Shake and Fingerpop

Okay, so I've been playing WoW more than is admittedly reasonable. Not so much that I'm uber leet or nuthin', but enough that other things aren't gettin' done (blush). I've also been listening to the audiobook version of the newest WoW book, Stormrage, and it's got me in a right elven druidy mood, hence I've been playing this alt toon, Dovewing (the photo capture caught her with the fishing pole still equipped, lol). And I'm absolutely giddy that it's Golden that'll be writing the next book, The Shattering.

But about this one I'm in the middle of at the moment . . . remember when I was dabbling in writing some fan fic of my own? Yeah, well, it was about the WoW lore's Emerald Dream, the newly developing Emerald Nightmare, and what would happen if it got away from the dream realm and spilled over into the waking mortal one . . . that was last summer. And I'll be whipped if this book ain't all about that idea!

I've got some really mixed feelings about it, but enjoyment is at the top of the list. The writing in it is so good, and the ideas I wanted to explore are done so by this author so much better than this arm-chair noob could've ever done.

But still, it's odd.

But yeah, playing has kept me rather distracted. But not so much so, that I haven't used the audiobook as ear-candy for knitting! That and some James Gregory comedy I found on iTunes. I saw him live at the Funny Bone back when this town still had a Funny Bone, which was early 1990s, and I can still quote that show, it was so good! Ya know, I do believe that stand-up comedy is my very favorite ear candy of all, when I need to be entertained.

So, I logged off the game long enough to tell ya all about last week's Fertile Turtles knit-together before we have our next one tomorrow (blush). That, and if I didn't do some laundry soon, we were all gonna have to go to work naked this upcoming week! And I'm gonna have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow too, since we can't all live on cookies and coffee. Ahem, it's an elven trait, that.

First up, here's the link I promised my fellow Turtles for that fantastic elastic bind off (clicky, clicky!): Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which will henceforth be added to the vocabulary of knitters everywhere as the JSSBO (as well as to my list of knitting faves here on the blog).

Yeah, it's going on the cuffs of my toe-up house socks, if'n I ever get that far. I'm gonna call 'em Stock Socks, 'cause I want a stock go-to pattern for house socks, that can be adapted for decorative variations, ya know? I'm just really over having cold feet. I took a page of inspiration from Cat Bordhi and rethunk the toes a bit, to make 'em go quick and simple. They did. It's just getting off the 'puter long enough to finish knitting the actual foot parts. Did I mention I'm doin' 'em 2-at-a-time on two circs?

Raeus is enjoying some instant-knitterly-gratification by working on a cowl, needing to come up for air after focusing so long on her coat-in-progress. By the way, she's going to be out of town for the next two weeks, and we will miss her.

Kristine has made lots of progress on the test knitting she's doing for Mimi, and it's stunning. Turquoise and chocolate paisley, is all I'm sayin' . . .

Kim has some convertible gloves going in Virgina Tech colors, and Aggie has summer in mind already with her shell-to-be on her needles.

Speaking of summer, Kori joined us and brought her Tropical Punch Shawl to knit on. Hmmm . . . now I'm cravin' strawberries . . .

Barbara has a hat in the works, and Angelika is doin' another Calorimetry. This isn't the first time those two have ended up on the same knitting wave length together - spooky!

Debra stated that she's workin' on, and I quote (see them little quote marks?), ". . . the same damn grey sweater." Yeah, but it's pretty!


Carol will also be out of town for two weeks. Texas-bound, I hear tell. She worked on a new pair of socks, and she wore that vest that made me squee the week before. She can finish a garment faster 'n anyone else I know. Color me jealous! I emailed the designer of that pattern, and Suzy was fantastic in responding promptly, and very flexible in accomodating my wish to buy a copy of it. Ahem, it arrived about an hour ago, and my check for it is already written and in the mail. This vest is precisely what my Noro stash is going into, if'n I can ever finish the sleeves on that infernal FLS. sigh




Check out Jane's lace work!













Raeus was tellin' us about her history of chasin' squirrels (snicker!), and it prompted her to hunt down this one in the Borders store where we knit.

And our duo was in rare form that day. Anastasia's Cherry Blossom Shawl is nearly to the last increased round, and Brooke finished her Red Ripples shawl while with us. It's really awesome to be there at that moment of finished-ness. She reports being on to clue #3 of her Evenstar mysterly KAL. Her shirt reads, "Carpe Lanam," also pronounced, "seize the wool." Love her! It's also the sign-off phrase for her favorite knitting podcast, called Sticks & Strings.

Today's blog entry title comes from the song I've got looping on my iTunes, while writing. 'Cause sometimes ya just gotta put on yer wig, Woman, and go Shake and Fingerpop, as sung by Junior Walker and the All Stars.