The spoils

I went to the DFW Fiber Fest today! Here's what I came home with:

420 yards of Brook Farms Acero (60% Superwash Merino, 20% Silk, 20% Viscose) fingering weight: 

Madelinetosh Tosh Sock (superwash merino wool) ~395 yds:
I want to start spinning (will likely start with a drop spindle), so here is ~1.1 oz Jacob roving:

 

And, finally, here is the progress on my Mermaid Gloves using Tempted Good Grrl Favorite Jeans:

I also came home with a lovely pink t-shirt that says "knitphomaniac." I'm going to wear it to work tomorrow! :)

So excited about tomorrow

I'm going to the vendor show at the DFW Fiberfest in Addison, TX. I have managed to convince my DH to drive (and I'm browbeating him into actually coming inside). One of the girls from the SnB is coming with me, and I'm meeting (drumroll, please) Gnome and her DH! I'm so excited. Hopefully I can leave without maxing out my credit card. We're leaving at 10:30 in the morning, and should arrive somewhere around 2pm or so. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight!

Dentist appt, round 4

I went to the dentist again this morning. She did 4 fillings. The fun part came when my bottom teeth would not go numb. I ended up with a total of 5 shots of lidocaine. She actually made the comment, "but laura, you are not fat. You should not need this much." There you have it folks, I am not fat lol. My husband had a tooth pulled, and he did not need that much (and he weighs twice what I do).

Now to the not-as-great news: there's a good chance I'm going to need a root canal on one of the top back teeth. She put some kind of medicine on it to try to get it to be ok, but she's not confident that it will work. She also put medicine in one of the bottom ones, but she has more faith that the bottom one will be ok with just a filling. I go back next Friday afternoon; not sure if that will be the root canal day or not.

Wha?

I can't for the life of me remember if its Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Gah.

I may kill the skirt (not really)

Turns out the freaking chart is "unclear," according to the local knitting goddess who owns one of my favorite yarn stores. The pink squares that I thought were yarn overs (YOs) are not-they are nothing. They mean nothing; just space holders, according to the goddess. I am still questioning whether there is a YO at the beginning of the row, because it clearly looks like one in the pic. Also, (and this is a gem I discovered after 7 rows of the chart), the increases are not your garden variety M1 type. They are "lifted increases" (apparently popular with the European set), and I was totally doing them incorrectly. Therefore, I undid 3 days' worth of knitting and frogged the damn thing back to the garter stitch rows. My knitting goddess is going to confer with her knitting goddess, and they'll get back with me by the SnB on Wednesday night. I've been looking forward to making progress on the skirt, and now I have to entertain myself with something else. Gah. I have 2 pairs of socks on the needles, 1 in the queue, several sets of baby leggings to make, and no desire to knit anything besides the skirt. Awesome blossom.

This is what happens when I try to be smart

I'm working on the skirt. You do 50 rows of garter stitch, and the next row you increase evenly so that you end up with 252 stitches. The first row of the chart pattern required 33 stitches; 252 does not divide evenly by 33. Sooooooo, I figured out how many stitches I needed to be divisible by 33 and be bigger than 252; 264 it was. So I tinked back enough stitches to fit 14 extras in (knitting in the front and back, in addition to the M1 that was already there). I was so proud of myself for finding an error! I didn't want to knit the chart and find out I was short stitches.

Fast forward to me knitting at the end of the first row of the chart. Turns out I have 14 stitches too many. I suck, and I'm tinking the entire first row (252 stitches mind you) as well as the few stitches of the increase row where I extra increased. Go me. Lesson learned: next time, try the directions before you try to fix it. It might just be right.

Ye olde teethy pegs

In keeping with my I'm-going-to-focus-on-everything-but-TTC plan, let's talk about my teeth again. About every 6 months or so my wisdom teeth act up. They're all below the gums. The gums will get red/inflamed, I'll start running a fever, my face will start to swell a bit, and I'll be living on Tylenol or Advil for the week or so that it lasts. I'm not sure if its ironic or convenient that they are acting up again when I have a dentist appointment on Saturday. Right now, its just the lower right one that hurts. It usually starts gradually-by Thursday all 4 will likely be angry and I'll be a tad bit grumpy.

I'm sure this will lead to another conversation with the dentist about taking them out. If all 4 weren't impacted, I'd have her do it (it did take me 11 yrs to find a dentist I like after all); however, she can only do nitrous, so she's probably going to send me elsewhere. I predict early June.

