Knitnoramus

A Brief Knitting Resurrection

2012-01-04T14:27:00.001-06:00

My, it’s been a number of years since I picked up the needles. I’ve made a few baby mitts and hats since 2009 when I stopped knitting.

But lately times are broke and I picked up the needles for Christmas. I made a felted slipper that was a disaster. Gauge, gauge, gauge! I completely forgot that lesson if I ever learned it in the first place. Then I made a hat that was too big. FYI: 6.5+ inches of diameter is not a good idea.

At that point I was done being magnanimous and made myself some leg warmers that turned out quite nice and they actually do warm the legs. Who knew? I always thought leg warmers were aesthetic.

Next on the agenda are socks and a sweater.

Knitting Olympics Are Over!

2008-08-25T10:09:00.004-05:00

I entered the knitting Olympics. My event was WIP wrestling.

Why did I sign up for the Olympics? I must say, at the end of the hoopla, I'm glad this stupid project is finished. If it wasn't for the Olympics, this sweater would be in the garbage. Allow me to walk you through all of the gaffes.

1) I ran out of dye lot. I could not believe how different the reds were on baby Dale. I had to start the project over from scratch. Not pleased about that one. Not at all. It was suggested to go ahead and finish in mismatched reds because nobody can look at both sides of a baby at once. I contemplated that idea heavily.

2) I seamed one side of the sweater to itself. I COULD NOT BELIEVE that happened! I was just trying to finish. I seamed, picked up my piece and realized I had seamed one piece to itself. I had done such a good job, that I couldn't find my ends anywhere and I had to CUT (with scissors) my sweater apart. That meant ripping back and starting half the side again. I was not pleased. Not pleased at all. But that did allow me to include one errant stripe I had missed the first time.

3) I cannot even count how many times I had to reseam the sides. No matter how I pinned the seams together, I would end up uneven at the end of the seam. It was magic. I have no idea how it kept happening.

I learned a few things about sweater making that I'll keep in mind for the future.

1) I will never EVER make another sweater that has seams. Forget it. Someone please refer me back to this post if I forget the madness.

2) I will not pick up another stitch for at least a year. I am awful at picking up stitches. If I find a pattern that requires picking up stitches I will run screaming and breathe into a paper bag to relax.

The next Olympics is in two years. I better start training. Also, behold Rolanda my favorite Cabbage Patch. The sweater doesn’t fit her, probably won’t fit the baby either. . .

Stitch n' Pitch '08 White Sox

2008-08-07T10:04:00.002-05:00

Stitch n' pitch '08 was a blast! We even got our own commemorative baseball cap this year. And for all you Franklin aficionados, he was at the game blowing kisses. What a tease.

I had to put my needles down in the seventh inning to keep a better eye on the game. It got soooo exciting at the bottom of the eight. Quentin got a base hit. We had two outs and then Dye got another hit. He always delivers! MVP! Then Thome got walked. Heheh. So now the bases were loaded and Ramirez was up to bat. The crowd was going wild! After much tension and a full count he got us some runs! Go White Sox. They won 5 to 1.

So what was I knitting? I had a baby blanket using Louet Gems Opal. This yarn is dangerous; having experienced it I can never go back, but it’s very expensive. I'm using mustard, willow and baby willow. I cast on 210 stitches and I'm alternating stripes of 10 rows with the willows and 20 with the mustard. I have to get my act together and post a picture. I should've had my act together and taken my camera to the game like I did last year. Oh well, in the meantime, you can see my arm at the right hand corner of the photo and my knitting's poking into the photo as well.

Here’s to stitch n’ pitch! Can’t wait for next year’s event.

Hamster Book

2008-04-22T13:42:00.003-05:00

Behold Malcolm back when he was young and spry. I spent a good couple hours looking for him that night. I could hear the evil, but could not see the evil.

Rest in Peace Blog

2007-12-04T12:41:00.000-06:00

This was so good while it lasted. My knit blogging days are off into the sunset. I'll go ahead and blame Ravelry. Please keep in touch with me there. I really enjoyed sharing ideas with people via the blog. I may resume the blog at a later date, so I won't erase it entirely, but I'm not likely to update it again for a long while.

Thanks everyone!

Guess What Today Is?

2007-11-06T10:27:00.000-06:00

Actually, I realized this sometime last week. It's Christmas knitting time!?!?!?!?! That drama completely snuck up on me. I forgot all about it. There I was happily knitting for numero uno, myself, when I realized that I would have to materialize some gifts in a matter of weeks.

All is not lost. I only have 2 knit gifts in mind. I started a pillow for my aunt years ago that maybe I'll finish and my brother wanted some slippers. I can do this! Is there some Christmas cram along somewhere?

My First Tea Swap

2007-11-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

I participated in my first ever swap. You sign up to give and get tea and yarn. My partner was Lori, a fine knitter, spinner and dyer from Maine. She said she liked fruity teas so I got her some blueberry that sounded so good I wanted some for myself. Then I got some from her part of the swap. Ha! I was a bit intimidated picking out yarn for a yarn connoisseur. I selected some roving from Lisa that Lori liked. And I waited in line at Garrett's on Michigan for some Chicago mix popcorn. I had a magazine in my bag that day so it was all right. And I got a seat on the freak bus that way.

In return I got a box packed tight with goodies. I was plenty spoiled. I got cookies, honey, yarn, stitch markers, tea, candy, chapstick, claws, the list goes on and on. As part of the swap we were supposed to share photos of our favorite mugs. Um. I didn't have one. So Lori saved the day with this great blue mug with a moose on it. And she got me a mini llama that I named Cicero. He was there from October 27 to October 31. I was freaking out thinking the swap box had fallen prey to Chicago's infamous postal system, but everything made it safely to my greedy little arms. My swap partner was outstanding. Many, many thanks to Lori.

Black Sheep

2007-10-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

The SSNB saw Black Sheep last night, so I'm including the review.

So now for the moment you've all been waiting for the SSNB movie review. Black sheep was about two brothers, Henry and Angus, who grow up on a sheep farm in New Zealand. Angus traumatized Henry at an early age and he had a paralyzing fear of sheep. We flash forward to recent times to learn that Henry's fears were justified. Angus was conducting genetic experiments turning sheep into wanton love goddesses. Indeed this movie was rated X as noted by an SSNBer. There was such laying and begating as only occurred in the Old Testament (Leviticus).

Meanwhile two PETA love children were attempting to wreak havoc on the cruel inhumane practice of sheep farming. They stole one of Angus' discarded experiments and accidentally set it loose. So began the attack of the killer zombie sheep. Herein Sigourney Weaver's costar from Alien resumed it's stellar career as a slimy prenatal sheep of doom biting man and beast alike. The resulting sheeple, as an SSNBer noted, carried on the plague.

Menacing sheep from all New Zealand terrorized the land. They were merino we gathered as 70% of merino comes from New Zealand. Bret and Jermaine were not in the movie so we were a bit disappointed. In the end, the sheep’s' own flatulence brought about their downfall. "Put another shrimp on the barbie," said an SSNBer although that's from Australia. The knitters stuffed their bags with treats and departed (although maybe that was just the author). Until the next digest.

Fall Headband

2007-10-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

I hate knitting with patterns. I hate it because you're always tied to your book or pdf or whatever. You've got to be on the right line at the right time or wreak havoc on your project. You have to time your transportable knitting to make sure you won't either need the book or reach a complicated spot on the road. So I like to improvise.

This brings its own problems. This headband for instance has been frogged two times already. Thankfully it's a quick knit or it would already be in the darkest recess of my closet. Somewhere even my hamster wouldn't poop.

I imagined this headband as a meditation on fall. It's more like a blast of wind upsetting your recently raked pile of leaves. I was hoping the (shudder) fun fur would create kind of a thrumming effect on the headband. It's not thrummed looking, but it's not too bad either. Here's the pattern while my headband remains unfrogged.

Fall Headband Pattern

Yarn: Chunky solid, Two strands of (sigh) fun fur held together
Needles: Size 8s circular or double points

Cast on 24 stitches in the chunky solid, join and don't twist!

Knit 4 rounds.

Round 5. Beginning with the 1st stitch knit in (omigod) fun fur every other stitch for one round.
Round 6. Beginning on the 2nd stitch knit in (eww) fun fur ever other stitch for one round.

Knit 8 rounds.

Round 15. Knit first 2 stitches in (why) fun fur. Knit next two stitches in chunky solid. Alternate yarns every 2 stitches for one round.

Round 16. Repeat round 15.

Knit 8 rounds and start all over with round 5. Carry on in this manner until the headband is 22 inches. Please measure your own head circumference. I like to think mine is unique.

Bind off. Join in that sweater seam thing you do for shoulders.

Aren't I ironic? I complain about patterns and post one.

Autumn at Last

2007-10-24T11:02:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I left the cube to behold a magnificent sunset. The world was dipped in shades of magenta with undertones of blue, orange and lavender. It was better than sock yarn. I would've snapped a photo, but I didn't have a camera. Besides the bus showed up before I could fully absorb nature's majesty. This is autumn. I wore my country club shawl as a really fat scarf all day. Yes it was a bit awkward, but I didn't care. I was glad to have it on. I've included some detail of the stitch. The bobbly side is the correct one, but the opposite side is the one people find more interesting.

I also present my sock. It's the cuff sock from Knit Socks by Betsy McCarthy. All in all, the inspiration is rising for some kind of autumn project. I'm thinking a headband. And maybe I'll heat up that cocoa too.

Why is it so hot?

2007-10-22T10:19:00.001-05:00

I spent the weekend beaded in sweat. It was disgusting. It's late October and 80 degrees in Chicago. It's too hot for socks, but I don't have a pedicure. I haven't shaved my legs and shorts and a t-shirt seem weird anyway.

I want my cold! I want to sit on my couch, watch TV and knit. I mean, I do these things anyway, but the appeal isn't there. Hot cocoa in 80 degree weather carries no comforting properties. I got a little jar of pumpkin butter, but in 80 degrees it feels like sacrilege.

I'd like to take an autumnal stroll and take in the colorful leaves. Instead I step outside only to promptly grow a layer of perspiration and suffer in my socks because I don't have a pedicure and feel like I went to the club in the afternoon because I'm looking at leaves in 80 degree heat.

Then there's the pressure to enjoy the day. So I spent the day outside along with every one else with the same bright idea so we were a mass of sweaty grimy people supposedly enjoying the abnormal day instead of being holed up comfortably and happily inside where we should have the pleasure of staying at least once this time of year. I got home and went straight to the shower. And I knit a sock.

Yarn Con

2007-10-16T10:46:00.000-05:00

I volunteered at Yarn Con on Saturday. I didn't do a whole lot to help, Natalia and Sara made the whole thing seem so easy. From my perspective, there was no hitch.

I started my day by sitting for the 1000 knitters project. Should my portrait look like a good drubbing with the ugly stick, oh well. I'd feel worse being left out. I think that next year there should be a Yarn Con costume contest so that people will dress up like at the Comic Con. Franklin was as dressed up as anyone in sheep earrings. Combined with leather, they maintained a masculine aesthetic.

I spent some time manning Vera's booth. She had naturally colored yarn from assorted sheep from her farm. Nancy met the sheep and assured me that they were very nice. That was fun. I didn't generate as much business as I wanted, maybe I'll work on my sales skills for next time.

