Squared.

 Well, that's that. For now, at least.

I'm all squared out on knitting squares for a while. I do like dabbling in some mindless knitting for a bit but it does lose it's appeal at some point and then it's time to move on to something more challenging.

I now have17 new squares to add to the stack in this endless, never going to be finished, blanket.

(I think that brings me up to 65 now?) I'm in NO danger of running out of yarn scraps any time soon either - even after knitting up all these squares I still have a GIGANTO-HUGE bag of them left. It's like a magical bag of yarn that constantly refills itself when I'm not looking. (Something that would be better served if it were food..........or money. lol)

It's pretty crazy for me to only have finished a single pair of socks done at this point in the year (I usually have 3-4 pairs done by now) so I drug out this Cheetos-inspired orange yarn for a pair of socks. I'm going easy on it so far though so my hand doesn't start getting cranky. :(

Do you Hobby Lobby? I've always heard it's a great store to browse and I finally made it to the one that opened near here this winter. (Iif you consider 45 minutes away 'near' - which I do because I have to drive that far for everything that is good.) It felt very old school 90's craft store-ish to me in the sense that it carries everything that was ever made in the history of making things to sell at a craft store. But a lot more organized. And clean. (If that makes sense? It might just be me, but I've done a lot of shopping over the years at local craft stores that were like treasure hunts trying to find what you wanted, everything stacked up in piles, year after year. You never knew what you find. Each aisle was a mystery. lol)

Anyhoo, I wasn't there for any particular reason so all I ended up with is a cute polka dotted bundle of fabric quarters (perfect for small finishes) and an adorable little needle tin with old-timey stitching motives on it.  (Oh sure, there was more I *could* have purchased but I was trying to be good.) 

Unfortunately, that store is situated right next to a Joann's AND a Michaels so I'm going to be faced with an uncomfortable choice when I'm in that area again. Joann and I are pretty tight bff's and I've actually DATED Michael (read: I worked at one in the 90's). Not sure I can dump them for the flashy new Miss Hobby, even if she is pretty tricked out. lol

Well that week FLEW by! Always the worst part of taking a week off - the CATCHING UP you have to do when you get back to real life.  

SOMEONE had a 17th birthday the other day. (Hint: it wasn't me.)

Thanks so much for the kind comments about my poor boo-boo kitty. He perked up a bit mid-week and seems mostly back to normal now, or at least his 'normal'. As his brain started healing though the 'must eat everything sight' switch got turned off again and I'm now back to trying to coax him into eating all day. He really, really, really hates the kidney diet prescription food. Like, really hates it. What's the point of food to extend his life a little if he's going to starve to death in the meantime? I keep trying to stick with it (and have for over a year) but at this point I think we have to concede that we are both terrible at sticking to a diet. I can't blame him for being happy with bits of ham or cheese. Aren't we all?

Anyhoo, I'm trying to catch up on photos, photos, photos. I keep taking photos of things but then never posting them. Grrr. I actually did manage to finish a few things on break, that I was very glad to get finished and off to the great Finish Bin in the sky, I mean my closet.

 God I really don't like these socks. I started them in January and JUST finished them, so that right there tells you how disinterested I was in them. I took a skein of yarn I really didn't care for (too thin and splitty) and paired it with a slip stitch pattern that I also didn't care for (because it's a TERRIBLE CHOICE FOR A SPLITTY YARN) and GUESS WHAT? They were a miserable knit from start to finish and I will forever be shocked AND awed that I finished them. (In my defense though I picked that pattern because it helped alleviate the thinness of the yarn. It creates an almost woven fabric that adds bulk.)

