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Sunday, October 22, 2006
Actual Knitting!!Before we get to the actual knitting, let me take a moment to explain my plan for world peace. It's called Operation Sunny Spot, and it involves, appropriately enough, getting all belligerants to sit in a sunny spot. It's my hypothesis that, especially when it's cold and blustery outside, it is virtually impossible to be anything but relaxed and happy when one is snuggled up in a sunny spot.See?  Right. Now that I've solved all of the world's problems (genius grant, please!), may I present actual knitting? I spent just about all day yesterday sitting through oral arguments for my school's constitutional law competition. All I had to do was watch the stopwatch and hold up signs when they had 10 minutes, 5minutes, etc... left. I figured out that I could knit in my lap without distracting the competitors, so I made some serious progress on my latest sock. (Oh, I guess I should take pictures of the pair I just finished. Note to self.)  These are a variation on the Friday Harbor Socks from Knitting on the Road. I'm using Koigu KPPPM in a color that never fails to remind me of Merlot, which I would be drinking right now but for the fact that everyone knows that beer is the beverage of choice for football day. Speaking of football day, the early game gave me a chance to finish the first sock.  And as proof that you're never too old to learn something new - I found a different way to do short row heels and toes - it took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but I've found I much prefer the end result. (Note to self- take pictures comparing old vs. new methods!) Cricket has been extremely busy all afternoon - it's a tough job, but the sunny spot can't go to waste.   Ok - and here's where certain people (you know who you are, S!) have to stop reading... and certainly can't click on the links below. On Friday, I option a option b option c - front // option c - back Labels: Abby, Cricket, Socks, Wedding 0 comments || # Wednesday, October 18, 2006 Random Things that Make Me Happy(in no particular order!)Knitting Podcasts I've been a long-time listener of Cast-On, and am consistently impressed with the quality of this 100% free podcast. I can't imagine that any of you haven't given Brenda a listen, but just in case, please do check her out. She's consistently funny, warm, and entertaining, and her podcasting efforts just keep getting better and better - both in terms of content, and in terms of technical abilities. And a quick, personal note - it took me awhile to catch up with all of the back episodes (I am absolutely incapable of jumping into a series in the middle. I must start at the beginning and work all the way through). So when I was listening to like 6 episodes in a row on a day trip this summer, I found myself wishing that there was some way to support Brenda with $$. I'm a firm believer in "voting with your wallet," and found myself thinking that the enjoyment I was getting from each episode was at least worth $1 per episode. Unfortunately, at that time, she didn't accept donations. By the time I got to episode 25, however, she had decided to accept paypal donations - so I promptly donated my $1/episode. Obviously, each of us must make these decisions for ourselves, but I encourage everyone to seriously consider tangibly supporting those of our peers whose efforts result in a product that we value and enjoy. After all, free is NOT the same as worthless. Okay, done with my tangent. In other knitting podcast news, I finally checked out Lime and Violet. Although I'm only 2 episodes in (see above note re. my anal-retentive inability to start in the middle of a series), so far I'm really enjoying the casual banter between the two hosts. Also, I'm guessing that, like Cast-On, this podcast will continue to improve. Yummy Smelly Things This past series of Cast-On was sponsored by Dame Candle Company, so, being a gigantic sucker for all things yummy and smelly, I decided to order some. I ordered the Tarts and the little burner-thing. I got 12 different scents to try, which is good because she offers like 26 billion different scents, and I would have had no idea which to pick - and since her candles last for something like 60 hours, I didn't want to commit myself to smelling something for that long if I didn't like it. Luckily, the tarts only last 6-8 hours, so even if a scent isn't my favorite, I can still use it up. So far, all I've tried is grapefruit - wasn't my favorite, but