KnittyOtter

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*

Happenings & SoS/SU&KYCC Socks

Well I finally made it home. Finally. I was gone WAY too long.

It was awful not seeing my Honey and Kitty for so many days. Missed them muchly. I also missed having email access to my Cookie whenever I wanted. That was hard, but it always is. It was also weird not seeing my Florrie and MonkeySocks for so many days. Thankfully I got to see them and lots of other people I missed and adore muchly on Saturday. I was with MonkeySocks from abut 9:20 in the morning until 10:00 at night or so. Good thing we enjoy one another's company so much. *L*

One of the things MonkeySocks and I did  Saturday was attend a really kickass birthday party for a very special friend of ours. It was SOOOOOOOOOO much fun. :D T was turning 70 and her Daughters planned a superb party. Well they claim she was turning 70. Hard to buy it though. She doesn't look 50 much less 70. o.0 Knitting must keep you young cause I know several other people who claim a certain age but don't look anywhere damn near it. Or act it either I should add.

MonkeySocks and I have decided to start lying about our ages. Only we'll round up instead of down. The funny thing is I've been joking with Cookie for years along those lines. I look GREAT for 82!! *L* That combined with the fact I act like I'm 12 half the time and I'll be young forever. W00T!

The party was at a Mexican Restaurant and the food and drinks were super yummy. :D In addition to having her family come in from all over her daughters invited her friends and knitting family. Florrie even closed the shop up early to get there on time. It was the best birthday party ever. It was muchly fun to see all the knitting peoples. (well most, Rachel wasn't able to show up) Especially since a few very special ones will be gone for most or part of the summer. Damnit people. Don't they know they're supposed to hang around handy and accessible for my amusement.

:P

MonkeySocks drove me home so I was able to partake in Resolution #10 freely. Wheeee!!

I did that a lot on my travels. Well when I was with my brother I did. Not too much, but way more than my normal everyday life. Since I was sick most of May I'd hardly had anything to drink. *sigh* I never was that great at keeping New Years Resolutions.

I'll just have to try harder. ;^)

Here is my sock in AnnLand having a few drinkies. Clickety Biggety!

Have y'all noticed that my socks like to drink in AnnLand. Heh. Sadly I wasn't able to see the actual Ann while there this time. See you in the Autumn, my sweet!

Oh and we were sharing the beers so that we could try several. Never even made it to the Otter Head. So much to drink and so little time. *sigh*

Here's a clearer shot of my Dave Socks in Progress. The colorway is Campfire from the Cabin Cove Mercantile and the pattern is Tropicana by Sabine Riefler from MagKnits.

I am loving these soooooooooo much. I was a bit concerned about the pattern at first. Cookie pointed out that we generally wear 72 stitch socks. That is true, but the gauge on these things is so big that it makes up for the lack of stitches. I think I had to use US 5's to get gauge that's how crazy it is. *L* The pattern moves between 11 and 17 stitches for the pattern repeats, so you go from 55 to 85 stitches. Magically it works. *L*

Because they don't have any ribbing on to the top they look kinda big even. One lady recently asked in a shocked manner why my sock was so big. (See now I'd think that was a dumb thing to ask somebody, or at least sorta rude/clueless, what if I had huge feet and ankles and I was uncomfortable about it and she'd said that. o.0 Dear Humans, please think before opening your yappy heads. Thanks, The Rest Of Us. The Common Sense is not so much common these days eh...) They fit very comfortably so far, though If my feet were smaller than average I'd say you'd have to adjust them to be less big though, either through stitch count or needle size and a smaller gauge.

I love how these are knitting up SO MUCH that I'd recommend anyone who got any of the awesome yarns from Dave's Summer Collection to try this pattern with them. It's like they were made for each other. I think they are cool enough yet not too detailed that you could make these for a guy and it'd be okay. I know a lot of people think guys can only wear plain socks, but it's not like their penis will fall off with a little extra flair. :P

These socks fit into two of the KAL's that I'm currently Participating in. The Shut Up and Knit Your Cabin Cove Knit Along which is rapidly drawing to a close, so let Cookie know if you'd have anything going or whatever. These also count towards the Summer of Socks Knit Along.

