59. Vodka Lime Please.

And that is why I love both being a lightweight, and loving vodka so damn much. I can do for "drinks" and spend just over $5 and have a great time. I don't feel the effect of the drinks at all, but it was good. If I had been crashing in Halifax I might have had more, or even if I had gone downtown for the purpose of drinking to get drunk I would have had more, but I was perfectly fine with what I had.

And now I'm off to knit a hedgehog. Not even kidding.

-Cheers folks!

58. Can I get some back-up?

I went to Atlantic Fabrics today and I spent a pretty penny. I bought quilting thread which was a heck of a lot more expensive than I thought it was going to be. I got black thread because of the backing fabric that I have. Obviously, I got backing fabric, which I love. I also got the batting for layering in between. I had thought about just getting two meters of the batting on the big rolls, but getting it in a bag pre-cut (into 78"X100") was cheaper. And I'm all about the cheap. I then went to the dollar store to get some safety pins (mine have all seemed to disappear along with my darning needles), and some more thread for sewing the blocks together.

Okay, time for more old Battlestar, and by old I don't mean Lorn Greene, I mean Season 3. It was like three years ago, so yes, it's old. But right now, to tide you all over, I give you a taste of De-Lovely, with my (um, fourth?) boyfriend, John Barrowman.



-Cheers folks!

57. Look Ma!

My grandmother actually laughed at me when I said I was working on a quilt. She's all down with my knitting, and in fact she enjoys it because I give her my yarn scraps for all the charity knitting she does. But when I told her that I was working on a small quilt, she nearly guffawed. Not even kidding. She looked at me like I was insane, and then asked if it was just blocks or a pattern. I told her that it was going to be mainly blocks with an inner border or triangles. But now, I have a blanket! Sorta. I have a bunch of squares sewn together, some of which still need to be sewn on, so they're pinned on with safety pins. I really really like it so far, and I'm thinking that I want a dark base for the backing. Maybe I'll stop in at the fabric store tomorrow before I meet up with the mister. See if I can find anything good looking enough and cheap enough. I also need to pick up some quilt batting. What do you guys think, dark background with light polka-dots? Sounds good to me.

-Cheers folks!

56. Teh Sexay

Hey look! It's me. It's also nearly midnight, I've been up since 6am, I have to get up at 6am again tomorrow. I had lunch at noon, and supper at 9. There was work, and then Sparks. I had a great time at Sparks, but work was annoying, and after Sparks I found a message which made me not happy in the least. I'm a little stressed and aggravated. I need to start doing these before midnight.

-Cheers folks.

55. Jones for a Jones

The mister and I are going to make Skittles Vodka, and because we searched and searched but were unable to find some decent bottles, he came up with a brilliant idea: Pop bottles. Old school pop shop style bottles. We went to the grocery store and bought 5 bottles of Jones pop. Already 3 have already been drank, and I have the other two here. We got two root beer, one orange and cream, one blue bubblegum, and one green apple. The root beer and the orange and cream area really good, we'll soon see how the other ones are. I'm excited to get this vodka experience going, I hope it turns our good.

Now I'm off to fold laundry and go to bed, the exciting life of me eh?

-Cheers folks!

54. A Sock with No Mate

Baaaaaahhhhhh. I'm a sheep. I've joined Twitter. You can find me there as theaudiochick. I'm theaudiochick mostly everywhere, so it's no surprise I suppose.

And now, I shall serenade you with my rendition of A Horse with No Name, called: A Sock With No Mate

On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the yarn
There were knits and purls and ribs and things
There was gauge and rows and strings
The first thing I met was a sheep with a fleece
And the goat with no cashmere
The wool was hot and the cotton was cool
But the air was full of sound

I've been through the desert with a sock with no mate
It felt good to be out of the rib
In the desert you don't need your wool socks
'Cause the heat is so hot it will melt your brain
Bah, Bah ...

