Scribbles & Bits

*sigh*

My surgery has been rescheduled. 

On my birthday.

Suckiest birthday ever. 

Hmmm....

Never mind.  My surgery was canceled because today's vitals didn't look good.  Apparently we're going to try this again in two weeks.  Knitting will resume as normal then. 

BRB

Ok, I won't be RIGHT back because tomorrow is foot surgery number 2 so I'll be back at some point, but I don't know when really.  On the plus side, I have lots of knitting, needlepoint, and cross stitch set aside, as well as some books and a virtually untouched Season 1 of Monk (the 3 episodes I watched are so great!).  I know I won't really be doing all that much.  The last time passed in a stupor of painkiller-induced half sleep which led to the most interesting 5 minutes on television when Martha Stewart put glitter on a paper mache bunny.  It also led to the most confusing 5 minutes when Tyra Banks and her audience were in nothing but their underwear.  Turns out that was the theme of the show, but I thought I was having a really whacked-out moment.  So anyway, if you get the chance, think a good thought on my behalf! 

Pictures! Finally!

Behold!  The Ariel Gloves!  Just to cover the stats briefly one last time, The pattern is the shell pattern from the leg of Child's First Sock pattern in Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, knit long enough to go from my elbows to where I would start the glove shaping.  The only other change was knitting them on size 2 DPNs instead of size 1s.  I did this with the sock as well.  I borrowed the actual fingerless glove part from Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham.  The colorway  is Mermaid by Yarn Pirate and, not only did I have enough yarn to finish them, I had a nice little ball of yarn left over!  Randomly, I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I lurve her yarn!  the colorways are beautiful, the yarn is soft and a pleasure to work with, and everything I've made has been durable to multiple washings and wearings (and that's really saying something with socks because I'm REALLY hard on socks).  And, finally, the inspiration for these came from the glorious mermaid gloves by Craftoholic.  She used the pomatomus pattern from Knitty, but I couldn't get the hang of it, so I humanized them (hence the name Ariel) by using the lovely shell pattern instead.  Goodness!  That was a lot longer (and link heavy) than I imagined it would be! 

So what have I been working on since then?  The picture shows the first of a pair of knee socks.  Mr. purchased a couple of skeins of self-striping sock yarn for me (he was worried one wouldn't be enough for a pair of socks).  The yarn is Sockotta by Plymouth in color number 5618.  Each skein has 414 yards, so  I decided it was time to try the customized knee sock pattern.  It was a tedious knit up through the wide calf part, but once I started decreasing, it really began to breeze along!  I am working on the heel now.  My only concern is fit.  I think they'll fit fine, but I can't help but worry.  One of the great things about the pattern is it includes charts to list all the measurements so I know I'll be able to do the same thing again on the other leg.  This will be a great project for me while I'm convalescing with my right foot (yep, getting surgery on the other one on the 28th, part of the reason I haven't really been posting in a while).  The other project that I don't have a picture of is Halfdome from Knitty.  Check it out: I'm actually teaching a friend/coworker how to knit!  She's doing really great and I feel so proud!  Anyway, for her first project, she really wanted to knit a hat for her man for his birthday.  Halfdome is knit flat and would work on his head, so it's a great choice!  It also teaches her a lot of techniques at one time, which I really think is good.  No reason to fear all these things because she'll already know how to tackle them!  So yes, very excited about that!  So back to why I'm knitting it: I thought a handy way to help her learn would be if I knit along with her so we're tackling the same things at about the same time.  That's working out really well.  I just need to remember to bring the hat home with me one day so I can take a picture of it. 

A is for...

...animals.  If I had to pick one passion to stay devoted to for the rest of my life, it would be taking care of animals.  One of my biggest dreams is starting a rescue farm for dogs, cats, and any other furry, feathered, or scaly friend that has been abused or abandoned.  The farm could adopt from shelters who, I acknowledge, do not have the space to keep every animal that walks through the door.  Volunteers could come and play with the animals to keep them from developing a cage psychosis.  With enough donations, a couple of vets could hired just for the farm.  Until then, maybe some would do pro-bono or discounted work (spaying, neutering, and shots, not to mention the other ills that befall animals).  People could visit and adopt (they would even have time to play with the animals to see if that cute kitten or fluffy pooch is the perfect addition to their family.  And then, how amazing would it be if other communities started their own rescue farms?  Across the country, maybe more effort would be put into giving these sweet animals a second chance instead of treating them like detritus.  Maybe more thought would be put into spaying and neutering.  Maybe I'm full of wishful thinking.  This dream always does that to me.  But maybe.

So what's up with the title of this post?  Bella Dia started It!