gaysknits

today is black friday and i may or may not be...

at the store right now!  i did finally finish a pair of socks  last week after like three years of plodding along and breaking needles and all other sorts of procrastination and nonsense.  these are made from plymouth sockotta and are a blend of cotton and superwash wool and are machine washable.

this is a tiny little sock for tiny narrow little feet and they have been gifted to the daughter for her birthday. of course i forgot to take a pic before they were gift wrapped in a box so although they may not look like they are finished and i have no evidence to support the fact that they are finished...believe me they are finsihed...finally! i have a bit of this yarn leftover, i also have a bit of the two colors of yarn from the chevron scarf and a bit from my clapotis so i may just combine all of these and more if i have anyother leftover sock yarn scraps and make a pair of stripey leg warmers ...fun huh?  i like it!  see you at the mall?  later...love   g

i guess you could say i'm a little sick and tired of...

lady eleanor. this is the third one i have made and i don't generally do more than one of anything for this very reason.

for me a general rule of thumb is to take it or leave it when it comes to the finished  knitted object.  generally i leave it i'm afraid to say for one reason or another. too frou frou. too tight. too loose. too hot. too whatever. in this case i had to do it again. my first was dissappointing because i didn't alternate skeins and it showed...big time.  my second was a great success in my own humble opinion and i knew my mom would love a lady eleanor of her very own so the motivation for the third was that. her choice of color is wildly different than mine or i'd gift her the one that is already finished that has been waiting for this winter to get here so i could wear it! all that being said i decided to start another project last night .  i have some arucania nature cotton..the black and blues...that i purchased for another burnished tunic without all the stitch changes and patterns. the thick thin rustic cotton is so well suited to plain stockinette i want to leave it at that.  i am torn though. another bulky pullover verses a bulky assymetrical throw on over everything cardi. the latter sounds right to me.  don't get me wrong i have already worn the burnished tunic more than anything else i have ever knit...ever!  hands down it is my most favorite hand knitted sweater.  if i were a gambling woman i'd wager that one in  black would get a ton of play.  but i am undecided because of the boredom situation.  today is thanksgiving and we go to the guys sisters house for dinner so in order to obtain some leftovers of our very own we did our own thing last night and after a feast of turkey and cranberry stuffing and carrot cake i settled down with a glass of wine, paper and pencil, a stitch book, some scrap yarn and a needle and set to work sketching and swatching.

i have an idea in my head for the bulky cardi but every swatch i did was not right for the yarn so as of today...i got nothing but a dream.  it's coming!  i feel it!  it doesn't help that i have a touch of tendonitits in my left elbow/forearm and it is making most everything including knitting a chore. speaking of chores try cooking a 20 pound turkey and all the accompaniments and cleaning up without a dish washer...i'm still at it!  enjoy the day off and later...love   g

when i'm not knitting...

i have lots of other things i can do and i have been busy doing some of them.  some of them i have not been busy  doing because i am too busy. i want to start some sewing projects but have not had the time.  i want to start some other knitting projects and have not had the time. i want to do a post about the making of the felted bangles and i have not had the time.  if i ever do have the time and if i run out of those things to do i can do some other things like read the new book  i got my for my birthday or try out a couple of new recipies from the new cookbook i also got for my birthday or type on this new keyboad attached to my new computer that i got for my birthday or listen to  the hand me down ipod with my new ear buds that rock!   before i committed to buying an ipod for myself i borrowed the guys old one to see if i liked it and i was hooked and well...i never gave it back to him...he doesn't mind at all since he has another...he's all about the hi tech gadgets and me...not so much but anyway i loved the ipod and i even loved listening to other peoples music which is what i was doing for months and didn't mind one bit  but the ear buds were killer, they hurt, they made my ears ache and they had no pads on them so all the sound leaked out and every one within shouting distance could also hear my music whether they wanted to or not.  i decided since i loved the ipod that i would clean out some of the music on there that i didn't love and add some more that i did love and the youngladygrandaughter was happy to do that for me so i was all set except for the killer ear buds which have been replaced  beacuse i got new ones for my birthday and love love love them to pieces. friday is ipod day for me at work.  i don't interview that day so i get to work pretty much uninterupted and now i can do it with out having to listen to other people interviewing.  i still haven't paid for a song yet...i'm listening to my own music and haven't yet tired of it.  i am however already tired of xmas shopping.  i realize it's a little early in the season to tire of that but i have.  i have also done much of what's already been done on line and i have to say i like that much better than fighting the crowds at the mall.  i'd rather wander aimlessly around the internet than wander aimlessly around the mall. i had a friend in high school whose mother used to say about xmas shopping that her habit was one for you and one for me and i suppose i have been on board with that habit myself  at times in my life and this year seems like no exception.  a few years back the guy and i decided that the pressure of xmas shopping was too much and the nature of our lives left us lacking for little so we gave up the practice of buying each other gifts.  we buy gifts for the kids instead but we still indulge ourselves when ever the mood strikes us and lately since it is my birthday i suppose...which is as good an excuse as any...the mood has struck.  i have bought myself some hiking shoes and a pair of ugg boots and some silver bangles from and indie artist on etsy and a new sweat suit.  i am still looking for my black sweatpants which i seem to have misplaced...somewhere...i can't imagine where that might be...maybe i sold them on ebay  while i was cleaning out my shoe closet!  i have bought a cozy green thing and a comfy black thing for the little guy and a comfy thing, a soft blue thing, a  cool thing and a hard yet at the same time soft thingy thing for the youngladygrandaughter.  i still have to buy an unknown thing for the college student that will most likely be a request which will most likely come late and a new cordless thing that rings and some cold hard green for the son and a bag of bisquits for the grandpuppy and of course a stuffed duck for the german and a stuffed squeaky thing for miss husky...and some worms and a new lite bulb for the dragon lady.  i have an allergist appointment and a dentist appointment coming up and i need to schedule a dermatology, opthomology and an elbow pain appointment and i have to cancel a hair appointment and reschedule that for after the holiday when i actually have more hair to cut off...i think i'm letting it grow into an all one length bob and then i will keep it trimmed, layered and chin length and maybe put in some dark streaks or low lights as they say but in the meantime...phew!  i'm going to try to do better with this blogging thing and later...love   g

