30 December, 2012

December 2012: Wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2012:



January: 817 yds
February: 782 yds
March: 1350 yds
April: 421 yds
May: 789 yds
June: 485 yds
July: 511yds
August: 368 yds
September: 1786 yds
October: 879 yds
November: 1095yds
December: 1140yds 

Year to date: 10,423 yds or 5.92 miles





And that's a wrap, kittens! I do technically have the rest of today left, but realistically I will not knit more than a few yards while spending the day with my family.  I was looking at last year's numbers, and I knit over 2,000 more yards this year than last!  That's definitely an improvement; 2011 was a really low output year for me.  I'm hoping 2013 will be just as productive, if not more so.

Happy New Year, kittens!  See you in 2013.

26 December, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 14



I'm sorry it took a few extra days to get this up, Kittens.  I had wanted to get this up before the Giftmas holiday and that just didn't work out with our schedule here.  We decided to travel back home and that was more involved than we thought it would be...and we've been seriously busy since we arrived here.  That's not a bad thing. ;)

Onto the show notes!



♥ Despite leaving a day later, we did not, infact, avoid the snow.  We just hit it on the first leg of the trip instead of the second half.

FOs:
20 Penguin Puffs
Gnomies Can Never Be Broken - These were finished on 06 December 2012.
Keeping His Neck Warm


WIPs:
Kitchy Keen socks - Jeck is an excellent pattern for variegated yarns so far.  Will be knitting this again.
It's On Like Donkey Kong!


Next On Deck:
♥ Winter Coat-this is getting increasingly complicated.
♥ 600 Monsters Strong- Rav Group/ FB Page
   -  Please check it out!


Stash Flash:
♥ Harry Potter Knight Bus screen print is from Amanda aka The Craft Junky

12 December, 2012

Excuses





Sorry, kittens.  There's a nasty chest cold going around, and I got it.  Quick video to excuse my podcasting absence and share some snow with you.  I'll hopefully blog later this week.

05 December, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 13





Ah, there's that lovely Vimeo video preview again...I look so angry.  I was in a bit of a rush this week and started talking pretty fast.  "Fun" fact: one of my grandparents nicknamed me, "Motor Mouth," as a child.  She added to the sting by making me an awful acrylic sweater with a bunny talking on the phone...and the words, "yakkity yak," embroidered all over it.  I never got over that one and started to withdraw more out of fear that I'd be made fun of for talking.

If I'm really excited about something, I can talk forever and at hyper speeds.

Onto the show notes!

FOs:
Pinkie Pie Socks - "Ribbed Socks for Kids" by Susan B. Anderson.
- US size 2 needles.  Knit Pick's Felici in "Positively Pink."
- Made these as knee highs for my daughter with a 7.25" leg.  Managed to make a pair out of a 50g skein with a couple yards leftover.  I often have just under half a skein of yarn from my own socks...I may have a future use for those partials.

Crafty Neck Thingie - "Malabrigo Neck Thingie" by Anne Sahakian.
-US size 8 needles.  Used Another Crafty Girl Merino Worsted in "Robo Boogie."
-Pattern is a bit short as written, IMHO.  I had enough yardage left over that it could have easily been made an inch or two taller.  Also, not sold on the purl/knit alternating welts.

WIPs:
♥ 20 Penguin Puffs - My own pattern/improvised.

♥ Gnomies Can Never Be Broken - I am so close to having these done!  It was a shame I couldn't find the final 2 hours I needed so I could show them off this week.

♥ It's On Like Donkey Kong! - "Ribbed Socks for Kids" in Hiwassee Creek Dyeworks Sassafras Sock: "Donkey Kong" colorway.

Stash Flash:
♥  Hoo boy.  A lot this week after a month of almost nothing.  But the coat yarn is here!!  Yay!!

01 December, 2012

November 2012: Wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2012:



January: 817 yds
February: 782 yds
March: 1350 yds
April: 421 yds
May: 789 yds
June: 485 yds
July: 511yds
August: 368 yds
September: 1786 yds
October: 879 yds
November: 1095yds

Year to date: 9,283 yds or 5.27 miles






Kittens, it seemed as though I knit my fingers off this month--I was constantly working on something.  So many socks and toys on needles again...a cowl...the beginnings of a sweater.   I'm hoping for good things in December and starting to think about blog and podcast topics.

How about you out there: how was your November?

28 November, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 12






Interruptions! O A O What does a lady have to do to get 25 minutes of uninterrupted time around here?! *ahem*

Show notes, let me show you them.

FOs:
♥ None this week

WIPs:
♥ 20 Penguin Puffs--only to 9 at this point and already pretty sick of making them.  Will move onto the face patches and figuring out how to decorate them. (And hope I do not have to make more.  Oy.)

♥ Gnomies Can Never Be Broken Socks--Not going to finish them before the 30 November deadline, but I did manage to knit up one full sock and about 25% of the second at this point.  I'm hoping to be to at least the heel by Friday.

♥ "Teal Love"--My Goodale is starting to pick up steam because I want to knock it out in the next 1-2 weeks.  I need to think of a better name for this sweater.

Next On Deck-
♥  Fully Lined Winter Coat.  WHOAH.  I've lost my mind, and I'll likely disappear due to this one.  Wish me luck!

Stash Flash:
♥ None today.  Next week is not looking so good.

