A cup o'rooibos

My postman made me happy today.

I ordered a birthday present for a friend from Knit Picks and it arrived today. Because I'm mostly selfish, I also ordered me 3 skeins of bare yarn and a dye sampler kit. Take a guess what my Thanksgiving vacation is going to consist of....

I also ordered some of Gnomeacres holiday yarn. I already made myself Christmas socks and Amanda from GA has put out this year's round of holiday yarn. So I'm making a pair of Christmas socks for my mom and sister. The catch is they must be done by Christmas...hoo boy. Looks like I need to start working less and knitting more. Anywho, I got Under the Tree and Mistletoe. Wound up Under the Tree to start and it's gorgeous. Going to cast on a pair of vanilla socks tonight so they are on the needles and ready to be knit.

Started knitting a cap in Knit Picks Brava. I wasn't sure about using 100% acrylic but they had an offer a bit ago for a free skein to try so I got my free skein. I actually really like it! I'm making a cap for a friend who is going through chemo and it's the perfect softness with wash-ability.  I'm using my standard, go to cap pattern, Just a Beanie. Again, I want to get this complete soon so he has it when it turns wintery and cold.

I don't think my other friend reads my blog so I'm going to go ahead and show the pattern I'm knitting up for him. I'm taking this pattern and making it in gray for brain cancer. He does runs in memory of his sister who passed away a year ago from brain cancer and I thought this would be a good cap to keep his noggin warm and spread the awareness message.

And holy crap.... I need to make an adult size of this for myself:

Trying to figure out something fun for the December Knit N Bitch. One member suggested a get together at the Mounds Park pavilion. That could be good, with maybe a dessert pitch in or cookie exchange. Thinking...thinking.....

Not doing a terrible amount of holiday knitting this year. I've learned my lesson! But I'll post what I get done :)

A little bit geeky

Every time I travel, I look for local yarn stores. I got to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina for work and managed to sneak out of a conference for a bit to find a LYS.

I found Charlotte Yarn. I was a little nervous at first because it wasn't open at 10, like the sign said, and I had a limited amount of time away from the conference. I was worried I would leave my trip without yarn :( The owner was a little late but so sweet and nice that I didn't care. I was in one of the cutest yarn stores! Then, to add to the cuteness, she brought in her little dogs. Very friendly, very loving dogs. Made my day!

I did end up with a bit of yarn (*cough*) and bought a copy of the Downton Abbey knits magazine as well. I always always try to support the local shops when I am traveling. Because someday I want my own knit store where Eva can lounge and greet customers.

In the bag

I was in Charlotte to attend the SQL PASS Summit. Yup, I'm a geek. Technically, the title on my business cards is Data Architect but it pretty much equals geek. With over 190 sessions to choose from, it was a bit overwhelming. I took knitting to the conference with me, because that's normal... right? There's always down time somewhere. HECK NO.... I never once pulled it out. Never once knitted in the 3 days I was there. Charlotte had a lot to offer and I tried to take advantage. We hit some really excellent BBQ places and I was beside myself with happiness when I realized the breadth of beer that Charlotte has to offer. Not your standard Bud, Miller, etc. (until we hit Whisky River - that was slightly disappointing).

The SQL Sentry company set up a trolley to take conference folk around Charlotte. My mom, sister and I took it to the Music Factory area and hit Mattie's Diner. Oh wow...what great diner food. I honestly don't think we had a bad meal while we were here.... Anyways, it was dark by the time we got going and I have to admit, it was great seeing a SQL Sentry person at the stop. A nice touch :)

The first night there we went to Queen City Q's and met with my friend Warren for dinner. Delicious BBQ sliders and they had Chimay blue in little bottles! *swoon* This was walking distance from the hotel (pretty much everything I needed was...which helped a lot).

Lunch the next day had me and Warren at the Carolina Ale House. I got a huge (and delicious) chef salad and a Victory Golden Monkey trippel. I also went there after hours with several other SQL geeks to drink and talk.

