Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Year of Finishing Dangerously, Progress Thus Far

(RSC Serendipity WIP photo below - avert your eyes if you don't want to see.)

Okay, so where was that list of rules? Er, exceptions? Most of what I've knit this month is included in the exceptions, right? Let's see... there's this:


Had to knit this to practice entrelac for the Monday night group. Had to. So that's covered under... let's see... "items for demos." Yeah, that's it. (I know, the original rules say that it's supposed to be "STORE items for demos." Close enough.)

Then there's this:

This will be an entrelac hat done in the round. See, I'm doing this KAL later this year, those Eunny Jang entrelac socks? So I have to practice doing entrelac in the round, and because it's for the socks (which are exempt), this is exempt, too. Right? (Don't answer that.)

Then these jumped onto my needles:


Um. Well, these were, er... is there an exemption for gifts? Huh. There should be. (Not that these are going to be a gift to anyone other than me, but I'm just sayin'...) These must fall under the "things that seemed like a good idea at the time." And they are making use of stash yarn (left over STR mediumweight Rare Gems from my Marble Arches socks). So there.

And these!


These are definitely in the approved category: my first Rockin' Sock Club sock! Serendipity, in the gorgeous color, Dragon Dance (mine is Aido-Wedo, by the way). This shot taken after the ribbing and 6 rows into the lace. As you can see, I'm getting the pooling that has been much spoken about in blog and post. I say, screw it. The yarn is gorgeous. I'm more concerned with fit than pooling.

And finally, a project that the YOFD was originally created for: I cast on for the Bistro Shirt!

I think I bought the pattern and yarn in 2005 (although it could have been 2004...). I was much smaller then and I know I don't have enough yarn, but am just going to forge ahead and see where I run out. Rowan Summer Tweed in Blueberry. Yummy.

And no, I haven't started swatching for the Masters yet; thanks for asking, wise guy.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Wet, In Such a Bad Way

I hates rain.

It's raining.

A lot.

Yuck.

(Yeah, I know, good for the plants, we need the water, blah blah blah... Sun better than no sun, dry better than wet, blue sky better than gray cloudy clumps of blah. Don't. Like. Rain.)

Here - look at a pretty picture:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Without Words

As I was driving home from Monday knit night, I was trying to compose this post in my head. I wanted the title of the day to tell what was in my heart, and I wanted the words to convey my joy and surprise and gratitude. And I sit here typing words and deleting them, typing new ones, and deleting those, too. Nothing seems right, nothing seems true, nothing seems enough. It's like I'm trying to move a bucket of air from here to there. But I will try again.

I am blessed - truly blessed - with the best friends in the world. Time and again I am stunned and dumbfounded by something they've done for me - silly ole' me. Now, they banded together and did it again, all in cahoots with one another.

In October and December, I had a few knitting friends over to our house. We knit, we ate, we talked, we laughed (there may have been a little drinking, I'm not quite sure...). I wanted my Monday gang to meet my Thursday gang and turn us into one big gang of happy knittiness. I did it for my own selfish reasons - I like to be surrounded by nice people who play with sticks and string. Well, a ringleader (or 2? maybe 3?) decided that a gesture of thanks was in order, and unbeknownst to me, approached the other knitters at the December get-together. And do you know what they did? Do you have any idea what they did?

They made me cry, that's what they did. And in public. In Panera's. See?



They decided that I simply had to have a copy of "The Principles of Knitting," by June Hemmons Hiatt. The Holy Grail of knitting books. The one I've been watching on eBay and Amazon for two years. The one that I desperately wanted, but could never quite justify the price. Notice I said "wanted," as in past-tense? Yep. They made me cry by getting me a copy of that book.

Now do you see why words fail me?

I have the best friends in the whole wide world, and I thank every single one of you from the bottom of most grateful heart. I am well and truly blessed.

Friday, January 11, 2008

There Otter Be A Law, and TYOFD Exemption the Tooth

So there I was, minding my own business, recovering from the cold that whumped me onto my keester... when another one hit! Damn! I don't think I fully got over that last one when this one hit. Isn't there some rule or law that says you can't get two colds at once? I mean, really. I slept until a quarter 'til 11:00 this morning, and still needed a nap this afternoon. Damn. I don't suppose I could blame this on my mother-in-law, huh?

No pictures to show, but I'm actually making progress on a couple of WIPs... I finally finished the second heel of D's pass-around sock with no other mishaps. Four frogs is plenty, don't you think? For the Marble Arches socks, I had been putting off doing the side gusset because even though I told myself numerous times that, once turned, all I had to do was knit in circles to the toe... I kept forgetting that all I had to do after the gusset was knit in circles to the toe. So I would look at them sitting in their baggie, think, "too much trouble: gusset, then pattern," and then pick up something else. I finally looked at them in their baggie and thought, "cool - all I have to do is make the side gusset, then I just knit in circles to the toe!" and then actually did the gusset and now I'm knitting circles to the toe. (I'm dense but I'm cute.)

