Gray Day and Herbology
My life is interesting. When things happen to me, it happens all at once. I can go for weeks, months even without things happening. And then boom. Everything comes down at the same time.
Some might say it’s coincidence. But since it is a constant thing, I am no longer inclined to believe that it is simply coincidence.
They might be little things, they might be big things, but they have a habit of grouping themselves together.
I’m not going to go into details, but I must say I find it rather annoying at times.
It can cause frustration, anger, elation, and confusion. It can be the cause of drink, be it in celebration or depression.
It can cause artists to retreat into their worlds, be it on canvas, or paper, or whichever medium they find to be most comforting.
It can also cause that same artist to feel blocked and unable to enter into that world in which they feel so comfortable, causing them to float aimlessly about the aether.
Today is a gray day.
It is sleeting here in Colorado, which means I am unable to photograph yarn (not that it’s dry yet…); I am unable to go for a walk like I would like, and there are storm clouds both inside the house and out.
So as it is a gray day, I am watching Dorian Gray, the new one with Ben Barnes (alright it’s a few years old now, but I hadn’t been able to watch it previously).
I am enjoying it immensely. I am reinstalling MS Office onto my laptop. And I am trying to ignore the annoyance of the world.
Oh, and I give you a new yarn.
Herbology. Part of the Whimsical Wizards series.
And here is some knitting that I have done…. it was a commission that I took while at Anomaly Con.
Both shawls are in the Legolas Pattern by Susan Pandorf
Both shawls are on the Cherry DK yarn from The Asylum.
The blue one to the left is the colorway “Melisande”, the green one to the right is “Herbology”
I guess that’s all I can talk about right now. News will be coming soon.
Through dangers untold…
I am biting the bullet. I am committing to it. Now I just need to get my butt into gear and get the patterns ready.
In the next couple of months, I will be putting up for Pre-Order, a Pattern Club.
There will be 6 official patterns. (Price yet to be determined)
Of the confirmed patterns, there will be:
1 Stole (rectangular)
1 Sock pattern
1 Shawl
There are more coming, but these are the ones that will happen.
As of right now, orders will only be through the shop proper, I will email the patterns to people. Once the club is over, I will then open the patterns up for sale via Ravelry, but it will be only once the club is well and truly over. I will then send a download code for the members to add the pattern to their Ravelry libraries. (But that won’t happen till the club is over, only because I can’t separate out who can “purchase” the pattern via ravelry. And as of right now, this is only going to be open to club members.)
When I started tinkering with this idea, I start wracking my brain as to what I wanted the theme to be. I almost didn’t start this project simply because of worrying about if I’d be able to come up with the patterns.
Well, not even 5 minutes after I came up with the theme, I got ideas for 6 patterns immediately. I have more than 6 patterns that I’m playing around with, but for this round… there will only be 6. (There might be a special extra, but we’ll see.)
What is the theme?
Well my dear readers… I’m going with one of my favorites of all time.
Yes, you read that correctly. Labyrinth. Inspired by the most amazing movie brought to us by Jim Henson, featuring The Goblin King himself, who just so happened to be my first crush ever. (I still have a crush on David Bowie)
That’s all the info I have for now. More details will be forthcoming.
In other news… I had been avoiding doing my taxes for weeks now. I had everything prepared and ready to go, but dreaded the important step of actually filing. On one hand, I am glad I delayed.
A few weeks ago I received a letter from Unemployment (Colorado), stating that my payments were being postponed, and that my claim was under review.
Then a few days ago, I received a letter stating that not only was I now ineligible for benefits (no explanation as to why… the buggers), but also that they had over paid me by 2 months. This overpayment is of course due immediately, and comes to just over $1200.00. Where they think I’m going to suddenly come up with this money is beyond me. There is a reason I am on unemployment. I am by the Government’s standards… unemployed. C’est la vie.
This last letter of course lead to meltdowns and panics on my part trying to figure out what the heck was going to happen. (And it was partly the inspiration for this club)
I finally came out of shock, and got a game plan.
It has changed what will happen in the next few months. The moving to England time table has once again been stepped up, and it means changes to The Asylum.
But, like I said above I am glad I delayed in filing my taxes. Had I done that sooner, I would have had my return already, and most likely spent it on yarn (for the Asylum) and other things… like food and rent. (What a concept.)
Now, it all gets to go to my Unemployment bill. It won’t cover all of it, but it will put a fair sized dent in what they are demanding, and it will make me breathe easier not having the total amount looming over my head.
Sometimes procrastination pays.
On a completely different note… I just found out that they are going to be making the Dragon Riders of Pern into movies. YAY!!! I cannot express how happy this makes me.
I did not read Lord of the Rings in 6th grade like a lot of people I know. Instead, I was in Pern.
I carried around marble decorative eggs because they reminded me of Firelizard eggs.
I learned how to make Klah (still drink it on a regular basis). I learned how to make Bubbly Pies (though I don’t make Blueberry since I’m not a fan, instead I make mixed berry).
During the death of my Aunt/Mother, I retreated not only into Outlander, but into Pern.
In dreams I flew on dragonwing.
They better do these movies well. Otherwise there will be hell to pay.
On that note. I’m going to bed. I am very tired. Night all!
Happy Birthday Mum – a giveaway
Edited note: Remember, to get multiple entries you need to do multiple comments (not just saying “I followed this, this and this” in 1 comment). Otherwise my RNG won’t find you.
Today is my mum’s birthday. I cannot for the life of me remember how old she is, but that’s nothing new… I’ve never remembered. We’ll go with the classy reason of “To me… she is ageless.” Yeah… that one works.
The chocolate cake I made a few weeks ago is defrosting (first time ever freezing cake… we’ll see how it goes.).
Her pressies are ready and waiting (yes, you might think I’m a good daughter. Truth is, I totally forgot it was her birthday, but luckily I bought her presents last year and didn’t misplace them.).
So Happy Birthday mum. Hope it’s a good one.
Now onto the giveaway. No, this really wasn’t planned due to mum’s birthday… but again.. I’ll just say it is.
I have not announced this new little project before because I’ve been too busy. (Really… I need a full time assistant, and an actual work space now. This is getting ridiculous.)
The Asylum For Wayward Yarn is being a secondary sponsor for the Crafty Diversions Fan Appreciation Knit Along.
I am absolutely honored to be a part of this. I really like her patterns (had quite a few of them queued without realizing it when I agreed to be a part of this KAL), and this is a huge step up into the big leagues for my little Asylum.
I couldn’t have done it without one of my fans/customers being juts totally awesome and dropping my name when the question about yarnies came up.
Well, right now I am very sleep deprived. And when I am sleep deprived… I do stupid things. This stupid thing, you will benefit from.
On top of the prizes I am going to be doing for this KAL, I am offering up one now.
Oh, I guess I should talk about those first.
1) You are allowed to purchase some of my new colorways that I have not debuted here on the blog. (I guess I should do that) My only rule is that you actually participate in the KAL if you buy the yarn. I’ll be sad if you don’t, and a sad Erin means no more giveaways. (I’ll put the new yarn pictures down below)
2) I will be doing a Finished Object random drawing winner from this KAL. Doesn’t matter what yarn you use, if you finish your shawl, you can possibly win one of my yarns in a colorway of your choosing.
3) I will be doing an Asylum Finished Object random drawing from this KAL. If you use an Asylum yarn, you get entered to win another skein from me, colorway of your choosing.
