The Kindness of the Internet

Sometimes, software and such doesn't work. It's not our fault. It just happens. And then we leave it, and move on. About a month ago, I had written up two posts that got eaten by the Internet, Picasa, blogger, whatever. I spent a great deal of time on them, and was upset that they disappeared. Well, today when I logged into blogger, there they were. Sitting there, as drafts. Where they've been for the past month, I do not know, but I've been avoiding posting because there was no way to post photos. I'll probably do a big catch-up post a little later.


A few things now (I'm copying the Harlot, if you couldn't tell):

1) I'm knitting a pair of knee socks. I need them done before I go to bed on Saturday. With my self imposed schedule, I should have been done with sock #1 yesterday. I'm an inch or two away from the ribbing, and will probably finish tomorrow or the next day. I guess I'm getting rubber boot rash for one more Sunday.

2) I'm a little worried about my roommate. All she seems to do is sleep, and sit in her bed with her laptop, either on facebook or skyping or talking on the phone. She never seems to change positions on her bed, or move from it at all. I mean, I guess she can move around when I'm not in the room, but it's a little worrying.

3) Speaking of stuck in a cycle, she never seems to do any homework either, and then (when she has a test) complains that she is in so much trouble because she hasn't taken the plastic wrap off the book. Well, that's your fault now, isn't it? Stop complaining.

4) One last thing about the roommate, which I don't quite understand. She likes to close the hurricane shutters and sit, on her bed with her laptop, in the dark.

????

Oh, and then, instead of opening the shutters, she turns on the light, which isn't as bright as the, you know, sun. I really don't get her thought process.

5) I got Pokemon SoulSilver on Sunday. Love it, almost to the first gym, but I have no time at all to play it. Busy week. In the meantime, my brother got HeartGold, and is on spring break, so it zooming ahead. Wish I had the time.

6) Going on a coral restoration dive on the 17th. Should be fun

Yep. Think that's it. Have a good week.

Random Strangers

Well, a week and a half ago, at work, I wrote up this wonderful post on all my Olympic endeavors. I detailed every project I had made during the Olympics: the yarn, pattern, how long they took, etc. I hit "Publish Post." And then the Internet decided to stop working, and eat all that work I had put into the post. Needless to say, I was devastated, but I was not going to write that thing again. I detailed everything in Do the FO Dance, except for these:



May I introduce to you Midnight Water? Made out of a hank of Malabirgo Sock in perisa, these are a glorious treat for the feet. I loooooooove them, and they made me discover the Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula, which is what I've been searching for for months. Yay! Excpet I use JMCO instead of short rows for the toe, but that's just because it's that fantastic.

Speaking of socks, I'm working on these:



The blue-ish ones are out of a hand of bare I dyed with food coloring and vinegar (because the must-desired blue kool-aid is avoiding me), and are the only ones actually in progress. I actually almost have the toe done on the second sock, but it wouldn't have looked very good in the picture, so I left it out. The red ones are actually hibernating. I'm going to pick them up again once I finish the blue ones, a pair of red ones of my own design (!), and a pair of knee socks. The fit well though, and I love them. Can't wait to have them done. Also dyed this yarn myself, with red and orange kool-aid.

I got a starghan finished for my grandma, and sent it off to Petoskey today. I know she'll love it, and it warms my heart to make something for her before... you know... she... I can't say it. She's old, has health problems, and time is limited.



Finished these a week ago:



They're my "outdoor gloves" because they're the warmest, even though they don't really cover my wrists.

Finished this on Saturday, and wore it out today:



Strangest thing today: it must be "random strangers talk to me" day. Seriously, I was in CVS, picking up some sunscreen for my trip up to Disney World for spring break on Friday, when some random guy walks past me in the aisle, stops, and said he liked my "handbag."

????????????

Sketchy all by itself (and the fact that he called it a handbag, but that might be what they call purses in Florida), my gay-dar wasn't even going off. So, random straight guy telling me he likes my purse and asking me where I bought it, then walking off, leaving me standing in the aisle annoyed that CVS doesn't carry NO-AD sunscreen.

Then, on the way back from Target on the metro (nope, Target doesn't carry NO-AD either...), some guy asks me what knitting technique I was using. This is more normal, because I was standing, waiting, and knitting a sock. I get questions about my knitting when I knit in public all the time (once had a very interesting conversation with a guy on the trolley who thought it was physically impossible to knit a cabled sweater). Anyway, I was confused by the question (did this guy really know enough about knitting to know that there are three different ways to knit on the round, and wanted to know which one I was using?). I asked for a clarification, and it turns out this poor, misinformed civilian was under the impression that crochet was a type of knitting. I quickly set him straight, but it was still odd that in a single day (within two hours actually), and was asked random, atypical questions by random strangers.

