National Blog Posting Month!

Along with NaNoWriMo, today marks the beginning of NaBloPoMo or, in other words, a month where a bunch of people set about the task of writing a lot.

I was previously all set to go this month, but truth be told, my heart's not really in it today. Maybe it's some sort of post-holiday hangover, or possibly the dreary weather, but I woke up feeling uninspired, listless, and just generally brood-y. Generally when I'm feeling like that, I try to simply hunker down with a cozy blanket, a pot of tea, and television I know by heart, but that just wasn't doing it for me today.

So I did something I haven't done in some time-- I attempted to indulge in some retail therapy. Although I'm not a currently active member, I've been diligently sticking with my Wardrobe Refashion challenge. With the exception of picking up a dress to wear to a wedding last summer, I haven't bought new clothing that wasn't underwear since February. Apparently my clothing diet has left me way out of practice, because I left the mall with a bath mat and conditioner. Having said that, if I can find a pair of knee-high boots I like, all bets are off.

I did, however, fall off the wagon pretty hard when it comes to knitting books-- Hat Heads, 101 Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders, and Stitch & Bitch Superstar Knitting are all sitting on the couch next to me. My Christmas knitting has just begun, so I can use all the ideas I can get. I'm already months behind!

Progress Report

Once again, I've been lax in writing in this thing. It's been a pretty awesome and fun-filled summer, but that's a lot of ground to cover, so for now I just want to look at this summer's goals and see how I stack up. Let's see--

"I will not buy any new yarn until such time as I have decided the stash is depleted to normal levels."

In the most technical sense, I haven't bought any yarn since writing this. I did, however, buy fiber and another drop spindle and have been spinning more yarn. Yes, it increases the stash and could be considered cheating, but I'm willing to give it a pass considering I freaking made it myself.

"I will finish every current UFO."

Um.....yeah. I was pretty good about not starting too many other things, and only started a new bigger project (ie, bigger than a dishcloth or a baby bootie) when I finished another one. I did finish one or two other things that were sitting in the pile, but in all honesty today's list of unfinished items looks pretty similar to the list I had four months ago.

"I will not buy another knitting book until I use every book I already own."

Still holding strong with seven projects to go. I've even managed to go to the bookstore, look through knitting books, and walk out without one. Now that's willpower!

There's more on my mind-- the end of summer, my newfound interest in flower garden and hawaiian quilts, knitting my first shawl-- but that will have to wait until I can organize my thoughts a bit better.

Focus, Jilly, focus!

I had to take a break and refortify myself before I could get myself to face that second scallop cuff on the Rambling Rose Cardigan, but managed to get it done while watching The Tudors with the awesome Stephanie and her awesome mom. There was, however, much cursing and untangling involved.

I've been having lots of false starts lately. I started a Rutabaga bag from Knitscene, then ripped it out when I a)messed up the mesh pattern and b) decided I didn't particularly like that pattern anyway. A quick glance through a stitch dictionary should fix both problems, maybe even in time for the next trip to the farmer's market. I won't be a moment too soon-- that giant jar of honey I bought last time was a looking a bit awkward shoved into my purse.

Shortly therafter I knit one of the fronts for "Baby's First Tattoo" (from SnB Nation), but lost interest after the first eighteen hours. I will probably be going back to that one, as I managed to get a fair amount done in that short day and a half-- one front is already finished, with the motif intarsia-ed (so not a word, although it really should be) instead of the duplicate stitch called for, and I've started the decreases on the second front with only a little to go. Plus, I deliberately started making it according to the pattern in order to force myself to have some seaming practice, so I can't really back out now. I decided to be realistic though-- I'm making the 1-year-old size for my 4-month-old brother.

But now I find myself eyeballing other patterns, buying buttons for the Robin's Egg Blue Hat, thinking long and hard about whether I am a beret person, and working out the math for converting Knitty's Azure socks into a pair of armwarmers.

Is there some sort of medication I should be taking for this?

So much past inside my present....

It took a few hours, but I think my stomach has finally started speaking to me again after all the awful things I did to it yesterday.

