5.6 earthquake, epicenter around 30 miles from where we are. Yeah, we felt it. ("Felt" as in past tense of "feel," not "felt" as in "washing wool in hot water and agitating." Just thought I'd clear that up.)
All is well, knary a knick-knack askew. Thanks for axin'.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Travels and Travails
First of all, do not stay at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo without wearing your sunglasses. Emerald green high-gloss paint on the ceiling and trim, gold wallpaper on the walls that weren't rocks, zebra-print rug. I'm just sayin'...
This was the room.
This was their fancy steak house. Yes, a manly steak house, done in Pepto-Bismol pink.
Second, the short-row technique in the Marble Arches pattern? Wow. It's an... interesting brain who thought that one up. I'm just sayin'...
(Poor picture quality due to shots being taken with phone in camera.) (Which is pretty cool technology when you think about it, but, let's face it, it's an old camera and the lens is plastic and fairly well scratched.) (But still, I took the damn things with my *phone*.)
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Furball and an Unvention
So, like, I have this knitting project... I bought the yarn in June of 2005 (mind you, I had only learned how to knit in August of 2004...) because I found a pattern I liked. The pattern had the presence of mind to (a) be easy, made of nothing but knits and purls; (b) give left and right instructions completely, none of this "make it just like the other one but reverse shaping"; (c) give stitch counts every time you increased or decreased; and (d) did I mention it was easy?
It was a pattern from a little Paton's booklet and it, of course, looked lovely on the model. So I bought the pattern and bought the yarn... and there it sat, in my stash in the condo... got moved to my 'active' pile when we shuffled from the condo to the apartment... and got moved again when we left the condo for the new house. And there it still sat, 2 years after purchase, in our lovely craft room, in my lovely yarn cubby-holes... mocking me, because now... now, after a couple of years of knitting, I Know Better. Use novelty yarn sparingly, pick patterns with a little challenge, and for god's sake, pick something you think you might actually wear!
A few weeks ago, in a fit of start-aholicism, I cast on. Oh dear. The yarn, while a perfectly lovely yarn for some other project (Paton's Divine, 82% acrylic/polyester, 18% mohair), knits like a cross between kitchen string and a scruffy poodle. Scratch that... a cross between kitchen string and what a scruffy poodle would have coughed up if it ate Great Aunt Lydia's antimacassars. The pattern, while perfectly lovely, is perfectly boring. The wasteland that is stockinette. In its favor, the front is like a ballet wrap, with a criss-cross tie, so you don't have to knit a full front of stockinette, row after row after row after row after... oh, sorry.
Anyway, I put up with the yarn and I put up with the pattern, and since it knits as a bulky, it worked up rather quickly. When I got to the sleeves, I stopped knitting and thunk for a bit. I *hate* knitting sleeves from the cuff up. If I make them to pattern, they drag on the floor. If I try to measure them against my arm, I'm invariably off - one will be too long, one will be too short and both will be too tight. So, I've been knitting sleeves from the shoulder down, by picking up stitches around the armhole.
With KW's cabled sweater, let's just say I didn't pay very close attention, so one sleeve has somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 stitches at the shoulder while the other has... about 80. To answer your questions, I did one sleeve, then the other, and had already knit the 120-stitch sleeve down to the cuff when I picked up what became the 80-stitch sleeve. I wasn't about to rip out a full sleeve's length of alpaca... and I didn't try to find 40 more stitches on the 80-stitch sleeve either. Both numbers seemed right, it fits KW fine (don't think about what that might mean for how he's built....), and he's happy.
But I did learn that if I'm going to pick up and knit down, I should try to get the numbers right before getting to the cuff... especially with a mohair blend that doesn't knit well going forward, never mind going backwards. So this time, I picked up 70 stitches on one arm, then got another needle and picked up...68 stitches on the other! I thought I figured out where I missed the 2 stitches, so I pulled the second sleeve out and re-picked up, this time getting to 69. Close enough! I added a stitch and started knitting down, first one arm, then the other, doing both using the Magic Loop technique.
