KnittyOtter

Entrelac Scarf & The Time Warp

I finished my Entrelac Scarf last month or so. Due to the time warp I keep finding myself in who knows. It may have been December. o.0

Anyhoo I finally finished it. The holdup on this project was caused by bad yarn management. I had 4 balls of the Trendsetter Tonalita #2349. Somehow one of my balls got away from me. Heh.

When I was cleaning up the yarn cabinet last month or so I found it so I could finally finish my scarf. Wheeeee!! I really liked knitting this up. I sure hope so considering I went so far as to make a Tutorial for it. ;^)

I've worn it several times and like it very much, although the colors don't so much match anything. It's very dreamcoaty that way. Which is fine because unless it's a Cookie Creation I rarely wear matching knits... because I've yet to get around to knitting a matching item.

I do like this scarf lots though. George looks Faboo in it as well. :D Clickty Biggety!

The actual knitting time wasn't much for this project. My inability to stay monogamous to a single project and bad yarn management is the real time suck here.

I think I want another one of these in more sedate colors. I really liked the way the greys flow in the scarf Cookie made a while back. Not sure about Grey... a few weeks ago or so this asshat of a woman told me, as I was wearing my just finished and proudly completed Duckie Hat, "I Hate to tell you this, but grey isn't your color". If I'd had any sense I'd have asked her why she felt the need to give out her unasked for opinion if she hated doing it so much. Feh. I very adultly ignored her... I think. I may have beaten her to death and blocked it out of my memory. You never know these days. I blinked and we went from the 4th to the 13th. o.0

This time warp shit has got to stop. I know life is happening in the blackout areas. I have knitting proof that I was awake during the missing time. But damn, how the fuck is it the middle of February already.

Last month Florrie mentioned a Leftover Sock Yarn Knit Along she was going to start on February 14th. It's here tomorrow and I still need to get my yarn leftovers together. There is also a contest with the Knit Along. It's a Crazy Socks Contest! :D If you like the idea of using your sock yarn leftovers to knit up a fun pair of socks and the possibility of winning some super nifty knitting swag why don'tcha give it a check out and knit yourself some Crazy Ass Socks. :D

I think I'm going to try to finish the socks I'm knitting on now before I start my Crazy Leftover Socks. I just started the feet on both socks yesterday when TKK and I were sitting outside enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. I was even wearing Shorts and a Tank Top. Today it's raining and it might snow later. That's okay too. ;^)

Happy Happy and the Scarf from 2007

I am Happy.

Happy Happy. *GRIN*

This weekend was absolutely fantastic. FANTASTIC. Actually the last several months or so (like the last 6 months) with the honey have been super fantastic. Sometimes you just have to let go of control and just enjoy life. Prior to that I had some doubts about some things and whatnot and that confusion and whatnot made things a bit tense off and on. Looking back it was just me making waves and being silly over shit that really makes no damn sense at all. The two of us not being around people or a situation that pissed us both off has been HUGE. Funny how taking out the thing that caused the arguments and disruptions can lead to greater happiness.

NTS: Never ask the honey go someplace he doesn't want to be, do things he doesn't care for or be around people he can't stand. The same goes for me. Don't do shit for other people because you feel guilty or whatever BS reason they try to push on you.

If I had to cover any of the resolutions from last year over again. It would be the ones about avoiding stupid people. Last year I kinda sucked at that. I got better. But still I didn't say no as often as I should have.

So this year, not so much a resolution, but a declaration I will SAY NO TO STUPID PEOPLE.

That and I need to stay in contact more often with those people who matter a great deal to me. I have been super sucky about that in the last several months or so.

Feeling like life is swallowing me whole is no excuse to not be there for the people who give that life meaning.

Now it's not just the glow of a lovely weekend with the honey making me feel/say these things. Just something I've had on my mind for a while. That and the relief and gratefulness for not being a complete ass earlier this year when I was contemplating my future choices.

So anyway I feel like I have back some of that whack I thought I'd lost. I fear I'm still somewhat out of whack and later this month I'll have my whack all out of sorts again, but it will hopefully be a temporary out-of-whackedness. Heh.

Speaking of Resolutions, Resolution #10 is the only one I'm renewing. Otherwise I'll just fly by the seat of my pants and do the things I need to do to be a happy person.

