The heat is on

Geh.
The weekend was not as it was intended to be - we missed a dinner and the cleaning lady we hired for my dad's house had vehicle problems, so Dad's place is still The Place Where Dust Goes To Retire. I believe that house hasn't had a complete and thorough cleaning since my mom died in 1995. It will be cleaned someday, but we will have to deal with the filth for a while longer.
That being said, I have FOs. These are the only pictures I have, and they were taken quickly whilst The Bug slept in the car (with the AC on, I'm not nuts, but still) so I make no guarantees about their quality.
As always, click to embiggen.

Swallowtail:


Apparently I suck at the Harlot's Knitwear In Foliage photography.


The funky dark blob is the comforter underneath. I think it's a lion.

One Hogwarts sock. If this picture sucks, we can blame my photography skills, because I had plenty of time with this one.



The second sock has been cast on, and I hope to churn this puppy out THIS WEEK. I am running out of time since they should be in the mail this weekend, and I have to knit the Sockapalooza socks to be sent shortly thereafter. I do believe I will opt out of future knitting swaps. I should have had plenty of time with the Hogwarts socks (and by extension, the palooza socks) but I stressed out so deeply about the perfect pattern and yarn that I piddled all my time away, and now I'm feeling the pressure. Sigh. Spinning and all projects for me are on hold until these lovelies are finished and mailed. Alas, because here is some temptation.


Luxury Sock Batts from Franquemont Fibers. I call this colorway Intimidation. (She calls it Heartbreaker.)

This weekend, after his bath, the Bug found a way to keep cool.


The coating of soap and the last bit of water soaked into the diaper necessitated another showering off, which I think was his plan all along.

Head down and workin'

That's me. No chat (hi, La, remember me?), less than normal email, little phone time. I am buried under work and knit deadlines, some of which are self-imposed. I finished the beautiful Swallowtail shawl with plenty of yarn to spare, and it's currently blocking. In this heat it's probably already dry, but I have yet to unpin it. We recently bought some lake-near property (that's when it's just a hop to the lake, but isn't actually lakefront) and DH has dropped everything to run off and play. Well, he's not really playing, he's hooking up utilities, cleaning up the lot and moving the ancient mobile home that's on there, in the eleventy-hundred degree heat. (We were there dropping of some stuff on Wednesday and the temp in my car said 140. Heh.) The Bug and I have been holding down the fort at home, but we're off tonight to join DH, and then have a family-type weekend in Phoenix.
Wish me luck on the Hogwarts sock. I can't believe I piddled away all that time working on non-stripe patterns and ended up with a stripe pattern anyway. D'oh. Oh well. I hope there will be photos of some FOs when I get back to the land of the Connected (the new place has no phone yet and is remote enough that the phone company isn't even sure where it is and whether they service it).

XOXO

The no-good, very bad blogger

I can't have been the first to appropriate (and mangle) that title for myself, but I believe it's quite true. It's been [checking] five days since my last post. I don't suppose that's terrible, as far as blog-slackers go, but I feel like it's been ages and ages.
Since then, I have made all-good, very nice progress on Swallowtail. I have finished the nupping, even managing to ladder down and re-nupp a nupp that had only four of the five loops nupped the first time 'round. It's not perfect, but I didn't have to tink back two whole rows of the little buggers, so I was happy. And not angering the gods, and all that. I have 10 rows of the last chart, plus the two or three setup rows prior to binding off, and they are taking me for-bloody-ever. I timed it last night, and the purl-back row took 15 minutes with no interruptions. The Bug loves him some interruptions, though, so I get a row here and there. The first round of my friend's chemo is Monday, so I hope to have some good solid knitting time tomorrow and this weekend and deliver it to her prior to her first appointment. No pictures as yet, because we've been told time and time again, knitted lace looks like ass on the needles and prior to blocking. (I have to work in a swear word here or there, since I was rated PG. What does it say about most of the bloggers I've seen, who all feel the need to "spice it up" a little to get a racier rating?)

I can't remember where I saw the blog rating thing (I wanna go back and see if I upped my rating, dammit!) but here, have this:

41%

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

I'm fairly certain my survival percentage would go up dramatically if I already had The Bug with me. DH can look out for himself - he's a big boy, right? Heh.

