False Pretenses

When Vi had asked me if I'd like to go to Harps and Thistles, I thought everything was on the level. It was just going to be a nice day out with a friend.

I made myself up all pretty, even deciding to wear my Ashton shawl, and headed up, completely oblivious to shenanigans happening in my home.

I found some absolutely stunning grey yarn to use for the Boo Knits MKAL I'm planning on doing next month.

Seriously, I need some better pictures. I can't even describe how it actually looks in person.

Anyway, Vi and I stopped for lunch and then headed back home where I walked in to see...

...my entire dining room decorated in a dungeon(!!!) theme for my birthday.

THESE ASSHOLES ACTUALLY MANAGED TO PULL ONE OVER ON ME AND I'M SO ANGRY AND HAPPY AND ANNOYED AND EMOTIONAL!

We chilled out for the rest of the day, playing games and just hanging out.

It was perfect and wonderful. The best way to leave 27 behind.

So thank you, you giant nerds, for such a great day.

Also, remember this when we have our next D&D session this Thursday.

I foresee some revenge...

A Farmer's Market Worth of Lemons

Today's blog post wasn't supposed to be like this.

It was supposed to be about how I triumphed in my mad dash of getting my shawl done in time to wear to Steph's wedding. There would be pictures from the venue, of loving friends, three of us sporting our shawls, of Mikayla and I happily knitting on our socks at the reception table, of us looking fabulous and amazing, showing off our new outfits, showing off our partners. Happy memories, joyous times...

But, the universe laughed and screamed, "FUCK THAT!"

I should have heeded the warnings.

Everything was going too well.

I found a fabulous dress in a color that I adored at a super deep discount. PLUS it matched a lip color that I had wanted to buy at Ulta (which I did) AND I found a matching eyeshadow.

I finished my shawl days before my deadline. It was easy to block out. Came out to the perfect size, despite me leaving off the last few rows.

The Red Tide even stayed away, which as a PCOS sufferer, is always a gamble.

It was all coming together.

Then Saturday dawned.

Everything went to shit Saturday. Everything was going wrong. But still, we made it out the door (extremely late, but not so late that we'd miss the wedding), looking good, makeup and hair perfect, and started towards the venue. We were about 40 minutes into the journey when our car decided that the rest of our day was going to go from bad to worse.

I'll spare you the details, but our car completely died on us. And there was no resurrecting it. We had to be towed back home.

Needless to say, we missed the wedding.

And, if that wasn't enough, it also ruined the surprise outing John had planned for today as my birthday present.

Yeah...

So, instead of the much lovelier post this should have been, you'll have to deal with just another regular finished shawl post.

What? We weren't about to waste looking this good by not at least going and taking pics.

So, I went back and forth about what shawl I actually wanted to do for this project. I knew I wanted to use my lovely speckled yarn, but was unsure of what I wanted to pair it with.

I just happened to stumble upon the newly released When You're Fast Asleep shawl pattern on instagram and knew I had found a winner.

The next issue was deciding what color I wanted to pair with it. Because the yarn had all manner of rainbow speckles, my choices were virtually limitless.

After much agonizing and deliberating, I decided on MadTosh Merino Light in Glazed Pecan. It was a good brassy gold, not too yellow, and not too muted. AND it was on sale.

The problem is that I took so long deciding that by the time I ordered the yarn and had it arrive, it was already Thursday the 6th. And I had to have the whole thing done and ready by the 15th. That, my friends, is a REALLY FRIGGIN TIGHT DEADLINE.

But, I got her done.

And she is rather lovely.

I decided to give my project the title of Carnival in the Castle for a few different reasons. One, the original pattern was based on Cinderella's castle. Two, the speckled yarn is the Carnival colorway from Malabrigo. And third, I'm just bloody clever like that.

It was a fairly straightforward knit, which was a blessing. The stockinette sections definitely got a little tedious, but the lace made up for it.

If I remember correctly, I came out with a 78 inch wingspan, which I was quite pleased about. Especially because my shawl is actually a few rows shorter than the pattern as written.

Yes, my friends. For the first time in my life, I KNIT A SHAWL SMALLER THAN THE PATTERN SAID TO!

