Death!

When I came home today, I saw... a package. I thought to myself, I have not ordered anything. And then it hit me. Death. By. Socks. I ran into the house, determined to avoid annihilation. The socks were equally determined. They tried finding me in the Halloween village.

When they didn't find me fiddling with my Halloween toys, they tried another route...

The cats. The socks were devious, and figured the cats would be following me in search of cat food (as they do at all hours)

The cats know their meal-ticket, though, and were not forthcoming with information. But then! The socks spotted... a TOE!

I tried to run, but it was too late. The socks lept upon my feet, and I DIED.


Ceres just wishes her mother would stop fiddling around with socks and feed her already.

Doom!

So on Sunday I finished my Sock of Doom for ... Sock Wars! They're made from Rowan Tapestry, which is a 70% wool, 30% soybean fibre yarn. It's a beautiful yarn in the ball, but DAMN does it fuzz up when you knit with it. I guess that's what I get for knitting with a single ply yarn. It's very soft, though, and my Victim seems to enjoy them. The striping works a lot like Noro in that it doesn't seem to follow the same colour pattern, behold:

Definitely fraternal socks.

Ceres was not fond of the socks. Luckily for her, they got sent to Maryland.

Here are the socks inside their fiendish packaging (remember the post about being a Halloween junkie? ;)):


These were probably the quickest socks I've ever knit. Size five needles and sport-weight yarn just FLIES by. I'm guesstimating that each sock took me about 4-5 hours. Unfortunately, it looks like my assassin has got her socks in the mail, so I'm DOOOOOOOMED!

October is coming soon, and I'm thinking of trying to do a bit of a Halloween theme. Maybe I'll review some spooky books, some spooky movies, and maybe even some spooky music. As I mentioned before, I'm bit of a horror movie buff. If you, dear reader, like the same sort of thing, check this site out. It's run by two sisters who review horror movies and make the Best Cakes Ever.

Tomorrow: Hell if I know. It's been a long week, and it's only Wednesday.

Wherein I flash the reader

So Turtlegirl has a fab blog that I regularly stalk. She features regular yarn pr0n, and I swear she must knit 24/7 to turn out the projects she features. So, per her recent invitation to flash our readers ... er, show our readers our movie collections, here's a little glimpse into mine.

Quick note, I took these photos in the evening, so I'm sorry for the nasty flash in the middle. Without the flash, the movies were unreadable. Lesser of two evils and all that.

So here's my super-posh (har har) video cabinet of Doom. I actually use the top shelf as an overflow shelf for my books (which are slowly but surely taking over my house). Please note: I am NOT watching Deal or no Deal. It was a commercial. I have standards. ;)




I'm a VERY eclectic movie-lover. The boxed Bogie and Bacall set (To Have and Have Not, Dark Passage, The Big Sleep, and Key Largo) is definitely one of my favourites. I love movies from the 30's and 40's because of the quality found in the plot, and the acting. I know it's cliche, but Bogart is the ultimate actor for me.

I take no responsibility for owning Bruce Almighty. It was a "Christmas gift" from when I worked at Blockbuster. It doesn't have a UPC, so I can't trade it in for anything. Eventually I'll probably just toss it when I get low on room (which is going to happen soon, I can tell.) I love horror flicks, the cheesier the better. Old Christopher Lee horror films are a definite favourite. I'm also a big fan of action. The best, I feel, are the 1980's super shoot-em-up, massive pyrotechnics extravaganzas.

Also, I love me some Stallone. ;)

Quick aside, if you haven't seen Equilibrium, GET IT. It's one of the best sci/fi films I've ever seen. Christian Bale is fantastic, the plot is interesting (yes, it's a mix of several novels, but it's done in a great way), and the filming is just awesome. Everyone I've shown it to (even those of my friends and family who HATE my taste in movies) has loved it.

In the bottom, we have the lonely little VHS cabinet. It has my VHS copy of the Last Unicorn, which is sadly superior to the DVD in film quality. I've been watching this movie since I was 5, and I've probably seen it a thousand times. It's my chicken soup for when I'm feeling lousy.


So... yeah. Those are my movies. :) I'd love some comments on any movies you, my darling reader, have an opinion on. Good or bad. I love a lot of REALLY bad movies.

Tomorrow: Pictures of the Sock of Doom (as it should have arrived at my target's house by then)

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Sorry. ;)

It's the Most Wonderful Time... of the Year!

Yes, it's that wonderful time we call... Halloween Season. Ever since I can remember, Halloween has been my favourite holiday. It appeals to my inner drama-nerd, and my outer pagan. It was always the only holiday that didn't involve family arguments over which house I'd spend the evening at (ah, the joy of divorced families). Now that I have my own home, I absolutely love to decorate for Halloween. As soon as that tinge of cool fall air hits, I start envisioning orange and black everywhere.

