Lick My Sticks

Voting is going on at the Sexy Knitter’s Club! There are over 600 members, but only 100 have voted! Get your sexy ass over there and vote!

I did a little updating on the blog here. I split up the KAL’s and Webrings links on the side, and I added a page to the navigation titled “I Love Books“. This is just a page for the book nerd in me, a list of what I’m reading, what I’ve read lately, and what’s on the shelf waiting for me. If you like books like me, head over there and check it out. You can leave comments if you have reccommendations for me, or want to chat about books! Me=Nerd.

I’d also like to shout at the top of my lungs: FINALLY A VICTORY FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS!! Plan B has finally been given the OK to be sold over the counter. You have to be 18, but that’s better than nothing! It’s so great to hear that despite the bible thumpers who forget NOT ALL OF US ARE CATHOLIC’s best efforts to prove this would “promote promiscuity” (I will be promiscuous if I friggen want, thanks…it’s none of your buisness) women everywhere (well as long as the cashier doesn’t have a moral objection to selling it to you, I’m sure) can now prevent unwanted pregnancy, thus cutting the need for abortions! This is truely a victory, and I feel a little renewed now. I was really losing hope that we would win this battle. Or any, for that matter.
We won this despite the smear campaigns put out saying Plan B CAUSES abortion. It doesn’t. If you were already pregnant (and pregnancy is when the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall, not the minute your HUSBANDYOUMARRIEDINACHURCH ANDWEREAVIRGINBEFOREHAND rolls off you.) nothing would happen to the fetus. Hear that? NOTHING. This pill PREVENTS pregnancy and has been proven to be safer than asperin. Our sexual lives are none of the government or the church’s buisness, so their “this promotes promiscuity” campaign didn’t work either!

Why don’t they have an issue with Viagra commercials? Oh that’s right…because men can do whatever they want. We are the blasphemous whore daughters of Eve. We are nothing but baby vessels. Screw you.

Alright…deep breath…I’m done. Knitting progress coming soon!

Knucks #1 are done. I am already brainstorming more. Big thanks to Pamela [the mastermind behind Knucks] for stopping by my humble blog and pointing out an obvious fix to my loose-cuff issue. Step the needle size down. Derrrrr. Anyway, I will take better photos outside and away from the camera hog, but for now bask in the glory of accomplishment with me, won’t you?

Instead of finishing my Damn Sock v.2 sock, I cast on for Jaywalkers. I am already thrilled to pieces because so far, this pattern is a cakewalk! No stabby needles or anything! Look. It’s small…but cute!

You may notice the absence of a hairy mongrel in that photo. That is because he has taken his rightful place in between my sleeping husband and knitting me…to snore peacefully and dream of ways to further lodge himself up my butt.

What’s the best part of our little community of knitting-obsessed bloggers?

Help. You can give it or get it. In this post I will try to do both. I’ve noticed the “joining round” on Knitty’s Knucks pattern is leaving a few knitter’s holding their needles in the upright stabbing position. So I’ve put together a little helper that will hopefully help a few people (Namely you, Miss Smurfpop!)

But before I get into that, I need some help. I have a Typepad blogger who needs help with putting up her webring code. I have never even SEEN a Typepad interface so I have NO idea what to tell her. I intend now to put up a help page here with instructions on posting your code for EACH of the blog services. If anyone can help out by writing up a little tutorial for their blog service, that would be amazing! Please let me know if you can, ESPECIALLY with TypePad for one Bad-Ass Knitter who needs some help, stat!

So here is my little help contribution, I hope it helps, and if it doesn’t, feel free to IM or Email me so I can help you! This pattern is awesome, don’t fear it!

