Oh, I Got Your Yarn Porn Friday...

First off, thank you all for participating in yesterday's poll! The feedback was largely encouraging, so I listed the skein for sale at the shop. We'll see. It's nice to change things up at the wheel once in a while, too, so spinning different stuff is fun for me. If nothing else, the colors make me happy, so just having the skein in the room kind of cheers me up.

So! How's about we just get a whole year's worth of Yarn Porn over with in this one post?

Yeah....

(Hee - I just noticed the little drowning-in-wool lamb at the bottom of the pile on the left; not even sure how that got there! "Save me from the irony!!" Lambykins says.)

I finally stopped being a petulant and crappy Beta tester last night, and committed to photographing, at the very least, my sock yarn stash for Ravelry. (I was fortunate enough to get an invite way early on, before I even had heard a word about what the hell Ravelry was - and how glorious it has turned out to be! - and it has taken me forever to do my part. I think I'm afraid of getting totally sucked into it, so I've been resisting...but I'm wearing down...)

So yes, that's my sock yarn stash. The wool of it, anyway. Didn't get the cottons done...

If you'd like to drool over peruse the whole thing, skein by skein, you can do so at the Flickr photoset. I really do have some great stuff - I feel fortunate. And I love them each so very much - I realized when I was uploading the photos (PS: LOVE the Flickr Uploadr) that I could pretty much rattle off the brand and colourways of almost all of them from memory. And yet I have no idea where my favorite shoes have gotten off to... So check out all SIXTY EIGHT pictures on the photoset. (Oh, and I missed a couple - I think my Socks that Rock from the April club shipment might have ran away...I took it off the shelf, but I see no photo, and I don't remember putting it back on the shelf. I'll probably find it stuffed under the bed a month from now - wool gremlins.)

Other than that, not much going on here, other than my current obsession with planning our newly-and-suddenly-imperative trip to either Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or New York in December. (I'm thinking Vegas, but it could change...) Why? Oh, you know why. (Is my generation gap showing?)

This weekend? RATATOUILLE!!!!! Wahooo!!!!

(Edit: Or, cancel all my plans. This week's clue for the Mystery Stole came out - I only have to work the first ONE HUNDRED ROWS of the damned thing by next Friday. Gack.)

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

First things first! I won a contest over at Rosi's blog a little while ago, and I got my prize in the mail yesterday. Dude!

Handmade soap, handmade lip balm (her soaps and lip balm are the BEST), pretty glass stitch markers, sock yarn, cookies, and FIVE bags of yummy tea in some of my favorite flavors! (Five!! Geez, I hope I have enough tea to get me through the week. ;-D)

Funny thing about the cookies...


Shortly after Travis got home and I gave him two cookies and told him no more, I heard a rustling noise coming from the pantry.


Uh-huh.


Pretty....


I love this yarn! Details on it can be found here. It's totally my colors, and I think it would look really good in cables; maybe I'll try it in my new pattern, or tinker with my new pattern, add some details and complications, and do that...

Speaking of which:


Yay, progress!

Oh - and I joined the Mystery Stole 3 thing. Seems like it could be fun, and I don't do enough KAL-type things.

Now, I need your help.


I'm still not sure whether this skein is fun, or if I just messed up a perfectly good braid of Yarn Pirate's roving. It may just be that novelty-type yarn isn't totally to my taste; I've spun some of my little rovettes into yarn like this, and yarn with coils, and I liked them okay, so maybe it's just the fact that there's so MUCH of this skein, and it's throwing off my perception.


What do you think? I made up one of those nice little anonymous polls, so you could tell me honestly where you stand. (I have a lot of faith in your general niceness, so I don't imagine I'd get very many "Ugh, no way - burn it!" comments, and I want honesty, so I figure anonymity will help.) Please vote, I'm curious not only as to what to do with this particular skein, but also as to whether I should throw a skein like this out there once in a while or just stick to regular old yarn spinning and leave the fun stuff for somebody else. (And because it came out really hard to read here, and it wasn't on the poll generator thing - the poll question is "What do you think, is it worth listing for sale?")



