Brief Update

Yesterday I wove in the ends of my Sacred Tempest Sweater while I waited for the Rat City Intraleague Bouts to start on the Derby News Network. The DNN boutcast was voiced by my friend Jake, which was a charming surprise! Now there's just the seaming/button bands/buttons on the sweater to go, and I might indeed finish the darn thing by April 16!

I also watched the first 5 and a half episodes of the amazing Jekyll, written by Stephen Moffat and starring James Nesbitt.

Those who have seen this will especially sympathize when I tell you that with 1/2 hour to go, the power went out, leaving me with only my phone screen to light the apartment and freaking out on the inside that Hyde was coming to keeeeellll me. Do you see that crazy Joker grin? Eeek!

I realized while I was sitting that having candles but no matches is a clear indicator that I buy candles for their smell and not their ambiance, apparently, and also that I should think a little more about disaster preparedness if I'm going to live alone. Ahem. So I chilled in the dark, listening to the storm, until I heard my neighbors talking outside and managed to bum a lighter - something I haven't done since just after high school! The ability to Make Fire is still as relevant as it was pre-electricity, it turns out.

Anyway, I'm off to finish the last 1/2 hour of Jekyll.

Anglophile, out.

Start-itis...

...I haz it.

Despite the myriad of things I have on my needles (Salina, I'm looking at you! Really, it's on my desk right now staring right back at me. Sigh.), I can't help but be distracted by the even bigger myriad of things getting started right now. Maybe it's because I rarely knit the same thing twice. Maybe it's because January seems like a good time of year for starting new things. Maybe it's because I just have a raging case of start-itis and that's all there is to it.

The primary offender is Brie, who started a Stonington Shawl the other day. I'm deeply jealous because I have some beautiful silvery (or maybe the purple...) Gloss Lace that would make a fantabulous Stonington.

This jealousy is increased by my sudden and immediate love for my Citron Shawl. I've been wearing it almost non-stop since I pulled it off the blocking pins, and as much as I love having hand-knitted socks on my feet, I love wearing a ruffly neckwarmer even more. It feels grown-up and pretty and goes really well with my brown wool Anne Klein Jacket, and I just love knowing I maaaaaaade it. In fact, I wore it to my final class of the session, and before my teacher allowed me to begin a presentation she made me take it off and show everyone. They were appropriately impressed and I was appropriately bashful. My friend Jay - the only guy in the class and a future amazing teacher - asked me to knit him a pair of slinky boxer shorts out of the Malabrigo Sock Yarn because his wife would love them. I replied that I am nervous about how our relationship is progressing: when we first me, he wanted a beanie, and now he wants underwear! I may, however, be prevailed upon to knit him and his 2 sons (one 11 and one 3 months) matching hats. Maybe. One of these days.

So here's a list of things I'd like to begin in 2010. This list is, like all of my lists, subject to change, but these are the projects that have been weighing on my mind lately:

1. Stonington Shawl (all Brie's Fault!)

2. Spiderman Blanket - another repeat, but really I have a ton of friends and they are multiplying apace.

3. Wool Peddler's Shawl - All knitting all the time until the lace border. Cuddly and warm.

That's it, really. One of the things I notice about these 3 projects is the abundance of plain knit stitch. Throw in the Vanilla Rib socks that have come off the needles lately, and it's not a huge step to think that maybe my Knitting Mojo is telling me something...

I've set myself a goal of finishing 2 current projects before I cast on for a new one. I'm not sure how long that resolution will survive given the pull of the silver yarn I pulled out of the stash the other day, so to that end I'm of to knit like the wind in hopes of outpacing the Start-itis demons!

Obligatory Yearly Round-Up, v. 2009

WELL. It has been quite the year, y'all. I graduated from my undergrad and moved into a grad program more quickly than I intended. Despite the alacrity with which I dove back into school, I'm pretty sure that going for a teaching credential is the right decision for me and that it will allow me to put together a long-term plan that I'm happy with. Also I get to eff with the minds of high school kids, which is always fun.

So let's see. I am nearly done with the first part of the knitting for Salina. I have to finish the right front, then block the pieces before I seam it and pick up the collar, sew on the buttons, and then I'm DONE DONE DONE. Except not really because one sleeve is about 2" longer than the other, and both are too short. Chimpanzee arms, that's me. My plan is to pick up from the cast-on edge and just add another couple of inches, probably in seed stitch to match the hem and collar detail. However, I'm debating whether I should rip back the sleeve cap of the shorter sleeve and at least make them even before I seam up the sweater. I SO don't want to, but I'm pretty sure it'll make me crazy if I don't. So maybe the blocking won't happen tonight. ARGH.

Remember my list of things I wanted to finish up from a few weeks ago? I actually finished something!

Red Vanilla Socks

Brown Sheep Wildfoote, "Ragtime"

293 yds.

And now, because it's nearly 2010 and all sins are forgotten when the clock strikes 12, I will confess to having started a new project:

Citron from Winter Knitty '09

Malabrigo Sock yarn, "Lettuce"

I've got 57g left in the ball, so I'm almost 1/2 done. And now that I look at the pattern, it calls for Malabrigo LACE yarn, not SOCK yarn... so my little slice of lime might be a bit bigger than the original. Ah, well! It makes for great mindless knitting and I'm totally charmed by the whole thing.

In terms of the 12-Mile Quest, I didn't make it this year either. However, in standard quest storylines, the heroine must encounter three setbacks before she can attain her goal, so maybe 2010 will be the Year of the Quest. My total completed yardage for the year is 8 miles and 185 yards, which is about 800 yards fewer than last year. Given that I have knitted almost nothing in the last 3 months, that's not terrible! I completed 35 projects over the course of 70 posts and renewed my commitment to 101 in 1001. I also started a podcast (currently languishing, but with plans to rise up off of its' Victorian fainting couch soon)!

In keeping with last year's statement of goals, I am hereby pledging to do the following in 2010:

1) Rediscover my voice. Life is short and I intend to enjoy however much of it I have left. I will never be super-famous, which means that my immortality will end somewhere around 50 years after my own death. Do I want to be remembered during those 50 years as the quiet, mousy aunt who never did anything, or do I want to be the one who was always down, always ready for trouble? I think you know which one I'm choosing.

2) Experiment more. I tried to do this to some extent last year, but certain aspects of my life held me back. I am discovering little bits and pieces of myself that I've let fall by the wayside over the last 6 years, and I'm keeping the bits I liked. I know why I let them slip away, but I don't intend to do so again.

