Bracing myself

Today I:

• had tea for breakfast
• ate a banana for Second Breakfast
• am having honey baked salmon, rice pilaf, and salad for lunch
• am drinking green tea

When I was in Junior High I was introduced to Jewish holidays through one of my friends. Yom Kippur especially sticks in my memory, since it involved her mother whisking her away from school practically the moment the bell rang so that they could go home and eat before sunset.

Today feels a bit like that, except I am not limited by sundown.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Very Modified Food June.

Clarification

Lissy pointed out to me that chocolate has caffeine in it. Tea and soda* do as well, but I don't drink soda and I am really not all that keen on tea. So my caffeine intake is much lower than previously, but not eliminated. Which is fine. I am not quitting caffeine. The No Coffee/No Alcohol for June thing was slapped onto the program for the sake of my stomach, which has been complaining lately. Whether it's the coffee and alcohol, I don't know. But I would like to know how it feels to have these things restricted.

Boyfriend Socks

Progress is happening, and he still doesn't know I'm knitting them. I have little less than two weeks to finish this sock and make its mate. Last night, I:

• had a panini and a soy steamer at the coffeehouse for dinner
• drank a hot chocolate
• had some of the leftover weird nachos
• wrote some
• knit some

*The kind with corn syrup. Not the fizzy water used in mixed drinks.

But I Feel Much Better Now... I Think?

Today I:

• had a bagel with cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• am having avocado and cucumber sushi, a small salad (sans dressing), a banana, and a bag of Kettle Chips for lunch
• don't have a headache

The caffeine withdrawal headache is gone, but it has been replaced a by erratic mood swings. It's like PMS x4. Not fun. Even chocolate doesn't help, and believe me, I've tried. I think that phase may have passed, though.

Now for the next phase, whatever that is. Ergh.

Thrift Scores

I did a little thrifting this weekend.

Above: (clockwise from top left) Purple cotton 3/4 sleeve embroidered top, brown corduroy A-line skirt, black cotton long sleeve V-neck shirt (nice enough for work), burgundy cotton tank top, light gray men's socks with double decker bus pattern (was in packaging, the boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot loves them), small black opaque tights (in packaging).
Below: (clockwise from top left) Black cotton 1/2 sleeve dress shirt, tweedy straight skirt, cotton/angora vaguely 1920's sleeveless top, olive green cotton tank top.

I think I spent about US $22. I am esp. happy with the tights and the socks. I saved US $11 on those tights! And I certainly need them: skirt weather is finally here.

Yesterday, I:

• had bagel with cream cheese, broccoli sprouts and nutritional yeast for breakfast with tea
• had what might be called nachos, but which was really corn chips baked with kalamata olives, cheese, and... um... baked beans?
• drank a lot of mineral water
• ate a chocolate bar
• drank a moderate amount of jasmine green tea
• watched You've Got Mail and The Truth About Cats and Dogs
• played with a vintage doll
• swore at my "sewing machine"
• knit
• tinked
• raged at the world
• was morbidly depressed
• ate chocolate gelato
• was okay
• still wanted coffee. Or maybe a beer.

Need. Caffeine.

Six days without coffee or alcohol. The caffeine withdrawl headache is finally gone. And I am edgy. Really edgy. Can't sit down and write edgy.

Maybe I'm naturally edgy? Hard to say.

So I cheated. This is half an episode. But it's still four pages on in Word, and the bag is in it, so I hope that makes up for it somewhat. Enjoy!

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen was in a fix.

She had been trying all week to find the bag of yarn, and here it was the knitting night and she had nothing to show for her efforts. Nobody could distinguish one man in the darkness with a bag from another man in the darkness with a bag, including herself. Perhaps she should ask Gladys to find him; the old lady was certainly a good sleuth. Kathy-or-maybe-Karen had narrowly avoided Gladys several times during the week. Maybe she was being paranoid, but it seemed like more than coincidence to her. That woman would trail her to the end of the universe if necessary for that yarn.

