Now with parentheticals AND footnotes!

This week I've been....

reading: a Rex Stout anthology my mom lent me. I just finished it, though, so I'm now probably going to go out and buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I know, I know-- I'm about a week behind the rest of the country. A friend recently brought up the irony of how it almost feels un-American to have not read this book yet, despite the fact that it's written by a British author.

knitting: Mainly on the Monkey Sock in (as I failed to mention previously) Shibui Sock, color "Anime".

Everything else kind of took a backseat once I started. I can completely see why someone would do this sock pattern multiple times, it's a very addictive knit!

However, I think I'm going to put this one on the back burner and start alternating projects just to keep my brain busy.

The plan today is to finish fixing, seaming, and blocking Ridiculously Pink, complete my first Monkey Sock*, then work on either the Orbit Lace (which means more of my god-awful crocheting) or start another fun summer knit I've been thinking about.

buying: Madils Eden Bamboo for the Orbit Lace project

sipping:Wild Bunch White. I bought it for use in my stroganoff, but it's not a bad wine for drinking either.**

eating:Turkey Stroganoff (yay for lots and lots of leftovers) and Chicken /Shrimp Fajitas. E and I are big fajita fans. Fajitas seem to be a dish that we can make together without stepping on eachothers toes. Maybe it's because we make it so often, but our routine works pretty smoothly-- He takes care of grilling/cooking meat while I make spanish rice and saute the peppers.

needing:Microsoft Excel (can you believe I don't have any sort of spreadsheet program on my computer? The horror!)

*not only is this my first Monkey Sock, it will be my first finished sock ever! I'm so terribly excited! I also feel like kind of a nube for not making a sock sooner, so I'm keeping my exitement a little quieter than one might expect.

**- The above comment was made by a girl who is not necessarily all that big a fan of white wine, and therefore doesn't really know what the hell she's talking about. It tastes good for a white wine.

I love me some links, don't I?

To sum up:

Finished a tiny bit of fixin' on the Ridiculously Pink sweater. Still kind of avoiding it until I can figure out how to make the last dropped stitch disappear once it hits the ribbed collar.

Making my first pair of Monkey Socks with some gorgeous yarn I picked up at Hilltop Yarn Shop, where knitter extraordinaire Kat works! The ethiopian food was pretty darn good too.



Also starting another project, an altered version of Orbit Lace from Knitscene:



I'm pretty much cannibalizing the pattern and taking what I want from it, but I probably should have stayed away from the crochet waistband. Being someone who can't crochet a straight line to save her life, this will probably be the longest and hardest part.


Time to go snuggle up to my boy. He just got home tonight!

Frustration is binding off the collar of a sweater, leaving only the sleeve seaming before it's finished, only to find that you dropped two stitches down near the bottom.

Complete irritation is starting to fix the dropped stitches and dropping five more stitches on the collar in the process.

Goddammit.

I'm giving up tonight, I'll try again tomorrow.

(Even so, I'm stoked that I might be able to wear "Ridiculously Pink" by this weekend. Then it's onto either Coachella from Knitty or the bamboo creation whose details are currently being worked out.)

The boy flew to Alaska today, part of that whole "one weekend a month, two weeks a year" the Navy still requires of him. He'll be gone till the 27th, and although I had the brief urge to sit around being a lazy sad bastard, I've decided to kick my own ass in gear. To that effect, I plan to do a lot of knitting, but also a lot of organizing, a little laundry, some yarn dying, and a whole lot of swimming.

It was nearly a three-digit temperature in the 'Ham today, atleast in terms of farenheit. It got up to around 36 degrees celcius, so the trip to the lake was very welcome. After my long hot dizziness-inducing day at work, Steph and Barbara and I gathered our things and went up to one of my favorite lakes in the area. Though we are blessed to have more than one-- there's Lake Padden, Lake Samish, and Lake Whatcom--- Toad Lake is by far my favorite. It's pretty secluded, so it's less busy, and surrounded by lots of trees and few houses. On a sunny day, it's the warmest water you can find this far north. We swam around until the sun went down and I got to loosen up my tense and sore muscles and let go of the stress and heat of my day.

I plan to spend the rest of the evening with my stripey pink sweater, a movie, a glass of wine, and Gus, if I can get him to chill out for the evening.