Labyrinth with Sock Puppets

And yes, that is Neil Gaiman as Jareth the Goblin King.
Very creative use of christmas balls, I say.

Monday Bunday: Recycling

I try to be a good green sort of person and dutifully put aside my recycling. What usually ends up happening is that I just collect recycables instead of actually recycling them. My current laundry bag full of newspapers and junk mail is one of Goose's Favorite Places.

I always know when he's there by the very distinct sound of ripping paper.

"What? You're a slacker and I'm just trying to help you out. Don't you know that you should shred your papers before tossing them out?"

Progress...and not

Look what I got done today...slippers!

These are Pocketbook Slippers, and they're fast & easy, so somewhat addicting. It's also kind of fun how they magically transform from a little purse to foot-sized slippers. Not terribly stylish, but concessions must be made. So, progress on the Pound of Caring Challenge. I think I might actually use up the rest of the hideously yellow Pound of Love to make more of these for The Pink Slipper Project.

What's not getting done...

2-at-a-time magic loop practice socks for my knitting group's sock knit-along. We thought we'd learn to do this together so we could help each other out along the way. I started these on June 5th. The last time I touched them: June 6th. I think this whole knit-along thing may have been my idea, despite my dislike of socks in general, and I'm incredibly jealous of everyone else in the group who already has at least one, if not more, completed adult-sized pairs of socks. It's just shameful, really.

Monday Bunday: Circles and...Gah! What is that?!

Plan B - Beer & Knitting

So, I co-organize a knitting group here in Raleigh with my friends Mel & Deb, The Raleigh Knitting Meetup Group. (And, yes, our name is lame. We've talked about changing it one of these days.) Anyway, we had a meetup scheduled today at one of our normal coffee shop places (we move around a bit). Before the meetup, Deb & I took a trip out to DownTown Knits, a new yarn shop in Apex. It was really cute and had some interesting yarn that I haven't seen at some of the other yarn stores in the area. But getting back to the story, when we made it to the coffee shop some of our lovely knitters we're stranded outside - the coffee shop was closed! This was kind of not cool.

We've been going to this coffee shop for a while now, and we schedule ahead of time, so for them just to be closed - no note, no message on the phone, nothing - was...grr. Not to mention that the last time we went, they had scheduled a speech with a political candidate and we found ourselves trapped & shushed in enemy territory, which is a story for another time, though not a terribly interesting one, so don't get your hopes up. ;) So, we've been slighted twice in the last couple weeks, and are feeling not as excited about this place as we used to be. Unfortunate.

Luckily, there was an Irish pub next door, so we left a note on the door for our fellow knitters (lucky that we were able to scrounge up paper, a pen, and tape between us), and took ourselves and our knitting bags to have a fun afternoon of beer & knitting. The lighting wasn't great, but there was beer, food, knitting, and good company, so not too shabby. ;) And, as it turned out, the parents of the guy who was waiting on us have a knitting related business, Nancy's Knit Knacks. Sounds like fate to me. ;)

And I got carded - bonus! Nothing like getting carded to make a girl feel young. :) This being in my 30's business is giving me an anxiety disorder...

Bad Knitting Mojo

Everything I've tried to do this week, I've jacked up in some way. Was hoping to finish a pair of Fetching (for me!) in some super soft Plymouth Yarn Suri Merino - ran out of yarn. Multiple attempts at starting the Spritely Hat (first attempt at starting Xmas knitting!) - can't get gauge. Tried casting on for a Snowflake, and while the cast on went without a hitch and I knitted along the first row, I then realized I forgot one tiny "K1" at the beginning of the row. No wonder multiples of 20 were not adding up to 261. Gah! So everything is ripped out, and I'm giving up on knitterly pursuits for today.

Meanwhile, I tried for sympathy from the only other living being in the house, my disapproving furkid Goose, who just stared at me with a look that distinctly said, "Aren't you forgetting something? Dinner. Now." I think I can at least manage that...

To top it all off, I totally forgot about a major yarn sale this weekend at a LYS! Dang. Technically the sale runs through Tuesday, but with my luck all the good stuff will be gone. Will swing by tomorrow, just in case...

