Drink ALL THE RUM

It's 2 am as I write this, which means I have two days to finish all my Christmas knitting. I've gotten a decent amount done, just have a sock, mittens, and a scarf to weave (stop laughing, srsly, stop laughing, let me be delusional). not to mention all the cookies and bread to bake, some cleaning, wrapping of presents, watching love actually a million and eight times, and washing and blocking and weaving in the ends of the knitted items.
So what am I doing? Looking at patterns on ravelry. Of course.
This is a rather accurate thing of how I feel right now

Regaining

That's the word right now. Regaining. Regaining strength in my leg, regaining a bit of life before my accident. Regaining normalcy. It's tiring and slow going, to say the least. It'll be months before the hole in my bone from the screw (that I wasn't allowed to keep, I asked... a few times. I pouted, I admit it) is filled in, and months after that till I'm back to where I was.
I'm used to doing things when I want, not being able to go and make brownies, or drive to the orchard for apples is really freaking frustrating. Being on bedrest was terrible and insanely mind blowing bored, but not being to do things when you're able to walk (limp) is aggravating. Staring at my leg, telling it that it needs to stop being a brat, start behaving, and stop causing me pain doesn't work as well as you would expect. But for now, I'm taking small steps towards regaining my life. it's slow and painful, but I know it will all turn out well in the end. For now, the small things are what matters..
like the first cup of tea I made



new books to read

I finished Parasite and completely recommend it, her other series Newsflesh is AMAZING and if you haven't read it yet, GO NOW.

and fluffy sweet watson wanting snuggles.

how you know the bed rest has driven you insane

how you know the bed rest has driven you insane, a photo by ktb83 on Flickr.

so. this happened.

sadly not high as a kite

sadly not high as a kite, a photo by ktb83 on Flickr.

the surgery went ok, the recovery will be long and painful, I had the worst night of my life, the nurse scolded me for hitting the call button once. I had over a ten pain for 7 hours. I'm going to leave the hospital in an hour, so I shall write a long. detailed post about the horrors I encountered. but for now, I'm alive. and I made this washcloth.

broken

Last Tuesday, I fell down two steps, I severely sprained my left ankle, twisted my left knee, and fractured my right leg in severalplaces, tearing my ligament. I went to the er, where I had a terrible time, the nurse splinted my leg wrong the first time, so she had to do it a second time. With no pain killers. And when I left, I was given a few tylenol 3, and crutches that were two different sizes, neither of which was correct.
The splint was cast wrong, and I spent a night in the most pain I have ever felt. It was utterly overwhelming, I just wanted to cry.
I went to the ortho the next day, after begging them to see me. The nurse that messed up with the splint, also put it on wrong, causing unbearable pain. They rewrapped my foot, correctly this time, and for the first time since I broke it, I could think. I'm still in pain, but I can manage it.
Monday, I'm having surgery. I'm having pins and plates put in, and staying at least one night in the hospital. I'll be in a boot or cast for about two months. And I shall also go insane with boredom. To combat that, I've been watching netflix (and amazon, and hulu, and dvds), and knitting/crocheting, and reading. I've read the fault in our stars, and loved it so much. I made this (yet another anne scarf, I'll blog more about it next week)

I also have this wee thing and her sister (not pictured) keeping me company

And of course, my wonderful Astadog, who has seldom left my side and sleeps next to me every night. Right now, she's asleep on my heap of pillows.

Life has been crazy!

Hence the no blogging, sadly. But things are finally getting somewhat settled down, so that's good. Mom is feeling better, and other then a tire falling on my foot (yeeeaaah, don't ask) I feel good! How about a quick recap of what has been going on?
I sadly didn't get to go to MSW, but maybe next year.
I have been spinning quite a bit! I got this roving as a gift for my birthday from my parents, I think it's 75/25 bfl/silk mix and it spun like butter. 5.2 ounces, two ply, this is about 250 heavy worsted. It's so bright that it was hard to get a good photo! Rav link!

