reflection

It's that time of year again. The winter solstice, the darkest night of the year, has come and gone. The sun creeps out earlier and sets a little later each day, but the weather turns increasingly cold. All sensible creatures hunker down and hibernate until spring. It's a time to reflect, repent, revise and resolve.

A friend's recent breakup of a five-year relationship has led to many deep discussions and ponderings about the nature of love. This recent comic also struck a chord of recognition with me. It depicts, with eerie accuracy, the course of um, all of my relationships. Because when I think back on them and on my exes, I don't miss them. I don't miss our relationship.
I do get lonely. I miss very much being special to someone. And I have a loving family and many friends who shower me with affection, and I try to soak up as much of that as I can to fend off the lonelies. But I miss having someone who thinks that I am special and wants to be with me and make me happy. Boys can be very cute when they want you to like them back. And I am both very cheap and very hermit-y, so a boyfriend is good for getting me out of the house and forcing me to try new stuff. The only time I ever go to movies is with a boy, and though I go out to restaurants weekly with friends, I don't eat. I am so tight, I squeak.
So I miss that. But I know (oh how I know), that the only thing worse than no boyfriend is the wrong boyfriend, and I would rather be lonely by myself than lonely with someone. Because there is no worse feeling in the world than being lonely with someone laying in bed next to you.

Finished!

Christmas knitting is finished!

Socks for Mom. For some reason, this colorway doesn't photograph well. It's a very lovely teal and brown, called Teal Party actually, in Claudia Handpainted. She picked out the yarn herself, but she can't remember what color it was anymore. My evil plan worked perfectly.

Socks for the Best Roommate Ever, in Lotus Yarns Nirvana. The colorway is called Dig, and it's a beautiful mix of golds and coppers and bronze.

Felted Clogs for my brother-in-law. He and my sister live in one of those uber-trendy concrete lofts, so she suggested slippers to keep his tootsies warm.

Here's how big they are before felting. (That's my foot, not his.) If I were a nice person, I'd felt them before gifting, but a) I want to let them dry on his feet so they'll mold perfectly to fit him, and b) I want to see the look on his face when he unwraps these and says, "Boy, thanks! What the hell is it?" I'm a bad person.

A hat for my little sister. She recently dyed her hair a brilliant red, and the pink (fun fur: oh, the shame!) hat I made for her a few years ago clashes terribly. She also has cute little bangs, so I made her a tam so she can avoid crushing her hairdo.

Here's the detail close-up. It's not as easy to tell as I'd like, but those are little hearts done in purl stitches.

Merry Christmas to all from everyone here at Chez Light Wading!

(actual) fun with coworkers

Coworkers, I think, are the part of a job that simultaneously has the greatest effect on your work experience while being the part that you have the least control over. Coworkers can make a crappy job fun and a fabulous job miserable, yet you can't interview potential coworkers, or negotiate for better coworkers. They're a little like family that way: you're stuck with what you get, so you just have to figure out how to deal with their eccentricities. Every once in a while, a coworker comes along that you actually like, who makes you laugh and makes your day go by faster, a coworker that, if you are really lucky and very good and eat all your vegetables and pray real hard, knits.
Enter Sara. In addition to being one of the sweetest people to ever draw breath and a maker of nummy nummy baked goods, she was kind enough to allow me to teach her to knit. I taught her two years ago, took her to a few yarn stores, gave her some yarn from a sweater that defied me once too often. She took to it right away, made a scarf or two, a couple of hats for Christmas, but showed no sign of falling down the rabbit hole. (Unlike some of us, ahem.)
Then a month or so ago, she blithely announced that she was knitting a pair of socks for her mom. She also wanted to find a pattern for a cabled hat. Not one to miss an opportunity, I let her use my Ravelry account to surf for patterns. Three days later, she had her own Rav-name.
She has fallen and fallen hard. I couldn't be prouder if I'd raised her my ownself.

She's Knittingscared on Ravelry. Look her up and say hi. She's having the most horrible case of hives right now, and I know she'd love the encouragement.

Christmas knitting

My brother-in-law's first slipper is done. Well, except there's this second sole thing I have to knit and attach, and then I have to felt the whole shebang, but I'm focusing on progress. Whee, progress. I think it makes a remarkably attractive hat, but the Best Roommate Ever disagrees.

Tres sexy, non?

Party aftermath

Party has been thrown and was a wild success! Everyone declared my house "adorable" while I regaled them with stories of getting the toilet installed the day before we moved in. Cookies were eaten, champagne was drunk (thanks, Fairy Yarn Mother!), the knitters behaved themselves and refrained from overtly scaring the non-knitters. A few pics of my apartment (HOUSE! Not apartment. House!), all sparklied up:

Many wonderful prezzies found their way into my home.

The cutest teapot ever, with tea from Sara, Coworker of Awesomeness


a nummy nummy candle from the lovely lady at Reporebo Yarns. I also received an illustrated copy of the Devil's Dictionary from blogless Alice, and from my Dad, what every little girl dreams of:

my own drill and bit set!

M-F-er!

