Please to meet the Squishy...

And I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy.

Please to meet my Squishy, a fantastic, wonderful handknit octopus from my dear UnBitterKnitter (the Bitter Knitter has become un-so). I love him. Squishy is fantastic. Expect to see more of my Squishy.



And now, for some past-due updates:

1. I somehow managed to win the first ever Yarn Smackdown. I give credit to my lovely Yarn Cheerleaders, and am completely overwhelmed. Pictures of my prizes will go up as soon as I get them. I am not participating in the next smackdown, but am refereeing the advanced sock category as well as sponsoring a prize.

2. I got a new job! I will now be working with the county school system. This translates into holidays, Fall break, Christmas break, Spring break, and a few weeks in the summer off. And the icing on the already fantastic cake: Snow Days. I don't have to work if the kids aren't in class. Isn't life grand?

3. I have become very addicted to sock knitting. It can be as easy or as challenging as I want. I can make bright and tacky socks, or classy and elegant socks. A sock fits in my purse and makes for a great traveling project. If you haven't tried knitting socks yet, do it. Fear not, for they are easier than you think...but be forewarned, you will become addicted. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but there will come a day when you will not be able to stop knitting socks.

And she lays her weary hands down to rest...

On a breezy, rainy night in Kentucky, Madmama ventures forth into the dark to deliver doom. Well, a hat, to be honest. I did, indeed, advance to the final round of Yarn Smackdown (Ravelry link). I have beaten several talented and quick knitters, much to my amazement and awe.

My wonderful Yarn Cheerleaders came by to cheer me on (special thanks to the Boredom Yoda and the now UnBitterKnitter). I couldn't have done it without your special brand of support.

In other news, several knitting projects have been undertaken in the downtime between posts. Also managed to get the background of the Lost Sister ready to put the stars on it (alas, it's not going to have a May finish), and my darling father painted my sewing room. I shall not list projects or post pics, because, frankly, it's 2 in the morning and I've been up for 23 hours.

Oh, wait, I lied.



This may be Wintereclipse's Downfall. Or it may not. It is up to the lovely men and women of the United States Postal Service.

Why do I do this to myself?

Yup, I'm at it again. I started another pair of socks. Meet the Harlot Hose:


This is the yarn that I had with me when I met the Yarn Harlot. I've frogged them three times since then, attempting to find a pattern that I enjoyed. I'm not loving them, I gotta tell you. The yarn is a cotton/nylon/acrylic blend, and it's just not that easy to work with. It tends to grip my birch dpns quite well, which means that I have to work to get the stitches to move across the needles. Not loving the colorway, either. Looked a lot better in the skein. Fortunately, the pattern row is occuring at the color changes, making the stripes much more distinctive. If it wasn't for this, I would have ripped back again and tossed the yarn. Once again, I am in the middle of the first sock black hole. Well, not quite the middle, I have turned the heel...*sigh* Maybe I can get it done tonight.


On a happier note, I have advanced to Round 3 of Yarn Smackdown!! Can you even believe it? I couldn't when my opponent posted her death yesterday. I received her hat today (thank you, Tangwystel. It's beautiful). Must find out what yarn she used...and now I've got to select the yarn for my next weapon...I'm thinking purple and blues.



Oh, and in non-knitting news, I finally picked up my vase from Glassworks. I went there way back in February with a friend and did one of their walk-in workshops. The staff is really friendly and helpful, and it's so much fun. I made the small fused glass vase. All I actually did, though, was start with a square of clear glass, and glued on the black dichroic and clear iridescent glass in certain shapes. It's then left with the lovely people there, and they fuse the glass together, then lay it over a mold and "melt" the glass into a vase. It's much prettier in person, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Can't wait to take another class there.

Harlot in the big Lex-vegas

Last night, the wonderful Yarn Harlot made her appearance at Joseph Beth. The crowd was quite nice. I met a lovely knitter named Kendra from Ohio, and sat with her and the lovely ladies of ReBelle. Worked on a sock during the wait (I got there early in order to get a good seat), which had to be frogged and quickly put back on the needles as I was standing in line to get my books signed. Serves me right for trying to create my own pattern in 15 minutes and then attempt to knit it while listening, laughing, and even occassionally snorting while laughing during the Harlot's speech.

She was wonderful. Charming, witty, slightly self deprecating, but with no self-pity, and just a touch of sarcasm thrown on the side. Wonderful. The best part, though, was the looks from people walking by (which, of course, I didn't get pictures of). Inexplicable knitting activity indeed.