(I love my view)

This is the fiber I'm spinning up now, I miiiight have stolen it from my mom. heh



I started weaving! My parents also got me a kromski 24 inch rigid heddle, for my birthday, and I LOVE it. I named her Lucy the Loom. So far I made a scarf, which was a fun practice piece, (I need finished photos of it)

And this is on my loom now. I plan to make this into a project bag

As for knitting, I casted on for Bolt. I love it, and I'm already planning to make another one. I'm on the final stripe section now.

And I might have started two MKAL shawls today. Whoops. Remember when I said I wanted to finish projects? HA. CAST ON ALL THE THINGS.
Of course what is fiber without tea

And a fiber buddy? Mycroft loves to sleep in her (well, it's hers now) basket next to my chair in the living room when I'm knitting/spinning/weaving.

I think can. I think I can

In 6 days, it's MSW!!! I love Msw, and now that I moved, I live much closer, I can drive down both days! My friend Jessica is coming down from philly and staying with me and we're going together! I can't wait!
So of course, my (pretty crazy) brain went HEY! Remember that super pretty roving you got at MSW last year? Let's spin it up, and knit a shawl out of it! to wear for MSW!!!! It will be so cooooool! Ohey ice cream!" My (albeit small) rational part of my brain went "you have 6 days, on four of those days, you have appointments. You also need to clean up the house, prepare food for Msw (since I'm allergic to pretty much everything there), and IT'S 6 DAYS ARE YOU CRAZY?" to which my crazy side of the brain went YES! We're going to do this!" and my rational side just gave up.
Last night, I dug up the fiber, and sat down and spun for about an hour. It's working up amazing, the roving is from Misty Mountain farms, and it's a 85/15 polworth/silk blend. I was thinking about plying it, but it's super pretty as a single. We'll see! I have a PLAN (run for the hills!) of finishing the spinning tonight, finishing cleaning up the kitchen, and also, somehow, finishing a pair of socks. Sleep? What's that?
The roving I'm spinning is the blue in the left corner! (this was what I got from MSW last year)

Paris and Violets

My mother's birthday was last month, so of course, I knitted her a shawl. Because I'm a good daughter like that.

She's had a two month migraine at this point, so it's lovely that the shawl can give her comfort and warmth when she feels dreadful.

The pattern was really great, and the lace was easy (so of course, I messed up on it several times!). I did a cable cast on, knit the large, and then did a k2tob tbl, put stitch back on left needle etc bind off.

I don't think I can say enough about how amazing this yarn is, I want to marry it. It's luscious, amazing drape, such great colour, and it was a pure joy to knit.

On rav here.


Mom loves it so much, and hasn't taken it off since yesterday!

Moving sucks. I mean, it really really sucks. A lot. Did I mention it sucks?

I really haven't talked about my move last fall. It was pretty much hell. No, that's wrong. At least hell is predictable what with the whole it's hell thing. We had less the three months to move (we were forced out, bought out?) and during that time everything that could go wrong did. My mother spent about 3/4 of that time in the hospital. I spent the entire time freaking out, tossing things in bags and boxes, and popping xanax. There was a storm and a tree decided to hit the power box a month before we were to move. The lights in the kitchen no longer worked. The water heater died, and the pump was on it's last leg, taking a shower was more of standing under a dribble of water then anything else. The ac died, I broke my nose and three toes. The movers, that assured us they would move some of my father's tools and my piano, showed up, and said no, we don't do that. We had to get cars towed (thanks to npr, it was no problem), and figure out what to do with the cats, and we had just finished clearing out my grandfathers house when we had to move. So a house with a bunch of crap from another house and the crap you have from living in a house for almost 2 decades is a LOT of crap. In the move, what happened was almost all of my clothes and all my shoes, save the pair I was wearing was tossed out. I lost yarn, knitting needles, books I wanted to give to my future kids, all my jewelery, you name it, I lost it. I pretty much wanted to have a nice long breakdown towards the end. I still don't know how I didn't
I thought it was over. I thought I could move on. But this past month has just been one crappy thing after another. I've been slowly unpacking things, and finding more things that are ruined. I found a bag that had some yarn for my beekeeper blanket, and all my puffs (about 50) trashed. They had gotten soaked and grew mold, and couldn't be saved. Boxes of my books got ruined. And yesterday, I found a bag with the rest of the yarn for my hexipuff blanket, some dvds (my true blood dvds, a few books, almost all of my cds, and some socks I had knit. All ruined. The socks were shreds. The bag that I thought had been in the garage, was left outside, and it got destroyed. I'm pretty much heartbroken over the socks and the puffs, and the rest of the stuff can be replaced, slowly, but surely.
I posted on facebook about what happened, and A few people have asked about what was ruined/lost. I've been making a list so I know what I need to replace. If you have anything on it, and don't want it anymore, I might be able to buy it from you. This list is just a small amount of what I've lost, and sadly, I'll probably be adding more to it as I unpack more things. It doesn't say that almost all my mugs are gone, or things like that, but I have to start somewhere. If you have something, email me at ktbea38@gmail.com
The list can be found here.
To end this rather emo blogpost, I want to share what I've been telling myself since this whole thing started. It's one of my favorite quotes.