(click to enlarge photos in another window)

Join Fingers: First, deep breath. If you followed the instructions correctly, you should have a thumb, pinkie, ring, and middle finger put aside. When you knit the index, don’t cut the yarn, just separate the stitches onto two parallel needles. You want the yarn tail (still attached!) on the right end of the two needles, in the back. Now put the middle finger on, same way, with the tail to the right on next. Then the ring, then the pinkie. You’re going to use the little snipped tails to stitch up the holes that will be in between the fingers later, that’s why it’s important to have them to the right. Now you should have all four fingers on two needles, evenly divided. Just follow the pattern instructions slowly and re-read and double-check. If it looks like the photo above, chances are you’re golden. Now…

First joining round: Grab a needle and knit exactly as the instructions say. This is going to suck, it’s tight and awkward to work with, but you can do it!

Work stitches onto 3 or 4 needles: This just means the horror of parallel needles is over. Start the 2nd round, knit like 12 or so stitches and pick up another needle. You should end this round with your stitches on 3 or 4 needles like the above. (I recommend four!) Now you’re back to knitting in the round…just follow the instructions.

You will do this same technique when you join the thumb. After a few rounds, you should be able you slide your fingers in and keep checking your length to see where you want to join the thumb! Good luck!

As I type this my first pair of Knucks are nearing completion. I’ve been vehemently knitting and reading since the weekend. With a new semester of school looming, I’m desperately trying to finish my book and a few more projects before my leisure time is cut in half.

Knucks and book:

Damn Sock the Second:

Once these two are done I’ll be casting on for Jaywalker and Baudelaire socks with these yarns. (Top is Baudelaire, bottom is Jaywalker…ignore the doghair):

I also whipped out a Mason-Dixon Washcloth the other day. This pattern is really fun to knit and I had it memorized after the first stripe. Expect about 20 more of these!

So I fell squa on my tailbone last night at the rink after colliding with another idiot little kid that doesn’t understand the concept of skating IN A CIRCLE rather than straight across the middle of the rink. It really hurt and I thought I broke it for a minute and was afraid to move. Totally sucked. Still hurts. Christine, Jess, Donna and I hit the bar for drinks which made breaking my ass worth it.
BUT! (no pun intended) Look what I got for $0.97 a piece at A.C. Moore yesterday on my hunt for some cotton for the Mason Dixon dishcloths.

Talk about a steal and now I have plenty of colors to play with. I also picked up the necessary items to ensure the next week will not be boring:

That’s the new BUST, the new Bitch, one set of FIVE wood DPN’s…size two for the Baudelaire socks, and one set of FOUR shitty metal DPN’s…size 1 for my Jaywalkers. They did not have wood size 1’s, nor did they have Quicksilvers. So annoying. Eventually I will replace all my metal needles with either wood of Quicksilvers. Or both!

Well I am off to play with my pile of cotton yarn while trying to find a comfortable way to sit. I leave you with Abbath in a sweater, licking Zoe’s face.

I spent a little time in Quincy with my Mom, Dad and Zoe this week. I stayed over, did some shopping for Zoe, and hung around knitting with my cat, Lemmy Catmeister. He had to stay behind when I moved out because I didn’t want to tear Lemmy from his home and the other cat…and as much as he won’t admit it, my Dad loves the cats. So when I visit Lemmy follows me around and annoys me. He weighs 20lbs now, this cat just expands as the years pass. He was just a scrawny little thing when I found him PLAYING IN TRAFFIC as a kitten, but not anymore!

I was making stellar progress on Knuck #1 when I was attacked…Lemmy is real friendly, unless you try to move him. So if he lays on top of your pen, magazine, hairbrush, etc., you better just wait until he gets up or risk a claw to the hand trying to fetch your object from the folds of fat and fur. I should’ve seen it coming.

I could only progress to the next step before I had to put the needles down. This freed my hands to pet Lemmy, which seemed to be his plan all along.

Look…look at the smug satisfaction…

I’m home now, and I finished up Knuck #1 today. It’s a bulky fit around the wrist which pisses me off. I’m going to modify the pattern for the next pair. These will probably be embroidered all pretty and given to my girl Joanne for her birthday. I can’t think of anything to put on the knuckles for her so I will just make them pretty.

