What's the haps?

It has been a busy couple of weeks and things won't be slowing down anytime soon. I usually try not to schedule stuff two weekends in a row because I like to reserve every other weekend to catch up on podcasts, reading, television shows & knitting. However I managed to book my weekends solid from June 2nd to July 8th.

The weekend of June 2nd was the wedding in Nashville and the next weekend was Relay for Life. It was the first time that I participated in Relay for Life and despite some flaws, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I was on the Connie's Crusaders team that was formed in support of a friend who is currently undergoing treatment. Our team raised just under $1,800.00 for the American Cancer Society which I think was pretty respectable since it was our first time participating. There were a lot of people on the team but thanks to my finely honed night shift skills, I was the only member of the team who stayed all night. Thankfully some of my friends stayed late, until about 1:30am and 3:00am, which really helped me stick it out. A special shout-out to K & T who found the indoor restrooms so I didn't have to use a port-a-potty! You know what the other secret to staying out all night & walking laps is?

Junk food! Don't judge. Junk food makes 4:00am feel a lot better. And yes, the junk food is hanging out on my yoga mat. I did do a little bit of yoga in the wee hours of the morning and when I wasn't yoga-ing, the mat was nice and comfy to sit on. I did take photos of people but again, I didn't think to ask if they minded being on the blog so no awesome, sweaty, hopeful Relay for Life people pictures. I think that my favorite non-people photo of the night was the picture I snapped of sunrise.

The crowds had dispersed quite a bit by sunrise but the people that were left really seemed to get a second wind once the sun started to rise. My only complaints about the event dealt with some organizational glitches that will hopefully be fixed next year. The relay had twice as many teams this year than they had last year so I am just chalking it up to growing pains. So, if you are on the fence about attending an event life this, then I would say give it a shot and if you can, stay all night!

This weekend, I hung out at my mom's & dad's house to celebrate Father's Day. My dad seemed to enjoy showing off his new lawn mower and he even offered to let me drive but I totally chickened out. It steers with levers instead of a steering wheel and goes pretty fast and I was afraid that I would run over some of the landscaping that he has been spending his weekends doing! The yards looks really fabulous with lots of flowers and a new water fountain. It was really great to spend time with them.

There hasn't been a lot of time for knitting and right now I am spending my free crafting time poking around Ravelry trying to find a pattern that sparks my knitting mojo. I just need to stop waffling and pick a pattern and start knitting! I did so a little stash enhancement but I will save that for my next blog entry. Until then, keep it nerdy!

Are you an innie or an outie?

I am still working on my scarf for the Knitting Blooms March Madness Challenge. The scarf is about 22 inches long (unblocked) and I still have 60 grams of yarn left in ball so I am less than halfway through the yarn and I have until Friday night to finish it. I really would like to finish this KAL on time but I don't know if I will. I was hoping to spend a lot of time knitting on the scarf while I was on vacation but that didn't happen. I took my knitting with me but failed to knit even one stitch and I'm okay with that.



I think the feather and fan stitch was a good choice for this yarn. I haven't decided if I am going to do a hard block on the scarf to open the stitch up as much as possible or if I'm just going to let it dry naturally which will emphasize the ridges. I'm leaning toward the ridges. You can find all the scarf details on my Ravelry project page.

Now that I've talked a bit about the project, I'll get to the point of this post. When you wind your yarn into a center-pull cake, do you pull the yarn from the center (innie) or pull the yarn from the outside of the cake (outie). Normally, I pull from the center but for some reason I decided to pull from the outside when I started knitting on this project. Here's the thing...it doesn't feel like I am making any sort of progress when I look at the ball of yarn.



I started off with 108 grams and the ball is down to 60 grams but it just doesn't seem to be smaller. I know that if I put this ball next to a 100 gram ball it will look smaller but without a point of reference, it seems like I am knitting and knitting and knitting and the ball isn't getting any smaller. I had no idea how much I relied on visual cues to feel a sense of knitting accomplishment. I know the scarf is getting longer but unless I start using stitch markers to track my progress I won't be getting visual feedback every time I knit because it takes several knitting sessions before the scarfs looks longer.

However, there are some definite pluses to being an outie. I haven't had the yarn tangle at all which happens occasionally when I use the yarn from the middle. Also, when the project is finished, any leftover yarn is will still be in a nice yarn cake instead of being collapsed into a pile that has to be wound into a ball.

