Queen of the grannies

2007-09-25T23:09:00.000-04:00

I.

am.

IN!!!

*squees, just a little*

Look out Ravelry, here I come! *G*

Wow :O

2007-09-15T01:05:00.000-04:00

I've been gone about 14 hrs between work and Drunken Knitters, and I just checked Ravelry... Usually I gain between 30-100 spots in a day, but today...

I just gained 402!! Sitting at 4838 currently - which means (at that rate, assuming it wasn't some sort of odd jump and that the new servers are indeed up and running smoothly) I should be in by the 26th :D

The wedding bedspread

2007-09-12T09:31:00.000-04:00

Some of you will have heard (and/or seen, in the case of those from Hookups ;)) about the bedspread I was crocheting for a wedding in August... Well, I got the pictures from my sister last night so I'm showing them off *G*

It doesn't go as far over on the other side, but she didn't take a picture from that side of the bed ;)

Pattern: Stashaholic's braindead pattern
Started: Sometime in early Jan 2007
Finished: Aug 23 2007 (off and on work - more off than on *LOL*)
Measurements: 81" wide x between 90-94" long

I love using this pattern - in fact, Sherri teases me that I've done more of them than she has - but unless you have a lot of movies/cds, doing it for a king-sized bed is NOT recommended ;) I know I'm certainly never doing one this big again! *G*

I gave in

2007-07-17T00:44:00.001-04:00

I've been saying for a while now that I was going to wait for Ravelry to go live before I joined... but yesterday a fellow knitter and U2 fan and I were discussing the new groups function that can be seen on the Ravelry blog, and saying we should start a U2 group... Well, after kicking around some names and a few ideas, Molly (who is already on the site) started it and came up with a badge - Yarn (In The Name of Love) ;)

I started thinking about how it's only likely another 4-5 weeks (according to the blog) before they go live and I could wait... then Molly was saying there's already 11 people in the group, and how excited she was... Then I pondered for a while and said the heck with it - it will very likely go live before they get to my name on the waiting list, but I'm putting it there anyway *G*

I checked the "check where you are on the waiting list" function about 20 minutes ago, and this is what it said:

Found you!
You signed up on Today
You are #17637 on the list.
11559 people are ahead of you in line.
6 people are behind you in line.
33% of the list has been invited so far

(I'm actually more surprised that there are people behind me than the number of people in front of me *lol*)

Random knitting factoid

2007-04-02T23:32:00.000-04:00

From IMDB.com, under trivia for Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

The chain mail costumes worn by the knights were simply knitted wool.

More Effed Os

2006-09-17T17:11:00.000-04:00

August was pretty damn productive, all things considered *g*

Since the last post I've finished:

1)Two more crocheted seed stitch blankets (one 19" square, the other 23" square) found in the stash.

2)The two-round-squares-centre rectangle granny afghan, in the same colours as the one from the last post (I still have a shitload of the Wedgewood blue left, as I'd bought 3 10-pack bags of it when Lewiscraft was going out of business, but I can use it elsewhere (see below))

3)3 12" squares for HMB.

4)The granny square ghan started Aug 12th. (Will edit pic in later)

Currently in the project rotation:
1)The 'rents eternal bedspread.

2)Megan's Christmas ghan (at last measurement - late Aug - a bit past the halfway point).

3)Crocheted seed stitch blanket in Patons Astra (colour Aqua Sea) - most likely to be the next FO, as I only have about an inch in length to do (have to add about 2" of width however, not hard). Could likely finish this one tonight... if I was feeling that productive ;)

4)The crocheted rainbow entrelac ghan that most people have seen me work on at either Lettuce Knit or at Drunken Knit Night *g* This one is sitting at about the 1/3 done point (or thereabouts).

5)The knitted seed stitch blanket mentioned in my last post. This one's been my transit project until Fri, when I didn't have enough time to pull out a new yarn cake before work - taking its place this weekend was...

6)The three colour log cabin blanket I was debating about in my last post. (Because Michelle is evil and directed me to a link to one that she's working on *snerk* What can I say? I'm easily led.) I'm using January One's random log cabin idea with a modification of my own - my numbers go from 5-20 instead of 1-20, as I don't like the thought of a single ridge colour section. The only thing I don't like about this is picking up stitches, especially as I've discovered I cast off rather tightly... next time I do this I'm leaving the damn stitches live on waste yarn! The current plan is to keep it as a one piece - I hate sewing and do it as little as possible - but we'll see how I feel about that as it gets bigger ;) As I've found that the blue from the leftovers is the same shade as the Wedgewood Canadiana yarn, I'll be able to get rid of some of that as well.

I doubt September will be as productive given I'm back at work, but finishing one project at least is doable :)

Effin' the Os (or Look Ma, An Update!)