Kris Neurauter taught a pattern making workshop. She gave us very practical advice for knitting sweaters to fit. I was really happy to be there as I am finishing up a sweater at this moment and hope the sleeves will work out. If they don't, I won't lose my mind. (Well, I might lose my mind.) I can simply rip back and make adjustments as Kris told us.

I shopped a bit. A perk of volunteering is that you get to check out the goods first and ask the vendors to hide them for you. I bought some things, but I can't share them because of a swap I'm participating in. As usual, I didn't have nearly enough money.

Looking forward to next year. (Pics lifted from Natalia.)

Block Party

2007-10-15T11:07:00.001-05:00

I got in a little knit frenzy this weekend. What else could have happened after Yarn Con? My buffoony self left the camera at home so I'll have to wait for others to post their pictures that I can rip off.

Anyway, I finished my sweater sleeves and set them out to block. Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and seamed the shoulders and knit the collar. Tonight I'll be sewing up the side seams at the SNB.

I also finally set my Misti shawl out to block. This was supposed to be done to help shield me from the overzealous air conditioning at work. Um, yes, it's a little late.

While I was doing this I watched a documentary on global warming, Too Hot Not to Handle and learned that global warming was responsible for raging ragweed growth and thus my terrible allergies. Great! In addition to freak weather conditions, my rampant allergies will only get worse. Recycle everyone. Support clean energy. I'll get off my soapbox now to go blow my nose.

More Gratuitous Pet

2007-10-12T10:37:00.001-05:00

What is everyone up to this weekend? My hamster is enjoying a quesadilla.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/8/07

2007-10-09T10:50:00.000-05:00

It was hard to figure out what was going on at SSNB last night. The atmosphere was rather bar like. I think we were louder than the Hyde Park parrots. For a while, an 18 month old was shouting MEEYAH at the top of his lungs as well. [Please take a moment to join us for a public service announcement. While most of us like kids, some of us actually don't, and nobody likes a loud kid. If your child is not knitting, then perhaps they should stay home. Thank you, sorry to make anyone upset by this.] The author only caught snippets of conversation every now and then so if anyone else wants to fill us in, please feel free to do so.

We had two new friends visit us from Ravelry. M was working on a little pouch using a double knit technique. E was making a Fair Isle baby hat. There had been some mention of hazing the new members. I guess we hazed ourselves by filling up on candy. People brought orange slices, jelly bellies, junior mints, butter finger crisps (mmm), and caramels.

T was practicing, L was finishing up a scarf, N was working on a feather and fan scarf, F was finishing up a hand warmer, M was working on socks, M had a baby blanket going, K was making itty bitty baby socks, N finished her vest, J brought her scarf back and S was felting. Please enjoy K's Fantine as our pic of the week. It's a lovely sweater both in looks and texture.

The early birds caught the SSNB knitter's tattoo fashion show. Who knows what parts were revealed to show off the body art? Speaking of which, some of us also congregated around the computers to look at L's naked camp photo. A Saturday night toga party with DJ was included with the price of admission.

See some of you at Yarn Con this Saturday. 'Til the next digest.

Yarn Tasting

2007-10-08T10:40:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I attended my very first Loopy yarn tasting. I went in at 5:30 p.m. and staggered out at 9 p.m. having sampled 19 yarns. The winners of the evening were Frog Tree merino at $6 for 100 yards and Mirasol Cotanini 60% Pima cotton and 40% merino. Among the I haven't won the lottery yet yarns, I liked Pemaquid, 60% baby alpaca 30% merino 10% soya at $17 for 60 yards, Iro by Noro 74% wool 25% silk at $20 for 132 yards and the piece de resistance Beaded Rhapsody 100% silk and 70% mohair 30% silk with glass beads at $52 for 175 yards. Two bookmarks and a coaster were created with my samples.

I'll admit, the tasting was stressful. I had to make sure to be done with the yarn on time and have my trusty Options attached with the correct size for the next yarn. And then there were the loose ends. When I could, I'd unsheathe my Chibi to get some tucked in. Other knitters were horrified. The term "anal" was batted about.

Somehow I sat in what was deemed the catty corner. (I don't know how people find each other.) We were shushed a couple of times (no foreign occurrence either). They said, "Wouldn't the $20 a ball Noro make a nice grungy sweater for your boyfriend?" That was met with muffled guffaws and a few choice quips.

The crocheter in our midst schooled me about pineapples. He'd graciously crocheted a bulky weight pineapple for a friend to hang over the back of her couch. Heavens, was he going to crotchet her a big watermelon next to go with the fruit cocktail? No, the pineapple turned out to be a pleasant stitch arrangement, not a big fruit. My ignorance was addressed.

I left with 2 skeins of Mirasol Hacho an 100% merino to make Christmas socks for the brother. Then I realized it was hand washable. Oh well. I shall taste again. And we got a coupon for a discount on sampled yarns through early November. Maybe a sweater's worth of Frog Tree or Mirasol will come to pass.

Knitter's Tea Swap 4

2007-10-04T11:05:00.000-05:00

I made it! I've been trying to sign up for the Knitter's Tea Swap ever since I heard about it. This time, by a remarkable feat of superhuman memory, I remembered to sign up on time. Actually, I had forgotten to sign up, but then realized it was sign up day and thankfully made the realization in time. I've never been in a swap before. I can't wait to see who my swap partner is, what they're into and what kind of yarn I get to buy. I've also got to figure out what kind of local goodie to include. One can't exactly line the goodie box with a deep dish pizza.

The Logo That Wasn't

2007-10-02T11:14:00.001-05:00

The SSNB was looking for a button to express ourselves to the Ravelry community. The logo displayed was nixed. Anyone wonder why?

Knitter's Digest 10/1/07

2007-10-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

N was working on a vest using two strands of lightly variegated yarn to avoid pooling. M was working on a sleeve for a sweater. J, a new friend, was working on a scarf. V dropped by with a skirt and went on to teach her 1st HPAC knitting class this year. F was working on handwarmers. She was also working on handwarmers last week, not a hat.

F brought up this beer machine where you insert a dollar and out rolls a beer. What is the meaning of this? Why haven't more of us received a cool beer for $1 in the manner of a can of soda? These machines are under populated.

V was there with news of a cute French guy who makes crepes and flirts. Any of the listed traits, French accent, crepes cook, or flirting might make a guy attractive. All three together render the lady a bit helpless. V said the cute French guy liked her vegetables. Yup.

J and M launched into a lengthy discussion of psychology. From anterograde amnesia to the gorilla experiment to social loafing to mourning Alex the parrot who died unexpectedly around age 30 to William James' visits to the psychic to the DSMs, all was discussed. Someone should've taken notes for an intro to psych exam.

V's knitting class came to join the SSNB later on. We got to talking about facelifts. No one is fooled by a facelift. When your eyelids are battling your eyebrows for height, you got a facelift. Most of us preferred aging gracefully although there had been some complaining about menopause earlier in the evening. Youth is wasted on the young said one of the ladies in the knitting class.

Until the next digest.

What am I doing?

2007-09-28T13:27:00.001-05:00

Yes. I do have something on my needles. I have finished a sweater back. I sorta blocked it. I have a picture, but I'm too lazy to upload it. I'm a few inches away from finishing the front of the sweater. I'll block that as well and get going on the sleeves this weekend. I hope. One of my many unfinished shawls is almost done. Maybe that can be another fait accompli for the weekend. It's sunny today. I can be optimistic. Happy Friday.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/24/07

2007-09-26T10:49:00.000-05:00

We were back in the front room at the HPAC. If anyone can think of some bribes to help keep us there, that would be nice. F was working on Bears hats. K was making teeny tiny baby stuff. M had her shawl. T was practicing. L was making hats from her own dye/spin and N was seaming a sweater.

We talked about Ravelry and how great it was to find a community of people willing to bitch about those things that got on your knitting nerves. Most others were happier to find a community of people to share the good times. N received her invite right after the SSNB.

The story of the evening was about L's excursions on the road. She will be staying at a nudist campground in Ohio. She found out about it online. No, she did not as others thought, enter a search for naked camping. The site just popped up. (Sure it did.) This discussion led to offending people's naked sensibilities. For example, did you know that even more family resemblances arise when seeing a mother and daughter naked? Do you have an unfortunate mental image now? Indeed. T even knew of a dog that brought his owner her bathrobe when she was naked. Offend your dog's naked sensibilities and you have a situation.

This led us to talking about pets and farms and Windy City's next bus trip to the naked campground. The main idea was that on the farm you eat your pets. F mentioned that people are told not to play with their food. Every animal, even cats, have a purpose. One day you're hanging out with a chicken, the next day you have a pot of soup.

Eventually after all this food talk, we got to discussing samosas. This actually led to SSNB's first ever food run. K and M were inspired to hop into a car and scurry off to Rajun Cajun for a samosa fix. T had never tried a samosa before. We discussed the different sauces, what was hot and what was not. A veritable air of contentment descended upon the meeting as we knit and munched.

Until the next digest.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/17/07

2007-09-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

We met a new friend L who came with afghan squares to crotchet. N was working on charity hats. I think she knit up 18 in a week. Eep. F has also racked up a lot of Bears hats. M continued with the shawl.

We talked about vintage horror movies that scared people. Creature from the Black Lagoon was really scary for some people. There was suspense and there was the creature chasing you with his slimy claw. Then there was the American Werewolf in London. People who had been to London could see how the werewolf could eat you easily in the tube and other places. Some people agreed that Christopher Lee was hot and that his vampire could come get them any day. Evidently there's some horror movie coming out called Black Sheep where the mild mannered creatures go out on the prowl. Scary stuff for knitters.

Then we had an extensive conversation about the Idaho senator and his bathroom tryst in Minnesota. We talked about the various signals he was giving such as stomping his foot and whatnot. And we talked about his excuse and how nobody picks up trash from public bathroom floors. There was some debate about whether anyone would pick up a $50 bill from the floor in a public bathroom. Some people decided they would just rinse if off.

N brought her new wood options needles from Knitpicks. Everyone liked them. Well, one person quotes a comment on the web referring to them as clown barf, but she was alone in her opinion. Everyone else thinks they're lovely and would like a set for themselves.

Anyone out there want to give us a recap of Renegade? F was there and she said there was a lot of bottle cap art.

Until the next digest.

Kinda Book Reviews

2007-09-14T12:38:00.001-05:00

As I continue my month of knitting bounty, I figured I should devote some space to my brand new books. My favorite is a pattern book Loop D Loop by Teva Durhan for Tahki Stacy Charles yarn. I wanted it originally for the pattern on the cover, a shawl with a collar, but it has a number of cool patterns. And I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy! I'm so excited. It's my first knitting rockstar autograph. Once I get out of the shawl phase I'm in right now, I have a lot of different patterns to look forward to. Thanks to Arcadia for this one.

I also have two new books from south of the border. One carries designs by Jane Ellison for Mirasol yarns. This purchase was for a good cause as the proceeds help build and maintain a school/health care center in Peru. I was excited to see a knitting book with Latina models. Granted they all dyed their hair lighter with blonde highlights, but hey, we all had our J Lo phase. There are also patterns in this book.

I got a great deal on the yahoo knitting list. Someone was trying to rid themselves of their Andean Folk Knits book for $10 shipping included! I've wanted this book for a long time, but it was more for inspiration than utility. I like the designs on many of the pieces they remind me of Atari graphics. A bunch of cute llamas made it into the book where they flirted with the camera.

