Almost done.

I pulled out my needles today and made some significant progress on my Sockapal-2-za socks. I finished the instep and turned the heel. It's not much more and they will be done.



Here's a close up of the cables:



While I was at Yarns Etc today, I was given a great idea for finishing the cuffs. I'll have to try it out tomorrow and see how it looks. If I like it, I'll post it so you all can see. Yup, that's right. I'm keeping it a secret! ;)

Well it's time for bed, but before I go, here is your obligatory kitty picture:

Oh I see. That's how it goes huh?

Yup. I was wondering. One comment here. Two comments there. No comments another day. I wondered... had I lost my faithful readers? Had I said something to offend? And then it hit me. I just didn't have anything bizarre and/or whitty to post. Yup. I see how you do me. No pics of me frolicking in yarn. No loving. No pics of me playing Texas Hold 'Em with some Alpaca and I get no comments.

Fine.

I will succumb to peer pressure. Here's a pic of me in my office, having what I like to call a 'yarngasm'.



Six skeins of Knitpicks sock yarn.

I got 2 skeins of Sock Garden in the color Zinnia.

(Oh yeah baby.)

I got 2 skeins of Sock Memories in the color Gladiolus.

(Oh yeah, that's the spot. Work it now! Work it!)

And 2 skeins of Sock Landscape in the color Rocky Mountain Dusk.

(Yes. Yes! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!)

Okay I'm calm now.

In other news, my sockapal-2-za socks are coming along nicely. See:



And here's a close up of the cables:



I did decide that I will do some more work on the cuffs too. I'm just not pleased with how the top of the sock looks and I'd really like to clean it up a bit. Especially considering they are a gift. :)

Of course, Trouble and Velvet could care less (as usual):



Well, it's Sunday and I do believe that means it's time to stretch out on the futon and watch cartoons. Buh-bye!

(I'm calm now.) ;)

Okay fine!

After being tagged not once, not twice, but three times for this meme... I decided I should do it. ;)

Since I was tagged three times, I figure I'll have to give up 15 idiosyncrasies.

Here goes:

id·i·o·syn·cra·sy Pronunciation Key n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down (blog) five of your own personal idiosyncracies. Then, if you wish, tag five people from your live gerbil or friendslist to do the same.

1. I will squeal, in a high pitched voice "Oh look at the baby!" or "Look at the little one!" when I see a cute puppy, kitten, or any other four legged, furry mammal, baby. I do this even for commercials. I will say "Hi horsie" when I pass a horse in a carrier on the highway. I will say "Hello Moo Cow" or "Hello Moo Beef" when I pass a dairy or meat farm. I will also say "Hello little one" to any animal that passes within a few feet of me looking for food or what have you be they squirrels, birds, turtles, frogs, etc, etc.

2. I have been told on more than one occasion that I am just a man with breasts. And I happen to agree. Feminine? Me? HA! Although I will be honest, the girly-girl froo froo ratio in me is starting to climb...

3. I will always only have one purse. It's black. It fits in my hand. It holds everything I need.

4. I have begun to go nuts for shoes. Now I say nuts because I used to have only three pairs of shoes. Total. Eric had more pairs of shoes than me. But lately, I have started looking at shoes a lot. I'm up to 8 pairs. Hence, item #2... the froo froo ratio is increasing.

5. My biological clock either must be broken or on snooze. A screaming baby, a snot nosed baby, and/or baby puke do not make me gush and coo and want to have children. If anything, it reinforces my "34 reasons why I have 2 cats". This is not to say I do not like the little ones. I just know I couldn't handle one right now.

6. I will always, always over-think something. Can't help it. It's gonna happen.

7. I try to live by the policy of "You can't say you don't like it until you try it." I have tried brussel sprouts. I hate them. I have tried sushi. I like it.

8. I can tell when a note is off key and it drives me nuts. I have a hard time not reacting by closing my eyes and gritting my teeth when I hear a bad note.

9. If I hear someone mispronounce a word, it is exceedingly difficult for me not to correct them. Example: Libary instead of Library. Whoo, that one drives me bonkers!