2006-08-13T19:24:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's been about 6 months since I updated this last - right now there won't be pics, but I'm hoping next weekend after the crochet guild meeting there will be ;)

So what have I done in the 6 months?

1)Finished the KO projects and got my gold medal.

2)Finished a few squares for Project Linus, HMB and Warming Families.

3)Finished an afghan for my cousin Joe's wedding in May (somewhat smaller than intended, and I was edging it between the ceremony and the reception, but it was finished nonetheless). I did it in two shades of green and off-white as the closest thing I could get to a neutral colour... Joe's wife Nicole married into a family of Leafs fans - she's an Ottawa fan - poor girl, and so the shades of blue I did for Evan's afghan (see a few posts below) were out of the question. (She sees enough Leafs-like colours between Joe's jersey and the outfits their son Nathan's been given by Aunt Laurie and Uncle Dave.) I was going to do theirs in Ottawa colours, but (a)I don't like the idea of black in a wedding afghan, so that was out, and (b)the medium shade of red I was looking at was closer to pink, which I didn't think Joe would appreciate *g* Thus, green as a compromise. The funny thing? When I received my thank you card for the gift, Nicole had written that "it matches the decor of our house perfectly"! Sometimes I'm damn good *G*

Since May it's been a random starting of projects and continuing to work on the 'rents bedspread... which some days feels like it'll never be done *lol* I *did*, however, finish two projects on Thursday night - a rectangle granny afghan in Patons Canadiana Wedgewood Blue and Dark Wedgewood, and a crocheted seed stitch blanket in a turquoiseish blue and off-white. The latter was frogged back somewhat until it measured 27" square and then edged. I still have to weave in the ends of both of these, but I'll be doing that next week.

After finishing both of those on the same night, I was on a roll and feeling productive... and what did I do with that productivity? Look for another close-to-finishing WIP? Work on the 'rents bedspread or the afghan my sister wants for Christmas (being done in Sherri's Braindead Pattern as she wanted a "plain" afghan)? Clean up my apt?

None of the above.

I started a new project.

Actually, if I wanted to both be truthful and include yesterday...

I started two projects:

1)A knitted seed stitch blanket in the frogged off-white from the second FO

2)A granny square ghan from the leftovers of Evan's afghan that I found in a UFO state, frogged back and restarted with a four-sizes-smaller hook (4.5mm as opposed to 6.5mm). Of course the yarn is also saying (hell, it's shouting almost) "Log cabin afghan", but I'm ignoring that until the square's finished. And it didn't help that when I decided to start sorting through my stash today that I found the rest of the leftovers... I'm going to be good and resist any temptation to start anything else until I finish one of the 7 projects currently in sight. Besides, you can't do a log cabin with just three colours, can you? (Do me a favour - don't answer if the answer is yes.)

Speaking of sorting through the stash (which I did for a mere half hour before going back to the hook)... Sherri, if you're reading this, I found a big ball of white :D Expect a square or two at guild on Saturday :)

Hopefully the next time I update this will be both sooner and to do with an FO!

2006-02-05T12:53:00.000-05:00

A couple years ago, my sister asked for a Notre Dame blanket for Christmas - it's by far the most painful afghan I've ever done! Not in terms of difficulty mind you (I charted it myself, but used the interlocking ND symbol), but as a Michigan fan... *PAIN* *FUL*. The only thing worse would've been if she'd asked me for a Michigan State afghan *snerk*

Today, after off and on nagging/reminding for months, she finally sent me pics:

In other news, I'm counting down to the Olympics - both the 'real' one and the Knitting Olympics ;) If someone could show me how to put buttons on the sidebar I'd really appreciate it... though my sidebar seems to always end up below my entries in this format *sigh* I know I picked the style where the sidebar is actually on the side, why doesn't it show up that way?

Knitting Olympics buttons

2006-01-26T20:36:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Russty :) (You would have to have been on the U2 fan site Interference (http://www.interference.com) to get the "Pleban" part *LOL*)

And my favourite :)

GO Team PLEBA *giggle*

2006-01-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks to JenLA for this button:

Knitting Olympics

2006-01-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

I joined Stephanie's Knitting Olympics a couple days ago (goal: 3-5 garter stitch scarves). Last time I looked at the Athletes' Page it was up to 864 entries! :O

Thanks to Kelly for the following button:

GO TEAM CANADA! :)

YAHOO!!!!!!

2005-11-04T19:26:00.000-05:00

I HAVE AN APARTMENT!!!!!!

Almost forgot!

