Hi! Meet the Nut that Writes this Thing

I figured today was a good as any to not write a post about knitting, and then I realized I’ve never really introduced myself either.  So I grabbed one of those question games from another website and thought I would have a bit of fun with it.

Question 1: do you have any pets?
Absolutely.  I have a guinea pig named Peanut Butter, and recently had a kitten adopt me.  The kitten walked into my house on a hot day and never left, I bought him things he needed, had him vetted and “fixed” and named him Severus.  I thought it was an appropriate name for a black cat

Question 2: name three things that are physically close to you.
An iPhone.
An empty coffee mug
A backpack

Question 3: what’s the weather like right now?
It’s sunny, with just a touch of pre-fall chill.

Question 4: do you drive? If so, have you crashed?
I’ve been driving for 17 years and yes I’ve been in a few crashes.  Oddly enough not a one of them have been my fault, and gratefully only very minor injuries.  The most interesting one was caused by an 80-some year old woman, who ran a stop sign, while talking on the phone with her pastor.  Her van had a tiny dent, my car was tore-the-hell up.

Question 5: what time did you wake up this morning?
I woke up around 8:30 when the dog I’m watching for friends told me he needed to go wee. When a 90 pound great dane/pitbull says get of our bed, you get out of bed.

Question 6: when was the last time you showered?
9:00 this morning and it was glorious.

Question 7: what was the last movie that you saw?
It was, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Amazon Prime.  I really wish Hollywood would stop “rebooting” my childhood.

Question 8: what does you last text message say?
“Cosplayers look odd, but usually are okay folks”  As some of you go whaaaaaat, it was too my aunt who was dropping off her 15 year old granddaughter off at a cosplay event.  I’m not big into to cosplay but have quite a few friends that are and have been to a few events to people watch.

Question 9: what is your ringtone?
The theme from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly when it rings.  It’s usually on vibrate only.  I hate being bothered with the phone most days.

Question 11: How often do you travel?
I travel quite a lot for work, and average about one trip a month.  Things are slowing down a little since we’ve recently hired more staff and split things up a bit.  Earlier this year I was out of town more than I was home for a while.

Question 11: do you like sushi?
Oh My Dear Lord Yes!  I wasn’t introduced to it until my mid-twenties but after that first sushi roll there was no turning back.

Question 12: where do you buy your groceries?
The closest grocery store to my home.  I’m not the type to price-shop and clip coupons, it eats up too much of my time.  I just go to whatever is closest and call it a day.  Right now that would be a Kroger.

Question 13: have you ever taken any medication to help you fall asleep faster?
HA!  All the time.  I’ve been an insomniac on and off since I was in high school.  Melatonin seems to do the trick most day.  Did you know you can get it in gummy candy form now?  Best…thing…ever!

Question 14: how many siblings do you have?
Ugh.  I considered changing this question.  I had a brother, whom passed away nearly a year ago.  It was sudden, it’s been difficult, yet, it was somewhat expected.  All I can say (and I may expand on this in a later post one day) is the mental health care services in the United States is a complete and utter joke and it contributed greatly to his death.

Question 15: do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?
Both – kinda.  I used to be a graphic designer, so I have a desktop that I used for design, it gets used from time to time these days but not daily.  I was also gifted a Surface Pro 2, which considering I’m not a huge Microsoft fan, I actually kind-of like it.  Then there’s the work issued laptop.

Question 16: how old will you be turning on your next birthday?
34

Question 17: do you wear contacts or glasses?
Glasses – sometimes.  I had contacts for a few years, but honestly got tired of poking my fingers in my eyes.  I hate wearing glasses too, but will wear them when I’m reading or driving.  The rest of the time I’m perfectly happy with my fuzzy, near-sighted, vision.

Question 18: do you color your hair?
Ha! I only recently started realizing what my natural hair color is again.  I started at 15 years old and didn’t stop until about 8 months ago.  I put in some semi-permanent purple now and then over ancient highlights but that’s about it.

Question 19: tell me something you are planning to do today.
Having a slice of birthday cake with a good friend for her birthday.

Question 20: when was the last time you cried?
A few weeks ago, I was tired and frustrated over something.  There was some eyeball leakage, and then some wine.  All was good afterwards.  I’m not a big crier though.

Question 21: what is your perfect pizza topping?
Pepperoni of course

Question 22: which do you prefer, hamburger or cheeseburger?
Cheeseburger all the way

Question 23: have you ever had an all-nighter?
God! More times than I can count.  College, work life, personal life…sometimes it just has to be done to get things done.

