Progress Report

Great googly moogly. Where the hell does the time go? I have been completely slammed at work lately, there have been a good number of late nights put in this month and it sure doesn't feel like it's going to end soon. We went live with a new accounting system to replace QuickBooks, the fun with that is never ending. Some days it seems like the new system is nothing more than a steaming pile of poo. Then there are the new auditors (we fired our old ones, what a bunch of monkeys they were) that are working very diligently to finish our 2005 & 2006 audits (yeah, the old ones couldn't get their shit together to finish our 2005 audit let alone start 2006) in a 3 week time period. So when they give us a pile of stuff to put together for them, we have to jump. And it is the end of the quarter, so there is always fun associated with that. Let's see what else. Oh yeah, we're moving offices at the end of next week. Yippee. At least I get a 3 day weekend! Woohoo. No rest for the wicked until then though, ugh. So yeah, it's been fun. At least delivering my annual reviews for my employees got pushed out to next week. Oh yeah, and I have bronchitis (though I do at least have antibiotics now). Yippee.

Anyways, there has been knitting despite the madness! I posted these a few days ago on my Flickr but I am only now able to scrape together the time to blog about my progress.

I finished the first of my waving lace socks. I really love the Smooshy yarn, it is yummy stuff. The pattern is pretty too, though I was struggling to photograph it.

Here it is though on a sock blocker:

And on my tootsie:

The color is so yummy. Here's a little closer pic of the pattern:

I so have not cast on the second sock, there just hasn't been the time for that. And oh man, I am dying to cast on the Marigold Socks. I will have to cast on the second sock just so it gets on the needles even if it sits in time out while I knit the Marigold socks. Sandra really got me aching to knit them with her beautiful socks! (though she turned the toe up sock into a top down one, wtf is wrong with you Sandra!! teehee, I so totally *heart* you still, I forgive you!)

Anyways, still making progress on the second Koigu Monkey sock.

Here is a little closer pic of the sock:

I really love the colorway. It's gorgeous. And god I love how the Koigu feels. I know that it isn't necessarily the most durable of sock yarns but god it is nice to knit. And the dyes in it are gorgeous. I can hardly wait to finish. Since I took these photos, I have managed to turn the heel so I am now on my first repeat on the leg. Woohoo. Just 5 more pattern repeats to go!

I also somehow managed to bang out a dishcloth for my hubby's boss. It's not like I'm sucking up to her, I used to work with her when I worked for the consulting firm my hubby works for now. I was on the internal staff for a year, so I got to know her. She's a peach, I adore her. (I got a really sweet thank you card from her today. That was lovely after the day I had today.) Anyways, I knit her a dishcloth using the lacy round dishcloth pattern from Rhonda K. White at Knitting Knonsense.

I used Peaches 'n Creme yarn in the Gumdrops colorway. I love how this pattern turns out with variegated yarns. It is so fun.

Oh, and great googly moogly. The kittens are getting quite not-kittenish in a hurry! They tag-teamed hubby the other day and I snapped a pic:

(Please to be disregarding the crapola in the background!)

Saylor has much to say about me not being home much lately:

(How hilarious is this pic. As Kristi points out on Flickr, this pic is so ripe for lolcatesque comments!)

Before I go, I have to quickly comment on my Bunco night last night and what a blast it was. Who could turn down fine eats like this:

It was an awesomely fun evening. A nice break in the rigorous workdays I've had this month! More pics from the evening over on my Flickr.

Anyways, that's how wonderful the world of Teenuh has been lately. Here's hoping your world has been more wonderful!

Pfft Second Sock Syndrome

Hey there Ms. OCK... there is no SSS here!


This is sock #2, cast on tonight (I have included the completed sock #1 to avoid threats of it being a decoy photo from sock#1's progress) (and no, it's not some Photoshop trickery. I'm not that skilled. =P) with one repeat completed. I'm sure I would have had more done but I was busy sleeping my Sunday away. Damnable sinuses of mine. Headache seems to be gone now, but of course it prevented me from both getting any work done this weekend and from going to Bobaknit today. Sigh.

Here is something else I forgot to blog about in August. My hubby went to see his parents last month and this was what he brought back for me:


Ok, so it's a free paper. But omg it's a free paper with an lolcat on the cover!!! How awesome is that?

Today's kitten cuteness is a story of how cleaning your sister turns into a wrasslin match. Have a looksie.

It all starts innocently enough. Saylor starts preening Xi Xi:

Xi Xi being the loving sister begins to reciprocate:


As it turns out, they discover they're at the perfect angle to start wrassling!

