Post #2 from the wayback machine

As we continue the Costumechick catch-up-o-rama, I bring you my next FO, and non-blogged project.
The Mittens of Browness!

Name: Mittens of Browness
Pattern: Fleeced Stuffed Mittens from Favorite Mittens
Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire in Brown
Needles: US size 4 and 5 dpns
Notes: This is pair #5 of these mittens. This pair was supposed to be knit after the other three I have on my Holiday list, but they moved up due to a knitting emergency. (Namely, I ran out of other project while in a traffic jam, and had this yarn and free needles with me)
These are for Evad, and I hope he likes them. He said he did, but he might be lying. Evad is sneaky.

Why Costumechick Sucks

I try not to suck too hard, as a general rule. We all know how I feel about rules though. SO, I often find myself sucking, even if I don't want to. This last week (and a little), I have sucked really damn hard - at least at blogging.
I have finished two projects, started one more, finished another two clues of my Pangea Shawl, and went to the yarn mecca of Rhinebeck. And you, my dear readers got to hear nothing of it. I kind of feel as though I should just start from right now, and skip the last week and a half of events, as if they didn't even happen.
Instead, I will be belated blogging. Just pretend that the wayback machine is in charge of your blog reading destiny.

I finished the Cable Trim Pullover!

Name:Cable Trim Pullover
Pattern: #26 Cable Trim Pullover, from Vogue Knitting Winter 2007/08
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, color #6283
Needles: Knitpick Classic Circs in size 2 &3
Notes: First of all, this pattern was really well written, easy to follow, and usually pretty obvious in it's construction. That said, the pattern also expects you to just sew the neck band in with out any form of guidance. It says something like, "sew cable trim on as shown in photo". Not so helpful, really.

I love, love, love the yarn. I love the color, I love the softness, I love the halo. I will be using this again. I didn't need all 8 skeins though. I ended up only using 6. I think the pattern called for 7, but I always get an extra, cause if I don't, I run out. So now I have two more that need to be something....

Overall, I am very happy with this sweater, and it was finished just in time for RHINEBECK!! So I will be (did) participate with the cool kids and wear a brand new sweater for RHINEBECK!! The only thing I'd change, other than actually making it fit my mom, whom it was originally intended for, is to lengthen it. I could use another inch in the body of the sweater. It's fine the way it is though, since I always wear a shirt under my sweater anyway.

Normally, I would include a full modeled pic, but I am not for this sweater. It fits great, but I can't seem to take a pic of it where I don't look bad, or wide, or muffin top. This boob-a-lish-ish pic is the best I could do. There is one on Ravelry, should you feel the need to see me at my worst.

Things I love today

We can marry who we want
I am proud to live in Connecticut. A little over half of my friends and coworkers are gay, and I am proud that we all now have equal marriage rights. It is one step closer to everybody being respected equally in our nation.
On a side note, I expect to be invited to all of your weddings. I will bring fabulous gifts!

Things that pissed me off today.

1. Drivers. Specifically other idiot drivers that don't understand how turn signals work. No worries, none of the chodes ran into me, but boy did they try! It seems that it is "jerks that are unable to pilot a car and use turn signals go for a drive in Connecticut" day. I missed the memo, and tried to drive on the highway.
2. Work. It's really busy at work. But, it is that irritating "lots to do, but waiting for information" kind of busy. Hurry up and wait. These type of days drive me bat shit crazy.
3. people changing their minds. - see 1. and 2. Stay in your lane! You picked it. Stay there. Don't fucking change your mind and cut me off! Also, if you don't want a haircut, and I cancel the appointment, don't call me back two days later and say that you do want a haircut, and expect me to be able to reschedule it. This kind of jackassery just pisses everybody off.
4. Knitting. I am not getting to work on my Mittens of Browness. I am not really doing anything, yet I cannot not knit. I find this frustrating.

5. Republicans. I feel I don't need to go into detail. I will say that the Ayers thing is bullshit. I will also say that I feel like I want to slap a few people if I meet them. Those people better hope they don't run into me today, lest I carry out my slapping plan. I'm just in the mood.
Ahh. Feels good to vent a little.
Robot voice: "Stress level returning to med-high. Crisis diverted."

This and that.

No FO's, yet, but I do have some updaterly things to show you! A little this and a little that, all for you, my blog reader's. I just want you to feel special, and involved in my life. (You see, if I get you involved enough, I might be able to convince you that you like me enough to help me move. My whole life revolves around building up enough Friends to make moving easy. Even when I don't have plans to move anytime soon. I'm tricksy.)
The aforementioned Pangea Shawl:

See! It's cute! I'm peer pressuring you some more. Sign up... it's only one little clue....
OH! I am totally punk as fuck! I did what I said I was going to do, which is completely crazy and weird, therefore punk. I finished my sleeves...

AND blocked them. Be afraid. This WILL be done in time for RHINEBECK!
That's it, from the land of Costumechick, for today. Tomorrow you might get to see something brown! woo! Brown!
ps. please note the lack of McCain commentary. I'm saving it for the Bitches. You are forewarned.