After two days in the ribbing cuff
My mind began to want more
After three days in the stocking leg
I was wanting it to end
And the amount there was of a sock that wont end
Made me think that something was wrong

I've been through the desert with a sock with no mate
It felt good to be out of the rib
In the desert you don't need your wool socks
'Cause the heat is so hot it will melt your brain
Bah, Bah ...

After nine days I let the heel be turned
'Cause the leg had come to an end
There were knits and purls and ribs and things
there was gauge and rows and strings
The sock is all done with it's kitchenered toe
And a stretchy hugging cuff
Will I ever cast on the second sock
Only EZ knows the truth

I've been through the desert with a sock with no mate
It felt good to be out of the rib
In the desert you don't need your wool socks
'Cause the heat is so hot it will melt your brain
Bah, Bah ...

And seeing as it's the 23rd of February, I suppose it's time for the January pictage (that's my way of saying photo montage).


-Cheers folks!

53. Dry hands?

I should start off saying Happy Thinking Day. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's Lord and Lady Baden-Powell's birthday. They are the founders of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides respectively. Worldwide, during the month of February girls collect pennies to raise funds for worthy causes. In Canada, we donate to CWFF, or the Canadian World Friendship Fund, money then goes to fund WAGGGS countries who need funds, or to the world centres, or various other places that need the money more than we do. The reason we collect pennies is because when Lord and Lady BP got married in 1912, each Scout in England donated one penny to buy the newly weds a gift: it was a car. Pretty impressive for a movement that was then only 5 years old. As a note of interest (perhaps only to me and my mister, but here goes) Scouts Canada celebrated it's Centennial in 2008, Girl Guides of Canada will celebrate it's Centennial in 2010.

Oh yea, so I've been re-watching some older Battlestar Galactica, season 3 to be specific, and I got to wondering if the bloopers from season 4.0 were out yet, but they're not. In my search I found the season 3 blooper reel. I had forgotten how much I loved it and that it was so long! This is for you guys. Enjoy.



-Cheers folks!

52. The REAL 52

So yesterday was supposed to be titled 51, not 52. I got the picture right, but the entry title was wrong. That's what happens when I'm tired. I go and make stupid mistakes.

I started sewing together my quilt tonight! My evening consisted (mainly) of grocery freezer pizza, my sitting on the sofa sewing my quilt blocks, the mister sitting next to me knitting, and La Belle sitting in the recliner with the kitty on her lap, as she too knit the night away. Oh, and while we were doing such crazy Saturday night activities we were watching Mallrats. Mid 90's movies can be so freaking awesome sometimes. I also watched Zack and Miri Make a Porno with mom and dad tonight. It wasn't too bad a movie, I have to say though, full frontal nudity of Jason Mewes....glad dad was asleep when that came on.

-Cheers folks!

52. Le Tired

I'm extremely tired. I don't know why really though, all I did today was go out with the mister (picked up a comforter for him, I got a pair of sweats and some Rocky Mountain chocolate) then we hung out at his place for a while before going out to dinner with La Belle and another friend for dinner. Then we played Gin for about an hour before I came home. And then I watched Battlestar. That's all I did today, and yet I am ready to crash right now. I do have Thinking Day events with the Brownies tomorrow morning. Ugh. I'm really not looking forward to it very much, but I'm sure it will be fun. Now I'm off to bed early.

-Cheers folks!

50. My job that isn't a job

Yea, that's right. It's a job, but it's not a job. I love doing it so much that I often forget to mention it when someone asks me about my jobs within my industry. I talk about Fiddle Fest, a few other gigs and even my volunteering with Eastlink, but I always seem to leave out the podcast. I am the editor for the Lime & Violet podcast. I absolutely love what I do, and it never really hits home that we have over 5000 listeners. My high school was about 1100 people, so thinking that nearly 5 times my high school population listens (or at least downloads) the podcast just does not compute.

In fact, I'm taking a break to blog (and I just realized that I'm watching CBC National with the Man, Peter Mansbridge and not my other Boyfriend The Strombo, George Stroumboulopolous. I thought that Mulroney was supposed to be on tonight, maybe it will be on later. Time will tell.) I should get back to editing so I'm not up too late tonight, as is right now I might get to bed around 2am. Not too bad, but later than I would have liked.