I knit a Fabulous Baby Alpaca Scarf for myself back in early December. It might have been November. Who can tell at this point, that was ages ago! o.0

The yarn is Baby Chunky Alpaca from Misti Alpaca. It was fun and fast to knit up. SO SOFT. A joy to work with... but after wearing it just a few times I'm not so sure about it. This is the most pilly yarn I've ever seen. It sheds like a bitch too. :/ Still soft as hell, but damn if I wanted to have fur bits all over my clothes I'd hug the cat after getting dressed. There is also some Claudia Handpainted held with it in there. Chocolate Cherry sock yarn. It adds a bit of color and makes it kinda tweedy. I just did a simple 3x3 rib for the pattern.

The other knits of 2007 will have to fall into 2008 since I still need to photograph them. One of them will have to wait until it's owner gets it and takes it's picture. Here's hoping I get my ass over to the post office soon! Though I still don't trust them. Bastards.

Anyway after having a great weekend I'm prepared to have a great week. Wheeeeeee!!!!

MIA: The life that eats you may be your own...

Help, Aliens have abducted me and are making me torture small puppies.

That's the working theory anyway. *sigh*

Lots of stuff has been going on that has kept me from blogging, returning emails/phone calls, being a generally social person whatsoever or any other normal things a person would like to do.

Most of it I can't really discuss anyway, so I'm not going to bother trying. (work/family shit) Bleh.

It's not honey related drama at all though. We is good. Other than the honey having a cold followed by the flu and my inability to deal with sick people, especially a sick man type all is good on the intimate home front. In fact we are celebrating ten years together. Later this afternoon we are going to check into a nice hotel room suite with a jacuzzi and later have reservations to a fancy schmancy restaurant at the hotel.  I guess it's a hotel/Casino, but since I don't like to waste my money it's just a hotel to me. Although it has 11 bars and lounges so I imagine we'll look around and have a few drinkies. :P The actual anniversary date was a few days ago, but with work and life you can't really get away. 

Unfortunately I didn't realize it was some Footballs version of the Oscars thing going on. Do they make the players walk down a red carpet while some old bag with way too much work done to her face tells them they look like vomit?

I don't know much about football, but I do know it brings all kinds of loud drunk people out in masses. Feh. I didn't realize it was StupidBowl weekend when we made the reservations a month ago. We should be fine though.

Speaking of fine, did any of y'all go see that Cloverfield movie? How did you feel during it? I sadly did not feel fine at all. o.0 The honey took me to see it yesterday.

I thought the reports of people getting sickie were all promo crap. During the first part of the movie I was fine. It was no worse than a video posted on Vimeo or YouTube. But then... it got worse. We were the only two people there, which was great because I spent much of the second half of the movie looking anywhere but at the screen. I felt nausea but thankfully nothing came of it. It was a neat movie overall. *L*

In other news since this is in fact a knitting blog I have finished a few of my long overdue Unfinished Projects. Now I just need a day with a sunny sky so I can photograph them.

Here's a Chunky Baby Alpaca scarf I finished last month. (Clickety Biggety)

It's just a moss stitch scarf, but it was oh so relaxing to knit. The yarn is Cascade Chunky Baby Alpaca. So soft and squishy!! :D Oh and it's doubled over in the photo. It's 5.5 feet long and 5 inches wide.

I'm currently knitting on a new pair of socks and trying to finish up the other UFO's I have.

So that's my news. I'm alive and kicking. Hoping life calms the fuck down soon.

Oh and I hate people, but we knew that. ;^)

Saturday Sky, Snow & a New Year Oh My!

It's the first Saturday Sky of the New Year! (Clickey Biggety all photo's in this post!)

A little after I took the top photo the snow started to move. You can see it moving towards us in the next photo.

*blink blink* If the rest of the year is like the first week of the year you can have it back.

I hatez the stupid people... and that's all I'll say about that.

*sigh*

So on top of the life stuff I've been dealing with (mostly work and such) the weather people here have had their panties in a bind over the white death that we were expected to get. After a TON of rain, in which I got soaked through and through while out running some errands, it finally came. (Yes, the same rain/precipitation Cookie's dealing with.)

The white death, it is here. o.0

This morning the honey and I got up and ran outside to play shoveled the driveway and sidewalk. He wanted to wait but I wanted to get out in it before the sun made it slick and caused me to fall down a million times. (Otters have more grace in the water than on land, dontchaknow.) We only have one shovel so we took turns. It looked really nice... until a few hours ago when more snow fell. But at least we removed the snow soon enough so that the sun melted any ice that was hanging around.

Here's an action shot of the Honey shoveling some of the snow in our driveway.

It was kinda fun to shovel snow... I'm betting it won't be as interesting tomorrow or Monday. :P

The kitty made a brief visit to the backyard. I mostly held her, but she was allowed a brief walk from the fence to the door. It soothed her curiosity fairly quickly. *L*

After "playing" in the snow all morning we decided to go out into the world to the book store. I got a book on socks, Stitch Style Socks. It has skull socks in it. :D Not that I need another book on socks or anything... but there you go.