3) Find That Guy. My roommate and I are onboard with a new quest to find the guy I kissed on my birthday. We have decided that regardless of whether we find him or not, the chance to have adventures in new places is worth attempting the journey. Also, he was hot and mysterious.

4) Resurrect The Whim Game. This covers all three of the above pledges. There are super seekrit things in the works for this, and I'm excited to bring them to fruition. Plus, it'll get me three points, which is really what it's all about.

Happy New Year, everyone! I leave you with a picture of THB next to the tree, sipping on a Hendrick's Gin Martini in his bathrobe. He would kill me if he knew I posted this on my blog, but what are big sisters for, after all?

The Lee of the Stone, part 2

All right, where did I leave off? Oh, right - Lacis and a hint of what was to come after Cynthia and I oooh'ed and aaaaah'ed over all the antique lace and clothes.

We went straight to A Verb for Keeping Warm and ooooh'ed and aaaaaah'ed over Kristine's gorgeous colors.

Up until we showed up at Verb, I was doing fairly well. I hadn't bought anything at Lacis, despite being sorely tempted by some Yarn Place Gentle. But blood will out, as they say, and I lost all my resolve in the face of the naturally dyed temptations offered by the girls at Verb.


I ended up with four skeins of coordinating sock yarn for the Verb mitten contest (now over, ahem) and several skeins of this amazing stuff:
The picture doesn't pick it up very well, but it's a 50/50 merino/baby camel split in this aMAZing green. I bought... all of it. I think there were only 3 left, so it wasn't a crazy splurge, but I now have 6 oz of the stuff with which to make something phenomenal. Now I just have to figure out what it is!

In addition to the trip to Verb, I had visitors in town in early August. This is General Leigh and his girlfriend, Kickass Kate:
Leigh and I were an item six years ago for about five minutes, and we've been good friends ever since - maybe because we only get to see each other infrequently, as he lives in Jersey. Anyway, Leigh decided to bring KKate out to see Cali for the first time, and boy did he do it in style: they showed up in San Jose, then took a week to drive down the PCH and end up at his brother's house in San Diego. While they were in SJ, we took them to Bill's Cafe for breakfast and then went with one of Leigh's high school friends to her glass blowing studio called Art Object. The entire set of images is here, but I'll give you a couple because I can't help myself; I took some damn good pictures if I do say so myself:



After Leigh and KKate left, it was time to buckle down and start getting ready to move in with THB in Roseville - but not before I took FULL advantage of the final days of the Louet anniversary sale and bought myself this little beauty! Now I'm fully stocked, as far as wheels go; I have the Schact for at home, and the Vic for out and about. Neither of them have taken a spin since I've moved, but I'm making good progress on moving in this week so hopefully things will be chill enough for spinning sometime soon!

I've made some serious progress on the Honeybee Stole with only a few interruptions to knit on a Baby Surprise Jacket for The Murloc. She's due in the middle of October and I'm planning a few little items for her; they're slowly coming together. But in the mean time, the Honeybee Stole is a mere 34 rows away from completion - and not a moment too soon, as the damn thing is significantly longer than I am tall. I'll take a picture before I block it, but suffice to say that if Ann Hanson ever gives a tall and a petite version in her patterns, I will from now on be choosing the petite.

August flew by in a flurry of moving, and September is flying by in an equal flurry of job hunting and video games. Up until this last weekend's visit to San Jose to attend the Murloc's baby shower, I had hit a bit of a knitting rut: the Honeybee Stole was too complicated to work on in company, and I ran out of yarn on the BSJ about halfway through. But I've fixed everything to my immense satisfaction by starting a new audiobook to help with the one (JA's Emma) and stopping at Uncommon Threads in Los Altos to pick up another skein of yarn for the other. Cynthia and I spent a good deal of time arguing over how much of her stash I was going to abscond with, and in the end I managed to make off with a TON of beautiful stuff that will be turned into beautiful shells to wear Out. I'm super-excited! I also made off with about 1000 yards of lovely periwinkle superwash that will be used to make still more baby clothes. Seriously, my friends need to stop breeding. Or at least stagger it out!

The amazing sockpr0n sent me a package in the mail - is there anything better than getting presents from fellow fiber people in the mail? - that included the loan of her super-low speed whorl for the Schact (for learning to spin core-spun yarn) and a gallon bag of fleece "for padding." But not just ANY fleece - oh no, she sent me Henna. I swear to you that it's a good thing she put something in that package for padding because I was so surprised when I opened it that I dropped the whole thing right on the floor! The bag of fleece is sitting next to my computer as I type, looking simply stunning. She's got beautiful honey-colored tips that will make the yarn a gorgeous heather, and I'm excited to see how it all plays out.

For now, I'm going to go work on all those knitting projects. September is half over and I'm still slogging through Mile 7 of my 12-mile quest!

Aaaaaand, scene.

Why is it that just when I've gotten settled into a break, it ends? Sigh. Someday I'll graduate from college, and then I won't feel guilty when I slack off at home. Which I'm doing right this moment, by the way. Colleges should offer a degree - or at least a class - in Advanced Procrastination; that's the only way I'd graduate with a 4.0, I'm telling you!

I spent Friday and much of last night watching season 2 of Dexter with Jasmin and the Minions. This is a huge step for me because I hadn't finished season 1; in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit OCD about doing things in order. I've watched roughly half of season 1, and I was totally delighted to see my friend Sam show up in episode 5. Seeing my friends on TV is always a kick, and Dexter is a delightful show. ManCandy and I are negotiating getting Showtime added to our TV lineup, but I think I'll wait until I've seen The Tudors before I make a decision. I'm the one who pays the bill, after all. During Dexter I managed to finish the Black Magic roving. I'm quite proud of it, and it's my first spinning that I'd like to knit up into something wearable.

80/20 merino/tussah from Pigeonroof Studios, 383 yards

The roving seems to have gotten a little full of itself, however. It doesn't seem to want to co-star with anything else in the stash, so I'll have to see what I can dig up for this diva skein.

The weekend on The Farm was awesome. I rested and spun and knitted until I was ready to come home, and came up with some fun pictures as well. My lovely mother sewed buttons on the Egyptian Jungle Cardigan, and we promptly decided to torture Pierre:

He is clearly unamused. We, on the other hand, thought we were hilarious. Maybe because of the

Mmm. Wine. And because I can't think of anything else to say (perhaps the procrastination is getting to me?), I'll leave you with this:

Sound asleep.

Sock Madness and A Tale of Woe

Bella and I are getting along better now. We've established some ground rules and she's more comfortable now that she knows what they are. She's never had rules before - something I've been told over and over isn't good for a child. She's largely stopped crying about little things like being told to sit up and eat her dinner and started crying about the things that really hurt her bruised little heart.

