Copping out

I am lame and have no good personal blog post today. (Shut up, my other personal blog posts WERE SO good, yes-huh!)
So I will give you these.



(found via Dark Roasted Blend)

and its counterpart



Found via Blogless Lynn.

We can all go home now

Because it has All Been Done. These 8 succeeded in the last weirdest thing ever.



Thanks (?) to Blogless Lynn for sending me this.

Saturday sky and more

Here's for all you east coasters (and heck, Southern California residents who haven't seen the blue sky in a while).



We don't get much leaf-turning down here. There's a little on the mountains north of town, but in town, in the desert here, not so much. This is about it.



See the golden edges? Forgive the overexposed bits - I'm no Dave Daniels.

The other night I was playing with the settings on my camera. Here is my professional moon shot:



This entertained me way too much. Here's a C-130 on a night flight over my house.



The flight path was nice and smooth. I need a tripod.

And of course, there's the Bug. Enjoying his very first caramel apple. He licked most of the caramel off, then started eating from the bottom. Crunchy dead sepals first. Seeds and all. The kid loves apples.



And now, off to the lake with me.

Might as well be a mile

I have three inches of baby sweater left on the back until I can start the shaping. I thought I was making good progress, only knitting on it last night at SnB and again tonight. Then I got out the tape measure, and, well, not so much.



Back of Devan in Lanett fingering weight, navy blue.

The fronts are done and are just waiting to be three-needle-binded to the back, assuming I ever slog through the rest of it.



Yeah, yesterday I was all chipper about the fact that it'll go quickly since it's tiny, but apparently I need the variegation of the main yarn to keep my interest. I was hoping to finish the back this week so I could take the sleeves camping this weekend, but it looks like I will be finishing the back on the trip sometime instead. My eyelet sleeve will wait until I can get this back done, or I might never pick it up again.

In other news, my boy is big enough to eat his very own apple without Mama having to slice it or peel it. He can even get it out of the fruit bowl on the counter all by himself. Sniff. He's getting so big. (Time to hide the knives.)

Monday Monday, can't trust that day.

It is Monday. It is A Monday. So far, things aren't too terribly awful, but DH got a little news on the job front that was actually not so good. It was the job we wanted, but they changed the location from Denver (YAY) to Houston (NOWAY). The whole state of Texas repels me like maggots. I know there are people who love it, but I am not one of those. Sigh.
Knitting has been happening, but photography hasn't. A friend at work just had a baby, which I have known was coming for about six months now. When did I start the sweater? Why, last week, of course. I'm doing Devan from Knitty, in handpaint from MCY. I got it on eBay last year, but don't see it now. Anyway, it's adorable manly colors, ranging from navy and dark brown to a lovely muted gold. DH saw it and said, "Why didn't you make me socks like that?!" Sigh. I have two fronts done, and a tiny bit of the back. I'm a little concerned because the contrast yarn is a tad thicker, but I think the gauge is close enough that the pieces will still fit. If not, reknitting the back of a baby sweater, even on 2.5mm needles, isn't a killer.
I have also started the second sleeve of the eyelet cardigan. It would be going much quicker if I had been paying attention, but last night I had to rip most of it back and reknit what I'd done. (Stupid increases and stitch count anyway.) I haven't fixed the cap of the first sleeve - I think I might wait until I get to the cap on the second sleeve and fix them both together.
Not much else has happened, knitting-wise. The Cheshire Cat stole is still sitting, waiting to be ripped and restarted on larger needles. The socks sit, like they always do when something bigger/better/with a deadline comes along. I still have ideas about finishing Faina to wear at Christmas when we visit the inlaws. If I finish Cheshire Cat before we leave I'll finish Faina in the car. If not, well, it's anyone's guess.
To make up for the lack of photos, let's see if I can find a good Bug pic.



Daddy makes a comfy pillow.

Still milking the birthday

Here are the fibery gifts I received (in some cases, from myself HA) for my birthday...



(Click to embiggen - you can't truly see the lovely colors on that tiny little picture.) From left to right, Merlot Vine sock kit from Yarn4Socks, October Sock Club, Cabin Cove sock yarn in a colorway that's escaping me right now, and Cherry Tree Hill in Green Mountain Madness (I think). All purchased throughout the last months with my birthday in mind. I actually left the box from Cabin Cove on my dining room table until Saturday when I allowed myself to open it. I'm glad I did - I'd ordered it early enough that I'd forgotten the colorway and got a great surprise!



5 oz of superfine merino roving from Blue Moon in Rocktober, from the incomparable BigAlice. She actually sent this as a "just because she though I'd like it" giftie, but it was close enough to my birthday that I'm calling it a birthday surprise. I do love my bloggy friends!