So, my fellow knitters, are you an innie or an outie? Do you have a definite opinion one way or the other? Shout it out in the comments.

Yarn-y Goodness

Happy Leap Day!! I hope that you took the time today to celebrate and enjoy the extra day. I firmly believe that on leap day you should try to do something that makes you happy and you get bonus points if it is something that you have been putting off because you don't have time.

What makes knitters happy? Yarn! So, here are some photos of the yarn that has made it into my stash this year.



Fibernymph Dyeworks in the Elemental 3.0 base which is a non-superwash worsted. The colorway is a self-striping color called Poseidon's Love. There are 220 yards in the skein so I'm trying to think of patterns that will show it off...perhaps a cowl or a hat? If you have any suggestions, shout them out in the comments.



The Plucky Knitter in the Plucky Rustic base which is 165 yards of a superwash Aran weight wool in the Fly the Concord colorway. I also have a skein of Peep Toes which is a red with some rusty undertones. I will probably use these yarns for charity hats or perhaps some mittens.



Malabrigo Rasta in the Solis colorway that I picked up at my local knitting store, Klose Knit. It is 90 yards of a Super Bulky wool that will become a cowl. If you want to pick some Rasta up online, you can get it here at The Loopy Ewe.


There is more yarn, as you can see from the running total in the sidebar, but I will save those photos for later posts. Sadly, February is coming to a close without me finishing the Hitchhiker for TheKnitGirllls SAL/KAL. I think the project needs to take an official timeout so I don't resent having to knit it and then maybe I can get it finished.  What about you, fellow knitter, do you sometimes resent your knitting when a deadline is involved?

Playing Catch Up

I have composed so many witty and delightful blog entries in my head since I last posted. However, since I wasn't anywhere near a computer while they were being written in my head, you will have to suffer through this blog post which will just be a random mishmash of the stuff floating around in my head. I warn you, it won't be for the faint of heart. It will be disconnected and rambling, but that is just how my mind works.

First up, I do have a finished object for Stash Dash. I completed a mitered dish towel which is retro and fabulous. See?

It makes me think of the dish towels my mom had hanging in the kitchen when I was growing up. Of course those towels were actual towels with a crochet topper but it is the same general idea. I had always assumed that my mom made them but I just found out this weekend that she bought them at a craft sale when I was little. Of course, that was in the 70s so I'm guessing it was a church bazaar and not a full on, modern, Renegade Craft Fair style craft show.  Anyway, the towel was super easy to make and it took practically no time at all which is good because I am seriously slacking in the Stash Dash arena. The hardest part of the towel was picking out which button to use on it. My button stash is mostly buttons for shirts or pants and those are a lot smaller than I needed for the towel so I went on a button quest. I didn't take the towel with me because I wasn't thinking clearly so I brought home several options.

I went with the round gray stone-esque button and I'll just use the rest up when I make more towels. And I will be making more towels. I love a project quick project and a functional project and this was both.

In other knitting news, I am still working on the Pogona. It is nearing the end which means that I want to stab myself every time I work on it. The rows get longer and longer and my knitting boredom kicks in and I want to just stick it in a corner and forget about it. However, I need the yardage for Stash Dash and I know that I will love it once it is done so I just have to suck it up and soldier through the last bits. My next shawl project needs to be worked sideways so I don't have the super long rows to contend with at the end. Hopefully the next time I blog, it will be finished.

Now for my guilty summer pleasure: Ice Loves Coco. That's right, the reality show on E!. (Do you need the period after the exclamation point? I'm just gonna go with it.) It is entertaining and their dog is a total rock star.

What else have I been up to? Yoga. Yep, still doing yoga and still enjoying it. I bought my own yoga mat, mostly because feet gross me out and even though we wipe down the yoga mats the gym provides, strangers have had their feet on them. So, now I have my own mat. I tried to be all analytical about it when I was trying to choose one on Amazon but I realized that I really have no frame of reference for good versus bad when it comes to yoga mats so I just got one of the thicker ones that was available in a color that I enjoyed. So, I got this one. I had to ignore the "Yogi Tips" because that was a little over the top for me. The mat is squishy so I'll see how I like it when I use it later today. I'm going to the Gentle Yoga class that Linda is teaching for the first time today and it will be the first time I use the mat. I have been to Linda's Yin Yoga class twice and I've really enjoyed it so I'm hoping that I enjoy the Gentle Yoga as well. The Gentle Yoga class isn't at a time that I would normally be able to go to but I thought I would try it while on vacation and if I love it, I will try to find a way to flex my sleep schedule so I can make it.

