Vox’s posts tagged knitting

In the Meantime

nobody@vox.com(Laura) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:16:05 +0000

I guess it's official - she is totally not making an appearance this week. I feel fine, the doctor said I'm not dilated (even though the hospital nurse said I was), so I guess I need to stop feeling like I'm waiting for an alarm to go off. Mainly I've been knitting. The repetitive motions are relaxing and allow me to expel all that extra energy that I would be using jiggling my knees, plus I get either Christmas gifts or new stuff for me out of it!

Me in a Scarf

Here's the latest, a very simple double yarn over scarf made with very pretty and very much on sale Debbie Mumm yarn from JoAnn's. This is going to my little brother's girlfriend Leah for Christmas. The colors are beautiful, and

Yarn

I think it will look good on her, so I'm giving it away even though I'm tempted to keep it! I bought one skein too many, so I can't decide whether to make a matching hat or fingerless mitts, or maybe try for a baby sweater out of it...who knows??

I also got a big box of Villager things to photograph yesterday. Seriously, I think there's maybe 17 little goodies in there. Only five items were for the website, though; the others will be grouped together in a Christmas mailer which is going to be beautiful. Seriously, the template is gorgeous. Anyway, my favorite item was this bunny head pin from designer Kristin Lora. She makes these great off-the-wall pieces that always grab my attention. For this piece I just happened to have some beautiful, pale blue, wood grain paper, and I adore how the photos came out. They make me want to buy the piece, and I'm the one who took the photos!!

Bunny Pin from Kristin Lora

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Ravelympics

nobody@vox.com(recyclemicol) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:17:23 +0000

Ravelympics Opening Ceremony

The start of the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing began three hours ago. That's 7:00 a.m., CST. I was supposed to be up and casting onto my knitting needles my second pair of Hand Spring Mitts for my entry in the Ravelympics, which is coinciding with the regular Olympics. It may sound boring for non-fiber people, but I assure you, it is great fun for yarn enthusiasts world-wide. So, I was really excited about waking up, casting on and posting pics on Ravelry.com with my fellow teammates. A little too excited to sleep, evidently. I got about five hours of sleep when I require at least seven or eight! When my husband woke me this morning, I didn't make it to the metaphorical 'starting line' like I thought I would...but instead, slept another twenty minutes and then 'stumbled out of the gate' once I made my coffee.

Pecan Praline

I hand-dyed some lovely Silky Alpaca Lace yarn yesterday for these mitts. I call it 'Pecan Praline'. I ran out of brown, or it would have been darker.

Ravelympics Opening Ceremony

Now, I won't bore you with constant update photos here on my blog. Maybe one or two more and then a photo finish at the end. Closing Ceremonies in Beijing will also close our Ravelympics. Just seventeen days to finish the new mitts, plus finish my swap with Patchy and complete my mom's second mitt. Oh...and give our daughter a 5th b-day party, and get her all set for her very first day of public school! (Sigh.)

Wish me luck!

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Melting.

nobody@vox.com(IceCreamSociable) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:10:12 +0000

I am in this wierd mood right now, that kind of bobbles between happy and sad. Happy because things are going well, sad because I'm gonna be leaving Jacksonville soon, and even though I know that it's right for me, it still stings me a little to know that this won't be my home anymore, because once Patrick leaves, our lease will be up, and my mom's house will be my home again.

I am thinking about getting another tattoo soon. Something that I will think about and draw myself, and keep to myself. I think the problem with me is that I am a word vomiter. I talk too much.

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I'm Addicted to Needles

nobody@vox.com(MizCreant) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:54:05 +0000

Hubby's Sox - funky soles

Just did these. Took me 11 days. Would have taken me 10 if I hadn't had a sudden bind-off anxiety attack (my first socks didn't BO so well) and couldn't convince myself to finish last night!!! Silly me.

Ravelry is such crack. It enables our addiction and makes the need so much more enhanced. I actually can't believe I'm so obsessed with this site and knitting. Socks, particularly. I'm very fascinated by socks. Very. Fascinated.

