Seemingly I seem to have some noticeable progress on those sunshine yellow Polly Jean socks, however, not quite the case. Since the last post, I decided the sock was just tad bit too tight, so I left it as it was before (I was basically a row or two before moving onto the heel flap) and cast on for the second sock. I’m not even sure what it was that made it too tight. I know I’m a pretty tight knitter generally (for pete’s sakes, the patterns were written with my tight gauge in mind), but this was just a bit off. Ok, way off. I know it’s been a bit humid in the apartment, and that kinda tends to make Addi Lace needles pretty sticky (even more so than usual) and I must have been pulling on the yarn even harder than usual because of that. Or maybe I’m all just making this up. Who knows.

  

You see how little difference in terms of size there are between the first and second sock? But well, that’s just “enough” increase in size. Crazy. I basically worked on the “second” sock with Addi Turbo instead of Lace.. and strangely enough it made it work. So basically I’ll have to start over the “first” one… after this one. Bleh.

Let see what else I have been up to… Oh I probably have never mentioned that I semi got into couponing as of oh, maybe couple of months ago. All thanks to Helen. I’m not at all a big time coupon person though, no I don’t go in and spend $5 and walk out with $100 worth of groceries. I call it a super success if I can save maybe $10 off my grocery bill with coupons… since our typical grocery bill goes anywhere from $50-100.. for just two of us (ok, three, if you count the cat). Why so high all the time? Well, I suspect it may be because of the fact that we drink particular type of pop (ok, Mt Dew Code Red) regardless of whether it’s on sale or not. And we also buy quite handful of general merchandise too (you know, laundry detergent and whatnot).. so anyways… Yes, I’m a newbie/small league. Whatever. Moving on..

And for the fun news (I tried to be sarcastic but I don’t think it quite works out with typing..), I’m in pain.

I mean literally in pain.

I have issue with one of my tooth (if I know how to count my teeth, it’s one of my wisdom tooth – I think it’s what’s called fully impact? I have no idea) and I’ve had pretty bad toothache for past few days. In fact, right now, my cheek kinda feels numb, except I know it’s not numb because I feel the pain and pressure. BAH.

Why am I writing this instead of doing something about it? Well, I am doing something about it right now, by trying to keep myself occupied. Not that it doesn’t hurt when I pay attention to something else, but it seems to “ease” it a bit. So yeah. I’ve been trying to “forget” and “ignore” the pain by doing other things, like .. sleeping. Which I’ve done a lot lately. I mean a LOT. And my poor little Cocoa Butt has been by my side the whole time. Poor kitty has done nothing but laying next to me and cuddle up with me.. no “fun” things for her, like playing string, because I have been too .. whatever.. to play with her. Poor thing. Also, not that I’m that much of “Betty the Homemaker” but I’ve pretty much given up on house-chores too. The place looks like a pigsty. My apartment looks like a mess. I feel like a mess. I tried to read lately too. My fine choice of literature? Harry Potter. I’ve let go of my dignity and caved in – and started to read that first book (I’ve only gotten like maybe 1/3rd of the book so far… What can I say, I’m not much of a “reader” by nature)

… and I’m still in pain.

I’ve become a little whiney baby lately. Can’t help it.

.. I give up. I’m going to call a dentist tomorrow and set up an appointment.

Warning: this is probably a pretty picture-heavy post.

Don’t you love it when a blog post starts with a warning? (Though, personally I don’t really care)

Let’s start with stuff I finished “recently” – by which I meant in March… so far anyway.

  

From top left:
Robot mittens are finally finished. It took me next to forever to finally finished duplicate stitching the second robot. I really should mail them out to Carol now that they’re finished and now that it’s getting warmer and warmer.
And.. yet another pair of Embossed Leaves socks – except, this time, they’re for me! Used Louet Gems fingering in Pewter, with 2.5mm needles. And of course, toes and heel flaps are done my way, you know, whatever I feel like.
Burgundy Monkey socks for Sue – used Fortissima Socka, 2.5mm needles, again, heels and toes are done “whatever I want” way.

Speaking of Sue, she was first knitter/friend I met in Milwaukee, and only after about 2 months of knowing her, she’s moving. :( These were “farewell” socks for her. I got to see her one last time before she was leaving – in fact, she invited me to her house and let me go through quite a bit of her stash. Now I have a lot more yarn than I know what to do with:

Most of them are really neat vintage yarn. I really don’t think I’m going to bother myself trying to upload them individually to Ravelry stash page (maybe I would do that for more “current” yarn that already exist in their yarn data base). Seriously, I’m like the biggest yarn mooch in the world. My stash mostly consists of “other people’s generosity” – crazy! Thank you everyone who ever sent me yarn! Without you, I wouldn’t have anything to knit with :)

… so it’s true – I never turn down free yarn.

And here are my current works-in-progress. Yes, I said “plural” – I’ve joined the gang of multiple WIP’s.

  

On the left, is Twisted Flower twin socks (with Ariel, of course. On the right, is a pair of socks for Ana – she knows what it is, she knows which yarn I’m using. But I have decided to hide the actual pictures until she receives the socks. I don’t know if she reads my blog, but “just in case”. Even though I already told her which pattern & yarn I’m using, I think it’s still a bit of surprise once you actually see the actual sock (or so I’m hoping).

Even though I’m not sure how much knitting I can get done for the rest of the week this week, I’m hoping to get both of these finished by the end of March. I have a feeling there won’t be much “show & tell” kind of knitting in April – I have decided it will be (my personal) designing/pattern writing month.