I started these on June 14th. Cast on during Takeoff. *L* Well the final cast on was during take off. It wasn't until I understood how many stitches I would have during each of the pattern repeats that I finally got it. Well I'd always had it... I just thought I'd messed up. *blush*

Since I cast on a week prior to the start on the 21st I asked my Blog Reader Jody if that was okay to do these socks as part of the KAL. I also explained I wasn't doing the most socks knit part of the KAL. She said that was fine since I wasn't in that portion of the KAL. My hope is that I finish these socks by the time the SoS is done. Although after seeing Cookie's recent Traveler Socks I really REALLY wanna make those. Lots of new stuff to learn with that pattern and they are uber cute. :D So Maybe my personal SoS Challenge will be to finish these socks, the honey socks and the traveler socks. I also still have my second Socktober Sock to finish. Just haven't been inspired by Autumn Colors since last year. I imagine I'll take care of those in August when I start getting Autumn Fever. :D

I've also got the Coral Sweater going and I'd like to finish that up. I've got a bit at the bottom to do yet and then the sleeves and collar. *Happy Otter Dance* I'm so happy with how this is coming out. I may not even mind weaving in all those ends. Heh.

Adventures with Ann & Other Things in My Head

Where the hell did the week go? Seriously. o.0

It's apparently Thursday. My Office is a mess. My cat has two less teeth today than yesterday. My brain may or may not explode... and that may or may not be a bad thing. *L*

First of all I'll just say I'm okay, in case there was any doubt. Just trying to catch up. As for my office I trashed it myself in the process of getting organized again. I still haven't recovered from traveling. But I'm okay.

I had a GREAT time seeing Ann last week. She is so crazy easy to talk to / listen to / interact with. It was not scary at all, even if she did threaten to kill me and say she was a serial killer on the phone. *snicker*

We talked for hours and it seemed like minutes. I'm not sure how she managed to do that. For all I know she spiked my coffee and then drinkie and while I thought we were talking gave me some kind of brain probe. o.0 That's right Ann may or may not be an Alien from outer space. If she is then Aliens are far cuter than Hollywood gives them credit for. :D

Just to be safe though if I suddenly mail her all of my Cabin Cove yarn or something crazy then you know it was the brain probe and she needs to be stopped before she does it again. :P

I had a great time with her. Definitely the highlight of my trip. The trip didn't go so well otherwise and knowing I was going to get to see her really kept me going and positive. Thank you, Sweetie!! :D We'll have to do it again. Here's her post on the matter.

Check out the picture Ann took of our socks together. (Clickety Biggety)

My Socks were drinking a Grey Goose Vodka Martini, Up, No Vermouth and Extra Dirty. Her Socks had a Salt Rimmed Margarita. *grin*

Both of our Shut Up And Knit Your Cabin Cove socks are done now. I've yet to wear mine. I think I need some cute shoes to show them off better. Hey it's a valid reason to buy shoes so hush up. :P Oh and to anyone new to the wonder that is Ann. She leaves for her Ireland trip tomorrow night. I bet she has all kinds of kickass tales of her adventures for us when she gets back, so stay tuned! :D

The same night I saw Ann for 5 hours I went to my brothers house. We ended up talking and drinking all manner of Belgium Beer for another 5 hours. That's like a record for me to interact and have a good time with people for 10 hours. It was good to see my brother. (Cookie: All is well.) I kinda wish I had planned more time off for being in that part of the woods, but it was a harsh trip and I was glad to get home. The bestest part is that I don't have to travel for business again for a whole 3 months. YAY!!!

Btw, does it feel like this year is flying by crazy fast to anyone else or is it just me. Cause I swear it seems like time is going too fast. Then they go and throw the time change on us early. WTF?! (Note: If you use Microsoft and don't have the auto updates set you'll have to go download the time change patch thingy by Saturday so you're time will be correct. Unless you use Vista and then you're just fucked no matter what. *L*)

Ann also sent me home with a sweet goodie bag and I'll take a picture of my goodies when I get my office more sane and can see where I am. Well most of the stuff, she sent me home with some really yummy medicinal chocolates. I needed them today I tell ya. Thank you, Ann!! *HUGS*

Today I took my sweet wittle fuzzy face kitty to the vet. They were going to check out her teeth, clean them and  look at her ear.