The Bug went on his first hike this weekend. We found a relatively flat trail with no cliffs or drop-offs nearby (soothingly named Bear Wallow) and let him walk along the trail with us while I pushed the empty stroller. He loved it and was a total trooper. He pooped out just before we got back to the car, which was an astounding half-mile walk for a kid whose legs are only about 8 inches long. I loved seeing him tromping through the grass, picking up rocks, and climbing over logs (heh, I typed blogs). We will have to schlep him back up there more often. It doesn't hurt that it's 20 degrees cooler up there, either. Alas, no pictures of the hiking, either, since I was happy to experience the occasion whole, instead of through a viewfinder. You'll have to imagine it.

I can't let the Bug fans down, though, so I will give you another from the last photo-shoot, with the mugging and the hat.


That was the "scale" puppy I used to mark his growth in photos. He's so big now... [sniff]

Deflowered

It's the only thing I can think - I am no longer a nupp virgin. I have nupped the nupps. I love the word nupp. I wanna name my next kid nupp. In George Foreman style, I wanna change the Bug's name to nupp. I want quadruplets named nupp. Nupp nupp nupp.


Nupp nupp nupp.

Swallowtail is proving to be a very satisfying knit. We got word yesterday that the friend for whom this is being knit will have to do several rounds of chemotherapy, so I'm even more glad I chose the Sea Silk to knit it. I know chemo can do funky things to the body and affects everyone differently, so I hope that the yarn is gentle and soothing to her. And I hope she likes nupps.

Bug likes nupps.


Whadda ham.


Not now, Daddy, I haven't had my coffee yet.

This weekend, Mystery Stole 3 and Hogwarts Socks!

Thank you

Thanks for all the words of support. I have been doing well, actually - it's Saturday night, which means it's been four days without a cigarette and it's gotten easier. Actually, I can't quite remember what night it was that I had my last, but since I only smoked a few days, I'm sticking with my original quit date (1/5/05, the day I found out I was pregnant) and calling this a relapse. I still have a low flash point on my temper, but it's mostly aimed at DH. He got an inkling early on that I was quitting (I didn't tell him) and has spent most of his free time in the garage tinkering with his Harley. The first night, when we were about to argue about dinner, he asked me with exasperation, "FINE, what do YOU want?" I thought about it a minute and said, "I want you to go away for a while." He did, and after I got over the irritation that he didn't ask me what was wrong (I never said my brain made sense) I knitted all night and enjoyed myself thoroughly. The temper is getting better, and tomorrow I might actually go out in the back yard for a cup of coffee.
I am chugging along on Swallowtail - 11 body repeats down, three to go. I also started the heel of the first Hogwarts sock (must knit faster on that one) and swatched for my mystery stole, which starts next Friday. Here 'tis - yarn color is fairly accurate on this, although the beads are the same color as the yarn when you look at them directly. (They change to that pretty teal when viewed at an angle - I dunno what that effect is called, but I like it.)


Crappy crappy swatch.

I did a terrible job on the swatch (20 rows, 35 stitches, and at least three unfixed mistakes. Oy.) but I don't care - I like the fabric it made, and I practiced with the beads, and that's the whole point of swatching for an item that has no required finished size. This is my first laceweight project (though not first lace, obviously) and I'm wondering about the sanity of the person who invented laceweight. It's like how the Japanese as a culture are constantly inventing or creating ever-tinier things. It'll kill me, sooner or later.

In the meantime, I'm going to wander off with my aches and pains, projectile phlegm, hacking cough (isn't that supposed to go away when you quit smoking?), infected tastebuds and bad attitude, all indications that my body is pissed at me for poisoning it again, and leave you with these quotes from Nic. (What, so I named the nicotine voice in my head, and it's not creative. Shut up or I'll have to kill something.)

• I can't believe he is going to the garage and didn't ask about my mood. I should go have a cigarette.


• I can't wait until I'm not addicted anymore and then I can go have a cigarette.


• I lost three pounds and ate chocolate every day. I should totally keep smoking until I'm at goal. (That one almost got me, I admit.)


• (My fave) Five days isn't really addicted. No one will be impressed about quitting after five days. I should smoke longer so it will be cooler when I quit.*
  

The reason I quit in the first place.

*I never said I was smart, or that Nic made sense.

Tuesday is the cruelest day.

On Monday, you're still a little fresh from the weekend (or at least, your exhaustion is countered by all the fun you had). Wednesday is the tipping point of the week, heading into the weekend. Tuesday just sucks.

