Exciting sale on Etsy

I was very excited to see that Famous Steve bought two yarns from me on Etsy. I read his knitting blog from time to time and see him on Ravelry, so to me he's kind of a yarn world celebrity. Also, the last time I checked he worked in a yarn store, and yet he bought yarn from me! So that was very exciting. I hope he likes the yarn when he gets it. Steve, if you are reading this, thanks!!!
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Surviving the Apocalypse

It looks like things are going well at my job. We launch on Wednesday; we have been cranking out the work till the cows come home, and it seems to have paid off. We do not have to work this weekend, and I am thrilled, because I can really use a weekend off!

Last night I went out with a group for Jenny's bachelorette party, Jenny of Pete and Jenny who are getting married on Sunday. I'm thrilled for them. We had a great dinner at Casa, a small restaurant in the West Village that serves Brazilian home cooking. The desserts disappointed (don't get the Brazilian chocolate truffles, which are like scoops of frosting rolled in jimmies), but the entrees were delicious. They had this spicy paste that came with my appetizer (a trio of fried pastry things) that people who like hot things were raving over. It was very intense - I'm not a hot spice lover - so getting a little tiny taste on the tip of my tongue was enough for me. But everybody else used it in everything. After dinner we went up to the rooftop bar at the Hotel Gansevoort, where I got to see what NYC nightlife is like these days. I don't party and haven't for years so I've lost touch with what the kids are doing now. We found some sailors in town for Fleet Week to take pictures of Jenny with.

After that I headed home. I believe the party turned a little more "blue" after that; although I haven't heard stories yet, I know that was the plan.

Today we're having a couple couples over to do a little grillin' and then we are going to a double feature, in a drive-in, of "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" and "Iron Man." It should be spectacular.

Tomorrow Pete and Jenny are getting married in Jefferson Gardens. That should be wonderful as well.

Sunday, I have put my foot down, is for doing nothing.
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A month into the new job

Five weeks, two paychecks, and quite a few hours more than I've logged in previous jobs, I can say I do like this job. It's somewhat stressful right now as we are coming up on a closed beta launch and then a couple weeks after that an open beta launch, but it's interesting, challenging work and I have smart, fun coworkers.

It's meant I've basically abandoned all dyeing for the time being and I'm not spinning as much either, and I haven't posted an update to my Etsy store since I started there. But I am confident that in a few more weeks the pace will subside somewhat and I can put some energy back into my fiber stuff.

We just got FIOS today. I'm posting faster already! Okay, just kidding. I don't think it's going to improve my personal web output. But I do hope to see a greatly improved performance over (Sub)Optimum Online. We also got a whole bunch more premium channels on the TV. Not that we needed them given that we were already quite capable of finding sufficient timewasters with the existing lineup. But we are now have Showtime, which means catching up with Dexter, and we also can get the French channel (TV5, aka "tehveh cinq") which I like a lot. So our French will improve and we will have even less unoccupied time than before. :)

Handspun Mitts

I'm delighted to present the second project spun by me and then knitted by me - this time made for me as well!



Pattern: Wine and Roses Mitts, by Jolene Treace, from Interweave Knits, Winter 2006. The only modification: I did not bind off the final rows, but instead tacked them to the inside right off the needle, to reduce bulk.

This was a fun pattern, more so because I was knitting yarn that I spun myself. I split the roving lengthwise and spun it as carefully as I could so the two halves would match in color striations. One skein was 172 yards, the other 177. After winding each skein into center-pull balls, I was lucky to be able to guess at the same starting end for each of them (I was afraid I'd knit the second one starting from the opposite end from the first). It was nervewracking but also really satisfying to watch the colors unspool, and periodically I compared the first one with the second to make sure they matched. I couldn't believe they came out so well! I'm really delighted.

I finished them on the train home this evening and immediately put them on and admired them for the rest of the train ride and subsequent drive home. Too bad it's too warm to wear them again until autumn...
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AAAAAAAAGH this is so great!

The couple in the animation are the actual signers of the group Tricot Machine, a couple in real life who make music.