It was a pattern from a little Paton's booklet and it, of course, looked lovely on the model. So I bought the pattern and bought the yarn... and there it sat, in my stash in the condo... got moved to my 'active' pile when we shuffled from the condo to the apartment... and got moved again when we left the condo for the new house. And there it still sat, 2 years after purchase, in our lovely craft room, in my lovely yarn cubby-holes... mocking me, because now... now, after a couple of years of knitting, I Know Better. Use novelty yarn sparingly, pick patterns with a little challenge, and for god's sake, pick something you think you might actually wear!
A few weeks ago, in a fit of start-aholicism, I cast on. Oh dear. The yarn, while a perfectly lovely yarn for some other project (Paton's Divine, 82% acrylic/polyester, 18% mohair), knits like a cross between kitchen string and a scruffy poodle. Scratch that... a cross between kitchen string and what a scruffy poodle would have coughed up if it ate Great Aunt Lydia's antimacassars. The pattern, while perfectly lovely, is perfectly boring. The wasteland that is stockinette. In its favor, the front is like a ballet wrap, with a criss-cross tie, so you don't have to knit a full front of stockinette, row after row after row after row after... oh, sorry.
Anyway, I put up with the yarn and I put up with the pattern, and since it knits as a bulky, it worked up rather quickly. When I got to the sleeves, I stopped knitting and thunk for a bit. I *hate* knitting sleeves from the cuff up. If I make them to pattern, they drag on the floor. If I try to measure them against my arm, I'm invariably off - one will be too long, one will be too short and both will be too tight. So, I've been knitting sleeves from the shoulder down, by picking up stitches around the armhole.
With KW's cabled sweater, let's just say I didn't pay very close attention, so one sleeve has somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 stitches at the shoulder while the other has... about 80. To answer your questions, I did one sleeve, then the other, and had already knit the 120-stitch sleeve down to the cuff when I picked up what became the 80-stitch sleeve. I wasn't about to rip out a full sleeve's length of alpaca... and I didn't try to find 40 more stitches on the 80-stitch sleeve either. Both numbers seemed right, it fits KW fine (don't think about what that might mean for how he's built....), and he's happy.
But I did learn that if I'm going to pick up and knit down, I should try to get the numbers right before getting to the cuff... especially with a mohair blend that doesn't knit well going forward, never mind going backwards. So this time, I picked up 70 stitches on one arm, then got another needle and picked up...
Light bulb time! Hey... two cylinders, heading the same direction... can't I Magic Loop *both* of them at the same time? Why, yes I can! I now have 2 sleeves on 1 long needle, knitting right-sleeve-back-left-sleeve-back-left-sleeve-front-right-sleeve-front! I came upstairs to get the camera to show off, but got sidetracked with the words; will add photo when done. I unvented 2 sleeves at once! Go, me! (yeah, like it hasn't been done before... well, I was happy that *I* had come up with it, so :-P )
(It happens to make the furball a little easier to knit because I'm so impressed with myself, so there might actually be a finished object soon... Now the only problem I have is... who gets it? It's definitely "what was I thinking?" yarn...)
Thursday, October 25, 2007
When Is Too Much Too Much?
More. Keep going. Bigger. Don't stop. Super-sized.
At what point is it too much? "Not having" can be a pain, "having" can be a burden. The less you have, the more you need, but the more you have, the more you need, too, to keep it all going. That is, of course, if you want to keep it all going.
Faced as we are with our current uncertainty, we are mulling over our various options. At this point, I'd like to be able to un-do a few things, but life doesn't go in reverse. So, somewhat counter-intuitively, we are going away this weekend to talk about "what now?" Although KW hasn't found a "real" job yet (not for lack of applying places), there are some leads that pop up from time to time. His consulting gig pays what would normally be considered a fabulous salary... but take away 30% (what we'll have to pay in taxes) and take away what his ex-wife bleeds from us, there's not enough left over to pay all the bills (part of "too much," even after cutting back many optional things). So we dip into savings. And dip. And dip. And now what had been "enough" is not going to be enough for too much longer. Even if I went out and got a "real" job, too, I can't make enough to fill the gap.
Slot-machine gambling I can do. You put your money in, you push some buttons, you watch the blinky lights, and clap when you get back between 50% and 70% of what you put in. Gambling with a 401(k) is another story. Do we pull the future to pay for the now, hoping that he'll get a job before the money runs out and we have to do it again with a different account? Or do we put the house on the (sluggish) market and hope it sells before the current liquid accounts run dry? Or do we sell everything on eBay, then take our cash (and yarn) and run away to start over again (a la "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin)? (Okay, so maybe that's not a viable option, but it sure sounds nice...)
