!

JoAnn's had balls of white worsted wool for two dollars apiece today. I bought six of them. Thursday after work I'm taking my tip monies over there to see if there are any left.
Seriously, I was fucking freaking out, I'm going to knit hats for Graham and myself and probably Odin out of this yarn, after dyeing it [fucking duh]... I'm way excited.
I love knitting the socks, and I don't want to set the needles down for ANYTHING, but I lovelovelove to knit hats more than anything else, and I'm going to learn fair isle and some shaping with these hats [respectively].

Also today I got Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation, after much deliberation in the book aisle. Choosing between that and Sexy Little Knits was really hard, but there are things in here I'm going to knit NOW, and things in Sexy Little Knits that I want to knit sooon, but not this moment. Sigh. My Christmas/Birthday list was compiled today, and it includes a dozen or so books [off the top of my head I remember Fitted Knits, Knitting Lingerie Style, Knit Two Together, uh, whatever that cables book is called], some interchangeable needles, a Jacquard starter kit, bamboo dpns, and a knitting bag. In theory I can manage to get it all too, if I get a couple gift cards this year... I always get a Border's card, so that's one book there for sure, maybe two if Uncle Jim is feeling spunky when he picks the cards up...

Oh, and I would like to take the time to say that the pattern browser on Ravelry is amazing, and is way helpful as I'm trying to find sock patterns to show Doug's Mom. She wants to learn to knit, and to learn to knit on SOCKS!!! Go Kelly, I say. She wants to make them for all the grandkids for Christmas [awww], and she and I are gonna first pick her out a pattern and then go to the LYS and get her hooked up [and probably get Doug to buy me some stuff while I'm there, too. I really want one of those nifty elasticy hold-all-the-dpns-at-once end protectors. And some project bags. All my small purses have VELCRO on them and I'm sick of using plastic grocery bags. Maybe I should just knit up a project bag...

Maaan, I have to go, I HAVE TO DYE SOME YARN BEFORE I EXPLODE!! I can't wait until I have pictures to show, I have three skeins of sock yarn dyed already, one to go, and tons of worsted on the way!

A---Igt Blah. Dammit!

The dramatics are becoming a bit too intense for my liking.
My Mother is going insane. I'm going insane.
I miss Graham. I miss Heather and Nic and Mike and Traci and Andy...

I have no more stamina to type, my Mom wore me out. I can't wait until I get to Virginia.

DoomCat

*Somewhat* settled in now.
Boxes stacked to the ceiling in the garage. Tons of stuff left to do for moving. But, it's underway.
And I finally got on msn tonight, and Graham wasn't around. [sadness] I'm still hoping he'll show up though...
If all else fails I'll just go chill in the camper I suppose and write him another letter.
Knitting has been disastrous lately.
Can't concentrate on anything.
So anxious to get to Virginia.
To the ocean, to the mountains, to this soon-to-not-be-interweb-only boy.
I've been dyeing sock yarn.
One that makes me think of a rainbow zebra on crack, one that only makes me think of the Tori Amos song Talula, and a third that is like melted pink candies... With some grape. They're all fingering weight wool and all for socks...
And I have one skein left to dye...
And I'm done here.

muststoppackingforamomentori'lldie

Today has been fucking insane. I broke the drain in the bathroom sink, which no longer opens. Subsequently, I flooded said bathroom. This morning I locked myself out and broke in through the window and wound up finding my keys in the WASHING MACHINE. What the fuck? Then I learned that the front door was unlocked.

:

I have packed most of the upstairs, though, and have to pack up the car, do some sort of shit with fluids or whatever, and drive to Traci and drop off the Rainy-Day-Craft-Boxes I made for CarlMarx and Isabel... I have yet to get ahold of Heather, who hopefully gets up in time to come with me to Shepherd, cause I don't wanna drive by myself.
I mailed Graham a postcard and forgot to put the stamp on it. Maybe they can help me out at the post office about this.

