oh geez!

I made a hell of a mistake on my mother's birthday mittens and now I'm in a whole new pickle.

I don't know if I haven't had enough coffee today, or what, but I'm just not able to make a decision on what to do! Ok, here are the finished mittens:

I love them! But here's the problem:

Yep. Two right mittens. yes, I'm serious. I can't believe I did that. what a numbskull. So I decided last nigh, when I realized what I'd done, that I'd just knit two left gloves and then I'd have a pair too. I made these out of Knitpicks Telemark and they're always fast with shipping, soI figured I'd just get another ball of each color and all would be well. Unfortunately, I find out this morning, Knitpicks doesn't sell that shade of blue anymore. There are two people on Ravelry with the shade in their "for sale/trade" stashes, so I could try to buy one off of them but for some reason it seems like a lot of work for a $2 ball of yarn (it retails for $1.99) - I feel like I should buy something else from their stash to make the shipping worth it. Ugh - I don't know why, but it's just more than I can make a decision on this morning! I'm pretty confident that I have enough yarn to make a 3rd mitten, which I just need to start doing now I suppose. but I've got the Knitpicks website up and I just don't know whether I should put in an order with an extra ball of white (and enough other stuff to get to $50, because I always do spend extra money unnecessarily to avoid shipping, as silly as it is) or not. wait - I'm going to see if that person with the blue on Ravelry also has the white - hers came from their stocking kit, just like mine did, so chances are good! whew - maybe that's the solution! Bah - please, someone just tell me what to do!

Seattle!

I had a meeting in Seattle last week and I just got home last night. For being work-related travel, I actually had a ton of fun! It was just a smallgroup of us, and thankfully, they're all work hard-play hard kind of people so we buckled down, but ended at a reasonable time and went out to some cool restaurants afterwards and whatnot. I intentionally took an early flight in so i'd have time to explore before work started on Tuesday though. I walked down to Pike Market and saw the fish being thrown - I decided that satisfied the tourist-y requirement when in Seattle! I also ate some Beecher's cheese, which is made right there on site (you can watch them making it while you eat in the little cafe that's attached by a giant window!)

On Thursday night I met up with Hannah (iknityouknot on Ravelry) who lives in Seattle!! I've been Ravelry friends with her for years and test knit for her, so it just seemed right to actually meet her while I was in the city where she lived. She was super nice and we had a great time! Because I was terrified of driving in the city (it was CRAZY - i got a rental car and made it to the hotel, but refused to remove it from the parking garage the whole time I was there!) she took the bus down to where I was staying and we met at Top Pot Donuts (delicious! and the barista had a neat old-timey waxed mustach) then we rode the bus together back up north a bit to the Fiber Gallery where she works. The problem was that I was stressed out about driving to the Fiber Gallery (which was my original plan) and I also did not know how to take a bus (yeah, I'm aware that sounds ridiculous, but I've just never done it!) so her offer to come to me, then take the bus WITH me was perfect! she also dealt very well with the fact that I was kind of acting like a 7-year old on the bus because it was so novel and fun for me. First we stood and held onto those loops that hang from the ceiling, which I thought was very cool and big city-like, but then we got a seat, and then I noticed that we were on one of those long buses that bends in the middle and there were seats right on that bendy part that rotated all around when the bus turned so I was like "oooh - that's the seat to be on!!" and she was quite good natured about moving again. She's a nanny so I'm sure she's used to dealing with childish whims which worked out well for me and my first bus ride! So anyway, I shopped while she worked and came away with some spurge-y yarns, including some Hazel Knits which is dyed in Seattle (so i had to get that!)

I also got some Road to China, because I've read about it, but never seen it in person. It's super soft (merino, cashmere, camel, and silk) and this picture totally doesn't do the color variation justice.

I got a skein of Madeline Tosh light because I've always wanted some, but have never been able see the colors in person. This is a little earthy for my usual tastes, but I picked it up so many times, I decided that something in me was saying I needed to have it!