So. Worries and hand-wringing blend with a hefty soupcon of denial, to create Meg Flambe', able to go up in flames at a moment's notice, tears putting out the flames so the cycle can be repeated, until we figure everything out.
At what point is it too much? "Not having" can be a pain, "having" can be a burden. The less you have, the more you need, but the more you have, the more you need, too, to keep it all going. That is, of course, if you want to keep it all going.
Faced as we are with our current uncertainty, we are mulling over our various options. At this point, I'd like to be able to un-do a few things, but life doesn't go in reverse. So, somewhat counter-intuitively, we are going away this weekend to talk about "what now?" Although KW hasn't found a "real" job yet (not for lack of applying places), there are some leads that pop up from time to time. His consulting gig pays what would normally be considered a fabulous salary... but take away 30% (what we'll have to pay in taxes) and take away what his ex-wife bleeds from us, there's not enough left over to pay all the bills (part of "too much," even after cutting back many optional things). So we dip into savings. And dip. And dip. And now what had been "enough" is not going to be enough for too much longer. Even if I went out and got a "real" job, too, I can't make enough to fill the gap.
Slot-machine gambling I can do. You put your money in, you push some buttons, you watch the blinky lights, and clap when you get back between 50% and 70% of what you put in. Gambling with a 401(k) is another story. Do we pull the future to pay for the now, hoping that he'll get a job before the money runs out and we have to do it again with a different account? Or do we put the house on the (sluggish) market and hope it sells before the current liquid accounts run dry? Or do we sell everything on eBay, then take our cash (and yarn) and run away to start over again (a la "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin)? (Okay, so maybe that's not a viable option, but it sure sounds nice...)
So. Worries and hand-wringing blend with a hefty soupcon of denial, to create Meg Flambe', able to go up in flames at a moment's notice, tears putting out the flames so the cycle can be repeated, until we figure everything out.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Vegas, Baby!
Just back from my first trip to Vegas since March of 2006. I used to visit 3 or 4 times a year; once I quit my job in October of 2005, I'm down to maybe once a year. From the vantage point of a year-and-a-half away, it's fun to see how much has changed...
The Aladdin Resort, which was only around 8 years old, is no more. (It opened up on the heels of the Paris casino.) It's been refurbished into a Planet Hollywood hotel and casino, and looks FABULOUS. It's got lots of chrome and crystal, and the vibe is much edgier and quicker than Aladdin, which used to feel like an old-people's casino.
The Stardust is gone completely, nothing but an empty lot since they imploded it earlier this year, which means that when you walk north from the Wynn, you can see Circus-Circus across the empty lot.
Speaking of the Wynn, before it opened in 2005, the Venetian had announced it was going to build another tower, "Palazzo," at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Sands Avenue (where the Sands used to be until IT was imploded to build the Venetian). So when Wynn opened the Wynn, HE immediately announced plans to build a second tower, called "Encore." Now, I've heard that Wynn is going to tear up the golf course to put in more hotel rooms, plus a condo complex.
A whole series of buildings have been taken down: the old (and dumpy) Holiday Inn Boardwalk is gone, the odd collection of tacky souvenir shops and a nightclub, and the corner where the helicopters used to take off have all been leveled. There's some construction going on, but no definitive signs of what's going in.
Caesar's opened their Augustus Tower a few months ago and wound up redesigning their entire registration area. (They still have the worst organized taxi line of all the casinos, though.) And of course they had expanded their Forum Shops, so now it takes about a half-hour to walk from the Strip in to the casino. Oh, and Celine Dion's show - the one they built the Coliseum Theater for - is ending, and it looks like Bette Midler will be coming to town.
We stayed at the Wynn... their rooms are fabulous. Gradually, even since I've been going to Vegas (1995), the 'center' of the Strip has moved. It used to be at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana at the south end. From there, you had nearby access to Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, MGM, and New York New York. Now it's shifted to the Strip and Flamingo Road, by Paris, Bally's, Flamingo, Bellagio, and Caesars. With Wynn opening up, he's skootching it up north another bit, where you have Wynn, Venetian, TI, and the Mirage - with more opening between the Wynn and the Riviera in the next couple of years.