A few days ago, we arrived at her house and I sent her to do her homework. She sat down at her desk for a few moments, then I came into the room.

"Bella, come here," I said, pointing to the spot directly in front of me. She came over slowly and stood on the spot (progress! Obedience without questioning!), looking up at me curiously. "WHERE," I demanded, "is my big hug for the day??" She smiled and jumped into my arms - all 38.5 pounds of her, the tiny thing - and koala'd me.
"You didn't remind me!" she laughingly accused when she was done with her hug.
"I have to remind you now? You don't want to hug me on your own?" I wailed. She laughed and tickled me, and we giggled together. Then: "Bella!" I cried in mock sadness, with big grin on my face, "don't you loooove me anymore?"
"Of course I do!" she yelled, and buried her face in my neck.
"I love you too, button," I chuckled. Then I realized she hadn't moved her face, and that her little frame was shaking. "Baby, what's wrong?"
"You - you - you thought I didn't loooooove you!!" she sobbed. I was shocked. Somewhere my brain was chiding me for not remembering her utter and total lack of a sense of humor, but the rest of me went into instant Big Sister mode. I kicked off my shoes and carried her to the bed, letting her curl up against my chest and sob.
"Sweetheart," I explained, "I'm so sorry. I was making a bad joke, but I didn't think it would hurt your feelings! I know you love me, baby, and I love you too. Shhhh." And then it struck me. "Bella, honey, do you sometimes feel like people lie to you when they say they love you?"
She looked up at me with huge, watery brown eyes and nodded, still sobbing. "Who?" I asked. Seconds ticked by while she tried to call up a feeling she doesn't examine very often.
"My mommy - sniffle - my mommy never comes home even if she's not working, and she never does what she says."

I have never been kicked in the gut, but I can tell you exactly what it feels like. I think I stopped breathing for a moment. My family's not perfect, and we've had our altercations, but there has never in my whole life been a single second that I seriously considered that my family - all 12 of them - didn't love me. The idea that a little girl could have reason to question the very foundation of the word "family" breaks my heart. 

Poor little dear. Thank god it's Friday.

*****

I woke up early yesterday so I could print out the first pattern for Sock Madness, but it wasn't out yet. Another reason in my long list never to get up early if I can help it! It wasn't a big deal - I had no knitting time in those classes anyway. I swung by the school print shop between classes 2 and 3 to get the pattern. By the time class 3 was over, I had the ribbing and a few rows of the pattern done.

Originally I kicked myself for forgetting a set of smaller needles, but since the pattern grows organically out of the ribbing, it worked out okay. Last night I finished just over 1/2 of the first heel flap stitches and went to bed - probably good, since I have to look up my HPSS3 pal's foot size. The Zombie pattern is wicked stretchy, so I'm not too worried about the leg. Here it is so far:

Zombie Socks by Sheryl Ball

It also just occurred to me that this is the first time in awhile I've had any knitting pictures to show off. Sleeve 1 of the Tangled Yoke Cardi continues apace. As Brie hoped, my length gauge and I found each other; I've got about an inch or 2 of plain knitting to go and the sleeve will be done. Then only one more to go and Tangled Yoke becomes at-home knitting, as it'll be too unwieldy to carry around to classes.

I think it's time for more tea and some Angel, season 4. And some Zombies.

A Weekly Endeavor

Apparently my blog is going to become mostly a weekly thing. Fridays have become My Day since ManCandy is at work and I'm out of classes. Sometimes I clean, sometimes I play video games, and sometimes I just read the internet all day. I rarely leave the house if I can avoid it, and now that it's spring I open all the windows and let the place air out all afternoon. It's wonderful.

My knitting monogamy makes for boring knit-blogging. I've finished the body of my Tangled Yoke Cardigan and am doing mathematical gymnastics on the first sleeve. You see, I have stick-arms. More specifically, I have tiny little wrists and I like Nice Sweaters (as opposed to hoodies, etc) to fit prettily around my narrow bits as there seem to be fewer of them as I get older, new working-out regime notwithstanding. The sleeves for my body size are definitely too big around. The small size, ditto. So I did some fancy calculations and came up with a decrease rate that pleases me, and wrote it down. Don't look so shocked.

But then came the girls in the leotards with their weird "I win!" hands-in-the-air poses and ribbon dances and the gymnastics began for real. (Did I carry that analogy too far?) Personally, I find sleeves that hit me right at the wrist to be unsightly; I am "long-limbed" and things that hit me just at my wrists (or ankles) look too short. So I chose a good length shirt and measured the arm at the wrist-to-armpit seam. Twenty-two inches - and thus, the problem. The small measurement on the pattern is 17 inches. Let the games begin! I think I may throw my back out.

Project Monogamy is not, it seems my deal. I've been reading A Gathering of Lace almost nightly trying to find a lace pattern for the Sea Silk from Stitches. I planned to use it for a Print o' the Wave stole, but that calls for 800 yards and I want to use all 1300, so it's back to the planning stages. Maybe something with beads! Maybe I'll find one more skein of the red and make the Moroccan Days shawl... Ahem. Clearly this yarn and I haven't spent enough time together. It's afraid to tell me what it wants to be.

In the meantime, I know it's spring in San Jose because a tree outside my window burst into bloom this morning. Yesterday it was bare, today it looks like this:


Happy Spring, everyone!

I (provisionally) Heart Fridays

This last week has been brought to me courtesy of the Conduit to Hell. I am apparently paying for my cosmic meltdown at Stitches West in spades. Five tests and three papers. Bella had her first kicking-and-screaming temper tantrum, lost her reading textbook, and revealed to me that one of her once-a-month assignments was due on Feb 14th. She's a lovely, sweet child 99.9% of the time, but when she melts down, hooo boy. Watch out!

In other news, I'm out of Garter Rib Hell and into the Land of Peaceful Stockinette. I'm sticking to my single project at the moment, but since I need size 4 dpn's for the sleeves - which I don't have - I may begin something else if I finish the sweater body soon. The color is a lovely russet red-brown, and I am in mad love with the feel of the yarn. 

Tangled Yoke Cardigan as of 2/27/08

Closeup - I like how the slight mottling covers up my slightly uneven stockinette

Sock Madness begins in the middle of March, and I'm fairly certain I have all the required sock yarn (hahahhahah!!). I don't know if I'll get very far in the competition, but it'll be fun anyway. I'm not yet sure about working solely from my stash for a year. Certainly the job insecurity means I won't be buying yarn or roving any time soon, and I definitely have enough in the stash to cover me until such time as I win the lottery, but I've set the last date I bought yarn as 2/24/08. We'll just see how it goes.

