Let there be light!

Yes, it's true, I came home yesterday to find lights on, fridge running (cooling down all that rotten food), and AC fully operational.  The downside is that I can no longer blame knitting errors on a lack of light.

I also came home to find some swap packages waiting for me. Check these out:

I'm truly spoiled, this stuff is gorgeous.

Speaking of gorgeous, check out this other stuff:

Two sweaters are on the way for fall, I swear!

But in the meantime, I'm working on this:



And this:




Oh, and this:



And maybe even a few more things.

Startitis. Together we could probably find a cure, but why on earth would we want to?

Knitting by candlelight . . .

It's not really the best idea. But as I haven't had power since Sunday at 4pm, it's just about my only choice.

The nation's most irresponsible, unreliable, incompetent power company (I know, it's stiff competition), Pepco, estimates that most customers should have power by THURSDAY.

Did we have a hurricane? A terrorist attack? A freak July blizzard? No. We had a thunderstorm. Yes, a powerful one, but nonetheless, a thunderstorm that was over in 10 minutes.


Here's what Pepco's getting in August instead of my monthly payment:


Invoice for Expenses

Please remit payment immediately in the envelope provided

Food, spoiled .................................. $200

Food, purchased in lieu of cooking as appliances non-functional .................... $100

Drycleaning, as impossible to launder clothes .............................. $50

Candles ............................................................ $30

TOTAL .............................................................. $380

a gift, from me to you

Nope, not a pattern. We're not quite there yet. But I put together an excel worksheet to keep track of my (far too) numerous swaps, and thought you guys might like it. So, here you go.

(Who thinks I managed to link that correctly? Hey, if it doesn't work, someone let me know, pretty please?)

In other unrelated news, I have been buying way, way too much yarn lately. Please help me clear some of this out. All offers accepted!

i've got a bad disease . . .

Ah, back from vacation, refreshed and relaxed, and with a quiet office for a couple of months.

But I brought something unfortunate back with me, it seems.

I must've caught it at the beach, perhaps at Knitting Addiction.

It's a rather serious case of startitis.

I've started at least 4 projects in the last week (2 pair of socks, a shawl, and a sweater), and I can feel even more creeping up on me (a vest, Dad's guitar strap). Craziness. Is there a cure??

But back to Knitting Addiction. I promise--I solemnly swear--that I didn't look up any yarn shops before we left for the beach. My sole goal on this vacation was to be a lazy bum (although, of course, I brought 3 projects with me). But there we were, driving down Croatan Highway to Alligator River (grrrr--now that's another story for another time. Or perhaps just later in this blog post.), and there it was was, on the righthand side of the road. Knitting Addiction. So I had to stop in. Some sort of yarn magnetism actually pulled the car off the road and into the parking lot. I swear.

(You know, every time I try to type "swear," it comes out "sweater." Interesting.)

It's a nice big shop, airy, with lots and lots of yarn, plus a kitty! I'm a sucker for friendly pets in stores, it makes the store itself seem so much friendlier and down-to-earth. I'm not going to ramble too much about the yarn I got, because of course I didn't need any of it, and my yarn willpower is becoming embarrassingly weak. But I did want to highlight this cool, handspun-looking yarn made by Plymouth Yarn Co that I picked up:



I don't have a clue what I'm going to do with it, but I love it anyway. (I'm dying to get some actual handspun, but haven't come to terms with the price yet--I'm sure it's worth it, but $25 for 100yds or whatever makes my wallet cry a little--this stuff was $30 for nearly 500yds.)

Speaking of yarn, I'm bummed to tell you guys that the awesome Flocks of Yarn is closing its virtual doors, but happy to tell you that Deirdre's having a fantastic clearance sale to sell off her remaining stock. I picked up 2 sweaters' worth of yarn earlier this week (some ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted for possibly a Vine Yoke Cardigan, and some O-Wool Legacy DK for . . . some other cardigan, haven't decided which yet).

And Alligator River--here's a tip for you all. Don't let anyone talk you into a canoe wildlife tour when you don't know the details. Important details such as, you're the one that's going to be paddling the canoe, even though you've never canoe'd before in your life. Or that the tour is 3 hours long, through a swampy, buggy river on a 95 degree day. Or that the only wildlife you're going to see is dragonflies.

That's all I have to say about that. ;)

Time flies when you're absolutely not having fun

Ugh, where does the time go? I had a horrible, painful meeting at work--again!--last week, followed by the mad dash to finish all the work produced by said meeting before the deadline, interrupted by a "suspicious package" that locked down my office building yesterday. While I was inside. Rough couple of weeks.

Fortunately I'm gearing up for a well-deserved vacation. And I have a new knitting project--one that I'm actually going to design. Kinda sorta.

Dad wants a "colorful" guitar strap. This might, could, possibly be the perfect opportunity to try some colorwork. I'm thinking I could knit the strap as a tube, and seam it flat. Some kind of blue/brown palette is dancing in my head, but I don' t really have a clue about the actual stitch pattern.

And then, of course, how to fashion it so it will securely fasten to the guitar?

Tricky.

Speaking of Dad, check out the cute socks I gave him for Father's Day:


These are the Traditional Gansey Socks from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up, knit in Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed (colorway Oak).

I have to say, I really adore knitting socks from the toe up. I don't know if I can ever go back. Well, that's not true--there are lots of cuff down patterns I like, and I'm way too lazy to convert them to toe-up, so I will go back, but I won't be happy about it.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!