"...Cuz I Invented the Knitternets."
About midway through the summer, I realized I was spending too much of my day on the internets, and not nearly enough time on knitting or other productive endeavors.

For some reason, I have always believed that it would be wrong of me to start my day sitting on the back porch with a cup of coffee, knitting. For some reason, I believed this would make me more skank-like.

For some really curious reason, this type of self-recrimination did not apply to my getting on the internets. So earlier in the summer, first thing every morning, I'd get online, read my blogs, emails and Ravelry updates. When I was done with those items I would think to myself, "Hmmm. There must be some other site I can check out..."

And would then commence to stalking old boyfriends and their ex-wives. Or old girlfriends of ex-husbands. Or the current husband of my current husband's ex-girlfriend. ::That last one might be less a joke than reality.:: Or Google the address of my childhood home and look for my old roof from the satellite perspective.

For some really good reason, I realized that this thinking made as much sense as knitting cat fur for kitten britches.

So I made a new rule: Before I did anything else in the morning, I would sit and knit for at least an hour. After that I was free to do whatever I wanted, be it cruising the net in search of childhood rooftops of ex-boyfriends, or reading my fortune from the cilantro mud leaf mold patterns in the corner of the refrigerator vegetable bin. ::The most valuable reading from the vegetable bin, to date is "Don't lick the corner of the vegetable bin."::

That, in part, is why I have not been around the internets that much, be it on your Ravelry, commentatin' on your blogs or looking at your ex-mother-in-law's ex-boyfriend's daughter's roof, from the sky.

Other reasons for my absence include some family issues that have kind of hurt my heart and given me a bad case of brainerreah, i.e. frequent and uncontrollable and highly unpleasant thought thinking.

But mostly I've been away because I have found that cruising the backyard knitternets is very addictive in that the more I knit, the more I knit.

As follows...

Here is the startup of the Hanging Garden Shawl.



The yarn is Joseph Galler Suisse something. It's part cashmere and part something else. I realize that this yarn is not a good match for the pattern in that the yarn for this pattern should be crisp and clean. But you have to trust me on this; the pattern is a very good match for the yarn. Because it was the last pattern possibility on Earth. No, it was.

The yarn is supposed to be a sportweight, but based on the 17 buttillion swatches I have performed on it earlier this summer, I'd say it is finer than that. I initially looked for a sweater pattern, but because the yarn is so dark interesting stitch patterns don't show up. And miles and miles of stockinette on size 2 needles is not my cup of pie.

The above picture was dark on purpose so you can better see the pattern. Here is a better view of the color:



Here it is in a more advanced stage of development.



I love knitting on this and for the past two days have been thinking of doing nothing else but knit on this. In fact, I love knitting on this so much that I have ripped, knit, re-ripped and re-knit the same patch of 30 some rows, some three times over, already. And yet, I love.

::Pssst. Anybody else see monkey faces...?::

Oh yeah, this yarn is on my Mission Possible '08 list, and therefore was on my summer 'to-do.

I have also cast on for another pair of socks, for my lighter knitting needs, i.e. while drinking alcohol and/or watching the Olympics.



The yarn is Online Sport something and I bought it on sale from the lys at the yarn store. It's kind of scritchy but it's knitting up fast.

This post is about 1/3 of what I had planned to share. I'll save the rest for later.

In the meantime, do you recognize the significance of this nearly overflowing glass cupboard?



College blob has returned to his alternate parental-hosted universe. And after three months of a slow but steady bilking of supplies, the glass cupboard is now enjoying a sudden reversal of fortune.

Okay. No po*rn here. Sometimes we have to bend our integrities a little, for creativity's sake.

Circle O' Brain Weekend Summary:
Mojitos were slung.



Chests were flung.



Songs were sung.



Toilets did plunge.

Sorry. No pictures were taken of this event, for good reason. In fact, I now realize that the amount of rum I would need to ingest to burn related image from my brain would likely kill me. I learn hard.

I will say this: When you spend 48 hours in a close environment with friends, eventually they will show their shit.

Here we have Sue and Kristi doing, well, I don't know what.



But I will say that I now know the answer to the age-old question: Is Kristi really a handful?

Uh, yeah.

Here we have a finalist in the A-Sue-Metrical Cup competition.



Kellie couldn't make it until Saturday. Here she is explaining to Kristi, for the 14 buttillioneth time, that there are no MP3 speakers at the cottage and that Marcia doesn't even know what MP3 speakers are, and neither could she pick an Ipod from a pea pod.



Kristi responded by once again showing Kellie the Ipod in question, then asking her to rethink the answer.

I Sock It
One of the reasons it took so long to get this post up is that I was spending all available moments this week, finishing these socks in time for my Mother-In-Law's birthday, which was Wednesday. We were originally to meet her for lunch that day, but things got switched up and we're seeing her Friday. But I was ready, dammit!