ManCandy's old friend Erin is coming in tonight and will be around for the weekend. On Sunday, I've classically over-scheduled myself by promising to help move a bookstore and take Erin and her bf to San Francisco. Fabulous.

Panza doesn't care as long as the squirrels don't taunt him and he gets his kibble.

Icicle Toes

I have finally figured out why I'm so cold all the time. Or at least since winter came and I moved my desk. The cat door that leads onto the porch is about 2 feet from my toes, and baby, it's been very not-warm here in sunny CA.

Now, I'm from Alaska. I know cold, and I'd like to make one thing quite clear. This weather? Not cold. But also, not warm. It's brisk and breezy and rainy, which makes my 1970's apartment complete with single-paned windows (and lots of 'em, thanks to being an end unit for which I am eternally grateful but also) not especially cozy. Ahh, I love a mystery solved. I knew it wasn't the over-indulgence in caffeine. Whew! And can I just point out that for an area that gets rain for a good 2-3 months out of the year (cry me a river), these South Bay-ers are NOT PREPARED for a little dew? The freeways are flooded and no one seems to know how to drive when they have to use the wipers, their lights and steer at the same time. Bah!

Several things have happened in the last week or so. I started another baby sweater and ripped the Seed Stitch Shoes, which will appear again in another incarnation, probably smaller. The baby sweater, affectionately dubbed the Egyptian Jungle Cardigan, has 4/5 of the pieces knitted and will be sewn, blocked and buttoned by the end of the weekend. Next up? Some sort of matching hat and booties. Perhaps the Cat Bordhi socks?

School started. Hooo, boy. This semester will be a test to see how well organized I am. Six classes, five of which are upper division? I'm a little nervous. Tomorrow I'm going out to buy what books I can from the SJSU bookstore, and ordering the rest from Powells. I'd order them all from Powells just on principle, but apparently textbooks ship from the "you pay shipping no matter what" warehouse. So there's that.

I also plied the Flor de Loto singles from a yarn cake, a la Miss Violet's suggestion. It worked like a charm!

Flor de Loto, 3.5 oz, 233 yards

I even remembered to set up the ball winder 6 feet away from the bobbin like Father Amos says to even out the twist in the singles. The plying did a great job hiding the inconsistencies in my yarn.

I got my grant money check from the school and promptly fell down in my 12-Mile Quest. A skein of honey-colored Trenna and some SeaSilk leapt into my cart before I could blink at Little Knits - that's 1686 yards of yarn on their way, so I need to get done with 3372 yards (2325 more than I have currently...) before I order anything else. That's gonna be a challenge, but isn't that the point? I DID have a metric crapton of fiber in my cart at Paradise Fibers, but walked away with only new bobbins and a tensioned Lazy Kate, which go under the heading of supplies - a heroic effort, I might add. I also got a 2-year Flickr membership, so now I'm "pro." Essentially that means the Disneyland photos are up and that I organized many of my photos into understandable groups.

Lastly, an interesting thing has happened on Fridays at Bella's ballet class. The first day I was there, no one said anything to me so I simply sat and knitted. The next week, one of the moms started talking to me about knitting and went to the car to grab hers. This week, there were two other women knitting with me and chatting, and one elderly Dutch lady who is utterly delightful offered me all her old patterns from "during the war" because she can't knit anymore due to arthritis. It's been fun and entertaining. Bella even got re-interested in her knitting this evening, and did two whole rows before her mother arrived to take her somewhere.

And now? I'm off to sit in a heated room and finish the cardigan. Ahhh, stockinette, where would we be without you?

Baby Boom

Last night I finished seaming the BabyBean's Boatneck Sweater! It's my first actual fitted garment project; socks and shawls and scarves (oh my!) don't really count as "fitted" in my estimation. I was thrilled and stunned that it worked out so well. I changed a couple of things in the pattern, but nothing major. I left both the front and back with looong tails on a Knit Picks Options cable so the last stitches would be live, then grafted the shoulders together and used a sewn bind-off across the neck. It worked quite well and helped cut down on the number of seams.

Happy Chinese Apple Sweater with Quarter and Kitty Foot

That's a quarter for scale - it's pretty tiny, so I'll have to get it to ButterBean quickly so that A) it still fits and B) it's still cool enough to wear in San Diego. The whole thing took about 170 yards total, which left me plenty of Classy for another couple of baby items. A cute matching hat, perhaps?

Then I picked up the leftover blue I dyed for my Egyptian Sock last spring and began a pair of the Seed Stitch shoes. See how well I'm keeping to the list? Enjoy it while it lasts, folks.

Amorphous Blob of Baby Shoe with Kitty Tocks

I know, they don't look like shoes, do they? But soon they will, or I'm hoping so; they at least look like the model in the book so far. I was totally enchanted with this pattern last night because apparently I like seed stitch. There are a few fun little tricks to this, like casting on 5 stitches cable-style at the end of a row to make a little flap. I've never knitted like this before, so it's kinda fun. Incidentally, the book for both of these patterns is Baby Knits for Beginners by the amazing Debbie Bliss. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to try some garment shaping without committing to a whole grown-up sized sweater. There are drop-shoulder and raglan sweaters, short row collars and even plackets in there, and all small enough that the project doesn't take 500 years. I may just work my way through it sweater-by-sweater.

And lastly, the What Socks To Cast On question has been answered! I know you all were on tenterhooks waiting to find out which sock I'd pick. I chose the Azure socks from Knitty, at which point I remembered that I'd never done toe-up socks before, and oh that cast on is new too. I think I ripped the toe of the sock about 4 times before it worked out. So after roughly 3 hours of knitting, I've got this much sock:

Mostly-correct Valencia Azure Sock

That's about 8 pattern rows in. It's slow going to say the least; the pattern isnt' very forgiving in terms of showing you where you messed up. But I'll get there, and in the mean time I'm enjoying knitting with a bright, happy yarn that still smells faintly of Orange Kool-Aid. And now I must take the new car to get an oil change and find out if there's a leak in the engine coolant tank or if it's just empty. Good thing there's a Starbucks nearby.

I finished Vallente's The Orphan's Tale: In the Night Garden last night. It's a stunning book, and there will be a review shortly. I'm working on it.