4) Oh wait… 4… that was just me giving a skein to someone already. Nevermind… ignore that. (Yes, someone has already been lucky)
So I’m a gonna do another (yes, what great sentence structure from me this morning…) drawing. Right now.
There are several ways you can enter.
“Like” The Asylum on Facebook. – This one is obvious as to why.
“Like” Me, the author on Facebook. – I know, it’s blatant self promotion, but hey… my Asylum.. my rules. And I bet a few of you didn’t know that I have an author page on there now. Well, now you know.
“Follow” me on Twitter. – I’m not sending you to my Asylum one on twitter because I don’t really use it anymore. Just go with my personal one. I’ll do yarnie goodness on there as well. And I’m trying to be better about using twitter. (Make sure in your entry comment you tell me who you are on Twitter so that I can associate you with it)
“Follow” this blog.- Seriously, just do it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
And one last one because I’m totally about promotion right now…
“Like” Aether Horizons on Facebook. – If you don’t know what it is, it’s a novel I’m hoping to publish later this year. Does it have anything to do with this KAL? No. But it’s my baby, and again… my Asylum… my rules.
Comment here in the comments each action you take. (I’ll be checking, so don’t try to lie… ) For each action, please leave a separate comment (it just makes it easier on me when it comes to picking the winner, and if you shove all of it into one comment, you’ll only get ONE entry.).
Alright, I think my insanity is over for the moment. On to photos of new yarn goodness.
“Beware” inspired by the most awesome band “Bitter Ruin”. I kind of love them. Kind of more than I should. If you haven’t listened to them, you should. Go do it. You won’t regret it. This yarn was created as I am knitting a hat for Georgia, who is the more feminine half of Bitter Ruin. But that is a post for another day.
“Les Pacte Des Loups” inspired by the creature that actually terrorized the French countryside in the 18th century. The Beast of Gévaudan (huh, guess I could have named it that… non? Oh well, if I ever have to change the name… that’s what I’ll change it to.) was responsible for an estimated 210 attacks, resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. Some say it was a giant wolf. Some say it was a hyena (I don’t give into the people who say it wasn’t due to not having the right amount of teeth. When you kill 113 people or more, you are bound to loose a few teeth eh?). Some say it was a wild boar. Some say it’s sire was a red furred Mastiff. Some even say it was a Mesonychid. We will sadly never know.
“The Silver Kiss”, this one amuses me because while I was dyeing it I kept thinking it reminded me of Silver Kisses. Don’t ask why, it just did. I decided on Silver Kiss instead and only then remembered that The Silver Kiss was my very first vampire book that I read as a child. I’ve spoken about the book before, in my post about “Blood and Chocolate” by Annette Curtis Klause. She also wrote The Silver Kiss. So yes, I unintentionally named it after the first vampire book I ever read. It feels appropriate.
The photo does not do the yarn justice. The subtlety of the steam and brass and copper tones is gorgeous on this yarn. I can’t wait to see it knitted into something. I had been planning a series of Steampunk yarns for a long time now, this is just the first of what will be many. Oh hey.. there ya go.. there is the tie in to Aether Horizons. See, I can justify anything.
Copper Dragonflies is another in my Steampunk line. Inspired partly by the most fabulous friend of mine who is Copper Dragonflies. Her hats will be with me at Anomaly Con (ACK, another thing I haven’t posted about.. whoopsie. I guess I’ll be doing another blog post soon!) as she is my… “apprentice”. *shifty eyes*
The Governor’s Daughter is the next in the Parley of Pirates series. Betcha can’t guess who that’s supposed to be? I’ll give you 5 guesses and the first 4 don’t count.
“The Anguisette” is the latest in my Love as Thou Wilt series, based off the immortal works of Jacqueline Carey and her Kushiel Legacy. I think it turned out just perfect.
And last but most certainly not least…
Sleepy Hollow. I really wanted Fall colors for this yarn. I think I got exactly what I wanted. Headless horsemen, Ichabod Crane… things that go bump in the night…
Alright, you’ve seen all my new yarns (which other than for the KAL, will NOT be available until April, after the Anomaly Con is over.
The Mystery of the Carved Bones
This has been an interesting year. I never win anything. I always want to win things.. but I never do. This year though, I have won 2 things. A book (Which I still haven’t read), and now a pair of custom made earrings by the fabulous designer Alena from Alena’s Originals.
Her Artfire shop is here, and her Facebook page can be found here.
I discovered her jewelry in a quest to find jewelry inspired by the tv show Bones. I love the necklaces that the main character of Bones (Based off the novels by Kathy Reichs) wore in the beginning seasons. I had found the actual designer many years ago, but her necklaces were going for thousands of dollars… and I’ve lost that link.
I ran into Alena’s shop once again in my quest for the necklaces.
With this set of earrings that I won, it was entirely up to me to pick what I wanted. Well, I didn’t know what I wanted so I told Alena to be creative. Just to give me something organic and earthy looking. I think she did an amazing job. I LOVE them. Wooden beads, A Walnut see, and Silver. Lovely, just absolutely lovely. And so light weight!
I love to look at pretty things. I can’t necessarily buy pretty things right now, but I can look at pretties and also send my “likes” to the hubs2be who is now terrified to buy me pretties because the only jewelry taste he is familiar with, of course is his Mothers, and his Sister. I am going to attempt to put this as delicately as possible.
I have the direct and total opposite taste in jewelry than my future Mother in Law.
She freely admits to loving the Bling.
I love things that are more organic and delicate. I do not love the bling. Guy has tried to show me things that he wanted to buy me. Thank gods he didn’t surprise me with pieces because quite frankly… I had not been happy with his choices.
OF course if he had bought me something, I would have loved it and loved him for buying it for me. Even if I thought it was the ugliest thing in the world. You do that for your spouse.
But he and I communicate with each other. He’s starting to learn what I like. When he and I are finally cohabitating, he’ll finely be able to see what I like, and not just hear what I like.
Well, I like Alena’s work.
And I was absolutely floored when I won a pair of custom earrings made by her. Even though I’m allergic to sterling silver (Though my ears aren’t hurting right now after wearing them for a few hours yesterday) I wasn’t going to mention it since these were free. If they had been less than SS, I would have offered to pay the difference so that I could actually wear them. Even with the SS, I chose a wire style that would allow me to change the wires out if absolutely necessary down the road.
Yesterday I had a photoshoot with Rebecca. We used the church of Grace and St. Stevens in Colorado Springs. That is my mother’s church, so while we were photographing, she was working in the garden. The reason we chose to have the photoshoot there was because the administrative offices are is in this amazing building next door. It is called the McWilliams House, and it is an old Victorian.
Now I shouldn’t be showing these photos yet, as there is a certain one that is for something very specific… but I’m going to risk it.
We had fun doing the photoshoot. I borrowed my mum’s hat for it, as I don’t have one of my own at the moment.
I have many more photos, but they aren’t ready yet.
I have quite a headache, so I’m going to leave it here for now.
Ta!
Oh, and stay tuned for more information about that pretty scarf I’m wearing. In a few days you’ll get to hear all about it with some detailed photos!
Bloody February
Not really any new information for those who follow me on Facebook… but I figured I should update here as well. I’m trying to be good about that.
February was a bloody month for me.
I did not plan it, it just happened that way.
The Tell-Tale Heart was added to the general 2011 portfolio. I rather like it.
Sangoire is part of my Love as Thou Wilt series, based on Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel Legacy.