A bump (4 oz? I can't remember now, I'm high from the wool fumes) of the softest, most beautiful alpaca/corriedale mix to ever enter my house. (Bonus: from a new spinning shop in town I had no idea existed!) From Blogless Lynn, enabler and conspirator extraordinaire. Mother of Queen A of the Bubbles (from last post) and a fine knitter, spinner, beader, potter, sew-person, and... I know I'm missing a few crafts in there. Y'all are seriously missing out because *I* get to see all the beautiful things she makes and you don't. Urge this woman to blog - you won't be sorry.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to go roll around nekkid in my fiber have a little lie-down.

Post birthday hangover

No, I didn't get wasted on my birthday. I had four Coronitas, which are hilarious tiny 7oz Corona beers, and lots of sandwiches and veggies and cake and good wishes of friends, in person and on blog. It truly was a great weekend, and I enjoyed every last drop until last night, when I crashed, only to be awakened by the stupid neighbors with the stupid rooster and the kids who never sleep.
Anyway, here is the biggest reason you should be jealous of me.



It doesn't show well in my picture, but y'all, that is a yarn cake. That ball of color at the top is a cupcake, frosted entirely with that little skinny writing attachment for the frosting bags, and I ate it! YAHOO! Yarn cake! I'm pretty sure it was the best cake ever. It was a collaboration between the DH, who baked it, and my sister who frosted it. Brilliant. I loved it.

The Bug and his best bud S loved it too.



Miss A got her first taste of ice cream.



She pronounced it a success.

The Divine Miss M wants this car to go faster. Don't bother her with cake. There is driving to do.



The older Miss A is queen of all bubbles, and the Bug and S were completed smitten with her. She is wearing a pink lizard on her shoulder. How else would one properly accessorize one's pink heart shirt and flouncy new haircut?



Later there was Wii-ing. (Wiiing?) That thing is hilarious. I was cracking myself up, and the Bug laughed and laughed to see his mama doing all those funny things and waving that little white dealie around. Boxing was his favorite. Even the DH, who is an avowed not-gamer, got involved and learned that he loves fake bowling. He smoked me on the bowling, but I kicked his proverbial Mii-butt in golf. Yes, we are living on the edge.

Yesterday there was punkin-pickin' on the farm. (Bug says, "PUNKY!" Love it.) There was running like maniacs in the orchard. There was fresh pecan pie with homemade ice cream. There were pictures, which unfortunately remain on the DH's camera. Tomorrow, maybe, if I can stop Wii-ing.

Happy Birthday to Me!

This is how it looks from here:

Coffee
Shower
Massage
Wii
Knitting
Party
Beer
Bed!

A day late and a dollar short

Well, I have a slightly better outlook on the job situation now. Nothing has really happened, but we came up with a plan that will ultimately get us where we want to be, even if it's a little later than we'd hoped. Thanks for the commiseration.
I am still not sleeping well. Last night I was exhausted and went to bed at about 8:30, after blocking my cardigan pieces.



Laying there in the dark, my mind refused to settle down and I suddenly figured out what the sleeve cap instructions were SUPPOSED to say to make the measurements on the diagram correct. Sigh. The way I did the caps made them almost fit, so I think if I rip them and fix them according to the new, revised instructions, they'll probably be fine. I'm glad I left a long tail. (On an only slightly related note, is there such thing as a right-leaning decrease on the purl side?)

The Bug has no problems sleeping.

Sigh. Again.

I have finished the sleeve. I am not entirely sure it will fit the armscye. It lines up pretty well against the unblocked back and front of the cardigan, but I am still unsure. I plan to block all three pieces tonight and sew them together to try it on for fit before I knit the next two pieces. I'd rather rip one sleeve cap than two, you know.
Still no news on the job front for DH. He's been doing a little temporary work, which should keep us floating until we hear something from one of the million jobs he's applied for, but the stress is getting to me. I don't do uncertainty well, nor do I wait well. Zen I am not. We got so excited about the idea of moving to Colorado that the waiting has been even more of a downer than usual. I have wanted to live in CO for years but always felt trapped by my job, the house, etc. The idea that it could be a possibility was intoxicating, and now I think I'm hungover. Oh well. It will happen or not, but something will change soon. In addition to that, there are Big Things happening at my job today, and my group was not included on the announcement. We are all hoping that was just an oversight and that IT just missed something. GAH!
In an effort to distract you from the fact that I am boring and a serious downer, I present Mama's Little Flirt.

Whoa, Nelly!