(Psst, Friends to the north: y'all are just so much more delicate with your wording up there. Had to come up with a more subtle version of "Bleccchhhhh!" for you. Also suitable for those located in the UK.)

Envy Me.

I had the day off of work today. I spent the day working on a sock in some of the cushiest plastic chairs our fine county has to offer: drivers' license bureau, tax collector's office, bank, social security office (that one was exceptionally...something.) But at least I'm pretty sure I'm mostly kind of done with the whole name-change thing, and hallelujah for that. (What fun. I swear, this guy ever tries to take off, I'm kicking him in the nurtz. Hard.) ;-)

Nothing to offer in the way of progress, really, other than several more inches of Sockapalooza progress (and one step back - had to frog about six or seven rounds of what I believe happened on malfunctioning autopilot at that social security office.) I also finished a skein that I'm pretty sure will never see the light of day. Maybe I'll post it here and take votes to see if you think I should knit it, sell it, burn it, or tie it to some helium balloons, release it with my phone number scribbled on a skein tag, and see who calls.

Oh, I wanted to address a few things:

1. We do not have a new kitten. Nothing against kittens, obviously; it's just that I have a weird obsession with symmetry, and bringing a kitten home would be a disaster. We are currently a household of six: one boy person, one girl person, one boy cat, one girl cat, one boy dog, one girl dog. If I bring home a kitten...well, it would throw off the ratios and you can imagine where that would end up. (It makes it easy for Travis to talk me out of getting another ragdoll kitty though, because while the statement, "Now, sweetheart, you know if we get another cat, you're going to have to have a baby" may sound completely insane to all of you, it makes perfect sense to me.) Anyway, no; that kitten was at our knitting meetup at Fiber Art in (somewhere on the west side of the state....Odessa?) Bit of a long story about that sweet little kitty, and it's kind of open-ended for now. (It won't end in this house. I have too many socks to knit to suddenly start on baby garments.)

2. The shop is fun; selling stuff is wicked fun (thanks!!!); stressing over whether I'm pricing things fairly isn't as fun. I keep tinkering with the listings, but I think I've settled on prices for now.

3. In News of the Stuff I Should Be Ashamed of But Will Share with You Anyway Because It Keeps Me Grounded: I watched The Brady Bunch Movie on cable this weekend.

4. Twice.

Happy knitting!

What's Goin' On (what's goin' on)

It's been a lot about the spinning, huh? I've been working on knitting stuff, too, but I haven't really shown anything. It's all in progress, but I figure I could post pictures of the project bags to prove that I do still knit sometimes...

Here's Green Gable. It's a quick knit if you're anyone else, but since it's my here-and-there project, it's not going as quickly as possible. I think I have plenty of yarn, so I'll probably modify the pattern to have above-the-elbow sleeves to make it appropriate for work. (For no particular reason, I don't like wearing sleeveless or cap-sleeved things to the office.)


Here's one Gryffindor sock, patterned in my standard "just wingin' it" style. I really love the yarn; these just have to be done by you-know-when in time for you-know-what.


I *finally* started my Sockapalooza pal's socks. I went through several different ideas before I settled on Cabin Cove yarn in the Yankees Ikat colorway. Also pictured, a nice little simple Lantern Moon project bag. The small ones are about ten bucks; nothing fancy, but effective.


The pattern I'm doing is a 3x3 rib with a braided cable down the center back. I love the way the cable looks, even if it does get a little lost in this colorway; I'll probably try this again in a solid or semi-solid yarn. (And if anyone's interested - or probably even if you're not - I'll likely write up a pattern for it. It's a nice little twist on a plain old ribbed sock; adds something without being too much work.)

Wanna see something I finished? Yeah, we're back to the handspun.


I'm calling this one "Sweet and Low"; it's superwash merino, about a sock weight, heavy fingering, 325 yards, four ounces, from a Pigeon Roof Studios roving in the Punk colorway. It'll be up in the shop, maybe this evening.

