cupcakes and yarn cakes

I know you were expecting me to say something knitting related right? Well that’s coming but first I thought I’d show off the efforts of my day, cupcakes, lots and lots of cupcakes.

I got lazy and all of them got chocolate frosting regardless of what kind they are. I used the cupcake cups I got when I went to Gales with Stacy so their all gloriously halloweeny. Yes I know its July, but Halloween is every day here in Sadie-ville. And these are going to be perfect for the Stephen King movie-a-thon tomorrow. Any leftovers shall be eaten more than likely before or on Dye Day which is sunday.

The yarn has been caked (not without dealing with a knot of epic proportion).  It looks different in the cake, so much prettier than I had expected so Huzzah!

Bebop thought I should show everyone that I’m actually working on Alhambra again. It’s not very far along (three repeats in) but I’ve picked it up again and its a nice treat to work with Wollmeise.

Basically I’m defragging from a long day of revision, the kind that leaves you wanting to curl up under a big fluffy duvet and forget you exist, making the cupcakes helped my sanity a bit, it feels good to make things when I’m all stressy. The downside is I now have three dozen cupcakes sitting in my kitchen telling me to eat them.

I plan to do no more this evening, or rather I’m going to watch episodes of season two of bones, drool over Zac (yeah thats right I said drool over Zac), and knit/card/game.

in which sadie tries not to be sheer vitriol

Alas my dear readers I have received word from the REB and while my dander is still up I shall not endeavor to speak much on it, sufficed to say, it needs revisions and resubmission.

So onto things that are NOT academic in origin, and that give me small joy.

The waterlily tank version 2.0 is now done. Let us not speak of the problems I had with seaming and stupidity. Lets just say I’m stubborn and the tank top is done, and now I can wear it, and just in time as its +26 (Celsius)  and I already feel like I’m melt-y.

The dishclothes are done, alas no pictures, but they have been given to the messenger to get to their final destinations. Huzzah for accomplishing two things. I’ll take my achievements in small doses.

This means I have approximatly 5 things currently on the needles. Soon to be six and there’s nothing I can really do about that.

I rather wish it wasn’t so hot out, I can’t even stress knit right now, and trust me I need a good stress knit. I might do some stress dishes. It’s all stress from here on in.

poof and circumstance

Thats right everyone, I finally got around to setting the twist, and to my suprise, the yarn poofed a lot more than I was expecting. I had spun it relatively fine expecting a significant poof, but still I think I didnt go fine enough.

That my dear friends is the money shot (all pun intended) at the finest points that is how thin the yarn is, I’m going to wager its a 18/16 sts per 4inch. Either way, I can’t wait for it to be dry so I can start swatching (against my own judgement as I really dont want to start anything right now until i finish more).

Not that I haven’t been finishing things, dishclothes abound, I have 1.5 left to go to be finished my cloth goal, and while the two patterns are starting to grate on me like nails on a chalkboard, with the end in sight its easier to keep slagging on. I refuse to weave in an end until their all done though, makes it less painful.

Aside from the dishclothes the other project getting attention is the waterlily top version 2.0. I’m finishing the top shapings, then I get to undo the provisional cast-on and cast off over 100 sts in a sitting. Well to be fair probably more than one. The good thing is, I like the yarn (colinette giotto) and its summer, and being summer I have that whole “want to wear tank top and not melt away to a puddle of goo” mentality that makes knitting easier.

In the meantime I am trying to accomplish research while waiting on REB approval (research ethics board), and doing enough stress cleaning that if this holds out through august I will have compleatly cleaned and re-arranged my house.  Also my front window sprun a leak. This is not a giant earth shattering leak but enough of a drippy splatting unfun that I worry for the state of the wall. It’s one of the only original windows on the house, and while I love original windows I think this one is trying to say “hey I’ve done my time, could you get a new window now” which of course is not in my negative budget but will be put on the top of the “house improvement” list.

The choice of the two seems to be the montressor from cables and lace in lizard toes (limited edition L&V colorway). There is enough yardage there for what I’m going to try and do, which may result in everything but dishclothes and finishing the waterlily top back a bit.

such and such

Today saw a lot of nothing get accomplished, it was one of those days. I did re-arrange the living room, don’t know if I like it yet but I’m sure the floors are thankful for the vaccume sweep etc deal. Aside from cleaning… the hat was finished after the taking of silly pictures, which makes one more thing done, so I watched avatar and did this

Dishcloth fun (shh its a suprize of sorts). I want to get these done relatively quick. Luckily dishclothes are quick, and thats helping with the need to be accomplishing SOMETHING (can you tell i feel stalled academically).