I also got a couple skeins of Rowan Purelife Renew (which I must have deleted the picture of?) They had a sample knit of Cyclamen - a short sweater that I fell in love with until I realized that it called for 11 balls of the stuff. I wouldn't expect to get a Rowan sweater for less than $100, so I don't know what I was thinking, but i just wasn't up for that kind of splurge. A pair of Rowan mittens or a hat is more my speed, so I got 2 skeins. Fiber Gallery was a really nice shop and they had tons of great stuff - I shopped for almost 2 hours and definitely felt like I could have looked longer! I highly recommend it if you're ever in Seattle. After that we went to a cool bar down the street called Oliver's Twist, with Erin, who also works at the shop, and knit and drank and ate amazing tomato soup and cheese sandwiches and talked about horror movies, zombies, and how men are just universally goofballs! it was a great way to end my trip!

Liberty scarf achieved!

I decided that I was NOT going to let my Liberty fabric sit around, like I do with much of the other fabric (and yarn) I get! It's sometimes more fun (or easier?) to dream about what you'll make, than buckling down and doing it. But, I did buckle down to make the scarf and I'm glad I did! it can be worn several ways:

Whee! I love it! I don't feel like any of the pictures really show the fabric well though. bah, me and my photographic skills.

the long awaited big splurge

I'll blame Purl Soho and their blog Purl Bee for my longtime lust for Liberty of London fabrics. I mean it's really Liberty of London's fault for making such awesome prints, but Purl's to blame for showing them to me. Purl could seriously sell piles of poop, I'm sure, because they'd all be laid out on sheets of amazingly colored hand dyed linen or something - really, check out their website and you'll understand! they understand marketing, that's for sure! So anyway, I've never gotten any Liberty fabric because it's $35 /yard. gaa! But then I decided to splurge with my big $40 check that I got for my jury duty stint - I rationalized it by saying that it's like they're giving it to me for free! On their blog they had a project that called for a half yard of two different Liberty tana lawn fabrics - that's a thinner and somewhat shinier version of their quilting weight cotton, and it has a nice drape, but it's still crisp. I made a version with some stash polka dotted fabric I already had (although it's not as long, because liberty fabrics are 54" wide instead of a normal 45") and liked it. So that's what I'm going to make with these two fabrics! I haven't decided what color of Kona cotton to use for the edging - I want something that really pops and contrasts - maybe a yellow or citron or red-orange, because i'm really liking red-orange with greens lately.)

Then I also decided to get some Anna Maria Horner voile yardage because it was on sale, and I've always loved this print.

I got a yard of each and I'm going to see if I can get a sleeveless top out of one - not sure what I'll do with the other! I hate to say it, but this stuff is usually something like $15/yard and I got it for around $9, and I kind of like the feel of it just as much as the tana lawn! It really is amazing how nice high end fabric feels compared to the lower priced stuff you can get at JoAnn's - I mean there's a place for everything and I'm not poo-pooing JoAnn's fabric - I still shop there all the time!! but a little splurge is nice now and then.

surprise in Indiana

I just got back from a week in Indiana for work. On the way home I stopped at Unwind Yarn Shop in Richmond, which a friend of mine told me about - it was pretty much right on the way home, and it's only about 25 minutes from where she lives so it's her LYS even though it's pretty far away for me normally. It was a really cute shop with lots of yarn brands that I typically don't see at my LYS's. Then, in an even bigger surprise, here comes Helen - the friend who told me about the shop!! I hadn't seen her in months because we used to work together until she retired a little while back. I can't believe we were there at the same time! it was so nice to see her! I splurged a bit:

But I've been soooo good lately about buying yarn, the I let myself do it - plus they were things I haven't seen in person. For example, I've been wanting some of the Misti Alpaca handpaint sock yarn since I saw a pair of socks on flickr made from them - and it was there! I also couldn't leave without some Berroco so I got two skeins of Vintage. Then I saw some Cascade Eco in one of my favorite cascade colorways - lake chelan, and decided that i would be good for a cozy winter cardigan. I also picked up some square needles - she had a pair there that you could knit a few rows with, so I got to try them first. I also found, in the clearance closet(!), a Berroco booklet that I'd been wanting to get but felt guilty buying it essentially for one pattern (it's the scarf on the front that I love!) - since it was on clearance, I grabbed it! i also had to get Norah Gaughn vol 7. Yeah!! After that, I said "I have to get out of here!!!" and gave Helen one more hug!

