Lame-o

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Yep, that’s me. Lamey McNonblog. I really don’t know where the last month (actually more) has gone . . . I think I may be boring or something. Or perhaps the usual February Torpor lasted just a leetle bit longer than usual this year.

Okaaaay, so let’s get this thing back up and running with a list, whydontwe?

Here are some of the things I’ve done since last I posted:

1. I wished really hard for a snow day and didn’t get it (stupid weather!)

2. I knitted some socks (surprised?)

3. I got about four more rows done on the Neverending Cardigan . . . maybe if I didn’t shove it in the bottom of my knitting bag so regularly, it would have been more than four . . .

4. I went to a kickass slumber party with my knitgirls (you know who you are)

5. I turned a year older, but probably not wiser

6. I started taking yoga classes at my gym with the Hub

7. I got to meet my niece and nephew for the first time ever (Hub’s younger half-sister is their mom, and she just got out of the navy — we hadn’t seen her in seven or eight years)

8. I caught the gardening bug again and have started planting/planning/dreaming/weeding/getting splinters.

9. I tried, and failed, to do my taxes (I have to upgrade my system software to use this year’s TurboTax)

10. I voted in the Texas presidential primary election.

11. I cooked some new recipes . . . some were successful, others were not.

12. I saw my OB-GYN more times than a person should in several years. I mean, ok, I like her a lot, but I don’t necessarily need to see her that often.

13. I read a couple of books — nothing too notable, just some fiction fluff

14. I held fast to my “knit from the stash” resolution, and did not buy any yarn.

15. I had my hairdresser bleach stripes into the front of my hair, and then dye them purple. Yes, I’m serious. They’ve faded to a blondish color, but still.

Allrighty, I can’t think of any more to tell you right now, so I’ll leave it at that . . . pictures to follow soon (but not of everything on the list, sheesh. )

Actual knitting! And cats! And furniture! Wow!

Okay, I know. Even though I’ve been posting a bit lately, it’s all boring crap with no fun yarn stuff.

Well! I promised knitting, so knitting you shall get!

First up, the Everlasting Cardigan. Or Neverending Cardigan. Cardigan of Perpetuity. Whatever.

the kitten paw is bonus

I’ve got the back and the sleeves done, and these are the two fronts (miniscule as they may be)! I’m knitting them both at once because a) I’m a glutton for punsihment, b) I thought it would be just that much fun to make this project seem even more neverending and c) So that I would remember to do the shaping at the same place on both pieces. I’m still not really sure why this project is taking so long, because I like the yarn, and I LOVE the color, and I really want to wear the finished sweater (it’ll be next year at the soonest). Hmm, maybe it’s all. that. stockinette. Ya think?

Until about, oh, this week or so it’s been pretty chilly around here (for Texas anyway), so I’ve been wearing the hell out of all my handknit socks . . . and I finally got to the point where I had no more clean ones and needed to wash them all. I wanted, too, to try “handwashing” in the machine by filling up the tub, dumping in the knits, soaking them for a bit in wool wash, and draining and spinning, because I hate hate hate doing the roll-it-up-in-a-towel-and-stomp-on-it thing. Sadly, I was a little skeered, and let the socks sit in the laundry basket unwashed for a while before NanC came over and held my hand while I tried to figure out how to make my washing machine do what I needed it to. I really was scared that I would dial it in wrong and felt everything (including the superwash ones). Hey, I never said I wasn’t irrational!

Anyway, I took the plunge, and I have to say that this is quite possibly the best way ever to wash all those knit socks! Yay! And I never realized I had so many . . . here they are all smooshed up together after drying:
I seem to have a lot of socks in some shade of blue. Must remedy that.

And now for something completely different . . . furniture and cats!

Y’all may not know this, but ever since we moved into this house (almost three years ago), it has been my intention to put some sort of pull-out sofa or futon or something in my fiber room in case we ever have overnight guests (the spare bedroom upstairs — Hub’s “office” isn’t really as suitable). But every time I really seriously went looking, I couldn’t find anything in my price range that I liked. By the way, when the hell did futons get so expensive?? So I waited. And waited. And didn’t really forget about it, but resigned myself to waiting and saving some cash up. Then my February HOA newsletter came, and I just happened to glance at the back page (where there are sometimes “classifieds”), and saw that one of my neighbors was selling an oak-framed futon, cheap! Whee! I called, and went to look at it, and a couple days later, they were nice enough to put it in their van and deliver it to my front door.