Last week when I posted that I'd finished one front of my cardigan in a weekend, BigAlice said I was a speedy knitter. So, why did it take me a whole week of steady knitting to NOT finish one sleeve? I have never made a sweater using the traditional construction before, so I thought the sleeves went faster than the body. Now I know why people talk about sleeve island.
Anyway, in spite of some funky instructions on the sleeve cap, I hope to finish it tonight. (Tell me, if your gauge is stated to be 28 rows/4 inches, and there are 25 rows in the sleeve cap, how do they think it's going to come out to be 5.25 inches tall?) This weekend was beautiful, with crisp mornings and breezy cool days that I love about fall in the southwest. I was wishing I'd finished it already so I could wear it in the mornings and evenings. This week we're supposed to be back to the mid to high 90s during the day, though, so I still have some time. Sigh.
I would have some pictures for you, but the Bug's newest obsession is blocking me from using my computer. My desk is in the living room, and any time I sit down to read emails or blogs (or download photos), there's a little Bug on my leg saying, "Airplane? Airplane?" Sometime last week I got the brilliant idea to find videos of airplanes taking off and landing and let him watch them while we cooked dinner. It worked SO well that now he climbs up in my chair and asks for airplanes every ten minutes or so. I didn't get much computer time this weekend at all.
In lieu of knitting pictures, I have a Bug photo. Our friends C and J have a son Bug's age - we met at a class at the Birth Center here. At S's birthday, Bug discovered this cool tunnel they have, and we could hardly get him out of it. They decided Bug needed one for HIS birthday a few weeks ago. (It's wed and lello.) It flattens like a sunshade , but he cries when we try to put it away.



ETA: Thanks for all the good thoughts about DH's job situation. He had his phone interview on Friday and got a definite maybe. We're hoping he gets a call today or tomorrow for a face-to-face interview with the partners, who'll be in our town this week. It wasn't the answer we were both hoping for, but the job is still in play. More good wishes would be appreciated at this time!

Rock star knitters

First, the Harlot and The Panties.

Now this.

And people wonder why I love knitters.

ohboyohboyohboy

DH has a phone interview tomorrow for the job we both most want him to get. Fingers crossed for us both, please! I'm so excited I can hardly sit still. OHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!!!

Consider me p1mped.

Rachael needs you - go vote! I did. (I didn't even read chapter one - I went straight for chapter two, and now I'm pissed because I have to wait to read the rest of the book, dammit.) Vote a ten please. She's nice enough to let you vote what you want, but I say TEN. Even if you don't wanna read it. Go vote TEN, because the winner of this level gets reviewed by Simon & Schuster and I'd really like to have this book in my stocking this Christmas. C'mon, y'all, we got Ryan a job, we can get Rachael to the publisher.


Note from Rachael herself:

Dear friend/coworker/exboyfriend- slash-girlfriend/landlord,

My knitting-romance-writing friend Rachael has an urgent plea which I have pasted below. Please make her LIFE for her by voting for her, and if you enjoy it, please pass this email along!


**************
Hi there.

Please forgive the mass mailing -- I have a favor to ask.

I'm in a competition you may have already heard about. I wrote a book, a romance, full of yarn and alpacas and sheep and hot knitter-on-shepherd action (no, really). I entered it in Gather.com's First Romance Competition. I posted the first chapter, and it garnered enough votes to move on to the second round (in the top 25 of more than 300), so I'm thrilled to say that I'm a finalist, with people now voting on the second chapter. It's kind of an American Idol type of thing, if you can imagine, and this second round is still vote-driven, and the the most important thing to know is that if I end up in the top three, with the most votes, I move on to the last round where THE WHOLE NOVEL IS READ BY SIMON & SCHUSTER and their favorite is published. Oh, my god. I would like that. I would love that.

So I need your vote. I *really* need your vote. I'm in the top four right now, and the three people ahead of me have LOTS of friends. I need to be in the top three to move on, and you will make ALL the difference.

Here's what you do: Read chapter one, but don't vote on it. That one is nice and content and voted on as it is. Please ignore the typos. They hurt my soul, but they're there.

Then read chapter two and please DO vote. If you like the chapter at all, please give it a 10, as they only count 10s (they throw out all votes of 1-9). The chapters with the most 10-votes win.

Even though I know you want to, don't vote more than once, since they're watching for IP fraud. And you DO have to register with their site in order to vote, but they won't spam you, and they don't share or sell email addresses. They will send you a daily email which you can easily opt out of.

Oh, please, please? And will you forward this note on if you like the chapter? To all YOUR email contacts?

Thanks so much. Here you go:

Don't vote on chapter one:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977094360
DO VOTE on chapter two:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977126255

All my thanks. Really, ALL my thanks. It means so much. Whoo-hooo!
xo
Rachael