Since my public beckons...

Hee... yeah, because I have a public. =) Seriously, you guys crack me up. Anyway, nothing much going on here (No, Cristi, seriously), but I do have a couple of pictures to show. First - I joined the Monthly Dishcloth KAL, and the mid-month one for August was the first pattern I did. (I skipped the beginning of the month one). Happily, the pattern came out right about the same time that I got some Sugar 'n Cream in a swap. So, I cast on, and a few days later,I had this: I'm gathering a nice collection of washcloths, which is cool. Happily, Kris likes them and uses them in the shower. So, I'll keep making them. =) Also, I've gotten two more sets of stitch markers from the swap. The orange ones came all the way from Egeria in Ireland. There was a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate with them, but, um, I must have misplaced it. =) The fishy ones are from Batty. They came with a note that said "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish," which completely cracked me up. Thank you both - I love them! Other than that, I'm making some progress on the Christmas gifts, and I'm being good about not "cheating" and casting on anything for myself. ETA - For those of you unfamiliar with Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, my screen name is a reference to a character, and the 4th book is titled "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish". Hence the markers from dear Batty.

Hot Stuff!

Why "Hot Stuff"? Because I finished Sizzle! Here it is, still blocking, but I'm planning to wear it tomorrow and will hold Kris down if necessary to get a picture of it actually on me. I love the way it fits, and if you are at all considering this pattern, I have one thing to say: DO IT! It rocks. I'm quite proud of myself on this one, actually. Guess what I did on the shoulders? I GRAFTED them. That's right - after my kitchener success on the Pomatomus socks, I decided to go for it, and it WORKED! Also, in the last couple of days, I got 2 packages from the Stitch Marker Swap. All the way from Scotland, here are my adorable markers from Shonze, with a nifty postcard and a little bag she knit for them. And here are the lovely ones from Esther. Thanks to both of you!! I can't express how excited I have been to get these markers in the mail. Such lovely surprises, and such beautiful and creative work, too. As far as other knitting progress, the blog may be a little picture-light for a while. I am trying very hard to get my Christmas knitting started, but since some of the recipients read this blog, I don't really want to give anything away.

Cross Your Fingers...

... because I'm going to attempt to kitchener these babies. Here's hoping I manage to do this without any major issues. For some reason, kitchener stitch eludes me. I got a lovely set of stitch markers from sgeddes in today's mail. Thank you, Shannon! I love them! Seriously, this Stitch Marker Swap has been such fun. I love seeing what everyone has come up with! There has been some discussion of doing another round. I have gobs of markers now, but I am so tempted to join in again anyway... ETA: I did it!!! And with that, a finished pair of Pomatomus socks! I did modify the pattern slightly by only doing two repeats of the pattern on the cuff instead of three. I was afraid I might run out of yarn. I'm still not totally sure I wouldn't have, although I have some left over now. Other than that, I followed the pattern, heel flap and all. =)

Objets d'Art

OK, since this is "objets d'art" week in Blogstalking, I guess I should find some, eh? This is my favorite piece of art in the house. (Not the shawl, the chair) That is what is referred to in my family as the "Ugly Face Chair". It belonged to my maternal grandparents and used to sit in their living room next to the tv. When I was a kid, it freaked the crap out of me. I used to make sure that someone (else) was sitting in it, so I didn't actually see its face. As I got older, I realized how cool it was. When my grandfather passed away in 1997, I told my mother that I really wanted the chair, because it has such clear memories of Grandma and Grandpa associated with it. Some of the art that I want to have in the house someday are these: My brother, in addition to being a hair stylist, is also an artist. He has always been super-artistic, where I can't draw a decent stick figure. (Not to say I'm not creative - I mean art in the sense of drawing and painting.) Anyway, these are a few of his (He has more posted on his MySpace page). He and I are trying to figure out a way to get a canvas from Las Vegas to Maryland without incurring massive shipping costs or having it damaged in transit. Until then, I just check them out on his page. Now I just have to find the most disturbing objet d'art in the house... We have a lot of geek-centric stuff (Kris's small collection of wizard stuff, etc.), but I'm thinking that I probably have to bite the bullet and admit that my Oz collection is probably the most disturbing. Truth be told, I don't find it disturbing, but when Yorkie was here, she made me promise that if she ended up staying with us, that I had to be sure the Tin Man wasn't looking at her. And she hadn't even seen the room yet. I guess I should take that as a hint that maybe it is a little disturbing. =) And thank you all for your sweet comments on the stitch markers. I really do enjoy making them. And who knows? Maybe I'll take Ali's suggestion and start selling them or something. =) ETA: Today's mail brought me another set of swap stitchmarkers! Check out the gorgeous ones Turtlegirl sent me!! She said that the Knit Happens colors now make her think of me (since that was our original plan when she came up to visit), so she felt these were appropriate. I love them! Thank you, Cristi!!

I'm Here!

I've been really bad lately about blogging, for a variety of reasons. First of all, this past weekend was that grand tradition of debauchery - EdFest! Basically, this is a group of people who have gotten together for a weekend every July since right after their freshman year in college, which makes this the 15th year. (I didn't start going until after Kris and I were married, so this is only my 7th year) It's pretty much an excuse to hang out and drink a lot of beer while acting like a bunch of goofballs. This year, we were in Wintergreen, VA, where we rented an absolutely beautiful house. It was an awesome weekend, and I think Kris and I both needed a little time away. Kris got some great pictures (as if we expect anything less), which he has posted to an album here. For anyone wondering, the crossed out XIV replaced by the XV is because we had all been calling it EdFest XIV, until we were there and someone actually started counting. That would be when we realized it was actually XV. Oops. =) I did wear the completed Bombshell this weekend, and although I told Kris that I wanted a decent picture of it, this was the best he did. Oh well. I'll get one at some point. I was working on my next project, Sizzle from Wendy over at The Garter Belt. It's an awesome pattern, and is coming along quickly in spite of the fact that I can't count. If the decrease rows say "repeat this 6 more times", that means you do it SEVEN times total. Duh. So, I got through the back and was partway through the front when I realized my mistake and I had to rip the back to the point where I needed the additional set of decreases. No biggie - it would have annoyed me if I hadn't done it right. I'm using the KnitPicks needles on this, and I have to say, I am really, really happy with them. There have been lots of reviews on these out there, including a couple from people who were less than thrilled with them (Grumperina found them too heavy for her taste. They don't bother me, but that's a pretty personal thing.), so I'm not going to go on ad nauseum. I'll just say that I personally am very pleased with them, and have ordered a second case and some 24" circs. That way, once case will hold the interchangeables, and the other will hold the circs. I think that should alleviate the crowding issues in the case. I am part of the Stitch Marker Swap over on the knittyboards, and I finally finished making all of mine. Here are the 9 sets I made. The top photo, left to right, are for Clotho42, hotmama, and purrl. The middle ones are for adore_one, PrincessRach84, and tionaknitsinaz. The bottom ones are for merrymom, allwoundup, and jennyknitnpurl. (If you click the linked names, you will see a closer picture of that set of markers) I'm really pleased with how they came out - I hope the recipients all like them, too! I received my first two sets right before I left for EdFest. The top ones are from AKKnitter, and the bottom ones came from mrsmotter. I am actually using the ones from mrsmotter on my Sizzle shell right now. I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with! Oh, and I've also joined in on the silliness of the "blog stalking" over at the boards, so there will be some odd pictures coming up around here. I missed the shoe collection flash, the "what's under your bed" pictures, and the "freezer flash", but I'm still thinking about going back and catching up on them. Maybe. =)