Why did I only buy one skein of Madeline Tosh Merino Light? What I am going to do with one ball?!

Last year’s goals were admirable, but mostly a flop (shock of shocks!)

1. Get back to size 6 or drop 20 lbs. HAHA
2. Cut half of sugar out of diet. Actual sugar? Mostly cut out. Juice/soda? About the same. 
3. Use up at least 10 balls of stash. Probably added twice that amount last year in yarn.
4. Complete the 11 shawls in 2011 challenge Got through about 3 and got bored of shawls.
5. Upload llama and cat pdfs to Ravelry. I should really start on these…
6. Knit a sweater with sleeves Did it! Aidez 
7. Get married (*gulp!*) Did it! 
8. Find a full time job Did it!
9. Start filling out applications to go back to school Still not sure what I want to study. 
10. Get a Driver’s Licence *grumbles*
11. The most important: MOVE Moved, sick of current apt.

Selling knitting, crochet, or sewing patterns without the permission of the original author is against the law. Full stop. Even if they are free. When you buy or receive a pattern, you are not the new copyright holder. Saying that the pattern was passed down through the generations is not a way of circumventing copyright. You are paying for the ability to use the pattern.

People are going to steal my work. I have now come to grips with that. Going forward, I will have to watermark all my photos before they reach the Internet. I didn’t particularly want to, but there it is. It will at least, require the thieves to put in a bit of effort. Any future patens, of which I have one or two in the works, will end up being sold through Ravelry. I would like to see some of this money that others are getting for my work.

Ugh.

For nearly the entire first half of this book, Judith provides fairly in depth background information on fiber before you get any information on how to spin. However, if you’re actually interested in making a yarn for a project, it’s important to understand where your fiber comes from and what it can do. The first three chapters go over the three different sources: animal, plant, and factory. The last chapter goes over fiber characteristics in depth, and even includes a chart to identifying fibers using a burn test (an excellent way to find out what the mystery yarn a well meaning person gave you actually is).

The second part of the book goes into actually spinning giving fairly good explantions for worsted and woolen draws, though I found myself wishing she had gone into more depth on that topic. There is also a brief explanation to preparing the fiber using hand carders and combs.

Judith provides great information on plying, and what the plys can mean for future completed objects. The book is fairly in depth, and it’s an excellent reference when learning what to do. However, I found there was too much information of novelty plying as opposed to absolutely no information on chain or andean plying methods. So, these are methods you have to learn from other sources.

I did find it odd that she didn’t include any information on wraps per inch (wpi), at all. Also, while twists per inch were alluded to, she didn’t really cover that information. It’s information I could have used when I was starting out on my wheel, and its basically absent from the book.

Can I just say that while I understand the aesthetic appeal of novelty yarns in and of themselves, I still kind of hate them? I don’t see the point, aside from putting them on a shelf and looking at them. Am I ever going to use a fingering to superbulky thick and thin yarn with skull beads woven in? No. I am not. I do not care for them, and I refuse to make them. Hell, I have issues even using wildly variegated yarns. *sigh*

The last portion of the book is dedicated to a handful of patterns. They weren’t anything special, in my opinion, and I would have found more use in a section of swatches showing how the same fiber spun in different ways makes entirely different fabrics. That would have been cool.

The appendix includes care information, which is actually incredibly useful. (Although I could have used a section on protecting fiber from kittens, augh!) It has great information on preventing insects getting into your fiber (worth a pound of cure) and some good information on storing and displaying fibers.

The point: I would totally buy this book. While I found it lacking in spinning information, the background information necessary to understand your fiber is top notch. I would actually combine owning this book along with Spin Control (which I will get to, next week, hopefully) to really get the most information possible. Together, these books fill each other’s gaps and make a super great reference.

The face of evil

Waking up to a kitten pouncing on your legs and biting your toes isn’t really the best way to wake up, no matter how cute it sounds.