WTF is up with my IP address?

I have that live traffic feed over there on the right towards the bottom. I have it set to remove my IP address from the list, but I cleared my cookies out on the computer the other night. Anywhoo, it says someone from Catoosa, Oklahoma, was looking at my blog. Turns out that's me, and I don't have any idea where that is! I had to look for it on google maps-Catoosa is near Tulsa. Tulsa is about 2 hours away from me. IP location FAIL lol.

I know you'll laugh at this

but lunch today was the first thing I've eaten in 24 hours. First off, the dentist told me I could eat about an hour after she was finished. However, every freaking tooth in my head hurt, so I didn't want to eat. Today, I wasn't that hungry. Annnnnd (this might be the funny part), my teeth are so nice and clean that I didn't want to mess it up. I ate soup for lunch today.

Its all good

Dentist appointment went really well, despite the fact that I was shaking the entire time. She did a full mouth cleaning (that hurt actually) and 2 fillings. I think I'm going to surprise her when I go again next week by acting very happy to be there lol. I love this dentist! Anyway, I didn't even feel the needle for the lidocaine. Awesome. Only 8 more cavities to go. Next appointment is April 18th.

Update of sorts

I survived my dentist appointment yesterday. Luckily, I only have 1 serious cavity and several small cavities (not bad at all for 11 years between dental visits). The major one will be fixed Wednesday (I'm also getting a cleaning that day too). I go back on the 18th to get the minor ones fixed. Poor DH is going to have to decide if he wants a root canal or just pulling one of his teeth. Its broken off below the gumline. We'll probably do whichever is cheaper. The dentist is very nice and I'm happy we went. I guess I'll see if I still feel that way after Wednesday.

Oh my

There is a magnificent thing this year in Portland, OR, in August called the sock summit (link). I really really want to go. How awesome would it be? I can't even imagine! Oh, how I want to go. I need to figure out if I'm brave enough to fly to Portland alone (DH literally LAUGHED at me when I told him I want to go and that the Yarn Harlot would be there). I wonder if I can get off of work, and if there will be any classes still open by the time I figure out if I can get off of work. Between my yarn coming in and the announcement of this Sock Summit, today has been magnificent!

The yarn is here!

My 3 skeins of Malabrigo Lace in Indigo blue have arrived!! I've been waiting all week for them. The yarn isn't nearly as thin as I thought it would be. I'm not nearly as apprehensive about making the skirt now.

Here's a beautiful beautiful pic:

Knitting AW PIPfest

As promised, here are some PIPs of my knitting projects:

There is the Cabled Toque (WTF is a toque, anyway? Why not say hat?) that I did at a knitting class. Its size 1-3 years, and all it needs is a button on the band to be totally finished.

The sock saga continues. #1 is finished, and I'm waiting until the sock class on Saturday to continue on the second one.

And, finally-the pic you've all been waiting for (or at least Gnome has been waiting). I've gotten about 2.5 repeats of the lace done. That hot pink thread in there is the life line.

I'm very excited

About making this:

with this:

The pattern is here and the yarn is here. I got the pics from those sites too. I'm excited and scared all at the same time! I had to have my wonderful aunt translate the pattern from German to English, and its a lace pattern and I knit with 3 strands of the malabrigo held together. If nothing else, this skirt will be a good knitting challenge and will help me become a better knitter (assuming it doesn't drive me crazy). :) I'm watching the mail for the package of yarn!

March Madness

I've made a bracket for the first time ever, and am participating in a work march madness pool thingy. Right now, I'm tied for first! I'm not sure it'll last longer than today, but I'll bask in the glory of #1 while it lasts. I'm refreshing ESPN like crazy and watching the games like I'm never going to see tv again lol.

AWing my scarf

Here's my very slow-moving lace column of leaves scarf. This is 1 repeat of the the lace pattern lol. I can't go any further until I stick a life-line in there as well as find some uninterrupted knitting time where I can concentrate.

Here's my elf sock

This is what happens when you don't follow the pattern. The pattern says: 

*Knit decrease round, then knit around twice*, from * to * 3 times.

Knit decrease round only until 24 stitches remain.

I knit the decrease round followed by 2 knit rounds until I had 24 stitches left lol. Now I get to tink until I get back to where I should have started decrease rounds only.

Gotta love OK

This week alone we have had tornado warnings, 80 degree weather, and freezing weather. It's snowing right now! I do love the weather here-it's never predictable!

eh.