Another excellent place was Leroy Fox. We went there after trying some beer flights at Ass Clown Brewery. Yes, that was really the name. The GPS got a little confused but we made it. They have very unique beers and I tried 4 of them. Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt was my favorite. I saw too late they also have wine.... shoot. But I got an empty growler, a pint glass and cozy and some cozies to take home to friends. Good little business they have!

Onward to Leroy Fox.... good food. I had the catfish and chips but I really loved the pretzel apps. Little pretzel bites with 3 dipping sauces. Yum.

Our last dinner in Charlotte was at Dale Jr's Whisky River (mom and sister are huge NASCAR fans). Disappointing beer selection but the food was terrific. Pulled pork BBQ sammich with the best mac and cheese I've had.

I usually flat out refuse to go to chains that are available back home. Traveling is time to try what the area you are in is famous for. In this case, it really was BBQ and microbrews. Who am I to say no to that?!?!

The Sock Monster

I finally gave in to the sock bug. I think every knitter eventually gets bit and some just succumb.

My holiday tradition, for myself, is to wear Christmas themed socks every Christmas morning. I wanted to knit a pair for myself this year. After some head scratching and "What the hell does that mean?" I finally have Christmas socks!

My Ravelry Project page

Click to embiggen

I made them with Gnomeacres To Be Jolly sock yarn and it's wonderfully squishy. I can't wait until the new holiday colors come out. I plan on making my mom and sister Christmas socks too. Right now, Amanda Gnome has Halloween colors out that are amazing but I've stopped myself from buying anything.

I did start another pair of vanilla socks with my yarn I bought from Loopy Yarns in Chicago. That was such a great little store so my new socks will be my Chicago Adventure socks and remind me of my trip.

I've been bit hard.

*sigh*

Dolphin Discovery Cruise - New Smyrna Florida

It's really worth it to keep an eye on Groupon that deals in the place you are vacationing. This year, I signed up for the Daytona Beach, Fl Groupon and discovered a Dolphin Discovery cruise for 4 for $49. We only had 3 in our group but it looked like fun and something we've never attempted to do before so....Groupon purchased!

We got to the Marine Discovery Center on the 3rd of July for the 5:30 cruise. It was a small place, not-for-profit, off the beaten path a bit. It was cool checking out all they offered, including Adventure Camps for kids and Artist Workshops.

We were directed to the dock to get on the pontoon boat for our tour. The tour covered the Indian River lagoon and would be driven by Capt. Scott and our educational narrator was Lou King. There were quite a few kids but it was a good group. We were all excited to see the wildlife!

Smidge of a setback #1: Since it was July 3rd, we were blocked from getting on our boat by a huge truck unloading fireworks and placing them on a barge. Yikes. As Capt Scott said, NO ONE SMOKE!

On to the boat along with a few sprinkles of rain. No big deal, because right off the bat, while we were ALL unprepared, a manatee appeared next to the dock. Everyone on the other side of the boat rushed to our side to see (capsize, people??). Capt Scott gave us a general intro lecture ("If you fall off the boat, flail around a bit then stand up and walk back to the boat") and Lou came aboard to start the 2 hour tour.

 

Lou explaining the wonders of the wild life

We all missed the photo op of the manatee but Capt Scott did try to chase them down for us. Unfortunately, we didn't see any more. Onward to the bird rookeries! There are 3 islands where birds come to roost and lay their eggs. Lou knew all of the birds and explained how even if the birds were enemies, they all came together here to watch each others back (Keep your friends close and your enemies closer)

The sheer amount of birds was amazing!

 Capt Scott is a pretty funny guy. One of the little boys on the boat said his name was Fire and Lightning. We all did a double take at that, including his mom. I think it was Fire and Lightning who asked who lived in these houses. Capt Scott answered "People with money" You ain't kidding!

