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I woke up yesterday morning and found a simple brown paper bag on my desk with a simple note*.  Inside was a single skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Whirley, a soft tonal pink.  How sweet!  He did that all on his own.  Plus?  When he got home, he had flowers for me.  All this sweetness even though I gave him, in writing no less, an out of "Valentines is just another day this year.  I don't feel like doing anything, and I don't want anything,"  Still, how could I say no to yarn?  That he picked out all by himself!  So, I made him donuts.  Poor man's donuts**, but nevertheless. 

Mmmm....I glazed them with a powdered sugar/milk/maple flavoring mix, too.  They were good.

So, since I'm on about MathMan, and I don't think I've blogged this before, let me tell you about the Christmas present he made for me.  Yes, made.  Ever heard of detonography???  No?  Click the link, I'll wait. 

Ok, learned all about it?  There's really only one person that makes detonographs, and that was her site.  Aren't they pretty? However, when you work with things that go boom, like MathMan does, you get to play with lots of fun things like this.  MathMan even went to the school where Evelyn Rosenberg pioneered and practices the techniques.  Well, long story short, MathMan was running tests at work one day, and figured that since he was already detonating, why not make something pretty for me.  He put down a piece of copper, a few leaves, and the explosive.  He carved them up, mounted and framed them, too.  Isn't it pretty??

  I've been knitting, though not much.  Every few years, I decide I want to play a computer game, and I spend some time obsessing about character development and the best key controls, and I'm in that phase right now.  I tried to design a "Jaywalker-esque" chevron pattern for some self striping sock yarn, with the resulting sock to be gifted to my grandmother.  However, once I had the toe knit enough to check gauge (I was working with 0s instead of my usual 1.5s) I consulted a chart as to how many stitches I would need.  Luckily I only got about 2 inches done on the foot before I realized it would fit bigfoot, while my grandmother has dainty (for our family) size 7s.  So I ripped out, recalculated the number of stitches I need, and redesigned the chevron pattern.  I have yet to cast on, though, as most of my knitting is currently during "Loading" screens!

I took all these pictures last night after it was dark, so horrid lighting, but amazingly enough the colors on the sock came out fairly true to life, if only slightly washed out. 

I almost said sorry for all the pictures, but then I remembered my "BWO" promise to myself, and have now decided to simply say I was attempting to break a few dial-ups, if there are any anymore.  Off to see if I can finally sneak into that bandit camp!!  :)

 

* Yes, I see it too.  Hey, he's the math one, I'm the English one.  I let it slide!!!

** Poor man's donuts - open a can of exploding biscuit dough and fry it up.  If you want to get really fancy, you can poke a hole in the center, too!

 

I was winding a ball of Seasilk for the Clementine Shawlette (seems like good plane knitting) when something happened. I kept repeating something in my head, and realized it sounded very much like haiku. So, I give you - my first haiku:
my precious SeaSilk
why oh why did you tangle
in the gears like that
No, there are no pictures of that debacle. The skein survived, but it wasn't a pretty sight to behold.
I'm going to Phoenix tomorrow. Was going to go to the Renaissance Faire, but life and poor scheduling got in the way. So Ikea, yummy LYSs, and a trip to the zoo will have to suffice.
I finished Marvelous Mitt #1 - blocked and everything. It's so pretty! Also? The Log Cabin is growing. Slowly, though, as a certain little girl has hijacked it. I have to wait until she's asleep to work on it, otherwise she grabs it and starts saying "Mine. Soft. Have it." Several of the blocks had their sizes determined by that phrase. I just get a kick outta the fact that she likes it!
I've also finished one of the two Chevron Scarves I started so long ago - the purple-y one out of CTH. It's not my colors, so I don't know what I'll do with it, but someone will likely get it. Since the needles are now freed up, the happy colorful Koigu one is now on them. I also whipped up a quick pair of fingerless mitts for MathMan's co-worker. She gave us a computer (a nice one!) that only needed a hard drive (of which we had two we installed) just for MissV. Well, she's also a knitter, she works at a computer most of the day, and she's always complaining that she's cold, so fingerless mitts seemed the obvious choice. I used a little less than half the ball of Trekking XXL I've had around for over a year now. It's so nice to stash dive and finally find the perfect application for yarn that had been frogged one too many times to like anymore.