This last one was a one of a kind that I did. Truthfully it was the first one I did, and The Tell-Tale Heart was my attempt to recreate it. No matter how many times I tried, I just could not recreate what I did with this one, hence it being an OOAK.
“Savvy?” is part of my Parley of Pirates series.
Demon Seabreeze is based off the fabulous Lorne from Angel. Part of my Hellmouth series.
Blue Meanie is also from my Hellmouth series. Based off the fascinating Illyria.
I have quite a few more to add, that need to be photographed.
It’s been quite a creative year colorway-wise. I’m liking how it’s all turning out.
I most certainly hit the ground running in 2011.
Sometimes you fly…
Happy Imbolc to everyone who celebrates it. For me it certainly has been poignant. It’s about rebirth and renewal. Getting rid of the old, and bringing in the new.
Today I took a leap. I’ve decided I’m going to have a table at the Anomaly Con here in Denver this March.
This is big for me. Very very big. Like, starting tomorrow I need to dye my bum off so that I’m ready. I’m sure I’ll either be far too overstocked, or I’ll be understocked. I’m okay with being overstocked. I’ll be thrilled though if I sell out of everything and am understocked. I of course won’t expect this to happen, so I will be presently surprised if it does.
This will require me finding my costuming that I’ve packed away. But it will give me a chance to wear the awesome awesome new hat I have that was given to me as part of the Pay It Forward 2011 from my dear friend Kristen.
Isn’t it awesome? Don’t you wish you were me right now with such an awesome hat? Well, you can buy one of your own from her brand new shop (I’m so proud and excited for her) on Artfire: Copper Dragonflies. You really should check her out. She doesn’t have hats up in the shop right now, but send her a message and she’ll make you one.
It means also that if you don’t hear from me for the next 2 months, it’s because I’ve fallen into a vat of dye and drowned myself. This is very possible people. Yes, I realize that I’m possibly biting off more than I can chew, especially with still needing to finish the Sherlock club.. but I’ve never been one to do baby steps. I dive into that deep end and learn to swim. Wait.. no.. I’ve got a better analogy. One quite fitting.
“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.” – Neil Gaiman
Well, I’m determined to fly. I never thought I’d get the chance to do an event like this. Certainly not in the US. I might not get something like this in the UK. So I might as well take that leap. After all, this witch just might prove that she can defy gravity. (Alright, how many more analogies can I throw in this paragraph structure?) (Oh, and photograph taken from here.)
I’ve got many big plans for this year, and this wasn’t even one of the original plans! This year is definitely going to be my year.
I’ve lost 21.6lbs as of writing this. I don’t know if I’ll reach my goal before the end of this diet, but I am okay with that. I am happier with my body, my self, my business, and my life. The only aspect that I am not happy with is still not being with my hunny. But there is nothing I can do about that.
My hunny though is striving to make me happy. He bought a rug for our place. Oh yes, we found a place. It’s small and dinky, but it’ll work for us right now. But as I was saying, he bought us a rug. A rug I had said I liked. When I first saw this rug, I fell in love with it. But I told him I liked the gray one, and not the purple one. I told him this because he is not fond of purple. The gray was nice, and would look nice in the house (our main carpeting is a dark blue). So I was fine if he wanted that one. What did he do? While he was shopping in IKEA (which by the way, I love IKEA. I grew up in Ikea. I am sad that the Ikea here in Colorado will not open till next year… I’ve been wanting this store to pop up in Colorado the entire time I’ve lived here) He got us the rug. He got us the rug for a mere fraction of the original cost.
And he got me the purple rug. I love him for it. He knew the purple would make me happy. And it would look good with the blue carpet. (The other choices besides gray and purple was this “sand” and a yellow green)
To any men reading my blog.. it’s little things like that which win over girls hearts.
As the first month of the Sherlock Holmes Yarn Club is now over and done.. (and I’m scrambling to get this 2nd month in the mail asap!) I can now share with you photos of what you are either enjoying in your house or missing out on.
Photo thanks to Reni LeBard
Dr. Watson in shades of mustards, curries, browns and gunmetal. When I think of our dear Doctor, I cannot help but think of him in those colors. Some might think it odd, but that’s the impression I always have. It is mostly due to the very first impression of him meeting Holmes for the first time. He is on my new base, a 2ply SW Sock
Hound of the Baskervilles was not originally planned. When I planned this club, it was going to be a 3 colorway club and that was it. (2 skeins of the same colorway each month) But then I had a customer ask for Hound of the Baskervilles to be included, and my imagination went from there. Hound of the Baskervilles was one of my favorites of the stories growing up. And whenever I think of it, the image of those haunted moors. So while designing this one, that’s exactly what image I used. The purple and greens and browns, the ever shifting mist of those moors. This one is shown on my 4ply SW Sock
I hope you like what I created… Also in the months package is:
An Absinthe Lollipop, after all that was one of his vices. (Though Watson will tell you otherwise) They are from Lollyphile, but it does not appear that you can get them anymore. I guess it’s a good thing that I have an extra stash left over from this club. Muhahahaa
A random assortment of Holmes inspired Pin Badges (before anyone gets huffy.. each customer got 1 pin badge, certain people got 2 for their help in the project)
A tea strainer that is rather neat! (it’s got its own drip pan even!)
A pattern designed by the awesome Christina Scovel from Serenity Stitches.
Today I went to the printers to get this month’s pattern. It’s beautiful. But you’ll have to wait a month before you can see it! I’m also working on getting the last of the swag done, which hopefully will be tomorrow. Then it’s back to the dye pot for me. I’ve only got 1 more colorway that needs to be designed and dyed. I have the other colorway 99% finished. It just needs one last little treatment done to it before I can call it done.
I have been truly blessed by my loyal customers, and amazing friends. This club was a huge leap for me, and it has taught me a lot, and enriched my soul while doing it.
Oh, I also had another Big Ass Order during all this… It was for a Sock Kit that is being put together by one of my customers.
“Bold As Texas”
I had carte blanche on the colors, so I chose: Red, White and Blue for the state flag, not to mention the patriotic tones that Texas has to begin with! Bluebonnet Blue, and a Yellow that matched the Yellow Rose of Texas.
I’m very happy with it. She’s very happy with it, and apparently the people ordering the kit are happy with it! Yay!
Well, I have more that I can announce, but I’m awfully tired. I should have gone to bed before I actually started writing this. So I guess I’ll just have to announce the rest tomorrow. Goodnight everyone, and may your Imbolc fires burn bright!
Contest: Name that Yarn!
Alright mah wonderful little inmates. The time has come. I’m annoyed that a name hasn’t stuck with my “Unnamed Burgundy” yarn… and since I just dyed some up this afternoon for a client, I feel I need to name it. And since it’s 2:30 in the morning and I cannot sleep, and I’m feeling a bit craaaazy…. I’m poking you all.
So lets put some more motivation out there to get the creative juices flowing.
To the winner, I will offer 1 mini skein of my SW SOCK. That will be a 50 gram skein, which is 220 yards. Of any colorway of your choice. (Barring the Collaboration yarns at this time unless I get approval from my collaborator to do an off base skein)
Lets play… NAME THIS YARN!!!
Remember the themes of this asylum… madness runs rampant here, so no idea is too outlandish…1
Oh wait.. I might have just thought of a name that would fit…. Oh well, I still want to do this little contest and see what everyone else comes up with. No more kidding around, this time it’s for the money2 so lets come up with some great things.
