Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I've found my knitting mojo

Guess where my knitting mojo was hiding? In this sock.
Do you see that yarn?! It is bright and perky and self striping and FAN-tastic. There is a story behind the yarn.

A long long time ago on my birthday (specifically three weeks ago) I received a call from my boyfriend. He said, "I bought you yarn so look for it in the mail fair maiden."

I responded "oh prince charming, my hair is long and I wish you were a frog so I could make-out with you." Just kidding. I actually said, "Dost thou thinksts I am in the fable of Rumpelstiltskin? I can not spin your crap into gold." (I was afraid that he had bought me fun fur or red heart or something incredibly ugly)

"But Mistress, did you not forget how incredible I am?"

"Wait prince dude, you are confusing me with your double negatives."

"Lady, I am awesome. You're going to love it."

Lo an behold he not only picked out sock yarn, but also incredibly colorful, and wool.

My fair maidenhood* was saved.

*My fair maidenhood is not to be mistaken with my virginity. Good yarn deserves a great reward.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Out on the old frontier, the little doggies resisted being counted

It's WIP roundup time! I was originally going to show you all the amazing things I've knit the past couple months and haven't taken pictures off, but then I realized something very important: there is a month until Christmas. Now since we don't know each other very well, I'm going to let you in on a secret about me. Ready?

I am not one to freak out about knitting things in time for Christmas. In fact, I'm not really one to freak out about anything (and by freak out I mean stress freak out. I happy squee freak out all the time for: amazing yarn, harry potter, music, giant dogs, spinning instruments, potatoes, turkey bacon, raspberries... you get the idea).

But this year I think that might change. Because this year I have decided to knit a lot of people a lot of things. Not just my usual sock knitting palooza, but I've decided to make a shawl, a pair of stranded man socks, a pair of stranded woman socks, a pair of mittens, and something for my boyfriend. Plus I have to finish my ex-boyfriends sweater. Want to see a picture of it?
Yes I modeled it on a blender--I couldn't fit it over the back of the chair. I'm about two inches past the armpit and boy has it been slow going. Not because I don't like the pattern (simple custom top down pullover) and not because I don't enjoy eons of stockinette. More because I haven't been knitting at all the past two months. I mean sure here and there I will finish a row, but I used to be a solid two hour a day knitter. The main thing about this sweater that may make it a problem, is that I do not have enough yarn to finish it. In fact, I only have one more ball left and about 15 more inches of body and two sleeves. I bet I know what you're thinking; what sort of a knitter buys three balls of yarn for a sweater and expects it to work?!

The answer: Me. I knew it wasn't enough yarn but they didn't have more of that blue color. So I figured I would be able to buy more later. It's now later and I haven't even looked for more of this. Not that it will be hard to find; it's cascade wool. But I will not be able to find the dye-lot again. I've never done this before with a cascade project so I'm not really positive that this is an issue. Since it is Christmas (technically it's almost Thanksgiving but according to Starbucks, it's almost Christmas) I'm inclined to yuletide joy and so I'm going to say that the sweater will be epically awesome even with mis-matched dye-lots.

Speaking of Starbucks, they are forcing me to be a better person. Because I get an extra 10% off this week, I have to actually do my Christmas shopping BEFORE the last week before Christmas. Gross.

I've also become mildly addicted to Carmel Macchiato.

Also, know what you missed last weekend if you didn't go to Starbucks? Buy one get one free on all Holiday drinks. This is why you should go to Starbucks EVERYDAY UNTIL YOU DIE. Otherwise you miss deals. Just kidding, please don't support the corporate empire.

Want to know how my job search is going?! Terribly. Thanks for asking.

As we part, I'd like to leave you with a picture of the shawl that needs to be done for Christmas. I'd usually be all over knitting this right now, but I screwed up the pattern hardcore. So I have to frog all this. Sadface. So here lies the shawl I started four months ago and have to start over and complete in 31 days. Cheers!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Hat Frenzy

Usually when I get obsessed with something knitting related, I know it. If I've been making socks for two months and all I can think about knitting for the rest of my life is socks, it's pretty safe to say that I'm in a sock rut.

But for the past three weeks, I've been obsessed with something and haven't even realized it. What is this elusive creature? The hat.

It started two weeks ago when I decided I needed something quick to knit and did the bonnet. Then I decided my boyfriend needed a hat that said "Rock Daddy" on it. Then I decided the hat my friend Jacob had been begging for the past few months deserved an existence. And now that I'm done with all of those, I'm aching to create a pattern for my birthday yarn (alpaca... nom). Unfortunately for you, my visual viewer, I only have a picture of the Jacob hat. I used cheap acrylic yarn and knit the fabulous pattern of Square Circle Hat. My only regret is that I was mildly retarded and had to bind off twice because my brain went mildly retarded.
.Since I do not have pictures of the rock daddy hat, here is a picture of a hat I made for another boy.
I don't really understand why I like making hats so much lately. Maybe it's because Starbucks is getting all Christmas ready with drinks and cups and music and holiday cheer.

It's enough to make me want to block out all sound from the world. Hence: hats.

Also, they keep your ears warm. Baby, it's cold outside.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Trained and underemployed

I've officially completed my training and now know how to make drinks with the greatest of ease. Granted I'm still terribly slow and mess things up a lot, but at least I know how to make a Carmel Macchiato.

Don't get me wrong, working at Starbucks is probably the best job I've had ever, but it's not satisfying at all. Maybe it's just me, but when I see the quantity of money we take in on a Saturday, it makes me want to punch babies. Luckily there are some babies that come to the store.

The problem I have with saying that I am underemployed is that it's a BS term. What does that even mean? That I'm not using my college degree? All a college degree means is a bunch of debt and a piece of paper; I'm not any smarter than I was before I went to college. Another bad thing about working a terrible job is that I don't have as much time to knit. This is probably the biggest tragedy of the capitalist structure.

However, I have managed to finish a project. It's the pattern Pauline and I made it out of Malabrigo. It was a super easy pattern and just what I need for winter--because I lost my favorite hat. Since I'm living in Colorado instead of Wisconsin, I luckily haven't had any reason to wear a hat yet.

That is one great thing about moving back in with my parents: heat.

I have three other things on needles and hopefully within the next week I will have finished one (mittens... drool). The other two projects are massive: a sweater for an ex-bf and a shawl that I screwed up on hardcore.

In weathergirl news, I've applied for two jobs today. The first is in West Virginia and the second is in New York. I also called the Duluth station to see if she got my application. I should know about that job by the end of the week. I should set up a counter for how many weathergirl jobs I've applied for. I think so far I'm up to 30. Guess how many I've heard back on (all rejections)? 6.