 Also finished: the bonus charts from the L*K mystery sampler that I started last summer. Very much not miserable to finish and I'm glad I finally got to it because these are cute and I love Halloween stitchies. :)

 And a bunch of totally unphotogenic Scrap Yarn Blanket of Doom squares. I needed something mindless and quick to start/finish to clear my head of the oogie-boogies from the stupid socks. Blanket square I can finish in 90 minutes? YES PLEASE. I think I'm up to 8 new squares now to add to this never ending, not even CLOSE TO BEING FINISHED project because I'm still having fun doing up new ones. Once I get a bunch, like a dozen, I'll wash and block them so they look pretty and totally not like wadded up Kleenex. :)

To 'reward' myself for finishing a stitchy wip I did up a brand-spanky new-to-me small one. I randomly picked colors for this Val's Stuff freebie and think it came out pretty good. (Though I curse you Belfast green linen for always being IMPOSSIBLE to photograph nicely. What is it with this color??? So pretty in person SO HORRIBLE ON THE INTERNETS.) Could use some more contrast in the nose but I can live with it. Original pattern doesn't chart a flower or bunny tail but it's pretty easy to put them in. (Can't have a bunny without a TAIL?!?)

Now that that is done I reached into the nether regions of my wip stack (also known as my storage ottoman in the living room where things go to die a lonely death) and pulled out another wip to tackle. Oh, how optimistic I was when I happily stitched in the year 2012 on this!!! Twice. *face palm* Oh well. 2012, 2013. Isn't time just an illusion anyway? How can be sure that ANY sampler with a date stitched in is correct, right? So I'm keeping the 2012. And don't be thinking I'm almost done with this because there is whole other section of frames that go on the bottom of this. I originally abandoned this because - SURPRISE SURPRISE - I made a little boo-boo with the border and one of those borders is off a little. And ripping out black floss is miserable so I put it in time out. I think I'm mostly over it now though. Aside from talking about my failure on the internets, of course. lol

Whew. Now I'm all caught up I think, aside from adding these to my project pages. Yay!! :)

Best Week Ever!

You know what time it is?

Time for the St. James book sale here in town! It is, quite literally, one of the biggest events of the year here. No joke. (What can I say? It's a really small town. lol) They collect them all year long from us and then load them up to the RAFTERS in the church basement for everyone to have a go at them..........which we will read during the year and donate again for the next sale.

 (Only half the room and only half the people because this was about an hour after the doors opened. It took me that long to go through everything!)

It goes on for a few days, corresponding with their mini-fair but everyone rushes it when the doors open on the first day, trying to grab the good stuff. It's almost a boot camp type experience. You've got the frayed nerves trying to find a parking spot within 1/2 a mile of the church, the god awful heat that only a unventilated room packed to the gills with bodies can provide, the physicality of inching along pressed nose to tail with complete strangers to view what's laid out on the tables. You know what though? Everyone is totally gracious and totally into it so it's alright. You mop off your brow (and then some) when you make it back outside to the fresh air with no hard feelings, already wondering what you'll find at next year's sale.

It can be hard not to grab EVERYTHING you see - at .50 cents for most books that are older than 2 years and $1.00 for most everything else (aside from brand new hardcovers), it's like a readers paradise. I like grabbing the 'fluffy', trade paperback stuff because, for fifty cents, who cares if you read each one through in two days? I love that sort of stuff when I want to read but don't have the time to really dig into something heavy. (That Dance with Dragons book took me six months to finish!)

This here is my real prize:

Gone Girl was *just* published last month and is at the top of the charts right now and I was this --><-- close to buying it ever since then because it's gotten fabulous reviews. Found it for $5! I have no doubt if I hadn't been there when the sale started that someone else would have snatched that up right quick. I almost felt guilty when I grabbed it. I looked around, all shifty like, like I had done something 'wrong'. lol The other book was also just published so that was a steal for that price as well. All in all, it was a right good way to spend $20 and it goes to a good cause. (The book sale is the church's biggest fund raiser. Think about that. They raise their most money .50 cents at a time. Mind boggling.) Could have gotten a dozen more, to be honest, but I only read 25-30 books a year so I don't really *NEED* more than I got, you know? There's always next year's sale to grab them. :)

The Olympics are still killing me, with this getting up at 6-7am to catch the equestrian stuff live but today was the last day for jumping so I'm free and clear to go back to sleeping in! lol All told I think I've watched about 20 hours of this stuff and enjoyed it all. Our team/riders pooped out pretty early but the Brits have been rocking it, which has been great to see. 