They were supposed to call us if anything went wrong or they needed to do anything else.

They didn't. They removed TWO teeth and didn't call us to talk about it. As soon as the crazy bitch on the phone said that I told her to wait and got the honey. I could not calmly handle that. We signed all this shit that said they HAD to call us. She only had four back teeth left. Now she's down to two. (She has some front teeth left, but they don't crunch food.) The honey talked to them. Yeah it's final we are SO finding a new vet. I can't handle this shit. The last time we kenneled her they forgot to give her the special treats we left for her and some asshat put a sign on her door that said you had to wash your hands after touching her. SO NO ONE BOTHERED TO PET HER OR TAKE HER OUT! o.0 The nice Vet Lady said a Tech person made a mistake and thought she had a contagious kitty cold. She didn't. In fact it's not even the Vets there I dislike. They just have some of the stupidest techs. It was a Tech that told the Vet we had given the okay for the extractions. We did not. It was in writing. She apologized, but this is not going to cut it. I can't take the chance of TKK not getting the best possible care. Oh and the last time they lost her nice kitty carrier. They eventually found it, but what the hell. Not Cool.

The poor kitty was happy to see us to take her home. She hadn't eaten all day so she got a can of wet food as soon as we got back. Then she's been sleeping and snuggling.

The shitty thing is that we would have agreed to have the teeth removed. They were getting sensitive and she'll likely be a lot more conformable now. But we had all agreed to discuss any of the options before action was taken. Grrr. I hate stupid people.

I'm hoping things calm down with the kitty soon. I haven't been sleeping too well being worried about this. I keep checking to see if she's okay and breathing. She normally snores, so when she's quiet it kinda startles me. I woke up a lot last night to make sure she was okay. *falls over* She is okay. I'm okay. We are all okay.

She has medicine, pain and antibiotic to take. The honey is the medicine giver. I'm too worried I'll be too rough or she won't actually take it. He's good with it though.

I haven't knit at all this week, well a bit on Monday. Just been busy and worried. I've been snuggling the kitty a lot so my hands haven't been free. I need to get one of those baby contraptions that holds the kid onto the mom. I'm sure my cat would love that and then I'd be able to knit. :P

In addition to the worrying about the kitty I've been going back and forth in my mind about which yarn I want to use. Too many choices. *L* Not a bad problem to have. I think I've narrowed it down. I may just start two pairs. One with a yarn I love and a Pattern I'll need my brain on and another with yarn in a color I want to knit with in a basic no brain pattern. I really need a no brain fast knit right now. Duckie Hat is still here. I just have sock fever. I'm blaming Cookie, Dave, Ann and a whole bunch of other people. You know who you are. :P

So in conclusion. We're all okay. Life is good. Too much yarn isn't a bad thing if you are organized and having a honey who can give cat medicine is priceless, as is having a best friend who gets how worrisome a trip to the Vet can be.

 

Pink Dream Socks Finished!

Hiya. I'm back. Been back a few days or so. I'll post more on the wonderful visit with Ann and all that later this week. Still feel Zombie-ish.

Yesterday I went out with some people and during the course of our adventure I was able to work on my socks. (I shouldn't ever be allowed to leave my house again, but that's really a story for a different day...) Then last night I finished my Cabin Cove Pink Dream Socks for the Shut Up & Knit Your Cabin Cove KAL.

