Crisis of Praxis

Cups and mugs

2012-01-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

I made several mugs and cups beyond the sake cup from yesterday, but I only kept a few. I gave most of them away.

The mug you see here was an early attempt; it's very heavy, both in weight and in glaze.

This tea cup is purposefully handle free, and had its rim dipped in a glaze called "waterfall". I rather like the effect. I use this mug almost daily. It was a precursor to the porcelain, done in Danish Plain. I made another one that looks much like it in porcelain that I gave away.

The inside of the tea cup.

Top of my best "form". The glaze on this mug was an utter failure. But as my last thrown mug, it's shape was far better than the others. It's not too heavy and the walls are fairly consistent in thickness.

Here you can see the horrible glazing. I went from being too heavy-handed with my glazing to being far too light. It would have been a great mug otherwise.

Here you see the bottom. Notice the nice shaping at the bottom of the handle?

Another handle free tea cup.It's much heavier than the one above.Still very usable, as you can see.

Some Ceramics

2012-01-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

I took a beginner's wheel ceramics class last year. I always wanted to learn ceramics, but the last time I handled clay was in 1995 when I took a sculpture class. I was fairly good at it, but transporting my projects without a car was sheer hell. I didn't have a car again and an inclination to pursue a class until lately.

I'm not used to things being very difficult. Motivation is difficult for me, not execution, I find. Therefore I was practically traumatized the first half of my first class by how hard wheel ceramics was turning out to be. (No pun intended. :P) Also, it's messy. Me and messy aren't really friends, I don't care if you've seen my closet. I don't like my hands gooey. So I was having a near OCD experience, as well. I had to get over that... for the most part.

By the second day I had it well enough for my blood pressure to drop back to it's normal low. (Maybe that's why get-up-and-go is a problem for me... my blood pressure usually causes nurses to say, "How do you feel? Are you tired? Do you mind if we try this again?")

I started with Danish Sand, which has a neighbor called Danish Plain, who is sand-free. I went this route instead of more earthy clay because I made it clear to the instructor from the get-go that my aim was porcelain. I love Asian pottery. I would be thrilled to make a perfect celadon bowl. If I started with Danish Sand and then moved on to Danish Plain he thought I would be fairly well prepared for the feel of porcelain.

Three small pieces: brown bowl, white bowl, and sake cup

Bowl of Danish Plain clay, about 3" wide

My best piece is the porcelain sake cup I made near the end. I am both frugal and stubborn, and I have small hands, so I was not daunted at all by trying small pieces. It's about 1 1/2" in diameter.

Inside view of sake cup. This is fairly true to color - it's greenish.

Bottom of sake cup. The footing on this is about 1/8" wide. The outer graze is blue-gray.

After I used up the Danish clay, I got some coarser clay to try to knock out some quick pieces. This bowl was one result. I was unhappy with how it trimmed up, so I did some carving on it to cover it up. The glaze dripped a bit, but at least it dripped consistently. :P

Earthenware bowl, about 4" wide

Bottom of earthenware bowl

There are more pieces as well, but I don't want to inundate the blog with photos all in one sitting. More on the other pieces later.

Second layer

2012-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

Progress on the paper mache so far:

Finch

Bowl

Not a lot of visible progress, but it's a somewhat slow process because I need the layer to dry adequately.

On the knitting front
I've started making an alpaca/merino wool cream colored hat in a somewhat cloche style. I'll probably have to knit it once, try it on, then knit it right. :)

Art from Crap

2012-01-13T21:43:00.000-08:00

Er... I mean, from rubbish.

Since I don't have a pottery wheel or an art studio or anything glamorous like that, if I feel like sculpting I have to go very unspecialized. As in paper mache. It's hard to get less specialized than paper, flour, and water.

You may be wondering what Aldous Huxley's Brave New World has to do with paper mache. Alas, very little! I was thinning my herd of books and it is the one to go down for the benefit of the rest. It would have gone to a thrift store except it's basically falling apart, it's so old. And value in old books really only exists if they are signed or first editions or some such - not a cheap 1960's paperback. However, I am going to go ahead and try to play it off like I meant to use A Brave New World - that somehow makes it more artistic: pretense. :P

I am molding it around a plastic Christmas ornament that I got for 25 cents at the local Goodwill Outlet store. Did I mention this craft is also cheap?

And I'm making a finch. I just like finches. They are cute little noisemakers.

It'll all come to together in the end. I hope.

Vintage Baby Jacket Sans Playsuit

2012-01-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but hello! I'm back. :)

You really don't want to know what I've been eating today. It's one of those days. Onward to knitting!

Vintage Baby Jacket
This knit is from the Rock-a-Bye Baby Book by Columbia Minerva, which you see below. The green outfit that little boy is wearing is what I made, with some qualifiers:

I did NOT use Columbia-Minerva Quick Knit Baby Yarn, as the pattern suggests, because much like you good folk are no doubt also suspecting, a book with a cover price of 60 cents may not be massively current. I'm pretty sure that yarn is discontinued, but I'm more than willing to be corrected on that point. I used some Berroco Comfort DK in a cream color that was left over from old baby projects, since a gauge of 6sts = 1" was needed on Size 6 needles.
This pattern is a jacket and playsuit set. I did not make the playsuit.

Aside from that, it's all pretty much as the pattern calls for. (Which, by the way, is incredibly simple!)

I'm quite happy with the result, here:

I found the buttons by accident at a clearance fabric store. I bought them in two sizes because I didn't have the jacket with me to size the buttons. I didn't regret it. I was delayed for quite some time in finishing this project for lack of good buttons, and now I have them, and some to spare.

This isn't the only Columbia Minerva pattern I've done up. You may recall that I made a lacy baby jacket in black Caron Simply soft, and a mock cable baby cardigan out of some leftover burgundy Encore worsted. And I doubt this will be the last pattern. I highly recommend this book to anyone who can get their greedy little hands on it. Although you may not be as lucky as to spend only 60 cents on it anymore.

Dancing Robot Socks

2011-04-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

This is part of an ongoing project I've been working on:
I was on a mosaic knitting kick and thought I'd try my hand at a robot design. I got this far before I realized that my asymmetric little dancing dude didn't transition well into the foot of the sock. Oh, dismay!

So I have to start over. And in a smaller gauge, I think. Something in light fingering, on #1 US needles, or smaller. I don't want to lose detail!

Bootie Time!

2011-04-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

I've been on a bootie kick lately, thinking about how such seemly fundamental knits are, in fact, often quite devious. I'm determined to crack them.

I'm starting with a vintage bootie from one of my magazines:
They seem like a no-frills, garter stitch affair, but their construction reminds me a bit of folding origami.
With these, I started by casting on for the center of the sole, then shaped for the heel. (That's the slight rounding you see at either bottom, outer corner.) The zigzagging along the top is shaping for the toe, and the space at center bottom is for the ankle. You can see in the first photo that I've started the ankle, which is made by picking up stitches around that ankle inlet and working flat.

I foresee a certain amount of seaming in my future.

More Plarn

2011-02-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been trying to get back in touch with my inner artist (as opposed to craftsperson, although I know the two aren't exactly separated) by experimenting with recycled media. I've been dabbling in paper mache, and of course, with plarn:This is actually a tiny bowl I made from one Radio Shack bag. I really like it's rough texture and it's delicacy.
The only drawback to it is that it truly is functionless art, even though it is in the shape of a bowl. Theoretically, I could put something in it, but it would be far from practical.

Little Monsters

2011-02-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

I made these two little monsters from split vintage Orlon acrylic yarn that I got from my grandma's hoard. They're about 1 1/2 inches long - tiny! I made them into pins, and I was on a real monster-making bender, but nobody but me seemed to really be interested in them.
I like their expressions - one button eye, wide open, a squinty eye and lopsided fangs. They make me smile. Maybe I will make more of them...

My First Plarn

2011-02-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

Are you familiar with plarn? Living this modern life, I find I am inundated with plastic bags, whether it be from the grocery store or the local thrift store. There a re some practical household uses for them, but trash can lining doesn't eat them nearly as fast as making plarn.

This is my first plarn project - a small (about 6 inches across at the base) crocheted basket. I find plarn (at least the kind I was using with this) is not unlike working with stretchy raffia. The texture and visual effect is similar. There's a certain amount of rigidity - because it's crochet - but it's also very pliable. (I don't know what kind of tensile strength it has, but I hope to find out in the future.) Despite its pliability, it is a bit hard on the hands, like cotton yarn. I have more projects in the works - coming soon!

Basic Baby Bunny Hat

2010-11-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

This hat is based on a simple hat V. had when she was an infant. I liked it so much that I've made this knitted version from recycled cashmere. It's extremely simple. This version is to fit a baby with an 18 inch head (about 12 - 18 months old) - but this pattern is so simple that if you need a smaller or larger hat you can just add or subtract multiples of 4 stitches for the desired size, or even use a different gauge!

(I have plans to add ear flaps to this! When I do, I'll add a link to the instructions.)
Basic Baby Bunny Hat

Size: 12- 18 months (16 inch circumference unstretched, fits 18 inch head)

Yarn: any worsted weight that meets desired gauge

Gauge: 4.5 sts = 1 inch (2.5 cm)

Needles: US #9, or size needed to obtain desired gauge

Abbreviations:
k - knit
k2tog - knit two stitches together
skp - slip one stitch, knit one stitch, pass slipped stitch over knitted stitch

MAIN
CO 68, join to work in round, being careful not to twist.

Work 3 ridges in garter stitch.

Knit in stocking stitch until piece measures 5 inches from cast-on edge.

EARS
K34, place remaining 34 sts on waste yarn or needle holder. (34 sts now on needles for working in the round)

Decreasing:
*K2tog, k to 2 sts before end of round, skp. K one round, repeat from * until 4 sts remain.
K2tog, skp, k2tog, cut yarn and weave in end. First ear completed!

Place stitches from waste yarn onto needles for working in the round and join yarn near first ear, making sure to leave about a 4 inch tail to use later to weave in gap between ears. With RS facing, k one round.

Work decreasing as for first ear. Second ear completed!

Use that joined yarn tail to close up any gap there might be be between the ears. Weave in all ends. You're done!

Obstacles, obstacles!

2010-09-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how difficult it can be to make one, teeny weeny blog post a day, Monday through Friday. Camera issues aside, even getting the text down in black and white and various highlighted colors (depending on my mood) can be quite a hurdle. How, you may ask, am I at the moment accomplishing this feat which I claim is so difficult? Well, the answer to that is simple. i do two things:

1) Leave the house with the laptop and go to a free WiFi hotspot, sans bebe; and,

2) Try not to panic.

#2 is the hardest part. I've got a lot on my mind, the least of which is getting a new camera. It turns out I need one. I could send my old Nikon Coolpix that I got for architectural school to Nikon USA for repairs - that is, if I'd kept the receipt. Because they require proof of purchase to do repairs, even without a warranty. I bought this gosh darn camera back in... 2005? 2006? Maybe 2007. In Cambridge, Massachusetts. I'm now in California. And I don't care how organized you think you are, I'm pretty well organized, too, but it hadn't occurred to me in thousand years that I would need to move that receipt with me 2,000+ miles. I brought the cat, I brought yarn, I brought books and art. I even got a giant unfinished landscape painting canvas mailed to me. But no camera receipt.

So, what's a person to do? Well, I'm going to cruise across the street to my friendly neighborhood electrics store and see what they have on offer. Because it is hard to function without a camera. One so many, many levels. For goodness sake, I have a 15-month-old! She tries to stand on her head! So many photo opportunities missed!

Vintage Thursday - Cabled Baby Cardigan UFO

2010-08-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

The hope is that this will not be a UFO forever. In the grand scheme of things, it has not in fact been a UFO for very long - maybe four months. It's from this booklet, which you may recall I have mentioned before:Unfortunately, I don't have close up of the page in question at the moment. It would involve a lot of digging through boxes (and a waking of the baby) to disgorge it from my piles of stuff. (I moved recently - I'm not that bad of a slob. Really.) So, until I get it out and scan it for your viewing pleasure, I'll simply tell you that it's a hooded cardigan with a cable running up either sleeve. Very simple, actually. I'm undecided whether to include the hood, or to make a collar, but I did decide to make it out of Caron Simply Soft in the whitest of whites. I wanted V. to have a good, very washable, white cardi that could coordinate with practically anything.
But because I can't leave plain very well alone, I'm added Peter Rabbit buttons:
Aren't those almost too cute for words? I nearly had every button different, but the fact that I would have to repeat Peter Rabbit (posed differently, but still very much Peter Rabbit, rather than another character) I nixed it and stuck with this one.

This project was delayed by the moving, and was supplanted by the garter stitch scarf. Foolish, foolish me.

Bunny hat progress

2010-08-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ever have everything be so hectic around you that doing something simple - something that is really and truly a no-brainer - takes you days and days and many a ripping out? That's me with this bunny hat. Originally, I started with the scarf part, thinking, "Wouldn't it be great to simply knit up from the scarf to the crown?" But then I had head size issues, to say the least. (You'd think I didn't know how to check gauge!) Then I started to think about how spiffy it would be to be able to make the hat with or without the scarf part, depending on your taste. So RIP! it all went again. And then I cast on too many stitches. I think that had something to do with trying to count while watching an active toddler and listening to a lecture on psychology on YouTube while, of course, the husband tries to give running commentary on a tangential idea. (Really - how could I cast on wrong int hat situation? Silly me!) Naturally, I only realized the mistake once I was beginning the second bunny ear and the number of stitches I was picking up didn't add up correctly.

But I am on the right path now. I grabbed about an hour - ALONE - at the coffeehouse and made a fresh start. Whoo-ee!

Wholey Expected Scarf Hiatus

2010-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the hooded garter stitch scarf - hopefully (or not?) for the moment - to work on... more garter stitch. But of a more tolerable nature.
This is the cashmere sweater in a state of being recycled. The winter accessories I knit V have been so successful that I got the idea of trying to take them a step or so further. Cashmere is a natural step up for almost any pattern, of course. But I'm talking structurally. The main flaw in the hat and scarf I made V. is that they are a hat and scarf, rather than a hat/scarf. That is, it would be better if the scarf was attached. I suppose I could just make the toasty topper from knitty, but I like how the scarf I made tucks rather than ties. Plus, I've been planning a bunny hat for some time now, and this is finally my chance. Yes, that's right! This is going to be a tied-on bunny hat. A simple one.

But it won't be all garter stitch.

The Holy Grail and the Fountain of Youth, Too!

2010-08-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

You hear about people making amazing discoveries. You see them post about finding Alice Starmore books at thrift stores for US$2, or buying a cashmere sweater at their local Goodwill for $1 every other week. It happens to other people, on other blogs, other people who live in charmed places where no one knows the value of what they are practically giving away.

Whoo-hoo! It is now my turn!

Guess what I got at a yard sale on the way home today? Yep - bone crochet hooks! My dad is somewhat of an expert on bone, and he took a good look at them for me. He thinks most of them are some kind of antler. But the second one down from the top - the one that's plainer than the others - is ivory. Normally he'd be able to tell me what kind of ivory, but he's not sure if it's elephant or narwhal tusk, etc. He is sure it was cut with a fine saw, etc. My dad is a junkhound. (Scroll down to see his old bottles and rocks.) Especially when it's old junk. So he was almost as excited as me. I need to do more research, but I'm pretty sure these hooks are turn of the century. And I paid US$2.50 for each of them. :P

Oh, and that background fabric? That's just a 100% cashmere sweater I found at the local thrift store a couple days ago for US$5.00. Looks terrible on me, but has a lot of recycling potential.

Vintage Thursday - Knee Socks

2010-08-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

Do you have any really, really old UFO's hanging around? I mean really old. So old you forgot you started them, and are startled to see them one afternoon as you're cleaning out your closet? And I'm not talking last year or five years ago old. I'm talking so old that you know you won't finish them in your lifetime because, well, you're 84 and knitting is no longer paramount in your daily schedule.