How about some knitting content?

I know! Knitting content on a knitting blog? How conformist of me. But, according to LSG, "Fucking butter is punk as fuck."
I actually have been doing some knitting, in between tech, drinking, throwing my shoes at the TV when political stuff is on, and doing the other assorted things one must do to stay alive as a human. Oh yeah, I'm in tech again. This time it is for "Hughie", starring Brian Denehy. He is a really nice guy, and funny too. Anybody that calls me "doll face" is cool in my books though. It hasn't been a tough tech, but it is still not the most fun one can have on a weekend. I spent the time working on my Cable Trim Pullover sleeves.

Oh yeah? remember that? I'm making a sweater. I am 22 rows from being finished with the knitting on this sweater. I am in love with it. Really, I am, but I am not looking forward to the sewing up part. I will persevere, as I want to wear it for RHINEBECK! (RHINEBECK must always be said in capitol letters. That's just how it is.) I was going to finish it last night, but I realized that I would be sitting with nothing to do during tech today if I finished it. I could work on the socks that I started last week, but I'm feeling a little blase' about them. The pattern and color combo is not making me happy. I'm thinking on it. Anyway, I plan to cast off the damn sleeves tonight, block tomorrow, and maybe be sewing up at SnB! We'll see.... I rarely do what I should, or what I say I'm going to do. You realize, that makes me punk. Then when I do what I say I am going to do, it is unexpected - out of character even - and I am therefore Punk as Fuck.
Y'all should be proud to know me.
SO, what did I work on last night, as I was not finishing the sleeves on purpose? I cast on another project. Don't roll your eyes at me! Save it for the Presidential Debate. Over on Ravelry, "Whatifknits" wrote a shawl pattern and wanted to know if people wanted to knit it. I pmed her that I did. Now I am in a KAL on her blog: Pangea The shawl is awesome so far. I'll post pics of that eventually. For now you have to look at the yarn.

Pretty, lacy goodness. She is inviting anyone that wants to KAL to join.... we are only one clue in, and it is an easy one. You know you want to. Come on.
That is called peer pressure. I should be on an After School Special.
I'm wiped out. I'll leave the tales of shoe throwing, drinking, and other assorted crap for another time. Till then, remember, "From an early age, I've always loved Jews and Cuban food." Tina Fey is my secret girlfriend.