I'm really proud of myself and have been looking at projects, slowly trying different things (I want to do lace, even with it being so fiddly and my first attempt is not as stellar as I want it to be). I like the satisfaction of finishing a project. Several of them, in fact.

Of course, my husband does sense something else inside - if only subsconciously - and asks when will I get back to writing?

As an aside - I've just realised most of my projects are in the red/brown shades. I have 2 projects that are blue - radicially different from the rest. I have some green yarn that I haven't documented - but still. That's only 3 times out of 9 projects. Maybe I need some crazy Noro yarn...

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an update in bulleted-form

nobody@vox.com(Jo) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:13:44 +0000

Moved out of the old house =(
Am now living with mom in a one-bedroom apartment (practically buried in boxes) until my place in Jersey is ready
Still not exactly sure when I'm moving to Jersey...
Loved Pineapple Express (and the OTP that is Dale/Saul)
Am getting more and more nervous by the day about starting grad school
Finally ordered a suhweet Macbook (complete with free printer and free 8G iPod touch) that will be arriving sometime next week
Painted my toe nails but am holding out til I can find someone to go get a manicure with me
Need to do laundry like a whoa thing
Tasha's learning to knit, yay!
Supernatural's on tonight, double yay!!

That is all.

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びつ〱リたまご

nobody@vox.com(Kasumi) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:13:26 +0000

Surprise Egg!!

I finally finished my surprise egg from one of my amigurumi books. I was pretty stoked at how it turned out... egg chick and all. I think I may keep the chick and the egg, but that all depends.

I still have quite a bit of yellow yarn that I can use to make more little chickies to stuff in the egg. If I decide to give it as a gift, then they'd be quite surprise at how many chicks I can stuff into that crocheted egg.

But for now, this will stay in my project bin. Thank god for my amigurumi books...I can stash bust!

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YOU HAVE TO DROWN TO TOUCH ME

nobody@vox.com(CubistLiterature) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:03:29 +0000

I finally watched "Alice" by Jan Švankmajer.
I'd been meaning to watch it for some time now.
But it's been watched.
And I'll watch it again, I'm sure.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this scene:

Alice - Jan Svankmajer 1988 sub ita

Very cool, I think.

Last night I watched "Cloverfield".
I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'd maybe watch it again.
I don't like how they killed off my favorite character. =(

In other news, I've started knitting again---getting ready for the winter. I've made a couple scarves so far.
I might work on a sweater for myself.
We'll see.

Knitting is old:

Knitting Madonna

And it's older than that.

x
c

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i can't be human.

nobody@vox.com(chelsea creature) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:55:00 +0000

i don't feel like it at least.

little by little i'm checking items off of my crafty to-do list. also workin' full time. that explains why i look like this lately:

self portrait thursday 8.7.08

also, my room is a mess. also, i have no clean clothes. my washer and dryer are outta commission right now. i'll have to go to a laundromat this weekend. first laundromat experience in providence, okay.

in addition to knitting for so many different things (unfortunately gifts for friends have fallen to the bottom of the list until i've met deadlines for other projects, i'm sorry!) i've also taken a few minutes to read some things like this:

The R. Crumb Handbook

R Crumb

robert crumb. what a sick and irresistible man. wanna hate him, but don't really. isn't that the way it always goes. i just hope the librarians here don't think i'm a weirdo. i went to the library and took out some crumb and also:

The New Knitting Dictionary

Rhoda Ochser Goldberg

which really rules. so many good things. i really prefer old knitting books to new ones i think. new ones have more unusual, offbeat patterns, but really, as knitting becomes increasingly hip, knit vegetables are no longer as much of a novelty (to me at least) as 1950s and 1960s textures and prints. not that i don't like a good knit vegetable. not that i don't like a good real vegetable, while we're at it.

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Sea Creatures for Adrian

nobody@vox.com(liz) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:43:10 +0000

Adrian's 5th (!) birthday is tomorrow and I'm hoping he's interested in ocean life, because I wanted to make these patterns! I wanted to make the squid, too, but ran out of time...