And while this doesnt pertain much to anything except my own neurosis

if you had to choose

Left or right?

spinning win and hat whimsy

five is the magic number, thats right five of these

my finished tour de fleece corridale 2-ply. Now to wash and thwack, then i can wpi it ang knit up swatches…. oh god no more projects.

And you know what happens when you almost done a hat?

you put it on and take silly pictures. Thats right.

Well thats whats happening in sadieville knitwise.

I’m also organizing the cd’s which may I add, is no small feat for me. The DVDs and movies were done earlier, just wait until i hit the books and yarn, then everyone can take cover and start looking for my pod person.

p.s. yes my hair is that long.

Only the 17th

And the piled yarn is coming off the noddy.

Here are the first two skeins, there will be five in total.  And when I am done getting them off the bobbins I can set the twist and admire my handy work.

Mowed the front yard today and hacked back two overgrown shrubs in the back, tomorrow backyard mowing and garden weeding.

There’s also groceries to get and I wouldn’t mind getting some baking done.

I think I’ve lost my mind, or am getting domesticated. Either way. huh?

TdF update, now with pictures

I have finished spinning and plying two count em two bobbins of yarn Yes I do plan to re-watch the first season of bones, why do you ask?

This is what remains to be plyed. I’m actually feeling confident that I will be successful at succeeding in this years tour de fleece.

And because I’ve been talking about them, here is the third of four hats i’m knitting for christmas, they are really two hats in one, compleatly reversable, and of course so warm because of it that no -50 winter will be able to get through them.

Apparently lappy being far superior to the old desktop managed to just import pictures from my memory card without all that hassel of uploading etc.  so pictures are back in effect, I just have to get used to taking them etc. again.

tour de fleece update from the front lines.

Do you remember these?

You do? (ah ha I may have figured out pictures on the laptop) Well they are currently all being ply-ed now as a part of the tour de fleece. That’s right the corridale I have been telling you about all right there. Those are the XL ziplock bags.

Also on the needles Hat three of four christmas hats

the waterlily tank top take two, this time not so tent like.

Black and white striped knee-highs

and a few other things.

Either way, why am I typing when I should be plying.

the finisher

I need to finish something, not need as in there is an actual deadline, no, I just need to finish something, my knitterly soul will not be apeased.

This of course flies in the face of tour de fleece spinning.

Maybe I can get away with a dishcloth….

The tour de fleece and onward

Yesterday saw the start of the tour de fleece start, and I for one jumped in with wreckless and wanton abandon. I finished spinning the first ply of the corridale, and have plans to start the second ply today. this sounds like a small accomplishment but understand I now have four wound balls of ply number one on toilet paper rolls, all neatly labeled and ensconced in a  large ziplock.

The majority of this was accomplished while alisha and i watched flatliners and drop dead fred. We wound up bemoaning the lack of fred in the world, and amazed at the resemblance baby snotface has to my neice Zibbie (and yes I will knit her the burgler sweater some day just because I think it would be epic).

I confess my friends my head is not in the game as of late, I am compleatly liminal. I am inbetween waiting on the REB to reach quarum and pass my application, I am inbetween as far as getting my house clean and my lawns mowed, I am inbetween mentally, I think this might be my mid-life crisis. Bit early but I’ve always been an early bloomer. An early bloomer overthinker trapped somewhere between adulthood (irregardless of if I want it) and bemoaning the lack of money and my inability to see tool tomorrow night. Do we ever grow up?

My knitting projects have taken on this schizophrenic outlook, two hats have been compleated, I have to re do the neck of a sweater I knit eons ago for Josie so it can fit her again, and pretty much everything gets a look over or a row when I feel I have time and my mind is in it somehow. Really at this point I should be making dishclothes, but I’ll settle for the ease of toe-up stripped knee socks (basic toe up pattern on rav) in schwartz wollemeise (Pulling out the big guns I know) and the BMFA NSK club color sweet pea which is close enough to white and I really have to knit from my stash for a while with the money straps tightening around me chest. The socks actually make me feel better, its insane that when I’m done I’ll have socks that are worth more than my monthly cellphone payment but so it goes.

If I dont get a tower this month I may break down and install the camera on my laptop, although cluttery and it’ll slow down my processing I am getting ill of not being able to show my work. What can I say I need exterior validation.