I got a job yesterday! I think I'll like this one a lot more. I have training scheduled for Saturday and my first day is Tuesday. So wouldn't you know, I got sick last night. At least I can keep liquids down today (I'm scared to try solid food), but my temperature is at 101.2 degrees. At 10 am! I thought that fevers spiked at night. If that's true, I'm in trouble. I don't want to take anything to keep my fever down--I much prefer to let the internal temp rise and kill off whatever has invaded me. I have to kick this thing by tomorrow. Calling in on your first day does not look good.

In knitting news, I finished another row of the Alpaca Mother's Day scarf, but it pretty much looks the same as the pictures below, so I won't post any more. I need to get going on the felted handbag for my mother-in-law. I've never knitted a bag or felted anything, so this will be interesting. Since I'm using 3 colors, I just might have enough yarn left over to do a kitty-pi. I would love to make one of those. Vito is a luxurious fabric whore. Felted wool may not be luxurious, but if it gets him to make biscuits on it, I'll be happy.

Eugene is gorgeous. The property that we camped on was about 20 minutes outside of town, but it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. These are some pictures of the wooded area that we hiked in, and that little salamander (or whatever it is) was the only wildlife that we saw that day other than birdies. I think the dogs probably scared off whatever else was out there. We got alot of sun, and both days were beautiful. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather, but it still got pretty cold at night. I put X in my sleeping bag and he was like a little toaster for my feet. I wish I had taken a picture of Jackie the next morning, chasing frogs in the dew. She came back to the campsite looking like she had had a bath. We had a great time, and we already plan on camping next weekend. As a plus, the cats weren't even too pissed when we got back. We've never left them alone overnight before, so I was a little worried how they'd handle it. Apparently Vito had no intention of rationing the food we left out. But the food wasn't completely gone and they were happy to see us.
Unfortunately, I didn't get much knitting done. On our cross-country road trip a few months ago, I wasn't able to knit much either. My husband tends to get bored if he is not actively engaged while driving. Talking to him with my head down just doesn't cut it (and I am not yet talented enough to knit without looking at it). I thought this would be a little different, only 4 hours each day in the car, not enough time to get bored. Wrong. As soon as he starts to get a little sleepy, back into the bag it goes. Out of 8 total hours of driving time, I knitted for about 30 minutes. And I hardly even pulled it out at the campsite. We're gonna be camping alot this summer, and I hope that knitting doesn't get put on the back burner all summer. Actually, I think I'll just start knitting everyone socks for Christmas since those travel well and don't take too long to complete. And since I already know that almost everything I give away as gifts must be machine washable, the yarn should be ok out in the wild.

Hooray for batteries! Some progress pics of the Alpaca Mother's Day scarf: In the first one, you can sort of tell how the P3tog stitch makes a little knobby bobble blackberry thingie (the color of the yarn makes it look like a blackberry to me). The 3rd picture is a better representation of the colors. They are a little lighter, more of a plum and mauve, but the bright Pacific Northwest sun (how many times has that ever been said?) today really washed out that 2nd pic.

I took the pics on top of the cooler because it is one of the only white things I could find, and also because I wanted to rub in the fact that I am going CAMPING this weekend! The weather in Eugene OR is supposed to be glorious this weekend, so hopefully we'll have a great time. I'm having a hard time deciding what to knit while I'm out this weekend. I can work on the scarf on the road, but I am not interested in having any alpaca/silk blends out in the wilderness. Something smaller and machine washable would be ideal. Maybe I'll start another pair of socks or some fingerless gloves. On second thought, itty bitty needles/stitches by firelight isn't really tootin' my horn, if you know what I mean...
After having safely gotten through row 7 Wednesday, I changed colors and knitted row 8. After knitting stitch 200 of 202, I realized that my stitch count was off. I should have had 4 stitches left, not 2. Sunnuvabitch. My heart began to palpitate. This is exactly where I had problems last time....tinking back to fix something and dropping stitches which subsequently cannot be picked up. I found the mistake, a P3tog which should have been a M3, all the way back on stitch 109. That means that I have to undo 91 stitches without dropping a single one (or doing anything else devastating). But I did it. I went all the way back, fixed the mistake, and knitted along, uneventfully reaching the end of the row with a perfect stitch count and no mistakes. I decided not to press my luck and stopped for the night.