Octopus

Cuttlefish

They aren't as 'finished' looking as I would have liked, but I was a bit rushed I guess... Lots of new techniques to learn, but lots of fun to make! (And hopefully Adrian will like them!)

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Cool Boys Knit!

nobody@vox.com(Draegon Scribe) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:19:08 +0000

You might remember me posting about my 'Hardcore Cardigan' designed by Ryan Marnell... Well now I can't stop thinking of how cool it would be to design some things of my own ',: D. so I have put my mind to the task and I have started thinking up these great designs! I think since I really need to take a break from reading 'Breaking Dawn' and from knitting and because I had the chance to use the computer I thought I would tell you about them. Now the first one is a duster (because it's not a cardigan and its not a sweater, and jackets are made of lighter stuff and not knitted, and a coat doesn't look like a duster, really...) and its sort of like a Matrix jacket only it has cables going up the sleeves and it doesn't have lapels... well really the only thing it has in common is that its sleek, black, and its a duster. Well any way the seacond is a little more formal, it's a dark blue kilt jacket. It has sort of flaps on either side and its, actually really hard to explain... well any way its going to be great! I'll be sure to post some pictures if they ever work out. So any way thisgs are going great up here at Nanny and Papa's house and tomorrow Dad, Mom, Brother, and I are going up to look at houses so... this is the deciding run! Then Dad goes to work, and we stay at Nanny and Papa's for a month or two until the paper work goes through. Things will be very interesting pretty soon...

Peace out,

Draegon Scribe

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did I mention these updates were, er rare?

nobody@vox.com(funkyknits) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:14:16 +0000

Pirate's Queen Booty Bag, pattern by Pat Kight. Finally finished and (as of last night, center picture) felted.

Mitered squares sock-yarn-user-upper, in progress. Not just yarn from all of my socks, but from many of my friend's socks.

Firestarter socks

Firestarter Socks, completed, knit in Panda Wool.

Juno Regina shawl, pattern by Miriam Felton, knit in Zephyr silk/wool blend.

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Strange Anniversary

nobody@vox.com(Jackie) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:23:05 +0000

At this moment, in my homeland, it is in the wee hours of an anniversary. August 6, 1945, 63 years ago, the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. People on my mom’s side of the family are atomic bomb survivors. I lost two cousins directly from the explosion, everybody but the four youngest siblings became extremely ill from the radiation and one died soon after from leukemia. This anniversary has become a bit strange to me. I remember one of my Japanese uncles telling me over 25 years ago that most people in Japan acknowledge the issues about the use of the atomic bomb only for about a week around the anniversary date and then it’s forgotten until the following year. This seems to be a universal problem according to this quote:

Ancient History

I have a hard time expressing an opinion on all this. This is because I have a lot of respect for my family who survived and died from this event and I don't want to disrespect them through comments based on what they may perceive as ignorance. Also I have a lot of respect for my American dad and people of his generation who would’ve been a part of the invasion into Japan if the Japanese Emperor hadn't surrendered. I think my artist’s statement safely expresses how I process this whole event in my family's history:

My mother, Hisako, is Japanese. Our family is from Hiroshima and has survived the effects of the atomic bomb. I have been raised listening to heartbreaking stories of pain, courage and honor. The most impactful perspective for me has always been this:

Even with this event in her history, Hisako peacefully accepted the past and fell in love with an American…

Sometimes I am struck by human experiences which I have heard or have witnessed. Vulnerable expressions of peace, joy, True Love, faith and other honorable attributes create visions of translucent patterns swirling in my mind. I have re-created these patterns using contrasting fibers made of various materials. The color combinations are inspired by art, kimonos, nature and those honorable people of whom I speak.

Now I respectfully offer to you my handcraft.

Jacqueline B. Sario

If you guys want to check out some of my art work, go to the photos posted on the right.

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Regular Day

nobody@vox.com(Design Shark) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:42:48 +0000

Oh man. Today was a normal day!