The butler did it!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the radio silence. It has been a really stressful and busy week here at Ktblandia (I even have a flag). Filled with Er visits (two), blown tires (one), a shattered plate, and some really interesting (and painful) bruises.
So, it's been the opposite of fun. And I didn't really get much done, knitwise, or reading. I did read the last book in the Dark Rising book and loved it.
Today, I managed to get some shots of the Joji mystery knit shawl, Echoes of Colour. I had a blast making this, the pattern and all the yarns were a joy with work with. On rav here!

Yarns: Bah La Jolla, I used two skeins in Flamingo Pink. I can not wait to use this yarn again. It's so squishy and OMG the pinkness is stunning.
Done Roving Frolicking Feet, one skein in Southwest Gem. I admit, I was on the fence about using this one. In the skein, it had some variegation, and I was worried it would detract from the shawl. As you can see, I was (quite happily) proved wrong, and I truly love this whole line of yarn. Amazing colours, INSANE amounts of yardage (480 yards for about $21), and it's a great yarn.
Socktopus Sokkusu Original, one skein, in lime and basil. This yarn was a tad thinner then the others, but you can't tell. The colour, just amazing, so intense. Really liked this one! All the yarns were great and not a single one bleed when soaked. Talk about amazing.


I did have one mod to the pattern. I made the large, and ran out of the blue, so I only had enough yarn for one stripe at the top, but I looked at other projects, and I prefer the one stripe. So that worked out in my favour!

this thing is huge, and I just love it so so much! It matches pretty much everything I own, and it looks stunning! Except when I make this face....

The problem with secret knitting

Is that you can't really show or talk about it, which leads to a rather boring blog post. But I can share this.

Soon, soon you will know.

After doing the Joji mystery shawl (which I need to get pictures of soon) I've become obsessed with mystery knit alongs. Case in point, Evadine. This is one repeat done of clue one

And I just got this yarn for the Romi mystery kal.

The first clue was released today, so I have to go digging around for the right needles.
In other news, the kittens had their first vet appointment, and other then some ear mites, they're fine! YAH! Watson has started to wake up up chirping and looking at me like this

How can you NOT pet that face?

There's no place like home

This past summer, I moved. The move itself was traumatic and dreadful, so to deal with that and leaving the house I spent the last 17 years of my life in, I cast on for these babies. Rav link


I finished the first one before I moved, and thanks to Archer season 3 on netflix (go watch it, it's amazing and wrong and I love it), I zipped thru the second sock.
Yarn is Blue moon fiber arts in Rare gems. It's the first rare gems I ever bought, at stitches east back when it was in Baltimore.

The pattern is one I've used before, the baby cable rib. I love it, how it hugs the foot and isn't mind numbing ribbing, yet almost as simple. CO 58 stitches, top down, short row heel, and a basic toe. My poor knitwear closet is rather sad on socks, as I have no idea where most of my pairs are, so I feel a need to make ALL THE SOCKS. These are just wonderful and SQUISHY.
Since these are done, (GO SPRING FINISHING!) I've moved these to my wip sock bag.