Witness the 47 year old UFO.
My grandmother was knitting these knee high lacy socks for my aunt Susie, who is now a grandmother herself. The pattern book is from 1964.
That's right - my grandma is an organized hoarder, as they say in my family (aka pack rat) and not only was the sock tidily stowed away in a zip-lock bag, but it included the pattern book and the remaining yarn. No needles, though. But I think I can manage.The book calls them "Lace-Knit Knee Socks B-644". (Vintage patterns have such romantic titles, don't they? :P) Naturally, I called dibs on the UFO. It's knitted flat and then seamed up the sole, heel and calf. Apparently the yarn is Coats & Clarks Red Heart Wintuk Sport Yarn. I'm trying to imagine what is was like to be a live in an era when sport weight acrylic (possibly Orlon!) knee highs seemed like a fantastic idea. But then I've seen enough vintage knitting patterns to not be shocked by much. (Have you seen these ski masks? Believe me, they are real. I have the magazine that features them. Fortunately, they are wedged in between some perfectly decent patterns. So you know not all hope was lost. But still the question rages - why? Why feature them at all?)

I am determined to finish the knee socks. They may be too big for me - my aunt Susie is nearly six feet tall, and I'm, well, almost a foot shy of that - but we'll see what happens. I may be able to swing it. Or just frame them and hang them on my wall. Either way, I hope my aunt Susie doesn't have any expectations. :P

Zigzag Pattern - Written Beta

2010-08-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

I begin this post with a warning - this is not the final write-up. This is my written directions for what should probably be a charted pattern. If you try to knit this, you basically will be test knitting. I have added changes based on feedback in red. Please let me know if these changes are helpful or confusing.

In which case, please let me know if you do embark upon such a quest, and what pitfalls you encounter. And ask me questions if you feel the need - I will answer ASAP. Thanks!

(Changes in pattern will be in red.)
SIZE
One Size

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Hat circumference (unstretched): 18 inches

MATERIALS

Yarn
[MC] Patons Classic Wool [100% Pure New Wool; 223 yds/ 205 m per 100g skein]; color: Natural Mix; .5 skein
[CC] Patons Classic Wool [100% Pure New Wool; 223 yds/ 205 m per 100g skein]; color: Jade Heather; .5 skein

Note: This pattern requires only about half a skein of each color, or about 110 yds/ 100m each.

Recommended needle size
[always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed below -- every knitter's gauge is unique]
1 set(s) US #6/4.25mm double-point needles

Notions required
darning needle
stitch markers
cable needle

GAUGE
24 sts/36 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch

PATTERN NOTES

LT (Left Twist): Bring right needle behind left needle and knit into back of second stitch on left needle without dropping st from needle; knit into front of first stitch on left needle, drop both stitches from left needle.

The Long-Tail cast on method is recommended for this project.

Note on ZigZag Patern:
To maintain pattern consistency, the round in which the color changes (from MC to CC, and vice versa) always begins 1 st before the beginning of the previous round.

PATTERN
BRIM
Using long-tail method and MC, CO 120 sts onto needles.
Join to work in the round, being careful not to twist.

Round 1:
*k tbl, p1, k2, p, repeat from * to end of round.

Round 2:
*k tbl, p1, LT, P, repeat from * to end of round.

Repeat Round 1 and Round 2 until work measures 1 inch from CO edge, ending with Round 2.

BODY
Set up rounds:
Round 1: [CC] *slp, k4, repeat from * to end of round.
Round 2: [CC] *slp, k4, repeat from * to 5 sts before end of round, k4.

Main Pattern Rounds:
Round 3: [MC] *k tbl, k3, slp, repeat from * to end of round.
Round 4: [MC] *k4, slp, repeat from * to 5 sts before end of round, k4, move marker 1 st to the right.
Round 5: [CC] *k tbl, k3, slp, repeat from * to end of round.
Round 6: [CC] *k4, slp, repeat from * to 5 sts before end of round, k4, move marker 1 st to the right.

Repeat rounds 3 through 6 until the length from the cast on edge is 4 inches, ending with Round 5 [CC].
CROWN
Round 1 (set up round): [CC] *k tbl, k3, slp, place stitch marker on slipped st. K4, slp, k4, slp, k4. Repeat from * to 1 sts before end of round. (Six stitch markers placed every 20 sts.)

Round 2: [MC] * Work in pattern until 2 sts before marked stitch, slp, k1, psso, slp (marked stitch), repeat from * to end of round.(114 sts)

Round 3: Using same color yarn as previous row, * work in pattern to marked stitch, slp, repeat from * to 1 sts before end of round.

Round 4: [CC] * Work in pattern to marked stitch, k tbl, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. Repeat Round 3. (108 sts)

Round 6: [MC] * Work in pattern until 2 sts before marked stitch,
slp, k1, psso, slp, repeat from * to end of round. Repeat Round 3. (102 sts)

Round 8: [CC] * Work in pattern to marked stitch, k tbl, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. Repeat Round 3. (96 sts)

Round 10: [MC] * Work in pattern until 3 sts before marked stitch, slp, place next st on cable needle and bring to front, k1, psso, sl st on cable needle to right needle, slp, repeat from * to end of round. Repeat Round 3. (90 sts)

Round 12: [CC] * Work in pattern to marked stitch, k tbl, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. Repeat Round 3.(84 sts)

Round 14: [MC] * Work in pattern until 2 sts before marked stitch, slp, k1, psso, slp, repeat from * to end of round. Repeat Round 3.(78 sts)

Repeat Rounds 12 through 16 twice. (54 sts)

Next Round: [CC] * Work in pattern to marked stitch, k tbl, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (48 sts)
Next Round: [CC] * Work in pattern to 2 sts before marked stitch, slp, k1, psso, k tbl, repeat from * to 1 sts before end of round. (42 sts)
Next Round: [MC] * Work in pattern to marked stitch, slp, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. (36 sts)
Next Round: [MC] * Work in pattern to 2 sts before marked stitch, slp, k1, psso, slp, repeat from * to 1 sts before end of round. (30 sts)

Repeat the previous four rounds once more. (6 sts) Cut yarn. With darning needle, drawn yarn through remaining loops and close up crown.
FINISHING
Weave in all loose ends and lightly block (without stretching) if desired.

Zigzag

2010-08-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

A while back I posted about a pattern I had come up with that was giving me some trouble. Well, here's the hat in question:Looks innocuous enough, doesn't it? Well, this hat has given me many a headache. Mind you, it wasn't the knitting of it that gave me the problem. It was writing it up. It's worked in the round. Notice that jog at the beginning of a new row where the colors change? No? Good. You're not supposed to, thanks to a little fiddling that is almost impossible for me at the moment to write up coherently. But I do like how the hat turned out.
I especially like the crown decreasing. That was the hardest part of this design - finding a crown decreasing that looked right to me. I didn't want to just go with a solid color or something - I thought that might be a bit of a cop out. As would modifying the look of the pattern by the decreases. I wanted it to look like the pattern was absolutely continuous, except for the ridges of teal that run between the paired decreases.Here I am in the hat.

Interminable Garter Stitch

2010-08-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

A surreal landscape?
A leftover from a bad night out drinking?
Actually, it's neither.
It's my current WIP.
I am trying to remain faithful to it - it's a trend I've been trying to go with lately. That, and not buying more yarn. This was the last yarn I bought, about two months ago when I started this project.
(Last new yarn, because - of course! - yarn from yard sales and thrift stores and the like don't count on a yarn diet!)
(...do they?)
I started this project thinking it would be easy and relaxing. The simple brilliance of the pattern lured me in. That and the variegated silk blend yarn I'm using. But let me tell you. Should you for even a moment contemplate knitting this design - or something like it - I have a warning for you that you best heed before you stockpile or segregate the yarn:

This project - it never ends. Never ever. You will be knitting garter stitch, and knitting garter stitch, and knitting garter stitch. And knitting some garter stitch some more. Really. I say this as someone who is anticipating with pleasure doing something in 10s = 1" gauge really, really soon. (Say, as a reward for finishing this project. When I am about 84.) I look forward to this project with dread in my heart. I have almost begun a crocheted afghan merely to avoid it, based on the principle that I'm not defying my attempt at knitting monogamy if it's not knitting.

Seriously - this may drive me to tatting.

Thank goodness I'm at least using quality yarn for this project. Could you imagine how much more it would hurt if I'd cast on with something like Red Heart?

New Camera

2010-08-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

My new camera cost US$9.99 and can hook to a key chain. I'm still sorting out how to work it, but these are the results I'm getting so far:

There's an eerie quality to these photos, me thinks. We'll have to see how it translates over into photographing knit objects.

Internet? What internet?

2010-08-06T00:04:00.000-07:00

That has been the theme today. That and laundry. LOTS and LOTS of laundry. And now that there is finally Internet access again, I am too exhausted to post more than this.
And a gratuitous photo, of course:

The Jacket Never Worn

2010-07-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that if you're reading this blog and and you have a tendency to make stuff then you probably have something you made once that seemed like a good idea at the time but didn't really work out when it became reality. And it might not have really been so much your fault - you didn't wildly substitute yarn, you followed the instructions (even if it meant frogging half the back, like I did with this one), and you even checked out how other people fared with it to see if you might have overlooked something you might get blindsided with later. But still, something went wrong, because you either don't like it or can't use it. In the end the project was just process knitting, even though it was supposed to be worn.

That's what happened to my Bianca's Jacket. I substituted some discontinued sky blue Katia Fanny from my stash for Muench Yarns Sir Galli - a reasonable substitution, IMO - and I used recycled buttons. I started it while on maternity leave and thought it would be a good nursing sweater.
It turned out beautifully, although these photos are crap.
So what was the problem, you ask?

Well, there were two. The first was the buttoned yoke. I prefer things to button around the bust line, which is why I usually make v-necked cardigans. But the photo in the magazine was so beguiling that I ignored this tendency of mine. The second was more unfortunate. The jacket was highly unflattering to my figure. And when I say my figure, I just don't mean my immediately postpartum figure. I mean I've tried this jacket on over and over again as the weight was nursed away, and every time it looked horrible. Swing jackets - especially short ones like this - should never, ever be worn by me. It made 130 lbs look like 230 lbs. (Much like every camera lately. What is with that? Am I retaining water in the face and everyone's too polite to say?)

I gave the jacket to my MIL.

On Another Note

I get all kinds of yarn-related emails, including Berroco KnitBits. Now, when I first noticed Berroco, their stuff was so fugly I found it challenging. Since they've hired Norah Gaughan, though, they've undergone a kind of sea change. This morning I got the link to the audio slide show presentation of Booklet #301 Berroco Campus (press MUTE and you'll enjoy it much more) and I found that about 80% of it I would actually knit/wear. Especially now. It's the end of July and it's 54 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Oh, coastal California!

Vintage Thursday - Lacy Baby Jacket

2010-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to present another knit from the Columbia Minerva Rock-a-Bye Baby book that I introduced last Thursday. This little jacket also came in a set - I could have made a matching blanket (you can see a bit of it in the upper right hand side of this picture) and a bonnet, but I only wanted the jacket.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in black

I have difficulty photographing black. These pictures make the jacket look a little faded - but that's actually sheen. And you can't really see the detail of the laciness very well, either. That's partly because the yarn I used was very soft (hence the name "Simply Soft") and partly because it's an acrylic, and as you know, acrylics don't tidily block.
Nevertheless I'm very happy with this knit (it looks better in person!). I chose this yarn because I wanted something hard-wearing like acrylic but I didn't want it to be scratchy. I was introduced to Caron Simply Soft by Vegan Pi several years back when I lived in Boston as a vegan option, but aside from it's vegan-ness, it lives up to it's name and washes well. I'd chose it over some wool blends on the market. The openness of this pattern also meant that the yarn being 100% synthetic wouldn't be a big deal, since there'd be plenty of ventilation.

Home Again

2010-07-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of moving back to my home town. I'm driven mainly by the current economic situation and by the abundance of family up there. But there is some appeal in other areas.

The walk down to the beach.
A blackbird in the briars.

The beach. It's a lot warmer than it looks.
My husband looking at the beach. :P
Me and V.

Vintage Thursday - Mock Cable Baby Cardigan

2010-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

I've got this idea (since I have so many vintage patterns - and use them) of having one day a week dedicated to something vintage. I have randomly selected Thursday.

Knitting Vintage for V.

I got a whole slew of knitting magazines from my grandma that ranged from 1944 to the mid-1980's. Some of them are interesting just to see the amazing fashion differences between then and now (like anything from 1975. Really. What were they thinking?), but my favorites are the baby patterns from when my dad and his siblings were little. I have about five of them, and this is one of them:

It's got a good variety of patterns, as you can see below (click to enlarge):

I particularly liked this Mock Cable Baby Cardigan. It calls for a worsted weight yarn, and comes with a matching bonnet and blanket, but I skipped those.

I used some burgundy Encore I had left over from the Nursing Sweater I made Sibling #5. I had left over buttons to match, too.

V. seemed to like it.

Winter Baby Accessories

2010-07-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

I've gotten on a bit of a fine gauge knitting kick lately, and part of the result is this set of accessories I made for V. for next winter.

Pattern: b18-5 Hat from Drops Design

Yarn: KnitPicks Stroll in Buckskin, unknown hand-painted merino sock yarn from a bargain bag from Paradise Fibers (something which I did on a whim when I was first pregnant, and would do again - the yarn I got was awesome! But alas! this skein did not have a label. )

Needles: Size US 2

This hat is a winner. Everywhere I go, everyone loves it. And most of them are gobsmacked that it was hand knit. (I think that's because of the gauge.) The brim folds in half, so it's actually twice as long as it looks in the photo. It took what seemed like forever to knit that many rows of ribbing in a tan fingering weight yarn, let me tell you. But the tediousness was so worth it. Check it out:
If I were to make this hat again (and I might!) the one thing I would do differently would be to place scrap yarn in the stitches meant to be picked up to knit the ear flaps. Picking up 20 or 30 stitches all on the same row is one thing at this gauge, but needing to do it again so that everything is balanced and straight! ...Well, let's just say I learned. (I had brief, flickering moment where I thought knitting the ear flaps by picking up stitches was a hair brained idea, until I saw the results and got to use the hat. Doing it this way means the ribbing can be folded down for extra ear coverage on really cold days. Those Swedish know their hats!)

Since I had such a cute hat, I needed a cute scarf.

Pattern: B14-16 scarf (Gotta love those imaginative names Drops uses for their designs, eh?)

Yarn: Same anonymous hand-painted fingering weight merino yarn as I used for the hat.

I love, love, love this scarf. It was an easy knit and a rather clever one, too. It's in cinch to get it on the baby, too, because I don't need to tie or button it. I just slip the end through the hole. I like how it mimics the garter stitch styling of the hat as well - it looks like they were meant to go together.

These mittens are in the same pattern as the scarf:

They're not done. All I need to do is add the thumbs, but by the time I had two of them I was a bit burnt out on the whole accessories project. I might finish them one day, but by then they'd probably be for a younger brother or sister to V., and not V. herself. Such is life!

Oh, where have all my hand-knit socks gone? (Long time darning...)

2010-07-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

While I was pregnant I had to give up on wearing my hand-knit socks because my feet were either 1) too swollen to accommodate their snugness, or 2) too substantial for my shoes to accommodate both my swollen feet and the socks in them. Before long I had to give up the shoes as well (and I still, at eight months postpartum, had flip flop tan lines as proof) and what with all the baby stuff knitting, sock knitting hasn't exactly been foremost on my mind. I confess I have been mainly sporting the thin dollar store sport anklets I got as emergency winter back-ups during the pregnancy, which may have actually saved the four or so pairs of hand knit socks I have from being worn to death.

Witness the (scanned) heel of my cabled red socks.

I knit these socks while I still lived in Boston to replace my obnoxiously red factory made socks that had died an honorable and very final death via my constantly, constantly wearing them. The cabled red socks suffered from a slight miscalculation - they were too loose - but that did not deter me. Especially over other socks in the wintertime. They, too, are now experiencing a fate similar to their predecessor's.

These are my green socks, which were knit on the same principle as my purple socks . I made these out of Artyarns Supermerino back when I first discovered the yarn, and me and Jeanette were on an Artyarn sock kick for a while. I made these two pairs of socks and a pair of deep blue Cowgirl Slipper Socks (for my grandma).

I discovered something about worsted weight socks from this: they may be heavier and warmer than fingering weight socks, but they also leave the impression of the purl side on your feet after you've been wearing them all day as you trudge through the New England snow. This caused them to lose some appeal to me after a while, because that can get uncomfortable. Also, they pilled like crazy!

But anyway, I've darned them twice already, and they just can't take it, since they weren't meant for it in the first place. I still have a small leftover ball of this yarn, and I hope this doesn't squeak you out, reader, but I plan to frog these and make them into something like a hat for my baby or something. I can't waste good merino, and I never had athlete's foot or anything like that, so I think it'll be OK.

