I so totally finished something.

Yeah, I hauled ass on this scarf... for the last two days. I suddenly had a burning need for completion and, voila! Wavy is finally done. It has taken me so long that the intended recipient, Hercules, is actually making his second trip out here since I started it pretty soon. Okay, next month but hey, at least I finished it before he got here, right? I really, really love this yarn (SKR Perth). It's machine washable, super soft, and squishy. It also comes in fantastic colors, though not as many as it really should once you take it's awesomeness into account. I've been sewing lately since the purchase of my new machine. I love the machine it rocks. I've made a bunch of costumes for the kids for a trip I won't tell you about because of the suicidal depression and unbridled rage it will inspire. I've made myself a dress. And I made a new messenger bag for the world's largest woman since the only one who wouldn't look ridiculous carrying it would be her. And even still she might find it a bit much. Stupid pattern, it looked fine in pieces but then it just GREW. I'm trying to finish up things that are just lying around here, like the Wavy. I'm on to the little sweater for the barber's baby now. I'd put it down for a mistake I made in the eyelets 10 rows previously and can't fix without ripping. Clearly, I'm not ready for a lace shawl like, ever. Kids always distracting me so I end up with shirts with only one armhole and whatnot. They better put me into a damn good home later for all I've put up with. This week they both broke their glasses. BOTH! He snapped his in half and she tried to eat hers. Thank me (yes me) I bought the warranty.

So hey, remember me? I knit sometimes.

I had a brilliant blog post all written out in my head last night, you think I can even remember a word of it now? Hell, I don't even remember what it was about. This is my first completed project of this year. Twinkletoes from knitty. Miss Beans asked me for some ballet shoes last weekend and being totally broke but having a ton of the yarn you see there (from my failed Crumpets, if you're my one long time reader) I whipped up those little babies on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon while hanging around in the ninth bolgie of the eighth circle of Hell (also known as Chuck E. Cheese's). They turned out cute but a little small so I'll have to make another pair. She loves them though, she's barely taken them off to let me wash them and has even slept in them twice. In other knitting news: I received a large portion of Andean Treasure for my birthday which will become a Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm still working on that damn Wavy for Hercules because I hate it and don't want to do it anymore. Why do scarves have to be so l o n g ? I'm working on a little baby set for the soon-to-be-baby-girl of RTK and Darth's barber who is a very cool guy. If you're in San Diego and need a barber, I can't recommend Lefty's enough. As far as news about my life... Well, it's never pretty, is it? My son got glasses so that's both kids are in glasses now. Neither RTK nor I wear glasses so we're a little baffled as to how that worked out. Our rent is going up so along with the price of gas and groceries we could really use a raise we're not going to get. You'll probably see me on the news when my moneymaking scheme goes horribly, terribly wrong. That's about it for the moment. Except, I've been collecting yarn for the Alpaca Lounge Pants and I think I've almost got enough. If I start them soon they should be ready for Autumn.

Taking my advice from webcomics

Chances are if you're actually reading my blog you've probably seen this comic strip. I've decided to take the advice of the charming net nerd in the last frame and started up a scarf. Not even a new one, one I've already done before. You see, I need a confidence builder after the unmitigated disaster that was the Victorian Lace Today Cap Shawl. It was truly disgusting what I did to that poor yarn. As a matter of fact, I should get rid of the yarn altogether so I'm not tempted to try again. Seriously, I need like, a lace-weight intervention or something. So now I'm working on a Wavy in a deep and mysterious forest green. It's far more mysterious than in my totally pro photo at left. It's like Darkest Africa. That's what I would call it if I got to name the colors. But I don't get to name the colors so it'a actually called 'Shade 220' which just doesn't have that same ring to it. It looks viney. Is viney a word? My spell check says, "No," but I don't care what my spell check has to say about it. Shut up spell check! Stop trying to tell me how to live my life, you computers don't own me yet! I'm still free, the robots will never take me alive! Wow, this is some good coffee this morning. What was I talking about? Ah, yes, the scarf. I'm committing a cardinal knitting sin on this one. Not only am I knitting this for someone who asked me to make them a scarf BUT ALSO it's for a guy I've never actually met. I justify this because I've spoken to him on the phone many times and he entertains the hell out of me and if GK will vouch for him (he's his roommate, hence how I sorta phone-met the guy) then he's got to be a good guy. In any case he's getting a scarf since he was really excited about the one I sent GK some months ago. I do like to be flattered. I think this project will go a little better than my other recent ones. In a bit of divine providence I accidentally chose a color the guy really likes. Okay, I've got to stop calling him 'the guy', I mean I'm knitting for him he should get a name right? Uh... Hercules. So I'm knitting Hercules a scarf. Awesome. The yarn for this is really fantastic. It's a machine washable (it's for a guy, I have no illusions about how it will be treated) wool blend. SKR Perth, it's 70% merino and 30% acrylic and you can put it in the dryer! It's really soft, squishy, and the stitch definition is great. I'm totally in love with the stuff. And finally does anyone read and write well in Greek? I could use a bit of assistance with something...

