The universe is speaking...

And it is telling me to make socks and mittens. I've been inundated with awesome sock and mitten patterns for the past month. We're talking a near daily occurrence here between magazines, books and new patterns on Ravelry. Clearly, someone thinks I need to make some and I'm beginning to agree with that assessment.

I just got an awesome new book from Ilana called Socks, Socks, Socks by Elaine Rowley. 70 sock patterns, y'all! And there are bunch of patterns in it that I want to use post-haste! I feel a trip to the LYS coming on quick to stock up on sock yarn. Perhaps not this coming weekend (will be too busy) but the following for sure!

At the same time, I have a major interest in mittens. Not just because of the crazy cold winter we had this year, but because I keep reading things about them in magazines and it's making me want to knit them. I think the medieval mittens from the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Piecework because they are simple and elegant looking. I think perhaps in red and white, or red and black? I also love the Brewster Socks from that issue.

And while I'm on that subject: Piecework has been publishing awesome things lately! The Jan/Feb issue, the March/April issue and the special Knitting Traditions, Winter 2010 are not to be missed! If you like really interesting articles about the history of knitting, knitting traditions/techniques from different cultures, and patterns to go along with these things, you really need to get your hands on them - especially Knitting Traditions which is chock full! Ravelry currently only has 17 patterns from it in the database, but there are actually 43 in the magazine with accompanying notes about the historical or traditional patterns they are taken from, many with full articles about the extant item or techniques that the pattern features.

I also can't wait to get up to VA this summer. If I get to go to DC again (which I hope will happen), I'll get to stop in this little VA town just off of I-66 (I think) on the way, where a woman who sells SpinOlutions wheels lives. I've already contacted her about meeting her to test drive the wheel and then - should it turn out to be as awesome as it seems to be - I'll have a new wheel coming with me to DC or if not then coming home with me on the way back from DC. I also need to send my HitchHiker to finally get its double-treadle retrofit. I keep putting off packing it up because I feel like I'm going to need to spin something desperately the minute I do, but there really is no reason to keep putting it off; it needs to be done! I just need to buckle down and do it already. Ilana sent me some yummy BFL too and I want to get to spinning it ASAP! But I want to have the double-treadle when I do, I think.

In other news, my hip seems to be all healed up finally (I cautiously say, while knocking wood, so as not to tempt the evil eye), so I should be able to cautiously begin spinning semi-regularly again (as soon as I get that double-treadle). Yay!

Knitting update...

I finished a sock! Successfully! o.O How did that happen? I'm currently working on the second one.

I've also finished the lace shawl that I was working on for what seemed like forever. I've washed, blocked it and taken pictures, but haven't put them up on Ravelry yet. I've also started on another shawl.

I'm working on a Piggle for my niece.

I've decided to make scarves for my littlest sisters. I just haven't decided on yarn or patterns yet. I'm thinking something trendy, but simple. Maybe braid cables or just a plain 1x1 rib. There are a lot of scarves in stores like that right now and they're at that age where they would probably like something very trendy.

In other news, I continue to work on washing, skirting and carding the llama fiber I've got. It's been slow going with work, but now that I'm on Thanksgiving Break for the next 9 days(!!!), I should have some time to power through the rest of it. I definitely want to have it all carded and done by the time I leave to go visit family for the holidays.

Weekend projects...

My friend Joe and I planted fruit trees on Saturday. My mom has been wanting a yard full of fruit trees for the better part of 30 years and something has always happened, either to them once they've been planted or to prevent trees from being planted at all. But now we have them. An Anna apple tree, a Dorsett Golden apple tree, a papaya, a mango, a Florida Hass avocado, a Meyer lemon tree, a Persian lime, a Key lime, a Valencia orange, a Hamlin orange and a Brown Turkey fig. It was quite a day, filled with digging and hauling and peat moss. We already had an Anna apple, a Brown Turkey fig, a pink grapefruit and a lemon tree. The lemon tree and the pink grapefruit both used to be orange trees. They died back in freezes back in the 80s, their graphs died or something, and when they grew again, they started producing other kinds of citrus fruit. I think this is the neatest thing about citrus trees. Both are much more than 30 years old now because they were here before the house was built in '79 and the land was still an orange grove.

I took the subject area exam on Saturday as well. I'm confident that I passed it and will be very surprised if I didn't.

Today, I went to the yarn shop but forgot to take along the notes about projects that I want to get started on soon, so I didn't get any needles or yarn for planned projects. I did get some yarn though. I can't go there without picking up something. I got some Qina in Wisteria and some Angora yarn in peacock green.

And then this evening, I made banana bread. I hope that it will be delicious and strongly suspect it will. I should post the recipe. My mom has been using it for about 30 years.

I've been working constantly this month. There have only been two weekdays the entire month of October when I haven't worked. So very busy. It's good because more work means more money, but it's still been quite a lot of work and I'll be glad to have some time off. This week, I know I'm working Monday and Tuesday, but I'm not sure about the rest of the week yet.

Edited to include recipe:

My Mom's Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream the sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl. Add vanilla and eggs. Beat together as if you were making scrambled eggs. This will help the bread be lighter. Add bananas. Stir until well mixed. Add all dry ingredients, a little at a time, stirring together in between. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and pour mixture into it. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. The very center of the bread will probably still be a little moist and the corners will look like they are too dry when it's done.

Knitting...

I've finished knitting the shawl I'm making for my sister. It took considerably less yarn than the pattern had indicated. Now I have an entire skein of Malabrigo Lace, plus a little more, left and nothing to do with it. It's my sister's colors and very much not mine. I might hold on to it in case I come up with something else to make for her, but I might also put it up for trade/sale on Ravelry (*loves that feature*). Now, I'm waiting for the blocking wires to arrive from KnitPicks. I decided to order them since I really think it will be much easier to use them to block rather than just using pins and my bed. I want this shawl to look really good.

I'm also working on mitts for my friend Lara. She wants gray owling mitts. I'm using Mirasol Qina. I love this stuff! I think it's my favorite yarn at the moment. I'm worried about the mitts not fitting her though, so I've had to put them down for now until the next time we hang out and I can get her to try them on.

So I am out of projects to work on, since I have no yarn available for anything else and no idea what I could make with what I've got on hand. I guess I'm just uninspired to come up with something.

And, even so, my fingers are itching for a project.

