Finished.

I finished my Shalom Cardigan.
And I love it.

I decided to make it long sleeved, so I had to order a few more balls of yarn. Including the wait time, I had this sweater done in just over 2 weeks, while simultaneously battling a bad case of knitting ADD.
In all, I used about 9 skeins, and the total cost for this sweater is less than $30. Can't beat that, considering that the yarn for my Central Park Hoodie cost right at $100 (don't tell husband), and it took me 7 weeks to complete.

As I said in my previous post, most mods are per Ishi. However, I decided to add sleeves. To do this, I started with the 50 stitches (per mods), dec 2 st every 12th rnd twice, then dec 2 st every 6th round 8 times. I knit 15 rows, then added 3 garter ridges around the cuff to tie into the garter hem. This yields a sleeve that is about 13 inches at the upper arm, and about 8 inches at the cuff.

While knitting this, I hit a sort of knitting milestone-

I broke a needle.

The cable just came right out of the end of my Knit Picks Options. I've never had that happen before, and I've used these needles heavily since I got them for Christmas last year. Hmph.

Today Husband and I went to see Twilight. I read the books, then convinced Husband to read them. Of course, he didn't like them nearly as much as I did, but he did want to go see the movie.

Now, about the movie....

Edward Cullen (Rob Pattinson) was, of course, scrumptious.

His acting skillz, however, were not. He seemed like he was reading his lines and not really acting like Edward. Also, having read the series- well, let's just say a few times- I was really disappointed in all of the inaccuracies in the movie. But I guess that comes with the territory of movies based on books.

The filming was so-so, and you could really tell this was a low-budget flick. It's too bad these people had no idea how big this movie would be, because I think they could have put a little more money into it and made it a ton better. My advice- if you're not totally obsessed with the series already, wait for the DVD.

Oh well.

Edward was nice to look at anyway.

I HAVE been knitting...

...more than usual, actually. Since I finished school last month, I have so much more time to knit, and I love it! Especially now, since the weather is actually behaving seasonally. I think the high for today is supposed to be 45. It may finally be fall here in Kentuckiana.

So, here's a picture of what I'm currently working on:

Pattern: Shalom Cardigan (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Cascade Bollicine Revolution

This yarn was on clearance at WEBS for less than $3 a ball. I bought enough to make the cardigan, but as I was knitting this bulky yarn on size 11 needles, I decided that a short-sleeved bulky sweater isn't really practical for me. So I decided to make it long sleeved. I called WEBS to ask if they could match the dyelot. And ya know what? They did. Which really surprised me. As far as mods go, I followed Ishi's lead, with the exception of adding sleeves. Love this thing so far.

Now, on to my Gathered Pullover.

It's done!

Obviously, it's not a long sleeved sweater, but I'd had it with working sleeves on this thing. I tried following the pattern, and it got me into trouble. Then I tried just picking up stitches around the armhole to make sleeves, but that didn't work out either.
I ended up with a bunch in the armpit area and a sleeve that was a bit too tight on the upper arm. This caused the shoulders to pull downward and make me look like I was trying out for Flashdance. No thank you.

Now on to my Stirling Cloche.

I really love cloches. They look so sleek and sophisticated. I found a really cute one in my One Skein Wonders book and decided that I would actually order the yarn called for.
Big mistake.
I hate boucle yarn. I don't know why I thought this would be any different. I can't ever tell if I'm knitting into the stitch or just a loop of the boucle. So what do I do? Why, I order it in black, to make it even harder to tell what I'm doing.

The pattern advises you to hand felt this cloche in very hot water. My bathroom sink was a mess, because this yarn sheds like nobody's business, and it bled. Terribly.

After hand felting it twice, it still came out waayyy too big around, and that's saying something: I have a huge head (It's hard to tell in this picture, but, if there was a rogue wind anywhere near, it would send my hat flying). I decided to felt it in the washer, and the yarn was still bleeding.

And then it was too short.

Meh.

On another note, we went to the Big New Comedy Club (names may have been changed to protect the innocent) downtown last night to see Norm MacDonald. It was a good time, and the comedians were all pretty funny.

The club, however, rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it's just because I'm used to the Comedy Caravan, which has that local feel to it. Anyway, this Big New Comedy Club books only the big names in comedy, which equates to big ticket prices. That's OK. I expect that.

What I don't expect, however, is for said Comedy Club to tell me that I have to purchase at least 2 drinks while watching the show. Seriously? Didn't I already fulfill my obligation to them by purchasing a ticket??! I pay, you make me laugh. End of commitment, right?

And what would they do if I didn't purchase 2 drinks? Would they hold me hostage until I did? Am I naive? Is this standard practice around here? In all honesty, there's a good chance that I would have had more than my 2 beer minimum, but that just irritated me to no end.

Oh, and their food's over-priced.

Bitter much? You betcha.

Halloween

I can't tell you how long it's been since I dressed up for Halloween. Well, maybe I can. I was Elvira in 2000, when I worked at a pretty seedy joint.
So, to make up for lost time, I dressed up not once, but twice this year.
On Halloween, I dressed as Amy Winehouse. I know I'm not a cracked-out rock star, but hey, it was fun. I drew trashy tattoos on my arms and wore more eye makeup on one night than I usually do all year long.

Steph as a scarecrow

I thought I'd done a fairly good impersonation, as several people knew who I was right off the bat. But, I guess the huge hive-hair, tons of eyeliner, and shirt that has Winehouse's album name on it wasn't enough for some. Someone didn't get it, because "Amy Winehouse is skinny."

Ouch.

So, on Saturday, to make it easier on everyone (and my self-confidence), we dressed as a couple that everyone should recognize:

But in case you didn't get it, we were Fred & Wilma Flintstone. I think Husband makes a great Fred.

Kevin the Strangler thought so too, and he wanted to off him with his cut-off piece of extension cord.

The Magician and his assistant didn't want any violence. They were just there for the party, man. Oh, and to do some tricks.


The Economy and the Bailout package were there too. Those greedy people, eating up our Retirement and taking money from the little man...

People at this party were from all over the world. This Frenchman decided that he needed to bring his Maid to the party with him. I don't know this for sure, but I think they have more than just an employer-employee relationship.

The party was fun, but you know, a party just isn't a party until someone catches on fire.

Seriously?!

Here's Tom the magician, pointing out his dad's back. He caught on fire either from the fire pit on the deck or from a candle on the railing. His Thing 1 costume was obviously NOT flame retardant.

The general consensus was that it could have been much worse if it weren't for the Travelocity Gnome, who put the fire out. With his hands.

How's that for service? I bet Priceline wouldn't send William Shatner to do the same.