"Row 6", I mutter as the warm breeze blends my voice with the dust blowing down mainstreet. "So we meet again." I squint in the blazing sun and look up at the clock tower as sweat drips into my eyes. Almost noon. I have been dreading this for days. Row 6, the bane of my existence, has foiled my attempts to conquer it not once, but twice. The "Beginner" skill level written on the pattern mocks me as I once again look over the instructions. Not one to back down from a challenge, the time has come to face my archnemesis. The clock tower hand moves. One tick left. As the confrontation draws near, I think back to our previous encounters. Both resulted in complete frogging, Row 6 having gotten the better of me. Not this time. I glance at the clock again, and my hand moves to the holster on my hip...

Yesterday, in a little unassuming cafe in south King county, I completed the dreaded Row 6 without making a mistake. I even moved on to row 7. I did it! It really was treacharous territory, because I got to stitch #185 (out of 202) the second time and had to frog the whole thing. And my first attempt went just as badly. While I know that the only way to improve as a knitter is to get past these exact types of situations, I don't think I could have handled a 3rd complete frogging. My soul wouldn't be able to bear the weight of that kind of failure. Would it speak of too few problem solving skills as a knitter? Inability to use resources (Yeah, I should've just taken the mess to my LYS to see if they could help me find the dropped stitches. My knitting will not advance if I don't learn how to fix mistakes and I just keep on ripping shit out and doing it over from scratch. It's not good for time management, advancement of my skills, etc. And do I really think that I'll be able to knit entire garments (when I get to that level) without knowing how to fix my mistakes? There is no way I can get through 3/4 of a sweater and then frog the whole thing because of one little fuck up that any yarn store employee could assist me with.)? Inattention to detail? I shudder at the thought. Anywho, if I do make a mistake from here on out I will definitely seek out assistance. I've come way too far. The next step will be to change colors. As soon as I find some batteries for my camera I'll post some pics. The pattern really is beautiful.

Here's a math problem for all you statisticians out there: What are the odds that after leaving the car service center, having had your front right blinker replaced (yes, I went to the service center for that. I could totally do it myself, but its still under warranty. I might as well get my money's worth and spend the time knitting row 7 and grinning from ear to ear) and by the time you get to the gas station (7 minutes) the front LEFT blinker goes out? I am not kidding. Tuesday night, right blinker. Wednesday morning right blinker replaced, 7 minutes after leaving dealership left blinker goes out.
The car is only a year old, and the '86 Volkswagen (R.I.P. We adored that car. *sniff, sniff* *sign of the cross*) we traded in for this car NEVER lost a blinker. 300,000 miles on it and we drove it from Washington to California to Texas to Georgia and never replaced a blinker. We had to replace a bunch of other stuff (like the alternator in the auto parts store parking lot. We were on a road trip across the country and had just checked into the hotel in Biloxi MS when I decided to go get dinner. I went down to the car and she wouldn't start. Thank god for manual transmission, 'cause we popped the clutch and drove to the auto parts store where my husband replaced the alternator. Right there in the parking lot! He is such The Man. We could've been stranded there for days waiting for a mechanic to fix it, in addition to blowing a huge chunk of our travelin' money. My husband rocks.) Anyway, I just thought the blinker thing was BS. Pretty bad timing, but the whole thing made me laugh. Really, what are the odds?

Sweet.




Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury

Reading is my old flame, and my husband is definitely a handsome rogue.

Rocco and Vito

Very early Monday morning I was awakened to the cutest thing I have seen in about 2 years. My cat Rocco was sleeping in my hair. A little backstory: He is the only pet we've had since puppy/kittyhood. All the others are rescues, but we got Rocco in Monterey California almost 3 years ago. He is all white (not a stitch of color anywhere--our other cat, Vito, is all black. They look awesome together) and, while my other animals are nowhere near dense, there is something different about Rocco. He is very intuitive, smart, funny, playful, and he loves attention (if you are standing up and he wants to be held, he'll look up at you and you have about 3 seconds to get ready to catch him. He will jump to chest level, right into your arms). When we first got him, he was pretty sick (according to the vet, all-white cats should never be solely outside because of susceptibility to sunburn, etc.) with scabs on his tiny little nose and on the backs of his ears (the hair is so thin that the skin underneath got sunburned) and he also had conjunctivitis so his eyes were goopy and his nose was runny. He was so cute and pathetic--he meowed and whined when I put him down so I held him all the time, and when I went to bed he came with me. He slept on my hair (its long and curly, and I guess pretty comfy). But as soon as he started to get well and grow, he moved on to bigger and better things (like batting a ball with a bell in it across the kitchen floor all night). So, it's been a long time since I've awakened to find him there, and I was so pleased.
Then, last night, I had barely pulled the covers up before he was in my face, purring like a motor. He fell asleep on my chest. I feel like The Chosen One.

