and the countdown begins

Tomorrow marks 30 days to D-day. Or I should say "W-day". For as much as the wedding planning isn't slowing me down, we're finally getting into the knitty-gritty (ha ha) so, my blogging is lacking. It's not necessarily a lack of time. It's really a lack of energy and ambition. The Tall Guy is home for awhile after a lot of summertime travel, so we're hanging out lots, having dinner with lots of various people, getting cars fixed, wondering about seating charts, wrestling a somewhat neurotic dog who wants to sit on your lap when you type on the computer, having work be crazy, getting dresses fitted and the like.
Random things and facts of late? Sure. Knitting? None to show you for now!
I've read a few books recently, all pretty good but nothing overly earth-shattering:

• The Glass Castle
  
• The Yiddish Policeman's Union
• When You Are Engulfed in Flames
• Currently reading: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
  

Over the past week, I've spent a ton of money over at Etsy.com. I can't show you any of it until the gifts are given. I'm sorry, you'll be jealous of the super cute purchases I've made. I heart Etsy so much.
....And I've been making some noise over at Silver Spring Scene. I have lots of opinions. I try to keep them to myself (some may call me diplomatic, but that's really what I get paid to be). Situations like Downtown Silver Spring being a state of total chaos on the weekends and cars being somewhat regularly broken into in front of my house, in broad daylight are cause for me to comment, however.

tattoo op ed

Given the article I shared the other day, I thought this was an interesting contrast. What amazes me about so much of our society is how much people get riled up by things that do not directly impact them. Why does Richard Cohen care about tattoos? Aren't there bigger issues out there right now to devote an entire op-ed to? Just wondering.
The ink on any one person's body is only as permanent as they are. That's my opinion.

safe landing and socks

First, if I haven't already talked to you, the Tall Guy made it to Mackinac Island in one piece. Whew! I wasn't that worried, but just enough to throw off my sleep for a few nights.
Like I had mentioned in the last post, I've pretty much been all about the socks. Portable, mindless, and really, if they don't fit me, they become a gift for someone else. It's win win. It is, I realize making the blog boring. I'm sorry! I'll work to become more exciting soon.
Here are the finished socks I promised to show you
Details:
Yarn: Yarn Love, Elizabeth Bennett, in the Darling Colorway (Merino, Bamboo and Silk). Its super soft, a bit splitty but reallllllly nice to knit with.
Needle: Size One, circ
Pattern: Basic sock pattern, used the short row heel from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts (this is a great book!)
Notes: Not sure how the yarn will hold up, but it sure is soft. No nylon, not super wash, so while I considered gifting these, I'll likely keep them due to their maintenance. I'm still not-so-good at the short row heel, but I'm gettin' better!

I'll probably have another plain ol' sock on the needles tomorrow...possibly using some of the stash enhancement that is coming in the mail... yahoo!

Annie was depressed yesterday. Between the Tall Guy being out of town, and one of my best girls, Yve being here this weekend and then leaving, she sat like this for quite awhile. What a drama queen.

yawwwwwwwwwn

For such a chill weekend, I'm really having trouble getting my motor running this morning. I have a theory that when you actually relax for more then 2 consecutive hours, it's actually a lot harder to get moving again.
It was a weekend for hanging out, seeing various friends and getting some knitting done.
I finished one pair of socks (which I'll have a photo for later) and am working away on the Spring Forward socks. While a lot of people's goal with Summer of Socks (SOS) is to simply knit a bunch of socks, mine was mainly finished all my languishing second sock syndrome orphans. So far, I've finished two, so I'm looking pretty good.
I also had Afghani food for the first time last night with Jessie. Besides the A/C not working, it was a great dinner and I think I've found a new tasty place here.

In other news, I just got a phone call from the Tall Guy, which was very unexpected (he's in the middle of this race right now on the Dirty Harry). The "girl" in me immediately panicked that something was wrong. Nope. He just wanted me to look at where the boat was in relation to the competition at the moment. He has about 85 NM to go and I'll be a much happier girl when I get the call from Mackinac that he's on shore in one piece.

