GAH! Trying to catch a break...

Here's my last few weeks:

• So I've been sick for like 2 months. I finally found a good doctor though and she gave me some different prescriptions and I've finally been feeling better. (AND it's SUCH a flipping relief.) I have a follow-up in I have a follow-up in December and I'm getting blood work done to check up on everything. I'm so relived to have found a doctor that I like.
  
• I'm so fed up with my job and work in general. Although I told my boss about it and he seemed sympathetic and has made some attempts to be less of a dick so I guess that's good.. We'll see how it progresses.
• I've decided that I want to go back to school for my PhD. This is scary as all hell. I've been spending my waking hours that aren't working studying. I also knit a little bit, when I'm in the mood. ;)
• I saw my first 3D movie (Megamind) with Ronni and her munchkins
  
• I take the GREs Saturday November 27th. I may be insane for picking such a close date.
• Analogies are the bane of my existence. I don't know why they exist. It's absurd.
• My grandmother is sick again. She's always sick at this time of year, but we never know how bad it's going to be. And it seems to get worse each year. :(
• I'm about as ready for the "Holiday Season" as I am for my GREs. Actually, I'm LESS ready for the holidays.

Logan (and Jamie and Sophie and Mauricio -- not pictured) went to Harry Potter with me at midnight. I had A LOT (!!!) of fun. Logan wore my Gryffindor scarf and I wore my JUST FINISHED Ravenclaw scarf. Logan is the most awesome brother ever.

And here's what I've been knitting on:

My Ravenclaw Scarf
and it's finished!!!

Phoebus Apollo
I learned a lesson knitting these socks: Don't knit from a chart while you're sleepy, on cold medicine and also trying to pay attention to Dexter. Your pattern magnet has the ability to slide and mess you up so that you knit half of row 4 and repeat half of row three and not know what to do on row five. This will result in a frogging.

Other than that "small" (albeit educational) hiccup, this sock is flying off the needles. I actually cast this on because I was trying Ronni's method of dealing with stress/trauma/craziness/etc. She casts on and knits a new pair of socks. Clearly, I've not been super into this sock, but I'm getting over my I HATE KNITTING SOCKS phase. Also, its such a pretty yarn.

Snapdragon Mittens
I'm going to do the thumb before the flip top. I also think I'm going to start the second mitt before the flip-top. PROCRASTINATION. The flip-tops scare me a little. (Although I did finally master backwards loop cast on, so I'm less worried.) ALSO I want the thumb to match, so I figure I'll do the thumb and save what's let of this ball for the flip top of the second mitten and use the new ball for the flip top of this mitten. That way any dye lot difference wont be too jarring.

These will be SUPER cute when I finish them. :) I'm looking forward to my matching mittens and tam set.

Reunion Cowl
I have been cowl obsessed lately. I mean REALLY OBSESSED. Especially with large oversized cowls. I've knit 2 or 3 and they've all ben for swaps or for gifts, so I finally cast on one for myself.

Getting this sucker joined in the round without twisted stitches was HARD. (430 stitches in lace weight.) It should be smooth(er) from there.

I also though mindless knitting of stockinette in the round would be a good idea. It's lace weight though, so I've made like no progress. I also REALLY wanted my scarf done for the movie premier. So worth it. :)

Week 9 Quiz

1. To which prison was Gellert Grindelwald sent after he was defeated by Dumbledore in 1945? Nurmengard
2. Who is the first casualty in The Deathly Hallows? Charity Burbage
3. What does Draco Malfoy name his son? Scorpius
4. Before Harry gains control of it, who is the master of the Elder Wand? Draco Malfoy
5. Severus Snape’s Patronus takes the same form as which other character’s? Lily Potter's
6. Where do Ron, Hermione and Harry apparate when Death Eaters invade Bill and Fleur’s wedding? Tottenham Court Road
7. Who does Harry send to search for Mundungus Fletcher and the missing locket? Kreacher
8. Who destroys Salazar Slytherin’s locket? Ron
9. What does Hermione use to destroy Helga Hufflepuff’s cup? A Basilisk fang (from the Chamber of Secrets)
10. Following the death of Lord Voldemort, who is named temporary Minister of Magic? Kingsley Shacklebolt

2011 Jack-O-Lanterns

Copy-Cat post from my muggle blog.

I love carving pumpkins. It's quite easily my favorite part of the holidays. This year I did two and I had a "Scott Pilgrim" theme.