Finally, I'd been looking for a top down seamless sweater pattern. Along the way I came across Knitting From the Top. This lady refuses to follow a pattern and does things by providing general guidelines. As one who ignores row counting, I liked what I saw and went ahead and bought it. I'm eons away from a sweater as my many shawls lie about incomplete, but I have sweater yarn ready to go.

At this point it is necessary for me to call a moratorium on any more knitting purchases until Christmas at least. Geez.

You Knit What?! Looking Needles

2007-09-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

I surfed over to the KnitPicks website ready to order the new Options set in wood. Then I saw the needles in question. Goodness! They are ugly. I would've bought this set out of wanton greed, not because I actually need them so they need to appeal to my vanity. I don't want needles that look like they got dropped in the yarn-dye pot. I don't want Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to be running through my head as I knit. So I sent Knit Picks an e-mail to their suggestions address. It's below. I invite others to join me in asking Knit Picks for a solid-color wood needle if they are as color conscious as I am. I'd still love to add these needles to my collection someday.

I love Knit Picks and their products so I was really happy to hear that you've released a wooden set of options needles. Then I saw the needles. I find them very unattractive and wonder whether you had plans on releasing a solid-color wood needle instead of the psychedelic variety. I am one of those knitters who doesn't need a new set of needles, but I would have purchased them anyway until I saw what they looked like. I have no doubt that in utility they are of great quality like your other products. I hope to be able to treat myself to a solid-color wood Options set in the future.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 9/10/07

2007-09-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

The author arrived late to the party so this should really be Knitter's Digest part 2. If someone else wants to fill us in on part 1 that would be great. F was working on more Bear's hats. S made a mini pumpkin baby hat. N was also wrapping up a hat for her husband. M was unraveling her shawl. N was working on hats for charity knitting.

We talked about Chicago's distinguished title as the worst postal system in the nation. N's been getting some guy's seemingly important mail for years, like his license renewal letters from the secretary of state. One would think this person would become concerned and try to get that straightened out. S frequently receives mail from the same wrong address and zip code. N had some packages misplaced or half-heartedly searched for at her local branch. She was also there when her branch was open, yet the staff was having a Christmas party in the back at 9 a.m. The rest of us are knocking on wood.

The word on the knitting street is that Knit Picks released a wooden set of interchangeable needles. Brave N ordered a few needles to check them out. Some of the rest of us just drooled. Chibi needles were also highly praised in the world of knitting tools. They make finishing a bit easier, even enjoyable for some. Most SSNBers wouldn't take it quite that far.

Until the next digest.

Bday Goodies

2007-09-07T11:27:00.000-05:00

I went on a mini yarn crawl for my birthday last Wednesday. It started at Arcadia where I was looking for a pattern and some more Misti. I left with a different pattern and some clearance mohair. It makes me happy.

I also picked up some recycled yarn. This is some re-used cotton yarn and I want to make some sporty socks out of them. In fact, I've been yearning for the finished pair already and keep thinking, if these were knit up I would wear them today. But they're not knit. They still sit in the skein.

My knitting friend and guru, N, treated me to an amazing cupcake AND pierogis. I highly recommend The Pierogi Factory where you can get soup and 12 assorted pierogis for $9. Now that's a deal.

Then we were off to Knitter's Niche. It was my first time there and they have a lot of Misti Alpaca. I can't say no to a place like that. I found 2 balls of yarn to match my mohair and intend to make the Knitty Loopy pattern when I get some size 17s.

The one thing I did not do on my birthday was actually knit, but I am definitely all ready to go.

Belated Goodies

2007-09-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

So I never shared my Fiber Fest goodies. The first round of purchases involved no yarn. I started with a pattern from Briar Rose Fibers for a shawl. (Nevermind that I haven't finished any of the summer shawls that I started.) To that I added 4 soaps. A lady at the booth was excited that a soap matched her decor. The decorative soaps are such a shame to me. Use the soap!
Then there are two goat milk misting lotions. These not only smell nice, but they also deliver non-greasy moisture. I find them perfect for your summertime moisture needs. Someone's husband said her lavender misting lotion made her "smell like a lady", better than teen spirit anyday! The piece de resistance is Cletus who's made of alpaca. He is the softest little bear ever.

The Chaco yarn was a steal at $3 a ball. I was rather amazed by the price so I picked it up with no particular project in mind. I'm thinking these balls will someday materialize in socks, but I'm not sure yet. Then I went back to Briar Rose for Sea Pearl, the blue-hued yarn. This will become a shawl someday. It's a soft, light mix of tencel and merino. The yarn piece de resistance is Celebration, the pink-hued yarn. I thought the price was reasonable for the quality at $60 for 1200 yards of sport weight merino/bamboo blend. This lovely yarn will someday become a top-down sweater. I'm really happy that I skipped Stitches Midwest and made it to this fair to get unique goodies.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 8/27/07

2007-08-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

Knitters from near and far joined us at the HPAC for another SNB. K hailed from Madison and was visiting L. She worked on a lacy crocheted piece for a skirt she was designing. N was working on a ribbed hat for her husband. D was a new member practicing her knitting. She was wise enough to learn continental and English from the beginning. That set us off on the pros and cons of each style. It was told that the fastest known knitting has actually occurred in the English style with a knitting belt. A knitting belt? Yes, it's a sack you attach to your waist so you can jam in one needle holding it stationary. That way you're just working the other needle and it can go very quickly.

A and T were practicing crotchet. F was working on a second Bears hat. M spent some time on a sweater and some time on a shawl. L was finishing up a notched scarf, her own design. She was plagued by a case of the neverending ball of yarn. It was true; there were witnesses. She knit diligently for a couple of hours and it made no impact on the yarn. It sat there defiantly, looking exactly the same at the end of it all. N worked on her Knit Picks sampler sweater. K was making a shrug named Fantine. It would've been more amusing if the shrug was named Fantina so that you could say, "it's like cantina except with an 'F'". Oh well.

Rumor had it that the Brach's factory is being imploded tomorrow. Some people knew people that had watched some of the CHA demolitions. Meanwhile K once sat at a coffee shop serendipitously watching a demolition across the street. Various people talked about their unfortunate airport pat-downs that need no repeating. N and M caught up on HBO programming. F told us about her kung fu movie expertise. Apparently, Jackie Chan can dance!

'Til the next digest.

Treat Disdain

2007-08-24T11:53:00.001-05:00

I haven't picked up the needles all week. Sorry. So there's no knitting post today. Instead I will expound about treat day at work. As an avid admirer of baked goods, I have a lot to say about treat day. However, today I will limit myself to discussing treat disdain. There is no better way to exhibit your deep disdain for your coworkers than bringing in a lame treat. Even forgetting the treat is not as bad as bringing in a lame treat. And by lame treat, I don't mean dispensable forays into the kitchen, I mean two coffee cakes. These are not just any coffee cakes, they are the orange sticker supermarket clearance coffee cakes. Coffee cakes with the orange sticker have the inedible distinction of being too dry and too sweet. They represent the fruitcake of treat offerings. Take that coworkers! I give two coffee cakes about you guys. Of course, two coffee cakes can only feed a few people so there's not even enough to go round. I actually admire the aplomb of subliminally expressing disdain with the office via treat. There's something there. And at least it won't knock anybody off their diet.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 8/20/07

2007-08-22T17:39:00.000-05:00

T arrived with a new project, a lace vest. We wondered where her red lace was and she said that she would bring it for show and tell sometime, but that it could be years before the ends were weaved in and the piece was blocked. We understood. We all hate ends. What's the big deal about just tucking your ends into your socks? No one needs to know. L had a sweater made of many colors. On the inside, let's just say that the ends weren't weaved in. She was busily crocheting hats for this weekend's fest in Wicker Park. You can find her there. F had her Bear's hat and M managed to shrink her shawl over the course of the evening. M was experimenting with crotchet.

We learned that someone had a special admirer. When we asked why old men think younger women would be interested the reply was, "He has a boat". Said boatman had invited our friend to get a "full body tan". This idea was met with a resounding chorus of eeeeews! Supposedly the admirer was short and round and perhaps fully tanned as well.

We also discussed tattoos. F has tattoos she calls a pain in the butt and a pain in the neck one for each kid. L wants a glow-in-the dark loaf of bread tattooed on her butt. Perhaps so she can literally pinch a loaf. (Sorry. All blame goes to the author.) She's even considering some sliced bread.

We recapped the Fiber Fest a bit and wondered whether it would be OK to place comments on the kid's art work in the HPAC room. One kid had generated a lovely Superman. Other kids were not so lucky.

Til the next digest.

Michigan Fiber Festival

2007-08-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

What a day. A bussful of b*tches from Chicago rolled up to the Allegan Country Fairgrounds and created quite a buzz. Thankfully we were in a gunfree zone. That was good. Can't have women blasting each other over that last discount skein. In addition to the gun sign, a giant chicken adorned the entrance to the fairgrounds. I wish I had a photo.

We wandered aimlessly about the fairgrounds for a bit before getting sucked into the Briar Rose Fibers tent. We all oohed and aahed, but when two of us made no attempt to depart, the other two of us did depart. We perused a couple barnfuls of livestock and I photographed many animals. I call my favorite photo "guess this animal" which most non-yarnies can't figure out. For a minute, I thought that the animals really liked me, and then I realized my companion, Lisa, was eating a peanut butter sandwich. Oh well.

After making a sweep of the vendors in these barns we went back to look for the other two ladies we left behind. Why were they still at the Briar Rose Fibers tent? They made new faces of glee and wonderment with each new skein they discovered. I didn't get a photo of the faces of awe, but they look really excited anyway.

We then carried on perusing the other barnfuls of vendors. This called for a break. We helped ourselves to some elephant ears. Mmm. I was briefly tempted to run back to the stand and get another elephant ear, but I backed down. We reconvened with our long lost Briar Rose friends and hung out knitting in a barn. Lots of folks stopped by to say, "Hey! You're knitting!" It was a fiber fest after all, I was surprised that more people weren't knitting in public.

At this point I had made it through the Fiber Fest without purchasing any yarn. I had a pattern, 4 soaps, 2 goat milk misting lotions, and an alpaca teddy bear. Never fear, I pulled out the plastic and got lots of yarn from, yes, you guessed correctly Briar Rose. We spent a lot of time there at the end of the trip and the Briar Rose women wondered whether our bus was leaving after all.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and thought I might take a nap, but I played "that's your house" with some of the other women on the bus. I ended up with a couple of burnt down walls and no roof for a house. And I named my alpaca bear Cletus to commemorate the day.

Haiku-- To My Donut

2007-08-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

Tasty Krispy Kreme
you are hot and buttery
glazey and shiny.

I have a big weekend coming up. I'm going to my very first Fiber Fest. I can't wait to see the animals. I should take a gallon of nasal spray for my allergies along with my UFOs. I'll have one of the not-getting-done-this-summer shawls along. It's coming along nicely. And I recently started my very first sweater. Well, I already had a very first sweater some 20 year ago, but I never finished it. So hopefully this one gets completed. I'm loosely following a pattern from Knit 2 Together, the butterfly sweater. It's willy nilly to hell with gauge. I'm not sure what will result. Live and learn.

