Monthly Archives: February 2012

You are browsing the site archives by month.

Happy Muppet Mail

February 28, 2012 1:35 pm , Phoe

Swap from Carolyn.

Kindle case. (Love those colors.)

Muppet OPI nail polish.

Thank you, Carolyn!

Knitting related:

Please excuse the crappy dryer photo. Those of you who follow me on Twitter would have seen an even crappier late-night phone mirror shot of the sweater above. And you would have seen that it is too short. Now I have a really long torso but this sweater is just BOXY. Laid flat, you can see the trapeze/box shape to it. I did not use the recommended yarn (St Denis Nordique held double) but I can say that if I had, not only would it stand up by itself (the yarn I used is a very drapey MCN blend but held double it is DENSE) but I would have had to go for lots of positive ease as opposed to the negative ease I usually require in raglans. Since it fits absolutely perfectly in every other sense, I’m guess this sweater is just designed to be short.

Other than that though, this sweater is fantastic. Proper FO pictures forthcoming.

Tuesday. At least it isn’t Monday?

Posted in: happy mail, knitting

The Big Bad

February 27, 2012 5:52 pm , Phoe

I was having a bad day. Sometimes spending all day in bed because I can’t get out of it seems like a good idea. But then when I finally get up I am dehydrated like whoa, with blood sugar so low I can barely stand and all the ick that comes from not taking my medicine on schedule. Which includes a relapse of the symptoms it controls PLUS all the icky side effects that taking it regularly gets rid of. So I was feeling sick (still am, it was a rough weekend, health-wise) and I was grumpy. And then I got online to check stuff and awesome people just being themselves cheered me up. I have really fantastic friends. I just wish we all lived closer or that teleportation was a thing.

So. I’m still worn out, exhausted and weak but I’m rather cheerful. Ok then.

Now a belated weekly thing…

Saturday Snaps:

Last Saturday in Oxford.

Link Soup: Read this.

Knitting:

Gamine en Turquoise is done and blocking. And bright, BRIGHT blue.

Excuse the grumpy face but this marks the umpteenth time I’ve knit something and found it completely unpractical/not my style/just don’t like it. Need to stop doing that already. Raveled.

Which means there’s going to be a spring clean of knitted stuff soon. Stay tuned.

Reading: Currently reading Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury which was a gift from Melissa years ago and I’m only just getting to (buried under stuff I reread a lot in the bookcase).

Read this past week:

- Double Dare by Rhonda Nelson – romance, quick read
- Sweet Revenge by Nina Bruhns – romance/mystery set in New Orleans
- Kiss of Death (Briar Creek Vampires #1) – YA vamps. Nuff said. Just bought book 2.
- Amazing Grace by Danielle Steel – reread. J. bought it for me years ago when I was really sick. I find it comforting.
- Raven (The Raven Saga #1) by Suzy Turner – YA shifters. Pretty good. Looking forward to reading book 2.
- Twilight outtakes. Hey Twilight fans, did you know these existed? I didn’t. I especially loved Emmett and the Bear.
- Cody by Kimberly Raye – vampire romance. Not bad.
- Gifts of the Blood by Vicki Keire – started off promising and then went totally weird and pear-shaped.
- A Previous Engagement by Stephanie Haddad – great beach book. (AKA: summer fluffy vacation type book.)

Watching: J’s been watching rugby. And every Jackie Chan movie he can find on Netflix Instant.

Listen.

Monday. Eh.

Posted in: health, iphoneography, knitting, photography, saturday snaps, weekly thing

Photo Dump

February 21, 2012 3:05 pm , Phoe

Friday:

Our old, starter fridge was dying a slow, lingering, stuff-to-the-gills-because-it-was-so-small-so-that-wasn’t-helping-matters death. A super good January sale = new fridge. It’s huge in comparison to our old one:

And it’s a lot quieter. And bigger inside. And it has a light! Our old one fried it’s own light years ago.

Saturday:

Go make these. They’re dead simple and seriously yummy. Recipe here.