Speaking of knitting, yes I knit. Shut Up!

I have a few finished knits I comeplted in 2007 I need to post. Need to take their picture first.

Here's the iPod Sock I knit for Rendogg this past Autumn.

Those were the Cantaloupes that didn't start growing until Autumn was almost done with. They didn't get much bigger. The yarn is some kind of wool in the Gryffindor colors. Helpful, aren't I. I really should take notes on these things I suppose. :P

Maybe tomorrow I'll see if George wants to go outside into the snow for a photo shoot.  We'll see, his been such a Drama Whore since Christmas.

:P

Now to go knit on one of my nine unfinished projects while we watch that Knocked Up movie.

I think I see Hot Cocoa in my near future too. ;^)

Break on through to the other side...

Things have been crazy busy. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Lots and LOTS have been going on. Mostly good. Some confuzleing. Some sad. And some things happened so fast my head hasn't stopped spinning yet. I could try to pick through the mess of a maze that is my brain to try to explain it here. Or I could hit the highlights and not worry about getting it just so, just right in the explaining.

Here we go.

My computer, Lightening hasn't been feeling so well lately. Lightening is a Dell. Purchased several years ago. He's not totally dead yet. I think he'll be okay for a while yet. Though we did kinda sorta run out of space. First I picked up an external harddrive and moved over all my pictures and music. I may have moved the knitting patterns over as well.

*pause*

The above text was written on November 26. o.0

Needles to say things go even crazier busy and here we are on December 26.

*starting again*

Hi New Readers, Last time on the blog I posted about Walnuts and Gold...

<.<

>.>

*waves at everybody from the Winter Knitty*

Star Athena posted a pattern called Quant, an enterlac headband. She used my Entrelac Tutorial to help her learn enterlac and then went on to create that gorgeous little number. I thinks I need to make myself a Quant. *GRIN*

That's pretty awesome. I've gotten some really lovely feedback from people who used my tutorial to learn this. I know I have been super sucky at not returning emails (of any sort) lately so thank you to those who emailed me. (and I'm sorry I sucky at the email returning)

So in the last two months I've done lots of stuffs.

Briefly I shall list the happenings:

Got a new Laptop: MacBook Pro - LOVES IT MUCHLY - though I am still mainly using my good 'ol Lightening... because I haven't set up my printer to the new computer yet. Haven't even named it yet. o.0 Any ideas?

And yes I already feel vastly superior to all you Windows Freaks. :P

(Just kidding about that last bit)

Finished breaking my cell phone the rest of the way. I guess there is a limit on how many times you can drop the damn things before the crack open. Considering I had that phone since 2003 it wasn't a bad run.

The post office has lost a box that I mailed earlier this month. The box contained two knit items. A Chunky Baby Alpaca Scarf and a Two Color Fair Isle Hat. LOST FOREVER. :(

That kinda crushed my Christmas spirit. Among many other things. Feh.

If a knit blogger knits something and doesn't take a picture of it to post, did it really happen? o.0

There were other gifts lost in that box as well. But those two things really burn my butt.

I was out of town for 11 days. It was the best of times and the worst of time. Literally.

I got to spend a week with Rendogg, BUT I also had to see people who suck and deal with some really shitty stuff.

Which leads me to this next part. I hate most people. Seriously. Especially the ones who are the crazy bad xtians and god freaks. Stupid  People Suck. 

I actually had one asshole tell me that Christianity is the ONE TRUE religion because Xtians are the most persecuted of all the religions. o.0 WTF?!

I had another tell me what a horrible person I am for living in sin.

The shitty thing is even if I did get married they'd just tell me how awful I am for not procreating. And if I had kids they'd find some other way to tell me I'm not good enough so fuck them all.

Feh. SIck of stupid bad Christians. I know it's not all of them because I know some pretty decent people, who just happen to be Xtain also. So I know being a good person can be done despite that flaw. (ha ha, it's just a joke, no panty bunching please)

I'm just sick of people telling everyone else how to live when they don't have a fucking clue how to do it themselves in the first place.

A bunch of other stuff happened to, but that was a lifetime ago and maybe even a different person ago. Time and Experience have a funny way of changing who we are from moment to moment. Now I just have to figure out who I am today and go from there.

Oh yeah there were Holidays. They came and went. Thanksgiving was fine.

We are still in the middle of the Winter Holiday. I spent the last few days with my Honey and Kitty.

Winter Holiday is what happens from December 21 through January 1. It's whatever you want it to be.  I'm sick of being told what to do during this time so I will just call it  My Winter Holiday and leave it at that.