Vodka And Latex

I lieu of an actual post about knitting, I'm going to wax on about my friends, and work and shit. Cause, you know, I can.
Every week at SnB I think, "I should write down the stuff we say. It'd make a great blog post." do I ever? Hell no. That would require forethought and planning. Costumechick doesn't roll that way. She barely remembers to bring all the stuff she needs to SnB to actually knit, let alone do something additional. What the hell am I talking about? I barely remember to wear all the appropriate pieces of clothing in the morning. I could be called, with out much reservation, a mess.
Anyway, This week the bitches were quite excitable, and loud. A serious amount of quips and digs were laid out for all of Panera Bread - including the nuns - to hear. For your reading, and for the bitches, a review, of what I remember we talked about at Snb this Thursday. Well, at least what the alcohol didn't kill off...
1.Sarah "Caribou Barbie" Palin - she is an endless source of humor. Really. Between complaining about her lack of knowledge on anything, discussing her unbelievable small wardrobe, and being enraged about the assumption that women will vote for her because she allegedly has a vagina... well, you get the point. Since we were bitching and stitching, we didn't manage to watch the debate, live. It's probably better that way, as a few of us would now have broken TVs from throwing shoes at the "Alaskan Airhead". I can say, since I watched it later, she did a good job a memorizing the republican crapola that they asked her too. Yay for her! However, she was totally laughable, for reasons I will not go into here, but at least someone went to the Kasper outlet and bought her a new damn suit! Shit, if I had to see that ugly Walmart suit with the funnel neck one more time, I was going to take my measly salary - provided, in part my the NEA (that she and the other republidiots want to get rid of), and go down to the Burlington Coat factory and spend 50 bucks on a new fucking suit for her! It was embarrassing. Seriously.
ahem. Palin wailin' was a big part of the evenings festivities.
2.Getting smells out of stuff. In theatre, we have been using a spray on smell remover- ala' Febreeze - for, well, ever. It's called Vodka. The cheap shit that you can only drink if you are an underage college student or desperate. If they made a 5 gallon jug with big black "government cheese" lettering on the side that said "VODKA", it'd be perfect. We mix it half and half with water, and spray liberally on clothing. It works. Seriously! I promise, you don't smell like a martini, and it doesn't stain. This whole tangent started when we were talking about banned websites and watching porn at work. I said I can get away with almost anything, as my job requires me to look at a lot of 'questionable' web sites. Like what? Oh, you know... thigh highs, corsets, fake breasts... the list goes on. I regularly accidentally find myself on a porn site while looking for garter belts. That convo morphed into cleaning costumes that can't be dry cleaned - like latex. Then the vodka thing. Well, by the end, Knelley decided that my name was an acronym for Vodka And Latex. V.A.L. I'm fine with that. It could also be Vodka And Leather. that is even better. (smile)
PS. True to form, I got a shot of Smirnoff later at the bar. Just sayin'.
3.Balls. every week. You don't have to even be there to know we talked about balls.
4.Office gossip. Also, every week. It's the best soap opera around. Granted, I don't want any of it any where near where I work, but I am happy to listen to it from others. especially how Knelley's third graders are plotting a coupe.
5. The Youtube. Yankee bought a Youtube this weekend at the Best Buy. I'm sending her 8-tracks and video tapes to put on the youtube. That way, when she does the google, it'll show me them on the interweb. This is how I am going to learn about McCain and his progressive understanding of those damn kids, er... I mean, youth vote.
6.Libertarians. Is it just me, or are these guys balls to the walls crazy? OMG. get out the tin foil hats! The governments are reading our minds! The Us Government is conspiring with Canada and Mexico to make one giant country with a single currency - the Amero. The dude in the bandanna and nasty jeans is going to save us all by running for a seat in the house as a libertarian. Oh thank the gods. I might have voted for someone not crazy if he hadn't accosted us in the parking lot.
**Public service announcement**
when a crazy - be they Libertarian, Fundy, Mormon, Scientologist, or plain whackjob - confronts you, turn and walk away. Do not engage! If this doesn't work, and they follow you to continue the conversation, say "no thank you", and continue walling. be prepared, this may not work, as some crazies are very committed to their crazy. In this case, your only recourse is to "out crazy" them. I recommend screaming even crazier things at the top of your lungs, while making a wild eyed glare. Feel free to channel Sarah Palin to make this easier. I will give an example:
Crazy guy: "The Federal reserve is a private bank! America really has no money!"
You: "Oh, I knew it. Another person that knows the truth. Did you have your brain wave deflector implanted, cause I see you aren't wearing the tin foil hat. Mine was implanted by aliens during the last eclipse. Did you know that blueberries are a secret government plot to make the people automatons?! It's true! Blueberries and yogurt are causing the downfall of mankind. The sponges are in on it too! All hail the purple mist alien overlords!"
Feel free to chase the crazy person, as they will hopefully be running away. The true whackjobs, will not. You will now have a new best friend. Yay!
I can't wait until next week, when we will undoubtedly discuss balls, office gossip, what insipid thing Palin said, and whatever dirty things pop into our heads again. Hopefully, there won't be Nuns to keep us from really letting go this time....

Babies

There seems to be an exploding baby vortex swirling around me lately. I know of at least 5 people having kidlettes in the next 6 months. It's craziness! But, it gives me an excuse to knit wee adorable things, so it's all good.
On Tuesday, I ran out of balled yarn to knit my sweater sleeves. My winder was at work, and I wasn't. I should have worked on my Mittens of Brownness, but eh, I wasn't feeling it. I also knew that I had a baby deadline looming, so a little bitty kiddy thingy popped on the needles.

Name: bibsy
Pattern: Baby Bib O' Love, from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Sugar and Cream Ombre (stashbusting!)
Needles: Susan Bates US6
Notes: Quick little things these bibs are. Literally, it only took about 2 hrs to knit this. Picking a button was harder than the knitting.

If I were to make another one, which I most likely will, I would not knit it in garter stitch. I would do a pattern of some sort. The garter is fine, but tres' boring.
I made this little piece of cuteness for WifeMomknitter's Sister's new baby. (whew. that's a lot of explanation.) I hope she likes it as much as I do. I kind of want to make one for me. I'm a slop most of the time.

You know, with a brim...

In my life as a knitter I have made plenty of objects with a smattering of oddness, or less than usual special requirements. (the socks "with you know, holes" spring to mind) So, I was only slightly befuddled when my friend Darren wanted a hat, you know, with a brim.

"A brim?" I said, "Like a part that folds up?"
"Well sure, that would be fine."
"Is that what you meant?"
"well, no." he said, "I meant a brim. Like a baseball cap."
"Oh. So you want a knit base ball cap?"
"No. like a knit hat, you know, with a brim."
"Oh." I said."Ok. I've seen hats like that before."
"Can it have a cool graphic on it?"
"Sure. You want a knit hat, with a brim, and cool graphics."
"In guy colors. I don't wear bright colors."
"Ok.... a black and "something else manly" hat, with a brim, and with cool graphics."
"Yes." he said, "but not wool. It's hot in Florida."
One would think at this point I would say "forget it." Instead, I accepted the challenge. The results are pretty good!