L&V's Finishalongapalooza '08

I've got the name wrong, I'm sure, but here is the thing I want to finish before I start anything else:

1. Gabe's Charade socks. Done 1/13/08, yay!

There's only one thing on the list because my dear friend LaurieBean's son Avery arrived on the 27th and it's time to start some baby things for him. I know that if I don't do it soon, he'll be big and the knitting will take longer, so I'm finishing up the Charades (about 55% done at this point) and then switching to the Debbie Bliss Baby Knits for Beginners book that I checked out from the Los Altos Library. Yesterday I went to Purlescence and picked up the Spinning Bible, a bunch of Dream in Color Classy and Smooshy:

Left to right: Classy Chinatown Apple, November Muse, Happy Forest. Smooshy Good Luck Jade

And somehow this jumped into my bag as well, oops!

Louet Arctic Wool/Silk, 8oz for eventual Mystic Waters Shawl

When I came home, I picked out a bunch of patterns in Ravelry for fingering or worsted weight yarns. They need to be finished before I do anything else, so add to the Finishalong '08 list:

2. Cargo pants Done 2/6/08
3. Boat Neck Sweater Done 1/16/08
4. Jacket with Seed Stitch Bands
5. Three pairs of mini-socks from Cat Bordhi's new book
6. Curly-Toed Elf Slippers from Weekend Knitting (also a library find)
7. Flower Power from Knitty Fall 07. (Isn't that baby in the picture ridiculously adorable? I want to snorggle his chubby little cheeks.)

I know those 6 things look like a lot, but they're small things on big needles. I think I can hack it. I'm pretty sure. Maybe I should start today.

After the BabyBean-a-thon, it's back to finishing already-started things:

8. Faina (still AWOL) Found 1/22
9. My So-Called Scarf for my dad

The scarf may end up a felted something-or-other. I really don't like the itch factor of the Manos Del Uruguay, and it's not going to make a good scarf. Maybe I'll get some Malabrigo instead and make a French Market Bag out of the Manos. So change it to:

9. Frog unwanted projects (German Stockings, MSC Scarf, etc.) Done 1/13/08
10. Swallowtail Shawl Frogged 2/7, will re-start at some later date

And that's 10.

I finished and sent off the Super Secret S---x Project. If you're not S---x, here's the finished product. I hope she likes it!

On the spinning front, I've managed to spin every day in January so far in honor of NaSpiMoMo. I know, it's only the 6th, but it's a start! I spun up and plied 4oz of Louet's Grape Jelly pencil roving:

Gratuitous pre-plying shot

and I'm 1/2-way through some Copperpot roving. This particular roving is a little slubby, so in my newbishness I'm having trouble drafting it well.

But I divided it in two and will put each half on a bobbin, then ply them together. Hopefully it'll be nice and barber-poley and not look like a jumbled mess!

What Was New is New Again

Let's make one thing quite clear: I am a shambles at Christmas knitting. Worse, I may be the knitting equivalent of the random detritus found on the floor after cleaning up a shambles. It's that bad, people.

I began my new job as a nanny on Monday afternoon. My little girl picked out a nickname for herself among several choices; she is now and forever more Little Bella. Her father has a touch of the harmlessly crazy due to consistent alcohol consumption and her mother works out of town for a month or two on end; I feel like I'm in The Nanny Diaries a little bit. Bella is a precocious child (I can spell 'phenomenal!') and has a Schedule. It's not completely packed like some of my kids at The Tutor Place used to be - third grade children who have "activities" from 6am until they fall into bed at midnight, only to rinse and repeat 5 days/week - and it's manageable. Or it will be once I get my new car and am not freaked about highway driving in the poor Saturn. I feel like a coach at a hospital's Terminal Ward: "Three more weeks, baby. Just stay with me for three more weeks, you know you can do it!" So far, the last two days have been fun. Her dad gave us permission to blow off Tae Kwon Do last evening, so we went to downtown Los Altos where we met up with Nadia and Cat and drank hot chocolate and coffee. Then we skipped - literally - over to Uncommon Threads and plopped down at their table, where Bella asked me to teach her to knit. Whether I had an ulterior motive for taking her to the yarn shop, I shall never divulge. Cashmere/alpaca couldn't drag it out of me.

So we sat down after oooing and aaaahing over all the lovely colors. And in less time than it takes me to write this, the little imp had mastered and was repeating "in through the front, around the tip, under the front, and off!" Within another 3 minutes, the only part I still had in the process is wrapping the yarn around the needle (Tomorrow will you teach me to do it myself? I like to be self-sufficient.) Then we bought her some Plymouth Worsted and some size 8 needles (The numbers must be how big they are. See, the 5's are smaller than the 8's!) and headed home, where her dad made us omelettes and told her there are "more useful things in the world than knitting!" I countered that knitting would be good for her math skills and her dexterity, so we'll see how that little battle turns out. Friday she's promised to help me pick out a Christmas tree since ManCandy is leaving for an early home Christmas tomorrow morning.

And back to the Christmas knitting shambles detritus that is my knitting basket. I have about 95% of one Dashing done, one Charade sock that according to the recipient needs more ribbing at the cuff of a cuff-down sock - dammit! - so will soon be zero Charade socks, and almost half of a Faina shawl. That's two boys and Mother Ship down; I think the rest will have to wait. I'm working with a lack of knitting mojo right now because school ended yesterday and I'm pretty spent in terms of Things I'd Like To Do. Maybe I'll drive up and meet Nadia in Tahoe tomorrow instead of work. A couple of days with nothing to do but knit by a fire sounds just about like heaven.

I'll See Your Wagon and Raise You a Boxcar

Do you ever feel that it's somewhat useless to blog because your life is passing you by so quickly? That's how I've felt the last few weeks. So much has been going on, it's hard to know where to begin. Sometimes we have to just give ourselves permission to only catalog what we remember and let the rest slip by for another time, which is what I'm doing today. (Doesn't "give yourself permission" sound like such a new-agey thing to do? Harumph!)

First, about 2 weeks ago my Knitpicks Options needles arrived! I hearts them, and I spread the love this weekend when the Mother Ship was here; she will be getting a set, probably of the Harmony needles since she works with more slickery fibers than I do. More on that later. The bummer with the KP set is that the needles don't come smaller than a size 4. Or perhaps that's good for me, since I tend to hover right in the size 1-3 range because I am a *cough*looseknitter*cough*. One of these days I'll knit a sweater (or seven. My Ravelry queue is getting sweater-heavy for fall).

Knitpicks Options needle set, now with toast!

