One Crazy Fiber Lady

I’m not sure why, but there it is, I’m still surprised by how much progress can be made when one is monogamous to one’s knitting projects. ¬†

I finished the first Sox Sock on the train last night and (join with me) immediately cast on for the second. ¬†Well maybe not so immediately as I spent the time then and there to work in the ends. ¬†I know. ¬†Totally amazing!! ¬†It hit me that I have two pairs that are awaiting end workage still sitting. ¬†One pair has been sitting since late June LAST YEAR. ¬†Been so darn long that I’ve actually misplaced one of the socks. ¬†Sigh. ¬†I figured it was worth a shot to see if this speeds things up a bit

I won’t mention that the sock knitting is the only knitting that I’ve done since last week at SnB. ¬†I’ve been so damn tired by the time the kids go to bed that I’m just not motivated to do much of anything else. ¬†Monday night I was in bed at 9:30. ¬†Last night I actually made it through the game. ¬†7-0 against the evil Yankees might have something to do with the ability to stay awake, but I still didn’t have the energy to do more than just watch the game. ¬†I can’t remember the last time I just sat and watched TV! ¬†Its got to be the weather.

Whatever it is, this too shall pass.

Craft on!

On the train this morning, I hit the corrugated ribbing on the firt Sox Sock.  

Sorry for the less than stellar photography. ¬†I pulled the battery out of my Elph to charge it and have forgotten to put it back in. ¬†So I’m using the beloved Swiss Army knife device: the beloved iPhone. ¬†

I’ll have this sock done tonight. ¬†If not on the ride home, then during the anticipated slugfest at Fenway tonight. ¬†I hope it doesn’t get rained out. ¬†

Craft on!

I’m always getting little reminders of how fast time really moves. ¬†Sure it seems like forever sitting in the office some days to simply get from lunchtime to leaving time. ¬†Having kids has really emphasized for me how fast it is moving. ¬†I blinked again. ¬†This happened on Saturday:

The monkeys have officially graduated from Pre-K.  They will be starting Kindergarten in the fall.  I could swear they were both still little tiny babies.

I’m proud of the little people that they are turning into. ¬†

The 2 hour ceremony gave me bonus weekend knitting time.  I worked on the Sox Sock:

I’m sneaking up on the cuff now!

Finally, I’ve made the decision to sell my NZAK circular sock machine. ¬†I spent time with it on Saturday and have come to the decision that I just don’t enjoy the process of making socks that way. ¬†So if you are (or someone you know is ) interested in buying one, please contact me (either through the comment..

Craft on!

I’m getting good at this prediction stuff. ¬†Yesterday, I predicted not much progress on the Sox Sock. ¬†I was totally right. ¬†I did work on it at stop lights on the way to Panera so there was some minimal progress. ¬†But not alot. ¬†Not like the first couple of days on the project. ¬†I guess I could have worked on it at SnB, but I generally don’t knit socks there.

I did 2 rows on Wedding Ring Shawl, but that doesn’t make for good SnB knitting. ¬†Intricate lace is not social knitting friendly. ¬†Though I have successfully worked on that piece out in public, just not where I have to talk to anyone ¬†

So, what did I work on? ¬†A project I haven’t showed since I started a sleeve. ¬†The Fair Isle Cardi!

Why yes, I am a bit beyond the sleeve knitting now ¬†I’ve been quietly working on this at home. ¬†I likes it!

Well, I have to go debug problems in both the Production and UAT (user acceptance testing) environments.  Not to mention unit test the code changes I made yesterday.  Good thing I like to be busy, eh?

Craft on!

I have to say, the Sims has done wonders for my knitting.  Nothing since the discovery of DPNs (or maybe magic loop) has done as much for my sock knitting as playing the Sims.  Witness:

This is where I left the first Sox Sock last night. ¬†I’m working from home today so there’s no train commute knitting and with SnB at Panera tonight, there won’t be quite as much progress today.

Today’s post is a real quickie. ¬†I found a pretty decent sized bug in my code that I need to fix and then test.¬†

Craft on!

Thanks for sticking by yesterday while my inner geek took control of the keyboard and blathered on about the Sims 3 and Mac vs. PC  I happily picked up Sims 3 at Gamestop yesterday during lunch.  Weeeee!  I also grabbed some mall food while I was there and came straight back to the office where I installed and ate.  

Initial feelings? ¬†Pretty cool. ¬†I’ve been reading online reviews in the forum based on a pre-release pirated copy that has been making its way around via torrents and most were not very positive. ¬†It is different than Sims 2, but that should go without saying. ¬†If they don’t make it different, then why would they go for a major release. ¬†They kept alot of elements the same, tweaked others, removed some and added new. ¬†All in all, as a software developer myself, that’s pretty much how you do it. ¬†Some aspects of the game (sleeping, cooking, etc) take longer and offer up more knitting time! ¬†Others take no time at all, ie moving from the home lot to anywhere else on the map. ¬†I managed to lose a couple of hours of night time to it last night.