-Cheers folks. What did you think of the Obama/Harper visit? I'm glad that he did a tour of Ottawa instead of the intended wham-bam in and out tour. I want to see Obama and Iggy, they seem like they'd get along well.

49. Knitting Geekery

So I looked around my room, and one thing stands out: there is nothing that stands out because there is so much stuff. I have a few things that stand out for me due to the sentimental value (pictures on the wall for instance), but nothing stands out as a focal point. There is just such a mish mash of all the crap that I have piled in this room, which considering how tiny this room is, it's amazing. I swear I'm not using Time Lord technology, but there is more stuff in here than should be humanly possible.

There are loads of knitting things, a sock on the blockers hanging from my where my closet door would be, an Adipose above my cassettes, my two huge Rubbermaid tubs filled with yarn. There are all my porcelain dolls and stuffed animals (I really need to get rid of a bunch of them, I need more room). I've got a metric butt-tonne of my art up on the walls, and as mentioned before, many pictures of my friends, family, and places I've been. But the thing that my eyes tend to go to quite often are my "frogged" and "ripped" shot glasses. Currently I have perfume samples in one, and bobby pins, safety pins, and my memory card adapter in the other. I don't know why these draw my eyes, but they do. Maybe it's because it joins drinking and knitting together....but you really shouldn't do that. It can end badly. But drinking + knitters is fun. Knitters are (mostly) wonderful people.

-Cheers folks! Literally.

48. Wonderful.

Great. Wonderful. Fantabulous.

I have just been sucked into the world of quilting. I bought some fabric squares yesterday, and between yesterday and today I have cut out more than half of the squares. I don't have a roatery cutter so all of this is getting marked out with pencil and ruler, and then cut out with scissors. It takes a fair bit of time, but it will be worth it. I figure that since each square is 4 inches along each side (with seam allowance) I will have 144 squares (16 of each pattern/color). With this I can make a square quilt that is 12 squares along each side. This will make it 4 feet by 4 feet. I also have managed to make 10 triangles from each pattern/color that are 4 inches along their longest sides. The only thing is, to make a band around the outside with the triangles I'd need at least 100 of them. Maybe I'll do an X through the middle of it. I have to draw this out, maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow night. We shall see.

The mister finished his dishcloth today! He got me to teach him how to cast off, and then voila! He was done. I'm really proud of him, and he is too. He has the right to be though, he did really really well for how little time he has been knitting.

-Cheers folks!

47. Just what I need

I think I have just picked up another stash enlarging craft. It's not knitting, crochet, or spinning. It's not needle felting, or embellishing. It's quilting. I bought a bunch of fat quarters from one of my local Fabric Stores. I had gone in to look for bottles to use to make Skittle Vodka, but I couldn't find any. In my searches though, I found out that the fat quarters were 20% off. I bought 9 different quarters in 3 different patterns. I'm working now to cut them into 4 inch squares. I'll figure out what pattern I want to put them in later, once I get them all cut out. I think it will be a great little project for me. I can take a few squares with me when I go and then just sew a few together when I get time. Kind of like the Test Screen Blanket that I'm (still) working on (slowly).

-Cheers folks!

46. Do You Eat the Red Ones Last?

My folks bought me a box of Smarties for Valentine's Day. They still do stuff like that for me and my (25 year old) brother. Easter morning finds us with chocolate bunnies, December gets us Christmas Countdown chocolate calendars. I swear when it comes to those old family traditions that we did as kids, we still are little kids. Mom thought we had outgrown the Christmas Calendars a couple years ago, so within the first week my brother went out and bought them for us. Mom came home and saw them, her reaction was along the lines of "I guess you guys aren't too old for those then." You just can't break tradition.