TGF-donuts! Happy Friday.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 8/13/07

2007-08-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

F was back with the shrug. No, it’s not what you think. She really finished the shrug; she just forgot to swap projects in her knitting bag. We’ve all been there. T made a triumphant return with her red lace. M worked on a knit helmet. She claims to have a sweater that looks like chain mail. We sense a theme. M finished her crab socks and is wearing them right now. N brought her Knit Picks sampler sweater and intimidated everyone. M was working on a sweater for her granddaughter with very nice buttons and she had her completed sock from the Stitch n’ Pitch with an afterthought heel. T was making practice swatches. L crocheted a hat with some silk blend hand dyed. Very lovely.

Over the course of the evening N claimed that if one revised 10% of a pattern it could be claimed as one’s own. We clamored for verification. She said maybe 20%. We wanted to know if that was in print or in surface area. The numbers people noted the very big difference between 10 and 20 percent.

We recapped the Stitch n’ Pitch. L’s husband said, “It’s not a ball game without some drunken floozy spilling a drink on you”. Or he said something like that. The poor man could speak from experience. M told us that the hot dog stand ran out of hot dogs AND relish! Some people had been wondering where the relish was and were relieved to have closure. The hot dogs weren’t the same without it. L snapped a picture of M, an elusive SSNB member, so we all got to see her.

Some SSNB members are headed down to the Fiber Festival in Michigan with Windy City on Saturday. M wanted to know what kind of shoes to wear and whether her concern of stepping in poop was relevant. Poop should only be a concern if one hangs out with the animals. Indeed, petting the beasts was on her Fiber Fest agenda. (Petting the beasts doesn’t sound quite right.) Flat shoes were recommended so that the poop wouldn't get stuck in crevices. Supposedly you should be able to hose your shoes off. (That doesn't sound quite right either.)

The latter part of the snb is off the record. That’s right, the proceedings were censored and one had to be present to get the juice.

Stitch n Pitch

2007-08-13T10:22:00.000-05:00

Stitch and Pitch started off on the wrong foot. I got rerouted on the CTA and was pretty fume-y by the time I got to the ballpark. I was extra happy to have my sock with me to help me knit out some frustration. Then I got in line to redeem my hot dog combo (part of the stitch n pitch deal) and I chose the line behind the grandma with a jillion kids to shop for without knowing what they wanted. I finally got to my seat and the White Sox were already 3 runs behind. Things didn't get much better when Seattle scored another four runs in the fourth inning.

Most of the knitters left a few innings later which made their seats susceptible to a band of middle school boys. They were excitable little buggers. At the bottom of the ninth, the plot thickened. Fields bat in a grand slam leaving the Sox one point away from a tie. The crowd went wild. The middle school boys took to screaming like someone had released a bag of wildcats to one piece of beef jerky. Thome, the designated hitter, was next to bat. More wildness. I wondered if the middle school boys had finagled up some beer. Unfortunately the Sox didn't get their 1 run. But the crowd was in good spirits and we were treated to a lovely fireworks display. There were some shooting star looking fireworks as well as some tutti frutti squiggly ones that I really liked. Hope I get to bring my sock back next year. And oh, yea, the knitters sucked the margarita vendor dry. LOL.

Eye Candy

2007-08-10T10:05:00.000-05:00

I went to the sneak preview of a movie the other night. Bella. It was ok. But forget the movie. I wanted to indulge you all with visions of this fine specimen of a man. It's criminal to be that lovely. I wanted to elope, but he had a busy schedule. I think he would like it if someone posted a comment that said, "hubba hubba".

Happy Blogiversary Gift 2

2007-08-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

My happy bloggiversary gift was finally mailed out. I hope the person likes it! I got two balls of yarn. In my excitement I forgot to get the fiber content. Oops. I'll venture to say the yarn is wool. I thought it would knit up into excellent winter accessories. If anything, the package lacks more yarn, but aren't we always lacking yarn? I also threw in a nail file featuring yarn and soap and lotion for after your filing. Can't have your nails getting dry and snaggy again after you've filed. Next year's happy blogiversary gift will provide plenty of reason to indulge in more stash.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 6/6/07

2007-08-08T11:39:00.001-05:00

We were met with a pleasant surprise on Monday night. A long, lost friend appeared with zucchini chocolate cake. The cake was amazing and it was nice to see V as well. She was knitting a shawl with yarn made of incredible natural colors fresh off her sheep. You can find her at Logan Square's farmer's market on Sundays. She's also teaching at the HPAC this Fall. For those of us going to Michigan's Fiber Fest, she might join us for lunch.

We talked a lot about the food options at the Fiber Fest. We're split on the people joining Windy City for the healthy fare and the people excited about the fried eats that'll be available. Maybe Windy City can organize laps around the charter bus for those who indulge in the greasier meal plan.

F finished her shrug and modeled it for the group. But alas, there were no cameras. She has moved onto a Bear's hat. N's almost finished with the cardigan she had last week. (How does she do it?) K brought a mobius wrap. M had a shawl again.

Since the last meeting, N's dogs got in a terrible fight. She wondered what the commotion was because they usually don't fight. Suddenly they were dead silent. Turns out they were after a jalapeno pepper and quickly lost interest after having a taste. She also had a British knitting magazine. They had a spread of knit teddy bears. The bears were eating, get this, knit sandwiches. And knit eclairs. This was pattern making genius. She was good enough to find the pattern here. The bears themselves were unattractive, but their food sure looked tasty.

We also spent some time talking about the current entitled generation and how their parents pay for everything. At what point do the kiddies get cut off? We ran the gamut from 17 to almost 40. Until the next digest.

Ravelry

2007-08-06T10:41:00.001-05:00

Omigod! I got my Ravelry invite today. Last I knew, I was number 3,456,789 and 83% of the list was in front of me. I'll update more later. If anyone needs me, I'll be exploring my new invite. It's about time I catalogue all my UFOs.

Blog Gift 1

2007-08-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

I finally mailed out one happy blogiversary gift. I hope the person likes it. There's yarn and there's a nail file with sheep on it. And there's another nail file with a ruler. I figure the 2nd would be more useful, but I liked the sheep. The bigger blogiversary gift lacks packing tape so it'll be sitting around until I get the packing tape. Then one must factor in wake-up-early-enough-for-post-office time. Maybe the package will be mailed before the first snow. At the post office I encountered our surly band of workers. There was a line of 4-5 people, 3 workers and 1 window open. I don't know who plans the logistics for these things. They didn't have any packing tape either.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 7/31/07

2007-07-31T10:21:00.001-05:00

F was without a shrug. She had a hat. Evidently the shrug pattern said cast off loosely, but she didn't cast off loosely enough. So she's giving the cast off another go. Almost there. T was learning stockinette. It was going to be reported that K was working on socks, but these were not just socks; they were dimpled lace eyelet with picot edging. They will make a formidable pair. L had completed 6 inches on her skirt which is long enough for today's fashion needs. She'll keep lengthening anyway. N brought a lovely red lace blouse which is the star of the digest and she worked on a lacy cardigan. M worked on one of the many shawls that were supposed to get done in time for air-conditioning. N was learning to crotchet again, and finished a mini-washcloth.

Stitches is coming up so people were talking about how expensive it is, how much booths cost, how much classes cost (but they're pretty good), and how you'll leave with embarrassing amounts of yarn. Various classes on clothes sizing were discussed. N is organizing YarnCon for anyone interested in a booth or what have you, look here. N was able to sneak in a couple of extra rows as her husband got sucked into conversations about dental work, shopping for yarn and shoes. Okra was discussed as potentially overlooked, but in actuality most couldn't deal with its slimy nature. Indian recipes knew how to handle the okra. L had his first lobster in the army and people wondered where the army got the lobsters. K made everyone drool talking about beans and cornbread. Even though the past couple of episodes of Flight of the Conchords weren't very good, there were plenty of good bits to review. N and M tried to show people how the guys kept trying to add wings to flipping the bird so it looked more like a bird. Others were not as entertained by these antics. N snuck in another extra row.

TGIF

2007-07-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Geez. I finally made it through the week and all I have to show for it is a heel flap. My good crab sock kept me company while I was on hold with my evil cell phone company. Is there anything worse than cell phone companies?

Yesterday I was on hold for 50 minutes only to be placed on hold again for 10 minutes for a conversation that lasted 30 seconds. The day before that I was on hold for 40 minutes only to get an operator that sounded like Voltran. I couldn't understand a word. She was speaking fax machine. I had to hang up.

I caught the sock trying to impale the phone and I believe sock is well justified.

Figuring Stuff Out with Stash

2007-07-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking I'm some newfound genius for using my terrible stash of age-old acrylic to knit up swatches. Well, they're not really swatches. I tend not to swatch. But I needed to test out some patterns for a new knit rectangle I'm making to replace the knit triangle I lost. (I'm saddened to this very day.) I had two patterns to work with. Both were free, one was here and the other one from the lys. I used my foul stash to test these patterns out and decide on one instead of actually knitting the tests on my yarn of choice. That way, I didn't have to unravel the whole pattern and weaken the yarn before I started.

I selected the bumpy pattern. It actually uses up more yarn than I anticipated so I’ll have to make another trip to the yarn store sometime. (Oh darn, I note sarcastically.) The benefits of my stash busting paid off in that I learned the pattern. I am a mess at four row patterns. Unless the pattern is the essence of elementary, I can never figure out whether I’m on row 2 or row 4. So you can see the errors on my swatch that I figured out by the time I got to the real yarn.

It feels so good to get rid of stash. I've been living with this acrylic for about 20 years. It hails from the days of scrunchy socks. I hate looking at it and I have no idea what keeps me from depositing the whole mess in the garbage. Oh well. At least it’s made itself useful.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 7/17/07

2007-07-17T15:47:00.000-05:00

We were back from our hiatus in the kiddie arts room. One walked into the HPAC wondering who are the people in our room this time? Then one looked closely and said, oh sorry, it's the SSNB. N was working on the baby surprise sweater and M was working on her vintage baby sweater. She promises a prompt completion. V was working on a chevron open cardigan/sweater. N finished a tank top and it looked lovely. S worked on a purse and her hat. M worked on the shoji shawl which was likened to cobwebs (as opposed to a shoji screen which it's supposed to resemble). F continued to plug away on her shrug. L worked on a skirt. K worked on the forest canopy shawl.

We discussed how some knitters would like someone to magically appear and knit up their ufos. There was brief contemplation about passing the knit objects around the room to get them finished. With a lace piece, you could probably block out the differences in gauge anyway.

Then we got into some very Chicago topics. Sports and traffic. Everyone complained about the sports traffic. We take greats pains to avoid it due to football games and baseball games. Before and after games the drunken hordes are released to the public which is just not safe or endearing. Some of us chipped in for the stitch n pitch event hoping that we could get seats together. Whether we become a drunken horde is yet to be determined.

L had some competition at her seventies party. Some people wore audacious afros and gold eyelashes. Nobody had the goldfish platforms. It was questioned whether the goldfish platforms really existed or if that was some thing from the movies. N said, "If you were a player, you had the goldfish platforms." Or she said something to that effect.

Until the next digest.

Behold my Booty

2007-07-16T10:38:00.001-05:00

I went to the 1K knitters event this past Saturday in search of commotion and camaraderie. I only found the latter. And oh yes, I was also in search of Misti Alpaca (always an ulterior motive). The photo shoot was calm and collected. I was there pretty early 10-ish if I remember correctly. The process was as follows for anyone interested: You sign your release form, you sit down against a white backdrop next to a big light shield, pick up the provided needles and yarn and knit. Franklin, the photographer, asks questions about your life as a knitter while he's taking photos and voila. You're finished. I didn't get my picture taken because the idea of my unedited mug floating about publicly is just too scary. However I left with a sincere admiration for those knitters who were able to plunk themselves down and get photographed nevermind their bad skin or flat hair. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just providing examples.)