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen had to get the yarn back, whatever the costs. If she didn’t, all was lost.

She would have posted fliers if she could be certain no one in the knitting circle would see them, but that was about as likely as them not finding out about a yarn sale. She considered posting in the local classifieds, but that would only work if the man she encountered during the blackout was a habitual classifieds reader. She was in too much of a hurry to wait for a call, anyway. There had to be a faster way, but she couldn’t think of anything practical.

So she tried the impractical. She couldn’t be certain it wouldn’t work. After all, she had made it this far, hadn’t she?

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen walked over to the refrigerator and looked at it apprehensively.

“Mir-a-bel…” she said in a singsong voice.

She was answered by a low growl from above the refrigerator.

“Mir-a-bel, dear,” Kathy-or-maybe–Karen said, trying not to let fear enter her voice. They could sense fear, didn’t she know it. “I need the book, Mir-a-bel…” Slowly, she reached above the refrigerator, trying not to cringe. Mirabel didn’t like cringing. Ignoring the persistent growls, Kathy-or-maybe-Karen felt around gingerly for the book. She pulled it cautiously toward the edge of the refrigerator until it seemed like she was in the clear.

“Ow!” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen exclaimed, jumping back from the refrigerator. The book toppled to the floor with a thumb, pages scattering. She glanced at the scratch on her hand. It was one of many, slightly older wounds inflicted by Mirabel.

“I don’t know what Gavin saw in you,” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen said, gathering up the loose pages and placing them carefully inside the book. She sat on the floor and laid the book in front of her, flipping through it until she found an entry that sounded about right.

“O-kay,” she sighed, pulling a magnet off the door of the refrigerator. It was a neon green plastic number eight. She grabbed a candle from the cupboard, lit it, and returned to the book. She glanced at the book again, then assumed a serious expression, the refrigerator magnet held out straight in front of her.

“I now invoke the Law of Three, what once was lost returns to me,” she said solemnly, drawing the magnet toward her chest.

She waited, the number still poised in the air in front of her.

She waited some more.

Nothing happened.

She re-read the entry in the book, silently mouthing the words. She turned the number around and looked at the tiny magnet glued to it. She made certain it was facing outwards, and tried it again.

“I now invoke the Law of Three, what once was lost returns to me,” she said, raising the last syllable of the sentence involuntarily. This created the unfortunate effect that it sounded more like she was asking a question than making a command.

Again, she waited.

Again, nothing happened.

“Damn!” she said under her breath, slamming the book closed just as the buzzer rang. A small, startled scream escaped her. Kathy-or-maybe-Karen went pale and stared at the door as if the Grim Reaper himself was standing behind it. She knew this was a ridiculous reaction, but she couldn’t help it. A lot of things she would have formerly dismissed as ridiculous were becoming very real to her the past couple weeks.

She pressed the Talk button on the intercom.

“Yes?” she said, her voice quavering a bit.

“Hi, there! It’s me, Gladys.”

Her again. Kathy-or-maybe-Karen took a breath to calm herself. “Um, Hi, Gladys.”

“I was going to call but I don’t have your number.”

“Uh, yes,” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen said. Nobody had her number. She was very careful about that.

“Well, the meeting’s tonight. I don’t know if anybody told you, but it’s been moved to Ivy’s. Peg’s place is chaos. She got some kind of new-fangled storage system for her stash that she’s putting together.”

“Oh, thanks,” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen said.

“Since you’ve never been there, I thought we could go over together,” Gladys said.

She wants to come up for that yarn! She can’t come up for yarn that isn’t there!

Plus, the mandala was still chalked all over the floor. That might be harder to explain than missing yarn.

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen glanced at her wristwatch, the refrigerator magnet still in her hand.