I also spent the afternoon chatting on the phone and picking up stitches for the gusset on Damn Sock #3. I will get needles this weekend for my other socks which I’m sure will halt Damn Sock #4 from being made.

Oh! Oh! And look at my new knitting bag. (It’s a freebie when you sign up for Crafter’s Choice btw…feel free to let me “reccommend” you!)

This thing ROCKS. It fits SO MUCH!!! I love it. It’s not made out of top material or anything but it’s the best knitting bag I’ve seen so far! Zipper pockets and stuff…Right now I have about 10 skeins of yarn, two small projects, a binder, 2 big books, 3 small books, pencil case of notions, and chapstick inside with tons of room to spare. LOVE IT!

I updated my “To Knit” list here on the blog last night and wrote up a shopping list in my SnB Knitter’s planner thing for the next few projects I’d like to tackle. Expect quite a few Mason Dixon projects on the needles soon, I love that book!

I got my delayed 200 Knitted Squares book in the mail yesterday, it’s awesome!

Well that’s it for me. I’ve gotta shower and get myself together. Hitting the rink for practice again tonight. Christine [Knitting for Boozehags] and I had our first skills practice with a derby girl the other night. It was a little discouraging but I’m not giving up by any means. I WILL learn to turn around goddammit!!!

Happy weekend!

I have had a TERRIBLE week of knitting disappointment.

First I can’t knit my jaywalkers because of a needle shortages.

Then I discover that I have the wrong weight Lamb’s Pride for the felted boxes.

Then my book order came in missing my Knitted Blocks book!

THEN I sat down to cast on for Adamas only to discover it is a CHART pattern. I poured over it for an hour and I can’t figure out why there are two identical upper, body, and lower charts. Why are there TWO? Anyway, this pissed me off something fierce so away it went.

Anyone know of something pretty and lacy, preferably free, that I can knit with my beautiful KnitPicks laceweight?

BUT…one thing did work out. I looked over my Knitty Knucks pattern and found that I have the right needles (more than enough for once!) and I have some DK weight kicking around. I’m using some acrylic (gasp…I know) called Marble. It’s really soft and washable and it is now my prototype yarn for the first of many pairs of these I’m sure I will make. I cast on and did this in a couple of hours…

It’s a little tedious knitting little fingers but I knit 2 thumbs, 2 pinkies, two rings, and two middles before I got to the index where you join everything. So for the next glove I’ll already have the fingers ready.

I’m at the heel flap on the next Damn Sock…tiding me over for now!

That’s all for now. I’m sick as hell and sitting up hurts. This is great news considering I’m going skating tonight.

But unlike seemingly everyone in the USA, I don’t care because I’M IN THE AIR CONDITIONING!! What is the matter with you people? Are you daft? GET INSIDE!!! Close the windows!!! CRANK the AC!!!

Screw the straind power grid! Take a lesson from me and the kids…

AC is where it’s at!

Alright, I’m done yelling at everyone. So last weekend was hubby’s band’s (The Accursed) big day. They opened for Deceased at the mighty, the notorious, the incredible CBGB’s.

We got there early and went inside the club while it was dark and quiet. I was bowled over walking around that place. It was as still as a moseleum, but alive…like the walls were breathing.

I must have touched everything in there (and yes, my hands were sticky afterward). It was incredible knowing that the likes of Black Flag, Blondie, and The Ramones stood where I was standing many times. It was great but it made me pretty sad that I missed out on this place in its prime.

We had hours to kill before the show so we got the bright idea to walk something like 30 or 40 blocks to Times Square. We saw the Empire State building and headed toward the busiest place on Earth. Why? We don’t know. We were all starving and hurting for a beer, it was a bajillion degrees out and there was nothing for us in Times Square.

Now I should point out that I do NOT do well in crowds. My lungs shrink an inch for every fifty people breathing my oxygen. It was about here where the panic set in and I started asking if we could leave, can we leave, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!