I've ordered yarn from KnitPicks as well. Bare Peruvian Highland Wool. 15 skeins. I'm going to use it for the Lace Chuppah pattern that was in one of the Interweave Knit magazines a few years ago... Am I nuts to be working on a Chuppah when I don't even have a boyfriend, nevermind an impending wedding? I don't know... Maybe it will bring certain energies in my direction. One never knows. But I'm going to make it anyway.

The order hasn't even been processed yet, so I probably won't get it for at least a week.

Movies and other things...

I've decided on the Victory Shawl on Ravelry. I found yarn at the local LYS's five-years-in-business sale that will be perfect for my sister, so I bought it and am making this shawl for her for Christmas. YAY! I still need to figure out something to make for myself, but I can at least put off making those decisions for a few more weeks.

I'm already on the 11th "module" of pattern repeats (the pattern is in French - thank goodness for my high school French teacher and babelfish!). So far, it's looking good!

Don't scroll down if you haven't seen Wolverine or Star Trek and you don't want any spoilers for either movie. Because spoilers, they are abounding below... Wolverine is first, then Star Trek, so if you're clever with your mouse, you could read about one without reading about the other...

And for those of you who haven't seen Star Trek yet... I'm just gonna leave this here to tempt you a bit (and as awesome as the trailer is, it still doesn't quite capture just how amazing the movie itself is):



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Wolverine was awesome, despite what they did to Deadpool. Lots of people have objections about what was done to Deadpool's character, but I thought it worked for the purpose of the movie and the plot. Others might disagree. Overall: bone claws, backstory, general awesomeness, pimp cane wielding Gambit. I'm a happy girl. Also, I'm easy for Hugh Jackman. I even liked Kate & Leopold because of him and I greatly dislike Meg Ryan as a general rule.

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Saw Star Trek on Thursday at 7pm in an advanced screening. My first reaction was basically that it's THE MOST AWESOME RESET TO EVER BE MADE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER! BAR NONE! NO, I DON'T CARE!

Seriously, I couldn't get out of my seat even to stretch after the movie was over until the credits had completely finished and the houselights came up and even then I was on a cloud of happy for the next three days. That has never happened to me before, even with LOTR: ROTK, and I cried through the last 45 minutes of that movie the first time I saw it. So. This is saying something. I think I also hyper-ventilated due to awesomeness-overload a few times.

It was really great.

James T. Kirk is a badass. Who likes 20th century rock music, vintage cars, motorcycles and leather. I approve. Spock is pretty badass too. Together they are unstoppably badass. As it should be.

Sulu kicks ass and takes names. Really, really, loved his character in this.

McCoy... OMG, Karl Urban is an amazingly underrated actor. He became McCoy more than any other new actor became their character in this movie. He had down the way DeForest Kelly spoke as McCoy, his facial expressions, the way he walked... Everything! It was incredible. Also, he had some of the best lines. Really quite funny and I loved him.

Scotty and Chekov and Uhura are completely brilliant. Uhura could have been given more to do other than being a love interest for Spock, but there were a lot of other characters and she is, after all, a language specialist. She translates. So... yeah... she's important, but not exactly necessarily in the thick of things a lot of the time. Also... Spock is her former professor... making their relationship a little... questionable on the ethics scale, imho (and if I understood that situation right), because he's still has authority over her at Starfleet Academy. However, I can see why they did it given how much Uhura flirted with him in the early days of TOS.

Others have complained about a few things and I'll tell you why I think these complaints are nit-picky and dumb.

• #1. That the make-up they used for the Orion (the would be the green girl who was Uhura's roommate) Kirk was trying to bone looked fake and was jarring.
  
  Dude, she's supposed to be that color green. That species looks like that. They have green skin, just that color with bright eyes and often times (any more) brightly painted lips so that there's somewhat of a - what I like to call - radioactive cats effect. It's not supposed to look like Rebecca Romijn did when she played Mystique in the X-Men movies, even though you might think that's a "cooler" effect. Just no. Orions always look pretty much just like they did in TOS. Always. It's the way it is. Accept it or GTFO. And if you still thought it looked like the most fake effect ever and you were startled by it so much you laughed and thought she looked ridiculous, I suspect you're not really a Star Trek fan to be perfect frank about it.



• #2. Tyler Perry's cameo.
  
  I didn't even notice it a little bit, and I've seen it twice now. The second time, I knew he was in there somewhere and still didn't notice. I think someone's been watching too much Madea.



• #3. Kirk and Spock Prime were suspiciously marooned on the same planet.
  
  Delta Vega is what it is. It's the planet that people get marooned on apparently (see TOS episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before"). Go with it. Also, one can easily see that Kirk and Spock would have been put on the same planet since there probably aren't that many M-class planets near Vulcan... Delta Vega being one of the planets in the Vulcan system. Also... It's the planet that Nero and his crew were mining when Romulus was destroyed. So, yeah, makes sense Spock would get dumped there by them.
  
  My little issue with this: Why is Scottie necessarily on the same planet? That was a bit convenient. And I find it a wee-bit coincidental that Kirk and Spock were dumped off close enough together to actually find each other just by chance before making it to the base, but I guess since they were in proximity to a Starfleet station, they were both probably intentionally placed there so that, after trudging through the ice and snow for a while, they would eventually find shelter and not die of exposure. But really, I'm more than willing to let these points slide.

Also didn't have a problem with:

• Winona Ryder being Spock's mom


• Any of the casting


• The new look for the ship


• That Kirk became captain at 25. If you saved Earth from being imploded, I think Starfleet would give you your own ship too.

Things I did have a problem with:

• I have no logical explanation for why there would be water on the floor in some parts of Nero's ship. Were their bilge pumps not working or something (not that they'd have bilge pumps on a space ship as opposed to a regular floats-in-water ship)? I really want an explanation for why they wade through ankle-deep water in space...



• The Nokia thing being in the car, and the "Budweiser Classic" at the bar... Because Earth in Star Trek is supposed to be post-capitalism. I'm not sure they really have brand names in the Trek universe. I'm not sure what explanation there could be for it other than product placements are "the thing to do" in these kinds of movies these days, and personally, that just doesn't fly with me completely when we're talking about STAR TREK for the love of all that's holy in science fiction. I certainly have never seen them in any other Trek movies or shows. So that did give me pause once I thought about it. But, really, I'll let it slide...

Other than that, I think I loved every nanosecond of the movie and can't wait for it to come out on DVD, and can't wait even more for the sequel(s? - please, I pray).

