Handbasket Emporium: The Unbearable Awkwardness of Being

Not the dreaded Knitter Bird!

Created by a friend of a friend, and adorable!

I am going to share with you now one of my very biggest pet peeves. 

"Cutesy" site navigation on fanfic archives.  Particularly challenge archives.  While I think it's lovely that you've based your challenge on the colours of the rainbow/tarot cards/Austrian drinking games, I do wish that you would notice that the people who you want to READ these wonderful stories can't even figure out which ones are going to appeal to them, because you've given them no flipping summary. 

SERIOUSLY.  Be cute, be themed, be whatever, but BE USEFUL AND EASY TO NAVIGATE. 

Thank you. 

--

In other news, I catalogued my Basket'O'Shame last night, and there were projects in there that I didn't even remember.  Whoops.  And of course, the ones I'd be most inclined to frog are all mohair projects, and they regard my petty attempts to unravel them with scorn.  I have been told that I might be able to talk them into it by freezing them, so we'll give that a whirl.

My reward, both for dealing with the Basket'O'Shame and for getting a stellar performance review, is going to be knitting this sweater:



In a rather terrifying move, I've ordered some undyed cashmere yarn from Colourmart, and I'm going to dye it up in my Grackle colourway to use for the sweater:



Things are going.  Many good things loom on the horizon for me.  Publication on Monday(!!!!!!!!!!!!), BowerCon DC in June, Indy trip in June, Sheep and Wool in May (anyone interested in attending, I have a spare guest room and a large vehicle available), and this weekend, carpet in the basement and another attempt to wrestle my library into submission.  And gardening!  And biking! 

Life is pretty damn good.

So, I am not-so-secretly in love with the Fountain Pen Shawl from the latest issue of Interweave Knits.



But what I really want is a Faroese shawl, with a much more substantial and solid body than an all-over lace pattern would provide.



So what I'd like to do is take the Fountain Pen motif and use it as a lace patterns down the middle of the shawl and around the bottom edge. I -should- be able to figure this out, right? Because I'm brilliant and wonderful and I have totally modified tons many okay NO patterns before.

Huh. Socks are a little like crack, aren't they? My eyes are crossing, but damned if I don't want to finish the toe tonight so I can get down to the instep (and the lace!) tomorrow.

In the end I gave up my desire to try doing two on two circs. I figure I'll do this pair one by one on two circs, and then try two at once with the next pair. (The next pair! Jesus. It took me two years to finish the first pair, but suddenly I'm all "Oh, yeah, once I finish THESE", like I'm going to plow through the first one in a couple days or something.) I'm a little hesitant to try the magic loop method, if only because I hate untwisting the damn cable on my needles. Still, I have the Knit Picks Options set, and those cords are lovely, if the needles actually stay together. (This is me, v. v. bitter about the fact that I took my Clapotis-in-progress as knitting for the car trip today, only to have my knitting needles fall apart 10 miles from home.)

Bed. I am so tired.

My tv picture is eerily green, I can't keep up with anythingLJ, I finished my first sock ever and it's BEEEYOOOOTIFUL! (like marigot), I feel like there are a millions things that are possible, and I should be doing all of them at once or I might miss something, I like my new job, I'm pretty sure I have become the most random person I know, and I think I have probably been annoying the crap out of the poor people I usually bug when I'm online.

Also, hello.

And now goodbye, because it's late, and I have to be up super early so I can make it into DC by 9.

Apropos of nothing, I want a 3 or 7 speed Electra Townie, in blue. And I need to return my library books.

- Her 1x1 ribbing turns into seed stitch, magically, all by itself.
- And she can't actually manage to figure out WHERE.

It's POSSIBLE that I knit my kitten a sweater.



But you can't prove anything.

Thanks to those who weighed in on the skein size issue. I am now winding 1200 yd/4 oz. skeins. Alpaca lace. SO SOFT! Mmmmm.

I feel *squished* from hundreds of miles away.

Today's mail (when I got home after an evening of fangirlpalooza and highlights with lambourngb), brought me pretty clothing (it got here today, betnoir!), a new Jabra bluetooth headset ($5.99!), 3 movies from Netflix, and an iPod touch.

Sadly (OMG, you have NO idea how sadly...), the iPod isn't mine. Sure, it came delivered to me, but it must go off to Africa with interminable when he goes back. Wah.

BUT!

Then I opened the equally unexpected Amazon box, to discover that marigot sent me a book to tell me she misses me! This book, in fact, which I have coveted for quite some time!

Like I said. I feel *squished* from far away. And lucky.

Even if it ISN'T my iPod.

But I'm not saying that I didn't open the shipping carton and maybe, you know, touch it.

It was all above the waist, I swear.

Nobody needs to know except us.

The Collective will be going away on holiday to St. Augustine in early August. I can't wait. Though the sun and I aren't the best of friends, I adore swimming, and love walking along the beach. St. Augustine, in addition to being the site of the supposed Fountain of Youth, is over 15 miles of continuous beach, with a good 20-50 yard sand shelf that keeps the water about 4-5 ft. deep and WARM. (It all depends on the tides, of course, but sometimes I think you could walk forever.)

Once in awhile, we brave the possibility of sharks and swim out over the deeper part to the sandbar another 10 feet out or so. Walking on that is a trip. It's only about a foot deep, even at high tide, and you can watch fish swim back and forth over it, disappearing into the deep water on either side. The far side, the ocean side, drops suddenly and drastically- it's probably 8-12 feet deep, depending on where you are on the sand bar. I don't go on that side, because I have a healthy fear of the things that occasionally drive the huge schools of tiny fish to swim away very quickly.

As a matter of fact, I have a pretty healthy fear of just about anything I can't see swimming past me, which is why I'm a fan of the shallow water and tide pools. Even more, the house we've rented has a private pool and spa, and I can REALLY get behind that!

As vacation approaches though, I am faced with a true dilemma. What knitting do I take with me? I'm hoping that I'll be done with the little cotton baby shirt by then, so that's right out. I know I won't be done with Wicked, but do I really want to take a huge wool sweater with me? Not particularly. Nevermind the sand factor!

I'm tempted to take the Bordello socks. For one thing, the syncronisity of taking Sea Wool to the beach amuses me. (I am easily amused, and proud of it!) They are small, portable, and I have a couple of sock bags that would do nicely to keep the sand out. But they're small. What if I ran out of knitting? I haven't found a yarn store in St. Augustine!

Finally, there is no small part of me that wants to take a wheel with me. Rodney folds! Sitting there on the beach (on a beach mat!), spinning in the sun and fresh air....it holds a certain appeal. But again, there's the sand factor, and what fiber would I take, and would the rest of the Collective understand that it wasn't kosher to drip on my beloved Lendrum?

Such choices.