The 24th and 25th the honey and I opened some presents to celebrate the lengthening days. It's really more a celebration of being home together away from all the stupid people.

One of the cutest things to happen this Holiday Season took place Monday night after I set all the presents out around George. It all started when TKK was very interested in the presents and was rubbing all over them. Eventually she found one she liked the bestest and started opening. Thankfully the honey and I were in the room and witnessed the whole thing. *GRIN* (and I suspected the giftie was hers anyway :P)

She opened this pretty little sparkley purple box. She was a kitty on a mission. A very happy mission. She told the box how much she loved it by rubbing her cute wittle faceykins all over it until she finally got it open. Inside was a purple wooly mousey filled with CatNip from her sweet Auntie Cookie. Watching how happy she was brightened my mood up right quick.

I caught TKK snuggling with Mousy when she didn't know I had the camera out.

Here's a shot of TKK more composed with Mousy and George watching over her and the gifties.

Thank you, Cookie. She WUVS her new wittle friend and carries it around in her mouth. :D (Though she said she wasn't pinning any shawls out for you. Something about opposable thumbs. *eyeroll* They always have excuses for not helping with blocking. Good Luck with Clive Owen on that one. Maybe he can Block it for you Nekkid... if so can I come over? *grin*)

After that things picked up and I was in a MUCH better mood. That and knowing how lucky I am to have the people I love the most love me back.

So here we are today. I'm sorry for not posting for so long. That sucked ass, btw. If I'd known I would be gone for long I'd have said something. But I kept thinking any day now... time just got out of hand. Funny how that happens sometimes.

Blink and you'll miss it.

Monkey Muffins and George in a Charity Hat

I can't believe I  haven't posted recently. It's been pretty busy over here since... oh a while now. But I truly thought I'd have more time to post than I have. Granted this weekend I wasn't posting due to a yarn crawl with MonkeySocks. Yarn was had. *GRIN* But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about today. Hell I said I'd post about my travels in my next post, which would be this one and that's not going to happen either.

The intentions I have, the promises I make, my failings are all heavy hearted within myself. It kinda stops me, keeps me silent, when I can't follow through on the things I wish to do. So if you haven't been getting your emails returned as timely and whatnot it's because I am feeling silent within myself. This too shall pass and until it does it's nothing personal. Though I do feel like a right crappy friend. I recently had a friend thank me for being a good friend. I feel bad though, cause I certainly have not earned that.

I have a lot of black cloud musings I could bore you with but I'm here to talk to you about Monkey Muffins.

A few weeks ago my friend Monkey Socks made some Pineapple Upside Down Muffins. They were VERY Yummy. The sorta thing you wish you had more of. With an added bonus of being something not entirely awful for you. There's enough personal guilt inside me to deal with without adding muffin guilt to it to ya know. Heh.

This past Thursday I got it suddenly and without warning into my head to make this fabulous muffins. All I new about her yummy baked creation was that it had pineapple, a cup of grated carrot, raisins and nuts... and flour and those basic baking things cause it is a muffin afterall.

Taking that knowledge mixed with a basic carrot muffin recipe, my pineapple upside down cake recipe and my own twisted ideas about what a might go into a tasty muffin created what I like to call Monkey Muffins. Not only as a homage to the one and only Monkey Socks, but because they have Banana and other yummy things in there that any lucky monkey would be happy to nosh on.

So without further adieu here are the Monkey Muffins.    (All Photos Clickety Biggety)

Just ignore the fact there are only 10 muffins shown in the photo. They were so yummy I forgot to take a picture until they had been sampled. :P And yes these are Honey Approved Monkey Muffins.

Monkey Muffin Recipe:

Preheat Oven to 400°F

Monkey Muffin Pineapple & Pecan Topping

1/4 Cup Pack Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Chopped Pecans
10 oz Pineapple Slices - drained and cut into sixths (Use one 20 oz can, just set the other half aside for the next part)
1/4 Butter - melted

Place a teaspoon of Butter in each muffin cup of your Muffin/cupcake pan. Then sprinkle in equally the nuts & Brown sugar. Finally place 2 to 3 segments of pineapple into each cup, so that it comes out about equal depending on the size of your pieces. I didn't cut that uniformly, so smaller pieces got 3 to a cup. It should look like the image below when you are done.

Monkey Muffins

1 Cup King Arthur Wheat Flour
1 Cup King Arthur All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda - For the photo below I put the Baking Powder & Soda together in the same dish to save room... ran out of little bowls. :P
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt - regular "salt" grind, not the big flakey stuff

Mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking powder & baking soda & salt together in a bowl.