Slept in. Dyed my hair. Got it cut. Went to Old Navy and splurged on 2 tank tops and a pair of khakis for the tax free weekend. Went to knitting. Finished the left front of Tammy's central park hoodie! I feel as though I'm about half way done now. How excited am I? Not as excited as Tammy, who wishes I'd hurry up. :) Went to Target, got a few necessities and looked at their clothes too, which were adorable, except that none of them fit right. I didn't need to spend the money anyway.

So, that lands me here on the couch, catching up on my Colbert Report and Law & Order. Awesome.

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stashghan?!

nobody@vox.com(Destined2B) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:48:50 +0000

Alright so today I was stumbling around and found this site sounds like a great way to use all of my extra bits of yarn that just aren't enough for another beanie, or for hand warmers! For the most part I've been knitting quite a bit lately. This weekend was the exception. This weekend I opened at the coffee shop on Saturday(5am) and Sunday(5:30am)! So after work I ended up sleeping most of the weekend away, and barely touched my knitting. The knitting I did do...lol, not actually productive! I practiced my working in the round (something I generally despise), working with double pointed needles, and perfected my increases, both with a right and left slant.

My roommate has started knitting with me. She is quite the natural! After a 5 minute review (her grandmother showed her years ago) she made a 10in swatch of different stitches, then started on a beanie! She's made 2 of the now, and they are awesome! lol, they are the quality of the ones I have been making! So that's pretty exciting.

My Mr. Awesome will be returning from his 5 weeks in Europe tomorrow night...I'm sooo excited! I still have some cleaning around the house to get done tonight, and some things in my room that I don't have a clue what to do with yet!

Good Times!

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Spinning alpaca

nobody@vox.com(triskellian) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:24:42 +0000

No photos of this yet, but I've also been spinning the alpaca I bought in Hay and dyed a variegated pinky-lilacy-grey. I started off spinning it as-is, but this turned out to be a pain, so I've now started carding little bits at a time (so as to avoid mixing the colours too much) and spinning the carded fibre instead, which is much easier. It's quite fine, and is going to be two-ply (it'll probably be somewhere around fingering-sport weight) and is currently intended to be a Christmas gift for my MiL, who told my partner that she was expecting 'something spectacular' from us this year after he told her about my spinning and knitting. This isn't actually a demand, so I don't mind going along with it, and the alpaca is in any case too pastelly for me, but I think she'll like it. Depending on how much yarn I produce, I'm probably thinking of a lace scarf or mini-shawl (there's 200g of fibre), although I haven't thought about patterns yet other than to decide I'm going to design it myself rather than follow someone else's pattern - I rather like the idea of telling the MiL that I dyed, carded and spun the fibre then designed and knitted the garment, all by hand. I'm such a show off ;-)

(In other family gift news, it's only just dawned on me that I should knit baby things for my BiL and his wife, who are planning to produce a neice or nephew for us in October. Note to self: research baby knits on Ravelry.)

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One and a bit Bellatrices; various musings

nobody@vox.com(triskellian) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:13:39 +0000

Yesterday I finished the first Bellatrix, and I've just now finished the toe of the second :-)

The first picture is the non-gusset side of the first sock, the second is the gusset side - since this is Cat Bordhi's sidestream sockitecture, the two sides are very different. There's a yarn over section near the beginning of the gusset, from before I decided to leave it in plain stocking stitch, so I'm intending to go back and work the loose yarn along the row to remove it. It looks fine as is, anyway, so it's not a big deal.