My much beloved Funky Socks are experiencing prolonged reconstruction. I only wear a size US 7 1/2 women's shoe, so I usually have some sock yarn left over after a project. I had so much yarn left over after I made them that I could have made a third sock! This finally got the best of me and I decided to make the legs of the socks taller. This, of course, involved some snipping and frogging. So now I have one whole (original) Funky Sock and one like this:

Although it's been in this state for about two years, I'm sure I'll get around to it sooner or later. Right?

Then there's my Fugly Socks. And my other pair of striped socks. Darn, darn, darning they, too, need. Which leaves me with... nothing but the factory made anklets, unfortunately, unless I want to darn all these and have them irrevocably worn out before Halloween. There simply aren't enough of them in rotation for them to last. So I am declaring a moratorium on wearing my hand knit socks until I have at least one pair for each day of the week, if not two weeks.

New Look

2010-07-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

For as long as I have had a blog - nay, for as long as I have wanted a blog - I wanted a pretty, well-lit blog. Alas! I am not a graphic designer, or a web designer, nor can I afford one, and while I will toy with html, I am not as keen on presentation as I would like to be. Seriously. You'd think if a person is artsy-craftsy like me it would carry on over into everything. I see it often - Wee Wonderfuls and Posie Gets Cozy are just a couple examples off the top of my head - people who make wonderfully creative and photogenic things on beautiful blogs that make you feel clean and organized just by looking at them. Then I look at my blog, and I just don't have the enthusiasm to center my header, much less figure out how to get the left and right-hand columns that I have so coveted. I've had to settle for a text column and a right-hand links column only. (I don't know why I want two side columns so badly. Symmetry, perhaps? More room at the top of the page for links? I dunno.) It's a lot like where ever I live. My aesthetic has always been functionality.

Until now. Blogger has a new template system that has allowed someone as design lazy as me to achieve 70% of my aesthetic blog ideal, instead of 30%. And with just clicking a couple options. So welcome to the new, aired-out Crisis of Praxis!

Instruction Woes

2010-07-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

For some time now I have been designing a slip-stitch beanie. Or rather, I have designed a slip-stitch beanie (and I'm quite proud of how it turned out, too!) but I have been stuck on the simplest way to convey how it is made to someone who is not, in fact, me.

The trouble is that I am just clever enough to get myself into trouble, yet not so clever that I always know how to get out. The dilemma in getting the gist of this pattern across to others is that I did not go the simplest route. I could have made the beanie to knit flat like so many striped hats are, so that that it could be sewn together with the pattern perfectly aligned, etc. Or I could have made the slip-stitch pattern come in tidy little packets or modules that could be neatly repeated so that all I needed to do was explain how to make the brim (CO on so-and-so number of stitches, knit ribbing for such-and-such many rows, etc.) and then primly refer to a chart to be repeated so many times before moving on to a solid color crown shaping. (A good example of doing that is the l across crossword beanie in Knitty, although it doesn't use slip-stitches.) If I did a crown shaping at all instead of just having it all drawn together at the top or kitchenered off... you know what I mean.

No, no, no. I had the bright idea of working it in the round. And on top of that, it's not a modular slip-stitch pattern. No tiles, no diamonds, or anything like that, where the change over from one row to the next gets lost in the solid colored between spaces. I went for diagonals. That have to line up at the "seam." And there's a very simple trick to making this appear to happen, that when seen in person seems simple, but is not simple to express in writing for someone who is not sitting in front of me. It's just a little skipping trick. A jump to the right, you might say. But I haven't seen it happen in any other pattern out there, so it's either very clever of me, or a horrible aberration that I should never have attempted, or both.

If I ever manage to get it written up coherently you can be the judge.

Gratuitous baby photo!

Lens Error

2010-07-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

The digital camera I got while in school for architecture to take pictures of my projects for my portfolio, the metal encased, medium priced name brand gizmo that I have tested the durability of by dropping at every opportunity - it has, alas, finally broken. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it is showing the words, "lens error" on its display when I turn it on and promptly retracting the lens. (I would show you a photo of the message, but... you know.) It looks like I either need to send it to the manufacturer for repairs or cough up the cash for a new one. And cough up I would have to do. Possibly sell my eggs or something. I think I'll price the repair. But until then, despite my recent vow to try to blog more often, I will be relatively pictureless.

I say relatively because I do have a scanner.

Until next time! :P

Super Simple Ruffled Baby Shrug

2010-01-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

As you may have gathered from the title of this post, these are not just gratuitous baby photos. This is about the shrug she's wearing.
As you can see from this sort of back view, it's really straightforward. I wanted something that was not only feminine, but simple and rustic. I think I accomplished that.

Here's my pattern for it.

Simple Ruffle Baby Shrug

Size: 9 - 12 months

Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool (100g, 205 m, 223 yds) Natural Mix

Needles: US9

Gauge: After I knit this up, I decided gauge wasn't especially critical for this project. Paton's Classic Wool calls for US7 needles to get 20s = 4" (10 cm), but I chose to have a looser fabric by jumping up a couple needle sizes to US9. Had I used US7 needles, I probably would have gotten gauge (for some reason, this tends to happen with me), a somewhat denser fabric, and possibly size 6-9 months. So the option of other sizes could be addressed by variously changing the yarn used and the size of the needles, I imagine. Just remember that garter stitch stretches horizontally considerably.

Abbreviations:
PM: Place stitch marker
SM: Stitch marker

NOTE ON BUTTONHOLES: I started mine on Row 3, then made the second one at about 2", counted the number of rows between the first buttonhole and the second, and then placed the third buttonhole after I had knit that many rows. (For example, if I knit 24 rows after the first buttonhole, placing the second buttonhole on Row 25, I then knit 24 more rows and made the following row the buttonhole row. Then I knit three more rows.)

CO 36

Row 1 [WS]: k8, PM, k5, PM, k10, PM, k5, PM, k8, turn.

Row 2 [RS]: *k to 1 st before SM, yo, k1, sl SM, k1, yo, repeat from * to end, turn.

Row 3: k across row, turn.

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until knitting measures 4" from CO edge, ending with a RS row. Place sts between 1st SM and 2nd SM, and 3rd SM and 4th SM on scrap yarn to be worked later. (These are the sleeves sts.)

Next Row: p3, *yo, p1, repeat from * to 3 sts before end of row, yo, p3, turn. Work in stocking stitch for about 1 1/2 inches (3.75 cm). Cast off all sts.

Sleeves:
Place sts on scrap yarn on needles. With RS facing, rejoin yarn at armpit, making sure to leave about 4" (10 cm) of tail. k3, *yo, k1, repeat from * until 3 sts before end of row, k3. Work in stocking stitch for 1 1/2 inches (3.75 cm). Cast off all sts. Turn work inside out and use CO tail to close gap in armpit.

Finishing:
Sew on buttons, weave in all ends. Block if desired. (The ruffles will curl up at the edges, so I blocked mine to minimize it.)

Voila! You have a baby shrug!

Oh, hail!

2010-01-19T20:09:00.000-08:00

It was raining like the dickens today. Yes siree, we are in the depths of California winter here - some of the hail actually turned to snow on the back porch. True, there was only enough for one snowball, but what do you really expect? As I said, this is California.

Knitting Without Tears

2010-01-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears while nursing the baby down to sleep at night, which has it's pros and cons. The positive side of it is that I am reading something both interesting and educational. I used to be a bookaholic. Okay, perhaps I still am, since the only thing that rivals my yarn hoard is my book hoard, but the point is that before the arrival of the baby I actually had time to amass and read these books, rather than simply amass. They say that when you have a child that it takes up time that would otherwise be spent on other things. This is true for obvious reasons. What is hard to predict, however, is what shape this will take. Some people say that the knitting suffers. I find this not to be the case, especially now that the baby enjoys being in her walker for periods of time during the day. For me, reading as a daily activity got pushed out of circulation. But thanks to our new evening schedule (I wash baby, daddy oils and pj's baby, I nurse baby down to sleep and read while laying with her once she's stopped fussing) I am opening books again. Very good, illuminating books. Which brings us to the cons of the situation.

Knitting Without Tears makes me want to knit everything in her book. Just exactly as she tells me to, and ASAP. I thought I was a pretty knowledgeable knitter, but she really opened my eyes to some fundamental things that I am shocked I've overlooked for so long. Like that backwards loops aren't just for adding stitches at the end of rows or buttonholes - it can stand in for an M1. Simple, obvious, and totally overlooked by me. So here I am at nights, engrossed and gobsmacked by this book, a six month old baby firmly latched on to my boob while I lay in the bed, unable to get up and get to work exploring these sudden revelations.

It is, in a word, torture.

I finished it last night, thank goodness. Now I am waiting for another Elizabeth Zimmerman book in the mail. Because I am a masochist.

Please enjoy the following gratuitous holiday baby photo:

Flower Necklace

2009-12-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

I designed a flower necklace for my Etsy shop, The Concept Cat.
It looks fairly basic, but I had to come up with the shaping for the leaves and flowers based on my crocheting experience, rather than on existing patterns, because everything sold at Etsy must be original.
The neat detail to this project is that there are buttonholes all the way down the length of the necklace, so the flower can be buttoned at any point.

I've considered writing this pattern up, but there are some jiggly things I do with the leaves that I am not sure how to explain - they're non-standard moves, so I'd have to make my own abbreviation for each of them, and try to clearly explain them. While I think I am rather good at writing up clear patterns (knock on wood) this kind of thing isn't what I would like to attempt on only one cup of coffee. Or even with the baby in the house. Maybe if I locked myself in a closet with a flashlight, and nobody was home, or knew where to find me?

Well, you get the idea.

Mother-Baby Beanie Set

2009-12-18T14:10:00.000-08:00

I got my first Etsy sale, and it was (of all things!) a request for a custom made mother and baby beanie set. It needed to match a striped baby carrier. This is what I came up with:

It's crocheted. Stripes of varying thicknesses were requested, and not being one to turn away from a challenge (recall me saying I learned to knit on varnished and filed shishkabob sticks...?) , I chose to use single, half double, and double crochet stitch rows rather than just making the rows appear wider by doing two or three rows of single crochet in the same color. I did this because I wanted the hats to not be as stiff as they would have been had they been entirely in single crochet. I needed to pay close attention to when it was right to put in increases because it wouldn't just be every two rows, etc. I also needed to have the baby beanie mimmick the mother's beanie enough so that it was obvious they were a set, but not exactly match because the baby beanie used less rows but still needed all the colors represented. I think it turned out well, and fortunately, so did my customer. :)

I included this flower broach to match the beanies as a thank you gift:

Trellis Inspired Beanie

2009-11-27T15:05:00.001-08:00

I knit V the cardigan Trellis from Knitty and I felt it needed a good hat to go with it, so I made this using the same gauge, yarn and cables:

View of the crown. I'm pleased with how it came together.

I think it turned out well.

Edited to add:

In fact, I think it turned out so well that I wrote up the pattern. Here it is!

Trellis Inspired Beanie Pattern

Size: 3-6 months

Tools: a set of US #7 dpns (4.5 mm), darning needle

Yarn: I used about half a ball of Lion Brand Wool-Ease, so approximately 100 yds of any worsted weight yarn might do.

Unfortunately, I don't have an adequate knitting chart generator to express this pattern, so I've written it out row by row. (If you're familiar with Trellis then it may be helpful for you to know that Rows 9-18 are essentially Chart A. I made a point of generally referring to where the Seed Stitches go, rather than saying exactly where every purl or knit should be, because I found that if you follow Chart A literally the second and fourth repeat of the diamond cable doesn't have it's Seed Stitches match up to the border.)

Some Abbreviations:
LT: k 2nd St on LH needle tbl, then k 1st St tbl and slide both sts off the LH needle.
LC w/ P: sl 2 sts to cn, hold to back, p1, k2 from cn
RC w/ P: sl 1 st to cn, hold to back, k2, p1 from cn

CO 76 stitches, join to work in round, being careful not to twist yarn. Work 8 rows in Seed Stitch.

Seed Stitch
Row 1: K1, [p1, k1] to end.
Every row is the same.

Row 9: *p2, LT, k2, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 10: *p2, k4, p2, k3, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 11: *P2, k1, LT, k1, p2, LC W/ P, work 5 sts in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 12: *p2, k4, p3, k2, work 5 sts in SS, k2, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 13: *p2, k2, LT, p3, LC W/ P, work 3 sts in SS, RC W/ P, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 14: *p2, k4, p4, k2, work 3 sts in SS, k2, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 15: *p2, LT, k2, p4, LC W/ P, work 1 st in SS, RC W/ P, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 16: *p2, k4, p5, k2, work 1 st in SS, k2, p3, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 17: *p2, k1, LT, k1, p5, sl 3 sts to cn, hold to back,sl last p st from cn to LH needle and knit it, k2 from cable needle, p3, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 18: *p2, k4, p5, k2, work 1 st in SS, k2, p3, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 19: *p2, k2, LT, p4, RC W/ P, work 1 st in SS, LC W/ P, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 20: *p2, k4, p4, k2, work 3 sts in SS, k2, p2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 21: *p2, LT, k2, p3, RC W/ P, work 3 sts in SS, LC W/ P, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 22: *p2, k4, p3, k2, work 5 sts in SS, k2, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 23: *p2, k1, LT, k1, p2, RC W/ P, work 5 sts in SS, LC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 24: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 25: *p2, k2, LT, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 26: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 27: *p2, LT, k2, p2, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 28: *p2, p4, k2, work 7 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Begin decreasing as follows:

Row 29: *p2tog, k1, LT, k1, p2tog, LC W/ P, work 5 sts in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 30: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 5 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 31: *p2tog, k2, LT, p2tog, LC W/ P, work 3 sts in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 32: *p2, k4, p2, k2, work 3 sts in SS, k2, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 32: *p2tog, LT, k2, p2tog, LC W/ P, work 1 st in SS, RC W/ P, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 33: *p2, k4, p2, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 34: *p2, k1, k2tog tbl, k1, p2, k1, ssk, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 35: p2, *k1, LT, p1, p2tog, p2tog, p1, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 36: *k3, p2tog, p2tog, repeat from * 4 times.

Row 37; *k2, ssk, k2tog, repeat from * 4 times. Cut yarn. Using daring needle, thread yarn end through remaining sts and close off top.

Drawing a day #1

2009-11-04T08:59:00.001-08:00

Here it is:
Alas, I am rusty, in art and photography. I don't know if you can tell, but the above is a rose. It's not a real rose, but a cloth hair clip rose that I snagged off my dresser at 8:15 in the rush to get something drawn. It may have been a little too ambitious, because it took me until I was nearly finished to be warmed up. Just how long has it been since I have drawn anything? I know I was pregnant at the time, and the baby is now four months old. So at least four months, if not longer. Oh, my. Well, hopefully tomorrow I plan ahead a little more and draw something I am a bit more proud of?

A drawing a day

2009-11-03T16:49:00.002-08:00

To keep some sense of motivation going, I'm beginning a new scheme on this blog:

A drawing a day.

This daily drawing will have certain perimeters:

1) it will be exactly 3"x3", because I am hopelessly anal and anything larger would take me a couple days (Ok - I exaggerate slightly, but the gist of it is I need to not paint myself into a corner here and shoot for something attainable);

2) it will be completed and posted by 9am PST;

3) it will be drawn, of course.

I had the baby

2009-11-02T10:21:00.002-08:00

As you can see below. I had maternity leave, I used it, and then on the third day back I got laid off.

On a positive note, now I have more time to knit. With the baby. :P

Knitting Away

2008-10-14T14:04:00.015-07:00

Before it's too late!

I'm a lap knitter, so it's only a matter of time before the lap becomes a hindrance to my knitting. Much crocheting has been ferreted away for such an emergency.

Yesterday, I:

had to make myself breakfast, because the boyfriend was up and down all night with stomach pain (we have no idea why, but it's mysteriously gone now);
as a result, I ate half of a piece of cold vegetarian lasagna with about 1/4 cup of milk;
but I did manage to pack lunch, which I ate all of: a piece of lasagna, a Muenster cheese/mayo/ sprouts sandwich, and two carrots;
brought a box of instant organic maple oatmeal to work for emergencies;
ate a serving of it right before going home;
had more lasagna upon arriving home;
cast on a baby sweater;
told the boyfriend the fetus is named Bubba.