In a fit of excitement, I fell prey to Handpaintedyarn.com and picked up several hundred yards of their laceweight and 10 ounces of roving. For the first time ever when I opened a box of yarn, I thought the company had sent me the wrong order. I was bitterly disappointed. I have a sneaking suspiscion that the photos are doctored, but I'm not sure and wouldn't want to cast aspersions. Here are some comparison shots:

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Perlas Rojas from the website: rubies and pearls _____Perlas Rojas in person: rust and smog!

The roving is closer, and the Clivia seems to have mellowed since it arrived and sat in the sun for a day, but I don't know that I'll be ordering from them again. I do like the greys in the Perlas Rojas though, so I might pick up a few skeins of the solid pearl grey - just not any time soon.

To comfort myself, I ordered a pair of the Harmony tips in size 4 from Knitpicks. Of course, I couldn't pass up the free shipping for orders over $45, so I added $38-worth of stuff to my cart. Shut up, my math is excellent! In the package will be a Jaquard starter set (hurrah!) and the Gryffindor yarn for my HP Sock Swap 2 partner, so when it arrives I will be dropping whatever I am doing and cranking out those socks. I found a pattern, thanks to Bella Knitting! Sarah, you're awesome.

Then, up until this weekend, I hardly knitted at all because of school work and projects. The Mother Ship arrived on the train on Friday and we spent a happy evening surfing Ravelry (I signed her up) and helping her transfer her newest project to a set of my new KP Options needles. You see, she had started a sideways Feather and Fan shawl out of mohair, and was trying (poor dear!) to cram 246 stitches onto a 32" Addi size 9. Those puppies were popping off all over the place! So I handed her my KP size 9's with the 60" cord attached (I knew those extra sizes would come in handy!) and helped her transfer and count all the stitches. Within about five minutes, I ordered a set of the Harmony size 9's and had them on their way to her house - clearly wooden needles are best for a mohair shawl. Good lord.

Then on Saturday, we went on an impromptu fiber crawl. First we hit Yarn Dogs where I bought enough sport weight to make a scarf I've been looking at and half of the Misti Alpaca laceweight to make the Feather and Fan Shawl from AGoL. Apparently I thought 1200 yards would be fine even though the pattern calls for 2500... wtf, memory? I'll also be taking their 4-session spinning course in October, hurrah!

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Frog Tree Alpaca in sage green _______Misti Alpaca lace, but only 1300 yards! Waugh!

Then we dashed to Los Altos and went to Thai Silks, where the cutest little old Thai ladies work and coo over all the choices their customers make. One lady patted my head and told me that she used to knit when she was a bride in her country, but has forgotten in all the hundred years since. So cute! Mother Ship bought silk enough to make a skirt and top, and then we headed back out into the California dew. Our foray into the rain was cut short by the discovery that Uncommon Threads was across the street (how did I not know that?) so we went there and discovered that if I ever want to make a sweater, this would be the shop to which I would turn. The ladies there suggested Purlesence as well; I had planned to skip it in favor of my pocketbook and going on Sunday for Tea and Sympathy, but since it was on the way home... to Purlesence we went.

I need to go more often. The ladies who work there are famous for their hospitality and energy, and their fame is well-deserved. My mother managed (with the help of knitters-by) to con me into making a pair of Clessidras for her by 1) reminding me that she gave birth to me I didn't know Camille at all when I made her such fabulous socks, and 2) buying the yarn. The knitters-by reminded me that she is my mother and I have to do what she says. All of these are salient points. I acquiesced and, as a reward for being nice to my mommy, bought myself a copy of IK winter 2006 and a skein of STR Geisha, and into my Ravelry queue went another set of Clessidras (I might be crazy a little).

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Geisha in Carbon, perhaps a sweater?____Maizy in Hibiscus, destined to be (more)Clessidras

Now, dear reader, I have more yarn than I know what to do with. Well - that's not strictly true. I know what to do with it. I just have to find the time! Perhaps I should get a job at a yarn store instead of as a teacher... *sigh*

This whole weekend I have successfully hidden Faina from my mother, but since she doesn't read this blog here's a sneak peek:

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Faina: 1.75 of 4 repeats done - that's nearly 1/2 way!

Last night, I started the second half of the Super Secret S---x project, only to find out that since I put it down last time my knitting skillz have improved drastically. So instead of being more than half done, I frogged the first half and have begun afresh. I am 2 repeats away from being 25% finished; it's much quicker going this time around - a slight relief. Perhaps I should start knitting tiny test socks before I attempt new patterns!

The kittehs continue to get along better and better. Both boys sleep on my bed at least at the beginning of the nights; I'm thrilled that Darcy is taking back his spot near my feet. School is becoming a trial and my faithful, trusty Saturn is slowly dying a painful death, but I'm hoping she'll last long enough for me to switch my work schedule so that I can take public transportation to both work and school - about 5 weeks (hopefully - fingers crossed!). And now, I must go plug myself back in to Jane Eyre while I knit. It may be slower going than if I were to just read the book, but it does mean I get to knit at the same time - a fair tradeoff for possibly not getting the book 100% finished by Tuesday's class, I think!

KEEL me now.

I discovered Veronik Avery's work today, which gives you two reasons to shoot me in my sleep. One, because I've been knitting for awhile now and never recognized her as a Goddamn Certifiable Genius, and two, because I will never, ever live long enough to knit all the amazingly beautiful things she creates, which will slowly tear at me from the inside out. Damn you, Ravelry!

Is there an acronym for accumulating so much Ravelry queue that you'll never get to it all? Something like SABLE, but PABLE doesn't sound right. AHH! I've got it; we'll call it KEELS: Knitting Exceeds Expected Life Span.

P.S. - Brie Ellen, this is all your fault. You and your stupid queue! We can transfer the blame to Kai if you like - he's hearty; he can stand it.

P.S.S. - I'm Tikabelle on Ravelry, for any who want to be my friend. Anyone? Bueller?

Why is it?

Why is it that I seem to spend all my time looking at knitting, thinking about knitting, but seem to get very little actual knitting done?
I think this has something to do with the overabundance of beautiful yarns and projects available both on Ravelry and the interwebs in general. Knitting Daily's free weekly patterns don't help either, I must say. That Quilt Wrap stole (from Folk Style but available to KD subscribers, go sign up!) looks like my darling Mother Ship, and if two of the Knitpicks Gloss colors I would use in said scarf weren't backordered until the end of October, I would be out some $45 right this moment. I'm the type of person who can get stuck in the toothpaste aisle for half an hour because I am struggling to choose the perfect item. So getting overwhelmed with the plethora of beauty on the 'net, well. Par for the course, my friends.
It's also something to do with a constant feeling that I should be doing something else - regardless of the usefulness or importance of what I'm doing at the time. Very strange, and yet reminiscent of the term I took 3 studio art classes at the same time - two from the same professor. I'm not sure why that is; I'm not overly strapped for time or cash at the moment (although I could stand to re-dedicate myself to the Yarn Diet... *cough cough*). Oh well - these things seem to work themselves out in the end.

