New toys

I was so excited to find two new toys this week! I think I'm a big dork, because one is a Ravelry toy and one is a Blogger toy. But anyway...

1. There is a new tab in the "friends" section on Ravelry. I have no idea how new this tab is but its quite new to me. So, there's "Friends"; "Friend Activity" which keeps you posted when your friends queue, favorite, finish, stash, etc; "Friend's Blogs" which is pretty self explanatory; and the new one "Neighbors". The neighbor tab is people (friends or not) that share your taste in patterns! I love going in there and seeing who else likes the same stuff I do! And this goes for finished projects and queued projects. Ravelry's so great for getting help when you're stuck with something, I'm looking forward to seeing how this new one helps me out of a new jam!

2. The "follwer" widget for Blogger. Right over there, on the right hand side. I decided to add to my blogs-I-follow list last week and its made my life much more fun. I always have at least one or two blogs to read and help me procrastinate from whatever else I could be doing :) I have also done lots of reading that if you follow someone's blog, you get more activity on YOUR blog, and I think that's true, I've seen more visitors in the past week! Fun!

Finally!

It looks like Tuesday is my blog day!

So on Saturday night, I FINALLY finished the Socks that I Dislike!!! Wahoo! It may be my favorite project that I've ever finished, I'm not sure why. I got very bored with these socks very fast. I didn't like the pattern much, and it really didn't go with the pattern on the yarn. However, they are VERY comfortable (I'm actually wearing them right now) and I like wearing them very much. :)

I still don't really like looking at them...

So, I did some thinking about what kind of sock I wanted to knit next, and with what yarn... I decided I wanted some kind of easily memorized pattern with one of my solid yarns. I don't really have that many solid sock yarns, come to think of it...

So, I pulled my bright Grover blue Lang Jawoll out of the sock yarn bin and cast on! I'm still just on the ribbing for these (I usually have to rip out a few times before I get my join in the round right... ugh) but I think they are going to be a spiral rib, unless I come up with something better before I get to the end of the ribbing, which I am halfway done with. Any ideas are welcome... this is the yarn, and yes it is THAT bright

What I did with my day off

Don't you just love 3 day weekends? I sure do. On top of 3 days off, then you only have a 4 day work week!

A belated Happy Valentine's Day to all. Ours was celebrated at home, our favorite place :) I made individual Beef Wellingtons, some broccoli roasted with parmesean, ceaser salad with dressing from scratch, and pots de creme, which is really just creme brulee without the crusty top. So, its custard. Anyway, it was a night of firsts that I didn't take pictures of because I was caught up in my hunger.

Yesterday (Monday) was dubbed Movie Marathon Monday. We only watched two movies, which for us lately, is a marathon. We saw In Bruges, which my brother lent to us for the scenery. I have to say... odd movie. There were some funny parts, but I just found it odd. It did make me all that much more to go to Bruges, not that I needed much help! Bruges is the second stop on our five city honeymoon in April! We also watched Bottle Shock, which was about Napa's rise to popularity and victory over the French wines at the 1976 "Judgement of Paris". Come to think of it, both movies had to do with our trip. I don't think we even planned it that way...

While I wasn't being lazy, I was busy knitting. I did some work on a sweater for myself, but its just one black and one white stripe at this point, so I won't bore you with a picture. But, I made some serious progress on those socks. I must say, after trying them on, they aren't the Socks That I Hate anymore. They're just the Socks That I Dislike. They fit me absolutely perfectly and I actually can't wait to get them done so I can wear them and start a new pair. I just won't look at the cuff.

I spared you my toes. Also, on the bottom of one of them (just one), I'm getting this cool zig-zag and stripey pooling of the yellow that I'm really excited about. I find pooling fun and interesting and exciting, although I know there are people out there that hate it. With this yarn especially, I've been dying for something to break up the monotony.

I have to share my new favorite thing, and I know its not new, but its new to me. Its called Knitter's Hands, and I bought some for my mom back in December for her birthday. After getting the thumbs up from her, I bought some for myself and I'm hooked. It looks like a bar of soap, but its beexwax and oil and all kinds of stuff and you rub it on your hands and it makes a nice little protective shield agains the wool that likes to suck the moisture right out of them. An added bonus: it makes your WIP smell great!

After all that knitting, I had worked up yet another appetite (see a pattern?) and was dying to use my mixer so I made some peanut butter cookies. My goal is to keep my cookie jar full of fresh and delicious cookies now that I have more time, and this was a great start.

Old friends and new friends

These are my new friends, bought in Maine on our mini-moon:

Some Malabrigo in Pagoda. Hard to tell from this pic, its a reddish brown. It is currently being knitted into a plain poncho.

