I’m guessing not, because the last time you would have seen it would have been June 13, and the last time it actually made any progress was sometime last February (Blog post from March 6). Yeah… it’s been a while.

Anyway, to refresh your memory, that’s the Knit Picks Palette Fair Isle Cardigan. I’m in the LAST stripe of the body. I’ve got 7 rounds to go on the body before I bind off and tackle the first steeks (the sleeves). Strangely, I’m looking forward to it. Clearly, I’m twisted. My goal is to finish this by the end of February, since I started it in February of 2007. 13 months for a sweater… that’s not too embarrassing or anything. **sigh**

This afternoon, I met my cousin and her ridiculously adorable kids at the Tyson’s Corner Mall for lunch, shopping, and Joey’s favorite part - the play area.

Beth and Anna (19 months)

Joey (5-1/2)

When I got home, I discovered that my hubby bought himself a new toy:

Send earplugs. ;)  (I’m totally kidding- he’s actually doing pretty well so far.)

Spotted this one at Bonne Marie Burns’ blog.

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

Created by BuddyTV

I’ve quit watching The Office, because it got just too painful for me. I used to work in the office of a warehouse, and the guy who ran it was WAY too similar to the Michael Scott character. But when I did watch, I’d definitely say there was an appeal to Jim.

The one thing that really amused me about this quiz?  There is a question about what you post on your blog.  And knitting was one of the options!  We’re taking over the world!  Woo hoo!

Speaking of knitting, the border is still chugging along on the shawl.  The sound booth at the theatre is a little dark for cables, so I didn’t get as far on it as I’d have liked.  I did get some done while hanging out with our friends Betsy and J, who were in town this weekend.  We also spent a good bit of time playing Rock Band, which is very possibly the BEST game ever.

Stole this one from Jo.

 

Your Score: the Provacateur

(52% dark, 38% spontaneous, 42% vulgar)

your humor style:
VULGAR | COMPLEX | DARKYou’ll crack on anything, and you’re often witty, even caustic, about it.Therefore, your sense of humor is polarizing. You’re transgressive, and you’ve got a seriously sharp ‘edge’–maybe too much for some folks. If they get you, people think you’re one of the funniest (and smartest) people in the world. If they don’t, they think you’re an ass. Whatever, right? While some might question your judgement, your comic intellect is unquestionably respected.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Chris Rock - Lenny Bruce - George Carlin

The 3-Variable Funny Test! - it rules -

If you’re interested, try my best friend’s best test:
The Genghis Khan Genetic Fitness Masterpiece

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(jason_bateman)

One thing you will notice if you peruse my stash, my wardrobe, pretty much my home in general is that you will not find much in the way of pink.

I blame my parents. Back in the early 1970’s, when they bought the house I grew up in, they painted my bedroom a shade slightly lighter than Pepto Bismol. And my bedspread and curtains? Were pink and white gingham trimmed with rick-rack. So very, very girlie. So very, very not me.

So how, you might ask, do I explain this week’s yarn pr0n? When I was in Charlotte and stopped by Rainy Day Yarns with Aimee, she was looking for yarn to make a really cute pair of cabled gloves. (”Winter Gem” - The pattern is in the Fall issue of Cast On magazine). I decided I wanted to make them too.

Since my winter jacket has a pink lining, I decided to go for it - they should match! And I found this lovely heathered pink Cascade 220 that was an excellent match.

Aimee grabbed another hank for me the next day when I decided I wanted to make a hat to match, too. Of course, at the rate I’m going, I’ll have it done in time for, oh, Winter of 2027?

Have a great weekend!

For those of you who know Yorkie from the Knittyboards, you know the difficult time she has been through in the last few weeks. I’m not going into the details here, because I don’t think it’s my place. Suffice it to say that I don’t know how she’s doing it.

Yorkie was one of the very first people on the boards to reach out to me, and as such, she has a very special place in my heart. Of course, the fact that she’s completely kick-ass and a lot of fun is a bonus. I love her dearly, and my heart just broke for her. So, I told her over and over that if there was anything I could do, all she had to do was ask.

I got a message from her about 2-1/2 weeks ago, asking if I would mind making a shawl for her, so that she had something to wrap herself in on those days when she needed a hug and some extra comfort. I told her that I would be more than happy to do it. We messaged back and forth, and decided on Tri-Aran-Angle, from the Winter 2003 issue of Knitty, using Knit Picks Andean Silk in “Hollyberry”. (And Yorkie, my love, if you don’t want to see it in progress, this would be a good time to move along.)

The yarn arrived last Monday (the 14th), and I cast on. I’ve been completely monogamous to it (some things are too important to set aside), and as of today, I’m here:

At the bottom corner, you can see the offending cast-on tail that screwed me up Monday night… Once I get that top border finished, I’ll block it and get the corner tassels attached. I am really quite thrilled with how it is coming out. The yarn is really lovely, and it’s showing the cables beautifully. This one is a little off on the color, but fun cable shot!