Today, I:

rousted the boyfriend out of bed to feed me at 6am (He is supposed to make sure I eat right! No shirking!);
ate a two egg omelet with spinach, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, two slices of wheat toast, and a cup of cafe au lait (you see why I get him up? :P);
supervised the Packing of My Lunch while I did dishes;
implemented the Grocery List on the Fridge Plan;
had two carrots and two pieces of celery, basically all morning;
drank a cup of doctored Earl Grey;
drank a glass of water;
had 1/4 of an avocado/sprouts/Muenster cheese/mayo sandwich (I think those carrots and celery may have done me in!);
am contemplating having a boiled egg before leaving work;
was pleased to hear at lunch that the Grocery List on the Fridge Plan is working.

In a way, I am training a stay-at-home-dad, because that is the sort of guy my boyfriend is. He cleans much better than me, and he's good at (and seems to enjoy) doing all the grocery shopping, with some direction (which I am hoping to slowly remove so that he will act independently), and he's not as equipped to deal with structure imposed from external sources as I am. He agreed that part of his participating in this pregnancy is looking after my nutrition, because I am terrible about remembering to eat, etc., but I am finding that I am having to gently impose this half of the time, or else he tries to sleep. I think that after a couple of months of this, he will have a pattern worked out and will be on automatic. That'll be handy if I am practically useless myself from nausea, fatigue, etc.

Knitting

The baby knits are under way. In fact, I must confess that they were begun before I was actually pregnant. The following items were knit the month before:

KnitPicks Crayon beanie in what I thought was a newborn size, but turned out 3 month old size. Oh, well. Good thing I knit this:
KnitPicks Comfy beanie in Blackberry colorway.
I still have half a ball of yarn from either beanies, which I will probably make socks or mittens from.
This is a baby jacket knit with Reynold's Odyssey. I am in love with it. It needs blocking and buttons. I figure I have... 8 months to get that done?

I also started a maternity sweater.

All I have left on the front is the right neckline. It's the Mommy Shrug from Interweave Knits. I bought this yarn about a week before I started the project with the intention of making a maternity sweater, but I had totally misjudged how much yarn I would need. Imagine my horror when I cast on and saw I was about two skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers short! However, I am one lucky knitter, because I went back to the store A MONTH LATER and got three more skeins in the SAME DYE LOT. Whew!

I also bought a shitload of yarn for baby stuff, including my first baby cashmerino:
Seamless baby booties! Size 6 months, though.

Well. This is hit-or-miss, I'm finding. Fortunately, babies grow, so all is not lost! This should just be a lesson to me on the unpredictability of gauge when you think it's not worth swatching for a project that would take as long as the swatch to complete.

Nevertheless, I made a matching hat, which is definitely not newborn size, may be closer to 3 months than 6 months, but oh well again. (I should not make matching sets, but mix-and-match things.)

I'm pretty pleased with it.

Next up - a wrap cardi! In blue! Because I'm not going to find out the sex, and dammit, I will put the baby in whatever color I like!

The Dilemma

2008-10-10T15:13:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, I:

had to get up early to go to some course for work at some hard to get to location;
only had a sandwich made of two scrambled eggs with mozzarella on top, between two pieces of buttered wheat toast with a cup of coffee;
thought I’d only get to eat the two boiled eggs that were hastily packed for my lunch (because of aforementioned course required me leaving for work early);
got lost on the way and had to be rescued by my boss;
spent about nine hours in a lecture on Cathodic Protection that was occasionally interrupted by 15 minute intervals of eating and peeing (I know, I make it sound soooo exciting!);
nearly went into a fit when I saw the food spread had little packets of peanut butter;
had a decaf coffee;
ate a croissant with peanut butter and honey, some melon slices and berries;
ate a sandwich made of wheat bread with mayo, lots of Monterey Jack, lettuce, and tomato;
ate a BIG sugar cookie;
had most of a large dill pickle;
ate some egg salad and some more fruit;
and then ate some more fruit and more decaf and an orange juice;
was hungry enough when I got home to make myself three pieces of French Toast;
went to bed.

I am just a tad hungry.

Okay, this is kind of perpetual problem for me – small stomach, fast metabolism. A couple hours without eating and I don’t exactly feel faint, but I do feel like I’m far from being a happy camper. For instance, right now.

Today, I:

had about a cup and a half of oatmeal with milk and honey and half a cup of coffee with milk;
went to test for yesterday’s course;
had two cups of decaf, a slice of banana bread (no croissants! :O), and some melon and berries again;
ate two hard boiled eggs with nutritional yeast and salt about an hour later.

And now it’s a couple hours after that and I am dying. Dying, I tell you! I ate one of those peanut butter packets I scored from the course smorgasbord (who’d notice?) but that only staved off the hunger for a very, very short while. I have set the boyfriend via instant messaging to making split pea soup, but I won’t be having any of that for at least three more hours.

I’m not sure whether this has anything to do with being about 5 weeks pregnant or not. But the boyfriend has been placed on Feeding Duty. It is now more his responsibility than mine to be sure I eat when I need to eat, with a special emphasis on packing my lunch. (I am notorious for not eating all day because I didn’t bring a lunch, and then being a wreck at the end of it.) There are plans for me carrying a freezer bag of chopped raw veggies to work every day, as well as a couple hard boiled eggs, and discussions have begun about making oat cakes from scratch on a regular basis for snacks as well. And I am taking vitamins. All. Day. Long. (Or so it seems – my multivitamin is not a one-a-day, but a five-a-day.)

I finally got a call back from local midwives. Interviews are being scheduled.

But the real thing on my mind is:

What to knit?!?!?

I take that back

2008-10-07T16:42:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, I:

had oat bran and a cup of coffee for breakfast;
was too tired/lazy to pack lunch;
really, really regretted it;
took a pregnancy test as soon as I got home;
reheated some eggplant Parmesan and scarfed it down;
sent this photo to practically everyone's cell phone:

That's two lines which are (believe me!) not nearly so fuzzy in person. So last month I wasn't pregnant, but this month... I am.

Not Incubating

2008-09-30T13:26:00.006-07:00

As far as I know, that is... I'm back at that limbo zone where I am not late or feeling funny (or perhaps, funnier than usual) where it's impossible to tell either way.

Yesterday, I:

had two eggs scrambled with mushrooms with buttered toast and coffee for breakfast - almost! (I had the boyfriend eat half of it after he finished his. He is garbage disposal.);
drank coffee with it;
had coffee at work, and an apple for lunch, along with some chips and some oatmeal cookies I made Sunday as a mood enhancer for the boyfriend;
had a scrambled egg sandwich with avocado and sprouts on toasted bread for dinner;
and a chocolate Pocky;
cleaned my guest room.

Today, I:

had one scrambled egg with toast for breakfast (boyfriend prepared this time), along with coffee;
missed my subway stop! (And I wasn't even asleep!);
had an apple and some pre-Halloween candy for lunch, along with my second in-office coffee;
just discovered an oatmeal cookie I overlooked yesterday, which I am about to decimate!

(Note to self: Pack lunch, damn you!)

Responsibility

2008-09-10T15:14:00.008-07:00

Yesterday, I:

had a bowl of veggie/rice/kidney bean soup with two pieces of buttered toast for dinner;
had a hot cocoa w/ it;
took a hot bath for my... soreness;
tried to go to sleep at 8pm;
finally went to sleep around 9:30;
was kept awake by my boyfriend, who hadn't seen me since 6am (my novelty hasn't worn off).

Today, I:

had a bowl of oatmeal cooked with a banana for breakfast;
drank a cafe au lait;
had a cup of herbal tea at work;
ate two cheese sandwiches for lunch;
snacked on a couple sugared, sour, peeled dried plums? I think? (Our admin. people put out the damnest food... and I always eat it!)
drank a Diet Coke;
am starving.

The countdown is really on now! Couple days 'til testing...

Work

When I lived in Boston, I had a long commute (45 mins., each way) but I passed the Post Office, which was on my block. This meant I could reasonably participate in swaps, etc.

The Post Office closest to me in Oakland is, I suspect, in Emeryville. I have not been to this Post Office, but a friend of mine has (on my behalf, picking up a package) and I recently missed getting a package there because, frankly, I SIMPLY COULD NOT MAKE IT. There is a Post Office near the BART station I take in the morning - I think it's in Berkeley - but I am on the train in the morning before it opens and off it in the evening way after it closes.

This Post Office situation, combined with my now 1hr 30 min commute (each way), now means that seeing a Post Office is something I can only dream of. This has created problems.

I have an hour lunch, but I have no idea where there is a Post Office in San Leandro, and I have no car and work in an industrial area. If I forget lunch I can't even get that. I am out of luck. (If, however, I want to become a connoisseur of big rig truck types, this is the place!)

Seriously. For three months my rent has been a couple days late because I could not get a stamp. (I know what you're thinking - when I finally got a stamp for the first one, why didn't I get more? In answer to that question, ask yourself: How many three cent stamps scavenged from my junk drawer fit on a standard business envelope? And how many months can I desperately scavenge 3 cent stamps in my apartment? Answer: one. The landlord picked up the others.) I am so behind in a swap I'm in, I should fear a lynch mob. (Seriously, again.) And those clothes I was going to send to my nephew? He's outgrown them.

This is quite a dilemma. It may be solved by the presence of the boyfriend, who has evening classes. But one thing I have decided: no more swaps, no more book exchanges. I'm not even sure I can order yarn online. Or magazines. (The mailperson is oddly reluctant to fit them in my box, and instead is insisting I come get them in Emeryville. What's with that?)

So. I will have a discussion with the boyfriend. He's proven himself proficient in grocery shopping by proxy so far... maybe he is good at parcels, too.

But I am finding it incredibly ironic that having a steady job means I can't get anything, even very basic things, done without great difficulty. Spraining the foot would have been the end of me, probably, if the boyfriend hadn't been here, because I spent the first couple days crawling, and it's hard to grocery shop like that. (As it was, I missed two days of work because I simply could not get there. When I was well enough I was hauled to a bike shop by a friend, fortunately.)

Feed me!

2008-09-09T10:47:00.007-07:00

Yesterday, I:

had two eggs with two pieces of buttered toast, made by my boyfriend;
didn’t bring lunch, so I had two granola bars and some Filipino candy from the receptionists instead;
drank some hot cocoa;
had some herbal tea;
was starving by the time I got home, so I ended up eating a big bowl of soup with four pieces of toast;
nearly fell asleep right afterwards;
ate a soy ice cream sandwich;
chugged some milk;
fell asleep at 8:30;
got a call from my boyfriend, who had been passed by by the bus he was supposed to take;
went back to sleep when he got on the next one;
dreamt of Patrick Dempsey.

Today, I:

made myself two eggs (scrambled with cheese) and buttered toast for breakfast, and coffee;
didn't pack a lunch;
felt hungry by 9:04 am;
feel like an idiot about it.

Plan B

Seems to be working so far. The boyfriend is now enrolled in school and taking classes, vacuuming my couch, making my bed... as those manly duties, hehe. Thank goodness he is a neat freak who cooks! (Now if I can only get him to pack me a lunch every day...)

Foot

I sprained the sucker, which is totally unfair. I didn't see a curb, and the rest is history. On the positive side, I now have a bike again, because without one I wouldn't be able to make it to work.

Hungry, Tired, Sore Breasts

And, oh yeah. My breasts have been crazy sore for about a week now. The fatigue I was feeling from sleeping in a bed with someone after months of having a nice peaceful bed to myself hasn't gone away. I was discounting it until last night, when I practically went to bed a 7pm, got some sound sleep - and still, even now, feel tired, even though I woke up before the alarm as if I'd had enough. I'm constantly getting up in the wee hours to... wee. And I'm starving all the time now. Just starving. I was dying for some buttered toast last night. Read into all of this what you will. I am. But I may be wrong. I could just be weird.

Plan B

2008-08-26T09:03:00.005-07:00

Today, I:

had a couple sips of coffee before leaving for work;
ate melted cheese on toast for breakfast;
am drinking yet more coffee at work;
am trying to strategize Plan B.

Plan B is not a new plan, it is simply a plan that didn't get as much air time as Plan A. A very interesting weekend passed, ending (in a way) with my boyfriend calling me yesterday after work. Plan A (trucking school) was scrapped in favor of Plan B, him leaving trucking. He is probably as I type this packing his stuff to come to California.

Sudden? Well, I made the offer about four months ago. And three months ago. And the other week. So, yes, as far as a turnabout is concerned, it's sudden, but the offer has been longstanding, so this is not something totally out of left field.

This should be interesting. I need to clean everything. I have seriously been letting things go around the apartment, and now I have to seriously pick it all up. Time to finally plug in that new vacuum, scrub the bathtub, and clean the freezer. Time to make space in the medicine cabinet and thank goodness he can't carry furniture on a bus.

So. What is going to happen?

I will most likely be at my current job for a while longer, despite the tendinitis. I will save up for those doula classes I was thinking about (instead of saving for trucking classes) and concentrate once again on writing and art as a means out of the office, as well. I am also formulating plans to exploit the aforementioned boyfriend as a model for painting. Hehe.

Wish us luck!

Brace Yourself

2008-08-22T09:55:00.011-07:00

I'm having ideas lately. (More on that after the food.)

Yesterday, I:

skipped breakfast yet again;
did not enjoy it;
had a bagel with cream cheese and nutritional yeast for lunch;
had a scrambled egg sandwich for dinner, just like I did the day before;
did a lot of Internet research.

Today, I:

had a fried egg on a whole wheat English muffin for breakfast for breakfast;
drank a cup of warm milk with instant coffee in it;
made myself late for work as a consequence.

I got a wrist brace for my left wrist, and I'm sleeping in it, and I am doing virtually no knitting or crocheting. Which is annoying. (I'm biting my nails instead. Good? Bad? See why I knit. I am fidgety.)

I am considering a major career change. This one is giving me tendinitis, for goodness sake! (Okay, well, maybe I wouldn't have tendinitis if I didn't knit and spend nine hours a day on a computer, but if something has to go to reduce strain... we know it isn't the knitting, is all I'm going to say.) And I have a very interesting option which most people I know will consider insane. Not because it is dangerous, or involves something indecent or actually crazy, but because it's kind of unconventional and out of left field.

My boyfriend (not partner or whatnot, merely boyfriend) is a trucker. I am on the phone (we both have headsets) over six hours a day. (Seriously - if a bug hits his windshield in an interesting splatter pattern, I know about it.) He is planning to truck for at least another year, but not more than two. He knows it's not a long-term lifestyle option for him: he has hobbies he can't do in a truck, and he wants to have kids that actually recognize him. And I am sick of offices. Do you see where this is going?

I'm researching trucking schools. If I team with him, his pay would go up several thousand dollars, and even though I'd technically be making half of what I make now, my overhead costs would be so much lower that I'd actually be able to save more money than I do now. (Which is presently zilch.) And while it's hard work, I'd get to see the country. Plus, if we can't live in truck together, it's probably not meant to be, but I doubt that. He seems to doubt that, too, because he was one the one who said Yes Please.

Unfortunately, I have a lease that doesn't expire until June (or July?), and two cats. I'm strategizing how to deal with the lease, and I think I could get family or friends to surrogate the cats. My main concern, actually, aside from the fact that I need to get in shape to pass some of the physical requirements of the job, is telling my friends. Esp. the California ones, who have been helping me settle in and nest. When (if?) I end up packing it all up and putting it in storage, they will probably be a) hurt and/or b) pissed. But I really can't do this lifestyle much longer, and the only problem I had with a transitory lifestyle before was the insecurity about money and where to sleep. That is not really a problem with trucking, since it is a job and one lives in the truck.

Plus, knitting is portable.

Sports Injuries

2008-08-20T09:39:00.009-07:00

Yesterday, I:

had leftover clam chowder with a whole wheat English muffin for lunch with a Diet Coke;
caved in and got a medium curly fries and a bottle of water from Jack n the Box on the way home;
had cheese melted on toast for dinner;
drank a couple shots of sake (I'm really doubting whether this stuff has alcohol in it or not!);
called my little sister;
rummaged through my knitting mags for baby patterns.

Today, I:

skipped breakfast again. My bad.
am drinking coffee in its most doctored manifestation;
am wondering what to do about my hands.

I'm going to say something very obvious now, such as: "Hands are important." Especially my hands, thank you very much. I use them a lot. (And that is another understatement.) I spend about nine hours on a computer at work every day, and when I am not on the computer, I am knitting or crocheting or something else... handy. I'm 34 so I guess it's only expected that I might start to notice my body turning mutinous on me by doing things like having my hands swell up and display symptoms of CTS.