Clickety Biggety

I love these socks muchly. The yarn was perfection and the pattern is pretty damn nifty too. :D

Pattern: Hourglass Eyelet Socks @ Magknits

Yarn: Handpainted Yarn from Dave Daniels Cabin Cove Mercantile :D 

Needles: I switched needles three times during this project. o.0 I started with metal KnitPicks DPN's. I had to change those out since I was going to be flying. I switched to Crystal Palace Bamboo's, but needed to alter size a bit since the KnitPicks are oddly sized. I finally settled on Bryspun US 2's For all that I never lost gauge. *L*

Modifications: The pattern is actually for socks on circular needles. Which is well and fine. The change over to DPN's wasn't a big deal. I did it this way not because I have anything against socks on circs... just that I had the right size DPN's and wanted to get started right away once I had decided I wanted to do the pattern. Seeing how Cindy wrote out the socks on circs thing really shows just how easy it would be to do any pattern on Circs.  Kinda cool. Although I'll admit I love my DPN's. ;) I used the larger of the two sizes listed. It's a good fit, although it seemed like it was going to be too big when I first started knitting. I also choose not to make the leg portion as long as I wasn't sure how I'd like tall socks that you don't fold into a cuff.

Other Notes: I started these socks on January 11 and finished them on March 3 2007. They were worked on very slowly... in five different states. I got the majority of the knitting done on planes. I dunno. I enjoyed them but when I was at the yarn shop or whatever I ended up doing more talking than knitting. Need to work on that. NTS: Shut Up. I'd definitely use this yarn and this pattern again. Next time I might even make them longer at the cuff.

I still have the Duckie Hat to finish and a few other projects I want to get started on... but I think I may go ahead and cast on for my next pair of socks. We'll see.

This is the first time I've had a completed pair of socks on Sunday for the Sunday Socks. Wheeeee.

Here's a photo showing a bit more detail on one of the completed socks.

Clickety Biggety

Sock Progress Tue... er Wednesday

I meant to post my sock update yesterday for the Shut Up and Knit Your Cabin Cove KAL. Time got away from me.

Oh and to everyone who seemed concerned that I'd had a rough couple of weeks. No biggie. (and telling someone to breathe never happens in person when someone talking about something that kinda upset them so how come people say that in text? Weird *L*) Just cause some weird hormonal crying popped up or whatever doesn't mean the week was ruined. Heck not even the day. It was just upsetting for a bit when it happened. I only bothered to mention it here cause... I felt like it I guess. I kinda thought it was a little funny even. Random Crying and all.

Also the lady at the yarn shop isn't a big meanie head or anything. Her kitty recently changed her sleeping habits and then passed on. I can see how that would make ya think it was coming up, being so fresh and all in a persons mind. She is nice, very blunt and honest, but when did that become a bad thing? (well I mean I wouldn't say the cat thing that to someone I hope) When I grow up I wanna speak more honestly with people, which is how she is. She just was a little more blunt than I was expecting that day. Plus kitties are a sensitive subject. And I had been thinking a lot about my kitties advanced age, so perhaps I made it sound a certain way.  So anyway wanted to make that clear. Coolie-O.

Although it kinda makes me wonder how my delivery is. Do I express what I mean to express and in the way I want to. I'm thinking no. A few weeks ago some people were joking around around about what horrible moms they are or had and I popped up with how my mom was the worst. Ya know cause threatening to kill yourself in your kids bed so they wake up to find you dead next to them is damn funny if you've had a long long time to think about/get over it.

Judging by the looks of horror and that one person put her hand on my shoulder and made some kind of consolatory remark to me has me thinking I'm perhaps not expressing myself as I wish. (It was meant to be funny) Or that maybe I shouldn't share certain things about myself to people who don't know me that well or for that long. *L*

So my point, I'm okay. Just cause I make a remark about being in a bad mood or having a mood swing doesn't mean my world is over. I'm just expressing myself. (Or maybe I can't remember what I wrote at all, you never know. *L*)

Actually my bad mood was only aimed at stupid people and thankfully I don't hang around too many of those. *L* Things have been really nifty lately. Having lots of fun. Hanging out with interesting and fun to be around people. Life is good. Plus I do have the worlds greatest Cat, Honey and Best Friend. :D I'm surrounded by love and that's a pretty cool way to be, ya know.

Okay now what y'all are here for. Also perhaps I shouldn't be so much posting when I've been up since 4:30 am. *L* o.0 (I hope I make sense....)