My inspiration pictures:

Scott Pilgrim

Sex Bob-Omb Logo

And my finished Pumpkins:

Scott Pilgrim's Head and the Sex Bob-Omb Logo in pumpkin form

Scott's Head

Sex Bob-omb Logo

Sometimes I do my homework

And the anagrams are:

SPARSE VENUES = Severus Snape
GO UNLOAD LOVE = Luna Lovegood
A MOTH SEDAN = Thomas Dean
FLUSH CIGAR = Argus Filch
SLICK AIRBUS = Siruis Black
DUMB ANALOG = Ludo Bagman
A DRY MOO-CALF = Draco Malfoy
UNSNAP THE SKI = Stan Shunpike
PIT-A-PAT RIVAL = Pavarti Patil
AN OLD JEER = Lee Jordan

Swaps

Another Copy-Cat Post from the Muggle Blog

I've had a trying few weeks. It's been a super busy October and I'm happy that it's November because it's finally time to STOP. No more trips. 3 paid off of work holidays. It's going to be a good month.

Luckily in October I had swap packages arrive. Swap packages bring me great joy and these 3 were no exception.

First I received 2 on the same day!!! 1 from Kesten in the BSG FPB group for th Swaptober Spooktacular:

The 2nd was my Autumn Scavenger Hunt package from MarthaG in the Stop Swap group

Today I got my Malabrigo swap package from Chaylaura! I am in LOVE!!!

A Project Bag and lots of Knitting Notions and Goodies

A cowl. Knit For Me. And it'll match my green coat. My green coat is one of my favorite coats, and it's SO GREEN that it can be tough to accessorize.

New books! One for knitting, One for reading. AND Mor cables for my interchangeables!

My yarns! (2 skeins of Malabrigo twist in Sunset and 1 skein of worsted in hollyhock)
My coffe mug (that was filled with VIA coffee packets
And a handmade/local-made soap

Swaps make the rough days better and they make me appreciate all my yarn and my knitting and my Ravelry. :D I'm going to get off the computer now and go pet all my yarns. :)

Socks.

Copy-Cat Post from the Muggle Blog

I hate socks. I don't really hate socks. It's gotten colder and they've kept my tootsies warm and cozy. I really hate knitting socks. For a long while all I knit was socks. Socks were my favorite. Now? Now I am socked out. Unfortunately I got socked out with 3 pair on the needles.

I was on such a "Finish my WIPs" knitting high. I was going so fast. I was finishing so much. It was amazing. Then I hit the socks. And well... I stalled. Big time. I want those pairs of socks. (Well, not the blue ones, they're for Rowena. BUT I'm sure she wants them.) I just don't want to knit them. I'm eagerly awaiting my sock mojo to come back to me. There are other people who have asked me for socks. I'm wishing I had been smarter and knitted those earlier when I was still feeling "socky."

Sock Knitting hating aside I have received 8 skeins of sock yarn recently. (Recently meaning within the month). (Although one skein is BMFA fingering marine silk and I have NO INTENTION of socks. That'll be a pretty little shawl.)

It's just that sock yarn is so wonderful. It's colorful. There are so many awesome indie dyers. It's easy to buy one skein and make a project with it. A shawlette, socks, hats, mitts... Double it up and you have worsted weight. I love sock yarn. It's my favorite. It's just I don't want to make socks with it. Ever. Well, maybe one day. Hopefully soon.

Okay so....

Last weekend I was out of town for a wedding. I had a blast. I came home hung over. I got some bad news at work when I went back in. Then the bad stuff just kept coming. It was an awful awful week. I mean really I'm happy to have survived it.

I've hardly been on-line, and so I'll be doing a lot of catching up these next couple of days. :)

My Family

Yesterday my dad had surgery. I spent the morning worrying and the evening in the hospital. It wasn't MAJOR surgery and he's okay and he's home now. He'll be stuck in his chair and in recovery for a while, but he'll heal and he'll be better. He's been in a lot of pain so it was something that needed to be done.

I've been thinking a lot more about my family. I'm lucky to have the parents that I have. I consider my brothers to be my best friends. There are a lot of people who can't say that. My mom can't stand her siblings. My dad claims to only have 1 brother. He's disowned his sister.

I'm blessed with a family that I can call anytime. Literally anytime. I've tested that statement. A family that doesn't care that I'm a little strange, but also has no problem poking fun at me for it. A family that loves me. They are fun. They are goofy. They find my Harry Potter obsession endearing. They really are some of the best people in this world.

