I haven’t been doing much knitting – I have three second socks that I’ve been ignoring, but I’ve found other things to keep me busy:

First, there’s the chairs that I found at an antique store, and scored for $30:

I bought some fabric and reupholstered them, to the amazement of my father:

When I bought them, he thought 1) that I was going to make him redo them, and 2) when he discovered that I planned to do them myself, he couldn’t believe that I got them done within 24 hours. He actually stopped by to inspect them, lol!

The second thing that I’ve been playing with is the sewing machine that I stole from my sister. Thanks to some teaching from ames, I managed to make a little fabric basket, all on my own!

I’m awfully proud of this little basket. I love the colors, and I even managed to get the seams all lined up.

Then I converted some curtains from regular panels into cafe curtains:

And the third thing that’s taken up my time:

This handsome boy’s name is Butterscotch, though he doesn’t really know it so well.

He answers to “Bunny” or “BunBun”

And I seem to have nicknamed him “Buster” and “Buster Bun”‘. I’m working on Stan and Buster becoming friends.

It seems that Buster is the alpha male, which doesn’t bug Stan too much. He’s just happy to have another bunny like him, since Ollie is so standoffish.

Ollie is not amused by Buster, and has taken to ignoring him. Here Ollie is, with his head turned away in denial of Bunny.

So, yeah. Three bunnies=Crazy Bunny Lady.

Lookit! An entry, a FO and a camera ho! That would be Stan checking them out.

These are truly the essence of fug. They embrace the fug. They are fugalicious.

And there’s no doubt who these are being given to. Anyone wanna take a guess?

It’s been awhile since ames or I have posted here, but I’m here to remedy the situation! I don’t have much going on in the way of knitting lately. My life has been consumed by an evil project at work that has been going on since the last week in April. I think I finally wrangled the beast into submission today though, and hopefully I will be done with it completely before this coming weekend, which is conveniently a LONG weekend. I really need the time to unwind.

It’s hard to believe it’s the end of May though. I mean, I know where the time went and all, but still. End. Of. May.

Amazing.

Here, have some pictures! You’ve probably seen them on my Ravelry, but I shall give you fun details with them:

First up, we have Socks that Rock in the Space Dust colorway.

I bought this a few years ago, before I went to visit sparkli, when she lived in St. Louis. I got her a skein too, actually. We both decided that though the yarn looked so pretty in the skein, that it was pretty close to fug when it was knit up. So, I frogged the sock, reskeined the yarn, and shoved it into the bottom of the stash pile.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I fussed with the cast-on and got a fairly good result.

Not as much pooling as my first attempt, except around the gusset decreases, and you know? I can live with that. They’re just short anklets, since I wasn’t sure if I could deal with a whole lot of fug. Turns out, they’re keepers, and they sure are comfy. Or the first sock is. I’m about *thisclose* to finishing the second one. Maybe this weekend.

The other sock that I’ve got going on is the Fox Faces pattern by Nancy Bush.

This pattern has a very retro feel to it, like something out of Vintage Socks. I think it’s the simple repeating pattern on the front, with the very plain back. I like the extra ribbing that goes down a couple extra inches in the back. I’m sure it’ll keep slouchy sockiness at bay. Yes, I made that word up. :p I also cheated and didn’t do the weird braid thing at the top, between the ribbed cuff and the pattern. It was hard – I tried it three times and then gave up and did a simple purl row there to delineate instead. Honestly, I don’t think it looks much different than what her pattern called for. Sometimes I wonder why people go about things the hard way, when there’s a much easier solution. I guess that’s why it’s a hobby for me though, and a career for others.

The yarn is a gorgeous yarn that sparkli picked up for me at a wool festival. It is so soft and luxurious! It also happens to be very slippery – I ended up having to switch over to bamboo dpns, which I haven’t used in years.

Not much else going on, knitting-wise. I got pretty far into a sweater, only to try it on and have it be too small. That’s being ignored and punished right now. I’ll figure out what I want to do with the yarn when I’m not so cranky over the ordeal.

There’s about six more inches of knitting that I did past when this picture was taken. Like I sad, I’m cranky over the ordeal.

Spring has sprung here in Charleston, and it is – well, it’s a little cold at times, and a little rainy at times, and pretty at times, so I suppose it’s a fairly typical spring. Have some pictures!

