Double oh eight and double oh nine

My husband told me today that when people introduce us we sound like spies:

"This is Dave - he sends stuff into space. And this is his wife Lori - she builds things for the Russians."

I laughed heartily at that one. I also asked where the hell our super cool gadgety roadster was cuz.... SERIOUSLY. I covet that car. Though I'd probably install a martini shaker and a place for my knitting needles to shoot out at bad guys. Talk about a secret weapon! I would zoom down the road like Isadora Duncan with my handknitted silk scarf flying in the wind shooting out the tires of the bad guys behind me with my super kickass knitting needles. YEAH!

Speaking of knitting:
I have ordered an inordinate amount of yarn - I think I'm becoming a yarnaholic, actually - so I have many projects on the horizon. Here's the plan:

Cascade 220 Superwash:
CPH in black(because I desperately need a good black cardigan) and Joelle Hoverson's hourglass sweater out of this beautiful brown...

Catalina Baby Alpaca Pima:
The most beautiful red for the Natasha cabled pullover from Adrienne Vittadini. I've seen quite a few pattern suggestions/corrections for this... but I must try it. I fell in love after seeing it here: Domesticat

Elann baby silk:
I probably should've picked a lighter yarn for my orangina, but it's always cold at work, so I'm hoping it works out. If I make this again, it will be in cotton for happy summer wear.

Karabella Zodiac:
I must be on a red kick, because I absolutely fell in love with the brick color. It's deep and rich and I'm going to try the sizzle pattern again with this yarn. It's cotton, but has a gorgeous sheen to it and it splits much less than the Elann did... so here we go again with the sizzle. Hopefully this one works out. I'm keeping my toes crossed (so I can use my fingers to knit).

Whew!

Fortunately for me, I have a road trip coming up - which means loads of knitting time! YAY! 9 hours on the way down (that's the long way) and 7-8 on the way back.... Rock n Roll. :D Maybe I'll have some FOs to post when I get back... at the very least I will have progress. And I PROMISE I will have pictures!

:D

In the meantime, have a happy weekend!

Navy Blue Estimacation

Sooooo... I am a horrible estimator. I thought being married to his royal braininess would help me with this, but no. I've finished both sleeves and part of the hood, but I have no more yarn for the navy blue hoodie. Maybe it's not my estimating skills - maybe a yarn fairy comes and steals my stash at night. Who knows. But I must now order more yarn. Which is actually fine because I needed some size 3 circulars anyway. :D

So rather than knitting, this weekend I partially cleaned out the basement and hung shelving in the garage... ready? Ooooooo....


It was exciting. Using my fabulous estimating skills, I hung the vertical bars just a bit off... and ended up using my dremel and a pair of pliers to get the shelves to fit right. BUT! Everything is level and drilled into studs and nothing fell down in the middle of the night so that's good. And now I have a happy husband. :D

Last night I decided to eschew the ugly symptoms of knitting withdrawal, so I started a purple tweed vest from the leftover CPH yarn... I promise it doesn't look as dorky as it sounds. At least, not what I see it being. It's kitschy and cool and I have horn-rimmed glasses on...

hmm.

Okay, so maybe a bit dorky. But dorky is the new cool. Right?

Right?

Reading Rainbow

Well, since I have no knitting to post about (I'm swatching) I was going to do a book meme, but then I got too lazy. So I'm just going to post some of my favorite books instead. :D

Pride and Prejudice - I dig Jane Austen. I think I own a copy of almost every book she's written, and I like them all. This one's my favorite though. I tend to have my own prejudices, and I love having them overthrown.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert A. Heinlein) - My buddy Sam got me to read this book (he's taking over the world, by the way, so y'all probably ought to read this book too). It took me a bit to get into it, but I was fascinated by the dialect and the way the story was told. The ending was not prettily summed up either (ie - not hollywood) and it really pulled me in and made me think/wonder.

Harry Potter - whole damn series. JK Rowling is a fabulous writer.

Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) - I read Xenocide on my honeymoon and got sucked into this series. Another great writer.

Lamb; the Gospel According to Biff(Christopher Moore) - this has got to be the funniest book I have ever read. It's about Jesus' years that are missing from the Bible, as told by his best friend Biff. Caveat - you MUST have a sense of humor about religion and/or God. Otherwise you'll likely be highly offended. As a semi-recovering Catholic, I about wet myself.

The Eight (Katherine Neville) - I love history, and I love historical fiction even more. This is a fabulous book weaving the french revolution, alchemy, and present day (70's). A bit hollywood, but good nonetheless.


On the press:
The Quantum Brain (Jeffrey Satinover)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
A Dirty Job (Christopher Moore)
The Dancing Wooly Mammoths (AKA, The Dancing Wu Li Masters)

Jumping with Glee

Glee is finished and I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy with how it turned out! That wee bit of elastic is just the right touch for this shirt... it fits in the right places and shows off what little curves I have. Eeeees nice, mang.

I also finished the oppositely colored but equally ugly sock to match the first ugly sock. I can now have ugly feet whenever I wish. I will take a picture soon so that you may all partake of their ugliness. :D

And as for the cotton sizzle - well, she's going on the back burner for a while. I'm not sure what her fate will be. Perhaps I need to turn that pattern around and knit it top down, or maybe cast on with scrap yarn and finish the length last. The washing did actually bloom the cotton a bit and soften her up, but the stitch definition is still really uneven. Funny, I didn't think I was that uneven of a knitter. *sigh*

So what's next? Well, the yarn FINALLY came in from knitpicks so I'm going to finish my navy hoodie... and I have yarn for Orangina, so that's up and coming as well. I will need to decide on a "trip project" - my DH's band (Ultrachronic) is playing in the Hyperactive Festival in New Mexico on May 18th. So we're going to drive on down, rock out to some nice loud, fun music, and then drive back. Hence, LOADS of knitting time. I have something in mind... but... any suggestions?

the fugly sticks

Not the most auspicious knitting weekend ever. I got stuff done, but it's... well, it's just not pretty. First offering:




The pink sizzle. This is the front in elann sonata. My guage swatch turned out pretty and even and soft - everything this is not. I'm really hoping that washing this will bloom the fiber a bit and maybe blocking will help even it out... I know I probably shouldn't wash and block this before I finish the back and put it all together, but I also don't want to waste the effort if it ain't gonna work. So tonight we're binding off the shoulders and sticking it in the sink. Wish me luck.

Second offering:
Have you ever SEEN such an ugly sock? I mean, honestly. Granted, it's my first ever sock and I kind of just made it up as I went, but yeesh. As ugly as it is, however, it is REALLY comfortable. So comfortable that I'm actually going to knit the other side (in opposite coloring) and make them my house socks. Like slippers, but uglier.

So that's what I did this weekend. Not a total loss, as I'll have comfortable and warm feet, but not quite what I was hoping. Ah well. Once my knitpicks order arrives I can finish my navy cardigan (can't wait!) and the glee is just about finished....

zzzz.... *snert*... what?

Today is a very sleepy day. Case in point:


*sigh* So much for my nap.

Oooo....

Tsssssss. Sizzle!

Feelin hot hot hot! La la la la la la....

Weather is conducive to knitting... and this bad boy is keeping me nice and warm under all my layers of clothing. I retract my earlier statement about who needs a wool tank top - because... well, yeah. Colorado spring weather, folks.

So getting with the toasty and all, I sat on my couch last night and watched Pride and Prejudice (I finally caved and just bought the dang dvd set) and knit myself up something for the summer. It's still in progress, but here's a sneak peek...