Monkey Mayhem

This is a monkey divided. This is a monkey unfinished. This is my nightmare.
So, when I started knitting two years ago, the only thing David wanted me to make for him was a sock monkey. No scarves, no hats, no sweaters. Just a monkey. Here we are, two years later, and still no monkey. I promised to make one for his birthday, which was last week. And I've been working on it, but now I have to finish it. All of the pieces above must be assembled, sewn together, and stuffed.

Two nights ago, I had a horrible, horrible dream. I was a student in an English class. The weekend assignment (given Friday afternoon, due Monday morning) was to knit a sock monkey and then make a movie featuring the sock monkey. I was the only knitter in my class, and I knew this sounded impossible. But I tried. When I got to class Monday, we were in a large auditorium. I sat with monkey pieces in my lap, trying to figure out just how to make it look like a monkey before my turn. Meanwhile, other students gave their presentations. Their monkeys were perfect. Their monkeys starred in grand adventures, artsy films, and documentaries that looked both professional and labor-intensive. One film featured a monkey made out of exactly the same yarn I was using. Growing more anxious and not knowing when my name would be called, I tried to piece my monkey together with safety pins, bits of yarn (no tapestry needle here), and whatever else I could find. Did I mention I was the only knitter in that class? And what kind of fucked up assignment was this, anyway? This was an English class, damnit! I woke up before my name was called.

David says that the dream was my overriding guilt trying to get a message into my insensitive, lazy, monkey-hating, thick skull. I mean, how could I possibly even think to start a new project (which I did, on Thursday night) when his birthday monkey lay in pieces. (Yes, his birthday was LAST WEEK!!!) I say I'm just stressed out by work and that stress is carrying over even to my knitting.

(Thanks to David for helping me type this. Some of the wording - the best "wording" - may not be mine.)

What ice cream are you?

I saw this on another blogger's website and decided to test my ice cream personality. Go on--take the quiz and tell me your flavor. I know I'm not the only one who likes quizzes.

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core.You often find yourself on the outside looking in.Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Lots of pics and randomness

Okay, so Niki has been chastising me for not posting, and I finally feel guilty enough to do something about it. But I must say that I'm on restrictions for a month due to a certain numbness in my hand. That's right--no mousing or typing with my right hand until October! Work is hard; so is blogging. But there aren't any restrictions on knitting--thank goodness. Anyway, pictures and a few words in semi-random order b/c I don't feel like cutting & pasting. Here we go.

This weekend, we went to Solvang for David's birthday. (Happy Birthday, David!) But I got to do fun things too. Here I am outside Village Spinning and Weaving. What a great place! The people were so friendly, and I even got to help give a pep talk to a new knitter who felt that she was doing things incorrectly.
Random picture of the finished Stranded socks. So cute!

Here's the beautiful alpaca (so soft) hat I knit for Josh's big birthday. The color is peacock.

Here's me next to a huge Hans Christian Anderson head in the small museum dedicated to him in Solvang. There was a cool bilingual edition of The Princess and the Pea that I almost picked up for Tiana. Maybe next time.
Cool windmill in Solvang, just down the street from Village Spinning and Weaving.
Now we're going back in time to August 18th for the Leftover Yarn Party at That Yarn Store. Here is the lovely Frannie tying on yet another beautiful section of yarn to her handmade skein. We had a great time, but I was the only non-That Yarn Store affiliate there. That's why I'm sharing these photos. Please, please please come to the next one on September 29th! Since this is the sort of thing that only benefits from more people (and more yarn), I'd love to see more people come.

Here is my skein, waiting to be wound.

Here is the finished product. Can you say wow? It's so pretty that I almost don't want to start knitting with it. Almost.

Stay tuned for sock monkey updates and more!