ask me how the dancing flames socks are going

Go ahead. I dare you.

The dancing flames socks were coming along very well (note the use of the past tense? Cue the ominous music). They were creeping ever closer to my knees (note to self: Cherry Tree Hill does NOT skimp on yardage. This is definitely yarn to buy again.) One quiet evening, I was trying them on to see if I had enough yarn left to make them into knee-highs, and I asked the Best Roommate Ever, "Do these look a little stretched on my calves?"


She looked over and said, "Uh-huh." Damn.

Now, I love BRE, I really do. She is honest and forthright and I value her opinion. Even when I don't particularly like her opinion. So I ripped back each sock three repeats and added an extra eight-stitch repeat per pattern repeat.

So by the time the socks are hugging my muscular calves, they are 88 stitches around instead of 64, which seems to have solved the problem.

Which is all well and good and yay for problem solving and knitting triumphs and knitting things that actually fit your body parts, but I am really really tired of these socks. I still love them because they are beautiful and the pattern is fun to knit (I know, still. I'm beginning to edge dangerously close to that line between easily amused and simple-minded.) Maybe if I am a very good girl and eat all my vegetables and work hard on my socks, one day, some day far in the future, I will get to knit something else while wearing my beautiful knee-high socks. Probably just in time for summer.

last birthday post, I promise

Jaymie liked Auntie Kim's birthday, too.

Tissue paper is comfy.

Coming soon to a knit blog near you: actual knitting! Because I am knitting. Just not, um, very well.

an important scientific discovery

I discovered this morning that the gravitational pull exerted by two snuggling kitties makes it impossible for me to get out of bed. I am capable of overcoming the pull of one snuggling kitty, but the presence of the second kitty renders me helpless.

I wonder if that's a valid excuse for missing work?

ugly is the new pretty

I went to Borders to decompress after a long day's work by reading the knitting books. I don't actually buy the books from Borders, I get those from my LYS's, but if I'm just looking to unwind and not socialize, the knitting section in Borders is pretty solitary. I was perusing the shelves, idly looking through a new release. The cover had some cute sweater pictures, so I flipped it open to find . . . a section on ponchos. Danger Will Robinson! Run away! Now, that book may have had some amazing stuff, but I will never know, because the first thing I saw when I opened it was fun-fur ponchos. I all but flung the book down and fled the premises. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Why, oh why have we not all gotten over the fun-fur poncho thing? Then again, tight-leg jeans and neon are making a comeback, which is further proof that ugly never dies.

Party! Party!

I partied down with my favorite people last night at Treats for Breathing's big shindig (or should I say HIPdig? Ha! I crack me up.) Tons of fun. I had the best time. Happy birthday again, babe!
My uncle is in town this weekend (OK, in Cumming. We had a hard time explaining to him that no, Cumming was not Atlanta, and he was practically in Tennessee. Nonnatives. They don't understand these things. But I digress.) My family met him for dinner last night, but I was unable to attend due to celebrating TfB's exciting mobility and being put-back-together-ness. So my uncle calls and leaves a message on my cell phone, saying, "Hey, Kim. Your parents tell me you can't meet us for dinner because you have a knitting party? I told them next time, to just lie to me about where you are."
Sorry, Jeff.

say again?

I ran into someone from my knitting group at Borders the other day, a friend I hadn't seen in quite a while. (Aside: isn't it weird when you run into someone in a place that's not where you normally see them? It takes a few seconds for it to sink in. "Hi! . . . Oh, whoa, HI! What are you doing here?" I ran into Ms. Rereading Proust at the blood donor center one time and that was just bizarre. We still talk about it.) Anyway, my friend hadn't been to knit night in a while, and I remarked on that as we were chatting. She replied, "Oh, I don't knit in the summertime." There was a palpable thirty-second silence in which I stared at her blankly. I managed (just barely) to keep myself from asking, "What do you mean, you don't knit? What DO you do?" I can't even imagine. I'm so restless and fidgety, um, all the time, that if I didn't knit, I would go completely crazy. I would have the shiniest house in the world, and the spice rack would be alphebetized and I would probably pressure-wash the sidewalk every Saturday and give the cats exciting hairdo's and they would hate me. Knitting soaks up all of my crazy restless energy and gives it back as pretty socks. I'm not sure what I did before I knit, but I'm sure it drove people crazy, whatever it was.

yay for birthdays!

Thank you for all the happy birthday wishes! I had a very happy (quiet) birthday celebration with my mom yesterday, and a very lively and not-at-all-quiet celebration with some friends on Monday. (Also, it was St. Patrick's day. Which might account for the raucousness of everybody else in the restaurant, but I choose to believe that they too were celebrating my birthday. Pre-gaming, as it were.) And some people brought prezzies! For me! I was flabbergasted. I have such sweet, thoughtful friends.
Princess Jana Banana-Hammock brought me tons of gifty things, including, but not limited to:

stitch markers and a cute pin with kitty beads that she made herself
(because we all know how I feel about kitties)

a kickass candle holder that she made herself
(how do I find such talented friends?)

Here it is bringing light to a very grey and cloudy/rainy/miserable day;
just what I needed!

Along with a Knitch gift card (!!!!!!!), and a kickass birthday card, and a cute birthday girl button that has become official birthday accoutrement of these crazy folks I roll with, and I can't even remember what else, I was so gobsmacked.

The Foxy Yarn Pusher brought me sock yarn. She knows my weakness. This is Knitting Notions Supersock in Deep Blue Sea. It's a lot bluer than it looks in the photo. It is so beautiful I just cuddled it for a while. I couldn't even put it down, it is so lovely.

And THIS:

is a birthday present to myself. It's Wupatki, by Reporebo. Funny story. I was sitting at the computer, surfing the knitblogs and eating my breakfast one morning on my day off, when I noticed that Ms. Reporebo had posted some of her new yarns. I moseyed over (metaphorically speaking) to check it out and saw this. I gasped in stunned amazement at the beautifulness of the yarn, grabbed my phone, (thankfully) checked the time and realized it wasn't an ungodly hour to call someone demanding yarn, called her up at work, and shouted, "I NEED THAT YARN!" She thinks I'm insane, but I think she likes that about me. And the yarn is mine, so my method was successful. Go me.

I feel so loved!