Mardi really likes it, too

I haven’t quite figured out yet where to put my wheel, and my other chair, etc, but it’s all good — I now have seating for more than one knitter, and overnight guests don’t have to sleep on an air-mattress on the floor.

The cats really like the “suede-like” cover, and I thought for a moment yesterday that I had caught an actual moment of affection and non-growling between them . . .
Abby isn’t growling!

But then, a second later . . .
Yep, growling.

Upcoming fun things

Ack! Another more-than-a-week has gone by without me blogging! Why do I seem so surprised? I dunno. But it always does seem to catch me by surprise that I don’t blog more often.

October always seems to be a busy month for me, regardless of what is going on in the rest of my life, and this month was no different. It used to be various fundraisers and “public” events, but now it’s more busy of the hearth, home, and hobby variety.

Only a few days are left in Socktoberfest, and I’m celebrating tomorrow with my knit grrlz with a Beer Tasting and Potluck Party and Super Secret Single Sock Syndrome Swap thingy (it’s like the Second Sock Syndrome swap going on out in the larger blogworld, but on a much smaller scale). So yay for SocktoBEERfest!

OH! Don’t forget to switch your clock this weekend (if you live in a place that does that)! I love the fall switch, since we seem to gain an hour on Sunday . . . I always wait until I wake up on the Sunday to change the clocks in the fall, because then it really does feel like I gain an extra hour. Conversely, in the Spring I always change the clocks before I go to bed the night before, so that I don’t feel the sting of the lost hour quite so dearly. And yes, my capacity for self-dilusion is impressive, thanks.

Anyway, I can’t believe it’s almost November. Or, should I say, NOROvember! Kathy is hosting this, so go over and take a look and join up! I have a project in mind, and just have to choose the yarn (which y’all may actually be able to participate in, actually).

Also in Norovember is the Kid-n-Ewe festival in Boerne, TX (down near San Antonio)! OK, so Rhinebeck it’s not, but it’s better than nothing! Julia is organizing a leetle knitter/blogger meetup down there, and it’s going to be a blast, so if you are free the weekend of 11/11 and you want to join the fun, well, come on! I’m thinking that if we get enough people meeting up there this year and next and the one after that and so on, it will eventually grow bigger and better and all that stuff. You know.

Oh, and Brooks Farm will be there (among other vendors).

Mystery on the High Seas!

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Since my last entry, I went to a kickass knitting baseball game with a bunch of my grrrlz . . . like, more than two weeks ago! I did take pictures, but they were all completely unflattering (and I’d like to keep my friends by not posting horrible photos of them on the internet), so if you’re curious, you can read about the night here or here. Both of them are better bloggers than I am, so you may need to scroll down a bit.

So, this morning I came in to work to find a mysterious object right smack in the middle of the work calendar on my desk . . .

hmmmmm, a pirate chest?

And after a bit of searching, I found a key that opened it . . . there was all kinds of cool stuff inside!
stickers and map bits and tattoos, oh, my!

Where did it come from? Well, Davy Jones must have left it for me! (Actually, it was my new coworker, but whatever. It’s a pirate chest, how cool!)

Eh? What’s that? Knitting content? You came here for knitting content?

Oh, okay . . . I guess I could show you the painfully adorable baby sweater I finished (and already gave to the baby in question)!
my first baby sweater . . . I love knitting baby sweaters!

The baby’s name is Diana, but her big brother nicknamed her “Daisy” about 4 months before she was born . . . so I thought it only fitting to make the Daisy pattern from Knitty (designed by our beloved Yarn Harlot), and to get buttons that are shaped like daisies! Squee!

And since it’s so freaking hot here (31st straight day over 100 today, thankyouverymuch), I opted to make the 3-6 month size so that maybe there’ll be a snowball’s chance in Texas that the sweater’s namesake will ever get to wear it. Mama loved it, and the actual Daisy, well, she didn’t have much comment, which I take as a good sign, since she didn’t vomit on it or anything.

Specs:
Pattern: Daisy sweater from Knitty (links above)
Yarn: Berrocco Touche, color 7930; it took just over 3 skeins
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size 7