Would someone slow this thing down already?!

Still on a lazy kick, so there will be no new pics in this post!

I can't seem to stop saying this, but what the hell, where did January go? I feel like time is just roaring by but nothing is getting done.

I have gotten a bit more knit on my Marigold socks. Yay. I can't wait to wear these, they are so beautiful. The Yarntini is lovely to knit with, both the Vintage colorway and the texture of the yarn itself. Yum. I have been pleased with myself for not going batshit crazy buying particular brands of yarn, but I could easily see myself sliding down the slippery slope of crazy and going hogwild with the Yarntini purchasing. Well, except that it would cost me an extra $5 to go crazy. I think the Yarntini would be worth it. Really, I do. Thankfully, it is difficult to find it in stock anywhere. I think the heel on this second sock was the fastest I've ever cranked a heel out, and I'm now almost halfway up the leg. I'm doing 7 repeats of the lace pattern (well, 7 1/2 before the cuff) and I have completed 3 repeats. So, soon! I will be done! (About time, too. Sheesh. I've been knitting these for a century.)

I haven't knit on the Clapotis for a couple of days. I got obsessed with the sock and I haven't had enough free time to spend on knitting. But tonight is Bobaknit and then I will have some knitting time this weekend, so I am hoping I will be able to finish my sock and then get on with the Clapotis. Oh and of course I will be starting another sock. I already know what I am going to knit, although I am still deciding on yarn. I might have it figured out but we will see.

The baby hamsters are omg cute. They are crawling on top of the bedding now periodically, not all of them at once though, just two or three at a time. There is so totally a runt of the litter, it is nearly half the size of the rest of them. I'm not sure that the runt's eyes are open, though everyone else's eyes are open now. They are really damn cute. I can see it being very hard to give any of them away!

Ok, it is hecka late now. Time to get to sleep and get ready for another ripping month end! Woo.

Hand Knit Friday!!

My answer to Janice's question this Friday is that I wore my Broadripple Socks!

I have been happily knitting away on my Clapotis over the past 10 days or so. Totally easy, I am glad I have jumped on the bandwagon. I have been terribly lazy about taking pictures of stuff I am working on lately, I don't know what my problem has been! So I have no progress photos of the Clapotis, though I am about halfway done with it in theory. There are still many stitches to drop, but I am happy with it so far. I did manage to take a picture of the yummy Misti Alpaca Worsted yarn I am using for it. It is slightly sticky but it's not terrible to drop the stitches. And I am looking forward to the warmth of it so I'm not about to complain! Anyways, as I said no progress photos but here's one of the yarn:

I bought this probably 8 or 9 months ago, so I am happy to finally put it to use.

I never did blog about my Christmas gift I got from my lovely friend Amy (I love it, her site is titled "Knitting in the Slow Lane" but since she hasn't posted in, oh, nearly 2 years it's more like "Blogging in the Slow Lane"! teehee). We had a secret Santa gift exchange among our group of friends, and luckily, not only was she my secret Santa, she also saw my beggar post!

Holy lucky knitter, batman! I was bowled over that I got my yarn for Jeanie! Woot!

Soooo pretty! I am so in love with it.

Amy also gave me a beautiful Della Q bag that I adore:
She also gave me a Louet Hand Dyed Sock Yarn kit in the blue color. I'm a goob and when I went to get my fabulous ear light she got me from Full Thread Ahead, I spazzed out and not only did I not take the photo of the ear light, I also didn't take a picture of the damnable sock kit.

One piece I have left out of the story so far, is the permission slip. Yes, a permission slip!

So, Amy being a Bobaknitter, knows my sock yarn sherriff Kristi. I didn't see this permission slip at first, I was too bowled over by getting six skeins of yarn (there was some serious sock yarn euphoria buzz going on) that I didn't really take a look at the contents of the page protectors. I was looking at the page protector containing the photo of my blog post again, taking the time to actually read her note on it, and it caught my eye that there was something on the back side of the page protector. That's when I found the permission slip. What an awesome addition to the gift!

And because I appear to be on a totally random blog post streak, I will finally post my pics of my hubby modeling his Dashing gloves I knit him for Christmas. They've come in very handy lately, it's been pretty chilly here lately.


I think they look better when they are worn rather than lying on a table.

Sorry ladies, he's all mine!

I took out a few rows in the pattern, it was just WAY too long. I think my yarn had slightly different row gauge, so if I had actually knit all the rows the pattern has, I think these would have gone up to his elbows. I am glad that he loves them, I am so happy to finally knit something useful for him!

So, I will wrap up my everlasting post with hamster pics! I finally have seen the babies! With fur! And open eyes!


They sure do make lots of little squeaks. It's very cute. OH! How exciting! More photos, and all 5 of them even! This viewing though, it doesn't really appear that their eyes are actually open yet. One of them might have open eyes, but it doesn't look like they are open fully yet.

This is so sweet, I'm so thrilled I caught a photo of it. The little teensy babies are nursing on their little teensy mama. It is so cute looking at these baby Roborovski hamsters!!

She started getting flustered when they broke out of the nest and started running amok in the cage.
She's still trying to corral them back with her.