26 November, 2012

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I've been meaning to overhaul the look of this blog for awhile now, and I've finally been playing around with my blog layout and header image today, kittens. I know chevrons are really trendy and overdone at the moment...but darn if I do not love the look of them. Thanks to this nifty Photoshop tutorial, I was able to make my own this morning. I'm not 100% sold on how I did my new header...a graphic designer I am not. I was going for something more simple but still crafty. I love interesting fonts, but sometimes they are too hard to read. (But at least I didn't use Comic Sans or Papyrus, amirite?!) What do you think?

21 November, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 11





This one got away from me, kittens.  I recorded late in the day and then was too busy to type up show notes until about bedtime.  Keeping them short and sweet this week.  I had issues getting words out of my mouth, both on Sunday and today...not sure what was going on there.  I haven't had that many issues in awhile.

Have a great Thanksgiving!


FOs:
Birthday Owl- this was very well received.

WIPs:
♥ Gnomies Can Never Be Broken
♥ Pinkie Pie Socks
♥20 Penguin Puffs
♥Goodale (about time, amirite?!)

Next on Deck:
♥ Not even thinking about it at this time.  So much to do with my current projects!

Stash Flash:
♥  None.  I've been showing some rare will power because I'm butting up pretty close to my yardage in goal for the quarter already.  Any more purchases and I'll blow it.  So anything acquired had better be really special. ;)

14 November, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 10





Apparently instead of looking pissed off in the Vimeo screen capture this week, I have boo-boo lip instead.  I keep hoping for a pleasant face one of these days!  This week's episode is a big longer than the last two; I guess I was feeling chatty. ♥



♥ I should clarify one thing in regards to my irritation about the earlier "Black Friday" openings:  while the consumerism bothers me, it irritates me even more that all of the employees will be forced to work and miss out on family time. During one of the only holidays we have that isn't focused on buying a ton of crap.  It's about a nice meal and time with loved ones--family or friends.  I used to work retail before things got really crazy these past few years and even then it was mandatory to work the day after Thanksgiving.  No exceptions.  I'm really upset for anyone who is being forced to start work at 8PM Thanksgiving night and then work overnight into the morning.  This ruins their entire Thanksgiving day too.  I wag my shame finger at any retailer participating in this practice, and I hope that there isn't enough business to justify making this a trend and the new norm.

I'll step off my soap box now.

FOs:
♥ Welcoming Owl
   
WIPs:
Another Lucy's Owl!
♥ This is where I buy my safety eyes: 6060 Etsy Shop
Squoosh Fiberarts
Chiaogoo needles (Thanks to the site, I now know I misprounced the brand name.)
 Gnomies Can Never Be Broken

Soon to Cast-On:
♥ Goodale by Cecily Glowick MacDonald.  Thank you so much Jen, for gifting it to me!
Reindeer from Teeny-Tiny MochiMochi.

Stash Flash:
♥  None.  Shocking, I know.

07 November, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 9








Again, with the pissed off face*.  I think Vimeo is trying to make me look as unpleasant and crazy as possible!  One things these podcasts have taught me: I have a very animated style of talking.  My goodness.  Another short one this week, kittens.

*Though, I will say this: I *should* have a pissed off face since a lot went wrong this week...including losing the video editing software I had and I could not get back.  My whole computer had to be wiped and the OS re-installed   So I downloaded a trial.  It chopped everything to 3 minutes and I didn't realize it until I went to make this post.  OH, all the negative feels that ensued from that!  So I gave in and bought the software and had to put this post up much later than I had been expecting to.  At least this week's video was easy to redo, having been done in a single cut with no real edits to speak of.  This has been my week.



FOs:
♥ None this week.
   
WIPs:
Gnomies Can Never Be Broken
Welcoming Owl

Soon to Cast-On:
♥ Goodale by Cecily Glowick MacDonald.  Thank you so much Jen, for gifting it to me!



Stash Flash:






 ♥ This wasn't part of the show because it showed up after I filmed, but here's some more Dancing Dog Dye Dyeworks that  I pre-ordered last month.  An audible squeal may have escaped me when I opened this.  And I may have startled The Boy when I did so.  Yeah, I'm totally winning Mother Of The Year today.

04 November, 2012

I ♥ Pinterest: October 2012

Ninja Kitten





Welcome to my second monthly post in Kitten's Pinterest Along!  This month, I actually tried out a few new things that I had pinned on Pinterest.  Are you all on Pinterest, kittens?  I love it; you can find me there as Sew Knitpicky.  Visual bookmarking is the bee's knees as far as I'm concerned.  I'm jealous that I didn't think of it first.


Let's start off with a Pin that went very well.







I am all thumbs when it comes to doing my hair.  I apparently missed the memo about the day when I would acquire the dexterity and coordination needed to do even the most simple things... like French braiding, working a curling iron...anything more difficult than a simple traditional braid or brushing my hair, really.  Add to that the fact that my hair has serious Speshul Snoflake syndrome and well...let's just say I wear it back in pony tails most of the time.*  I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to ideas of how to handle my hair and try to fake looking like I know what I'm doing, but sadly, most are too complex for me to manage at this point in time.  So imagine my shock and delight when I watched through this video a friend of mine Pinned and I realized that no special tools were used to make those hairstyles!  No irons.  No teasing sessions.  No sprays.  No turning upside down or trying to execute maneuvers best left to Indian deities and their many hands.  In most cases they require hair elastics and maybe bobby pins if they're buns.  WIN.