Name: Darren's Hat
Pattern: my own, with a smattering of inspiration from other places
Yarn: Berroco Comfort DK in 2734 and 2747, 1 ball each
Needles: HiyaHiya circs, size 5
Notes: Ummm... this is one giant cluster fuck of a hat. I tried to find a pattern to make a ski cap with a brim. Evidently, even thought these are in stores all over, no knitters have made a pattern for one yet. SO I was flying blind. How hard can it be? My original idea was to cast on at the brim, do some stripes, then work in short rows for the brim, leaving it open to insert a "stiffener", knit up the hat - inserting "cool graphic" before closing up the top, inserting brim thing, and sewing up the brim hole. Yeah. I made it to "do some stripes". I tried three times to knit a short row brim effectively. It looked like a giant toe off the front of the hat.
Instead, I left a giant button hole and decided to figure it out later.

Hat knitting commenced, and I stole this color work graphic from "Son of Stitch 'n Bitch".

The brim was another story. In addition to the three short row brims, I also knit two other brims before just saying "fuck it" and going with this one. Its kind of a smattering of three directions from different knit baseball cap patterns. Then I had to sew that damn thing up. This took as long as knitting the whole freakin' hat! I crocheted, I sewed, I seamed, I almost stapled. I finally went back to crocheting.
I guess it looks ok. The brim "stiffener" is literally a brim. Dollar stores rock. I ripped that sucker off another hat and inserted it into my hat. I like shortcuts. The only down side was that when I went to sew the brim into the hat, it became obvious that I was going to have a very floppy brim unless I stitched the fabric brim into the seam as well. Sigh. One sewing machine and 10 minutes later, I was finally brimmed. I would not say this technique is easy. In fact, I would not recommend it to anyone. Maybe someone I don't like, but that's another story.
Anywho... I like the yarn. It was a challenge to find an easy care - cause its for a guy- yarn, in "manly colors". Oh, and that I wanted to knit with. Life is too short for squeaky yarn. The Comfort DK was nice. It almost feels like it has some soy silk, or bamboo in it. I would use it again. If I were to make this hat again, I'd use wool. Because I like wool better.
I'm shipping the hat off today to Florida. Hopefully he'll like it, or at least have the decency to lie to me and say he likes it. If he doesn't, he can send it right back, 'cause I have a dozen people here who want it!

Back from yet another trip.

I spent yet another weekend away from home, not blogging, or remembering to take pictures. Ah well. I wouldn't be Costumechick if I wasn't doing something to make my life hectic, and then not taking pictures of it to prove how insane I actually am.
This weekend, I travelled a little closer to home. I went to Middletown, PA, to visit the family, and attend a reunion for WMSS, 91.1 FM. I had a great time, and even if I didn't, I would have made my own fun, so the point would be moot anyway. We drove in on Friday night so we had all day Saturday to visit and junk. It was an unremarkable drive - the best kind. Saturday was packed full, in the typical Costumechick way. I'll list it off for you...
1. Get up at 7am. (On a damn Saturday.)
2. Go to Kuppy's for Breakfast. Scrapple and Baked Oatmeal. Yum.
3. GO to Saturdays' Market to buy boots. $35 for a pair of Engineer boots!
4. Drive to Shippensburg University. (receive history lesson on the way.)
5. Drive around campus trying to get a hold of Mr. Ship.
6. Dad states that he wants to go "tail boarding." Much laughing ensues.
7. Mr. Ship meets us at his dorm.
8. Costumechick gives Mr. Ship a haircut. He complains the whole time.
9. Mom dad Costumechick and DH attend the S.U. football game...to watch the band.

10.Football is finally over. The band was good. SU won. I think.
11.Drive back to M-town. Fall asleep in truck. (see #1)
12.Iron clothing for reunion. (blech)
13.Change for reunion.
14.Decide at last minute to go get food before reunion.
15.Eat flaming hot chicken fingers that were evidently cooked with Nuclear fission.
16.Reunion. (You'd think I would have taken a picture of this.)
17.Change clothes again.
18.Go bowling with brother #1. (& drinking. they go together like peas and carrots)
19.Destroy DH and Brother #1 at bowling. (I rock.)
20.Watch tv and knit for 15 minutes before I fall asleep.
I told you it was a packed full day. Sunday was a lot less eventful. DH and I stopped at the grocery store and bought a selection of PA treats for me and him. Mostly me. I came home with Whoopie Pies in Peanut butter and vanilla, Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing, pickled red beet eggs, Amish Farmer Cheese, Beef Jerky, and Beef sticks. Judge me not until you have walked in my PA dutch shoes! Finally, we stopped a t favorite restaurant, Esther's, on the way home - before reaching Berk's County and their driving rainstorm. That was not fun. I am not a fan of rain at all, and the kind that makes you unable to see sucks even more. But, we made it back, treats intact, to the wild and wonderful world of CT! Tomorrow, a post about the hat I finished!!