Pine Woods Sock Yarn, in some unnamed color. Its different shades of green with some grey in there. I love it.

Jitterbug Sock Yarn, in October Afternoon. I am MOST excited about this one, and looking forward to finding the perfect pattern for it.

I am currently working on the Socks that I Hate. I really hate them. I'm not sure if I just hate the yarn with the pattern, the yarn in general, or what. Actually, I think it was the pattern with the yarn, because I am at the end of the gusset decreases now and I tried one on yesterday and it fit perfectly, and when its in just plain stockinette, I don't hate it so much.

The yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet... colorway 12

This weekend we made an attempt to get our lives and our house back to normal. We still have wedding/shower gifts all over the house and I still haven't unpacked my suitcase from the minimoon, but I definitely got a lot of other things done.

One big thing I had to do was organize my closet in the office which is designated for all my craft stuff. Before the wedding it became the closet I opened and threw stuff in without looking. So I did something that I waited to do until after we were married... I dragged my stash out and organized it. Its in 3 small bins and one big bin, which I don't think is too much, or dare I say, even enough.

Sock yarn bin... which one to knit up next?

The UFO bin, for things I currently have on the needles (note my poor, sad, Rusted Root)

The I'mGoingToKnitThisNext bin... that beautiful Malabrigo (in Stonechat) is going to be a scarf, and that green Cuzco is going to be a sweater. All for me :)

Last, but biggest, the IBoughtThisForAReasonAndNeverGotAroundToIt bin.

See... really not that bad.

Quotes heard from Erm while I did this project:

"Woah, you could open your own yarn store!"

"Here's an idea... more knitting, less buying"

"That's ALL sock yarn?"

"I bet you could just smush that all down and fit it into one bin"

"You could knit 60 socks with all that sock yarn."

"After today, I have come to a conclusion... you are not a knitter. You are a yarn collector."

He was just... in awe. I tried to explain to him that my stash is relatively small, but he just didn't buy it. He also harbors some feelings due to his SocksThatWon'tEnd not being done, which I can understand. I need more yarn for those, though. There's someone who works at my LYS who has a whole other HOUSE for her yarn. I can't help but wonder... how big are other people's stashes???

I am an addict.

Ohhhhhhh I have a problem. I'm sure you think its yarn that I'm addicted to, which I am, but that's not what I'm talking about here. Its something more chemical. It comes in a blue jar. It affects Erm. I wish I had it at work with me right now.

I am completely addicted to Vicks VapoRub. Well, I guess I wouldn't say completely, because when I feel healthy I don't use it. But the smallest sniffle and out comes the Vicks. Erm has gotten used to it, and it a little amused by it. Its such a potent smell, especially when you DON'T have a stuffy nose, that even when I sneak it on me before bed, he knows... he knows. I blame my mother, since I remember it being a staple for us when we were sick.

So I have this killer cold right now, and I'm pretty sure its a sinus cold. Yesterday, one whole side of my face was in ridiculous pain. My nose was stuffed to the point that blowing it was useless. My eye hurt. My TEETH hurt. And every now and then, my nose (just on that side!) would start running uncontrollably, which is really aggrevating when blowing your nose is fruitless. So I went online and did some research about my favorite cold remedy... Vicks. I've just been putting it on my chest and throat when I didn't feel good... little did I know I wasn't even touching all the things you can do with it! After reading through everything, I was ready for last night...

I slathered it on the bottom of my feet.

I slathered it on my back.

I slathered it on my chest and throat.

And I put some under my nose, just for good measure.

I also put it on my lips this morning because its 10 degrees outside.

Poor, poor Erm. He told me he could smell me from downstairs. The only thing I didn't do, which I may try tonight, is a more aggressive use for the Vicks for a stuffy nose. I read that if you massage your forehead and temples with it, and cover your head, and sleep with your head slightly elevated, it works wonders for a stuffy nose. I may look like a mummy and smell like a cough drop, but its worth a try, right?

Pray for Erm.

I'm baaaaaaaaack.......

Hello!

I just saw that its been almost a MONTH since my last post about my little neighbor! My little neighbor is gone, by the way, and the human neighbors have moved in. They're not as fun to watch.

The reason I was gone is that I got married at the end of January!!! Wooohooo!!!! I really could not have hoped for a better day! Some pictures are below:

And now life is (somewhat) back to normal!!!

Of course what I DIDN'T take pictures of were all those "mystery projects" that I was working on! I knitted my bridesmaids each a scarf tailored to their needs and personality. I could not blog about them because a few of them read my blog! In all my wedding craziness I forgot to take pictures!

However, there are plenty of yarn and project pictures on their way... I wasted no time getting back into the swing of things with my knitting, baking, and running! More pics of yarn and less of me next time!