I tried on the sock I was working on, and the fit was pretty good. The material, however, was not working for me. I knew they wouldn't be soft or comfy, but man, this was bad. They were stiff, itchy, and just....blech. So I frogged it. I thought to myself, "You're never gonna wear this anyway, so just rip it and make something else with it." So I did. And as I was rewinding it all, I had an epiphany. Since I'm not gonna wear it anyway, and I'm just gonna frog it, I could just go ahead and close the toe now just for the sake of doing it at least once. I mean, I came all this way...But, no, you read correctly--that occured to me as I was REWINDING the stinkin' yarn. About 5 minutes too late. Genius. Oh well, I did learn alot, and I liked it so much I look forward to getting some good sock yarn to start another pair. Socks are a great project to take with you, and although I'm currently a one-at-a-time-er with projects I am definitely looking to pick up the pace with my knitting.
After I frogged the "sock" I immediately casted on for my mom's scarf. I'm using some of the Misti Alpaca and a bamboo size 11 circ. I think I'm in love. After knitting man-made fiber with those teeny tiny sock needles, knitting alpaca with this bamboo is a dream. And the pattern is icing on the cake--I adore the way that the stitches sit in groups on the needle, and the way the soft rows pass through my hands beneath the needles as I knit. I totally got into a rhythm yesterday and flew through about 7 rows of the pattern (a 202 stitch cast-on) when disaster struck. I got to the end of a row and didn't have enough stitches left to make the last repeat. Oh, shit. So I start to count back, trying to find where I went wrong, and I see it. It couldn't have been stitch #196 or even #168. Ohhhhh no. This was stitch # 2. Zero zero two. No biggie, there's still about 40 minutes 'til Sopranos starts, I can just undo the row. That works for about 15 minutes, and then I dropped a stitch. Now, I'm not great at picking up stitches in regular stockinette or garter, much less this pattern. So it starts to run. The more gingerly I held it, the more elusive the stitch definition became, and it began to just melt before my eyes. I couldn't even distinguish proper rows anymore, it was such a mess. Being the novice that I am, and the only knitter I know (with no one to ask for advice), I frogged it. All friggin 6 rows. But I didn't care. I am so in love with the pattern, I just casted on (does anyone else get bored to tears counting cast-on stitches? Under 75 or so isn't so bad, but I felt like I needed a nap by the time I got to 202. Next time I'll place stitch markers every 25 or 50 so I don't have to keep recounting all of them, and just take the stitch markers off the first time I get to them.) and just started right back up again. I looked this pattern up on-line and found out that it is sometimes called a "Trinity Stitch". Here is the basic 4 row pattern repeat, for a multiple of 4 stitches +2 :
Row 1: Purl across.
Row 2: K1, (P3tog, M3), K1
Row 3: Purl across.
Row 4: K1, (M3, P3tog), K1
What I looked up on-line was how to do the M3. When I've seen the (M) in patterns before it usually requires you to pick up the "bar" in between 2 stitches and knit into it, thereby "making" a stitch. But since this was M3, I knew that wasn't going to work. As it turns out, M3 in this pattern means to K1, P1, K1 all into the same stitch. It is a beautiful pattern, and the P3tog's make what looks like tiny blackberries in this yarn color (which also complements my skin tone very nicely, a great thing when you're spending hours a day looking at it. Yes, I have to stare at this pretty consistently lest we have another 6 row frog). I absolutely adore everything about this project, and I'm thinking of knitting one for every woman in my family. Speaking of which, the Michael's craft store nearest me now carries 100% wool in the exact same colors I have planned to use for my MIL's felted handbag. It's Paton's (make) but I can't remember the type (model?). It is only $4.99/skein and it is in the perfect colors. It sounds too good to be true. I must do some research and find out if this wool is any good for felting, or if it'll be a pain in the butt. I'd rather pay more and go out of my way for ease and guaranteed results on my first felting project.
I am dying to take some pictures of my alpaca scarf project, but my batteries are dead. Hopefully soon.

