On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - six skeins of Sundara Sock Yarn
Okay, so it's not the sixth day of christmas, and I bought it myself, but for your viewing pleasure, may I present six skeins of Sundara Sock Yarn:
And, just so you can get a closer look, they are:
Starfish Glow
Love Letter
Mint Over Chamomile
Forest Splendor
Denim Over Teal
Violet Over Bluebells
This was a subscription to the Artist's Choice collection. You picked three or six skeins, from cool, warm, or mixed palette. I chose six of the mixed palette, and I think it's an excellent group. There are colors I would have probably never picked out myself, but they are just lovely.
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One day soon, I will know html
And this blog will look half decent. There used to be a lot of neat features to Blog-city. Sadly, those are gone, and I still don't like the new format. So, I figure I need to become an html wizard and not depend on the quirky widget mode.
I'm almost done with my course for this semester, and it will be a relief. I've enjoyed it, but I'm really ready to have no demands on me. I'm tired.
Arwen was a spectacular mess, so I've ripped out and will knit it like a normal sweater, with a back, two fronts, and two sleeves.
Can I turn this in for credit?
Stolen from FarmWife and Cynical, because it was way more fun than the homework I'm trying to finish:
A is for age: 35
B is for burger of choice: My own, with Wendy’s single hamburger - pickle only - in second place. My hamburgers are goooooooood.
C is for the car I drive: 2007 silver Dodge Charger (1998 purple Dodge Dakota 4x4 as back-up)
D is for your dog's name: no dogs, but my first dog was Lucky, because he survived being born in the winter, when his four siblings and mother froze, however he wasn’t able to survive THE SCHOOL BUS RUNNING OVER HIM AND THE BUS DRIVER JUST SAYING, “WELL KRISTI, I RAN OVER YOUR DOG!” Not that I’m bitter.
E is for essential item you use every day: yarn. If I didn’t have it, it wouldn’t be pretty.
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Lost, when it’s actually on
G is for favorite game: sudoku
H is for home state: Illinois
I is for instruments you play: I played the clarinet once upon a time.
J is for favorite juice: ruby red grapefruit.
K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: Students who wait until the last minute to register for classes then get rude when you don’t have time to drop everything and cater to their every whim, because several hundred other people had the same idea. Sorry, there will be a wait, and getting ugly with me moves you to the absolute end of the line. I can bury you in my inbox and you will never be heard from again.
L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Dairy Dee
M is for your favorite Muppet: Grover (or Rowlf the dog, if it needs to be a True Muppet)
N is for number of piercings: One in each ear, but I haven’t worn earrings in years.
O is for overnight hospital stays: None, and I’d like to keep it that way, if possible.
P is for people you were with today: Ramblin, my mom and uncles
Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Knit, spin, read.
R is for biggest regret: No regrets. The Universe unfolds as it should.
S is for status: Content in a committed cohabitation (We can’t get married, we still like each other.)
T is for time you woke up today: 10:00 am
U is for what you consider unique about yourself: What isn’t?
V is for vegetable you love: I love them all, but if I have to pick one, I guess it would be tomatoes.
W is for worst habit: Procrastination.
X is for x-rays you've had: Dental, ankles, chest, probably others
Y is for yummy food you ate today: ham and beans for lunch at Mom’s, cube steak with rotini, broccoli, and cheese for supper. All good.
Z is for zodiac: Aries – the sign of the sheep. Go figure I would be a knitter and spinner.
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Stick it with a fork
I'm done with the semester!!!! Glorioski! Of my class, that is. Still have students to deal with at the job. Presuming I haven't failed horribly (the research paper was spectacularly bad, but I did really well on everything else), I am half-way through the concentration courses, 2/3 through the whole thing. Three courses to go, plus the T-word. Although, I can opt to to a 'Culminating Project' instead, at the cost of taking two four-hour exams, as opposed to only one four-hour exam if you do the thesis.
I have about a month off from coursework. And as of about 11:00 EST next Tuesday, I will be off work until January 5. Yay!!!! I shall knit and read and spin and bask in the gloriousness that is no homework.
I headed out of work a scosh early today. My boss called me to see if I had checked on the radar lately, and recommended I do so, because she was getting some conflicting reports. I didn't see any precip, but just then my phone blinged a text message at me from Ramblin, saying his boss was heading toward the town I was in, and her windshield was icing up. Greeeeaaaat. I drove very slow, with only one small slide, and two anti-lock braking incidents. Both times, I was only going 20 to begin with, if even that fast, once for a stoplight, once for a turn. I coasted right on through the turn, and had to turn around and try it again.
I love loathe winter.
I finished the hood on Arwen. Now I just have to knit sleeves in a normal manner. For those of you who hadn't been playing along at home, the original pattern called for the sleeves to be knit horizontally as part of the front, then wrap around the arms. It wasn't good.
It looks like 3 out of 4 house mates are commencing snoozing. I'm just glad to be sipping coffee while snuggled in my recliner and not out on the roads.
Be careful out there, if you have to be out there.
Color me stunned
I got an A on the research paper and it looks like an A for the course.
It's a Xmas miracle.
I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I'm loving the Sookie Stackhouse books .
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Merry Christmas!
It's 7
As in the temperature. 7. That's not a temperature, it's a group of dwarfs. Windchill is -13. I don't even have anymore words to say about that.
Birthday socks are completed for Ramblin's dad.
And the requisite closeup.
So, that finishes up the required knitting for the year. What's left on the needles? Arwen. As I told Ragged, it's always Arwen. Sigh. One day, she'll be finished. If I don't run out of yarn. Yes, it's a risk.
This week I work tomorrow, then two hours on Tuesday, have the university-wide party, then I am free, free, free until Jan. 5. Sweet.