I love that it has a similar feel to a fishtail braid, but it much more simple to execute.  This style took me about 5 minutes to do...with a couple of restarts because my hair was refusing to cooperate.  It's chilly but very humid here thanks to Sandy**, so my hair's hackles are raised.

I can not wait to try more of the styles from this video!

*My hair is baby fine but I have tons of it.   It has the right texture to curl but won't [it's baffled several stylists now]...unless it's the ever-short hairs in the very front of my head and then they curl into cork screws at the very worst times [I seriously rock the CRAZY look more often than I would like to admit...I look frazzled when it happens].  If it's long, it goes limp.  If it's short, it does this crazy poofy thing and even tries to curl upwards.  I will not start on all of the cowlicks it contains, or the fact that no perm can tame it.  The texture is so fine that man-made intentional curls fall right out.  But yes, HOT MESS would very accurately describe my mane.

In my fantasy world in which we win a vulgar amount of money in the lottery, I have someone to do my hair for me every day and I never look like a slob again.  I dream big.

** Sandy has passed since I started writing this post.


 My food Pins that I tried out were pretty successful as well!

Two from The Prime Pursuit--Lara Balls and the Chocolate variety (minus the coffee)--went over extremely well Chez Knitpicky.  They are full of fiber and pretty sweet as-is.  I added a half teaspoon of honey to each recipe to sweeten them up just a tiny bit more.  I found it pretty amusing that my son--like PP's neighbor--mentioned that the original kind reminded him of cookie dough.  Too funny!  I bought supplies to make more of these for home, and I think that if I go to any get-togethers in the coming months, I'll make some for those.  I'm pretty sure no one will complain about a filling, healthy treat.

Another winner this month was Pennies on the Platter's DIY Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix.  The only change I made was a touch more sugar, because I used 70%+ dark chocolate in mine instead of white chocolate chips.  This is so yummy when you use milk to make it.  Sadly, mixing with water makes it taste like any old cheap packet mix.  We're going to head home for Giftmas this year, and I think I may make up a double or triple batch of this to give away as gifts.

Simply Love Food's Southwestern Stuffed Peppers were NOM NOM NOM.

Other food pins were OK, but require further tweaking to be GREAT!

In this category would be Lizzy Write's Korean Beef.  It was tasty and I wanted to love it, but it was just a bit too salty for my tastes and it needs something...more.  (This may be due to the fact that I do not have low sodium soy sauce, nor do I care overly much for green onions so I left them out that day.  I'll probably remake this in the future and then report back at that time.)  It was also pretty sweet; I would likely cut that a big when I remake this.  Even as-is, I would eat it again, but I wouldn't be raving about it.

Crock Pot Beef Stew was also in this category.  It was edible, but I really didn't like the tomato based "stew."  My children weren't too hot on this one either.  I'm not sure I would try to fix this one though; I think I'll let it go to try another recipe more to our tastes.



I think that covers my last month of Pins pretty well!  I hope everyone else was as successful.

31 October, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 8






Short show this week; I didn't work on much so there isn't a lot to talk about.  Man, do I look crazed in that preview image!  Thank goodness I'm not a politician so no one will think to use those against me!

Onto the show notes!

Nikola Tessla brooch (not broach as I misspelled in the end title) is from The Science Boutique on Etsy.  I really want the glow in the dark madam Curie one too!

FOs:
The Girl's First Real Winter Mittens.  Petit Purls.
♥ The TARDIS pouch.  Sorry kittens, I forgot to get pictures of it before recording!  See last week's show notes for more details pertaining to this project.

WIPs:
Pinkie Pie Socks.  That's it.  Seriously.

 Soon to Cast-On:
♥ Gearing up for the Dancing Dog Dyeworks' 30 Day Sockdown KAL November.  Broken Seed Stitch Socks.  DDD Twist sock in Love My Gnomies and Shibui sock in Ivory.
♥ Goodale by Cecily Glowick MacDonald....really.  One of these days.  I was mistaken: every other size makes a larger jump and then two will be closer together in size.  It does not  seem to have any real rhyme or reason to the sizing.

30 October, 2012

October 2012: Wrap-up

Kittens!  I decided not to bombard you with posts tomorrow.  I've slowed down a touch on my knitting this last week, and I doubt I'll work on anything further than I already have.  I may as well do my monthly yardage tally post today.

We're all doing fine after Sandy hit last night.  She ended up fizzling out before she could do any real damage here. We had some high winds for about 6 hours last night, but by 4 am, it was calm and clear again.  Today we're even seeing some blue skies.  I hope everyone out there on the East Coast is as fortunate as we were.  I've been thinking about all of you. ♥








Yardage Totals 2012:



January: 817 yds
February: 782 yds
March: 1350 yds
April: 421 yds
May: 789 yds
June: 485 yds
July: 511yds
August: 368 yds
September: 1786 yds
October: 879 yds

Year to date: 8,188 yds or 4.65 miles





For as much as I knit this month, that number is disappointingly low.  Not that it matters, but it's a pride issue for me.  Just under half of it was in socks (which let's face it, are seriously time consuming for little yardage used), a quarter of it was the wide stripes blanket o' doom, and the other quarter was small objects like mittens and a toy.  I may be the world's slowest toy knitter.  But I did manage to finish quite a few projects and this first month of Q4 Stashdown, I'm doing really well.  I'm mean really well.  I'm looking to save a little face when all is said and done if November and December are more of the same. Yowza.