I've been thinking about how Ravelry's 'percentage complete' box works with socks. When I finished the first one, I triumphantly changed the project to '50% complete', and now, even though I'm sure the toe doesn't actually constitute 10% of a sock (and therefore 5% of the total project), I've just changed its status to 55%, to signify that I've begun the second. I only permit myself to reach 25% and 75% once I've completely turned the heel, even though that's probably more like two-thirds than half of a sock. This is also complicated by my uncertainty about whether I'm estimating percentage of stitches or percentage of time - the toe and the heel both take much longer per stitch than the foot or the leg do; with the whirlpool toe this is particularly obvious, since each plain knit round takes much less time than the corresponding increase round, especially at the beginning. If I'd had a stopwatch to hand as I was thinking these thoughts while knitting the toe just now, I would probably have started timing rounds and calculating seconds per stitch ;-)

I've also been enjoying my 'progress report routine'. When I reach a stage in a project that I feel is worth documenting (which is often as much to do with how I feel about a project as reaching milestones in it), I take photos, download them from the camera, import into iPhoto for editing, then export to the desktop. From there I drag them into my Flickr uploader, title, describe and tag them, then upload to Flickr and put into appropriate sets. Next I add to the new photos to the Ravelry project, change the project's percentage complete, and if I want to show the photos or have something to say about the project, I blog them here. I started this blog to provide a structure for me to keep track of projects and write about them, and the combination of the blog and Ravelry means I'm able to think much more critically (in the neutral-not-negative sense) about my knitting and my spinning, and apply my innate geekiness to them. This makes me happy :-)

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A tale of two washcloths.

nobody@vox.com(Saucy!) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:18:30 +0000

This is the story of how I have been cured of desire. I mean in the sense of having any desire whatsoever to date men. I no longer require male attention. I no longer need the company of a man. I have no desire for social interaction with men. Here is how it went down:

Dating experience #1: Coffee with strange man.

My entre into the dating scene after the demise of my last relationship can be summed up in one phrase:

He took it out. Indeed. In broad daylight at a coffee shop. Yeah. I left. I wanted to yell, "I'm OUT!" but I was able to refrain as I didn't want to encourage a scene of any kind after he proved himself brave enough to take it out - figured I shouldn't push it with the crazy. I stood up quietly and walked out to my car and drove away. Fin.

If that wasn't bad enough - I pressed on... with a different man, of course - because, seriously? Um, no.

Dating experience #2: DJ Yogi in the sticks.

After numerous all-night conversations and hours-upon-hours of texting, IM'ing, emails and phone calls at all hours of the day and night...I got brave and decided to make the drive up to the middle of nowhere out in the sticks. If you have any knowledge of my automobile, this was a braver than average move. Add to that the fact that it was SNOWING - yes, snowing in a blizzard-like-fashion - making the drive twice as long as it typically would have been. SNOWING. I had already driven over 60 miles at this point and the idea of turning around seemed even more ridiculous than just going the rest of the way - about 20 more miles - in the dark, in the snow - still - I couldn't fathom the turning back thing at that point. According to DJ Yogi (barely out of a marriage), I was far too hesitant for our first meeting. Even after I spent the evening with this fine gentleman, he found my apprehension - my hesitance to fully surrender myself to a person I had only met a few hours prior - a big turnoff for him. I'm going to cut this portion of the story short and allow myself to sum up by leaving a short list:

Sikhism is a beautiful thing.
Shoe fetish.
Magic lotion.
Some people demand perfection; I don't deliver.

Dating experience #3: Love at first sight OR Unrequited love is for STUPID PEOPLE (like me)

Meet single-dad for coffee. He and I have been talking to one another for just a few DAYS. In person he is even MORE attractive than I thought he'd be - I'm talking exponentially hotter than I ever imagined he could be. He's incredibly tall and makes amazing eye contact with me. Everything about our conversation from the eye contact to the intellectual content to the body language is INTENSE.