I'm a modern Miss Marple!

It seems like everyone around me is always getting called for jury duty and moaning about it. My response is always "why don't they call MEEEE???!!!" because I'd die to have jury duty! I don't know why, I just find it all terribly exciting. Well, I finally got the call, and went today - and guess what? i'm ON the jury!!! i couldn't believe it! of course, i can't talk about it because that'd be a breach of my civic duty, but let me tell you some of the awesome things so far:

1. I don't' have to be there until 8:30! i'm used to getting to work at 7:00 and not usually walking out until 5:00 or 5:30 lately. Today they let us out at 4:00 - whaaat? that's amazing!

2. The courthouse is super close to my house.

3. Hour long lunch break! another thing i never have the luxury of at work - i normally nuke whatever I brought and sit at my desk working while i eat.

4. I get to knit during the day! during breaks, lunch, and whenever we get sent to sit in our jury "holding tank". I've been a little disappointed that none of my fellow jurors have mentioned that I'm like a modern day Miss Marple as I'm knitting and untangling this mystery of a case, but I'm probably expecting too much.

5. I get to wear cute clothes for 3 days!! no hard hats and jeans! today i wore my new red wedges and a pair of vintage rhinestone earrings that I recently picked up - sweet!

6. Work has sucked real bad lately - just super busy, so it was nice to just assign everything to other people and walk away from it!

Aside from all that, it really interesting to see how the court proceedings work and I've learned a ton today already! They explain so much about how you need to come to your conclusions and what to consider and not consider when making decisions. I love it!! i came home today and announced that I'd like to become a professional juror! i imagine earning $20/day wouldn't work out for long though!

In other exciting news, my prickly pear cactus is blooming for the first time! I think this is the 3rd summer I've had it - a coworker brought me a piece of his, and it's been doing well, but he always shows me pictures of his blooming and I just sigh and tell him that mine isn't flowering at all. But this year it is!!! there are probably like 8 buds there now.

Here's a closeup because it's so beautiful!!

And, some evidence that i finally killed my nemesis, the honeysuckle vine (which I suspect is coming through the fence from my neighbor's yard - which might just be karma for MY weeds that are spreading into my other neighbor's yard!) Anyway, I found some spray that's designed just for tough vines like these, and it worked!! there are a few other things there that I didn't quite spray enough, so i'll shoot 'em again, but the honeysuckle is d-e-a-d!! yippee!

And my hollyhocks are blooming - they're pale yellow, but the sun was so bright it's hard to tell in this picture! I love them even though my neighbor calls them "alley weeds". She's got a very neat and orderly kind of gardening style, while mine is much more of a semi overgrown (and weedy) cottage garden style - and unfortunately our yards are divided by a chain link fence! So I'm sure she gets irritates when my stuff creeps into her meticulously mulched side! oh well.

flower pot success

The flower pots on my porch sometimes just don't work out - it's not their fault - it's because they have to count on me to water them. I start out with enthusiasm but then it gets tough to think about it when I get home from work and already feel spent. However, this year they're looking great, so I figured I'd better document it! I got all of the plants in the upper pots from The Metroparks Mayfair sale - tall white marigolds in the back, then some shorter yellow flowers (I forget what they are - maybe a single marigold, or something?), some dahlias, and some purple sweet potato vines - and a couple coleus that I grew from seed. The lower pots are filled with zinnias that I started from see too. pretty pretty!