“I’ll be right down,” she said. If Gladys had anything to say about waiting outside, she didn’t say: Kathy-or-maybe-Karen didn’t press Listen to find out. She threw on her snow gear, blew out the candle, snatched the book up from the floor and shoved it unceremoniously atop the refrigerator. Mirabel hissed, but Kathy-or-maybe Karen ignored it. Double-knit mittens were good for more than cold weather. She was downstairs, locking the lobby door behind her in less than five minutes flat.

“What happened to your hat?” Gladys asked. The older woman was dressed in a sky blue parka and tan slacks, her cheeks and nose bright red. A shaggy aqua alpaca scarf was looped several times around her neck like a fuzzy snake doing its best to take Gladys down headfirst.

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen touched her head self-consciously. In the distance the horizon was a uniform deep blue, the sky completely masked by low-lying clouds. A nearby streetlight suddenly turned on.

“I didn’t like it,” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen said, trying to conceal how edgy she felt, standing out in the open on the street like this. The whole block was nothing but row houses and dead-end alleys.

“It was clever,” Gladys said. “You don’t see very many bunny hats.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t really me.” She glanced down either end of the street. There was no one in sight, not even cars driving by. Not good. “Shall we go?” she said brightly

“You’re not bringing the bag?”

“Uh, well…” She needed a good excuse, fast! What would be plausible? Maybe she forgot it. No. That wouldn’t work. Gladys would wait for her to go back up and get it. Kathy-or-maybe-Karen’s eyes wandered over the street. Tomorrow was garbage day; at short intervals along the sidewalk, black trash bags were piled up on the ridge of snow the plows had created when they cleared the street. Maybe the yarn was accidentally thrown out in the trash? No, who would do that? Yarn felt totally different than trash. And besides, that implied that it was lost forever, which it wasn’t. It was just very much temporarily lost.

A man emerged from of a house across the street carrying a black trash bag, causing Kathy-or-maybe–Karen stared so openly that Gladys swiveled around to see what it was.

The man was himself was not very remarkable: he was an archetypical metrosexual, his hair neatly trimmed and styled, his clothing sleek and stylish, inclining toward black. He could have been practically anybody.

But the bag. The bag had knitting needles sticking out of its sides. One of then was circular, dangling a good eight inches out, bouncing against the side of the metrosexual’s black camel coat.

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Wardrobe Refashion 2006

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, Christine of Crisis of Praxis,

Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months.

I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Of course, the last wearable I bought was a pair of shoes a couple months ago. And before that... last month I bought some organic cotton tights from Whole Foods, and I think right after Thanksgiving (or was it X-mas?) I bought a pair of striped pants for work, and a bra. During the summer I bought eight pairs of white cotton undies from Victoria's Secret, which proved to me it's still possible to scandalize someone who works in a lingerie store.

I am a shopping fiend, obviously. Which is why I took the 6 month challenge. At the moment, the only thing I'm wearing that I bought new is my Doc Marten's and my underwear. My jacket, my slacks, my shirt, my glasses... they all came from a thrift store or an antiques flea market. This is pretty typical of me. I have nearly always been very broke, and when I do find clothes or whatnot, I usually have to alter them to fit me whether or not they're new or used. So I just go for used most of the time because frankly department stores depress me. * I think it's the Muzak and the lighting and yeah, nothing fits or reflects my style. That's a downer.

So there will be some refashioning, etc., going on around here. More reporting on thrift finds, which I have been neglecting lately. Perhaps this weekend I'll finally hem those two pairs of pants I got at Goodwill two months ago.

*However, the last time I was in Macy's I found a $10 bill in an aisle

Spring

Today I:

• have a headache
• had an onion bagel with salmon cream cheese and cup of white tea for breakfast
• had a cup of Green tea
• am switching over temporarily to darjeeling with vanilla soy milk
• am having veggie sushi, seaweed salad and kettle chips for lunch

Everyone is posting pictures of spring arriving in their neighborhood, so not to be left out I have this picture I took on the way to work:

Hardly sweet peas and snapdragons, is it? Gosh I miss nature. Not that I was ever one to spend a lot of time at the beach or go hiking or anything, but I did used to garden, walk through nature on the way to places, and climb the occasional plum or apple tree. I think I actually did spend a lot of time outdoors as a child, come to think of it. Mostly in trees. I dig those trees.

