Now It Can Be Shown

I hope everyone had a safe & happy holiday! With x-mas over I can now finally show you what I’ve been working on for the last 3 months!

This is the Ultimate Gift sweater by Michele Rose Orne knit in Silky Wool on size 4 (yes, US4!) needles.

This was definitely the most ambitious project I’ve ever knit and I’m so thrilled that a. I finished it in time, b. it looks nice, and c. it fits! And most importantly, honey loves it!

The pattern was pretty easy to follow, but the staggered cables were a pain to keep track of. Because of that I would rate it a difficult. Really, the most difficult part was sewing it up. I’ve never made a sweater with set-in raglan sleeves before, but I really like the way it looks!

The other project you’ve already seen, but here are the completed socks upon the feet of their recipient!
Because a few of you have expressed interest in the pattern I will be writing it up. However, you’re going to have to wait a little bit for it. I think I’ve figured out how to make the pattern work top-down, and want to give that a go before posting it. Also, I think I might have a few people give this one a “test knit” before posting the pattern for general consumption.

 

My Soundtrack

Here’s a little music meme I swiped from Devin’s blog. It looked like fun!

RULES:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. tag someone.
5. Optional: Give your own comments on how it (the song title) relates to the question.

Opening Credits : Opera Singer by Cake

Waking Up : Tender Love by Jill Sobule

First Day of School : Army Ants by Tom Waits

Falling In Love : Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.

Losing Your Virginity : American Music by Violent Femmes (not the most suitable song by them, but close!)

Fight Song : Memories (Can’t Wait) by Talking Heads

Break Up : The Ledge by Fleetwood Mac

Prom : Wounded Horse by XTC

Life : Cupid’s Got A Brand New Gun by Michael Penn

Mental Breakdown : Gli Impermeabili by Paolo Conte

Driving : Johnsburg, Illinois by Tom Waits

Flashback : Baby You’re A Rich Man by The Beatles

Getting Back Together : Here I Am by Lyle Lovett (very appropriate!)

Wedding : When The Hangover Strikes by Squeeze (lol)

Birth of a Child : Out The Window by Violent Femmes

Final Battle : Mother by Tori Amos

Death Scene : My Humps by Black Eyed Peas

Final Credits : Joe Harper Saturday Morning by Van Morrison

Sequel Teaser Trailer : Aquarium by Robyn Hitchcock

Very silly fun! Ok, I tag Joanne & Mary!

 

Happy Ho Ho Ho To You!

X-mas knitting finished in the nick of time, cookies baked, house cleaned, presents wrapped, dinner prepared & waiting to go in the oven!

Now time to grab some hot cocoa and watch A Christmas Story.

Hope everyone has a happy & safe holiday!

 

Why Can’t We Be Friends

Not usually the type of thing that I post here, but it’s something that I’ve been pondering the last few days.

Within Ravelry there is a groups/forum page. It’s wonderful, it allows people to make specialized group based on interest. I’m in quiet a few and every one has it’s own group dynamic, although most are dominated by the posts of just a handful of members.

Now I am the first to admit that I am not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve always had very few, select friends. I sometimes feel like I’m a cult film, not for general consumption but loved by those few who get me.

That being said, there is one particular group that I’m involved in that I thought I would fit right in with. I really enjoyed it for about a month until it started to be dominated by just a few people and I realized that my opinions were drastically different from those that were being espoused. And being the type of person who dislikes conflict, I don’t feel comfortable making my opinions known because I’m afraid that a. it would hurt someone’s feelings and b. I would be attacked for them. So instead of having an actual debate about things, I sit here reading posts and start to feel contemptuous of the people who are posting.

It all makes me think that I should just leave the group, which makes me very sad.

 

Help Name A Sheep, Win Valuable Prizes!

My dear Hogwarts Sock Swap partner is having a contest for her 100th post! Go check it out!

Ok, off to frantically knit.. how many days left till Christmas? EEK!

 

Inner Daemon

If, like I, you’ve read the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman, you are probably geeked about the movie coming out as well. I just found out that the website allows you to see what your daemon is, and allows others to comment on your daemon to make sure that it really fits your personality! Here’s mine…

If you don’t think this quite fits me, click on the “is my daemon a match” link above & answer a few questions. You can change Klitus and help determine his final shape! XD

 

Not Much

That’s what’s been going on. Ok, a LOT has been going on, but not much worth noting.

The Mystery Swap is wrapping up.. I’ve only got about 5 people left who haven’t received their packages yet and most of those are caught up in the backlog from the UK postal strike. There were some ups & downs with this, but overall I’m happy with the way it went and my participants seem to be very happy so all is well. I’m actually going to do a round 2 in January!

The Circus was in town this past weekend and we got to hang a bit, which was nice. My sis & Autumn went to their show. I think sis enjoyed it, but Autumn not so much. Still a little young for this type of thing I think. She said she liked the music, but she was bored before the first song finished and was extremely tired by the end of the night. Kris won’t be doing much with the band this month because the acquisition of our office should be finalized soon and he will be a busy boy during the change over. We will definitely be working the New Year’s Eve show in Philly though, it sounds like I’ll be doing video for them.

Knitting has been happening, but not as much as I would like. I’m glad that I limited my X-mas knitting this year. As it is I’m not sure I will get it all done in time. However, I am just about done with my shopping! Yippie!

 

Zombie Love

As some of you know I am a bit of a horror freak, and I have a particular soft spot for zombies. My dear hubby found this for me yesterday.

The singer is Jonathan Coulton, who we were actually introduced to by our niece Sofia this summer. She is a fan of the Code Monkey song. Funny stuff.

 

Ups & Downs

It has been a roller-coaster week of stress. On Tuesday we had an all-company meeting, the topic of which was top secret until we arrived. I actually knew some of what was going on thanks to Kris being management & all, but people were seriously wigged out all day. So what’s going on? We are in the process of being sold to a big, public corporation. This isn’t a big surprise to people, AMG has been on the market for the entire time Kris has worked there (6+ years). And the company that is buying us seems to be genuinely interested in preserving the company culture as much as possible. However, it is a big transition with lots of small unknowns that are causing big stress for most of us. Especially since the sale will most likely be finalized around Christmas and they have stated there will be a few “redundancies”. Thankfully I know my job is safe and we have had assurances that Kris’ position is safe as well. But nothing is finalized yet and I’ll not be easy until it is.

 

Goddess? Well, Maybe…

I’ve seen this quiz before, but don’t remember every taking it. Apparently I’m a…

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there’s a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others.http://marniemaclean.com Take this quiz!