Anyways, I was eating the previously mentioned box of Smarties and I have quite the way of eating them. I don't separate them all by colors right off the bat, what I do is pour a handful into my hand, and then eat all of one color, move on to the next, and so on until they're all gone. Usually I work the rainbow, ROYGBIV, minus the red, that gets thrown back into the box and saved for last. While I was eating this box today, I didn't find any reds until the last two handfuls. I found ONE. That's right, only one red Smartie in the entire box. It kind of struck me as funny seeing as there were high numbers of all the other colors.

-Cheers folks. Do you eat the red ones last?

45. A Day for Lovers.

St Valentines Day. A truly, and somewhat unbearably commercialized holiday, but somehow, I always get caught up in it's thralls. I don't go in for the standard flowers though, I'm not a flowers kind of girl, so floral holidays don't get me excited. I met the mister at work, and then we went back to his place. As he was unlocking the door he asked me to check the mailbox. Inside was this note wrapped around a chocolate.


This sent me to the freezer, where I found another note wrapped around another chocolate. The chocolates are Lindt truffles by the by. VERY good. He even remembered that I like white chocolate and looked for them, but could only find them in the mixed packages. I am not complaining, I have an awesome guy. There were 6 notes in all, each with a "congrats, you found it!" or other cute little bits. The 6th note led me to my gift.


I had mentioned once that I really wanted to find the movie De-Lovely, but I couldn't find it anywhere around here, and I couldn't even find it to download it. He got it for me. My most amazing mister found me a musical I wanted, and his only comment was "We have to watch it together, I was reading up on it and it sounds really good." Did I strike gold or what?

We made dinner. Well, to be honest, he cooked the pork which he had marinated, the pasta side dish and the corn, I tried to make the cheese cake. Main meal was amazing, neither of us could finish it all though. Cheese cake, horrible horrible failure. First off, he didn't have an electric mixer so I tried to whisk it, but there were still so many chunks. Next, I didn't cook it long enough, not at all. Basically it was cream cheese soup in a graham cracker pie crust. It was bad, but we still tried to eat it, it was just bad. So bad. I have no words. It seriously looked like something I'd see my baby cousin vomit up. But, we made it together, and we tried to eat it together, so I still look on it oddly enough with a smile on my face and a warm feeling.

-Cheers folks. I hope everyone who celebrated (or wanted to celebrate) Valentine's Day had a great time, and for those celebrating SAD: Grab the cookie dough ice cream and pass the spoons.

44. Treasured Forever

Do you have a pair of pants, or a shirt, or a sweater that has a stain on it that you can tell exactly where and when you got it with a smile? OR maybe even a frown? Well I have had a few, but the one that's on my jeans now will hold a special place for a very very long time. The mister and I did our "out" Valentine's Day events today so that we could have a nice quiet night in tomorrow. We went to Clay Cafe tonight and made each other gifts. I'll post pictures of what we made later, probably on Tuesday. It was really a great idea that the mister had, we bought our items and then proceeded to spend practically three hours painting them. The atmosphere was fun, no need to be self-conscious at a fancy restaurant, no need to get all gussied up (not that I mind), and you don't get funny looks when you pull out a clubhouse, an egg salad, and a ham sandwich along with two bottles of pop. I'd go again. In fact, we were thinking of going back in the spring perhaps to make more things, though I was really jealous of the item I made for him, and he was jealous of what he made for me. What a couple we are, eh?

-Cheers folks! Don't fret too much about V-Day (or SAD) and for the record, handmade gifts are totally the way to my heart.

43. Knitting Survival Kit

So, here's what I carry in my notions bag:

1. Safety pins: you never know when they'll come in handy, for many different things.

2. Point protectors: I put them on all of my circs (if I'm not magic looping), and any dpns that I'm using.

3. Tape Measure: For measuring....things.

4. Stitch Markers: For marking stitches. Where was the increase line supposed to go? Put in a stitch marker and you'll know!

5. Darning needles: I have finished projects on the bus, pulled out my Chibi (the yellow thing) and darned a sock, or used EZ's sewn bind off to finish a mitten, it's not an odd occurance.

6. Fingernail clippers: They work great to cut worsted and thinner yarns.

7. Gauge Ruler/Needle sizer: It's a great little ruler, and this way I don't loose it.

8. Row counters: My Cacha-Counter (the red square thingy) is great for doing just about anything. No need to put it on the needle, it can go in my pocket, and I don't need to worry about moving it around.

