Domestic Geek

On the Ravelry boards today I was pointed to this awesome t-shirt:


It is called Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts. MUST. HAVE. THIS. SHIRT! Isn't it awesome?

I didn't mention earlier that this Noni market bag is intarsia. Now, I watched a video online at KnittingHelp.com on Intarsia multiple times and figured I could easily do this. In practice, not so much. I somehow keep managing to twist my stitches really weird when I change colors.

I also noticed that I picked up a corner stitch in the wrong hole when I picked up the stitches around the bottom. How in the heck did I manage that?

Man, it's a good thing this this is going to be felted.

I think I'm going to step away for a few hours, run to the store, do some housework and work on my GAA* square. Maybe a little later it will feel like cooperating.

*Great American Afghan

I totally forgot to mention that the ball winder I ordered on Joann.com came this last week. They had a 40% off one item special if you order through their site, donchaknow? I also threw in the Paton's Street Smart book so I could have the "Must Have Cardigan" pattern that everyone (including The Harlot) is raving about. I'm not near skilled enough to make it yet, but I will be and when I am, I have the pattern.

Of course, Marcus wasn't home when it arrived and I wanted to wind so badly. I'm really bad at remembering to ask to have hanks wound when I purchase them and they're absolutely everywhere. I mounted it to the bench in the craft room, put a skein around the back of a chair and away I went. It didn't go so well - darned chair is too heavy to turn.

I explained the dilemma when Marcus got home that evening and he offered to hold some while I wound. He makes a better swift than the chair, but still couldn't keep up with the winder. I've been putting it off, but if I'm going to make use of this winder, I'm going to have to make a swift (no way I'm paying $80+ for the umbrella kind). I found a site with instructions to create your own, so tomorrow I'm off to buy wood. I've got a couple of modifications in mind, so we'll see if the hardware stores carry what I think I need, or else I'll have to take a trek to the woodworker store.

So, I've been working on my Noni Green Earth Market Bag that I started about a month ago. It's not going well (I blame the crappy work schedule).

I've redone the bottom three different times. First, I was doing something really funky when I turned the rows and they were impossible to pick up stitches from. Second time things were going well until I had decided I was going to knit a few rows one morning when I got home from a 12-hour shift with only 4 hours sleep the day before and ended up doing the rows backwards and no longer had solid stockinette. Being tired and cranky, instead of just putting it down and taking out the 4 messed up rows when I was fresh, I had a tantrum and frogged it all. *sigh* This third time, I see a blatant error — a stitch that I somehow managed to twist or something in about row 8. I'm doing my best to ignore it (since it's going to be felted for goodness sakes) and I just picked up the stitches for the sides.

I decided to be clever and use a crochet hook to help me pick the stitches up faster since I've already wasted a month getting to this point. Well, I managed to twist every single one and have to untwist on the needle as I knit. Yeah, that is saving me oodles of time. Oh, well...knitting is fun and relaxing...right?

In other sad news, I'm already behind on the Afghan KAL. We're three weeks in and I'm still on my first square. C'est la vie. At this rate, I ought to finish in about two years. LOL

I got my Ravelry t-shirt I ordered in the mail today. It's so pretty, but the neck is cut a little tight. We'll see if it feels better after washing.

So, I knit in public yesterday (no pics) and I went up to the Estes Park Sheep and Wool Festival this morning. No time for thoughts or pics from the festival as I have to leave for work soon (danged night shifts suck much), but I'll post a recap and pictures tomorrow. I've really caught the Alpaca bug and also vowed I am going to learn to spin soon.