Finally...okay, listen, Sock REALLY didn't want me to share this with you. You know what a reputation he has. And he wasn't thrilled that I managed to snag photographic proof of one of his weaknesses. But he's a tiny sock, so there's really nothing he can do to stop me...


Who doesn't love a little baby kitten??

Criiiiipes......

In the following post, I am not complaining, okay? I signed up for it.

But seeing this is still a little scary.

(In case you don't feel like doing all the scrolling and trying to intuit my maiden name so you can find what on earth I'm referring to, here's what I mean:)


(Sorry for the crappy image, but it was the best I could do at the moment.)

See the one in the middle?? Gah! That's me!! That's MY pending workshop at a somewhat major annual fiber festival! I don't know what I'm doing!!!!! (Also, I like to call the workshop listed above me "Keep It Simple Stupid Human-Goat!" because it makes me laugh; human-goat hybrids who tend to over-complicate things - talk about your niche markets!) Where was I? Oh: I'm scared!!!!!!

*deep breath*

Yes, I do know what I'm doing. I've made hats. I taught Travis how to make a hat. He didn't have a pattern, he didn't have anything; all he had was my gentle guiding hand. (Which probably didn't feel so gentle or guiding when I ripped back the crown for the third time because I kept getting the math wrong on the decreases and the stitch count was wonky. But not to worry - somewhere there is a crumply macchiatto-stained napkin with the right numbers jotted on it, and all I have to do is find it.) He wouldn't have a hat if it weren't for me. I can do this. No problem.

*PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

This is how my days will go for the next, oh, four months. Same exact thing for the sock class, if accepted: I taught Travis to knit a sock, and he did so quite well, and yet I feel I'm incapable of doing so in a room full of strangers. Even with the added benefit of written materials and relative anonymity. (No one expects anything from me, because no one knows who in hell I am, so there's no reputation to uphold. But that might be worse; I'd kind of cotton to having a reputation, I think.)

In other news, I think it's likely I'll go to Rhinebeck as well, which is the weekend before SAFF. The only "vacation" I have coming is a conference in Seattle for work, so since those expenses are covered, I can swing a weekend trip. It'd be a good chance to hang with some of my bloggy friends, assuming they'll be there, and maybe they'll be kind enough to ply me with booze and convince me that I'm capable of pulling this workshop thing off. (Knitters? Anybody up for the challenge?)

I Promised...

Back when I knit these, one of my favorite pair of socks, I promised to let y'all know when Posh yarn was back in stock at The Loopy Ewe. I know it's been a long time, but I haven't forgotten; she just posted a big ol' update and there it is! I really recommend this yarn; now, you should know that it's not superwash, but the colors, tight twist, and the sheer deliciousness of this yarn - merino/cashmere! - make it well worth the price, I think! (And while you're there, you might check out some of the other highly coveted yarns in the marketplace; she just updated stuff like The Knittery, Duets, and Zen String, among a zillion other things.

What did I buy? A big fat zilcho, if you can believe it; the sock yarn cubbies are full, and I'm too busy in my love affair with the wheel (SanDeE*) to do much else. (I'll be knitting on Saturday.)

Speaking of love:

Meet "Penelope". This my latest, 200 yards of a two-ply worsted weight in 50% superwash merino / 50% tencel blend. I'm pretty fond of her, probably due in most part to the fiber she came from. Funky Carolina (also here) is definitely at the top of the pile in the roving department. (Literally. In my trunk of roving, all her stuff is on top. There's a reason why I started this.) She dyes exactly the way I like, no big white chunks. (Also great at that kind of roving: Yarn Pirate, Zen String, Mama E, Sweet Sheep.) Not that big white chunks = bad yarn (a roving I used recently had big white chunks, and I lurve the resulting yarn and will definitely buy more from that dyer) but it's just a preference thing. Anyway, this is her roving, in the "Bohemian Light" colorway.


So that's Penelope. And if you're interested, you can pick her up here.

Knitting stuff will be along. I have one sock I finished, but I should photograph it. Or maybe I'll wait to finish the pair. When those are done, I'll start the socks for my Palooooza. (Scary, I still haven't settled on a pattern. I'm thinking I'll concoct something on my own. Even scarier.)