10. I can look at a knitting project, a mini I am painting, or something else I am doing that is creative and figure out a way to make it at least three times more complex. (Case in point, this meme. It's only supposed to be 5 things.)

11. I will take it as a personal challenge sometimes when someone tells me I can't do something. Depending upon what it is that I was told I couldn't do, I will make every attempt to do it. I mean if it were something like "You can't get into the Citadel" well then maybe they are right but if it's something like "Oh you can't make that!" I will do everything I can to prove them wrong.

12. I tend to not take things too personally though. I won't ask if I look fat in that dress. I wouldn't have even tried it on because I know for a fact it was not meant for someone with my body shape.

13. I will not ever use illegal drugs. Nope. Won't do it. Mom was a big drug addict. My theory is, you can use them all you want but you won't bring them in my house or on my property, and you will not have them in my car. If I find out you do have some on you and we get pulled over, sure as the sky is blue, I will tell the cop you have them because as much as you and I may be friends, I'm not going to jail for your habit!

14. I have been known to stop mid sentence and hug a tree I have just passed or walked up to.

15. I am uber competitive. Especially if I get told that because I am a girl, I wouldn't understand the game, sport, what have you. Whip out that phrase son, and I will do all I can take you down! If I lose, you'll know your victory wasn't without effort. *insert sly smile here*

Okies back to work. (Yes I am blogging at work but I figured if I didn't do this now... more people would end up tagging me and I wasn't sure I could come up with more idosyncrasies for myself.) :P

I'll post pics of the kitties and the socks later.

One sock and one toe.

I finished one sock for my sock pal and have started on the second sock. See:



Here's your blurry close up of the lace cuff:



Now some of you will wonder (namely Azuredrake) what happened to that nifty cabled, lace cuff I was working on? Well... I kind of gave up on it. See, the first time I grafted it to the sock (using a 3 needles bind off), I did it inside out.

Duh.

So I ripped out the seam, reset all the stitches on the needles and bound off again. That's when I realized I had bound it off too tight.

Duh.

So after about ten minutes of swearing at the top of my lungs at myself (at 1am last night!) I decided to just make up a cuff and went to sleep. And that is what you got. I'll probably have to block it out so it looks better. Right now, in my opinion, it looks a bit like poo. But I am my own worst critic so what do all of you think?

After one of my little, mobile, furry alarm clocks (i.e. my cat Trouble), woke me up this morning because they can not seem to get the hang of what a weekend is (*shakes fist*) I got up, got out on the road and stopped by Yarns Etc where Ingrid was showing off some of her hats. Now, I'll be honest... the first few times I met her, she talked about the hats she made but never really talked about what they looked like but she did mention how she sold them for about $20 to $30 each. I really had no idea what her hats looked like and since she never really seemed enthusiastic about them, I honestly really never cared. *shrug* So I nearly fell over when I saw some of her hats today! She's charging -only- $20 to $30? For these?!?!?!







*insert the widest mouthed, shocked look you can possibly put on my face, here* These are just some -gorgeous- hats! The woman's skill is amazing! All of them are of her own design and they are made out of Tahki Cotton Classic (the same thing I am making my I Do shrug out of). And she just kept pulling out these lovely hats.

Interesting schtuff I've seen recently is more of a "why is that there?" question. Tell me... why is this here?:



What is it? It's a power outlet in the elevator that is in the parking deck where I park my car. I asked Eric what it was for.

He said "So they can clean the elevator."
My reply, "But it's a metal elevator, you'd sweep it."
His reply to that, "It's so that they can have a power source to plug in tools to repair the elevator."

Okay, I'll give him that... but it's the only elevator on the entire campus (that I've seen so far) that has a power outlet in it. *shrug* Any other ideas as to why it's there?

Of course, Velvet could care less about anything today except that bug on the ceiling. She's been holding this pose for about the last ten minutes:

My needles are on fire!