wow hasn't it been a long...

loooong time since anyone saw hide or hair of me?  it is downright embarassing actually. the guy's cousin larry from out of state checked into gaysknits to get an update an what the family was up to and all he saw is me in my pj's...i promise to try to do better.  what can i say? i don't know what has happened but i'm here...i'm knitting....i'm going through life doing what i need to do on any given day...what that is is beyond me at the moment.  for one thing the kids were over here last weekend and we bowled and saw movies and baked brownies and cooked spaghetti and meatballs...add to that the dogs got in the bathtub at every oppurtunity making a muddy wet mess everywhere...as usual.  as usual i am busy as i could be at work with hardly a moment to myself to knit on my lunch hour so not much is getting done in that respect.  i am not one to do any spring cleaning  but i usually do a bit of winter cleaning so there has been that.  i am still cleaning out my closets and due to the fact that i have been such a shoe collector for all of my adult life i find myself in the business of shoe sales on ebay...it has become a second job.  my loss is someone else's gain and my closets are empty again.  now if i could just part with some of those jackets i seem to have collected over the years.  the guy seized the opportunity to buy a wii when one was available and we have been inventing our mii and honing our swinging throwing tossing and balancing skills and having envy for the wii fit....which i suspect will be on our xmas list.  the kids have not seen the wii yet and when they do i think they may move in here permanently!  while i was cleaning the other day  a plastic case with one broken bamboo number 1 double  pointed knitting needle fell onto the floor and shortly after it did i discovered the bag with the unfinshed project that it fell out of and i am happy to say that i finished the project that was at least three years in the making.  how is it possible that i was knitting on something for that long?  maybe the broken needle had something to do with it...well it is done now and i have determined it will be a birthday gift so it is wrapped and i will have to picture it when it becomes unwrapped at a later date.  november is birthday month over in this neck of the woods and we have been shopping for and wrapping gifts and while i was at it i did a little xmas shopping and as the gifts come into the house they get wrapped and we already have a stack of xmas presents in the art room downstairs waiting  for xmas day! i am ahead and on top of the game except for the xmas knitting project.

 mom's lady e is coming along but it seems slow to me.  hopefully i will accelerate and get it done on time...i think i can i think i can. it is far more vibrant in color than i anticipated.  i expected the colorway to be more muted but i cannot say i am unhappy with the result.  i think it is lovely and although for years my mom was a beige or taupe or on a risky day a gray wearing woman she is now moving towards brighter earth tones and more vibrant colors in her scarves and i think this will fit the bill.

i love knitting these lady eleanor's...love the color surprises...love the wrong side and love the right side...love the zen of it so this is what i will most likely be doing for the rest of the month.  i am off to answer my emails to go to the post office and to buy myself a turkey...gooble gooble!  later...love   g

it's all over but the...