I was going to post a witty humorous post on why it helps to read the pattern before you do the decreases on the toe part of socks, but I don't feel like it. I'm in a down mood again, and not only am I tired of TTC, I'm also tired of the fucking bad moods it puts me in. Not only am I still frustrated and angry about cycle 9, I wonder if a certain person realizes that it takes 2 to have a baby and that sex is usually required. Being tired really isn't an excuse anymore. But whatever. So thats all for tonight. I might take a break for a few days (or longer). I usually feel better after some sleep, so I'm headed to bed. I think I'll kick him "by accident" when I get there.

Oh, and when a pattern says to do a decrease row and then knit around twice 3 times, it doesn't mean do it until the end. You'll end up with elf socks if you do.

Today's update du jour

I think I need to go to the dentist. I have one tooth that is pushed back, and I noticed today that the gum is really red above it. I think this has happened because I was in a conversation about dentists with some online friends, and therefore murphys law applies. If I hadn't mentioned my insane fear of dentists, my tooth would be fine. Since I'm mentioning it here, I'll probably need a root canal or it'll get pulled or something (it's a front tooth of course).

On to item 2: my vacation is 1step away from being un-takeawayable. My immediate boss signed the request; now just gotta wait for the dept head to put his john hancock on it. I don't know how or when I'll know if he's approved it, but at this point I'm not worried.

Item 3: I've started doing taebo. I'm not overweight, but I'm most certainly not in shape. What I think is hilarious is that I couldn't figure out why my abs didn't hurt afterwards on Sunday. Turns out I must not use them-they hurt after I jumped dh LOL. Anyway, I've managed to stick to an every other day schedule for the whole 3days since I started ( counting Sunday). Go me! I've tried exercising before, and it hasn't worked out yet. I like it so far, so hopefully I can find some motivation somewhere.

Item 4: I have razorburn on my legs, and it hurts.

Item 5: I'm about 3/4 of the way done with knitting a sock, but you get to wait for a pic.

Item 6: (this is six because I was going to use it as five, but couldn't remember what it was going to be, so I threw the sock tidbit in there instead). My tattoo needs to be touched up somewhere at the top of the ball and in the shadow below it. I took a knitting friend with me because she has wanted a knitting tattoo for a while but couldn't find anyone to go with her. Anywhoo, I think the tattoo artist is very hot, but I think he and the other tattoo people may be making fun of me when I'm not there. Oh well, I guess my tattoo isn't hardcore enough lol.

That's all I can think of right now. DH has the bedroom window open and I'm freezing to death. My thoughts are going to need some time to thaw out.

DH has jury duty

DH had to report for jury duty this morning. He didn't want to do it, but he decided he'd show up after I explained what "contempt of court" entails. I've been called 3 times: once in HS and twice in college. Its obvious why I couldn't go for the first one, and both college times happened to be during finals week. I'm sad because I probably exhausted my lifetime supply of potential jury duty and I'll never get called when I can actually do it. 

Anyway, I'll know by the end of the day if he's a juror. Oh, and the case is a murder trial. Yay.

I see a vacation in my future...

We are going on vacation in May. We're driving to PA to the town I lived in as a kid, among other fun things. I'm excited. :) 

!

I'm at work, and I'm bored out of my mind. I have 1 hr, 19 minutes left. AHHHHHHHHHH!

Today is a good day.

I'm having a good day at work, DH's 30th birthday is today (and therefore I get to call him old all day long), and we're going to a Thunder-Mavericks NBA game tonight. Woot. :) 

Not a good day so far

Today we are celebrating our one year wedding anniversary (it's actually the 29th). I had a cast-on class this morning (which DH knew about for at least a week and I left it early because I got very dizzy). Last week we made plans to go to the IMAX theatre in Tulsa to watch nature under the sea after my class. DH has been grumpy since we left, so I asked him what the problem was. He said he had a whole day planned out for us, starting at 9am. So, I'm either a terrible wife for going to the class or he's an ass for never saying a word about morning plans and for making me cry. We're at the theatre now, but I just want to go home. It's been a craptastic anniversary so far.

Aright, I'm in a better mood now.

Doing an experiment and having it work will usually improve one's mood. I repeated  yesterday's experiment with real samples, and it worked. I did samples that had been done previously to see if I got the same results. The results are identical, even with a kit that's been expired for 4 months. Go me!