Oh yeah! I started the sock for my Sockapal-2-za pal and after not doing any knitting last night, I am ready to start on the heel. Yup, I was on fire today! Lookie at how far I got since casting on, on Thursday:



And like I planned, I added a cable. I'm very, very pleased with it considering that I cabled pretty much on the fly with no set pattern. Take a look-see:



I did all this knitting at Yarns Etc today. Emma was there (one of the staff) and showed off her lovely afghan that she is making for a friend:



I would blog more... but my needles call to me! Good night all! ;)

Started a sock.

I finally got out my yarn and started working on my Sockapal-2-za socks. I'm using some Rowan 4 Ply Soft (in blue) and Rowan Wool Cotton (in red) I bought at Yarns Etc and size 3 wooden needles. I'm using Wendy's generic toe-up sock pattern but I will be modifying it. I decided to add an offset cable on the instep and I'll be making them ankle socks with a lace cuff.

I'm hoping they will look nice. :) Here's the first toe:



And a close up on the start of the cable:



When I do the other sock, I'll offset the cable to the other side. :)

Now like I said, I'm planning on making a lace cuff but I have no idea what pattern of lace I will use. I guess I need to get on it pretty soon and decide now don't I? *laugh*

Through all this, Trouble was taunting me with a tummy that cried out to be scratched! Look at it. Could you resist this tummy? ;)



In response to comments:

Monkeemaven said: I can't show my stash anytime soon because then people will remember I have enough yarn and will not gift me with random skeins.

Oh... I didn't think of that!

ATTENTION FUTURE SP'S, RELATIVES AND GENERALLY NICE PEOPLE! I will never under any circumstances ever decline any yarn sent to me.

That is all. *giggle*

Continuing in response to comments:

Azuredrake said: Soooo....you still gonna get some knitpicks yarn when I do my order?

Oh hell yes! Just because I have way too much yarn for one woman to knit within this year does not mean I don't need more. *laugh*

Lookie... actual, genuine knitting content!

No really. :) This is urbanpaganknits afterall.

So I decided I really, really needed to organize my stash. I got right to it. Velvet helped:



She really liked that mohair that my previous SP sent me. :)

Once all was said and done... this is what I had:



Wow I've amassed a lot of yarn in a year's time. *rae* It took me quite some time to get it all organized and in the bins:



I guess I had better get to knitting! So I sat down and worked some more on my I Do shrug:



And I've already made a mistake. Two in fact. I didn't put in the second row of beads and I didn't start the decreases like I did on the other side. Can you notice? Probably not. Can I? Oh yes. Am I going to rip it out? Oh hell no!

In other knitting news, Azuredrake, Lass and I are trying to start a Stitch N Bitch at UNC. Right now we are in the 'finding out what needs to be done' stage. I thought we would -have- to be sanctioned by the University but it looks like we may not. *shrug* Really, I'm just waiting on an email and Azuredrake talking with someone she knows to confirm this for us. I'll keep you all posted. In the interim... off to my knitting I go!

We went, we saw, we played part two!

Okies, as promised, I thought I would relay the tale of our trip to Origins. Yeah... traveling with us is -always- an adventure. ;)

Eric and I arrived in Columbus, Ohio at about 4pm. We checked in and then went straight to the convention center. We ended up standing in line for almost an hour just to get our badges. Funny enough, it wasn't that bad considering how many people were there. :)

As we drove back to our hotel, I was a bit disconcerted because the traffic lights were out for two blocks. Yup... we had no power for a two block radius. Guess what was at the center... nothing other than our hotel. It was well in the 80's and out hotel had a window but not one that could open. It had been caulked up. We had no air circulating in there, as well as no light. So we decided we would go out for dinner and then find some candles so we could read and play some games. Dinner consisted of McDonald's since that was the only thing open and with power that we could get to. As for candles... no dice. Not one store had -any- candles for sale! Well... none under $20 that is. So we went back to our hotel room where Eric turned on his laptop and we fell asleep in the sweltering heat at about midnight to the music playing on his laptop. -Right- after we had both fallen asleep, the power came back on. Yay! We were both blinded by the lights kicking on. Sadly... this did not start the AC going though. That didn't kick in until about 1am. Oy.

The next few days weren't all that bad. Actually... that was the worst part of the trip. Oh well.. I guess I was being melodramatic. :P But seriously... traveling with us is always an adventure.