Enough traveloguing... I also got some knitting done. I finished a hat made from Yarn Place's Adalie yarn (modified chevron pattern), started a felted bowl using Joann's Licorice yarn (just a hat-like thing that will get felted and turned upside down - voila! Instant bowl!), and made progress on my Marble Arches socks. Oh, and I also tried to work the Magknits Rainbow socks, once I learned the right direction for the short rows. Alas, I think I may have to resort to actually putting them on DPNs (grrrr) and doing it the way the pattern writer wrote it. 'cuz with one circular, it didn't work. Not with the brain I currently have, anyway.
Off to read through the emails that accumulated over these past 4 days. Should be lots!
The Aladdin Resort, which was only around 8 years old, is no more. (It opened up on the heels of the Paris casino.) It's been refurbished into a Planet Hollywood hotel and casino, and looks FABULOUS. It's got lots of chrome and crystal, and the vibe is much edgier and quicker than Aladdin, which used to feel like an old-people's casino.
The Stardust is gone completely, nothing but an empty lot since they imploded it earlier this year, which means that when you walk north from the Wynn, you can see Circus-Circus across the empty lot.
Speaking of the Wynn, before it opened in 2005, the Venetian had announced it was going to build another tower, "Palazzo," at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Sands Avenue (where the Sands used to be until IT was imploded to build the Venetian). So when Wynn opened the Wynn, HE immediately announced plans to build a second tower, called "Encore." Now, I've heard that Wynn is going to tear up the golf course to put in more hotel rooms, plus a condo complex.
A whole series of buildings have been taken down: the old (and dumpy) Holiday Inn Boardwalk is gone, the odd collection of tacky souvenir shops and a nightclub, and the corner where the helicopters used to take off have all been leveled. There's some construction going on, but no definitive signs of what's going in.
Caesar's opened their Augustus Tower a few months ago and wound up redesigning their entire registration area. (They still have the worst organized taxi line of all the casinos, though.) And of course they had expanded their Forum Shops, so now it takes about a half-hour to walk from the Strip in to the casino. Oh, and Celine Dion's show - the one they built the Coliseum Theater for - is ending, and it looks like Bette Midler will be coming to town.
We stayed at the Wynn... their rooms are fabulous. Gradually, even since I've been going to Vegas (1995), the 'center' of the Strip has moved. It used to be at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana at the south end. From there, you had nearby access to Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, MGM, and New York New York. Now it's shifted to the Strip and Flamingo Road, by Paris, Bally's, Flamingo, Bellagio, and Caesars. With Wynn opening up, he's skootching it up north another bit, where you have Wynn, Venetian, TI, and the Mirage - with more opening between the Wynn and the Riviera in the next couple of years.
Enough traveloguing... I also got some knitting done. I finished a hat made from Yarn Place's Adalie yarn (modified chevron pattern), started a felted bowl using Joann's Licorice yarn (just a hat-like thing that will get felted and turned upside down - voila! Instant bowl!), and made progress on my Marble Arches socks. Oh, and I also tried to work the Magknits Rainbow socks, once I learned the right direction for the short rows. Alas, I think I may have to resort to actually putting them on DPNs (grrrr) and doing it the way the pattern writer wrote it. 'cuz with one circular, it didn't work. Not with the brain I currently have, anyway.
Off to read through the emails that accumulated over these past 4 days. Should be lots!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I'll Tell Ya What It Was....
I still don't know what it's called, but it was FUN! DH was playing an online game and talking on the phone with his daughter, and every so often she would ask, "What IS that noise?"
Yeah, we had a good time. Ten of us sat around the dining room table (yes, it's big enough) knitting and yakking and eating and browsing patterns and admiring and LEARNING! Yes, even though I have never taught someone to knit from scratch, I taught 2, count 'em, 2 people on Saturday. Actually, I should more precisely say that my students learned despite what I was showing them. Regardless, it was a lot of fun.