Olympic Ventures

I was rather productive during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, despite my inability to watch most of it (I've seen a little curling, freestyle skiing, and nordic combined on TV, and the men's snowboarding halfpipe full replay via NBCOlympics.com; I plan on catching up with figure skating shortly). My one and only goal for the games was to finished my Laminaria, which was easily achieved:



I actually finished it in a little outside a week, though the first and last day of the endeavored consisted solely of casting on and casting off/blocking respectively, so I don't know if they really count. It's a shawlette, made out of some lovely Malabrigo Lace in the mariposa colorway. It's the perfect size, and I love it (so do all the people at the LYS)!

I my mad Laminaria knitting, I also knocked out a dishcloth:



... ... ... ...

I can't believe I made a dishcloth either, but I needed to use up half a ball of cotton that was driving me batty, and I needed something to clean the whiteboard on my door.

Moving on:



Yep, that's a mug cozy. I've been meaning to make one for ages, and I finally got fed up with not being able to drink my tea at the hot temperature I like it without burning my hands. Stupid conduction. I knocked it out in an hour or two, after I had finished my laminaria and in the middle of these:



You remember these, right? From the last post? I almost had them done the day after that post - I was short by the inch of cuff on the second sock. Knocked that out the day after that, and wore them yesterday. Heel already looks worn, but that happens to all my socks (my heels are hot and sweaty and not hand-knit-sock friendly); I don't blame the yarn. The rest of the socks are just peachy though, and I looooooooooove them. I will gladly trade all my stash in for some more Malabrigo sock (or I'll just use that gift certificate I have for the LYS).

I'm gathering many imaginary awards for my Olympic-knitting feats. See those red badges on the left? Those are my Ravelympics 2010 badges, signifying my knitting awesomeness in this Olympics. And the LYS is having a similar type of this, except with less categories, you have to use yarn from the store, and there are prizes, in the form of coupons! A gold medal in a category is a 20% off coupon! I'm banking on my Laminaria for that coupon. The socks are entered too, but they're just your basic socks, nothing special (except they are super awesome, but not in the prize-gathering way).

With not-enough time left for something else in the Olympics, I've gotten back to my two WIPs (we're not counting the granny square blanket at a WIP - THAT'S an extended, I'm-bored-and-feel-like-making-a-granny-square project): my Bayerische socks, as seen in the previous post, and a starghan for my grandma. I'm focusing more on the starghan, because I feel like a grandma project should come first, AND it's a destash blanket, and I want this yarn out of here! But, the thing has gotten too big for travel, so it sits on my under-loft chair, and I work on it while I watch Heroes. The socks come with me, and I expect the second sock to go much faster than the first now that I practically have all the charts memorized (except chart D, but I can live with that). I'm going to need these two to keep my sanity this week: bio test coming up, and it's one of those that we're expected to know every minute little detail of the powerpoints. I'm going to need more chocolate...

Socken

I'm surprising myself greatly with my knitting speed this past week or so. Really, I am. I mean, it took me about two weeks to get this far on a single sock:



OK, granted these socks are covered with cables and it takes a while to complete a round, but still, that much on a single sock, my only project, took two weeks.

What happens now?

Well, I started these Saturday night:



It's Tuesday. I have a sock and 40% of the other one done. It's been four days. I think I'm going to finish them on Thursday, at the latest. Last week I knit an entire shawlette, when it took three weeks to knit a different one right before it. For some reason, I'm knitting at super-sonic speeds, and I'm good with that. I mean, I'm dying to wear these socks (hint: if you want a pair of some of the most comfortable socks ever, make some out of Malabrigo sock), so it's a good thing I'm knitting these at super sonic speeds. I suppose it also has something to do with the fact that these are plain vanilla socks, and that they're toe-up with a short-row heel, which, in my opinion, is a lot faster than the heel-flap and gusset of cuff-down. Ironically, the warm weather decided to come back to Miami today, so I don't know if I'll even get a chance to wear them when I finish.

Oh, and you're not crazy. You haven't seen those red socks before; I've only got the first one done, and promptly used the needles for the speedy socks (LYS is having an Olympic event: knit something in the span of the Olympics with yarn bought there). A non-FO does not belong in the FO montage.