Monthly Archives: January 2007

Catching

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me begin with a short endorsement: Theraflu (the kind with “warming relief” to be specific) is nothing short of awesome. I might go so far as to call it Miraculous if the second ingredient on the label wasn’t alcohol. Hah!

I am feeling much better.

I even made my Darling Sister (who is coming to visit today YAY!) a little surprise because I love her and often think of her when I am sick.

you know the ones

You know whats. In some Blue Sky Alpaca.

Everybody else is making them. I was really starting to feel left out. They are a quick, interesting knit and a nice break from those socks. They are also probably full of Flu Germs, which is why I changed the name to “Catching.” It had a better ring to it than “Mitts of Death.” Sounds almost cute right? Be sure to remind her of that when she is huddled in bed with chills and fever waiting for the sweet release of death.

Enough sick talk! Look! Kitty!

WH it up so high

William Henry, you’re up so high!

How cute is this? It’s a virtual world for kids! With penguins. You can make a free account (which is apparently not as cool as a premium account but you do get to try it out before you buy or let your kids play). I am doing the tutorial now.

Machinimininma

Another cool thing people are doing lately is making short films in virtual settings. They are called machinima. Lots of them are very very cool. Like this one.

GBS

I’ve finished the leg of the first of the GBS (Great Big Socks).

brown sock leg

8 inches. I figure since he’s taller than the average guy, his sock leg should be too.

I like the broken rib: it’s interesting but not too interesting, making it a good choice for a Manly Man sock. I’m going to continue the pattern down the foot so I don’t get bored and fantasize about other projects (smaller projects) on the endless trek to the toe.

I’ve also finished the back of the blue vest.

piece for the vest

It’ll look better when it’s blocked.

I’ve got plenty of yarn, by the way. I should have a skein left over.

And I set the toaster on fire.

smokin'

Not my finest hour.

I put the bread in, set the timer and wandered away. After what had seemed like a really long time, the toaster hadn’t gone off yet so I wandered back in to see the smoke. And the flames when I opened the door and let in the oxygen like a dope. It was very exciting. And smelly.

To round off the week, I seem to have picked up the flu. Which makes me very unhappy. Tylenol is my friend.

Woops.

Don’t tell Michael, but I spilt coffee all over my keyboard this morning.

cat and cactus

But look, Dear! Lady Bird is doing something worse! (They aren’t supposed to get on the counter.)

I’ve actually got a lot of projects going, but since it’s been raining for days I don’t have any pictures for you. The blue vest back is almost finished, Great Gran is working on hats for the Children’s Hospital (by association, so am I – it’s like knitting muppet scalps) and I’ve started another pair of socks. I’ve been putting this particular pair off for an entire year. Wait – let me tell you the whole story:

My friend at the library has enormous feet (size 15 E – the Sock It To Me thing doesn’t go that high) and he wants me to make him a pair of socks. Cotton socks. That should tell you right there why I was stalling: I don’t know of a pleasant cotton/cotton blend sock yarn. So I hemmed and hawed and actually ordered Fixation (6 balls – enough for a tall leg that he could wear with boots). Then I hemmed and hawed and stalled some more. I finally admitted that there was no way I would EVER make these socks from that yarn. So I went to the library and convinced my friend that he really didn’t want cotton, he wanted wool. Lorna’s Laces Nearly Solid Sport in Chocolate to be exact. So now I am halfway through the leg of the first one. I am using a simple (manly) broken rib and I plan to continue it down the foot. I might make the toes dark green. For fun. I’m happy, my friend is happy, but the question remains: what am I supposed to do with six balls of Fixation?

PS I also have something else to show you but I can’t until my Mom gets hers in the mail!