I hope you are all well today, kittens, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.  (Sick preschooler permitting.  *knocks on wood*)

27 October, 2012

Question: please vote.

Kittens!  I need your help making this decision.  I can't help but feel that making a group would be putting the cart before the horse...but it seems like other podcasts have groups made at the same time.  What should I do?!




EDIT: I have since removed the poll since it's been causing issues with my blog layout. Any opinions, please post a comment. Thank you! :)

Today in pictures






This is what's happened to my lovely view, Kittens. Just a week ago, there were still pretty golden leaves all over those trees, and now, you can see hints of winter in them.











Today I took my Ghastly Uma out into the wild.  Even with short sleeves, it's quite warm.  Too warm for the house at the moment, but I suspect that in winter, it will make an excellent house sweater.












Life is never boring with a Shiba Inu, which are crazy chewers. This poor toy did not make it even 2 hours before Tala managed to open its head and pull out all of the stuffing. It's like a crime scene, and I'm some sort of CSI documenting the carnage.  (These toys are rated at a 7 or 8 on the toughness scale; I can not imagine how quickly she'd rip open a standard toy.)  She takes so much glee in ripping the insides out of these toys.


And that's my Saturday!  I hope it's treating you all well!

24 October, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 7






Kittens, it's that time of the week again: video podcast day!  Trying to keep everything short and sweet; I came in at just over 18 minutes this week.


Onto the show notes!

♥ This is one of my favorite mugs.  It can be found at the Sugar Bunny Shop.  I have the Mashimaro one too.  Eee!  They are large, nice heavy weight, hold almost 2 full cups of liquid, and are high quality.  And really, $15 for something like that isn't so high priced.  LOVE.
♥ Hopefully the bit about our renter wasn't over-sharing.  The house has been a huge sore spot for us since we bought it in December 2006...and 2 days after closing were told we had orders to PCS.  It's been a dramatastic ride ever since full of dead beat renters and now our current one is getting shafted by VA and the military retirement system.  Which means we are getting shafted by them too.

FOs:
Diamond's Little Sister - US Size 6 needles.  Knit Picks Swish Tonal in Queen Anne.  Minor foot mod: removed 5 rounds.  Made felt and embroidered eyes rather than safety eyes.
The Boy's First Real Winter Mittens - US Size 4 and 6.  Knit Picks Swish Tonal in Canopy and Kindling.  Modified the cuff to be twisted ribbing and lengthened.  Also lengthened the thumb.  I think this is a good pattern, but you should watch it to make sure it will fit your child's hand.  

WIPs:
♥ One sewing project but no projects on needles were worked on this week.  Crazy!
Open Wide Zippered Pouch tutorial by Anna at Noodlehead.  The one I'm making is a modified size Large.
 TARDIS panel from Amanda Hall's Etsy shop.  She blogs at The Craft Junky.
 


Soon to Cast-On:
Goodale by Cecily Glowick MacDonald....maybe. Yarn choice is fighting me hard on this one.  I may have to accept that it's not meant to be.
♥ Gearing up for the Dancing Dog Dyeworks' 30 Day Sockdown KAL November.  I'm not 100% sure about pattern and yarn choice yet, but a full month is plenty of time for at least one pair of socks. 
♥ I may cast on a second pair of mittens for my daughter.  The last pair took 3 days start-to-finish; I could definitely finish a pair for her before the end of the month.

Stash Flash:
Ladybug Fiber Company 75/25 Self-striping in "Mesa Sunrise."  PURDY.  Thanks to after-the-fact color correction, there was no reason I had to go through so much trouble getting this skein to look right!  When will I learn?!
♥ Other podcast I referenced is Whatcha Swatchin?  with host, Emily.  We have similar taste in yarn and patterns...and she keeps her shows fairly short, which I love. 

21 October, 2012

Another week...






...and more changes to my view.  Soon, there will be no more pretty leaves to gaze at while I take Tala out for bathroom breaks.   This makes me a little sad, but I've been enjoying the gasps of wonder from my children who have never seen seasonal changes like this before.  To them, this is all magical and new.  In Alabama and Texas, when autumn  early winter arrived, the leaves would go from green to brown and just fall off the trees.  None of the pretty transitional stuff you see here.

I hope no one minds that this year I've been posting so many scenery pictures.  After almost a decade without, it seems a bit magical to me as well. ♥

17 October, 2012

Not a Podcast: Episode 6

17Oct2012 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.




Kittens, it's been two weeks since I made a video entry.  This one got a little long at just under 26 minutes.  It gave my computer issues saving it, but I *think* it's OK.  I watch these through quite a few times throughout the process, and it was looking alright when I skimmed it.  Despite my thoughts at the end of the video, I was neither able to get this up early, nor to attend a knit date: it was cancelled.  I'm hoping the weather holds out next week.  I'm trying to enjoy all of the freedom I can get right now.  Once the Mister leaves for his "business trip," I'll be restricted to going out just to the daytime play dates during that time.

I'm still learning how to edit video, so I appreciate the patience with me.  This one isn't too bad, but a couple of the jumps are fairly jarring.  I *could* play with more effects, but I tend to find them annoying and distracting.  And once again, Vimeo's preview image makes me look like I am seriously peeved about something.