This winter?  Really starting to get to me.  If I have to make one more *casserole* or *roast* I'm going to scream.  We never go out in the winter, especially since we don't want MissV getting sick, and the bloody grill isn't working even if we did use it during the months of "go outside and freeze in two seconds flat."  I've been getting into a real down slump, and I'm sick of it.  I want to be able to go on walks during the day (I did yesterday, but I feel really bad - I really bundled MissV up and she still had a nasty fever last night and a yucky cough today.)  I want to go to the park in the evening.  I want to get out!!!  What do you do to keep the endless winter blues away?  Recipes?  Activities?  Books?  ANYTHING!?!

I got some yarn in today.  I ordered from Etsy, I was sorely tempted by the $4.00/skein price tag.  I didn't get a single letter from the seller, but she did refund my overpayment on shipping, so I was going to let it slide.  Dude, seriously, I could have driven to get it for cheaper than the shipping I paid.  WTH!?  And the color?  Not as pictured - prettier, but still not as pictured.  I ordered it mostly as a test, since there's a bit of controversy going on with it (which is why I'm not mentioning names...) and the only thing I can say is that the shipping is too fast to be what it is thought to be.  Otherwise?  Twins.  Seriously. 

I've been working almost solely on a log cabin blanket for MissV out of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece  (random colors) and the Marvelous Mitts (they will NEVER fit me, but they do fit my friend T.)  I'm not seeing the end of either - one is large and brainless, the other requires more attention than I can give it most days (the terrible twos have hit full force, and she's not even two yet!)  Well, the same two projects were getting a bit relentless, and what with the endless winter downers (see first paragraph) I was feeling the need to *finish* something, and QUICK!  So I whipped up a quick Calorimetry for MissV and myself last night (sorry, no pictures due to sad, pathetic lack of light from dreary winter sky.)  I feel a little better, but the thought of all the garter stitch waiting for me upstairs is enough to make me cringe.  I'll slog through, though.  Cause I know if I don't, it will forever be a UFO.  Well, I'm going to sign off now, before I use another parenthesis. 

You can *rent* movies in iTunes now. I'm excited. Can you tell?

Labels: misc

But I may have been a leeeetle too aggressive with the blocking - I snapped two threads in the edging. But look how pretty!

Labels: blocking

Almost done with the Sir Didymus socks. Just the ribbing and cast off of the last one. They feel so nice fit-wise, I just hope the yarn softens a bit with a wash. It's gorgeous colors, but I'm not so in love with the base yarn. When I work with sock yarn, I tend to prefer the tighter plied, like Koigu and CTH, and while I'm ok with Lorna's Laces, it's not my favorite, and this yarn is more like Lorna's.
I haven't done much work on the Marvelous Mitts, but I did finish the interminable edging on the Pi shawl. It's going into the dye pot in a few minutes. I like the yarn, and MathMan did gift it to me, but man colors + laceweight make for strange bedfellows, so a-dyeing I will go. I'm thinking red, but I may change my mind at the last second (which is where I am right now.)
I also started (and finished) a plushie for MissV. I used the Cheese-kun pattern, but left off the center "leg" and worked it in different colors. MissV likes it, but my mother said it looks like a rotten tooth. Gee, thanks mom.... I'm calling this my test swatch for making many more crocheted toys, some for me and some for MissV, though in all reality they will all probably end up in her hands.
I went to the LYS yesterday to pick up some yarn I ordered for another toy, and couldn't escape without another skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock jumping into the bag. But, in my defense, as much as I love pink I didn't have any predominantly pink sock yarn, so it's ok, right? I don't have a picture right now, but it'll be in my Ravelry stash soon enough. Oo!!! I forgot to take points for stash acquisitioning in KnitWars!! Gotta go!!

Labels: socks, toy