washing of the dishes and the guy is doing that now and cooking dinner!  my birthday is a national holiday...at least i think it must be because i am never at work that day and i have no evidence that anyone else is either. the guy always tries to fill up the entire weekend with things to do and places to go and the only thing i insist on is that  i don't cook myself anything that i eat that whole weekend and i usually don't.  my mom and i have only 5 days between our birthdays and for years  we have traditionally gone shopping and had lunch together on veterans day.  this year was no exception and we penciled that into our schedules before much of anything else was planned.  that was today and we made a trip to see the new nordstroms where we each bought a pair of boots and she bought a suede jacket and a boiled wool jacket and gave me  a leather blazer, a suede jacket and a boiled wool blazer all perfect fits for me so i made out like a bandit shopping in her closet! we headed to a fancy lunch but were tired and thirsty and hungry and it was very close to nap time so we took one look at the long line and went else where for a sandwich and glass of iced tea. we each went to eat dinner out on our respective birthdays with our respective guys and although this was not planned it just so happens we ate at the same favorite seafood restaurant...just not together and not on the same day.  for me that was monday night. before we ate dinner i made sure to do a little shopping for the elusive pair of comfortable boots at urban outfitters and steve madden with no success. monday during the day the guy and i hooked up and fooled around with my brand new computer.  i have been using a lap top for many years and bitching much of that time but resisted getting the kind with separate screen, keyboard and power  because of all the wires and the ugliness of it all and i admit i was a little freaked out when i first saw the plugs and wires but when i turned it on and it went on and hit one button and my email popped up and it flew from one page to the next with such speed that i nearly couldn't read fast enough to keep up i was hooked and there is no turning back and no more laptop for me!  sunday we ate breakfast in and went shopping for birthday gifts...we have many november birthdays and we took care of  all the gift shopping we needed to do and i was happy to be on my eternal search for a pair of comfortable boots. we later had chinese take out for dinner.  that takes care of sunday.  saturday i sat around all day long in my pj's and furry boots until it was time to go to a performance of "bhangra in the burgh" at soldiers and sailors hall.  friend mars was  one of the sponsors of the event and we had front rows seats to one of the most energetic and  fun and best dance competitions i have seen in a long time. if you don't know what bhangra is or don't live in a college town where you can see it you are missing something special.  mars' guy had earplugs and if i had them i wouldn't have gone to bed that night with a ringing in my already half deaf ears that serenaded me well into the night from sitting directly in front of the speakers.  but it was fun.  we four enjoyed a bottle of wine and snacks in front of my fake fireplace later in the evening. there was no shopping for boots that day.  the day before which was friday dr ruth made me pink cupcakes and that night night we started the weekend out by making a trip to the store for wine and picking up some takeout italian and stoping by  dsw for boot shopping.  i ended up buying a pair of boots from zappos later that night and another pair of boots from endless shoes both are online stores that i love doing business with because of the great products, free returns and fast delivery!  both pair of those boots were tried on and immediately re packaged and returned.  i have sold at least 6 pair of boots on ebay in the past month most of which have heels that are too high for me or that no longer fit me. i currently maintain a smaller but still sizeable inventory of one pair of columbia snow boots, two pair of skinny low heeled ankle boots i wear with jeans to work one black & one brown, two pair of frye boots i wear everywhere one blue one bronze, an old pair of suede cowboy boots i wear to the barn or riding...that is another story for another time. i have two pair of tall boots with low skinney heels for dress or funerals one black one brown neither have ever been worn...ever! i own a pair of polka dotted rubber wellies i wear to work in the yard or tromp in streams with.  i have a pair of warm black lace up motorcycle boots i wear in winter when i need warm boots with some tread and i have worn them dog walking and hiking as well. i have a pair of short emu wool lined boots i wear with pj's to lounge around in.  i have a pair of tall brown buckle boots that are flat and have also never been worn...bought them at a final clearance sale last year. i have a pair of beat up suede slouch boots that i loved but the whole inside of them is torn up and they are soon to be heading to the trash and and today i added a pair of black leather three buckle boots that have  lug soles, one inch heels and are midcalf and i plan to wear these with jeans and maybe with striped socks and skirts  because i cannot find a pair of tall boots that fit my skinny calves and fit under my favorite jeans.  i like boots. i have liked them even more in the past which is why as i said i have sold 6 pair recently but i  have given away and sold many more pair prior to this most recent purging.  in less than one month i have bought a pair of  steve madden, softt, palladium, ugg, emu, and one pair i don't remember at the moment and have returned all of them.  i turned my nose up at a pair of fryes, eccos, some other fancy pants brand at nordstroms and i did try on a pair of tall ugg boots today and i tell you what...oprah was right when she said these are comfortable boots...that's an understatement they are to die for and on my list of future boot purchases. you knew i wasn't done yet didn't you? i know i know i am totally crazy but i am another year older and i have a stinking cold so it all balances out in the end!  to wrap this up...this post was loaded up with food and boots...next time  there will be knitting and sewing dreams and stories.  i have a couple of sewing projects in mind and a knitting one as well. later...love   g