Lastly, family bonding. This summer I made it to family reunions for both sides of my family.  It is such a rare occurrence that my dad joked to my uncle that "the kids must think we are dying because they are going to the reunion this year." He was referring to the reunion for my mom's side of the family which I haven't been to since the late 80s. So, consider me officially bonded with the extended family. I do go to the reunion for my dad's side of the family almost every summer. I don't know what exactly the difference is and I don't know if it bugs my mom but that is just how I do things.

The biggest family bonding news of the summer was delivered by my brother via text. My niece is pregnant and due in February so our family is growing. My mom is busily planning all of the things that she can knit and she has already offered her babysitting services. I'm excited to have a new baby in the family as well but my response is a bit more subdued. I just offered my congrats and I'm planning on stockpiling diapers and wipes. So, exciting times ahead for our family.

Until next time, I hope the summer brings you adventures, a sense of freedom and maybe a few nights watching fireflies in the back yard.

A little bit of yummy in my mouth

So today I left work and decided that I wanted to treat myself to a little something to celebrate the bonus check. I decided that I would stop at the downtown cupcake store that I have been wanting to try for, like, 2 years. Why haven't I tried it? Well, I live in a rut and I don't really like to deviate too much. A new place means new people, new foods, new experiences: scary!!! So, I pulled up my big-girl boots and just did it. What was my reward? A little bit of yummy called a S'mores cupcake. My best guess at it's composition is a graham cracker crust topped with chocolate cake and "frosted" with marshmallow creme & mini marshmallows that were hit with one of those fancy torch thingies that all the cool foodies use.  So good.  Now dear readers, go forth and treat yourself to a little something today. Consider it a reward for putting up with all the ridiculous jokes or lame pranks you had to suffer through today.

Epic Meh

So I played around for quite a while picking a new look for the blog and I settled for meh. There were several designs that I attempted that were an immediate and resounding "well that looks like a big ol' pile of vomit" so they went to the internet scrap heap. Over time the enthusiasm waned and I just wanted to be done so I settle for good enough. This seems to be a pattern with me: lots of enthusiasm for a project but if I don't nail it perfectly after a few attempts I just go with the first thing that I don't actively dislike. I should really work on that but (shockingly enough), I can't be bothered.

How about you, oh faithful and likely imaginary reader. Do you ever settle for "meh" because you got frustrated by trying to get it just right? Ugh, I'm officially annoying myself. Let us end on a positive note:  unexpected bonus check! That's right, tomorrow the powers that be are delivering a little bonus check to say thanks for not telling them to shove it and and going out to find a better paying job after not getting a raise for a few years. Yay bonus check!

Also, sensitive gorilla and honey badger. You're welcome.

No. Just NO!

I was all set to write a warm and fuzzy post about the adorable elderly gentleman who was at the grocery store this morning but first I must get a small rant out of the way. Here goes:

Disney is remaking the Miss Marple series (which would be fine) starring Jennifer Garner as Miss Marple (which is most definitely not fine). No, Disney. Bad Disney. Bad touch for my brain.

Now back to the adorable man at the grocery store! I stopped by to get some groceries on the way home from work and as I was getting ready to check out (all my items were on the belt but the cashier was still completing the previous transaction) I noticed a man who appeared to be in his 80s standing behind me in a business suit holding a frozen dinner. I told him to go in front of me since he just had one item and he protested but when I said that I didn't mind, he popped in front of me, smiled and said "Yes, mother." Then, he looked at my groceries and said "that's a nice cut of meat." I love old people.

In other news, I am still working on a scarf but in preparation for its completion, I'm searching for a scarf pattern that uses one skein of Colinette Jitterbug. My mom just made a pair of socks out of some Dusk Jitterbug and I loved the color so much, she gave me the extra skein that she had. So, if any knitters out there have pattern suggestions, please shout them out in the comments!

Lastly, I cooked. Again. This may become a habit. I made hash and it is delicious. There isn't really a recipe...just cut up "a nice cut of meat" (I used chuck roast), brown it, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. After a while slice a bunch of onions and toss in. Keep simmering away for about an hour and a half. Or longer, whatever. Then peel & slice some potatoes and throw those in. Bring back to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are done to your liking. Then eat (but maybe let it cool for a bit or you will burn your tongue...not that I did that...I would never ^_^).