Some of you will probably think it's a little early to be decorating for a holiday that's not until the end of next month. Probably, you should skip this post. ;)


We begin our tour in the kitchen. Target has been a blessing this year, in terms of adorable Halloween decorations. I usually keep my front yard "spooky," but inside the house I like a little bit of fun:


And this one I might actually leave up all year:




And of course, like I always say, you can't do anything in this house without cats. Ceres has noticed that the new Halloween blanket is totally lacking in Orange, and is fixing that for me.


The front room is my main focus right now. The little jars on the mantel all have darling inscriptions like: "Bat wings," "Dead flies," and so on. My favourite broom is hanging out in the lower right hand corner. I keep thinking I need to get something to hang it, maybe above the painting.

And my latest acquisition: Spooky Town. I've never been into Christmas Villages, and I never knew they made something similar for us Halloween junkies. I plan to stalk the rest of the collection quite obsessively.

For my first foray into YouTube, I've taken a video of the animations/sounds of the display. This is almost as good as my six foot four Grim Reaper that I put in the front yard every Fall.


In Sock Wars news, I'm almost done with my socks. Beware Lane Knees! BEWARE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Ahem. After that, I've got a new lace shawl project. Rose of England has been unmerciful to me, so I'm trying the Mediterrean Lace Shawl from A Gathering of Lace. If that doesn't self destruct, I may actually put up pictures of it.

I know I've sucked at blogging regularly lately, so thanks to any readers who have stuck with me. :)

Coming Soon: Pictures of the Sock of Doom!

Icarus

Okay, I finished Icarus several days ago. It's been so long since I worked full-time that I've really been too tired to do much, and blogging dropped way low on the priority list. I've got more to talk about, and I'll try and catch up tomorrow.

So first, here's Icarus pre-blocking. It's a pretty sad little pile of alpaca. Eris likes it though:


And... Icarus pinned out on the floor. I'm not a very good pinner, and as I've mentioned before, I tend to be a pretty lazy blocker. However, since these points pretty obviously weren't going to point without help... they got pinned (yes, that is part of Ceres in the lower left corner):


And finally, the amount of yarn left over. I can totally see how people were running out of yarn on this project. I used two balls of Misti Alpaca at 437 yards each. If I'd only had 800 yards, I don't think I would have made it. Of course, I bought an extra ball, so the yarn gods made sure I didn't actually USE it. Grumble. Maybe I'll make an alpaca doily.


Tomorrow: SOCK WARS HAS BEGUN!

More of the Spinning Wheel (by special request)

Never let it be said that I don't try to please my readers. ;) By request, here are some more detailed photos of the spinning wheel.

The wheel is a Clemes and Clemes, and the owner tells me it's about 20 years old. I don't know if I've got it strung right, but since I have NO IDEA how to spin yet, I suppose it's not an issue. Note how Eris has insinuated herself into the photo:


Further proving that I can do nothing without a cat in this household, here is Eris investigating some of the goodies that came with the wheel:



For those of you who prefer their pictures detailed and without Cat, here's a better photo of the goodies I got. I have 3 extra bobbins, and a bigger... yarn-spinny thingie. That is, of course, the technical term. I also got two carders, not pictured.


And lastly, because I never want it to be said that I didn't go all the way for my readers... A side view. I don't know if anyone cares, but just in case. ;)

No real knitting progress was made yesterday, as I was busy killing myself on a five mile hike with the other two Hussies.

Tomorrow, probably: More Icarus (it never ENDS, I tell you)

Two hussies go to see the Yarn Harlot!

Today may have been the single most exciting day of my knitting life. Today, we met... The Yarn Harlot. She was coming to Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos, and would be speaking in the evening. There was just the minor matter of there being 450 knitters who had RSVPed for this event. Check-in was at 2:00 pm, and we wanted to be First In Line (okay, I wanted to be first in line, Jessica had not yet experienced the Love of Harlot). We set off most bravely around 12:45, allowing for Lost Duck Time (which it turned out, we needed. Who knew Los Altos has like, two downtowns?)


Once we made check-in (we got Zone 1 for signing, yay us) we wasted some time around downtown Los Altos. Knitters were EVERYWHERE. You couldn't sneeze without hitting someone wearing a Soleil, a Flower Basket Shawl, or a Lotus Blossom Tank. I saw someone wearing a white version of the Flirty Ruffles Shawl, which was stunning. I also saw someone wearing a STUNNING Peacock Feathers Shawl, something I intend to cast on sometime soon. I forgot her blog name (I suck), but she was fantasically friendly, as was everyone at the event.

