Second Verse

Some pictures of random things happening around my house:

"Soul Windows," April '09 Spunky Club SW Corriedale

Well, Amy did it. This is the third shipment I've gotten from the Spunky Club, and by far my favorite. It's encouraged me to stick around for another shipment, but I'm still not 100% sure how long I'll keep it up. It's nothing against Amy or her dyeing or products; I'm simply not sure how well her taste meshes with mine. But this month? Gorgeous. I love it.

"Ivory Coast" BFL, Crown Mountain Farms, 2-ply, 279 yds (575 total)

I finished plying! And then I soaked and thwacked and measured, and it's only about 20 yards shorter than the first skein - but you'll have to take my word for it because I seem to have misplaced skein #1. ARGH. Well, once school is done the house is due for a major over-haul. I bought clear, 71-quart plastic bins at Target this weekend to help with the stash wrangling, but I haven't had time to organize. Hopefully once I do, the missing skein of handspun will turn up. In the mean time, this pushes me over into Mile 4!

Bobbin #1, CMF BFL, "Lord of the Mountains"

I spent last night working on bobbin #2 while watching nearly the entire season of Castle (SO fun, I loved it!), and there are probably another 2 hours-worth of spinning before I'm done with these singles. I'm excited to ply this project! I'm in that part of the learning curve with spinning where I just have to do it a lot and let my body memorize the rhythm while my eyes and fingers learn to spot potential problems. I think once I feel more comfortable with the actual spinning itself, I'll be able to work on getting slightly thinner singles for better sock and/or lace yarn.

I'm also going to try to finish this one up ASAP because I fell down a little at Bee Mice Elf and ordered 2 braids of beautifully dyed stuff that is on its way to me right now. I'm gonna wait to open the package until the LotM is done so that there's an even ratio of in-to-out, for once. No promises on whether it'll ever happen again!

The Super-Secret Project continues apace. I'm roughly 30 rows from the i-cord bind off, and I've been working on it a lot. It now has about the same number of stitches as Big Red - 640 - and it'll probably end up around 700+. Whew! I've got some ideas as to how to make the knitting a bit more mindless than it is right now - the 3-into-1 decrease isn't very conducive to using stitch markers, but a [k2tog,k1,ssk] would achieve the same result and make the visual line a little cleaner. It's not super-fun to knit, but it is entertaining to show it to people and have them exclaim over how cool it will be when it's done, so I'll probably end up making another one with the new decreases.

And lastly, here's a little experiment that's been happening in my kitchen without my knowledge. I picked up a mesh bag with onions in it the other, turned it over, and discovered this:

Cthulu Onion!

Curious to see what it would do, I just left it there in the shade. It's now about twice as high and reaching for the light from the nearby window. Maybe I'll plant it, since it seems so interested in growing. But then again, we all know how miserable I am at growing things, so perhaps it's better if I just let it do its own thing for as long as possible!

Off to finish up the spinning before I head to work!

Things With Which I Am Nearly Done

- The Super-Secret Project has 45 rows until the i-cord border.

- A photoshopping project for an art gallery in Oakland has a mere 15 images left.

- Still Big Red has 16 rows until the knitted-on border.

- There is only $500 left on a loan I took out ages ago, and it will be paid off by the end of next week.

- The Ivory Coast singles are spun and waiting to be plied.

- The French press is nearly empty.

- In exactly 9 days and after 12 years, 6 majors, 1 false alarm, $120,000 and about 500 visits to the counselor's office to double-check my credits, I will be done with my Bachelor's degree.

Title-free and Proud

Today's blog post is brought to you by the few remaining brain cells I have left.

Last night, my good friend Nadia and I headed up to San Francisco to have dinner and drinks with an old friend of mine from New York City. General Leigh and I dated for about 3 seconds, five years ago, and have been good chums ever since, so when his work brings him out to the Bay Area, we make a special effort to get together. We have great fun re-hashing the Good Ol' Days (tm) and swapping ridiculous compliments - the more ridiculous the better, and to the most ludicrous goes the prize. It's always great fun, but I always wake up the next day exhausted. Thus do we begin to show our age.

But the blog roll goes on, and I have a few things to tidy up before I move on to bigger and better things. Or knits. Or whatever. Remember, we're operating on fewer cylinders and less coffee than normal.