So I got a job. I was super excited, but when I got there the situation turned out to be completely different than I thought. I was brought on under one title, but the work I did was completely different. The hours were much worse than I thought they were going to be, and it overall just didn't feel right. I mean, really, if you dread going to work and you haven't even drawn a paycheck yet you can pretty much bet that means misery, right? It sure as hell wasn't getting any better, so I no longer have a job. Short lived, but what I realized is that I really don't want a job. I mean, I want the pocket money and the financial independence (but really only so that my husband won't know the extent of my splurging on yarn and supplies--I guess this will keep it in check). But what matters more to me is making sure that there is a healthy, home-cooked meal waiting for him and clean, comfy clothes to change into when he gets home, and I like knowing that when he gets up in the morning he'll have a nicely pressed outfit to wear to work. I just can't do those things working 40 hrs a week. So, I have to come to some kind of middle ground. I think I'll look for a part time job.

I went to the craft store today and bought a new circular to make my mom's scarf. She found a pattern she loved at Alpacapalooza but it is knitted lengthwise, and I didn't have a needle long enough. This is my first time using a 29" circular, but I'm sure it's no big deal. My mom is home for 2 weeks because she's recovering from surgery, and she asked me to teach her how to knit! She used to knit and crochet back in the early 70's, but hasn't picked up needles at all since then, so I gave her some of my acrylic and a set of 8's to practice with. Yesterday she went out and got a pattern book for crocheted afghans and a ton of yarn, but she was bored after the first 2 rows. Then this morning she was all "Do you want to go look at yarn?" HA! Do I?! She's got the bug now, too :) I hate being the cause of someone's new uncontrollable addiction. My brother told me last weekend that he wants to learn too (his roommate knits--I tell ya, this stuff is catching).

Yesterday I managed to knit the heel flap and turn the heel for my first sock, and I also started shaping the gusset. When I got it out to show my hubby last night he was glowing with pride! It turns out that the pattern is going to be way too small for him but they're great practice. He informed me that he would love to have all handknitted socks to wear to work. The problem? This is only my first sock ever, and while I think I may be addicted, he wears heavy steel-toed boots to work. I can't seem to find a good pattern that I can be sure won't sneak down his leg into the boot. Does that make sense? The last thing I want is to painstakingly (because of my lack of experience) knit him pairs of "quitters" (that's what he calls the socks whose elastic has quit. hehehe that still cracks me up). So, any suggestions on a pattern? I was thinking that if I use ribbing for the entire leg it might grip enough but as I type this I envision it twisting and sliding around and him having to stop and hike up his pants leg to pull 'em up. I am a little frustrated by not having the experience to be able to figure this out for myself, and I so desperately want to make his first pair usable and sturdy enough for his boots, yet comfortable. I think I'll go to the library today and see if they have any sock knitting books. In the meantime, if anyone happens to stumble across this blog and has a suggetion, please leave it!

Oops. I must not have noticed that the last pic was going way over there on the right... I'm still feeling my way around blogger. I have no idea what to do with all the yarn pictured below--my stash consisted of about 95% acrylic as a whole prior to this morning, and although I did pick up one pattern it is only gonna use about 4 skeins. I'm sure I'll think of something. There are some really beautiful complimentary colors in there. And I didn't notice it until I got them out in the sun, but the 3 skeins of hand-dyed Sunbreak look like they were made for each other (perhaps the reason they were packaged together, huh genius? I really just thought they looked great together)-the light purple has some of the dark in it and the dark purple has some of the coral, as you can see in the close-up. I have never worked with anything so lovely. I am so excited!
Here is an alpaca farm that does a Yarn Arts Happy Hour in Auburn (check out the link on the left side of their page). This is also the producer of most of the yarn I bought. And here is the website for Sunbreak and the distributor for their yarn. Apparently you can also buy "Learn to Spin Alpaca" kits, spindles, needles, and already-made garments. Unfortunately I didn't see any photos of their products, but perhaps if they were contacted they could email some.

Here's what I got at Alpacapalooza:

And I thought I wouldn't have any stash to flash today ;) This is the motherlode. Here is the lowdown: 5 skeins Baby Twist (most of the solids including 1 rust color that is hiding in the back), 2 skeins of Landscapes (the purple and green variegated), 1 Misti, 1 Joya (the bucle lookin' one), and 4 oz of Sunbreak (the 2 purples and the coral packaged together). I also got some pretty stitch markers in blue (on the card under the Joya).