I just got a bill from Dekalb Medical center for almost $900 for a procedure that was done in JANUARY. The letter says something like "it has been 30 days since we billed your insurance provider . . . " Well, NO FREAKING KIDDING, JERKS! If you'll excuse me, I have to go invent new curse words, since my current stock is woefully inadequate. Any suggestions?

does a thing like this happen to a nice girl like me?

Usually, I am a card-carrying, flag-waving, loud-and-proud member of the Selfish Knitters Club. No, really, check it out. And yet, somehow I have ended up planning a handknit gift for almost every person on my Christmas list. The Best Roommate Ever is getting handknit socks, as is my mom; my sister is getting a hat, and my not-yet-but-might-as-well-be-and-one-day-will-be brother-in-law is getting slippers. (Ok, actually, I know how it happened. I put down a downpayment on a house and realized I was out of money. That's no excuse for my actions, though. What the hell was I thinking?)
Fortunately, I'm coming along pretty well. Mom's socks (begun in July) and my sister's hat (made with Cashmerino Superultracrazybulky) are finished. BRE's socks are done up to the cuffs, so I'm hoping a few knit nights will knock those out. My brother-in-law's slippers, though . . . Does this look even remotely like a slipper?

I'm scared.

Party on!

OK, new plan! Party is on Saturday the 13th, from 1-ish to 4-ish. Email me for directions!

if it's not one thing, it's another . . .

So, housewarming party plans have been derailed already. I have an appointment at 3 that I can't move or skip. So . . . I seek opinions from those of you more socially ept than I. (Or from those just as socially inept as I am. I like opinions. If you've got one, throw it in.) Should I move the party to the next Saturday (the 13th)? Or is that edging into Christmas-crazy-busy-ness territory? Or, should I move the party to later in the day, say, starting at 5-ish? Or is that edging too close into dinner territory? I was going for a little afternoon gathering with snacks for noshing, because I really truly don't cook, and while the CDC is quite nearby, I don't want people to show up with the expectation that I'm capable of feeding them a non-fatal dinner. Halp!

a year in socks

Happy Thanksgiving, all ye of American persuasion! I was reminiscing the other day about this time last year, when I was working on the RPM socks and taking them for a little jaunt in the mountains of north Georgia. Which led to my wondering how many socks I had completed since them, which led to a little impromptu photo session on my new living-room rug.

Six pair, not counting the socks I finished for my Mom's Christmas present, or the socks I'm working on for BRE. Not bad. I'm no Quiddity, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. (How that woman can turn out so many socks so fast is a constant source of wonder and befuddlement to me. It's truly amazing. I would be jealous, but she's such a delightful person that I just can't. And she has the cutest cats ever.)

The house is coming along at a good, steady pace. Every day there's a tiny bit less chaos. Of course, Jaymie is helping as only he can.

I think we're ready for a housewarming party, which I'm tentatively scheduling for Saturday, December 6th, early afternoon-ish. Consider yourself invited! Email me for address and/or directions.

Last year I put together a really great Thanksgiving post, and while this year's will not be as full of deep thoughts and ponderings, I think it's important to be thankful and remind yourself of the good things in your life. So, in no particular order, I'm thankful for:

• my parents, who have basically given up their lives and all their spare time to fix up this house. This would absolutely not have been possible without them.
• the Best Roommate Ever, who proved herself even more awesome than I would have thought possible with all the renovation and moving chaos.
• my knitting friends, who keep demanding to know when I'm going to let them come over and paint my house for me. You can't get better friends than that.
• all of my extended family, whom I got to see this year for a big wedding, and whom I'll get to see again next year for another wedding. And for never asking me, "When is your turn?" because then I'd have to hurt them and that would ruin everyone's fun.
• the kittenbeasts, to whom I am the sole mommy for Thanksgiving week, as BRE is out of town visiting family. I promised her that if I sold them to the gypsies in her absence, I'd get a good price for them.
  

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I just haven't been the same since that house fell on me

Greetings, all! I am pleased to announce that the Best Roommate Ever, No No Bad Kitty, No No Bad Kitty 2, and I are successfully moved into our new house! And that we are not dead and no part of the process killed us (although it tried real hard). Rennovating turned into a much bigger job than we had anticipated, but I feel really good about it because now we know that everything is good and fixed correctly and there aren't any ugly surprises for us to find. Because we already found them all. The Best Roommate Ever took care of all (and I do mean ALL) of the moving stuff while my dad and I worked on all the renovation fun. She was absolutely amazing and made of awesome. I considered upgrading her to Greatest Roommate of All Time, but then I realized her abbreviation would be GRoAT, which doesn't sound very nice. So she will remain BRE, and my hero.

Everything is still kind of everywhere; it's box-palooza for now, but I have been assured that one day I will be able to find stuff again. I will post pictures as soon as I a) find my camera, and b) have internet at the house, and c) have all of the parts of my computer located and assembled properly. No guarantees on when that will be, but I hope to rejoin the world very soon. I've missed you all!

leaving, in a Ford Focus . . .

I'm leaving in the early hours Wednesday morning to go to St. Louis for my uncle's wedding. We'll be gone five days, and I've packed four knitting projects. Is that overkill?

Nah.

Things I have learned while renovating . . .