First, here is an only slightly accurate photo of the Papa Socks, which I sent up to Alaska on Tuesday:


The blue part is about right, but the brown declined to show up. I have no idea why. Here is a more accurate photo via The Loopy Ewe.

I also finished my Scarf #21 and blocked it in time to wear it out last night!
Scarf with Insert #21 (etc.) from Victorian Lace Today
Schaefer Anne, "Autumn," 560 yds.

And it's only slightly off it's blocking from last night's festivities!

I'm excited to have finished a lace project for ME. There is something about being swathed in lace I've made myself that makes me stand up straighter. It's a lovely feeling.

Speaking of lace, I'm still plugging away on Big Red. I made it to the last page, but I've also finished the final increases to 640 stitches, and it's suddenly taking a LOT longer to finish a round! I'm also slightly concerned about the shedding factor of the Frog Tree Alpaca I'm using. I can't think of anything I'll be able to wear it with that won't also show off the shed fibers once I take it off. This one might have to become a chair shawl, but I love it too much to quit, rip it out, or put it in time out. And there's plenty of time to decide what to do with it after I've finished knitting.

In other news, a big virtual cookie for Brie! You're totally right, I did finish my Infernal Ribbi Cardi! Well, actually Mom finished it for me. When she was here in February for Stitches, she pulled it off the shelf and demanded to know why I hadn't worn it yet. When I answered that it needed a zipper, she stuffed it in her bag and took it home with her to complete. And while I was up at her place a couple of weeks ago, she did indeed finish it for me. It's slightly big all around - it turns out I'm closer to a 36 than I thought, or perhaps closer to a 36 than when I first made the sweater - but I still like it and it's garnered many excellent compliments. I'll take a picture in it one of these days.

I'm thinking seriously about swatching for the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. Or maybe something from Knitted Lace of Estonia. I have a mess of Malabrigo Lace singles that are burning a hole in my stash, and we can't have that, can we?

That's about it for knitting news. We're headed out tonight to drool into our popcorn over Wolverine. Mrowr!

Vacation Recap, Episode 2: All the Other Stuff, Plus What I Forgot The First Time Around

Let's see. We flew into Ontario airport, met up with The Rest of the Fam and headed straight for Disneyland. I don't really have a huge amount to say other than we had a great time, enjoyed ourselves immensely, and that if a picture is worth 1000 words, then my Flickr set is worth about a quarter of a million.

Highlights? Well, if you insist!

Doing our time

The Three Alexanders (yes, three Alexanders, they say they are birds of a feaaaatheeeer)

Self-portrait

She was very perplexed by my existence.

THB's best girl-catching face

So yea, Disney was awesome as usual. Plus I got a bunch of crying baby pictures, which is a double-bonus. What can I say, I've been to Disneyland a bunch of times, and it gives me something to do!

OH! Guess what!!! Take a look over at the sidebar of WIP's and tell me if you can see what's missing. I'll give you a hint - it's something that has been there pretty much for-ev-er. And it's donedonedone! A virtual cookie for the first person to figure it out!

Also, I finished my Papa Socks. They're sort of unphotographable (Mozilla doesn't think that "unphotographable" is a word, but phooey on Mozilla!), but I'll try. For now, I'm claiming my yardage: 361. I'm going to bundle them up to send to Alaska tomorrow.

And I've been working on my Scarf #21 (Rav link for Cathy!). I'm thisclose to having the bloody center repeat memorized, and I'd say I'm about 1/2 way done with the body. Once I get pretty close to running out of yarn, I'll just graft the second end piece on, and block, and voila! Done! I have noticed, however, that it's difficult to judge how many inches I've put on the stole in a sitting. I've reached that interminable point in the ball of yarn where it doesn't seem to be getting smaller - even when I've been knitting steadily for an hour or more. So I've taken to putting a locking stitch marker on at the beginning of my knitting session, and now I can admire how much I'm getting done with perfect accuracy. I'd take pictures, but it really looks exactly the same as last time I showed it to you - only now it's a bit longer.