Has Anyone Seen My Clever?

"Your clever what?" No, just my clever. I got nothin', folks, nothin'. I've hit a dry patch; I'm spinning up a storm, and only knitting on Green Gable at lunch and in traffic. (I'm a red-light-knitter.) If I could drag my sorry ass out of bed early enough to catch the bus, I'd be getting a lot more done, including some of those pairs of socks with impending deadlines...my evil diabolical plan is to let Travis get good at knitting and have him be my ghost socker. I don't think he'll go for it, though. I already made him give away his first hat.

I did finish up two skeins over the weekend, and I loved them very much. I say "loved" using the past tense because they're for someone else to love now - I posted them for sale on my new etsy shop yesterday, and they both sold! Yay!! I made something another person felt was worth purchasing! I won't announce every time I sell something, I swear, but these first ones are very exciting for me. (Thank you purchasers, both of whom are blog friends, and one of whom is also one of my own favorite people to give money to.)

My new adoptees:

Skein: "Tiffany *Celebration*", two-ply
Weight/Yardage: 4 ounces, 250 yards
Fiber/Source: 100% superwash merino in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" colorway from Sereknity (or shop for her here...or here.)

(PS: LOVE Sereknity's fiber and colorways! And her prices are extremely reasonable - nice bonus.)


Skein: "So Sari", two-ply
Weight/Yardage: 75 grams, 435 yards
Fiber/Source: 80% merino, 20% tussah silk in "Sanguine" colorway from Hello Yarn. (LOVE these colors.)

I know I always go overboard with a zillion pictures of my handspun, so I'm only posting those two (you're welcome). If you want to see more photos, though, you can peruse the photoset.

In Travis Knitting News: the guys at work are starting to wear on Travis - apparently the "haha, you're such a girl 'cuz you're knitting" thing just NEVER gets old for them. It's horrifyingly pathetic, and it's starting to make me angry. Boys are stupid.

Oh, and I feel as though I've neglected you, having not notified anyone of any big sales or fabulous updates lately, other than my own; you can tell I've been spending less online these past few weeks. But Dani has a big update scheduled today at 11:00 EST over at Sunshine Yarns, and her stuff is wonderful!

That's all I have for now - happy fibering!

I Must Have Lost My Damned Mind

Well. Didn't see this coming, didja?

I'm selling stuff now.

For now it'll just be handspun, and it'll be spun from fibers dyed by other people far more remarkable at that sort of thing than I am. I may begin to dabble in dyeing yarns and fibers someday...but for now, this is a way of dealing with the fact that I spin kind of a lot of yarn, and I can't ever seem to bring myself to use it for anything. I'm trying to price it fairly (which involves a complicated formula based on taking the number of hours I spent spinning a given skein, multiplying it by the amount of money I am accustomed to earning per hour, then dividing that total by 392 and adding the cost of the roving - in other words, there's no real way to make a profit on handspun, but it's a good way to get the stuff out of my house and into yours, where you may love it into some sort of useful item.)

That, and I love Etsy, and I want a piece of it.

So for all your handspun needs (or rather, for two of your handspun needs - shop pickin's are still slim at the moment), please visit me at theyoyo.etsy.com.

PS: My shop banner is pathetic and sad. I do not have a graphic arts skill set. I have an office computer, Microsoft Paint, 27 fonts, and clip art. Sorry; just try to ignore it.

(End Shameless Self-Promoting Whore sequence.)

Oh, And One Other Thing...

You know how I like to be all unpredictable and crazy sometimes?

I noticed tonight that I have EXACTLY one thousand emails in my alysonknits Inbox (in a strange departure from my usual anal-retentiveness, I never sort my personal emails into folders - gmail has such a great search feature that I've never found it necessary to be organized.)

Well, a thousand struck me as kind of a cool number. The 1000th email was a comment alert from Haloscan; so what the hell, I figured the commenter should get a prize. The commenter is Aviva; Viv, email me with your address and I'll send you something nifty.

(See, you never know what you might get 'round here.)