And in Manda-ese, "early morning" is 10am.  Just in case anyone was wondering.  During a part of this video, I was seriously tempted to make a paper shark and play the Jaws theme.  I'm not sure if such goofiness would be appreciated in a podcast.  I know as I do more of these, the format and tone will evolve with it.  So um, consider yourselves warned: the more comfortable I get with this, the more my quirks will pop up.

Anywho!  Show notes, let me show you them.



FOs:
Trick or Treat Socks-- Aquaphobia Socks by Crystal Flanagan. US size 1.5. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Trick Or Treat. 17 days start to finish. ~ 254yds.
♥ A note about the LL's: I believe they no longer make the 50g skeins like I used here.  They're all 100g now. 


WIPs:
Pinkie Pie Socks - Susan B. Anderson
Monkey's Little Sister - If you look at the back left corner of the video, there on the bookshelf is the purple monkey.  A couple of nights ago, she was renamed to Diamond.  The Girl tells me that the pink monkey's name is Ruby.  All day she's been chattering at me about how I'm working on Ruby.  Too Cute.  And since making the video this morning, I finished the second arm and am now working on the feet and legs.  It's slowly moving.
 Rebecca Danger
Wide Stripes--the never-ending blanket o' doom.  DOOM!  And uh, sorry about trying to deafen you all.  I think my needles hit the wall as I was trying to show how wide the blanket is.


Soon to Cast-On:
♥  ???  Way too many choices.  The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz was the book I was thinking of.


Stash Flash:
Bad Amy Knits - Etsy shop  (She also sews and sells cute knitting bags.)
Dancing Dog Dyeworks - Etsy shop  (For those wondering about why I said, "'colorway' of the month," it's because the last two months have had multiple colors up for grabs.  Last month there were 3;  this month was the same when she opened up the new colors.)
DDD Ravelry group
  

16 October, 2012

"Wordless" Post











Just something pretty to look at today, kittens.

10 October, 2012

WIP-it Wednesday: 10 October 2012

Kittens!  I am taking a break from the video entries this week to give myself a chance to better organize my notes and maybe have an FO for you next week.  I didn't finish anything and my current WIPs are not too interesting: it would have been a pretty short boring show. ;)  [And I kinda sorta want to go to a knit date tonight and editing the entries always takes me longer than planned.  So um, hiatus for a week!]


That doesn't mean I can't share my WIPs with you, though. ♥









Behold!  You may recognize the Trick Or Treat Socks and see the start of Pinkie Pie socks for my daughter (I started those while meeting a bunch of lovely ladies that all live within BLOCKS of me on post...crazy!).  The brown square is part of a collaborative blanket knit.  I mostly knit socks this week.  This isn't a bad thing, but socks often have so little to show for them.  Last night, I finally pulled out the Wide Striped Blanket O' Doom and worked 5 rows of that, and I've even been quilting a few lines a day on that languishing bed quilt.  About time too--it's been cold here already.  I think I see many hand knit/crocheted/sewn blankets in my future.

So that's been my week: how have you all been?  Keeping warm?

09 October, 2012

Time keeps on slippin'...






...into the future.  The view outside my window is changing daily.  Gotta love that! ♥

06 October, 2012

Saturday Amusement

I thought it might be nice to throw in a text entry this week before Wednesday inevitably comes around again.   The 6 of you kittens that regularly read this, you do not mind the more fluffy posts, do you?  Lately, I've noticed a spike in page views on this blog, and I've been starting to dig around in Blogger's stat features. ( I haven't done anything to promote it, which makes the spike all the more intriguing to me.)

Today, I finally decided to figure out which blog post is my most viewed one.  Lately, I've been getting 20+ page views a day, but not on my most recent entries.  Strange, non?  So I did a little sleuthing: at 307 views as of today, this is my most viewed blog post.  Why?  I have no idea.  It does amuse me.  The next highest is my 2011 Stashdown numbers for the year.  Those I can almost understand since I'm in the actual group on Ravelry.  But a 2 sentence entry with no pictures and real reason for it?  No.  Idea.  Heh.

Other than that, I'm enjoying the ever-changing view from my back yard.  Here's some more Fall Foliage spam for you all. :)  (Make sure to view them full size for more clear details.  I try to avoid stretching all of your pages.)










Hopefully you can appreciate these as much as I do, kittens.   One forgets how "magical" season changes can seem when she haven't seen one in almost a decade.










When we first shared where we were being stationed, you would have thought we had been exhiled to Siberia based on the most common reactions.

"I'm so sorry to hear that!"

"You know it gets cold there, right?"  At this point I'd mention we are from Madison which is about the same average temperatures year-round; we are kind of aware of what cold feels like. As in, cold enough with wind chill to cancel school and work.  As in, cold enough to have the liquid on your eye balls instantly freeze as you walk out the door in January.  Heh.  We've actually seen snow in the wild too!  IMAGINE THAT CRAZINESS.

*ahem*

The most persistent negative reactions came from people who grew up in the south and had never actually been stationed in the few northern duty stations the Army has.  This added to both my amusement and annoyance at the conversations.

"It's out in the middle of NO WHERE!"

Again, amusing given the duty station we were previously at was in an area with a population of roughly the same size and an even farther distance from larger cities than this one.  And there's more to do in this area to boot.  People and their prejudices, I tell ya.  And to be honest, with a few exceptions, most military bases are out in the boonies.  You very rarely see them close to larger cities.

Anywho!  Those are the things on my mind this chilly, rainy Saturday.  I hope things are going well where you all are, and you're enjoying some relief from the heat!

