Emily Laughed

I had been working two jobs. Three, depending on the definition of the word. I thought I was busy. I thought I had no chance to do anything other than work, yet I managed to fit in knitting and chatting and the occasional blog.

Now, I have one job. Just the one. No freelancing, no crazy things that need to get done every night, and my life has gone completely topsy turvy. I haven't had the stomach to look at a computer in the evenings. I have been walking and reading and watching WAY too much TV, but still, my life is crazy. Maybe I'm getting old. Maybe the real world is just crazier than I ever anticipated. Or maybe it's just the nonprofit world. I don't know.

Regardless, the last three months have been wonderful.

Let's start with TV. One co-worker gave me this movie.

meh.

Erm. I'll refrain comment. Really, it's good for an old movie. I like old movies. But it took me a month to watch because I kept falling asleep when I put it on. Finally, today, I wound up knitting and watching it and everything went REALLY well. I finished the movie and actually liked the ending, AND I got two lace repeats done.

Other side of the spectrum, here's things that are making me happ:

whee!

Co-Worker two has me ADDICTED to the Gilmore Girls. I WANT A LUKE. Anyhow. One last episode to season 4 and I need to beg for season 5. Also, if you squint, the confirmation to my October train trip to Boston/NY is in the background. So that's a whole lot of happy in one picture. :)

So, I have been knitting, contrary to popular opinion. Here's a sock closeup. I'm about half way down the cuff of sock #2 and loving it.

spring ahead

I've put those down for my olympic sweater, though.

I'm an olympic failure.

olympic failure

This is the furthest I was at the end of the olympics. Several lace repeats into the pattern, and relatively pathetic. I did have boxes of tomatos, though.

After the DNCC, I find myself a little further along:

hey teach

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sweet lace, hey teach

I love this sweater. Here's an ugly straight on shot. The details really did photograph well above, though.

ugly photo, pretty sweater

I've got a few more inches, then I can shape the neck and get going on the front. I really do like the lace pattern, though. The  yarn is gorgeous, too.

Also, could this yarn be any more fall?

preety

I am loving my job. I am busy. I just had a yard sale. I got to play mayor of the yard sale. I want to throw a fall festival.

Oh, you want pictures? Yes pictures.

I'm knitting. Look at the mismatched socks!

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That's not an optical illusion.

Look at this finished sock! (Spring Ahead, knitty, in STR Lockness.)

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It's a good pattern. Very easy, and makes for a nice finished product. Just interesting enough to keep me wanting to knit it.

Oh, and the olympics? Yeah, trying to keep up with that. Totally not going to happen. But this is going to be hey, teach!

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Not very far at all. But the yarn is pretty. And it's LOTS of stitches across. And will be nice and delicate.

Have a house picture. Doesn't it look like it could host a fall festival? (I was in the sun too long this weekend.)

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My dog really needs a friend.

It is a bitch getting old. I hate this.

I meant to be walking, but it's just started to rain. So I'm going to do seven questions from Vicki and see if it stops. If it does, I shall walk after. If it doesn't, I shall turn in for the night.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago. Hm. 1998. I was still in high school. I was.. actually, I think I was in Washington / Oregon with my then-best-friend. This was about the right time of year for it. I thought I was going to love Seattle, but I was very disappointed. The train trip along the coast between Portland and Seattle, however, was lovely. I had started working for JCPenney, and was looking forward to one more year of high school. But didn't realize how ridiculously unhappy I really was.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
The day is almost over. But let's see if I still have five.

1. Work on the Terminus program book. I have one more schedule and then I can call the schedule-part done. I'd lke to finish that this evening.
2. Walk, though the skies are getting a little ominous.
3. Get to sleep early.
   
   and since that's all, I'll go back to what was on my to-do list this morning:
   
   
   
4. Do animation for "Imagine Pittsburgh 250." Introduce myself to Pam, and make another friend.
5. Find the group sales office, meet Joi, tell her that my aunt loves her and figure out what kind of sign they need.
6. WIN AT LIFE with my fonts. I did. :)
   

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Fruit. Pineapples, melons, berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries), oranges, pears.

Granola. Particularly with peanut butter or chocolate.

Dove chocolate. Good ice cream. Cake. Pie with lots of fruit and cinnamon.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Go places. I don't think I'd stop working because I like working. But I wouldn't feel like I should be there all the time, and I would go all of the places I think I'd like to visit. Rome. Venice. Barcelona. Switzerland. The Black Forest. Poland. All through Ireland, Scotland and the English countryside. Wales. Australia. Japan. Argentina. Peru. I would also likely try to create some kind of crazy peace corps-ish organization because it would be a challenge for me, and I would love to see what I could learn in creating something far reaching. I'd love to study abroad, too, though not traditionally. I guess that goes along with the far-reaching organization thing; I'd want to be very hands-on. Meet people and learn from them. 

Before any of that, though, I would probably buy myself a nice house in the country that I could spend time on. Fix it up, plant a garden, spend days in the outdoors, and get back to nature. Just having the time to be able to do that would be the best thing about not having to worry about money.