In a different & larger bowl mix together the following ingredients.

2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Safflower Oil or regular Vegetable Oil
2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
10 oz Pineapple Slices - drained and chopped into small pieces
1 Cup Finely Grated Carrot - Do not use Baby Carrots for this as it takes so much longer than normal carrots. If you can find normal old fashioned sized carrots that is. I did not, so I used the Babies. Took ages.
3/4 Cup Rough Chopped Banana
3/4 Cup Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend Dried Fruit - Blend of Golden Raisins, Cherries, Cranberries & Blueberries
4 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed - I use Nature's Path Flaxseed Meal
2 Tablespoons Chopped Pecans

Once you have gently mixed together the second bowl of ingredients you can start adding the first bowl of dry ingredients into this bowl. (Which is why it will need to be larger.)

After the ingredients are gently folded together evenly spoon the muffin mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 Minutes or until Golden Brown and you can cleanly insert a butter knife. You may need to run a butter knife around the edges to loosen the muffins from the pan before turning them over onto a cookie sheet.

These Monkey Muffins were Super Yummy and will be made again soon. I was going to mail some out, but the Honey really liked them and before I could wrap some up to freeze for travel he devoured them. :D Which is fine cause I like it when he enjoys the stuff I make. I'll just have to make more. Maybe a double batch next time. ;^)

In other news I have been knitting. I have several finished projects I need to photograph and post. For now here is a Hat I made for the Charity Box at my Favorite Local Yarn Store, Deluxe Yarns. Later this month we are going to get together and hand things out to people who need them at a shelter. :D Should be very interesting seeing people get my Charity Knitting in person.  I need to get on it and knit a bunch more for the box. :D

George and The Local Charity Hat

George always looks so enthusiastic about whatever he happens to be modeling. He even wore this hat to a Halloween Party we attended last week. Yes, I took him as my guest. :P

What you don't take your Zombie for Outings? Weirdos.

;^)

Eye Candy Friday: Socks and the Sweet Green Icing

I knit myself another pair of Autumny socks for Socktoberfest. I love them muchly. They will be worn for the first time tomorrow night. The photo's don't do the colors justice. I had weird lighting outside when I took the photos on the 16th. We have weirder lighting due to all the smokey haze now so we'll have to live with these. All Photos Clickety Biggety!

Here are my Sock Stats.

Cast On: Friday October 5, 2007 - During that trashy yet yummy vampire show Moonlight. *purr* I love me a good sexy vampire. So anguished and tender yet strong and ferocious. *L*
Cast Off: Thursday October 11, 2007 - During CSI :P
Pattern: Hiiumaa Socks from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I didn't do any color changes, just used the basic construction of the pattern. I think it's the perfect basic sock pattern. :D This is the same pattern I used for my Honey Socks.
Yarn: Trekking XXL Sock Yarn: Aquarell 150 (Here's what the color looks like in person.)
Yardage: The skien of yarn started with 459 yards and I have 92 yards leftover, so I used 367 yards.
Yarn Source: Pioneer Yarn Company - Procured on a day trip out to Minden with a group of friends. One lady saw the yarn and insisted I buy it because she thought it would go with the sweater I'm knitting for myself. It does, and who am I to say no to sock yarn. :P
Needles: Brittany Needles - Birch - US #3 / 3.25 mm - 5" (In retrospect I would have used the 2's like I intended... The socks are a bit larger than I need, but not too much. Next time I'll get gauge and they'll be perfect.
Again: Hell's Yeah!!! I love this Pattern muchly. Love the yarn muchly.
For?  Me.
Notes: I knit these socks faster than I have knit any other pair of socks. I was very pleased with how quickly they knit up. I think it was due partly to the fact I wanted to see what the self patterning yarn would look like. That is so exciting seeing how the yarn will come alive. :D This was the first time I have knit with Trekking. LOVE. These were also the tallest socks I ever knit for myself. They are as tall as I'm comfy with unless I want to do a full knee sock... which I am thinking about for a future pair of socks. 

Knitting on now? On Monday October 8th during Hero's I cast on to a new pair of socks for My Best Friend. *Happy Otter Dance* I have high hopes of finishing them by next Wednesday if not sooner.

Here's another photograph of the socks.

See that Pumpkin, Bob, there, his ass is gonna die later. Roasted and then made into my famous super yummy Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing. Some will be frozen and mailed out to a certain pink ball of yarn wearing glasses and Rendog. Let's hope they travel well. o.0 The rest will be enjoyed by the honey and some peoples here locally. Goodbye Bob you are a good Pumpkin. A well loved Pumpkin and now you will also be a yummy pumpkin. *evil grin*

Now for some Friday Eye Candy. This is the cake I made for Rendog on his birthday.