However! Mondays are for spinning, and spin I did. Do I have pictures? Why, yes I do! Did I upload them this morning before leaving for work? Why, no I didn't!
The spinning isn't terribly great anyway. It's been (yikes, really?) almost a month since I had a chance to spin on the wheel, and it shows. I got out the greens I dyed to ply with the easter egg stuff and spun away. Somewhere I got it into my head that I would finish the whole bobbin last night and still have time to ply. Uh huh, yeah. Not so much. I tried to rush it, and broke the singles a zillion times, and made a mess. I know I can do better if I just slow down. Maybe when I do the second half of the bobbin I will remember that.

I did knit yesterday, too - it was a fibery kind of day. Over the weekend I knit the new possible Hogwarts colorway and decided I wasn't happy with it. The colors of Judy's Ball and Skein (maple leaf colorway) are so vibrant and rich, and have such depth, that it made the Lorna's look positively dull. So, I went back to the cursed yarn. I decided that a week in a ziploc baggie was enough to drive out the demons, or at least shame the yarn into submission. I cajoled it with the promise of a newly-learned jogless join courtesy of TechKnitter (who is that woman? She's brilliant!) I promised that they'd be the first to try out the little sockie stitch markers from Blogless Lynn. I promised they'd be first on the blog today. The Lorna's and the Addis were placated and decided they would work with me.


Hogwarts Mad Cows.

Do please compliment them, so their good behavior will be rewarded. (Not for me, no no no - it's all for the yarn and the needles. It's all about them.)

I got a little more work done on my Swallowtail. I probably could have finished two repeats yesterday, except I took up the time needed to knit one repeat trying to figure out what drugs I'd been on when I knit the last row yesterday morning. Whatever they were, they musta been powerful. Anyway, fixes are fixed and all is well again.


Sweet little baby shawl.

Over the weekend, DH finished the drywall on the ceiling of my dad's patio. Bug wants you to know how much he helped Daddy.


Mixing the mud.


Daddy says, if you're working, you're gonna get dirty.

[contented sigh]

Boy, for a Monday, I am sure in a good mood. Even for a regular weekday, I'm in a good mood. I got decent sleep last night (love you, Tylenol PM), woke up early to a Bug in a good mood, and was ready early enough to savor my coffee and even knit a row on Swallowtail.
(Incidentally, Bug-in-a-good-mood is loud and impossible to ignore. First, he hears Daddy up and about and calls for him. Then he drops the binky, and it's oh no! oh no! oh no! and before it gets to a deafening shriek, I haul my carcass out of bed to get the binky. I'm generally cursing having to get up, but it's so cute I don't really mind.)
I'm not going to talk about the Hogwarts socks for a while. I don't want to spoil my good mood.
I'm halfway through the rows of the body of Swallowtail, and I haven't gotten bored yet. Of course, the rows increase in length every time, so I'm not really half-way, but I'm loving loving loving it. The sea silk is cool and crisp in my hands, but still stretchy, the knitpicks options I'm using are just sharp enough, and the pattern is clear and easy without being boring (to me). Also, whoever it was that realized that threading a string through the hole in the options needles for an automatic lifeline? Sheer brilliance - I toast you, whoever you are.
Sadly, I have no pictures. Swallowtail looks much the same, only bigger, and I made no progress either spinning or on the eyelet sweater, because I was too busy playing with seaweed lace. I sure hope Friederike likes it, because I'm going to have a hard time letting it go.
I will give you another Bug pose, though.


The crossed ankles really make the look.

Back in the saddle

Ahhhh, nothing like a new project to help you recover from the Curse of the Unknittable Socks.
My sea silk decided it did not want to be a design I came up with - it wanted to be a Swallowtail Shawl.

Smooth and crunchy. All good things.

I love it even though I am apparently honor-bound to forget one YO per row.

More lovelies to assuage my pain.


Mmmmm, soft and lacey.

Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino in Irish Moss for the Mystery Stole 3. Now I just need to find the beads.

Sadly, I believe my Gryffindor socks are still cursed. I decided to switch to the Ball and Skein maple leaves, with toes and heels in Lorna's cranberry, but I just don't think the dratted yarns work together. (I am not so secretly okay with this because I covet the Ball and Skein socks for myself.)


Close enough? You tell me.

I will probably knit the toe and part of a foot with the two yarns to see if they work better knitted up. I'm kinda running out of options AND time, and y'all, it's pissing me off.


Standing on the corner, watching all the Disney go by.