And, in random thoughts, I just read this article on CNN. Any thoughts? For as casual as I may be appear, only one of my tattoos ever peeks out at work (the one on my foot.). There's no tatto policy here, but I've always thought that I don't want to be thought of as the girl with "xyz tattoo" at work. Just my two cents.

And not a moment too soon!

The hat is done. I just wove in the ends. Let me just say, my hands are killing me! It's quite possibly worse then knitting with cotton, for anyone who understands that ache.
But, here it is.
Its a wonky at the top. I know it is. I know where I messed up and I know I didn't do the decreases correctly. If I ever knit this again, I'll be more careful. BUT. I'm on a hard and fast deadline. The Tall Guy leaves tonight on a flight to Chicago, so he needed the hat done. I'm not even blocking, but I think it will be okay.
Details:
Pattern: Koolhass from Intervweave Knits Holiday Issue
Yarn: Karabella, Aurora 8 Bulky, nearly all of three balls, forest green
Needles: Size 7's and Size 8's.

Annie isn't happy about the Tall Guy leaving again, this time on quite the sailing adventure. If anyone wants details on how to track his boats progress on the 350mile race, he mentions it in a previous post's comments OR just send me an email.

Now that the hat is done, I'll be back to focusing on my Spring Forward Socks. So far, they're pretty cute!!!

Town or City?

DCist has brought up and been posting a bunch this past week about an article that is appearing in Outside Magazine which votes D.C. as the number one town in America. It appears that the article was riddled with incorrect statements left and right about the District.
Either way, what caught my eye is the 4th best town in America...yup, on the same list as DC is my one true love and hometown, Portsmouth NH.
I haven't picked up Outside to read the details, but I did a little spin in my chair when I noted that DCist used Portsmouth in their example of how odd the article was in the magazine. Yay New Hampshire!!!!

sunday blues

Sunday evenings are the worst! I always feel a bit grouchy about my inevitable return to the office, (which I don't hate, but isn't my house, or the beach or a nice porch...you get the idea) on Monday. It probably doesn't help that up until 15 minutes ago I was also still hung over. Not normal for me anymore, but when you have rockstars staying with you, you have to act like a rockstar! Ha ha.
As expected, last night was lots of fun, with my friends playing an early set, then a whole bunch of us (THANK YOU to all my DC peeps for coming out and supporting an indie band!!) wandering over to a newish place called BreadSoda.
In terms of the Motion Sick, not only are Mike, Matt, Travis and Patrick great guys who also love dogs (I checked their bags as they left our house this morning, ensuring Annie wasn't with them), but they are also a fantastic band. If you have a moment and care to, please check this link out. They're in a contest to open for Coldplay (who I'm not so keen on, I won't lie) and their video (which is pretty fun too) is the SIXTH one down. It has a car in the screen. You can watch them all and vote accordingly, but I'll just encourage you to just vote for my buddies *wink* wink*. Thanks!

I'm continuing to knit furiously away on the koolhaus hat for the Tall Guy. I figure I should try to have it done by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest, and hope it's done blocking for his departure on Thursday. The problem with this hat is twofold. I'm knitting chunky yarn on size 8 needles AND I'm not ever doing a "normal" knit stitch, as the entire pattern is written with twisted knit stitches aka: the dreaded Ktbl. Non knitters, sorry for the tech-talk, but I'm wondering, if I ever knit this again, what do you knitters think? Do you think the hat would be that different if I just knit instead of ktbl? I'm thinking it wouldn't be as tight, but curious on thoughts and experiences.
Alright, off to prepare for the week and try to knit one more round before bed.

Etsy rules

Etsy is a pretty awesome website. If you've never checked it out, it has only about 10% or less to do with knitting and fiber. So, I'm not sending you to look at yarn.
Basically, any person can set up a page on Etsy and sell whatever it is that they have created. You buy direct and the seller keeps the better part of the proceeds.

I had mentioned when we went to Crafty Bastards that I had bought this bag and I love it. And I use it all the time and did I mention I love it?

