I know, I know, I neglected you all again. But that’s because thanks to Monica, I found Yelp. It’s this web site where you review things. But, people write funny reviews. Like Ed in San Francisco. Monica and I are cyberstalking him, because he’s hilarious. I have tons of reviews up, but there’s also a little gadget on my sidebar that has a map of my reviews.

Oh, and you can review yarn shops too.

In other news, I’ve been going with Laurel up to The Fold for her spinning lessons. On my last trip, I had to buy yarn – two skeins for Barb, one skein for me. Oh, and some antlers.

The Sock Candy is Barb’s, and the Polworth Wool is mine. Its really really soft and I’m sure it’ll make a great… something.

Just in time for the frigid Chicago winter, I finished my thrummed mittens. They were a kit from Handspun by Stefania. She made up the kit with these colors especially for me.

Sadly, while they look super warm, they aren’t actually wind proof. I think the fleece needs to felt down more. They were really fun to make – but use a lot of fleece for the thrums – I was a little skimpy on my first mitten, and went back and sewed more in. The weird part on the one mitten is because Hunter stole it and tried to eat it. He does love the fleece.

I also finished my Danica scarf. It’s made out of 3 balls of Paton’s SWS. I just ignored all instructions about switching colors. I got the idea from a poster in the LiveJournal knitting community. I’m sorry the picture is a little dark, but its all dark browns and blues anyways. I took the picture while it was still in progress.

I think my shade of SWS (Navy) didn’t have quite enough color differences to really make the scarf pop, but it was a fun, quick knit.

Aimee the Sis was in town this last weekend in order to help me shop for new clothes for work. We did no yarn shopping, however. But we did have tons of fun!

First off, today is Blog for Choice day.

Why am I pro-choice?  Because I believe in order for women to be truly equal in society, they need to have full control over their lives.  And that includes having full control of their bodies.

Second, I have a new job!  Now, there’s nothing wrong with my current job – I love SPSS, where I current work.   They hired me straight out of graduate school as an associate support rep.   They promoted me, over doubled my salary in the past 8.5 years, and believe me, I wouldn’t have been the massive geek I am today without them.

But, a new opportunity fell into my lap, and I’m leaving technical support for the wonderful world of operations.  For obvious reasons, I’m not naming my new company, but it’s a very challenging new position for me.  I’ll still be downtown, but not in the Sears Tower.  Aimee the Sis is coming out the first weekend in February to help me find new work clothes, since I’ve worked in jeans, sweatshirts, shorts, and random t-shirts for 8 years.

Third, I finished my first set of mittens.  But I didn’t take a picture.   But they are quite nice, and I’ll blog about them later.

I’m such a bad cat mommy.

I raised a yarn snob.  As we’ve seen on this very blog, Hunter loves Rowan yarn.  He goes after Kidsilk Haze and Tapestry like no one’s business.  He’ll find it even if you bury it in a bag, under a blanket, up on a high shelf – mainly, if you have to put in a drawer and close it.

Well, I decided to conduct an experiment.  I found out that Patons SWS has the exact same yarn content (70% Wool, 30% Soy) as Rowan Tapestry, but is worsted weight, not DK.   I bought three skeins at Joann’s, and left one skein out next to the “yarn safe” – otherwise known as a hat box.   Here’s what the skein looked like in the morning.

That’s right – he didn’t touch it.  He’s a total yarn snob.

Speaking of Rowan Tapestry, I’m almost, almost, almost done with Parker from Rowan 40.  The back is done.  The front is done. The sleeves are done.  See, I have proof:

Why isn’t it done?  Because finishing the sleeves is a false summit.  After you knit the sleeves, you have to knit the scarf pieces.  It’s like you finish a sweater, and then someone taps you on the shoulder saying “By the Way, you need to knit a scarf too”.  I do really like Tapestry, despite its cat attracting properties.  It fuzzes up like a mohair blend, but isn’t scratchy at all.  It can be a little pilly, but that’s mainly because Hunter keeps trying to eat it.  But, its easy enough to pick the pills out.  The colorway I’m using is called Rustic.  I really like it – this picture isn’t really true to life – its less pink, and more muted browns and greens.

I’m sure you all are very excited. Today is the day when I post random pictures.

For example, here are the totally kickass cracked canyon socks that Monica knitted for me. She used some Lightweight Socks That Rock in the Cracked Canyon colorway I bought at Stitches Midwest.

They were helping Laurel and I watch Buffy. Laurel found out that I had never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so we get together most Wednesdays and I make fun of 1998 fashions. Monica knit these socks using the Zephyr sock pattern . I think its the perfect pattern for this yarn – they look like the swoopy walls of your typical canyon.

For Christmas, I made my mom a hat and muffler from Rowan Plaid. For the hat, I used the pattern from the Rowan Plaid book – its the same as the one I made my sister, but with a different cable. Here she is on Christmas, modeling it.

Oh, and Pinky the Flamingo is still in Colorado, hanging out. Here he is with Aimee on the way to Christmas Eve at Grandma’s. I guess he didn’t go in – he was too shy.

Finally, here is Aimee’s kitten frolicking in the snow after the massive blizzard they had in Colorado.

Laurel tagged me on this meme.   I’ve spent ever since then bugging people, asking them what is weird about me.  Most people  just start laughing hysterically.  Hrmpf.

1.  I keep my stuffed animals seperated depending on whether they are prey or predator.  The new guy actually offered this up as “weird”.  Personally, I think its just good sense.   Speaking of predators, here is Hunter, getting very close to grown up.

2.  Most of my stuffed animals have personalities and jobs.  Multiple people have offered this up as being “weird”.  I mean, if they don’t have jobs, what are they supposed to do all day?  Damn lazy stuffed animals.   As evidence, I present the following conversation, which Canadian Stitch and I had, after he was trapped in bed with me and the new guy.  Again, the new guy said this conversation was “Weird”, but he was busy playing Diablo II, so he can’t talk.  And, yes, Stitch sounded like Stitch.

Canadian Stitch:  I’m traumatized.

Me:  I’m sorry.  I didn’t know you were there.

Canadian Stitch:  I need therapy now.  It’s awful.

Me:  You’ll have to go back to Canada for that.  It’s free there.

Canadian Stitch:  But there’s a long line!  I can’t wait that long!

Me:  Well, my insurance doesn’t cover Canadian Stitches, and you don’t have any money.

Yes, I was attempting to hide the huge pile of clean nightgowns lurking on my dresser.

3.  I go places, I take my camera, and usually end up with one picture.  For example, today Laurel and I went to The Fold for their New Years Open House.  This is the only picture I took.

This was us, throwing our hands in the air, because we got lost, thanks to Google Maps instructions.  There were many things to take pictures of – huge lines, good deals on yarn, but I never took my camera out of my purse.

4.  If you say “Komodo Dragon”, I will immediately say “Gaping Jaws of Putrifaction”.

I took this picture at the Shedd Aquarium – the new guy took me, because honestly, if you want to impress me, take me to see animals and give me books to read.  He’s managed both.

5.  I’m an INFJ, which according to the latest internet meme, makes me a freak.  That’s the rarest personality type.

Katie is sitting on my printer.  I didn’t have an INFJ picture, and Katie was jealous of the Hunter pictures.

6.  I love cardigans, and twin sets in particular.  It’s not a comfort issue, I just love them.  I own a zillion, I knit them – I think its because it just seems so decadent to have two pieces of clothing when one will do.