South OC Knitters

Attention all knitters who live in South Orange County! (Yes, I realize that only 2 people read this blog. Humor me, ok?)

Our knitting group wants YOU! Any new people that reside in South OC (Rancho Santa Margarita-ish area) or who dare to drive all the way down here are welcome to join our group! We meet every other week at the following location:

Borders
22372 El Paseo
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 MAP

I have put a link on the right side to our Yahoo group.

Don't be shy, people - we are not scary! There are four of us so far, so this group could get MUCH bigger.

Another half-assed post

No pictures this time, either. I know, I'm a bad blogger. I'm just too tired to care this morning. Mondays suck.

Anywho, an expected influx of cash this weekend enabled me to engage in some S.E.X. (Stash Enhancement Experience). I made my first trip to Velona's in Anaheim Hills. I made my poor husband stop on the way back from helping our friend to move. Wisely, he remained in the car with the air conditioning. Wow, this store has everything! It is packed to the rafters with every yarn you could ever want. Except for Koigu, maybe, but then again I may just not have come across it. The salespeople are extraordinarily helpful, and if you ask for a particular yarn, they can tell you exactly where it is. So, I got some Kid Classic in this color, some Kidsilk Haze in this color, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Indian Summer and Northern Lights, and a book for my secret pal. I got lots of other stuff this weekend for my secret pal, too, but I don't want to give anything away, in case she knows about this blog. I feel bad for not sending anything in the past month, so I am hoping this big box o' stuff will more than satisfy her :) In online S.E.X. news, I ordered my yarn for the Irish Diamond Shawl, and some more sock yarn - Cherry Tree Hill in Fall Foliage and Gypsy Rose, and Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool Quarters in Canyon and Crazy Woman. See, still expanding my color horizons :)

I'm still working on my sock, and the pattern is now coming along swimmingly. Yay! I have about one more repeat to go before I move on to the plain section. Of course, I had to cast on for another sock in the Indian Summer. I'm just doing a simple sock, making it up as I go using design elements that I like. I started it on Saturday, and I'm already down to the heel. I'm not normally someone that likes brown, but the purples, golds and oranges offset it enough in this colorway to really speak to me. I figure I'll work on this sock at work, and the more complicated one at home. Then when I get the yarn for the shawl, I'm dropping everything to work on it, so I can attempt to finish it by war. We'll see how that goes!

Ugh - I just discovered that somebody is spamming my comments. I'll delete those comments ASAP. What a frickin' pain...

A Dip in the Frog Pond

Yep, I unravelled that sock I was working on. The pattern just isn't the right gauge with the Koigu. So, I'm doing Traveller Socks instead. I am quickly finding out that I am retarded with the way that I interpret stitching directions. The directions for a left leaning stitch are as such: knit tbl of the second stitch, knit the first stitch, slip both stitches off the needle. So, I knit tbl on the second stitch by sticking my needle between the two stitches and then knitting tbl. People, that is the wrong way to do it. Of course, you probably already know this. I finally figured out how to do the stitch the right way, but only after having finished one full repeat of the pattern. So, now I need to decide if I want to rip the sock up to the first 3 rows and start over. Sigh... I probably will. I'm getting really darned good at ripping stuff! I'm the Frog Princess! My husband just giggles at my frustration and retardation. I think he is starting to believe that this is more than just a phase, especially with all of the projects I have finished. I am lusting after the Socks Socks Socks book, and some more sock yarn. You can never have too much, right?

Last weekend was mildly busy. On Saturday we went to Del Mar Racetrack to watch the horsies and to see Cake perform on the infield. Good times were had by all, despite the fact that the lead singer was being kind of a whiny baby. At least the music was decent. He really likes his little noisemaker-thingie, though, the one you hear in the song "Never There". The one that sounds like a snake rattle? He played that during EVERY song. I think he was just being difficult.

On Sunday, we took J's sister out for her birthday. Nobody burst into flames, so it was a good night. You never know with her. She did keep repeating everything she said about 5 times, which got really annoying. Total Rainman, and not in the way that she is actually autistic.