2005-10-10T20:27:00.000-04:00

Today I signed up at this site, 25 things for charity, which I think is a great idea. At the beginning of each month - or close to it - I'll post about (and hopefully pics of) things I've finished. Anyone who reads this blog can poke me once in a while and say, "hey, have you finished anything yet?", as some of you know how I am about finishing things ;) Or updating my blog, for that matter ;)

Quick catchup

2005-10-10T18:20:00.000-04:00

Just a few quick things to let people know I'm still alive, though the few people who have this blog linked already know that *g*

1)The house sold Sept 22nd, and on Sept 27th the real estate agent came by to give me the legal paperwork notifying me that the buyers want me to move out of my apt. *sigh* I have until Nov 30th to move - which is more than the actual 60 days they had to give me (though not by much) because if the 60 days fell before the end of the rental period, they had to legally give me until the end of the rental period. (I'm on a month to month lease, in case anyone was wondering.) The 'rents are helping me (monetarily and the actual physical moving part) on the condition that the new place I find is NOT a basement apt and IS in a building where, to quote Mom, "The landlords don't change and they don't sell the house out from under you." Which of course are very lax conditions... save for the fact that 80% of the places on the list that I'd started making were basement apts *snerk* There's an apt building right across the road from my bus stop that has vacancies, so they've now moved to the top of my list ;) It's pretty much right next door to Centrepoint, which would be perfect. May call them from work tomorrow at lunch, see if I can make an appointment to see what's available... Will post to say how things go, if they do ;)

2)Work is about 2 weeks ahead right now in terms of how busy we are, and things are coming close to reaching a breaking point in regards to space and a few other things... so if I post this week or next with just a big ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!! that's why *lol*

3)CSNF is this weekend - come on down! Hopefully it won't be as quilting and sewing machine mad as it has been the last couple years *g* No offense to quilters, but the ratio of quilting stuff - everything else felt like it was about 10,000-1! And don't even get me started about the crochet stuff... it's sad when the Toronto Hookups booth has the strongest crochet content in the whole thing *sigh* Yes, we're a crochet guild, but still!

Shopping adventures with the 'rents

2005-08-28T11:30:00.000-04:00

So my parents were in town Friday and Saturday - Friday was a ballgame, which the Jays lost :( but didn't go into extra innings... because Mom stayed at the hotel *g* For those of you who haven't heard this story (probably most), my mother has a curse. Not an ordinary curse, but an any-game-she-goes-to-will-go-into-extra-innings curse! You think I'm kidding? Here's the proof...

Last year my parents came up for a ballgame, and Mom came with us. Now, the last time she'd been to a ballgame the Jays were still playing at Exhibition Stadium, which should tell those of you who follow the game just how long it had been. (Roughly 20 yrs, for those of you who don't... when I was younger a weekend in TO was a big thing, getting to go to a ballgame, Canada's Wonderland, etc. Every single time Mom came with us the game went extra innings... 14 innings I believe was the record ;)) Anyway, the Jays were playing the Yankees this time around, and it'd been back and forth all game. It was the bottom of the 9th, a runner on second with two out... and the next hitter grounded out. Dad and I looked at each other, and then we both looked at Mom's face... and cracked the hell up *giggle* Nearly 20 years, and the curse had still held! Highly amusing, even though the Jays ended up losing in the 10th that night.

Saturday they showed up at a semi-reasonable hour (9:30am) and took me shopping. Me, I hate shopping for anything that isn't music, books or yarn, and my parents know this; however, Mom refuses to take no for an answer, especially when she's in a shopping mood - and boy was she in one this time! Their logic though... they didn't want to drive any further south than Sheppard, but yet were perfectly fine with driving up to Richmond Hill in search of something we couldn't find at Centerpoint. (Yes, I'm still shaking my head about that one.) While we were still at Hillcrest we stopped in at Zellers to try to find something we'd forgotten, and we passed the yarn aisles... I could see the yarn, hear it calling me, but couldn't go near it *sigh* My parents, alas, know roughly the extent of my stash - or at least the extent it was nearly three years ago when I moved to this apartment, and would have flatly refused stopping long enough for me to even *glance* at any more yarn *snerk* Just as well I suppose - at the end of the shopping trip I had some new clothes, a new pair of running shoes, some household stuff and more groceries than I'd normally get in two weeks. (Yes, I know... but my parents still - despite the fact that I'm 34 and my sister 24 - try to keep things even spending wise between the two of us, no matter how much I've tried to use the "ten years head start" argument recently. Stubborn woman, my mother.)

Well, there appear to be people downstairs for the 11am house showing (story for another entry) so I'd better end this off here before they want to see my apartment...

Hello hello...

2005-08-22T01:44:00.000-04:00

I'm at a place called Vertigo...

(Sorry, couldn't resist - blame it on seeing Elevation last night, and the fact that it's a mere 21 days until my first U2 show EVER *G*)

This is my first finished object for a while (well, I still have to weave the ends in, but I have a month to do that ;)). It's a rectangle granny ghan for my cousin Evan, who's getting married in September. Pic is courtesy of Dani, who took it at Stitch'n'Bitch on Wed night :) (That's Aven on the left, me on the right.)