I’m guessing between the last few episodes of Torchwood season one, my regular knitting meetup tomorrow, and the show tomorrow night, I’ll probably have it done before Friday.

By the way, I sent Tom the links to the posts about his gifts, and he was highly flattered by all of your comments.  :)

Catnip is hilarious. I have three cats. We got them a new climby-scratchy-tree thing, and sprinkled a bit of catnip on it to entice them to check it out. Simba went all crackhead-hyper crazy, and Rajah was more of a pothead-mellow. Too funny. (Rowena goes back and forth. Mostly mellow with occasional bouts of hyper.)

Proof that reality tv rots your brain - I was watching “Dance War” last night (Shut up. It’s singing and dancing and Maude knows there is nothing else on.), and working on my current project (You’ll see it tomorrow). I came to the end of a ball, and did a Russian join to start the next one. I started knitting again, and was terribly confused that the end of the yarn was there, and loose. That would be when I realized that I joined the new ball to the tail of my freaking cast-on. **facepalm**

I spent Sunday (after the matinee) at the condo of the show’s sound designer with much of the cast and crew of “Enchanted April”. (Which is going well, BTW, and which I am LOVING working on. Kickass bunch of people.) At one point, both Carol (she who enticed me to join up with the show) and Mary (our ASM, and a new friend) brought out their knitting. Kris took this with his camera phone:

That’s Mary, with Carol holding up the needles as antennae, and Sarah (who I was teaching to knit the other day) looking on (And my arm in the back). (See, Mary, you were right - it DID go on the blog!)

And now, I’m off to continue soaking in the loveliness that is John Barrowman on “Torchwood“.  Our season one DVDs came today.  Yay!

Almost forgot to post. Cristi would have my head, especially since I missed WIP Wednesday this week.

Another acquisition from the fabbo Charlotte Yarns in October.

Malabrigo Laceweight (OMGLOVE!) in “Applewood” (posing with the Scotian Silk you saw last week).

Lovely light caramel, with just a hint of rosy pink here and there.

Need a good project for this one. It might marinate for a while yet.

And thank you all  for your lovely compliments on Tom’s handiwork.  I don’t tell him as often as I should, but I’m damn proud of him.

AKA the Amazing Four-Day Shawl.

Cast on Thursday at knitting and finished last night.

I got a fair amount of the ruffle done Saturday night while shadowing the sound tech for Enchanted April (I’m running sound for some of the performances) and finished it off while watching “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” last night.

So, yes, although I “blamed” Aimee and Cristi for this one, you guys are right - I love it, and I’m not at all upset that they enabled me into it.  As you might have guessed from the cheesy grin.

And just for Aimee - Zombie Face!

And for further proof, the jacket he did for Kris:

Back view:

Sleeve one:

Sleeve two:

Tom was going for a manly version of the traditional comedy and tragedy masks, and I think he did a damn good job, as does Kris. He’s THRILLED with it.

You may remember my mentioning my younger brother Tom here before. He’s the one who gave me the kickass haircut and color when we went to Las Vegas (where he lives) in ‘06, and the recipient of my first “We Call Them Pirates” hat last Christmas. Tom and I weren’t all that close when we were growing up (at least, not once I hit high school), mostly because we were very, very different. Now, however, he’s truly one of my favorite people, and I am so proud of him for finding something that he is good at and that he loves, and being a success in doing it.

He has always been very artistic. He has done some amazing work through the years (Some of it can be seen on his MySpace page), and if I can ever figure out how to get one of his canvases here from Vegas, I want one.

Anyway, I got a call from him shortly before Christmas, letting me know that he had lost track of time and that he wasn’t going to be done with the gifts he was making for Kris and I in time to get them shipped to us. We talked about it, and decided it was going to be simpler for him to just wait until after New Year’s, when the shipping companies would settle down a little. He did email both Kris and I pictures of our gifts on Christmas morning, and this Saturday, the much-awaited box arrived.

He hand-tooled and painted this gorgeous leather bag for me! It’s a perfect size for all of my daily basics (plus a knitting project, of course), and I switched to it the instant I opened the box.

Check out the knitting needles on the front! Clearly, he knows me pretty well. :D

Under the flap - I need to make a “hand made original” tag for my knitting. I like that idea!

The skull and “One OV” logo also refer to the clothing business that he and an old friend of his have started - they do handpainted leather jackets, and have sold some to a clothing boutique in Las Vegas (Two of which have been sold by the store!). The next time we go visit, Kris is going to do a photo shoot of the stuff they’ve done, and finish building their website.

Just wait until tomorrow - Kris is going to get some shots of his Christmas gift tonight (a GORGEOUS painted leather jacket), plus I will have pics of my completed (and currently drying) Sursa.

Tom, thank you so much - I really, really love this bag, and I can’t WAIT to show it off to everyone!