I am so attracted to this man; and we seem to be mutually connecting - it's incredible. I am flying high. He walks me out to my car. Within moments of driving away, he calls my mobile and tells me he wants to see me again. He says, he hopes he is not being too forward, but he'd like to make dinner for me and watch a movie with me - Mostly Martha - a German film. We have similar taste in food, literature, film. We have similar philosophies about parenting, life, love. It all seemed to CLICK in a way I have never CLICKED with anyone before - well, in a way I never imagined I could click with anyone EVER - seriously. I was so euphoric I was scaring myself. (Red flag, perhaps? Oh, no, not for ME.) 4 days later I see him at his apartment - we had been chatting online and my kids were with their dad and he had just put his 2 kids to bed and I happened - by sheer coincidence - to be at a wi-fi hotspot cafe only blocks away from his apartment - I had no idea where he lived before that evening. He invited me over - to talk. He had a refrigerator magnet that was a small metal container with a window in the lid - inside it were threads of saffron. Boxes of tea and spice jars were scattered on the countertops in his kitchen. The sink held quite a few dirty dishes. The entire apartment was in a state of general disarray. Single parenthood being what it is, and having first-hand knowledge of such, I did not judge him in the least by the state of his apartment. We sat together on his living room couch and talked and then we stared into one another's eyes for a time and then kissed. I've never been kissed with such passion. NEVER. I still cannot believe I had to wait until I was 37 years old to be kissed like that. It was seriously worth the wait, though. I'm not even being the tiniest bit sarcastic. Oh. My. God. Incredible. I could easily wax poetic about just the kissing for so long that I'd lose 100% of my vox-readers. Yes, truly, all 3 of you would go away and never come back - so I'll move on... Basically - what I learned from this experience is that even when I think I am dialing it down a notch, I am still WAY more than most men can handle. And I was dialing it down more than just a few notches in this case - I was holding back like nobody's business.

Here we insert a LONG break - during which I met and messed around with a few men but never even considered any type of emotional investment with ANY of them.

Dating experience #4: Virgin Wool Knitter (cotton-blend, really - but you'll get my meaning)

We meet for "milkshakes" - although I had an old-fashioned phosphate soda - cherry - at a retro-diner type place in-town. Nice man. A little shy for my taste. Reminds me a bit of my first husband - the engineer. We talk a few hours and agree to meet again.

About a week later we meet for dinner in Nob Hill. He brings me a rose. I'm simultaneously charmed and turned off by the gesture. (This makes me a total jerk. I know.) We share a pizza. Afterwards he suggests gelato. There's a funky little place about a block away with awesomely weird flavor combinations to where we walk over and have gelato. He's a perfect gentleman. Oh, I skipped the part about how I fell asleep in the afternoon and was an HOUR late for dinner with him. He was totally sweet and understanding about the whole thing - and never mentioned it again. I am a TOTAL JERK. I know. We talked a lot about college - courses we had both taken in college - and about physics and stuff like that. Nice conversation. No chemistry between us - but I totally enjoy his company and friendship - very easy and relaxed. Total platonic vibe. We part ways and as I am driving home I have a light-bulb moment: HE IS A VIRGIN. A 40-something-year-old-virgin - and I am SURE of it.

He calls me 2 weeks later - I had my kids the following week - and invites me to go to dinner and a movie. We agree on the new Batman movie and I kind of geek out over the idea of actually seeing it in the theater. I am a major fan of Christian Bale in EVERYTHING he has done and especially fond of him as Batman in Batman Begins so I know I'm going to love this one. Anyway - the night of "the date" arrives and I actually wore a dress. This is shocking for two reasons: I rarely wear dresses. I knew that the vibe was strictly platonic, but I wanted to throw the virgin a bone because, obviously, no one else has and he is a SUPER nice guy - so I'm taking a break from being weird and stand-offish and I'm trying to act like a "typical girl" for once. Movie is excellent, however, very dark and kind of depressing (in my opinion). Dinner afterwards at Bennigan's. Conversation again about college, classes, friends, etc. and work. Some talk even about high school - interesting - not terribly enlightening or revealing in either my case or his. After dinner he takes me home and insists on getting my door for me - he walks me up the driveway and we kiss before I go inside. All very innocent and civilized. I begin to think that maybe I could like this guy more than I originally thought.

Next day I call to thank him for the date. We talk about the fact that neither of us has plans for the evening and I go out on a limb and invite him to dinner. Thinking that surely, if this guy is really NOT a virgin (and I'm just being obnoxiously judgmental - which is a distinct possiblity) SOMETHING is going to happen if I invite him to my house and make him dinner, right? He comes over with dvd's in-hand. I make dinner - simple baked chicken and salad and some garlic-butter biscuits. We eat and put the movie on - Knocked Up. Funny.

