Knitting: Good Grief!

I started going through every single bit of my stash of yarn yesterday, trying to get a sense of what I have, what's been entered into my stash tracker on Ravelry, and to get an idea of what to take along with me on my car trip to and from Gramma's house this year.

Holy Guacamole.

I found two sampler bags of sock yarn and a sampler bag of lace weight yarn from Knit Picks that was never entered into the tracking system.  Yet another reason why boycotting them is a good idea for me.  I'll tack on a skein or two of sock yarn to my order since it's cheap, and now... I have an entire 50 quart plastic bin of just the *pretty* sock yarn.  And NONE of it was entered into the tracking system.  So I file it away in a bin, and promptly forget about it.

Well, I've entered it all into the system now.

So needless to say, the rest of my 2011 knitting year is going to consist of a combination of severe yarn diet and stash-busting projects.  I had several sock-weight projects in my queue already, but I'm going to add on a Many Colors Swirl Coat which uses eight different color skeins of yarn in addition to the Strata  Sphere Swirl coat I'd been planning to make to use up some of the Noro yarn I have that has that god-awful Mohair in it.

We're still trying to save for a house, although if we're moving this year, it looks like it might be to just a different apartment instead.  We'll have to see.  So it won't hurt to just sock away my "allowance" for a few months, and I certainly won't be hurting for yarn.

Knitting: Hot Enough for Popcorn on the Sidewalk

... but I'm still knitting.  I managed to finish the Lily Cuffs in Midwinter Chroma.  I made them twice as long, changed to stockinette for the middle portion, and left off the ruffles.  I had enough yarn, I just didn't feel like having ruffles tickling my armpits.  There is eight stitches worth of increases between wrist and top, just enough for an additional pattern repeat on the rib detail.  They fit like very close-fitted sleeves.  I may capitalize on that at some point and create a cardigan or pullover if I ever decide to lift my Knit Picks embargo.

I am getting close to done on the Nantucket blue Azami pullover.  Since I rarely do a pattern in the yarn called for by the designer, I am disappointed in the lace panels in this thing, which for once cannot be attributed to my yarn choice.  The lace is blocky, muddled, and has no real flow from one section to another.  I see nothing attractive in having it at all, and I will be omitting it as much as I can from the hood and sleeves, which is all I have left to do.  I would imagine having a stockinette hood would be warmer for its purpose, anyway.

After finishing up the True Blood Vlad in Twisted Warlock for the knitalong, my decks will finally be cleared.  I have verbally (well, as verbally as you can on the internets) committed myself to the Game of Thrones group's "Knit Watch" knitalong, with two projects.  A Catkin capelet in some leftover Knit Picks gloss and other sock yarn, and a Sylvi in Valley Yarns Bulky Red.

I regret that I do not have any pictures of my finished and in-progress items, but my battery pack is currently (ha ha) charging and I wanted to get this out before midnight since I skipped last week.

Knitting: Summer Mania

Apparently this heat has made me nuts.  It wasn't enough that I'm working on the final draft of my first salable sock pattern, knitting a pullover, knitting arm warmers, have at least three blankets in hibernation, and a crochet shawl I'm working on for a friend.  No.  I join a knit-along for my favorite TV show and knit a practice one before casting on the real thing.  AND have at least two more pullover pattern ideas simmering in my noggin plus a blanket I'm dying to try and create.  Don't ask me how many cute things I have waiting in my Ravelry Q.

The Gray Slinky is coming right along though.  I have gotten past the ribbing on the second sleeve and am now into its stockinette section (I went for the long sleeved option, as I cannot abide sweaters with short sleeves.  What's the point if they don't keep your arms warm?  Nothing worse than having an overheated torso and chilly arms.)

I am well into the fifth body chart repeat on the Vlad scarf/shawlette.  I'm trying to slow down on it so I can keep at the same pace as my other True Blood knitting sisters.  Unless I want to go for a third one, which even by my standards is a little excessive.  The thing is though once you really "get" that pattern, it's a fun and quick little knit, and good for stockpiling gifts and using up stash.

I have not touched the crochet Dragonfly Shawl.  Now that I understand how its pattern works, I am less obsessed with actually working on it.  In fact, I may unravel it and try it again at a later date in the pattern's recommended crochet cotton, since my friend Iggy was nice enough to buy me enough for the whole project.  It actually sounds like a good project for the car trip in August, since I know from experience it will be hot, and there's nothing worse than 14 hours in a hot car with a large pile of wool in your lap.  Cotton will be better.

I do not have any additional progress photos since last week.  Sorry about that.  I know these knitting posts are pretty dry without them. It was either take photos and post this tomorrow, or post it now sans pictures.  Since I like keeping to schedules, here we are.  :D

Television: Summer TV 2011

The lines are starting to become blurred, but there are two (for now) distinct seasons for TV watchers... Fall and Summer.  Some shows are trying to smudge things a bit by starting early.  Covert Affairs, my favorite from last summer's lineup, is already on its fourth episode this season, while Warehouse 13 hasn't even started yet.  And Rubicon, a sleeper from AMC last year, didn't even start until August 1st, and I don't expect it to change that.

