GASP

I was reading old blog posts of mine (because I'm a dork like that) and came to the one where I lamented that Lover's Leap STR wasn't more red because I wanted to knit My Vampire Boyfriend socks from Knitty. I totally forgot about this and now True Blood Red is out and it's super red and bloody and vampirey!

Don't you just love yarn?!

and vampires?!

Home?sick

I've been feeling a little betwix-and-between lately. This is a fun place and there is lots to do and see here, but I'm homesick for three different places. As my mom would say, I've had enough fun.

I miss Madison. I miss Lakeside-That-Was and mostly my friends who worked there. I've been thinking about them a lot today, the Lakeside Ladies. I flipped through the new Twist Collective, and it made me realize how much fun I had at the yarn store - how I would feel when the new fall yarns would come in, every box full of new colors and textures. Every fall filled with possibilities. I want to go have dinner with them all at Taj Indian (as an aside, I long for food with spice!) and have someone say, "Have you seen the new Classic Elite books?" and have someone else say, "Oh, I have one in my car, I'll be right back!" I love my ladies.

I miss Virginia. I spoke to my mom and my grandma briefly yesterday and they were making homemade ice cream and Peach Conserve. It's been really nice here recently, like Virginia in late September, and I can't wait to visit home this fall. I'm going back for the Waterford Fair - the big craft show in my area. I may spend up to two weeks at home and I can't wait!

Weirdly, I miss Austin, even though I've never been there. Maybe I'm just excited to get my life going again. I want to be there with my family in our new house and get settled into a routine. I want to have a cell phone again so I can call my friends in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia and not have to rely on Facebook. I am ready to develop a routine and really get down to designing and knitting and working on my LIFE.

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Silver Bay has a Labyrinth (a replica of the famous one at Chartres Cathedral) and I finally tried it out this morning. You may know that I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual one, and I have heard about the power of Labyrinths from various readings and friends. It was quite the experience. Most of the wisdom I gleaned from it came in the form of cliches, it's true, but cliches are cliches for a reason. There is a difference too, between having someone mouth platitudes to you when your soul is tangled up and realizing them yourself.

Trivia Night at the Store

I'm sitting in on Trivia Night at the Store (that's the only place I can get wireless to work) listening to the game and I am totally amazed that no one knows the name of the butler from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

What kind of cultural wasteland is this anyway?

MultiCraftual

I'm still here!

I've been crafting it up, craft-style.

Here we have a beautiful basket, which is in progress and approaching the finish line. I ordered the reed a couple of weeks ago and then some friends and I dyed it. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty excited.

Inside the basket you will see the Baby Surprise Jacket which matches the Love Booties and Hat I made for my cousin's baby a few weeks ago. I can't believe I still haven't taken pictures of the hat. Nothing I can do about it now, it's in Wisconsin. This little jacket isn't quite finished. It needs the picots on the cuffs and to have a few more ends tucked in.

There is also the almost finished pair of Nutkins Yoga Socks (which don't have toes, but are otherwise Nutkins.) I am thinking about finding a place to do yoga when we get to Austin, so obviously I had to knit something to represent that desire. Again, I just need to weave in the ends to consider this finished. This yarn is STR lightweight Jonagold.

A couple of nights ago I finally decided to frog my most recently started Stock Socks, and then I began to knit another Ishbel. This is Dream In Color Knitosophy, color Superhero. I don't know if I'll keep it going, but I sure think it looks pretty.

Friday night I also started the March Shipment of the Rockin' Sock Club - Slip Jig Socks by Irishgirlieknits. I'm actually doing these 2 at a time on one circular needle, but the picture with just one was better. Newsflash: I love this pattern. I have another skein of Chickabiddy mediumweight at home that I was thinking was going to be a baby sweater for one of my many pregnant friends, but now I'm thinking more along the lines of another pair of Slip Jigs.

Here is a picture of the Shawl that Jazz I've been working on for a few months. It has been recently resurrected from Time Out Due to Miles of Garter Stitch. It's gorgeous and made with luscious yarn (Old Maiden Aunt Silk Alpaca) but it's all clubbed up on the needle and impossible to see, so please just enjoy this beautiful color.

