Silence

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Yarn Scare and Why Art Directors Are Awesome

Okay, so here's what happened. I ordered 2 skeins from the fabulous Lime N Violet etsy store last week: Pinhead and Zeek. Today, in my mailbox, was Pinhead and Leisel. Um......wrong! So I emailed the wonderful Mz. Violet to alert her to the situation. In the meantime, the talented Mr. Julian (aka Just JoOlian) made the wanted poster shown above. Is it not awesome?? People, let me tell ya, art directors/illustrators come in handy!!

I have since received a reply from Mz. Violet stating she knew SOMEONE was missing Zeek and that there was a mix up. She is going to send Zeek out to me ASAP, along with a SASE so Leisel can go to her rightful home.

"Project" Update & Bond Villains

"Project" Update:

I am in total freak out mode - which is like Depeche Mode but whinier. The deadline is fast approaching and I'm probably at where I should have been a month ago. Damn it. I have redesigned the entire front so that it will be quicker to knit but...OMG....there just are not enough hours in the day. Here's a pic of the completed back and sleeve. Trust me - this thing looks MUCH better in person - the pics make it look hideous. Oh, and I'm now convinced that the sleeve is too short. I can't even think about it all without my brain just going *zoink*.

Queue is a Bond Villain:

You know how all Bond villains have some kind of physical deformity....at least, I think they do. I haven't been a big fan o' the 007 until Daniel Craig. Anyway, I know that in the films "Q" was the person who made all of the gadgets or whatever. My Queue, however, has turned into Le Chiffre, the guy that cried blood in Casino Royale. (Thankfully, Queue is not crying blood ).

They even have the same cheekbones!

Comments welcome! I feel like I'm talking to myself.

The Great Craft Destash, Cat Eye Forecast, and More

Destash...destash
Okay, so apparently I'm a hoarder. I think it's genetic. Actually, I KNOW it is. The other day my dad was talking about how when he goes to the grocery store he buys all this food he doesn't need because it's a good deal. Granted, he's used to having a house full of people and now it's just him and the dog. Maybe I'll be stopping by more often and become the recipient of many foody gifts....hmmmm......

Anyway..... taking a gander at my craft stash I realized I'm totally SABLE (stash accumulated beyond life expectancy) and have stuff that I'm just not that into anymore SO it's destashing time on eBay. WOOT.

If anyone is interested - you can check out the listings through my Auctiva store thingy.
http://store.auctiva.com/herzeleid_knits


Queue-boy's Eye Forecast
Partly cloudy with a slight chance of owner bloodshed.
Queue is not happy with the routine of getting medicine squirted down his throat and stuff shoved in his eye twice daily. I have the scratches to prove it.



Lime & Violet Slumber Party
In this weeks podcast, Lime and Violet continued to taunt me with the upcoming yarny slumber party in Omaha. Dates are now set in stone for June 15-17. I'm still tempted to go. Is it crazy to drive from Florida to Nebraska just to hang out in PJ's and play with pointy sticks and wool?? Seriously.


Stitch N Pitch
The annual Stitch N Pitch for Tampa is scheduled for the Devil Rays game on August 18th. I'm not a big fan o' baseball but who could resist knitting at a baseball game (and getting the nifty gift bag)?? Plus the tix are only $8. Sweet! BTW Stitch N Pitch events are held throughout the U.S. - check the website for dates. Oh, and it's not just for knitters. And I quote from their site "This event is for ANYONE who has an interest in the perfect double play — NeedleArts and Baseball; beginners, intermediate and experts are all welcome. "

Sleeve McQueen and Cat-tastrophies

BEHOLD THE POWER OF SLEEVE!
As you can see...one sleeve of the never ending "project" is done. Actually, it's been done for some time but I couldn't locate my camera to take pics of it. If the cats had thumbs I would totally blame them for stealing the aforementioned camera. I still wouldn't put it past them. Below is a pic of the cuff - which I'm thinking might be too short but my plan is to finish the rest of the darn "project" before re-doing the cuff. The sleeve took almost an entire skein of yarn to do....so I had to re-order, yet again, more yarn.