5) Places I have lived:

This one's boring. Springdale.

6) Jobs I have had:

Editor in Chief of my school paper. Babysitter. Bookstore manager. JCPenney Operator. Graphic Designer, specializing in ad design. Design Coordinator. Lead Event Organizer. Design and Media manager. Multimedia Specialist. Most of those jobs were not paid. Five were. I liked those five.

7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:

I've been a very bad updater lately. I think I have pictures and I know I have FOs. But I don't have the energy to take care of that right now. My new job is starting to go right, though. And I'm thinking that I just might have a chance at some happiness. :)

It's still raining, so I'll likely get a jump on some book design and then turn in early.

I'm stuck on an album. This is no good.

I finished a sock.

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I really, really, really love it and want to finish the matching sock, but that's... not going so good. I'm maybe two inches in. Eh. At least I finished one sock in April. I was right, this is the month that will mess me up for the whole year. I didn't finish a pair in a month.

Ah well.

Here's a close up of the stitches, looking pretty nice:

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Not entirely even, but even if blocking doesn't fix it, I think I love them for their imperfection.

The yarn shop that's most convenient to me is closing up shop in May. The woman just decided it was time. I'm sad. But I did get some yarn.

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So I've been knitting. I've also been half-crazed. And it's spring.

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I hate not knowing things. So I've started a new sock pattern. The yarn is Vicki's dye, "Morning Glories." I <3 it. The sock is turning out great.

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The pattern compliments the coloring, and I love that I'm knitting springy socks on such lovely days.

Funny thing about this kind of rib, though... the socks look TEENY when they aren't on blockers. Look:

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Neat magic trick, eh?

I feared that they weren't going to fit around my ankles, but they really aren't so bad. I'd have added one extra rib if I'd have had experience with the pattern, but I'm not complaining.

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The pattern is over here... They're called Hedgerow Socks, and I thought I wasn't knitting them neatly enough at first, though I'm pretty sure that I've changed my mind. After a nice long walk tonight, I hope to get the heel turned. And with a Penguin's playoff game, the debates and American Idol results (I'm still seething over Michael John's going home), I think I just might get that much done.

If not, the bus ride tomorrow sounds like it's gonna be a good one. Blowing up the mountain on the side of the road is NEVER a good idea....

Hey, I didn't die. You'd never know.

This year's been... interesting. January was ok. February was not so much and March out and out sucked. I have high hopes for April, though.

I did manage to knit. I'd like to keep up with a pair of socks a month. So far I've only managed a small project in addition, but I have kept up with a pair of socks each month so far. January were ski lodge socks.

February's were these lovely socks for Cliff (heh).

Cliff's Thrujas

Which... well, they're done. I guess they could have been way worse.

March is another pair of Thruja's for a guy I half-work with. There's a long back story that I'm not giving the time of day, but if some certain things that I'm praying will happen actually happen, they'll be a "nice working with you, remember me" gifting of socks. Otherwise, it'll be random and weird. We'll see.

AJ's Thrujas

I like the Trekking Handpainted a lot. It's a nice, heavy yarn and made for some sweet, heavy, hillbilly-ish socks. :) (It's fitting.)

I'm really tired of the Thruja pattern, so I cast on for something new.... but I'm really not too sold on it.

I wanted to knit Eleanor socks, but didn't realize that the author of the pattern had passed away. Her website doesn't work anymore, so the pattern is currently no where. This is the Hedgerow sock, and I, apparently, have an inability to knit and purl neatly. I'm going to see if it cleans up in the next inch or so. If it doesn't, I give up, I give in, and I'll rip it out and start again. That probably means April will be the month that I don't finish a pair of socks and throw myself off for the rest of the year but OH WELL.

The yarn is lovely, though, isn't it? Vicki dyed it and it's knitting up just the way you'd want it to. 66 stitches around seems to have done what it should have.

In the meantime, I did get a baby hat knit. A friend of mine had a kid who she swore was going to come out with horns, so I thought it only appropriate:

It's a great pattern. :)

And some pictures for the hell of it.

Glen Phillips and the dude (awesome dude, but who has a forgettable name) who played with him. Johnathan Kingham. That's right. Concert was Friday, April 4:

Glen Phillips 2008

Bill Deasy and Dave Brown. Spring Lies Waiting. SWEET.

Bill and Dave

And finally, my masterpiece, the hallway I walk down every morning to go to work. The office is just as boring as the hallway.

Where I work.

Hello, internet world. I haven't forgotten about you, except to say that I have, in fact. And now it's been almost a month... Maybe more than a month... And I haven't posted anything for you. I won't bore you, dear internets, with a recounting of why I'm so late in posting. I've been carrying around pictures quite often with intentions of uploading. And now, today, I decided work could wait. You need to see what's been happening.

I finished my Christmas socks. Two were gifted by the time I got around to taking pictures (and one sock was finished in the moments before it was to be gifted, quite literally.)