I think I've decided to do "Fetching" in Garnstudio's Silke Alpaca. Mmmm... Going to be weird because I have one skein of cream and one of burgundy. And since I'm going to make them both at once, one will be cream and one will be burgundy. (I'm weird but I'm cute.)

So far, by the way, I haven't yet cast on for anything in 2008 that isn't already part of my designated project collection. At least, I think I haven't. Well, maybe I have. But when your mother-in-law cuts off her hair and requests a hat, and you're going to visit her a week after she did that, do you tell her, "No, I have this resolution thing and it doesn't have an exemption for hats for my mother-in-law"? No, you don't. What you do is you cast on for the damn hat and make an exemption to the resolution:

"Ain't momma happy, ain't nobody happy." Loosely translated: "Whatever momma wants, momma gets."

(She really liked the hat, by the way... and wants more. House slippers, too.)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Swatching = Twitching?

I got my Master Knitter (Level 1) packet over the weekend. What was I thinking?! It will be ever so interesting to see if I can do this. Not only swatches, but answering questions about the swatches... and a report! It's like being back in school again!

I picked up some Cascade 220 in a pale blue and a coordinating pale lilac. Figure I'll swatch even swatch numbers from one color, odd swatches from the other, and the hat will be the two of them striped.

Sheesh.

Non-knitting news - Driving around with the driver's side window stuck in the 'open' position is not a pleasant experience, especially in the cold and rain. Ask me how I know... Luckily, my normal car caretakers (The Driving Machine in Cupertino - quality place, class act) knew enough to diagnose it over the phone: I had a busted window regulator. Sure 'nuff, when they crawled in, that's what it was. They squeezed me into their busy schedule today (see aforementioned inclement weather) and got it fixed in about 3 hours. Aaahhhh.... The good news is that I got a lot of knitting done when I sat at Hobee's until they called to say it was finished. (And thank you, D, for keeping me company - and for the pumpkin!)

Sock progress! I added the side gusset to my Marble Arches socks, and now I just need to knit them (mindless stockinette!) down to the toe. Crystalline Lattice socks got their gusset a couple of weeks ago, but they have the pattern around the leg. They'll take a wee bit longer. And despite what you may have heard about the heel of D's pass-around sock, it's fine. No truly, nothing to see here. Why on earth would someone think they had to frog a heel 4 times? That's ridiculous. Step away from the heel. These are not the heels you want. (Both heels are done.)

Oh, and for the record? All that stuff people say about Cat Bordhi's wacky brain? It's true. I just picked up her "New Pathways" book... Holy mola-mola... What a mind. I can't wait to take a class from her at Sock Camp (to which I'm going) (did I mention that?) (I'm going to Sock Camp this year) (yep, totally cool) (I'm jazzed).

Friday, January 4, 2008

I Am Sooooo Loved!

So, like, I completely forgot to mention what DH got me for Christmas - he paid for my TKGA Master Knitter Level 1 program! Thank D for putting the bug in my head about it sometime last year. I hadn't seriously considered it until she started taunting me... Now I can't wait to get my packet and see what's really involved. (Those may wind up being Famous Last Words...) Coincidentally, Bobbin's Nest Studio is going to start a Master Knitter support group sometime soon. May need to figure out how to shuffle the schedule to be there on those Tuesday afternoons...

And yesterday was apparently Random Present Day, because D's fabulous partner, C, is picking up my registration for BMFA's Sock Camp in April. Aaaaauuuggghhhh!!!!! Dudes and dudettes, I don't do this very often, but when I got the message, I just started bawling at my keyboard. That is just so fantastic. Thank you! Thank you! I've already cast-on for... oops... better not say, since I know they both read this. Tee hee!

I.
Have.
THE.
Best.
Friends.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Year's Day Night

Quiet day, still have a cold but seem to be feeling a bit better. K and I started New Year's Eve playing Monopoly while watching "Ocean's Eleven" for the umpty-umpth time (there was a while on HBO or Showtime that it was playing every day and I think I saw at least an hour of it every time it was on). Two-player Monopoly is boring, though, so we scrapped the game in progress in favor of Uno (for the record, though, I was winning at Monopoly - although his landing in jail 6 times in a row probably had more to do with it than any 'skill' on my part) (oh, and I won Uno) (not that it matters) (oh yes it does!), until it was time to watch something symbolic drop from somewhere worthy of note.

Instead, on KRON-4, we saw scenes from a very uncrowded Palace Hotel in San Francisco, and from a very crowded and rowdy-looking Teatro Zinzanni show. We stepped outside the front door to wish our neighbors a happy new year, heard some parties going on in the neighborhood, then came back in to the warm and watched some of the SF fireworks on TV (not recommended - go see them in person whenever possible) for a short while, but quickly changed channels and caught an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Woke up late this morning, took a walk, did some work, knit a little, coughed a lot... a very relaxing way to start 2008. Hope it's a great one for everyone.