Let's see, what else? ManCandy and I have spent the last week scratching our heads as to how Panza is getting off of our netted-in porch. We pushed on all the slats, wired the outer door shut despite the fact that Panza won't push open a regular door (he's a bit of a wuss), and used IKEA technology to secure the netting even more.. securely... to the stucco wall. Meanwhile, the litter boxes are in the living room and neither kitty can go outside without direct supervision. Tonight we opened the porch and let them outside to see if we could figure out how the little pooper is getting outside - there had to be a cat-sized hole somewhere!

And there was. The netting leaves a space about 1.5 feet between its top and the porch roof. He's been climbing the porch support posts, hauling all of his 15 pounds over the netting, and jumping down onto the concrete. Now I know I should have probably thought of this before, but I've never had a cat that climbed things. I know they like to go up trees and such for fun, but none of my felines has ever been inclined that way, including Panza. But apparently the lure of the Great Outdoors was enough, and now we need more netting and an industrial staple gun before they can go outside again. Bloody cats!

Mr. Darcy, I feel it necessary to add, has made no attempts to climb fence posts. He says it might wreck his nails.

I came home to a bunch of presents! And then I opened them, and it was just like Christmas without the turkey and the quiet contemplation of the tree in the middle of the night and the gifts you don't really like. So I guess it wasn't like Christmas much, but I did get to unwrap stuff!
Can you guess what these are?

They unwrapped to become this:
You're looking at the aftermath of the Crown Mountain Farms sale I mentioned before I headed to Mom's, and it completely erased any vestigial sadness I felt about spinning up more of my CMF stash. Now all I need to do is spin thinner so I can get 1000 yards out of 4 ounces like Miss Alice Faye! I think I just need to dedicate 4 ounces of nice stuff to get better at spindle spinning. Maybe I'll go digging and do that now instead of school work...

Vacation Recap, Episode 1: A Bit of Anne Accident

I am returned home! Whew. This last week was vacation turned on its head: the relaxing part was at the beginning, and the running-around-all-crazy part ended about 22 hours ago. I'll begin at the beginning; I hear it's a very good place to start.

Last Saturday, loaded down with clothes, laptop, and Jasmin's Louet Victoria, I hopped a train to THB's house near Sacramento. We hung out at his place for a bit, then went to the home of some old family friends, where we played poker into the wee sma's. They tried to convince us to just stay the night - THB's fully sanctioned relationship with Chickadee, their eldest daughter, may have had something to do with it - but a call to our Mother Ship ended that idea. She (Mom) bartered with Pauline with me as an intermediary, and because she's our mommy, she won. Her victory was sealed unwittingly by Chickadee, who announced quite indignantly that, should THB and I go home instead of staying over until the next day (not actually a bad idea, as we were all going to have Easter dinner together), we wouldn't even eat breakfast until around nine in the morning. The shock! The shame! We might starve by then! THB promptly pointed out that in order to have breakfast at nine, we'd have to be up by about 8:30, and that a 10 or even 11 o'clock start time would probably be more likely. So we went home to the Mother Ship, where we and our sleeping patterns are understood.

Our breakfast was at 11. They ate at 7:30.

We trekked back to their house for ham, more poker,

and an old-fashioned Easter Egg Hunt the next day, then Mom and I settled in for a few days of nothing but hanging out. It didn't go exactly as planned, but it was close enough! I finished my Mysterious Mirror Socks with only about 500 mistakes in the leg of the second sock, which I'm calling a win because they fit anyway:

Pigeonroof Studios OOAK Sock yarn, 336 yds.

I also managed to spin, ply and set some of my mountain of Crown Mountain BFL:

"Ivory Coast" CMF BFL, 296 yds.

It's not as thin as I had hoped, but it pretty much spun itself so I have no complaints. Plus I have approximately my own weight in unspun CMF. More on that later. This is 1/2 of the 8 oz. bump; the rest is already divided in 2 and waiting its turn on the wheel.

In addition, I started some socks for my dad out of some ancient Lorna's Laces from my stash - I think it's "Pioneer," but I'm not certain. Any road, it's a color that doesn't photograph well, so no pictures until I can get some awesome light. They're my plain vanilla sock pattern with a k3p1 rib on the instep and up the leg; I turned the second heel at work today and should be done with the pair by tomorrow.

I'm quite proud of my packing prowess this trip. I only packed one set of sock needles and just brought yarn that would work. I also only over-estimated how much spinning I would accomplish by about 12 ounces, which is a step up from my precedent. I planned to spin more, but I got interrupted by a Super Secret (Unfinished) Project that will have to wait for my next trip to the Mother Ship before I reveal it.

