A Beach of a Weekend (and a slight rant)

What a busy week so far! And it's only Wednesday.

I sent out a ton of yarn orders on Saturday and Monday so you guys should get them very soon, if you haven't already!

This weekend, starting Thursday after work, I'll be at my dad's beach house in Florida. I would like to have a relaxing weekend at the beach, but dad called me and my brothers down to the house to discuss....(cue doom music)...The Will.

And dad's bringing along his ex-wife.

A few things about the ex-wife: 1. She's a year older than me. 2. That makes her 3 years *younger* than my oldest brother. 3. She cheated on my dad with a younger man (such a shock, really, we were all stunned). 4. She asked for a divorce, got it, then asked to move back in and start over. Actually working and paying all her bills must have been such a bummer.

None of us have seen her since the divorce, so I think she might be in for a not-so-welcome reunion. I can put on a nice face when necessary, and I'll play nice for as long as I have to, but I'm no longer obligated. I'll definitely report back if there's a vicious cat fight, but I'll probably just be an adult and throw her out by her hair if she talks any shit (she's sort of a redneck, see, so I'm expecting her to bring her attitude with her). Err...I mean, I'll be the rational one and keep everyone calm. Yeah, that's it.

Dad has plenty of money and he pretty much spends it all, which is totally fine. But none of us really want anything, nor do we really expect there to be anything left when he dies. We want him to be happy and not have some golddigger in his face, but in the end if she makes him happy then ok, whatever. As it stands now though, she's still the ex and she shouldn't be at this little family gathering. And if she gets ugly, she's going to get it back like all kinds of hell. (ok, rant's over...I just had to get all that out.)

I'll be sure to take some knitting, sunscreen and good book and just plant myself in the sand if necessary.

Expect lots of progress shots and a tan. I'm just sayin.

Knitting? What's this you say?

***Thanks so much for those of you who have entered the contest! It's awesome to see lurkers come out of the woodwork. Hi!! If you haven't entered yet and you'd like to, see the next post down!***

And so there was knitting, and I rejoiced and was glad in it. But alas, there was also much wailing and gnashing of teeth...

It's just a teeny speck of a thing so far, which I intend to remedy this evening, but I've cast on for my Invisibility Shawl! Cami and I started a KAL for those of you who might be interested in an easy beginner (yet lovely) shawl pattern. I think our finish date is the book's release date (July 21) so we can wear our shawls to the bookstore events. Come play!! (ETA: There's now a button on the side bar!)

I had to chose between the two yarns below, the blue being Zephyr silk/wool and the gray being Jaeger Spun's Lacey Lamb. I attempted the gray at first, but it decided that it hated me and I was unworthy of its cashmerey-type touch and insisted on throwing a fit and knotting itself every few yards in protest. So I cut it. And then I tossed it back into its bag and told it to think about what it had done. I also reminded it that NO ONE would want it now that I had cut off some offending yardage, and that it ought to consider this should I choose to try to use it again. So there.

I've cast on again with the lovely and enchanting Aegean silk/wool and we're having a marvelous time.



In the midst of all this knitting activity, I started looking around at my notions and realizing that, well...this isn't going to cut it anymore.



It's almost embarrassing that *this* is what I use for my notions. A damn shame really.

So I got in touch with an etsy seller who's items I absolutely adore, and she's going to make me something very, very, very cute. Lotuses (loti?), just for me! I'm a geek for a lotus flower, what can I do?

This also prompted me to consider my method of storing my circulars. That method was, to say the least, scattered and unorganized, and mostly nonexistent.

So I got a brilliant idea and raced over to ye olde office supply shoppe and picked up a little binder type thing. Expandable file? That must be what they call it.



Now, they are all in the same place! And organized. And I see that I have three sets of US 3s. So now I'll know not to buy them again. Hehe. Whoops.



And to end this post on a pretty note, some yarn p0rn for you.


(Snow Cherries, Strawberry Switchblade, and Punk Rock Girl)

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!!

Yarn Contest!

This week has been wonderful so far! I hope yours has been too!

I heard the news today that our 48 Hour Film team got good reviews on our film at its screening on Thursday in Atlanta. I got a lot of nice complements on my acting, but I'm kind of glad to not be doing it any more. It's a lot of fun, but it's also very demanding and stressful. Someday I'll figure out what I want to be when I grow up!! Hee.