Random update...

Moved my doctor appointment up to today (well, yesterday now) because my acid reflux went a little nutz Sunday night. Still no closer to really having that under control, thanks to prescription drugs being crazy expensive and health insurance choosing not to cover anything since not having it won't kill me, but it was still good to discuss the findings (or not-findings) of the ultrasound I had last month in greater depth. Nothing to worry about there, and the chances that the pains are being caused by something life-threatening like some sort of cancer or serious like chronic appendicitis are pretty well diminished to as near to non-existent as possible without a hell of a lot more scans (just to be 100% sure)... so that's good.

Also the bursitis is improving as quickly as can be expected... It's just something that takes months and months to heal. He gave me some more tips to help it along. The stretching has been helping. I also need to minimize how much I drive as much as possible and adjust my car's seat a bit so that as little pressure as possible is put on my hip. I might also buy one of those posture support things for my car and one for home use and another for work because most of those "ergonomic" chairs at work are ironically painful to sit in, even for a few minutes, but not as painful as standing for over 7 hours straight. I need to get a new computer chair for home too. Really, really need to do that. I've found that using a straight-backed dining chair to sit in while spinning also helps because it's higher and straighter than my computer chair or any of the chairs in the living room. I might be able to return to more regular spinning... although not at the pace at which I used to work, where I was spinning about 6 ounces a day or more. Half an ounce a day, max, if I'm careful and cautious about it. But that's much better than nothing at all.

My left-over lung yuckiness from my cold is almost entirely gone. YAY!

Also, I've officially lost 10 pounds in the past year! \o/ This is a very good thing. I don't want to loose weight quickly, I just want to be headed in that direction - loosing, rather than gaining - without having to be working out like crazy or depriving myself of things I want to eat. It's working so far! Also, my doctor was able to discuss this with me, and express that if I could loose another 20 over the next few years, he'd consider that a perfectly healthy weight for me, BMI be damned, without offending me at any point. He's the first medical professional I've ever seen who has managed to do that. Kudos to him.

On to another random observation: I'm really liking Cupid on ABC. It's on late, at 10pm. But it's kind of a delightful light sort of show. A nice balance to all the heavy drama I tend to watch. If you haven't seen it, give it a chance if you would. It's cute... Fairly predictable if you know anything about Classical mythology, but still cute.

I'm coming out of my warmer weather induced desire to knit with nothing but cotton and now I want to make a shawl. Lace. Soon. I've got a hankering because several times this winter and spring I've wished for a proper shawl for times when a sweater is just too much and bare arms are just way too cold. Laminaria maybe? With cheap merino lace yarn from KnitPicks, I'm thinking? I would do the Danish Wrap Shawl that I've been wanting to make forever but I don't yet have the variety of appropriate handspun yarn I'll need for that, so it will have to keep waiting.

Simple Steering Wheel Cover

I decided after years of using a steering wheel cover I bought in desperation at Walmart that I really should get rid of that thing and make one myself. I searched and searched for a steering wheel cover pattern that I liked and couldn't find one. So I made one up! :D





This is designed to fit a steering wheel with a circumference of 46 inches. If your steering wheel has a different circumference, measure it and knit according to the pattern for 60% of that measurement. With that said, onward to the pattern itself...

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Yarn:
2 balls of Peaches & Cream Worsted Weight 100% Cotton Yarn in your choice of colors.
Needles:
Size US 10

Pattern:

Holding two strands together, CO 12 sts.

Knit in garter until long enough to stretch tightly around the steering wheel. (In this case, 28 inches.)

BO.

Sew BO edge to CO edge, being careful that it doesn’t twist.

Sew onto the steering wheel. It will be very tight, and should not require anything else to prevent slipping.

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Now, it's true that this is not so easy as some to remove to wash. But if you use a constrasting color yarn to sew it on to your wheel, or you're just really careful, you can cut the string you use to sew it into place and then un-sew it, wash it, and then put it back with a yarn needle and either the same string or a new one. It works for me anyway...

Yay! Yarn! And Pie!

I made pie tonight... Pumpkin pie... Two of them. With this recipe. I didn't have any evaporated milk on hand, so I made some myself on the stove... Took about an hour and a half to slowly boil 3 cups of milk down to 1 1/2 cups... Next time, I'll just run out to the 24-hour Super Walmart. Still. YUM!







I spilled the filling of one of them just a bit, so that's what the darker places are on the crust edges.

I just tried the first piece... It's very custard-like and the pumpkin flavor isn't very strong (although it still tastes good), and I added an extra 1/2 cup of pumpkin. I may need to strain the pumpkin better, or it could be because my pie crusts weren't large enough for the entire filling. I made the same amount as the recipe calls for, but the pie crusts weren't deep enough for it all. Deep dish pie crusts are obviously a must.

And I finally uploaded pictures of the yarn I made for Jensen and Jared's socks.

Jensen's color... worsted weight, superwash merino:




The main color for both pairs of socks... worsted weight, superwash merino-alpaca:




Jared's color... worsted weight, superwash bfl:




I also just uploaded the pictures I took the weekend before last when I went out to a park in Pasco County with my mom and her friends from dog training class. They have a doberman. A very well trained doberman. Far better than our Maxie.

Maxie:

Updates and news...

Short bit of business first! My sister, Lara, now has a blogspot blog... It may be found here. :D Be sure to check it out...

Also, Ilana, she's in love with the pumpkin soap you made. As part of her Christmas gifts, I gave her half of what you sent me this past summer and she's clamoring for more already. LOL!

On to updates and news:

So I worked my first day as a sub yesterday. I subbed for my mom while she had to go to a professional meeting downtown. 8th grade, physical science honors. Boy, was it ever exhausting! I slept for 14 hours after I got home... Kids, man- Oy! It wasn't bad though. I think it was mostly just that it was the first day and whatnot that it tired me out so badly... Still don't have another job lined up. But it's early yet...