But, as usual, my acquisitions out-weighed my completions by oh, a bunch. Maybe a lot. Perhaps even a ginormous amount. I may have had a Schaefer Accident. It started innocently enough; Mom's old boss now runs a yarn store, and we stopped in to see her. I didn't notice the Schaefer at first, but I knew she carried it because that store is where my addiction began with a skein of Lola. So I asked, and received.

And received again:

I may have clutched them to my bosom and announced to Mom that one does not leave one's children to the mercy of strangers, no matter how nice they may appear to be. I have never been accused of being undramatic.

Mom dropped me off with THB on Thursday night, but we got to his freeway exit really early and it just so happens that he lives around the corner from a big yarn store. So of course, that's where we whiled away the time it took THB to get home from work. They were having a sale, and Mom picked up some Tofutsies and some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed for half off, while I stuck to the full-priced yarn because that's how I roll. And because it's what I couldn't live without, really.

The best find was 2 skeins of the same colorway of my very first skein of Anne. That one's been sitting quietly on the shelf in pride of place, refusing to tell me what it wanted to be. Now it's been rejoined to its sister skeins, and perhaps it will start talking.


On Friday morning, THB, Chickadee and I all hopped a plane for Ontario, CA, where we were met by my dad, youngest brother, and ManCandy for 3 days at Disney. Then I came home to a plethora of boxes, including a really big one that I can't unwrap until this weekend. More to come!

Also - I'm podcasting tomorrow. For real.

Rolling In It

Lately I've been on a spinning kick. The 10 Minutes Per Day group on Ravelry has probably had some thing to do with it, but it's also likely due in part to the fleeces from the Wool Auction looming on the horizon.

When I arrived home today, it was to a big ol' box of puffy, gorgeous coils from Sherri at Morro Fleece Works:

Cat added for scale.

It contained bag after bag of beautiful, squooshy, wool that apparently smells like sheep, 'cause it took Mr. Darcy all of about 2 seconds to go from sitting quietly next to the box to this:

And believe me when I say that the usual amount of hand clapping and "HEY!" had absolutely zero effect on either his purr or his enjoyment of the new wool.

So for comparison purposes, this became this:

3 lb. 14 oz of CVMxRomedale from Patti Sexton

And this became this:

2 lb 14 oz of CVM from Fredine Johansen

And I don't really recall, but did I show you the 1/2 fleece I split with Jasmin? Here it is:

CVM fleece from Patti Sexton

I know I said in the wool auction post that I'd wait to visit Terry Mendenhall until spring, but since it took 8 months to get the fleeces back (Sherri was wicked busy!), I think maybe next spring might be a better idea. It'll take me at least that long to spin up all of my bounty!

A couple of other things have been going on. I joined the Spunky Eclectic fiber club back at the end of January, so I've gotten 2 shipments of her club so far. The first offering was... well, let's just say I didn't like it. At all. In fact, I loathed it so much that I put it back in the box and promptly forgot all about it until I stumbled across the "trade me" thread on the Spunky Ravelry board. I found someone who wanted all 8 oz and we arranged a trade - of which I'm pretty certain I got the better end of the deal, but I'll let you be the judge.

I traded this:

Spunky Eclectic Feb. 09 Fiber Club: "New Day" Corriedale

For this:

4 oz. Spunky Eclectic BFL, "Rocky Mtn. High"

and this:

Spunky Eclectic BFL, "Neapolitan"

The March offering was 8 oz. of BFL as well, in "Myrtle," which is blue and red and green and brown. I'm not 100% sold on it, but I like it much better than my first club colorway. I'll give it another month, and then if I'm not thrilled I think I'll drop out. So far the only consistently awesome color-of-the-month club I've been in is the Black Bunny Fibers Club 2 (we're the second group). Carol puts a ton of thought into each mailing, and everyone gets their own colorway of the group fiber. For example, this last time around she sent us about 6 oz. of this a-MAZ-ing merino/bamboo, and this one is mine:

Stunning, isn't it? Every colorway that Carol has made for me is absolutely gorgeous. Someday I'll start spinning them up... /facepalm

Now, if you'll excuse me, Crown Mountain Farms is having their yearly Spring Sale, and I may just conveniently forget that I spent an entire post telling you about how much freakin' wool there is in my living room...