that's probably because I much prefer flowery smells. I have high hopes for the other scents, and will DEFINITELY be ordering more tarts when I use these up. And who knows - I may actually like a scent enough to order an entire candle! So what random things make you happy? Labels: Random 0 comments || # Sunday, October 15, 2006 Cute Pet PicturesOk - mini-rant here - some time ago, Blogger "invited" (a.k.a. "forced") me to "upgrade" to Blogger Beta. No big deal - everything seemed to work just fine, and life went on. Until this weekend, when I finally got around to attempting to post via my normal photo-uploading. And discovered that my old method no longer works with Blogger Beta. And that I can upload photos through picassa, but only in batches of 4. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I just really hate it when something that works just fine is "improved" and no longer works properly. Rant Over.I should have taken pictures of Gathering Intentions, which is a few seams away from a collar and a good blocking, but I didn't. So to distract, here are some moderately-yarn-related cute animal pictures... Ok, this picture is actually knitting-related. I started a scarf for S out of the "Ireland Souvenir Yarn" he bought in Dingle... this scarf is a huge pain. I'm doing colorwork with 3 colors, and have to avoid floats so that the wrong side of the scarf won't look like ass. Oh, and I'm doing it horizontally across 240-something stitches. So each row takes 6.5 billion years, and I've given up on purling back across, and instead just cut the yarn at the end of each row and start back at the beginning. I'll worry about the ends later - luckily, there are only 13 rows of colorwork, so hopefully it won't be too big of a mess. Anyway, I cast on at the Happy Place on Thursday (I took a 'mental health day') -  And later in the afternoon, Cricket decided to "help."  Apparently, a giant cake of yarn is REALLY comfy. She slept on it for hours.  And on Friday, after a really fun trip to the dentist where I once again realized that it's a bad idea to forget to schedule my 6-month appt. for, ummmm, almost 2 years... I came home to find that the animals had been busy in my absence.    I don't know anything about the yarn trail. I'm just sitting innocently in my sunny spot. It was the dog.  Actually, both Cricket and Abby have been playing with "their" yarn ball - Abby likes to cover it with slobber, bring it back to you, and wait for you to throw it. It was pretty funny when they would race each other to grab the yarn, and when Abby would win, Cricket would attack her tail as she ran back. And speaking of Abby, this is the cutest picture ever - a few weeks ago, I was filling in at Knit Happens on a Friday. After work (when the store closed), we all went to dinner at Pat Troy's, but I left my bike locked in front of Knit Happens. So when we went to grab my bike after dinner? Abby would run straight to the door and wonder why we weren't opening it for her.  And for more Abby cuteness - Labels: Abby, Cricket, Ireland Scarf 0 comments || # Tuesday, October 10, 2006 Ireland Cardigan Pattern For Sale!! Ireland Cardigan Advanced U.S. $5.00 SIZES: Woman’s Small (37" chest) / Medium (42" chest) / Large (46" chest)
YARN: 100% Cormo Worsted from Foxhill Farms, approximately 1300 (1550, 1800) yards. You will also need a zipper to close the front of the cardigan. GAUGE: Gauge (Cables over 4 in = 10 cm): 22 sts by 30 rows on U.S. Size 7 needles (or size needed to obtain gauge).  Labels: Ireland Cardigan 0 comments || # Still Alive......and somehow still knitting!!! I'm just about finished sewing up the Gathering Intentions/I-Cord Cables sweater. I'll still have to decide on a neckline, but otherwise, the knitting is done. I hope to finish it up this week. I'm also on the verge of begining S' Ireland Souvenir Scarf, which hopefully will go relatively quickly since I'd love to finish it in time for the cold weather.Pictures of all of this will be forthcoming as soon as I get my camera back from S - we went camping this weekend, and the camera decided to hang out in S' backpack for a little longer. In other news, I spent the majority of my "free time" on Friday ignoring all of the things on my "to-do" list, and writing up the pattern for the Ireland Cardigan. I'll hopefully be able to make a pdf file of everything this afternoon, and will be offering it for sale in the next couple of days! Labels: Ireland Cardigan, Random 0 comments || # |
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