JenLa

So out of the blue, my SIL calls the other day (she usually emails, and she NEVER calls unless it’s a birthday or holiday) to tell me that she loves my gifts…that I give the gifts that keep on giving. Apparently, every time she wears the sweater I gave her for Christmas, she has amazing sex that night. I asked her if it was with my brother, to which she responded, “Of course!” to which I replied…”and it’s actually amazing? Wow.”

You have to understand: SIL = Beauty; Brother = Geek. They SO based that show on them, I swear!

Anyhow, when they were here at Christmas, my SIL was admiring the socks my mom was wearing one day. She said she liked how cute and stripey they were, and how much fun it would be to wear them and how adorable the looked on my mom with a pair of mary janes. Come to find out, the pair in question were these.

The ones I knitted back in Nov. 2006…my first ever pair ever.

So what have I been working on?

Yep, that’s right. May. May 4 to be exact. To Denver. No sweat. Uh, what’s the date? Guess I’d better get crackin, huh?

By the way, I only have one question. Well, it’s more like a request, but it’s a relatively simple one, minuscule, really. Why, in the name of all that is good and woolly, can’t I find a DECENT self-striping sock yarn without all the weird mish-moshed white-and-colored mottled bits, in the colors I like? Is that too much to ask? As Jen is want to say…I WANT THE KIND THAT I WANT!!!!! Hello! Yarn companies. Not everybody likes those. Some of us would like our self-striping sock yarn to be solid. sheesh!

Oh, and hey! How about these two bits of “yay me!” news? First, I’ve been alonged! Yup, by she that is oh so Charmingly Wicked has organized a KAL for…

…with it’s own yahoo group and everything! So go join, already. You know you wanna!

Also, remember that abomination aka The Muppet Pelt Assmat pattern? It’s been published for reals. It’s in “Knitting Purls”; a wonderful gem of a newsletter from Charing Cross Publishers, and more specifically by Ida, founder of the Lily M. Foundation, Friends of Lily website and organizer of the Lily Pads Project (for which I designed the Muppet Pelt Assmat). Man, that’s one busy lady there! The newsletter has all kinds of fun stuff; humorous and informative articles, helpful yarn and product reviews, interviews, and original patterns. To subscribe just send an email to knittingpurls@charingcrosspublishers.com.

And before I go, I leave you with the cutest Ravelry fuck-up glitch ever.

What don’t see it? I’ll give you a hint. C’mon and sing it with me…

Now it’s time to say goodbye
To all our company…
Are Aay Vee…Ee-el Are Why
Em-Oh-You-Ess-Ee
(R.A.V.EL.R.Y
M.O.U.S.E…
over on the right where the screenshot of the blog is s’posed to be. See it?)

A whole lotta stuff is going on around the bloggerhood, just not much of it involves me. Which is okay for a little bit, because, well, it can’t always be about me right? Or can it?

hmmmmm

Knitwitch is having a good old-fashioned murder mystery, detective story going-on. There are 2 ways to win the contest: Either find the clues and deduce her secret, or find the clues, jump to the completely wrong conclusion, and make an outlandish stab at the ridiculousness of your conclusion. Either way, if you guess correct, or if you make her shoot coffee through her nose, you’ll be in the running for her prizes. Oh hell yeah, I’m entering!

Oh, and while you’re there, check out her awesome yarn bowls. Gotta get me one of those!

Congrats to Ruth! Her handy-dandy stitch savers & uber-cute stitch markers made it into the”Cool Stuff” section of Knitty’s Spring ‘08 issue. You can find them at Ruth’s Etsy Store Way to go!

Now here’s where I usually include a picture, especially since Ruth so kindly sent me one. But me, in my usual dumbassery didn’t take the picture. I got to work this morning and thought…hmmmm, wasn’t I s’posed to grab a picture of something? I even left myself a note on here to remind me to insert the picture. Sheesh! So yeah, Ruth sent me one of the stitch savers and it is WAY cute. It says HOOPTY, which, every time I use it, will further remind me of her and the wonderful time I had on the Great South Denver Yarn Crawl of Aught-Seven.

Good Times…Good Memories!

Speaking of the Denver crew, our very own Geek Girl is getting married this weekend! I’m sure she’s going through all the last-minute “holy shit this better go right or I want someone’s head on a platter” bride stuff, so go on over and give her some love! Wish I could be there Marisa. I know it’ll be beautiful. And my best advice? Take lots of pictures. Once the day’s over, you’ll need them as evidence that you were actually there, because nothing goes in such a whirlwind as a couple’s wedding day. The DH often says…”Our wedding day? Heard it was nice. Wish I was there.”

Okay, I can’t stand it. Enough about others already. Let’s talk about me. I GOT PREZZIES!

Now before you all start thinking it’s my birthday, it isn’t. That was back in December. And now-adays the fewer I have the better I like it, so don’t be going and giving me extras. But, I’m still getting prezzies, and that I DO like. This one was the long-anticipated box from Georgia, and holy crap! was it worth the wait. Have a look!