Oh, it's on!

It's chompin time!

And that is how cleaning your sister turns into a wrasslin match. =^_^=

(Stay tuned, I will definitely catch the tub match action soon and put them on YouTube.)

Oh yeah, one more thing before I go. We found the battery charger. Sigh. It was knocked off our kitchen table into our newspaper recycling box. Hubby found it tonight when he was taking out the newspapers to our recycling bin.

Hooray for Camera Battery Chargers

Well yippee. We didn't manage to locate the MIA battery charger, but hubby went over to Fry's Electronics today to pick up an expansion for a video game he just got and he picked me up a new charger for my camera. We searched high and low for the damn thing, but we have zero idea where it went. I'm sure we'll find it just after we can't return the new one. Although I doubt we will, the one he bought is pretty slick, it even has a car charger adapter so my camera battery can be charged on the go!

So when I wasn't blogging in August, I was really knitting some stuff. I finished the first sock of my third pair of Monkeys. I really really love the way the Koigu feels. Have I mentioned this before? Anyway, here it is on my blocker:

I love how nicely variegated the dye job is. No pooling to be had here! Woohoo! The scrap of yarn that is next to the sock is all I had left of my ball when I finished. I was worried about running out while I was doing the twisted rib cuff so I opted for a garter stitch finish. I think it works out alright with the Monkey pattern. Also, this is my first pair of socks that I haven't knit on size 3 needles. I started the sock with my size 3's but they looked hella wide (even for my fat feet) so I moved down to 2's. They've still got ample room on my foot (I am sure the stretchiness of the pattern helps with that) so that made me quite pleased.

Now that I'm using a variegated yarn with this pattern that doesn't totally cause the pattern to disappear, I can really easily see how the Monkey pattern is turning out. The SSK's and K2TOG's aren't lining up all pretty like they do when you're knitting the pattern from the top down, so I am holding off casting on the second sock. I'm going to finish them, I think I just have to take a little time out and get over myself.

So, as a result I started the Waving Lace socks from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks book. I am using my Dream in Color Smooshy yarn that I have in the Ruby River colorway. I think they are beautiful:

That is a pic of where I currently am at. These also are not knit on size 3 needles, I'm using 1's for these. This also seems to be a stretchy pattern as the number of stitches is the same as I use for my size 3's but it still fits. I made sure to check this while I was working on the foot:

It may be because I'm not knitting quite as tightly as I do when I am using 3's. Kristi has been pestering me about this lately so I'm trying to knit looser. We'll see how long that lasts!

I also started a bag that I want to felt but I have neglected to take any pictures of it. I'm using SWS in Natural Geranium. I'm feeling mighty lazy at the moment so I haven't taken the time to re-Google the pattern I printed from the internet. Having a raging headache might also have something to do with it but I blame my sinuses for that.

Anyways, that's all of my knitting adventures for the moment. I have picked up some fabulous yarns recently (Yarntini and Shibui Sock and Vesper Sock Yarn among them *slurp*) so it is extremely hard to remain focused. It is extremely tempting to cast on the Marigold Sock pattern like Sandra is knitting...

Oh! Omg! I totally forgot! Speaking of Sandra.. she was my total hero recently! I gushed about her fabulous slippers and how I felt my life would not be complete without a pair of them... and she went back to where she got hers and BOUGHT ME A PAIR! Wahoo. I so totally *heart* them:
So so cute. And quite comfortable, actually. I so totally *heart* Sandra for picking these up for me!! Thank you again!! xoxo

And finally before I go, a dose of cuteness:

They really need to stop this growing up! They are getting so huge! We totally got the kittens we were meant to have, I can't imagine being without these naughty little sweeties.

How in the hell did it get to be September?

Can someone please tell me where August went?! Seriously, what the hell. I have no idea what has been going on with time, but it is screaming by.

I'm working on two sets of socks, I have my first sock complete out of my third pair of Monkey socks that I am making and I am about halfway done with my first sock on a pair of Waving Lace socks. The Monkey is made out of Koigu (yes, another variegated pair. I have learned nothing yet, though this pair you can actually see the pattern on) and the Waving Lace socks are out of my Dream in Color Smooshy yarn I got not too long ago. Both are very very yummy yarns, though I think I love the Koigu slightly more. So so delicious that Koigu, I was totally right to keep it precious.

I would post some new photos but it seems that the charger unit for my brand spanking new camera is MIA. We charged my camera when we bought it and haven't needed to charge it again since (we got it in July, it was my anniversary present). So who the hell knows where that has gone in six weeks.

Sigh.