Florida Yarn Adventure

As I promised, a day late (of course), is my yarn update from my trip, and the surrounding days!
Sip & Knit held so many possibilities. I was there forever, and had the hardest time deciding. I was after some Florida friendly yarn to make my friend Darren a hat, per his request. You would think that a store in Florida would be a good place to find such a yarn. It would be true, if I wanted a girly or baby color. Masculine colors, in summer yarns, are not an easy thing to find. I needed it to have some body, since I didn't want a drapey hat, and not like knitting twine. I finally found what I was looking for in Berrocco Comfort. It is 100% unnatural, but it feels like it might be soysilk or at least a cotton microfiber blend. It isn't squeaky, which we all know is my big reason to hate on the acrylic.
I also bought some sock yarn. I probably didn't even need to type that, cause you all knew that anyway. (wink) It is Fibranatura "Yummy", and I must say it is. It looks like flames. I might have to make some "hot foot" socks out of this loveliness.

Really, I saw so much stuff I was lusting after, managing to come away with only 5 skeins of yarn and a pair of needles for the hat was pretty damn good!
I cast on for the "thank you for dragging me around Florida and letting me crash at your place" hat that day. I finished up the bulk of the knitting yesterday.

Please notice the hole:

What the Hell is this about? Well, friends, this is where the brim goes. "Que?" The brim, duh. I am making a hat that is like a ski hat and a baseball cap had an illicit love child. The brim part is not exactly the easiest thing I have ever done, but I am managing. I'm on the 4th attempt a brimmage, so maybe this one will stick.
You knew that couldn't be it, right? I had airport time to knit too. I worked on my sweater trim a little, making it about half way now.

I also knit a pair of socks. Big surprise, right? Well, that little skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock that jumped in my bag the last time I was at WEBS desperately wanted to be knit. So it was. The bad part about flying is the waiting. The good part about waiting is knitting.

Name: Ribbed For Her Pleasure Bedroom Socks
Pattern: I don't knit and tell
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock
Needles: Knitpicks Classic Circs, US 0 and US1
Notes: I knit these a little looser than normal, but I didn't have smaller needles, and the yarn really didn't want to be knit tighter anyway. Therefore, my socks are little big. No big deal. They are really to thick to be regular socks anyway, so they are now slippers. I am nothing, if not flexible.

I named them what I did because they are ribbed, they are silk (for my pleasure), and the are bedroom slippers. What? Did you think I was being dirty?

So, yeah, they knit up damn fast, managing to be almost completely knit in airports and on planes over a two day plane adventure. Not too shabby, and finished just in time to qualify for September Socktopia! Sweet!

Ya'll should feel special now. You have been updated, seen my intimates, and my yarn lustiness. It might be time for a post-knitoil snuggle.

Florida is full of slow drivers and killer spiders

Guess what? I'm back! I got back from 3 days of fun and sun in Orlando yesterday, to a thankfully not freezing Connecticut. From what I understand, it was downright frigid here on Thursday and Friday. I picked a good couple days to escape to the sunny south, I suppose!
I know I said I was going to blog while I was there. I didn't. (Surprise) I did, however, take pictures! (The first day. hey, don't judge! it's better than I usually do.) On Thursday, we grabbed some quick lunch and headed off to Sea world. My friend Darren is a rigger there. (A rigger, for those of you not in the biz, is the insane person that climbs up and out the beams and scaffolding to hang lights and crap high up in the air. They are responsible for the safety of those things, as they usually hang above audience members and actors, so they have to be knowledgeable about weight loads, and line stress and shit. I, personally, would never ever do this, but Darren thinks its fun. he's crazy.) Its interesting how fast you can cover a theme park when you go with someone that knows the place inside out. We hit all the good shows and exhibits, skipping the lame ones.




aww. Cute! Then I got a little drunk. did you know that Sea World is owned by Anheuser Busch? well, it is my friends. This means you get two free beers every time you go to the park. You can also do a "beer tasting" experience. Yeah. That's like 5 beers in a half hour. I was a bit tipsy when we went to see Shamu.

I think you can tell by the picture, as it is of the set, and a bird eating out of the "fish box", and not of Shamu. Anyway, after the beer and the whirlwind tour of Sea World, we needed food. Vietnamese food is really good. Just saying.
Friday was a "no rest for the weary" day. (This is the point where I stop taking pics, btw) In one day, we hit both Universal parks, took a nap, went for Sushi, went to a play, then watched a guy get a tattoo. Yeah. It was a very, very full day. the parks were nice, again, made much better by someone that really knows them - which is how we made it through two in 4 hours. Naps are always good, as is sushi. The play was interesting, and well produced. The house was super tiny - it maybe held 60 people. The guy getting the tattoo was the lighting designer, which is why he was at the play, and how we ended up watching the tattoo festivities. A little odd, but it was pretty cool.
Saturday, Darren had to work. He left me his car. (We might have know each other for 18 years, but he will never learn.) He has a standard transmission sports car. (grin) And, in case you didn't know, the roads in Florida are scary smooth. When you combine this with a sports car, and me driving, well, you have a very good possibility of speeding. I was flying down the highway, on my way to a yarn store, just dumbfounded about why everyone was driving like they were pushing the car with their feet, like the Flintstones car. So I was bobbing and weaving, and passing my way to the yarn store, when I realized that the speed limit was 55. 55! WTH?! I looked at the speedometer.
I was going ................85. oops. What do they expect with super smooth roads and me behind the wheel of a stick shift sports car? So, I told Darren that if any strange tickets show up in the mail, just let me know, cause it's most likely my fault.
I went to Sip-n-Knit on my yarn adventure. It was a really cute, user friendly, and inviting store. I'll post pics with yarny goodness tomorrow. I did find a few fun things though. food was the next order of the day, and the fancy grocery store did not disappoint. Who knew how good a tomato and avocado sandwich would be?
Sunday was all about breakfast and the airport. eh. Not much to tell there.
But, I made it back, safe and sound... not sane, but you knew that. I had a great time, got a tan, and found out at breakfast my last day that there are "only two poisonous spiders you need to watch out for. And a couple snakes. Well, and the gators." umm..... yeah.