The Socks in Progress:

Both socks are at the same place. :D

In other news my bags are packed and I'm going away. But I'll be back next week. My "mood" is in part to the fact I'm going away to do some business... blah. But I have a few awesome shinning points to this trip so it's all good. The main bestest thing is that I get the pleasure of hanging out with Ann next Wednesday. *Happy Otter Dance*

I'm kinda nervous... and that may be part of why I'm extra weird the last few days. I'm kinda shy. Plus a bit of a dork. What if I... I dunno, but what if I do it and then my head explodes. o.0 You just never know about these things.

Plus I'm going to miss my Honey and Kitty. And I'm not a fan of flying at all. o.0

But it'll be okay. I'm not flying on Jet Blue or anything. *L* (freaky)

Still life is good. Plus when I get back I'll have a kickass pair of socks (Lots of plane knitting time!) and lots of fun things to take part in. :D

Finally, I will try to return some emails on Monday. (You, I am talking to YOU) So I'm sorry if anyone thinks I'm being a meanie head by not replying to comments/emails/stuff. I had a lot to do to get ready for the trip which snuck up on me all sneaky like.

(Stacey, I'll post the recipe when I get back. :P)

Have a great weekend. I'll try to check in a few times while I'm away.

*OtterHuggles*

Pink Dream Socks & People Soup

I fully intended to knit on my Pink Dream socks last night. They were in the other room and let's be honest I can only do so much and I was watching Hero's and petting the worlds most adorable kitty cat.

Love that kitty cat so much.

Love Hero's too. All the Star Trek jokes leave me giggling like mad. Did anyone else catch the license plate number on Hiro's Dad's (George Takei aka Mr. Sulu) car as it pulled away last week. Oh yeah baby, "NCC 1701". *GRIN*

I think I may have outed myself as a geek on that one. Granted I have no idea how many of you even get the reference in the first place. So maybe not.

Anyhoo yeah last night I had fun watching that show and petting the kitty while snuggling up to the honey.

Hey R, see you can post about TV stuff if you don't want to talk about other stuff. ;^)

So what if I didn't knit on my socks. I'm still happy with them. Here are some progress photos. Clickety Biggety!

Two Socks on Martini Sock Blockers:

Close Up:

I call these my Pink Dream Socks because they are just a dream to knit up. The yarn is brilliant and the pattern is pretty nifty too. Total joy to knit. When I'm not all dead that is. *makes a zombie face*

So that's my Tuesday Cabin Cove KAL Update. *waves @ Cookie* I bet she was wondering when I'd post an update. :P

Now I really must talk to you about People Soup.

People Soup is the worst kind of soup imaginable, and I can think of some pretty gross things too. Like Puppy Brains Soup or Donkey Butt Soup with toasted maggot sprinkles. See that's gross. o.0

BUT NOTHING IS AS GROSS AS PEOPLE SOUP! *icky shudder*

I just know you are all dyeing to know what the hell people soup is right? :P

First a little back story. See I've been being, well trying to be a more healthful minded Otter. As you know I joined a different gym. A real gym with all manner of complicated torture devices rather than the womens only gossip fest that was my previous gym. So's anyway I've been going fairly regularly. Doing lots of different things including swimming. I'm an Otter and I love water so it was just natural.

So when the honey and I were on vacation we got into the hotels fancy jacuzzi thingy and had fun relaxing in that. This is were I first coined the phrase "People Soup". It was a very nice setup, clean and not really soupy, but when we got in and started marinating in the hot bubbly waters all I could think was PEOPLE SOUP! Said with the enthusiasm one might say SOYLENT GREEN (It's People!!) if you're wandering.

So anyway it was funny ha ha. Didn't think much of it after that... until I went to my new Gym's Jacuzzi Thingy which is right by the pool. I had just swam a lot and thought it might be relaxing. Eh no. All I could think was PEOPLE SOUP! o.0

I icked myself out thinking about how many people a day marinated themselves in that very same water. I got out quickly thinking how ass nasty that was. The pool is one thing, but hoping into a pot of People Soup is another. o.0

Last week I mentioned it to Rachel when we went to the Gym together. I was teasing her saying if she was good I'd let her hop into the People Soup. Turns out people like her, ya know all cute n' glowy can't hop into People Soup anyway so she was saved.