And as I mentioned before, it offers up primo knitting time. ¬†Between the train home, evening play, and the train/ferry in, here’s that mystery project:

Cookie ¬†went way out on the limb and guessed: ¬†socks! ¬†She’s right. ¬†But they are not just any socks, but Sox socks. ¬†Say that 10 times fast ¬†When done, they should look like this:

Awww.  My love of the Sox knows no bounds  I know, not exact, especially on the toe.  Whatev.

Craft on!

Today is definitely looking up, well mostly. ¬†I did get stuck in another traffic jam on the way to the legal parking. ¬†There was no way I was going to make the train, so I hung a U-ey (3 point turn for those not in the know) and headed for the illegal parking. ¬†I made the train with time to spare. ¬† Yay. ¬†Now I’d be really happy to return home to a parking permit request form tonight. ¬†But in the meantime, I’ll alternate which station I park at so as to not attract attention. ¬†

Last night, as I hoped, I finished the Latte socks on the train home. ¬†I bound off the final stitch one stop before mine. ¬† So while the sock knitting is done, I wasn’t able to weave in the ends. ¬†I’ll do that tonight at home. ¬†But this meant I needed another purse/train/Sims project to keep me entertained. ¬†I broke out the ball winder and swift. ¬†This is a peek into my purse this morning on the train. ¬†Any guesses?

Beyond that, I’m very excited for the release of Sims 3! ¬†Look what I installed on my iPhone as soon as I got to the office:

Note I figured out that iPhones have screen capture built into them. ¬†How sweet is that? ¬†Anyway, while I can’t play because I really do have work to do, I did a quickie start:

Sweet. ¬†I’m now awaiting the phone call from the GameStop across the street that my copy of the PC/Mac game is awaiting my arrival. ¬†

I can’t tell you how happy I am that they are releasing both versions at the same time. ¬†With prior versions of the Sims, the Mac port was 6-12 months behind the PC release. ¬†Some expansion packs like Free Time and Apartment Life were never ported at all. ¬†Now? ¬†Both versions are in the same box. ¬†Double sweet. ¬†

Craft on!

Today has developed into a typical awful Monday.   I had a very lovely, if very busy, weekend.  My sister, BIL and the little ones came for the weekend.  While they were supposed to go to Sesame Place on Saturday (and the twins and I were supposed to go here) we wound up spending the day together at home.  My goofy sister left her pre-paid discount tickets to Sesame Place back home in the middle of Pennsylvania.  They deemed a 4 hour drive to get them and then to the park just not worth it.  I agree.  I got baby snuggle time.  The kids went in the pool and then we all headed to a local fair.  

The carnival was in the parking lot of the mega-mall and sponsored by the North Jersey D.A.R.E.  The kids had alot of fun but it was wicked expensive.  

Yesterday was a family reunion of sorts.  My first cousin D, lives in Virginia with her 2 boys, is preggers with #3, was up in the NY area with the kids and her fiance.  Her sister, J, lives out on Long Island with her son.  So everyone including my aunt and uncle, my sisters, their spouses and all the kids converged on my house for a bbq and pool party.  It was a fabulous day.  We managed to get a photograph of the whole mishpucha.  It was amazing, a photo with 22 people, everyone with their eyes open and smiling.  I need to download it from my big arsed camera and email it around.

Today? ¬†Not so good. ¬†Alex has a dentist appointment as he had a cavity in his two front teeth that a filing just won’t stay in. ¬†Dr. K is trying one more thing before I just throw up my hands and wait for the damn teeth to fall out in the next year or so. ¬†Oy. ¬†The enamel on kidlet teeth is too brittle to actually hold fillings well.

I went back to the lot where I can park legally and of course got stuck by that stupid truck backing into the food company’s lot. ¬†This was AFTER he tied up traffic backing out of the same stupid lot. ¬†Sigh. ¬†I’ve called to check into the availability of a permit for the other lot and need to wait to see if someone who already holds one has opted out of this year’s renewal. ¬†Double sigh. ¬†

On the up side, I preordered Sims 3 today. ¬†I’ll pick it up at the Gamestop across the street tomorrow ¬†I decided not to schlep my macBook today but as of Friday evening managed to get my Torch Holder Karl to perma-plat level and passed the torch to his alien offspring Hera. ¬†She’s now in her sophomore year at the university where she’s on Dean’s List and working on her skills for her future career as an adventurer! ¬†Yes I do know they aren’t real ¬†We’ll see how much I’ll go back to them after I get the new one installed tomorrow.

I’m just about done with the current sock project:

I’ll probably have it done this evening.

Craft on!