Nate's having fun in Cincin, and I'm dyeing up a storm and working on my Couch to 5k progress. Last week we got a cheap treadmill at Sears and I'm racking up the miles. So far I'm on week 2, but I push myself a little harder than the require running time. If I'm not hurting and my asthma is ok, I'm trying to add 30 seconds to a full minute of additional running time to every sequence. Being inside helps *so* much! There are no major allergens in the air (minus my cats), and it's nice and cool in my basement. And I have tv to watch, which makes the time just fly.

************
On to the good stuff...

New and exciting yarn updates! I got added to Ravelry's list of handdyers!! So awesome! There are a couple of colorways stashed, thanks to Madge, and it makes me so happy to see my yarn there. See?



Cool eh?

I've also worked up two new colorways:

Amber (yay 311!!):



And Independence Day (ahem, more 311):



They won't be available on my etsy site for a while, because I'm giving them away here first! Cause everyone loves a good give away! I'll choose 2 winners. The first winner will get to chose the skein of their choice from the above two, the second will get the remaining skein OR their choice of any one item from my shop!

All you have to do to enter the contest is:

1.) post a picture on your blog of your first finished knitted item OR what's next in your queue that you *haven't* cast on for yet and 2.) make sure to mention this contest! Scarf, dishcloth, sweater, whatever! I wanna see!

Then, 3.) email me at lotusknits@gmail.com (or leave a comment) to let me know you've posted so I can come check out your blog! Let me know what blog you saw the contest on, because for every person that mentions your blog as a referral, you get another entry into the contest.

I'll draw two winners on July 4th!

Easy enough?

Here is my first finished project. I jumped straight from a random let's-try-out-50-stitch-patterns scarf to a cardigan from Hollywood Knits.



In Lion Brand Homespun no less. Nuts, I tell you. It was warm, but it didn't fit very well. I knit the size 36 bust, and uh...the button didn't exactly close over my 36's. This was way before I knew what that pesky thing called 'gauge' was. Ahem.


Next up for me is the Invisibility Shawl from Charmed Knits:



Just in time for the book release!! I'm going to dye my hair black again and go as Bellatrix. Muahahahaha.

Looking Up

Things, I mean. Things are looking up. Not me. But now I did. Did you? Ok, I'm officially still nuts. Glad we got that covered right out of the gate.

I was definitely PMS-y this week and just feeling off. I've had heartburn almost every day and on Tuesday I woke up at 2:30 am convinced I was gonna puke. Bleh. Nate thinks I swallowed a bug or something in my sleep. Nice. I'm pretty sure it was the cookies I made before bed (and maybe ate a handful at like 11).

But yeah, I've been eating like a mad woman and my brain keeps throwing chocolate in my way every few minutes ala: "we need chocolate. did you buy chocolate yet? dark? milk? whatever, put it in the mouth now. NOW! wait, we need the chocolate covered cherries from starbucks. and the dark chocolate graham crackers. do it now, beotch. but we have dove dark chocolate at home. and cookies. NEVERMIND! to starbucks with you ASAP!" Ahem. It seems I have a very forceful chocolate gene. Good thing I didn't get the Danish Wedding Cookies gene from my dad. Those bitches are hard to find.

On the knitting front, I ripped and have re-cast Rusted Root, and I'm now loving it totally. I'll try it on again once the sleeves are on scrap yarn, just to be sure, but I think we have a winner. Turtleneck Tube Thing is going to take a nap until I feel like picking it back up again.

Over at Ravelry (where I've been spending WAY too much time), I'm helping edit patterns here and there and I've actually added things to my queue. Never again can I say that I can't think of anything to knit. Seriously. It's so awesome to have a place to go and see all the things I've been wanting to work on. I have small things like Calorimetry and sock patterns, and big things like Jemima and Mariah.

