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Simply Knitting Magazine has mentioned me on their blog! How cool is that??

Award Winning Knits

It's 2:15 a.m.

I bet you are asleep right now.

Me? I'm obsessively knitting this.
I'm going to try not to finish it and actually go to bed.

Maybe.

Knitting, knitting, knitting

I currently have WAAAAY too much free time on my hands. And frankly it is making me crazy. I am so freakin' bored! And cranky. And distracted. Distracted to the point of leaving my debit card in the ATM yesterday and driving away. UGH. Yeah, that was a banner day. The bank was never too clear on whether it had been turned in or taken or what, but my account wasn't affected. Now I just need to wait for the new card to appear in the mail. UGH.

In an attempt to fill up the hours, I of course, have been knitting. I feel like my knitting is reflecting my current state of distraction. I can't seem to focus on one project. I'm still working on my Vinnland sock.

It's growing on me. I wasn't sure I really liked it at first, but I'm changing my mind. I put the heel on it about a week ago. Not my best heel knitting effort, I must say. There's a hole or two. I've been working on this a lot at the theatre. But it does require a bit of concentration, so I can't work on it during the show too much. The lights for the current show aren't really difficult, but they are BUSY. I don't have any breaks, so knitting is at a minimum!

By the way... our show got an AMAZING review on Broadwayworld.com. It really is a great production, even if the script isn't that hot. There are some more pictures here if anyone is interested!

To continue with my knitting ADD, I also cast on for the Intricate Stag Bag from Knitscene.

I haven't made a whole lot of progress on it, but I'm enjoying it so far. I made some modifcations based on this version I found on Ravelry.


I think this will probably take me awhile to complete!

Yesterday, after my ATM frustrations, I got distracted again and started this:


It's a Marigold Sock. I'm using some Trekking XXL I've had in my stash for awhile. I really like how the pattern is working with the subtle varigation of the yarn. Pretty, huh? And the pattern is pretty easy to memorize, so it's knitting up fast. I just started this yesterday and I'm almost to the heel. I haven't had much luck with short row toes, so I did my standard figure 8 cast-on for toe up socks.

Other than the socks and the bag, I've been obsessing about the Luanna sweater from Berroco ever since it showed up in my email box the other day. Isn't it pretty? Sadly, I'm not in a position to be buying yarn right now, but I hope to make that someday!

Validation!

So I go and whine about not getting a ribbon for my farm and then this happens!



How cool is that??? I won the Viewer's Choice Award for my farm! I am very excited. They have little voting boxes all over the Home Arts building where the fairgoers can vote for their favorite item in any category. So, even though the judges didn't like my farm, the people did! YAY!

Last night, after much consultation with Amie, I knit a swatch (gasp!) for my Stag Bag. I decided I wanted to modify the pattern a bit so that I can knit it in the round. Because really, who likes to have to purl with two colors? It sucks. So in an effort to test out my charting skills, I knit this.

Not happy with it at all!

Unfortunately, my gauge is way off. So I think I'm going to try to find a different yarn. Perhaps even the yarn the pattern calls for (Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light - which sounds like a brand of cigarettes to me.)

In the meantime, I'm still working on my Vinnland sock. I can't decide how I feel about it.


Please note that the yarn is not nearly as neon as it looks in this picture.

I'm just not really happy with it. My stitches are a little uneven. But I don't really have anything else on the needles right now, so I'll just keep stitching!

How We Fared at the Fair

It has been pretty crazy around here the past few weeks. I just finished two weeks of teching in two different shows at two different theatres. Happily, both shows are open and running. And both shows are really pretty good. Yay!

I managed to slip away to the Maryland State Fair last week to check on all our entries. I'm both happy and disappointed with my results. I was very excited that my Arwen sweater won a blue ribbon! That was very cool.


I also got two honorable mention ribbons - one for my ant and one for my Embossed Leaves socks. The thing I was disappointed about was that my farm got nothing.

In retrospect, I think part of the problem was that I didn't really include anything Maryland specific. I probably should have thrown a MD flag on there or knit up a crab or something. Oh well. I'm bummed. I was also sad that my Spring Blossoms Shawl didn't place, but there seemed to be a fair amount of competition in the lace category.

The fair was good fun though. S. and I watched bull riding for a while. I would never have thought in a million years that I would be remotely interested in bull riding, but I gotta say - It's hypnotizing.


It's crazy exciting because you are just waiting for someone to get their head smashed in. Violent and scary! One rider bashed his face against the bull and got knocked out cold and fell to the ground. It was terrifying! He eventually came to, got up and walked away.

Of course there was plenty of other non-violent activites too! I love looking at all the animals of course. And S's dad runs the Birthing Center at the fair, so we got to see all the baby animals that had just been born.


Aren't they so cute???

So, now that the fairs are over, I'm waffling between knitting projects. I finished my Montego Bay Scarf.

It is insanely loooong. Eventually I may try blocking it out to increase the width and decrease the length. But it is pretty!

For the past two days, I've been trying to start these socks. But the pattern is totally vexing me. I couldn't get the short row toe idea to work at all, so I finally gave up and just did my normal figure 8 cast-on for a toe up sock. But then I started having issues with the charted part. I've ripped it so many times, but I'm going to try again.

I'm also still working on my crocheted bag. If I actually put some effort into it, I could probaby finish it pretty quickly, but what with being in tech for two weeks, I haven't worked on it much!

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

(PS - Hi Eileen! It was great to see you the other night!!)