I'm getting that feeling again. Yep, Rural Nostalgia. Mind, I'm not a farm girl. When I was little, my dad was a logger and my mom was a secretary at the mill. We had pigs - I'll admit that - but practically everybody has pigs, right? Esp. 300 lb. ones that break out and sit on neighbor's porches, staring in their sliding glass doors. And maybe there were some chickens, but they don't really count, because they're stupid, like the ducks. And the horse wasn't all that bright, either. But yeah, it wasn't a farm. There really wasn't much farming in the area, mostly private vegetable gardens. Too many trees in the way for that. Not to mention mountains.

I would love to be in a cabin right now, with a porch overlooking a field of wildflowers, a working septic system, a pot-bellied stove and an internet connection. Order by yarn on-line, get the truck stuck in the mud in the drive for a couple hours, wear rubber boots practically 24/7. Fight with a squirrel over my sandwich on a sunny afternoon. Ah, yes.

Too bad I'm at work.

Last night, I:

• had fish and chips and a cranberry-tonic in a pub
• finally picked up my laundry
• had a headache (but what else is new?)
  

Boyfriend Sock

Today I:

• had a terrible bagel with cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast
• ate a banana with a cup of Earl Grey for Second Breakfast
• am having avocado/cucumber sushi, a small salad, and a bag of chips with half a V-8 for lunch
• have a headache

Here is the sock in progress. It really is speeding along, although I keep feeling like it's too big. But that's probably because he has a 9" foot circumference, and mine is 7 1/2". The pattern is coming out really interesting, but I doubt the second sock will look the same. ( The yarn is Opal, Farbe 16, Partie 35. I am very happy it's waschmaschinenfest.)

All other projects are on hold while I speed through these socks, except, of course, SP8 stuff. I think SP8 is going well so far - I have all kinds of devious plans that require the dreaded W-word from me: work. I am so lazy, I don't know how I am getting all this knitting done.

Yesterday, I:

• had honey grilled salmon with salad, rice pilaf, and half a V-8 for lunch
• had no coffee (headache! headache! Send pity)
• drank green tea
• had a mushroom bisque with croutons for diner at S'nB
• drank a large soy steamer, no flavorings, no sugar, nada
• knit

Ribbon may not be the enemy

Today I:

• had tea and a croissant for breakfast
• have functioning programs again!
• am dying to go grab some lunch

Ribbon Tam
Not so bad, eh? Ribbon can be good... (said in a cautious tone) Making this tam caused me endless problems, but it wasn't the yarn's fault. I wanted to make it from only one ball of ribbon yarn, no more. I had to keep switching patterns and needles and starting over until it looked like that would happen. It was very close.

Pattern: Sabrina Tam from Knitscene Fall/Winter 2005

Size: One size fits all

Yarn: Crystal Palace Deco Ribbon Yarn in "Taupe Stripes" (112)

Gauge: 12s= 4"/10cm on US#11 dpns

Modifications: Where to begin? The first thing I did differently was the yarn substitution, of course. Then the needle size change. And I did a backward loop cast on which I sewed up when all was said and done with the cast-on tail.

This pattern is worked crown-down, which is a bit awkward on 5" US#11 dpns, let me tell you.

I was already running low on yarn by the time I was decreasing for the head-opening, so instead of working a knit row like instructed, I went straight into a 1x1 rib, then cast off. I was a bit concerned the tam might be too shallow, but it's just the way I wanted it, and the ribbon is very flexible. I enjoy looking at the texture. I think I'll use this stuff again.