Lets have fun with this, so tell your friends, the more the merrier, and who knows… if you bring a friend…. tell me! You just might win a little somethin’ somethin’.
This will be cross-posted on various places, so forgive me in advance for that.
Home again, home again…
This is not a post about my Florida trip.
I repeat this is not a post about my Florida trip.
I feel bad that I haven’t been posting at all, and certainly not have posted since I got home.
But I’ve been on and off sick the entire time I’ve been home for one reason or another. It’s not been fun.
Instead, I’ll use this as a time to update you on new yarns I’ve done.
This is Hatter...
Hatter has been tinkering around inside my brain since I first watched the SyFy version of Alice.
He’s so adorkable.
Here is a new pretty… I’m calling it Pretty Purples at the moment, since I don’t have a name for it.
Unnamed Pretty Purples
And here is Samhain… it was supposed to be something else originally, but that didn’t want to come out and play.. Instead Samhain came to the party.
It is a 4×4 Self Striping.
It has started what will hopefully be a full series, of the holidays. I look forward to this.
Samhain self striping
This… I won’t talk about. Not yet, as it deserves it’s own post. But this is how I spent a day… or half a day… alright just a morning.
How I spent a day when I should have been relaxing.
There… has this been enough of an update for ya’all?
I promise I’ll get to the Florida recap one soon.
Pucks and broken sticks…
My adventures in Denver for my first Hockey game.
Step One: Drive to Denver
Step Two: Starving, go to lunch at Panera. Once again disappointed with the tomato mozzarella panini.
Step Three: Realize we have about 3 hours before we can even contemplate going downtown.
We were near Park Meadows Mall and knew that there was a DSW. So Mother of Mine and I decide to see if there are any shoes that might work for the wedding.
I quite literally steal them off another woman’s feet… But I’ve got my wedding shoes.
Amethyst purple with a kitten heel and pointy toe.
This means the wedding colors changed. Thats alright. That’s a blog for another day.
Oh, I also bought 2 other pairs of shoes. A pair of sheepskin Chuck Taylors, and a simple pair of black Keds. I really needed summer appropriate shoes, hence the Keds, but the Chucks were a factor of “oh my god they actually fit”.
We even still go to the actual mall and poke around as we had only killed about an hour at DSW.
Wandered about the mall… definitely killed time. Bought something that you really don’t need to know about.
We head downtown and attempt to find parking. I’m going to gloss over that spot because well frankly… it was not pretty.
Head up the escalator to the very top of the arena, we are in the nose bleed section. A scary section I might add as if you trip… you will fall and nothing accept a small railing 15 rows down from the top will stop you.
Ask me how I know…
No… I did not tumble.. but I did stumble. I caught myself though.
We were in the very top row. This is our view: (and mind you, this is my camera zoomed in all the way)
Suddenly we see someone from the arena walking around with a stack of tickets.
That person comes up to us and asks us if we are wearing Av’s clothing. We are.
We get our seats upgraded since it’s a home game and it’s televised so they want more visible fans for the cameras.
This is our new view:
BIG difference no?
This is a picture of where our seats were, from where our seats are now.
Top section, middle of the photo. You’ll see 2 white blobs next to one of the columns? Yeah.. our seats were like 3 away from them.
The people who’s arms you see in the photo next to us, ironically had been sitting up near us, and it was their first game, AND they were from Colorado Springs.
Seriously… it’s weird when we go places.
On the other side of us, we sadly were next to the drunkest/loudest people in the arena. I was almost tempted to send the SOS text to get them kicked out of our section. Without fail we always end up being near “those” people at concerts/events.
Even though the Av’s lost, it was still a good game. I’m very glad I went as it was my first and last time I was going to get to go to a game here in Colorado before the move. (Sorry, it wasn’t in the budget to go to a playoff game)
I bought us hats. It’s hard to find a good charcoal gray hat.
After that we headed over to Casa Judd, our home away from home.
Saturday was spent doing the Colorado Tartan Day… Which… I really don’t miss doing those festivals. I of course was there as a civilian so I could come and go and do as I please.
There, now you have the blog I’ve been meaning to post for weeks now.
I have a new yarn base drying in the shower… I did the Vamp trifecta today in honor of the Moonlight marathon I’ve been enjoying. I am in love with this new base.
Tomorrow will be painting on some tshirts for my Florida trip.
And then Tuesday is my flight. Obviously I will not be able to blog while I’m gone. But I will make an attempt to do so. There is something that should happen while I’m gone that will require big uber announcement and dances of joy.
Frak the Ash Cloud
I’ve been such a bad blogger. Please forgive me my peeps.
Believe me… I’ve been wracked with guilt at my lack of updating.
I’ve been busy with my little Asylum. Yuppers… things are starting to happen. This is exciting.
I also booked a flight to Florida. Whoa… Really? Florida? WTF??
That’s right. In just over a week and a half, I am getting a plane, which thankfully is not being affected by the Volcano Gods… nor the Ash Cloud of Doom.
As you all may have heard me gush about previously, I am a fan of Fresh from the Cauldron yarns.
Well, Squib who runs FftC is needing some assistance. All of her normal (as I call them) minions have upped and moved. One of them even moved to Colorado.
I looked at this as an opportunity. She needs help, I have been wanting a One on One dyeing lesson from her (basically been wanting that since I first started talking with her). Realized I had the money… (well, not really… but I can justify it for my business.)
So, this is a good thing. Sure I’ll be doing most of her grunt work, but I’ll also get to sit at the feet of my Mister Miyagi and watch / help her work. This is worth it’s weight in gold peeps. Really it is.
Today I spent the morning sitting in a cafe (okay.. it was Panera) writing on Aether Horizons. Didn’t get as much written as I would have liked because it became too noisy for me to really concentrate.
I also gave a little girl a purple flower. Alright… it was a sketch of some flowers on a purple sticky note. But she loved it. And her mom loved it. It was my way of saying “I totally know that you know I can hear your convo and I’m sorry to hear about your problems with your military husband that you are discussing with your priest/whatever he is and also about your childhood issues with your father’s affair while you were growing up in Germany but lets pretend that I cannot hear you at all. Oh, and I’m totally stealing the line your husband said to you that you love telling because it’s the most romantic thing in the world. Kthnxsbye!”
After that, I picked up Mother of Mine and her friend “Dances with Pitbulls” and we went downtown for lunch. We did sushi.
I tried something that I had never seen before.
Sweet Pumpkin Roll.
It was good… It was mellow… It was interesting. I say interesting because I think the texture is why I think it was interesting.
After that I walked down to Poor Richard’s book store while Mother of Mine and friend went to the College and took photos at the statues.
I bought books. Bad me! 5 books to be specific! BAD ME!!!
3 of them though are books I NEEDED.
2 of them were books I wanted just for pleasure.
Considering one of the books has already helped me feel better about my writing and I think will be of good use to me in the future… that makes me very happy about buying it.
One of the other books… well if I decide to fully write in the mystery genre it will be invaluable right alongside my “Practical Homicide Investigation”.
And the 3rd useful book I bought was a Knitting Book. Specifically an Interweave Press “lace and eyelets” which I decided I had to get because it had at least one stitch in it that I can use for the scarf I have been designing. This will solve a problem I was having.
The 2 books I bought for pleasure were both by Kim Harrison.
Book number 1 “Dead Witch Walking” in paperback. It was a practically brand new copy and I’ve been itching to reread the series.