The Last Straw

4/7 @ 11am **There's an update at the bottom of the post!**

::Italics and !!! and ALL CAPS warning::

So graduating from SJSU has been what most people would call a "challenge." I started there in fall of 2006, and my transfer credits weren't applied until mid-spring in 2008, which shot my 2-year plan to hell. However, my credits were finally applied and I was finally able to turn in my graduation plan in summer of '08.

Then, as I began my third year this last fall, I got a message from Financial Aid that I had been at SJSU for too long (ya think?!?) and thus they were not giving me any more financial aid.

After writing them a somewhat snotty letter saying that if they wanted to blame someone for my lack of graduation, they should take it up with the transfer office because clearly they - the transfer office - had nothing better to do than sit on student transcripts for TWO YEARS, Financial Aid replied that they would grant me one more year to graduate. Fine.

The thing about applying for graduation 2 semesters in advance is that there is little-to-no schedule planned for that future second semester. So my advisor and I made up class numbers, and I planned to turn in what is called a "substitution form" in the spring, telling my graduation advisor which classes have changed. Because clearly she is INCAPABLE of looking at my transcript herself and figuring this shit out for herself. But she's new, so I filled out the form. Without, I may add, the help of the Art Department's graduation person, who quit in October after 35 years. The position is rumored to be open sometime this summer for applicants.

In early March, I trotted over to the graduation office and tried to turn in my form. No dice, they replied, it has to be signed by the department chair (whom I have never met) and also by the department secretary person in charge of such things. Who, you may recall, quit.

I got the required signatures - apparently the department secretary can sign for the empty seat - and went straight back. I turned in the form, the nice girl at the graduation desk stamped it, and handed me my graduation advisor's card.

And then I waited. And waited.

And waited some more.

Finally today I could stand it no longer and emailed my advisor:

Hi Advisor,

I turned in my substitution form back before spring break, but I haven't heard anything from you regarding my graduation status. Could you please fill me in on the status of my graduation? I'm getting a bit anxious, as you can imagine.

Thank you,
Tikabelle

This is the email I got back:

Tikabelle,

As of today, this is what you need to take. Just for your information I don't contact the students when updated are done to your file. You can contact me if you have any questions.

B2 Biol 10
F3 Pols 1
Area V & Major Arth 193A
Z 100W
Arth 294, 152, 183B
Art 2A need De Anza transcript can't locate this course


There are so many things wrong with this response, beginning with the fact that every class on the list is either a class I took last semester (Bio, Pols, Arth 152/183B/193A) or one I am currently taking (100W and 294), and ending with the shit-poor grammar. Also that she doesn't contact people to tell them their grad deadline is coming up and they still have a year's worth of classes on the requirement list, or for that matter that she never initiated contact with me at all. Also that I turned in my form in the beginning of March. Which was a month ago.

There are 6 weeks left in the semester. Six weeks, and my 12-year stint as an undergraduate is supposed to end, and it will, despite any challenges this so-called "advisor" puts in my way.

Dear Ms. Advisor,

I will be on campus tomorrow (Wednesday) from 9:30 until 1pm. Please let me know when in that time I can come see you, as this is a fairly important matter and I don't believe it will be solved by email. You can reach me at [redacted], or by email until 9am. Also, could you please send me your manager's email address and phone number, as I would like to address a couple of items to that office.

Thank you,
Tikabelle

Tomorrow, if my advisor doesn't give me a signed piece of paper saying that I will graduate in May, I will file a formal complaint with the school. And likely write a Very Angry Letter to the school paper. And maybe make an appointment with the school lawyers. Tomorrow is a makeup, skirt, and glasses day; stay tuned.

**UPDATE**

All is well. The classes I am taking are the only ones I still need, and everything will be fine provided I can get through this final semester without choking. Or falling down the stairs. Or.. you get the idea.

The Siren Song of Solitude

ManCandy left for his brother's wedding in Florida on Thursday morning, and returned this afternoon. He's currently crashed out after having been awake for 30 hours,* so my solitary stint continues in name, at least.