I think I mentioned in my last post (lazy streak is coming up again) that we moved papa to some new digs, and again I finally uploaded the pics:


(Why yes, that is the dragon dishcloth I knitted for my hubby. Yes, great usage it's getting. Keeping papa hamham's sleeping digs dark.)

And here he is running in his ginormous wheel:


Ok, so since I started this post when it was still Friday and it's now Saturday, I think it is time for me to get a move on. I have a semi-formal event to attend tomorrow night that I have to shop for in the morning. Yes, I did not buy anything yet to wear to it. Yes, it won't stop fucking raining. Yes, it is going to be a beautiful hair night. Woo.

Oh, and I nearly forgot! I wanted to give a shout out to my lovely friend inside the computer, Hakucho (aka Deb!) who gave my my first ever award!


I will continue the circle, though I am going to make this fast because omg huge post. My friends, both in the computer and outside the computer, who make my day are:

• The OCK - For being my creativity inspiration. All of my crafts I love to do, you reminded me of how much I loved doing them growing up and inspired me to do them again.
• Kristi - For being my sock yarn conscience and for inspiring me to queue beautiful projects you link to me!
• Kelli - Also my friend in the computer, you make my day because you took up knitting after my praising the glory of knitting chatting with you online. I'm so thrilled that you are having so much fun and have now not only found a group of people to knit with in your little town but have also inspired a couple of friends to take up knitting!
• Mo - After so many years of being able to call you friend (dude, we hit 20 years.. wtf when did that happen), I'm so happy to still be connected to you. I hope your little girl gets to you soon. I can't wait to knit her something.
• And last but not least, my BobaKnit pals (yeah, I'm just going to name the group, dude I will be here until 5am if I don't!) - I am so happy to have decided to swallow my shyness and hang out twice a week to knit with you all. I am having so much fun getting to know you all.
  

So I think at long last, that is all for now. Happy knitting all!

Five Bean Soup

This morning there seems to be five pink beans. Mama is doing fine lying on top of them and Papa is climbing up the wire sides of their cage looking like he is saying GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE. It's quite amusing.

Apparently though they will be full size Robos in like 2 weeks. >.<

Edit: Ok, so I'm wrong. They'll be furry and their eyes will be open in 2 weeks. Around 6-8 weeks old is when they are able to be separated from their parents.

The Birds and the Bees

Oh lord. No, that isn't a pink bean you're seeing, it's a baby Roborovski Hamster. I suppose we rolled the dice by getting two of them. But hey, the internet said that they live longer when they are kept in pairs.

Mama and Papa had a bit of escapee drama over the weekend with Papa being awol for around 18 hours. Guess he couldn't stand being around the pregnant lady anymore?

I discovered the pink bean as I was looking in their little tv house and I realized there was something pink and wriggling... and it wasn't either of the two "girls". I am so laughing right now.


Oh, and time to move Papa to some new digs. It seems that Mama can get knocked up again right away. I guess our computer room is too warm, hubby is reading a site that says that robos tend to breed in early spring/summer following the year of their birth.

Great googly moogly.

Half a Year

My dearest Bratty,

Yesterday was 6 months that you left me and it is now 11 days past what would have been your 19th birthday. I still miss you, but the kittens you and the Chubbo sent to take care of us are wonderful. They are very naughty, but that is how kittens are. They pull toilet paper off the rolls (as you did, though they don't string it through my bedroom like you did), they chew on stuff (thankfully this is something neither you nor Chubbo put us through) and they play at all hours of the day and night. And they love, both us and each other. I am sorry I never had someone you could love, other than me. It is really sweet how Xi Xi and Saylor love each other. And play with each other. But you were a good girl, tolerating the Chubbo as you did.

I miss you and love you.

Kisses,
Me

P.S. I hope you're not peeing on too many things in heaven. You peed on enough stuff here.

You Look Simply Mahvelous, Dahling

Oh. Em. Gee. I am squealing with delight! I got this picture in my email on Friday from my lovely friend of her beautiful one month old (yes, one month old) chunka-lunka baby girl! Wearing my sweater! I am so excited, this is totally the first picture I have ever gotten of a baby wearing the sweater I knit them. Isn't she gorgeous?? Such a cutie patootie. I have absolutely got to go visit her soon.

Mama also confirmed to me that although they aren't present in this photo, the booties also were worn on this day and they do fit her. I'm so relieved. I told mama that I keep making this stuff for people and I have no idea if it ever gets worn or if it even fits at any point in time.

Mama also said that there were a couple of people that commented on the beautiful sweater the baby was wearing and that she told them a friend made it for her. Tee hee. I'm so amused.

First FO of 2008

Well, they're done. I'm not sure really what went wrong with the gauge. The only thing I can imagine is that somehow I picked the wrong needles when I increased needle size after the cuff. The finished left hand mitten is about an inch longer than the right mitten. And it's slightly wider. Sigh.
The insides are sure pretty:




They're blocking right now.


Hopefully they will be dry in the morning so I can ship them off to Oregon. My mother in law's birthday is Saturday. I am tempted to not put these in the box. I hate that they are so obviously handmade with their very different sizes. I mean the knitting is nice and the pattern is beautiful, but the size thing. Man. I am getting more embarrassed about sending these as I look at these photos.

I dunno, maybe my mil has a bigger left hand?

I clearly should have gone with worsted weight mittens.