Thanksgiving+Craft Faire+FO=Happy

The 3lbs of M&Ms my SP sent are gone. Can you believe that? I think my brother ate most of them. I put a pretty good dent in 'em but I think he ate most of them. But on to business. Thanksgiving weekend was nice. Red Todd Kidd was off from school the whole weekend and got off work early on Friday so we got to see him. Yipee! We did your normal family stuff Thanksgiving day and just kinda hung around the rest of the weekend. We went to a craft faire on Saturday where I got a little Christmas shopping done and we discovered that Chickie Mama doesn't care much for country music. Evidence to the left. Friday afternoon we got a visit from some relative that live in LA and they brought presents for the kids. The little scarf In the pic was one of the gifts. It's really cute, beaded knitting. There's a little hat crocheted to match. Oh I'll just post another pic. Hang on. Okay there. It was the first one you saw. I also discovered that some people will make anything out of anything and try to sell it to you for ungodly amounts of money. Don't get me wrong, some of the stuff was awesome like the stepstool/ironingboard/chair for $150 but there were also some pretty awful things like the tie-dye booth. I also came across this Christmas stocking made of cow hide. I can't decide whether it's awesome or awful. I'm leaning toward awesome but the woman wanted $55 for it, $65 if you wanted your name on it. I guess it's better than the loofah encased in soap but at least that I could afford. There was woman there selling these beautiful king size quilts with shams for $295. Can you believe that? These were fairly intricate quilts and yes, they were done on a sewing macine but still, that's less than you'd pay in a department store for a "quilt" that was mass produced. Gratuitous photo of my kid with a sheep: In knitting news I finally completed Wavy and have started the Overalls of Shame. Yes, that's right, I'm working on them. They will be completed before Christmas. I've done a provisional cast on, as suggested by one of you, so that I can go back and add Fun Fur cuffs when the fur arrives. I've got to say the Magic Stripes is awful. I really don't like this colorway. I guess I'm just not the type of perdon who needs a denim/white/red/baby blue/brown self striping yarn. Silly me. Anyway, about Wavy: It was done with Paton's Merino courtesy of Zknitter. I decided to add a fringe to the ends but beaded it so it'd be a little different. I'm really hoping that the recipiant likes it (my dh's grandmother).

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

Yeah I'm pretty sure one of the kids muttered that in their sleep Wednesday night. What? Your kids don't quote Shakespeare at you threateningly in their sleep? Anyway, Thurday was an awful and LONG day. In fact, I seriously considered making Red Todd Kidd stay home on Friday just because I couldn't deal anymore. I was sick of sick kids. Too hard. We did have a very nice weekend, obviously since I haven't blogged Since the dreaded Thursday of Doom. We went to see Serenity on Sunday. Don't worry no spoilers here. I won't say a word about the actual movie. All I'll say about the experience was that I have never been so caught up in anything fictional. No book, movie, story, RPG, or TV show has ever sucked me in like Firefly. I really felt like I knew the characters. I loved the series and the movie simply carries on, as it should. It is excellent and painful and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. I'm making good progress on Wavy. I've made it through three pattern repeats and I'm happy with that. I admit that I'm racing against my knitpicks order since the instant I have new yarn I have to cast on with it. A new yarn AND a new pattern? Over, I won't get back to Wavy for a good long time so I need to hustle. Poor Garish Socks hanging in limbo over there, I'll never finish those things. Sigh. Okay, I've got knitting to do!

The hat is no more.

It was barely blogged and already it's gone. I realized knitting a hat for myself was delusional folly and swiftly frogged it at eight rows in. I've re-evaluated (is that supposed to be hyphenated? Oh well) and decided that the perfect thing to do with my RAK yarn is Wavy. It's going to be awesome. I'm already one repeat in. I can't believe I've waited so long to do this scarf! It's a breeze. I highly recommend this pattern, it's so much simpler than it looks.