Wow...I Really AM A Stalker!

Thanks for all your comments about Sock. I apologize for those of you who might have been offended by him - he's so poorly behaved! I honestly can't believe he came off of Travis' needles; I'm hoping it's just a phase Sock's going through.

In any event, it's fun to entertain myself by taking silly pictures of a tiny sock while I wait in a parking lot where I'm meeting Travis.

To answer the question of what purpose Sock will serve (other than to terrorize tiny abandoned girls' shoes found in parking lots); he's currently in use as a cozy for Travis' iPod Nano. Travis would knit a match and stash the pair for Future Li'l YoYo, but we don't have enough yarn left to make the set complete. (Before you can ask, Future Li'L YoYo is very, very future.)

Someone asked me about writing a book featuring Sock (yeah, if we can keep him out of county lockup for long enough). Please feel free to write your congressman on that - I can think of few things that would thrill me more than making my living in such a way. (Because I'm certain I could maintain our currently lifestyle and then some on the vast fortune I'd make writing funny knitting books. ....Hmm, that's weird, I can actually hear Stephanie laughing all the way up in Toronto.)

(Oh, and I got my first $5 credit yesterday for someone who clicked over and placed their first order via my blog, so thanks to whomever that was! I know it's not the first time someone has ordered from Sheri via my blog referral, but it's the first the the Loopy system picked up on it. Woo! Edit: I just learned something new! If you link to a shop via a blog that you're reading through Bloglines or another subscription service, the shop doesn't know you came from a blog, just Bloglines. Of course that makes perfect sense, but I never made the connection. So that's probably what happens. But the important thing is that you experience the glory and wonder that is The Loopy Ewe, not that I get a credit. Still, now that I'm enlightened, I want to share my enlightenment with the world. What can I say? I'm a giver.)

Okay, back to regular knitting life. Honeymoon's over, Travis doesn't have any new FOs, so now I have to bore you with my crap. This weekend has been for spinning, and for modest progress on my Green Gable. (I'm about two years behind on What's Hot knitting; I figure I'll be starting Clapotis in about another six months.)

I did finish Travis' Kill Bill socks while we were on the trip. I know he was happy to finally have them; I knit the first in three days way back in February or March, and then I just kind of....stopped.

FO Report:
Pattern: Eh, none; my own half-assed thing with pitiful calf decreases that hopefully no one will ever examine too closely
Yarn: Sweet Georgia Speed Demon sportweight in Kill Bill colorway
Needles: 3.25 mm (US 3) Crystal Palace DPNs
Start Date: February? March?
Finish Date: June 4, 2007

Sorry for the insultingly weak photo. I forgot to take an FO picture, so I just made him hike up his pants at the Yarn Harlot talk. Speaking of whom:


Keeping in mind that I've already photographed her twice on the streets of Victoria, this would be Photo Three.


Four. (Hmm. Blurry. I have developed a theory that her knitter pictures are always blurry because the entire world around her is blurry. It's some sort of knitting universe unexplainable phenomenon. Maybe the air is laughing too hard to stay still?)


Five.


Six. (While I try to come up with something clever to say, flounder around, and finally settle for just saying ANYTHING.)


Seven. (Travis was a little nervous, too, obviously - you can't tell she's looking at the stockings I'm wearing. But I almost like it better this way - I can pretend I was asking her to look at a boo-boo on my knee.)


Eight. (She's photographing my stockings, although you have to just take my word for it since Travis forgot to include me in this one.)


Nine. (We both look like we're laughing. That's because she's kind of, um, fondling the stockings.)

Next day, Sunday, Victoria Knit-Out and Fiber Festival at Saxe Point Park:


Ten. (She got me photographing my sock, and likewise.)


Eleven. (At this point, it's just sad. But right before photo ten, I'd realized she was wearing the Bohus and I was suddenly taken by it and felt compelled to document it as thoroughly as possible; I didn't actually MENTION this, of course, and just continued clicking away, so it still just seemed sad. As evidenced by:)


Twelve (Would you please STOP IT?? Okay, this was the last one, and I love that she appears to be wishing very much that someone would come get me. But I was trying to get a good shot of the yoke!)