The other one was “The Outlaw Demon Wails” in hardback. I know, I shouldn’t be buying hardbacks, but there is a reason I got it. In the UK, they do not call it “The Outlaw Demon Wails” they call it “Where Demons Dare” which is silly. It ruins the flow of the Clint Eastwood Western Titles.
Not to mention, I just really like the US covers better than the UK covers, and I do plan on owning all the books in Hardback (since they are re-releasing the first books in the spiffy hardback version, which is nice since they never got into hardback in the first place.)
So since I still don’t have Hockey blog ready to go.. here is a new yarn for you all to drool over.
I give you Jamie Fraser, shown here on Superwash Sock. Straight here from the wonderful pages of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series for those who aren’t in the know.
Grab a Freshie.
I promise I do have a kick ass post to post about the Hockey game.
I swear.
Really. You believe me right?
Well… this is not that post.
This post… I am debuting a new yarn.
Josef Kostan from Moonlight.
One of the Snarkiest Vampires on the small screen for a good long while.
You know.. Vampire Solidarity and all that.. Rah Rah Rah!
So grab a freshie, or a non fat soy vegan blood if that’s what you prefer and enjoy.
This, to my knowledge is the final Moonlight colorway I’ll be doing. I don’t know, we’ll see if I get inspired for another one the next time I watch the dvds.
Now its time to go make dinner and then have another Pumpkin Pillow cause those are just damn nummy.
Happy Hearts Casino, Great Big Sea, and Ravelympics
Well, it looks like the majority of people decided on “Happy Hearts Casino”, so… I’m gonna go with that.
It works for me.
While the Olympics were happening, there was something in the knitting community known as the Ravelympics. There was also the Knitting Olympics hosted by the Yarn Harlot, and then several other events put on by various groups. I only participated in the Ravelympics.
I was on the fence about claiming victory though. My goal, was simply to work on my Doomsday Cardi.
Having to rip it out and start over, my mental goal was to at least get back to where I had stopped. Which I did. So technically my goal was accomplished, and I get the gold medal.
Or a shiny Bob pin. Having been on the fence though, and broke.. I did not get my pin.
I decided today to add myself to the notify list when the next batch of pins come in. I decided that since it’ll be 4 years before the next Winter Games, I should just jump on my accomplishment now. For 6$, it’ll make me happy, and it’s not a big thing to pack. 
This weekend I am taking Mother of Mine to Denver to see Great Big Sea for her birthday. This will be the last chance we get to see the boys together before the move. It’s actually quite fitting, as Great Big Sea (opening for The Chieftains and Sinead O’Conner) at Redrocks was the first concert we went to the summer we moved to Colorado. It was one of the first things we did in general, not just concert. As I’ve said before, it was a great concert. And the reason it was a great concert was because of those 4 boys who strode nervously on stage (they had been together less than 5 years at this point) and had us up and dancing in the aisle. Sinead’s voice was ethereal.. but meh. And the Chieftains phoned it in. It was GBS that we took a cd home of.
I’ve learned I can’t clean the house while listening to their music. I end up dancing and singing along instead of cleaning.
Huh, that reminds me… I need to add them to my Zen as they would be good to rock out to at the gym.
I guess that’s all I’ve got to report at the moment.
Doomsday is going along. I had to restart the left sleeve as it was too tight.
The writing is going well as well.
Name that Yarn!
The first of my Alice themed yarns is making it’s debut, but it’s nameless!
There were supposed to be two yarns making it’s debut from this series, but the yarn was having none of that and decided to be something entirely different. I’ll post that one up soon.
This yarn though is an embodiment of the burlesque dancers at the Happy Hearts casino, dancing to keep the Oysters happy.
Here it is… I give you the nameless yarn.
Entertaing the Oysters ?
Dancing for the Oysters ?
Happy Hearts Casino ?
(sorry for all the updates, I was having issues with the poll)
As Frankie Said…
I did it my way.
Today was not a good day for the most part. Kept waking up in the middle of the night because my lower back locked up thanks to the joys of having a uterus. So I had weird dreams and thus was cranky in the morning.
I couldn’t even form coherent thoughts until well into the mid part of the day.
I have half a wedding dress.
It started so simply. I needed to go to the post office to mail out a yarn order (woot). While at the post office, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I prayed that it was simply in my jacket at home, and not some where in the street between Whole Foods and home for the last 24 hours.
Then I needed to go to the library. So, Mother of Mine tagged along as she had a package to send as well.
As we were leaving the library (and me still not coherent yet), Mother of Mine says we are going to go to Mill Outlet. We were going to buy the fabric for my wedding dress as they were having their 45th anniversary sale.
40% off one item, or one cut piece of fabric up to 3 yards. And 5% off the entire order.
Sadly, I needed 6 yards, but for some reason I still got 20% off the other 3 yards of fabric, and then even still got the extra 5% off of that.
We paid 176$ for the fabric, when normally it would be 250$
Last week I bought the under fabric for the dress, and spent…. I wanna say around 45$. So, just over 220$ spent for my wedding dress.
This doesn’t bother me, as yes… I’m sure I could go to one of those 99$ sales…But…
Would I find anything that fit? No.
Would I find anything that looked good? No.
Would I find anything that I could actually wear for more than just my wedding? No.
Would I actually end up paying 99$ No.
I’m not built like most girls. I have very broad shoulders. I also do have an Hourglass figure (though, thats been slightly hidden over the years thanks to working in call centers… it’s still there though.. still an hourglass) So if a dress has any kind of fit in the top, it won’t fit my shoulders, and if it fits my shoulders, it’s generally to big in the waist, or my hips etc etc.
This is why I am having a dress made for me. (Notice I didn’t say “making my own dress”, I’m being honest here.)
I will not look like a giant meringue, I will not look like a bell (and that is not to be confused with “belle”).
I know what shapes work with my body.
I know what length and flow works.
This dress will look good. I hope.
Found my wallet. Had it with us the entire time in the car. Must have fallen out after Whole Foods yesterday. Crisis averted once again.
After that, I was finally awake enough to do what I didn’t do yesterday.
Make homemade ranch dressing.
Which… is mighty tasty if I do say so myself. I didn’t have all the herbs I wanted, so I improvised. It’s not bad. Mine is not your classic Ranch, simply because of the herb change up. But it’s good. Next time, I’ll make sure I have the correct herbs that I want. I’ll keep experimenting till I get it just how I want it.
I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe for it. You can find it here.
I also made The Best Lasagna … Ever.
Which is also one of PW’s. Here.
Of course this is me… I change things around.
I was short 1 cup of cottage cheese, but I do not feel that took away from the yummy factor.
I used 1 pound 95% lean ground beef and half a pound ground buffalo instead of hot breakfast sausage. What can I say… I’m not fond of spicy hot sausage.
I used the fresh parsley instead of dried, as I conveniently had a bunch of it left over from the ranch dressing.
I also added another layer into the mix.
Artichoke and spinach. Oh yes, I went there. I went there and damn it was good. Wanna know something else? 2 cans. Yes, you heard me. 2 cans of artichoke hearts. Damn I’m good. Damn it was good. You know you love it. Succumb to the the power of the artichoke heart.
Fast forward ohh… about an hour now, and I have a full belly.
The only thing I think I would change would be to reduce the salt. But thats just my own choice, I don’t tend to use much salt in my cooking, and Mother of Mine can’t do the salt. As I was holding measuring the salt out the second time, I actually debated reducing it. But no… I decided to go with Ree on this one this time… that way I would know my own opinion for next time. I think I would reduce it by half through out the entire recipe (if you read the recipe, you’ll see what I mean).