I saw My Bloody Valentine 3D on Wednesday night with Joe. I loved it. I had never seen a movie in 3D before and I thought the effect was pretty cool. I don't usually like horror movies, despite my love of Supernatural, but it was precisely because of my love for Supernatural that I couldn't pass up the chance to see Jensen Ackles in the 3D on a big movie screen. (Slight spoiler here) His character in this, "Tom," was similar in many ways to his character in DeVour, "Jake," although MBV was much better. (End of spoiler.) Jensen can do no wrong in my eyes. I thought he did a fantastic job. Kerr Smith - who I last saw in Dawson's Creek - also was pretty amazing. Overall, a typical slasher flick, which lives up to the "Bloody" in its title... so if you go in for that sort of thing, or if you love Jensen, make sure you see this in the theater. I - being a bit of a wimp when it comes to this sort of thing - did not watch the death scenes, but I enjoyed the movie nonetheless.

I also have been spinning... the superwash alpaca-merino blend I got from etsy. It's very soft, but not so easy to spin. It's like a merino roving I got several years ago now that put me off spinning merino for the longest time. The fibers are so smooth and slippery that they have a tendency not to draft very easily, so it's a bit fussy... I can't tell you the number of times that the yarn has broken between the bobbin and my drafting hand and I've had to stop and pull it back out through the orifice and try to get it joined to the roving again... So totally not my favorite thing to spin. The resulting yarn, however, is very nice, and I think it will make some very yummy socks. I've spun 210 yards from 3 ounces, and now am on my 4th of the 12 ounces I bought. Pictures will be up on Ravelry, if not here, as soon as I take them.

Come on up for the risin'...

I've been watching Inauguration festivities coverage on CNN all day. I'm very much looking forward to Tuesday, though I won't be able to watch the Inaugural coverage live because I'll be in training to be a sub on Tuesday (O.O FIRST DAY!!! O.O) Right now, I'm listening to Springsteen singing with a gospel choir on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (points to subject line)...

Earlier today, one of the CNN correspondents got a bit... editorial... I guess, and said that there's the Washington Monument and there's the Lincoln Memorial, and the reason that it's the Lincoln Memorial and not the Lincoln Monument is because Lincoln is a more human figure in the American imagination and not this distant figure of the past like Washington. Ahem. *rolls eyes a bit* Acktuly, it's the Washington Monument because its construction was planned during Washington's lifetime and he knew it was to be built before he died, and it's the Lincoln Memorial because its construction was planned after Lincoln's untimely death, so he never knew that it would be built. Really, these are technical terms and have nothing to do with the historical figures' place or characterization in the collective American consciousness. See, I paid attention to the tour guides during my eighth grade trip to DC.

Now for the real reason I wanted to post something this evening...

I've been spinning this weekend. For Jared and Jensen's socks.

These first two photos are of the yarn I've made for Jared. It's custom dyed superwash wool from Blue Faced Leicester sheep.




I wanted a dark midnight blue-vaguely purple in certain light sort of color. Since it was hand-dyed, and hand-dyed things can never be completely and uniformly solid, there were some bits that didn't take the dye as completely as others, making some bits appear more gray than blue. To me, it sort of looks the way wispy clouds do in the night sky, so it works for me.

The last two pictures are of the batts I bought for Jensen (to be clear, both pictures are of the same wool, just at different angles to show what I'm talking about with the lighting). This is the first time that I've spun fiber from batts instead of roving, and I actually found that the batts were much fluffier than I expected they would be. The color is gorgeous and hard to capture. The pictures don't do it justice, but I did try. It shifts from periwinkle blue to a spring sky blue kind of color, depending on the light, but always it's a very deep, strong kind of blue. It sort of reminds me of Forget-Me-Nots. And it's superwash Merino.




I've spun about half of the amount I bought for Jensen, but that's drying after being set right now and so a picture wouldn't show the color at all accurately so I haven't bothered to take one yet. Will do that asap...

Randomness...

I drove home last Friday. It was a long day. And my birthday was Saturday. It was a good day. I went out to lunch with some friends and to the movies. In the evening we had pizza and watched reruns on tv.

Yesterday, I posted more/better pictures of the things I made for holiday presents to my Ravelry account. There were a few things I realized I never took any pictures of... I think I need a "D'oh!" graphic to put on there for when I do that. I really hate not having some kind of picture to put up...

I've been sick since at least Saturday (went out for my birthday in spite of it because I wasn't going to let a pesky thing like being sick ruin an otherwise perfectly good day). I'm feeling significantly better today, but still not quite 100%. It's just a cold... or a mild flu... or something. I'm mostly just tired and feeling a vague malaise now, all other symptoms having thankfully subsided.

I've been keeping busy by spinning and looking for sock patterns. I can't remember if I said before, but I'm going to tackle socks yet again. To make for the boys from Supernatural. Yes, I am. I got that superwash roving I ordered and plan to employ it well. I've got the first ounce of the BFL I ordered spun and plied, and I'm waiting to see what weight it's spun up to before continuing. I need a worsted for the socks I want to make. It's ribbed and stretchy and also the pattern is written for Jensen's size... and hopefully it won't be difficult to upsize this pattern to fit Jared. So... yeah...

Oh! Ilana! Before I forget, thank you once again for the lovely things you sent me for the holidays. I unpacked yesterday and I found a little sample of roving in the bottom of the bag you made for me which I had missed before. What is it a sample of? It's very pretty.

Today, I ordered a flawless ironstone teapot on etsy, which I'm really excited about, and bought a new stainless steel tea kettle at Target. Our old enamel one, which I've not liked for a while now because I realized that the inside is Teflon, had gotten a chip in the enamel and had started to rust on the outside, so yeah... New one...

Tomorrow, I want to make biscuits. I got this fantastic recipe while I was in South Carolina for Cat Head biscuits. I need to find where I wrote it down though... But it's basically a buttermilk biscuit that one doesn't need to roll out and cut, so they're really quick and easy to make.

Updates and New Years...

It's almost New Year's Eve, today being December 30th... Today is my sister Heather's birthday. She is 13. YAY! Happy birthday, Heckie!

I've been spinning my "wine" Ashland Bay merino. Another 98 yards of worsted. It's all yarn now, no more of that roving left. I think a beret/slouch hat for myself... But this seems to be my answer for every bit of yarn I get my hands on nowadays, so who knows what it will end up being. If I'm not careful I'll spin all my stash before NaSpinMoMo on Ravelry... That's a lie... I don't think it's possible with the leaps and bounds my stash has grown by in the last month, and will continue to do so for at least a week longer, most likely (keep reading)...

I brought three knitting projects with me on vacation - I can't remember if I mentioned this before - and when I sat down to start at least one of them last week, I found I have no needles with me for any of them, despite the fact that I've brought all my knitting needles with me. And despite the fact that there is an LYS somewhere near here, I've yet to get over to it when it's open to buy some needles of the correct type and size. Fail, Rachael, fail.