 "People with money"

 

 Mangroves

 Mangroves

Snowy Egrets

I wish I could remember the names of these birds but Lou was gushing over them and was pretty happy we got to see them. Beautiful pink birds, not flamingos :) 

Lou brought some mollusks on  board for the kids to hold. I'm not sure exactly what happened but one exploded. Just pulled back and spit out quite a lot of mud (or, per Capt Scott, "poop") onto Lou and the boat. She swears that in 7 years of doing this, that has never happened :)


We did get to see dolphins and a baby dolphin. They were hard to catch with a camera, but I video taped a but with my new phone and realized the next day I could take screenshots off the phone. Yay for new technology!

Dolphins!

Lou brought out some hermit crabs for a hermit crab race. I got a front row seat for that!

Hermit crabs

MDC offers us kayak tours too and sunset cruises. I even got the thumbs up from mom and April for getting us this groupon. Go me.

It pays to check out off the beaten path adventures for vacation!

Tour de Fleece

A while back, I had bought a spindle and some fiber. And that was it. I never did anything else with it. (eyeroll)

So this year, as motivation, I've signed up for Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. I have my Respect the Spindle book by Abby Franquemont and have started reading up to get myself prepared for TdF.

My plan is, since this starts the day before I leave for vacation, is to take my spindle, fleece, book and Kindle Fire with me so I can practice practice practice! I'm sure I'll need videos to show me what the heck to do, but at least now, through the book, I know I bought a top whorl, suspended spindle. That's really more than I knew when I bought the thing!

Stayed tuned for spinning goodness!

On the podcast front, I've been slacking! My iPod is full of podcasts and I'm hoping to get back into listening on vacation. One of my favorites though is Science....Sort of. We have a bunch of scientists who set out to prove that scientists are not dull people. There's not much wrong with this podcast, from the science topics they discuss, to the beer drinking segment, to the trailer trash talk segment. You don't need to be a scientist to listen!

And away we go!

It's amazing how, when the thyroid medicine is right, things are so much better. I finally feel like I have energy again and my brain-fog is gone. Thank goodness!

I haven't been as busy as I wanted to be while in the thyroid fog, but I'm making up for it!

I just finished a baby blanket for one of the partners at my firm (and the man who hired me 14 years ago). I just did my standby blanket, the Diagonal Comfort Blanket from Lion Brand. It's super simple and makes such a nice blanket for the kidlet. I always make my baby stuff out of washable yarn, because really, the parents don't need handwash items at this time! I stashdove and found Cotton-Ease in Seaspray and had enough to make a nice sized blanket! I love this yarn, once it's been washed and through the dryer it's so snuggly.

Vacation is coming up so I'm doing the most important thing...which projects are my travel projects?? I've decided on my first pair of socks, vanilla socks, made with Gnomeacres To Be Jolly holiday sock yarn. I have lots of pairs of cartoon Holiday socks and figured a handknit pair for Christmas morning would be ideal.

Amanda from Gnomeacres does the best work. I have WAY too many skeins of yarn from her. Plus, she responds super quick to questions. Great indie dyer!

I also started the Viajante by Martina Behm. I've already knitted her Trillian and Hitchhiker and really enjoy her patterns. I had purchased a skein of Gnomey Nights with sparkle from Gnomeacres and was trying to find a pattern for it. This was it, except I only purchased 1 skein of yarn! Oh darn, must buy more....

It's knitting up beautifully! But such fine yarn and such small needles, I think this will take me awhile!

Next up is my Iced cardigan. I might have found the yarn I want, it's just not in the proper weight. So I need to knit a swatch (I'm thinking double knitting with 2 strands to get the right weight but need to see how heavy it will be). Stay tuned.....

Finally, a basic prayer shawl for the Firewalker Project. Plus some materials for some chemo caps. I think those will be the car knitting, with the others being the evening knitting.

Onward to the domestic side......

My rescue dog is doing really well now. We've pretty much bonded and are good partners.  She is an older dog, approx 9-10 years old, so she's a sleeper and lay around type of pooch. Right up my alley! She's the sweetest dang dog ever and I can't imagine who would have given her up. But she has a home now and I love her to pieces :)

And lastly for today, a good standby recipe for banana bread. I keep it on hand because I rarely finish my bunch of bananas in time....