I am of a melancholy disposition. Not Byronic, or even Blakesian, but I do need time alone in my own space in order to feel comfortable and calm. This need doesn't mesh well with my terminal morning sickness, as ManCandy usually leaves an hour or two before I get up and gets home before I arrive back at Chez Us. So when he is called out of town - as infrequently as it happens - I tend to hole up in my apartment and enjoy the solitude.

This weekend was no different. I spent a blissful day and a half listening to nothing but the silence, the whirring of my Sonata, and the dulcet tones of Blair Waldorf freaking out.

During the Gossip Girl marathon, I managed to finish some things. I noticed that my new system of working on one project every day is productive, but slow going. I have the sense that a lot of things will get finished all at the same time, but meanwhile I am sadly lacking in yards to add to my 12-Mile Quest total. But in addition to spinning, I finished the stranded pattern on my EZ Seamless Yoke Sweater, and I'm currently charging up the collar. I'm a little scared that it'll be too big, so I'm going to do the final decreases and then a loose bind-off so I can try it on properly. I may have to rip back, and if so, I'm going to dramatically change the top of the sweater. But that's all in the future.

For now, here's what I've actually completed!

406 yds. of natural grey Lincoln/Corridale, 2-ply

For some reason, this yarn took up WAY more room than I expected. I filled 2 bobbins unto bursting with singles, then had to do the same in order to ply it. As you can see, I had to spill over into a third bobbin:

And yet, it still only came out to 406 yards. I don't get it, but it's still a lovely yarn. It's not as soft as I would like, but I think that's partly to do with the fleece and partly to do with how I spun it. I tried to spin woolen, but there's not a huge amount of crimp here so it didn't puff up like most yarns do. And also, I really have no experience with woolen spinning, so it was an experiment all 'round. In any case, it was satisfying and I'm glad this set is done - next time around I'll put more twist in the singles in the first place so I don't have to add it later!

I also finished 4 oz of Blackberry Truffle BFL roving from Dragonfibers. I got this roving probably about a year ago, and pulled it out using a very sophisticated system: dig out the bottom-most bin of fiber, pick a number, and use whatever ends up being the (in this case) 17th thing I pull out of the tub. I'm quite happy with it!

~341 yds., 2-ply

I should really start measuring my WPI, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

In addition to all of that, I also worked on a Super Secret project (secret only because the recipient occasionally reads here). AND, on Sunday night, my good friends Jer and Elizabeth announced that they're due on October 12! I'll have to dig really deep to find something appropriate for their spawn...


* Numbers like this always make me happy that I can sleep on planes. I may not sleep deeply or well, and might occasionally have woken up with drool on my shirt, but I can sleep. Thank goodness!

An Open Letter

Dear Fellow Apartment Complex Residents,

I hope you enjoy the pool outside my window. It is very well-maintained and set in a lovely sunny spot, to be sure. The pool furniture is even mostly of this decade, which is an improvement over most apartment pools. It is clearly a lovely spot to take your kids after school, or on a weekend afternoon. However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few things.

First, the pool hours are until ten at night. This is not a suggested time, as we are grown-ups and are in bed by ten most nights. Also, the nice French-speaking people upstairs have a toddler who needs his sleep, or NO ONE sleeps. Not even us. So please, out by ten.

On a related note, the pool does not open again until nine in the morning, and this includes weekends. When your children wake you up at 6am on Saturday, please refrain from sending them down to the pool to scream. You bore them, now you have to bear them.

On another related note, if your children are screaming at the pool, take them home. If you are not there supervising them, I will seriously consider calling the police because I am tired unto death of having to yell out my window at children who are trying to a) drown one another or b) kill themselves by running around the pool.

Second - or possibly fourth - please do not have sex in the pool. Please. This relates intimately (har!) to point number three (or five):

We, of apartment six, can hear everything you say and do at the pool. Every. Little. Thing. We apologize for the inconvenience to your no-longer-private conversations, but the builders saw fit to give us single-paned windows and it's not our fault. So all those sweet nothings you drunk teenagers are whispering to one another, all those drug deals, all those midnight swims? We can hear them. Or witness them.

Thank you for your attention, and have a lovely summer! If you don't, we'll know about it.