So, a bit of swelling today, even though my knitting and crocheting the past couple days has been minimum. (Four or five rows of 116s! That's all!) I have even been dragging my ass at work on the computer to give my hands a rest. But all to no real avail. My left wrist is killing me, and both hands are sore. It is really annoying. I already take breaks when knitting, but that doesn't seem to matter. Strangely enough, these left wrist flare ups have little to do with how much I am knitting. They come seemingly out of nowhere. Seriously. I have mainly been crocheting lately, and I have had plenty of times when I've whipped out a sweater in eight or nine days without so much as a whine from my hands. It's really inexplicable.

Salt could be a bit of a culprit still. Note those curly fries yesterday? Note the slight swelling I am feeling in both hands and forearms right now? True, the swelling feeling didn't start directly after the curly fries, but it was only last night, and I haven't really been doing anything different than usual. There is still some room for doubt. I need to get a bit more scientific about this.

I'm thinking I need to get a wrist brace. Or two. Continue to lay off the handicrafts as much as I can stand, do hand exercises, drink lots of water, and maybe even do something radical like try one of those allergy discovery diets where you're eating gruel or something 24/7 and then add things to see what you react to.

Any suggestions?

Co-opting

2008-08-19T10:44:00.013-07:00

In my dream the other night, I was angry because I was being co-opted in motherhood; all my efforts where appropriated by others who felt they had that right before I even had a chance. (In the dream, I didn't even get to see the baby before my family took it.) I had gone through nine months of pregnancy, labor, etc., only to have others treat me like I was just making something for them.

It's an interesting issue, to be sure. You may have noticed in my previous post that I mentioned that my little sister is kind of complicit in the co-opting of her own motherhood: while she protests verbally, her actions are the opposite. She needs help, but she is getting the help from people who don't trust her to manage things on her own in any way. As a result, getting someone to babysit so that she can work becomes a battle to have custody of the child at all. And as a teen mother who is very insecure in herself to begin with, she's losing.

I imagine she is very conflicted. It is hard to go from not having your own independence and concrete identity to motherhood in our culture. (Young women are not prepared for it. Not that they should or shouldn't be, but that's just the facts as I see it.) Which is why this new baby worries me so much. My sister could get even more lost in all of it. Or she could get it together somehow. I don't know.

While I know that what is happening to my sister won't happen to me, and wouldn't have happened to me at her age (not just because I wasn't sexually active, but because I am an altogether different person) there is still the danger of some co-opting, no matter what. Family and government, for better or worse, tend to think they have a right. This is a real stress for me when I think about having children someday, because I wildly disagree with my family on many issues, and with the government on some key points. For instance, I know my family will want me to bring the kid(s) around for key holidays, etc., but... I am not Christian. They aren't really, either - as long as I can remember, my family has practiced a kind of secular Christianity. Mainly, I think, to conform with society. Rebelling against that will be an uphill battle.

Hell, just telling them I think midwifery is a better option than an OB/GYN would be huge drama.

Fortunately, I don't get any pressure from my parents to "give" them grandchildren; if they spoke like that to me, I'd move to Alaska. Or New Zealand. And then have kids, and send them photos every now and then. I won't be having children because it fits into their plans. Or even the father of the children's plans. I'm firmly behind equal co-parenting, but I'm not having kids as a present for someone else. No sirree! It happens to be my body, my life.

So, many dreams. Nightmares. Nights awake, analyzing. Wishing family wasn't just a collection of people with similar genes who can be loved, but not necessarily liked, or even lived around harmoniously.

Frickin' Babies

2008-08-19T09:10:00.013-07:00

Yesterday, I:

had a sprouted bagel with cream cheese and a coffee for breakfast;

had another sprouted bagel with cream cheese with a Diet Coke for lunch;

ate a piece of chocolate and two packages of crackers (the kind you get with soup in a restaurant) on the walk home to avoid fainting from hunger;

ate a bowl of clam chowder with toast for dinner;

chugged some Crystal Light.

This morning, I:

had a piece of chocolate on the BART platform on the way to work;

have skipped breakfast because I was late to work and didn't want to dawdle in the office kitchen;

am drinking coffee;

checked my email through my phone while walking to work and found out my eighteen year old sister is pregnant AGAIN;

nearly started to cry.

Not out of envy, mind you. More like the sort of reaction one has when they see a bus heading straight toward someone they love. And I'm not saying this because she's eighteen and unmarried and lives with our dad. There are a lot of ways where, under those conditions, her pregnancy would be a cause for joy. She could be one of those teen mothers one sometimes encounters that put so-called adult parents to shame with their dedication and joy in parenting. It could be a profound, life-changing experience that brings everything into perspective and enriches life-

However.

That is not what is happening. What is happening is my dad unofficially adopting the child she already has because she is busy partying. The child recognizes our younger sister more than he recognizes her, because our younger sister spends more time with him. Perhaps it won't always be this way, but that's how it is now, and I must say our dad is partly to blame. It is right that he should try to help where he can, but there is a difference between helping out with a baby and co-opting it that he hasn't distinguished yet. It's all a big mess, frankly, and it's only going to get messier.

So, stay tuned! More baby knitting to follow. I only hope the other stuff I made wasn't thrown out or given away. Now, to go gnash my teeth and rend my hair...

P.S. - the bridge in the previous post? That's the Golden Gate. Love California summers!

Weekend, and baby lust

2008-08-18T10:14:00.021-07:00

Friday, I:

had a sprouted bagel with cream cheese for lunch, along with the emergency food (have I already mentioned this?);

went home and... (hmm. What did I eat? I know it wasn't fast food...)

Oh! Had a Rainbow Dragon sushi roll from the Berkeley Bowl, and a small can of anchovies on whole wheat crackers with sharp cheddar cheese;
drank much foggy sake, to little effect;
watched Only You, which I seem to recall watching in the theater when it came out, alone, because my partner-boyfriend-whatnot did not do romantic comedies (or Harry Potter);

fell asleep with the phone on. (But it's okay - it didn't count towards our minutes!)

Saturday, I:

woke at 8:30 am, thinking it was at least noon;

had a whole wheat English muffin with sweet organic butter;

wondered why my butter had no flavor;
drank instant coffee with some Mexican hot chocolate;

reminded myself to someday get a coffee press again;

went to the city (in this case, SF), and walked forever along the Presidio while drinking hot cocoa;

ate a banana;
had half a veggie burger with guacamole, lettuce, ketchup, and bacon (I know, contradictory) and some mac and cheese and a hot chai in the Castro;
bought way too much yarn;
had cheese raviolis for dinner, with marinara sauce, as well as more sake;
ate the rest of that burger;
fell asleep with the phone on, but he noticed and hung up.

Sunday, I:

had a whole wheat English muffin toasted with butter and cheese;
drank coffee?
polished off the raviolis;
polished off all my potatoes, too;
had an English muffin with tofu dogs glued to them with cheese;
dug some pecans out the back of the cabinet to eat;
ate them;
wondered where all the food went;
knit booties for a co-worker;
thought about babies to the extent that I dreamt about them last night.

I heard somewhere that dreaming of babies was a sign of impending doom. (That interpretation could be interpreted many ways in itself.) In my dream, I had a baby, but my family was so proprietorial about my baby that they had it for a couple days, and then the hospital had it for a couple days, and when I finally got to fetch it, I was supremely pissed. Everybody else had been so involved I hadn't even had a chance to see what my baby looked like. I started yelling at the hospital staff about it, how my breastfeeding plan was all f*ck*d up and I was without milk because something like four days had passed sans baby, etc., and I wouldn't be able to nurse now. (And when I say I was pissed, I mean pissed. I even woke up affronted and angry.) On top of it all, the baby was ugly.

I don't think this is a sign of impending doom. I think this is just my subconscious mulling over what I've been thinking about lately. You may notice that my mention of my partner-boyfriend-whatnot is now in the past tense; he did not die or anything, rest assured, nor did some thing similarly disastrous happen. It's just that after seven years together he finally realized he really won't ever be ready to have kids and I basically had to choose.

I am 34.

Baby won.

So, baby on the brains. I even have a victim - I mean, volunteer for this business. But in a romantic way. Notice all that falling asleep on the phone in the text above? That kind of behavior has been going on for some time now. About seven months. It's someone I used to know from my home town who is now a trucker and always... elsewhere. Ohio. Wyoming. Or, like at present, New Mexico, soon to be Arizona. Through happy coincidence, we both remembered each other very, very well, and through another happy coincidence, he practically had an apoplectic fit of joy when I mentioned why my former partner-boyfriend-whatnot got left behind in the foul East Coast weather. So, no baby right now, but maybe in a year or two, eh? It looks like it's going that way.

Kitten Breakthough

2008-08-15T08:47:00.009-07:00

When I woke up this morning, Simon was asleep at the foot of my bed. Very, very slowly, I reached down and pet him, then I slinked out of bed - I didn't want to scare him off of it. (Meanwhile, Jamieson is looking at me from the other side of the bed like, "Hey? What about me?") I go to the bathroom and when I come out, Simon is in the hallway actually preening for attention. So I picked him up, took him to the kitchen, poured him some food, and...

The little fella is afraid of the cat food bag. I did eventually catch him and show him the food wouldn't hurt him.

But the main thing is, he's a little less skittish.

Yesterday evening, I:

caved and ate the piece of British milk chocolate;
had baby red potatoes sauteed in canola oil with diced red onion and chopped up tofu dogs for dinner;
had a cup of the fruit smoothie;
drank a glass of mixed wine;
decided that if I am indeed serious about getting that 1923 crochet dress done by Halloween, I should get back to working on it;
continued to work on a tan/beige/white afghan I've been doing lately anyway.

This morning, I:

am drinking hot cocoa with a teaspoon of instant coffee. (It's Friday! I need it!)
have decided to have my breakfast bagel for lunch;
because I forgot lunch and am going to have to eat the emergency food at some point, and I'd rather it not be during lunch.

Feed me!

2008-08-14T16:31:00.008-07:00

Last night, I:

ate a lot of sauteed veggies with quinoa and salmon cooked in butter and lemon juice;
drank a glass or two of wine;
had about half a cup of green tea ginger ice cream;
drank a "qualude" and a "snowflake";
took a taxi home;
oh, and it was knit night.

See? It's getting a bit better!

Today, I:

had leftover salmon, veggies and quinoa for lunch (lots of it);
ate a sprouted bagel with cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast;
have drunk two Lipton teas, straight, and a Diet Coke;
am dying of hunger, and it's only 4:30 pm.

See what I mean by metabolism? I've been sitting at a desk for almost nine hours, have eaten quite a bit (I portion of salmon (1/8 lb?), a cup of quinoa, two cups of veggies... I'd call that a fair portion. Wouldn't you? And when I say "cup," I mean coffee cup size.) and I am starving. Seriously, I don't know how I am going to make it. I have a piece of that British chocolate in my purse, and I have some emergency food given to me by a friend that I'm supposed to hide in my filing cabinet for emergencies (7 oz. unsweetened dried fruit bar, and a 1 oz. package of seiten teriyaki "meatless jerky" - she swears they stand in for a meal, and she is someone who would know) and it is taking amazing willpower to not devour it all. And it's only been one day. I've been considering adopting an exercise regimen, and I can only imagine what state I'd be in right now if I was also burning calories from something other than typing.

Boy, would I love to be ripped like Linda Hamilton. But alas, I do not have a personal trainer, and what's more, I am not sporty or inclined to do much other than sit and knit or sit and read or walk to somewhere where I can do the aforementioned activities.

Now, to do something about this stomach...

And so it goes

2008-08-13T09:13:00.007-07:00

Yesterday evening, I:

ate a piece of milk chocolate from the British Isles;

had a gulp of banana/apricot/Russian yogurt/orange juice smoothie;

ate leftover bread sticks with sharp cheddar cheese melted on top (new toaster oven!);

had about a cup and a half of sauteed chopped spinach with garlic, red onion, and butter;

drank some warm Sprite.

I know, I make it sound so glamorous.

Today, I:

had half a cup of the fruit smoothie for breakfast before running out the door;

ate a plain bagel with cream cheese from a dreaded coffee chain near my work;
am drinking Lipton with no sugar or cream;
forgot lunch!

Cat Update

So that little tabby I just got? He is very shy, unless you catch him and make him like it. However, he has interesting nocturnal tendencies. For instance, I was lying in bed this weekend - about to pass out- I mean, fall asleep - after getting back from a show in the city - and I felt something at the foot of the bed. Then I felt something on my foot. Then my other foot. I tried to move, but that only encouraged this mysterious entity, this... toe biter. (After a half hour, it stopped.)

Since Jamieson hasn't perpetuated this kind of bedroom behavior in at least five years, I have reason to believe it was the kitten, Simon. This has since been confirmed, because he gets very excited when I am about to lay down for the night. He even goes to far as to walk up my chest and look at me to see if I am moving my hands under the covers. Then I say something, and poof! he is away, because he then remembers I am in the room. And I am so scary! So scary, it takes him about a half hour to come back and do it all over again.

Diagnosis: Too Salty

2008-08-12T14:42:00.003-07:00

My hands are swelling like crazy today, and the reason why is not obvious. CTS has been suggested, but I have no tingling or numbness. I cruised the Internet for possible causes (I am a generally healthy person, albeit I have the kind of blood pressure that worries nurses – 98/60) and I think it may be my sodium intake. I am about 124 lbs., and in the past two days I have eaten a large pizza and Jack n the Box, and basically nothing else. Just a tad salty.

So.

Solutions that may prevent me from having to use my medical insurance for something that is probably nothing…

Diet. Exercise. Research. I need to take better care of myself.

Keep in mind, to me, the word “diet” doesn’t not mean “starvation.” It means “nutrition.” So, I am embarking on something kind of like that Month of Vegan I did a while back.

The most obvious thing here is the elimination of fast food from my system. No more Taco Bell at 2am after the bar, no more breakfast sandwiches while walking to work. No more. Bad girl! Bad! *deletes pizzeria phone number from cell phone*

Fortunately, I have already begun a meat reduction in my diet. Or I think I have? Well, practically speaking, that may not be happening, but the desire is there, which is half the battle.

Beyond that, I dunno. Drink more water? It’s so hard to pinpoint what the right thing to do would be. Everybody’s body is different, reacts differently to different diets, etc., so what may be logical for someone else may not work for me. I am not overweight, which is usually in this slim-figure oriented society the first thing addressed when it comes to feeling good and being healthy. I have never been overweight, although my metabolism is slowing a bit now that I’ve past the three-decade mark, but I’ve got one of those metabolisms where I get hungry ever forty minutes or so. (Munchie, munchie, that’s me. I need fuel to generate all this nervous energy.) I walk a lot, but I don't "exercise." ...maybe I should get a jump rope?

So, the short of it is I'm going to be posting what I eat once again. Here we go!

Today I:

had an egg with bacon and cheese on a croissant and hash brown sticks for breakfast;
had a burger slathered in "cheese" for lunch, but rejected the bacon;
drank two cups of Lipton with vanilla flavor creamer;
am drinking a Diet Coke;
and am forcing down a glass of water.

You can see how bad it is.

New Addition

2008-08-04T09:46:00.002-07:00

This is Simon. I got him from the Berkeley pound Saturday. He looks a little cowed in this picture, and so far, that is his normal expression. He's about five months old, and is a bit skittish. But there are signs of him becoming as much of a attention nuisance as Jamieson.

He has been with Jamieson 24 hours so far. They are already chasing (bounce, bounce, bounce!) each other up and down the hall, then hissing when the other gets too close, then doing it again. Considering I got Simon so that Jamieson would have someone to play with, I think this is a success.

I need to finish something

2008-07-30T09:39:00.011-07:00

Anything, really, that I didn't start this month.

Over at Ravelry I joined the Procraftinators group, and we get points based on completing WIPs/UFOs, starting projects, etc. The objective is to clear out old projects for new. And I am seriously falling behind. Really. Every time I report my doings, it's guilty as hell.

I think this is because most of my on-going projects are by their nature very on-going. There is the Neapolitan Ice Cream Flower Afghan (see sidebar - this project was started, at latest, spring 2006); the hex afghan; a Norah Gaughan sweater and many, many socks. These things are not quickies. At least, not for me. But I need to start showing some spine.