In other news I have recently read The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie. I am not putting it on my New To Me list of books because I'm pretty sure that I read it in 7th grade - I went through a big Agatha Christie phase and read almost all of her books. This time I found a box by the side of the road full of books with a sign that said "Free Books - Please Take!" so I took that and Five Little Pigs.

Yesterday I started The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. He also wrote The Lightning Thief and the rest of the Percy Jackson books. So far I am really enjoying it. The kids have a lot of questions (the biggest question is 'WHAT IS GOING ON?') and so do I!

Last Thursday was my night NOT to work, so I went to the Craft Shop and started a stained glass project. Spoiler Alert: I love it. I have always wanted to learn stained glass. I came across Louis Tiffany in college and fell deeply in love with his work. It's just another extension of my love of Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau. I'm worried though - how will I possibly make room in my life for another craft? A whole new stash of glass - new equipment, cutters and grinders and torches? We'll have to see.

Uncraftily, but still exciting, I learned to play Mahjong last night! The power was out so three very nice people who live in my house taught me how to play and we sat around a card table all holding flashlights and saying, "Pong!" It was super awesome and I foresee lots of Mahjong in my future. I told them that it was clear to me that when I get to Austin I'll have to buy a set and teach Jorah to play, and then we would have to make some friends, at least two.

Today is the halfway point of my summer incidentally. I am here for 10 weeks and two days total, and as of today I have 5 weeks and 1 day until I am reunited in Austin with Jorah and my dogs. It's been a fast, fun summer so far! Here's hoping that the rest is just as good!

Craftiness

One of the perks of working the the Craft Shop is all of the peripheral crafting that is going on. I tend to get a little bit lost up in the weaving room (good news is that I'm back to Minus One - only one empty loom right now) and so I missed some of the trainings . . .

I did get to make a glass and concrete stepping stone:

Very fun and pretty! I have a thing for trees and trees of life as you may know.

And also a Dichroic Glass Pendant.

The swirls are from the vacation to to Ireland last year, specifically when we went to Newgrange and Bru na Boynne. Here's the post I made last summer about this. These spirals are inside the mound. I was really taken by them and I've been doodling them ever since. I completely love this pendant.

I want to do some stained glass too, but I don't know yet what I would want to make.

Missed Anniversary

I feel terrible about this, but I have to admit that I have recently missed a really important anniversary.

June 20th was the 35 year anniversary of the movie JAWS.

Let me just say, so there isn't any confusion, that this is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Tell me the way to go home

I'm tired and I want to go to bed

Oh I had a little drink about an hour ago

and it went right to my head

Nothing can match the music playing while those black eyes come right for you.

In other news, I went swimming three times today!

May Knitting

Looking back through my archives it seems like I didn't talk at all about the knitting I did in May for the HPKCHC. I actually did all six classes, and was pretty pleased with five of them. I know I've been talking recently about how frustrated I am with my OWL project and how I want to abandon it, (at least the main part of it) but I did do some really nice projects last month. Let's take a little tour.

Skew for SPEW Socks:

I knit the extremely popular Skew socks from Knitty. I found the pattern to be straightforward, easy to understand, and very enjoyable. Unfortunately the socks turned out too small, so they have gone to Florida to live with a dear friend.

My next favorite project was the delightful Sophie:

Of course all of Ysolda's patterns are beautiful and thoughtfully designed, but this one is also just adorable. Charms was a good excuse to knit it! I had a bunch of the pink and so decided to duplicate stitch the inside of the ears. I think next time I will find a tutorial for intarsia in the round. I know it can be done, my friend Kj can do it!

I have had this hat in my head for a while now and wanted to see if I can do it - the Viking Kiddo:

It's my own 'design' though as you can see it is an easy little hat. This is sized for a kid, so you are not able to see me model it, I know you are disappointed. I am particularly pleased with how the horns turned out.

At first I turned my nose up at the Herbology assignment, but finally I did knit this little flower, which is attached to a hair comb:

I think it's just lovely, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to wear it. I do wear my hair like this all the time - it's fun and it keeps it out of my way - but the flower might be a bit much.

I don't know if I'll be able to do any classes next month either. I only brought a bit of yarn to New York with me (definitions of 'a bit' are up for interpretation) and I'm really feeling the itch to start coming up with some things on my own. The temptation in the HPKCHC is to do a pattern by someone else, because everything is time sensitive and at least you know it will work out. They encourage you to knit your own stuff but I just don't know if I am that organized.