Surprise from my last Sock Wars target

day254
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

There was a box propped up on my mailbox door today. I wasn't expecting anything, so I was very curious. I should've recognized the name Pammy Knits on the box, but haven't been adequately caffeinated yet today. Pam was my last official 'kill' in the current Sock Wars. When I read online that she'd received the socks and that she liked them, I was happy. I didn't think about it again until today. She sent me a box of goodies as a thank you! Pam's generosity and thoughtfulness included:

• A set of cute sock-shaped point protectors.
  
• A set of handcrafted wooden knitting needles with ladybug finials.
  
• An Evelyn Clark pattern for Oddball Sock Monkeys. Lately I've been making more monkeys that I have socks. This pattern uses leftover sock yarn. Perfect.
  
• Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in yummy colorway Florentina. I have been wanting to try this yarn. I also have this thing about Wales, where Colinette yarns come from. Whenever I need to go to my happy place to calm down, I go to Wales. Now I can knit a whole pair of socks there.
  

Pam, you're wonderful for doing this. Thanks so much.

Ravelympics

My Ravelympics details. I am signed up for:

• Sock Put. My goal is to complete at least one pair of the Advanced Socks (see Summer Yarn Smackdown). Remember to add Paula tag to project as you move past the first pair of socks.
  
• Amigurumi Toss. My goal is to complete at least one Crochet Amigurumi (see Summer Yarn Smackdown) AND Sam the Ram. Remember to add Paula tag to project as you move past the first amigurumi.
  

I can start Sam on Friday 08/08/08 at 08:08 am.
At noon (or whenever patterns are posted), I switch to Smackdown projects.
In between Smackdown projects, I continue on Sam. This continues until no later than Sunday 8/24 11 am.

Summer Yarn Smackdown

My Summer 2008 Yarn Smackdown details.
Food Fight. Dead. Zombie toast prepared. Awaiting zombification and target.
Advanced Sock. Dead. Awaiting zombification.
Granny Square. Dead. Zombie granny prepared. Awaiting zombification and target.
Crochet Amigurumi. Dead. Zombie bear prepared. Awaiting zombification and target.

Food Fight: info passed on okay.
Advanced Sock: Dead target has yet to post. The other info passed on okay.
Granny Square: Management knows I've not received info from target. No entirely sure who needs the info.
Crochet Amigurumi: Target sent me no information and neither did my assassin. Assassin's assassin now knows this.

Granny data:

EG killed YB

YB killed SX

SX killed me

I killed FR

FR killed LN

LN killed somebody, don't know who yet

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt

therapi538
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I can't possibly have 100 different kinds of yarn around here. Ravelry tells me otherwise. This ball of Therapi was my 100th stashed yarn entry.

The really scary part is that not all of my stash is in Ravelry. I've got a bin of yarn that's Red Heart and other man-made fibers. This doesn't count because I use it for amigurumi and charity knitting that wants machine washable fibers. Oh, and the bag of eyelash yarn I bought at Big Lots. And that furry stuff I got when SuperTarget was selling yarn in the dollar section. Those shouldn't count.

Slow Dancing with the Bee

I did it. I restarted the Slow Bee Mystery shawl. It consists of three sections on either side of a band that runs down the center. It was mostly okay except on of the sections on one side had a some errors. They got worse and worse and it finally hit the point where I knew I couldn't live with them.

Yes, I know about lifelines and no, I didn't use them. The yarn doesn't lend itself to stiches being picked back up very well, so I chose not to do that. What I'm doing differently this time is putting an extra stitch marker in each of the six sections. It's just before the middle stitch. I'm also marking the middle stitch on the pattern sheets. This way, I'll know early enough to fix things.

Instead of completely frogging my work and rewinding the yarn, I'm knitting off of the previous work. The original shawl's in a cardboard box to catch any of the beads that escape.

If anybody's looking for me, I'll be sitting here, knitting the Slow Bee and listening to podcasts.

Olympic Needlework Notes

I'm involved in two groups, both of which involve knitting and crocheting during the Olympics. The projects are tangled up between the groups, so I'm using this post to help untangle them.

The Ravelympics

are open to any knitter or crocheter on Ravelry ready to challenge themselves to complete a project (or projects) within 17 days during the Summer Olympics.

I am on Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. The reason will be clear shortly. My events are Sock Put (see Smackdown) and Amigurumi Toss. The latter will be covered partly under Smackdown but mainly by Sam the Ram. I've already done him once, incorrectly. He's much, much harder than he looks.

Summer Yarn Smackdown. My events are Advanced Sock, Crochet Amigurumi, Granny Square, and Goofy. I have no clue what Goofy will involve, except that it may involve knit or crochet. Each of these events involve making and mailing something before somebody makes and mails it to you.

Clearly, I've lost what little of my mind was left.

LMAO

I'm in a bit of a not happy place. It's mostly because I desperately need a job and have gone through months and months of not finding one. I'm not whining, just explaining why it takes something exceptional to make me laugh.

I nearly decorated my screen with coffee when I saw this.

Thank you, Franklin. Job or no job, I've got your book on preorder at Amazon.

::wondering what kind of yarn you need to knit a Toyota Prius::

Update

• The final pair of socks for Sock Wars have reached their target from their assassin. I have no idea why I was not able to contact my assassin's assassin, but email bounced over and over. We're talking two email addresses on the same domain, people! Anyway, the socks fit, the recipient likes them, and the person credited with the kill will continue in the war. And I can stop talking about it.
  
• I was tempted to completely frog the Slow Bee shawl, but talked myself out of it. The rows are approaching 700 stitches. I don't think I'm going to do another project like this one any time soon. My goal is to knit four rows a day. This should keep me up to date when the weekly clues are posted.
  
• I wanted to do something fun as a reward for my four mega rows, so I've started the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Funky Monkey kit.
  
• My other fun thing is a swap on Ravelry. It's a secret, so we don't know where our package is coming from. I've been snooping to find out what I should and should not get for my partner.