Yeah, we had a good time. Ten of us sat around the dining room table (yes, it's big enough) knitting and yakking and eating and browsing patterns and admiring and LEARNING! Yes, even though I have never taught someone to knit from scratch, I taught 2, count 'em, 2 people on Saturday. Actually, I should more precisely say that my students learned despite what I was showing them. Regardless, it was a lot of fun.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Gaggle? Quorum? Pride?
So, what's a gathering of knitters called, anyway? Maybe it's "gathering," as in "A Gathering of Lace." A "herd" of knitters? (I've heard of knitters!) Drove? Pack? Rabble?
Well, whatever they're called, they'll be at The Ranch today... The meshing and melding of three knitting groups, plus 2 or 3 newbies who'll just be learning how to knit. I'm expecting 10 or so, the house is vacuumed, drinks are chillin' in the bucket, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin cookies are baked and ready... DH will be upstairs on his computer, playing an online game with his daughter in Maryland.
If he's smart, he'll put his headphones on, because I may not know what to call us, but I know what we are: LOUD!
Well, whatever they're called, they'll be at The Ranch today... The meshing and melding of three knitting groups, plus 2 or 3 newbies who'll just be learning how to knit. I'm expecting 10 or so, the house is vacuumed, drinks are chillin' in the bucket, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin cookies are baked and ready... DH will be upstairs on his computer, playing an online game with his daughter in Maryland.
If he's smart, he'll put his headphones on, because I may not know what to call us, but I know what we are: LOUD!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Today's the Day
It's the 10th anniversary of Mom's death - October 11, 1997. Yes, it's true that the pain lessens over time, at least it has for me. And I still miss her, every day. But it's turned into... I don't know... an ache for the relationship I wish we had rather than missing the actual relationship.
I was in a big hurry to leave home, and married just 2 months before I turned 19. I don't know why I wanted to leave so quickly. I wasn't pregnant, I wasn't living with strict disciplinarians, I don't think I really loved my first husband, and I actually liked my childhood and high-school years. I guess I just thought it was time, I was ready, I was "old enough."
So I was out of the house by 19, which meant that most of my growing up happened away from Mom and Dad and my brother. Mom and I weren't particularly close, but we weren't overly contentious, either. (Although Mom did confess a couple of years before she died that I sort of intimidated her when I was growing up, that she often wondered how I became so strong, that she admired me for my strength. Maybe my believing that we didn't have a contentious relationship was not shared by her...)
Married to husband #1 for 6 years, it didn't occur to me to talk with her about the problems we were having, so when I told her we were divorcing, she was fairly shocked. When I told her I was moving to California, I hadn't talked with her about my plans, so she was fairly shocked at that, too. Once in California, the day-to-day-ness of life didn't seem like a lot to talk about, so when I told her I was remarrying, she was shocked. Ditto through buying my first house, divorce #2, buying my condo, going back to get my degree, and falling in love (finally, for the first real time). (Okay, so K was different... I couldn't really let on all that much because he was still married... give me at least that bit of discretion...)
There were lots of things we didn't talk about, but then again, I don't know if we were a family that ever talked about these kinds of things. Yet through these past 10 years, I've mythologized that at some time in my 'adult' life, we would have had a more 'talky' kind of relationship. To be fair, during the last couple of visits, we did open up more about life in general and I learned more about her life.
In these past 10 years, especially in the first two years since she died, my aunt sort of stepped in to take her place. We became a mutual support system - from my side, we were having the kind of conversations I wished I had with my mom, and from her side, we were having the kinds of conversations she actually did have with her sister. But even those have tempered with time, and I still don't think I could talk with my aunt about everything that scares me or worries me or drives me crazy.
Blather... I was lucky enough to be with her during the last week of her life, to talk with her, take her to radiation sessions, hold her hand, tell her I loved her, give her sips of water, put Tiger Balm on her lips. I know she loves me and she knows that I love her, and I'll see her again and tell her again.
Here's to my mom and to everyone's mom. Tell her you love her.
I was in a big hurry to leave home, and married just 2 months before I turned 19. I don't know why I wanted to leave so quickly. I wasn't pregnant, I wasn't living with strict disciplinarians, I don't think I really loved my first husband, and I actually liked my childhood and high-school years. I guess I just thought it was time, I was ready, I was "old enough."