I don’t think that I had a full pound of mozzarella cheese. They were out of the shredded packs at WF, and so I just grabbed a brick and the nice cheese man who had gone to look for the shredded packs, sliced it for me. I think it was closer to just over half a pound of cheese. I did not find the recipe lacking for this fact.
I did not use any tomato paste. Didn’t need it either. Take that lasagna, I made you how I wanted.
For the amount of food this lasagna made… I’d say it was well worth the effort.
The knitting is going well. I’m up to row 61, so I’m very close to where I had to stop on the previous attempt. The cables are going the correct ways, and the only thing that I’m not happy about, will tighten up when I wet block it later. Woot! Only 56 rows to go till I put the body down and start making the sleeves.
The writing is also going well. I’m about to change up my routine so that I get myself to do more writing each day. I’ll tell you about it when I get it to actually work. Might not happen this week though because of the exhaustion factor.
I am debating making some pernicious s’mores for dessert. We’ll see if I’m up to it or not.
Green Arrow, be still my heart.
Today has been spent mostly giving my laptop some much needed TLC. For the past couple of weeks it’s been crashing, or showing me that ugly Blue Screen of death far too often. This past week alone, I couldn’t boot it up without going into F8 “Last known good configuration” mode otherwise it would crash on me.
Hopefully all the work I’ve done on it today will keep it from Blue Screening on me tomorrow when I boot it up.
While working on my computer, I was also knitting. Yes, I am a tech support person who can fix my computer while knitting. Look at me go.
I got somewhere around 10 rows completed on my Doomsday Cardi. Woot.
The thumb/wrist issue is feeling slightly better. Not 100% yet, but getting better… I think.
I kept waking up in the middle of the night whenever I wanted to shift sides, consciously not rolling onto my left side. I don’t know if this helped or not, or if it just was leaving me sleep deprived. And no, I did not consciously choose to do the right side sleeping only.
So as I was spending the entire day working on the laptop, I did not actually get to transcribe any of my novel. Oh well, tomorrow I guess. I did get a page and a half written last night, which makes me quite happy. Page and a half to 2 pages is about what I’m averaging this week.
Today was also spent enjoying Smallville season 8 and Top Gear.
I am such a fan girl. I spend most of my time watching Smallville giggling like a school girl. Not just at the hawt men, but at the little inside jokes and homages that only true fans get. My kids will most likely think I’m crazy that I’m a Superman fan, as it truly is an American Superhero. But… I’m crazy that way. I like my man of steel.
Just don’t let Batman hear me say that. Good old Bruce thinks that all my loyalty belongs to him.
*shifty eyes* We won’t talk about any of those X-Men. *Whistles innocently*
But mostly I’ve been giggling like a school girl because of Oliver Queen… Aka The Green Arrow.
I’ve talked before about how I used to do archery. And I shall do archery again. (Hunny is aware of this, so he won’t be surprised when I start drooling over bows again)
So images like this… make me happy:
And this:
Oooh look at those muscles:
I mean… such a hottie… yum.
Yes… he kept me quite happy while I was dealing with the frustrations of my laptop.
He’s also the closest I’m going to get to getting a visit from Cupid this Valentines day… but I’m geeky enough to be alright with him being cupid lol.
Ironically, while knitting on my Doomsday Cardi, the main bad guy in season 8 of Smallville is in fact… DOOMSDAY! I only just caught that, and my god I’m giggling about it.
I guess that’s all I’ve got for now. Tomorrow will be the gym.
Waiting on my mailman to deliver yarn so that I can do some more dyeing. It’ll be fun.
Well, time for more Top Gear. Night all.
Thursday already?!
Today started with me not wanting to get out of bed.
Slept in for nearly an hour even. Well, I did kick my ass at the gym yesterday.
20 minutes on the sit down bike.
2 minutes on the elliptical machine.
45 minute Aqua class.
5 minutes (??) on the rowing machine.
I will admit I enjoyed the rowing machine, but I am not entirely sure if I was doing it correctly. I’ll find out soon enough. If I was, I’ll keep doing it.
So all in all, it was quite a busy day at the gym and I was quite sore but sore in the good way. This meant for really not wanting to get out of bed this morning.
But out of bed I did get. Dressed and off to Einsteins did we go. Thanks to facebook, Mother of Mine and I had free shmears.
After that, the grocery store and then the library.. (Which I still managed to forget to pick up a movie… oh well, it’s not like I won’t be there soon enough)
I finished a Super Sekret Projekt today. Nope, still can’t talk about it yet. Not till I block it, photograph it, and stick it in the mail to the person it needs to go to.
I also decided that even with it being snowy and cold, I was going to take photos of my new yarn.
Unfortunately my photographer snobbish side was only happy with how one of the yarns photographed. (I’m having such problems with purples and blues right now! New camera please?!)
Now, for some time now… well.. pretty much since I started yarn dyeing people have been asking me if I were going to dye some Harry Potter yarns.
Harry Potter yarns have been done… often. So my response has always been “If I am inspired.” As I really didn’t want to do what everyone else has done.
So when I do Harry Potter yarns, it is probably not going to be the “main trio” or the very obvious ones.
Bellatrix was a request. That request was not “I want a yarn inspired by Bellatrix” no… it was “I want yarn dyed in these colors so I can finally do my Bellatrix socks”. It just turned out that the color I did reminded me of Bellatrix from Harry Potter.
There is still another Bellatrix to be shown as when I imagined her, there was just a bit more to her than what had been requested. (Her photo shall come soon)
But today I shall speak of Felix.
Felix Felicis.
Liquid Luck for those in the know.
Now, for weeks now I’ve been imagining a hat made out of yarn like this. Specifically the Snapdragon tam by Ysolda Teague.
I really do not wear yellow. Yellow is pretty much one of my least favorite colors. But I just cannot imagine the Snapdragon in any other color at the moment. Most likely I would make the hat, and then give it to someone who would actually wear the color.
As I finished the Super Sekret Projekt, I need to get back to my Doomsday Cardi… This will require me quite literally getting my mind back in the project, it shall take much concentration on my part till I get back in the rhythm. But I get to transfer it on to my new Zephyr Needles from Knitpicks. We’ll see how they go.
Finished reading “M is for Magic” by Neil Gaiman last night. It is a collection of short stories and they were quite good. One of them in particular had me bawling like a baby as it was about the cats that have decided to call his house home, and I happened to start reading it the day that he blogged about putting one of his cats (Zoe the blind attic cat) to sleep. This is the 3rd cat he has lost in the last year. Zoe was the youngest at 14. Hermione and Pod were about 18 if my memory serves. So reading a short story involving his cats just quite literally had me bawling all over again. (This past week it had been posts about Zoe leading up to her final day.)
Tonight I start reading Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs.
On the writing front, I have had a wonderfully productive week thanks to my friend Hatter. It started with a text message at 11pm at night. He is one of the few friends that I can text that late and not worry about waking up. I sent him a text of “Need your help. Need a idea for a ____ from South America.”
I was shocked when I didn’t get a text back from him immediately.
Next day at about 11pm again I get a phone call from him going “Holy crap you texted. I’m sorry.. My phone sucks and didn’t tell me… here’s my thoughts on what you need.”
So thankfully, my fear about him not texting back immediately was simply a mechanical failure on his phones part. Phew.
