The Great Bug Huntress

I am the great bug huntress. This is what happens when you move all kinds of crap around to pack it when moving. You find all kinds of crawly critters that creep out when least expecting it. Like when you move a Nordstroms bag that's been sitting on your floor for 2 years (it had a purpose, it was holding all my extra computer cables, give me a break) and a cricket jumps on your foot. First you do the scary cricket dance (my mom & sister have seen this one before). Then you chase after the cricket as it jumps across the floor with a can of RAID spraying madly...

We did the whole RAID experience again about 10 minutes later with a black spider that suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the wall in front of me. It's now permanently affixed to the wall in it's glaze of RAID now as well. I had to open the window at this point, or suffocate from all the RAID fumes.

RAID, a single girl's best friend...

With all the bug murdering and packing going on, you might think there was no time for knitting this weekend, but alas, I managed to fit it in. I volunteered for the Greater St. Louis Knitting Guild at the Faust Park Folk Festival to teach knitting. I'll admit there wasn't much teaching of knitting going on. The crochet guild was there with us and people were happy to learn to crochet, but when you suggested knitting, the looked at you as if you were the devil and backed swiftly away. To bad for them I say. My great aunt did appear for some knitting lessons. I noticd her after someone was already teaching her. Mostly I helped other members of the guild who were novice sock knitters try to figure out what was going on and knitted on my own project (Secret x-mas project #2). It's always fun to sit around and talk to other knitters, particularly ones I don't normally knit with.

Sunday night, after the bug murders, I went to see Beth sing with the Bach Society Chorus at St. Louis Sings. This was 7 St. Louis choirs, some professional type ones and some local choirs, who got together to put on a charity performance the American Red Cross in honor of the hurricane victims. It was really good. I was quite impressed with some of the groups, and especially Beth's group. A good time was had by all at this good cause.

I am a yarnaholic...

They say the first step is to admit you have a problem...

I broke down. It's been exactly a month and a week since I returned from stitches and went on the yarn diet... I broke, lost control and...I ordered more yarn. In my defense, I ordered a pattern to use some yarn I already have and the shipping was $7. That doubled the price of the pattern. I was appalled. I checked around and the pattern was actually less $$ from where I was ordering it from, but I felt compelled to add some sale yarn (Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in Passionate Pink and Grass Green and Newport Check) until the shipping started to go up. If you think about it, take out the cost of the pattern from the total and then the sale yarn+shipping price per ball comes out to be $3.70 which is still less than the full price yarn. Justification I know. I did so want some of that bright Kroy sock yarn. I think I'll make some patterned socks with the pink and then make some plain socks with the green and have the heel and toe be the bright pink. I'm crazy I know. It's not as if I don't have enought yarn to make 10 pairs (Egads!) in my stash...but it's bright Pink. How fun! One could say the diet actually ended at the end of last week when I had Maryann buy me some of the knitpicks dyeable yarn for the Oct. Yarn dyeing party, but that was for experimental processes for a Knitting Guild presentation Maryan is doing in the spring, so does it really count???

Yarn buying justification over....Starting all over on the yarn diet... Day 0

I've been a bad, bad blogger. A week without a post. I'd like to say that I've been busy, but that, for the most part would be untrue. I was burned out. Burned out on knitting, burned out on blogging, burned out on work. It was a bad week last week... I took Friday afternoon off and took a nap. I cleaned my apartment and did two weeks worth of laundry and finished knitting on a Christmas present on Sunday and I feel much better. I'm feeling better now. For obvious reasons, I'm not including pictures of my FO, although all of my co-workers think it looks pretty darn cool (I had to show someone and bask in the glory of my accomplishment, so I bored my co-workers with it...)

As the x-mas knitting stands, I'm at two completed gifts, 3 in process and 2 not started. Not bad for mid-september. I won't have a lot of time for mid-week knitting through mid-October since I should be packing in the evenings for my move mid-October. I also need to get going on the Project Linus blanket for the Knitting Guild.

Samantha received the socks I made for her and likes them. Yippee. There's a lot of second guessing when making something for someone you've never met. It was fun and I would definitely do it again.

It's incredibly embarassing to call every place that you've been for two days last week going. "Umm...I was there last week and...umm...I didn't by any chance leave a small bag with grey yarn and some needles there did I?" It did pay off though. I found it. I had left it at the Oil Change place. They were very amused....I was not...

Back to last week...

So, I got up early this morning and drove to Columbia for an HCB meeting. Got there a half an hour late because I thought the meeting started a half an hour later than it actually did. Oops... I volunteer and I showed up. There lucky with the current price of gasoline. Meeting was same as it ever is. Put the top down on the way home. Was fantastic. So relaxing. Almost didn't mind.

When I got home, I recreated my Misty Garden scarf that I frogged early last week. It's looking much better this time. Yeah!! maybe over my knitting funk.
In other news, if anyone sees a small plastic bag with Grey Opal yarn and about 1 inch of a 2x2 ribbing started for a sock on size two needles, it's mine. I've lost it. Although I'm sad about losing the Opal sock yarn, I can buy some more. More importantly, I lost my favorite pair of size 2 socks needles!!!!! :-(((

I am a root beer float...