Then last night I went to the Aquafit class thingy.  It was kinda fun. I laughed a lot. Mostly cause I'm a dork. :P So anyway after class some of the ladies invited me to the Jacuzzi. Uh Oh, People Soup.

They all got in first. I started to get in, even though every fiber of my being was screaming PEOPLE SOUP!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!, but I was trying to place nice.

That's when I saw it. Saw the true Horror of People Soup. See you can't marinate people all together in one big bath like that without some horrible consequence. Was it the swamp monster come to life? No. Was a dead body found stuck to the bottom of the drain pipe? No.

Worse than those things. Much worse.

It was BROWN FOAM. o.0 (well brownish, but brown enough!!! *GAGS*)

What the Fuck? What is the brown foam?!?!

I don't really wanna know. I don't. I don't think I could handle that truth. o.0

As soon as I saw it I did the only thing I could think of, saved my own ass. I quickly made the excuse of needing to get going. (which I really did) I ran to the shower room and became one with the soap. Sadly they don't make brain soap and I can still recall just how nasty that People Soup was.

The ladies all got into the People Soup and seemed very content, btw. Maybe the foam is a normal thing. I don't know. (I did tell the gym people and they said they'd look into it) I don't ever want that to become normal to me though. So Just Say No to People Soup!

See I told ya it was vile and icky, right on the level comparable to Donkey Butt Soup with toasted maggot sprinkles. o.0 Thankfully the Donkey Soup doesn't actually exist.

But we know the truth about People Soup. *icky shudder*

Dirty Martini Sock Blockers & a Mystery

I got good mail today. Very Good in fact. :D

I've gotten (heh I mean received...) lots of good yummy mail lately. I don't have time at the moment to post about it all but I really really really wanted to mention these new exclusive from Scout's Swag Only Martini Sock Blockers.

As Cookie can tell you I LOVE Dirty Vodka Martini's. It's my drink of choice. Mmmm tastes like happy. See I also have a thing for Green Olives. Those of you'se that don't know a Dirty Vodka Martini is just Vodka and Olive juice. (Shaken not stirred) None of that Vermouth for me. I'll kill you if you put it NEAR my drinkie. We clear. :P Alrighty then.

So when Scout announced that she had these perfect for me Sock Blockers up I had to get them. :D

They totally rock. Lookie!

SO COOL!

It will be awesome to see my completed Pink Dream Hourglass socks on those blockers. :D

I'm taking my Cookie Garden Socks to OtterLand with me so I left one sitting on the bed so's I don't forget. That's why the Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch Sock is there... still waiting for it's mate, btw. Oh and when choosing your sock names don't go the wordy route. That's a damn mouthful! *L*

Question: How often do you guys wash your handknit socks? I read somewhere (on a blog I think) that some person washes there socks ever 5 or so wearings. I'm washing my house socks which are worn like slippers a few days a week every week and the Cookie Garden Socks that go in shoes every wearing. Is that too much? Should I be washing them less often? They aren't funky or anything weird after one wearing. That's just what I'd do for any other sock. Btw, have y'all noticed that wool socks don't make your feet over hot in shoes or am I weird? At any rate, I'm new to washing wool and while I am doing the moves right with the wool washes and all that I just don't know about frequency. So whatcha'll do in your house?

And now the Mystery... I recently received (GOT!) a package from a neat company called Gibson Girl Design. It was a set of cute red glass stitch markers. But no note saying who it was from... Interesting. Very Interesting. So I wonder who sent me this giftie? Did I win something, like 100,000,000 commenter and my out of whack brain forgot or something? I wanna say thank you. I'm using them on my Duckie Hat already. :D So please step forward Mystery Gifter. Oh and it came to my addy under my screen name so I know it has to be one of y'all. ;^)

Here's the Mystery Stitch Markers in Action. I hate those little plastic ones, btw. They pop off at the worst times. Switching them over to the pretty glass ones as I knit along.

