Happy Valimtime's Day

A little backstory: a few years ago I was working the circulation desk at the library and I was checking books out to a mom and her wee son. I told the boy that the books were due back on Valentine's Day, and he got all big-eyed and said--very clearly--"Exactly on Valim-time's Day?" and I almost fell over from cute. Now I can't say it correctly. The cute gets in the way.

Now for my non-coherent bits of post.

The Mitties Are Finished!


I actually finished them last week on Tuesday (I think), but didn't post about it because I'm a lazy bastard and was caught up in the Knit-Olympics preparation.

Let's Do The Time Warp Again
Okay, so here's a little free advice: If you ever go into a Bed Bath & Beyond, attach an end of acrylic yarn to your car and take the skein in with you so that if you get lost, you can always follow the yarn back out. Why am I telling you this? Because Nick and I spent SIX HOURS in a BB&B on Saturday. SIX HOURS. I am not even kidding.

What the hell were we doing in there for SIX HOURS, you may ask? We were registering for wedding gifts. Now, I've heard tell of those couples who can register in under two hours... or under 30 minutes; all I can say is either they have harmonized their decor choices very well, or one of them must have had no opinion at all. Oh my god, I had no idea that one of us could be so freaking picky about kitchen towels ("That pattern hurts my eyes" "That color red makes me enraged" I'm convinced that one was said just to make me insane). We're still discussing kitchen towels. It seems a small point, but an important one.

The bridal consultant (Tina at the Rockford IL store) was amazing. She helped us choose dishes, she brought us snacks partway through the SIX HOUR experience, she showed us table linen options that we would never have considered, and she was fun.

And at least I had this to take the edge off:


(The Knitting Olympics Hat fits conveniently into my purse!)

By the time we were done, it was 8:00pm (we had no idea because there are no windows in the Bed Bath & Beyond... just miles and miles of housewares) and we were going to hang out with some friends, but I was defeated after the SIX HOUR registering freak-out.

Stitch-n-Bitch
Last night was another fine night in the history of our little group (I've changed the name permanently now just to stand my ground against Sew Fast Sew Easy, those bastards). Stephanie brought her pig (completed in less than 3 weeks, btw)

The pig is currently looking for a name. Any suggestions?

Heather was knitting on her Knit-Olympics Challenge, the Irish Hiking Scarf (I tried to get a picture of it but it wasn't cooperating. Or the lighting was crap. Or I can't operate my new camera. It was probably the lighting.)

I was working on my miles and miles of stockinette. Which isn't as pink as it looks in these pictures.


This is what it looked like most of the time.


Oooh, it's all rolly!


Can you see the knot? I found a knot in my yarn and nearly cut it out and spit-spliced (which I've been wanting to do for a while, just to see), but then I remembered that this bit I'm knitting now is the hemmed part and will not be seen when the hat is complete. Huzzah.

When I first started this in-the-round project, I thought it would be super hard to coordinate all those needles. Then I found out it wasn't hard, just attention-grabbing. Then I started to think that I could of course finish this hat in 16 days--no problem! Then I knit like a maniac last night and obtained only a net total of 1.5 inches. I need another inch before I can move up to the size 4 circular needle, which everyone tells me is hella faster than the dpns. Good. Speed is crucial in such Olympic events as knitting.



[and did you see the post below? It's wonderful!]