Knitter Quiz

Haha. I thought this was a fun little distraction. The little drawing even looks like me minus the two strips of purple hair. The quiz people really did their research.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.com
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Some Numbers

Nothing too exciting going on this week. I just thought I'd share a couple of stats with you.

Number of times my brother has lost his fingerless mitts=3. The first time he left them at my house. The 2nd time he left them in the car. The third time, he demanded his mitts and left 1 of them in the car. I don't know what happened to the other mitt.

Number of hours I took to knit and finish a striped hat for dad=3. Everyone was so impressed that I made a whole hat in an evening. Ignoramuses, 3 hours is actually pretty slow, but I felt big and bad. I tried to get a wimple done the next day for mom, but I didn't make it and I'm threatening to rip out what I started.

Number of days it took to ship the felted clogs pattern from order date=13. And I still have to wait for it to arrive and it cost me $5 for shipping. Outrageous. And they have the nerve to add me to their mailing list.

Number of people in line at the post office=1. I was so happy I walked in and out and my red scarf project is mailed! Number of people in line at the post office on my first attempt=5. I just got a mailing envelope and left.

Number of blizzards I drove through this weekend=2. That was scary! Stupid lake effect snow. The forecast called for "flurries" not blizzards. I'm still recovering.

More Knitters Spoiling

Chicago established a "stitch salon" this winter. It's a space downtown with yarn and needles open to the public. They host open knitting, workshops, and other goodies. I had heard rave reviews, but I didn't venture in until movie night. The stitch salon screened a short about a gargantuan knit American flag and a documentary called "Men Who Knit".

The crowd was quite feisty. It didn't help that the big flag knitting was incredibly suggestive. Here were two huge steel shafts with wooden heads operated by forklifts plunging through stitches. The knitters made observations as follows: "Is this PG?" "Will we be seeing fireworks?" As the knitters settled down the quips became more compatible: "Aww, they didn't swatch!" and "Are they going to felt that?" (Photo from iBerkshires.com)

I also learned that the first knit is believed to be a sock circa 1400 A.D. or something like that. Usually when I see feats of ancient man, I feel superior. Like that cave scrawling, I can draw better than that! But this sock had me beat. I am moving civilization backwards over here.

The stitch salon will carry on to the end of February. I'm not sure that I'll make it back, but it was fun and we're spoiled! I saw the authors of Mollywobbles and Evil Eye Emporium lurking about last night as well.

Another Good Idea

So living in a 3 million + city yielded some advantage for knitters again. The way I understand the story, Brasserie Jo, a bistro, invited a local knitting guild to stitch n' bitch on their premises. They should've known. I think they were expecting some 20 ladies stitching and bitching politely. I think some 80 women showed up sounding a bit like a turkey farm. (I was there too, so I guess I am part of the turkey farm.) They ended up splitting us into two rooms in the back.

I was starving and couldn't wait to stuff my face with brie. It didn't happen. The restaurant was woefully understaffed for the turnout. Maybe next time. Nevertheless, isn't the idea great? We can stitch n’ bitch (snb) in a place that stocks brie and wine once a month? I mean, that's promise. To date I left the snb starving as I came in.

Adding to the festivities was a presentation from a local yarn store owner who had just returned from a trade show regaling us with milk fibers and other such oddities. Yarn is really evolving. Maybe we'll have sheep and cow mascots in time.

We'll see how this event progresses, but it's just such a good idea. I can't wait for Chicago restaurants to start vying for starving knitters. I guess they could repent and never ask us back, but I’m optimistic.

Beware the Wimple

I took my wimple off this morning and boing! both earrings catapulted off my ears. Luckily my earring backs remained embedded in the flesh of my lobes or I'd be crawling around the office today.

Beware the wimple. I already lost an earring that way. I got away unscathed today, but I might not be so lucky the next time.

Some Movie Tidbits

I went to see Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. It was a quality, yet disturbing film. It was set in 1940's Spain and I found myself distracted by the knitting. I felt there were clearly some prominent hand knits in the movie.

Wouldn't it be exciting to have your sweater star in a movie!? I'm not sure how one goes about this, but it would definitely make for some exciting 15 minutes of fame. I would drag all my friends and family to watch my sweater's star turn. Maybe it would end up hanging in a paraphernalia restaurant or something. This reminds me that my stitch n' bitch 2007 calendar said recently, ". . .never dream more than you work."

Anyway, Pan's Labyrinth had a cute rustic cardigan and some enormous shawls prominently featured in the movie.

I also learned this weekend that Sandra Bullock has been a lifelong knitter and seamstress.

Pink Rectangle Prematurely Finished

Last night I washed and laid my pink rectangle out to block. This morning my pink rectangle was modeling on the blocking board when it started calling out. "Wear me! Wear me!" I had already laid out something to wear, but I heeded the rectangle's cries. It's dry enough, I thought. And off the blocking board it came.