Beth and I made a day of it. Lunch at the favorite, Penn Station. Followed by the Knitting Guild meeting. A little drooling at Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma. Some window shopping on the loop and finally Ivy Dine at Fitz's where we drank root beer. We got there early, so we sat down at the bar with big frosty glasses of root beer. We sat at a two hour dinner with the Phis and had more root beer. Lots of root beer. Every time my glass got to less than halfway, another would appear. I don't need to have rootbeer for several more weeks now. I'm currently drinking a nice icy glass of plain tap water and it is magnificent!

If anyone out there is looking for a quick amusing read, go find Unwed & Undead by Mary Joyce Davidson. Don't be put off by the fact that it seems to be another "Vampire" novel. The main character is a sarcastic shoe-loving woman. It's great. So good, I rushed right out and bought the second one Unwed and Unemployed and am contemplating ordering the 3rd in hard back (yep, that good). I've been passing them around a work. One of my co-workers said they reminded her of the Stephanie Plum novels, ass-kickin' bounty huntress vs. ass-kickin' vampire. Pretty good anology.

I also read finished another book over the long weekend, in between unknitting and the headache. Jodi Piccoult's My Sister's Keeper. Maryann from the knitting posse lent it to me. It was excellent. I will admit to crying at the ending. I'm also reading Gold Coast by Nelson Demille. I've finished 128 pages and so far it's all been set up for the story...at least I hope there is going to be some additional action somewhere in here... Oh well, at least it's a good book for work reading...categorized by 40 page reading bursts 2-3 days a week on my lunch hour. I'm up to 37 "books of literary value" (as opposed to trashy romance novels...) read this year. I would have to say I'm probably going to make my 50 book goal for the year.

The book reviews were really an attempt to detract from the fact that I am in a knitting funk. Everything I start lately has been ripped out...for myself or the attempts to actually start my x-mas knitting early. Dud, dud, dud. I'm almost afraid to start something else for fear that it will end up being ripped out. I don't have a single pair of socks on the needles. I've ripped out 3 different pairs I had started. What is the world coming too??? Thankfully, I started my Socakpal2za socks very early and finished the knitting before the funk hit. I realized last night that it was almost time to send the Sockapal2za socks of to my sock pal and, of course, I've procrastinated weaving in the ends to the dead end. I'll have to get to that this weekend so I can see them safely off in the mail next week.

I have received renewed knitting inspiration today in the form of the new Knitty.com. Wow!! What fantastic patterns this time!! I absolutely love the Samus, Arisaig and the Cinxia. Perfect sweaters right in time for fall. Also liked the Falling Leaves socks and the Teddy Bear pattern. What fun! All in all, I'd say this is one of their better collections of patterns. I also loved the articles. As a beginning spinner (read trying and impossibly clumsy at it so far) I appreciated the article on spinning by Miss Amy Singer. It's nice to know I'm not the only one feeling clumsy. I do think I'll continue trying with the spindle before making a jump to a wheel. Maybe even take a few lessons. We'll see. Up next though, packing for the big move. It's going to be very sad packing away all my yarn. On the upside, I will actually get to catalog my stash. New organizational possibilities abound with a new apartment...

Monday on a Tuesday...

What a way to start the week. Come into the office and find out that someone teaching a training course on-site this afternoon is sick and even though I didn't go to the training course for instructors, I was the only one available to instruct. So, I spent 3 hours this morning frantically trying to stuff my brain with the knowledge on the 15 slides I was supposed to present and read the case study that I needed to facilitate. Whew!!! Came off with flying colors and even sounded as if I knew what I was doing, but man am I exhausted. My little brain is mush of worthless information now...

Quite a work out for my brain after suffering in intense pain of a migraine for the previous two days. Even my hair hurt. I hate that. It was hard to even enjoy my bed my head hurt so much. Needless to say, only a little knitting got done. I started another one of the Misty Garden scarves from the Scarf Style book. Only, I realized I made an error about the 3rd repeat of the pattern and added an extra row of knit stitches. So, it looks off. I'm going to have to pull it out. I've tried to ignore it, but it's a gift, so I'm going to have to frog mohair. Ick!!

I've been a bad blogger. I was off work on Friday and my sister and I went shopping. and I hung around my apartment pretty much all day today, so I really don't have an excuse. I guess, I've been avoiding blogging because I have negative knitting to report. But, I have happier news today. My new bed was delivered!!! Yippee. I think I'll spend the entire day in bed tomorrow. One thing about the bed that was surprising, it's about 6 inches taller than my old one. I almost have to boost myself up to get in it. How sad is that...

On the negative knitting news, I could no longer ignore the fact that the bistro shirt was too big. I think I may have partially identified the guaging issue. I did a guage swatch (everyone gasp in surprise here), but I did it flat, not in the round. I didn't decide to do the pattern in the round until later. Might not account for the altogether how big, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. So, out came 14 inches of that. (Sniff!) I also ripped out the socks that I've been working on for the 3rd time. Ugghh. I just can't find a pattern I like and it's a plain yarn. No stripes or color changes to deal with. Just a plain sock. Ughhh.