It's beginning to look a lot like xmas
No, no, not that, this:
That's what I'm talking about. Ragged and Brando both got me Loopy Ewe gift certificates, and I spent them right away.
This is the first skein of Dream in Color Smooshy I have ever bought. What took me so long? I have no idea. By the way, the color is Visual Purple. It looked to be solid-ish on the website, which is not like DIC at all, so I'm very pleased with the variation in my skein.
And the infamous Malabrigo Sock in Violeta Africana.
It's more purplely in person, but you know it's winter, we had ice today, and the sun is never going to shine again.
This is from the Sanguine Gryphon, Eidos Sock Yarn in Emoige.
I love her roving , it only made sense I would love her sock yarn. Yep.
And last but not least, Prism Merino Mia in Wisteria.
I became enchanted with this one as soon as Sheri posted it, but it was a little beyond my willingness for a pair of socks. Then I saw Anne Hanson's Spiraluscious would only take one skein of it, and I could have myself a sweet little project.
It's entirely possible this could be casted on tonight.
What's that, you say? Aren't I forgetting someone? Oh yeah, her.
Eh. I'm sure a lovely little lacy cowl couldn't take that long to knit. For now, just call ol' Arwen Venus.
It's a tur-duc-hen!
Oh wait, that's Copper. Maybe this is it.
Yeah, that's the tur-duc-hen, alright.
And this tur-duc-hen was prepared by yours truly. My mom and I were supposed to get the bird(s) going together, but when it appeared Mom was sleeping in, I forged on myself. This was the first time I've been the primary cook, though I have been the sous chef for years.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret - do you know why most people say they don't like turkey? Because most people prepare a turkey like this:
And they stop, putting it on to roast. But it's not ready for the oven.
Now it's ready. Seriously, the moat of dressing is a requirement. Because this is what you get.
Funny story - after I got the bird(s) in the oven at 6:30, I went back to bed. Mom woke up around 7:00, realized it was too bright to be 6:00, and in a panic rushed to the kitchen to put on the tur-duc-hen, only to discover it already cozy in the oven. She declared it a Christmas Miracle. This wouldn't be the last Christmas Miracle of the day she would have.
Yes Virginia, there really are people that win more than a free ticket on those crazy things. My family is quite taken with the scratch-offs for special occasions, and up until now, the most won on a single ticket was probably $10. Yay Mom!
True to my word, I have started the Spiraluscious Cowl.
Hope everyone had a Merry Xmas!
Finishing some loose ends
Done!
And done!
That's right, Arwen is finally done. I was starting to sweat it, because the yarn was depleting rapidly and if I would have ran out, I was going to rip it into a million bits.
And now, interestingly, I have no immediate project at this second. Oh, there's always the Impressionist Socks, or Bayerische, or the not-really-Philosopher's Wool sweater, or Vail, or Morrigan, or Lily II. But I think, instead of finishing off any of those, I will be starting something new (surprise - Hello, I'm an Aries). Ragged was kind enough to lend me a book that has an absolute stunning afghan in it, since I didn't want to buy the book for one pattern, and that copying a pattern is WRONG AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW, not to mention that Karma will kick your @$$, ahem - where was I? Oh yes, since she was kind enough to lend it to me, I should really get a move on and get that done, so I may return it to her.
This morning was somewhat of a rude shock. At some point in the night, the power went off. I'm not sure when, but check with Ramblin', since he got his cell phone to use as an alarm. I know I asked him once, and it was five-ish, but how long it had been off I don't know, because I sleep like the dead and am completely unaware of things going on around me. Anyway, I woke up about 9:30, and still no power. The house was about 62, so not toasty, but by no means unbearable. Then it was 10:00, then 11:00, still nothing. Finally at 11:40, it came back on. Ramblin' called an hour or so after that to check on the power situation and that on the way to work, he saw what was most likely the cause of the outage. Apparently, a woman was texting and driving and managed to take out a utility pole. Nice. (Update: not a texting driver, two girls stole the car. Geez.)
Power restored, house cozy, cats passed out, cup of hot tea at my side, new project dancing in my head - that works for me.
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New project!
This will be the Sampler Afghan from Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman. I'm using Wool-Ease (Gasp! Yeah, whatever.) in Oxford Grey, since I got 29 skeins of it on a meetup in E'ville a couple of years back. Jenny from the Blog, Ragged and I got in on a JoAnn Fabric clearance bonanza, in their preparation to open the superstore in the old Best Buy building (that used to be The Children's Palace, way-back when). There's not much complete, but I haven't been working on it that long, either.
And in other news, because I know you love it - new yarn!
That's Handmaiden Casbah in Pansy, 80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon. Mmmmm.
Tonight we're staying in, with some homemade vegetable soup and coffee. On the Loopy Ewe blog, Sheri was asking what resolutions people were making, and I came up with a few.
1) Use my rower. Seriously, I've had it for about a year and a half. I've used it twice. Pathetic.
2) Finish the kilo of Parrots roving. Once again, been working on it over a year and a half. Time to get that show on the road.
3) Focus on the positive in life, and let the other stuff go on by.
4) Find healthy new recipes to try. I get incredibly bored of Cooking. The. Same. Stuff. The problem is it's tricky to find things I like. I'm a purist, a term made up by me which means I don't want goop on anything. Remember the Saturday Morning "Don't Drown Your Food"? I took that to heart. I can eat just about anything plain, it's when you start adding stuff that throws me off. The only condiment I use is dill pickles. So all the exciting recipes for Apricot Ginger whatever are not going to be on my list.
Hope everybody gets a extra helping of willpower and stick-to-it-tive-ness for the New Year.
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Also, parrots roving, that sounds very familiar . . .
