Feral Projects

Did you ever have a project go feral on you? Something that should have been easy, basic, simple goes wrong in multiple bizarre ways? Teo's jeans are like that.

First, I'm terribly afraid they will be way too big. Better than too small, it is true, as he will only get bigger, but I had hoped the would fit reasonably well. We'll see, once they are washed and shrunk.

Second, I bought the suggested 3 skeins of yarn (plus one of contrast), and ran out of yarn with only about an inch and a half of one side left. Annoying, but I was doing an order anyway (since I had also run out of yarn for the pumpkins) I just ordered what I thought was the right color. Of course, it wasn't, but the reason I thought it was was because they don't have any of the color I need, nor do they know when they will be getting some. Have a message in to a fellow Ravelrian who appears to have the same color in her stash (and lives in the same state as me!) to see if she'd be willing to trade/sell/barter/whatever. There are several folks in Ravelery who appear to have the right color of this yarn in their stashes, plus the Elann site has a swap section, so I should be able to get some. However, the part that I need to finish will not be seen (it's the inside of the waistband) so I'm not sure it's worth all the fuss. We'll see what comes up. Drat it all! I wanted to finish it soon, even though it's for Christmas. Besides that, I didn't realize the whole color thang until I was already at the gym AND I forgot to load my latest recorded book onto my Nano, so I had NOTHING TO DO on the treadmill this morning!!!! Darn near died of boredom. Harumph.

I'm Dying in Sock Wars

Received email from my assassin that my doom is on it's way. Here's hoping that my target gets her SIP to me before I finally succumb.

And, even though I managed to download the pix from my cell phone, the only ones I took of my weapons before I put them in the mail, the pix are dreck, and not even worth posting. Here's hoping that my target will be kind and send or post pix when she dies.

Ah, well. Couldn't hope to have as good luck as I had last year, I suppose......

Gaaaaagggghhhhhh!

I got annoyed this morning when I went to read a blog I follow, and it hadn't been updated since the 5th of October. Don't these people know I need my entertainment? Then I came here and realized that it had been even longer since I had updated. Sigh. We deplore the flaw in others of which we, ourselves are guilty.

So, on to the updates!

Sock Wars II has begun, and I have fired off my first shot. Lovely pattern, quick to knit, with a stitch pattern similar to that used in Sam's mermaid costume, so I felt right at home at once. Took longer than I expected, what with going to Disneyland the day the pattern came out. (Should have figured out how to check my email on my cell phone; could have been knitting on the socks hours before I actually started. As it was, I finished all of the body of a pumpkin while in the car, in line, etc.) Also, went to a ball the next night and, despite sitting in my lovely period-ish evening gown knitting between dances, I was too tired to sit up after we got home, so I lost both late-night-knitting sessions. This meant that I didn't finish until late Monday night, and mailed them early yesterday morning, along with some goodies to soften the blow. Hope she likes them! And hope she's quick about sending along SIP! I would love to kill again before I die, though I'm still listed as "alive" in the database. Don't know if that means that my assasin is slow, or stealthy.

Speaking of pumpkins, have all the knitting on the first three done, though I think I'd like to try a few of the smaller ones. Am sewing the *%$#@! pieces together, which takes forever, but I am almost done and will soon be ready to felt. I think I have enough plastic bags to felt all three at once. At least I hope so!

Have made a little more progress on one of the Sock Madness socks. Unfortunately, my digital camera has gone south, so I am unable to show progress pics at this time. (Maybe I actually need to read the instruction manual for my cell phone, since it has a camera......) Am up to the heel turn on the second sock, so I should finish it well before Christmas.

Got the yarn to finish the baby jeans at the same time that I got the rest of the pumpkin yarn, so I should be able to finish those quickly, now that I'm in waiting mode in Sock Wars. They are very cute, and will also be done well before Christmas.

Have decided to completely redo this tea cozy, as it doesn't at all look like the original design. Have the yarn, but have yet to cast on, and I've already missed the birthday it was for, sigh.....

Oh, and my husband liked the Luvgun! It's too silly, really, and a quick knit. May need to use the rest of the yarn to make a holster, though.

No progress on anything else. Frustrating, but there it is.

In other news, I am approaching cubic closest packing density in packing stuff into my storage unit, while still retaining accessibilty. Really need to get pix, as I have been rather ingenious about it. Need to do a post on that saga, RSN.

Feast or Famine

Many years ago, when I first got the spinning bug, I went to an SCA art retreat weekend. Had a fabulous time, in part due to the quality of the teachers, in part due to the Baroness's excellent cooking and need to feed people. ("I bought and prepped for 40 people, I don't CARE if only 17 of you showed up! YOU WILL EAT!" And really, with fresh bread at every meal, and fresh scones every morning, this carb-addict took very little persuading.) I hemmed and hawed, but finally, a few weeks later, I ordered my spinning wheel, knowing that most of the next year at work was going to be pretty laid-back, so I would have time to build it (it was a kit) and learn to use it. (The work I do is quite sporadic: some weeks are hell, involving (literally) 18 hour days, weird hours, and complex analyses; other weeks, let's just say I explore the furthest reaches of the 'net.)

In one of those situations that are not uncommon with businesses both big and small, the proprietress and I had a little bit of miscommunication, a little bit of resentment, and a series of letters that escalated in nastiness, resulting in a delay of more than a year in my receiving my kit. This, of course, coincided with a dramatic upswing in the density of work, ensuring that I didn't have time for another year to build the darn thing, much less learn to use it.

When work finally slowed down again, I had lost the forward momentum on the whole thing. Add to that the bad feelings left over from dealing with the businesswoman, and I just didn't want to touch the wheel, so it languished in it's box. For over 4 years. (I did, eventually, make it. But I have yet to work on it regularly. I'm used to my drop spindle. My daughter, however, loves to use the spinning wheel as the wheel of a pirate ship.....)

Unfortunately, I'm afraid something of the same thing has happened again. Had I received my Ravelry invite earlier this summer, I would have had plenty of time to input my projects, fill my queue, even get off my duff and get my stash sorted and photographed. But, nooooooo, it had to arrive just when I took on a project of stunning dullness, whose tediousness will require many days work to explore, then more days to make sure the boredom didn't lull me into error. AND I have more high-priority work that needs to be done, as well. Meanwhile, I've only been able to get some of my projects into Ravelry (I haven't even started on the socks) and despair that I will ever get my queue filled out in a timely manner.

Sigh. Feast or famine. Ain't that always the way.