So, in one of those funny twists that the world is so fond of dishing up sometimes, I was reading the Harlot's blog about her NYC stop. Lo and behold, there's a picture of Holly, whom I went to college with. Proceeded to leave a comment (Holly, you knit?!), and decided to mention it to Stephanie. Turns out that she read my comment, thought it was great, and took my picture. So Cindy-Lou-Who (aka Mom) took my pic with her:


Yes, I look like poop. But I'm standing next to the great Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, and I'm holding her sock and she's holding mine. I'm hoping my size 2 dpns are now blessed.


In other knitting news, I finished the first Monkey sock late Thursday night. Kitchenered the toe Saturday morning (worked nearly 15 hours on Friday, no knitting was to be done), and then started the second sock. Which I finished in time to wear the pair to the speech/signing. Told you, I have a complex about that first sock. Second one absolutely flies by...but that first one just doesn't want to get made. I need a name for this rare knitting disease. Second Sock Syndrome has such a nice ring to it...First Sock Complex just doesn't ring.

Slugging along

Second Sock Syndrome seems rampant in the knitting world. I, however, do not suffer from this syndrome. I suffer from a little known disease known as First Sock Syndrome. I keep knitting and knitting and the first sock takes forever. The second sock usually takes me less than a day to make. The first? Usually a week. For example:


This is my lovely start of the Monkey socks. I love this pattern. It's simple, yet intricate, and it highlights the yarn nicely. I love the yarn even more. It's Araucania's Ranco multy. It's wonderful. The colors are so beautiful, and it's truly a joy to knit with. I can't wait to go and buy more of this yarn in different colorways. But it's the never-ending first sock. I've worked on these things for what feels like FOREVER. And they're just not growing quickly (granted, they would get longer if I didn't stop and take the time to post about them taking forever). Grr. Perhaps I have discovered the first instance of sock-gravity inducing a knitting black hole. Perhaps time is simply warping and, in reality, it's really not been that long since I started these (which is likely the case, since I started them March 29th and it's only April 2nd. But that's 4 days!!!). Perhaps I just don't like knitting the first sock, but get excited once I have it, and then fly through the second in order to have a pair.

*sigh* Anyone else have this issue?

*singing the finishing song*

Bali Bugs is completed. Isn't that something? I started this wallhanging 10 years ago to enter in a KHQS challenge. I have a really bad habit of designing and starting challenge quilts that somehow never make it into the challenges they were intended for. My other quilting goals for this year are also quilts designed for past challenges. But, at last, it is done and bound and just needs a label.







This week I also finished a UFO that I inherited from my mother (she's getting really good at that donate-and-upgrade thing). I finished the Bug Jars wallhanging on Sunday and left it with Mom. She works at our local library, and the theme for the Summer Reading program is Bugs. So this will be on display for the entire summer...I hope nobody looks at it too closely.



I finished the purple tunic as well. Now that really surprised me, because I wasn't planning on finishing it until April. Somehow, I ended up in a knitting time warp, which is the opposite of a knitting black hole. During a knitting time warp, you feel like you've spent very little time on a project, but it lengthens at a geometric rate. And so, the 8" of ribbing for the sides/hood and the 3" of ribbing at the bottom flew by.



What else, you might ask? A hat. Specifically, Tychus. Oh, and a second version of the Smackdown hat that I'm keeping for myself. Plus I've got the 6" of ribbing ready for round 2...because I wasn't eliminated! Woo-hoo!! Now I'm just sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the next round to be announced. I'm going to get started on cutting out the pieces for The Lost Sister background. It was originally designed for MAQS's 2005 Seven Sisters New Quilts from an Old Favorite challenge.

Recovering...

Well, I did it. I survived my first all-knighter.

I had an absolutely fantastic crew last night, managed to leave work right at 8. Got a voicemail from Boredom Yoda, who joined me while she worked on thesis stuff. Printed pattern for Smackdown, cast on, and off I went.

We watched some tv while I knitted and she thesised. We put in Buffy Season 2 while I knitted and she thesised. She gave up the ghost, watched Buffy, and I knitted.

I knitted until approximately 1:38 am this morning. But the hat was finished. The only photographic proof I have that hat exists is on my phone, and sadly, I have no bloody clue how to get it off there.

By the way, Yarn Smackdown 2008 is a group on Ravelry. We're competing against eachother (and our respective Post Offices) to see who can knit a hat and eliminate their opponent first. Think NCAA tourney meets local yarn store.