So I was out of the house by 19, which meant that most of my growing up happened away from Mom and Dad and my brother. Mom and I weren't particularly close, but we weren't overly contentious, either. (Although Mom did confess a couple of years before she died that I sort of intimidated her when I was growing up, that she often wondered how I became so strong, that she admired me for my strength. Maybe my believing that we didn't have a contentious relationship was not shared by her...)
Married to husband #1 for 6 years, it didn't occur to me to talk with her about the problems we were having, so when I told her we were divorcing, she was fairly shocked. When I told her I was moving to California, I hadn't talked with her about my plans, so she was fairly shocked at that, too. Once in California, the day-to-day-ness of life didn't seem like a lot to talk about, so when I told her I was remarrying, she was shocked. Ditto through buying my first house, divorce #2, buying my condo, going back to get my degree, and falling in love (finally, for the first real time). (Okay, so K was different... I couldn't really let on all that much because he was still married... give me at least that bit of discretion...)
There were lots of things we didn't talk about, but then again, I don't know if we were a family that ever talked about these kinds of things. Yet through these past 10 years, I've mythologized that at some time in my 'adult' life, we would have had a more 'talky' kind of relationship. To be fair, during the last couple of visits, we did open up more about life in general and I learned more about her life.
In these past 10 years, especially in the first two years since she died, my aunt sort of stepped in to take her place. We became a mutual support system - from my side, we were having the kind of conversations I wished I had with my mom, and from her side, we were having the kinds of conversations she actually did have with her sister. But even those have tempered with time, and I still don't think I could talk with my aunt about everything that scares me or worries me or drives me crazy.
Blather... I was lucky enough to be with her during the last week of her life, to talk with her, take her to radiation sessions, hold her hand, tell her I loved her, give her sips of water, put Tiger Balm on her lips. I know she loves me and she knows that I love her, and I'll see her again and tell her again.
Here's to my mom and to everyone's mom. Tell her you love her.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
NaNoWriMoOhNo!
Aauugghh! There are only 25 days until National Novel Writing Month starts! I'm too busy! I have too many things to knit! I'm... I'm getting 'way ahead of myself...
On the other hand, this past year was so busy, I haven't had time to finish editing last year's novel and get the freebie paper copy from Lulu.com (which is awesome, by the way... to get a real hard paper copy of your month's hard work... shee-ya....), so I may as well pre-panic for this year's event.
There are numerous National Months that have sprung up, including National Sweater Knitting Month. Of which I have not joined. (Neither has DM, by the way, even though she has the time and the talent... Not to mention a knitting machine... right?)
This morning we had the luxury of not setting the alarm clock. No one was puttering around downstairs, clanking mugs and coffee pots, no one stepped right outside the front door to have a smoke, no one clog-danced on the futon in the room next door. So we got to sleep until 8:30, and then I made pancakes and we cleaned the house. We boogied up to our former stomping grounds (we gotta find new friends down here), I bought $40 worth of yarn at Yarn Place that I *needed* (hey, they were having a sale), then pigged out at Outback (well, as long as we were that close to one...). Been playing with Ravelry, loading project and stash photos. Gee... If I had spent that time knitting, I would have probably finished the front of the wrap sweater by now, or have gotten the toe increases for the Rainbow socks done. What a goof.
On the other hand, this past year was so busy, I haven't had time to finish editing last year's novel and get the freebie paper copy from Lulu.com (which is awesome, by the way... to get a real hard paper copy of your month's hard work... shee-ya....), so I may as well pre-panic for this year's event.
There are numerous National
This morning we had the luxury of not setting the alarm clock. No one was puttering around downstairs, clanking mugs and coffee pots, no one stepped right outside the front door to have a smoke, no one clog-danced on the futon in the room next door. So we got to sleep until 8:30, and then I made pancakes and we cleaned the house. We boogied up to our former stomping grounds (we gotta find new friends down here), I bought $40 worth of yarn at Yarn Place that I *needed* (hey, they were having a sale), then pigged out at Outback (well, as long as we were that close to one...). Been playing with Ravelry, loading project and stash photos. Gee... If I had spent that time knitting, I would have probably finished the front of the wrap sweater by now, or have gotten the toe increases for the Rainbow socks done. What a goof.