03 October, 2012

Not a Podcast: Episode 5






Kittens! It's that time of the week again.  While the video is getting posted a little later at night than I'd like, it will post on Wednesday.  Huzzah!  Today I talked for a little over 20 minutes--that's even after editing some stuff out that I realized just wasn't working.  (I'll take better notes and talk about those later or maybe actually write a blog post about them.  I realized part way through talking about them how negative I was being, and I think that may be better suited to text.)  I think my color editing and cuts were a bit better this time. I seem to finally be getting the hang of how to do it and getting better at catching natural breaks in my speech.  What do you think, kittens?  Is there anything you'd like to see me do a video entry on or is this current format enjoyable enough to watch?

And Vimeo: why you keep catching stills of my looking so angry?!  O A O  This is a pleasant podcast, I swear!!


Onto the show notes.


FOs:
Ghastly Uma.  US size 8 & 10s.  Twisted Fiber Arts Olivia in Ghost, ~940yds.  11 days start to finish: feeling like a knitting rock star.  Oh yeah.

WIPs:
Trick Or Treat! US size 1.5 with LL's Shepherd Sock in Trick Or Treat.

Soon to Cast-On:
Goodale in Bugga!  Arge Moth
Sweet Vintage Tomatoes.  I'm pretty excited to try out Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel with these.  Now if you love to knit socks and want to spend the $20 on the ebook, have at it!  Socks with pockets and socks designed to look like zebras aren't exactly my thing...but if it floats your boat, enjoy it!  (And there are some lovely sock patterns in there; I just have similar patterns already.  I'm weird when it comes to sock patterns: I do not like to pay for them.)

Giftmas Plans:
♥ More Ribbed Socks for Kids for The Boy in Buzzed and Donkey Kong.
♥ Ribbed Socks for The Girl in Positively Pink and Astro (And I was correct about how long I've been hanging onto the Vesper without using it: stashed in July 2010).  
♥ Promised linkie for Ma Vie en Rose, how I used the other skein of Positively Pink.
♥ More Aquaphobia Socks or perhaps Hermione's Everyday Socks for my sister in Vintage Kitchen. (HES seem to work really well for self-striping yarns too.)

01 October, 2012

Monday Pretties







Kittens, I thought I'd share some lovely pictures with you today.  In my video entries, I keep talking about how Autumn has hit where I live, but haven't shown you.  This was the view from my backyard yesterday morning.  Today, it's slightly more orange and red.  I haven't seen a true Autumn in almost 10 years.  I know a lot of people love the American south and southwest for its weather, but I was never happy there.  I'm the kind of gal that anything over 75ºF is hot and too much sunshine makes me cranky because I have to stay indoors.  (Fun fact: I can sunburn through 50SPF+ sunblock in about 45 minutes.  I have long suspected I am part vampire:  I have a widow's peak, am pale, have fang-like incisors, and am naturally noctural.  Definitely a vampire minus the bloodlust.)  But one of the things I missed most living in Texas and Alabama was Autumn--true Fall weather.  Changing leaves, slowly cooling days with crisp nights and mornings, frost starting to peek out later in the season, the first light and timid snow falls, and most importantly, Sweater Weather paired with hot beverages season.  I am happier than I've been in years.  I know come February I'll be sick of snow, but for now, I'm enjoying this.











With the cooler weather has come a new-found enthusiasm for knitting.  Crazy how not having sweaty hands will bring the joy back into it.  I cast these on two days ago, and I'm already finished with the leg for both socks.  Now onto the heel flaps and gussets!










And Tala would like you all to know that it's a hard life out there for a puppy. ♥  Happy Monday, kittens!

30 September, 2012

September 2012: Wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2012:



January: 817 yds
February: 782 yds
March: 1350 yds
April: 421 yds
May: 789 yds
June: 485 yds
July: 511yds
August: 368yds
September: 1786yds

Year to date: 7,309 yds or 4.15 miles





I knit over a mile's worth of yarn in September, kittens.  A. Mile.  The last time I did that was not anytime in 2011, but December 2010.  It's been almost 2 years since I was this productive while knitting.  I'm really hoping to keep things up at close to this pace for the remainder of the year: it will help me get all of my projects done.  It's much easier to work with wool when it's chilly outside.  We're still not cold here yet--well, December weather by Texas standards, so fairly wintery for the South already--but it's been enough that working with my hands is quite desirable.  It helps keep my fingers warm and blood circulating to them.  Our leaves are starting to turn lovely shades of orange and rust, and it's been raining most days; is it getting pretty where you are at, kittens?  Is autumn finally showing signs of arriving?

2012 Stashdown: Q3







Kittens, it was another awful quarter for me.  Ouch.  But I am very pleased at the high yardage output and that almost 90% of it was from knitting and projects rather than destashing.   I really hope that Q4 will at least be green, even if only by a few hundred yards.  I do have some plans to do a lot of knitting and much less stashing;  I hope to stay under 2000 yards in*.  I have high hopes to finish a sport weight sweater, a pair of socks for me, 2 pairs of mittens, and 4 pairs of socks for the kiddles.  Those alone should be enough to keep me green for the quarter.  Wish me luck!  

*I did plan to do a No Buy for Q4, but that's unrealistic: one of my favorite dyers is offering some of my most coveted colorways as dye-to-orders the next three months.   There's no way I'm passing those up.  The new plan is to do minimal damage with those and then pretend all other yarn doesn't exist.  If I keep myself as busy as I plan, that shouldn't be too difficult.

