Podcasting

Episode 2 was recorded today and I noticed that I think I have a running trend where I pick a "word of the day" and I repeat it a tremendous amount during the podcast, LOL! I believe the first episode I chose "cool" and for the second one it was definitely "enjoyable". Hey, maybe once I get an audience I can run contests where people can email me the "word of the day" and I can pick a winner from the entries, hahaha!! I also think that I misspelled the web address ... missed a few letters. I really need to have that in front of me. I can spell, but its hard when you know you're being recorded and you don't want to mess up ... inevitably you do! I'll fix that and the next episode will be posted tomorrow.

Understanding why

I always wondered how people could not get things done that they said they would do. The following is not a good excuse, nor one I intend to use in the future, because I am always a person who does what she says she is going to do and gets it done when she says it'll be done. Other people who do not have this philosophy are a big pet peeve of mine, they really rub me the wrong way. I've come to realize in the last few months since we own our own home now and enjoy where we live, its quite easy to just ... be ... and not worry about anything else. Where I used to live I always wanted a mental escape so I was always busy doing something, found plenty of hours in the day for volunteer work or school, or whatever. Now that I enjoy just being here, I can often let an entire weekend day go by and find that I've accomplished pretty much nothing, maybe catching up on tv, knitting, sitting outside. But that's how I like to spend my time and that's OK. I did gain a different perspective on life though and will maybe be able to tolerate "forgetful" people better.

While I was enjoying doing not much of anything today but sitting and eliminating some used up space on my DVR I decided to clean up some laundry. One of our cats likes to lay up in the closet on the shelf. Its her sanctuary from the other cats when they pester her, she's a people-cat, not a cat-cat. She had knocked some clothing down on the floor in the closet. When I went to pick it up, I noticed it was damp. Our bedroom is in the finished basement ... obviously not finished enough. There was no leak, I think its just water seeping up through the foundation. I was complaining that the basement room smelled damp and stinky, but thought it was just because ... well it is a basement. Now I know why it smelled. I got everything out of the bottom of the closet before any damage was done and sprayed a diluted bleach/water mixture on the carpet and baseboards and put a fan down there to air it out. I am hoping this doesn't become a real problem. I did notice old water damage on the baseboards in that corner, but didn't think much of it. Ahhh the joys of owning a home, LOL!

Here are some actual joys of owning a home:

Everything is turning green here and we can sit on the deck and watch the birds come to the feeders. We have a lot of plants popping up in the yard that we are waiting to find out what they are, can't tell just yet.

I picked up a real MP3 player yesterday. I had a freebie one that was an employee gift and told myself if I used it enough I could justify the purchase of a nice one. Well I used it all the time and I went to audible.com and downloaded an audio book and it wouldn't play it because it couldn't read the protected format, so that really made me want to go buy one! I sat on the deck this afternoon soaking up some sun listening to an audio book and it was great. I don't enjoy knitting outside too much if I need to refer to a pattern, inevitably, even if its not windy there's a breeze that blows the papers around, so I took my MP3 player out there instead.

FO: Reavers Socks

This is a really nice pattern with cables and lace. It is a for sale patter, but definitely worh the few bucks to purchase it.

Pattern: Reavers Socks (Raverly link)
Yarn: Arucania Ranco
Needles: Knit Picks Size 2 (2.75mm)
Cast On: 4/2/09
Cast Off: 4/30/09

Fresh Air

This year is just flying by. We are having unseasonably warm weather here in New England this weekend and its fantastic. We had windows open and its so nice to air out the house from it being closed up all winter ... especially since we weren't the ones who lived here for most of the winter so all those smells and aromas were not familiar to us (and some were downright stinky). We got some nice flowers out in the yard and its wonderful to see all the bright colors. Pansies are my favorite flowers and I got a bunch of those. Some still need to be potted or planted in the yard, not sure where I want to put them, plus we have an ant problem so we need to take care of that before planting lots of flowers or they'll just get killed anyway.

We got a new addition to the family last week.



Riley came to join our household. He was 7 weeks old last week when I got him. He is super cute and Nikoh loves to play with him (Nikoh is about 1 1/2 now).

I am getting many pairs of socks done, but I haven't been knitting much else lately. I wanted to get about 1 pair per month done this year and so far so good. I am working on pair 5 now. The fourth just needs the toe on the second completed and then both need to be kitchener stitched and those will be done.

Revelations of a Delusional Knitter - Episode 1

Download episodes here: Revelations of a Delusional Knitter

Introduction

What I'm Currently Knitting
- Quidditch Sweater
- Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel
- Notes & Tips on Seaming

- Coriolis Socks
- New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi

Debbie Bliss Magazine
Knitscene Magazine

Google Reader

Norwegian Purl

Winding a Hank
- Knit Picks Ball Winder

The Unique Sheep Lord of the Rings Sock Club

What I learned in 2008
- Fair Isle
- 2 Socks at the same time
- Continental Knitting
- Seaming & Finishing


Goals for 2009
- Slip Stitch Knitting
- Knitting with Beads
- Lace Shawl

2009 Rockin' Sock Club

The AntiCraft - Bat Shawl

Special thanks to my boyfriend for creating the intro music and editing the podcast!

FO: Hobbiton Socks

This was the first installment for The Lord of the Rings Sock Club from The Unique Sheep and I am so impressed. The yarn is delectable and the pattern interesting and fun to knit.



Knit on US 2 needles using the Magic Loop method. I made the smallest size with 64 stitches.



I couldn't do the cool thing with the toe in the pattern, continuing down to the end of the toes with the purled stitches purled, because I did the smallest size the pattern repeat left 4 purls right in the middle of the foot and I didn't think that would look good down to the toe.



Cast on 2/25/09
Cast Off 4/4/09

Anticipation

Anticipation - "The condition of looking forward to something, especially with eagerness." dictionary.com

Anticipation is something I relish. I save those good things and let them sit, waiting for the perfect time to excite my senses. One of these things are my sock club deliveries. I don't open them right away. I leave them for a day or two, sitting there beckoning me to glance into the package and see what wondrous goodies await me. My Lord of the Rings sock club package has been sitting here for about 30 hours now. However, my main reason for not opening this package yet was that I had to finish the toe on the second sock from my last shipment. One cannot open the next series without its predecessor being finished yet ... right?!?!

Tomorrow when there is good weather and sunshine I will get photos of my newest completed work.

Also, I wait for that time when I am not rushed and have time to savor the colors and texture of the yarn, and time to read through the pattern, or in the case of the Socks that Rock club, all the wonderful information given about the dye process and pattern and designer.

So the second sock has been completed, and both socks ends have been woven in. So after I post this I will open my newest delivery!