Oh, and FYI: Yesterday, my protocol said I had to use sodium hypochlorite in a vacuum flask to dispose of the waste. I looked through all of the chemicals in the lab, and didn't find it. I was worried that I might not be able to do my experiment because I couldn't properly dispose of the waste. After searching the websites of chemical companies, I was only getting more confused. One of my nice co-workers decided to use wikipedia to find synonyms for the name. Wanna know what it is? Bleach. Sodium hypochlorite=bleach. I lol'd at myself.

holy crap its been almost a week

since my last post. Oh well. I started a new post last night, but I couldn't formulate the words to say what I wanted to (although I can in my head while I'm trying to go to sleep or driving-both times where I can't post).

Anyway, today was a good day. I started an experiment that a former lab manager had screwed up royally over the summer. I was only allowed to do a test strip because a) the kits expired in Oct and b) the bosses wanted me to prove that I am capable. The control strip worked beautifully and now I have to design an experiment repeating samples done when the lab was in MN to see if I get the same results. I'm happy to be working at the bench again, but I'm wary of the asshat. He told me that I did a really good job today, but he's known to flip-flop on that attitude quickly and almost without warning. So, we'll see how long I stay in his favor this time.

On the knitting front, I finished the bumblebee hat, and its the right size.

I got cable

Last week, I got cable. We were concerned that we would lose all source of entertainment with the digital switchover (that didn't happen btw), so we got cable. I already have a few favorite channels: TLC (all those darn baby shows), Animal Planet (all those darn cute animals), MSNBC (I love lockup and cops), etc etc. Wanna know what my favorite channel is? TV land. It makes me all nostalgic. When I was a kid at my nana's house, I would watch TV land. I loved the Andy Griffith Show, I Dream of Genie, and Mr, Ed. I'm not sure if these shows were on TV land or on regular TV, but I love these too: Little House on the Prairie, Murder She Wrote, and Matlock. Oh, and Inspector Gadget! I would sit on my couch with my grandpa and watch it. He was a doctor, but he always took time out of his busy schedule to watch that show with me every day. Sigh, I miss those days.

Finished a baby hat!

I made a newborn bumble bee hat with Berroco Comfort yarn. I had intended to give it to a former co-worker (due in March), but the hat is too small for a newborn. Luckily, I have a friend whose cousin recently gave birth at 30 weeks. So, I'm going to give it to her, and make another one with bigger needles.

I have 2 tattoos...

I don't think I've ever AW'd my other tattoo. In fact, when I had DH take a picture of it yesterday, I can honestly say I haven't seen it in at least a year. Its kinda hard to see your back, kwim? Anyway, someone had asked me what it looked like, so here's the other one:

Ahem.....

WE ARE DONE ALIQUOTING!!!!! holy fucking shit damn OMG I'm deliriously happy the nightmare is over OMG yay!

I'm going to go have a mental breakdown now, be back later.

I think my tattoo is going to need touching up. I know he put white in it, and I can't see it at all. There are a few spots that look like they're raw. I know its going to scab, and that they will come off. I just hope there's color underneath them. I don't remember having this much trouble with my tramp stamp. Maybe its the location? I'm trying not to freak out any more, just to let it heal and see what it looks like afterwards. Sigh. At least it doesn't really hurt anymore; its starting to get itchy now.

We have a 3 day weekend because of President's day, but because of that stupid pipetting experiment, I worked yesterday and will work tomorrow. I get next Friday off because of working yesterday-I don't know if they'll give me another day off because I'm working tomorrow. I doubt it-they'll probably just have me add it to my extra hours worked spreadsheet and I'll take it off some other time. We're supposed to ship off the samples Tuesday and this nightmare will finally be over.

A tad bit swelled...

Now that my panic over the potential damage to my tattoo has passed, I would like to point out something a tad bit entertaining/interesting. Do my feet look different to you lol? I simply can't imagine why one would be bigger than the other....oh wait. It might be because I stabbed one of them a million times with a needle. Just in case you can't tell, my normal foot is the one on the right lol. Keep in mind it the fat one is still smaller than it was last night.

Not sure

I'm worried that I may have damaged my tattoo. Its oozing ink, and some of the lines are not as clean as they were before. Its very gooey. My co-workers think its ok, but I probably won't be convinced until it heals lol. I called the tattoo shop and they said to put breathable non-stick gauze over it while I'm at work, and then to let it breathe when I get home. She said its probably ok. If it doesn't look better tomorrow, I'm going to go to the tattoo shop and show it to them and see what they say. I really really don't want to have to have it touched up. I've passed my pain threshold for the next few months lol.