27 September, 2012

Not A Podcast: Episode 4


Not a Podcast: Episode 4 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.





EDIT: I couldn't post this yesterday, kittens; it just did not want to upload correctly and play in Flash for some reason.  But here is it...a day later.

It's that time of the week, kittens! I'm going to ramble at you for about 18 minutes and hopefully you'll enjoy it. ;)  I'll attempt to catch anything that needs linking to down in the notes here and hit them in the order they were mentioned.


FOs:
♥ None

WIPs:
Ghastly Uma -  Barring serious illness or plague, this should be done before next week.

Future Cast On Ideas:
Aquaphobia socks in Trick or Treat
Goodale with Bugga! Arge Moth

Other Notes:
Jimmy Bean's Wool from Reno, NV.  I was close...right?
Hanging Charging Station.  You have to follow a few links and it's in German, but it looks simple enough to figure out.
♥ Finish quilting this quilt so I can move onto another one.

Stash Flash:
Lollipop Yarn
♥ Oh, that "other podcast" I mentioned: Snappy Stitches.  She's currently finding a new webhost,  so I linked her Ravelry profile instead.   Even though I'm giving Podcasting a go myself, I'm actually not a big podcast watcher.  Strange, I know.  I think there are 3 I regularly watch now?  I just can not get into most of the ones I've sampled.
♥  And yes, I did manage to fix the color issue while I was editing.  Yay!

25 September, 2012

Opinion, kittens.









A minor stash flash--crash, I should say.  Oh stashdown yardage in number, how you hurt me!!--and a question of opinion.  Do you think these have enough contrast to do another Color Affection?  They're all from the same dyer and the same base.  I hadn't intentionally bought ones that coordinated so nicely together; that was a fluke.   Apparently I had autumn on the brain when I ordered them; they're so seasonally appropriate right now which makes them all the more hard to resist.  I think this may be another immediate cast on after I finish Uma. These are from Politically Incorrect Fibers, colorways WTF OMG LOL, Mrs. Robinson, and Bastard.

21 September, 2012

Friday Night Tease







Where I left it off tonight: starting to look like an actual sweater!   Have a lovely weekend, kittens!

19 September, 2012

Not a Podcast: 3




It's that time of the week again, kittens.  I was a bit long-winded this week.  Enjoy!

Linkies: (Keeping these short because it was so late by the time this was edited and ready to go.)

FOs:
Starving Children Hats
I ♥ Color

WIP:
Ghastly Uma

Other Notes:
♥ Do not try to record when house is full of people.  It doesn't end well.
♥ And do not have The Mister proof watch an episode where you admit to buying All. The. Yarn.  Again, that ending, not so good.

17 September, 2012

...








Just being a tease today, kittens.  I hope to talk to you about this project soon. ♥

14 September, 2012

I ♥ Pinterest: September 2012

Ninja Kitten


Before I get going on this post, I first have a confession to make: I am constantly making things I pin off of Pinterest.   (I adore the idea of a visual bookmark application--trust me, you do not want to see all of my bookmarks still stashed on my browser.  Thousands of them with no rhyme or reason.  It's chaos!)  So it feels sort of like I'm cheating to be participating in my friend Kitten's Pinterest along.... I'm not really stepping outside of my comfort zone if on a regular basis I go to the recipes I've Pinned and try them out, right?  For this month I think I'll stick to my usual, but I'd like to maybe try something more daring when it comes to October.  With Halloween coming up--Best. Holiday. Ever!--that's very likely to happen.

And another fun bit of trivia : I giggle like crazy at people who talk about, "Pinterest recipes," as if the recipe actually came from that service.  Like Pinterest somehow gives or takes credibility from the recipe used and you know, not the website it was Pinned from.  I think there are a lot of people out there who are still confused about how it actually works and do not actively Pin, but merely re-Pin from their feeds.  Too funny.  Always check the recipe source, people.  Anywho.









For September, I tried out Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles from Elizabeth Barbone.   The Boy ADORES Snickerdoodles; they're his favorite cookie. Other GF people probably recognize her name since she wrote a GF cook book awhile back.  (It's not a bad basic book for starting out.  And oh wait, I see she wrote another one this year.  That one also looks pretty basic but has some interesting looking things in it none-the-less...ooh!  Mozzarella sticks!)  As I mentioned before, a very safe Pin since I am familiar with the source and her work.  I'm not at all surprised it was a success.  I followed the recipe except to substitute unrefined coconut oil for the shortening.  You will pretty much never catch me using that stuff.  Ever.

I'm planning to make another batch of these the day The Mister is due in.  I'm sure these along with some stew or other homemade meal will make him feel extra sorry he was away. ;D

Good Friday!