I did manage (through some kind of miracle) to finish the above self-striping socks at the end of June this year. However, they were started last year. I think they only got done because I was entering a sock crisis, which was mildly assuaged by these socks, but not entirely remedied. Being the so-called hardcore knitter that I am, I do not buy socks. That is consider moral weakness in my home. Why buy them when I can make them? Right? Except my use outstrips my production rate. Darn, darn, darn!

Which is what I am doing. I've darned my fugly socks, and I need to darn about three more pairs that have been retired from circulation for their own sake. None of the socks I have on the needles are for me, though. This is quite a dilemma. One that I would normally address by casting on. It's not like I don't have sock yarn...

But. Back to that spine bit. I need to work out some kind of negotiation with myself. Maybe if I finish the Norah Gaughan sweater (which already has a front, and half of the back) and my Grandma's socks (I am on the second!) I can then in good conscience cast on a pair of socks for myself. Whatdaya think?

California looks a lot different than the East Coast

2008-07-29T08:57:00.007-07:00

This is a bit of an understatement, I know. But I was on the East Coast (Pennsylvania, Massachusetts) for so long that I managed to forget. The U.S. is a big country, and because we have such an expansive freeway system and a common (for the most part) language, it's easy to forget. But really, the Atlantic and the Pacific are a long, long way away from each other. I had a roommate in Philadelphia treat me like I was stupid because I could not figure out that the tree in the back yard was an oak tree. I know what an oak tree looks like - I was raised in the country, I was a logger's daughter, for krissakes. But in Philadelphia, an oak tree looks like this, and to me, an oak tree was like this or this. There is not just one tree, and you stick me in the woods in California, and I could readily play Name That Tree. (Of course, even the concept of "woods" is different on the East Coast, at least below Maine. This is what I consider "woods," whereas this was the Mid-Atlantic notion of "woods." Notice the difference?)

But, flora aside, the weather and even the quality of the light and air is different. (Thank goodness - I am allergic to Philadelphia! Can you say, five year cough?) My former partner-boyfriend-whatnot was amazed at San Francisco's ability to be simultaneously overcast and summery without also being muggy and filthy. Right now, it is July, and the high expected today is 67 degrees F. It was breezy, too. I wore a cardigan. In Philadelphia today? High of 90 degrees F. Boston? 88.

Then there's architecture, and the way people garden. People generally like to garden in California - it's obvious just walking down the street. This may be because people actually have some yard, but I lived in places on the East Coast with yards, and it just wasn't the same. It's hard to put my finger on it exactly, but in my opinion, Californians are more relaxed about their gardening. The yards may not be tidy, but they are gardened. Sometimes with abandon.

(This is a birdhouse post in the driveway at Sibling #3's wedding last month.)

I have been away from California long enough to think that the East Coast way was normal, so when I came back, I saw the difference. It was like running into an old friend with whom you have almost always gotten along swimmingly, so much so that you wonder why you ever lost touch, and why you now hang out with such tight-asses.

So, while I still have some wonder, I will be posting pics every now and then of California stuff. Things like stuccoed bungalows, manicured trees and camellia bushes; beaches, and birdhouses and, of course, people flopping around in rivers.

Not Knitting Much

2008-07-28T12:58:00.006-07:00

Today, I:

had a cup of instant cocoa with a teaspoon of instant coffee for breakfast;
had the same, sans coffee, for lunch;
am being very bad, but hey! It's not Spam.

Discussion of the aforementioned Spam lately has caused a friend of mine to threaten to draw a comic chronicling the hunt and capture of the elusive animal that is Spam. I will let you know if anything comes of it.

Knitting

Yep, I am. Well, sort of. I am slacking in the knitting department. I have two socks hanging around, pining for my attention.

First, we have the Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks that I have been making for forever:

(This is the second sock, thank goodness!)

And second, the Gentleman's Fancy Socks from the same book:

This, would you believe, is a boyfriend sock. It's all a kind of odd circumstance kind of thing, but suffice to say, I am making this with a resolable foot because I am feeling optimistic that I'll be around to see the holes start to form. There are those that say you can't revisit your past, but I'm starting to figure out that that isn't quite true.

And I finished a sock before all this knitting inertia began!

However, the picture will not load.

What, you may wonder, have I been doing if I am not knitting much?

Well, crocheting, of course.

My indiscrimate palate

2008-07-25T14:37:00.004-07:00

Today, I:

had #20 to go from Jack-in-the-Box for breakfast;
had what I believe was #6 for lunch;
am drinking a soda, and a lot of tea with creamer;
am reconsidering my eating habits of late, including my utter and obvious failure to go vegan.

The only explanation that I can really find for my inability to avoid animal products at this juncture is that I am up to my neck in a kind of therapeutic, culinary hedonism. Therapeutic, I say, because it couldn’t just be plain caving in to cravings and whims. No, indeedy. I have, to my horror, bought and eaten beef within the past month. Twice! And then I spent a half hour searching the Berkeley Bowl near my apartment for the right kind of dry Italian salami. Which I ate most of in one sitting.

So, stomachaches are abounding. Ten plus years of pseudo-vegetarianism does not prepare one for binging on some top-notch imported salami, nor fast food, even if it is chicken for the most part. I am not kidding. Despite the occasional bacon binge, and the fairly steady stream of fish and chips and grilled salmon I ate over the years, my tummy is spoiled. It expects a certain amount of non-processed foods, not too much salt or sugar, and a fair amount of raw carrots. (The latter of which, it is still getting, for the most part.) It can not handle Spam. I know this for a fact.

Spam? you say. Well, yes. Spam. I am revisiting my past, I am sorry to say, through my taste buds. My mother was married to a Filipino when I was a teenager (See: Sibling #5 & #7. ) and as a consequence I was exposed to a whole range of food choices I would have otherwise have missed out on*, like purple cake, pig’s blood sauce, crunchy embryonic ducks and Spam. (Spam was the only thing I missed other than the cake.) So I fried me up some Spam just like in the good old days, and after two pieces (thank goodness I bought the small can!) I was ready to lie down on the floor. I’m not really sure what’s in Spam. I should look at the label, but right now, I’m suspecting it preserved with lye or saltpeter or something like that.

I think I am just about out of this phase. I’d forgotten how much speculating I had to do when I ate meat on a regular basis, way back when – how much discrete (or not so discrete) spitting out and examining of strange, inconsistent textures I had done. I’m having to do that again, and I am having far too many moments where I am simultaneously thinking “yummy/gross.” It reminds me of one of the things I read in a cookbook when I was eighteen and teaching myself to cook atop my dad’s Franklin stove about how it’s important to chop and trim things up in a uniform manner so that your guests eating the dish are not put off by any inconsistencies. It’s easy to forget when it’s carrots or something you’re chopping up, but quite another matter if the odd bit might be… gristle.

*If it hadn't been for this marriage, I would have only been exposed to Samoan food, American food, and Philippine food in an incidental way... such as that time when I was twelve and I accidentally ate dog in the South Pacific. (It wasn't bad.)

Mug Cozy

2008-07-18T09:04:00.003-07:00

In a bought of impulse buying, I ordered the KnitPicks Renaissance Sampler. I'm pretty happy with it so far. It was a real toss-up which sampler to get - since they come with patterns to test out the yarn, it was a choice not only between a color scheme but what to make with them - and the Renaissance Sampler won out mainly because of this cozy. (Sorry if this picture induces vertigo. I was trying to take an interesting angle, and I may have succeeded too well.) I liked this pattern and the yarn, Main Line, although cabling with it hurt my hands a little.

Some greenery

2008-07-16T14:03:00.012-07:00

I went back to my home town for the Fourth of July weekend for some nostalgia, dropping in on family, and of course, skinny dipping. It's hard to believe that it had been almost eight years since I had last been swimming, and over ten years since I had owned a bathing suit. But I managed. Somehow.

My camera is having issues with it's memory card, so I was unable to take as many pictures as i would have liked. I had to therefore focus: quality, not quantity. I'm not very practiced at photographing things, so the quality has has to be in the area of the subject, rather than the photo itself.

I took a lot of photos of my dad's jungle - I mean, back yard:This is the fence he built to annoy his neighbor. We both agreed it had a pleasing, artistic, rustic effect. (Keep in mind, this is Northern California, not L.A. We do pleasing rustic.)
My dad's pond, which I believe is an old tank he welded in half and implanted in the ground. He used to have goldfish in it but the skunks kept eating them. You know how it is.
If you look closely in the center of this photo, under one of the leaves of grass that comes across the photo from the right, you can just barely see my dad's toad eying me suspiciously from beneath a leaf on the other side of the pond. My dad says he came to the pond as polliwog and stuck around. This toad is about the size of my fist, and he was determined to wait me out.
Birdhouse and rambling roses. Mendocino County has a lot of rambling roses, and so does my dad's yard.

The well. With a redwood burl on top of it for some reason. This was the least of the mysteries of the labyrinth that is my dad's yard. Mine is not to reason why, but merely ask where he got these things and what it's called.

For instance, I have no idea what the object in the background is. A stump? A disintegrating dishwasher? I have no idea.
This, however, I can identify. Nature's Toilet Paper, a.k.a. a thimbleberry bush, which is not under any circumstances (or at least, it is to be fervently hoped) to be confused with the stinging nettle, a plant which has the unfortunate tendency to grow with thimbleberries. Thimbleberry leaves are large and have a pleasing peach-fuzz texture. Stinging nettles do not.

Last, but not least, we have rocks and old bottles.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as collecting goes in my dad's house, and evidence once again of the importance of a convenient LYS. If my dad knit, this could have been yarn.

Gratuitous Cat Photo

2008-07-10T15:56:00.001-07:00

Need I say any more? :P

Hex Scrap Afghan

2008-07-09T10:21:00.004-07:00

This is an afghan I have been working on using vintage yarn oddballs I got from my grandmother and grand aunt. I noticed there was a bit of interest in it over at Ravelry, so I've decided to post my recipe here. I apologize beforehand on my garbled instructions!

Hex Scrap Afghan

Yarn and equipment
I used worsted and aran weight yarn for this project on an H/5 mm hook, and sometimes doubled sports weight yarns. It’s all a matter of preference – whatever works for you!

A NOTE ON COLOR: I had a loose color strategy with this afghan that you might find useful. It was based on two points: #1 was to use no white or cream. #2 was to use one color that really popped in each hex, and mixing it with colors similar but not as obnoxious as it to make it blend. For example, neon pink went between orange or red sometimes, or brown, etc. This meant that I could use all the CalTrans Orange and chartreuse 1970's yarn I had without being blinded by the end result. :)

Abbreviations:
Ch = chain
Sl = slip stitch
Dc = double crochet
St = stitch

Basic Hex:

Set-up: Chain 6, join with sl to make circle, careful not to twist.

Row 1: Chain 4 (3 ch = 1 dc, + ch1), *dc in next st, ch 1, repeat from* 11 times, sl into the 3rd ch st of the chain 4 made to begin the row. This should look like a wagon wheel. Cut yarn and change color.

Row 2: Join new yarn at a “ch 1” in preferred method. (I like to do a sl where I pull the yarn end through the stitch so that I can secure it by crocheting over it with the next couple stitches.) After joining yarn, ch 3, dc into same space (makes 2 dc), 2 dc into following st, chain 2, *2 dc into next st, 2 dc into next stitch, ch 2, repeat from * until you have six ch 2 spaces, sl into the top of the ch 3 you began the row with. Cut yarn and change color.

Row 3: Join yarn at a “ch 2” space, ch 3, then work 3 dc’s between it and the next “ch 2” space, 1 dc into “ch 2” space, ch 2, *1 dc into “ch 2” space, work 3 dc’s between it and the next “ch 2” space, 1 dc into “ch 2” space, ch 2, repeat from * until you have six “ch 2” spaces. Cut yarn and change color again.

And from there its basically Row 3 over and over again with 2 dc’s added between the “ch 2” spaces for each following row. For instance, Row 4 has 5 dc’s, Row 5 has 7 dc’s, etc. I stop alternating colors at Row 4 and make Row 5 my background color (black). Then I mattress stitch it all together.

I hope this isn’t too confusing - I've just tossed these instructions together. Let me know if you need clarification.

Still not dead

2008-05-30T20:16:00.003-07:00

Despite the evidence to the contrary. Really. I am still on this earth.

I have been busy, busy, busy! But no photos for you just yet. I am packing to move again - this time only a couple of blocks - into my first apartment.

Technically, I've had apartments before, but this one I will be flying solo with in areas not just in the financial strata. This is my own. I can decorate in extremely bad taste if I want; I can leave the dishes in the sink overnight without fearing repercussions of the chiding kind the next day; I can, glory be! walk around naked and hog the fridge and bathroom. (Although, possibly not at the same time...?)

To celebrate, I am going vegan again!

Yes! I am a wildwoman.

Life is very peculiar

2008-01-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

That is today's understatement.

Yesterday, I:

got dressed only for the sake of not freaking out people at the grocery store;
realized I've caught something like the flu;
slept;
slept;
slept;
ate a bowl of rice in veggie bouillon;
drank a cup of green tea and a cup of orange juice, as well as a lot of mineral water;
ate a little sushi;
laid in the dark on the phone a lot.

Well, the recipient of the beanie liked it, but he did not tell me. He told everyone we knew. I don't know how to take that, and I don't really care, actually. It was only a couple hours of work, which is nothing compared to what I am about to experience with my grandpa's sweater.

It is already too small. And the gauge is too tight. Which means that although I have knit the back down to the bottom of the armholes and started the front, I need to start over.

OK. Deep breath. I can do it, yesindeedy. Just as soon as I have enough energy to bother to brush my hair.

My decadent holiday

2008-01-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve, I:

ate half a bean and rice burrito with a tamarind soda in the Castro;
ate a lot of vegan finger food involving toast and garbanzo beans at a party;
consumed a considerable quantity of baby carrots at aforementioned party;
and some excellent "rum balls", whatever they were;
drank about two vodka tonics, and some rum/ fruit juice Puerto Rican cocktail;
wore a feather in my hair.

New Year's Day, I:

ate curly fries in a 24 hour diner in SF at around 4 AM;
spent an hour and a half in the Mission waiting for the BART to open;
froze my ass off;
found out it would be two more hours before BART would open;
took a cab home;
slept;
had massive amounts of Thai hangover food. Yum.

Yesterday, I:

had a bowl of oatmeal and black coffee for breakfast;
ate some vegetarian pot stickers, steamed buns, and green onion pancakes at a Japanese tea house in Berkeley;
shared a bread pudding at a chi chi restaurant;
ate half a pomegranate that I got from my grandpa's tree;
had fried rice and, umm, canned roasted eel with green olives;
drank two vodka tonics and two cranberry tonics;
ate a piece of bread and went to bed.

Come to think of it, not much about my habits has really changed...

Swatching

I did a quick swatch of my grandpa's yarn. He doesn't know the breed of the sheep, just that it's some kind of Scottish animal known for fine soft wool. He says if I show him pictures of Scottish sheep he could pinpoint it. I don't know if it will come down to that.

It really is soft wool. I washed but didn't block the swatch. The cables I worked were nothing fancy or final - just half of a Saxon Braid and a lame left twist cable. I'm just trying to determine a general gauge. US #4 needles feel just about right so far.

Soon, I will have photos of some fingerless gloves.

What I Eat

2007-12-31T16:29:00.000-08:00

It may be worth while to start posting what I eat again because, well, my habits have changed now that I am single.

Today I:

drank half a cup of reheated coffee;
ate a small cheese quesadilla;
and a small bowl of white rice with canned roasted eel and green olives (the kind put in martinis).

Conned again by the weak and aged

2007-12-31T13:28:00.001-08:00

I spent Xmas visiting my grandpa at the hospital. He's 88, and apparently has very ironic luck, because he was speeding down the hall at my mom's and tripped on a carpet he made and broke his leg. A case of the revenge of the handicraft? Perhaps. (I can only hope that I live to be old enough for my knitting to attack me.)

So I'm visiting, hearing about his bladder and his violin making and his leg, just shooting the breeze, so to speak, when other relatives start talking about my knitting. (I guess it's hard not to, because I am covered in it.) Grandpa mentions the beautiful sweater I made him. (His adjective - I should have felt some kind of warning right then, but I was still unsuspecting. I've haven't been around Grandpa for about eight years, so I'd forgotten that he was wily.) My oldest brother immediately began angling for sweater, which I guess was a further distraction, because he's a big guy and that's a lot of knitting for me to think about. I managed to talk it down to some fingerless gloves, but while I was in the middle of doing that, my grandpa managed to get me to agree to make him another sweater out of some yarn he has. I was in the car already before it really sunk in.