I will never bake this cake again. It took so long to make it and it was rather crappy and should never be eaten again. Oooooh Noooooo!!!

Yes it is a MacArthur's Park Cake. Complete with Sweet Green Icing Melting down. *GRIN*

Normally I'd make up my own recipe based upon my years of experience. Not this time though. I got it into my silly head that I'd use a fancy schmancy recipe for my brothers cake in the hopes that it would be the best cake ever.

I didn't think that through. See the recipe called for a pound of butter for the cake and a pound of butter for the icing. Fuck That. o.0

So I sorta half did the recipe, leaving out about a pound and a half of butter yet not adding in any sort of fruit puree as I normally would. *sigh* That's why fruit cakes are such a joy. You can do anything you like to them and they generally come out well. Not so the chocolate cake from scratch. (Or at least I wasn't prepared for it at the time.)  Oh I could have used a box cake, but box cake tastes like ass, nasty nasty ass. Or at least as close to ass as one can imagine ass would taste. :P

We had the cake after a day of much celebrating. The three of us managed to choke down a piece of this dry cake, but the next day after Rendog flew home it wasn't touched. It stayed in the fridge for a week in honor of him.

So now I will work on making a good chocolate cake that doesn't call for a ton of butter and sugar to make it palatable. I'm thinking I'll try making a chocolate fruit based cake. Start with what I know. Chocolate with Raspberry will be my first attempt. Someday after I get over my love affair with Pumpkins that is. ;^) I also have an idea for an apple and cranberry creation that will need to be explored at some point. Heh.

In other news I was out of town last week or so. Got home a few nights ago. I'll go into detail about my travels in my next post. This one is quite long enough don'tcha think. o.0

Campfire Socks & Pink Dream Revisted

I finished my Dave Daniels Cabin Cove Campfire socks Tuesday night during House & Boston Legal. Love those shows. *purr* Since it is October they count as Socktoberfest Socks. :D Those are the best kind of socks ya know.

I cast on to the first sock during a flight back east on June 14th. They were intended to be my "Summer of Socks" Socks as well as for the Shut Up And Knit Your Cabin Cover Along. Unfortunately I was held up by the short row heel directions on the Tropicana Sock Pattern that I was using. So they sat for months untouched. A few weeks ago or so the lovely, talented and bestest friend a person could ever have, Cookie, came to my rescue and wrote up a sensible short row heel pattern to fit the number of stitches I had so I could finish these socks up. (She has great Nupps , btw. *wiggles eyebrow in a not entirely appropriate way*)

I waited until I finished my Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch Socks before I got started. So last Friday night I cast on to the second sock while the honey drove me to meet up with some friends. Saturday night I was at the heel of both socks. Unfortunately my brain wasn't so much working so I had to wait until Sunday before I was finally able to understand the whole short row heel thing. Sunday and Monday were foot knitting days and Tuesday I was finishing up the toes. I didn't do the pattern down the foot and I didn't do the pattern toe either. Since I was changing so much of the pattern around anyway I went ahead and did a round toe. I think that's what it's called. It's from the book Knitting on the Road.

I was in a knitting frenzy. Well at the very least a knitting journey. Between Dave's fabulous sock yarn, the Tropicana pattern for the leg/cuff, Cookie's sensible short row heel and the idea of finishing another pair of socks I was on a roll. Cause that's how I roll. Heh.

I love these socks. The heels may be a little messy, but that's just cause I'm new to short rows. They are comfy, soft (SOOOOOO SOFT) and warm. Plus they look faboo on. I'm more than pleased. :D Clickety Biggety All Photos in this Post!

The photos aren't the greatest. Don't really show off the color as well as they should. Yes, I know I will go get a real camera sooner or later. Think I've found the store I want to deal with finally.

Here are my Sock Stats.

