toys are good food

You? And you, too? Me, three!

What's that all about? Sockapaloooza, of course! Have YOU signed up yet?
Sockapaloooza III: The Wrath of Sock!
Sockapalooza 3D: Return of the Gusset
(Hee - play with the name a little. It's kind of fun!)

Updated with more sock news! Check the 'Read More' section.

Besides the excitement of Sockapaloooza III: Son of the Sock (hee hee), I'm also in cahoots with the Ps for 200Sox-Year of the Sox. And upon throwing my name into the hat (with only the *promise* to knit socks), I was randomly picked as a winner in their initial drawing!

That Vannakin - so dramatic!

And those Ps? They are loverly, sweet, and generous to a fault. Trust me on this. I won myself the Opal sock kit (yarn, Addi dpns, stitch markers, and a pattern). Wowza! And the yarn... check it - it's Opal Cotton! Have YOU ever seen Opal Cotton? I haven't. The colors are soft and remind me of faded demim.

Ooh La-la!

Well, after all that fuss I couldn't just skip town without a sock to my name. Luckily I already had most of a finished pair of socks up my sleeve. (Which is an odd place to keep socks-in-progress, let me tell you.) These are my Second Sock Syndrome swap socks on the Townsend Socks KnitALong Yahoo! group. I spoke of this before here. I *believed* that I had finished my (second) sock during our Thanksgiving trip, but was mistaken and after a bit of technical difficulties I now have a wonderful pair of socks.

The yarn is Regia 4ply Color in #5062... um, which tells you NOTHING! But what if I describe them as Funfetti Sox! Now you know what I'm talkin' about. The pattern that my pal picked for me was a modified Holey Sock Pattern. These worked up easily (except for my own oops) and are nice to wear.

And I'll leave you with some amusing (to me) and slightly related pix. (Look away, Rachel. Look away!)

Hellooo, Brannock Device!

What? Doesn't everyone have a Brannock Device?

Funfetti Sox

Dude, I'm totally channeling Hurley!

So we've been watching A LOT of the TV series, Lost lately. Matty got me the season 1 DVDs for Christmas, and STiVo has patiently been saving season 2 all this time. We had a few marathon sessions, especially during the DVDs: one 8-episode entire day, plus a couple 4-episode week nights! Yikes, that a lot.

Combine this with the fevered "little voice in my head" and you've got quite the chatter. I've always been an avid inner conversationalist, having full on discussions, arguments, and rationalizations all within the confines of my skull. Sometimes I think Bonez would appreciate it if I included him in these discussions, but overall I believe he's relieved. My head can prattle on and on.

Dude

And so from all this Lost watching, you'd think that my inner voice would pick up on some hero/heroin figure, right? Nope. My inner voice is totally set to Hugo "Hurley" Reves, dude extraordinaire. 'Read more' for some of my inner dialog.

Dude. Your coffee smells like ass; go away from me. Now! - while working the stretchy bind-off for my Confetti Sox, the first for me of 200Sox

If you don't Step Off, dude, I'm gonna totally Go Off! - uttered internally, then with my outside voice while driving home in traffic yesterday to a G.d. f*cktard that wouldn't stop tailgating after being given the "slow down/brakes hint" three {even more expletives} times!

Dude. You totally rock. - to Matty Bonez, multitudes of times. 'Cause he does. Rock.

There are probably tens of tens more examples of my channeling Hurley and his "dude" repertoire, but really the first two are the whole reason that I wrote this article. They simultaneously make me laugh and make me want to smack some jackass that's giving me grief.

As an aside, Yay! I've finished my first pair of socks this year! Sure, these were started back in November and I only had to make one. (They were part of the Second Sock Syndrome Swap previously discussed here.) But a few things went awry, and I am just now finishing the pair up (sew in the ends and I'm good to go). I'll have pix and details up soon.

You're an odd duck

Who can you blame for these meme things? The initial blogger that started it (have you ever back tracked and found the owner)? The "friend" that tagged you on it? What about the bloggers that propagate this, including yourselves?

Well, screw the blame and just have some fun with it! Read more to find out a few items that make me a bit kooky.

Updated*

***Ground Rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "5 weird habits of yours" and people who get tagged need to write a blog entry about their 5 quirky habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged and list their names.***

Funny thing? I had trouble getting started, then a rush of thoughts came to mind, but they were all food-related. So it was difficult mixing it up some. But here goes:

1. Calendars - I won't peek ahead in a calendar to look at the pictures. I will allow myself to glance at the images on the back which show all the months, but I won't look too closely. (Just to get a "feel" if I'll like it or not.) I used to sneak a peek at my birth month, but now I like to save the calendar flip moment for all the months. I'm crazy like that.
2. Milk - I LURVE milk. I can easily drink 3 tall glasses at one meal. But... it must be ice cold. Especially that first glass. So a few minutes before dinner is ready, I'll put two glasses of milk in the freezer for me and Matty. When I'm ready for it there's a wonderfully cold bite to it that is totally refreshing. Wanna know how to totally freak me out? (No? Well stop reading.) Leave the milk sitting out during a meal. {{shudder}}
3. Peanut Butter - The first "cut" into a jar of peanut butter must be fun and/or decorative. This is a fact. When you open a new jar of peanut butter (creamy, I don't do the crunchy kind so I don't know what rules you people live by) and you're faced with that perfect canvas, you can't just go in willy-nilly. Draw a smiley face, a heart, or a artful design. Admire it, then dig in! Also, creamy peanut butter is smooth so there is no good reason that one would need to hack at it and leave it's surface torn and ragged. No, it doesn't need to be flat, just use even strokes.
4. Kraft Mac N' Cheese - Please note the very specific brand and type. I'm not so much a fan of any other mac n' cheese, not even homemade. But the Kraft kind in the blue box with regular macaroni shapes and powdered orange "cheez" is perfection. And for me, it must be eaten from a bowl. Whether it is a side dish or the sum total of a meal, I eat it from a bowl.
5. Spoons - Ah, spoons. What funny little instruments. I don't use soup spoons for my soup. Or any other direct-to-mouth food item. I will use them as serving spoons or to dish out salsas, etc. But I think they're way too big to be shoving food into my mouth. Also, I eat all my deserts with a (tea)spoon. No matter if they're cake, pie, or whatnot. If it requires a utensil, I will opt for the mighty spoon.

* Well it seems that my obsession with food and being hungry led me to forget probably my biggest "quirk." And that is... DO NOT TALK TO ME IN THE BATHROOM! Ever. And if you do talk to me, don't expect a response. I'm not a shy pee-er by any means and you won't stop any of my 'functions' except for speech. I don't even like talking while washing my hands in the basin. Let's take it outside, m'kay? Stalls or a single, it matters not. Leave me to my pee-ce (ha!).

Okay, well I think that gives you more than enough insight to my rattled brain. At least for now. How about if the following loverly ladies give you more to ponder (and shake your collective heads at):

• Rachel
• Purse Ho
• Marigold Mind
• Michelle
• Baigneuse

Inches 32.5 - ∞ (and beyond!)

Okay, not truly infinity. But at times, it felt like it.

Yes! The Dr. Who scarf is complete! Done. Finito. Nada mas. And I'm not even saying that like the knitting part is done, but seamin'* and blockin' still has to happen. I mean that it is ALL DONE... (well, except for mailing it off to my bro).

* Lilyan and Aubyn? That was especially for you!

If you squint, you can see Walter at the far end.

The final measurements on this behemoth of a scarf is 157" (13' 1" if you want to minimize the impact or 398.8 cm if you want to freak someone out... like me). I started knitting this scarf mid-October, and except for a few weeks of holidays and traveling, tried to work on this and this alone for the next few months. But let's be honest... I didn't get a lot of knitting time in, so the time it took me to knit this seems really exaggerated. Much like the size of the scarf itself.

I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes on size US#7 straight needles. I cast on 60 stitches and knit a total of 520 ridges/1040 rows. (That's 62,400 stitches total for anyone keeping track.) I soaked it in Eucalan and blocked it on a total of 5 beach towels.

The Amazing linoleum colored cat!

I found the pattern here and decided on the Season 12 version. I did not add tassels (IMHO this just adds a bit of silly mess on a huge, boy scarf; plus it's a pain to do). Also, I did not stretch the scarf while blocking so it is not as long as it could be. (Wow - this really makes me wanna block it again and see what kind of length I could get outta it! But what a bother. Phooey.)

And even after all this knitting, there is quite a lot of yarn left over. In fact, there are some balls (um.. of yarn. sheesh) that I didn't even touch. Hmmm... hats? mittens? Felted slippers? Dr. Who scarf for Blythe? The colors and amounts of yarn that I used are listed below (the amounts in parenthesis are how much I ordered):

Guess who he's about to attack?
• Fern/green - 2.5 (5)
• Snickerdoodle/tan - 3.25 (5)
• Wheat/golden-brown - 1.5 (3)
• Chestnut/brown - 1.5 (3)
• Mist/grey - 1.75 (3)
• Hyacinth/dark purple - 2 (3)
• Red - 2 (3)

Curiosity be damned!

And of course when there's knits laying about (heck, or put away even), the kittens wanna be a part of it. Marie PussPuss was totally checkin' it out from the sidelines, but Walter (who's not so wee anymore) needed a closer look & smell. In fact as soon as I laid it out all nice and neat, wouldn't ya' know it - Dil and Walter think it's their own Red Carpet and trot back and forth on it - straight as they go! (Sorry bro, but only one wash-per-item in this household.)

a little help from my friends

Update Thanks to Chris, here's a pic of the scarf at the latest Stitch n' Bitch group. Aubyn, Chris, and I had just finished sewing in the ends. Phew! That was a lot of work, but so much easier with my friends. It takes three of us to hold it up: (L-R) myself, Petra (hiding behind scarf, but in an awesomely cute knitting T-shirt), and Aubyn. The rest of the gang shown in this pic are as follows: (facing camera; L-R) Bot-Gurl, Maureen, Jennifer, Hanane and her daughter; (backs to camera; L-R) Marcia (a new knitter), (can't remember name), and (can't remember name). There were a lot more knitters (and crocheters) at SnB, but this is only who the camera caught.