I took all of those pictures in my grandparents’ backyard. It was a glorious day, blue blue sky and cool breezes, and everything seemed to bloom at once. So now that it’s getting warmer, it’s obviously the perfect time to knit a wool sweater, right?

Simple Green Sweater, knit by me with yarn from aya, and it fits my mom perfectly. Yay! I knew it would fit someone, and I’m thrilled that it’s her.

I also made a new friend for my kitty:

A buddy for Buddy! You may recognize this as leftover sock yarn from the Bright socks! I finished a few weeks ago. This little guy is about three inches tall, a little bit askew, and completely adorable. Buddy isn’t totally on board yet, but a little catnip (once I get some) should get him excited.

That’s what’s happening here! As a reminder, posts in green featuring cats (like this one) are from the Amy in Charleston (formerly Chicago, call me ames if you like), and posts in black featuring bunnies are from aya in Boston. xoxo!

So it’s been a bit of a few weeks here in amesville.  In the past month, I have:

• packed up an apartment and moved states (again)
• been wined and dined throughout Chicagoland as my friends and I said goodbye
• became the new BFF of a little poodle named Buffy
• watched my cat slowly become King of the LabUpstairs
• remained unemployed, sigh (although that’s not new)
• finished a pair of socks
• met my mother’s crazy friends
• sewed one seam out of many in my sweater
• played with cute babies
• contemplated starting a completely insane shawl that makes my fingers itch from wanting to knit it
• hooked up with two old friends, one from law school, one from high school
• watched Julie & Julia with my parents and got completely inspired to cook.

It’s been kind of insane!  So, to expand.  For various and sundry reasons that include, but are not limited to, my lack of employment, my grandfather’s increasing age, and my family missing me a lot, I have returned home.  Home, for the record, is Charleston, SC.  I haven’t lived here in roughly 18 years, and it’s like living in a completely foreign city.  Well, kind of – I still know where things are, but so much has changed!  My father came up to get me, which was very nice of him.  The poor man pretty much drove for four days – two up, two down.

The drive was peaceful, although marred in the middle by the surprise death of my little grey cat, Sergei.  It was a surprise in that I wasn’t expecting it that night, but I also wasn’t expecting him to be one of those cats who lives to be fifteen.  He had a heart murmur, and was slowing down a lot in the past few months.  So that was sad, and I worried a bit about how Buddy would handle it, until I remembered that he was moving into a house with two miniature poodles.  Cue chaos, hahaha.  They’re settling down now, but oh my – Buddy hasn’t had this much excitement EVER.

The socks!  The knitty girls and I went to YarnCon last October, and I scored this sweet skein of Sophie’s Toes:

Candy Corn colorway, and it is most beautiful.   I know you’re thinking that the brightness is because I abused the flash on my camera, but you are wrong, because this is some seriously BRIGHT yarn.  And it makes cute socks!

Very cute, yes?  Yes!  Sadly, that’s the only completed knitting I have to share. I’m still avoiding the seams on the sweater just out of contrariness, and there’s a hand towel of Mom’s that I’m finishing (linen! very stiff, I’m mostly working on this because I want to see it become lovely and soft), and staring at a crazy lacy beaded wrap with absolute knitterly lust.  I want to make it.

Instead, Mom and I cooked.  Beef Burgandy (I am most tired of typing out the French name, you’ll have to live) a la Julia Child.  Witness:

It was good! It was a little heavy for my particular eating today, but I didn’t care and ate it anyway.  Yum.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, here in MA. I spent the day doing a bit of spring cleaning, with all the windows open, to air the place out. I ended up rearranging the living room furniture, and I finally hung up some pictures that I never seemed to get around to. I’m pretty pleased with the new layout, though the bunnies are letting me know of their displeasure – they keep going and nudging me and the things that have been moved, as if to say “Hey, this is your fault! THIS doesn’t belong HERE.”

I’ve been knitting on a pair of socks, Meida, from Favorite Socks:

I’m about halfway through the second sock. I’m just about done with the gusset decreases.

Though I really like the pattern, which is easy to memorize, I needed something else to knit on. So I cast-on for a hat – ames, the same slouchy hat that you knit, though I didn’t realize it until I finished it!

