Wool with a capital WOO!

Check what I got in the mail!

I found this awesome roving on Craigslist and bought–get this–7 lbs! Here are 6 of the balls lined up on the back of the couch.

Here is a single ball. Look how giant it is!

And here it is ripped into 14 pieces about 1 ounce each.

Here they are lined up on the back of the couch.

That is a heck of a lot of yarn. I have good plans. Abe will get a hat. And I have some good ideas for quick Xmas presents. Very exciting.

A couple weekends ago we made a delicious dutch pancake. I couldn’t find the camera in time to get a good picture of how much it rose, but here it is after it fell a bit.

Anyways, I am still working on Versatility and it is still awesome. I had a great idea for a tree-inspired ribbed sweater. It is a little hard to describe, but I wrote it down in my little notebook so it should be a pattern at some point.  I am almost done with the first glove. Then I will write down the pattern and then knit the second Rowan Felted Tweed mitten. Then I have two more to make, but I don’t know who reads this so I can’t tell you who they are for. I think they will be awesome though.

So I was looking at other sites, namely this SteamPunk thing on live journal. These shoes are awesome. They are similar to the Babycakes by Fluevog.  I can’t decide which one I like more! I really liked the mauve, pine and grey Babycakes, but I can’t find them anywhere. These boots are also awesome, but I like the other ones better. I also found Stitchopoly, the needlework version of Monopoly.

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Abe’s cute, too! Who knew?

How Randomly Cute Is Your Personality?

Underwear Cute Your personality proves to be so randomly cute that you’d wear underwear on your head just because you can. Let’s just hope there (should be they’re) clean…

How do you compare? Take this test! | Tests from Testriffic

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How cute am I? I knew it.

How Randomly Cute Is Your Personality?

Odd Cute Your [edit: this should be You’re] just a bit odd, but its [edit: this should be it’s] still cute. I would totally give you a hug.. but I don’t trust strangers.

How do you compare? Take this test! | Tests from Testriffic

[edits explained: I copied this from the site and didn’t really read it before posting so I didn’t notice the major typos. Weird. I guess those two are among the more common mistakes.]

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knitterly weekend

This morning on my way to work… well, I wasn’t really on my way to work. I was at the light at the end of the block which is less than 20 feet from our driveway. Anyways, I was waiting at the light and it was red. Across the street is a QFC with the parking lot coming out at the light. There was a car waiting there. No cars were coming in either direction and the car at the other, from a dead stop, blew through the red light intersection. I almost couldn’t take my free right, it startled me so much. Freak.

Then on the way to work, I was going fine and I got to the point on the express lanes where the traffic almost always slows down. On a bad day, it usually takes no more than 10 minutes to get from that point back onto the freeway. 7:09 to 7:16. Today, I got there around 7:09 like usual, but I didn’t get back on the freeway until 7:35! I was supposed to be at work at 7:30. That was annoying. So now I have to work an extra 20 minutes tomorrow to make up for it.

And then last night. I had the craziest dreams. I dreamt Abe and I had a baby and I kept leaving it in the bathroom on a shelf. And then I would feel really bad because it wouldn’t cry, but I wouldn’t remember to feed it more than once a day. And my co-worker and his wife lived in the other room in the apartment. And then her and I were both pregnant with triplets. And I think our neighbors have pigs. I heard a cat hissing and then a piglet squealing. And then for half an hour I heard squealing for five or so minutes and then a bigger pig would grunt and the piglet would be quiet for a bit. But it kept me up for half an hour.

This weekend I got to watch a lot of movies and whatnot. Friday night I started to watch Animatrix, but I didn’t like it. I liked the Second Renaissance ones, but the first and fourth were not my thing. Especially the first. Anyways, I stopped watching that and watched the second season of the Tick, which I absolutely love and am so bummed that it was the last season. I spun all of the yarn for my Sheldon hat while watching The Tick. That show has the best quotes ever. I went to use one as my screen saver at work, but the Vista Text screensaver only allows like 10 characters. So I just wrote ‘Spoon!’ which is his battle cry. Hehe.