Sunday:

This photo has nothing to do with how we spent Sunday. We went to Blenheim Palace since our free passes expire next month. Film photos coming once I get the film developed. That is the boon of digital, I know.

Monday:

To worn out from Sunday to do anything else but read. Oh, and take a bunch of photos for the last ever (hopefully) NFKS/FKS. Some of you might remember that FKS = free knitted stuff. Also, lots of sock yarn to destash. Whoop whoop.

Today:

Happy Pancake Day.

Posted in: photography

The Cold That Just Won’t Die

February 17, 2012 3:52 pm , Phoe

Blergh. I was feeling better. Then I went to the dentist yesterday for a checkup and my system has gone all stupid. Which was expected on the one hand (fatigue issues this winter like whoa). But I thought I’d beaten the cold. Alas, alas.

Link Soup: Knitting Version

Water and Stone or New York Cardigan? (I’m trying to streamline my queue since I’m not knitting as much.)

Also, trying to figure out what to do with this hot pink lace yarn from the PXK yarn swap. I am currently thinking a double sized cowl or maybe a slightly smaller Kozue. I keep wanting to knit things like Palimpsest (yes, because it reminds me of the book) but I’m not 100% sure I can do lacy.

Knitting:

Gamine en Turquoise. Which is crazy. Since it’s written in pieces I’m mentally keeping track of three different sets of instructions (2 sleeves, front and back). It’s one of those “at the same time” patterns so I’m having to REALLY pay attention. Thank goodness the shaping is raglan. Oh, and there’s also the case of having to switch needle tips between front/back and sleeves since I forgot that they are knit on two different sizes when this whole grand plan of knitting it in one piece occurred to me. The whole reason: yardage. I wasn’t quite sure I’d have enough. Sometimes trying to make things easier actually makes them a hell of a lot harder, you know?

Reading:

Currently reading a bunch of samples. I like Kindle samples. Read this past week: Racing The Moon by Michelle Hauf (a trashy shifter novella), The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (reread – I really love her books), The Summons by Shona Husk (a short story prequel to The Goblin King by Shona Husk).

Watching: More Netflix Instant free trial stuff. Arrested Development. Also, all the really cheezy 80s movies they have. Like Teen Witch and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. I’m still trying to get my head around the 80s though. I mean the fashion, ok, was bad but better than the 70s. My big question: did we really all have hair like that? And if so (I think perhaps we did, I know I did) then WHY? Teen Witch was particularly bad. What was with all the banana clips and the ponytails sticking up from all angles? Geeze.

Snaps:

Sick = tea.

Toberlone always reminds me of this. “Toberlone, Darth Vader?”

Listen.

Happy Friday.

Posted in: iphoneography, photography, weekly thing

Bruised Heart Day

February 15, 2012 3:13 pm , Phoe

So. I hate Valentine’s Day. Not because I resent romance or schmaltz but because I have a bruised (formerly broken) heart that resists all attempts at quick healing AND gets its biggest throbbing reminder on good ol’ Valentine’s Day. It’s two fold anger: 1) at the boy who broke it (we’ll call him Boy A) years ago and 2) at myself. Hearts take a long time to heal. And I’m not a patient person. And I have a wonderful husband who I frigging adore so really it is just annoying now. You could say it’s not exactly JUST Boy A and the resulting melancholic heart. It’s a whole heap of things that I remember sadly, all more or less amplifying pain receivers and all more or less wrapped up in this one moment (on Valentine’s Day, naturally) when I was young and I let the fear win. Call it fibromyalgia of the heart. Panic attacks of the heart? Anyway. You get the picture.

But now that the day is over I can rejoice in love. I love my husband. I love my friends. I love the Twitter Knitters and the ladies of the PXK. I love yarn and knitting and words and writing books and the awesome people I have met online and the people who let me know they’re out there and caring all over the internet and sunshine and beaches and chocolate and champagne and roses and Formula 1 and geekery of all sorts. I love America and England and photography and cameras and film and shiny things and happy mail and root beer floats. And coffee, even though I can’t drink it.

So there you go, schmaltz, just a day late.