9. Craft Needles: The biggest ones of these are the main needles I use to sew in most ends. The points are sharp enough, and the holes are big enough....for fingering weight at least.

10. Stitch holder: Usually I will have scrap yarn that I use for stitch holders, but sometimes I don't, this guy comes in handy.

11. Cable needles: I rarely use these anymore since I learned to cable without a needle, but they're still in there.

Sometimes I carry around a crochet hook too, but I'm good at rescuing dropped stitches. What do you keep in your notions bag? Or what would go in your notions bag?

-Cheers folks. Kevin Newman was actually unbiased on the Feb 11th podcast, it kind of scared me, I'm used to the BBC news being vocally unbiased, but Kevin Newman is usually stonefaced.

42. Life's Ultimate Question

Apparently, life's ultimate question is my father, and the answer is 42. Even though he's 50. Today was my father's birthday. We didn't really do much, just a family party on Sunday (the day before my Grampy broke his hip and cracked his shoulder joint by slipping on the ice during his morning walk at 5:30 am). My folks went on a two week trip last fall to Europe to celebrate both of them turning 50, and their 25th wedding anniversary, so that kind of makes up for the lack of a big to-do.

In other news, I've been working on a sock. Big whoop eh? Well this is just a plain vanilla sock in some ONline sock yarn I picked up last Saturday at LK Yarns. I'm on the fence on whether I like it or not. It's sort of coarse like I find Kroy to be, but I know that Kroy softens up about a million times when washed, I'm hoping that this stuff goes the same way. Apparently though I'm a toe up knitter. I only have one top down sock, not one pair, ONE. I did two different socks out of the same yarn, and they never got mates, so I made them a pair. If you'll notice that double line of the dark blue on the sock, that's where I was when I picked up that sock tonight, and now you see where I am. The gusset increases have been started as well. I'm using leaning increases rather than bar increases, I find them much neater. I also really like heel flaps with the pseudo saddle shoulder seams. Basically most of Yarnissima's patterns. What is your favorite sock construction? Never knit socks before? Want to learn? Try them! They're not hard, but they are a gateway drug, you will eventually end up spending loads of money on sock yarn. But... that's not a bad thing, right?

-Cheers folks, and Happy Birthday to Carin's mom! Your mom, my dad, one of the other leader's kid (girl, now 3, I think). Feb 11th is an important day!

41. Some People

I'll start by saying: Some people will cry "Free Speech" when they are told to be nice, or at least not name call and bash the opposition, but when someone tries to voice their opinions to them they turn their backs and say "I don't want to hear it." This blog post will be me ranting on the injustice that is free speech and those who cry for it, and those who don't like things that happen to them, get their hackles up, and then just start name calling. That and the coverage of the American VS Canadian political scene.

All of this stems from the deletion of a group on Ravelry that was extremely Right Wing. They even went as far as to say (on their front page): "Guest posts WILL be deleted because again, this is our place to vent." I'm all for people voicing their opinions, but please, allow for either rebuttal or external opinions so as to not look like you've got a stick up your ass. They would voice their distaste for the current American Government, but when someone, ANYONE tried to refute their claims, posts were outright deleted. When someone from an outside position would voice concern to their moderators, the mods would do very little. This would then go to the proprietor of the site. In his words "This Group has been a constant drain on the time and energy of our small staff and has therefore harmed the very site that provides for its existence." It wasn't the topics, it wasn't the theme, hell, it wasn't really even the anger or the misuse of the system, it was because the same problems kept being ignored by the mods and going to the Proprietor of the site. People were coming back on this great guy by calling him a Nazi, a suppressor, and various other harmful things. THESE are the reasons the group was being shut down, but the members couldn't get their heads out of their asses for long enough to notice it.