For the next hour we chit chat back and forth bouncing ideas. He is a writer, but he is also someone who I can trust to bounce ideas off of. He also understands Steampunk like some of my other idea people don’t. -He is also someone who I don’t mind squeeing like a fan girl with about certain things… Like Anthony Stewart Head singing… Vampires… bloody scalpels etc… Sigh. I’m gonna miss My Hatter.
Anyway, the hour long convo he and I have totally gives me a direction to go in, something I had been lacking. Don’t get me wrong, I had the basics started, but I was hesitant. Now my direction is clear. (Well, at least this section) It allowed me to finish that chapter and start the next. Which, when it’s the first chapter of the book (or chapter equivalent), it is quite important to feel good about finishing that chapter and moving on to the next. If you are wishy washy about it, then it’s going to haunt you the rest of the book. My characters are making their personalities and presence known, and the world which I am creating is becoming much more apparent to me.
And on that note, I leave you for the night. Tomorrow is the gym once more, then apparently a busy weekend after that. The snow is still going on, and I have a feeling that tomorrow morning shall be a “oooh it’s warm in bed, I don’t wanna get up and go out!”
Oh.. last note… according to the scale at the gym on Wednesday… I lost 1/2 a pound from last week. Which doesn’t necessarily mean a thing since I was on my period last week. I guess we’ll see next week.
Snowball fight on Hoth
This made my geek happy. Carrie actually looks happy. Before whatever issues in her life were to happen, she had fun in the snow while filming a small scifi movie.
Today, Saturday… I have not moved much.
Yesterday’s day at the gym kicked my arse.
The trainer was not the same one we had on Wednesday, and she was that classic trainer.
Small, Energetic, Loud, Perky, 80% Dominatrix.
Still… it was good. Then Jes and I went out into the rest of the gym and worked out there. Which is why I cannot walk without going “owie!” today. My inner thighs are yelling at me in the most extreme. Which means on Monday.. I’m gonna do it again!
My dyeing ego is certainly feeling good right now. I debuted M is for Magic today, and I am getting great response from it. Actually, I’ve been getting great response from all three yarns I just debuted this week. This makes me happy.
As far as writing goes… I’ve got more characters starting to chatter in my head, and is giving me a better direction on where to go for this Airship novel.
The Blitz novella is still being worked on, I’m at a tough spot where I need to make that decision, and well… my muse is not helping me right now. She’s of on an airship right now if I know her. Oh well, I’ll figure it out and get it on paper.
I’ve got another batch of dyeing coming up soon. But I must go buy vinegar before I can do that.
Really I guess I’m just rambling. Happy Pie Day everyone. I’m going to go back to knitting and watching Monarch of the Glen.
M is for Magic
“M is for Magic” is a short story collection by Neil Gaiman.
During my session of dyeing, I started reading this book whilst waiting for my dye to exhaust.
I haven’t gotten very far in the book (kettle dyeing takes far less time than my usual dip method), but I did enjoy it.
I must admit that I didn’t think my first “Neil Gaiman” inspired yarn would be M is for Magic, I had assumed it would be Sandman, Coraline, Stardust, or any of the other ones I have written down. Funny how life changes plans.
So, I decided that my semi solid purple skein would be named after the book.
M is for Magic is as I said a moment ago, a semi solid purple, with a very subtle black overdye.
It was a mistake.
When I was measuring out my dyes prior to dyeing, I thought I measured out 2 cups of the Violet dye I was working with, and also 2 cups of the Sapphire Blue. (Which was used in the Midnight colorway)
Turns out I measured out 4 cups of the Violet and that was it.
Now I only realized that when I had the yarn in the pot, and I was pouring in the violet from two different bottles and wondering why it looked… well… the same!
That’s when I realized what I did.
I quickly made a decision to overdye it with black. (After all, that was the skein I was originally trying to create Midnight with. I did Midnight after for obvious reasons)
Now, I didn’t want it to look like it had been dragged through mud like some people’s rash of overdyes have been, so I made a point to do it subtly.
I like how it turned out. But then, I am slightly biased.
On the writing front, it is going quite well. Both stories are getting regular updates. (I generally work on only one a day, but there are some days where I add a little to both. It all depends on my mood.)
Midnight
This past weekend I was playing around with a new technique in dyeing. I’m trying to get my skillz up, and the only way to do that is practice, practice, practice.
3 yarns went in the dye pot. I will post a blog for each one to tell it’s story properly.
I didn’t have a name or an idea for this one when it was bare yarn.
Then, as I was mixing in the purples and blues I started thinking about Doctor Who. (yes, I am a dork… I freely acknowledge this.)
I started specifically thinking about the episode “Midnight” from season 4.
Spoilers below, if you don’t want to be spoiled skip down to the photo. After the photo I’ll make sure it’s spoiler free.
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Midnight is an uninhabited planet that the Doctor and Donna “relax” on. The sun is far too strong, so no going outdoors.
The Doctor decides he wants to see a diamond waterfall.
So he hops on the tour bus… a 4 hour trip each way. Donna decides that 4 hours each way is much too much like her school days and decides to lay by the pool soaking up the sun. (through a very thick filter mind you)
The trip is like any other bus ride, until the bus goes on a different course. The computer chose the course mind you.
Suddenly the bus is attacked. But (gasp) nothing can be out there!
A strange entity then takes over on of the passengers.
A mimic if you will.
A poem from it (and forgive me, I cannot recall the author’s name at the moment) struck me. I really love it.
“We must not look at goblin men
We must not buy their fruits
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry, thirsty roots?”
Well, I give you a new yarn. Completely kettle dyed… (as opposed to my normal dip method)
“Midnight”
The photos do not do it justice. But Mother of Mine and I are talking about building a light box. A light box will solve all my lighting problems.
I hope you enjoy the yarn. I do. I think I have plans for it. But we’ll see.
It also looks like I’m going to have a busy year here in the Asylum. I’ve got about 4 custom orders pending right now. This makes me very happy.
Crash and Eddie
A few months ago I was approached with the second custom order of my business.
I was excited. I was nervous.
Suddenly I realized I was running out of time.
This was supposed to be a Christmas pressie, and I didn’t get off my butt and in front of the dye pot until the middle of Guy’s trip out here!
The reason for this was the fact that it was a new technique. I was attempting Self Striping for the first time.
Thankfully, Amanda was really cool about everything and a pleasure to work with.
Tangled in yarn, frustrated that everything I was doing was coming down, I enlisted the assistance of Guy and we got it ready to dye. (And he got a taste of life to come! grin )
The mission?
To create a yarn based off of Crash and Eddie from Ice Age 2 (and Ice Age 3)
I think I did pretty well.
Here is what I came up with:
And this is what happens when you do self striping yarn. Yup… you get yarn draped all over the house. And woe to anyone who tries to walk through!
Kelley, the recipient of the yarn… loves it. She shall keep me updated with what she makes with it, so that I can see how it knits up.
I am excited about this.
Gretel Lost in the Poppies
Been meaning to post this for a long while now but it got lost in the limbo of drafts for the last month.
And Drat. I just wrote an entire post and it got eaten by the wireless connection. Sigh. Frakking internet. Lets try this again. It won’t be nearly as witty or insightful as the previous one.
Project: Gretel Lost in the Poppies
Yarn: Fresh From the Cauldron “Field of Poppies”
Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda Teaque
I absolutely love Ysolda. She is a 20something student who manages to make a living off of her designs.