But that's okay because I've found other things to do with my time. Like trolling etsy and ebay for pretty things. I've ordered four rovings, and alchemied another one on etsy (because i just couldn't find what I wanted in the right color/fiber). *facepalm* What was that about not increasing my stash until I had knit it down? That's okay though (*shifty eyes*) because this stuff is for very specific projects. At least that's the intent. I want to make socks for the boys... Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, that is. In their favorite colors. Stripes. Some thick socks to wear on cold days in their trailers or in their house while playing Guitar Hero or whatever it is that they do... Why not. I'm going to aim for a dk or worsted weight and I don't expect that to be too very difficult. I'm also making them matching hats (hats that will match their respective socks, not hats that match each other's). Yes, more hats. Don't judge me. Of course, I have no idea when I'll finish these or when I'll give them to the boys because I don't expect to go to any more conventions any time soon. Susan wants me to come with her to the Vancouver one perhaps, and while Vancouver is beautiful, I have no money for a con that expensive in my hometown, let alone one that will require the addition of round-trip cross-continental, international airfare costs. So maybe I'll give them to Jared at EyeCon again. A day ticket there, I can swing that if I really want to... I just wish they'd up their security and have the damn thing at a time of year when Jensen would maybe want to come too... But I totally understand why he doesn't and if I were him, I don't think I would either. Not that I fault Jared for coming... I guess what I mean to say is, I can see why Jared wants to come to the EyeCon conventions and I can see why Jensen doesn't and I totally support their decisions and think it's perfectly right for them to do what they do... So, yeah... Superwash roving for socks, regular roving for hats. Ordered and on its way here...

Other than that, today I'm just waiting for my parents to get here. They're on their way back from the cabin to where we live in Florida and on their way through SC, they are stopping by the Burough. They should be here any minute...

And that's about it... So if I don't get a chance to say so before then: Happy New Year! May it be a year full or rewards, love, understanding and peace.

Pretty things...

So I went to the LYS today... It's only the second time I've been, as I only found out about it a few weeks ago on Ravelry. It's somewhat close to me in the northern part of the county... Fiber Arts, Inc. YAY! I don't have to drive all the way down to Knit n' Knibbles!!! Fiber Arts, Inc. doesn't have any spinning stuff (though neither does Knit n' Knibbles last I checked), but if one has a serious need for some premium yarn, they've got a wide enough selection. And that's what I needed today.

Yesterday, I found that I don't have time to spin up some more roving for the mitts Maria wants. There was just no time to narrow down to a pattern and try to get the right weight and then also knit them. I want to leave to go to South Carolina on Thursday, so the mitts have to be done before then...

So I found some lovely alpaca-bamboo yarn called Mirasol Qina. It's SOOOOOOO pretty. It's got this beautiful sheen to it and kinda jumped off the shelf into my hand. So soft, so sleek. I kinda love it... Also found a lovely pattern and I'm about half-way done with the first mitt. (I work fast under pressure, y'all.) Pictures will eventually find their way to my Ravelry stash & project pages, if not here.

So if you're interested in this sort of thing, and haven't already done so, get a Ravelry account and find me on there. Same username.

New Knitty, YAY!!!

It's taken hours for it to start loading quickly and completely for me... I guess there were a lot of people really happy about the new issue too.

I really like the Amy Clark Moore Interview. How awesome is she? Also the article about dyeing roving, which is something I'd really like to try, but haven't yet gotten to... And I'm glad that the Fiber Fiesta includes some reviews of BFL fiber because I have been wondering about it. Looks like nice stuff.

On to the patterns, starting with the handspun ones:

I love the Esteem pattern! I want to make that! O.O

Rusty Nail is also gorgeous! I want! And the Black Rose socks and fingerless mitts!!! I feel like Christmas has come early, y'all... You know, I've noticed with the past several issues, I like the the handspun patterns better than the others for the most part... They're just so neat, and I can more easily see how I can customize them for myself. I guess that's the nature of the beast.

I love Fern Glade! I'm thinking of making that at some point very soon. I've been looking for a slouchy/beret type pattern (there are so many out there...), and this might just be it.

Larus + Ardea is pretty too. I don't know if I'll make them, but I do like the two-tone edges.

Socks!!! Now, as we might have noticed, I have yet to successfully complete a pair of real, all the way down to the toe socks. Pedicure socks, yes. Whole and complete socks, no. Fargyles is really tempting. I love textured things. And they look freaking nifty! Also, I love Plaited Points.

I will probably never make them, but Oomingmacks makes me laugh. Likewise Socktopus...

Barkalounger would be torn to pieces by my dog. No chance. She loves chewing on felted wool way too much...

Not too very enthused by any of the sweaters... Just not feeling them this time...

Spinning and garden adventures...

So I've been spinning since receiving the roving I ordered earlier this week. I've got the 1.5 ounce sample of gray Shetland, one ounce of the 4 ounces of Merino, and two ounces of Falkland spun. I've only been blocking these skeins for about half an hour after washing them and then drapping them across the clothesline in the yard so they will dry quickly, which has worked very well. Two hours after I ply the skeins, they're dry and ready to use. *loves this*

I've been using the new-to-me predrafting technique described at Knitty, and spinning differently than I have before. I read somewhere quite awhile ago and can't remember where that if you put little spin into your singles, and then a lot of spin into the ply, you get fluffier yarn and the fiber goes farther. So I decided to try that and I have to say, it's very true. I've also been figuring my yardage, which I've never really made of point of doing before. Out of the latest ounce of Falkland, I got 126 yards of fingering weight yarn, which is exactly the weight I was hoping to get for the project for which I made it. The first ounce I spun turned out to be worsted weight when I gauged it and about 100 yards (still not bad and I'm sure I'll find a use for it). The ounce of Merino is 115 yards of worsted, which is the weight I need for my planned project for that too. I had never gotten over 100 yards out of an ounce before to the best of my knowledge and I'm quite thrilled about this!

The Falkland ounce is still a little damp on the ends that were hanging downward, so I had to adjust it so they are in the sun now so it will dry completely faster. (OMG! English verb tenses!!!) As soon as it is, it will be swatch time! *does a little dance*

Some pictures of the roving before it was spun and after:

Merino:




Shetland:




Falkland:




All of them:




And here, have some pictures of what's going on in my yard right now... You'd think it was May and not mid-November.

