Beading Along

Time flies when you're purged, so I meant to post these up a while ago... but just got around to it today.  May I introduce you to my Summer Bead-Along Project!

The pattern is Garnet Mitts by Sarah Marsden, and I REALLY like the combination red beads + yellow Frog Tree Alpaca Fingering Yarn.  When I look at this project, I think of the scene from the animated Hobbit movie, where the red dragon is lying on piles of gold coins and rubies (along with other treasure, I'm sure).  I'm happily working on these, along with my other project that I should blog about soon.

This is my first time knitting with beads, and I'm confused why I was so scared! The beads on this patten are pre-strung, so whenever you want to place a bead you just pop it in place - really easy! I would definitely recommend this pattern, though there is no sizing advice or detailed photos, so I'm a little miffed about paying $5.50 for it.  I thought I would have some good advice for a beginning beader, but it really doesn't :P

Anyway, I'm psyched to be part of the Summer Bead Along, hosted by Revelations of a Delusional Knitter.  If you're interested, check out her post here! There's still time to enter, and there are some super cool prizes at the end :)

My Random Monday - July 25th

1. The past week has flown by.  I've moved, cleaned out my apartment, gone into Boston... phew.  I feel like an itty bitty dandelion seed floating around in the wind.


2.  I'm surprised how well Lilac took the move.  She has definitely downsized, from my 300-square apartment to about a six square foot pen.  I think she's also a little transfer shocked.

3.  I went into Boston on Friday with W and my brother.  It was a seriously awesome experience! I have to admit, that's something I may miss about New Hampshire.  It cost quite a bit for the four of us to go in, then there was the food, tickets to the aquarium... but I didn't regret spending a single cent! :)

4.  In the same vein, I'm going to NYC this weekend to visit W and see the studio he works at.  I feel like such a globetrotter!

5.  Back to Boston... I saw this fish at the aquarium.



Doesn't he seem so happy? I dunno, for some reason his face reminds me of a baby's smile. Maybe I'm going senile.

6. W got WAAAAYYY better photos at the aquarium with his fancy DSLR.  He's really turning into a camera buff.

7.  Last but not least,  picture of my brother and his friend goofing off on 88 Saturday.

My Random Monday - July 18th

1.  Have you ever seen unwords?  That has been a fairly recent timesuck of mine.  Neologisms are great - I honestly think that the English language would be dead without them.  Seeing a word that goes from something that makes most people say "huh" to something everyone understands is pretty cool!

2. With that, I present my own neologism:

"chaussadisproprotiophobia" - n. - the fear that your socks are not the right length.

I have counted rows so many times I might be insane, but the row counts were the same yet the measurements were off between my two socks! So, I said the three magic words that every knitter says at some point:

3.  "It'll block out" - Knitterspeak for "I seriously can't be bothered to bother with this right now, I'm going to finish these up anyway because I'm probably not going to notice this mistake in a year (or twelve)." See also: "Giving up", "Picking battles", "Another glass of the nice wine, please"

4.  Another neologism:

"abstraphotomania" - n. - the intense desire to take artsy-looking photos of your F.O. 

These photos may be in black and white, but it is not necessary.  98% of these photos will be deleted, and 0% will actually end up in the pattern for said F.O.


5. "Congratulations?" - What you say to a student whose co-op has ended unexpectedly as she spends her fourth straight day in sweatpants.

Hello, Hoomans!

Hello there! Lilac here, updating everyone on how I am doing since my lazy slave is too busy keeping to herself.  She spent all day today above my lair, staring at these things that she calls "soaks!"  Then, a while ago, she jumped up and held them up, and put them on her feet! Since then she's been walking around the room, pointing the orange light at herself and then looking at the photo-taker, saying things like "They aren't even!" and "Oh! I'm so pale!"

Anyway, I'm a rabbit, and I don't care about that stuff.  So I'm going to post up some pictures that I found on the compooter of ME!

This is me. I am not shy.  I pretend to be shy when the orange light shines near me! It's quite scary.  The orange light shines, and the photo-taker makes funny noises, and my slave goes "OH! SO CUTE!"  I don't think anyone can ever figure out why this happens, but it always happens in that order.

This is me going to hide in my lair.  My slave sleeps on top of my lair, but only I get to sleep in my lair.  If my slave tries to reach under my lair, I will tell her what's what and grunt and jump like I'm going to bite! I would never bite my slave, though, she is really a good slave, just not very smart.

This is my basket.  Grass goes inside of it.  I dump the grass out and my slave picks it up.  It is good, clean fun.

This box is mine.  A man knocked on the door and gave it to my slave, and I ran in circles and my slave set the box on the floor and emptied all these things out of it and now it's mine. Only I am allowed inside my box.  You are not allowed inside.

This is one of the pictures that my slave was taking of her soaks.  I did not approve of this, because my slave was not playing with me.