Things I have learned while renovating my house:

1) It takes a lot of demolition before you get to the part where things start to look better.
2) I love caulking. It's fun and messy and makes things look instantly pretty.
3) It is very difficult to remove splinters from your own butt.

You may be wondering, what has the Best Roommate Ever been doing while I've been slaving away on the house? Why, earning her nickname, of course. She's packing up the apartment, with some helpful feline assistance.

don't panic!

House update: kitchen that originally looked like this:

now looks like this:


OK. Breathing deeply. It will all be ok. I mean, how often do we really use the kitchen anyway? So what if it's not done in time?


Nope, not working. Urge to panic . . . rising!

Obligatory cute kitty picture:
And knitting update picture:
One completed Mom-sock.

OK, gotta go. I have a lot of panicking- er, I mean, work to do.

housewarming prezzies!

Yay! Look what Treats for Breathing got me as a housewarming prezzie!

Gorgeous, hand-dyed yarn! In what appears to be the perfect weight to use for socks! However did she know?

Here I am, popping up like a little groundhog to give an update and reassure everyone that the house hasn't killed me yet. I've been doing a crapload of cleaning and cleaning and yardwork and taking down seriously icky A/C window units (those things are freakin' heavy!), and yardwork and lots more yardwork. My bedroom looks so much better.

OK, well, you can't really tell from the picture, but believe me, it does.
And um, here should be a picture of the enormous pile of brush and lawn debris that my parents and I made, but I guess I was too busy trying not to pass out and die to actually get a picture. Crap. Just visualize.
My parents have come out the past two Saturdays and helped me bushwhack the yard. They are amazing. Aparently I have a pretty sizeable side yard, but you could never tell because it was horribly overgrown and covered in English ivy.
My next big task is picking out paint colors.

I have actually been accomplishing quite a bit on the knitting front.

Mom's socks have two toes and two heels, and lack only cuffs to make them complete.

The Branching Ferns shrug is almost three-quarters finished. I have one more lace repeat before I join for the sleeve.

The Best Roommate Ever's socks are coming along. I finished one toe, which I did not take a picture of, because I am full of picture-taking fail today.

And finally, I have a few gifts for guy-type people that I promised to make, so I snapped up some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky at Knitch. Soft, machine-washable, and on sale! If only guys weren't so boring about colors.

I CAN has house!

Look! I has a house!

And, uh, yeah, expect posting to be sporadic for a while, because I have a lot of work to do. All you lovely ladies who volunteered to help, expect me to be calling in those favors soon.

tomorrow

I can haz howse?

the theme for this week: creation!

I woke up Wednesday morning (the first day of my "weekend") with a wicked pancake craving, so, armed only with my wits, a vegan cookbook and a spatula, I made these little beauties.

Mmmmm, vegan pancakes. Topped with vanilla soy yogurt and berries (frozen, hence the vivid purple color) and accompanied by fake bacon, since I wanted some salt to go with my sugar. Intense amounts of numminess, and a rather odd and alarming continuation of a recent trend. All recent evidence to the contrary, I am severely cooking-skills-deprived. It was only recently that I figured out if I don't make food, no food will appear. Don't ask me how I survived until now. I think it was sheer dumb luck.


Crusoe socks, finished! I didn't even need to be sat on.

The larval beginnings of a pair of socks for the Best Roommate Ever.

My mom's socks have two toes and a heel! Yay for progress and speedy mindless stockinette!

I finished one sleeve of the Branching Fern shrug. (I made the pattern up out of my head, with a little help from Barbara Walker, and for the time being, it's going well.) Modeled with a recent purchase, one of my very favorite shirts, which I then tried to take a picture of in the bathroom mirror . . .

forgetting that if you take a picture of words in a mirror, they will be backwards. D'oh! Attempt #2:

Much better. And so very true. Need one of your own? Here. (I especially like the bumper sticker.)

So close! And yet . . .

I am SO CLOSE to finishing the Crusoe socks it's not even funny.


I've been almost finished with them for about a week now, and every night I say, "Tonight I'm going to finish those socks!" So far, not so much. Last night I was distracted from sock knitting by the need to make little wee tiny lemony minicupcakes


and ice them while watching Brick for like the eighth time. This level of domestic goddess-ery is weird, unprecedented and unsettling. But the cupcakes are quite tasty.


(My excuse for not watching the Olympics is as follows: all they were showing was boxing, and in the words of Lymon Zerga, "Hand-to-hand combat does not interest me", and the marathon, which is spectacularly boring to watch. "Yep. They're still running.")
Fortunately, I am having dinner with some knitting friends tomorrow, and they will sit on me and force me to finish the socks. You ladies know who you are. I'm counting on you and your evil ways.

Warning: too much lolcats can be detrimental to your spelling

Toze!


I has dem.

sometimes it's hard to get anything done around here

I was cleaning the other day, and tossed the rug from our wee tiny entryway area into the living room in order to mop. The Best Roommate Ever came by a few minutes later when the floor was dry to put the rug back, and saw this.

Don't see it? How about now?

And here's a view of what was peeking out the other end.

It's awfully hard to get things done around here sometimes.