Sincerely,

Tikabelle and ManCandy

Put Some Spring in Your Step

Well, my lovelies, it's here. Spring, as they say, has sprung. I realized it this week on the first truly lovely day in a while when I looked out into the R-N's backyard and saw a veritable flood of tulips. I actually remembered to bring the DSLR to work the next day, and took a bunch of photos of just flowers.

I do love flowers, especially spring ones. They remind me of my mom, who has a thumb so green she just looks sideways at a plant and it grows. I think they're afraid of her.

I, on the other hand, can barely keep lucky bamboo and ficus alive. It's really rather pathetic.

However, I must say: I am proud of the garlic that is growing in the former-rose-cultivating pot. Did I not tell you about my exercise in rose cultivation? Well, ManCandy bought me a dozen gorgeous white roses for my 30th birthday in the beginning of December. After Christmas, they were still going strong in the vase, and were actually putting out new growth along the stems. Gee, I thought, wouldn't it be awesome if I could clone a rose bush or three and know exactly when I got them? Thirtieth birthday roses, how cool!

So I trotted out to Home Depot late one rainy night and - after a scare in a quiet aisle that involved a cat-sized rat, me, and a staring contest - bought rooting hormone, a pot, rose food, and dirt.

I carefully trimmed the roses like Candy recommended, put them in rooting hormone, and planted them. Then I covered them in a greenhouse of plastic wrap and put them in the warmest window in the house. Someone up there must have transposed some letters in my prayers, because within 3 days they were all rotting instead of rooting. So much for my career as a horticulturist.


For the last couple of months, the pot has sat on my kitchen counter, waiting for me to plant something brilliant in it. About a week ago, I thought it might be funny to plant a few cloves of sprouted garlic and see what happens:

Rampant growth. Garlic must be a weed, because historically, that's all I can grow.

How to Win an Argument

"Baby, where are the pan lids?"

"They're in the cupboard with the pots and pans."

"They don't go there! They go on these conveniently placed pot lid racks on the wall."

"But there's no more room on the wall. So I put the overflow in with the pans."

"Honey, there's no more room on the wall because you let the second pot lid rack fall down." 

"WHAT? I didn't let it fall down!"

"Maybe not, but you certainly didn't do your job as a man and put it back up, now, did'ja?"

Game. Set. Match.

Just a Minute

Yet another quickie today, folks!

I finished another pair of socks! And better yet, it's with yarn I bought at Stitches. THIS Stitches, even. I'm so impressed with myself.

Limeade Socks, TOFUtsies sock yarn, 247 yards

I adjusted my plain vanilla sock pattern yet again. Every time I make an adjustment, the socks get smaller and smaller; I guess I just like form-fitting footwear. I've also made some pretty significant changes to the original pattern by Cat Bordhi, so I'll write it up one of these days and see what you, my dear readers, think.

I've been clicking away at projects. I re-started my Girasole on size 4 needles, and it's so much better! The whole thing is fairly flying along, and I've had to exercise great restraint to work on anything else. It occurs to me that there is no real reason for restraint beyond wanting to savor the pattern for as long as possible, but you know how I feel about finishing big projects. And if you don't, let me tell you. I don't like it one little bit, for reasons I have yet to understand. I have no trouble finishing socks or baby garments, but for some reason the bigger pieces get to about 95% and just languish there. Maybe I'm afraid they won't be perfect, or won't fit, or will spontaneously combust the moment I finish sewing in the final end, causing both me and the completed garment to end up as a pile of ash. I have no idea. But here she is, the Girasole:

I'm Still. Big. Red.

Frog Tree sport-weight alpaca

This week I've been trying out a new system. I have a bunch of projects I'd like to finish at some point - spontaneous combustion be damned - so every day I've tossed a different project into my purse. Low and behold, progress has been made!

Scarf #21, endcap #1.

The possibilities of this system are myriad, and since I seem to work best under a loose set of rules, I think I'll just cruise along for a bit with the daily switching. Everything I'm working on right now has a chart, so the changing of projects isn't entirely jarring.

Mysterious Mirror socks

Well, I say everything, but I mean everything except the EZ Yoke Sweater. I found a stranded pattern that I like, but the body of the sweater is red; a color which likes to bleed. So the sweater itself has been on hold while I find the time to soak it in vinegar and test the colorfastness of the yarn. This weekend, I took my opportunity and discovered that I needn't have worried. The water was perfectly clear, and all I got for my pains was a vinegar-scented partial sweater and peace of mind. Which isn't an insignificant outcome, I must say.