Cast On: June 14, 2007
Cast Off: October 2, 2007
Pattern: I used the Tropicana Sock Pattern to determine my guage, number of stitches to cast on and the cuff/leg portion of the sock. I used Cookies sensible short row pattern for the heel and the round toe from Knitting on the road.
Yarn: Dave Daniels Cabin Cove Mercantile Sock Yarn in the colorway Campfire. LOVE!
Yardage: The skien of yarn started with 450 yards and I have half left, so I used 225 yards. I have enough left to make another short-ish pair of socks. :D
Yarn Source: Dave Daniels Cabin Cover Mercantile
Needles: Bryspun Double Points - US #4 / 3.5 mm - I had to go up to that size to get the recommended gauge. Yes, I knit tight. o.0
Again: I like the feather and fan cuff pattern, but there are surely many patterns with that feature out there. I think I might try a different one in the future...
For?  Me.
Notes: I really enjoyed knitting these socks once I got past the WTF is wrong here with the initial short row heel pattern. I like a patterned sock. Makes it go faster because it's so interesting and exciting seeing how the yarn will knit up. Though anything knit with Dave yarn is a joy to knit up. It makes your hands happy. :D

Knitting on now? I don't have any socks on the needles at the moment. I'll be looking through the sock yarn stash to pick out my Official Socktoberfest 2007 socks. I wonder which lucky skein will be chosen. Ooooo! In none sock knitting news I am working on my set aside Entrelac Scarf and Ducky Hat may be getting some action as well.

Here's another photograph of the socks. I was perhaps having a bit too much fun with the backyard photography. Those mini things are "Pumpkin Tree's" So cute. :D

See that pumpkin there, his name is BoB. He is going to be murdered soon. He may end up as a pie or he may end up as cookies or pumpkin bread. Either way, his time on this earth is limited. *evil laugh*

Also here is a bonus shot of my Pink Dream Socks. I never took a proper photo of them during the Shut Up and Knit Your Cabin Cove Along for Dave's Gallery, so here ya go.

Dave you have permission to use these photos as you wish. :^)

I'm having the sock love. I can't wait to cast on to my next pair. *dances*

Red Scarf Project, George and TKK Oh My!

I finished my Scarf for this years Red Scarf Project. Well this Autumn's Red Scarf Project as it's not really 2008 yet. Either way it's fantabulous and benefits the Orphan Foundation of America. :D

Just think some College kid will receive my handknit scarf as modeled by the lovely George here. George is as high fashion as it gets, Baby! Clickety Biggety!

George was petting TKK when I took this photo. (Yes, the scarf was washed after it touched the kitty.) TKK said she wanted to be in the photo, but you know how models and their egos can be. So we had to take another photo of her without George or the scarf to show off just how vivacious and fuzzy she is. Truly the cutest kitty ever.

She knows how to work the camera. That and she was trying to lick it. :P

Some details on the scarf:

Cast On: August 17, 2007
Cast Off: September 21, 2007
Pattern: My Own "Not a Real Pattern Pattern" - Simple Alternating sections of Garter, Seed & Basket Weave
Yarn: Universal Yarn from the Moods line color 1505 - It's a Worsted Weight Wool/Acrylic blend that has colors that blend between Red and Black. - I had two balls of the yarn when I started and I still have 3/4 of one of them. I'll use that to make Hats for the Charity Box at Deluxe Yarns for the local homeless & needy.
Yardage: 247 yards
Yarn Source: Deluxe Yarns
Needles: Clover Takumi -  US 10.5 / 6.5mm 16" Circular
Again? YES! It was a fun easy knit and the honey liked it so he'll likely get one in the Blue and Black Colorway. :D Nothing like some mindless knitting to make you all nice and relaxed when things are kinda stressy.

Notes: This was my first Completed Scarf using Garter Stitch as more than a border. *L* The scarf is 6 feet long and 5.5 inches wide. This scarf was started with some friends when I was too brain dead to knit on the socks I had with me at the time. It's been knit on in four states and through several drinks and travels. Heh.

Random Observation: It just occurred to me that George kinda looks like Jerri Blank's Father, Guy.

George on the left, Guy on the right

Twins Separated at Birth! o.0

I'm glad I finished the scarf in time. Now I just need to get a gift certificate, write a note and care instructions and mail it off.

In other news I finished another pair of socks... *happy dance*

Blink and You'll Miss It... How Time Flies

Dear Time,

What the hell? Seriously. I have no idea how we got off on the wrong foot, but I'd be pleased if we could be friends again. You know me living in real time and you not running all over my ass.

So yeah. Get on that.

Much Love,
Otter

Last week I told My Best Friend that I intended to blog everyday to get back into the swing of things. Or was that two weeks ago? o.0 That's just sad.

I'd say I'd lost my whack again, but I'm starting to wonder if I ever really had any whack to be out of in the first place.

It's been a long long summer and having lost myself in the spring I'm at a loss for who I am this Autumn.

Well not exactly...

I guess I'll start by telling you what I've been up to most recently.

I finally got my car back Saturday Morning.

Oh yeah by the way, some asshat ran into the back of my car while RenDogg and I were stopped at a stop sign on August 27th. It had been in the shop for the past three weeks while they fixed it. Joy. Ya know, being without a car sucks ass. Totally threw me off track the last few weeks. We were fine if you're wondering.