There were supposed to a gift for my mother for christmas, but well, whoops. As Douglas Adams said, "I love deadlines, I love the whooshing sound they make as they past by".

Lazy Sunday

I've been pretty lazy all day, and it's been great. I did manage to make dinner, beef stroganoff over rice, it was yummy! I also made some artisan bread dough, which I'll use tomorrow.
Mostly, I slept and watched netflix, and have been knitting on this

I'm at the toe now and they should be finished by tonight hopefully. In case you were wondering, and I know you were, my polish is lola by zoya, and yes, it's that bright pink.

25

On sunday, I turned 25. I am old. I now got to yell at whippersnappers to get off my lawn with a cane. Which sounds like a lot of fun.
It was a lovely birthday, filled with one of my favorite meals (veal Marsala over angel hair pasta and garlic asparagus), cake, and PRESENTS! My big present was this


I was still putting him together in that pic, but meet Silas! Silas (get it?) is a 24 inch Kromski Harp. I'm still figuring him out, but it's so much fun! My parents are AWESOME.
I got balloons! Including an avenger balloon. I also had avenger cups, napkins, and plates. Which I loved.


I also got The second treasury of knitting, a learning to weave book, some yarn and roving, a few dvds, and a couple other little things. It was a wonderful birthday!

Watson and the skylight

Watson and the skylight, a photo by ktb83 on Flickr.

My cat is weird. And so very adorable.

What's on my needles

I have a tendency to start something, and then... well start something else. I'm trying to fix this, but so many things yell at me to make them. Mostly in british accents.
I have: (to my best recollection)
two mkal shawls
five pairs of socks
one pair of mittens- that are so close to being done, one nights worth of knitting, and bam, mittens
One hat (the mittens and the hat are christmas gifts...)
One cowl
One sweater- currently on hold because I thought I lost the yarn, so i ordered more, and it turns out I didn't lose it.
One pair of slippers that I lost the pattern to. It's somewhere in one of the many boxes that I still have to unpack.
One pair of slippers that have been in time out because I messed up the stitch count and have to frog them.
Three shawls that are for my mom- which really need to be finished (altho I just cast on for her latest birthday shawl)
One never ending I will die before I finish this thing scarf
And my new stick weaving nook cover thing.
Since I feel a bout of spring cleaning about to take place soon (which will even include washing my skylight, still figuring that one out) I think I'll also do some spring finishing! Some of these things just have a bit left to do, others have hours and hours of work to finish them. Either way, this will be fun! Maybe. What about you? Feel like doing any spring finishing?
Of course, what would knitting be without watching some netflix? Asta loves watching tv with me.

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

Wednesday night, after I drove my mother to pt, a kidney doctor (she's fine! YAH), we went to the local knit night at Flying Fiber. My mother bought me a stick weaving kit, and since then, I've been somewhat obsessed. just a tad! This is my practice piece, the yarn came with the sticks

then I made a head band!

(like my view?)

A coffee sleeve I need to sew together and take pictures of
I made a mug rug, that also needs to be sewn together (I adore this)

And I was playing around with using two colours, and decided to make a book mark. Only afterwords, did I realize that the colours were Ravenclaw colours!

Now, I'm making a small bag to keep my nook in. The yarn is Paton's wool, and I'm just in love with how it stripes up!

I also finished my mystery shawl, and Asta approves! now I have to weave in all the ends, wash and block, and get proper photos!

7 things of randomness

A quick catch up post
1.Mycroft has a thing for fuzzy blankets, this is what I see when I wake up

2.This is the Through the loops mystery sock,

Really loving this.

3.Progress on my Joji mystery shawl (of which I am so far behind)

4. Migraines suck. I mean like, totally and completely suck. they make it impossible to do anything at all.

5. This is my bedside table/dresser.

6. Extra long cowls can be used a head covering when you forgot your hat and it's in the single digits

7. I woke up with this stuck in my head.