Maybe I was just trying to get hell to freeze over since it's been so GATDAMNED hot here.

Orrrrr... maybe I was lazy and just didn't want to have to weave in two more ends.

Regardless, I really do love this shawl. And while I'm devastated about having to miss the wedding (the brain gremlins are being particularly nasty in that regard today), I figure I'll just have to find an excuse to wear this whole ensemble to some snazzy future event.

BONUS CONTENT!

Can't really leave off without showing off my hot-as-feck spouse.

He has fully embraced purple as his color and, I must say, the results are rather.... breathtaking.

..............................

I may have a case of the vapors.

ONE LAST THING

I had fully intended on getting my blog anniversary post done this weekend, but with my brain being all ridiculous and depression-y/anxiety-y right now, I'm going to hold off until I'm in a better state of mind.

I mean, I have yet to post one on the actual anniversary anyways. What's another couple of days?

Outtakes and Extras

*Note: This was scheduled to be posted yesterday, but Blogger borked it up

What?! ANOTHER POST?! THE DAY AFTER ONE?!

MADNESS!

Really though, I just had a little bit of extras and funny moments from around here that I wanted to share in a quick little list post.

1. When we were taking pictures of Squish Squash yesterday, I was in a super bad mood. I was tired, frustrated, and sweating to death. I nearly gave up on even trying to take pics because of it all.

John also had a REALLY BAD HABIT of STANDING IN THE DAMN WAY when I was trying to take pictures myself.

2. I forgot to bring a hair tie with me on our picture taking journey, so I had to improvise. Turns out that a shawl stick is REALLY GOOD at keeping hair up.

3. My goodies from the latest Destination Yarn/Erin Lane Bag collab came in.

The yarn is called Adler(!) Planetarium and I'm so in love.

I may or may not be planning on buying three more skeins when I can to do a circular shawl with...

4. My friggin cactus bloomed AGAIN!

Lily has declared that it's name is now Orlando... Orlando Bloom.

I know, I know. I'm pissed, too.

Pissed that I didn't come up with that myself.

5. We celebrated Bethany's birthday Friday night with a ridiculously fun D&D session. And I, because I'm me, decided THREE HOURS before she was supposed to be here that I was going to make her a plushy of her dragon companion.

Yep. Done and done. No time for proper pictures, though, unfortunately. I *was* cutting it a little close.

6. The sky was VERY pretty Thursday evening after that giant storm.

Al took that last one.

7. We made a friend when we were taking pictures of my shawl. 

8. Yes, I realize that I should have put that further up, but I'm not about to renumber all of these.

9. I woke up with some strange facial hair yesterday morning.

10. Someone was SUPER not happy about another kitty getting pets.

11. This makeup look makes me RIDICULOUSLY happy.

12. And we'll tack on a little something here at the end just for John.

Can I Get a Thicc-ness?

Last year's Great Trail was marked by John and I shivering our arses off, huddling together under a dozen blankets, trying to pool what little body we had between us. As I sat there, contemplating offing a buffalo and crawling inside its carcass (hey, it worked for Mr. Skywalker), I vowed that this year, I WOULD NOT BE COLD.

No, we're not going to discuss the fact that it is currently 85°F out and will only be steadily rising for the rest of the weekend, okay? Just... just... just look at the damn shawl!

Meet Squish Squash, my third completely original shawl pattern. And the second one that was designed, knit, and finished in less than a week.

I had 400 yards of a bulky weight cotton/wool mix that I wanted to use for this shawl. The plan was to use as much of it as possible without running out because there wasn't really a way to get any more. And, well.... I ran out.

So I had to improvise a solution. I grabbed two random balls of browinsh-grey worsted weight from the scrap basket as well as a ball of Eco Duo that I've had for years, held them together and prayed to Henry that it would work.

Happy to report that it worked beautifully. And I absolutely love it now. Wasn't too keen on it at first, but after seeing the finished thing, I adore it.

It also came out to be the perfect size. Just enough to wrap around without any bits dangling down into "catch on fire" territory.

I also really enjoyed doing the cables on this one. And I may actually be craving doing some more???

Who the hell even am I?!

Someone who's goddamn warm as feck right now, that's who.