Monstrosity

I have spent 8 hours at the dentist's (who is also my uncle), getting work on my teeth that wasn't quite intended and let's just say that the teeth he hasn't managed to reconstruct yet are pretty nasty and jagged.

Also, due to an oversight, I am only now recovering from a very nasty latex allergy (at least I don't look like Meg 'Fishlips' Ryan anymore). Yes, he had a flag up to notify him about my latex allergies, but I didn't realize he had ignored the flag and only when my lips started burning and itching along with my eyes did we both discover this oversight. Ugh.

Needless to say, Margene and the rest who have not seen my face for a while, you'll have to bear with my absence a little longer as I am going to have to go back again, tonight, to get this finished up.

And then to do this all over again next Tuesday but on the left side.

No, I'm not thrilled.

F is for . . .

A funny anecdote!

It's a tale of two Fs, a Friend and a Family member. My Friend Briana is a tomboy supreme, which is clearly manifested in her fantastic artwork and personality. My sister, Christina, has always been a fireball. She's so full of energy and now it's well invested in two beautiful children.

Both of these girls qualified for Least Expected To Pick Up Knitting by me.

Well, Briana has been hanging around school for one last class and has been bored out of her skull. She's the one who has been subjected to all my knitting whinging and one day, as I was coming home from work and chatting with her, she said:

"Guess what I did today."
"No idea, what did you do?"
"I got some yarn and knitting needles and this really neat book..."
"...Shut up, you didn't!"
"Yeah, and mom's sending me her grandma's needles..."

So Briana has become my young Padowan and Christina remains a knitting virgin which is probably for the best. Having two kids of ages 3 and under around sharp-ish sticks is a recipe for tragedy.

===

I want to thank everyone who left suggestions for whether to put any treats in with Calcifer for my Sockapaloooza pal. I'll be sure to do so and I have some fun ideas! And I apologize for being so tardy for my thanks. So to make up for it, have some free silver jewelry. I've ordered from there several times and I've not been disappointed by the quality. :)

The worst part about being a nurse is that when you get sick, you end up beating yourself about calling in sick. I mean, those patients need you! They're sick, too (and in my case, sick in the head, but you know what I mean)! But on the other hand, there was that nurse who passed away last winter from pneumonia because she wouldn't call in and take care of herself.

Death or everyone feeling the pinch for a day? Hmm, I think I'll take what's behind door #2, Trebek.

Anyways, I'll be happy to fill out JenLa's Auntie Meme because hell, I'll talk about myself all the damn day if you give me a chance.

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered.
When I lived in Kansas, I was not but about two houses away from Abbie. Had I not been such a terrible introvert and so on, I'd have known earlier how very freakin' cool she is. Unending Fieldtrip. Check it out, she's got your photography along with your knitting.

2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative.
The people who live closest to me with a knitblog would have to be Stitch-N-Snitch, a very engaging woman with a real fun sense of humor and a cute pair of Darth Vaders.

3. An unusual or weird animal picture.
My closest friend, Red, sent this to me yesterday of her housemate's cat, Bubbles:

Bubbles likes her ears rubbed (my uncle's cat, Pikachu, haaaates it) and will contort and make the most outrageous faces as they're rubbed. Look at that indulgent face!

4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers.
Oh man, the Yarn Harlot's post about Weenies made me laugh so hard, I had tears streaming down my face and I had to show it to everyone. Weenies!

5. An idea you wish you’d thought of.
You know, I can't point to any one blog, but I find short rows to be terribly clever and brilliant. I wish I'd thought of that one.

6. Something you’d like to knit.
Mim's Mountain Peaks Shawl. I'm just waiting for the yarn to get here and I'm chewing on the mailbox in impatience!!!

7. A picture of something you consider beautiful

That was taken only about a day or so after my second transplant. I was sure as hell not beautiful, but everything else seemed incredible, every sight was a miracle, every experience was a joy. And this picture is a reminder. (Heh, that just gave me the sniffles.)

8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person.
For being an introvert, I do like people. I'd like to meet EVERYONE. Let's all go out for coffee (or tea. or hot chocolate. or decaf Border's Chai that is no longer being made, woe!) and knit and chat!

9. A blog of someone you have already met in person.
And this is where I namedrop like crazy but you know what? I'm not really going to mention it. If you check the cute little sheep button in the sidebar, I've met most of those people there and I love them all, even if I don't always act like it.

And, um, that's it for my meme. Knitting is coming but nothing really to report except unfinished progress. :)

Lace While U Wait

So, I'm waiting ever so patiently (so...patiently...grah) for Handpaintedyarn.com to come through. But I lace on anyways!


One skein of KnitPicks Shadow in Vineyard right here and about 5 1/2 repeats of the Baltic Sea Stole from Fibertrends.


Well, most of the skein. What's that, 99.999999%?

Doesn't it seem a little...short? But no fear, I have TWO. MORE. SKEINS! Yes, this thing will be three times the length of that first little block there and hopefully in time for the KC Ren Fest. Of course, that'll be in October. *cough* And you can't see it with the pictures, but there are the slightest bit of lighter colors against darker colors, giving it a dappled shadowy look...hence the name of the yarn, of course.

Anyways, more fun and excitement in this hole I live in, huzzah!

Eeee!

E is for Epimetheus, greek god of hindsight! And with all this catching up to do, you'd think he was poking me right in the eye for it!