Friday, October 5, 2007
It's Research, I Tell You
For the sake of all knitter-kind, I pushed the Crystalline Lattice socks, the Marble Arches socks, the Jaywalker socks, the tongue to the frog slippers, and even the Paton's Wrap Cardigan, to the bottom of the WIP pile. Yes, I, Meg, am sacrificing all that for the good of knitters everywhere.
Those Rainbow Socks on Magknits are toooooo cuuuuuute! Squeeeee! But they're written for (a) cuff down, and (b) The Dreaded DPNs. So, DM posed the question - Can they be done on circulars? One circular? Two? A little bit of brainstorming (with DK weighing in as well) and we decided that it could be done. It might be awkward, and there's definitely going to be a lot of "do this here, then don't forget to do it there" going on... but we believe it's doable.
So, in the name of short-rows-on-circular-needles research, I have cast on (toe-up, one circular) into the abyss. Well, not really, but that sounds rather grand, don't you think? I'm still working on the toe increases, so there's no data to collect at this point - but soon, very soon...
Those Rainbow Socks on Magknits are toooooo cuuuuuute! Squeeeee! But they're written for (a) cuff down, and (b) The Dreaded DPNs. So, DM posed the question - Can they be done on circulars? One circular? Two? A little bit of brainstorming (with DK weighing in as well) and we decided that it could be done. It might be awkward, and there's definitely going to be a lot of "do this here, then don't forget to do it there" going on... but we believe it's doable.
So, in the name of short-rows-on-circular-needles research, I have cast on (toe-up, one circular) into the abyss. Well, not really, but that sounds rather grand, don't you think? I'm still working on the toe increases, so there's no data to collect at this point - but soon, very soon...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Peaceitude and Quietude
They're gone! I love my family dearly, but they're gone now and the house is quiet! No more TV on all day long, no more sotto voce comments about our brand of bread or the sounds of the neighborhood or the price of everything. We can run around nekkid, belch and fart with abandon, and not take 10 minutes to exit the house when trying to go somewhere.
Aaaahhhhhh........
I love them, I really do.
Aaaahhhhhh........
I love them, I really do.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Numbers
I'm lousy at math. My dad started his work life as an accountant, so my lack of math skill might not be easily attributable to DNA. I don't think I had the talking Barbie that said, "Math is hard," so that may not give me a good excuse, either. I'll blame it on uninspired teachers - and I know for an absolute FACT that the reason I hate calculus is due to Sister Jean in 10th grade at St. John the Baptist, standing at the overhead projector, writing out undecipherable calculations, thinking she was explaining them to us, when all she was doing was scrawling numbers on the transparency and droning on and on about... well, who knows what she was going on about because she spoke in a monotone, glancing up at us over those reading glasses perched on her nose, and then she... Sorry... I digress....
Anyway, despite my distaste for math... Wait, that's not really true, either. I liked algebra and geometry; I liked the way that at the end of the problem, at the bottom of the page, there was one answer. So really, it's just that I'm bad at the basics. I can manage (mostly) to add reasonably okay without the use of my fingers (mostly), and I can dredge up some multiplication tables from the recesses of my grey matter, but I usually check my work with a calculator. Forget about subtraction and division, though. There are precious few instances where I'll do those equations off the top of my head. The few times I've tried, well, let's just say that one time I had to close down a checking account and open up a new one, and that's all I'm going to say about that.
So despite my lack of mathematical talent, I am a counter. I count the steps up the stairs and down the stairs (they're usually the same, but without a calculator, I can't always be sure). I count squares on the sidewalk, number of brush strokes through my hair, and the number of 'clunks' the pump makes when I'm filling the gas tank.
I especially count my stitches when I'm knitting, but that's no guarantee I'll come out with the right number at the end of the row or round. I think that one harks back to my first knitting project, which was to be a scarf made out of a maroon fun fur. (Yes, I know, never let a beginner learn with fun fur.... but that's another blog...) I thought I was getting the hang of this knitting thing, and must have been concentrating so much on the mechanics of the stitch that I forgot to count. I cast on 10 stitches, but next thing I know, I have something like 20 or 25. Rookie mistake, not paying attention to the first stitch that twisted around the needle, and adding in a couple of yarnovers for no good reason.
