Back in the knitting groove!

I was still having a hard time sitting down and really concentrating on my knitting until this morning. But now my truck is fixed and running like new (yayyyy!) and my financial state is no longer a stress. I am ready to get back to knitting hard core so I can finish up my Christmas projects. I started Blaine's hat last night and finished it this afternoon. I have the second of his gloves and then I really really really really really need to bust ass on his scarf. It's only about 1/3 done. :-S Yeaaaah. I am so behind on it. I should be ok. It took me just about a month to finish up Travis' set and I am already ahead of that mark so I should be fine. It sounds like I am going to have the house to myself tomorrow night so I won't have any excuses to not get in some serious knitting time.

I also ordered the yarn for Logan's scarf. I was having a hard time finding something from my usual sellers (handpaintedyarn.com and 100purewool on eBay) so I was going to go down to Boucle's tomorrow but then I had a genius idea. Knitpicks! Duuuuuuh. Great prices (since I needed 400+ yards) and a lot of colors to choose from. So, I found two colors that I think will look really nice together and really good on Logan. Forest Heather and Amber Heather

Oh, hahaha! I just almost gave away another present that's included in that order. Glad I caught myself! Heehheheee. Annyyyywwwaaaaayyyys...the order won't be here for a couple of weeks, but since I am trying to get Blaine's scarf done before I leave for CA (yes, yes, I am going to be able to go!!!), I'm not too worried about it. We're not doing our gift exchange for the house until I get back so at the very least it will be mostly done by the time I give it to him, lol.

This just in: B approves of the colors for Logan's scarf. We are go, people!

subconcious self-inflicted punishment

I cooked a delicious dinner last night. Lemon Rosemary chicken breast; juicy, tender, melt in your mouth. Roasted Root Vegetables; the perfect anti-dote to sunset at 4:30 pm. Perfect portions to stuff me for the night and leave me a lunch that wouldn't send me into a food coma at work the next day.

I lovingly packed up my leftovers, picking at the scraps on my plate, unable to resist the deliciousness that I had created and thought about how happy I would be come lunchtime the next day.

I must have known that I was going to be a slacker for the second night in a row and not knit.

I stumbled to the refrigerator this morning, collecting my goodies for the day and was confused that my leftovers container was not where I had left it. Well, with three roommates, things get moved around quite a bit so I shuffled some containers around and checked a couple of drawers...nothing. I stopped and thought about where I stuck it last night and I realized that I had no clear memory of actually putting it in the fridge. With absolute dread, I slowly scanned the dark kitchen and caught sight of several containers on the kitchen counter. I didn't want to, but I knew that one of them had my precious leftovers in it. Indeed, there sat my lovingly prepared dinner/lunch, rotting on the counter.

I will knit tonight, come hell or highwater....or shiny distractions.

3 Danica scarves, 2 pairs of Dashing and a new Nintendo DS fooooooor me!

I stopped by Target to see Travis last week and as usual, he was being his clingy self and I ended up loitering in electronics for an hour or so. While he was busy with a guest, I wandered over to the Nintendo case and caught sight of the DSs in stock. This jolted my memory of commercials that I have been seeing lately for academic "games" for the DS. Memory enhancers, vocabulary training; you know, not just your typical glassy eyed, stream of spittle inducing games. I have an SP but the damn thing is so small that I don't really like playing it anymore. And yeah, that whole fickle with novel toys thing again. By the time Travis got back to me, I had decided that I wanted, nay, NEEDED one of these fantastic toys (under the guise of wanting the educational games, mais oui). Blaine eventually wandered by and, as usual, I was given a heaping plate of shit about not having his gloves done yet. Of course, being the ass that he is, Travis had to chime in and harp on me about his scarf which led promptly into him begging me, again, to make him new gloves. You know, the same as the ones that he lost a month after I knit them. As I began to puff up like a pissed off porcupine, he desperately scrambled to distract me before the inevitable screaming fit. In his haste, he offered a deal to me. In exchange for a scarf, hat and glove set for each of the boys, they would get me a Nintendo DS for Christmas. With suspicion leaking from my slitted eyes, I analyzed the eager and hopeful looks on their faces. Still in the thrall of the shiny new toy just mere feet from me, I agreed.

So began the hunt for a scarf interesting enough to keep me entertained enough to want to knit it twice in a row but not too challenging that it would discourage me halfway through and become a burden that I didn't enjoy. I cam across Andre on knitty and thought it would be perfect for Blaine, but with the miles of stockinette knit in the round, I was wary. The color work at the beginning and end would have been interesting but I could see myself knitting three rows and realizing ten minutes later that I had drifted off into my infamous lala land and thusly never finish it in time for Christmas. Moving on, I found Danica, also on Knitty and knew instantly that it would be perfect for Travis. The more I looked at it, I realized that it was the perfect scarf for both of them. The patter was just right and with the two color blocks, I could make each scarf in it's own color theme that suited each of the boys. Half an hour later, I was at Michael's, picking out my four colors of Paton's Wool. Grey and black for Travis and brown and tan for Blaine.

I am now a little more than halfway through Travis' Danica and I have about six inches done on Blaine's. This pattern is so much fun and just the right level of interest and challenge. I have not learned to purl backward as a lot of people have because, well, because I really never thought about it. I am thinking about it now. Since I have been working on this project so much, Logan has seen it many times. I realized after about the fifth time the told me how much he liked it that I would be adding another Danica to my Christmas knitting list. I think I have decided to find a really nice variegated yarn for his instead of two colors. I am very happy to say that I don't see myself getting bored with this pattern any time soon.