holy crap there's knitting!

For the record, the GRE did not slay me, I'm still here. Though I did sort of physically melt when I saw my score and realized that I do NOT have to retake it. WHEW. Thanks so much for all the encouragement!! I got an 1130, if you're curious, and I'm kinda kicking myself for not studying for the verbal section cause I could have rocked it a lot harder, but whatever, it's over.

My boss (who totally rules, btw) gave me the rest of the day off, so I had some Ben & Jerry's to celebrate and then took a lovely nap. Tonight I'm dyeing yarn and dancing around my kitchen while Nate plays GTA4.

So, how about some knitting? Remember the Aleita Shell? I totally love it, but my row gauge is different from the pattern, and it now requires math to work the proper number of decreases. I'm a over math for a little while, you know? I'll get back to this one later.

This is as far as I've gotten:

The separation for the bust V section:


I've also cast on for the Fern Fitted Shell with the Ella Rae Bamboo Silk (LOVE IT). Thanks, Nada, for the errata info! It's slow going but I blame the GRE, not the pattern.

And I cast on and have almost finished my Rowan Calmer Lelah too. I'm doing a racer back top rather than the tube top in the pattern, like this one. I hope it doesn't stretch too much. That would be counter productive. For me anyway.

I've also been working on some of my 101 things. I've found a great exercise/stretch/meditate routine that is refreshing and makes working out really rewarding. Now I need to get back to eating better to make all my hard work worth it!

Ok, back to dyeing! Have a great week!

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day, y'all!

Earth Day is one of my favorite days of the year and I think it should be a national holiday with a full day off to work in our communities, plant trees, and ride our bikes instead of driving.

This Earth Day I'll be turning off the television and my computers for the evening. I'm going to knit and study my GRE book. I'm also researching composting, since my current method is a little too backwoods to be called composting. It's called throw-the-scraps-in-the-woods-for-the-deer-to-eat, or redneck recycling. At least I'm not chucking my banana peels into the trash. I'm hoping for a banana tree some day. Seriously though, the only soil we have is red clay and it is incredibly NOT conducive to growing anything. I can't even make grass grow. Or tulips, though I hear they're difficult - doesn't leave me less than disappointed.

I know I've listed out all the things we do to stay green before, so I won't do it again but I'll add that we're considering biking to work thanks to $3.50/gallon gas prices. It literally goes up every single day. I'm not looking forward to 5 mile rides, but if we did it even one day a week we'd save gas and money. We're also considering planting a small garden and growing some of our own vegetables. Yum.

Are you doing anything special for Earth Day?

Lazy

When things get really busy or stressful or overwhelming, I tend to get lazy about everything not involved in the stressful stuff. Like blogging. Knitting. Reading other folks' blogs. Replying to comments. Sorry, y'all, it's not you, it's me.

So to say that the GRE studying is stressing me out would be an understatement. If I hadn't already paid for the damn thing I'd just say fuck this and start breathing again. I'm sure in the end it's all going to be fine and the Kaplan Crash Course is helping me tremendously, but I'm so ready for this to be over.

I'm also dyeing yarn for the sock club and waiting (not so patiently) for the rest of the yarn to come. I'm not in any danger of not having enough yarn for May, but I want the rest of it right now, thankyouverymuch. With stress also comes a lack of patience and I don't have much of that to dole out as it is.

Moving on, I bought some wonderful yarn last week, and while I'm too lazy to take a picture, I need to share my knitting conquests, so tolerate it, mkay? I got some blue Linen Isle (0009) from Webs and I'm going to start a proper Aleita Shell with the suggested yarn just because I can. And I like blue. I also got some Ella Rae Bamboo Silk in the grass green colorway. I opened the package and realized that it wouldn't have mattered if I had gotten some hideous, nasty color, I would have loved it anyway. Soft, smooshy, and luxurious. I'm totally making some gorgeous tank out of it. I think it might be this one.

Ok. Sorry I'm totally phoning this one in. No stone throwing, mkay? (unless they are very yummy chocolaty stones, and in that case, gimme all you got.)

Sexy Clap

Today was so gorgeous - it was one of those days you wish would last forever. Nate and I cleaned the house and took some pictures of my complete (mini) Clapotis!

This yarn is just so gorgeous, if I do say so myself. It's soft, warm, luxurious, and requires a little bit of dressing up just so you won't be completely outdone. It's hard to wear a yarn that really wears you.

Forgive the blur. Clearly I'm not the one taking that photo...

Dorky grin #1.

Dorky grin #2. What? This Clap makes a girl feel very rawr.