Boyfriend Scarf
This is a hasty snapshot of the blocked scarf on the recipient, who was having trouble standing still. Something about having to go to school or something. Well, at least now you know it lays flat. He is quite happy with it, even though it is just in time for summer.

Last night, I:

• had nachos for dinner with some mineral water
• knit some on the boyfriend socks
• went to bed at 7pm

I've been making the mistake of looking at crafty blogs lately. This is a mistake because not only does everyone have 1) sunlight, 2) space, and 3) inspiration, I have 1) The Cave (aka my apartment, 2) no space, or rather, I have had no space for so long that it is seeming like space, and when I go into other people's apartments, the space there gives me vertigo, and 3) massive, disorganized clutter in my head. I sooo do not have a French Country style bedroom displaying a brand new quilt, or sunlit windowsills graced by lilac blooms. I don't even have clean laundry.

Why did I even get up today?

Today I:

• had tea for breakfast
• am avoiding coffee
• am frustrated

I have FO pictures, but I can't edit them because the Photoshop program on my work computer is crashing. The tech already came by and alledgedly fixed my crashing issues, so only half the programs on my computers are doing this. It is very unfortunate that they are not quite the half I want to work, but then I suppose the tech doesn't understand my blogging priorities.

Allergic or something or other

I don't think I had the flu last week, because I was down with it again yesterday. I started my Monday vomiting. Yay.

And no - for those of you out there thinking, "A-ha! I know what that is!" - I am not pregnant. I also don't think I have a virus. I think it may be a food allergy or stress or something. Too much coffee, maybe? The possibilities are endless. Fortunately, next month, the possibilities are limited. I am actually kind of looking forward to Very Modified Food June, believe it or not.

The up side of this is I can make lemonade from lemons: I am almost done with next week's episode.

Knitting

Top Secret Secret Pal 8 Project #2 is technically begun, even though I still need some tools. I forgot to take a picture of the first TSSP8P. Drat.

The Deco Ribbon hat is done. It's my Knit the Classics Project. I'll post the details on it when I have decent photo, but I must say I am quite happy with it so far, even though it took three tries to make it. I was determined to not buy a second ball of ribbon because I knew I would have too much left over to just disregard, and I already have enough going on in my head and on the needles without a problem like that. When I cast off on the hat, I had about 2 1/2" of ribbon left. Very close call.

Now I have a ribbon habit. I bought another ball of ribbon Thursday when I should have been making certain I was getting everything I needed for TSSP8P#2. I couldn't help it - the ribbon matched my coat, which is burnt orange. That's not an easy thing to do, so there's my excuse. I'm going to make a summer scarf.

I cast on a sock last night, surreptitiously. It's a boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot sock, the navy blue/light blue Opal sock yarn I got from my Mystery Swap Pal. I've never used Opal yarn before, and so far it's okay. I'm just making a basic sock with 15 rows of 2x2 ribbing at the cuff; I want to get this done as quickly as possible for his birthday mid-June. He doesn't use computers, so the only way he'll find out about this project is if he sees me working on it. I took his foot measurements months ago, and I've got at least two evenings a week where I'm away from him for three or more hours when I can knit it.

Yesterday, I:

• was sick. You caught that bit, right?
• had a bowl of oatmeal with honey and soy milk for breakfast
• had some strong coffee
• made nachos
• wrote
• crocheted a little

make-up episode

Betcha thought this wouldn't happen until Moday, eh?

Remember, this is a rough draft.

Click on "Read More! Maybe." to read more. Enjoy!

The enchiladas were a mistake.

For 34 years, Thursday had been New Recipe Night. It was Peg’s way of livening things up a bit. However, tonight she had livened things up just a little too much.

Peg set down her knitting a crept off to the bathroom. It was some time before she returned to the living room to find Sal watching television, the foot of his easy chair kicked up and a beer in his hand. Trouble was curled up on his lap like a shaggy, calico throw pillow. All that had changed during her absence was the station, and -

“Did you move my knitting?”