So far this summer season, Covert Affairs is meeting my (rather high) expectations, considering it had quite a first season to live up to.  Teen Wolf, on the other hand, is disappointing.  I was hoping for lighthearted comedy with a supernatural theme, but apparently someone has passed a law in California that you can't have a paranormal teen show without a crap-ton of angst, midnight black sets where you can only see 50% of the action,  and child actors.  And with sixteen year old actors comes sixteen year old acting skills.  Bleah.  Sure, at sixteen I was no Lawrence Olivier, but then I wasn't trying to peddle my acting on a major network.

On the SyFy front, Eureka, Warehouse 13, and a new show I'm trying out, Alphas, all premiere on July 11th, while Haven will premiere on the 15th.  Alphas looks to be a combination of NUMB3RS and what Heroes should have been, a national special-human taskforce that takes on cases the FBI and other agencies can't solve.  They're not radioactive mutants or people affected by some weird eclipse, they're non-neuro-typical naturally-evolved humans who can do certain things better than typical humans.  This is something I can relate to with my recent Asperger Syndrome diagnosis.  Even if you're not neuro-typical, you can still function (and at some things quite well) and have an impact on society.  I'm curious to see how they play it.

There was a rumor going around that "The Walking Dead" had its premiere pushed up to July, but that has since either been changed or disproven, however you want to look at it, and we will not be seeing our favorite zombie apocalypse story back again until October, which I think sucks.  There is a ton of wonderful material in the comic books to cover, and at only six episodes per season, this is going to crawl along like a zombie geek with its legs missing.  Their only saving grace is the largely-confirmed rumor that Stephen King and his author son Joe Hill will be co-writing a script together whenever their schedules will allow.

Food: Container Gardening Makes it Possible!

Believe it or not, you can still grow a decent(ish) garden even when you're living in a dinky apartment.  Between the upside-down container planter and various 6 to 12 inch pots, I have a little corner of greenery going on my narrow patio/entry area.  Behold, not one but two six-inch Italian sweet peppers:

And they haven't even thought about turning red yet, so they could get much larger before that happens.

I am not very happy with the results of the upside-down part of the container planter, though.  The upright plants have far outgrown their topsy-turvy counterparts.  I don't think the tomato plant has even grown, much less blossomed.

This is my motley collection.  The only one not present is a cherry tomato plant that I moved into the sun before I was inspired to grab my camera.

AoA: That feels like what nails on a chalkboard sounds like to you

My husband does most of the laundry.  Even if my back was in tip-top shape (which, having had two kids, it is NOT) he would still do most of the laundry... at least until we get our own house again and can stop hauling it up and down the stairs.  Why?  Because I can't train him to stop dropping his dirty shirts on the end of the couch.

Let me explain.  My husband is an IT tech for a major oil company.  So he has a nice-paying job, but he gets to wear golf shirts to work.  Once in a while, though, he wears something with long sleeves.  These shirts are the problem.  Several of them are made of some kind of fabric that makes my eyelids twitch... literally... whenever I touch them.  The feel of it makes me go "Eeeeeee" until I let go of it.  It just gross, gross, grosses me out.  I can't describe it any other way than the title of this post:  The fabric feels to me like what nails on a chalkboard sounds like to you.  I think I would rather stick my hand in a live bee hive than go digging in his pile of shirts and encountering one of the textural nightmare ones.  And they are sneaky.  Now, if we had our own washer and dryer, and I could train him to drop his shirts in the washer every night instead of the end of the couch, then all I would have to do is wait until it's full and push a button.  They do not bother me when they are wet, so moving them to the dryer would be no problem.

I probably sound like a big baby, huh?  For years I never had to deal with someone else's fabric choices, just my own.  And when he's buying shirts for himself, he has no idea what trips that textural trigger, so it's not like he can avoid them.  There doesn't seem to be any specific fabric type, except that usually softer is better... well, except for those faux suede things.  For some reason, that fabric also grosses me out.  Real suede is okay, but not man-made micro-suede, which is petroleum based.

I also think this is my *real* problem with mohair yarns.  For a long time I thought it might be allergies, but no... I've been on allergy medication and it still is hard to work with.  I think it's the roughness.  If I try to work with Noro Silk Garden, which has a significant percentage of mohair in it besides the silk, it feels like the fibers are wearing grooves in my fingers where it passes over.  It feels as rough as the bottom of a 3M scrubby sponge.  I've corresponded with a lot of knitters who love Noro, and mohair in general, and love its softness.  I used to think they were nuts.  Now I know we have different textural tolerances.

Knitting: Slinky and Lily Cuffs

The weeks are just flying by!  I'm going to be back in Minnesota before I know it.

Finished the body of the Gray Slinky and have moved on to the sleeves.  I am beginning to wonder about the wisdom of knitting myself a garment that will render me looking even more pear-shaped than usual, but I'm hoping that blocking and actual wear will make the ribbing less drawn-in.  Perhaps that and a good push-up bra will suffice.

I've also been trying to find ways to use up my Knit Pick's Chroma, since I've discovered they are disastrous as sock yarn.  I'm making a modified version of the Lily Cuffs from the "Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders" book, modified because doing two-stitch cables in sock yarn is completely maddening to me... so I did a stretch of ribbed cuff in pattern, and for the arm I've switched to plain stockinette.  I plan to do more ribbed cuff at the top.

These are also going to be extra-long, to cover more arm and use up the whole skein.

This Sunday is the premiere of "True Blood" season four, and I will be casting on my "real" Vlad scarf for that.  I'll be doing it in "Warlock" by Twisted Fiber Arts, which I think will be apropos for the season if the theme follows the books at all.