The first snow of the season hit the mountains last week or so. It hailed pea size hail down here. Pretty funky stuff going on weather wise actually. We've been on Tomato Watch 2007 trying to gauge when the perfect time to harvest them would be. The weather has been kinda up and down so it's hard to tell how long is too long to let them stay on the plants. I've gotten some advice from Cookie on how to bring them inside to ripen so we should be okay. We even have 4 or 5 that are pink now. If we can hold out a few more days as the weather warms up during the day we might actually get to taste them fresh off the vine. Of course Saturday we woke up to snow on the ground and roof so who knows how that plan will work out.

I took some sky photos for last weeks Saturday Sky Post, but never got around to posting them so here they are. Clickety Biggety!

Thursday September 20 - Snow on Mt. Rose.

Friday September 21 - view from backyard

Saturday September 22 - view from backyard - covered in clouds

Saturday September 22 - view from back door towards Peavine Mountain

Sunday September 23 / First Day of Autumn - Frost and Fog - we covered the tomatoes and other garden items with towels the previous evening so they were okay

In addition to watching the sky and weather we've been winterizing the house. Last week we sprayed outside around the house for Spiders. The honey also set out natural herby spider repelling satchels inside. I hate spiders.  Although I do have several serving dishes that have spider designs on them... a candelabra as well. But that doesn't mean I like them or anything.

Lookie what we found outside by the front door after he sprayed.

Yes,  that is a Black Widow Spider. *Icky Shudder*

The Honey Squished it for me just to be certain though. I hope it didn't have Babies. o.0

Other then the occasional spooky spider I LOVE Autumn. Last Sunday was the first day of Autumn and since I realized it a few days before I was able to throw together a small get together to celebrate. I had 10 or so people over for an Autumn Tea Luncheon the 23rd. Much fun. Though I think I was slightly brain dead when people arrived... but that's my new norm. I wonder if I'm spending too much time with George.

I made a yummy Barley Soup that featured late summer veggies and Buffalo and Beef. There was of course a variety of Autumn Tea's to be sampled. I also made several types of tea sandwiches and an Apple, Pecan, Gorgonzola green salad. Dessert was my yummy Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Frosting Cookies and mini apple pies with fresh whipped cream. All homemade of course. ;^) I'll be writing up the apple pie recipes soon... well at some point. I had a few people over for dinner Saturday and made the mini pies again. Though I tried to bake the apple mixture halfway before putting it in the crust cups. Bleh. Better to stick to my original plan. Keep it Simple!

This past Saturday was kind of a busy day for us. Besides having people over for dinner we picked up my car in the morning. Then I went and had coffee and hung out with some friends. Then the honey took me to see that Eastern Promises Movie. Me-ow!

It was a good movie. How could you go wrong though, David Cronenberg & Viggo Mortensen together again. They did A History of Violence together a few years ago. Even if you don't know what this movie is about I'd recommend going to see it. All you need to really know is this:

Viggo Mortensen Full Frontal Nudity

Actually it's more of an every angle kinda thing. o.0

So yeah. That was a nifty movie.

After that we came home and I made dinner and knit until it was time for people to show up.

I've been knitting with intention lately. I even finished two projects. I'll tell you about the second project I finished this week now.

Last Sunday after everyone left I wanted to relax and I was at a point in all of my knitting where I had to use my brain. We'll my brain was having none of that. My seemingly only option was to continue to knit on my Trouble with Tribbles Mohair Wrap. But for some reason that just wasn't appealing to me. I think it's because I need to call the store and have two more balls of the yarn sent to me. *sigh* But a thought popped into my whee monkey brain and without really thinking I grabbed that project and got started.

So with one sock done and needles in hand I cast onto my second Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch Sock. Yes. Finally.

I knit with intention and completed the sock Thursday night during CSI. Sunday to Thursday for one sock. That's a record for me. I even wore them to dinner with friends Friday Night.

Here they are in this years Pumpkin Patch with the Pumpkin known as PIE.

Clickety Biggety!

The sock on the left with the Green Toe is the one that was finished last week. :D I really love how the toes are different like that. Heh.

These are the first socks I've knit from yarn I dyed myself. I'm quite pleased. I dyed this colorway because my own pumpkin patch was a dying mess without a single pumpkin to show for the effort. At least this year I have the one pumpkin. :p

These were also my Socktoberfest Socks from last year. Now that they are finished I need to decide what I'll knit up this Socktoberfest. *grin*

PLUS we are officially in Halloween Month! YAY!!!

So that's what I've been up to. Well some of it. ;^)