See the Green glass stitch marker at the top. Cookie made me that. I have a whole set of them. They are Green Olive Stitch Markers. *grin*

Oh and I'll be drinking lots of yummy drinkies this week including my beloved Dirty Vodka Martini. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a good one. Two simple ingredients. I don't get it. Oh and if anyone ever gives you a Dirty Vodka Martini made with black olive juice run like hell. Nothing good can come from that union. o.0

Well I'm all packed up for my trip. By the time you read this I'll already be having a wonderful time. *grin*

In addition to the Pink Dream Socks and the Duckie Hat I've packed along the two issues of Interweave knit that deals with lace. The Cabin Cove lace cake of SeaShell coral from yesterdays (todays) stash photo (bottom right hand corner) is going to become something fabulous during the Shut Up & Knit Your Cabin Cove KAL. I don't know what yet, but it will kick ass. That's right the lace will kick ass and take names later. I just need to decide on a pattern... something in the stole family as I don't think I'm a shawl girl just yet. I have what I want in mind, now I just have to see if anyone has created that pattern yet. *L*

I have two nifty looking LYS planned out to hit while in OtterLand. I bet they have some cool patterns. One of the stores is called Knitting By The Sea. The other is called Monarch Knitting, after the butterflies that migrate to Pacific Grove during the winter. Both shops look promising. :D

It's been a stressful day. Lots of stupid people to deal with. But at least I'll have 5 days of extreme joy to revitalize my brain.

I'll be back next week with LOTS of pictures and adventure to tell y'all about. Wheeeeeee!

Quick 4:00 am add on... There's this movie trailer that sheep enthusiasts may find amusing, offensive or just plain disgusting... I find it amusing and disgusting, but I'm sick that way.

Watch at own risk...

Weird huh. o.0

If they had been Zombie Sheep... well that would rock my Kasbah hard and George couold have some sheepie friends... but this is just plain weird.

Cabin Cove Stash Flash & OtterLand!!

I didn't do ANY knitting yesterday. Too busy. But it's okay... it's very okay...

Before I get on with all of that though I thought it might be fun (and flirty!) to flash my stash.

(This sounds so pervy! o.0)

So here it is. My Cabin Cove Stash... well part of it. There are 4 or 5 hanks/balls missing from this photo. Gotta leave a little something to the imagination. :P Oh and the yarn in the header of the Shut Up & Knit Your Cabin Cove blog is mine as well. Heh. I really like his yarn!

Clickety Biggety:

So yeah if you were ever wondering where all the Cabin Cove went... o.0 I don't feel bad about having so much though. Each color is unique and wonderful and I will have a lot of joy knitting up such ultra faboo fiber. I mean I don't get stash guilt. I can see if a person has impulse control issues, doesn't have the space or is spending the cat food money on stuff they can't afford. But if it's not breaking the bank or busting the stash cabinet open then it's all okay. And yes I can still keep the stash cabinet doors closed without them popping open at the odd time. *L*

Now the big news a few of you have been wondering about. *waves at Barbp*

I'm going to OtterLand tomorrow!!! Vacation, Baby! WooHooHoo!!! :D

Can you tell I'm a wee bit excited? ;^)

It's been more than a year since I went to visit my people and boy do I miss them.

My people are Sea Otters if'n you haven't been following along at home, btw.

Sunday the honey I watched a movie about Synchronicity and then right afterward as he was turning off the DVD player a television show about the Monterey Bay Aquarium came on. Monterey being OtterLand for those of you new to my world. So of course it made me homesick and wanna see my peoples so not even thinking my honey would be up for it I said we should go on vacation. He said OKAY and asked how this week was. o.0

My first thought was no way as it's such short notice, but then a deeper more meaningful part of me told that part to shut it the hell up. So I said, sure when do we leave. He, my honey, asked what if we left Thursday. I said why not Wednesday and there you go. We are going to OtterLand! So yesterday and today I am working my otterbutt off so I can leave bright and early in the morning to go be with my peoples. *GRIN*

Happy Happy Happy!!!

The best part is that this week work wise is the perfect week for this sort of thing. It all couldn't have worked out better even if I had planned it for months. Talk about synchronicity! :D

Sunday the honey booked the hotel and started looking through his maps and travel stuff. He's got it all planned out and even looked up Local Yarn Shops in OtterLand and the surrounding areas. ;^) Love Him Muchly.