I told my slave what's what and tugged on her fur.  My slave sighed and said, "Oh, you're right, I'm going to have to block them out because I don't think the cuffs are even... I'll do that tomorrow."

Then my slave went back to sitting on my lair, and I allowed her to pet me while I snoozed.  She is quite the best slave a rabbit could ask for!

Irresistibly Sweet!

Last week, Jordan from In It To Knit It gave me this really cute award! Thanks, Jordan!

As part of the award, you have to give seven random facts about yourself, so I'm going to try and give some facts that aren't in my 100 things... I'm not going to check though :P  If someone feels cheated, I guess I'll add something.

1. I have low latent inhibition.  Every time I tell someone about this lately, they've said something like "Like that guy in Prison Break!?" - I've never seen prison break, so I have no clue!
2. My favorite thing to do when not knitting is watch Hulu - I'm considering getting Hulu plus just for the reality TV shows!
3. My favorite genre of books is Distopian - Lord of the Flies, Oryx and Crake, 1984, We, Brave New World.  I don't know why, I just really love them!
4. My grandfather tells a story about how, the first time I spent the night at their house, he came to the breakfast table and I was eating toast with marmalade and reading the obits to my grandmother from the New York Times.  I have no memory of this.  I was three or four at the time.
5. I have a folder on my computer of funny photos that I've pulled from the internet of have had sent to me.  I highly recommend this practice for cheering oneself up! I have a bunch of EHS related ones, too, for presentations.
   

   

   This was emailed to me by W - no idea if it's real.

6. Everytime I hear the word "applesauce" I smile.  I don't know why - it used to be a lot worse.  I would laugh everytime someone said it!
7. I sleep walk and talk,  Severely.  I'm comfortable with the fact that I won't harm myself or divulge any horrible secrets, mostly I babble incoherently and keep people awake.  I have a lot of good sleepwalking stories.

The second part of the award is that you have to pass it on to 7 other blogs/bloggers, so here it goes!

1. Yarn Miracle - This blog is REALLY sweet, from the adorable toys to the adorable toddler, Emily has the market :)
2. Tiny Angry Crafter - I love reading about Carla's WIPs, her posts are quite sweet - I mean, really, you can't think up a better word to describe these headbands (besides fantabulous, but I've been told that's not technically a "word.")
3. Kit's Knits - I love seeing her knit and crochet stuff! Since I don't crochet, I get my fill of amigurumi eye candy here :) And, she's just a sweet person
4. Skirted Fleece Farm - Oh, not really a knitting blog, but I can't help it! I love living vicariously through their posts, and seeing pictures of their farm as it starts up.
5. One Word Down, Millions More To Go - What can I say? I'm a sucker for reading! Rachel hasn't posted in a while, though.
6. Knitting with Olof - Also hasn't posted in a while, but she has some great F.O. pics, and some really adorable kiddos.  Oh, and her reviews are great - honest, well-meaning, and sometimes accompanied by giveaways ;)
7. Sessilifolia - I like seeing her FO's, and she's just a sweet person! So, award for you :)

Wow, finding seven blogs I like was a lot easier than thinking facts about myself!  Thanks again, Jordan, for the award!

The Return of My Random Monday

1. Though, don't expect any good pictures until my camera charger returns.

2. Yesterday I went to the American Textile Museum with Angela - it was really great, I would definitely recommend it for people in the Lowell vicinity!

3. At said museum, I saw a bunch of amazing garments - they make me think of sweaters! Though I have to admit, I haven't made a sweater yet that I like...

4. There was also this, who is currently a prominent figure in my nightmares:

5. On top of the textiles, there was also some interesting Occupational Health stuff - of course, during the industrial revolution mills were pretty much the forefront of inhumane working conditions.  So, that was fun to learn about!

6. After the museum, we stopped off at Michael's and I bought some sock yarn for W, among other things... I just love the colorway!

7. I have an ulcer, so Lilac gets to eat all the tasty food that I'm not supposed to eat (Spinach, Cabbage...)  I made beets for dinner, and this happened:

I know it's kind of faded, but I washed the dickens out of them and they're still purple!

Hark! A Giveaway!

To celebrate the opening of her new etsy shop, Angela from Revelations of a Delusional Knitter is hosting a really cool giveaway on her blog!  Just make a blog post about the giveaway and you're entered, so why not check it out?

I was so busy oogling at the beautiful photos of yarn...  I love the stormy sky fingering weight:

(Click on the photo to go to the listing - I borrowed it!)

But there's also a place in my heart for the revelations fingering weight...  I don't have a lot of varigated yarn in le stash... but, there is a special place in my heart for it!

(Click on the photo to go to the listing - I borrowed it!)

Which one will I inevitably choose?  How about you - which one would you choose out of all the yarns? I would love to discuss this :B

Click here for more details about the giveaway, and Click here to go to Angela's shop on Etsy!