More in the future...I learned to can! And actually made strawberry preserves!

Podcast of the Week - CraftLit

I cannot say enough good things about this one. As much as I love to read, I don't always delve into the classics. So many of them are free for the taking at Librivox and I do grab a few sometimes. I think my main problem with the classics is the lack of conversation about them with someone. I miss nuances sometimes with them and just don't get them.

Heather Ordover is a teacher who hosts this part crafting/part classic audiobook podcast and it's exactly what I need. I jump around (and she handily offers a guide on which podcasts have which books) and I just love it. CraftLit is a worthwhile podcast to listen to just to get your feet wet on the classics.

I started off with Pride and Prejudice because I was pretty sure I wouldn't like Jane Austen (nice reason, right?). I never liked romantics and figured that's what Austen was. Hello! I was wrong! With guidance and excellent commentary by Heather, it turns out I really like Austen. How about that noise? P&P were the very first episodes she did and I keep coming back.

Right now I've just jumped to Jane Eyre, never having read any of the Bronte sisters (but totally meaning to) and I'm already suckered in and it's only up to chapter four. Heather researches the authors and gives you tidbits to chew on. She lets you know the history behind terms the book uses, like what the heck is a Holland Pocket??

If you aren't into the crafty part, grab the podcast of Just the Books!

I can't recommend this one enough!

Podcast of the Week - The History Chicks

This is one of my favorite, non-crafty, educational-in-a-fun-way podcasts. The History Chicks feature a woman of history with each podcast and go so far in depth, it's astounding.

Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider: Two women. Half the population. Several thousand years of history. About an hour. Go.

They cover entertainers, scientists, writers (Laura Ingalls Wilder is my favorite historical woman and their podcast of her was LONG and highly entertaining), royalty, etc. Even some fictional folk are covered (like Cinderella).

I've learned quite a bit about women I knew nothing about, like Nellie Bly. When that happens, I tend to hit the library for a some of the books they recommend to learn more about the Chick. That's right, you can walk away from each podcast with a full list of extra reading, blogs and/or books.

The ladies are entertaining and, while the sound quality wasn't so great in the beginning, it's a lot better.

They have a facebook page as well that stays pretty active and they give fun clues to the next History Chick they are about to podcast on.

Check them out!

Podcast of the Week - Yarngasm

This one sounds dirty but it's really not. Although, now that it's become a video podcast, it's a bit yarn p0rny :)

Kristin, aka Voolenvine, is our host and she has recently switched to video rather than audio (although she does post the audio portion of the video so you still get an audio podcast). Often, when listening to her, I would think "I wish I could see what she's talking about" and it's like she read my mind.

Kristin is lovely and has a wonderful voice. Her enthusiasm for her projects is contagious and she has a knack for picking amazing patterns to work on, all of which I frequently queue on Ravelry.

Her blog is here and her Ravelry group is here. She also has a group that is awesome called StashBustArmy. Perfect projects to use up your stash. She also has a twitter account.

Check her out. This one is well worth sitting down for :)

Iced Iced Baby

It's 2013 and it's the year of changes!

First off, I'm becoming the proud owner of a rescue dog on Friday. First pet in this house and I'm pretty stoked. (That word didn't age me at all....)

Secondly, this is the year I will make a sweater. Not a pullover because frankly I can't stand those. Thanks to thyroid problems I often have hot flashes so I tend to layer and take off what I can when I'm flashing. So I'm making a cardigan because, boy howdy, I love me some cardigans.

My only big problem with them is that I apparently have razor sharp elbows and they wear out fast. But I saw this pattern made on The Knitgirllls video podcast and since it's made with a bulkier yarn, I thought I could do this. 

Behold the Iced cardigan from Knitty.com

I excitedly bought some (sale) yarn from WEBS and was so happy when it arrived. I dutifully did my swatch and washed it.....and it felted right up. Did I really buy 22 balls of yarn that wasn't machine washable? Yes, yes I did.Wow.