OTHER KNITTING RELATED NEWS:
Lime and Violet are bizarre yarn pushers. Their etsy site was updated and I was FORCED to purchase 2 skeins. I rationalized this by #1) the scarcity of the yarn #2) Ms. M has been accepted into law school so I'm gifting one skein to her #3) It's just so darn pretty.
Okay, so I didn't even know about #2 until AFTER the purchase but...whatever....

Lime and Violet are also planning a knitting slumber party in Omaha (it's only a 20 something hour drive from here).....Ms. M and I were planning on making it a road trip as we were fueled by sugar and the thoughts of a yarn related road trip....BUT reality struck and I don't think it will happen. Actually, the below-mentioned Cat-tastrophy happened and between that and the $$ I want to spend on German sockengarne....the $$ just isn't there for the road trip. We will be there in spirit!! I hope all the L&V'ers have fun.

German sockengarne update - I've PayPal'd my sis the $$ for the legendary German sock yarn HOWEVER.....the likelihood of the sis actually visiting a yarn shop during her trip is probably quite small. (Sis, if you're reading this...even Dad doubts you would make it to bring me back something.) SO....a brilliant L&V'er from the message boards Nadine, came up with the idea of me ordering the yarn and having it shipped to the Sis's hotel!!! Genius!! Therefore the yarn will come to her and I will then get not only yarn...but the yarn I want. Now, I just have to restrain myself so Sis and her BF don't have to lug back 15 kilos of sockengarne. I am definitely getting some Wollmeise sent to her hotel. I'm torn between the Sonne and Rosenrot colors just due to the names alone (hello...Rammstein) and I also love the Krauterbeet (forgot how to make an umlaut) and Poison No. 5. Poison reminds me of the Beborn Beton song of the same name. Damn it...now I really want that one too. Grrrr.....must find way to get more income to support yarn habit. Maybe I'll just order the Wollmeise to be delivered to my sis and then, in a few months, order a large order from the wonderful Marens Socken-Wolle and just pay the super-high shipping.

KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY - This year it's June 9th. I momentarily thought of organizing an event for this area but then realized it would be work to do so. Ms M. and I are thinking of just popping by a local place on our own to do some public knitting. Right now the Pier in St. Pete looks like it's in the running to be the spot of choice.

Cat-tastrophy part 1

The Quats had a bout of worms...ewww......$$ spent on meds and flea prevention/control

CAT-TASTROPHY PART 2....this time it's personal!!

This little bugger, Queue, has something wrong with his right eye. (Not in this pic though.) I came home last night and he was squinting and had all sorts o' eye snot going on. Today the eye is noticeably cloudy and red. $140 later......(this is with pet insurance, thank god) we don't know WHY it's screwy (except that it's not a scratch) but we do have meds that will hopefully fix it.

If the Quats keep this up I'm going to have to spin their fur into yarn to knit. Or, they'll have to get jobs.

Wooly madness!

eBay LISTING
Okay, the local Joann's is closing and I got an UNBELIEVABLE deal...so I felt (ha) like passing it on. I have listed my haul on eBay for slightly more than I paid (to make up for listing fees etc...). I am hoping that people see the value of the deal and bid on it. To see the listing click here

"The Project"
As far as "the project" goes - instead of working on the piece I thought I was going to I decided to start the sleeves and get them done. After spending quite a few hours knitting, frogging, cursing etc...I realized my math was wrong. It was a totally stupid mistake! So now I'm about halfway through the first sleeve. I have to get this done. I'm thinking of taking a comp day at work so I can just focus on getting this thing done. Oh, I did finally get the two skeins I needed - there was a backorder at the store.

German Yarn!
My sister has received a grant from her school to go to Germany and...um...make a documentary or something. I'm not too sure about the details. What I DO know is Germany = sock yarn. I have paypal'd her some funds and I'm hoping that she will return victorious with a bunch o' the glorious German sock yarn. Unfortunatly, it's not a super long trip and her schedule isn't super open so it's not like I can send her to the Opal factory or anything (damn it). Too bad Leipzig isn't located near the Tutto factory in Hechingen. :(

Goodbye Kurt and Forgotten Wool

Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite writers, has passed away. You can find more info here :(

Okay, back to knitting....