Fuck You Cancer!

I finished the comfort shawl for the Milford Jaycees a few minutes ago. I like it alot, well, for a big, thick, pink polyester shawl. But it's not for me, it is for charity, so I wanted to make something others would like.

Name: Comfort Shawl for the Milford Jaycees
Pattern: Umm.. no. I just did some stuff
Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky Twists, in Tawney Rose Twists, 6 balls
Needles: US 17s
Notes: Let me say this.... I love the spirit of this project. Giving a hug to those in need at a most critical time of their lives. Cancer is a bitch. Being sick is a bitch in general, but Cancer really really really blows.
I wanted to choose easy care yarn, that was not a neon or otherwise irritating color. (I still had to knit it, ya' know.)I also didn't want to do lace - machines and hoses and crap would be not lace friendly, I'd think. So out came my Comfort shawl.

One of the traditions when you knit a comfort shawl is to think good thoughts (or prayers, if you are so inclined), or healing thoughts while you knit them. That way, all the love and good vibes you thought about will go into the shawl and surround the wearer with warm fuzzies. I tried really hard to do this. I am not very good at it though. I knit quit often to get rid of anger and frustration. Not very "comfort shawl" thoughts, frankly. This got me thinking.... (scared, aren't you?)

People have very different reactions to crisis. Some people withdrawal, others get outgoing and excited. Some people contemplate, others live in the moment. I decided my shawl is full of "fuck you cancer!" energy. I want the wearer to fight, goddammit! I want her to kick cancer in the fucking balls, and take names while doing it. There will be no pansy feeling sorry for yourself! There will only be fighting! And winning! I want her to know that I made the shawl with love, but it's only there to help her fight, to push her on, to get better - for the people in her life that will miss her. I'm giving her this yarn hug to say, "Hell Yeah! You kicked ass today! Tomorrow kick it even harder!"

So, whoever gets my shawl, please know, I'm pulling for you, and if I get the chance, I'll kick cancer right in the sweet meats - just for you.

A Really Full Schedule

I don't know if you have noticed, but it has been a while since I updated my blog. Things have been a little busy around Casa Costumechick. What, pray tell, have I been up to that has taken so much time away that I cannot manage a wee-tiny blog update every once in a while?
The answer is.... well, ok. I don't have an answer. I've been doing a lot of stuff.
My evenings have been largely spent working on the burlap project, and then "Big River". Therefore, the knitting progress has been slow, at best. I did manage to finish the front of the purple sweater on Friday!

Then I cast on for the cabled neck trim! I did this while suck in the car, in traffic (yay! CT!) on Friday. Why was I in traffic? well, the shop took a trip to Osgood Fabrics for supplies, and for a birthday lunch for our stitcher. We just happened to be in MA... so we went to WEBS too. What?! It wasn't my idea?! But I did buy a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn.

Anyway, I skipped the sleeves, as I wanted a small project that is easy to transport, for my bag. I plan to do the sleeves at the same time, and, frankly, that makes the project less portable.
I needed a portable project on purpose too, since I went into NYC to hang with my Mom and Dad on Saturday. "Hang" may not be the right phrase.... "forced March around the city" seems more apropos. We walked through Chinatown, to Little Italy - St. Genaro festival, to the Lower east side, then to Pier 17. Then through the 6th ave street fair up to Lindy's for Cheesecake. All in all a very exhaustive day. It was nice to visit, and we saw lots of interesting things and people. Still, I would have liked to just sit and knit for the day, but oh well.
Sunday was just as hectic, but because of my own doing. I baked a peach-raspberry pie for the Annual Canadian Pie Contest at work.

Yum.. I didn't do a test pie this year. I just made it up and baked it. We'll see how I do at the contest tonight....
I also had to get a pedicure.

Red, or course. I went grocery shopping, did some alterations on a few costumes for a friend, and went to dinner and a movie. Oh! And I did a load of dishes and laundry,and made chip dip. I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.
DH and I went to see "Burn after Reading". I took the two hours to work on my Shawl for the Milford Jaycees.