Speaking of eyes, I do happen to have two and they're a nice blue in person. A few people have remarked on them and with the contacts in, they're really a nice blue. When the contacts are not in...well, they're icy blue. But still blue!


And what rhymes with eyes? DYES!

Last Sunday I decided to stop being so lazy and try out some dying. I wanted something Iris-ish.

A little unorthodox, but hey, it worked. Sort of. It kept sucking the water out of the jar into the big pot so the dyes kind of couldn't take very well. But the results were cool!


I'll eventually knit it up once I get over my Sock Burnout. :p

Finished Object: Calcifer Socks for Sockapaloooza

Have you guys seen Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki yet? As I was watching it, I looked over at these finished socks and thought "Wow, they're the same color!" Calcifer, if you've never seen the movie or read the book, is a fire demon with a mysterious connection to Howl. I can say no more because if you don't know the story it would give it aaaall away. But I recommend it highly!


Click for full view!
Pattern: Feather And Fan from the book Socks Socks Socks!
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in color: Bittersweet
How long it took: An estimate of about 24 hours cumulative.

They were fun socks, but I got burnt out. And now that I'm thinking "Gee, I want to knit something, I guess I can start another sock", I can't find my little silver sock-knitting bag. Maybe it's a sign?

P.S. I realize it's not mandatory to add anything to the Sockapaloooza package, but have those of you who are veterans done so? And what did you add?

By the way, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Too bad I'm not Irish. And that I don't drink. But I have an unfinished Arizona Green Tea (for my raging tummy troubles) and if I weren't going to bed, I'd drink a toast to you Irish and your Saint of the Patrick. Instead, have an Irish Celtic Podcast just for the season! And wish Marc Gunn a merry one because it's his birthday. And I think he might be irish, I don't know, but he likes the music so he's cool with me.

Second Sock Done!

Last night I had to work. Work consists of about 3 cumulative hours of setting up meds and passing them out, really. The other 5 hours consist of being prepared to hand out tylenols and other such medications as people require, which on was not much on the unit I worked last night. I tend to bring a bit of knitting with me when I work and so I brought The Sock with me.

What I love about working with DPNs are the wide eyes and jaws dropped when they see me knitting with FOUR NEEDLES, OH NOES! And it's always with a bit of the feeling of a magician giving away the secret to a magic trick that I explain that no, I'm still knitting only with two needles, the other two are just holding the stitches until I get to them.

Anyways, I had gotten quite a bit done and thought "oh, these will be done on Sunday!"

I kind of underestimated how much I got done while I watched the patients and laughed/joked/chatted with the psych techs. The Second Sock is finished as of 1pm today.

So I put her through the gauntlet of SockBlocking that I go through.


I don't have any Eucalan, but I have Aussie Mega Shampoo and if it does for yarn what it does for my hair, it'll be just fine.


After a rinse and a slight press (hey, it's superwash anyways, it can stand a little rougher handling), it goes on some clean dishtowels for a wringing.


All tucked in and ready for a squishing. Aww.


And the blocking hardware is present to start their work.


Ever stick your hand in a warmish wet sock? It makes my toes curl a little. Brrr. But the walmart bags are maleable so I can get them in the right form for the sock. The liter bottle makes just the right size for calves. Well, slender-ish calves, but it works.


And here she is, settling into the right shape on a towel rack. She'll be dry in 24 hours or so. Phew!


Speaking of work, I haven't laughed so hard for a while. Oh, and for those who have ever heard of "tunnel singing" and participate in it at BYU, I'd probably avoid doing that until summer. All I can say is Icewater Balloons. You've been warned. I hope I work that unit again. And I hope they don't take apart the post-it note and soapbar montage, I was particularly proud of my Pirate Hitler and Trogdor. I would have taken pictures, except that's illegal at work. Alas.

If I tore out my hair in frustration on top of what was falling out due to stress, I'd be bald!

Dear Life, Circumstance, and Fate:

You've done it again, I see. You know, just to spite you, I will no longer promise to go to anymore S'n'Bs. Because either I will end up having to get up BEFORE the buttcrack of dawn (hello 4am, what an odd concept YOU are to me now!)like I have to be tomorrow (a girl's gotta work or there can be no more experiments with Alton Brown recipes) or I'll be sick, half-dead, in Las Vegas, or some OTHER odd reason I can't make it to the cozy cafe with people that I am starting to warm up to and beginning to like an awful lot. So, lovelies, I will see you guys when I see you and maybe that'll be sometime this month, maybe I can only promise sometime this year, but I will try to make it.

Eat that, L, C, & F.

And in the meantime, I find myself oddly with a real queue of things to finish, not just a dream of "gosh, I'd like to make another sweater, but all I have is all this sock yarn!". I did finish my "Jayne" hat:


Can't Stop The Signal
Pattern: My own.
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky
How long it took: One day.

And I still have a pair of Mrs. Beetons to make, along with the second sockapaloooza sock and then my lace thing (and maybe the Mountain Shawl, I waaaant). This is actually quite a queue for me. And only one of those things (and the shawl, maybe) is for me. Is that just typical for knitters or am I one of the few that gives away about 66% (or more) of the things she knits?

Anyways, bedtime is at 10, I'm going to get my knit on, maybe I can reach the heel of this sock before bed. ;)