So I lost my mind in the store as I'm wont to do. I got my Misti Alpaca, but then I got sooo much more. I bought some lovely pastel yarn that will make a nice winter hat set. I got bamboo clovers in sizes 4 and 5. I got a couple extra chibis. I got this fascinating sock yarn whose story deserves its own post. Hmm, the list wasn't as long as I thought, but I was well pleased with my purchases.

Gratuitous Pet Pic

2007-07-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

SSNB Digest 7/9/07

2007-07-11T10:38:00.001-05:00

Here's the project rundown. N worked on socks and a tank top. M was starting a baby sweater from a book of vintage knits she found for $0.50! This was an excellent buy with tons of cute photos and a lot of relevant patterns. And she had Sun Chips. L was crocheting a black hat for a seventies party. F has one more piece of shrug left to knit. M finally got through row four of the shoji shawl.

There are a lot of events on the SSNB calendar. Saturday, we'll be heading out to Arcadia for the 1K knitters commotion. F was telling us how to tilt our heads just so to guarantee a nice photo. Some people will be practicing. However, we're not going to get our pictures taken if there's too much madness from other fame hungry knitters.

Then a lot of us want to attend the Stitch and Pitch event on August 10. People will be bringing the dear husbands. Some of the husbands aren't into stodgy men so we had to assure each other that our husbands weren't of the stuffy tradition. (Money due next SNB! Bring your cash.)

Pets came up again. Some people's pets will turn their noses up at food unexpectedly. They'll be eating something and then they'll push it to the side with their foot as if to express their immense disdain with bothering to continue eating. Sometimes these rude pets will push the food away with their foot without eating any of it. And then L had a cat that was into coffee and donuts.

N and M like Flight of the Conchords. More people should watch it and come to SSNB to discuss. All the ladies with the babies, make them shake their booties (referring to the woolen boots that babies wear).

Happy Blogiversary!

2007-07-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

Today is my 1 year blogiversary. I am so excited to have kept it going for a whole year. I don't knit as much as I'd like to and I'm certainly not any kind of guru, but it's a lot of fun to ruminate on projects. It's even more fun to poke around other people's blogs and learn about sweet yarns, different tips and especially marvel at some of the wondrous knitting out there.

In the tradition of other knit bloggers I want to celebrate by sending a gift to one of the 2, ok 3 readers (including myself), I have out there. The first e-mail I get will receive a little gift involving yarn and other stuff I scrounge up. Maybe I'll send you my hamster. Just kidding.

Well thanks to knit bloggers everywhere for making your antics public and keeping us all informed on knit stuff. Here's to next year!

Happy 4th!

2007-07-04T16:28:00.000-05:00

Enjoy those bbqs, beaches, fireworks, etc.! Meanwhile I'm knitting away on the his/hers socks of a couple months ago.

So I did get to see some fireworks on the 4th. I saw a few flashes of light poking out from behind a grove of trees while sitting next to some fresh dog poop. At least I wasn't more intimate with the dog poop as were many others. It was quite smashed by the end of the fireworks. And it meant that I didn't have to sit by anyone. HA! I also went to a ball game and the White Sox won 11 to 6. It was a very exciting game in an otherwise disappointing season. To top off the festivities I ventured out to the taste of Chicago to get an enormous Polish sausage, grilled corn on the cob and a rainbow waffle cone. After that I was busily digesting for the rest of the weekend.

I got the his/hers socks finished and they turned out remarkably well. The fit was good and they just plain looked great! The stripes matched up and everything. I was well pleased. I don't know why I hadn't finished them sooner, all I had left to do were the toes. I have once again concluded that the Kitchener stitch is easy. Just say knit, knit, purl, purl as you go about it. Picking up the gusset stitches remains the evil part of making socks. I started swatching some lace as well. More on that folly later.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 7/2/07

2007-07-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

Knitter's Digest 7/2/07

Ugh. It's already July. Where does the time go? Time was going so fast that we didn't start talking about weddings until July. People discussed their desired wedding cakes of German chocolate and tres leches. Mmm. And a lot of people had or planned to have handmade wedding dresses in our group.

M brought in a vintage pattern to discuss with resident gurus N and T. We marveled at the vintage model and her tiny self. All of the models in the vintage patterns are incredibly small women with itty bitty waists. Then the voice of reason came to our SNB as someone pointed out the serious corsets they must've been wearing underneath their hand knits. Oh yes. The corset era. We're glad that's over.

So the vintage term "wl" was interpreted as "yo" in the end.

A camera happened to be present at the SNB last night so we have lots of project pictures. N was working on the baby surprise jacket and hoping there was a less chatty pattern available somewhere. S was suffering with k1p1 on her first hat in the round. M was working on a dishcloth/baby blanket. S was working on a lovely baby blanket, note the pic. She found the free pattern online! N brought her sleeve back. (While L had RSVP’d, he wasn’t able to make it.) T showed us her red lace shawl that looks like it'll be amazing when complete. And F is making good progress on her shrug.

Hamster Living Room

2007-07-02T10:43:00.001-05:00

I have GOT to stop buying hamster toys. I've had my eye on a hamster living room set for some time now. It has a couch, armchair, TV, and lamp. I saw it on sale and I bought it. I liked the living room because it was cute, but my hamster seemed to enjoy it as well. He rubbed his butt on the TV screen. He drank water from his lamp (probably an engineering hazard). And he dug around in his arm chair for treats filling his cheeks to the brim. This man is completely spoiled or maybe I am watching the hamster hang out with his living room toys.

Meanwhile along the way I ripped a hole on the index finger of my knitting hand. So no knitting for me! I hope it heals soon as I have some days off coming up.

Summer Knitty

2007-06-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

Why does the only pattern that I like on the Knitty summer page have to be piquant? I can't knit piquant! I'll eat piquant, but I won't knit it. I like to knit mild.

Malcolm on the Hunt

2007-06-27T12:44:00.000-05:00

Here is Malcolm stalking down some prey. He circles steadily coming in for a taste.

Triumphant Malcolm digs into his meal eagerly.

SSNB Knitter's Digest 6/25/07

2007-06-26T10:12:00.000-05:00

Our meeting took place in Studio 2. We never figured out what was happening in our usual area. And we owe the front desk guy a cupcake. N was working on a sweater. F was working on her shrug. M was working on a silk shawl. T was working on a red capelet. M was working on a pocket for a conference bag.

We talked a little bit about working out. Buff men at the gym aren't interested in anyone but themselves in the mirror so there's nothing to worry about. We also had a run down of people's pets. Everyone has their own way to get the cat to take its medicine. Some people like giving dogs peanut butter, medicine or no medicine, because it's fun to watch them eat it. And a reminder to all, the fiber fest bus trip is to Allegan, MI not Livonia, MI. Evidently there is a big difference.

Shawl Follies

2007-06-22T09:10:00.000-05:00

I have cast on and off for the new shawl to replace the lost shawl about 3-4 times. This is a 291 stitch cast on. I cannot say I'm giddy and skipping around casting on all these stitches. Then I knit two rows, then I get into some bind offs to get the patterns started. I have never made it through this bind off row without leaving the wrong number of stitches at the end of the needle. When I'm done with this 291 stitch row of madness, I'm supposed to have 3 stitches left on the needle. This has never worked. My next plot is to try and mark the sets of bind offs with stitch markers, but I need 32 to get the job done. I'm not sure that I have 32. I'll exhaust my supply and move onto yarn scraps. It is after all a good way to destash. Here’s to getting through row 4 for the first time!

Meanwhile, this is not a hamster, but it's funny anyway. If my hamster could do this move, he would.

Malcolm Escaped

2007-06-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

So where was I instead of my SNB meeting? I was cleaning out the hamster cage. I had been out of town for a while so I needed to regroup. For some inane reason I opened the door to the cage that I wasn't cleaning where the hamster was sleeping peacefully. I forgot to close it. I absentmindedly cleaned out his smaller cage, felt a sense of accomplishment and went back to clean his main cage. He was gone. I looked around for him inside for a while and then realized I had left his door open.

I looked around my place for sights and sounds of a small hamster and came up empty. Then I thought MY STASH!!!!!!!! When Malcolm runs around in his ball, he spends an awful lot of time hanging out by my stash closet. I ran back in my room, sure enough the closet door was open. (I can't really close it seeing as stash is perpetually oozing out.) My precious stash! If he's in my stash I'm gonna kill him! I sealed off the closet with his playpen gate and put a spoonful of peanut butter out to see if he was indeed hiding in the stash closet. I went away to begin cleaning out his other cage and returned in a few minutes. There he was looking at me to see what I would do. Naturally, he ran back into the stash as I approached. I proceeded to inspect the stash taking out each bag looking for damage. The hamster retreated to a pile of flip flops. In retrospect, he looked kinda cute peering out from within the closet. I might've had a photo, but trust me I was not thinking he was particularly cute at the moment.

I kept emptying the closet and I finally got him into his hamster ball. I transported him into the cage I had just cleaned only to realize that I had forgotten to close off the area that connected to his larger cage! He noticed. I spent another frantic couple of minutes trying to corral him.

He ended up having a usual night running around in the ball and farting around in his play pen. I tried to read him some passages from a self help book (so he can get used to your voice and so you don't talk to yourself as much) and the furball fell asleep. He slept during his awake time. This morning he was rearranging his nest during his usual sleep time.

In the end, my stash seemed ok.

SSNB Digest 6/18/07

2007-06-19T10:29:00.000-05:00

a midsized group braved the weather for ssnb last night. m (me) couldn't make it, so i'll fill in with a brief recap. f was working on her pink shrug project. n was swatching for socks. s was making progress on her scarf (?). t was back & working on a shawl (red is her color!). l was very rapidly crocheting a hat. d stopped by (with her adorable baby boy) looking to join our group. conversations were lively & varied, ranging from the 'bug room' at the field museum (fascinating, but malodorous!) to renewing marriage contracts. the olympics, pie crusts & fireworks were also discussed.
until next time!

SSNB Digest

2007-06-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

I have been logging the activities of my local SNB which people seem to enjoy, so I'll go ahead and post the digests here as well.

SSNB Knitters Digest 6/11/07

It was WWKIP day part 2 at our SNB last night. The projects run down is gonna be a long one, bear with me. L worked on another notched scarf. F brought her shrug back. N started working on some arm warmers with her first ball of homespun. They came out a bit bulky so she reconsidered and started a hat. (The hat might spawn a stem and leaves becoming reminiscent of some grapes.) M brought her first ball of homespun as well. It was the fuchsia, not hot pink, yarn which was knitting up into some snazzy socks. M was swatching for a shawl. She started with a lace pattern, ran into some difficulty and reconsidered using a lose garter stitch. (Amen, we’ve all been there.) In fact, M was starting a garter stitch shawl as well. N was finishing up her entrelac bag knitting on the strap. A brought a chevron sweater. A had a beaded crotched lariat. And last but not least K was working on the Ribby Pully from Chic Knits. Phew!