In other news, I got my Options needle set yesterday, along with my Starry Night yarn from the Zen Yarn Garden ART Walk Sock Club. It's be-yoo-tiful. I'm on the lookout for a stole of some sort that I can make with 420 yards of fingering weight - this is too pretty to be socks. I'm still waiting on the stuff from Handpaintedyarn.com, but hopefully it will show up in tomorrow's post. Once it gets here, there will be a full photographic update, never fear!

The Senor Sancho Panza, Esquire continues to grow - soon he'll be full grown and we won't be able to call him the Wee One anymore. But in the meantime, his kittenhood is both entertaining and exhausting, especially when he wants to play in the middle of the night. Thank god he'll be grown in a year - what if he was a KID?!?

He has discovered my sock projects

And thinks the monitor is his own personal toy

But he sure is cute when he's sleeping!

Mr. Darcy is still not amused.

And then there was one...

Three down, one to go. My Islamic final went surprisingly well - other than the expected choking I did on the slide identifications. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when one spends too much time "decompressing" by knitting Super-Secret S--x projects and not enough time compressing. So I didn't study the 500000 slides she assigned. At least I wrote a pretty okay essay, and I shouldn't get below a C in the class. I know, I know. Not exactly what I had in mind grade-wise but whatever. At some point, it's time to just Be Done, and since I'm not going to go searching for a master's program any time soon, we're just going to call this one a wash. Good news though - the same prof is teaching Ancient Egyptian Art next term at a time I can squeeze in with my new job! Hurrah! Teachers like loyalty in students, I've noticed.

I would like to announce my current score (get your mind out of the gutter! It's not that kind of score.):
Panda Cotton: 0, Tikabelle: 1.

It was a close squeeze, but I ended up with a yard and a half left of my Panda Cotton after binding off the first of a pair of Monkeys. It was close there for awhile, sort of touch-and go. But I managed to pull ahead at the end, all the while considering what might be several universal truths:

1) Knitting faster does not make your yarn longer, although there is some stubborn part of me that still believes it will.
2) Staying up knitting frantically until 2am will not make your yarn longer. This holds true even if you have to work at 5am the next morning, despite what your sleep-deprived brain will try to tell you.
3) Staying up knitting frantically to use up your yarn will not keep away the Yard Gnomes - those pesky buggers who steal a yard here, a yard there and mean that you end up with (you guessed it) slightly less yarn than you need to finish your project.
4) Knitting more tightly does not make your yarn longer, although it may have adverse effects on your gauge.
5) Check your lot numbers before buying two skeins of anything. Especially if - for some mysterious reason - you are racing with the Yard Gnomes for final posession of your Finished Object.
6) A single Monkey sock takes approximately 168.5 yards with some slight modifications in the toe for the purposes of conserving the last few inches of yarn.

And one more little tidbit for good measure. I am a child of the 80's, so swatching brings me a special sort of joy. I hum the Swatch commercial to myself when I begin and have been known to totter into the kitchen chanting "swatch, swatch, swatch... my that's fun to say... swatch swatch swatch..." in what my roommate assures me is not an at all alarming fashion. I started swatching my Hogwart's Sock Swap socks today, and came up with a solid 8.5/inch on Addi zeros instead of 8/inch like I was shooting for. My Addi size 1's have not yet arrived; I'm going to try out the Crystal Palace size 1's tonight. Hopefully I don't have to do fussy math to get gauge for my partner's socks.

No Darcy picture today (or pictures of any sort really but I know what's important!). The little Feline Impersonator decided to spook while I was holding him up near my shoulder, and *bam!* my ear was bleeding all over everything. Luckily he scratched my ear and didn't snag and/or rip out my hoops, but it was a near miss. Because I know it wasn't his fault, I tried very hard not to be upset with him, but I'm retaliating against his alien race by not posting his picture today. Do you hear me, aliens? I'm SO on to you! My ear hurts. :(

Somebody stop me!

I joined another sock swap. I think I might be a "joiner," but hopefully only in the most positive sense. This one is Sockapalooza and seems like great fun. I'm already behind on the 52-Pair Plunge, but I'm going to do my best to catch up over the weekend since I'll be taking the train to Rocklin and back. My grandfather Jones was a railroad man, so taking a train makes me feel close to him as well as to Those Who Came Before, much like knitting makes me feel closer to women down the ages. One of my favorite train rides was from Sacramento to Oakland. We got stuck for an hour or so due to some track snafu and I was sitting behind an elderly lady dressed in her hat and gloves. She began telling her travelling companion about how she had been taking this particular train ride since she was a little girl during the Great Depression. It was just lovely to hear her stories and made me feel so much better than if I had been sitting in traffic.

Here are the promised pictures of my Very First Socks! I realized today that I had better take some since they are for my mommy and I'll be giving them to her this weekend. All in all, they turned out fairly well and I'm excited to try new techniques and patterns.

WARNING! If your name begins with an S and ends with an X, do not follow the next link under pain of ruining surprises! Here is the picture of the project I'm currently working on until my newest Knitpicks order arrives and I can start my CookieA pattern. Speak of the devil, there's the doorbell! Maybe it's the mailman!


[runs off to open the door]


Oh frabjous day, caloo-callay! My mailman must think I'm crazy. I nearly hugged him I was so excited! We will now cut short this blog to go fondle yarn.

Such a Fanboi

My Very First Socks are donedonedone! I grafted the last toe together, slipped them over my feet and danced around my living room a bit. They don't quite fit properly, the heel of one is juuuusst out of line with the toe seam and I'm not sure about how long the gussets will hold up, but they're done! Plus, they're for Unit 1 and she has to wear them - she's my mommy and it's her job to wear every lumpy, bumpy, misshapen thing I send her like it came from the needles of Coco Chanel herself. And, to her credit, she does. I love my mommy.

Next up is probably a pair of Monkey socks. I broke down on Thursday and bought some sock patterns from Cookie A, along with another order of Bare from Knitpicks. Then, in order to keep myself from casting on for my newly downloaded sock pattern, I dyed the rest of the Bare from my first order. I tried my own version of rainbow dyeing - which if I'm honest I know nothing about - and it turned out quite pretty, not to mention that my house smelled like Kool-Aid all day. I hung the yarn to dry on a nylon line I rigged up on my porch, giving the neighbors a peek at my exclusive upcoming line of hand-dyed sock yarns that probably none of them appreciated as much as they should have. Muggles, I tell ya!