I amaze myself sometimes.

So, it's not a total loss. I can make a nice cowl, mitten, hat set out of that yarn for this howling winter we're having. Now I just need to find washable yarn for my cardigan. AFTER I get my new dog settled in.....

Podcast of the Week - CraftStash

This is a video podcast so you can see all the crafty goodness.

The host, Kaystarr, is most awesome. She's so incredibly enthusiastic that I swear I want to KNIT ALL THINGS when I'm done watching an episode. Plus, she's all about learning new things, which in turn spurs me on to learn new things. It's been fun watching her learn to spin and seeing how amazing her yarn is becoming.

Here's the Ravelry group for CraftStash. She's currently doing a read-a-long in the group for Wool by Hugh Howey and I'm so glad she did, because I never would have found this series of books on my own.

She has a Craftstash tumblr and posts a lot of yarny goodness. *swoon*

Watch her!

Podcast of the Week - Down Cellar Studio Podcast

I listen to a frightening amount of podcasts, mostly crafty but also sciencey. I thought I would share my favorites with you each week!

Right now, I'm running through the back catalog of a fairly new knitting podcast. The Down Cellar Studio podcast with BostonJen. She does more than just knitting and one of my favorite features is the photography section. She really gives some good information on how to take photographs, of your crafts and other things.

She sews, crochets a bit and has a really great voice.

Lately she's been doing more contests, knit-a-longs and giveaways. Fun stuff! Plus, almost all the patterns she mentions? I go straight to Ravelry and queue. Enabler!

Here's her group on Ravelry, with a current knit-a-long!

Check her out!

Holidays are over - FOs!

Despite my funk of a few months ago, I did manage to get some projects finished for Christmas presents. Not everything I wanted but now I have presents to give people throughout 2013 - as I get them done :)

For some reason, the start of 2013 has made me excited about knitting again. And I know why. The projects I'm working on are for me. I love knitting for others and for charity projects but I think I neglected myself a bit.

First up:
Abundance Afghan for my sister. Made from 9 balls of Suri Dream Alpaca from Knitpicks.com in the (discontinued) colorway Sunkissed. Suri Dream is also discontinued but a nice bulky yarn that has a great halo would work.

I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of my friend's Trillian scarf. I'll try to get her to take a photo. It was made with yarn from Little Red Bicycle in the River Styx colorway. Here's what the yarn looked like.

 It did knit up well but I have to say, the feel of the yarn wasn't the best. I was making another scarf with Gnomeacres yarn and the difference in texture was pretty obvious.

Onward to the Hitchhiker scarf! Done with Gnomeacres fingering sock yarn in the colorway Hawkeye (yes, from The Avengers!). It turned out beautifully with a wonderful drape. This went to another friend for Christmas.

Gnomeacres is a favorite shop of mine now. I love her yarns - color and texture. I also completed a Hitchhiker for myself out of Gnomeacres worsted yarn in Sonic Screwdriver. Pictures soon!

As an added bonus, I got a request to knit some little gnomes. I said yes immediately because they were going to two special people who needed some gnominess (not a word, says spellcheck). I decided against little gnomes and went for bigger, cuddlier sizes.

Awesome, right? The pattern was easy and I ended up finding excellent beard type fabric at Jo-ann Fabrics. Although it shed a bit, but I used this goo on the back to keep it from fraying. I'm making one for my cube at work, to hide among the plants.

Next up, FO for me! A pink Ninja! I need to add weapons but she looks pretty awesome at work.  She was made with leftover Knitpicks yarn in a colorway that had no label. I think it was a spring bloom or something. And Lurleen from Rebecca Danger's monster book. Lurleen is heading to the 600 Monsters group to be handed out to some kids. Lurleen's yarn was a handpainted Cascade 220 yarn.

That's about it....wow. I'm amazed at how much I really did while I was off work for Christmas break. Onward to new things!