Oh sure it’s beautiful to some, but to me it’s a people infested cess pool of bacteria and scumbags. While I was gasping for unbreathed air in Times Square, some creep was hammering a screwdriver into my car’s driver’s side lock and stealing my book of CD’s and bag of makeup. That’s right…CD’s with no cases (30 or so of my favorites, including the PJ Harvey collection it took years to complete) and used makeup. Things that I adored that will do whatever drug addict piece of shit that took them NO good whatsoever.

The funniest part was a friend stashed a half ounce of pot in the glove compartment, which they missed for the gold of my FUCKING MAKEUP.

But I’m trying not to get too angry. They could have stolen the car…plus, I got to see this:

Now I didn’t figure any of this out until much later, so I happily went on with my night. The Accursed played great, and I did a song with them onstage, crossing off “Play at CBGB’s” off my list of fantasies I never thought would actually happen. They recorded the set so I will upload the song and post a link here soon for anyone that’s curious what hellish noises I can make at will. It’s the only recording I’ve ever been on, so it was pretty neat to hear!

We got home early Sunday morning, slept until it was time to leave…FOR THE ROLLER DERBY BOUT. It was a GREAT bout. The Old Money Honey’s kicked some ass, but not without the River Rats on their heels the whole game! I got to meet Danielle Ruckus, who is handling new recruit liasons. Christine and I are set to show up for a new recruit practice in a couple of weeks! I can’t wait.

I know what you’re thinking…how about some KNITTING content there, slappy? Well I have got some sweet knitting content for you.

After the 110 degree day here, we had one hell of a thunder and lightning storm. So I cuddled up in the AC by my window overlooking this angry, but beautiful sky:

and I finished this:

That’s right. She’s friggen done. SHE IS DONE!! DONE DONE DONE!! Have a little happy dance for me. I actually love the top, I thought I’d hate it, so that was a pleasant surprise for me. I think it could use a little blocking, and it certainly needs some better modeling photos but for now, join me in basking in FO glory.

I’ve spent quite a few days at the beach this past month. One of my last beach adventures I became determined to catch my translucent white legs up to my lightly tanned arms and face. I figured I’d just nix the sunscreen for my legs and keep a close eye on them.

This was a stupid idea.

Now I knew this would result in a burn. My skin cancer paranoia has kept me sheet-white for the last 5 years. But my anal retentiveness and newfound love for the seaside breeze trumped the paranoia. I just had to match. I knew I would burn but could someone please tell me how a pleasant day of this:

Turned into this weird, patterned burn?

I seem to have the cloud pattern burned into my legs…my husband (who thoroughly applied sunblock) ended up with a streak of burn on his chest and ankles.

The sun is simply not my friend.

That little bit’o'knit you see in my beach photo is another Damn Sock. I can’t start my Jaywalkers until I get more needles because some idiot thought it was a good idea to sell needles in FOURS instead of the useful FIVE. (We won’t mention the idiot who bought a four pack knowing she’d need five.) SO I figured I’d make my mindless knitting project (because you always need at least one) another easy sock to tide me over.

I am also casting on for the Adamas shawl from KnitPicks in Knitpicks Shadow yarn.

AND a felted bowl from my new copy of Mason-Dixon Knitting that arrived in the mail (or jammed through my fence next to the mailbox by a jerk mailman) today!

I.love.this.book. I am so glad I picked it up. I love everything in it. The throws and rugs are amazing, the baby kimono, the bath robe, the nightie, the dishcloths! Not to mention the great storys and funny little blurbs throughout the book. I know a lot of people are avoiding this book because of how “trendy” it is right now, but you’re really missing out. This is a great pattern book.

Well that’s enough for now. I think I should post more often so I don’t murder all of your eyeballs with these long-ass posts!

Oh, before I go…for those who asked:

YES I will do something else regarding a band. I will not go out of my way to find something right now because I have school and I’m trying to get into the Providence Roller Derby, but if I happen upon something I dig, I will jump right into it. I loved being in a band so much, it’s killing me not to be.

But until then…lots of knitting time!