Somehow, I had managed to agree to make an Aran sweater with a 48" chest out of unknown and unseen yarn that my grandpa has been hoarding for 25 years. (Do you see that "hoarding" link? That's worth a look.) Yesterday I was out at his house, trying to find the yarn. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy even to find the bathroom. (Did I mention my family is a bit eccentric? Take a look at that "hoarding" link again, and then think about what happens if the person is crafty. Because Grandpa is crafty, in more ways than one.) I found a lot of yarn. Some of it dates back to the fifties or earlier. And I found the yarn in question.

I don't know what kind of wool this is. I'll have to ask Grandpa. But it was from a sheep he owned, and it was hand spun and plied. I think it's about Aran weight, fortunately, and frankly, it is awesome yarn. I hope it's enough.

Here's a blurry close-up:
I also scored a lot of other yarn, a ball winder, a rice cooker, vegetable steamer, vegetable chopper, hand held drink mixer, and a jar of olives. Because I was just skimming the surface of the Hoard. (Grandpa is a compulsive small appliance buyer.) I was a bit surprised there wasn't an airplane or something. (Do you think I'm kidding? Grandpa has a pilot's license. The last time we cleaned his house, my oldest brother scored a half-assembled ultralight.)

So stay tuned. I'm supposed to bring him the test swatch next weekend.

Hardly a surprise

2007-12-31T13:08:00.001-08:00

You Are 80% Non Conformist

You are a pretty serious non conformist. You live a life hardly anyone understands.
And while some may call you a freak, you're happy with who you are.

Are You a Nonconformist?

Skull and Hearts Sweater

2007-12-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

I made this sweater over a moth ago, but I have never gotten so many comments on a sweater as I have on it. I'm finally getting around to showing it to you. (Of course, most of you have already seen it in person. Hello!) I have this nasty habit of knitting and crocheting for other people, which means that after a long bought of knitting I still have nothing to wear. I came up with the idea for this sweater when I was trying to think of something cute I could make for myself that would be quick. Hearts would have been a little TOO cute, so I threw in some Jolly Rogers I pirated from Hello Yarn.
It's knit top-down, with a yoke that turns into inset sleeves halfway down the armhole. Then it's just a basic hourglass-shaped sweater. Easy peasy. And cheap. It's Wool-Ease.

Camera phone to the rescue

2007-12-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

So I am still missing my camera charger. But have no fear!I do still have the cat.
And some knitting. This is an afghan I'm making from a bag of acrylic odd-balls my grandma gave me a week ago when I was back home yet again. (It's so nearby!) Pretty virulent so far, eh? I kind of like it.
Fingerless mittens for one of my Philippina sisters. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to turn this picture around. Just turn your head 90 degrees to the right.
Yet another seaman's cap. This one is part of an insidious scheme of mine. Yes! This FO is an object of seduction. Or at least I hope it will be. (Does knitting get the guys? Maybe. It is merino, after all.)
And then here's me. I cut my hair.

A week or so ago...

2007-12-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

I was in Chinaown. It's much lovelier in person.

Naturally

2007-12-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

...the cord for charging my camera battery is in a box near Sacramento, in my brother's garage, along with my boxes of books and memorabilia and, yes, a whole lot of yarn. This of course means that although I have a lot to show... I have no pictures.

This is a disturbingly consistent, recurring theme here at Crisis of Praxis, which just goes to show you should be careful what you name your blog.

Knitting, crocheting, what-have-you
I've pirated the Jolly Roger from Hello Yarn and designed myself a pullover, knit up a headband from Vanna's Choice, made numerous scarves and fingerless mittens, and even crocheted a pair of slippers for an invalid friend that reproduce the slippers her grandmother made her. I also made a cosy for a personal massager, if you know what I mean. (And I think you do.)

Knitters
Geography and chance has thrown me into the midst of the knitters from Knit One One. I have bumped into them in a coffeehouse, encountered them at the book signing for Knit Knit, and then finally sat down with them at yet another coffeehouse to do some actual knitting. They're a lively and mixed bunch, but they have yet to prove to me their prowess in knitting while intoxicated like the North End Knitters. Time will tell if they measure up, or at least can fix their mistakes the next morning after a cup of strong coffee and some aspirin. In the meantime, they sure can knit while sober.

Patterns
Which reminds me. I have gotten my greedy little hands on a pattern from Emily Jan - the Blooming Bobble Bag. I saw this in a display case they have at a bakery and found it irresistible, despite the fact that I don't actually do clutch bags. I have yet to decide whether I will do a yarn substitution, what color I will use, etc.

Anyway
I am going to try to abscond with a friend's camera, so hopefully there will be photo evidence of my activities before the year is out. (The non-incriminating ones, that is.)

I got your post right here, baby

2007-12-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

Jeanette from the Purly Gate (A Knitter's Cult) has pointed out that the post I was promising her on Sunday did not in fact happen.

Well, woman, I am busy. I am in California. There are places to go, people to see, health food stores to get lost in, and long, sunny bike rides to take. I'm sure you'll understand. By the way, how's that snow in Boston?

Here's my home town about three weeks ago. This is one of the busy streets. Bungalows, oh how I have missed you! Inside of my grandma's house. Hi, Grandma!
The crocheted blanket on the bed in my grandma's guest room. She made it.

This is Cat, the Living Cat Mummy. Petting this cat is like petting a sticky muppet stuffed with bones. (What was that, Grandma? The cat's in the house? Yeah, well, this was before you woke up. I didn't know better. She acted like she came in the house every day.)

A view. Not as cold as it looks.
Another view. They've got a lot of it there.

And another view.

Sibling #6, slightly wet, at our mom's house.

Sibling #7, in a coffeehouse. It's the same one I went to.
Sibling #5? (Oh, no, I've lost count!) Well, anway, this is a sibling. And her baby, the one I have been knitting like a fiend for. He's actually a lot happier than he looks - he's not quite used to maniacal aunts pointing cameras at him.
Another sibling. She's feigning surprise. That camera doesn't have quick flash action, dammit.

And that's it for now.

First California Post

2007-11-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of photos to show you, but I don't have them with me. This photo, however, I do have, because I took it with my cellphone last night. You are looking across the Bay to San Francisco. All in all, it could be worse.

Pictures!

2007-10-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

Jeanette from over at the Purly Gates (A Knitting Cult) clued me in tonight on how to get my computer to upload pictures without going kaboom on me. So, now I have pictures for you!

My maternal grandfather has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. There's not much I can do about that. However, I can knit him a sweater, since I think he's still got a winter left in which to wear it. Pattern: My own, largely helped along by the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted in Chestnut Heather

Gauge: 20s = 4"/10 cm on size US 8/5 mm straight needles

Size: 46"-48" chest

I wanted to make my grandpa a basic pullover that would be easy to care for since he's sick. I added Horseshoe Cables because 1) it's more interesting for me to knit, 2) it impresses more than stockingette, and 3) I think Horseshoe Cables are the cat's meow. But let me tell you, after a month and half of making them, I am about Horseshoed out. Did you see the size on that thing? My grandpa wears and extra large - that was all the information I was given, so who knows if the thing will fit - but I found a chart for American Standard Clothing Sizes for men's sweaters and worked from that. This sweater has a 46"-48" chest, depending on how you pull on it. I have a 33" chest. It was like making two sweaters. (I am sooo not dating a big man when I move to California.)

I like how my ribbing lined up at the center front of the collar:

But this isn't all I've been making. Here's the jacket that goes with the garter stitch hat I made for my nephew:

Pattern: Garter Stitch Jacket from Debbie Bliss' The Baby Knits Book

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash in "Sand Dune"

I really like how this turned out. However, I can't help wondering how much use a 6 month old baby can get out of pockets...

There's a lot more, but I can't remember how to link to the sites where I got the patterns, so it'll have to wait a bit.

STILL not dead, folks!

2007-10-30T15:15:00.001-07:00

I admit, however, that I have been somewhat lax as of late in regards to posting in a timely manner. Hmmm.

Well, here I am. But not for long. I am intending to keep this blog up - that is, I actually intend to post more than once every four months from now on - but I am moving. Far, far, away from Boston, to that distant land called California, where, as far as I'm concerned (due to my upbringing, I'm afraid) the only relatively normal people on the planet live.

That's right - I am returning to the bossom of my family! Where I can get a latte nearly anywhere, experience some serious fog, and get my bus delayed by gay rights parades! I can't wait! Home, home, home! Cheap artichokes and French bread, here I come!

My new computer won't let me upload photos onto Blogger, so although I have plenty for you, I can't post them. But stay tuned! Before November is through, I will be in California, where I am use somebody else's computer for my nefarious knitblogging activities.

...and more photos.

2007-05-31T17:48:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have a neverending stream of photos to upload. I did say I've been busy, didn't I?

Pictured below is the Garter Stitch Hat from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss in "Sand Dune" Knit Picks Swish Superwash. I'm told this yarn pills, but it washed up beautifully. Anyway, the baby will probably outgrow it before pilling becomes an issue.
This is a knit bunny made from leftover Baby Soft, the yarn I used for the aquaduct edging afghan. It's yet another knit from Lousia Harding's Naturals Knits for Babies and Moms. I have to say that this book was a damn good purchase. It has alot a basic baby patterns, clevery executed, and evenly divided by the sexes. I knew this baby was going to be a boy, so I wanted a book with plenty of boy patterns, but (go figure) a majority of baby and kid knitting books are angled towards girls. Also, Natural Knits has a pregnancy sweater, two nursing sweaters, a shawl, a baby blankie and stuffed animal patterns as well. Are you sold yet on it? :P

I have a high school friend who has five year old girly-girl. As in, she likes pink. When I was a little girl, pink was the enemy of being taken seriously, a task that was already made difficult enough by being knee-high to a gnome with curly blond hair... But I digress. This kid will love this sweater, which happens to be in violet Cotton Ease. The pattern is from Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, size aged 6. The collar is my doing - it's not in the book - as well as the pockets. Check out the flower buttons!

Okay, I admit the photos are a bit blurry, but you can probably see them better in this close-up.

And lest you think I only have FO's - (I wish!) - here's an afghan-in-progress. This is me trying to use up a lot of Cotton Ease. If you're thinking it's a baby afghan, well, then, all I have to say to that is you're dead on. Sorry. I swear I am knitting some for myself, and soon I will have proof! (Which reminds me - today my grandmother emailed me out of the blue to say she's enjoying the socks I knit her. I knit those socks quite some time back. Months and months ago, actually. Do you think she's giving me a subtle clue of some kind?)

Gratutitous cat shot!

More Photos!

2007-05-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Baby Afghan

I crocheted this baby afghan in March out of cream sportweight acrylic/nylon yarn. (I think it was "Baby Soft.") All it is is a square of double crochet with "aquaduct" edging.
I think it has a pleasing simplicity about it. unfortunately, I washed it with my Artyarns Supermerino cream/black/lime socks... which turned everything in my laundry light gray. Lesson learned. I mailed the baby afghan out to Sibling #5 anyway. I don't know if she's using it.

Cropped Cardi

This cardigan is obviously "#21: Short Cardigan" from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2006. Isn't it?

Okay, I admit I made a few changes. I substituted black KnitPicks Merino Style for cotton yarn, and I used only one color throughout instead of striping. And then I totaly redesigned the sleeves.

My buttons are square!

Nursing Sweater

2007-05-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

At the end of February I knit Sibling #5 a nursing sweater, the "Queen of Hearts Nursing Sweater" from Lousia Harding's Natural Knits for Babies and Moms in, well, burgundy Encore (75% acrylic, 25% wool), which is not exactly the natural option. I knit it in under two weeks, which frankly impressed me. Sibling #5 wears a 12 and I wear a 4, so it's much larger than anything I would make for myself. Fortunately it was on US #8 needles. The pattern called for a pattern of hearts in the lower panels in purl stitches, but I left them out because I thought they'd be cheesy.
Here is a detail of one of the button flaps. I think I used 16 buttons. I lucked out and got them not only to perfectly match the yarn but cheaply.

Sibling #5 loved the sweater, apparently. It was still coldish in California when she got it so she was sleeping in it. Strangely enough, her favorite thing about it is the yarn. Encore does wash up well - it becomes even, soft, and drapey - but it's also incredibly cheap. I think this sweater cost me a total of US$30. ($10 of it being the buttons!) I still have more than a skein left over that I need to use up somehow.

And now for something completely different...

2007-05-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to learn to paint. Being the way I am, I naturally think the way to go about this is a self-portrait. Why? Because I photograph badly, of course.

Lissy from the North End knitting circle asked me to post the progress shots I've been taking, so here they are. They photographed more yellow than they really are. Remember, I'm still learning! Be sure to cut me some artistic slack.

Day 1: I did an underpainting, and forgot to photograph it.
Day 2: Adding color to my underpainting. It doesn't look much like me, I admit, but I wasn't ready to slit my wrists just yet.
Day 3: More color, fleshing in the background and my clothes. Doesn't look like me, but whoever it is, they're angry. It's probably because the mirror I'm holding is heavy. (Hey, maybe that's why my wrist hurts, not the knitting?!?)
Day 4: Looks a bit more like me, as in, how I wish I looked. The neck and body is a major problem, esp. since I've decided to put my brown sweater in the painting. My hair is not really present - I'm saving it for later - so the head is not balanced. There's still a way to go.

And that's it for now. Let me know if you want me to post the next stage when it happens.

My how time flies

2007-05-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

...when you hate the New Blogger and you have no internet at home. Has it really been over two months since I last entered into a battle of wills with Blogger to post? Amazing.

Here's some of the baby stuff I've made in the meantime. And I really mean "some." The baby mania has not flagged, although it did hurt my wrist on Sunday so now I am having to take it easy.

This stuff is from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding. The baby mittens with the string are made from Sirdar Breeze in "stone", and the other mittens and hat are in KnitPicks Shine Sport in some kind of brownish-tannish color, the name of which is evading me at the moment.

Baby pants! In the Snuggly yarn I had left over from the blue wrap cardi. The pattern is not my own - I got it free online - and when I have the patience to type in html again, I'll link to it for ya.

I feel like it is through some kind of miracle that this baby kimono (from an old IK pattern - I think everybody andtheir brother has knit it) is finally uploaded. This is my gazillionth try, and I don't just mean tonight. Although tonight I have had time to make tater tots and feed the cat (who likes his dry food mixed with 1/3 can of wet food, thank you). I'm not sure I have it in me to post more baby knitting pictures tonight.

This is the post where New Blogger said "I hate you"

2007-03-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

...and I said the feeling's mutual, especially since i just spent a half hour writing text that got deleted.

Baby Stuff

2007-03-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

I have gone insane with the baby knitting. Not only did I do that layette set, I made a pair of matching pants, a beige hat and booties, and a pair of socks - I then I knit the baby kimono from IK and a pair of green booties.

Unfortunately, I only have a picture of the green booties. The other pictures are on my computer at work.

When will the madness end, you ask? I really can't say. Although I am a bit concerned... I knit all these things at 0-3 months old size and the baby is 9 lbs. 3 oz. There is no word yet on whether any of even fits! But my sister, Sibling #5, did like the nursing sweater I knit her (in 2 weeks! and she's much bigger than me!) which I also don't have a picture of here.

Presently, the onyl baby stuff I have on the needles isn't really. That's because it's hooked. I crocheting a baby afghan. But don't worry; this afternoon has been turned over to knitting a Malabrigo hat for Sibling #7. I have not completely lost it.

Except where socks are concerned. Did you know I have about four completed socks laying about, none of which match each other?

Stuff

2007-03-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

Blogger
I ask you to imagine, if you will, this space being occupied by about five or six pages of invective against Blogger in the most vitriolic language that can be expressed in a 12 point Georgia font.

Knitting
I have been busy, busy, busy.

Pattern: "Striped Vest" (#22) from VK Fall 2006
Yarn: Black Cascade 220 (Left over from the Boyfriend Sweater)
Size: 32 Bust
Gauge: 20s = 4"/10cm on 5mm dpns

Modifications: Where to begin? I eliminated the stripes, of course. And there's a yarn substitution going on... And I added an openwork pattern ("Eyelet Twist Panel" from The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Sticthes, pg. 150) and made the body a tad longer to line up the panel pattern with the neck. I also changed the ribbing on the collar and armholes.