I'd feel crazy, but sometimes I take pictures of strangers just because they're wearing something I'd like to attempt to duplicate. So this is really no more crazy than my everyday behavior.

And another fun one; Robin of Craftybird found us at the talk, and I got a photo of me, and Robin, and my necks:


I have a lot of strange neck action here....but other than that, it's a good picture! I can always explain away the tragic loss of the right side of my jaw; maybe a gruesome swift/ball winder incident?

I'm leaving you with a picture my friend Marcie took on my wedding day:


My mom and I yukking it up while Amber and Jessi work their fingers to bloody nubs buttoning the eleventyhundred buttons on the back of my dress. This is early on - we eventually stopped having fun with the wedding gown fastening process and just really wanted it to be over.

Hard Out Here For A Sock

Dudes, Travis was SO happy about all your comments! Thanks for reinforcing his sexy knitteriness!

Someone mentioned stash. Yeah, sure, a new knitter husband is great, huh? Except that he seems to think that our marriage comes with a built-in stash and he doesn't need his own wool. I asked him at the Knit-Out if he wanted anything, and he said, "Nah, I figure there's enough sock yarn in the house for both of us."

Oooh, no, bitch, please. You'd best work on your own Loopy Groupie status! And won't he be confounded if he does try to rifle through the stash and ask me to use skein after skein, and discovers that, for some reason, none of the wool is actually intended for knitting?

Something we realized last night that I feel like noting - we have a number of gay friends, and to my knowledge, none of them knit, carry a manpurse, or wear headbands. And since most (okay, all) of them would rather spend an evening enduring slings from a panel of evangelicals mediated by Bill O'Reilly than let me teach them to knit, I think they might be offended if they heard someone calling knitting "gay". (Sorry, I'm just still really annoyed at the "knitting = gay" thing. Why are so many straights so damned stupid??)

Anyway...there is a great thing about Travis trying out the knitting: he GETS it now. He dropped a stitch and made me pause the TV and stop breathing. Something happened on a show and he asked me to rewind it because he'd been counting and had missed it. While trying to kitchener the toe on his sock, he yelled at the dog for licking her paw too loudly. Annoyed at the SSK he'd done instead of a K2tog, he opted to not knit flustered and started the dishes, but he got very pissy with the dish soap that had the nerve to drip on the counter. SEE?? NOW he knows! No more complaints when I do all that stuff!! (Or so I can hope.)

When the guys gave him a hard time yesterday, he informed them that actually, it was considered manly to knit; that many years ago, women only did the spinning and the actual knitting was done by the men and therefore, history dictates that knitting is a very manly activity.

He gave a KNITTING HISTORY LESSON.

*swoon*

Now, you wanna see the sock he knit?! Woo!!

Lookit this little guy! I had him knit a twee sock first so that he could have a more instant gratification and grasp the concepts. (And I might have quietly been guinea pigging him to see whether this would be a method that would be viable for my class proposal.)

And lest anyone should think knitting and carrying a baby sock around in a pocket isn't something tough guys can or should do:


Also, the sock wants the haters to know some things:


Some people got a problem with the socks. First off, Sock stands on his OWN!! See this? He don't need a foot to hold him up in this world, and he don't need people to say it's not okay for him to be knit by a dude! 'Cuz check it out:


Sock can drive a car...


Sock can check his own fluids, make sure all the spark plugs are sparklin'...


Sock can check the tires, patch tubes and, you know, all that kind of thing...


But you know, Sock ain't perfect, Sock makes mistakes. Sock can lock his keys in the truck...


But it's cool, 'cuz Sock totally learned how to jimmie a lock when he was, you know, "away". (Cops planted that stuff, aight?)


Sock enjoys a slice and a brew - and yeah, that's some jalapenos. Sock likes a little heat.


After downing a few, Sock might pick up a chick in the parking lot. Yeah, maybe she's a little dirty, but that's how Sock likes it, you know what I'm sayin'? (See, Sock's all about the chicks, no doubt.)


