Confessions of an OCD Knitter

( Also Beading and Sewing )

partially x-posted to 20sknitters

About a week ago, a guy came into my Starbucks and mentioned during our conversation that he is a back-up announcer for the Dallas Stars. As he grabbed his coffee and turned away, I yelled, "Tell Daryl Reaugh I love him!" He turned right back around, obviously taken aback that this female barista actually watches hockey, and continued the conversation.

Well, I think he did tell Razor. And I think he told him which Starbucks it was. Because guess who came in today? Yep.
I calmy (at least I hope I looked calm) asked him, "Do you ever see someone out of their element, and you think you know them, but you're not 100% sure?"
"Yeah."
"So, do I, maybe, know you from somewhere?"
"Maybe."
"Is your name Daryl?"
"Nooooo...." [said in that heavily sarcastic way, accompanied by an exagerated head shake and a strange smirk]

After he left, I told my coworkers who it was, and they laughed at me for being such a fangirl. Also, my hands didn't stop shaking for ten minutes.

When I told Matt, he pointed out that the Stars did just have a game in Anaheim last night, and my Starbucks is on the way from the airport into Dallas.

They may all look the same, but trust me, each picture is a different one, crafted by my own two hands. I am so glad to be finished that I haven't even been able to decide what project to cast on next. I've just been working on my travelling sock.

( Collage )

That is all.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and noticed that Matt and I had both kicked the comforter aside. In my only-slightly-conscious stupor, I thought that if we weren't going to be using it, then it should be folded. This morning, when we awoke with the alarm clock, Matt was [quite reasonably] surprised to see the comforter on the floor at the end of the bed, folded up nicely. I was rather surprised also as I thought it had merely been a strange dream. It was not. As far as I know, I've never sleepfolded before. I think I may have a problem.

I've been working on quick projects in between R2D2 hats to try to lessen the crazy-making. Here's what I've been up to in the past month and a half.

( Robyn's Armwarmers )

( Alett's Armwarmers )

( Porter's Jester Hat )

( Beth's Tattoo Sleeves )

( Anastasia Socks )

( Ribbed Lace Bolero )

( Uptown Boot Socks )

( And some yarn porn )

I still have two more R2D2 hats to make, but I'm sooooo close to finished. I can almost smell my knitting freedom.

x-posted to 20sknitters

I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry. I haven't been in a mood to post anyway.

Monday evening, I got a call from a TAMS (Texas Academy of Math and Science) friend whom I hadn't seen in years. She told me one of our friends had been in the car accident last weekend and didn't survive. This was an incredible shock, and I still haven't really been able to find the right words to express myself, so please bear with me.

Anjali was full of life, only 25 years old and yet, as someone pointed out at her funeral, she had accomplished more than most people do in their entire lives. Every interest became a passion for her: music, theatre, teaching, writing, learning Japanese... She soaked up everything she could learn and searched for more. She had traveled the country and the world and refused to put down roots anywhere until she was ready to "settle down". She committed to reading 100 books a year and actually achieved it. I envy her enthusiasm and drive.

With everyone back in town for the funeral, we took the opportunity to get together the night before with friends we hadn't seen since high school. About fifteen of us took over an IHOP Thursday night and looked at yearbooks and photos and repeated inside jokes, the origins of which were long forgotten. It was a great night with lots of laughter and not a single tear (those were saved for the next day).


Back row (L-R): Matt, Me, Joey, Charity, Jessica, Chuck, Prem
Front row (L-R): Pam, Anand, Evelyn, Andrew
Not pictured: Pamela (who didn't want to be in the picture), Jean (who took the picture), Lisa and Steve (who couldn't get there until later)

Her funeral was beautiful. There was a bit of Hindu stuff (also translated into English) at the beginning. Several friends and family members had prepared things to say. Then anyone who wanted to was encouraged to share their feelings or a memory of how Anj had touched their lives. They even played her rendition of Sarah MacLachlan's "I Will Remember You" during a slide-show of photos her sister had put together. How many people get to sing at their own funeral?

My favorite yarn shop (and not just because of its proximity to my residence, but also the people and atmosphere and, of course, the yarn) is closing. I have no idea why. I just heard about it this morning. The announcement on their website is dated yesterday, and today is their last day open. And I'm working today, so I won't be able to go and tell Mary Jane how much she and her shop will be missed.

I hadn't realized how attached to the internet I have become. Yesterday morning, I awoke to find that our router had died. Matt called Verizon and had them overnight us a new one. Matt at least got to check his email at work, but I have no internet access at my work. So I spent all of yesterday and most of today with no email, no Ravelry, nothing. Around 5PM yesterday, I noticed my hands were shaking. I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. And just when I thought I was about to start rocking back and forth in the corner chanting our IP address under my breath (4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42...), that angel in the brown shorts brought us a new router. Ahhhh.... All is right with my world again.

( And Irreversible )

In other news, I took my weekly free pound of coffee to my favorite yarn shop. The owner was so grateful, she said she had to hug me. Then she showed me the new Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn she just got it. That lady really knows my weakness. But wait! She told me, for my generosity, she'd sell me one for 50% off. So yes, my dears, I am now the proud owner of this beautiful yarn in this gorgeous Ginger Cinnabar colorway.

( You likes? Me likes. )

I went to Payless Shoes this morning because my sneakers are quite literally falling apart and I needed some new ones for work.

Cashier: Do you need any socks with these?
Me: No, thanks. I knit my own.
Cashier: Okay. [continues to ring up purchase] Wait, what? You knit your own?
Me: Yep. [slip off current shoe to show her]
Cashier: Wow. That must save money too.
Me: Not really. The yarn is more expensive than store-bought socks. It's more about the fun of knitting and the uniqueness of having one-of-a-kind socks.
Cashier: Huh. That's cool.