But onto other news! We bought our tickets for Gen Con today. I'm so excited! We'll be leaving for that on the 17th of August. :) I plan to bring my sock knitting again but I'll be honest, I doubt I'll get any knitting done again. There will be gaming to be done! :D

Not much else going on around urbanpagan's house. Eric is home for two days. The kitties are fighting as usual and I decided I should really, really organize my stash! :P

In response to comments:

Wendy said: I want these terrorist caught and dealt with..I hate the thought of watching more innocent people die and even thinking it could be myself next.. cause we never will know..God Bless All..and Be Safe

Here, here!

Koh said: why cant everyone just co exist!!! what do innocent people have to do with your hate of capitalism!! im not even worried about getting killed by terrorists, because...giving them the pleasure of my fear isnt worth it to me...ill do my best to protect myself but if in the end im taken then so be it.

Here, here!

Another Wendy said: These are people who think if you disagree with them, you are disagreeing with the word of their diety and that is punishable by death.

Sad but true.

Tamara said: Amen sister. Oh wait, can I say 'amen'?

Damn skippy you can! This is Urbanpaganknits girlie. Say what you please. :D

She also said: Ahhh you know what I mean. And to anyone who feels like you don't belong to their 'group'? F em. Plain and Simple. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Here, here!

Something new I'd like to start here at Urbanpaganknits... I call it... Interesting schtuff. As I move through the world everyday, I see many, many interesting things. I have decided to take pictures of them and share them all with you. (Mainly because I have no knitting content this post.) :P Here's it is. A goat in a truck.



Eric was not as impressed I was. *laugh* Four legged mammals rock! (And yes I did take this picture while driving... but I was careful!)

Okies. Off to work on some knitting so that my next few posts are worth reading. ;)

How?

That's the question I want to know. How? How can someone, anyone have that much hatred in their heart? In their soul? How can someone wear a bomb with the intent to blow up innocent people? How can they plant bombs on trains and buses? How can they bear to kill innocent people, especially children?

I read the news at lunch today. Yeah... it took me a few hours to hear about the tragedy in London today. I'll be honest... I don't listen to or watch the news in the morning. I read it at lunch. And my heart fell. Once again I ask... how? How can you grow up with that much hatred? How can you pass that much hatred on to others? How can you never question it? How can you blindly follow such horrible beliefs?

Now I am not beating on the Muslim faith. Far from it. I am beating on Al-Qaeda and all those that agree with their tenants. Can they not see that the more they attack innocent people, all they do is prove to the world that they need to be destroyed? All the deaths they have caused. Does no one see that nothing, no more talking, no more negotiations will work with these people? No more fucking around. As horrible as it sounds they need to be wiped out. We need to educate the world that teaching hatred, harboring those that propagate hatred is wrong. Helping them hide is wrong. It's just like letting a murderer hide in your house. It's wrong! We need to teach the world that there are some times when you need to just -end- it. End the spread of hatred and violence. And we need to teach the world that some times, violence is how you end all of it. Does no one remember WWII? That was a whole lot of violence but it ended an even worse violence and hatred. We all united to stop the Nazis. We -must, must, must- all unite to stop Al-Qaeda. No more fucking around.

Now I know, I know... some of you will ask how can I the self proclaimed urbanpagan, even say such a thing? Well you know what folks? I may be a tree-hugging (literally), bon-fire jumping (literally), tax-paying, Monday to Friday working, man and woman loving woman, but I have to put my foot down here. No. More. Fucking. Around.

Londoners, my heart goes out to you. I don't know what to do. I want to help but I am too old to join the military. I can't afford to fly overseas to help in rebuilding. But you know what I can do? I can teach others that hatred... spreading hatred, is wrong. Help me everyone. Help London. Help the world. Teach everyone, children, adults, everyone, that hatred just to hate is wrong. Teach them that love, understanding, the ability to agree to disagree, is the way we all need to live.