Well, I'm a smart cookie, I had taken a knitting lesson, I knew how to fix that: Just do some decreases! The next couple of rows, I did a k2tog or 2. Since I didn't know what caused the increase in the first place, this had the effect of slowing down - but not stopping - the increases. By the time I had managed to get back down to 10 stitches, I had a lumpy thing about 25" long. I had managed to put most of the increases on only one side, so it looked like a snake that had just had a hamster for lunch. The Yarn Harlot talks about 'knitterly denial' - well, I learned that one very early on.
Anyway, I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong with that first stitch and with the random acts of yarnovers, and have been counting stitches ever since. I do it, but I'm not overly good at that, either. I have been known to go from 39 to 30, 70 to 75, and don't even talk about what happens when I cross the 100 line.
All this is to explain why, in the past 2 days, I frogged the lace section of two hats. You wouldn't think that counting up to 6 (for a 6-stitch repeat) would be that challenging. Trust me, it's harder than it looks. One of the hats looks okay with the pattern a little off, so I left it alone; for the second hat, I started using stitch markers (yes, for a 6-stitch pattern - get off my case, will ya?) and it looks really nice. For the third hat, I branched out into a different pattern and, thinking it was easier, went back to that counting thing. I had to frog it twice until I started using markers again. *sigh* It's much bettah now.
First two hats are done; third one is almost ready for decreases. Photos when I download them (they'll be in Ravelry, too). These are for you, S.
Anyway, despite my distaste for math... Wait, that's not really true, either. I liked algebra and geometry; I liked the way that at the end of the problem, at the bottom of the page, there was one answer. So really, it's just that I'm bad at the basics. I can manage (mostly) to add reasonably okay without the use of my fingers (mostly), and I can dredge up some multiplication tables from the recesses of my grey matter, but I usually check my work with a calculator. Forget about subtraction and division, though. There are precious few instances where I'll do those equations off the top of my head. The few times I've tried, well, let's just say that one time I had to close down a checking account and open up a new one, and that's all I'm going to say about that.
So despite my lack of mathematical talent, I am a counter. I count the steps up the stairs and down the stairs (they're usually the same, but without a calculator, I can't always be sure). I count squares on the sidewalk, number of brush strokes through my hair, and the number of 'clunks' the pump makes when I'm filling the gas tank.
I especially count my stitches when I'm knitting, but that's no guarantee I'll come out with the right number at the end of the row or round. I think that one harks back to my first knitting project, which was to be a scarf made out of a maroon fun fur. (Yes, I know, never let a beginner learn with fun fur.... but that's another blog...) I thought I was getting the hang of this knitting thing, and must have been concentrating so much on the mechanics of the stitch that I forgot to count. I cast on 10 stitches, but next thing I know, I have something like 20 or 25. Rookie mistake, not paying attention to the first stitch that twisted around the needle, and adding in a couple of yarnovers for no good reason.
Well, I'm a smart cookie, I had taken a knitting lesson, I knew how to fix that: Just do some decreases! The next couple of rows, I did a k2tog or 2. Since I didn't know what caused the increase in the first place, this had the effect of slowing down - but not stopping - the increases. By the time I had managed to get back down to 10 stitches, I had a lumpy thing about 25" long. I had managed to put most of the increases on only one side, so it looked like a snake that had just had a hamster for lunch. The Yarn Harlot talks about 'knitterly denial' - well, I learned that one very early on.
Anyway, I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong with that first stitch and with the random acts of yarnovers, and have been counting stitches ever since. I do it, but I'm not overly good at that, either. I have been known to go from 39 to 30, 70 to 75, and don't even talk about what happens when I cross the 100 line.
All this is to explain why, in the past 2 days, I frogged the lace section of two hats. You wouldn't think that counting up to 6 (for a 6-stitch repeat) would be that challenging. Trust me, it's harder than it looks. One of the hats looks okay with the pattern a little off, so I left it alone; for the second hat, I started using stitch markers (yes, for a 6-stitch pattern - get off my case, will ya?) and it looks really nice. For the third hat, I branched out into a different pattern and, thinking it was easier, went back to that counting thing. I had to frog it twice until I started using markers again. *sigh* It's much bettah now.
First two hats are done; third one is almost ready for decreases. Photos when I download them (they'll be in Ravelry, too). These are for you, S.
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