It was kinda funny. I told him i was going to look up the LYS online to see what was around and he handed me a piece of paper with all the details and said I already guessed one of my surprises. *grin*

I'll tell ya all about my trip and have lots of photo's when I get back. *HappyOtterButtDance*

Here are a few photo's from my last trip to Otterland. All piccies are Clickety McBiggety.

Seals on the beach

Seal faces up close: They remind me of TKK with their wittle faces. (everything reminds me of TKK if I'm gonna be honest here...)

Here's a few pictures of the coastline.

I'm an Otter, I like water. ;)

There's a lack of Otter photo's here because well they are difficult to photograph from the shore for the most part. Though I've done it. The pictures are just trapped in my other computer. *glares at the stupid broken computer* Bastard. The other reason for the lack of Otter photos is because I'm so focused on paying attention to them that I don't have the presence of mind to take their picture. ;)

Well we have lots of fun stuff planned and I need to go do a  bunch of stuff so we can leave  on schedule.  In a bit we have to  take TKK to the kitty hotel. WAH! I hate leaving her. I already miss her. But at least it's for a fun trip and not work. :D

So we'll leave early tomorrow morning and get back sometime on Sunday. I'll be taking my Pink Dream Hourglass Socks and Moody Duckie Hat along for my knitting.

I hope y'all have a fantastic week. I know I will!! :D

Cabin Cove KAL & Red Scarf Finale!

Do you have some of Dave's Cabin Cove Mercantile Yarn stashed away?

Did you join one of those new fangled knit only from your stash KAL's, yet you can still buy sock yarn or yarn for another KAL?

Do you love beautifully hand painted yarn?

Have you ever wanted to join a KAL but want something low key, no pressure with no stressful deadlines?

If so we've got the Knit Along for you! :D

Cookie is hosting this ultra fantabulous Cabin Cove KAL over at Shut Up and Knit Your Cabin Cove.

So what are you waiting for? Shut up, and go knit your Cabin Cove yarn! *L*

I'm going to finish up my Pink Dream Hourglass Socks, start my Eunny Jang Anemoi Mittens and TRY to start some lace (I saw that Dave :P) in a color that is super flattering to my skin tone All with Dave's kick ass yarn! *happy otter dance*

In other news I finally finished off that dreaded Noro Scarf Saturday afternoon. I took Duckie Hat breaks in between so I would have the strength to go on. By the time I was to the end I was so antsy I cast off way too tight so I had to redo that part Sunday morning. I washed it yesterday and boy did that thing soften up. All kinds of weird stuff came out when I hand washed it, so I'm thinking maybe that yarn should be washed before it's knit with. o.0

It's really soft and lovely now. All that negative feelings I had when knitting it are gone now. I can even see why people like it. I may even knit with it again someday... maybe... we'll see. :P

I hope my second Red Scarf Person like it.

Here it is without further adieu my second Red Scarf Project Scarf as modeled by George. ;^)

It's Noro Silk Garden, not sure of the color number or where I got this yarn. It's purple/green/brown/blue and some fuchsia. I don't think it's enough fuchsia to be outside the bounds of the unisex scarf though. Oh and the pattern is a simple mistake rib scarf. I saw the pattern listed on this post of Cookie's. I'd make this again. Looks neat and is more open than a regular rib scarf. :D

Here are the goodie boxes with the scarves all packed up. I got some satin photo/memory boxes at Micheal's. (pretty cheap 2 for $5 I think it was) I put into each box the scarf, a Valentines day Hershey Chocolate Bar, Conversation Hearts, a Borders gift card and a Pirate Valentine. That's right Pirate Valentines Cards. Arrrrrrrrr! *GRIN*

Clickety Biggety:

So anyway there's the boxes. I have pretty pink and brown Valentines XOXO ribbon to box it all up with too. This has been a really fun project. I'm so glad The Norma threatened my life** unless I knit two scarves for this. ;^)

Alrighty Folks, I gotta go do some stuff. Tune in Tomorrow for late breaking Otter News!!! *Seriously Over the Top Happy Otter Dance*

**Silly things, of course The Norma didn't threaten my life. She just told everyone how cool this project was. :D