Knocked Up Trailer

There a few slightly uncomfortable moments in the film - uncomfortable because - well - from the title I'm sure you can guess. But, then, really, it's funny and sweet for the most part and usually I am not at ALL embarassed by any kind of sexual humor - or sexual anything, really, to be honest - but in this case, I am feeling slightly uncomfortable. I also find it ironic that the male lead in this film plays a character in "The Forty-Year-Old Virgin." Uh huh. So...

After the movie - it's pretty late - after 10 and I'm feelin' sleepy after a day full of housework - took advantage of a kid-free weekend and actually DID some shit around the house that needed to be done. And, so, I am picking things up and preparing to send him off and he says, "Oh - I have something for you - I'll be right back!" He goes out to his car and returns within 2 mintues - holding TWO HANDKNITTED WASHCLOTHS - one yellow and green, the other blue and purple. He places them in my hand, "I knitted these for you. I knit." He grins sheepishly and I am so completely speechless in this moment that all I could do was say, "Wow. Thanks." I had no other words - because really I wanted to say, "Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?" But that would have revealed to him INSTANTLY that I AM A TOTAL JERK. So - I smiled and told him I really enjoyed his company this evening. We hugged and he left. I locked the door and went to bed. Still in shock over the KNITTING portion of the evening. I'm not saying there is ANYTHING at all wrong with a guy knitting. In fact, a man who knits could TOTALLY be a turn-on - it's kinda hot, as a matter of fact - it was just the whole presentation of the two "washcloths" that was such a surprise - I had no response - neither emotional nor intellectual - to such a scenario. I was hoping for sex and I GOT WASHCLOTHS. Yes. That is WAY TOO MUCH TO PROCESS. I know. For a moment I felt like my life is a bad 1990's sit-com. Not near the quality of Seinfeld - but attempting to rip off the non-content humor of Seinfeld. Nothing happens, but it feels so real. Almost like real-life. Uh huh. You WISH your life was this full of THE FUNNY. Don't you? No. How COULD you?

Also: I am a total jerk.

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Hat Mania!

nobody@vox.com(Mollie) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:14:35 +0000

I've been on a hat knitting jag lately. It started with a skein of Araucania Nature Cotten that a friend of mine gave to me. I wasn't sure what to do with a single skein of it until I saw on Ravelry that someone had made a Foliage hat with one skein of Arucania Nature Cotton. The texture of the yarn and the color of this particular skein seemed just right for a rustic Foliage hat.

Foliage Hat

Unfortunately I had some sort of block against this pattern and kept messing it up. It should have been very simple, but I swear I spent more time tinking this one than I did knitting it. I finally finished it and then was informed by two independent sources that it wasn't my color, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

Foliage Hat Modeled

I then moved on to the Odessa, which I knitted for M. It started with the yellow Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK that she found on sale at our local yarn store. She wanted me to teach her how to knit a hat with it, but I was worried that trying to learn to knit a hat using DK yarn would be an exercise in frustration for her, so I convinced her to let me knit her a hat with the yarn that she loved and promised that I would teach her to knit a hat with some chunky yarn that I have in my stash. I even promised that she wouldn't have to wear the chunky yarn hat when she finished it.

Odessa 3

The pattern called for beads to be strung along the spirals, but I skipped that part of it. This was a very simple pattern once I got it started. I did mess up the crown shaping a bit, but I don't think it's too noticable.

Odessa 2

Since M. and I had new hats, I figured it was time to move on to D. D has a hard time finding hats because his head is a little larger than average size, so I had bought some lamb's pride bulky wool earlier this year to make him a hat that would fit. I sort of improvised the pattern using several different hat pattens that I had seen on-line. It's a vey simple stockinette stitch hat. D would not want anything very fancy. I saw these colors in a tie that some guy was wearing one time and thought they would be good colors for D. He's not a big fan of this picture but here it is.