The Movie was great! Love Love love the Cohen brothers. It was a very "Cohen brothers" movie, and it was fantastic. I need to go see it again. (And I got a lot of shawl finished!)
So now I am back to the grind of the work week. Meetings, fittings, sewing on burlap in the evenings. But, only till Wednesday! I am off to Florida on Wednesday night. I'm going to attempt to blog while I am there. But, then again, I am Costumechick. I rarely do what I say I'm going to do, anyway. (grin)

Guess who cabled?

Me. That's who.

Aww. Cuteness. This pattern has just started to get complicated. You have to decrease at the NL with this fancy cable thing, keep track of armhole shaping, and keep two balls of alpaca from getting all twisted up. On top of that, the instructions are rather vague. It's not movie knitting.. let's just say that.
I should also publicly say, I was right! The cute skinny needles that I weren't sure were needles from my last post are, in fact, needles! 0000's! They are awesomeness in needle form. Again, thank you to my rockin' swap partner for the coolest needles EVER!
My knitting productivity has been way down - if you couldn't tell. This Burlap Overall project has been eating up all of my evenings and weekends. I am feeling wholly unproductive about the whole thing. The standard "knitter's cure" for this is to cast on a new project. hmm. I do need to work on a Socktopia project for September....
What to do, what to do......

Yarny things, Booze and Awesome Hair

LSG, a group on Ravelry, recently decided to work up a swap. LSG stands for "Lazy, Stupid, and Godless", so, well, you can only imagine the types of things that might show up in the mail for you when participating in a swap from this group of twatweasels. I mailed out my package yesterday, and lo and behold what showed up for me!

Aww yeah. LSG yarny things!! two skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet, a sekin of Debbie BLiss Baby Cashmerino (which I have never tried, and has been on my list for a long time), a kit to make a little beaded purse, awsome rainbow house magnets, Sister Mary Manhattan Post-Its, a lucious smelling bar of soap, black licorice wheels, fake eyelashes, a notepad, a watermellon lolly piop, and a black zipper bag for all my little junk I always leave behind when I grab my knitting to go! The last thing is these cool.. needles?

I think they are straight needles. They could be hat pins. I went to hat pins first, but then I thought, "why would someone get me hat pins? Who would know I collect vintage hats?" But, they are really pretty!

Later that night, I hung with the bitches at SnB, but then we went for Drinks for Jannsquared Bachlorette Party!

Booze. mmmm booze.

And just to top it all off, I got my hair cut yesterday.

Cute, no?
and look at it today.

Aww yeah. Multi style-able rock star hair. \m/ >.< \m/

The Day Costumechick and DH entered the 1980's

DH and I are now as technologically advanced as the 1980's! We have cable! Can you hear the cherubs singing? Honestly though, we weren't unhappy with our rabbit ear situation, but we were unhappy with our pirated Internet situation. Maybe unhappy isn't the right word. We were pleased with the price (free) but less than pleased with the spotty connection service. We had no right to complain, as we were stealing it, but we did anyway. Which brings us to yesterday when the grouchy guy from Comcast showed up and installed our new-fangled cable box. Evidently, DH sat and flipped channels for hours yesterday. It is all a little overwhelming, and I am TERRIFIED of unprogramming the remote. I am used to like 7 channels, and we have like 200. I was a bit dumbfounded, but it was awesome to watch the Colbert Report on my couch, while knitting. I feel like a grown up.
How does this fit with Internet? Well, we found out that if you are already a cable customer, it costs next to nothing to have wireless Internet. SO, cable first, then Internet. I am still stealing my Internet for now, but soon...soon... we will be members of the 1990s.
We hope to move into the 2000's before they are over....

A good weekend.

A good weekend, in Costumechick world, is defined by the following:
1. Finishing a knitting project.
2. Making headway on another knitting project.
3. Hanging out with great friends.
4. Eating copious amounts of Greek food, then seeing a movie.
5. Hanging out with even more great friends!
And, that is exactly what I did.
1. I finished the Fluffy Blue Raspberries.

Name: Fluffy Blue Raspberries
Pattern: Fleece Stuffed Mittens By Robin Hansen, from Favorite Mittens
Yarn: Reynolds Lopi in color 166, 1.25 skeins
Needles: Us 4 and 5 DPNs
Notes: I did these the same as the others. This may have been a regrettable decision, as they are enormous. Hopefully someone on my gift list has big hands, and will like teal mittens. I have another skein of this yarn to use for mittens, so I will go down to the child size directions for that pair.

2. I finished the back of the new sweater! Yay! I fear it is going to be way too big for my Mom. Boo. Upon measuring though, I think, because it is alpaca, and it will stretch when blocked, it will fit me. yay! I decided to keep going. We'll see....

3. Dude. The Bitches rock. Short Bus, the band, rocks. Pina Coladas rock. That is all that need be said.

4. The Greek Food a the Greek Festival in Orange always kicks ass. This year was no disappointment. I didn't take pics then, since I was too busy stuffing myself with saganaki, salad, and spanikopita. I was too full for dessert, but you better bet I bought some to take home. I totally forgot to take a picture of this...