My 'Olympics knitting' *cough*cough*cough* Ravelympics project of choice was to work on some scrap yarn blanket squares. I had high hopes (for me) of doing one per day of the Olympics but I think I'm going to have to settle for a silver in this event instead. Eight done so far with a ninth to finish up tonight so I've put in a good showing so far though. Might make it to 12 before Sunday - you never know! Aren't they just so sad all bunched up and unwashed/blocked that? I'm waiting til the end to do them all at one go though so they'll have to stay squashy for a bit yet.

The second part of the Mystery Sampler came in other day along with August's Cookie A sock club yarn so I'm all twitchy to go on to something else but I will STAY STRONG. STAY FOCUSED. EYE ON THE PRIZE and all that. (Note: no one is giving me a prize for finishing my own personal Olympics challenge. Pure fantasy on my part)

Deep breath.

Definitely been a trying week, you know? But I felt much better today so moving on..

 I went back to the project that I tried to start on Thursday, gotta get back on that horse you know......

Oh............my......

Yes the project that started all this was Death. Black Death to be exact. How prophetic. Or ironic. Or........something. 

It's Death by Candy Corn and why didn't I notice those cutie candy corns were over one before I started this? Holy lot-of-teeny-tiny-stitching-for-one-stinking-corn Batman! To be fair, the pattern calls for a half stitch for these but I couldn't see the damn thread when I did it that way so a full cross stitch it is. Oh hello, instant doubling of the time/stitches. *mwah*

I finished my-not-quite-August/not-quite-September pair of socks a couple days ago and aren't these the most ridiculous pair of socks you've ever seen:

Yep. Candy corn socks. 

I'm totally going to wear them with some Mary Jane-style shoes too and not care one bit how many crazy looks it gets me. So there.

I will be offline tomorrow because, quite honestly, I just can't handle the 9/11 coverage. Just a handful of it on the tv or whatever and I start to feel panicky and overwhelmed by it like it's happening all over again, even to this day. :(

Double Rainbow Socks

 

Details on Ravelry.

Man, I just flew through these so fast it almost feels like they knit themselves.............almost. :)

I did them two-at-one-time, using two circulars. I like this method because when you are done knitting, you are DONE. No having to cast on for the second sock, etc. I haven't done any this way in a long time though because I find the cast on/starting them up to be very fiddly/confusing and I need to consult my two-at-one-time book to get through it. Then I saw another knit blogger say that she started them separately, using DPN's, knit a few rounds on each and then transfer them to the circular needles.  Well now...................why the hell didn't I think of that? That's so painfully obvious I should be ashamed of myself! lol I couldn't remember exactly how the heels were supposed to be done using this method either (as far as order, not stitch count) so I just made it up as I went along. Turned out fine so I guess I should make socks more often this way. It is a lot handier than doing it one at a time.

I found a brain-dead, long term project to keep me busy during my time in the car (I don't drive) and while waiting at appointments,etc.: A SOCK YARN BLANKET. Out of scrap yarn. Because I have bags and bags (literally) of teeny tiny (and not so tiny) balls of leftover sock yarn that I hate to throw out but I hate storing. (Because I'm always generating MORE teeny tiny balls of yarns. Like baby rabbits. They never stop coming.) I like this square pattern here, though I am not knitting the yarnovers through the back to close them up - I like the yarnovers out in the open, free as can be. I think it gives it a kind of granny square look to it that I like. After a practice square to determine size and all that jazz I pulled out my first tiny yarn ball and whipped up first "official" squares:

Three down, one hundred and seventeen left to go. Give or take. *GULP*

I reckon I should finish sometime around 2015.

(I'm not clear on how I'm going to seam these together so feel free to give me a suggestion..or three. I figured I would tackle that when it comes up, you know, a few years down the road. lol)