Around 4, seating opened, and because I am OCD we ran right out and got seats in the front row. After I took this photo, they added more rows of seats. By the time the Harlot started speaking, the lot was FULL. People were on the sides, watching. Note the gorgeous colours on Jessica's scarf. She has definitely come to the dark side. She also won a gift certificate for being the newest knitter in the group!


We also met a store owner who may be carrying Handmaiden Lace Silk, my absolutely FAVOURITE fibre. It's damn near impossible to get here state-side. Check out her website. She carries some fabulous yarn, and was incredibly friendly.

Another view of the seats, and Jess knitting. The lady next to her (whose name I have shamefully forgotten) was So. Cool. She has a 1900 square foot stash. I'm not kidding. She has a separate frigging HOUSE for her stash. Jessica and I tried to get her to adopt us, but I don't think she was going for it. I asked if she ever gets the urge to roll in her stash, and she assured us she did.


Around 5:30, the Yarn Harlot took the stage. I can't begin to descibe how witty this woman is. I don't know if a non-knitter would get her style of humour, but we laughed so hard our cheeks were hurting. She keeps a totally straight face as she riffs off the silliness we knitters endure, every once in a while breaking into this mischevious little grin. She must have talked to us for an hour and a half, including questions. Never once did she look tired of doing the book circuit, or get snooty with a question. I don't know if I would be that down to earth if hundreds of people constantly showed up to see and adore me.

After the talk, we lined up to get our books signed (Do I even need to tell you, dear reader, that we were first in line? Knitter with determination, I tell you....) Stephanie signed both our books, and I had her and Jessica pose for the camera with the amazing Dibs on Ribs sweater of Intense Evil. I believe the Yarn Harlot descibed it as an "evil gremlin" of a sweater.



All in all, one of the best days I've had recently. I hope the Harlot comes back on her next book tour (she descibed Book 4 as being a "travel guide to knitting." I can't wait!)

Till next time, dear readers.

And if you ask about the Icarus, I may have to kill you.

A little behind (as always)

All right, I know I promised an update last Monday. I am a bad bad bad bad Blogging Duck. I blame the 12 hour drive (yes, twelve hours) to get the spinning wheel added to one of Those Weeks (tm). Now, I figure there are going to be two types of readers: Type One thinks driving 12 hours for a spinning wheel is nothing, totally normal, and would like to see the pictures already; Type Two is still repeating to themselves "Twelve Hours? For a spinning wheel? Are you MAD?"

Type two is right, of course, but here are the pictures anyway. ;)

After the twelve hour drive, I still had to get all the goodies transferred from my mother's Dodge Ram (a rather large automobile) to my Vette (a car that seats, on a good day, two midgets and half a bag of groceries). Somehow, I managed the drive home from Brentwood completely intact. I don't know if my car has forgiven me yet.


Once the wheel was inside the house, it had to be vetted by the cats. Ceres knows that this contraption means less attention for her, and she Does Not Approve.

Eris took the job of investigating the fiber. She seems pleased.

Oh yes, the fiber (I know, type one has been screaming for details. Relax, type one). Not only did the my mother's lovely, fantastic, adorable, and incredibly kind friend give me a spinning wheel, she sent me home with all the fiber she had left. There are silks, cotton, and wool. I admit, I may have nearly wept a little when she said she used to have bags of silk, but gave it away to some guy on Freecycle. Susan, if you're reading, I'm sorry for that display of emotion. Silk gets me all choked up. ;)

And not ONLY is there fiber, she sent me home with all her handspun yarn (note the 24 balls of natural black wool):

My stash is most verily enhanced. And I would just like to take this moment to reiterate that I got ALL OF THIS in a 1981 Corvette. Never underestimate a Knitter on a mission.

Unfortunately, I still haven't learned to spin yet. I've been tooling around on the internet, and on Tuesday will be going to the library in search of books on spinning. I know there are some DVDs out there, and if anyone would like to recommend a particular DVD I'd be super appreciative!

In other knitting news, I'm still slogging through Icarus. Ms. Felton, your pattern is lovely. I can't wait to wear it. But those last few rows before the edging starts are making me want to jab myself with my needles. I can only begin to try to express my admiration in you for actually deciding to DO all those rows, with no lovely picture to promise that there is a beautiful object to be gained from them.

My random plug of the day: PepperKnits and her Anastasia Sock pattern. It's free from her blog, and is next on my list of Socks to Knit. She's looking for pictures of people's completed Anastasia socks too, so why not give it a try? :)

Coming soon: Hopefully, an Icarus.