When Obama was inaugurated, I know of Canadian work places that set up televisions or allowed people to come in late (or not at all) so they could watch the new American president actually become president. When the Canadian Prime Minister took his seat, there was nothing. When the Governor General agreed to prorogue government, there was nothing. When Government went back into session, there was nothing. When the new budget was put forth, there was nothing. Something about that strikes me as just wrong. What does it say about Canadians and even Canada as a whole when we are more interested in the American politics than what is going on here at home. How many people (Canadian or otherwise) can name the leaders of each of the Canadian parties? How many can even name the parties?

:: after an hour break with ice cream and knitting::

I'm a whole lot calmer now. It still irks me that these people are hating on the Proprietor of the site and saying what a "horrible thing" it is that they're being shut down for "reasons that they don't understand", but I have come to the conclusion that you just can't reason with some people.

-Cheers folks. Play nice, if not, don't come back with the "injustice" of your discipline.

40. Ughhhhh

I'm sick. Not sick in the head (that's another story for another day), but sick as in coughcoughhackwheezesniffsnort. It's not pleasant, and I am not happy. I've been taking Tylenol Cold, but up here in my room all I've got is my extra strength tylenol. It's good for headaches, and general aches. But I don't like taking much in the way of pills or pain relievers. That and my pain tolerance is fairly high. Get a pinched nerve in your lower back and everything else is nothing.

-Cheers folks, don't get sick, it's not good. I'm warning you.

39. New Acquisitions

I fell down and went boom this weekend. Not too hard. But harder than I had anticipated. First off it started because I had a gift certificate to one of my LYS's. I went in and bought two skeins of sock yarn. I never really was a sock knitter, but they're just kind of taken over my knitting life right now, and it sort of scares me. I bought some ONline sock yarn in a white/grey/navy/neon green colorway, and some BFL Fleece Artist in the Sugar Plum colorway. I also got a set of 8 inch, 6mm bamboo dpns because one of the girls coming to Halibloggaknittas needed them for a hat, and I didn't have any, so I bought them, let her use them, and now they're in my needle stash. I then decided that because I had so much extra time before I needed to meet up with DWB, that I'd go to the other LYS that I used to go to nearly every day while I was at College. It had been ages since I had been to that LYS, and you know it's really bad when the proprietor of the store looks at you when you walk in and says (with glee) "Gwen! I haven't seen you in here in a while, how have you been?" It made me happy to be remembered, but kind of sad when they know you by name. While I was in there I did not buy any more yarn. I know! I was good, but I did buy a big bottle of Eucalan wool wash because my teeny tiny bottle was getting on it's last legs and had very little left, espescially since I have begun hand washing my socks in the bathroom sink right after I've worn them so that I can wear them more often. And I also picked up a set of 4.5mm straights in bamboo. I had a pair of 4.5's plastic at home, but I wanted something for Halibloggaknittas, that night, and they were great. I'm finding that I really like wooden needles rather than plastic or even metal. Although my metal Knit Picks are quite nice.

Anyways, I have cast on another sock out of the ONline, it's just a plain vanilla sock, toe up, and it's going to have a heel flap. I'm also still working on the first Brainless #2, but I have the heel turned, and one repeat done, 5 more, then a few rows of ribbing and sock one is done! I'm excited, and I'm starting to think that I'll get more than 12 pairs of socks done this year. Oh, and by the way, I'm sick, I'm coughing, and the drugs didn't do anything for me. For most people Tylenol cold will knock them out, I actually started getting more chipper. There is just something wrong about that, don't you think?

-Cheers and I hope you don't get the bug that's going around, it really sucks.

38. Haliblogaknittas

Photo courtesy of La Belle

So La Belle and I put together a SnB, I will admit though, it was mainly her who drew everything together. We invited a bunch of the local bloggers to partake in drinks and learning to knit. I managed to teach a few people to knit, and then proceeded to make a complete and utter fool of myself by drinking so much that I spent most of the night screaming (at the top of my lungs) the words to 90s songs that we grew up with, and other awesome songs. I seem to remember singing (word for word) the song La Vie Boheme from RENT with DWB, and a few others. It was quite the night, and I have the bruises to attest to that fact. In today's picture you see me sitting on the floor (in my Daily Dose of Fibre shirt from Ravelry), between DWB's legs, and La Belle sitting in her computer chair, knitting aswell. There were 13 of us there (I think), but unfortunately we couldn't get everyone to learn to knit. It was still a great time though. I can't wait for the next one.