So, the girl who made the bags just opened her own etsy site. If you are a knitter, check it out, they're pretty cute, sit up straight on their own and fun too!

Happy Saturday!

raining, summer of socks and a hat

It's raining cats and dogs right now...normally this wouldn't be too bad, but quite randomly the other day, our management company dug up our backyard to lay some pvc piping to attach to the gutter. So, this now means our entire yard, much to my dismay is a mud puddle. Annie keeps tramping through it, so this is a messy situation.
So, yeah. I have about three or so unfinished socks right now but instead of finishing any of them, I cast on a new one Monday. The "thing" to do this summer is Summer of Socks which is basically a big group knit along to just knit socks this summer and set your own goals. This is the Spring Forward pattern from summer knitty and I'm using Scout's June yarn.
So Far. So Good. I'm into the second pattern repeat and have no idea who will end up with these socks. The colors are good, but I'm not quite sure they're "me". And. Yes. It is July, but yes, I am knitting a hat. The Tall Guy is heading to Chicago next week for a long-ass regatta that involves overnight sailing to Mackinac Island. (cool part is that I can track them on gps). He very sweetly requested a "warmer" hat. Given that , amongst other things, he's my number one fan for all things fiber related, how could I say no?? So, I dug around and found the kool haus pattern from Interweave. While this photo shows a girl, it is easily translated into a boy pattern.
I cast on for it today with a bulky olivey green Karabella (I heart the Karabella) and hope it will all be knit and blocked prior to his Thursday departure.
This photo sucks, but I'll post something better when I'm not just on the set up rounds.
Needless to say, my "wedding shawl" is stalled. To be honest, I know I should be, but I'm just not feeling it right now. Perhaps, it will instead be a my wedding-guest shawl. We'll see.

who's walking who?

It's a common question in these parts...


(also known as what happens when you walk an excitable dog on damp grass)

Monday Musings and Music

I've been pondering and exploring "micro blogging" lately. If you don't know what it is, the two more popular sites at the moment at Twitter and Plurk.
In an effort to understand the phenomenon, I joined Plurk and, well. I just don't get it. I'm nearly positive I must be missing the point or excitement but it seems to me that this blog alone is enough of an exercise in narcissism. I don't have time to micro blog about the weather, my lunch, or my clothing choices daily... and better yet, do you really care? It's odd.

On Saturday, a friend of mine will be in town with his band, The Motion Sick. They'll be playing at the Grog and Tankard, so if you're around, please come!!! It should be a fun time, and they're a really good band. I've imbedded a video so you can see I'm not making stuff up.



If you want to see more of The Motion Sick, you can also check out their YouTube page here.
In knitting news I finished the second Jaywalker yesterday, so when I get them all blocked and dry, I'll show you.

a moment of silence

This weekend, in a fateful event involving a fall from the counter at my family's house, my most cherished sunglasses met their demise.
Cheap shades I picked up from Old Navy a few summers ago, I am sad to see these perfectly, broken in, held my hair just right green shades.
These guys did a lot of travel. To the beach, to California a few times, to NH a whole lot... its sad they were lost in such a clutzy move (my elbow sent them flying onto hard wood floors..)

All of my other sunglasses just pale in comparison.
Sigh.

greetings from the motherland!

ha ha. okay. apparently, New Hampshire air makes me a little loopy.
What's not to love really, when you're home, take a stroll (alright 2 miles each way) downtown for a beer on an outdoor deck on the water and stroll back?
Before we get too far away from the Michigan trip of two weeks ago, I wanted to show you one of my yarn acquisitions purchased at Artisan Knitworks.
This lovely fiber is Urban GypZ
Fiber: Superwash Sock Merino
Colorway: Oi Vey!
Yardage: 550-560 Yards!!!!!!

Needless to say with that much yarn, I'm tempted to make knee socks... or a cute baby sweater or something. Any suggestions would be welcome!
Back to NH time, but I'll report more when the Tall Guy and I return to DC. I won't be traveling again until the beginning of August. Yay!