A Fistful of Stitches

bright eyed

so every morning for the past (?) lotsa mornings I've been waking up just a smidge earlier than the day before. like, 5 or 10 minutes. and it's before the dogs so there's no real reason for me to be awake. but it's starting to get scary. I'm now up to 5:55am. and that is one scary number for me, the person who used to need to set an alarm to wake up before noon. the person who could easily snooze for 3 hours. that's right: three. whole. hours.

of snoozing.

i shake my head at myself. that it's come to this. first: i stopped smoking. then i found myself occasionally drinking decaf (gasp!). now ... waking up. on my own. before 6am.

the shame of it all.

wicked

is anyone else besides me feeling really really sensitive this week?

new mantra

I think I've come up with a new mantra/life theme/mission statement. Completely by default, I just keep finding myself saying it in relation to lots of different aspects of life (certain knitting patterns or the wearing of pants, for example).

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

The thing I'm focusing on, of course, is myself - trying not to be some bitchy, snarky, judgey lameass making snide comments on the lifechoices of others (not that I'm above that, mind you, this is a goal).

Nonetheless, I think I've found myself saying this quote at least once a day for the past week. And it has most certainly passed my lips many a time in the past. So, at least for now, this shall guide me. Life provides us with so many choices. Anything that can help me whittle it down is welcome.

Meanwhile, I have been sorely aware of lack of knitting posts. So yesterday I laid out Dusty on the floor of my studio so I can take a shot. This is queue project number one right now, and when you see how flippin big it is you'll know why knitting progress posts have been few and far between. Check it:

granted, not the greatest picture ever taken. can you even tell how big it is? here's another shot, on my lap with my feet for perspective:

Yeah, yo. Like, it's totally huge.

I also have about a million cute doggie shots that I'm going to save for later. They deserve their own post. Maybe. But first I must decide: just because I can, does it mean I should?

(answer: cute pictures of the pups? yes indeedy!)

the day

Went to bed late after a jam-packed Friday night full of fun (three hour dinner with one Lisa, game night with another Lisa). Was awoken at an ungodly hour by Frank who needs to be accompanied to the back yard for his morning pees (we have a dog door, it's open, but he still needs someone to go downstairs and keep him company. he will yip and yip until someone gets up to 'take him out' even though he can go out on his own. yes, it's annoying.)

So - even before 8am this morning I was ready for a nap (sayin' something, since I'm not a napper). So I've been whittling away the past couple of hours waiting to wake up and not having much luck. So far I've:

- come to the conclusion, again, that I really suck at Scrabble. Folks who know me are surprised by this (as am I, frankly, I'm such a word geek it seems like I *should* be really kickass). But no, I am the world's biggest Scrabble lame-o. Lucky for me my love of playing games trumps my need to win.

- thought my house smells stale. thought about all the cleaning that should be happening. kept sitting here, not doing anything about it.

- continued to be obsessed with Flickr Wardrobe ReMix. Apologies to all my Flickr friends who are by now doubtless fully sick of seeing pictures of me in different outfits.

- made a mental list of things I wanted to do but wasn't doing so I could post about it. and apparently now that I'm posting my brain isn't working to the point where I can't even remember the list of stuff I was thinking/doing 10 minutes ago. Yowzer!

Frozen

very cool.

Frozen in Grand Central Station

we are family

we are family
Originally uploaded by afistfulofstitches

me and baby brother. gonna have a good time.

i clear your bong rip. again.

okay ... so something really lame happened to my last post, so I'm re-doing. Apologies to those who came and were, like, WTF?! I blame the internets.

As you know, having to type the same "witty" intro twice feels lame and not-so-witty, so I will dispense with that. I will say that I'm sure that with this post title I'm bound to be getting a whole new world of viewers.

This clip caused me much pleasure. I decided I must earmark it for posterity.

beta

Here's a question: in your travels, have you come across designers looking for beta testers?

As a knitter, were there any 'systems' of beta testing that sounded particularly good to you?

We're wanting to have our patterns beta tested as we move forward and are looking for the best way to have that happen. All feedback welcome, including volunteers and ideas!

push me pull you

The yarntasting blanket has been cast off. Now just to weave in the ends. Ambassador Wade (aka Wonder Mike took some pictures and has graciously let me borrow them for posting pleasure). When he asked me to hold the blanket up for a picture, here's what he saw:

He then asked to take a picture of the front. You know, the side without all the ends to weave in:

Oops! No front, no back, just a lot of finishing to do!

state of affairs

Pattern: Beret from Greetings from the Knit Cafe
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, color Phantom
Needles: US5

This was my 'carry around in my handbag to knit while waiting in line' project. 2+ hours waiting to get my blood drawn after Monday's dr's appt and it was done. Love it.

Current list, in order thanks to my KC (that's Knitting Coach for those of you late to the game):
Duster
Yarn Tasting Blanket–on the final stretch!
Curious Creek Wasonga Mystery Project
Madsen

And that's it. (My new 'carry around' item is the second CCF Wasonga Monkey so that pair can be finished. My favorite part of the 'carry around' is that it officially doesn't count. Sweet.)

I have to crank through Dusty so I can bust through Madsen and get going on my CCF project, which has been patiently waiting in the wings. Once I finish swatching it'll be easy street, I think. I have the design all set. Next up after that is a Jade Sapphire 4ply Cashmere pullover (yarn is en route from them and I can't wait to see it) and something out of the Tilli Tomas Milan yarn that I received yesterday from them. It is To Die For. Holy Hell.

Any ideas / opinions on my next Yarn Tasting project? This last year I made a blanket using all the mini skeins from each month's tasting. The blanket is in simple garter stitch and is gorgeous. Some thoughts I've had for this year's project are: another blanket, but this time in a stitch (feather and fan, chevron, afghan st, crocheted ripple...), Log Cabin from Mason Dixon, or a bunch of Baby Surprises. Any thoughts?