-Cheers folks, spread the love! Teach someone something.

37. Lack there of

I do apologize for not posting on Friday, but you see, I was otherwise engaged. I watched the newest Battlestar Galactica episode with DWB and La Belle after spending an hour or two playing A Game of Thrones with them and a few friends. That was of course after I had made my sweet and sour meatballs (everything from scratch), which I'm pretty sure were a hit. It was quite the nerdy evening, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

-Cheers folks, release your inner nerd.

36. New Fluffy Stuff

Am I the only one who really likes getting things in the mail? Even mail that I have to pay for is good for me. I got a package today, made my feeling like crap feel less... crappy.

I bought some fiber samples (she calls them Wooly Cupcakes) from The Wool Peddler. Basically just really small bits of her odds and ends, and considering my short attention span when it comes to spinning on my spindle, these are great. I keep thinking about getting a wheel, but the closest place that I know of which sells wheels is in the Gaspeareau Valley, and that's not really on a bus route for me. (note, it's about 90 km from where I live) I might try to see if mom and dad want to take a trip some Saturday, they offered over the Holidays, but they weren't open that day and I knew it.

I'm spinning up the pink/purple bit of roving right now, and I'm finding it a little sticky, maybe a coarser merino or BFL, but it doesn't have the BFL crimp, so I'm still thinking coarse merino. I do like it though.

-Cheers folks, Haliblogaknittas #1 this Saturday, keep an eye out for pictures!

35. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

I have been on such a classic movie kick recently, the most recent movie I've watched is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I wish times were still that men would go crazy for a little bit of a hip shake and their eyes would fall out of their heads with a little bit of a shoulder shimmy. Now it's all about wearing the tightest of tight, shortest of short skirts, no underwear, half or even a quarter of a top, big jugs, and no ass. If a girl has thighs, she's undesirable in the media's eye, if a girl has curves, she's not the one they want. It's all about rail thin chicks, with peg legs, big jugs, and no brains. Truthfully, as a Girl Guide leader, it disgusts me. Then again, the obesity rate in the Western population is outrageous too.

I'm watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes right now, Marylin Monroe is wearing this amazing floor length pink strapless dress wit a slit up the back, and the lining is black. I could do without the monster of a bow on the back, but other than that it's amazing, right down to the bicep length gloves. Oh how I want an occasion to wear my prom dress again, either of them. My red one (my second dress) is classic, spaghetti strings with lacing up part of the back, floor length, and just barely poofy. My black one (my first dress) is strapless, has an inset of coral, floor length, and is fairly poofy. I love them both, but I want to wear my red one, it's a fun dress. I wonder if I can convince my mister to throw a party which requires ball gowns. Even just a prom anniversary party....in February..... makes sense to me.

Work on the sock is going well, one more repeat until I start the gusset increases. I think I'll do the increases a little differently this time so that I don't get the elongated stitches along the gusset. You can't really see them all that much, but I notice them, and I want to change them. I'll also be doing a slipped stitch heel just so that I can have them a little firmer. The green and purple ones seem a little weak. I hope that these ones are as awesome as my Firestarters.

-Cheers folks, by the way, I didn't get the job at the University. Oh well, their loss eh?

34. More Socks

I never was a sock knitter fanatic. It wasn't that I was against knitting socks, I just never really had the patience for them. Well, not even that, they just never really sparked my fancy as much as anything else did. But now I find that it is the beginning of February, and I have cast on for my second pair of socks this year. I think I might try to do one pair a month, the 12 pair plunge, if you will. There is no freaking way I'd be able to do the 52 pair plunge, but I think I can manage 12 pairs in 2009. Maybe I'll see if I can get a photostream up of my 12 pair plunge, then again, I also said that I would do a collage of my January photos, and that's not done yet.