Sorry, baby, Sock don't snuggle after.

So that's who Sock is. All y'all who think y'all know, y'all don't know, you know? And if anyone has a problem, you best keep it to yourself.


'Cuz Sock will cut a bitch! You know Sock crazy!!!

You Know Who I Haven't Heard About In A While?

Paris Hilton.

*eye roll*

Wouldn't you love to see her come out of this and finally suck it up and behave like the intensely brilliant businesswoman that you know she HAS TO be? I mean, zero marketable skills and she's everywhere - I refuse to believe she's just another dumb blonde. Stupid like a fox. (But better yet, wouldn't you love to see her come out of this......and go away?)

In other vital news: Travis has officially had his Man Card revoked. I'm exceedingly fortunate in that I married a man who really could give a damn about the conventionalities of manhood. He's a mechanic by profession, yes. He's a dirtbiker, sure. But he marched into work today, stashed his Urban Gentleman's Bag (*cough*man-purse*cough*) in his tool box, put his headband on to keep his hair out of his face, and got to work. At lunch, when everyone finished eating their wings at Gator's, he looked around, took a deep breath, crossed his legs, and pulled out his sock. He knit one needle in complete silence. He started a second needle. And then someone exhaled:

"Dude. You are GAY."

Yep. Just like the Harlot says - CHOKE is everywhere, and they want to take you down. As hard as it is for the rest of us, try being a man in what can be a very masculine (read: homophobic) industry and whipping out the knitting. Maybe for good measure you should throw out there that you met your wife at the theatre, where you were actually IN the show. There's no good way to be a headband-wearing bag-carrying theatre-performing sock-knitting straight mechanic. Just no way. And when one of the other mechanics decided to verify Travis' sexual status with the waitress by pointing out Travis' knitting and asking her, "How gay is that?" she immediately looked away, wide-eyed, pursed her lips, and declared, "Well, it's what he likes to do, I guess." Damn. I hope he didn't tip her. :-|

And despite all my offers to let his coworkers know that I have it on very good authority that Travis is all kinds of not gay (oh, so very, very ungay,) he's completely indifferent to their opinions. I love his level of confidence - it's so butch!!

(And I think seeing the enormous burly man covered in tattoos sitting with his wife at the Harlot's talk while knitting away on a fuzzy orange novelty yarn scarf really helped him a lot.)

He's also very nearly done with his first little sock! I'll be showing him kitchener any minute. (Which is why it's 1:00 a.m. and I'm still up. I don't think he can handle going to sleep until it's finished.)

The honeymoon photos are all uploaded! I treated the Flickr set like a photojournal, so there are captions for most everything. (I forgot to include that we saw Knocked Up in Whistler, and it was really completely wonderful.) Anyway, if you want to see some or all of the two hundred and fifty three photos I put up, you may do so here.

For the fiber lovers:

Here's everything I hauled away with me from the trip, at least from a fiber standpoint. (I may have also done some rather serious damage to about three or four separate Roots stores.) I have better photos of each little bit of haul in the Flickr set, and I'll probably save some of my favorites for Friday, what with me being an unauthorized Yarn Porn Friday participant and all.

(And with that final sentence, I just made sure that a Google for "gay porn" could lead here. Awesome.)

Fiber-related highlights:


Travis' first finished object! He knit a hat, mostly (I cast on and did the ribbing) which he then donated to the Hats for Charity lady at the Harlot's talk. We didn't do decreases for this one - deadline and whatnot.)


Travis' second finished object! (Second verse, mighty similar to the first!) This one he did 100% himself - he did the cast on, the ribbing, the decreases, all of it!


The stitches and decreases look so good, don't they!? Shout out, tell Travis what a great knitter he is and how sad and wonky your second-ever knit was! (My second ever knit was probably a garter scarf, much like my third, fourth, and fifth ever knits - he's already WAY ahead of me.)

He just kitchenered the toe on that sock and wove in the ends! I'll take photos and share those later, along with some more Harlot photos and other stuff. I'd do all that now - but it's 1:30 a.m., and I'm a sleepy teacher.