I know normally we all wait for Thanksgiving to be thankful, but I'm thankful for them now. I felt like I needed to say so. :D

A couple (maybe 3 weeks ago, I don't remember) we took a family mini-trip up to the mountains.We had a picnic, brought the dogs, hiked a little bit, and played half a game of dominoes. It was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures. I meant to blog about this earlier but I forgot. Well, I didn't forget. I've been sick, and I've been busy so...

Without further ado... My pictures!

Week 4 Quiz

1. Why does Harry accuse Remus Lupin of being a coward? He was going to leave his family to join up with Harry. Hermione and Ron.
2. Who is R.A.B.? Regulus Arcturus Black
3. According to legend, what would a person become if he could assemble the Deathly Hallows? master death
4. What is Ariana Dumbledore rumored to be? a squib
5. What is written on Harry’s parents’ gravestone? The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed is Death
6. Why does Krum want to fight Xenophilius Lovegood? Xenophilius was wearing "Grindevald's" mark
7. Why does Voldemort seek the Elder Wand? For the power, and also to beat Harry since no other wand he uses will
8. Where did Dumbledore’s family live? Godric's Hollow (after Ariana's attack)
9. Whose eye does Harry see in his magic mirror shard? Aberforth's
10. What item does Harry steal from Gringotts? Hufflepuff's cup
11. Where does Rita Skeeter get her information about Dumbledore? Bathilda Bagshot
12. What is inside the Snitch that Dumbledore leaves Harry? The resurrection stone - from Gaunt's ring
13. Why does Dumbledore leave Ron a Deluminator? because he knew Ron would leave Harry & Hermione & the deluminator could help him get back to them
14. Why has Hermione not read The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Because she is muggle-born and they were wizard stories
15. What is Dumbledore’s greatest regret? The death of his sister.
16. Whose mail did Snape open? Sirius'
17. What form does Snape’s Patronus take? a doe
18. Why can the Sword of Gryffindor destroy Horcruxes? it has been imbibed with Basilisk venom
19. What name is given to wizards who help Mudbloods? blood traitors
20. How do Harry and his friends enter the Ministry of Magic? using polyjuice potion and carefully planning and stalking different ministry workers.
21. Who made Harry’s wand? Olivander

I'll be back for the essay later. Maybe. I'm sick again. :(

Word Association Game

Okay -- Here's my list, now that I had time for my intentioned answers to leave via osmosis and I could do this successfully. :)

1. Pumpkin PIE
2. Owl POST
3. Leaf "on the wind.."
4. Weasley Ginger
5. Quaffle balls
6. Hallow witch
7. Mad hatter
8. Dragon heart
9. Crystal meth
10. Trees leaves
11. Hermione bushy
12. Hogwarts Harry Potter
13. Burrow dig
14. Dobby my hero! ;)
15. Horcrux souls
16. Ministry wankers
17. Magic wand
18. Sirius seriously?
19. Apple pie
20. Juice cranberry
21. Candle-labra
22. Ghost Hunters
23. Snake "Why's it have to be snakes?"
24. Wand Phoenix
25. Invisibility Cloak
26. Tent Super Run Away
27. Spell Avada Kedavra
28. Umbridge Toad Face
29. Dursely Olsen
30. Prophet Roman Grant

Week 2 Blogging Assignment

What 5 things would you not leave home without if you were going into hiding, camping, or running away and WHY.

So I've been battling a flu since Sunday and the only running away/camping/hiding I intend on doing is in my bed under the covers. And here are the 5 things going with me:

1. The laptop
2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
   
3. The Fall by Guillermo del Toro
4. My Knitting (the Ravenclaw scarf, Snapdragon Flip-Tops, and my Catnip Socks) ---- all links lead to my Ravelry project pages
5. An extra blanket
   

I know that wasn't totally the point of the assignment but I'm really just too out of it to come up with a better answer.

Plus my idea of camping is a 3 star hotel so I have no idea what I'd bring on the run. I would be for all intent and purpose useless in those situations. There's totally no wi-fi in the woods. Bogus.

Week 1 Welcome Assignment Part 2

1. Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one). Perenelle/Sylvo (knit)
2. Someone who was born in the same month as you. Wisteria/Neila (July)
   
3. Someone from a different country. Emma W./Annkingstone (England)
   
4. A new HSKS Family member. Schmutzerella/Schmutzerella
5. Someone who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps. Siobhan/Celticmommy
   
6. Someone who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so! Mine's the biggest! 259+ if I count what's not on Ravelry. :P (I took pics)
   
7. Someone who both knits and crochets. Hermione/Smileynetta`
   
8. Someone who has the same favorite color as you. Elanor/setembrina (orange)
   
9. Someone who has the same favorite season/holiday as you. Honoria/Jellbeaninc (summer, and she believes birthdays should count! Double win!)
   
