Check it out, my practically new iMac G5 died. Died 1 year and 2 weeks into its life as my connection to the world. Something about the logic board going and then then the fan not working because of that and then oh mi goodness, the hard drive was corrupted. I lost some stuff! When I went into the mac store near me to see the Genius boy. (He actually had a shirt that said "Genius" on it. I was tempted to ask him if he wore it for Halloween last year.) I was hoping he would pat me on the head and tell me everything would be okay. He proceeded to do some mumbo jumbo for a few minutes and turned the computer around in circles on the counter for a bit and then looked at me and said, "Oh it's just the logic board we can fix that. " He tap-tapped on his super cool little powerbook for a few seconds and said, "Oh. This isn't under warranty."

Forboding pause....

Then I said, "Yea, no kidding I didn't EXPECT IT TO DIE SO SOON. I've had my ibm laptop for 5 years and the keys are falling off but it still works dude!" (ed note: I didn't really say "dude.") He was like, "Did you buy the extended warranty?"

Hello, no, why would I do that? It should last longer than 1 year and 2 weeks. And by the time I hit 2 years I might be thinking of upgrading so why spend the money? Why indeed.

Sigh.

You know the next question coming. They asked me, "Did you back up your hard drive girlie?"

"Uh, (smile) what do you think?"

Anyway, I made a snap decision and rationalized that perhaps macs were similar to men* in a sense. Cute but not always practical and with the false sense of low maintenance. But definitely necessary. And cute trumps practical anyday. (Well, these days. Besides I have a backup Dell downstairs.) And furthermore, to an ibm-compatible girl, the mac's simplicity is actually quite complicated and mysterious. And I like a challenge. And mystery, that can be fun too. I like to be kept guessing a litte as long as I'm headed in the right direction. You know?

So, I went back for more and bought a MacBook. I love (adore) my MacBook but you know what I did this time? I coughed up the cash for the extended warranty. And .mac so I can backup my hard drive to my remote server. "Remote Server" Man I feel like The Shit now. hahaha

Oooh, and I got a little wireless mouse.

For those who asked, here is that weird yarn I bought yesterday.

*just teasing, you know I think we all are temperamental, we humans

I was at the Chriskindmarkt in Bethlehem, PA before Christmas. In there, there was a woman who made tatted jewelery. How cool! She does custom work and this is what I ordered from her way back then:

In other news, today I went to Loop in the city. That city being Philadelphia....and bought some weird Suss Cousins Tonal yarn in browns to make this shrug in Vogue. How vague am I? It's that striped shrug #12. I'm thinking now I should have gone with the nice plain grey I'd originally picked out, but I was feeling in the mood for something entirely different. And Suss Cousins, yes. That's different stuff there.

Thanks for the nice comments about the Rambling Rose!

I finished something else, this Blue Sky Alpacas Cropped Cardigan.

Not sure about the bug pin, but it bugs (haha, didn't realize I was going there) that the sweater doesn't close sometimes.

Next up:

A few things about the design: I always loved this sweater. Recently, whenever I see a sweater in a magazine and think "Oh like that", it turns out to be Laura Zukaite. One of my next things to knit is her Circle Lace cardigan.

Anyway, I loved this sweater in the bright pinks, I liked the idea of the lace part being brought to the fore by the use of color. And it sort of reminded me of a baseball shirt raglan. Not that I am in to baseball, but I like raglans. I briefly considered making a 2-color version in blues very close together in depth of color but the idea of working intarsia, well, realistically, I thought better of it.

I made a few changes to the sleeves, which is pretty normal for me since I always have to shorten them, me being so short and all. What I did was make the sleeves 3/4 in length (haha, that was unintentional as I was shooting for full length sleeves, but let's pretend I intended it) and I used the scallop pattern numbers for the larger size and then decreased down to the smaller size for the rest of the sleeve. This gives the sleeves a little flare. I like how it looks in the scallops.

Buttonholes: got them all mismeasured and even forgot to put in a buttonhole. I was really ready to be done apparently. But that's okay. I don't use the button where I missed the corresponding buttonhole.

A few things about the yarn: I used the Koigu Kersti in a solid color because I think the yarn had a lot to do with how it draped and how the spin and ply of the yarn shows the lace. (I sound like a hotshot don't I?) Anyway, this sweater took a lot less yarn than the 2-color version and that's a good thing if you are looking (hunting fanatically) for a full dyelot of Kersti to use. (I bought from 2 dyelots.) I used 3 fewer skeins of the Koigu Kersti and had almost a whole 4th leftover as well.

It is so hard to find a full dyelot of Koigu Kersti, either you find a color you love and there are not enough skeins in the dyelot or you see 20 skeins of an unacceptable color. Just can't win! And honestly, it's not the color that draws me to Kersti, it's the texture and drape.

Yes, I know. I gotta clean up the house someday.

Hey there. Hey. Okay. Hey I am just buying some time saying "hey" hoping something comes to my mind to write. Oh, yes, well, hey I am here writing this entry to say I started, what? Something new! I did finish Rambling Rose and really am happy with the sweater. I will need to find some new buttons that are slightly bigger in diameter but (hey) I will get into that another time. (Hopefully tomorrow I will get a pix.)

So, I did say I started something new, and that something new is Aimee from Rowan's Vintage Style. It's been on my mind for a few years ever since I visited Woolgathering in Kennett with knitting friends Cindy and Carrie. Anyway, so I think I bought the yarn for this sweater a few times and kept exchanging it, my yarn color sensibilities changing over the YEARS it took me to get around to knitting this. I think I exchanged for almost every color of Kidsilk Haze. My last choice is sort of a taupe-grey color, which I think I like. (I'm all about neutral colors these days.)

Right now I am working on the hem and it's going pretty quick, no problems. It says to decrease a few stitches during the second side of the hem and I am assuming they want the fold-over hem handsewn to the back but that ain't happening. Say it ain't so! No way, why would I do that when I can just pickup the little stitch on the hem and knit it with a live stitch? I will do the required decreases after the hem so that all the stitches have a little friend to connect with. (If only life were like this too.) Will have to figure out what to do with selvage stitches being already hemmed up before seaming up. Perhaps I will...? Must think on it. Any ideas?

Am I rebel or just lazy??? Sure, I know the answer to that one: LAZY. Lazeigh.

Oh, also, since I seem to be blogging today, let me add that I did a sweater (another project done?) from Blue Sky Alpacas. It is a little shrug type thing. Finished that. Done did that done.

STILL working on the Tilli Tomas Stitch Diva sweater. STILL working on some knee high socks I started in September.

Twelve days at the grandparents house means....Lots of knitting time!

Almost done my Rambling Rose, just need buttons:

And the buttons I am going out to get right now. See ya!

PS-Hey I just wanted to add here that I really did like Laura Z's 2-color version. In fact, I loved it. I just do not love intarsia. Intarsia is pure evil chipping away at what little sanity I have these days. (haha, don't laugh) And I knew I'd never finish if I started it in 2 colors and I really wanted a new sweater to wear (for a change no more laughing again!). So I opted for the single color version. Color is a very personal thing. Some like it some don't.