Oh, crap

Ravelry is awesome.  Of course, you knew that already.

So why, “Oh crap?”  Because now I have another thing to do besides blog.

New month, new resolution

I posted exactly three times in May.

It’s now June.  I will do better this month – at least four posts.  The jury’s still out on whether or not this one counts.

But not this weekend, because I’ll be out of town.  Again.

The last few weeks, in pictures

Bayerische, finished

Girlyman in concert

My birthday – my favorite present

The very-close-second-best present

I’ve been knitting! See?

Twisted Flower closeup

I still exist

(Life update first, Sock Madness update below.)

I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, really! I was just in Maine at my brother’s house with no Internet access. On Friday I had to run as soon as I finished those Painted Madness socks, to pick him up at work and bring him to our grandmother’s house for our (very non-traditional) Seder. It was fun – our Seders mostly consist of us running through the essentials, like the Plagues and the Wicked Son (always read by my brother, of course), laughing at my mother for getting drunk off a thimbleful of Manischewitz, and eating vast quantities of food.

On Saturday, the brother and I went shopping, and I found pants! No more ranting necessary, at least until these wear out and I need more. I got three pairs of jeans, only one of which is perfect, but the other two will do, and a pair of very nice black slacks that fit perfectly from waist to feet… and then about six inches beyond. So, not perfect, but they’ll be very nice if I ever get around to hemming them.

I went dancing with my parents Saturday night, and ran into a guy I haven’t seen since he was a freshman in high school – it was a bit of a shock. He came over and said “hi,” and then said, “You have no idea who I am, do you?” I was, of course, obliged to say that no, I didn’t have a clue. In my defense, he’s now a foot taller, muscular, much more outgoing, and actually not unattractive! He was cool about it, and we chatted for a while, and danced together a bit, but it was a very weird feeling – this is the first time that I’ve run into someone I had a very definite mental image of and had it just completely not jibe, at all.

Sunday I pretty much just hung out with my brother all day, then stopped by to see Mr. P on the way home.  I think it’s getting to be about time to give him a new pseudonym.

A very good weekend.

And now, a bit more about the Painted Madness socks! At first, I thought it was a cute pattern but really not something I’d ever wear. I still think they’re not really “me,” but I really like them – I think the cuff is a great way to show off the beautiful variegated yarn without doing a plain stockinette sock, and the garter stitch edging is… well, “cute,” and “adorable” are not words that generally describe any of my wardrobe, so I’m going to go with “twee.” And I’m still a huge fan of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, especially worked on the smaller needles I used for this pattern – so soft and cushy and dense and warm and lovely.

I do feel a little bad about knocking Julie out of the competition – look at what she was dealing with! Such an intrepid knitter doesn’t deserve to lose a competition just because I had lights and disdained sleep. But I’ve been emailing back and forth with her, so I don’t feel too bad – she’s not upset, and is looking forward to making the rest of the patterns calmly and without pressure, while I keep giving up sleep.

No word yet on when the next round starts. I suspect that it’ll be somewhere in the vicinity of next weekend, though, and I think I’m toast. I’m going to a concert Friday night with Mr. P, and probably staying with him through at least most of Saturday, and then my Renaissance music group has a concert Sunday afternoon. Not much knitting time in there – while Mr. P knows I’m an insane knitter, and he knows about this competition, I think he would (rightly) question my priorities if I spent my weekend knitting frantically and ignoring him. Maybe I’ll teach him to knit.

Oh yeah, and remember last Monday when I mentioned that I was very close to finishing Bayerische? I finished it that day, on a conference call – just haven’t had time to post pictures. That might come tomorrow, if I’m still alive at the end of rehearsal.

This really should be a double-FO post…

… but you’re not going to believe me when I tell you why I didn’t post last night.

I got home from work at about 7:10, and… passed out.  Completely.  Woke up at 8:00 this morning to go back to work.

I was so tired that even though I saw the package from Girlyman, I couldn’t even stay up long enough to listen to the brand-new CD (which is of course currently playing in my work computer).  So please forgive me.

The Seamless Hybrid is finished blocking, and I tried it on quickly this morning.  It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.  My next sweater WILL be perfect.  In theory.  So as soon as I do get a chance to take pictures, there will be FO posts for that and the Sock Madness Round 1 socks.  No guarantees that I won’t pass out again tonight…

The difference…

… between a contradance and a dance festival weekend:  At a contradance, when I sit out a dance, I knit.  At a dance festival weekend, when I can’t contra any more, I swing, or waltz, or pull out my fiddle and find a corner jam session, or go to mandolin workshops or tango lessons or calling workshops, or snatch a bite of food or a gulp of coffee, or simply… collapse.

Number of stitches worked between Friday morning and Sunday evening: Big fat zero.

On the knitting plus side, I wore handknit socks the entire weekend, and got many positive comments on them.

And I suppose also on the knitting plus side, at the moment I can’t really move anymore, so I ought to get some knitting done today.

Confession

I have a confession to make. Fridays are my day off. My knitting day. The day I spend on the couch watching Law & Order: SVU marathons and tearing through socks, mittens, hats, and even the giant red blanket (real FO post to come soon, I promise). Friday is also the only day that I’m home at all during daylight hours. And today? It’s 5:30, and I have not yet knit a single stitch.

What was I doing instead? Well…

Peanut butter cookies. To be specific, THE best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made – wonderful crackle-top cookies, fluffy and light and crispy-on-the-outside chewy-on-the-inside and just… the best peanut butter cookies ever. I found the recipe online here – I used butter instead of Crisco, and added a little extra flour so they’d be easier to handle, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly.

And the reason it took all day?

 

The recipe said “3 dozen cookies.” The picture above doesn’t show the two dozen that didn’t fit on the plate. When I boxed them up, I counted them – 91 normal-sized cookies, plus two giant cookies I made with the leftover dough because, as much as I love baking.. enough is enough! That’s eight trays of cookies, each of which baked for 11 minutes, except the last one with the two giant cookies, which needed a good 15 minutes. So yeah.. that ate up my afternoon. But I have lots of delicious cookies to show for it!

 

Blergh weather…

I finished the red-and-gray blanket on Friday, and I was all bouncy with happiness and pleased with myself and couldn’t wait to post here about it – but I’ve been waiting for a chance to take pictures in natural light, and there just hasn’t BEEN any natural light! And now it’s Monday again, and I’m at work, and even if the rain and blech ever does let up, I’m never home before dark Monday through Thursday anyway.

So I’ve given up on the natural-light thing for now. I’ll take some pictures when I get home tonight. I used a reverse-crochet edging, which is very simple but I love the look – sturdy and tailored, and it got rid of some of the curl that I inevitably get in the corners of things I’ve crocheted because of the way I hold it while I’m working on it.

Anyway – pictures to come tonight. For now, more bouncy-happiness that my oldest UFO is now an FO!