I'm moving.....

over to Wordpress.
I'll have a permanent link in the sidebar to this site, but the new blog is GreenSparrow not only knits
I've been tossing around the idea of moving the blog for a while now, and last night I decided to take the plunge and get it over with. I'm leaving this site up instead of importing, because I didn't want to loose my images in the posts and all that. So we're starting over fresh at the new site, and I'm changing all of my feeds and links to direct there. Thanks for reading and don't forget to switch your link!

One down!

I'm off to a good start on FO Month. I have one to show!



I finished my last tea towel from Sublime Stitching today, and instead of putting it aside for pictures later, as is my habit lately, I took a few photos now. Overall, I think my stitching is improving. Like the after-burn? I do.

I was definitely missing my little guys up in Oregon when I picked out the transfers (also from Sublime Stitching) for this tea towel.

I have to say that I prefer smiling happy aliens to the mean ones with tentacles. I think this little guy would happily take you for a spin in his ship, then drop you of safely at home before dinnertime.

Now into the china hutch drawer with it, where it can wait until a holiday to keep the bread warm on the table. I'd like to use my tea towels in the kitchen for wiping clean dishes, like my grandma did (she had a Sunbonnet Sue set I remember distinctly), but we get a little haphazard in the kitchen over here and I'm afraid my nice white towels would get used to mop up red Kool-aid or something equally as devastating to white linens. Maybe when I get my own place, then I can have all of the decorative towels I can stand in my own kitchen.

Concerted effort

So I've been a crappy blogger lately. Not that I'm an excellent blogger at any other time, but recently I've been lax. No content, no crafts, or no posts. I'm pretty sure that any readers I had have jumped ship, and I can't blame them. In an effort to get the blogging mojo back, I'm making April FO month. I have a ton of half or nearly completed projects sitting in baskets, some knitty, some not, and all are starting to get on my nerves. They need to be done. Gone. Out of my sight. I made a deal with myself. If I finish all of my projects this month, I can cast on a new one. But only after I've completed all of them, not before, no matter how small.

It's not April yet, but I thought I'd start of right and present you with... a FO!

The Jacobean Socks are complete! Glory hallelujah! I plowed through the first one, only to abandon the second in the work basket and only retrieve it for knit night. Pretty pathetic.

The pattern was alright. Once it's knit up, I see that it's not really my taste. My feelings on the short row heel stay the same, as does my opinion of Brown Sheep Wildfoote. Ho hum. But it's done and I am no longer avoiding them. One down!

So how many WIP's do I have?

• Nantucket Jacket: Just needs seaming.
• Saxon Braid Cardi: Needs half an arm, a hood, and button bands.
• Mr. Funky: Little amigurumi thing. Needs to be stuffed and sewn together.
• Amigurumi wiener dog: Needs legs and tail sewn on.
• Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting: Needs left front and seaming.
• Baby bonnet from Knitting for Two: Needs ribbon ties.
• Tea towel from Sublime Stitching: Finishing touches to border.
• Hidcote Garden Shawl: Only about a third of the way done, and really exempt from this month-o -finishing thing. I have no delusions of completing this thing any time soon.

Most of my projects I got to the final stage and crapped out. It's appalling how little I really have to do to finish these things, but there it is. I'm recovering from a fit of project ADD or project infidelity, which ever you choose. Either way, I just kept casting on and knitting until it got time to break out the darning needle and set it down. Hopefully I'll show some intestinal fortitude and get some things done.

What I'm listening to: Apparently it's 2003 all over again, because I've been listening to Coheed and Cambria "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3" and AFI "Sing the Sorrow" on a loop all weekend. What can I say? It was a good year.

No, my nephews are not spoiled, and I have nothing to do with that, of course.

Behold, Lord Tater!