Taa-daaaa!

Um, so I got a tattoo tonight...

Yup. I got a tattoo on the top of my foot tonight. Its a blue ball of yarn with 2 knitting needles sticking out. It hurts like a sonofabitch lol. I am quite proud to say that I did not cry during the entire thing, although I had a death grip on the chair. The tattoo guy was incredibly nice too. If you live in OKC, go to Mystical Illusions and ask for Bobby. He's great.

I can't take the bandage off for another 30 minutes or so, but I'll take a pic when I do and post it. :)

The socks saga

So I've been knitting ankle socks with sock yarn. This is my first time to ever knit with sock yarn. Here is what I have so far:

Now here's the bad part. Here's the other side of the sock:
You see that gap in the stitches? Its a bad thing. It means something is wrong with either the way I picked up the instep stitches or with the heel flap itself, or both. I was going to frog (rip out) until I got back past the heel flap, but I think I might have to frog the whole thing. I'm not very good at frogging-I never get the stitches back on the needles in the right direction. So, goodbye dear sock. I'll recreate you, I promise.

Whew!

Work was crazy today, and its not going to get any better in the next 2 weeks. We have to aliquot over 4000 samples! Yay! Its all I'll be doing actually, and I predict late days and a weekend working in my future.

I'm sleepy, and am contemplating going to sleep rather soon. :)

Ick

I have another headache. I'm surprise I can even read to type this. I'm going to take 2 tylenol and head to bed. I actually have to go to work tomorrow.

And then there were 2...

I finished the second sock! Now I am going to use the deliciously beautiful sock yarn I bought to make another pair! :) I think I've found a new love-my hoodie may be in trouble lol.

Newsflash

THIS JUST IN:

I AM OFFICIALLY ADDICTED TO GOSSIP GIRL.

NFT. XOXO.

lol.

Hope no one minds...

I've been changing my background with my mood. :)

One more thing...

I'm over halfway done with the second sock. I can't wait to start all over with the beautiful sock yarn I bought. :)

Finished my first sock!

Ta-daa!

On to sock #2!

My knitting

I've realized that I don't AW my knitting on here near as much as I should lol. So, here ya go:

My So-Called Scarf:

The back of my hoodie (I've also finished the left front):


Grey K3 P3 scarf:
Other things in progress that I don't yet have pics for:

a pair of variegated blue ankle socks (berroco comfort)
a hobo bag that may never get finished (lion brand wool something or other)
a green cabled scarf (berroco foliage)

Great way to start a Friday

There's nothing quite like an ass-ripping from my bosses due to a coworkers mistake to start the day off right. I was told our "cavalier" attitude regarding samples has to stop and if we don't like our jobs we can quit. I'm tempted to take them up on that.

Inauguration day

Today is a very emotional and historic day. I don't really know how to enunciate exactly what I'm feeling, so please forgive me if I'm a little rough around the edges (we'll blame this on my chart). I'm excited about the dawn of a new era for the US. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, although Bush certainly screwed up a lot of things, I think he was a good President. I voted for him, and I'm proud of that. But our nation needs Obama. Its evident when looking at all of the excitement and hope displayed by the ~2 million people in Washington this morning. I sincerely hope he can live up to most of the expectations and that he can turn our country around. I'm glad that someday I'll be able to say to my future kids that I remember this day, just like my mom can tell me she remembers MLK's march and other historic events.

In a later post, I'll show you why I'm so emotional. Its pretty freaking awesome actually (but not a BFP, so don't freak).

Oh, and Placerville, Ca? Did ya miss the last post? Guess so.

Who's reading from Placervile, Ca?

I should probably know, but I've already ruled out those who I know live in Ca. I'm curious to know who you are. Please leave me a comment or send me an email if you have the address.

BTW, its been brought to my attention that my live traffic feed doesn't always pick the exact right location. So, if you are reading from the vicinity of Placerville, Ca, I'm talking to you! :)

I have a 2 income family!

DH starts a job with a transport ambulance service tomorrow! After tomorrow, he'll work 12hr shifts (7-7) on Monday-Thursday, and will be off on Friday-Sunday. Yay for free weekends! He'll get paid $10/hr. Can ya tell I'm excited? After being together nearly 6 years, this the the first non-work study job he's had. I'm really happy.