( Yarn and Books )

x-posted to 20sknitters

( Our New Couch )

In which the author goes to great lengths to satisfy her OCD

I've been working on a pair of Blueberry Waffle Socks with Noro Kureyon Sock in color #S180.



All was going well. I made the first sock a little taller than I usually make my socks so as to finish at the same point in the color repeat at which I began. That way the second sock would begin in the same place and the stripes would match. But no. I should have known from other people's experiences that it wouldn't work. Two-thirds through the second sock, I found a splice in the skein that completely interrupted the color pattern. Bastards.

( The Dilemna )

( The Plan )

( The Execution )

( The End Result )

x-posted to 20sknitters

So the R2D2 hat I made as part of my nephew's Halloween costume a couple years ago has garnered a lot of attention recently. My blog post containing the pattern was linked on the Craft blog and Whipup. From there it got picked up by Gizmodo, Geekologie, the StarWars.com blog, TheForce.net, and who knows who else. This is great. A lot of people are seeing my work and asking for custom orders. But it blew up really fast. I've already had to stop taking new orders and start a waiting list for when/if I can stand to look at blue and grey yarn ever again. I'm telling you this not to brag (okay, a little to brag), but to explain why I may seem less productive, knitting-wise, during the coming weeks. It's not that I'll be knitting less; I'm just not going to bother posting pictures of the same hat over and over again. You're welcome.

( But just in case you do want to see a couple... )

x-posted to 20sknitters

Saturday:

-Woke up around 6:30 and got ready for work. Had an extremely busy shift, for a Saturday at least.
-Ate delicious Moroccan food for lunch with Matt.
-Went furniture shopping because someone *coughalexcough* broke our couch. Okay, so it was on its last legs anyway.
-Stopped by The Dump, Ashley, Rooms To Go, The RoomStore and back to Ashley to buy a couch. It's chocolate brown, microfiber, nail-head trim along the bottom edge (a compromise between each of our styles). There will probably be pictures when we get it in 2-3 weeks, maybe less. Until then, we'll just have to live with a teeter-totter couch.
-Stopped by Michaels to get yarn for a couple projects.
-Came back home and knitted.
-Went to bed early due to exhaustion.

Sunday:

-Woke up and did some laundry.
-Knitted.
-Went to Stitch 'n Bitch Dallas.
-Knitted.
-Came home earlier than planned because Boy had locked himself out.
-Ate delicious Moroccan food (yes, the same restaurant) with Matt, Kristina and Alex.
-Came back here and played Kill Doctor Lucky. It's kind of the opposite of Clue. Very fun. And I won.

Monday:

-Had the day off work, so it's kind of an extension of the weekend.
-Went grocery shopping.
-Vacuumed, took out the trash, did the dishes.
-Finished the forms for our tax corrections. We got a W-2 from UNT after having filed this year's taxes and received our refund. This was irritating since Matt didn't work for UNT during 2007, hence we weren't expecting a W-2, but he did receive his last paycheck from them on Jan 1st last year. Argh.
-Finished another couple of knitting projects. More on that tomorrow with pictures.
-About to start another project, I think. Just trying to figure out what.

I joined Knit Wars today. For those of you familiar with Chore Wars, one of the creators of the Lime 'n Violet podcast started a party there for knitters. For those of you unfamiliar, Chore Wars is a site designed to encourage families/offices/communes/whomever to do their chores by rewarding them with experience points (XP) and gold pieces. These things have no meaning in real life (unless, of course, you choose to give them meaning by, say, relating gold pieces to allowances or whatever); it's just for fun and adds a bit of competition to the mundane. Anywho, in the knitting party, various tasks such as finishing a project, buying yarn or resisting the urge to buy yarn replace doing the dishes and taking out the garbage. If you're a knitter/crocheter/spinner and you're interested, here's the information on how to join.

Now, I am pretty competitive by nature. Perhaps this comes from being the second child (not that I blame my brother or parents in any way for my personal flaws, but moving on). Having a constantly-updated, ranked list of party members is pretty good incentive for me to actually do stuff when I come home from work, instead of phasing out in front of the TV and falling asleep on the couch. Hopefully, this will be enough of a push to be productive without leaning too much toward compulsive. We'll see.

So today, on my day off, I've read the Knit Wars rules (1XP), listened to the most recent Lime 'n Violet podcast (2XP), ripped out a sock-in-progress that wasn't to my liking (12XP), spent 5 more hours knitting on said sock (100XP), reorganized my yarn stash (10XP) and am currently blogging about it (5XP). And I've set goals for tomorrow to start a new project, try a new skill (bobbles) and hopefully finish the same project (it's going to be a small project). That'll be another 72XP, and I'll level up at 200XP! I've never been into role-playing games in the least, but this I can definitely dig.

( And now for the stash pictures )

x-posted to 20sknitters

I just realized that I don't think I ever posted this: Matt didn't get into Berklee College of Music. That's okay though. He's became progressively happier where he is over the past month or two. And with promises of promotion in the near future, he's decided not to go back to UNT either. So we'll be staying in Texas after all. For a little while at least. Who knows where we'll be a few years down the road.

That's right, folks. I actually dragged out my sewing machine and made something without using yarn. But we'll save that for later.

( First some knitted things... then the sewn ones )

partially x-posted to 20sknitters

Below is my version of Cheryl Niamath's Fetching mitts. The main thing I've altered is the thumb construction as I prefer a thumb gusset to the afterthought thumb she originally used.

( Gusseted Fetchings )

x-posted to 20sknitters

( A Pouch, Socks, Mitts and a Hat )

x-posted to 20sknitters