On Sunday, I watch a bunch of movies. First was Stardust, which I really liked. Seemed very steampunk to me. I laughed and loved it. Totally my kind of movie. Not the greatest acting or anything, but good enough. I loved Loved LOVED Robert DeNiro’s character. He made me laugh. It was awesome. Then I watched Eragon, which was disappointing after my fun with Startdust. The main character was weird looking but very appropriate because he was supposed to be a bit underwhelming. Then I watched Dan in Real Life, but that was also disappointing. It was one of those movies that is all about awkward situations. And I am not a big fan of those. I get a tight feeling in my chest. Just like when I am uncomfortable in a real social situation. Feeling that for fun is not my idea of … fun. But Steve Carrel is totally hilarious the rest of the time. I loved Little Miss Sunshine and I love The Office.

So, I am done spinning the yarn for the Sheldon hat. I am just trying to figure out how to start knitting it. I am thinking I will cast on 8 with a provisional cast on. Increase 8 times a round until it is 2 inches long. Then measure the gauge to see how many I need to get to. I think I will do stockinette until I stop decreasing and then do moss. Then maybe shortrow earflaps. hmm.

I also worked on the gloves. I got through the thumb increases and now I am a little stuck. I think I know what to do now though. I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Versatility is coming along. I still love it, though cables hurt my wrists faster than any other knitting. Fortunately only one in four rows has a cable and never more than two. I joined a Knit-a-long for it on Ravelry. I want to make a similar one in black, maybe one in grey, and I definitely want to make one using Viterous Humor, which is a pink gut colored yarn with eyeballs. I will make the center pattern in white, like bone. The middle part in Vitreous Humor and the outer part in a dark red that is part wool and part merino. Oh yeah.

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nisa and ernie

nisa and ernie

Originally uploaded by lunavalse

Trying to add this to a post in Ravelry.

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We are Simpsons characters

Angela and I have the strangest conversations.

Last night as we were drifting off to sleep we were talking about how over the course of a few years I had progressively lost any ability to control my anger. I went on a prescription anti-depressant / anti-obsessive/compulsive medication about 7 months ago and I basically changed over night. So, Angela was giving me a hard time about something and I just laughed at her and she said “Wow, its amazing how much you’ve changed, six months ago you would have totally blown up at me for that.” And I started apologizing while we talked about how I’ve started to develop methods for dealing with anger. Angela commented that she doesn’t really have any coping mechanism for anger but that also her anger isn’t as explosive as mine is. She said that her anger problems have declined as she’s gotten older. Then she said “When I was a kid I used to scare my parents because I would get *so* angry.” I started laughing because suddenly a comparison to the Simpsons popped in to my head.

She asked what I was laughing about and, through my giggles I said “I’m Homer Simpson and you’re Ned Flanders.”

So there is a lot of FUD out there about the effects of video game playing on people and there is very little in the way of reliable information. New scientist recently printed the results of a survey of EverQuest 2 players that is interesting and more scientific than 99% of anything else published about video games. I encourage you to take a look. It’s a pretty short read.

I’m giving Warhammer Online a try this weekend.

I love EverQuest 2. I have an awesome guild full of people that I really enjoy playing with and who I trust enough that I not only enjoy contributing to the guild, I like to surprise people with how much I contribute. But, I have been playing the game for 4ish years and I do really crave a change of scenery sometimes.

I don’t really forsee myself moving to Warhammer and forsaking EQ2 but I am looking forward to a new setting and new classes and new quests and different ways to work through the game. I’ve been reading the Ars Technica thread’s about Warhammer and it sounds like most of the things that I really hated about PvP in WoW are not issues in War. We’ll see though.

Abe

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Spoon!

This weekend was fun. We switched the computer room and the bedroom and it is awesome. I can fit all of my shoes in the bedroom closet now because it is not full of our dressers. It is a little cramped, but I like it that way. We need to move the Xmas lights from the bedroom ceiling to the computer room ceiling. And put a cloth or something on the bedroom ceiling because it is so echoy in there. Though now I have to keep my bathroom clean whereas before no one even knew it was there because it was in the bedroom. We moved my computer desk without taking anything off of it and I gave myself a big nasty bruise. Abe has his desk in front of the window, but that is fine because the sun only shines in there first thing in the morning. And there is a great tree with red leaves out there right now. I think the dogs even like it better. Their kennels are side by side and they don’t seem to mind. They spend a lot of time in there. And on the bed. We just need to finish cleaning. Though I have probably 85% of my clothes put away finally. Some still needs to be hung up and I ran out of room for t-shirts. Full drawer. So I started filling another drawer after scooting some stuff to the side. I have too many t-shirts. I think those guys (Stacy and Clinton) on What Not to Wear would throw up if they saw how many t-shirts I have. They are very anti-t-shirt. (You know, of all the shows I miss from having cable, that and Monk and Psych are the ones I miss the most.)