I knit it up while re-watching a few episodes of season one Battlestar Galactica last night. I decided to re-watch the series, now that I know how they wrapped it up, to see what I missed the first time around (the answer, of course, is that I missed A LOT).

I’m thrilled with this hat, and I just love Malabrigo. It’s so soft and such a tactile pleasure to knit with. This hat is definitely a keeper, though forgive me if I say that I hope that I don’t get any use out of it until next winter.

Two days of sun and temps in the 50s, and Spring Fever has definitely set in!

It’s a lazy Saturday morning here. I’ve got my second cup of coffee next to me, and thought I’d post some pictures from my latest finished socks. I finished these within the last week, and it’s so nice to have two pairs of finished socks so quickly.

These socks have been hanging around since November. I finally bit the bullet and cranked out the second sock. They’re just some simple socks, which normally aren’t hard to crank out, but the yarn was a bit scratchy, so I wasn’t a big fan. I *am* a big fan of the color though. They’re pretty:

The yarn is Lime & Violet’s Sasquatch Sock, in the Buster Keaton colorway.

This second pair of socks, I think I’m in love with them. Ames got me to cast-on for them, and I’m glad she did! They’re big comfy slouchy socks, and I know that I’m going to wear them to bits.

The pattern is Mock Wave Cable socks from Favorite Socks. The yarn is Claudia’s Handpainted in Yo! Sailor Boy! A pretty dark bluish-purple.

I’ve also got one Glynis sock done, from Sock Innovations.

I had this plan that I was going to cast-on for the second sock, and therefore have three finished pairs of socks during the Olympics, but then I got sidetracked when I saw a pretty pair of socks on Ravelry. I thought to myself, “Hey, I have that pattern! And, heeeey, I’ve got yarn in a similar color!”

So I cast-on for the Meida sock instead of starting the second Glynis. I’m an easily distracted knitter.

No picture of the in progress sock, but here’s the yarn that I’m using. It’s Knitpicks’ Palette in Grass.

I’ve had this yarn in my stash FOREVER. I think it might even be discontinued in this color now. I’m about halfway done with the first sock – it’s a quick knit because it’s a short sock. Not quite anklet, but shorter than I’m used to knitting. Maybe just 4 inches before the heel flap. I normally knit 7 inches before the heel flap. Picture to follow as soon as the first sock is done.

Now, it’s offf to figure out what to do for the day. More coffee first, and then I’ll decide.

Happy weekend, all! :D

Here, have a sneak peek of a project-in-process!

A sweater! This is the back, and off screen are two sleeves, all done and blocked and waiting. I’ve got the front well on its way.
Basic Sweater Pattern
Dream in Color Classy, Happy Forest colorway
US9, and I have no idea who this will fit. I went for the size that would use up my yarn, haha.

Look how pretty this yarn is! I love it.

So, ames came to visit last weekend, and it was wonderful! I missed her as soon as she left. :(

We knit lots and we watched lots of tv. Our typical m.o., heh.

She even talked me into knitting the same pattern (Mock Cable Waves from Favorite Socks) that she was working on, and of course, I listened. I almost always listen, because she has good knitty mojo, and has very rarely led me astray. HA HA, don’t get a big head. (or you can, and then that really cute green/pink hat won’t fit and you can give it to me. *covet*)

I finished the first sock tonight, and it’s absolutely slouchy and cushy and I love it.

Dark blue is a bitch to photograph, especially at night.

It’s a yarn-eater though. I normally have quite a bit of Claudia’s HP left over when I knit socks, but I ended up having to chip into the second skein during the first sock, about one repeat from the toe. I went and ordered a third skein last week, so I’ll have enough to finish the pair. The color is “Yo, Sailor Boy!” by the way. Exclamation included. :D

It’s fun because there’s no ribbing for the cuff – you just dive into pattern. Now, I love a nice ribbed cuff – a 2×2 or a 1×1, doesn’t matter, but every now and then, it’s nice to change it up. The pattern isn’t difficult, sort of a shift every couple of rows, and a few rows that repeat – but I just could not get it set in my mind, so I knit the whole sock with the book next to me. That’s okay though- it’s not like I don’t normally have a pattern glued to my side (especially when attempting a cookie a pattern).