Taking the sweater off the needles also gave me the opportunity to try it on, and while it fits well, it's still a few inches shy of where the yoke should start. Queue the miles of plain knitting! It's currently parked on the bookshelf behind my spinning wheel; I've been working on it while blazing through discs of Gossip Girl, season 1 from Netflix. That show is a total guilty pleasure, and has the added benefit of reinforcing my attraction to horribly inappropriate movie men.

Until next time, XOXO!

Stitches West '09: An Exercise in Trading Plastic for Yarn

Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino Worsted, "Marine"

Well, the Social Pressure Experiment is over. I have to admit I didn't do too well toward the end. I hit a few snags when I found out that a Love Affair Yarn was discontinued, and bought a whole mess of it to dye and love and roll in. Then I got some stunningly gorgeous Cashsoft Aran for - are you ready for this? $24.50 per bag. Yes, per bag. Jasmin and I agreed that while it was outside of the Experiment's parameters, it was also a short-time deal and shouldn't be passed up. So I didn't.

And then Malia announced her candidacy to be a mom in July, and I recognized the dearth of baby-weight superwash wool in my stash. So there was that.

Pigeonroof Studios 80/20 Merino/Silk, "Grape Myrtle"

But all in all, the real point of the Experiment was, if you recall, to encourage Jasmin and I to change our spending habits and think more carefully about when, where and why we were buying yarn. And overall, I have to say that in that respect, it was a success. My desire to salve (not solve) problems by buying something new isn't unique, but it is something I try to be aware of and master. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I end up looking at something I now own with a twinge of regret. The yarn I bought in bulk? Definitely a satisfactory purchase. Every time I look at it, I wriggle with anticipatory joy.

And speaking of shopping. Oy. It's a lot of work to shop all day!

Malabrigo Sock Yarn, "Velvet Grapes"

Final Count:

Sock Yarn: 22

Sweater Yarn: 4 skeins, 2 sweaters-worth

Lace Yarn: 2

Roving: 16 oz.

Patterns: 3?

Apparently Stitches this year was all about the sock yarn, which was CLEARLY the weight of yarn I needed...

Lisa Souza Dyeworks 4 oz. Sock Batt, "Petroglyph"

I'm slowly developing a theory about why sock yarn is addictive. Stay tuned for more. I do tend to gravitate to the finer-weight yarns, partly because I feel like I get more bang for my buck, but also because I enjoy knitting with them more than the heavier gauges.

Windy Valley Musk Ox 15/80/5 qiviuk/merino/silk

I have been working steadily on my Scarf #21 for the KAL with Brie. I'm nearly finished with the first edging, and have come to the conclusion that it will be not so much a scarf as a stole. The damn thing is about 15" across right now unblocked and it'll get bigger still before I head into the actual lengthening part of the center. Therefore, I've made a strategic decision. I'm going to knit this first edging, then bind off and knit the second one, which I will then rotate the requisite 90 degrees and commence the center panel. When I get close to running out of yarn, I'll graft the second edging onto the end and be done. It's not the official way to do it, but it will ensure that I don't run out of yarn halfway through the second edging.

Lisa Souza Hardtwist Merino Petite, "Printempo"

The Girasole is in time out. I need to re-start it due to some user errors, but I've been working on other things because I can sense the overwhelming gravitational pull of Jared's gorgeous shawl. The Ravelry comments on this one are littered with "I started and finished it in a week..." and "so addictive!" I think I'll give Scarf #21 a few more days' head start before I dive headlong into Big Red.

Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, "Cami Chic"

I also started one of the yarns from this year's Stitches! Yesterday I cast on the Limeade TOFUtsies yarn I got to complement the Berries 'n' Cream socks. I'm making some modifications to my vanilla pattern, so hopefully these will fine-tune the fit to a place I'm not just happy with, but thrilled with. If it's different enough, maybe I'll write it up!

Tess Designer Yarns Super Sock and Baby, "Teal!"

The rest of my Stitches purchases are already catalogued and posted on the internets. The Ravelry link is here, and the press-pass pictures I took of both my yarn and Stitches-as-a-whole (not to mention Erin's swank and classy party at her shop) are here.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts mill ends