L made no idle threat about showing up to SNB buzzy. A's leaving the Windy City for Michigan so the former South Loop SNB got some drinks then partied with the SSNB who had no drinks. (But we had cupcakes!) In addition to the other SNB, L also brought some great knitting magazines that were passed around. One of them was Knit1 which always has some great patterns and some duds. Some SNBers were most amused by a knit romper in the green issue. There is no place in a decent woman’s closet for a romper and a knit one is certainly not going to flatter.

Men entered the conversation for the first time in a long time. SSNBers usually have better things to talk about. The hotness of soccer players was overlooked. Most agreed that soccer players were all kinds of hot. K had been serenaded by some Swedish fans/and or players the last time the World Cup was in Chicago. Men were also deemed hot when they picked up knitting terms and used them properly. People’s husbands had correctly discussed “intarsia” and “knitting in the round” and that was pretty hot.

Then there was a lengthy discussion of Chicagoans decorating their yard for every holiday imaginable. Halloween was a big favorite for L and N who had some sweet displays and only made one kid cry. However, with the electric rates hike these ladies were shocked by their bills. Yes, someone really said that.

Until the next digest.

Hamster Update

2007-06-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Malcolm. He is a snippy little hamster. Lately he's taken to waking up after 10 p.m. which is precisely the time when I need to be sleeping. So I've been waking him up early and he gets all grouchy.

Yesterday, on the other hand, he was a lot friendlier because I bribed him with some broccoli. He took a taste of the broccoli and chewed. Then he wanted another taste. He chewed. Then he came back and took the whole spear. He let me pet him with no problems. After that he ran around in his hamster ball for a bit.

I took that time to switch up the toys in his cage for hamster cognitive development. I got him a new chew toy. After the multiple attempts to get him back into his cage, he attacked the chew toy. If he could've growled, he would've growled. Here he is gnawing enthusiastically on his new chew toy. So the people training attempts are not going too well, you can see him clearly saying, “Do you mind? I’m busy.”

WWKIP 07

2007-06-11T11:35:00.001-05:00

We had a beautiful day for WWKIP. It was sunny and not to hot or too cold. According to a photographer from the Tribune there were about 60 knitters behind the Crown fountain. I didn't do much socializing because I was so busy knitting. I got a lot done! I made it to the heel flap on the crab yarn sock and I made it to the toes on the two at once socks. (WWKIP photo lifted from another South Side blog.) That lady behind me in the blue-ish cami is famous!

Of the socializing I did do, I talked to a soon to be ER dentist who told us horror stories about doctors putting people's molars in backwards (one more thing to worry about). And one of our SNB members is threatening to show up to our meeting buzzy.

Afterwards we went on a yarn crawl to 2 lys: Loopy and Knitwerks. I had to fight myself to keep my purchases in line. I got a new ball of crab yarn. I love this stuff! And I picked up this cute nail file with sheep. It’s supposed to be for hangnails that catch on UFOs, but I’m using it for my nails. Maybe they’ll stay neater if I get to look at sheep while I file. Then I also got some yarn and a pattern for a new shawl. Sigh. The cast on for this pattern is 219 stitches. ZZZ. It out to keep me busy all summer. Photos to come.

Goodbye Dear Friend

2007-06-08T15:01:00.001-05:00

I seem to have lost a shawl :( It wasn't really a shawl, it was a knit triangle made in lovely grayish baby alpaca. I was bringing it to the office because the air conditioning is intolerable. One day I brought it home and the last thing I remember is unloading it from the car. Where it went from the car to my closet is beyond me. I imagine someone found it lying in the street or in my building, picked it up and is wearing it about town. If I see them, I will demand it back. I will take it. Or maybe it ended up in a gutter somewhere and is clogging all the sewers. I dunno. I am very sad. I don't even have a photo because since it's lost I can't take a photo.

Camouflage

2007-06-07T10:08:00.000-05:00

You know when you go to a conference you frequently get a bag? Usually it’s to throw all the stuff the vendors give away (pens, key chains, stress squeezers). You take the bag, sure why not, I could always use another bag. You take the junk, sure why not I could always use another stress squeezer. But you never really use the bag or the stress squeezer. Why not? Because the bag’s frequently emblazoned with some stupid logo that you don’t care to promote. And because the stress squeezer can’t handle your stress.

Anyway, I have a ton of these bags and I thought I might be more likely to use them if there were decorated with some pretty knitting. So I got the knitted flowers book and three months later finally got some flowers done even though the instructions are only ever a couple of rows long.

Thanks to the good times at the local SNB that make stuff like finishing tolerable I finally sewed a couple of flowers onto one of these pesky bags. Tada! It looks. Um. I’m still not carrying this bag around. It definitely looks better than it did, but it still doesn’t pass inspection. Of course, I expect to use it when I’m about to run out the door and need some place to throw my UFO. Currently I have a UFO in a battered paper shopping bag.

In fact, there was already a UFO in this bag even though it had a conference logo on it.

Knitting or Hamster?

2007-05-31T12:05:00.000-05:00

Last night I was waiting to play with my hamster and the furball didn't wake up until 10 p.m.! I could have been knitting. So hopefully I'll have some knitting done tonight.

Hamster Pen

2007-05-29T11:41:00.000-05:00

I'll apologize for bringing hamster updates into a knitting blog. I figure other knitters like to blog about their cats and my hamster's sucking up my knitting hours. Maybe once winter rolls around again, he won't sleep as much and I'll have more time to play with him and knit.

So Malcolm is in training. First I was working on potty training him. That went very well. He has an assigned bathroom area. While I got him a hamster potty, he's decided that it's his bed. Oh well. At least his area is set and all I have to do is clean that piece out every day. He keeps the rest of his cage very clean.

Now I need to get him used to human touch. What's the fun of having a furry friend if you can't pet him? I can't get my hand into his cage very well. I tried having him run around on my bed, but he got a sordid look in his eye and seemed like he might attempt a flying leap off the bed. I got him a playpen instead. Here he is checking things out. He's blurry because he won't sit still and pose. So there's also a picture of his butt. That's what he gets for remaining wild and untamed.

His first night in the pen was a disaster. He wigged out all overstimulated. I tried again yesterday, and things were a little better. I put fewer toys in the pen, put my hamster-bite-proof glove on and put a carrot in my palm. The hammie is supposed to climb up into your palm and eat his treat contentedly. Malcolm came up to my glove, looked around, took the carrot and scurried off. So much for that tactic. He did let me pet his back as he chewed on his carrot. Next I'll try putting the carrot on my hand without the glove, but he likes to taste fingers thus the training.

Friggin’ Socks

2007-05-29T11:04:00.000-05:00

I started sock 2 on my crab yarn. I’m glad I went with the waffle pattern I was very pleased with the results. However, the sock is a bit “snug” as you can see. I think going with the zeros on these bad boys was a bit hasty.

I went into sock 2 moaning and groaning for two reasons. I am spoiled by my other sock UFOs that are getting knit two at a time about once every other week at SNB night. I also assumed that I had messed up the waffle pattern on sock 1 every now and then and that I would have to match up the errors in pattern on sock 2. Happily, I didn’t really notice any pattern errors that might need matching.

Otherwise, I haven’t been knitting much at all. My other UFO is the flowers project. I have two flowers and a couple of leaves. The damn Goofy clogs are also sitting in a basket in my living room and I ignore them. I would like another shawl to help fend off the artic air from the air conditioning vents at work. I'm thinking I might need some more Misti Alpaca. . .

All kinds of AWOL

2007-05-22T10:29:00.001-05:00

I'm guilty of a long spell of AWOL, but I have a more legitimate reason than usual. I'm hamster training. I've had my fuzzy friend for about 3 weeks now and he's still not very well trained. He handled the toilet training pretty well. If you want to feel nice and stupid, spend your evenings looking for hamster poop. Otherwise getting him used to the whole idea of people is not going too well.

I'm supposed to play with him every night, but life gets in the way. Naturally he refuses to pose for photos so I tried to catch him while he was stationary in his hamster ball. There he is navigating obstacles like my electric razor.

The hammie's name is Malcolm like Malcolm of "The Sims, Bustin' Out". In that endearing video game the Sims get terrorized by Malcolm the rich tycoon. Once you beat the game, you get to live in Malcolm's mansion. Given that the hamster Malcolm is quite spoiled and resides in a lofty hamster house, I thought Malcolm was a good name. I do like to multitask, but I've found I can only read and hamstersit Malcolm in his ball. Perhaps once his training is finished, I can persuade him to pose with my FO's that are currently not getting much attention.

A Knitting Interloper

2007-04-30T16:59:00.000-05:00

I was perusing the blogs and I saw a number of good-looking socks. Every time I asked where the patterns came from, people said "Sensational Knitted Socks". (This is also where the patterns came from for many ugly socks, but never mind that.) I got one of those urges where I would scale mountains and scuba dive to get my hands on the book ASAP. You see, my crab yarn and the pool that formed in my sock brought great shame into my life. I needed a pattern that better expressed the yarn.

Here's where I might get too high strung. I went to the trusty neighborhood Borders to look for my book. What did I find? I found a knitter camped out in the knitting section with her UFO. She had copied a pattern into a notepad and sat there knitting it! I was furious. First of all I had to climb over the freeloader to get my book. Then, the idea that someone would be so bold as to move into an aisle in a bookstore to copy someone's labor of love really pissed me off. I didn't say anything as I couldn't think of anything civil to say. At least this woman could've bought a coffee and looked at the book in the cafe. But no, there she was in the foot space of an actual customer all nonchalant. I hope her project gets moths.

I wasn't too happy to cough up the hefty price tag for the sock book, but if it helps pad Ms. Schurch's wallet, I'm glad to support her genius. Maybe I could say that sometimes a book only has one good pattern, but even that case, one decides whether that one pattern is worth the price of the book or one finds another pattern. I was so upset.

ZZZ

2007-04-25T13:56:00.000-05:00

I am half dead today. I still haven't figured out how to pick up stitches and do the gusset. (Do the gusset. It sounds like do the hustle, or do the humpty dance, here's your chance.) Anyway. I was unhappy with a gusset I made over the weekend so I ripped back and sat up last night knitting frantically. Then I woke up an hour late this morning. Caffeine has done nothing. Maybe there will be one sole, loud thunderclap to shake the buildings, set off the car alarms and wake me up from a sound slumber this afternoon as there was last night.

Nightime Knitting

2007-04-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was out after work and starving! I decided I needed some gorditas of rajas y queso (sliced green pepper and cheese). I was in the neighborhood and went to get some. They usually run big so the plan was to only get one. But I decided I was really hungry and got one with rajas and cactus as well. Then I doused those bad boys with hot sauce and scarfed them both down about an hour before bed.

Needless to say I had some sorry insomnia. My body decided that it was more important to digest than to sleep. I got up and drank 3 glasses of water trying to flush the stupid food down. I felt every enzyme-food particle interaction and sat up unable to sleep. So I pulled out the crab yarn.

The crab yarn is supposed to be worked on size 2s, but I knit really floppy so I thought I'd break in a pair of zeros. I've never knit on zeros before. I liked the tiny stitches. Unfortunately my crab yarn was starting to pool. I was very upset, but the pool is turning into a swirl now, so I'm interested in what will transpire in the end. No two socks at once folly for this crab yarn. I only have 1 ball to work with.