Some kind of flower that grows in water. Don't know what it is:


Apple blossoms:


Grape hyacinths:

I didn't mean for those to be coming up right now, but they surely are and I just hope that they don't die because they're coming up at the wrong time of the year...

A frog... or toad... or something... chillin':


I've looked it up and I believe that the frog is a "green frog," as seen here.

Our 13(?) goldfish:


The garden:

Beets:


Radishes:


Broccoli (which probably won't grow fast enough):


Carrots and parsnips:


Assorted lead lettuces and garden peas:


Mustard greens:


Turnips:


Collards:

Yay! and other things...

I got the coat I wanted! I'm so happy about that because I really kinda love it. Now, I just have to wait until it gets cold enough to wear it or for Christmas to come because it should be cold enough in Virginia. We're going to the cabin for the holidays... the only reason I won't go is if I still haven't gotten the subbing job. My mom thinks I should go anyway, and she might convince me yet, but my neighbors are going to Spain for Christmas and they have asked me to pet-sit their dogs. It would mean more than $300 if I do, which is a lot of money, you know... That would more than pay for all the presents I'm making with a generous bit left over... so we'll see. I probably will end up going to Virginia despite this temptation, just because I know my mom has got some valid points.

• I'll eventually get a job and make money.


• I don't need the money, I just want it.


• I can't buy holiday memories with my family.


• What's the use of staying home to offset the cost of the gifts I'm making/buying, when everyone would rather have me there in person than a gift.

A lot of valid points... So... yeah... And I'm sure my friend Maria, who will be pet-sitting for us, and is also moving to DC in January to attend grad school at American University, would appreciate the extra $300 that she won't have to borrow for the semester if my neighbor would want to hire her if I'm not here, since she'll be living at our house while we're gone anyway.

I also got the roving ordered that I need for the rest of the Holiday gifts I'm spinning/knitting... It should be here Wednesday at the latest. I can't wait! I got some Falkland, which I've been wanting to try for the longest time. I've heard different things about it. Some say that it's like Merino, and others say it's more like Corriedale, so I'm eager to find out for myself. In any event, it should be very soft. And I also got some Shetland in two different colors. I love Shetland! OMG! I think I want Shetland sheep at some point... They're just so beautiful, cute and lovely, and their wool is dreamy... They'd be good sheep to have, I think... And for myself, because I want to make myself a hat to match my beloved pashmina scarf, I got some European Merino in Sky Blue. From Ashland Bay. I'm wishy-washy on Ashland Bay. I think their Corriedale is seriously inferior, useless stuff. Easy to spin maybe, but not for anything I'd want to make with it. It's too coarse! Who wants coarse Corriedale? It defeats the purpose... Ashland Bay's Corriedale, imo, really isn't a good example of the breed's fiber. I've gotten absolutely heavenly soft, comfortable Corriedale from other suppliers and especially from individual farms, stuff that's closer to Shetland (but not quite as fine as Shetland), so I don't know what's wrong with their stuff. But we'll see how their Merino is. I have hope. The color is certainly very pretty on my computer screen.

A note on Merino... I've never been overly fond of it because despite it's softness, it can be a little tricky to spin. I find it kinda... sticky... generally... But I recently heard from a vegan PETA person at a knitting gathering that the Merino industry is rather evil. Not an unusual thing to hear from a vegan PETA person, since it seems everytime I hear anything from anyone that extreme it's with the attitude that anyone who doesn't treat animals like they would another human being or better is cruel and immoral... So I didn't really take her at her word. The things she was telling me made no sense as far as what I knew of raising sheep for wool. Mistreating sheep damages the wool and the value of the fiber on the market, and therefore the bottom line, so even the most callous industrialist - I would think - would want happy, healthy sheep that are well taken care of if sheep fiber were their business... I would think... So I did some research because what she was telling me was just so disturbing. She, of course, made it sound like all Merino sheep are mistreated, and I told her that I found that very hard to believe, and that most of the roving I get is from a small farm in NC (which is true, most of what I spin comes from Spinners' Ridge and Gate City Yarns - formally Yarns, Etc. in Greensboro). I told her that it's very easy to find wool produced under ethical, caring, healthy conditions, that all one has to do is talk to their suppliers. She didn't seem to believe me and prefers to stick with acrylic... because the petroleum that acrylic is made from doesn't hurt animals, you can see the logic there... :/ Oh, well... Even so, here's the 411 on Merino mistreatment... European and New Zealand Merinos are protected by law from the mistreatment they are subjected to in Australia - some barbaric practice called "mulesing" (I think I spelled that right), which I won't describe because it's just too disgusting. It's illegal in almost every country that produces quality Merino, but not in Australia. There it is widely employed to control parasites. Seems to me there must be better ways to go about that. So I'm inquiring where the Merino I buy is produced and boycotting Australian produced Merino, until the country outlaws the practice. I don't want fiber with that much blood and pain attached... just, no...

Because I'm not tired yet...

(though I hope to be shortly) and I'm trying to distract myself from the fact that the roving I ordered did not work out for me to spin (I am allergic to Louet brand roving... who knew?), but I'm sure Ilana will enjoy it and have better luck... I'm going to ramble a bit about things not very important in the grand scheme, but currently relevant to myself... Jewelry, fashion, colors and the coalescence thereof...

So... I have an awesome blouse I bought a few months ago. I had a coupon for a free $30 at Lane Bryant, I needed several shirts for the High Holy Days, it fit well, the color wasn't vile, I bought it. It was about $11 after discounts were applied. I love shopping wins. Plus it's 100% cotton, no petroleum-based synthetics - FTTW! I didn't think much of it at the time, it was just something I could buy to fill an immediate need and hole in my wardrobe. I have since fallen in love with it. It's a midnight sky blue. It has... not Swiss dots (since those are embroidered in) but something very close to them woven into the fabric and ever so slightly puffed sleeves. It goes with my coral necklace that I asked my sister to make for me because such color combos are IN according to the people who decide these things, as portrayed in the film and novel "The Devil Wears Prada." (Also, they say that bold, "statement" jewelry is the thing. And will continue to be the thing for at least the next year.) I am in love. Honestly, it is my favorite outfit right now and I fully intend to wear it half to death before Spring when it might be out of style. *nods sagely*

The coral necklace came to me one day in July. I was gazing at some coral beads in a bead shop and I thought I usually hate wearing such a bold red, but omg, those would make a pretty necklace! But I wavered on it for a few weeks and didn't buy the beads until almost September because until then I didn't have a vision of what I might want the necklace to look like. But I did buy them and had them sent to my sister and told her I just had to have some fabulous 18" long necklace made with them (and maybe some silver spacers). And she, being the talented, totally genius lapidary artist she is, did just that, as you can see by following the hotlink above. (If anyone reading this feels they must have one just like it, please do contact her through that page and inquire. She is always happy to make additional copies of an item, and I'm fairly certain she still has some of the same beads left.)