Our dear friend Ryan is leaving The Black Drop and, in the not-so-distant future, Bellingham and 'round these parts nobody goes anywhere without a proper send-off. So we had the (second) Deep Fry Party*, where everyone brings anything they're brave enough to batter up and dip in oil. There were too many items to list everything, but some of the notable mentions included the customary cheese wiz-filled corn dogs, shrimp and bacon won tons, Snickers (my contribution), Oreos, Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches, and a concoction Arianne came up with-- macaroni and cheese encased in garlic cheese biscuit dough**. The best however, occurred after we left in the form of deep-fried Tums.

As is also customary, there were also quite a few shenanigans, including the wearing of unitards. Poor Eric, who had been at home sleeping and was only there to ferry me home, got a little caught in the middle of all of it, though he never had to actually wear the unitard. He was a damn good sport about the whole thing, however.


On the knitting front, I've made some decisions. After a slight color change, I've decided that the Rambling Rose Cardigan is the next sweater project, in part due to the fact that I could get the yarn for that one soonest***. I'm also testing out another yarn for my brother's Baby's First Tattoo cardigan. I'm trying out bamboo, but I fear it's going to be too.... the best word I can come up with is "slinky."

I'm kind of grabbing at straws with that one, as nothing I've seen in fingering weight has been able to meet all of the requirements. I wouldn't think it would be that hard to find something in solid, non-wierd colors that doesn't require massive jumping through hoops to care for, and yet here I am testing out a bamboo yarn that will make my baby brother look like he's wearing a satin smoking jacket or something.


* -- There's good stories behind why we've all done this to ourselves not once but twice. I prefer to live inthe now, though.
** --These eventually became known as "Cheese Fists" and were incredibly yummy.
*** --Is that even a word?

Knitting ADD.

I'm starting to develop a problem. I have far too many unfinished projects, all at various progress levels.

The current tally:
-one finished sock with no match
-one knee sock that's pretty much only a legwarmer at the moment
-a cardigan that's missing a sleeve and buttons
-a pullover that actually has two sleeves but still needs to be sewn up
-tea cozy without the drawstring required to cozy it up
-a mitten without a thumb
-a blanket that's currently about the size of two place mats and
-a scarf that is about 5 feet too short

...and now I've started a purse. Really, what the hell is wrong with me? I'm almost ashamed, which would explain why one or two of those aren't listed in my Ravelry notebook. One can only handle a certain number of little squares staring at you with that "wip" icon in the corner.

So I hereby officially anounce (it sounds more important that way) that from here on out, I will not start another project until I've finished atleast three on that list. (I'd say the entire list, but let's face it-- that simply will not happen.) I will also not be buying any new knitting books for a little while, as I think this is part of what is contributing to my lack of attention span. The super-short scarf began with the purchase of Son of Stitch and Bitch, and the new purse happened when I picked up Felt Forward. So, for the time being anyway, I need to cut off my dealer-- the book store.

But still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy....I am trying to break your heart

In the interest of full disclosure, I never did start that second sock.

I did however go back to a sock I started, like, months ago. It was an expirement involving a knee sock with calf shaping that doesn't involve changing needles. I'm almost to the bottom of the calf decreasing, and I'm still not sure if the whole thing's going to work, or if I even put the extra stitches where they really need to go. It will be so completely awesome if it works, though useless as a pattern, since everybody's calves are shaped differently.

(Nevermind the fact that it's been so long since I worked on this sock that all my notes about the shaping have disappeared. It has nothing to do with that at all.)

I had made a plan to get some stuff done after I got off work today (including some top-secret Valentine stuff) but I have been pretty much immobile since I started getting stomache aches last night. I barely made it through work, then came home and immediately put on my pajamas, with little intention of leaving the house again until tomorrow. Though I've always had a stomach of steel, I think I may have finally pushed it past the limit with all the random things I ate in a rather short time* yesterday. We seem to have come to a truce for now, as I no longer feel the urge to vomit (sorry), but like any peace talk it's tentative at best, so I'm staying put and (maybe) attempting to eat some of my spinach lasagna later. It's good enough to risk another tummyache.

Heck, I might even finish something tonight. I only have about 11 active works-in-progress right now, having started yet another one last night. For now though, a short nap is in order.


*noodle bowl + blood orange + super rich chocolate cake + blackened catfish + collard greens + mashed potatoes, in that order, and all in less than five hours. How dumb am I?