Question 24: what is your eye color?
The easy answer, hazel.  The complicated answer, central heterochromia composed of light brown and green and a very pronounced limbal ring.

Question 25: can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke?
Yes.  I live close to Atlanta, Georgia, the home of Coke, so it’s the preferred soda here.  Pepsi is almost disgustingly sweet to me.

Alright, so there you go.  I hope someone found that somewhat entertaining.

Taming the Double Pointed Hedgehog: The Knitzi

 Alrighty sock knitters this one is for you.  How many of you find traveling with a WIP sock on double pointed needles interesting to say the least?  You know what I’m talking about, the snagged yarn, the holes in the knitting bag, or worse yet, that needle that slides out of your project when you aren’t looking.  There’s something out there that stops all of that and I’m in love with it.

I travel quite a lot for work, and I am pretty infamous from traveling with a knitting project.  Ask the TSA folks across the country  how many strange looks they’ve given me when they’ve x-rayed my carry on bag.  I’ve avoided bringing socks along, despite them being the perfect size to travel with, because of the DPN (double pointed needles) problems.  Yes, I know there are other ways to knit socks besides DPNs but I really do still love using them.

So, meet the Knitzi.  I stumbled across this doo-hickey when I was knitting a pair of socks the other day.  The pattern I was using was actually created by the makers of this product.  The Knitzi is essentially a wooden tube, with an open side, and two end caps that screw on and off.  This configuration allows for the sock in progress to hang from the slot, and the needles are protected, and snug inside the tube.  All in all, it sounds like a practical design, but the best part is the artistry behind the Knitzi itself.  All of the options available are made from beautifully worked wood.  I’m really happy I ordered one, I’ve got a sock in progress hanging out in the backpack I carry daily.

The Great Sweater Adventure: the Beginning

 After a decade of knitting, with a ravenous appetite for the clicking of needles over the past two years, I’ve finally leaped over a huge hurdle I’ve been dreading and ventured into my first sweater pattern.  I’ve held off on this feat out of fear of putting so much time, effort, and cash into a project and not have it fit in the end.  It would be traumatic for me and could quite possible land me in the loony bin for a few months.

After being teased for a while that I hadn’t made a sweater I realized I finally do have knitters in my life that are more than willing to dive in and help me out if I get stuck, and they’ve actually knitted entire, fitting, sweaters before.  I’m typically a stubborn ass that hates to ask for help, these knitters know that too, but if I walked in the door with a project with a glazed-over look in my eyes they would just take the needles from me and walk me through it.  So, that began to start the wheels turning.

I found a pattern I fell in love with the moment I saw it.  It’s on open front sweater coat with raglan sleeves called Adventurous.  I’ve been told despite the massive amount of cable work that this is actually pretty forgiving when it comes to fit.  So the wheels began to move faster.

After pricing out the yarn for this project the breaks where slammed into the floorboards.  The yardage I needed, plus the quality of yarn I wanted made this adventure cost prohibitive. Even if this is my first sweater, good yarn really makes a difference in a project, and of course I fell in love with Malabrigo’s Arroyo.  $140ish in yarn for a project I’m terrified to start…yeah….ummmm….not right now.  I put a smart-assed post up on Facebook saying if anyone wanted to fund this project I would actually start it.  Not five minutes after the post was made, and before I had even left the yarn shop, their phone rang and a gift card in my name for the cost of the yarn and then some was called in.  I not only pooped a kitten right there in the floor (it’s meowing at me and has been named Severus, and that’s a story for another day) but now I had absolutely no excuse to not start this project.  The wheels on the bus to sweaterville where speeding down the on-ramp to the interstate.

The yarn has arrived, it had to be ordered to get all of the same dye lot, the first two skeins have been wound into cakes and the first of many, many cable repeats was completed this evening.  Wish me luck folks – so far it looks good – but I’m still terrified.

Knit Fast, Die Warm: Winter is Coming.

As the last days of summer fade away, the speed and voracity of knit projects have begun to pick up.  It’s as if the first cool evening kicks off a primal urge to start making warmer things.  I’ve started picking into the stash of yarns I’ve collected over the previous months and begun to knit the holiday gifts for friends and family.  This winter is predicted to be pretty ugly for the southern states this year.  I’m not looking forward to it but damn-it I’m doing my part to try and keep the people I care about warmer this year since winter doesn’t really kick in down here until January-ish.

How about you folks?  Do you have the same urge to start picking into heavier projects?