And then? I packed my as-yet-unfinished Very First (Second) Sock into my purse, gathered my courage and headed to Bobaknit. Oh, what joy! What rapture! A Tapioca Express full of knitters and purl tea (iseewutudidthre), and right in the middle, Cookie herself. Whose patterns I dreamed about and fashioned an entire outfit around. Now, I will freely admit that part of the reason I didn't start a new project on Thursday is that my next pair of socks will be one of her patterns (probably the ones after that, too since I don't know whether I'll be able to stand the suspense generated by the USPS). I will also freely admit that part of the reason I decided on Bobaknit instead of the Campbell SnB is because I love Knitters Anonymous and I knew that the blog authors would be there. What I refuse to whisper even to my treasured ball of Tilli Thomas 100% silk in the exact color of the baby blanket whose shreds are still in my closet and so provides both comfort and yarn pr0n in one handful of silken love is that I studiously - studiously, dear reader! - ignored her the entire night in an effort not to gush about how much I love her patterns and how I caved and bought two that very day and by the way I dye my own sock yarn canIgiveyousomeprettyplease and willyoubemyfriendbecauseyouusedthewordwhackinyourlastKnittybio! Loose lips sink (possible friend)ships, people. So I kept mine buttoned and tried not to look starstruck. I think I failed. Ah well, there's always next time.

I did make a few aquaintances there that I'm hoping will turn into full-fledged friendships. Sarah from Bella Knitting is a lovely treat of a human being who is growing a verytinyhuman of her own. We waxed rhapsodic about the Harlot's upcoming visit to Napa in June, and how to score ourselves tickets. So rhapsodic, in fact, that I traipsed over to B&N on my way home from work on Friday and bought one of her books. Thank goodness it was payday!

All in all, a quite satisfying week. Aside from school stuff, that is. Damn, am I still procrastinating about my ARTH175 paper? Nooooo, I'm just organizing in my head. Yea, that's it.

Jer took the camera to the Giants game with him today so I can't show you My Very First Socks, but I did dig up a picture of Darcy in his natural element:
Yes, he pulled the books down on his own and made an alien-shaped spot on the shelf. Impressive, no?

Flash Your Stash 2007

Well people, it's that time again! Let's see those stashes - mine is regrettably small, but I'm workin' on it, trust me. In all its tiny stashy glory, here it is!

Spring break is over, and I suppose I should rehash my List of Demands. I'll admit I was lazier than I intended to be, but it was Spring Break, and I keep a fairly good schoolwork-to-games ratio so I'm pretty content. Here's the updated list:

1. Starting Monday, do not spend any money for 1 week (not including plane ticket or bills automatically deducted from bank account). This was the big one, hooray for me!
2. Get laundry situation under control. White socks do not look good with black shoes! Laundry, to my great and abiding despair, does not stay done. Unlike, say, a paper for ARTH 175...
3. Begin ARTH 175 paper, due April 10. Notice that this is the thing due soonest. Surprised? HAH!
4. Begin ARTH 183C project. I'm counting this as completed because I've been working diligently on it and also don't need 100% of the chart to be finished in order to start the actual stitching.
4a. Scan and print stitch descriptions Now that I can spend my spare change, I'm heading to Kinko's instead.
4b. Chart motif (2/6 pages complete)
4c. Pull colors/linen from stash. And boy howdy, are they pretty! I'm excited!
4d. Begin stitching (outlines first?). Only a couple stitches into the fabric so far, but it's a beginning.
5. Finish My Very First Socks. Or at least *almost* finish them, because the 52-Pair Plunge begins April 1. I'm not above stacking the deck in my favor, especially with Spring Break Demands 4 and 7 on the books! Sock #1 is about 1/2 inch from being finished, and it will count for the Plunge. Oh yes.
6. Kool-Aid dye first set of KnitPicks yarn. They're pretty! I'm impressed with myself.
7. Choose a topic for ARTH 185B paper, or design a project. One fewer paper to write will be a blessing come May, I'm sure. Not yet, but project ideas are percolating in my brain...
8. Finish tearing apart, washing and skeining RUS's. Not a chance. Didn't even look at'em. But Darcy enjoyed sleeping on the ready-to-be-torn sweater pieces, so that counts for something right?
9. Get to 70 in World of Warcraft (yes, I said video games! What?!?) Made it to a hairs-breadth from 69. A few hours diligence here would have me at 70, but I chose schoolwork and knitting over games. I'm so good.
10. Catch up on Battlestar Galactica. Made it up through 2/18, so only a few episodes to go. Argh! The suspense!

And just in case you were missing him, here is Mistah Daaaahcy in all his glory:

Yes, he's licking my Manos del Uruguay. No, I'm not sure what it means, but I'm still highly amused.

Physics at Work

This week has been a study in things-taking-longer-than-I-planned. The charting of my motif for Islamic art goes slowly. The leveling to 70 in World of Warcraft even slower, although I suppose it's a good thing those 2 things are in that particular order. Shows I'm making some progress in Life, instead of video games I guess! Tonight we head to Conrad and Kate's house for Italian food, wine and Wii. But today, oh, today I opened my front door and discovered a package that contained this:
Seven skeins of bare sock yarn and 50g of silk/merino gloss in Chestnut from Knitpicks.com. I swear, the neighbors must think I've gone crazy. I jumped up and down, hugged that plastic package and danced a little jig from sheer anticipation of playing with color.








I have been a dancer all my life, and I think the sparkles and bright rainbow costumes have worn off on me. Sometimes I stand in front of Unit 1's Closet-o-Fabric and just drink in the reds, blues, greens and yellows. She is also a consummate gardener, so there has always been gorgeous color in my life. So is it any wonder the desire to create my own lovely color combinations has been marinating? I speed-cleaned the kitchen, grabbed my shoebox full of Kool-Aid and set to work (note the necessary liquor and chocolate - a girl's gotta have her fix!).

Soon my yarn was percolating away in Jer's beer-making stockpot:

Do you see the physics problem I created for myself? Not having 3 jars of similar heights, one is much shorter than the others. So the yarn kept sucking up liquid from the taller jars and siphoning it to the lower one. So until I get another jar of the proper height, I think I'll stick to 2 colors.

At the end of the dying frenzy, I am left with only 4 packets of Black Cherry Kool-Aid and these gems:I must say, I'm quite proud of them. They make notions and dreams fly about my brain, and it's difficult to keep from making Grand Schemes and Things. But I'm trying!