I still have a million things to do. But, the crafts room is nearly completely empty, so I'll get the trash out before I go. The closet is almost empty as well, just shoes and hangers left. My bedroom has been empty for awhile, all I really have to do there is pack up the playpen and take down all my art.
But.
The downstairs, that's another story. Though most of my stuff is packed, except the kitchen, but I'm only keeping one small box of kitchen stuffs. So that's okay. And I'm not touching anything of Doug's. He can do all that by himself. It's enough that I've done all the coordinating for the yardsale and the laundry and dishes and packed up myself and Odin and all the household stuff too.

Maaan, I'm impatient today. And hungry. And I want Heather to call me back. NOW. I've already left her three messages today.... I should lay off for awhile. I guess it's time to go fluid my car and pack up the stuff for Traci and Heather and get some eatables, and call Heather more in the meantime...

Music for the CrazyDay:: Primus. Nothing special, just Primus.

What in the F[riff]ing Name of Odin

Tomorrow the move begins. All this stuff goes to Doug's parent's house. I don't get to use the computer at my every whim anymore, and I don't get to talk to Graham like I want to. It'll all be good in the end, 'cause I'm going to Virginia, and I'll get to be really close to him [compared to now, anyway]. We have basic ideas involving tons of cool stuff... Camping and museums and waterfalls and mountains and the ocean and lots more.

It does give me lots more time for knitting. Though a lot of that time will be likely spent composing letters.

Anyway, I'm gonna go get some stuff done before he gets back online, for then I want only to be distracted from household pre-moving duties by him.
La.

Song of the Night:: Alice in Chains, Angry Chair

Beer 'n' Chicken

...Another long day of bullshit. Serious, unedited bullshit. Legal bullshit, that is. The worst kind.
Aaaaanyway, the knitting is still buried. The crochet is all messed up, but I have taken precautions: I got some split stitch markers so I remember where to join and the book? pamphlet? Crochet Made Easy, because as far as I'm concerned the Internet failed to teach me properly.

So, after this long day of organizing for the yard sale, washing dishes [to sell at said yard sale], and setting up for the yard sale, I'm going to chill on the couch and have some Zen Frogging. Hopefully I have time for some re-crochet too.
I'm also going to wax myself. I don't react well to shaving [as shaving creams tend to make my skin ANGRY most of the time and no shaving cream gets me covered in teeny cuts and dry-skin-from-hell]. Really I'm just enjoying this time I have while Odin is falling asleep in my arms, for once he's passed out for good I must bust my ass. Dammit.
Worst thing? Doug hasn't gone through ANY of his stuff yet. But, it's Doug's job to get the stuff out of the storage unit, so whatever. I'm okay with setting it up. I think organizing is fun.

It's sorta sad to see my huge pile of possessions all piled up for sale. I'm not going to have much left... Though I am saving my yarn-dyeing pot. How can I get rid of that? The sucker's even got a glass lid, and it's steel and all. It's gonna hide right in with my stash. It's not for food, it's for yarn.

I swear, once I'm in VA I'm gonna go crazy. I'll be perma-dyed in the hands [I think gloves separate me from what I'm creating too much, I can't feel what's going on with them. Even latex.] and happy as a fucking lark.

Note to self: must stop swearing, child will be speaking soon.

Song of the Day:: The Killers, Smile Like You Mean It

dammitdammitdammit

So the Massive Organization for the moving sale has begun. Heather came over and we priced everything, and she helped me realize it was okay I got rid of a lot of stuff...
On the down side, all my knitting is BURIED, stuck up against the wall packed in by boxes upon boxes of stuff for moving... I am NOT happy. This means I can't get to it until SATURDAY after work...
Though I do have a lot of stuff to do around here until then... But still, fucking dammit!

But, now I must go shower and do responsible grown-up things for a little bit, for today is one long action-packed day, and I'd like to have Odin's bag packed and my clothes ready to go for tomorrow by the time Graham and I get to talking... I might explode if I don't get Graham-time tonight.