After we did that all day on Saturday, I watched the Tick and dyed yarn while Abe was at work. What a trooper.

The roving started like this. A lovely fawn from Smoky Mountain Fibers on Etsy.

Then I dyed it and washed it. I just used Tropical Punch Kool Aid.

So I have 8 oz of reddish yarn. Looks great. Here is half the roving dyed and braided.

I have spun up two of the chucks (I dyed it in 2 oz chunks) already spun up.

The second came out thicker than the first. And the last one I think is dyed the darkest red. I will spin it up and see.

Here it is plied (navajo).

I definitely like the stove top method over the microwave method. about 4 times faster. I am going to make a hat out of it that I saw Sheldon wearing on Big Bang Theory (in the episode where he is sick). I loved that hat. I think it is just a moss stitch with thick tassels on each earflap and on the top. I tried to spin a bulky single, but I failed. I think I got a thick enough three ply though.

I also started working on Versatility. Which is awesome. It just needs to be done by November so I can take it to Calgary.

Speaking of. I am having a dickens of a time getting a flight there. I can’t arrive any earlier than 1:17 and they said plan on arriving no later than 1:00 to get to the store on time for the Fun Bus. So either I can email them and see if that is close enough and will they wait if my plane is late or I need to get one it and buy a flight for the night before and get a hotel for a night. Blegh. I also need to get my photo to get a new passport because I can’t find mine. Anywhere. And we looked through all our boxes. I know it is somewhere. It has to be. I should look in my suitcase. I think Australia was the last place I went with my passport. I had a flight that got me there at 11:30 or so and they changed it to 1:17 arrival. I ended up having to get a refund because they wouldn’t let me change my flight to a different day!

Anyways, versatility will be great because I don’t want to pack more than one bag since every airline seems to be charging for every single bag. And this is so Versatile! Ha. I am making it without the bobbles though. It looks great. I am using a darker red than the pictured one. When it is done, I will take it out as a scarf (or in my bag if it is too hot) and get some matching buttons and ribbon. Though I will have to look. I might already have a ribbon that will work. Though I guess having more than one ribbon would make it just that much more versatile.

And last night I just got started on a new pattern for mittens. I think they will be really cute. Little cables and stuff. I am using a light wool yarn - Rowan Felted Tweed - in red. I think that is it on the page - Rage. Speaking of patterns, I put up a really bad PDF of the holey fingerless mitts, whose name has been changed to Gertrude. I got Framemaker 6.0 from work because they weren’t using it anymore. I have no idea how to use it, but it does mean I can make some cool documents for PDFs when I really do figure it out. Right now it is just black and white and some of the images are cut off, but the pattern is there and printable. I am working on the Bacon-Wrapped Ankle pattern. That should be up in a week or so. With a PDF. This flip-top mitten pattern will probably end up for sale on Etsy for about $4.50. So it will need to be test knit. I guess I will ask for test knitters on Ravelry.

And this Friday, Abe and I are going to Emerald Downs for the EDEN summer party. We each get $10 to spend in the place. And they are raffling off gift certificates, a navigation system, and a 8g iTouch. I would like to win any of those.  I have never been to horse races though, so I have no idea what to expect.

I also got these socks in the mail for winning best kit for HSKS5. They don’t fit, but I may just take them to the wall. It is a bummer they don’t fit because the yarn is wonderfully soft.

And finally, here is some wonderful green and black yarn that I spun up and have now loast somewhere in the apartment. I have big dreams for this yarn and I need to find it so I can spin the other half of the roving.

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FOs! Old Washers! And a Jerk!

