Pictures!

Finally....Ok, first up is "Bugging Out" (Branching Out from Knitty, but mine is brown and looks like a bunch of roaches so I renamed it.) It isn't blocked yet or even finished. I still have about fifteen more pattern repeats to go.

That's a pretty crappy picture, but you get the idea...
Next is the StitchDiva Celebrity Shawl. I need to have someone take my picture holding it up for better scale once I get my fringe on. Here it is laying across the kitchen counter area:

It's HUGE! Here's a closeup of the pattern stitches:

And finally, the Pink Sock is doing some yoga for the camera:

World Wide Knit In Public Day

You may have noticed the somewhat seizure-inducing blinky button up at the right there. Click it. June 11th is a Saturday. I'm off work that day so I'll be knitting in public all over the place. Come join me! I have no organized plan on where to go to do this, so I'm open to suggestions. Heck, I might even make flyers. Who knows?

In Other News...
There will be pictures here this evening. (I know you're so excited you may pee on the rug at any moment in anticipation...its ok)
There won't be a lot of knitting going on here this weekend. Saturday I'm going to look at my friend Geoff's new house. He's an actual home owner now. I'm so proud! I have to help him haul things from stores like Lowes and Wal-Mart because he has a teensy car. I'm also going to show him how to fix up and care for his new house's old hardwood floors. There may be a small bit of sock knitting that goes on Saturday, but don't look for anything spectacular.
Sunday I have to clean out my own old house. When we moved to the fabulous new place about a year and a half ago I left all my old and non-essential junk in the old place. It has just been sitting there being my wasteful storage shed for all this time instead of earning me $$ because it has a few aesthetic and plumbing issues I haven't yet taken care of. Well, I think I've found myself a tenent willing to do the work in exchange for a couple months of free rent so I'm clearing it out this weekend. Sunday is heavy lifting day and Monday is for cleaning.
Wish me luck! I'm askeered of the ten different varieties of spiders and scorpions that surely must have taken up residence in there by now.
Back later with the pictures.

Secret Pal 5 Questionaire

I still haven't taken pictures of the sock or the shawl. I had a migraine today. That's my excuse. I'm stickin to it.
So to entertain you, here is my completed SP5 questionaire:

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
It depends. In general I don't like anything too scratchy or too squeaky on the needles. Red Heart makes me wanna stab people, but so does Reynolds Lopi.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
Yep. Yep.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
I'm allergic to most Avon products. Really chemical-smelling perfumes make me go ewwww.

4. How long have you been knitting?
I've been knitting for about a year, and I've known how to crochet for 28 years.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yep, I have an Amazon Wishlist

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Vanilla and I also like Lush's "Karma"

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
yep. I like chocolate...mmmmmm

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I can do anything that I have an instruction book for. So far that includes plumbing, refinishing furniture/floors, tile, sewing a little, spinning, knitting, crochet, and other artsy fartsy things. I was an art major in college too.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like pretty much all music. Not crazy about Kenny G or Rap things or whatever. I mostly only listen to music in my car. I get stuck in a rut and listen to just The Velvet Underground for weeks. Right now I think there is a Kings Of Leon cd stuck in there.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
A lot of my clothes are black/gray/white/blue/green/brown. I'm trying to branch out and wear other colors though so pretty much anything but yellow is fine. Yellow makes me look extra pasty.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married for almost a year now. I live with my 12 year old son and Husband Boy, our two cats, (Miss Kitty Fantastico & Bungee) and three hermit crabs (Joe, Jumbo, & Bob)

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
I dream of a day when I no longer get one or two serious migraine headaches per month

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I really like Noro yarns, and I got a sample of Rowan's new CashCotton that was awesome. Anything super soft or interesting colors or a neat texture or sock yarn is good.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Not a big fan of Mohair or anything scratchy.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I've been making socks, but really I'm too unfocused to have a particular knitting obsession. Evidence is right up there in the sidebar where it says WIP's haha

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like to make hats. They're super fast and people seem to enjoy getting them.

17. What are you knitting right now?
Mostly I'm working on Branching Out and some socks and trying to finish Klaralund during my Tuesday night SNB. I have a ton of other things I should also work on though.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
Christmas Tree Skirt for your head...haha They're good for hiding under and stuff.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Depends on the project. I like to do scarves on 10in straights. I like DPN's for socks, but for bigger, heavier things I like Addi Turbos.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like it all

21. Are you a sock knitter?
Yep.

22. How did you learn to knit?
I tried for years to teach myself from how to knit booklets. Finally I saw a little video online and it just clicked. yay!

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
About a year.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I like cats. I also like Gnomes.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween!

26. Is there anything that you collect?
crystal balls, and glass paperweights.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Interweave Knits & Vogue Knitting

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
They're all on the wishlist :)

Ohhh Surprises!

For anyone who doesn't know, Knitty's Spring Surprises are up.
Miranda, you have to make this baby sweater now! I'm doing it as soon as I finish that stupid Klaralund. I'm halfway up the last front/back bit now since I knitted on it all the way through last night's 2-hour Alias. I'll try to work on it some more tonight during the big 2-hour Tarentino-directed CSI too, but I can't promise anything. haha
I'm looking for something to do tomorrow. If I had more loot I'd go to Fayetteville to the yarn store, but once I paid for the gas to get me there I'd be broke so I guess I'd best stay home. Hopefully next week will be a full work week and my money situation will return to normal.