Lord Abalaster, Baron of the Entertainment Center

I'm so happy, for so many reasons...
Odin is walking, almost well enough to not look drunk
I've reached a point with knitting where it doesn't seem like everything takes forever. Maybe it's that I'm knitting continental more and more, or maybe I'm just suddenly noticeably better. Yay for that, either way.
Crochet wasn't as hard as I'd imagined it would be. Turns out I just had to pick up the hook and give it a go... Plus, this is going to be sooo cute. It's also a lot easier to frog crochet :D
I made a really yummy venison meatloaf today, with the perhaps-now-perfected Stephanie recipe. W00t me.
There's a huge bowl of grapes and cherries just waiting for me to gorge myself on them.
Graham's put up new excellent music, though he did take down Amsterdam...

But.

Not too much else has happened. I'm being lazy with that other i-cord, partially because I hate knitting 2-stitch i-cords. The five stitch cords don't bother me in the slightest, and I actually like making them because they feel a little like snakes while I do it.
Anyway.

Yesterday, in between feeling sick and feeling super sick, I got to play with Nic and Heather's new pet, The Creature [read: iguana]. He's unlike any other iguana I've been around. We were feeding him lettuce, and he was travelling from one lap to the other eating from our hands. He camped on my leg for awhile so I could pet him, and sat there with his little eyes closed happy as can be that I was petting him. It's too bad it was the snake's nighttime... I love me some snake-time.

But, I'm going to clean off the table... I suppose that just because I'm out of dish soap doesn't mean that I can leave the dirty dishes wherever I want. :
Plus, there's nothing I really want more than a cup of tea, some cherries, my crochet, a movie, and Graham-talkings. And I can have all of them, all at once. With a sleeping baby and a not-home-yet roommate even!

Tonight's movie:: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, original

Grisly Reaper

So I've been rolling this idea about in my head lately for some new dyed yarns, inspired by some various things I've been pretty into lately. So, below are the sources of said inspiration and the ideas I have for them and any input would be lovely.

David Bowie:: ice blue, violet, black
Venture Brothers:: red, yellow, brown
Moonspell:: pomegranate stain. As in, I want to take all the fruit out of said pomegranate and just rub it all over the yarn. Maybe some cherries and blackberries too.
Princess Bride:: soft pink with specks of white
Smashing Pumpkins:: early years: dark yellow and multi shades of green; gish: vibrant purple, teal, black; Adore and the sad phases: deep purple, dark blue, and brown
Vincent Price:: Bright violet, scarlet. This would have to be a very luxurious yarn with absolutely NO acrylic content.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:: red, green, pink, yellow, blue, orange. Sock yarn. Maybe self-striping?
Displacer Beast:: plum and black
Cthulhu:: sick dark green with flecks of mahogany and black/purple
Snozberries:: fuscia and magenta
Tiamat:: [Tiamat is my kitty, but also a Babylonian Goddess] as many shades of blue and green as possible, dyed in no particular order, perhaps just by splashing the yarn at random with immensely concentrated dye. If you follow the link and read the first paragraph, you'll understand.

I have a million more ideas. I love to dye yarn. As soon as we get to VA, I'm going to get some Jacquard dyes because I've heard so much about them, and I'm going to experiment like CRAZY. Though lately the idea of staining yarn is really on my mind.
Has anybody tried that? Does it work well? Can I get wine, fruit, tea, etc. to dye yarn with proper heating and/or whatever else?

Song of the night:: Monster Magnet, Space Lord [which would be silky shiny yarn with lots of stretch, in reds and black]

Outlook:Shitty

Today's feeling not-so-good has turned into feeling like shit.
All I want to do is sleep; I can't even knit. Around four it started getting really bad when I couldn't even concentrate on an i-cord. Consequently, the G-String isn't quite finished, but I only have another cord to make and some blocking to do. Yay...
I also frogged that scarf. It was sad, but there was NO WAY I would have had enough yarn to make that scarf. It would have been maybe four feet long, and I wanted six, so yeah. Just as well, I suppose.
But, Skylar's coming over to hang out with Doug, so at least I don't have to feel bad about laying on the couch and not really being social, and Graham will be around tomorrow so I don't need to be sad that I'm missing talking-times

Tonight's Try-To-Feel-Better Movie:: The Princess Bride

Good News-Bad News

On the subject of sweaters::

I'm really glad I picked something uber-easy for my first sweater, but seriously, all this garter-stitch is really driving me crazy. Though it'll be nice in a way, because once this post is done I'll be lying in the couch with my coffee, desperately trying to either pass out or just rest, and I can knit this mindlessly.... And seriously, this is a TON of garter stitch. Oh well. It'll be soft and comfy and stuff, and with the huge gauge it'll be nice and breezy too, considering it's Southeners I'm knitting this for.

