a pieced top

It is what it is. My first pieced quilt top. Simple, just squares, because that was challenge enough what with the issues I had. Fact: I am not a fan of my mother’s sewing machine. Another fact: I picked up the new one today. Here’s to hoping for play time later.

If you are as suddenly obsessed with blankets and quilts as I am (and oh, I want to knit and crochet and sew just about every blanket or quilt I have seen in the last few days, it’s a sickness), you might like to poke around this nice lady’s blog. She calls it Crazy Mom Quilts because while she is a mom that quilts, she is CRAZY! She makes quilts like I used to knit socks. Which is to say many.

Also I think the babysaurus is anti blog, because every time I get a chance to sit and type and let my mind wander, she wants to eat. C’est le vie.

 

There is much going on

I may be back from the north, but I don’t have to like it. This July heat wave has me ready to pack and take a cruise to Antartica for some penguin sightseeing. Instead I stay, and I knit.

This post is number 100, and it’s roughly been a year since I began babbling about yarny, fiberish related goodness. Time sure does fly when you are all but not paying attention to it.

In light of all the recent reading related excitement, I should admit that I’ve already begun stacking up children’s books for the babysaurus. I really can’t help myself here. Hubs and I love to read and if there is nothing else I can pass on to my offspring, I hope it is this. Plus, Eric Carle is hands down one of my favorite people and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to stack up his tomes.

I know what I liked to read as a child, so what are your favorites?

Moving on to the knitting… because there are Things That Are Completed

Pattern: Baby’s First Hat by Blue Sky Alpacas
Yarn: Used less than 1 skein each of Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in nut, sage, and bone
Needles: Size 4 DPNs

Pattern: Baby Bolero from One Skein
Yarn: 1 skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in color #82
Needles: US 8 and 9 Addi Turbo 24″ circulars

And Things That Are In Progress

Remember the Lizard Ridge? Yeah, so do I. I don’t know what’s going to happen with this guy next, whether more shades of Noro will be required or things will stay “as is”. This is back on the front burner, however.

A Moderne Baby Blanket from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. A little over a year ago I was down and out, having just learned to knit but tired of scarves. This book and the Yarn Harlot’s blog are the reason I’m still in the fibery world today.
This is knit in Knit Picks Swish Superwash, obviously 4 colors. Progress on this is steady, as garter stitch can sometimes be tedious unless Netflix serves us up something good but there will be more info in the future.

I’m almost embarrassed to say this sweater has been sitting in this state since April. It only took a week or so to knit up once I figured out just what the hell I was supposed to be doing. All it needs is the neck ripped back and redone and hems.

Not Pictured: The latest sock, yet another Monkey. It seems I was a little overzealous with the delete key.

Thank you for the contributed suggestions regarding lace like fun. It seems I am not alone in such endeavors. The truth is I am in chart 3 of a shawl design, and I’ve not the good sense to snap a photo. Besides, lace progress shots are boring, yes? I will surprise you later, with a large bunch of yarn in a very blue hue.

 

meme’ed

So Angie tagged me it, and here’s the super crazy “7 random things about me” post that I am completely dink on!

1. I have a really hard time expressing myself to people, either in conversation or by written letter/e-mail. To me it seems everyone else can bang out a note or praise for someone/thing without any effort but I always get hung up in words and semantics. This probably stems from the fact that I don’t often carry on huge conversations with people. I am the perfect person for short bursts of sporadic discussion. In long, drawn out conversations and writings I get distracted by shiny things (and often yarn), losing track of all thought processes unintentionally.

2. I have a degree in computer programming but have never used it for powers of awesome in the workforce.

3. I have many, varied hobbies. Often I get obsessed with one thing and research the hell out of it, live and breathe it for days on end, and eventually replace it with something else. The exceptions to this (so far) have been knitting, photography, the occasional scrapbooking, and Battlestar Galactica. (Sorry, had to throw that last one in there.)

4. Recently both my husband and I have adopted a vegan diet and have enjoyed most of our usual cuisine without any major problems. I have to say, it is somewhat easier than I thought it would be.

5. I am a perfectionist with a severe case of OCD. I do strive to control it, but sometimes it wins out.

6. My father’s hobby for over thirty years has been gunsmithing. Both my brother and I have been shooting since we were young and I feel that because of this background and exposure, we are more respectful of guns and the damage they can cause. We were never afraid to go to an adult when a bad situation involving weapons might arise. I used to compete (and win) on junior league .22 rifle teams. I am a bit rusty now but I can still get what my husband describes as “scary accurate” bullseye grouping on a pistol range.

7. If I could only pick one movie to watch while stranded on a deserted island with television and DVD player, it would be Starship Troopers. And I honestly can’t explain why.

I don’t know who to tag, so I went back through the blog and picked the first seven commenters that hadn’t already done this on their blog. Consider yourself meme’ed! And if you are reading this and feel like participating, make with it! Post a link in the comments if you like. I myself enjoy random things about mysterious knitters I meet through the intertubes.

lyssa
Christa
Tasha
Anastacia
Alison
Kristy
Cindra

 

 

narcissistic

It’s been some time since the last post, but there are reasons. None that are quite as good as being caught up hanging with the bestest of friends while enjoying concerts and other various activities on the way, so that’s where we’ll start today. The Argosy has blocked, I’m again two socks ahead of my posting self, and there’s another project of potential life sucking proportions on the needles. These things will come later. Today we celebrate. It’s my birthday, after all.

This makes me a pisces. According to some random wiki editors out there, fish people are “thought to be dreamy, romantic, humorous, generous, emotional, receptive, affectionate, and have an honest character, but are also prone to exaggeration, fickleness, passiveness, hypersensitivity, and paranoia”. All true, and + to the part about solitude to dream in.

March has always been my favorite month. Not just for the obvious. I love cloudy rainy weather, and this calendar time period is full of it. My birthday fits in a nice nest of warm memories for me, what with being part Irish and the whole thing that goes down on the 17th, as well as enjoying the Ides with my literate self, and the birthdays of other family members on the 18th and 22nd.

I was born in the USA, in the biggest little state of the union, although it is the one with the longest name, and is alternatively known (incorrectly) here in the South as “that island off New York”, or the state used as comparison to small natural disasters. Texas is usually used as the measurement for large natural disasters, if you aren’t from a locale that uses such terminology.

From what I understand, I am technically no longer from there as the majority of my life has been spent in the South now. When I go back North to visit family, however, I always get the feeling that I’m really home.

I have visited 31 of the 50 states, including Hawaii. I have permanently resided in 6 of them and have lived overseas and on U.S. Territories.

My hobbies range from old ingrained habits – reading, photography, journaling – to the ones you know of knitting, spinning, and even the occasional scrapbooking.

The best television show currently running is the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. There is nothing one could say to convince me otherwise.

If I could have any wish in the world granted it would be for everyone to accept who they are and love themselves. Of course, this would have some genie like twist to it that would cause the population to spontaneously explode in some form of sociopathic rage or another, because the lesson that should be learned is everything in the world has a purpose, even the hate and discrimination people are capable of. Some ascribe this to Chaos. I wonder at how it holds humanity back.