Well, kittens!  I can finally update something I was talking about in my video earlier this week: I've finally found pictures of the far side of other knitter's Color Affection shawls and realized they had the same "problem" I did.  So it's not actually a problem and I do not have to knit all of those extra section three pattern repeats! HUZZAH!  I am down to a single color of working yarn again...which makes me so very, very happy.    It's crazy how out of over 5800 projects, almost no one shows that end of the shawl and the pattern doesn't clearly say that there will be ____ stitches left over when done.  It leaves the impression that all of the body stitches will be consumed by the short rows.  (Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with these small balls of leftovers.  They do not seem to be enough to use for colorwork, but they're too much to just chuck out.  And dude, cashmere/silk blend!  I'm thinking of maybe holding them double and knitting a small luxury toy for myself? I'll likely do a Rebecca Danger Monster or something else really simple.  We'll see. )

So my thoughts have been turning to how 2012 Q3 Stashdown are going to end for me and man, it's not looking so good.  At this point if I can stay at or above .1 yard out for each yard in, I'll declare it a win.  I stashed this quarter and most of it was in the last month when I was so sad and lonely that I needed some fiber comfort.  (And I'm getting this sinking feeling that The Mister will be out of town again around Rhinebeck time...I doubt I'll get to go this year which just compounded my SAD and spurred the impulse to purchase more.) I do not regret any of the purchases, but I am currently the most red person in the group.   Sorry Stashdowners, I didn't mean to drag you all down with me!  At least if I finish my Color Affection in time, I should make my laughable goal.   Because of this, I'm thinking of imposing a No Buy Q4--and No Buy 2013 Q1-- on myself to see if I can't get some of that extra yarn knit up this fall into the winter.  One of the nice things about living where I am now, it will be much easier to want to knit: it will be so nice and chilly.

I'm half-tempted to do a Stash Flash post of all of the insanely pretty things I've been comforting myself with...but I can't decide if that would be vulgar of me.  Hmmm.

12 September, 2012

I did it again: Not A Podcast







Kittens!  I decided to try another video.  Things were a bit more chaotic this time but I eventually got what I wanted to say out.  Here are the linkies I mentioned:

♥  Starving Musician hats
♥  Knit Picks Swish Tonal (Summer BLOOMS and Canopy.  I came close on that one!  Also it's $14.39, not $14.99.)
♥  Amineko, just a bit closer to being finished.  If I can find my stuffing pellets, I'd be done.
♥  I tried a different editing program this week.  I like some things about it better, others not so much.  What I really need to do is buckle down and spend the time learning to use them rather than guessing and pressing buttons with wild abandon.
♥  I use the word "actually" too much when I'm flustered.

And I think that's it.  Hopefully it wasn't too painful to watch. :)

05 September, 2012

WIP-it Wednesday: video edition







Here are a few links for you, kittens. I hope that wasn't too painful to watch. It's surprisingly hard to stay on-task while talking.  If this becomes a regular feature, I may need a lap-top and a more visually quiet space to film in.  The camera had a hard time deciding what to focus on.  It probably doesn't help that I move around too fast for it to follow easily either.  D;


♥ My Color Affection
Amineko: the pattern I can never seem to complete
Uma (not Ume) by Chic Knits.
♥ And I did manage to alter the color a smidge with the editing program: so they're truer-to-life now than they were in the original video.
♥ It's really...fun to try and explain to a 4 year old why her vulva can not be plastered all over the internet.  OY.  Time for some Kraken.

I hope it's starting to cool off where you all are, and you can get some relief from the heat!  I'm going to continue crafting and setting up my area here, as well as do projects around the rest of the house.  I'm also looking to refresh my blog design finally.  It's about due again.

31 August, 2012

August 2012: wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2012:



January: 817 yds
February: 782 yds
March: 1350 yds
April: 421 yds
May: 789 yds
June: 485 yds
July: 511yds
August: 368yds


Year to date: 5523 yds or 3.14 miles





Pi miles, kittens. Pi. Miles. AHEM.


This yardage was really hard-earned for the month.  Most of it was from my Color Affection which I would think is about half done, though it's hard to gauge on a project of its type.  I have to admit that I'm a little dismayed at how little yardage it actually is for all of the knitting I've been doing.  This project may be the death of me.  The soft, cashmere/silk blended death of me.

Onto September and hopefully finishing up my Color Affection and casting on for something that will go more quickly.  Autumn is hinting at her appearance here: the evenings and mornings and beautiful and crisp.  I'm not going to lie: I'm LOVING being stuck in the "FRIGID" northern area of New York.  (Honestly, we are still hitting the low-to-mid 80s during the day, but the evenings and mornings are gorgeous.)  Is it starting to show up where you all are, kittens?  Or are you all still trapped in the awful never-ending summer 'most everyone has been experiencing this year?

30 August, 2012

WIP-it: Color Affection









...or what is feeling like the never-ending knit.  I just started section three today and while it currently feels fast, I know those last few short rows will feel never ending.

...

And then it's on to the ending with just shy of 450 stitches.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

15 August, 2012

WIP-it Wednesday

It seems that Wednesdays are my day to post in August.   It's been nice to get back on a some-what regular posting schedule.  [Not having a huge audience reading this blog helps since I do not feel the pressure to perform that more popular bloggers do.  I can fall off the planet for weeks at a time and not receive a barrage of, "Are you OK?!" emails.]

I have not been taking a lot of time to knit this last week, but this is what I have done so far.  I decided to cast-on...











Color Affection.  I thought I was ready to work on a sweater after all of the small projects I've done, but I was mistaken.  A shawl it is.  So far, it's a really easy and mindless knit.  Seriously: of the 4 pages of pattern, the actual directions take up fewer than 2 dozen lines...maybe 1/3 of a page.  It's simple but clever, something I've grown to appreciate in a pattern.  If I find this wearable, I have about a half-dozen more color combinations already picked out and ready to go.  Heh.

I guess we'll see how I feel when I hit the point where each row is like slow, agonizing death.  :)