The purple yarn is 375 yards of beautiful Jenspun handspun. Jen initially purchased the roving at SAFF as a way to induce me to try spinning again, but then decided that I would much prefer the fiber in its post-spun yarn form. Does she know me or what? Spinners, never fear, she also sent me a vagillion yards of pencil roving and a pretty little drop spindle.

Now, that blue you see there? That’s her idea of a joke. One day I was touting the “benefits” of knitting with red-heart, saying something to the effect of “hell, if I wanted to knit with coke bottles, I’d stop recycling and make my own asscylic yarn.” So what does she send me but yarn made exactly of that…recycled soda bottles. Well, for coke-bottle yarn it’s WAY better than red-heart could ever consider aspiring to be in the neighborhood of. I have no idea what I’ll knit with it, but dammit if it won’t be something for Jen.

Last, there’s the wonderful little take-and-go bag. At first glance I thought that she had found this in a clever little LYS, and I wondered how the HELL does she keep finding stuff in my favorite color combination: chocolate & lime.

A perfect match!

Then, upon closer inspection, here’s what I discovered:

Exact same fabric

Oh yeah, it’s easy to pecfectly match accessories when you’re the one making them! I love this bag so much it has inspired the colors for the bathroom remodel. And no, the DH has no say, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. He can take his pick, either the bath remodel or the new guest room, but ONE of those rooms will be decked out in chocolate & lime. Thank you Jen!

Oh, before I forget…there might be a certain episode (8) of a certain podcast (Diva Knitting) from a certain Knitblogger (CK), with an interview from a certain mouthy other Knitblogger (me) that either earned her an “explicit” rating or broke her bleep button, (don’t know which) coming out in the certain near future. But you didn’t hear it from me, mkay?

3 rows and a bind-off away. That’s it. That’s all. Just 3 more rows and a bind-off away from being completely done knitting the baby blanket and guess what happened?

(This is an easy question for those who know me)

I ran out of yarn.

No, not completely, thank wool! Just my supply here at the office. See, me in my infinite dumbassery, I not only forgot to pack my scrap yarn for my Stricken sie Deutch swatch, but I also forgot to bring the yarn I did pack, the 1 ball I need to finish my latest masterpiece (ha! Masterpiece…that’s a good one!)

So, instead of a “look and see what I’ve gone and done” post, today will be all about what amazing and worthwhile things other people are doing.

Ida has a non profit organization called Lily’s Friends, in honor of the memory of her once-in-a-lifetime kitty, Lily. One of the things the foundation is doing is knitting and collecting Lily Pads, blankets and cage-liners for shelter animals and vet-hospital patients. If you’d like to get involved, here’s the button!

Recognize the cat in that button?

Yep, that’s my Sassy, also pictured here on her Ass Mat, whose pattern I’ll be finally writing down so that Ida can include it with her other Lily Pad patterns.

Rebekah’s post today broke my heart. Some jackasses (and I’m being kind) moved out of their house and left their adorable boxer, Sugar Ray, behind who went 6 weeks without food or water. 6 WEEKS! He’s been rescued, but now is in need of some serious TLC. Rebekah’s holding a contest to help raise money for Sugar Ray’s rehabilitation. $5 is all it takes to be entered once, and each additonal $5 gets you entered yet again. Let’s give this darling dog, and others a fighting chance!

Thank you Chris for the heads-up! I went for the May-May; but I stayed for the Sugar Ray!

(yeah, never claimed to be a poet. shut up)

Here at JenLa it is our duty, nay, our obligation as responsible citizens of Blogistan to inform one and all of a very important event happening over at Faerie Knits.

Aimee is participating in this worthy fundraising event. Now you COULD just click on the button above, but then you’d not only miss out on some valuable information about Lupus, her story of her own personal struggle with this life-threatening disease, but you’d also miss out all the additional fun Aimee has planned for us. Pssssstttttt! They involve prizes!

So, go on over to Fairie Knits and check it out, and after you whet your appetite on the list of fabulous prizes, make sure click on her Lupis Walk Page and sponsor her in her noble endeavor to help find a cure for this insidious disease! Make sure you follow her instructions if you want to be in the running for the thank-you prizes.

She’s not quite half-way to her goal, and the clock is ticking! Let’s help her exceed her goal of $5,000.

My baby brother and his wife just called and told me that found out the sex of their baby today. Yup, it’s a girl with a winkle. Oh! I never told you that we were expecting another addition to the family did I? Well, after they lost the first baby while I was at SAFF last year, they decided to keep this pregnancy hush hush for a while until it was further along and “safe”. I was the only one who knew early, and I was sworn to the utmost secrecy.

In any case, I now have a use for this again!

It’s just fitting that the yarn I originally bought to knit a blanket for their first child will now be knit into a blanket for their second. I’m thinking Fibercrack. What do you think?