Jerk of the week: Abe’s awful coffee pot. It may make the best coffee, but it has to shout about it when it is done.  If you love that alarm sound first thing in the morning - really for a second rousing time since you already woke up to a horrible alarm clock - you’ll love this coffee pot. You’ll never need caffeine again. Then, just for good measure, the coffee pot alarm goes off again to say it is shutting down. Can’t have you missing the last hot cup in the pot. To top it off, we (that would be Abe since I don’t really drink coffee - and yes I am a blasphemer) can’t find the water filter, which really makes the coffee just a bit better even. It really does make good coffee but I would rather never have coffee again than listen to that awful coffee pot.

Anyways.

Here was our old dishwasher. Not so bad you say?

The front panel was coming off! It got stuck if we left it open for the panel to fall off. We haven’t really been able to use it since we got it.

It would get moldy in all the dishes if we left any in there without opening the door after washing. The new one is awesome, but takes forever!  Handwashing is way faster if you are in a hurry. Meantime, I have to start rinsing my dishes and putting them in the dishwasher now. Blegh.

So I doubt anyone remembers, but I started the Imbas socks forever and a day ago. I finally stopped them. I bound them off using the sewn Bind Off. I left off the quatre foil because it was pissing me off.  I couldn’t get the cuff to work either. So it is a simple 1×1 rib and quartefoil-less.

They look great though. And they are so comfy. I can’t wait to make them again!

I also made a mug cozy. Out of some of my handspun yarn. The blue and some of the natural to top it off when I ran out of blue.

I am going to make another one of the natural brown yarn with stripes of the natural white because it is even smaller than the blue skein was.

And FOs stands for Finished Objects.

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New Dish Washer!

Our land lord bought us a brand new dish washer this weekend! The guys from Sears came over and installed it yesterday.

I took some before pics of our old machine but they seem to have disappeared from the camera

This is a shot mid-removal.

And here are a few shots after it was installed. Oh look the dogs have made cameo appearances in the shots. I’m sure we’re all shocked.

Abe

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Spinning and owls

OK. Here is the yarn I have spun up. This was the very first. A bunch of natural wool (still oily) from some of my Aunt Debbie’s sheep. She gave me the spindle and a bunch of wool when I was little for my birthday. Her and my uncle (we used to call them Aunt Bruce and Uncle Debbie - not sure how that got started) are divorced now, but I am going to write her a letter to let her (haha) know that after over 15 years I have finally spun up all the wool she gave me. This one is just in singles. I could have spun it all in one batch, but this was done in four batches and three of them tied together. Because I stopped spinning so long ago because I broke the spindle. I stepped on it. Still works though. The shaft is just half as long.

Then I got so excited I had to go out and buy some dyed roving (from Acorn street of course). There it is being spun up on the broken spindle.

Here are the three-ish skeins I ended up with. No idea how many yards or meters and I have no idea how I am to figure that out other than wrap it around something and measure that and multiply by the wraps.

I am please with them. They are not so bumpy. I am not a big fan of the really lumpy bumpy yarn, so I am please with how smooth it came out (relatively speaking). Not perfect, but I think it is pretty good for a first try. I think I did an Andean ply on this. Yeah. While I watched some awful movie on channel 3

There is a close up so you can see what I mean.

There was a little bit of brown wool in the bag from Debbie, so here it that all spun up and Navajo plied, which I absolutely love.

Here is the blue wool from Debbie being spun up on my NEW spindle. Which I could not adore more. These are the singles.

And here is the blue yarn all Navajo plied. Came out pretty nice, I would say. I am very pleased and had a blast. I can’t wait to do more.

And here are the pics that my mom gave me. She is selling these at her Etsy site. They are very pretty. And I just love owls. Owls, mushrooms, and gnomes. (Garden gnomes, not Harry Potter gnomes, though those are okay too.) These are the Barred Owl and Great Horned Owl linoleum block prints, though she also has them available as cards. I love her block prints. We are going to rearrange the apartment this weekend (switch the computer room and the bedroom) and I think I will put these up in there. I need to find a better place for the Gyspy Roseanna Banana does the banana peel, too. That is an awesome picture. But the weekend after (or soonish) we will rearrange the living room again, so then I can probably put it up somewhere cool.

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