It’s been a while since my last post, at least a couple of months. I went on a mitten tear – two pairs of fingerless mitts, and a full set of mittens for my mom:

They’re made with some really soft yarn – Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton & Silk. Since they’re actually indoor mittens, the yarn works. I wouldn’t recommend it for snowy adventures outdoors though. My mother is always cold, and on the days where she just can’t warm up, you’ll find her curled up on the couch under a couple of blankets, wearing a shirt, a sweater AND a fleece, and with mittens on. We keep telling her that all her meds have over-regulated her, but she doesn’t listen. So – MITTENS.

I also have a pair of zens that I’m ignoring.

I like the yarn, but they’re very boring. I’m almost halfway through the second sock. Maybe I’ll finish them up once the MWC socks are done. Or not. I’ve been wanting to tackle a pattern out of Sock Innovations, so they may have to wait.

After knitting almost exclusively from the stash last year, thanks to 8 months of unemployment, I’ve taken to rebuilding the stash. When ames was here, I added two yarns to it (see previous entry from ames for pics). I kind of sort of maybe added to it again, when I ordered that third skein of Yo! Sailor Boy!. Hrm. Okay, I added quite a bit. But, I have to squirrel yarn away in the case of new unemployment, after all.

More Claudia’s, this time in periwinkle:

Madelinetosh tosh sock in norway spruce:

Cherry Tree Hill supersock semi-solid in fuschia (it’s not really fuschia though, more of a bright cherry color, like kool-aid):

And lastly, some ShiBuiKnits in bare. These are destined to become those Austrian socks from Favorite Socks:

It is Sunday of a fun fabulous looooooooong weekend of ames and aya being in the same place at the same time. HOMG.  I flew in Wednesday afternoon and we had dinner at aya’s parents’ house (mmmyum roast beef) and picked up the car that her mom was graciously lending me for my adventures on Thursday.  Then it was home to aya’s, where we did nothing.  Possibly there was a little bit of knitting.  Possibly not.  We were tired.

Thursday!  Poor poor aya had to work, and was very sad about it.  Oh, the pitiful text messages I got!  I slept in a bit, then hopped in the car to drive into the city and meet my friend Jo for lunch.  Jo and I haven’t seen each other in six years, and it was like not even five minutes had passed.  <3 <3 <3 She looks exactly the same, and we laughed and gossiped and giggled for almost two hours.  Also – the lobster bacon macaroni and cheese at Laurel is possibly one of the most amazing dishes I’ve ever eaten.  Aya came home, we played with her cute little bunnies, and started many tv watchings, beginning with The Plan, which is the Battlestar Galactica miniseries where everything is told from the Cylons’ point of view. Very good, but holy cow does Edward James Olmos like to throw in totally gratuitous (and fake) t & a. ANYWAY. Moving on.

Friday was yaaaaaarn daaaaaaay. We bought these!

Sheep Shop Yarn Company, Sheepfeet DK Merino, very pretty, and on SALE. We both have this, and need to pick a sock pattern. We’ll be all matchy-matchy.

Trekking XXL, my favorite sock yarn for gifting socks. I love it, I can’t wait to use it, and it will be fabulous.

Artyarn Handpainted Merino, Colorway 110 (wtf with the numbers, how hard it is to say pink, for pete’s sake). These are aya’s, and they’re so pretty. Artyarns does good work, man. Pretty pretty.

And there has been knitting! I started a new pair of socks on the bus to the airport Wednesday, and I’ll be finishing them today. No pictures yet, but it’s this sock . Mine is an odd but pretty slate grayish blue. Very nice, and I’ve almost finished the first one. Woo-hoo, I will finish it tonight. I’m loving this pattern, and raved about it so much that aya decided she needed to knit it as well. HA. Anyway, it’s the Mock Wave Cable from Interweave Press’s 25 Favorite Socks book. (I am chipping away at my goal of knitting every pattern in the book.)

We went to see The Book of Eli yesterday, which aya really enjoyed and I didn’t totally hate, and capped off the evening with three hours of Sanctuary, my current favorite tv show. (Last week’s episode, and then the two-hour finale of awesome from Friday night.)

Today? We stay in. Most likely. Who knows. We’re low on milk for lattes, and aya has a fancy new espresso machine, so we may be crawling out of the house at some point. I go back home tomorrow, sadness. I miss my kitties, though. Rabbits are cute pets, but they don’t snuggle.

aya says “type, minion!”