10. Someone who has the same favorite fiber as you. Morgianna/StarofTwilight (malabrigo)

=================================

My stash:

Sock Yarns (by color):

Laceweight and fingering intended for 'lace' (aka Shawl projects)


Special Basket = Wollmeise and Sundara FMC


A picture inside my cupboard which contains:
TOP (left to right) Balled sock yarns & sport + DK weight, and Bulky weight + Handspuns (done by Phelia/Sinknitty)
BOTTOM (left to right): Worsteds (cascade, patons merino, etc.), MALABRIGO (worsted, twist, Rios 00 the chunky and the sock are with the chunkys and the socks)

Close ups of the inside:

Sock Yarn balled up + Dk & sport



Bulky in balls, Hansspun & the skeined bulky


Worsteds (cascade + Patons merino)


AND THE GRAND FINALE MY MALABRIGO 'cubby'
Missing is 5 skeins of Rios that I balled up to start a blanket. :)

Also I ordered a bunch of cascade 220 superwash for gifts and maybe JUST MAYBE some more Mal Rios snuck into my cart.

In accepting this award presented to me by HSKS for the largest stash I'd like to thank the following:

• Rowena Bladvak/Ronni-licious, my enabler
• The Loopy Ewe for may many credits and a fabulous selection
• WEBS for cheap cheap prices
• Malabrigo for being so addicting
• Carrie at Cosmic fibers, her Harry Potter colors are what got me into sock yarns and I'm now in my third year the nefarious club (!!!!)
• Megaera/Chelle for actually discovering that I had the largest stash
• My fabulous frinds that went on the yarn crawl with me in California. (CelticMommy, Ronni-licios, Neila, Staroftwilight, Jenean, Sherry ....)
• My bf's parents for letting us rent a house that allows me to have a yarn room.
  
• Anyone I've ever swapped with because they've introduced me to even more yarns
• My mom and grandmother who have fabric stashes that inspired me to stash.
  

Assignment/Welcome #1 - Part 1 (My faves)

Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one).

- I knit, I bead

Someone who was born in the same month as you.

- JULY! (best month)

Someone from a different country.
- USA born

A new HSKS Family member.
- this is definitely not my first one, it's my 9th!

Someone who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps.

- Well, as I said above this is my 9th

Someone who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so!)

- I have a HUGE stash, it's 250+ according to ravelry (I just looked at this to double check... WOW! and I just ordered more-MOSTLY for gifts but still.)

Someone who both knits and crochets.

- Not me. :( I'm wanting to learn to crochet, but it's not happening so far.

Someone who has the same favorite color as you.

- Currently my favorite color is orange... but as indicated on my sidebar I like almost every color. :)

Someone who has the same favorite season/holiday as you.

- Season: summer, Holiday: it's a toss up between Thanksgiving and my birthday (yes, my birthday is a holiday.)

Someone who has the same favorite fiber as you.

- I'll just call my favorite fiber "malabrigo" ... does that work for everyone?
- Also alpaca... I LOVE alpaca. It's so soft and pretty and awesome. I'm not blessed with an overabundance of it but that's what I spend my time petting at LYSs and the like. ;)

Also not that any of this matters. I apparently have the LARGEST stash!

Finish 2, Start a New One

I'm starting back again at HSKS so I'll be double posting here and on my muggle blog for the time being. I'm sure I'll have HSKS-esque stuff to post pretty soon. I need to get into the habit of posting here too though!

===================================================

Recently I've been overwhelmed with all of my WIPs. I made myself a deal that in order to start a new project I had to finish 2 of those wips. So I did I actually listened to myself.

First Finished WIP:

Ozymandias, King of Kings

(AKA the never ending shawl from hell)

Pattern: Percy by Sanne Kalkman

Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Yarn: Cosmic Fibers Ara Stellar

Color: Sweeney Todd

Edging Yarn: DIC Starry

Color: Midnight Derby

Beads: Size 6/0 

(replaced the nupps, and extended through the points)

Finished Dimensions:

55” across, 27” from base to tip

Modifications:

Beads added (see above), Ran out of my Sweeny Todd yarn so did a contrasting edging.