Ysolda will make it into the Hall of Great Knitters.
Elizabeth Zimmerman, the GrandMamma of Modern Knitting is in that Hall.
Stephanie Pearl McPhee will make it. Not necessarily because of her designs (I’ll be honest, I’m not familiar with her designs) but because of her voice in the knitting community. Stephanie leads Knitters Without Borders (which donates to Doctors Without Borders), she has been on a late night talk show because of the fact that she started the term “Kinnearing” (or Kinneared) (Greg Kinnear and the host called her to talk about it) – which if you are not familiar is the act of inconspicuously taking the photo of someone. Generally a celebrity. Which I myself Kinneared Howie Mandel in Vegas during my last trip. I didn’t even know about the term at the time.
I digress.
I have learned a lot thanks to Ysolda.
I learned to “Trust Ysolda.” If she says do something.. Don’t over think it. Just do it. (Actually I learned this on another project from Ysolda.. but it worked on this one as well)
I learned how to do a Tubular Provisional Caston. (Come on.. you know you wanna say it like a surfer. Tubular dude!)
I learned that no matter how many times I do the Tubular Provisional Caston (which I have done a lot now), I still need to watch a video of it each time as I don’t trust myself enough to do it from memory yet.
I learned how to do Twisted Cables. Which are not easy. But also not entirely hard. But they can be.
I learned not to do Twisted Cables when I’m tired.
Oh… and did I mention that this was my first project with cables??? Yeah. It was. Awesome huh?
I learned that I will be making many of these hats as I love them.
I guess thats all for now. Hopefully this will post and not get eaten. (I’m also going to be smart and copy it into a word doc first) (And thank goodness I did that.. as yes.. it got eaten since it still thought firefox was offline.)
Antiquated Regality
</aI’m a horrible blogger. I realize this. I used to be so good about it. But I’ve gotten lazy about it.
I’ve been really meaning to post a blog the past couple of days, but then things just come up.
Well, now I’ve got a major headcold.
So this shall be quick.
Guy’s Christmas Pressie (which he now has, which is why I can talk about it)
The scarf is called “Antiquated Regality”
The reason for that, is the yarn is called “The Antiquated”
And the stitch pattern I used was “Snapes Stockings” and well, to me the combo just seemed a bit regal.
I wanted to knit Guy a masculine scarf that could be worn with both jeans, or when doing more special outings such as political functions.
So there you have it.
More updates hopefully soon, as well as the discussion about Guy’s trip out here.
Too many things to list them all- Happy Halloween
I realize it’s been a while since I last blogged. Or mayhaps it just feels that way.
Sadly I don’t have much new to report. (Well, a few things)
Just been trying to get through the days at work.
Down to 35 weeks.
I have the best friend in Canada ever. Halifax, Nova Scotia to be more exact.
Here’s the story.
I was part of a Vampire Halloween Swap.
It was supposed to be secret. Meaning, we victims didn’t know who was “spoiling” us.
Well, right off the bat the secret got spoiled by my spoiler as she messaged me to make sure I was her partner. That took out a lot of the fun on my part right away.
Then the package finally arrived.
Lets just say I was less than enthused by the contents.
The colors were not colors I would choose at all, it was yarn I stated I was allergic to… and there was not a vampire related item in sight.
She reasoned that I didn’t want to have to ship things…. *head desk* Thats fine, but she could have included something that was vampire related.
So, to be honest. I was disappointed. I was well within my right, as other people noticed how lackluster the package was.
What does this have to do with my friend in Nova Scotia?
Well, a package arrived to me from my friend Crystal that knocked my socks off. It was to make up for the lackluster package I had previously gotten.
The yarn alone had me drooling. It is Seacell and Silk. Meaning it is HEAVEN to smoosh.
Honestly, I was so blown away and touched by the kindness of the package.
Moving along, here are some things I’ve made over the past couple of weeks.
Hoot is a little hair clip designed by Ysolde Teague. Whos work I absolutely adore. Hoot knitted up in like 10 minutes, I’ve actually made 2 of them as I couldn’t find the first one.
The stitch markers were little metal bobbles I found at Michaels craft store. I loved them so much that I went back to get more so I could make myself a set. These, and Hoot were going to my Halloween Vampire Swap partner, so they are no longer in the house.
I just made some new stitch markers for the Flirt and Flounce custom order that I have.
Yesterday I made myself exceedingly proud.
I made homemade bagels from scratch. Sure, a bread machine was involved, but that was just to save my hands from all the mixing and kneading. I do after all have early arthritis (or darn near close) in my hands, so I have no qualms about using my bread machine.
I made Cinnamon Raisin bagels.
And let me tell you,
No, they were not hockey pucks like I feared.
Yes, they were absolutely delicious.
No, they weren’t beautiful store bought perfectly round bagels.
Yes, they had the perfect crust, and the perfect texture inside.
No, they weren’t a pain in the ass to make.
Yes, it was amusing twirling the dough on my fingers.
I was absolutely shocked at how easy they were to make. The actual making of them… took far less time than I imagined.
The boiling in the pot was not as scary as I imagined it to be.
The only thing I might try differently shall be to use actual bread flour instead of regular flour. But pretty much.. thats the only change I’ll do for next time.
Eventually, my goal is to also know how to make Pumpernickel, as Cinnamon Raisin and Pumpernickel are my two favorites.
Other than that, we had a very quiet Samhain/Halloween.
Mum made a pumpkin sauce with black pasta for dinner which was very good. You can read all about it over here. (Once she posts the blog that is. So if it’s not up, just be patient.)
I guess really thats all I’ve got to say right now.
I guess I’ll end it on the note that yes… I’ve had the weird realization that this time next year, I’ll be in the UK and finishing up my wedding.
OOOHh! Just remembered one thing. Had an awesome dream last night. The kind of dream where in the middle of it, I was awake enough to go “Oooh this would make a great novel”. Can’t recall it at all, I mistakenly fell into the cocky writer mentality of “Oh, it’s so vivid and I’m awake enough right now… I’ll remember it in the morning.” – Yeah. How silly was I.
I know it involved fast cars… A theme park… a roadway quite like the autobahn, a sinkhole that swallowed a pickup truck, and promptly repaved it’s self (alright, someone repaved it.. but in the time it took me to glance away) with the truck and a body inside. A dying car crash victim, a lot of questionable money, the disappearance of the car crash victim and her body, and over all the entire sense of intrigue and “who can I trust” sensations. – Mind you, none of this is in the order it happened in the dream. It also no where near covers the depth of the dream and the complexity it had. By typing all this out for several times, I’m hoping to recall other details.. But no… no such luck.
I know, I know. I should have woken up and grabbed the dust covered notebook I have on the floor. But sadly I did not.
The only good thing that this is telling me, is that possibly the creative spark inside me that I feared was being killed by work possibly isn’t fully dead. This gives me hope that next year when I can actually sit down and write, I won’t just end up staring at my keyboard in vain.
Well, thats all I’ve got for now.
Ta everyone. Have a safe and happy start to the new year if you celebrate it.
Flirt and Flounce!
I’m such a spaz.. I totally forgot to post photos of new yarnie goodness!
This shall be a quickie..
Flirt and Flounce
This is on 20 Silk, 20 Bamboo, and 60 wool
It was a custom order that I decided to cleverly name and add to one of my colorsets as it was just perfect for it.
I’m quite happy, and it’s soft..