Aeolian shawl detail

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[Tiny Tower] – I recently recieved an iPad as a gift and have been totally obsessed by this game over the weekend. It’s an adorable version of Farmville and SimTower smashed together, with amusing little “Bitbook” status updates that I just can’t stop reading.

[Aidez] – Despite what I consider a somewhat unfortunate name, this is a beautiful cardigan that I can’t wait to start knitting as my next project. I’m planning on Cascade Eco wool in a nice neutral, perfect for autumn and the chilly air conditioning in my office.

[Big Girls Small Kitchen] – Their new cookbook is perfect for people with not too much space or time, but who love good food. With an entire section devoted to microwave meals, and cooking for one, its a great cookbook to have on hand.

[Zoya Dove] – This recent addition to Zoya’s lineup goes wonderfully with my skin tone. (for reference, I wear MAC NC25 on my face) It’s a lovely muted cement color, and I love wearing it on my hands and feet.

It’s a box of stuff! WhoooOoooo
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Lavanila Body Butter: I guess if you mixed some butter with a whole lot of water it would feel like this. I expect body butter to be thicker and richer, this was light and smelly. And I read the name of the company and totally thought it was going to be Lavender Vanilla, the two scents I hate to wear the most, but it’s actually Vanilla Coconut. I’ll use it, I guess, but I won’t like it. Body butter, my ass.
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Sircuit Molecular Mist: I don’t know what this is really, is it a Fix+ wannabe? Seems like it. I do know that I sprayed myself in the mouth trying to spray my face and that was not cool. Obnoxious name, too.
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Kate Spade Twirl: Twirl is not an old lady perfume. I don’t know anything about how flowers smell aside from the fact that roses do and carnations really don’t, but I thought it was floral and spritely. Twentysomething year old Tinkerbell would probably wear it.
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Laura Geller Blush: This blush is kind of a what the hell dealio. It looks like a super sparkly bronzer, so I applied it verrrrrry lightly to try it out for work today. Not too bad, and a little less in your face than my MAC Mighty Aphrodite, though scads more shimmery. But then, I can’t pretend to be a dumpier version of Wonder Woman. There’s a rinky dink mirror in there that is just basically a waste of time for everyone involved. I can see my whole eyeball in it, and nothing else. Whoo.
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Deborah Lippman Stripper to go: I actually found these pretty nifty, each packet has one mitt, but the one mitt is very good for taking off a lot of polish. I would have to say, that I got about 95% of my polish off.

I didn't bother getting anyone's permission for this photo. That's totes ok, right?

Two nights before the wedding was the bachelor party, where the Best Assbasket decided he didn’t want to be a part of the wedding and announced this via text. But he didn’t text R, because that would require at least a half ball, no, he texted a groomsman, to tell R that he had dropped out. So, not really off to a great start.

(Hey, Flowers, you’re a worthless piece of shit. We all hate you.)

The day before was my bachelorette party, which was non-dramatic.

(Still hate you Flowers)

Ok, Wedding day. The girls sleep over at my mom’s, the guys at my home. I wake up at 6:30 to start getting ready, do my makeup, and a few ladies from his family come over to do my hair, and we get there right on time for my wedding! Whoo! Except for the part where no one was there yet, and we started half an hour late. I was ready to leave by the time the wedding started.

When we start everyone walks down the aisle, but I’m hanging back with my dad, so I don’t see any of it. Boooooo. I walked down with both my mom and dad, because who the hell is going to say no to me?

And then I get to R. And I just want to get to the part where we kiss so I can be married and take off my shoes. The reception afterwards was cool. We came back home afterwards, and I pulled 50 bobby pins out of my head.

And that’s my wedding day. I’m not going to wax on about how I gazed deeply into R’s eyes during the ceremony and the food was so good (it was) and how my dress was perfect and everyone and everything was sunshine and lollipops, because that’s boring and a load of crap. My wedding wasn’t a dream wedding, and it wasn’t perfect, but at the end of the day, I kissed a hot guy and I get to spend a whole lot of time with my bestest best friend forever.

And you know what? The haters can suck on cat litter. My wedding was awesome. <3