Brand New Day*

Knitting goals for the year:

-fornicating reindeer hat for coworker's brother-in-law
-fornicating ______ hat for coworker's husband - thinking horny toads?  Not sure, may need to chart this
-socks for Tina
-socks for my sister
-socks for HWIA
-wrist warmers for ME, ALL MINE.
-wrist warmers for TSD
-sweater for me
-baby stuff galore!
-cowl for boss
-wrist warmers for A2
-socks for me
-repair all dying, holey socks on dresser

*Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog

Man, when I decide to forget about something, I manage to forget about it.

In other news, I recently spent some $3,000.00 on a three year old cat.  The correlation between the two numbers has not been lost on me, and I fear what his old age will cost me.  However, he's rather cute and lovable and snuggly and I suppose I can forgive him for his stupidity.

(This is not the injured party, though she would like to get some share of his reward for pain and suffering for her life was also disrupted and that is Clearly Not Allowed.)

For, you see, he injured himself jumping off the kitchen counter.  Well, falling off, if I am to be honest.  He made a mad scramble to jump off because he knew he was about to be scolded for being where he KNOWS he does not belong, and chose a piece of paper on the corner of the counter as his launching pad.  It failed to provide the support he required and evidently cats need at least four feet vertical distance to get their feet back under them.

The more you know, I guess?



In other news, I have finished my father's Christmas Socks.  I still need to weave the ends in, but that shouldn't take too long.  I've also purchased my mother's yearly calendar (www.despair.com - love their stuff, as does my mother.) and a welcome mat for their new home.  Three Christmas gifts done, way too many to go.

I have, however, started figuring out my Christmas Knitting.  In theory, it would be a good idea to do that a bit earlier in the year, but I work best under pressure.  Or something.

I have to say, the iPhone 4 takes some very nice pictures.  I'm very interested in what the iPhone 5 will be capable of managing.

Other random observations:
- Beer is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
- My mind continues to be as weird and random as ever.

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

really cool plants in the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens

On Thursday, my father and I drove to Virgina to help my mother clear 15' of 'road' in the middle of her 12 wooded acres.

We left at 9:30pm for a five hour drive.

I did, however, discover that I have very good aim with an ax. And that it is very weird to look in your review mirror and see a severed tree trunk floating in midair ... and that it is chained to the back of your pick-up truck.

for some reason, the shadows from the other side of this window caught my eye

I also learned how to change the alternator in a 1999 F-350 Diesel truck, should anyone ever need any assistance in that way. And that if your headlights slowly dim while driving, odds are good that your alternator is going and that you won't make it very far before the vehicle will shut down all on its own. And that such an event can cause your departure time to shift from 8pm on Saturday to 2pm on Sunday.

star lights that looked a little less cool in person.

Also, they make me think of Ikea.

All in all, I would call it a successful weekend as we got a lot of work done with the trees and no one was killed. In this family, spending 48+ hours with each other and no fighting is a major accomplishment.

The Christmas knitting continues - I will need to write another FO post for the pair of fingerless mitts, and I also need to finish up the second pair of socks. I'm on the toe of the first sock, so there is hope. Something won't be finished in time, but I think that shall be my father's hat and he'll just have to deal.

Magically lit berries.  It was beautiful out that night, if cold.

A few random observations:
1. Cats always Know when you are making the bed, and appear out of no where. I swear that I had checked the room for kitties and shut the door, certain that there were none present. Somehow, they made it through the closed door to jump up on the bed and "help."

2. It doesn't feel like Christmas without finals and papers and school. Nothing to really look forward to, other than Christmas in and of itself. And while I like the holiday, it isn't my favorite.

3. Winter sucks. Somehow, I forget every year that I get the Blahs around this time, thanks to the whole day-light savings, shorter days and longer nights, wet winter weather, and the stress of the holidays. Having remembered that this is actually normal for me, I'm finally starting to shake it off, but you'd think I could figure that part out as it happens every year.

4. The smell of a kitteh who has been outside for a while is wonderful when you're curled up and drifting off to sleep.

5. The kitten's paws still smell like popcorn.

Finished Object: Monkey Socks

I'm currently pissed off, frustrated, tired, and so the negative-emotions list goes. So pictures:

The Specs:
Pattern: Monkeys by Cookie A. 
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarn's Alpaca Sox.



Color: Number 1856, lot 5346 - Greens, blues, a bit of purple, and some PINK.
Needles: Knit Picks nickle-plated DPNs, US Size 1ish.
Start to Finish: Uh... Some time in the fall of 2009 to November 28th, 2009.  



For: My mother, for Christmas 

Notes:  I did these toe-up, using the star-toe from the New Pathways for Socks book.  Garter stitch heel because I didn't want to be bothered trying to hide the wraps.  Not sure about the ribbing at the top - I wanted to try to keep the flow of the money pattern, and I think it works.  Had a hard time binding off loosely, so I did a round of yarn over, knit two together, a plain knit round, and then a bind off that involves knitting two stitches, then knitting them together.  It works, and mom won't care.  Not sure I like the way the yarn stripped, but mom likes it, so who cares?  They might be a mite short in the foot, but that's the problem with this pattern.  Not all that adjustable.

several arrows later

My computer is officially broken. No longer does it recognize that the cable is plugged and thus, no longer do I get online. Somehow, I see this being a good thing. No more wasting hours and hours on knitting blogs. And Freecell can only hold me for so long.

Completely frogged the Sixth Sense Socks. My roommate, who is not quite 5'1'', has tiny feet and she couldn't get the sock past the ball of her feet. Should have thought to check sooner, but denial is a powerful thing? I think I'll add two pattern repeats and work with the size 2 needles. That should give me a decent chance of finding SOMEONE the socks fit.

I've been looking for a pattern for the Opal yarn. Self-patterning yarn, so I want to use a fairly basic pattern. I've discovered that I like short-row heels and toes much much more than heel flaps and gussets and pointy decreased toes. (Never mind the fact that I have the hardest time figuring out how many stitches to knit each row and can't see if a stitch has been wrapped or not. Go figure.) I think I want a toe up pattern, cause I haven't tried that yet. I'm figuring to get a good bit of knitting done during finals week, since I'll write the paper due at the end of next week some time this week.

Saw Matt Pond PA tonight. As always, he (and the rest of the band) rocked. I love the cello. Love, love, love. Really shouldn't be too surprising, since I love Yo Yo Ma as well.

Went to see a production of Much Ado About Nothing on Monday night. Or rather, went to see the first dress rehearsal of a production of Much Ado About Nothing. The Roommate and I were two of about ... 8 people sitting in the theater (which prolly seats about 60 people, max) and that included the director, stage manager, and costume guy. It was very well done though and I managed to swatch more Opal yarn. Since getting about 10 sts per inch with size 2. I'm wondering if I should go for the whole 4" swatch, rather than the 2-3" I've been doing. That involves a whole lot of casting on though and I don't want to wait.

Since I'm in the computer lab, I have no pictures. I should see if taking my laptop to the end of the hall lets me pick up the wireless connection from the building next door. I doubt it, since I'm sure PSU has managed to end the range about 2 feet from the sides of the building.