Anyways! Socks. These are the same pattern as my last pair. Brainless by Yarnissima, but this time I'm using what I think is Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6 in the Jester colorway. I'm not 100% sure because it was a seconds yarn that my Aunt and Uncle got me for Christmas and it had no tags what so ever. I'm pretty sure that's what it is though. I really like the feel of it, even better than the Beyond Basic Knits that I used for the last pair. When it comes to socks I like a sturdier yarn like Cherry Tree Hill, Socks That Rock, and this Fleece Artist. But for anything else, I like super soft yarns.

I spun up about 100 yards of a think'n'thin worsted-bulky Alpaca/Merino 70/30 blend today. Well, I did about 50 yards today, and 50 yards yesterday. It's currently drying in my closet (long story, but I don't have doors on my closet, so I hang things to dry on hangers on the door track). I think I'll make a really simple tube cowl in stockinette. It's so soft, and I still have a fair bit of the roving that I bought left, so I'll probably spin up the rest a little thinner to make mittens, maybe. I'm not sure.

-Cheers folks! I'm gonna go get something to eat, Chicken fingers and taters weren't enough for supper.

33. New Socks!

I haz new socks! This was partly due to the fact that I only went in to work for half a day, and then came home (with a dead ipod I had forgotten at work, which I apparently left on and drained itself) and knit the afternoon and evening away! I watched some Deja View (Threes Company and the Cosby Show) then some random afternoon television (Without a Trace and then Dr.Phil), made some supper for the family (we had soup and grilled cheese because dad's sick), and then went right back to knitting. I know, now you're beginning to wonder, why would I spend so much time knitting on something that I could buy for 10$ per dozen at Wal Mart? Well, let me tell you, wool socks are the fraking best things ever. Period. I have narrow and long feet, so most socks squish my toes or are way too wide. Making my own socks means that I can make the socks to MY specifications. They also stand up better to wear than commercial socks. Plus, where else can you find socks like these? NOWHERE! No one will have these socks, not even the people who make the same socks from the same pattern. They will have used different yarn, or different needles, or maybe they did one less repeat, or one more repeat. So many variations, and let me tell you, I love my handknit socks. It's getting addictive. They something knitted that I really use and love. They're just awesome.

This evening I watched Funny Face. I adored Fred Astaire before tonight, but now I think he will own a piece of my heart forever. Audrey Hepburn is right up there too. I'm pretty much convinced now that I was born about 50 years too late. Except for my sci fi, I don't know what I'd do without my Battlestar and my Doctor Who... Although, I wouldn't have been without my Doctor Who because that started up in 1963.



As you can see, no collage yet. It'll get done. I promise.... maybe.

-Cheers, Hunker down if you're in Atlantic Canada, impending weather coming our way!

32. Fresh Fluffy Nearly-White Stuff

Today there is new fluffy white stuff, but it's not snow. This time it's a 70/30 local Alpaca/Merino blend I got at the local craft fair in November (I think it was November), that I'm spinning up into a bulky singles. I set the twist on two skeins of some recent handspun, and considering one is probably a worsted weight 2 ply, and the other is maybe a fingering weight 2 ply, it's nice to spin up something a little thicker. I had forgotten how quickly a spindle can fill up when you're doing some thick fiber, I've been spinning frog's hair recently and not only does it take forever, but I'm prone to overspinning it and then it snaps! then I have to get into re-joining it, and what's even worse is when I take it off the spindle to Andean (2 ply) it, I often snap it then too. Then I have to get into felting it back together. That's just something I don't want to get into. I think I'll spin off a fair bit of this bulky weight gorgeous alpaca that is pretty much the same as clouds or kittens or puppies, so that I can make a real nice cowl. Something simple, and yet awesome. We'll see.



We went skating with the Brownies and the district tonight at one of the local rinks. It was a blast, I took my mister (who borrowed my father's skates) and neither of us fell! So proud I am, and very sore too. All in good fun, eh?

-Cheers! No drinking with pain pills, not a good combo.