So yesterday morning I woke up and found this:

Actually what I found was the yarn stretching between two rooms with the scarf still attached. Squeak is by far the most yarn aggressive cat I have ever had. Like if she sees me knitting, she hops up in my lap to put a stop to it.  She is the devil, but she also spent over an hour last night rubbing her face against my back and licking it. So sometimes I guess she’s sweet. Having five just means I’ve had to officially accept the idea that I am a crazy cat lady.  In other news the new sock is coming along.

Like I said I am unofficially competing so I’ve decided to give myself till the end of the month.  Mostly I just am sick of the projects and want them out of the way so I can move on to greener pastures. This weekend I’ll hopefully get through most of the 2nd sleeve for basic black. Then I can focus on the finishing. Of course since I’ve yet to even cast on for the sleeve….But I have a fool proof plan. A new Falco audio book! How I love the romans in all their bloodwashed hardheaded decadence.

So this weekend was pretty decent. I finally finished that sleeve. Except for you know having to rip out a bunch because I’d dropped a stitch. Oops. Anyway so I finished the sleeve and added a few inches to my scarf.

Sunday we went and picked up our new to us TV. It’s HD but a tube tv since I don’t like flat panels. Also I’m too cheap to spend that much on a television. However he did want HD for his xbox and I wanted another tv for the new house. So anyway a few hours of having *fun* with cables led to the scarf’s growth. I also started a house blog in an attempt to spare you my endless blathering about it. Though I probably will blog about setting up the dye studio in the garage. I added a sink to the garage specifically for it. I still need to get off my ass and do something with my cooking blog and perhaps start updating my not so specific topic blog. Essentially I’m trying to get back in the habit of writing every day since I have that novel I want to finish. I also have another one that’s, at the moment, more interesting to me brewing. It’s rather more Big Idea Sci Fi rather than Paranormal fun though. So I’m better off trying to finish the fun one first since it seems ridiculously easy to get published in that genre these days.

Anyway on to Yarn Pron…

First up we have Sundara’s first seasons club mailing for winter. It’s called Granite falls. I rather like it and was considering Juno for it.

This is classic elite’s water lily. I had wanted this yarn for about a year when it came up on sale at patternworks so I bought a sweaters worth. Of course now I’m not so sure. It’s very pretty in the ball but I’m not sure I’m in love with it knit up. This might become a feb lady. However, Sarkasmo kinda convinced me it would make me look pregnant. I’m thinking since I carry my weight in front and I’m busty perhaps not the most flattering look for me.

This is something I got off destash for like 12 bucks. It’s a sweaters worth of online superwash merino. How could I resist? The color is a bit too rusty for me but it would either look good on my mom or be spectacular overdyed.

Last but certainly not least is Dream in Color’s Gothic Rose. As a not so recovering goth….This is the worsted size and I originally bought it to make another clap. However since then I’ve realized I did buy enough to make a sweater (maybe) so I’m not totally sure.  Meanwhile Justin wants the pillow I’m making him out of it. Can you believe he picked smooshy over malabrigo? Might be for the best since it is superwash. Anyway I was thinking of some kind of woven texture stitch with a plain back. I’m just going to buy a nice pillow form and sew the cover around it though I am going to do it in such a way that I can remove it for washing.

Yes I have been gone for quite a while. Well Justin took for about 5 weeks for work and I settled into a completely lethargic state of lots of tv, some knitting, a visitor and some traveling. Anyway I guess I should do a wip update first and then move on to less embarrassing things.

1. Basic Black

The back, both sides and almost one sleeve are finished. I am not in mad love with the yarn (debbie bliss merino dk) I find her stuff to be over priced for the quality. I have chosen to do the sleeves in the round up to the sleeve cap because well makes sense to me. Who would want to seem up sleeves?

2. Leyburn Socks

Frogged. Cute pattern but off the food the sock was distored by the slip stitch-ness of it. I enjoyed it at first but I felt this mounting dread of SSS so I decided to do a simple garter rib instead.

3. Scrunchable Scarf

Moving along. I did end up purchasing two additional hanks of malabrigo just in case. I know its completely different dyelots but I’m hoping by alternating skeins one old, one new, one old it will work out.

Ravelympics

I am unofficially competing in the wip event. Laugh at me as I attempt to finish up existing projects! I know I will. I have the buttons to sew on wicked, basic black, the garter rib socks and the scarf. Considering recent events I think its going to be entertaining as I flail away and fail.

Wicked

I decided that in the end I would never wear it so I have given it to my mom. Which is funny because she is TINY (4′11″ and not even 90 lbs) . I am not tiny but she swears the fit will be fine with a turtleneck.

