O HAI!

Thanks to all who came to the Winter Super Fun Times gathering on Saturday! Click through to see our poor sampling of photos from the event. Click here for way better pictures from SEA, though I think you have to be one of her contacts to see them. Which is fine by me, since I got one of my, shall we say, “party whims,” and decided it would be great fun to knit a merkin. Many modeled the blue, fuzzy thing and SEA captured the action. (All merkin photos are clean, don’t worry.)

I had wanted everyone’s Decemberween presents to be done by Saturday, but that did not happen. I can’t knit on the train anymore, because I take a later train, which is way crowded, and I get all cramped trying to avoid elbowing the person next to me. So, evenings are my only knitting time these days. I kept getting terrible headaches in the evenings the week before the party, so I ran out of knitting time. Finishing the larger items (which shall remain slightly secret, since there is at least one who may read this that still does not know what they are) was impossible, so I decided to just work on the smaller items. But I needed at least 15 of those, and only managed 7. Therefore, only a few party guests got their party favor nose warmer. Alas.

I have decided that one of my knitterly resolutions for this year is to knit things that teach me new skills. For too long have my knitting skills been stagnant. I decided that the first things I would learn would be short rows. I know, I know, I’ve been knitting since I was 13 and I still need to learn short rows? Yes. Well, not really anymore, since I had to learn to do them for the nose warmers. They are essentially the toe of a toe-up sock, with crochet chain ties to secure behind the head. The instructions I used (for sock toes) were pretty good, except they left out certain important elements, such as which side of the work the yarn needs to be on for certain actions. Or rather, it kept leaving out the instruction to put the yarn back after having moved it. I find it very hard to learn new skills from written instructions because there are too many gaps. Without a real person sitting next to me filling in the gaps in instructions, I’m at a loss.

Anyway, after much trial and error, and tears, and ripping the darn things out again, it was midnight on Friday, the night before the day they were supposed to be gifts, and I still hadn’t got it right. I went to bed annoyed, but in the wee hours I had a knitterly epiphany, and as soon as I picked up the stupid thing the next morning, it started to click. I finally had the thrill of learning something new, and stopped swearing at the instructions (and the yarn, and the needles, and myself), and was able to whip them out at a pretty good pace (25 minutes each, including weaving in ends). Now I just have to finish the rest of them, and pop them in the post. Who wouldn’t love to get a nose warmer in their mailbox, right? I do need to figure out who got one and who didn’t, though.

It snowed Monday, and Radcliffe was closed, so I got to finish several things and pop a few in the post, which was rad. Unfortunately, I got sick that day, and then stayed home most of the week. It was a killer cold with a stupid fever and stuff. I had a really long, one day work week. And Monday is a holiday, too. I feel like a bum. But a well rested bum.

We’re going to see Cloverfield tonight. JeT has been following the marketing/hype/propaganda for this film for months, so we’re wicked excited to actually see the darned thing. I’m just excited to get out to see a movie. We don’t get out very often. And tomorrow, I’m going on a shopping spree with other people’s money. I’ve been amassing a fairly large collection of gift cards these last few months, and I’m going to spend them all in one day. A movie and shopping? Super fun consumer times, woot! There will also be a trip to Kam Man market tomorrow for some bento supplies. Hooray!