And...I ended up frogging this:

Wispish - a slight variation on Knitty's Wisp. I was originally making it to wear to my sister's wedding, decided that it wasn't going to work, and then further decided today that it was never going to work. It was so close to being done...oh well. As it turns out, I have something else in mind for this yarn that I think I might actually wear. So, frogged & repurposed.

On a more productive note, I started a Ravelry group, Pound of Caring Challenge. The general gist is that you commit to knitting a pound of yarn for charitable organizations of your choice each year. It was originally a personal challenge to myself, but, lo and behold, I found some others who were willing to knit along with me. My first project for the challenge is Little V-stitch Blanket:

Not such a fan of Lion Brand Pound of Love. While it's convenient and cheap (especially with a 40% coupon), it splits like crazy, it's kind of plastic-y, and just doesn't look all that great. I was particularly enchanted with how the yarn pulled out of the center in a big tangled mess. :)

Perhaps my luck will return after another sleep?

Monday Bunday: Time for Bed!

Without fail, every night when it's time for bed, we have a wild Goose chase. This is the beginning of last night's. Goose is in his hidey hole behind the chair in the living room and giving me a little attitude to kick things off. It's very "You're not the boss of me!"

Pom-Poms make me happy.

I started knitting hard-core because of eyelash yarn. I picked up needles for the first time when I was 19 and knitted off again, on again (mostly off) for a few years, until at age 24, my stepmom brought home this funky eyelash yarn and I was intrigued. I had never seen anything like it, only having knit with Red Heart and the like. Since that first eyelash scarf 6 years ago, I have been knitting non-stop, although I've moved beyond the novelty, thankfully.

While novelty yarn isn't my favorite, there are a few exceptions. The first is Yarn Bee Infatuation. I used to make drop-stitch scarves out of this yarn for the Heartland Rabbit Rescue craft fairs when I lived in OK. It is super soft due to the nylon, kind of quirky, and always a big seller and therefore a good thing for the bunnies. Sadly, since it is a Hobby Lobby brand, I can't get it anymore since I moved to Raleigh. The second is Moda Dea Dream - so soft, but disappointingly discontinued. I still have some in my stash, but I'm hoarding it 'cause I know that it's all I'll ever have.

My newest novelty yarn crush is Red Heart Pomp-a-Doodle - little puffs of happiness on a string. I ran across it randomly at Michaels and decided to knit a few scarves for my nieces as birthday presents. Here is the result:

Each scarf only took one ball and about an hour to make. Now, I wouldn't personally wear one of these scarves myself, but I loved knitting them. My favorite colorway is the blue-green shoreline and I would like nothing better than to knit an entire coverlet out of it. Both the knitting itself and the snuggling afterward would be pure bliss. Never thought I'd be raving about pom-pom novelty yarn, but there you go. ;) Try it folks, it's perfectly delightful.

Gratuitous bunny shot: Goose in a pile of pom-poms...

On another note, I also finished this today:

The pattern is Baby Berry Hat, and I think I would have enjoyed knitting it more if I had picked different yarn (Caron Simply Soft & Bernat Berella 4 - not a fan but have sooo much of it in my stash). Very cute little hat, though.

Obligatory Introductory Post

So, new blog!

I've had a couple blogs before, a personal blog for whatever I felt like talking about, and a knitting blog, that I shared with my sister. The thing is that those blogs are horribly neglected. I think it was too much to keep up with both, so I just didn't update either. (Laziness, really.) So now I'm creating a clean slate, combining knitting and life in general into one blog. This one you're reading here: A Knitterly Life.

Why A Knitterly Life? Partly because it's fun to say "knitterly", but mostly because if I identify as anything, I identify as being a Knitter. (Yes, with a capital "K".) I'm pretty sure that if someone were to ask me "What are you?", "Who are you?", "What do you do?", my first instinct would be "I knit. I am a knitter." Knitters are pretty awesome, right?

I'm other things too: crocheter, crafter, woman, citizen, scientist, bunny slave, etc. But because I identify as being a knitter first and foremost, this blog will have a lot of knitting in it, perhaps plied with all the other things that make me happy and maybe a little of those things that don't, depending what's occupying my mind. Mostly, this is my happy place to share, so welcome to those few of you who may stop by to visit from time to time!

(Oh, and please excuse the dust *cough* as I build up this blog, adding links, and such. It is very "clean slate" at the moment.)

~ Meg