Continuing through the stash

A pair of socks finished. Another sock already on the needles. I've been good this month. I don't think I've purchased any yarn yet. And I won't be this weekend since in the past, when I've purchased yarn on game day, we've lost. Now...if Cornell is eliminated on Saturday, you may very well find me headed to a yarn store in Grand Rapids.





The socks are made with Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in the Red Rover colorway. Size 2 Addi Turbos used. The pattern is L-Bee Socks by wendyknits. It was an interesting knit. The front and back are each produced by 3 chart panels, 8 row repeat. Once you memorized the pattern, it goes quickly.

It's a toe up sock with a gusset and heel flap. I don't know why but the toe up version always looks weird to me. Anyways, more yarn being used!

Me turning 30

Today is my birthday and I am 30. I've been celebrating since Friday. Not that I'm particularly excited or unexcited about turning 30. But it's always fun to have an excuse to celebrate.

Since Cornell made it to the ECAC finals, I was on my way up to Albany, NY for the annual tournament. The annual tournament gets suckier and suckier every year. They used to have a whole festival outside with vendors and stuff. No more. Well, anyways, we'll start with the plane. I was knitting and napping and when the plane landed, my ball of yarn fell off my lap and rolled 2 seats up the aisle. Oops.


The shoe in the lower right hand corner is my foot, and look to see where the ball of yarn is. So yeah, oops.

Moving on. I had a plan to start drinking by 3pm that day. I also had a plan for drinking. It's March Madness time. For most people, it's basketball. For me, it's hockey. But for this guy, it's the Fermented Four. I don't drink beer and I don't drink much wine. However, I do like my cocktails and liquor so I thought I'd start with the cocktails bracket. And so I give you...on Friday:

Apple Martini vs the Long Island Iced Tea. This was a tough match. The apple martini is so tasty but the Long Island Iced Tea is such an efficient drink. In the end, I think I'd have to give it to the Long Island Iced Tea for its efficiency. I can drink 2 or 3 of those. As tasty as the Apple Martini is, it's very sweet and I get queasy from the sweetness after a couple of drinks.

Melon Margarita vs the Irish Car Bomb. The Melon Margarita was tasty but like the Apple Martini, I can only drink so much of it before the sweetness over takes everything else. And I love the Irish Car Bomb. The Irish Car Bomb wins.

And yes, there is some hockey thrown into all of this to.

Sometime during Friday's game, I realized that I had done something wrong with my stitch marker. But an hour after an apple martini, a long island iced tea, and a cranberry and vodka, I wasn't really ready to figure out what it was.

Our pep band hung a bulldog in effigy on Saturday as we were playing the Yale Bulldogs in the final. We lost pretty badly. I can't say I expected the loss but 5-0 hurts!

Back to the cocktails bracket. Saturday night, I continued drinking through the cocktails regional.

Pineapple Mojito vs Gin & Tonic. This was a blowout. I like mojitos. I took a sip of the gin and tonic and gave the rest to my friend Josh. People said I needed to finish the drink but you know, I'm just drinking my way through to decide which of the two I liked better and I DID NOT LIKE the gin & tonic. Pineapple Mojito wins, no contest.

White Russian vs Whiskey Sour. I'll give it to the Whiskey Sour. Both were quite tasty but the White Russian was a little too sweet. It starts to go the way of the Apple Martini and Margarita in that respects. Josh said the Whiskey Sour was well made because it was all so well balanced.

So, advancing to the next round, we have: Long Island Iced Tea vs the Irish Car Bomb and the Mojito vs. the Whisky Sour.

Cornell lost the final but they do keep playing for at least another week. They're going to Grand Rapids, MI for the regionals. So am I :)

Today, my coworkers brought in food and cake so I've been eating all day. Then, I went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner with Amber, Amber, and Nina. I had a peach bellini here. It was in frozen form which surprised me:

It was a fun evening with friends. I will leave you with these two pictures from the evening...first a normal picture and then me looking crazed again:




A big thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes!

Meet Suzie

I picked her up this morning at the post office. Finally, after a long day, I brought her home:


And I took her out of her box



After a bit:


and some fluff!


I do have to say a little something about the whole ordering experience. After reading some rave reviews on ravelry, I started speaking with Tracy at Woolly Designs. He and his wife run a farm out in Colorado. He is very knowledgeable about Majacraft spinning wheels and was able to answer the questions I had about the wheels. They were also reasonably priced.

In putting the wheel together, Tracy also provides supplemental materials which helped in the assembling of the wheel. If I had relied on only the instructions that came with the wheel, then I would still be sitting here wondering why the whorl felt loose and it wasn't working. They're farmers and can't spend that much time in front of the computer but they've put together a great set of instruction materials with good pictures. It's not an alternate set but it supplements what comes from majacraft.

Weekend...

So...I'm turning 30 on Monday. Ya. With that in mind and the fact that I will be in Albany for hockey, I've decided that I'm going to drink my way to 30. That is the theme of the weekend. The problem, however, is that I need to find some sort of a sock project to work on that is not a plane old stockinette sock in the round cuz those bore me to tears...but then, I plan on not being in my right mind so maybe they will work. Does anyone know of any SIMPLE sock patterns that might also work? I do have the L-Bee socks on the needles but that is a somewhat intense 8 row repeat sock pattern across 3 charts. And I am also testing knitting a sock that does involve just a cable periodically so that might work. And so far, it doesn't look like there are all that many mistakes in the pattern.

The post office has my Suzie!!!!!! Ya, I think I will be up a good portion of the night tomorrow putting her together and spinning. Happy Birthday to me! All I need now is for Cornell to kick some ass both in the bball tourney and in the hockey tourny.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

No green beer for me. Not even an Irish car bomb but I'm hoping to remedy the Irish car bomb part this weekend.

I need...

to bead myself a wrist strap for the new crackberry. A couple of weeks ago, I read this post and watched the embedded video about why one might need a wrist strap. A couple of days later, I was watching the Caps at Verizon Center and someone on the other team committed a penalty. I think it was tripping. Anyways, up went my hand and immediately the thought of "If I had let go of the phone...omg I need a wrist strap!"

I'm off to Albany this weekend where I could see this happening again. I have the beads I need to make this with. I'd best get started so I can be done by Friday.

No I did not stop beading!

Class is Saturday! (It's the sunflower)

March goals

Wow, setting some goals for myself, amazing! Well, first, I want to finish my sunflower. I've got class scheduled for 2 weeks from now so I need to take pictures and write out the instructions. Corresponding to the weekend of class, I need to submit one of my applications and one of their essays is unique. They ask you to describe yourself and you can submit the "essay" in any media format, as long as it's non-perishable and isn't some sort of CD, DVD, etc. So, When I put this sunflower together, I'm sending it in.

I also want to finish making Dianne Fitzgerald's "A Time for Teapots. Those mini teapots are so cute. I need to make myself a whole tea service.

On the knitting front, I'm going to keep working on the Hydrangea scarf. But for larger needle, mindless knitting, I'm thinking of the Yoke Pullover from Vogue Knitting Winter 2005/2006 with some grey Berrocco Peruvia.