus I'm nervous about my ability to go for two weeks on the road without fucking everything up back in the office. Oh whatever. I should just let it all go, and what will be will be. I've done everything I can with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.

In terms of knitting, I'm down to one project. I took the one skein of Malabrigo sock I had saved to make a citron with me to the UK, and just finished that heinous little scarf today. Finishing that shawl means I have nothing in progress. I'm about to start my March socks, which I probably won't finish until April, but that's ok... I'm just going to go straight from them to the April Socks. But after that, I think I'm going to start a sweater. The sweater will be a long-term project. I'm not going to rush that. It will be my reward for finishing my monthly sock project. This month, I did my reward first, for finishing all those single-socks in Feb. I owe a complete rendering of all my FOs, which I will try to do tomorrow while watching the Bachelor. It's finally the FINALE! But first I have to get Spanky to model her hat. She's been wearing it, so I consider it a victory. It's probably a bit longer than she would have liked, but just a tad, and that means she can turn up the ribbing if she wants. It's also cute that way. And it only took one skein of the black cashmere, so I have one left to make gloves when I get a chance. It's almost too late for them this year, but I do want to use it up... Anyway, this is just a short catch up post, to show that I'm not dead. I promise something more interesting tomorrow. And hopefully I can keep blogging through the Texas trip. Lord knows I'm going to need to stay sane somehow.