Shut Up & Knit!

A Giant SwallowTail

Pattern:  SwallowTail
Yarn:  Araucania Nature Wool... Eggplant colorway... four hanks
Needles:  Options US 10 tips and one US 13 tip for cast off
Time Served:  Four days. 
Size:  Huge!  Roughly 116 inches across the top and four feet down the spine.  More or less.  Give or take.
Knit for: My KnittyOtter.  She also provided the yarn for the project cause she's good like that.
Mods:  I knit 19 repeats of the second chart and knit three nupp charts.  I think the extra nupps help to balance out the extra repeats on the top.

I love this pattern and will knit it again and again.  In fact, I want to do a square version now that I've done this one because I think it would be wonderful as a throw.

Can't blog...

Busy blocking Swallowtail.

o.0

It's Monday, right?

No, I'm not dead. 

Nor do I need bail money.

I just needed to step away for a little bit. 

It was that or end up getting sued.  Y'all have no idea.

However, I am feeling every so slightly less cranky, so I'm back, but only to make Carrie happy. 

I have stopped plurking because one trip through jr. high school was more than adequate, thanks.  While removing all my info from my plurk profile has not stopped the random friending from people I don't know, I am hoping it will die down soon enough.  Thank goodness most people have enough brains to realize that I am not cool or interesting and quickly wander off to find someone else to annoy/worship/harass.

While I have a backlog of socks to show, I'm waiting until they have arrived at their new homes.  No, that does not mean I've been to the post office.  It just means I am actively pondering a trip to the post office. 

Can you tell I'm not expecting anything this week?  *L*

And it only took a month...

... but the clear bright blue skies have returned.

I've no idea how long they will last, but I am enjoying it while it's here. 

A month ago, it was 103F with dry lightning and too much humidity.  Today will barely be in the 80's and there is a fabulous breeze out there.  I'm guessing this may be a peace offering from Mother Nature.  Maybe we'll get rain next.

I am currently working on a worsted weight version of Swallowtail. 

Yes, again.

I'm hoping to finish it tonight.  That's assuming I can get the cat off it long enough to knit the last chart.  I am also hoping that I have enough yarn to finish it.  However, I did install a lifeline in case I have to rip back.  My first lifeline, btw.  I can't figure out if I should be proud or saddened.  I think it will depend on whether or not I end up having to rip.

Decidely Less Cranky Thursday

Yeah, I'm shocked, too.

Yesterday was not a good day.  I was so angry at one point that I was shaking with rage.  Yes, it really is fun to be me.

However, today is looking better.  In part because Carrie emailed me this morning to see if I still hated people.  Like the answer to that one ever changes, in part because I got a box of Zen.

 

These are the three yarns that I won over at Margene's last week.  I think it was last week.  Who knows at this point?  I'm not sure which of the soc yarns I want to play with first.  I'm very much into solids and semi-solids right now, so these are perfect.  So is the lovely little card.

In my life as a quilter, I was painfully aware that there are times in a house full of scissors when you cannot find a single pair.  So it's always the more the merrier around here and isn't this pair merry and fab?  The black thingy in the upper corner is the leather sheath that holds the scissors.  Pretty and practical.  Who could ask for more?

I am madly in love with the Post Its.  That says something about me, doesn't it?

Shut up.

And the scissors and Post Its are sitting on a pretty little fabric bag that will be a wonderful holding place for some of those random notions I seem to have so many of.

Thanks again, Margene!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go look at some bead websites for a while.

We Hate People Tuesday

Sometimes, I am just stunned at how some people behave.

Then I remember that I hate people for a reason. That's when I return to my sock in-progress.
 

Isn't he cute?

The pattern is Spring Forward. 

The yarn is orange.

Last night, this cute little sock was voted Most Likely To Get Frogged.

And he was.

I had been using 2.50 mm dpns and half way through the foot of the sock decided to try it on.

It fit, but it wasn't pretty.

I'm back to my beloved 2.75 mm dpns and things seem to be going well.  I'm behind schedule, but these socks don't have a due date, so I think that's okay.

In a totally unrelated story...

I do not negotiate with terrorists or whiners.

Or nutballs, but that's a totally different story.

& Now for something completely different...

My best friend has thrown caution to the wind and is having a contest on her blog.  She has some questions she would like to have answered either in her blog or in your own blog.

Here are mine...

Getting to Know you Contest Questionnaire:

1.) How long have you been knitting?  Off and on for almost 30 years.. more or less... give or take.

2.) How long have you been knitting socks?  Almost two and a half years.

3.) What do you do with a problem like Maria?  Choke her until she shuts the fuck up.

4.) What is your all time favorite sock yarn?  Whatever I used on the last pair or Trekking XXL.

5.) Toe Up or Cuff Down?  I can go either way.

6.) What's your favorite color (this week or for all time)? Do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?  I seem to like most colors.  Depends on what the color is going on and how cranky I'm feeling that day.

7.) Do you have a pet(s)?  Yes.  An elderly cat and the occasional slave boy.

8.) Babies: Oven Roasted or Barbecued?  Babies on spikes slow roasted over an open flame with lots of garlic.

9.) Besides socks what is your favorite type of thing to knit? Lace

10.) What's your favorite scent?  Clean boy.

11.) What music are you really loving right now? Like a song or a band?  Really enjoying the quiet right now.

12.) How many pairs of socks have you hand knit?  Coming up on 100 pairs of socks.

13.) What's your favorite treat? Salty or Sweet?  I cannot pick just one.  Yes.  

14.) What was the most interesting thing you smelled yesterday. Not good or bad necessarily, just the thing that stuck out most so that you actually took notice of it.  Warm sleepy cat who had touched my leg and had the lotion smell following her.

15.) Needles - DPN's: Wooden, metal or plastic?  Rosewood. 

16.) What is your favorite sock pattern that you've knit? What do you recommend?  I don't have a favorite.  Tell me what you want to try and I can suggest something might work.

17.) The last Question: If you were stuck on a deserted island who would you want with you, what knitting would you want with you and would you ever want to leave?  A devoted pet, no knitting, and we would leave as soon as he started to annoy me.