Maybe it's because I grew up with that belief. I was not white enough for most white folks. I was not black enough for most black folks. I was not of a traditional faith. I was not from a traditional family. Nothing in my life growing up was easy or text book or cookie cutter. I had to learn that everyone is unique. Everyone has an idea. And everyone needs to know that about everyone else. Everyday, people in my office tell me that I have a unique perspective on life. I disagree. I just pay attention to life and I try to teach myself and others, something new everyday.

You know what I taught myself today? No more fucking around.

Lesson complete. Bitch at me all you want. You know this time... I'm right. You know it in your heart. But if you have another way... teach me. I want to learn.

Blessed be London. Blessed be.

We went, we saw, we played!

Whoo hoo it was a good four days. Eric and I went to Origins 2005! Four days of games, gamers, more games, and more gamers. I was among my people. :P

Here's some pics:

Oh and lookie... they are thumbnails! I learned some more html niftiness. :)

This is a set of armor we saw on the exhibit floor and a few people we saw walking around the con. :)



When we got there, they gave us a goodie bag filled with packs of various collectible card games, a six sided die with the Origins logo on it, some posters, and some event fliers. One of the games that was included was called Pirates of the Spanish Main. Talk about a fun game! Eric and I opened out packs right up, built our ships and got to playing!

See...



Yes... for those of you, my t-shirt says "You're not only wrong, the rules say you're a dick!" I got a -lot- of compliments on it. LOL! It's the Rules Lawyer shirt and I bought it from Offworld Designs. I saw this shirt at the con but didn't have the cash for it. I will have to get it before we go to GenCon. ;)

While we were playing, plenty of people kept stopping to see what we were doing and a few even stopped to chat. One boy stopped to play. :) His name is AJ and he and his father were at the con for a Pokemon tourney. Here's Eric showing him how to play:



So of course, we became obsessed and bought some more cards and put some more ships together:



And that's when it hit me... everyone else walking in those doors also had a goodie bag. I doubted that even half of them were interested in the game. What would they do with those cards? I pondered the situation and I'm sure you could see the lightbulb explode over my head when the idea hit me. Swindle, I mean, barter for those cards! It would be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them. *insert devious smile here* So yes boys and girls, I sauntered up in my best cell phone sales rep saunter (I sold cell phones for four and a half years) and got a bunch of guys to give me their packs for free and some others I bought for a $1 or $2 a pack. ;) For the record, I did not swindle, er trade with, any children nor any of my sister gamers. Nope, all my targets, um traders, were men well into their late teens and older. Yup. I played the boobies card. And it worked well! Eric was so proud! *insert vigorous nod from him* He actually started pointing out guys he thought I could get cards from. Tee hee. I did tell them I wanted them. And I did offer to pay for them. But like I have said many, many times, never ever underestimate the mystical power of the hooter! And I stuck my mystical jubliees out there and got me some cards! ;)

The next day we decided in our infinite wisdom to play a game at 8am even though we stayed up until 1am the night before. Here's a shot of me taking a nap before the game started:



We had signed up to play a Giant version of Settlers of Catan. It turned out to be a great game! Here's a few pics along with the winning board and of Keith, the winner. He played very well!

See...:




I was green, Eric was blue, Delia was yellow, and Keith was red. Delia was a newbie player but she made some extremely decisive moves! She completely cut me off, made sure Eric's expansion was halted, but in that move, handed Keith the win. We all had a great time though. :)

Here's Eric all bleary eyed, waiting for the game to start but standing in front of one of the Car Wars boards that was set up:



And in front of the Risk map (yes, they played on this map... even had a tournament):



On the last day we were there, we played in two tourneys (didn't do very well but had fun!) and we ended up waiting in line, like everyone else to get into the Exhibit hall to do some shopping!

We even amassed a good number of cards so we could have ourselves a pretty good sized fleet of pirate ships. :) All the while, there were plenty of other games going on around us:



The whole time I was there, I saw many, many beautifully knitted items, but I saw only one person knitting. I had brought mine but I can tell you... I never once pulled out the needles. It was just too much fun running all over that convention hall.

Well off to bed I go. Tomorrow I'll post what the trip was actually like. Oh you thought that when we traveled this time, something didn't happen to try and make our trip an adventure?! Ha! Traveling with us is -always- an adventure!