Thoughts: I love this yarn still, and I wear this vest all the time. Next time I make a vest, however, I don't think I'll make the body so long.

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Um... I can't remember, but it was just one ball
Needles: US #10
Size: N/A

I bought this yarn because it goes with my jacket, as you can see. It's just a 10s wide garter stitch scarf with tapering ends. I wear it when the weather permits.

Infant Layette Set

2007-02-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

Sibling #5 is 8 months pregnant. She turned 17 this month. I heard about this from my octogenarian, email-using Grandma, and if you have picked up anything about my family, you are probably bracing yourself for some horrible, dysfunctional tale. Well, there is one, but for now I'm focussing on the fact that I didn't know about this pregancy until a week and a half ago.

I called my dad get the scoop, because it's under his roof that it's happening. What I learned was that his sheepdog just had eight pups, all black and white like her, and that the winter is unseasonably warm this year. He's really concerned that the peach tree will bloom this month, thereby missing bee season, and he'll only have four or five peaches this year again. The same could happen for the plums and apples, although the Golden Delicious tree in the back yard - the one with the graft from Grandma's tree - is bound to produce pretty well because it always does. Old reliable. And there hasn't been much rain, which is weird, because usually it's rainy this time of year (my hometown gets an average of 200 days of rain a year)...

At which point he passed me to Sibling #7, who happened to be passing through the room, and I pumped her for information.

It seems it didn't occur to anyone that I might not know. Which is even stranger than the global warming. Do they think I am psychic? That town gossip reaches me from 2,000 miles away?

Ok, well, it does, but only because my Grandma uses the internet, and not exactly in a timely manner, because she also thought I knew.

So in a week I have managed to whip this up from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits. I used Sirdar Snuggly yarn.

It's going to be a boy. I'm also making as nursing sweater from the same book. I would have liked to have time to make a pregancy sweater, but I didn't exactly get that chance. (grumble grumble)

Boyfriend Sweater

2007-02-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

Boyfriend Sweater!Pattern: my own
Yarn: Cascade 220 (black)
Needles: size US #8/ 5mm straights

I actually had this finished over a month or more ago but I was too lazy to post it. I am very bad - almost as bad as my ability to photograph black.

Still Not Dead

2007-01-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

I figure I should post again so that you all know I am not still hung over on chocolate mint liqueur.

I am not still hung over on chocolate mint liqueur.

I am, however, about as depressed as I was after I read V for Vendetta* - I had to go home early today from work because I was weepy.

There is always a catch in life. Sometimes love isn't enough. And I don't even have clue what to do about it except fantasizing about visiting Finland, or perhaps Scotland.

I like reinventing my life. That's what got me from California to Seattle, and from Seattle to Philly and then to Boston. I am the most settled I have ever been right now, and it's pretty uncomfortable, even though I am a homebody. I'm just not an office person. Gah. But this isn't really about traveling and moving, it's about relationships, which are another kind of traveling and moving. And it's really terrible to know that someday you may have to leave a place you love because it can't offer you everything you could ever want.

Ah, but enough that. I am knitting the Retro Rib Cardi from the Winter 2005 IK in "avocado" Wool of the Andes, and it is awesome. Extremely green.
*V for Vendetta had me very, very upset for days because I am an individualist. Go figure.

Not dead yet

2006-12-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

Just terribly, terribly slack.

So slack that I have not finished the crocheted dress. I am halfway through the top, but once I got to that point, I lost the hook for a couple weeks at the bottom of my purse. Which means I have to work on something else. A whole lot of something elses, actually.

Pictures later. I need to get some coffee first. Who knew Vandermint packed this kind of hangover?

Certainly not me.

Sick... Again!

2006-11-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

It seems that a month can't go by lately without me getting some virus. I wash my hands so much at work that you'd think I was OCD, but I still catch something. I need to stop working with people who have children under 5 yrs. old, the little germ factories, grumble grumble. These are the purple/green Artyarns Supermerino socks I started for myself and gave to my sort-of-mother-in-law. I've finally started a pair for myself that I'm determined to actually keep for myself - they're cream, black, and light green - but I don't have a picture of the one sock I've completed just yet.

The worst part about being sick the past two days is that I'm falling behind on my knitting / crocheting schedule. Sure, I'm nearly done with one of the flip-tops of the fingerless gloves / mittens I'm making (Sorry! No photo yet!), and I'm about an inch and half into the top of the crocheted dress... and I swatched for a crochet project I'm planning, and did a couple rows on a red Sockotta sock I'm working on, but that just means I can focus a couple minutes here and there. If I felt fine, and didn't have a pounding headache constantly, I'd have those mittens done, as well as half the top. *tortured sigh*

However, not being at work doesn't bother me in the slightest: I get sick pay.

Back of skirt

2006-11-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

With the help of Flickr, here is a photo of the crocheted dress thus far:

Chibi for scale.

Crocheting Away

2006-11-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

This, in case you didn't know, is the 1920's dress I am crocheting:
It's three pieces: top, back of skirt, and front of skirt...plus some sewing and garnishing. I was feeling panicky all week about whether I'd be able to meet the Dec. 14th deadline of the office holiday party, but I'm happy to say I am 1/3 done! ...give or take some sewing, etc.

Unfortunately, Blogger won't unload the photo I took.

I'll try to get it up in Flickr some time this week.

Really.

This about sums it up.

2006-11-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Except, of course, that the test doesn't ask why you're paranoid.

I'd say my largest personality flaw is my desire to avoid confrontation and just get along. This involves not getting hit by cars, too. I'd say it's pretty natural for someone who doesn't believe in an afterlife to want to stay alive as long as possible, don't you?

I've only taken one other personality quiz on-line, the Harry Potter one, and I came out Severus Snape. Really, I'm not that bad, folks. Honest. Dumbledore ordered me to do it.

Easy One Skein Noro Hat

2006-11-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

A very serious hat.

Materials: 1 skein Noro Silk Garden, 1 set 4.25 mm double-pointed knitting needles (or circulars), large darning needle.

Size: One Size

Gauge: 6s = 1” / 10 cm worked in 2x1 (k2, p1) rib, unstretched.

Body
CO 105s and join for working in round, being careful not to twist.
k1, p1, *k2, p1, repeat from * until last s in row, k1.
Repeat in established pattern until piece measures about 7 ½” (19 cm).
If using dpns, divide the stitches evenly onto two needles.
Kitchener* closed (I advise against binding off, since it uses up yarn that could go onto making pompoms.)

Pompoms
This is a great opportunity for beginning pompoms makers. Part of what I like about this hat is that the pompoms are not fat, fluffy, overeager things. They are wimpy pompoms, so don’t worry if your pompoms suck. I made my pompoms by wrapping the yarn around the end of a 2” / 4 cm wide needle gauge ten times, cutting the end, sliding the yarn carefully free and tying it tightly around the middle with a 4” / 10 cm length of yarn. I cut the loops of the “pompom”, threaded the ends of the tie onto a large needle and sewed it onto the tips of the hat. Then I did it again. Just about any other method can be used, provided you don’t run out of yarn.

* There are plenty of free tutorials on the web for either technique if you haven't done this before.

Hats! Hats! Hats!

2006-11-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Just because I'm not posting often does not mean I am not knitting, folks. I am a busy bee.

Especially where hats are concerned.

Basic black seaman's cap. Yes, another one. This one is in superwash merino for my friend, Bob, who was expecting one last winter before I was derailed by all that X-mas knitting. Sorry, Bob!

The only X-mas knitting I am doing this year (Really! I mean it!) is this cabled version of the seaman's cap for my dad, a project that has been largely motivated by my suspicion that my dad has not hand washed the seaman's cap I made him last year, but is still wearing it, nevertheless. This is a humanitarian effort.

If you're at all interested how I worked the cables, leave a comment and I'll post the instructions.

Other stuff
These are not the only hats I've made. I also made a hat from one skein of Noro Silk Garden which I am going to post separately with the pattern.

I'm also still working on the boyfriend sweater, which is an incredible bore. Endless black stockingette! Ugh. I will finish this thing, if just to have it over with finally.

Socks are also happening. The purple Artyarn socks are done, but not mailed, and I've made myself several socks that don't match eachother using the One Sock at a Time Theory of Sock Making that I got from Jeanette this summer - that is, embrace your reluctance to knit that second sock and move on, because you can always get back to the the second sock later when it seems novel again. This worked wonders for her and I'm hoping it will do the same for me.

On the crochet front, I finally have the right yarn to make that 1920's dress. A bit of research revealed to me that it was originally done up in something a lot like embroidery floss. So I took a risk and ordered a 1 lb. cone of 8/2 black weaving tencel - US$25 after shipping for 3360 yds! (You may wonder what I would do with over 3,000 yds of fingering weight yarn if it didn't work out, but unfortunately I do have a few ideas up my sleeve. More than few, actually.) The dress is size 36", with 3 mesh stitches = 1", and the tencel worked up on the same hook to about 3 1/2" mesh stitches = 1", which is what I was hoping for since I am a 34" chest. The tencel is 2-ply, slightly prone to splitting, and slippery as hell. (I admit there was a bit of cursing yesterday when I started, but not enough to scare the cat.) I chose the tencel because it is supposed to have a good drape and sheen and is lighter than cotton. I'm still on the hem of the dress - I'll be there for a while - but I can already tell that this dress will be awesome. I hope to have it done by the office X-mas party since that is the only event I go to all year that is practically black tie.

Crochetting really has an undeserved bad reputation, in my opinion. Of course, I crochetted before I knit, so you could say I have a slight bias, but I'm sticking by that statement. Any craft or technique can create crap. With the possible exception of macrame, this isn't the craft or technique's fault. (I say this because it seems to be about 10x harder to make something tasteful from macrame than, say, knitting or beading. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Which begs the question: Why is it that the only patterns in crochetting magazines these days that are halfway decent are mainly knitting? Why? Why? Perhaps I should embark on a personal crusade to improve the name of crochet, eh? Right after this dress. And all those knit socks. And the darned boyfriend sweater.

Stash Sorting

2006-10-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

Let me see... Wool Ease (worsted); Wool of the Andes (Avocado); Cotton Ease (red); Merino Style (Coal); Alpaca (Rusty Heather); Angora (cat); Cascade 220 (black)...

Wait a second... Did I say "cat"? Hmm... That's going to be tough to knit.

French Press Cosy Pattern

2006-10-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

I believe I actually used less than an entire 70 g ball of kitchen cotton for this pattern. If I'm wrong, please let me know. Photo of the cosy I knit here. If you have any questions about the pattern, leave a comment and I will answer you there.

Materials
About 70 g any 4-ply kitchen cotton yarn
Thread to match yarn, sewing needle
Knitting needles, size 4.25 mm and 3.75 mm
Two buttons (1/2” / 2.5 cm diameter)
Darning needle
Crochet hook, size 4.50 mm

Gauge
20s = 4” / 10 cm on 4.25 mm needles or size needed to obtain gauge.

Filler Pattern
I used the Double Moss (Double Seed) Stitch as a filler for my cosy, but any stitch pattern worked in a multiple of 2, 4, or 8 can be substituted. (For symmetry, I shifted the starting point of the double moss stitch pattern on my cosy to be: p1, k2, * p2, k1, repeat from * to last s, p1, etc. This shift centered the V of the spout opening above a p2.)

Double Moss (Double Seed) Stitch
Row 1: (RS) *k2, p2, repeat from * across
Row 2: (WS) *p2, k2, repeat from * across
Row 3: (RS) *p2, k2, repeat from * across
Row 4: (WS) *k2, p2, repeat from * across
Repeat rows 1 though 4.

Special Abbreviations
(Just the ones that might not be too obvious.)
FS = Filler stitch
WS = Wrong side facing
RS = Right side facing

Note for open handles: My French press has a closed handle. If the one you are knitting for does not have a closed handle you may eliminate the button closure and work the body of the cosy entirely in the round until it reaches your handle. In this case, you would not cast off stitches after the 5 rows of 1x1 ribbing, and you would not need the two buttons or a set of 3.75 mm knitting needles.

Body
CO 61 s on 4.25 mm needles and work a 1x1 (k1, p1) rib for 5 rows.
Row 6: (RS) cast off 3s, K1, work FS to last s (56s total filler stitches), k1, turn.
Row 7: (WS) p1, work FS to last s, p1, turn.
Repeat previous two rows 16 times (39 rows total worked in piece), turn.
Row 40: (RS) k1, work FS 26s, k2tog, turn. Place unworked stitches on holder or waste yarn.
Row 41: (WS) ssk, work FS to last s, p1, turn.
Row 42: (RS) k1, work FS to last 2s, k2tog, turn.
Repeat previous two rows to 48 rows total have been worked in piece, turn.
Row 49: (WS) k across, turn. (21s)
Row 50 through 58: work 1x1 rib, turn.
Cut yarn. Place ribbed stitches on holder or waste yarn.
Pick up 29s from first stitch holder/waste yarn with a 4.25 mm needle. Follow the instructions for Row 51 through 58, substituting WS for RS, and WS for RS. Do not place stitches on a holder or waste yarn.
Place stitches from holder on 4.50 mm knitting needle.
At this point you should have two knitting needles with 21s each. Viewed RS, the needle on the left should have the stitches that are attached to the yarn ball. This is Needle 1. The other is Needle 2.
Row 59: (WS) work 1x1 rib as set on Needle 1, then work 1x1 as set on Needle 2 across, turn. (42s) All stitches should now be on one needle.
Row 60: (RS) work 1x1 rib as set for 20s, increse 1s by knitting into next s twice, work 1x1 rib as set across, turn. (43s)
Row 61: (WS) p2, (yo, p2tog, p3) twice, yo, p2tog, p4, yo, p2tog, p3, yo, p2tog, p4, (yo, p2tog, p3) twice, yo, p2tog, p2, turn.
Row 62: (RS) *k1, p1, repeat from * to last s, k1, turn.
Work 1x1 rib as set 4 rows. Bind off as set.

Button Flaps
Part 1:
Pick up 15s from center of the edge of body with 3.75 mm knitting needle, turn.
Work in 5 rows 1x1 rib, beginning and ending with a knit stitch on RS. Bind off as set.
Part 2:
(WS) Pick up 15s from center of the opposite edge of body with 3.75 mm knitting needle., turn.
Row 1: k1, p1, k1, BO 2s, p1, (k1, p1) 3 times, BO 2s, k1, p1, k1, turn.
Row 2: p1, k1, p1, CO 2s, work 7s in 1x1 rib as set, CO 2s, p1, k1, p1, turn.
Row 3 through 5: Work 1x1 rib as set, turn. Cast off, cut yarn.

Drawstring
With 4.50 mm crochet hook, make chain 16”/ 40 cm long, or desired length, leaving 2”/ 5 cm tails of yarn at either end.

Finishing
Thread tail of drawstring on large darning needle and run through yo’s in body. Sew buttons on flap with sewing thread and needle. Sew edge of bottom ribbing together with darning needle. Weave in ends. Place cosy on Fench Press. Make coffee.

The One Slipper Wonder

2006-10-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

There's a multitude of patterns out there on the internet and in books. I don't know about you, but sometimes I suffer from information overload. So tonight I am going to post links to some of my favorite free internet patterns to save you from having to go running all around the ether and taking a chance on an unknown pattern. Think of me as your test knitter.

I think the pattern I knit the most is the seaman's cap. It's a simple pattern with nice details, and everyone I have made one for reportedly wears them obsessively. I've made it in yellow, pink, and black, and I am about to make it in black again. I'm planning to knit my dad a second cap in navy blue Cascade Tweed 220 with cables on the crown.

I tried the pocketbook slipper pattern because it looked so easy, and because I couldn't help wondering how it would actually work out. (There's a pattern out there for making them with a button, but since I am surfing on a dial-up, I'll save that link for another day.) I admit my expectations were not very high for this pattern, but I wasn't really risking much yarn. I am happy to report that I wear them. When I had the flu recently I wore them at nearly all times. I am, in fact, wearign them now. Or rather one of them. I can't find the other. But my wearing one slipper says something, doesn't it? I mean, aside from how odd I am.

The Irish Knit Tea Cosy was a nice knit, even though I have yet to size it to a teapot I actually own. I knit up a towel that hangs from my fridge door that I'm inordinantly pleased with, also. Both items can be seen here.

And that's it for now.