And what happens... Bright red is one of the "top" "IT" colors of the Fall '08/Winter '09 fashion season according to Pantone, who are apparently those IT people ultimately responsible for the why fashion colors are significant/cerulean sweater scene in "The Devil Wears Prada." I didn't know that at all going in. I just thought, omg, I love those red coral beads! Must have! Because I don't really pay attention to things like that until clothes are in stores and people are wearing them. I buy what I like because I like it. Or I buy what I don't totally like but find acceptable at the time because I need something for a specific purpose. I don't usually plan ahead. Especially accessories, which are almost always an after thought, if they're thought of at all.

So because I called the red so well for something I just had to have for the Fall/Winter this year... not really caring, except that I sorta do, I'm trying to figure out what I just have to have made for the Spring/Summer in '09... This is what happens now that I fully intend to take advantage of the fact that my sister is a jewelry-making goddess... I found some lovely deep sky blue turquoise 6mm rounds at Michaels (on clearance, the silly people!) the other day. Snatched those up and am now plotting. I have no idea what I want done with them, but they are so very pretty... I may go back and buy more... Maybe a really long, loopy, drapey necklace...? I dunno...

I also want a hamsa necklace SO bad! I don't have one! I find that shocking and wrong! I don't know what color I'll have that put together with when I find a pendant... Maybe many colors? In a trade-bead sort of look, except not because I'm not terribly fond of trade-beads... Although, maybe evil-eye beads? I dunno yet... I still haven't been able to find a hamsa in stores, only online, and they tend to be kinda pricy... like as much as I usually pay for all the beads and/or finished necklace altogether... and I find that shocking and wrong too... Because apparently, "ethnic" inspired jewelry of the Middle Eastern/African/Asian/Indian variety is going to be the thing in fashion jewelry (in addition to the bold stuff) this next year... So where are the hamsas in stores? Because we wants it precious, yeas, we do...

To continue the list of jewelry-wants, I'm coveting my mom's pearl necklace that she got from Lara... If Lara has another 26 pearls left, I might just have to ask her to make yet another one for me... Mom let me wear it because it was required for an outfit I wore to synagogue several weeks ago, and it looked so good and I felt to very chic! So now, I want one myself... Although, I'm sure Mom will let me borrow it anytime because she's awesome like that...

Just to note, colors I'm really feeling good about right now (in no particular order): true red, aqua, robin's egg, Tiffany blue, London topaz, midnight sky blue (although apparently Pantone is calling it "Twilight Blue"), indigo, navy, autumn sky blue, turquoise, aubergine, amethyst, bottle green, slightly-on-the-blue-side grass green, forest green...

Meanwhile, I need to go back to the drawing board for some of my planned Holiday gifts, revise and start the search for appropriate roving again... Ah, well... I'm sure it will work out. I'm thinking now black, white and gray Shetland will serve for my immediate needs and I'll worry about colored rovings once those are squared away.

Halloween is like Christmas!

LOL! Not really... But my friend Joe brought me the leftover chocolate cake with raspberry filling from his office Halloween party because I helped him make it last night and it is YUM!

Check out Joe's awesome Captain Jack Sparrow costume! I made the pants...



And my friend Chelsea just bequeathed unto me an entire trash bag full of Lopi yarn. She is awesome! It's old stuff... Her mom has had it for a long time... I've never heard of the company: "Arctic Sheep." It was made in Iceland.



I've got two dark green, one navy blue, one red, seven light green, and eight undyed natural white.

Going by the photographs on the one pattern pamphlet she had for it, I'd say the late-80s? It's hard to tell...



But it was mothproofed, so it's undamaged despite its age. I'm not terribly sure how I feel about the mothproofing. I looked it up, and supposedly, the pesticide that is used for such things is stable and does not come out, as it is applied like an acid dye, and exposure to it is supposedly safe and insignificant. And there's still vegetable matter in the wool... like a significant and surprising amount. So that makes me feel a lot better, as far as the harshness of the chemicals it was exposed to during processing, whether it's for reasons of ignorance about how bad chemicals can be and not burn away grass or not... I dunno... Also, due to age, I wonder if it would be easier to wash the chemicals out... I would think they'd only stay around for so long, and not indefinitely. I would think. In any event, it's lovely stuff, and I think I'll use it for felting projects. Lopi is heavenly for felting. Or maybe a rug...

Meanwhile, now that everyone has departed for their evening activities, I'm knitting dishcloths for holiday gifts and watching the Live TAPS Investigation of Fort Delaware on the Sci-Fi Channel... Interesting things going on. Disembodied voices in the dark and stuff...

Stash knit-down... and other things...

So... I've been trying to get rid of things, rather than continuing to accumulate, and cleaning out things. I feel like I'm cleaning up my burrow, getting ready to hibernate for the winter, and maybe I am. I've been busy this week. Perhaps it's a way to procrastinate? Since I'm usually too tired by the time I'm done to even think about studying for the GKT which is on Saturday... I dunno... I will get around to looking at it at some point. I'm not terribly worried about the GKT though. After all, I graduated with a GPA above 3.0. Could something called the General Knowledge Test be that great a challenge? The math, perhaps, because I suck at math, and will review some of that before Saturday, but I'm not terribly worried at all about the essay or verbal sections...

So, yes... Procrastinating...

I've been mending things that I come across. Two pillowcases with ripped seams, shirts and pants that were missing buttons and various other sundries. Nothing makes me feel more productive than taking something that was unusable because it was in want of repair and making it useful again...

I also got rid of a whole bunch of tea... My tea cupboard looks terribly bare now. I had a lot of old tea hanging around though. Got rid of everything that had artificial flavors 'cuz why when there's so many good natural flavors in the world? And I got rid of everything that was out of date. I had stuff that's marked "best if used by Jan 05" in there! o.O That was awhile ago, you know. *sighs* So yeah... very little in the way of tea in there now. Maybe 15 kinds? (LOL! Can you tell I'm a tea person in extremis?)