To' Up Sock

2007-04-19T14:46:00.001-05:00

At the latest SNB meeting someone was talking about their toe up sock. Mind you, I've only knit a pair and 1/3 of socks, so I don't know about the toe up sock strategy. I thought this woman was referring to her to' up sock, as in short for torn up or wrecked in some way. I was like, what happened to this poor lady's sock that it's to' up? Did the cat get it? Did she have to frog? I didn't get it. I had a feeling I was missing some important part of the conversation. Finally the light bulb came on and I realized that she meant she was starting the sock from the toe. DUH! Some day I will get it together.

No More Method

2007-04-19T14:38:00.000-05:00

There I was merrily knitting along with my so called two socks at once magic loop method. All was well. I was so practical knitting two socks at once. Then I got to the heel flaps.

Um. My method wasn't working. I'm trying to chug along now with two circular needles, but I'm afraid I might already be off by a row. I find I can't remember when to alternate and work on the other sock. My sock memory sucks.

So I'll be doing the research and figure out how to string these puppies up on one needle again. So much for invention.

Wish List

2007-04-13T15:44:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I am strengthening my resolve, but the last couple of Knit Picks catalogues have not rung my bell. I have a very short wish list this time.

On page 5 there is a hand knit lace dress. Now I'm not one for lace or crochet wear, but this piece is a thing of great beauty. I wish they would provide knitting credits on the samples so that I could marvel at the knitter's glory and maybe hate a little as well.

Then on page 10 there's an Elizabeth Zimmerman page. She seems like a foundational addition to my library. Should any benevolent knitanthropist out there want to contribute to my collection. . .I would probably consider it a bit stalkerish.

I'm pretending there's no yarn section at the back of the catalogue.

Spring?

2007-04-11T12:41:00.000-05:00

I was reading blogs back in the days when I had time to blog. People were starting to talk about Spring and their gardening. I live in a condo and actually feel quite relieved that I don't have a lawn to attend. I would be the neighbor with "that lawn": the long patchy grass, the shapeless shrubs, dead leaves. Nevertheless I like plants and flowers so I started knitting from my flowers book. It is my feeble attempt to pretend that it's Spring even though it's been snowing every day for a week and this morning I actually had to wipe down my car.

Some Kinda Method

2007-04-03T18:43:00.000-05:00

My imported sock yarn arrived. In my excitement to get started, I strung these bad boys up myself. I know there's some "official" way to knit two socks at once using a magic loop. Whether I'm knitting 2 at a time correctly or not, I don't know. I've been too frazzled to investigate the correct method.

My last pair had different colored toes. That bugged me enough to want to knit these simultaneously. And the yellow pair (now delivered to my Grandma who loves them) had a suspiciously longer gusset on one sock than the other. So I hope these socks will be more matchy.

Didn't Make It

2007-03-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago I received a neat little flier from a LYS updating me on their commercial incentives. I put up the flier to remind myself.

I am so depressed. Last week was their major yarn sale. 40% off all wool. Sigh. Life is so hectic for me that I couldn't make it over there to take in the sale goodness. Perhaps my pocketbook is happy, but my soul, it aches. I had to write a haiku about it.

Yarn is on sale.
I'm wishing upon the yarn.
Why can't you be mine?

Flower Follies

2007-03-27T13:17:00.000-05:00

Behold meditation on a wave.

Unfortunately, this was supposed to be a five petal flower. How this blue strip was going to become a flower was beyond me. I ripped it up many times and kept getting variations of the same thing. I finally realized I was defeated and put the knitting away until I could employ a row counter.

When the knitting's not going well, one should face the truth and work on something else or stop knitting altogether. But I can't handle the truth and I keep going and end up with no product and less time. I hope to cough up a more identifiable flower soon.

The FO Came to Pass

2007-03-22T09:44:00.000-05:00

When I pledged to finish my headband, I didn't mean a word of it. Then lo and behold, I only had a few inches left to go. So I went ahead and finished it as I was waiting to see whether Sanjaya saved himself on American Idol. (It was Ashley, the crying fan, what saved him. America could not bear to break her heart.)

I have photos of the finished project. I was especially pleased with the neat seam I received courtesy of a three needle bind off. Then, at 5 in the morning, I was awakened by the loudest clap of thunder known to man. I tried to get back to sleep but water bombs pelted my window in protest. I turned off my alarm. That left no time for getting the photos off the camera. Next time.

I went ahead and wore the headband today. My forehead was really warm, but I'm not sure that it's doing anything for my ears and covering my ears is the whole point of the affair. Anyone have any advice on lining?

Wishing for my UFO

2007-03-21T09:28:00.000-05:00

It's now the time between hat and no hat. It's not cold enough for a hat and not warm enough to be hatless. I've opted for hatless to avoid the hat hair, but I've been dying for my UFO.

I was working on a cabled head band. I decided it didn't look impressive enough so I began anew. And there it sits on the needles when I need to be wearing it.

I'll publicly pledge to get it off the needles before the weather changes to no hat for good.

More Bus Knitting

2007-03-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

I did it. I harassed a knitter on public transportation. I had packed the afghan square in my purse for a trip on the good ol' freak bus. Once on the bus, I didn't actually feel like knitting. Then I turned around and saw another knitter. I got sooo excited. If I had a tail, it would've wagged. So I leaned over, pulled out my afghan square and said, "Look, I brought mine too!" She said, "I know that's right!" And so it went. After that I had to knit.

On the way home I left my hand knit hat on the bus. (The other bus knitter was also wearing a hand knit hat.) Oops. I was never really happy with the hat so I wasn't devastated about it. It's so liberating to think, "oh well, I can always make another one" as opposed to "that hat's out of season, I'll never get another!" Perhaps I'll come across someone wearing the hat I lost on the same bus. That would amuse me.

I was riding the bus to get to the opera. I saw "Cosi Fan Tutte". I'm no opera buff, but I can say this opera is completely silly. It's about how women can forget about their fiancés for other men within a 24 hour span. While I can generally give Mozart his props, the music did not compensate for having to weather this story. Watching it did make me further appreciate other operas that I have seen, so I was happy for that. Also, I would like to advise folks to please wash their sports coats after taking them out of the moth balls. Thank you.

Why I was At Home Knitting

2007-03-16T10:39:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to go to a mega networking event last night complete with open bar. In my haste to rid myself of unwanted facial hair with Nair, I burned half my face off. I tried makeup, but it just looked like I was trying to conceal my flaky face. So, I decided to stay home. I mean who gets strategic scabs on their moustache and between the monobrow?

Among other cosmetic difficulties I did not have comfortable enough shoes to wear. I have the granny loafers that I wear to work where no one cares, but I wanted a heel. Too bad my feet refused to be smashed into said heel. I thought these shoes fit the last time I wore them. It's possible my toe nails and their lack of a pedicure were taking up the extra space normally reserved for my toes.

How successful would I be networking as I limped about with my searing pained feet to go with my searing flaky upper lip?

I stayed home and worked on the socks to replace the clogs for my grandmother.

Today I have pancaked my shame with make up and hope nobody asks questions. What am I supposed to say? I was getting an experimental facial and multi-tasking by mopping the floor with my face at the same time.

Sock Angst

2007-03-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

I made one pair of socks and now I'm hooked. It's the STUPID YARN! Why do I find self-patterning yarn so fascinating? I sit there and clap and giggle as the yarn knits up into something exciting. I went from zero balls of sock yarn to 4 in a matter of days.

I decided that I need to make a his/hers sock set. It's all kinds of corny, but I've latched onto the idea and it's going to happen. So why can't I find anyone who sells Universal Yarn's Ditto? My LYS ran out and the other local yarn stores that carry it are widely considered evil so I'm not going to show up there. I had to order my yarn from MA. Sigh. So I've been reduced to importing yarn.

After my first pair of socks, I decided I needed to start improvising. So my second pair follows the same pattern on a wildly different gauge. So far so good. I'm still pretty sure I'm not picking up the gusset stitches correctly, but I press on.

And now for the pièce de résistance, the horrid pre-felted clog. I’m not even done with it, but it’s so noxious I find it very hard to finish and then, gasp, make another one. This thing looks like Goofy went shopping at Payless shoe source. Disneyland called, they want their clog back.

Stuff Nouveau

2007-03-09T10:40:00.000-06:00

What does one do when life raises its arm and smacks you across the face backhanded? And then life smacks you on the other side of the face palmsided just in case you missed it the first time. I exaggerate. Somewhat. Anyway, I did the American thing. I went shopping.

Behold the box of goodies I got a little while ago because I wanted to make some felted flowers. Now I have the book with said instructions. I haven't tried any flowers yet, but the book appears to deliver.

I also got the two yellow balls of yarn to make some footies for my grandma because I've come to hate the felted clogs, I mean the felted clog, that's still on my needles.

And I got particular pleasure from the sock yarn I bought. It's made of crabs. I have crab yarn. Supposedly this involvement of chitin makes the socks naturally antibacterial which I take to mean that I will not befoul the air with the scent of foot sweat. I'm very excited about the prospects and love the crustacean on the ballband.

Yes, I'm still in a bad time, but I definitely feel a bit better with my new goodies.

Sigh

2007-03-07T10:07:00.001-06:00

Life is throwing rotten tomatos and cabbage at me since last Friday. So I apologize for my hiatus and I'll have the knitting updates when I can spare a moment.

Some Days You Got it and Some Days You Don't

2007-03-02T10:38:00.000-06:00

I was working on my felted clogs a couple nights ago and nothing went right. I could not get the appropriate number of stitches on my needles to save my life. I up ripped the whole job. I was so disappointed because I had knit up the first part with no hitch.

Then last night I ripped up the previous days mess and started anew again with no problems. (Sorry, still no photo.) Why is it that sometimes we knit easily and sometimes we don't? And why was I too boneheaded to give it up the other night and turn to my garter stitch afghan square instead?

Meanwhile let us discuss my crotchet snobbery. I was watching Top Design on Bravo the knit wrong night. The designer sent home that episode was eliminated largely because she incorporated a granny square afghan into her design! LOL!

Shopping for Completion

2007-02-28T10:39:00.000-06:00

I went ahead and did some online shopping so that I could finish some of those projects that I have stash for.

Behold my goodies: a set of circular needles in a size that I didn't have, a pot of rug backing to paint onto the felted clogs, and the novelty yarn for the mitten cuffs. I'm still missing a zippered pillowcase. I don't even know where to get a cheap one.

I went ahead and started on the clogs. Photo some other time. The instructions keep talking about slipped stitches but they never say how to slip them purlwise or knitwise? I've been doing whatever the wind tells me haphazardly and I haven't noticed anything wrong, but I'd still like to know which one is it?

I am somewhat disappointed that this is not duh knitting. Every row has its own set of explicit instructions. Nothing's very difficult so far, but you can't sit there and zone out either.

I zoned out the next day instead. I stayed up all late to get to another part in the pattern and cursed my way through the following day. I stayed away from those puppies last night. Not like I won't be cursing today, but not as much I hope.

And the Award Goes to

2007-02-26T10:50:00.000-06:00

I finished the socks during the Oscars. I watch the Oscars religiously every year, and I always reflect on how incredibly boring they are and wonder why I continue to be drawn to them. At any rate they provided ample time to finish the socks.

I hadn't ventured into socks before because I find most patterns quite ugly. I'm not wearing a sock that looks like it got stuck in the vacuum (jaywalkers). This sock is a regular ol' stockinette sock. I learned to understand the whole fixation with sock yarn. It was so exciting watching the yarn knit up into cool little graphics with no additional effort on my end.