This weekend we are helping a friend to move, J is finishing his tattoo, and we're having friends over on Sunday. And since we are getting our money this week, I am looking forward to a shopping spree of sorts, consisting of some new clothes that fit, and underwear that does the same. We already ordered our Dyson. Oh Dyson, how I love you. I look forward to ridding my home of all cat hair and yarn fuzzies. The stairs look particularly scary right now. Our current vacuum just moves everything around.

Ok, I'm about to head home and deal with the sock. Ribbit, ribbit...

Interesting Article and Randomness

It seems like forever since I've posted anything here, even though I know it was only last weekend. It's been a LONG week.

This is a cool article about blogging in general, and mentions knitting blogs in particular. Who knew this would be so huge?

We signed our lives away this week on a refinance, so we could pay off our vehicles and a couple other accounts. This will save us about $500 a month, and put some extra cash in our pockets. For yarn, maybe? (Yes J, I know. Shut up.)

Now that we won't be so poor, I am thinking about the holidays. I've said before that I don't like the idea of Christmas being so commercial, and feeling obligated to give presents to people. At the same time, I love being able to give people gifts that I've put thought and time into. We were going to tell our families not to do the big Christmas thing for us, because we wouldn't be buying gifts for anybody. I'd still like to make stuff for people, though. I'll have to think on this and see how I can get this to work in my favor.

This can also be tricky for my family - what could I make for them that they would appreciate? We don't live in a terribly cold climate, so scarves and mittens are out. My sister loves teddy bears, so that would be easy. Maybe an afghan for Mom. And felted clogs for Dad. Oh, er, I guess that wasn't too hard after all :) Sometimes I just need to talk things out to come up with good ideas.

I've already gotten a request for socks from one of my friends. They are so easy to make. I can crank out a pair in 2-3 weeks, which is a lot quicker than what I was expecting! Currently I am working on the Friday Harbor socks from Knitting on the Road. The pattern is a little trippy, but after frogging once I got into the groove and they are sailing along. I am doing these on DPNs, and they are working out pretty well (pictures coming soon). I am using the leftover 2 balls of Koigu from the baby blanket that I made. I thought the lighter color would show off the pattern better. Once our money comes in, I'll hunt for sock yarn for my friend and for my Mom. She deserves a nice pair. Maybe I'll do those instead of the afghan!

Another project I am pondering is the Irish Diamond Shawl from Folk Shawls. I'll make it, but I don't know when I'll wear it outside of the few SCA events that we go to. I'll need to get the yarn for it soon, or else I won't be able to finish it by the beginning of October for Great Western War.

Yes, I Have No Self Control

Oy, it has taken me so long to post this week. I have no excuse - I was just too lazy to download the pictures I had taken.

Secret Pal, I love you!

I got a pretty card, a vanilla rose bath fizzy, lavendar portable soap flake thingies, a cow measuring tape (moo!), some super-cute black cat bandages (with a free cat head that you can put on your pencil - squee!), and 4 balls of yummy Queensland Kathmandu in a dark purple (I think, I can't even tell looking at it), with flecks of burgundy and green. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I, on the other hand, am a crappy Secret Pal. I will remedy that in another week or two.

So, of course, I had to cast on for something with that yarn immediately:



The other one is on the needles. This is a cool pattern from Nathania. I did the banded version, not the individual fingers. My fingers are so stubby, you'd only see the tips out of the top. This is my first real project with cables, and I am very happy with how they are turning out. The color above is wildly inaccurate - it's kind of a black/purple in real life.

Then, my MIL gave me some unexpected money as an early birthday gift! So, I went to Yarn Lady, and got this stuff:



Mmmmm - Touch Me. No, really, that's the name of the yarn. Don't you just wanna, I don't know, TOUCH IT? I know I do - this stuff is the softest on earth. So, obviously I had to cast on for something with this RIGHT AWAY.



This will become the Velvet Scarf from Scarf Style. Yummy! And my camera actually captured the color pretty accurately on this stuff.

Oh, and I finished my socks. Wanna see?



Now I want it to cool off so I can actually wear them! Koigu is just so soft and nice against my bare feet. But not in 100 degree weather.

Oops, gotta go. My husband is taking me out to dinner for my birthday. Yay!