The Big News

We finally bought a house. It’s kinda funny how things turn out. I always look at houses. Anyway back in May there was this one older home I was totally in love with. Not so much from the outside but the inside was really nice. It sold. So Justin and I said you know if we’re going to be here we should probably look at buying. I didn’t think where we live now would last us another three years. Size wise I mean besides I’m sick of paying someone else’s mortgage. Anyway one day I decided to get over my snobbishness about Oak Grove and see what was available there. So I looked and saw an interesting subdivision so that night on the way to knitting Claire and I went and found one that was unlocked. I was very impressed. It sounds like small things but they were things you don’t often see around here like actual tile not vinyl in the kitchen and wood or laminate in the living room. So that weekend I dragged Justin out there and he liked it too. It’s also even closer to where he works now. So we looked at a bunch and eventually it came down to two floorplans. Then he left for his trip. So when my mom came up I dragged her out there and we spent oh about an hour in each house discussing their various pluses and minuses. Anyway the general consensus was one had a fabulous upstairs and master bedroom but the rest was meh. The other had a great first floor but the upstairs was meh. So when he got back we discussed it and went with making the fabulous first floor less meh upstairs so we added a bonus room. The other one did have this neat lofted sitting area/office that the one we chose didn’t but over all its a better house. If you want to see the one mine will be based on click the house below to see the photo tour I took.

Tomorrow I’ll show off my yarn acquisitions and go over other things.

I’ve been in the midst of house fever so I haven’t been knitting that much or taking pictures of things other than food. So just to have something to post….

1.What was I doing 10 years ago? Hmm well I was 21. Which means I Had just moved back to St. Louis from a failed relationship/move to Montreal. So I was going out a lot and looking for mr wrong. I was also working my ass off to save enough to go back to school. Fortunately I was a cocktail slugger at a casino and the high rollers loved me.  Even though at the time I didn’t care for the job the one thing that broke me of most of my shyness was being a waitress so it was a good thing.

2. What are 5 things on my To Do list today? A) Finish this blog post B) Catch up on email C) make sure all my paperwork is in order for my long separation from my husband D) Clean up the house E) Meet with builder and ask questions.

3. Snacks that I enjoy? Hummus and Puff onion paratha ( I know I’m mixing countries but its very good), Japanese Gummi, Gyoza/potstickers, Samosas, Pretzels and cream cheese

4.Things I would do if I was a billionaire: A) Start a school in the middle east for victims of ‘marriages of convenience’ (this delightful practice allows people to sell their daughters into essentially legal prostitution and most times the families do not want the girls back which leaves them limited options other than prostitution) B) Buy a huge craftsman home or build a replica of gamble house C) Buy a horse and train for eventing D) Fund a rescue for failed racehorses E) Start a business that specializes in restoring historic homes and modernizing them but keeping in the spirit of the original period.

5. Places I’ve lived: Miami, Chicago, Clarksville, St. Louis, Montreal

6. Jobs I’ve had: Waitress, Cocktail Slugger, Tech Support, Cook, Cared for an elderly woman, Dog bather, Bookstore Clerk

So I figured I should update. The past week has been pretty good actually. I managed to create some order in the chaos that is my third bedroom so now I have a dedicated sewing space. I hope to put in a couple of hours of practice on the machine today or tomorrow. I also have been doing a fair amount of new recipes and I think I’m going to start a cooking blog. I have three huge passions; cooking, reading and fiber. I sort of don’t care for book blogs because it feels like a never ending series of book reports for school but cooking I think I can swing. Besides I end up getting my book blather out with my friend Arra. I’ve not done much besides install my theme yet though but I’ll let you know when it’s up. I think I’ve decided berroco is probably one of my favorite yarn companies. I know some of their older patterns are absolutely hideous. I just love the colors they have been putting on their newer yarns. There is a richness and depth to them that I don’t see from a lot of other yarn companies. I also love rowan and jo sharp for their colors. Anyway…on to the progress

1. Basic Black in Black

Currently I’m past the decreases for the armholes and am working my way to the shoulder area. It’s nice peaceful morning knitting. It’s really a good basic pattern. Not neccessarily the most exciting knit and the black yarn really is a black hole for light but I find it sort of nice to not have to constantly be reworking the pattern or doing gauge math.

2. Leyburn Socks

I like this pattern most of the time. I’m not super compelled to work on it so even tho I fixed the yarn break issue (enki’s fault) I haven’t done much else with it.

3. Spinning

This is by far my favorite fiber so far. It’s a 65/35 merino/silk pencil roving.I love the colors and it just drafts like a dream. I am actually going to get some undyed so I can do a semi solid for a scarf. I think this will be a scarf too. I’m thinking knit lengthwise on kinda big needles and it should be really pretty.