In other news, I crossed off an important list item yesterday. I got five new bras. I suddenly realized on Friday that all I was wearing were sports bras and not for good reasons. So I took some measurements then plugged those numbers into an online lingerie site, discovered I'm a 38C these days and went shopping. Technically I should be a D, but y'all, those are so huge on me. I don't even come close to filling them up. I think maybe I'm really a B+ or a C-. I tried the 36C, since I had always been a 36B (or so I thought) and those just don't work for me anymore. The 38 is much more comfortable, but it will take some getting used to.

I also finished a book and started three more. We watched the first few episodes of The Wire (my something new this month) and worked our asses off to find deductions to bring down our tax bill (it's not good). I dyed some Sock Club yarn (yay!) and we played WoW when we got bored (did I mention I'm gaming again? it's under control though).

Hope you'll had a great weekend! Watch out for falling objects on Monday.

Surreality

Dear Monday, Thank you for getting your abuse out of the way first thing this morning. My would-have-been-yummy banana/peach breakfast smoothie looks lovely splattered all over me and the elevator floor. Let's go ahead and call it a day, shall we? Smoochies - Me


Now that that's out of the way...


Yesterday was glorious. I started the day headed to Knitch and the Harlot book signing with this:



A little heart in my mocha. It really put the whipped cream topping on my giddiness for the morning. Figures I'd get a smoothie smackdown the next day just to keep things "fair and balanced." Snerk.

Alison and I got to town late so we didn't do any other shopping and were really lucky to get seats somewhat near the stage. (Thanks KateyJ for taking better pics than I was getting!!) Katey and her clan sat right behind us and we all giggled through the entire talk. She even won some super expensive yarn, gave it a name and tucked it in her bra for safe keeping. That's my kinda gal.

Stephanie, doing her "Knitters, with sock" artwork.


I worked on my Clap, which is now long enough to start the decrease rows. Love. It. You still can't see the super bling factor here, but it's astonishingly shiny. I don't think I've ever gotten as many "oooh!"s as I did when I pulled this out of my bag. Then again, I usually knit alone and I can only do so much to entertain myself.

During the knit-in I got to meet some folks I've been talking to for a while, including Mary, Cate and Chickengoddess. Alma - your shawl was stunning. I still have no words. I ran into almost everyone I chatted with the last time Stephanie was around and met some lovely new faces too.

After the knit-in, we got to meet with Stephanie at last. Stephanie remembered me and my yarn, which totally shocked me. I might have gotten a tad giddy and inappropriately hugged her. Ahem. Sorry. I could blame the caffeine, but it's really the nerdiness.

I gave her a skein of the Aura (silvery) Bloodflowers and she had to stash it quickly so no one could steal it from her.

What? Where do you hide your stash?

I have no idea what I'm looking at in this pic. Der. Anyway, that's me, Stephanie, Alison and Mary! Alison and I got to have a nice chat with Mary over nachos and wine across the street, where Mary informed me that she has a degree in applied math. M - expect your phone to ring if I fail these practice GREs, mkay? (Speaking of the GRE: I'm scheduled to take it April 29th. Major fucking EEEEK over here.)

You can't see it in this pic, but I had on a pair of these earrings all day and wow did they get a lot of compliments. It made me giggle all day to be able to say "lick my sticks" repeatedly. Pam is working up a batch of earrings, so get them while you can!

I gotta say, it was a smidge weird to be somewhat famous for a day. I was really unprepared for so many people to know who I was and/or to have knit with my yarn. Even the ladies behind us in line to meet the Harlot were knitting socks in Fascination Street! So surreal.

I'm a wallflower at heart, so dealing with attention makes me a little awkward. And huggy. If I hugged anyone too much or too hard...sorry. At least I didn't stab you with my earrings.

Harlot weekend!

I'm so excited about seeing the Harlot again this weekend!

Alison and I are driving in around 11, but we have super important yarn errands to run so we'll get to the Knitch area by 1. We plan to attend the Knit In, listen to the lovely Stephanie, then have a snack and some wine while waiting for the second signing. (which sounds a lot like the Second Coming to me, and I guess it sort of is - though not in any spiritual way.)

If any of you in the Atlanta area will be at the Harlot event on Sunday, shoot me a message and we'll hook up!

I'll be sure to take my camera, lots of knitting (including a possible FO - don't faint, y'all), and maybe a special yarn for le Harlot.

I'm really hoping to finish the Clapotis this weekend. I started a second ball of yarn, but it's really close to being finished I think.



I hope I can get a picture of this in some better light. It's truly gorgeous when it sparkles!