A few weeks ago I had one of those "pick crap up from the post office" postcards in my mailbox. This ticked me off because my mailman usually puts packages and such in the convenient locked parcel boxes located directly next to the mailboxes. I couldn't think of anything I had ordered and was looking to be delivered so I kept finding reasons for not picking up the mystery package. Finally, I got off my lazy butt two days ago and picked up this:


Extremely beautiful wool from Uruguay that I totally forgot about ordering. This is two skeins of super bulky hand dyed woolly wonder that was only $6.99 per skein from Southwool. I cannot wait to get this on some needles!! Of course, it has to wait until "the project" is done.

Speaking of which.....the "project" keeps on keepin on. I spent ALL of last Saturday working on it until my hands were sore. I have completed one portion of it and have started the next. I'm hoping to have this new section done by next Tuesday (which is probably an impossible goal.) I would have a pic of the completed section but, apparently, it is a cat magnet. The second pic is of the beginning of the second section.







Oooh....super exciting!

I guess that is all for now. I really should be at the needles instead of at the computer right now or refereeing the kitty wars currently taking place in my abode.

Get down with da sickness

For the past few days I have been so far under the weather that I might just be in another hemisphere right now. Wait...I don't even know if that makes sense. Ugh. Due to the sickness I have not been knitting at all. I'm hoping to get a bunch done this weekend to make up for lost time and have dedicated the entire day of Saturday to "project" time. Geesh, I remember when I used to look forward to clubbing or such on weekends and now it's knitting. OMG I AM getting old!!

In good news: On Monday (when I still felt human) I went to the JoAnn's right near my apartment. They lost their lease so EVERYTHING in the store is at least 40% off. I got a ton (not a metric ton...but close) of felt-able wool yarn for 60% off. It was so awesome! While there I found these cute little glass votive candle holders that were normally 12 for $7 but they were 40% off of that so I grabbed them thinking that I'll do something with them....not sure what. Well, here is what I've done with two of them:

I pulled out some of my old polymer clay supplies and viola...bizarro votives! (Yes, I do realize that "votives" is not actually a word.) It's been a long time since I played with the clay so I wouldn't classify these as a fantastic effort but they could be worse. I'll probably do some more when I feel better and see if those are an improvement over these.

Okay...I'm off to go drink some hot tea and watch my cats chase each other around.

Anyone who has an opinion of my votives or anything else...feel free to leave comments.

Nifty J's and Polymer Clay

Well - I now know what is going on with the yarn I ordered and I should be receiving it next week. Woot!! I have plenty to keep me busy until then.

Ms. M - who taught me how to knit and is my yarn enabler - made me a superduper pair of jaywalker socks which I need to get a picture of and post. She was actually knitting them for herself out of the groovy Trekking XXL in color 180 (which I think is one of the most difficult damn colors to find). Anyhow, they didn't fit her so I inherited them. Here is a pic o' da yarn. Oooh.

<---The elusive 180


I did buy Ms. M a ball of Tofutsies - which is the coolest damn sock yarn ever - so I think the jaywalker socks are an even trade. Tofutsies has Chitin in it (made from shrimp and crab shells) which is naturally antibacterial. Nifty! Antibacterial socks!! Yay! Eventually, after all 19,000 other projects I have planned, I will get around to making myself some socks from Tofutsies too. I still have to finish the second Sassy Stripes sock for my sister and the pair of "two at one time" toe-up socks that I started for myself. Whew!

In other news, I have an idea of how to create some knitted and felted toys AND have some thoughts on opening up a cafepress shop with some knit inspired designs BUT who knows if and when any of those things will happen. Also, I got to thinking about the fact that I'm going to need some buttons for my "project" and have decided to try to make them myself out of polymer clay. Like I really need to get involved in ANOTHER craft. :rolls eyes:

Actually, I have made polymer clay beads before. I used them on hemp keychains I made and gave them out as gifts to other walkers during the 2001 Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. (Yes, I was one of those people who walked from Boca Raton to Miami and I have the screwed up toe to prove it!) Maybe I can find my keychain from that and put a pic of it up here....because after all....I am a bloggin' dork!!

Ooh ooh, speaking of that walk....my friend Robin, who I met during that walk, just emailed me the other day about my blog....so "Hi Robin!!" Actually, I didn't really meet him while walking....but in the emergency room getting treated for dehydration and calcium deficiency halfway through the walk. So...my PSA for this entry is "DRINK WATER!"

Knit on, Garth