… and now, it’s time for me to start picking up the apartment before my motivation runs out.

Ok, so this apartment is way too bright. Sun in my eyes…. seriously I have a blind spot now. So I’m taking a wee break from knitting and hey, what do you know, I’m blogging.

… let see, what have I done in past month, in the very short month of February.

My friend Ranaee was here. We went and did some tourist things. Went to a zoo, and to Milwaukee Public Museum. We tried to go for tour & fish fry at Lakefront Brewery and that totally backfired – by the time we got there, tour tickets were completely sold out, so we had to settle for just fish fry (which is another crappy story – they were extremely busy and the table pager they gave us was dead so we had to wait forever plus one). Oh and I got carded at a mall, because they thought I looked “underaged”. Seriously? Not even 18?

And I spent, or rather “wasted”, a whole week playing a game. Oh yes world – MJ has crossed the line to the dark side. MJ has played a RPG game (…. help me). I seriously spent a week, night and day, playing Fable: TLC, like, sleep deprived all night and day. And we all know that MJ doesn’t really play any games. I can barely play Mario Bros. But well, what can I say, it was stupid but it was kinda interesting. At the end, I felt like the game should have lasted longer. And at the end, as you accumulate all the points and buy all these powers & magic and such, it just got too easy. So.. yeah, the game was fun… until the end when it kinda became disappointment. As much of a waste of time it has been, one accomplishment (or lack there of) is that this was the first time I played a game and finished. So, there.

Oh and I finished a pair of socks: twin sock with Ariel, of course.

First time using STR lightweight – the color was like “well, that’s nice” – after all, color preferences are subjective thing. But my goodness, the yarn base itself is fabulous, I can see what the fuss is all about.

Right now, I’m working on couple of pairs of socks. Yes world, MJ has joined the multiple WIP club :P

  

On the left is Twisted Flower (Cookie A), and on the right is Embossed Leaves socks. TF is another twin sock with Ariel, and as for EL, this is the first pair I’m actually making for myself (but 3rd time making it altogether). Of course, EL is done in my butchered way – b/c as pretty as it appears to be, I don’t really like that garter detail on heel flap on the original pattern, and also the toe shaping.

Oh and last night, I invaded a local knitting group. That was totally awesome. Everyone was really nice. I’m tracking them all down one by one on Ravelry and adding them as friend. There is a ravelry group so I probably could just mass add them all, but right now I’m on a mission :P I figure, that way, I can remember who they are, by trying to guess by looking at their profiles/pictures/projects. Anyway…

On a random note, I’m drinking (or sipping through a straw) Strawberry Banana Juicy Juice. A bit juvenile? YES. But is it awesome? Double Yes!

… banana flavored juice is a bit weird though. You know, because banana isn’t exactly the juciest fruit. But then again, this is probably mostly apple juice anyway, with “hint of banana”.

… and I want to go to Stitch & Pitch in July, at Miller Park.

… and it was a bit awkward (actually not “awkward” but rather “pricey” would work) to order hard liquor from a pub in Milwaukee (hello.. it’s the world of Miller & PBR). Maybe it’s time for me to move onto beer.

And that concludes my babbling about nothing.

It surely has been a while. So much happened within past about couple of months, my brain almost went numb, and motivations (to knit and anything else otherwise) went out the window… until now.

Let see, what’s new…. For starters, Chris and I moved! Goodbye Champaign (well, actually, goodbye Illinois), hello Wisconsin! Even though it’s way too cold to do anything right now but it surely is interesting to live in a city. Apparently I’m not a suburban girl anymore (for now at least).

And for the kickers, this is what I see out my window every evening, watching the cars drive by. I’m easily amused – what can I say?!

And this is what the outside looks like during the day.

Yes, that’s the lake!

Anyhow… so, well, even despite the fact that I’ve been unemployed for over a month now, I still haven’t been knitting much lately. Funny how that goes. I wanted nothing more than extra time to be able to knit more, but now that I have more than plenty, it’s hard to scavenge for motivation. Oops.

Ok, there are so many things to talk about (that, or maybe I’m just getting lazy and don’t feel like bringing it up), so I’m skipping out on pictures of what I made for Christmas last year. I made 2 Hemlock Ring Blankets and a throw pillow (if you’re curious, pictures are around somewhere on Ravelry and Flickr). I gave up on trying to finish Slipped Hours pullover on time. Eventually I’m sure…

… Last but not least, progress on twin socks with Ariel! My Triple 8 socks (c/o on 8/8/08, does that make sense?) are finally finished. And just last night (well, technically today, since it was past midnight), I casted on for a pair of Diamondy!

  

That’s it for now. Time for more knitting! … or build houses on Sims 2.

So, Washington DC, here we come!

Actually, we’re heading to a suburb in Maryland. Well, close enough. We’ll be there for about a week, “visiting” Chris’s sister and doing some tourist things, since.. after all, we’re out of towners.

Things are almost packed, and we’ll be leaving at the crack of the dawn tomorrow morning, or well, today, I suppose.

Before leaving, a poorly lit picture of finished pair of socks.

Waving Lace socks. Araucania Ranco solid in color 101. Used 2.5 mm needles and I’m pretty certain I followed the pattern as written, which is very rare.

And a pair of sock in the works. Actually, a mock up of a pattern in the works.

I’m not quite loving the look, but the basic concept is there. I think for the actual pattern to come, it needs to be more refined of course. It’s just one of my many insane ideas floating in my head. We’ll see how things go.

Okay, I think I should get couple of hours of shuteye, even though I’m not at all tired….