I was very brave.

Yes indeed, I was incredibly brave the other day. No, it had nothing to do with Amoryn's immunization shots.... It was all about mittens. MITTENS!!!!
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Elizabeth Zimmerman's mitered mittens, to be exact. I got some cool yarn a the knitting retreat, & decided to make a pair of mittens in the worsted & a scarf out of the sport weight. (Non knitters: mittens, heavy; scarf, light.) (Worsted is good.)
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And her pattern calls for basically knitting a tube, then cutting a hole & putting the thumb in after the fact. Sounds simple, right?
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EXCEPT THAT YOU CUT A HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF PERFECTLY GOOD KNITTING!
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I thought, I can do this, cast on, & knit two mittens at the same time*. I cast off, bound in the raw end, and placed the markers, picked up the scissors, and started hyperventilating. I had to do some deep beathing & have a collaborative phone call with mom. I reasoned that I would know how to mend a hole in a mitten, so cutting a hole shouldn't be too bad, because I know how to fix it.
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EXCEPT THAT IT'S CUTTING A HOLE.
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IN A PERFECTLY GOOD PIECE OF KNITTING THAT I JUST WOVE ALL THE ENDS INTO.
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There was a lot of deep breathing, it's true. I don't think the man understood why I was freaking so hard. It's just so... Unnatural.

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Anyways, I'll get to the graphic photos - caution- this might offend some readers of a sensitive nature.

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The innocent mittens, as yet unaware of what's in store for them. The two stitch markers should have been a clear tip-off that something was up.

Mittens: Doo-de doo-de doo. Nothing happening here.

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Mitten: Whatcha doing? ..what? Hey! AHHH!

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It's just not natural.

Mitten: Oooooohwoh ow ow ow.

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Although that is a groovy thumb-hole.

Mitten: You mock my pain.
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And the picking up & knitting not too bad at all...

Mitten: I agree. I still think you're mocking me, but you're knittting at the same time, so okay.
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Ta-dah! The finished mittens of happiness. It was a journey that had its share of trauma, but in the end, I've learned something, grown as a person, and I have new mittens.

Mittens: Wheeeeeeeeee!

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*-Using two circulars, I knit two mittens at the same time. Perfect way to get around "Second Sock Syndrome". (Non-knitters - just let this go.)

By Jove, I'm a Designer!

I mean, I've always known it, but now Ravelry, people on Ravelry, and you know it too!

http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/kourtney-robinson-designs/11155">buy now

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I'm so pleased with myself. You can purchase the above pattern, Spiral Lights Hat, through Ravelry, and maybe one day, if I'm really smart, through Etsy & my website.

If you don't know what Ravelry is that's okay; you're not one of the knitters. I'll work on your conversion later.

Happy Walking Oct 08

Happy Walking Oct 08, originally uploaded by Kourtney_R.

The most wonderful girl ever.

Can all little children have painted on noses, please? Oct 31

Can all little children have painted on noses, please? Oct 31, originally uploaded by Kourtney_R.

Really, witha little painted nose, she's just so much more cute. And forgivable. Maybe it would work on all children... (pauses, imagining scene in Safeway where I get arrested for painting nose on darned little brat....) Maybe not. Still, for Halloween, awesome.

Princess Leia & the Ewok, out in the hood Oct 31 08

Princess Leia & the Ewok, out in the hood Oct 31 08, originally uploaded by Kourtney_R.

Yes, Happy Halloween. Am was pretty darn happy as an Ewok, & I was secretly ecstatic to finally get to be Princess Leia, the only damn female character in Star Wars, who my cousin Keeley always was when we were playing.* It's no fun being a storm tooper.
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And no, that's not my real hair.
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*She was bigger, & could read, so it makes sense that she got to pick her character first. I just always kind of y'know, wanted to be Princess Leia.

Princess Leia & the Ewok, out in the hood Oct 31 08

Princess Leia & the Ewok, out in the hood Oct 31 08, originally uploaded by Kourtney_R.

Yes, Happy Halloween. Am was pretty darn happy as an Ewok, & I was secretly ecstatic to finally get to be Princess Leia, the only damn female character in Star Wars, who my cousin Keeley always was when we were playing.* It's no fun being a storm tooper.
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And no, that's not my real hair.
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*She was bigger, & could read, so it makes sense that she got to pick her character first. I just always kind of y'know, wanted to be Princess Leia.

Thank you, my sense of irony is well-developed.

Yes, I know. The best laid plans of mice & Kourtneys gang aft agley. So no, no frequent posts for November, you noticed? You may also notice that whatever's wrong with my keyboard is not improving. I edit, & eit, becaus otherwise a properly spelled sentnce ens up lookin like this, I swear, I am typing just the same as on any other keyboard. It's just this one. So leters that are wrong are myfault, & letters that are missing are the keyboard, okay?
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So, it's been a busy November, wth a cuple super great highlghts, & some bummer things too. Also, there is less light in the days, & as the man remindd me, that gets me down. THank goodness e's here, I wouldn't have figured out the SADD on my own until January. Seriosly.
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All right. I give up. Now for some photo posts of Halloween, which was super cool, and then later, will tell youall about just how cool Yarn Camp was. (AKA: Knitting camo, aka: Make 1's Fall Fiber Arts Retreat)

Oh NoBloPoMo!

It's actually NaBloPoMo, as in "National Blog Posting Month", where a bunch of bloggers commit to blogging every day. Every year, I think of it too late, but this year, since I realized it on the 2nd, I'm jumping in the NaBloPoMo pool. Should be nice & warm, might be a little trite (at least on my behalf)... but! A good way to get focused & stuff & stuff, or so I'm going to treat it. And I might not formally join the NaBloPoMo group, because then I have another thing to remember (userid, password, etc etc), and I Am Completely Unimpressed With Trying To Keep Track Of Various UserID And PassWord CRAP. More about that later.

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For now, you're going to have to wait for the H'ween pictures promised, because my computer has frustrated me Yet Again, And I Am Going To Teach It To Fly if ths keeps up. So I think, for now, that I'm going to logg off, and try again tomorrow.