I've been going through my yarn stash and allocating some for certain projects so I can use it up and some for distribution to friends who are new to knitting and don't have a stash yet. I've got a lot of yarn! Only a fraction of it is in my Ravelry stash. I should maybe list some of it there as being up for trade or sale because seriously some of this stuff I will never use. This is not to say that I don't want more yarn. All fiber addicts know that you always want more yarn. And it's not that I have so much that I have no where to store new stuff - because I can always find more room for the good stuff. It's just that I have so much that I don't want and so much that needs making into useful items. So I'm trying to knit-down and give away my stash as much as I can.

I've also been looking at old projects of all sorts.

• I frogged a headband tonight. I decided the pattern was too fussy. I want to do something else with the yarn. (Cotlin from KnitPicks.) Not sure what, since both of the other patterns I have which use one ball of this yarn aren't things I'd like to make either... For now, it's going in the stash. It's too nice to use for something I don't like...



• I've been working on two 1864 Ladies' Winter Shawls that I started several years ago and which have been lying around half-finished ever since. I have only the fringes to finish on those now.



• I also picked up and have been working on an embroidery project that I put aside many, many years ago. In fact, I can't remember when I started it exactly. I know I put it down because working with a tiny needle like that for hours on end for many days in a row makes my tendinitis act up (this time, I'm being more careful) and it got so bad that I had to wear a brace for three weeks straight. I think that was my Freshman year of college. Which would be... like 6... 7 years ago? Something scary like that... But I've picked it up again. I find that some of it might be out of alignment and I might need to rip out some of it and fix it. Right now, I'm basting in guidelines so that I can better judge if things need drastic correction. I'm very willing to do that if necessary because when this is done, it will be so pretty (if I do say so myself)! It's my own design. A cross-stitch castle surrounded by rose bushes at the top, and two cross-stitch dragons passant facing each other at the bottom. In between, a little verse in fanciful script and bands of stitching... like a band sampler, I guess. The only band that I have done right now is the two-tone double-herringbone. It's all on light blue linen. Very pretty. I originally meant to make it for a young cousin when she first got her own bedroom - princess themed - when she was about 2, but she's much older now, so I think I'll keep it instead. I'll post pictures soon.

Once the old projects are done, I'll pick up the more recent ones which are now hibernating - like the Hey Teach sweater I started about a month ago. And maybe I'll finally get around to painting the mural I've got sketched on the walls in the bathroom...

Randomly - I really like the version of As You Like It with Bryce Dallas Howard that was done last year...Check it out if you haven't seen it. Shakespeare in late 19th-century Japan with some people in western clothes and some people in Japanese. It is very interesting. I love unexpected adaptations of Shakespeare... That things like that work just goes to show Shakespeare's eternal genius.

I seriously enjoy these lines:

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in every thing.
I would not change it.

Speaking of Shakespeare... Even if you don't watch Doctor Who (and you should if you don't), you'll probably still find this funny (though of course, it is funnier if you do watch Doctor Who). I laugh myself silly every time I watch it and I think I've seen it at least 100 times now. Catherine Tate, for those who don't know, played "Donna Noble," the most recent of the Doctor's companions. David Tennant plays the 10th Doctor. In this video, Catherine Tate plays "Lauren Cooper," an obnoxious British schoolgirl who likes to drive her teachers crazy. It's a sketch kinda like the reoccurring sketches on SNL. Anyway... Watch...

New Knitty, New Day!

I slept most of today because my brother was freaking the hell out over the end of the world due to the particle accelerator outside Geneva and that made me freak out too and stay up to watch the sunrise. I hate it when this happens. My sleeping was already messed up, but now it's just really messed up. I think I'm going to try to see if I can take a nap sometime tonight, get up early in the AM and stay up all tomorrow like normal people do, and then I'll sleep normally tomorrow night. I really need a job so I can't do stuff like this anymore... Working on that. I went to see Prof. M yesterday to visit and to ask if she'd be a reference for me, which she was more than happy to do. Now, I just need to get a copy of my transcript, and get ahold of my next door neighbor, who's a neurosurgeon and so very diffiuclt lately to catch at home, to be my other reference, and I can send in the job application. Mission tonight, write an e-mail to my neighbor and order a transcript online if possible.

Anyway, a new Knitty was published today.

There are pretty patterns...

I especially like Versatility... It's like Wisp and Convertible, both of which I also like. Never made Convertible, but I did make Wisp... I just need buttons for it and to block it again because I screwed it up the first time.

Camden is interesting... I like the long fingerless mitts being able to be attached to the short-sleeved sweater. Makes it very versatile. And using KnitPicks yarn makes it much cheaper to make than most of the sweater patterns at Knitty...

Kinetic is fascinating!

Slither? I wants it, precious, yeas... I'm probably more likely to make these than something like Camden because it takes less time (I would hope)... Although I probably won't end up making either simply because I'm lucky if I ever finish anything for myself. LOL! Like many knitters, I make things for other people with much higher frequency than I make things for myself.

Hug is whimsical and delightful, if slightly disturbing... And Tatiana is also whimsical and made of love, but impractical for me since I'd never get any use out of them

Waves of Grain is so beautiful! I love it! I also love Abby. So pretty (and handspun)! I'd love to make either of these for my sister Lara. I think they would suit her so well! I think she'd also love Maple, and it's so on my list for the next time I just have to felt something and am brave enough to try colorwork again...

Garden Gate is gorgeous! But I'm no where near brave enough to attempt them. Baroque, though, looks exciting, and I am seriously tempted to try making those.

I definitely think I can find some handspun in my stash to make Oncleows with! Too cute!! And perhaps I'll be more likely to wear shorter skirts and capris more often to show them off.

OpArt! Is so on my list of things to make for my niece! I know Tim Burton will eventually come into her life, and this is wonderfully Tim Burton-esque without being so scary. LOL!

And cool features...

I think I need this from Knitty's list of Cool Stuff: Bramble. My friend Laura would freak out if she got one of these for her birthday! :D And OMG - look at these cute things at this person's Etsy!

Awesome 1840's knitted nightcap, translated pattern. YAY! :D

And silk reeling... tempting, very interesting, but I think I've got enough fiber related hobbies at the moment.