In other knitting news, I've started the G-String I've been meaning to, though after some serious debate in projects... I considered knitting Frenchy, which is another Naughty Needles creation, but knitting some 30-some inch i-cords did NOT sound like fun.

THIS, however, this is fun. This yarn is better than sex. Nobody toooooold me Alpaca was sooooo wonderful!! I made some progress last night, to my amazement, as after eleven I usually just hang out online chatting, but I made it through a few sets of the pattern, yay!

I swear, someday, someday I shall learn to take a decent picture. But I just love this yarn. I could knit from only Alpaca forever and ever and ever.

BUT.

With every exciting knitting post there must be some sort of horror involved... And this is just depressing. This is my Miranda Scarf, which is going to be frogged today. This was my Call of Cthulhu knit, and I was not knitting sober, and I somehow added a stitch. When I tried to take the row out I just kept messing it up, and having never frogged cabling before I had no clue how to get the stitches to go on right... So I just kept on frogging :(

She was a good two feet long, too. I suppose I could get her back on the needles with little problem, figure out where I am [the pattern is horribly easy], but after this baby sweater I don't have enough of this yarn left to make Miranda as long as I want her. I like super long scarves, and I'm pretty tall.

Okay, dammit, I can't get the image to show up, but you can see it on my flickr. One of these days I need to talk to somebody who knows how this damn thing works better than I do. Aaargh.

I think that once the sweater is done and I've done a bit more on the arm warmers [also available on flickr, I'm not playing the Please-Upload-My-Photo properly game again] I'll start another scarf, but if it's cables it'll be Persephone [you can see that by mucking about through the Miranda link], though I don't think it will be. Maybe some lace? I haven't done lace yet...

Anyway, I'm for the couch.

Song of the Morning:: Sublime, Caress Me Down

grr, argh.

Right now I'm supposed to be taking things out of the kitchen , placing them either in the [massive] For Sale pile or in the [itsy-bitsy] box of things to keep... But seriously, that sucks. I really should get it done though, so when Odin is napping I can get to the Art Room.
Having to get rid of most of my art stuff makes me a little teary and very very angry, but it's for the best. I keep saying "VirginaVirginiaVirgina" over and over in my head, and remembering all the excellent things that come with Virginia, like...
The ocean and the mountains, Aunt Alice and her pottery [and me getting to make pottery too], Graham, the warmth, a new place, buying NEW art stuff...

I don't know if I'm just lazy or having a hard time with this. Picking up a box and knowing that all the cute little things I bring [the un-useful and un-yarn stuff] have to fit in this teeny tiny half-the-size-of-a-box-of-diapers box is horrible.

Anyway, I really want to get some knitting time in today before Graham gets online and I get sucked into the computer even more... Maybe I should take a break from the kitchen and chill the fuck out. Or maybe I should just suck it up and get it over with.
Besides, I have to finish this baby sweater so I can start on all the little scandalous things I'm making... Which also have to do with Virginia, *ahem, ahem*

Song of the Afternoon:: Deftones, My Own Summer

They Said Hello, I Said Goodbye

So.
I deleted the last blog I made because I never posted in it. Technically it wasn't the blog's fault; Odin got Bronchitis and I wasn't online much or knitting at all... And really, I've been toying with the idea of it for awhile now, especially since [insert whining voice] everybody else has one...
I've also made the Important Decision to give up MySpace, and this will give me something to do Tuesday nights instead of being sad that I can't go to Call of Cthulhu these days.

Well. I guess really that's all I've got for now. I must go and spread the news about this, and now that I think about it I should tell getStitchy that my old blog should be removed from their blogroll... And I have to play with my format, for I am Perfectionist Incarnate.

Song of the Night:: Katatonia, Ghost of the Sun