Wheee!

Well, I finished the StitchDiva Celebrity Shawl, and boy is that sucker HUGE! Pictures to come as soon as I figure out if I want fringe or not. I'm kind of afraid fringe won't be managable because I'm so darn short, but we'll see.
I haven't been working on much else. I still need to bind off the pink sock, and I started a new sock over the weekend when we went to the Rennaissance Fair in Muskogee. It was kind of nice to sit in the shade listening to the storyteller man and knit on my sock toe.
I've been kind of a lazy knitter lately. I could probably finish Klaralund in a few days if I worked at it, but I haven't. I keep wanting to start new things...must resist....must resist...ugh.

Ohhh Chocolate!

Yesterday I got my final SP4 package from my wonderful Secret Pal Jessica!

HOLY CRAP that was some good chocolate! I need to find a local source for that ASAP. haha. The yarn is also fabulous, and I think the patterns in that book will keep me busy dreaming for a while. I don't know if I'd ever make any of those sweaters or hats, but I'll for sure use the cable patterns in something someday. (The name of the book is "Viking Patterns For Knitting". I guess I was a little excited about the chocolate there in the center so I cut it off. haha)
I've already signed up for Secret Pal 5, and you should too!

Nothing much else is going on. I am close to being done with the StitchDiva Celebrity Shawl. I have a little ways more to go on the first pink sock, and no I don't have any good pictures of either one.
I spent the weekend trying not to be bitter about Maryland Sheep & Wool, cleaning up cat pee (Bungee decided it was great fun to stick his front feet in the water dish and pee all over the floor several times. WTF??), and working on that shawl.
Yesterday I stalked a wacky street preacher man for my own amusement (see photos on my Livejournal) and I bought these awesome day after Mother's Day discount flowers:

$3.50, I kid you not.
The rest of the day was spent in a chocolate coma once that SP package arrived. YUM!

HAHAHA!

Stash Wars courtesy of Jen & La. If you're into Star Wars and Knitting you'll fall over laughing. Go read it now.

Picture Time!

The pictures of the shawl came out looking really dark and unfocused so you don't get to see that, but here is the pink sock:

and here is the new tote bag I got from my friend Candy's Cafepress store (see her stuff here):

and here is a pretty flower from the back yard:

and another one:

I took pictures of the sock and the Celebrity Shawl and some more garden things the other day, but they are all still trapped in the camera. I'm a bad knitblogger this week, I know. I've been reading everyone's fun Harlot Tour posts and living vicariously through you. haha Soon I'll be reading your Maryland Sheep & Wool fest posts and living through those.(Just so you know and can make them appropriately exciting/full of pictures for my reading enjoyment.)
Seriously, there isn't much news around my house knitwise. I've just been crocheting on that Stitchdiva shawl (finish it in a weekend, my ASS!) and occasionally the pink sock. Pink sock got a lot of work done on it Friday since I spent pretty much the entire day in waiting areas. I took the car for an oil change and tire rotation. That took an hour, then they said that my front tires were worn out and I needed an alignment, which they didn't do at the oil change place so I had to go home, call my tire guys to warn them I was coming, then go wait another hour there while they put two new tires on the front and put the rotated back tires back on the back. (No alignment for me because alignment guy was booked solid, so I had to bring the car back for that yesterday.)
Friday was also the annual trip to the Fortune Teller Lady who lives out in the boonies near Mountainburg. I worked on the sock in her waiting area too. I've been going to her for the last three or four years, and she is creepy in her rightness sometimes. Last year she said my Mom would be in the hospital for some surgery but would be ok and she'd be glad she'd had it done. At the time we weren't thinking there would be anything like that, but a few months later Mom was having surgery on her foot. She also told me my Grandma was going to die the year she did when she didn't even seem to be sick at the time of the reading. This fortune teller lady pulls no punches. She'll tell you the really shitty stuff is coming, but she doesn't try to get you to come back more often than once a year either. This year I get some financial difficulty that I can overcome if I get creative, I might be moving, (though I doubt it), and If my Mom has a yard sale it'll go over really well. She also said Husband Boy will have to wait 8 months max. before his job starts really paying off, and that I should make more of those purses with the wood handles and sell them. That last bit was more personal than part of the reading. She just really liked my purse. haha I think I might make her one if I find some fabric with tarot cards or stars or something on it. She'd get a kick out of that.
Mountain Climbing Stuff
OK, I now have 12-13 weeks to get ready. Have I lost any weight? No. Have I built up any kind of walking endurance? No.
What have I done? Diddly Squat...I keep getting sick. I've walked on the treadmill maybe three times and gone for one bike ride around the neighborhood. Each time I got sick the next day. I still weigh 158 and my knees still hurt when I climb stairs. My ear hurts right now and my balance is off but I swear I'm getting up at 6AM tomorrow and walking on that stupid treadmill. Steve is now up to walking 20 miles while wearing a 20 pound backpack once a week and 10-15 miles with no pack the rest of the week. I suck. I told him he might need to start upping the weight on that pack till it weighs 158 and then he can just tote me. He said no, he will just start putting more and more sock yarn and a folding chair in there so I will have something to do until he gets back when he ditches me on the trail. I feel the love.