What does one do, if they are Costumechick and DH, after eating far too much food? Go see a movie of course! We went to Tropic Thunder.
let's pause for a moment regarding our movie choice. I know this movie has spawned protests, and I am not against people having opinions, but please keep any comments regarding how awful I am for spending my money on this movie to yourselves. M'kay? I know I am going to hell in a hand basket. I already told everyone I'll put up the SnB flyer's about our meeting location when I get there.
Anyway, Tropic Thunder was fucking Hilarious!!! Being in the entertainment Business, I love love love movies that pick on it. And this one did not disappoint. really. It was hysterical. DH and I laughed so hard we hurt. That said, if you are sensitive to blood, explosions, unsavory terms for minority groups, or farts, you may want to skip this movie. The 12 year old boy and 32 year old costumer in me loved it though.

5. Two parties in one Weekend! Costumechick is a lucky gal! Yesterday we went to a kegger at a work friends house. Good food, good friends, and good times. The bonus was getting to play guitar hero some more. :)
Well, that, and getting fabulously drunk. (too drunk to take pics. surprise!)

That my friends is a weekend, Costumechick style.

The Story of Woe*

Yesterday, in "As Costumechick's World Gyrates" we learned that the yarn ran out while Costumechick was knitting her Fluffy Blue Raspberry Mittens. (Duh DUh DUUUUH) What intrigue has happened since? We'll find out today on, "As Costumechick's World Gyrates!!"

(Insert commercial for random feminine product, or pharmaceutical)

Yes. I, Costumechick, did go to WEBS yesterday. On the way there, since Dee was driving, I knit on my mitten. I figured I'd knit until I ran out of yarn. I did, with about 3 miles to go before the exit. Wonderful planning, if I had been trying.

But, and there is always a but, I used every last thrum I had with me to get to this point. (facepalm) "No problem," I thought. I'll just cast on for my next project on my way home.

This is where I rummage around in the car for my pattern.
and rummage...
and rummage...
It is now starting to dawn on me that I don't have my magazine with me. I left the stupid thing at work. (grrrrr.) "It's ok," I think, "I'm going to the biggest yarn store ever! I'll just peek at a copy in the store, and see how much I need to cast on."

In the store we go. I got a bit distracted by the yarn fumes at this point, so my story has some holes. Things were picked up that I didn't go to the store for, and other things might have been placed in my basket. I may have made out with some cashmere/bison/silk blend in the bcak room - I can't be sure. What I am sure of is that I got my teal Lopi (yay!)

and that I did not find a copy of the Fall 2006 Vogue that has my pattern in it. (boo.) Woe and shit and Hell. Now what do I do? I have the yarn to work on the mittens but no stinking thrums, the yarn to work on a sweater, but no fucking pattern!
At this point I stumble about WEBS, a little heady from the lusty moment with the cashmere/bison/silk yarn, a little hungry, and a little aimless, seeing as I am project less in a giant yarn store. So I did what any self respecting knitter would do. I bought more yarn.

This is brown Berkshire by Valley Yarns. I am making DH a pair of mittens too. I had planned to make him a pair, but not until I had the other four pairs left on my list completed. But, my cuff needles were free, and I knew I could cast them on in the car, so his mittens of brownness got bumped up in the list.
Does the Story of Woe end there? Of course not. On the way back to the Haven, we got stuck in the Worst Traffic Ever. I managed to finish the entire cuff, even knitting slow. Then I was stuck in no-mans-land again. I bought a magazine at WEBS for just this purpose though, thankfully. I cannot handle traffic. I really can't handle it if I don't have something to do. I just get more and more rage-y. It is not a pretty site. That means, for those of you counting, I now have one pair of thumb less teal mittens, one of which is missing the top; one brown cuff of a mitten; and one skein of gorgeous purple alpaca that I can't cast on because I forgot my pattern; all sitting in my lap, staring at me. It was like being Sisyphus, with yarn instead of a rock.
Bah!
Then, just for the cherry, on the icing, on the cake of the day, I forgot any sort of writing device, what so ever for SnB. (wow. I am random metaphor girl today.) No big deal in the grand scheme of things, but irritating none the less. Like sand in your swim suit.
But, I did get a decent amount into my sweater project:

This purpley alpaca goodness if for my Mom. My Mom is so tiny. I wish I could knit stuff this small for me. I could get a lot more done. Of course, it is on size 3 needles, so.... you'll be seeing a lot of purple Stockinette.
For a long time.
I'll do my best to make it interesting. Maybe the sweater pieces will go on adventures? Maybe I will see if I can come up with more challenges, a'la pencils and soup cans? Stay tuned till next time on "As Costumechick's World Gyrates".

*All right, fess up. I know some of you know what this literature reference I am lampooning. Then, after you fess up, I will know who is really dirty! :)