Shut Up & Knit!

Slightly Hyper Monday Love!

I got to see my best friend for a little while yesterday and it's made me all happy and shit.  Don't worry.  I should be back to hating the world again by mid-afternoon tomorrow.

At one point, we were each holding a skein of the same yarn (in different colorways).  I read part of the label to her and said something that only she would understand.

"I get it, but I don't get it.

The label claimed the yarn was "mothproof", and while I do understand what that means, I don't really understand what it means in terms of how one "mothproofs" yarn.  What did they do to the yarn?  How was it mothproofed?  Thankfully, we've known each other forever and she understood. 

There aren't a lot of people who speak my brand of dork, ya know.

Her favorite holiday/time of year is Halloween.  I think that may have had a little something to do with this very cool reusable bag she gave me.  I have no idea where she got it, but I'm guessing somewhere on etsy if I have to make a guess.

Not only was there the really cute bag, but the bag was stuffed with stuff!

This is from Tempted.  It's a Merino (80%) Silk (20%) blend in the colorway Bordello.  Who doesn't love that name?

And this is from DragonFibers.  It's a Merino (60%) Bamboo (40%) blend.  It has more crimp than the other bamboo blend I tried to spin and I have high hopes to be able to actually spin this one.  The colorway is called Party Dress and it may not be what the photo is showing. 

It's still my blog, ya know.  Photo issues are a given.

Don't judge me.

There may have been yarn, candy, a severed plastic finger and some fabulous lavender goodies, but I have to hold something back for later, right?  I mean, I've been working on Lyra for over a month now with no end in sight.

Plus I suck and shit.

Not that it's news.  :p

Oh, and I also love that's currently harvest and that there is so much going on as we all get ready for winter.  I even sort of love seeing all the squirrels running around.

Sort of.

When I'm not in the car.  0.o

I hope your Monday has some love and candy in it.

The Cottonwood is blooming. All bets are off.

Isn't it cute?!

I won this last month at the Superstarra-ville blog in honor of Earth Day.  I am starting to have quite the collection of reusable bags and I think this is my favorite.

(Thank you, Christie!)

It even got a smile at out of the new cute boy at the Trader Joe last week.

No, I did not use the voice on him.   I can control it when I'm paying attention to what I'm doing.

Btw, we're pretending that those are some kind of fancy decorative grasses and not a flowerbed full of weeds that I have yet to get to.

Thank you for playing along.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to return to staring off into space zombie-style while I want for allergy season to be over or for my death. 

Whichever comes first.

At this point, I don't really care which.

Because most of you were good...

& Because I said I'd show y'all today...

Tripping The Prom Queen is about female friendships and rivalry/jealously/etc.  I'm still working my way through the preface, but it does seem interesting and timely as petty jealous social climbing females may end up being the topic of my week.  It's better topic than last week's, but we'll talk about that in a couple of days.

Just reading the preface before bed last night made me realize how lucky I am to have such amazing, loving, generous and thoughtful women in my life.  Once upon a time, I wasn't so lucky, but that seems a long way off.  As I pointed out to a darling friend last week, I am blessed in the friends I have, and would not be the same without them.

Wrap Style surprised me.  I have flipped through it a few times and never thought it was for me. I am not funky or cool.  Nor do I bother trying anymore.  However, when my copy arrived and I was looking through it, I saw something I had missed before.  A wrap that I really want to knit for myself once there's a bit less of me.  Y'all know.  This book also has my next project in it.  Shetland Triangle in the lovely lilac-y color (#378... Day Dream) that Joan sent me.

See... I do take direction well.  I'm just picky about who I listen to.  ;^)

The lower yarn is a skein of Mountain Colors lace weight.  The color is called Mountain Twilight.  It's all deep blues and purples.  Perfect for me right now.  No clue what it will be.  I wonder if my Joan has any ideas on that front...

The little blue thingy is lip balm, and don't forget the fab canvas bag.  I really do love those things.  There was also a notepad that is currently under the phone and was having a diva moment when I was trying to take photos.  Yes, those are Addi Turbos.  I think Joan is trying to tell me something.  Should I be afraid?

Oh, and there was also a package of Magnetic Poetry in the box.  I was playing with it last night and didn't want to take down what I had made.  We may or may not be talking about that later.  We'll see.  Getting to play with the words was good for me and helped my current less than fabulous mood.

Oh, oh, and there may have been chocolate but you'll have to talk to my knitting attorney about that.

What?

You don't have a knitting attorney?

Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. 

They really do make things easier.

So does my Joan, but you can't have her.  She's mine.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have yarn to play with and a shawl to block. 

No.  Not in that order.  Don't be silly.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

1 Photo in 3 was in focus

It's been one of those days/weeks/lifetimes.

I cannot believe how much stuff I got in that bag.  Who needs plastic bags when you can have an angry little girls tote bag?

And no. 

Nothing for you.

Well...

Maybe...

But no.

Somehow... like I don't know how it happened, I ended up at my LYS on my way to the post office, which is in a different zip code from the LYS.  Go figure.

Great changes are taking place at my local yarn store and I'm looking forward to everything being finished and complete.

While I was visiting, I made a point of getting the new issue of Piecework magazine, which has an Estonian shawl pattern by Nancy Bush in it.  It's all nupps and loveliness and, thanks to Margene, I already have the yarn for it.

I also got some more wool wash, so I was able to finally wash some socks and my worsted weight Swallowtail.  During the cold months, I use it like a bathrobe in the mornings and it needed a good soaking before the weather turns cool again.

Yes, it's the end of July and I'm already planning for winter.  I have to.  It's the only way I can survive in this climate.  You people have no idea what's it like. 

Unless you do.

In other news, there is no other news, and I'm not sure that's newsworthy.

Yeah, I got nothing.

Happy Thursday, people!

I knew it!

I only spent about 45 10 minutes yelling that at my computer this morning.  Along with two or three other words tossed in for good measure.

Btw, is 'ratbastard' one or two words?  *L*

Remember this bag?

This bag is a fabulous reminder that The Closer is returning next month.  I cannot wait.

It has turned out to be my favorite reusable bag.  It reminds me of the tardis.  Much bigger inside than outside.

You would not believe how much yarn you can get in that bag. 

Or fabric.

Or food stuffs.

But, let's be honest, mostly yarn.

See the white lines running across the width of the bag?  That marks a pocket that is perfect for holding knitting magazines and patterns.

It was the perfect thing to have with us Saturday while wandering around my LYS.  So much better than using one of those hand basket thingies.  This leaves both hands free to touch stuff and wonder what you could do with it.

It's also easy to hand off if you need to get down on all fours to look at sock yarn.

/cough

Love this bag.

Oh, and the yarn peeking out?

The green is a hand painted Opal sock yarn that I will be turning into socks for the KnittyOtter.  The pinky stuff is lace weight from the fabulous people over at handpaintedyarn.com.  The plan had been to knit Cozy with it, but now I'm not so sure.  I've got about 1,700 yards and it may need to be something better than Cozy.  We'll see...

And a huge thank you to everyone who commented yesterday about short rows.  I'm going to take some photos to add to the tutorial.  I thought that might help the visual learners in the group. 

Then again, we know about my photography skills.  *L*

Happy Monday!