Pattern: Tidepool. Again.
Yarn: Knitpicks Essentials. Meteor Twist. It's very soft and kind of splitty.

And now it's time for me to make like a cheap yarn. And split.

P.S. Kristi has posted some pictures too. They look a lot like mine. The Circle of Brain is small. We like to keep it simple. We also talk a lot about holes. But I'll let someone else pick that up.

P.P.S. Umm...that's a camera Kristi is showing to Kel, isn't it? And not an Ipod...

Labels: Boobs and Pee and Poo, Circle of Brain, Cottage, Knit Done, The Horsemen Knew Her

Vacation Stats: The Rest of the Story.
I had meant to finish my post-vacation post earlier in the week, but there are complications in my life right now, causing both time and brain related suckage.

In addition to the consumption of 20 pairs of clean underwear, following are other relevant (to me) stats from my 10 day vacation.

1) Number of socks knit: 5/6 of 1, shown here less than half done.



I did finish the first sock Monday of this week.



2) Number of stitchmarkers created on the cottage porch: 12



3) Number of photographs taken with fancy-ass camera, using only the manual settings: 47

4) Number of photographs taken with fancy-ass camera using only the manual settings, where the subject of said photos are actually recognizable: 2





I know that these pictures are too dark, but I kinda love the little details of light and texture. I encourage you to click for big.

The story of my foray into Real Photography should/could provide enough material for its very own post. But I'm a bit short on that kind of time these days. And self-esteem.

5) Meals I prepared: 2.

6) Evening boat rides: 5

7) Evening Swims: 7

8) Hours I spent floating on a blow up raft that was tied to the dock: 10

9) Number of times out of 20...

a) wherein the changing of the undies was necessitated by swimming or bathing for hygiene purposes: 15.

b) Change of undies resulted from the pissing/pooping/other of the pants: 0

c) Change was required by an uncategorized event: Same number of afternoons wherein Cakers spent the afternoon playing/swimming at a neighboring cottage.

10) Times I otherwise gave a rat's ass about Brett Favre: 0

Odds and Ends. From Comments and Beyond.
1) Brett Favre on TV at this moment. Again.

2) Have you seen the Secret deodorant commercial on TV, with the woman in the red sleeveless blouse, who bounces down a busy city sidewalk baring and sniffing her armpits? While I abhor violence, I admit to harboring a secret fantasy of the police officer just mowing the bitch down in his cruiser, just between the "I'm innocent!" and the compulsive armpit sniff.

3) Yes Doris, I lick the stones on the beach, in search of the ever elusive Petoskey. When it comes to rocks, I have licked worse. And the rocks on the beach don't smell.

4) Yes Dirty Sue, that is the Ypsi tower in my anniversary mosiac. That picture actually ended up in the mosiac by mistake, via a misfired flickr click from a previous upload for a Ravelry post. ::feel free to research it.:: However, once it was in there I found it to be oddly appropriate. And no big brothers. Sorry.

5) Tomorrow I'm off to the cottage again, where I am hosting a congregation of the Circle of Brain (COB). ::COB=Kristi, Kellie and Dirty Sue.::

I know. Please pray for my emotional and physical safety, as well as that of the indigenous peoples, particularly in the areas of tavern and yarn store dwellers.

Labels: Cottage, Pho-Ho'

Thank You

If the sun refused to shine,
I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea,
There will still be you
And me.

Little drops of rain
Whisper of the pain.
Tears of loves
Lost in the days gone by.

My love is strong.
With you there is no wrong.
Together we shall go
Until we die.
My, my, my.
An inspiration is what you are to me,
Inspiration, look... see.

And so today
My world it smiles.
Your hand in mine,
We walk the miles.

Thanks to you it will be done.
For you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad,
Happiness....I'm glad.

If the sun refused to shine,
I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea,
There will still be you
And me. - Robert Plant



Happy Anniversary, my love.
Without you in it,
My heart would be parched as the sand
And dark as the night.

Labels: Manpie

Days fly gone
On a Solstice rocket.



Ma Nature empties
Her candy pocket.



And little girl grown
Is off her docket.



Look Under There
Except for a few more squeezes from the lake before departing for home later today, my 10 day vacation at the lake is over.

And I'm okay with it being over, because it was spectacular.

In fact, my vacation was so great that six days into it I was out of clean underwear. All 14 pair. I know. Please don't hate me.

Seeing as how the lake water is currently a temperate 74 degrees and the air a balmy 79, I refuse to spend a minute more of the smidge of vacation that remains, sitting in front of this tube telling you all about it. No offense. For the record, this philosophy would also apply to my not having posted all last week, despite the accessibility of astro-glide internetz.

So, the rest of the story will have to wait until tomorrow. Or so.
For now, I got a date at the end of the dock with a Fly Girl.





And I'm going commando.

Labels: Cottage, Pho-Ho'