So my hat is finished, and I dropped it in the post on the way to work today. And now I'm recovering. I haven't stayed up that late for a very long time. I can still feel the effects of excess caffeine in my system (I've been gittery all day, and quite frankly, I'm not sure if my heart is going to recover completely). But more importantly, I hurt. Yes, my hands and wrists are killing me. As they should be, since I just finished a 5 hour marathon knitting session, and then worked (where I had to lift lots of stuff). And as tired as I am, I think I'm too doped on caffeine to sleep. I did not prepare properly for this. Before the next round, if I'm not slain by hat, I'm going to stock up on these.

Fighting the disease...

And I may be winning...not the war, but the battle. I have successfully not cast on any new knitting projects, and have, in fact, been working on the purple tunic. Seamed it up, picked up and knitted the back of the hood, and am now working on the ribbing around the front edges. I'm amazed at how fast it's working up...the thing may get done by my goal date (April 5th). UFOitis, you shall not defeat me!!!

And I finished quilting Bali Bugs!! That felt really good...I finished quilting Bali Bugs!! Yup, still just as good. It's packed up and ready to head to Mom's this weekend. Unfortunately, I left the binding there. Which isn't a bad thing, since Mom's setup and sewing room is so very much better than mine. I'll stitch down the front of the binding while I'm there, then work on sewing the back down by hand once I get back here. I'll take pictures and post them from there (since I don't have a digital camera yet).

Tomorrow starts Yarn Smackdown. I'm competing against a very nice lady in North Carolina. I must knit, mail, and have a hat delivered to her before she does the same to me. It's going to be interesting. Pattern is released at 4pm tomorrow...and I won't get off work until 8pm, maybe 7:30 if I'm lucky. Yup, it's going to be an all-nighter. I've already invited Boredom Yoda and the Bitter Knitter to come over and laugh.

Well, I'm off to bed. Must rest up so I'm not completely buggered tomorrow night.

In the pursuit of craftiness...

I've been rather productive today. Granted, today's advance on the mound of unfinished craft projects bunkered down in my home is merely a glancing blow, but I'm quite proud of myself.

Bali Bugs is very close to being completely quilted. I'm doing it by machine with invisible thread, and it's going surprisingly fast. Which is really, really good, since it's my goal for March. With luck and 3-5 more hours, it'll be ready to bind by next weekend. I also blocked my purple knitted tunic today, finished the sashing on a flower garden block and got started on another. Organized a bit, and even went for a walk.

And throughout the day, regardless of what I was doing, all I could think about was casting on a new knitting project (note: the purple tunic isn't done. Once it's dry, I have to seam the thing and then knit the hood, 8" of ribbing around the hood and down the front panels, and ribbing around the bottom of the thing).

My mother passed her disease to me. I'm not sure if UFOitis is genetic or contagious, but she gave it to me nonetheless. Combating said disease is very difficult, as I'm sure any other victim will tell you. I've got to start aggressive therapy now, or the projects will stage a coupe and I will be forced out of my home by a pile of half-finished quilts and mounds of yarn. My first tactic in this battle: No more than one knitting project on the needles at a time.

But that hat would be a really fast knit...and the yarn that I've got for these socks is calling my name...*shakes head to disengage yarn fumes*

Must stay focused on the mission. Must not stray from the mission.

Boredom Yoda strikes again...

And this time we somehow managed to get on the topic of pirate names, so we went here.

I am now Captain Jenny Kidd. Yes, it's a sucky pirate name. I shall go into the West and remain, Mad Mama.

Boredom Yoda, however, had much better luck. I think I shall continue referring to her as Mad Ethel Bonney. Or not. It's such a long name to type.

How rapidly we digress.

Let the blocking commence...

After a cold and snowy weekend indoors, I have finally decided to break down and make the jump into full-fledged blogdom. Why? Why not. Should someone happen to come across my ramblings and smile, then my day has been complete.

The weekend has been slightly productive, however. I have managed to get two, yes, two projects to the point of blocking. Which puts me into a bit of a conundrum...how on Earth do I block something? I've never blocked any of the scarfs I've knitted (though there is one that I should, but alas, I am hesitant). Do I have to soak the thing in water? Or just spritz it with water? Spread it out on carpet and stab it with pins? Perhaps I should call in reinforcements. Yes, that's it. Time to call the reinforcements.

No, wait. The reinforcements just called me. Apparently large quantities of snow creates cabin fever in my dear friend, Boredom Yoda. Onward to blocking!!


Update: Boredom Yoda states blocking sucks. In future, will attempt to commandeer help with blocking from the Bitter Knitter.