It turned out better than expected. I like the width and the length. I had a hard time hiding the ends, but I haven't noticed them yet. (This yarn had a knot in it. Oh! that drives me crazy.) I even found a little turtle pin that I haven't worn in a while to keep the rectangle on.

Meanwhile at work, the rectangle has already been groped. An open fist came flying toward it. "Did you knit that?" But I didn't mind. The gropability of the yarn was the reason I bought it. I just love baby alpaca. And this baby alpaca was hot pink! And it's extra bulky, chunky, whatever. I had been coveting this yarn for months. It hails from Misti Alpaca. Finally I bought it and the good people at the local yarn store suggested a free pattern. It's called, "the Opera Scarf". It's fast duh knitting and it would make a good gift in a time crunch.

Now that it's done, I'll be figuring out how to wear it as much as possible. It's not going to be absorbed by my mom after all.

A Funk

Man. Am I ever in a funk. I'm in such a funk that even my knitting is pissing me off. I'm sick of my current project, a hot pink rectangle, so I ordered the pattern for those Fiber Trends clogs everyone raves about. I paid $5 for the pattern which is fine, but then I paid $5 for shipping. Seriously. Why does it cost $5 to ship a piece of paper? So I'm already mad at the clogs.

Meanwhile I took a finishing class last month the contents of which I've since forgotten. One thing they did not teach was how to weave in ends that are NOT garter or stockinette. Where could I look for advice on this? It's been a decent problem for me.

My current project is also suffering from the curse of the never ending yarn. I am sooooo ready to be finished with this project and the ball of yarn doesn't get any smaller. How is this possible? Something's amiss in the yarn-space continuum. I complete a few rows and I still have a healthy ball of yarn that's not shrinking in defiance.

I photographed this piece and in it's evil it managed to make me forget it. I'll have a photo up later. In the meantime I'll say that I'm not particularly happy with how it turned out. I wanted to make a lacy looking rectangle to wear as a shawl-thing, but my yarn was too thick for my needles. I'm hoping blocking might take care of it, but I doubt it.

At least with knitting, if I don't like something someone's (my mom) always happy to take the piece off my hands. I'll be searching for some other funk blaster in the meantime as knitting is not behaving itself for me right now.

Blocking Blunders

I had life happen last week so I was away from any sense of normalcy for a while. I'm still recovering. In the meantime, I was unable to pick up the needles, but I had finished blocking my red scarf project scarf.

I thought it blocked beautifully, then I returned from my week of madness and noticed that it look remarkably as it had pre-blocking except it was much fuzzier and a bit dull. This is what happens with Jo Ann yarn.

Nevertheless I did like the design. It's basically moss stitch with some stockinette stripes. It's not reversible, but the backside looks interesting as well. I would be happy to wear it and I hope the recipient likes it as well. Now I just have to mail it.

The post office is one of those institutions where I can't figure out how it works. It's only open when most people are at work. So if I want to mail something, I can either skip the shower or breakfast or some other morning necessity or I can wait in line for an hour on Saturday afternoon. Neither option is particularly pleasing so stuff tends not to get mailed. I hope my scarf will fare better. And they'd better not tempt me with any stamps. Yes, the stamps are cute, but they lose their value by the time I finally motivate to send someone a card.

Eventually, as things get back in order I'm thinking about making a wimple and a hat in this design.

More My Brother's Wimple

I talked to my brother yesterday and he actually rethanked me for the wimple. This is very unusual behavior. And I realized that I can't take a compliment. The conversation went something like this:

"Thank you for that thing you made me. It's really cool."

"Uuh." "Yeah." "Uuh. I thought it would be good for when it's really cold and your whole face hurts."

I suppose I would've been more accepting if I thought it had been good handiwork. I was not so happy with the end result. And he still hasn't said anything about his missing fingerless gloves.

In the meantime my Red Project Scarf is blocking and I've started a new hot pink rectangle.

My Brother's Wimple

Here is a photo of my brother in his wimple. We told him he looked like Subcomandante Marcos in it and I believe he was pleased.

My brother's wimple gave me serious trouble. I could not figure it out. When I made my own wimple, the frilly increases were fine. I knew that would not fly for the brother. I ripped out his wimple more times than I can recall. I only finished it 2 hours before everyone was to arrive.

The neck was 8 inches and I increased for two more inches making an increase every 10 stitches. I remained unhappy with these dimensions, but I ran out of time. I felt the wimple was still too flared for a guy wimple. I might take a stab at another guy wimple in the future. In the meantime this was the end result during the holiday crunch time.

I guess next time I would begin the increases even sooner so I could avoid a sudden skirt-like increase at the bottom of the wimple.