Dave's Hat 2

I then decided to knit the hat that I planned on knitting for my dad for Christmas. My dad has always liked bright and garish colors and what colors are more bright and garish than hokie colors, so I knitted him a hokie hat. I again improvised a very simple stockinette stitch pattern and knitted it with lamb's pride bulky yarn. I really like the thick and thin stripes on this one. I was a bit concerned that since the hat fitted me, it would be too small for my dad, but my mother assured me that my father doesn't have a very large head, so it should be fine.

Hokie Stripes Hat

Finally, I wrapped up hat mania with a So You Think You Can Hat. I guess someone appearing on So You Think You Can Dance wore a hat similar to this. Some industrius folks on the So You Think You Can Dance Ravelry group liked it so much that they charted out a pattern for it. I was looking for something to do with the one and a half skeins of brown sheep cotton fleece that I had left over from my Rusted Root sweater and thought this hat would be the perfect project. Of course the hat only used up the half skein, so I still have one skein left. The hat looks tiny, tiny, but it's very stretchy and does actually fit on my head. I especially like the crown shaping on this one. And I know that this is my color, so I'll be wearing this hat come winter

So You Think You Can Hat - Back

I'm a little sick of hats now, so I'm going to take a break from them. I need to get back to the Central Park Hoodie knit-a-long that I started last month and I think I'm finally ready to face the 1x1 rib of the striped Noro scarf.

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chief, my people are a people of law. and that law is: no backsies.

nobody@vox.com(emma) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:44:37 +0000

Here I am, in Austin, TX. My stuff isn't here yet, so I'm sleeping on a couch. As such it doesn't quite feel like home yet. I'm making strides, though.

While in LR I went to a Hobby Lobby and got a skein of the softest cotton in the world which I used to make this:

reverse-bloom flower washcloth

The pattern is from Weekend Knits, but is also available online at CanadianLiving.com. Very easy, pretty quick. I made most of it while watching a baseball game Wednesday night, and did the rest while watching "The Two Doctors" episode of Doctor Who (Sixth Doctor and Second Doctor). By the way, I think I am in love with Jamie. He may just be my new favorite companion.

Now I'm off to the mega Whole Foods downtown to do some much-needed shopping. And maybe treat myself to something fancy. I mean, it's my birthday, so why not?

Stay cool,
s

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Most Complicated Scarf I've Ever Made

nobody@vox.com(Laura) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:39:48 +0000

Holy moly! This week has been exhausting!

Sadly, though, it's not because I have been out saving orphans, putting out fires, or adopting highways to clean. I'm still just playing Holiday Inn to our finicky little guest, and this staff of one is just wore out because of it. I'm staying off my feet a lot, as the swelling hasn't improved one iota, and basically I feel like I'm on self-enforced bed arrest. I know, rest while you can, but for someone who's used to running around all the time it's nerve-racking! She's due in only 10 DAYS though, can you believe it?! As tired as I am of being pregnant, I'm very nervous about her coming out and being here and needing stuff. Nervous but happy. Last night I did attend a very entertaining, relaxing party, and I even stayed out until like 9:30 pm. It's a record for this year!

So while shacked up in my bedroom I've been working on more knitting projects. I have a couple in the works that are hush-hush, but I can show this one off because it was really tricky and Amos has already seen it. I started this scarf last year; it was going to be a Christmas gift for someone, but then I kind of had a falling out with this guy, so I put the project aside until about a month ago. Amos saw the barely started project and requested that I finish it, so even though these aren't the colors I would have chosen for him, behold his Christmas gift...the very popular among hip knitters Danica scarf!

Danica Scarf

It's knit using the Entrelac technique, which basically looks like knitted ropes that have been braided together. This pattern called for changing the color every couple of blocks, and adding the accent color at random, which means I have about 80 thousand ends to weave in! But it's so cool I don't care; I'll probably wear it as much as Amos, and we'll see if it actually makes it to Christmas.

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