I am so very very very happy that this is done. I giggled like a madwoman when blocking it. I mean seriously this thing took me almost a year, and THEN I RAN OUT OF YARN... Well, actually now that it's done and I weighed the yarn I PROBABLY could have finished but when you have something like 20 rows to go and 6 or 7 grams or yarn, you start to worry. The end result is pretty and it makes me happy AND I'm pretty sure it makes other people jealous. Right? 

Second Finished WIP:

Knives Chau: 17 Years Old

My very first Scott Pilgrim Fandom knit. :D The scarf is just twisted rib, 17 stripes, each stripe is 5" long, so the total scarf is 85" long. I maybe could have gone longer but I was really stuck n wanting 17 stripes.

Details are as follows:

PATTERN:

• Cast on 24 stitches
• Using twisted rib create stripes
• Each stripe is 5” (or 27 rows)
• Bind Off after 17 stripes are finished

(NOTE: I did the math later on, and if I wanted the 10 foot long scarf, I'd need to make each row about 7" for 17 stripes, or have  23 stripes and be 5" short of 10 feet, or 25 stripes and be 5" over 10 feet. I debated doing 25 for a little bit.. Because then it'd be Lucy: 25 Years Old, but I just didn't like that as much.)

Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm
Yarn: Cascade 220
Colors: 4002 (JET) & 8505 (WHITE)

AND FOR MY NEW PROJECT:

I cast on the Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda.

For some reason my brain wasn't functioning when I first cast this on Tuesday night. It took me 5 attempts:

• Attempt one: CO too few stitches
• Attempt two: Started knitting WITHOUT STITCH MARKERS and lost the beginning of my round
• ATTEMPT 3: too MANY stitches… I need enough for 5 repeats, and I CO for 5 1/2
• Attempt 4: I Twisted the G.D. stitches
• Attempt 5: FRAKKING finally

Luckily I persevered and managed to get going. I'm looking forward to having a very pretty hat and flip-top mitten set. Which reminds me... I'll need to buy buttons soon.

Copy Cat Post

My muggle blog has not been feeling the love and is suffering from neglect... So I updated it and figured a little copy/paste action was required. So below is a post from my muggle blog. VERBATIM. Except for this intro.

Also I got my kit. But my batteries are dead now so I'll to a post for that later.
===============

Neglected Blog Needs a Post! BUT I've not finished anything! AAAAAAH! (I've been this crazy all day, just so you know.)

So I'm putting up a WIP and planning post... I know it's not as exciting as when I post about how I messed up on my socks and finished them anyways, but you know... I haven't been all that successfully motivated with the knitting. WELL, that's not true, I've just been tackling bigger projects.

Big Project #1:

Remember how I won the Malabrigo Rios in the naming contest? No? Oh yea, blog has been neglected. Sigh. Well I didn't get the winning name, but I won 10 skein of the yarn in a beautiful color.

Then the question became, well I won awesome, What am I going to do with 10 skein of yarn? Solution = make myself a blanket. I decided on upsizing the Honey Baby Blanket by Anne Hanson. It was written for fingering weigh yarn to make it baby sized. I'm using worsted and thicker needles and making it for me, the big baby.

So far I've finished 1/2 a repeat of 3 full repeats of section A. I love it so far. See Baby You're a Rich Man on Ravelry for individual pictures. (I named it that b/c that was the only song with Baby in the title that made me smile and not gag.)

BIG PROJECT #2:

My clapotis!!!! I've gotten through 5 complete strait section repeats. (5 of between 15 and 18 with my estimations and weight measurements. That'll also depend on how long it is at a point.) I'm loving it so far.

Ravelry project link: Conteur de Fortune (Answer to why it's named that is this: The clapotis is French and it's in Alice Cullen yarn... She sees the future! Get it now? I know I'm lame...)

NOT A BIG PROJECT #3:

My scylla socks. I'm half way through the gusset on both. If I'd sit down and just work on them they'd probably be finished. But I've been workin gon my blanket and my clapotis. :D

Please ignore the grossness that is my foot in this picture. My feet took a beating running around barefoot this weekend.

UP NEXT is a section I'm calling:

BEST LAID PLANS AND ALL THAT

In this section I ntend to talk about my great ideas for these great massive knitting projects that I'll probably never finish. OR that I'll stop and get stracted by mid-way. OR that I'll never get around to because something else will come along... Those types of things.

The above pile of yarn is a collection of yarn that I fully intend to create my own personal 'Alice in Wonderland' themed socks out of. I'm really excited to start, but I'm also trying to get some things off the needles before diving in. Stay tuned.