Christmas - Socks under the tree

There they are, all pretty, lined up beneath the tree. Here's a detail shot of the fronts and backs, though with bad lighting. (Trust me, I couldn't be fussed to care much. It's lucky that there's a picture at all):

Christmas came and went. I got the sickness of d00m. I lost my voice while I was singing for Christmas eve mass. I came home and drank buckets of honey. My voice did not come back for Christmas day mass. (I have never really lost my voice. This was a first.)

Boxing day (my favorite day out of the holidays) brought Cliff and Travis in. We ate at Gullifty's, we walked all over Squirrel Hill, and I got them to a yarn shop. There, I made them pick out manly yarns for socks in my gruff, pathetic non voice.

So. There's this Trekking XXL Handpainted:

Blue Handpainted Trekking

Which I think will be mostly navy with spots of electric blue. This is also likely being re-gifted to a work friend. If it knits up the way I want it to.

And then there's this, which... yeah, I'm not too sure about it. But Cliff liked it a lot.

Regia - Cliff's Pick

Hm. I'll refrain comment until I actually get into the sock. It's interesting. And design line. We'll see.

I parted ways with them after going tea shopping and spending too much time in a store with plates so expensive that I could have spent my life savings on them and still have owed something in the end.

I stopped home, grabbed my brother and headed out to one of my favorite shows of the year, Bill Deasy, Solo-Acoustic Boxing Day show.

Bill was there.

Bill, Boxing Day

It was a lovely night. With one thing that could have been better. At the end of the show, Bill said "I'm going to try something a little bit strange. Does anybody want to come up here and sing a song with me?" Well, knock me over. Hell yes, I would have loved to have come up and sung a song with him. But I had no voice. So I couldn't sing. (I swear, if that doesn't happen again, I will cry.)

Jen went up and sang instead. She did good. Meh.

Bill with a fan. It should have been me.

Let's see what else I've got for you today, dear internet.

Yarn! Sock yarn, hat yarn and gorgeous Vicki-dyed sock Yarn called Morning Glories that came in for Christmas! :D I would very much like to cast on with it. And everything else that I have right now. But again, I find myself with very little time to pick out the right patterns, and finding it much easier to just keep casting on for the same sock over and over and over again.

Speaking of that, I finished another pair of socks. Either for me or for a gift. I call them "Ski Lodge" socks. I <3 them.

Out of Regia something or other. They were unfinished when I was supposed to have posted them last week. The picture is better than the FO picture. They are finished, now.

And so is this post.

Last week was very bad. The hours at work were long and the commutes short on buses and long in the car. I had a green sock with me at all times, yet didn't have the time to knit it.

Friday night around 9pm as I was leaving work, I offered a ride to one of my co-workers. He was parked a mile away, and was leaving at the same time. I rushed out the door, and didn't realize until I got home (nearly 40 minutes later) that I had left my sock at work.

Devistated yet crafty, I cast on a new sock, cursing myself for my stupidity. I put on television, though, and on fire from berating myself for said stupidity, I found "Naked Science" on for two hours straight on the National Geographic Channel. I watched the end of one episode and the entire next episode. "Sleepy Hollow" with Johnny Depp started at midnight.

I had my needles. I had chunkier sock yarn. I had Johnny Depp. And I had my stupidity.

I was up until 3am Saturday. I'm still tired. (I woke up a meer 2 hours later because my dog needed me to get up and let her out.)

So. Long story short (and ever picture tells a story), I have a complete sock. I won't show you the green one -- it's pathetic. But this one is looking lovely.

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There's a Jethro Tull song... First Snow on Brooklyn. I've been humming it all day. My favorite line says "I could murder coffee in a Grandé cup." It makes me giggle, but it elicits such a nice, comfort, coffee feeling, and I love that it's a sentiment immortalized in song.

I've been in hibernation lately. My socks haven't been coming along well. I'm hovering between depression and panic and being too busy to be allowed. I need to collect my thoughts and pull myself together, but I don't have the time for that until the end of December. So I made up my mind that I might as well just start plugging through.

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I finished my boring gray socks, and have to say that I love them. They're warm and squishy. I don't even care that the yarn is just KnitPicks essential. They look like handknit love.

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I am finishing up the first of a pair of green Thruja right now -- I have two more decrease rounds and then grafting, which won't really take any time. I'll cast on for the mate tonight, and possibly watch a movie. I think I can make some good progress with that.

Once the green pair of socks are done, I'm casting on for some girl's socks, probably in this same pattern that is starting to get a little boring. I have two yarn choices. I'm leaning towards STR, but am open to suggestions. The yarn in the ball is self-striping tropical something... Aha. I'm not a complete failure, I do have the tag. It's Opal sock yarn. How 'bout that.

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Finally, just.... because. Dinner on Sunday, because it's way pretty. :) It was mixed with Kasha and made for a lovely stir-fry. And my puppy sitting beneath my Christmas Tree in progress. I keep adding things to it.

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