And I came to understand the general sock excitement. You put a couple hours in and you see notable improvement. You knit a bit and you have the cuff, another bit and you have the leg, another bit and you have the heel, another bit and #&@^%$^%!!!

I had substantial problems with picking up the gusset stitches and decreasing. For whatever reason, I ended up knitting the rest of my sock inside out. Whatever. No one's the wiser.

Seriously, the award has to go to Betsy McCarthy who wrote a sock book assuming total, utter, sock ignorance which is were I stand. Even so I still flubbed up that gusset stuff. However, the famed kitchener stitch was a breeze with her easy instructions and diagrams. I'm now chugging along on the 2nd sock.

As for the Oscars, zzz to Ellen Degeneres. Yay to Gwenyth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett and Helen Mirren for looking good and selecting lovely dresses. And yay for Forest Whitaker's acceptance speech. Woof to Meryl Streep's outfit. She looked like she was launching her world zither tour. More woofs to Jack Nicholson's hairdo, and unfortunately Penelope's dress looked like underwear for your wedding dress. I suppose my critiques balance out the boredom I suffered. Heehee.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

2007-02-23T09:22:00.000-06:00

On the left is a picture of my sock yesterday. On the right is a picture of my sock today. Indeed. I'm not particularly inclined to get into the specifics at this time.

I Didn't Miss You 'til You Were Gone

2007-02-22T10:56:00.000-06:00

I'm always complaining about cell phones and their omnipresence. Just because one has a cell phone everyone expects you to answer their beck and call. I am not a phone person, and I try not to use my limited daytime minutes, so odds are if you call, I'm not picking up. I'll probably call you back when I have free minutes, but I'll be getting off the phone as soon as possible.

Then yesterday, I dropped my phone. I heard a piece skidding across the floor. It was unsalvageable. And I was so sad not to have a phone anymore. I never knew how much I needed one until it was gone. (Given my misophoney, I don't have a land line.) Yes, phones are a pain, but when you can't make a phone call it hurts. I felt abandoned and alone. I had an incredible urge to talk to someone, but I could not.

And these stupid phones are really expensive. I had to pay for one because I would feel guilty signing up for a new plan and then canceling it just for the phone. My new phone has a camera and speaker phone so I expect to have some fun with those bells and whistles. I'll try to honor my phone for a while and realize that when it leaves, it does in fact take a piece of me with it.

In the meantime, I finished an afghan square made of bad stash and I’m plugging along on my very first sock.

Quick Inventory

2007-02-20T11:07:00.000-06:00

The other day I went through my "stash" and was pleased that most of my good yarn (I have a good yarn and bad yarn stash.) was already allocated for projects. The problem was that I had no materials to finish these projects. I had lots of red yarn for mittens and no novelty yarn to make the snowy white cuffs to go with them. I finally got the stupid felted clogs pattern, and I don't have knitting needles big enough to make them. I've got a bunch of lace weight merino and I don't have the talent to get the lace done. That pretty much concludes my good yarn inventory. That was quick.

The rest is all bad yarn and I have no idea what to do with it. I've got two big skeins of the pale green I used in those ill-fated wrist warmers that could become a baby blanket for some unconceived baby. And I have scraps of yarn in primary colors (red, blue, green, and yellow) that I used for blocks and I have no clue what to do with the rest. It's so ugly. There have got to be some tried and true stash busters out there!

Oops

2007-02-19T10:36:00.000-06:00

I was working on wrist warmers to go with the bad-yarn scarf I made from some foreign (not mine) stash. The idea was to surprise the recipient with a new scarf and wrist warmers. I finished one and gave it away for safekeeping along with the scarf. That way I was sure to be inspired and finish the other wrist warmer quickly. Sure enough I got it done soon afterwards; I went over to deliver the gift.

Um. We seem to have a problem. I have no idea how I managed to make one wrist warmer about a full inch shorter than the other. I'm pretty sure the short one is the incorrect one as I made it while eating pizza and watching South Park. I had to take the wrist warmers back. The recipient was like, "Well maybe if I keep my sleeves over them". No. I can’t have my shame wandering about publicly.

Besides, these required a 3 needle bind off that didn't result in a smooth seamless seam. So I'm back to the drawing board on that little gimmick as well.

I was so excited to be finished. It never occurred to me how faulty the end result would be. LOL.

Back to the Basics

2007-02-15T10:39:00.000-06:00

I was having knitting problems yesterday. I'll spare the details of one problem only to get into the other problem.

Realizing I didn't have the proper materials to start 1/2 my projects, I was determined to get rid of some stash. Unfortunately most of my stash is acrylic. Nevertheless I have 2 mammoth skeins of light green acrylic that I was going to use for a pillow. (The pillow's been ripped up so many times, I'm pretty much over it.)

So I decided to make some wrist warmers with the stash. The pattern called for a long tail cast on. Um. I use knitted cast on. The instructions in the book said to "hold the yarn like a slingshot". What? There were no pictures. So I took out my handy "The Knitting Answer Book" by Margaret Radcliffe. She includes pictures.

I was taught the long tail cast on at a stitch n' bitch meeting long ago, but I don't remember it as I never use it. So there I was carefully studying the diagrams and flinging my slipknot all over the room. After a shameful number of tries. I got it together.

The wrist warmers knit up quickly. That was perhaps because they were entirely too small. They fit on about 3 fingers instead of wrapping around my hand. So I have to start over. They should be done later this week to go with that green scarf monstrosity I made over the weekend.

V-day Gripe

2007-02-14T11:13:00.000-06:00

V-day is right up there with New Year's Eve as the most overrated holiday of the year. I've always hated V-day. In fact, my most memorable V-day was when a group of single friends got together and went out for red margaritas and one of the guys broke his chair. Very romantic.

This year, we have a snowstorm going in Chicago and the poor boy has jury duty. Hah! So just think, if you're out there wishing someone would send you V-day greetings and they don't, you could always be in jury duty. Or if someone does find it in their heart to give you a V-day present and it's a new broom because you need that, you could be in jury duty.

Well happy stupidest day of the year to everyone. I hope some nice chocolates find their way into your belly.

Geographical Stash Expansion

2007-02-12T11:08:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the well wishes on my health. I was introduced to “Cold Eeze” by coworkers and I think it really worked. You have to take a zinc lozenge every 2 hours. As I was in cold limbo, after a day of this, I was pretty much out of cold limbo. Of course, I was also sleeping some 12 hours a night, but I really think the Cold Eeze did something. It certainly paused the sneeze attacks I was getting. Anyway, that’s just a public health aside.

In the meantime, I realize as knitters, avoid it as we may, we end up with stash. I’m not too bad about the stash. I sincerely try and use the yarn that I have before acquiring a lot of other yarn.

Now I’m considering geographical stash expansion. Am I alone on this one? I was at the boy’s house and I stayed a lot longer than I expected. Next thing I knew, I was watching him outfit his little video game men which takes a lot longer than I take to outfit myself. “Should I get the chain mail or the iron breastplate?” I was bored to sobs.

Back in the recesses of my mind a small light bulb was lit. His sister had dabbled in knitting and had a skein and some needles in a plastic bin somewhere. I asked if I could use them. And it occurred to me, I was expanding the stash geographically. I had one stash in my bedroom closet and here I was making another stash across town. Next, I’ll make another stash in Michigan and lord knows where else I’ll start stockpiling needles and yarn for times of boredom. Does this mean I should also buy more yarn for my stash in other locales? Stop the madness.

So I quickly understood why his sister gave up knitting. She bought some kind of rabid homespun. It was awful to knit with yarn catching everywhere. I’ve seen yarn porn Fridays on people’s blogs. This is Friday the 13th yarn. (Cue the psycho music.) I made a scarf as I was watching the little video game men change clothes. It’s not my proudest achievement, but the yarn was seriously wild.

Going Down

2007-02-08T09:57:00.000-06:00

I haven't caught a cold in 2 years. That's right. I was so proud of this tidbit. Then I spent the weekend surrounded by sick people. On Monday morning I felt a little scratchy, no big deal. On Tuesday I was perfectly fine. On Wednesday the forecast was grim and so it continues.

Last night I had to pull out the Kleenex of shame. Some of you may know this idea well. I take diagonal corners of the tissue and stick one end in each nostril. Others just use a tissue for each nostril. So there I was, sitting around with a little bull ring of Kleenex in my nose. It kinda worked. (I'll spare everyone the photo.)

So I remain in limbo, not well enough to be well, not sick enough to be sick.

At least I was productive. I got some laundry done because I was down to that last bra and had to decide between buckling down and doing laundry or getting creative about the undergarments. And I carried on with the headband. The cables may survive to see a day in public. So far their appearance is acceptable. Meanwhile I thought I had a problem dropping stitch markers, I could make some serious punctures with the flying cable needle.

Cold Words

2007-02-06T11:21:00.000-06:00

So today the high is 7. It actually doesn't feel that bad, but still, it's the principle. Yesterday, it was so cold that I cursed the entire time I was outside. My coat felt like paper. I saw on the news that the authorities advised not to go outside unless one had to. Hello! Doesn't that mean we should all stay home?! I mean what did I really do yesterday? Would it kill us all to stay home for one day when it's cursey cold outside? Evidently, yes.

I was about to pull a Little House on the Prairie last night and bake some potatoes to put in my bed. Man it was cold.

I've been grumpy lately because I've had no time to myself. I did finally get some knitting in on Friday and I made a hat and 3/4. I'll get a photo up when the 3/4 of a hat is finished, I already gave the other one away. This morning I was flipping through my stitch a day calendar and decided to cast on for a winter headband. Stupid. Now I'm all pissy because I'm not at home working on my headband. I pulled out the cable needle for this headband. I've pulled out the cable needle before, but I've never liked the result so I have nothing to show for it. Maybe this time the headband will live to be seen.

So I'll sit here and be pissy and wish I didn't have a 9 to 5. Of course, if it was hot out, I'd still be pissed because I wasn't outside knitting soaking up the rays. LOL. I'll never win.

Curse of the Boyfriend

2007-02-01T10:00:00.000-06:00

I found one! I think I have a real life curse of the sweater example! In case anyone's not in the Midwest and hasn't experienced the freezing nosehairs weather, it can get really cold over here. It's really cold now. I go outside with my coat and my wimple and I get confused and wonder whether I'm really naked like the emperor. (By the way my wimple has lost me yet another earring.)

One of my co-workers was wearing this lovely thick wool sweater with some intarsia motifs. I asked her if it was warm and if I could feel it. Oooh. It was nice, thick and wooly. I really wanted to flip it inside out and check out the handiwork, but that would've been inappropriate. She related the story of the sweater to me. It had been her son's and he was about to deposit the sweater in the Goodwill bag, but she rescued it. The sweater came from an ex-girlfriend. Then he married someone else (you know when they get married immediately after dumping a prior woman) and the sweater had to go.

There it was. I was face to face with a boyfriend sweater. The sweater looked handmade to me. Maybe the ex-girlfriend didn't make it, but this sweater could've contributed to their demise as the sweaters like to do. At least this sweater found a happy home and it's still being admired. I hear of those other sweaters lining dog beds and I think the fate of this sweater is more justifiable.

Knitter Quiz

2007-01-31T09:04:00.000-06:00

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
Take this quiz!

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Some Numbers

2007-01-30T12:08:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-26T08:34:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-24T17:16:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-23T10:03:00.000-06:00

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.