I went to the comic book store near my house last night to browse around (and finally they had Fables Vol. 1 in stock woo hoo!), and snapped up this little guy the second I saw it. Baby D three, rapidly going on four years old, and loves all things Star Wars. Especially Darth Vader. The kid loves Darth Vader, thinks Darth Vader is the greatest guy around. Start 'em on the evil young, I guess. I suppose it was inevitable, my brother being a child of the '70's. Brother and Baby D dressed up as Jedi (Jedii, Jedis?) for Halloween last year, and I have a strong suspicion that Baby D was less than thrilled not to be the Dark Lord for trick or treating.

** OK, I just ran spell check, like I do on all posts, to minimize the impact of my atrocious spelling, and the words Darth, Vader, and Jedi were all in the dictionary. But kitchener isn't? I suppose the sic-fi computer geeks really do have all the power in this world.

I'm trying to distract you with photos.

Apologising again for my appalling lack of crafting, but I have pictures! Pretty pretty pictures of roses. At least that's what Momma told me they were.

I hadn't noticed they were blooming on the bush in the backyard until today, so I took a few snaps as proof that it isn't snowing in some parts of the globe.

I have no idea what genus or phylum these things belong to. I don't even know if I got that biology reference right. Probably not, I had the band teacher for biology in 10th grade, and we all know how that works out. I didn't even dissect a frog, despite being told I'd fail the class if I didn't. I was a bleeding heart liberal even then, and I didn't think my knowledge of biology would be enhanced by hacking up a poor innocent frog. And guts are pretty gross. I got a B anyway and spent the time while the class was dissecting their frogs with Jen Darnell searching the teacher's desk drawers. We found a pair of handcuffs in the bottom drawer. But I digress.

This is what spring in Nevada looks like, all four weeks of it. I already had to use the air conditioning in my car the other day. Yeech. I've lived out here for... twelve years, not including when I was going to college in California, and I've never gotten used to the summers. Dry heat my ass.

Happy Easter, yo!

blather with very little to do with knitting

It's been a slow week over here. I have been knitting, but not really blog worthy stuff, which is funny, since I blog nearly everything I knit. I never have that many WIP's going, so if I had stealth knitting, I wouldn't have anything to blog about. That said... no knitting to show for now. Maybe when I'm done. All I'm doing is obsessing over my odd balls in the stash and thinking of ways to get rid of them. One hundred yards of yarn is a tricky thing to get rid of, and I'm not a fan of stripes and odd ball afghans. Some people might be, but in my opinion... belch. Uuuugly. So that basically leaves me with baby items, which are fast, but require finishing and right now 'finishing' is a dirty word to me. Moving on.

Tomorrow is Easter, and against tradition, I will not be cooking up a huge spread of food for dinner. No one is really into celebrating this year, we've all been a little out of joint since my grandma died. So all I'm cooking tomorrow is a vegetable soup, some deviled eggs and rolls. That's it. Not even dessert. I thought about dessert, but Sister is back into dieting and I didn't want to hear whining about calories as she single handedly scarfed down whatever sugary snack I whipped up. Seriously, it happens every holiday.

As a little treat to myself, I got the new spring/summer Vogue Knitting, which I mainly get for the articles. (How much like a pervert did I just sound like?) The features are great, I always love Meg Swanson's articles, but the patterns... another belch. I equate it to regular fashion Vogue, where it's more about the look and the impact of the clothes rather than something you'd actually wear out in public. Same with Vogue Knitting. "Look what I did with yarn!" rather than "Knit this a wear it, it's totally functional!" But this time, I was pleasantly surprised to find patterns I would... wait for it... actually knit. No! Really? Knitting patterns I like in a knitting magazine? Perish the thought. To tell the truth, I'd have to modify just about every one I liked, since Vogue in general likes to deny the fact that some people have a little extra padding, but I'm getting better at up sizing, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. There's still a lot of no-way-in-hell patterns in this issue, i.e. knitted dresses, but some very cute tops. Very pleased indeed.

Everyone might be Irish today...

but I'm Irish every day. Happy St. Paddy's, y'all! Have a pint for me.