Have a great weekend everyone! Nate and I will be hanging out together (and doing icky chores that we put off forever) since he'll be in Cincinnati all next week at a conference. Boo. But I'm going to do some things I've been meaning to do around the house. Like hang pictures and unpack boxes. You know, make it look like we live here sometimes. Hehe.

le sigh*

*or "in which i have chunky monkey with my whine"


i'm hoping it's just because i'm tired and pms-y, cause i've totally hit a wall today.

i like the things i'm knitting right now (rusted root and turtleneck tube thingy), but i've stalled on them both. the turtleneck is in cascade 220 and really, it's just too freaking hot to have wool in my lap right now. i think it might have to wait until late sept/early october.

rusted root is adorable, but it's a wee bit too big. it's still in the right size range (36-39) but dudes. i'm so not a 39 bust. anybody know if brown sheep cotton fleece shrinks at all? or should i rip and (god forbid) reknit?

and, i'm addicted to ravelry, but it's frustrating me at the moment. it's not ravelry, it's me. that's my mantra and i'm sticking to it. there are *tons* of projects there and still, i can find nothing that screams with force "KNIT ME!!!!!!!" why? there are some that whimper a tad, but nothing that says "girl if you don't go buy yarn this instant, i will beat you with your own needles". same thing with the new knitty. aside from maybe a sock pattern, nothing is provoking more than a hohum from me.

(oh, it's also a very sad day. remember my friend who was so incredibly lucky to get pregnant? as of friday she isn't any more, but she just told me today. her body totally rejected it at exactly 8 weeks. we had a good cry together, so maybe i'm still bummed eh?)

snoozy monday

Whew. I'm dragging ass today.

I got together with a bunch of nutty people and did the 48 Hour Film Festival again this weekend. We had a blast; I got to co-star and contribute to the writing (the idea at least) and get sweaty in a hot costume. Whee! Fun! We shot for 12 hours on Saturday and a few minutes on Sunday morning, then edited, created music and watched Chris race back to Atlanta to turn in our film. Good times.

But I still need sleep. And I'm sure everyone else does too.

As the hours marched on, our humor got lower and lower and everything became a dirty joke. Makes it all worth it.

***
Anyway, I swore I would show some new colorways on Friday and I sorta got caught up in the above. Oops, sorry. (I haven't even had a chance to read and comment on blogs! I'm so behind!)

You can now see these two new colorways on the etsy page:

Snow Cherries:



She's a Rebel:




And I've added Strawberry Switchblade and Naked Eye to the mix too!

Strawberry Switchblade:



Naked Eye:



Happy Monday everyone!!

these folks take their hump day very seriously

I don't start my new job until July 1. Until then, I'm doing the books for a montessori school in town. The school is great and it's in a very nice location. This office however, is situated a tad more on the dodgy end of town. Shady, scary, wouldn't-want-to-be-caught-here-after-dark-because-what-you-see-in
-the-daylight-is-proof-enough side of town. Literally on the wrong side of the tracks.

And the folks who drive through here are looking for love in all the wrong places. Ya'll know what I mean. Usually I just see one or two girls get picked up or dropped off during the day. In the last 3 hours I've seen no less than four.

It has to be Hump Day. It *must* be, since when I walked to the mail box, I heard a male voice say 'hey baby...'. All I could mutter was 'fuck you' as I turned and walked quickly back inside. All I can think is that he must be desperate if he's resorting to cat calling the random girl in her yoga outfit. Maybe he's just trying to make good use of his lunch hour. I shudder the thought.

sadly pictureless

I've got a big batch of yarn going out this week, thanks to Etsy (yay!), so I'm a tad side tracked on the new stuff for a few days. If I didn't have to work, I could just dye all day with my pajamas on listening to my ipod. But alas, paying the bills keeps me in yarn, so work must be done.

Since I have nothing yet to photograph, as I have a lot drying and a bit left to dye, I felt the need to share love of another kind.

I've come to find Etsy incredibly addictive, and I can't bear to keep all the goodness to myself. Here are some of my favorite shops:


Pedras has super cool stitch markers! I *love* the smart clasps! I ordered the blueberry ones, and you can see them if you click on the 'sold items' link on the right. She's having a buy one get one free sale TODAY ONLY, so go!


I love this shirt made by Juror 2. It just totally appeals to my inner geek for some reason.


These adorable stitch markers are made by Jill, another Athenian. How cute are the itty bitty turtles? And the one with the tan shell? Awww, I love an odd man out. I have some of Jill's stitch markers already; a set of kitties and a set of sheep. Love. Them.


Robyn's got a lot of cute things in her shop, and my favorite is the personalized name stitch markers. So smart and cute. She sent me a set a few months ago and I use them regularly. Thanks Robyn!


I'm totally drooling over these stitch markers too. MissPurl has a many fun things in her shop, as well as a stitch marker club! No fair.


Can you tell I maybe have a little stitch marker addiction going on? Ahem.