Shut Up & Knit!

I may be coming down with something

Season 2 of Vikings starts tonight.  I cannot wait.  I'm starting to think I need a corgi named Ragnar.  Not that I need/want another life to be responsible for because wow... I really don't.  However, spring is here and corgis are adorable.

Or I may have sock yarn fever. 

Stripey sock yarn fever at that...

 

I'm sure there is someone to blame for that but I'll be damned if I can think who...

Having a dodgy week topped with the joy of cramps, so today has been cancelled in my world.  I'm blaming the Vikings because I can.  Anyway, needed something happy and somehow ended up driving across the burbs through pounding rains to visit my LYS.  I always feel better there and this trip was no different.  Overheard a conversation about how much a yarn store in a neighboring county sucks.  Why, yes, they do.  One of these days, I need to tell y'all how that trip went.  I still wonder if I imagined it.  Then I read the Yelp reviews and realize it wasn't just me and PinkyD.

Yes, I have a plan.  Yes, there was more than just what you see in the photo.  No, Merrily, I did not get sweater yarn.  Although, I did fall in love with sweater yarn.  Just not brown sweater yarn.  May need to revisit that whole idea...

Did I mention that it was bright and sunny when I left my LYS?  Yeah, it was.  It's that kind of yarn store.

The green thing of doom is drying.  Slowly as it's damp and weird here.

Kat wanted to see where I did the color changes for those fabulous mitts.  Here ya go, Kat!

So in love with that pattern.

Happy Thursday, people!

Viking Saturday

Vikings starts Season 2 Thursday.  Looks like you can watch all of Season 1 here.  (Video page starts by itself.  You have been warned!)  Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that I am spending my Saturday with the Vikings.  This is what happens when Colin Farrell doesn't return my calls.  

Speaking of moving on...

The dot is proof I need a new phone...

 

The fabulous striped mitts are done!  They are fabulous and I kind of want to keep them.  However, they are not for me.  They will be shipped off to their new home once I have finished my current project.  The green thing of doom.

It's always the simple patterns that make my eye twitch, and this is one of those patterns, people.  I'm looking on the upside and putting my faith in the fact that I will know what I'm doing the next time I knit this pattern.

::nods wisely::

So today will be about Vikings, knitting the green thing of doom and finishing up spinning the singles on the current spinning project.  Thankfully, today is another good Saturday that is rounding out a week that ended on a high note once I was done yelling.  I like these happy quiet weekends.  I think it's the giggling with friends that does it for me and feeling lighter and brighter.

You may not have noticed but it's been rather a while.

Good news makes it all better, of course.  I would share because it's a hoot but I know that some are tired of me going on about my dead mother.  So I'll spare you.  I know too much happy makes people edgy and jealous.  We can't have that.

The sun is out.  The birds are doing their thing and I really am sorry.  If it makes any of you feel better, the paperwhites are done and gone for another year.  The early daffs are also done and I doubt there are any tulips left out there.  Damn squirrels.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Cell Phone Photos Are Well Dodgy

Stayed up far too late last night/this morning.  Feeling it a bit this morning, but it's okay.  It's already a good day. 

Told you!

Texting with beloved girlfriends, who make me giggle, think, and feel like part of the family.  Drinking tea from my partner in crime out of a cup/mug/becker* given to me by a darling friend at the perfect time. 

With luck, my day will be spent spinning for my partner in crime, knitting for someone who actually appreciates me as weird as that sounds, and  feeling loved/lucky/blah/blah/blah.

No, I do not have a fever.

I'm just grateful to be where I am with the people in my life.  I spent some time yesterday pondering how lucky I am in my relationships, and how blessed I am to have been released from an abusive one**.  Being free and allowed to do as I please is a wonderful thing and I am grateful for it... daily.

Waiting for rain.  Hope I remember to close the kitchen window went it starts.  Yeah, I hate me, too, igloo dwellers.  *L*  Wishing for someone to bring me lunch but it's my own fault for not getting Chinese AND pizza yesterday.  What was I thinking...?

Must go.  Colin Farrell is waitng for me.  Such a good boy that Colin Farrell.  Then again, he could be bringing me lunch.  Hmmm...***

Happy Saturday, everyone!

* Hello, Mrs. Bucket!

**Non-romantic relationship with someone who did not allow me to leave when I was done and needed out.  Freedom from that living nightmare is the most amazing thing in the world.  Best gift I have ever recieved, I think.

***  I know.  Press tour for the new movie, in which he has stupid hair.  Thought it might make a cute date night out into the world.  Then remembered I don't do romance.  Dodged a bullet there.  *L*

It's Squishy Here

Let's try this again...

No, not Mrs. Squishy.

It's been drizzling since Thursday.  We need the water but the charm has worn off.

Last week was full of birthdays.  The weekend was full of laughter, people who know me well and love me anyway, and a tiny bit of knitting.  This week is chocolate and drizzle.

No, that can't be right...

Waiting for hand-spun to dry.  Slowly working on the most fabulous thing I have EVER knit.  Yes better than the wedding veil someone ugly cried over.  (The crying was ugly.  She is always beautiful.  Yes, I have photos.)  Better than ANY schmatta or cabled sock.  Yes, really.

Yeah, that's all I've got.

Hope your Monday is dry.  ;^)

Stripping for blogging

I never realize how many layers I have on until I have to get modeled shots of something like armwarmers.  Then I suddenly feel like an igloo dweller with all the layers and struggling with new agey fabrics and such.

It would work better if someone was helping, but my someone is working and that's not really helping me right now.  Thankfully, y'all are used to slightly dodgy photos here.

Twenty-three inches long...

Absolutely Fierce Armwarmers.  It's a free pattern on the Ravelry machine.  It calls for worsted weight yarn and stripes.  I took a pass on the stripes and used a light worsted that's been in the stash for far too may years.  Natural Wool, which has been discontinued.  That makes me a bit sad, however, having used it for these sleeves, I'm not all that sad.

I don't normally care for the thumb slit thing but, for this pattern, I think it's okay.  Gives me options for how to wear them.

See the change in the ribbing?  Yeah...  Most of the pattern is knit on 2.75mm needles.  Where you see that change, I'm using 3.5mm needles.  It gives some interest if you're being kind.  Or downright weirdness if you're not.  I can see how it helps in the styling... if you're looking for some kind of a slouchy thing to happen.

However, being slightly old school, I prefer to wear them more like opera gloves.  Any bagginess happens at the elbows as god intended.  God, in this case, being Wagner, of course.

I have found that putting them on is a bit like putting on stockings.  Before you start, you need to make sure that everything is facing the right direction.  Otherwise, trouble may ensue.

I can see knitting these with a long cuff that could be folded down for the snow bound.  If I was ever going to wear them without using the thumb, I think I would make a tiny button hole.  That gappiness would make me crazy if I had to deal with it.

I like this pattern so much, I will be knitting again.  Most likely in the same yarn for a girlfriend in another state.  Just like this pair, I will re-enforce the thumb hole just to be safe.  I also may rethink the yarn.  I'm sitting here wearing them and am starting to get itchy.  Not cool.

Current Project

Although, it is larger today than it was when I took that photo.  Y'all know how it goes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go put some layers back on.

Happy Wednesday, people!