I Did It!

Can't Talk, Novelling...

I'm going for the big finish today. Pray for me.

Meanwhile, just to prove this is still a knitting blog...

Just Checking In...

I am still alive, and chugging steadily toward the NaNoWriMo goal of 50K words. I just wanted to check in briefly to wish a certain 6-year-old a very happy birthday. I know he is an avid reader of this blog and will appreciate the birthday greetings in cyberspace immensely. Well, maybe not. Anyway...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, belated salutations, anyway.

I hope you all had a wonderful time feasting and visiting relatives (if that applies). I am only taking short break from novelling to check in. Please enjoy these pictures of my finished Charade socks.

And a closeup of the heel:

And the purl side for those of you who are into that sort of thing...


I cast them off on Monday night, just in time to show them off to my MIL who made all the appropriate noises of amazement.

Now, back to the grindstone!

Or maybe I'm doing it wrong...

This is my vacuum.

I would like to preface my remarks by first saying that I love my vacuum. This is a workhorse that really gets the job done, in spite of persistent abuse and mistreatment. Like the time I put the air filter in upside down (and vacuumed for months like that), or the numerous times the back end has gotten stuck around the corner and I yanked on the hose hard, or the fact that I've only had it serviced once since I purchased it seven years ago. I won't even mention the dozens of bits of yarn and strings and pennies and Playmobil pieces and God knows what else it's sucked up. But I digress.

There is just one thing I don't get about this vacuum. It's got a feature that I cannot for the life of me figure out. Way up by the handle, there's this little door you can slide open to adjust the suction. See?

Open. Closed.

Can someone please tell me what in the HELL this thing is for? I don't think that I've EVER, in the seven years I've owned this thing, said to myself, "Self, this vacuum just has TOO MUCH SUCTION! Let's open this puppy up!" Seriously, has anyone in the history of vacuum cleaners ever said, "Hey, we need LESS suction! This baby's pulling the tacks out of the carpet."

I'm confused.

Shakespeare-Knitblogging Mashup

If the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon were a knit blogger...

It is the knitting,
The knitting above us, govern our conditions.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

And my personal favorite...

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your knitting.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

As Promised...

...some knitting content. Yes, in spite of being completely preoccupied with NaNoWriMo, I have gotten some actual knitting done.

First, the Charade socks I've been working on.

I was doing them in the traditional manner--one sock, cuff down--and got all the way to the toe shaping, which I proceeded to f*ck up royally. Since I had also screwed up made a teensy mistake at the top of the gusset, I decided to frog back to the gusset rather that just frog the toe. And then I said, screw this, I'm going to knit these 2-at-a-time-toe-up style. So here we are--heel turned and heading up the leg toward the cuff.

Lastly, poor Doozer was prowling around last night, bored out of his mind. Most of the toys we bought him when he first came to use are completely trashed, so I took pity on him and knitted him this mouse.

Unfortunately I didn't have any catnip, so the impact of this toy wasn't as great, but hell, it's better than a poke in the eye nothing. Today, a trip to the pet store...

Cheers!

This Place

This fall, Isaac took a class here called "Life on the farm". It is a beautiful and special place.


Where they can run and jump and shout...




And try to catch the frogs in the pond...




Or swing on the tire swing.


There is always an opportunity to be chased by the farm's alpha rooster, Eagle.

(Seriously, that rooster is stalking me. Not long after I took that last picture, he decided I had no business taking his picture like some obnoxious paparazzi, and, just as the rock star (of the barn yard) he his, he chased me down and I had to flee for my life.)

Still, this place makes me long for a simpler time.


And my favorite part?

Yup. They make yarn there, too.

Instead

Instead of working on my novel, I was reading blogs.

Instead of cooking dinner, I am blogging.

Instead of knitting, I will be working on my novel.

Anybody else having a day like that?

Also, a quick note to quietly mark the passing of one of our fish, Goldie, swimming happily now in that great big goldfish bowl in the sky. May the water be warm and oxygenated, and may you always have just the right amount of food to eat. Good-bye Goldie!

I'm way behind...

I didn't write at all yesterday, having fallen asleep at 7:30 pm with the kids. Today, I wasn't any where near my computer all day and, while I did some some hand-written stuff, it turns out that it only amounted to about 800 words or so. I'm exhausted tonight. It looks like I will be starting off tomorrow with a 4,700 word deficit. And I'm going into the long haul--the middle, the point where the REAL slogging gets going. Alright, NaNoWriMo, bring. it. on.

Also, my inner teenager is snickering loudly again. Check out my word count:

6969 / 50000 words. 14% done!

Why can't my inner teen just get a life? (Get a job, you hippy!)

Tomorrow (or soon), actual knitting content (I hope.) Cheers!

NaNoWriMo Update

We're finishing up day 3 of NaNoWriMo and I'm happy with how I'm doing so far. I'm running about a 900 word deficit and I have no clue at all what will happen in the middle of my novel. (Well, I have a sort of vague idea of what will happen at the end of my novel, but getting there is going to be a helluva surprise for me and the characters involved.) But hey, I've written more than 4000 words! That's 4000 more words than I've written since getting story-writing writer's block (back in Jr. High School)! And, really, I'm having a total blast.

If you are noveling along with me and the other WriMo's, how are you doing? Anyone out there doing NaBloPoMo or NaKniSweMo or InaDWriMo any other take-on-an-obscenely-huge-task-and-just-do-the-whole-thing-in-the-Month-of-November thing?

Um...

I am really not sure what to think about this... (Link via BuzzFeed, thanks!)

It begins...

Remember when I mentioned that I would be too busy in the month of November for Holiday knitting? The reason is that I signed up for NaNoWriMo. I'm very excited. I got a few of my friends to join in the fun as well--even Mr. Interrupted (sadly blogless) signed up! Yesterday, I would get butterflies in my stomach every time I thought of NaNo starting today. Crap, it starts today?! I gotta go!