“Nope,” Sal said, his eyes fixed inexorably on the television screen.

Peg stared at the couch. It was a worn chintz in rose and yellow, but it was so tarted up in granny square afghans that hardly anyone knew it. Peg herself probably wouldn’t be able to finger it in a lineup if it was disrobed.

“Are you sure?”

Sal thrust out his bottom lip and nodded.

Maybe it had fallen between the cushions? Peg wondered. She felt around the area where she usually sat, then moved on to the rest of the couch. Ten minutes, three quarters, five nickels, a five dollar bill, two 4 mm dpns, seventeen stitch markers, a bottle cap, and a desiccated stick of gum later peg had still not found the knitting she’d put down.

“I was knitting, wasn’t I?” Peg asked her husband. Her mother had gone senile at a fairly young age, so she was always on the lookout for signs in herself of mental deterioration. Perhaps this incident was the beginning of a long series of mislaid, forgotten, and half-finished projects. Peg didn’t so much mind the idea of rediscovering projects – especially if it turned out they were done – but believing she was working on a project that didn’t really exist was where she drew the line.

There was already too much of that going on as it was.

“It was that blue lacy thing,” Sal said, confirming that his wife had not lost her mind yet. Just her shawl project, the one in gossamer weight yarn that had taken months and months.

Peg felt under the couch. It was a furry jungle, which didn’t make it any easier. She was about to give up when she felt something hard and long, like a mechanical pencil or knitting needle, on the opposite end of the couch from where she sat, near the back. She pulled it out and stared at it disbelievingly.

It was the circular needles she had been using, and that was all. No shawl.

Peg sighed in exasperation and peered under the couch.

It was then that she saw it.

It wasn’t under the couch. It was moving rapidly across the carpet, toward her craft room like some kind of flightless, fiber homing pigeon.

Peg only hesitated a moment. Despite such irregular behavior, it was her knitting.

She caught it just as it was about to leap into the closet where she kept the majority of her stash.

It squirmed.

Peg dropped it. Something crawled out from under it and ran behind a bookshelf.

Peg stared at the bookshelf. Her experiences with hallucinations were limited to cough syrup side effects, and never, ever involved little men in green. She knew spicy food could sometimes cause vivid dreams, but while a person was still awake? She suspected this was something more clinical.

Peg sometimes found contemplating her stash en masse calming to the nerves at times, almost meditative. But seeing the little green man didn’t prepare her for what awaited her when she opened the closet door. Her stash was usually neatly organized into large, transparent zip-bags to ward off moths. The entire stash looked as if it had exploded out of the bags. What’s worse, the yarn was elaborately and intricately knotted.

Moths were now the least of her problems.

Peg had pixies.

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Blocking it out

Really. It is nearly over, and I can forget all about it.

I am already debating what to make my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot next. Cardigan? Socks? Hmm...

My mom got the Wavy Socks and likes them. However, she did not say whether she had tried them on. She better not be starting a sock collection for display purposes only.

Gotta go. I'm supposed to be, well, you know, like, writing.

No place like home

Today I:

• had an onion bagel with salmon cream cheese for breakfast
• have already had two cups of coffee
• am really bored
• am trying to fill the time with Secret Pal 8 strategizing

I started on a Top Secret Secret Pal 8 Project last night. This whole Secret Pal Thing looks like it will be fun, esp. since I like giving presents. Lucky for my victim - eh, I mean, spoilee - I am frugal, which means she will get more mileage for my dime, so to speak: labor doesn't count. And I am crafty. Bwahahaha!

Anyway, rest assured: if any of you happen to see me during the weekend, you will not be able to escape from me showing you the Top Secret Secret Pal 8 Project. (Soon to be replaced by Top Secret Secret Pal Project 8 #2.)

More Fun Regionalisms
My home town is fairly unique: it has a great view and lots of nature. It is also a little idiosyncratic, like everywhere.

For instance:

1. It has a Paul Bunyan's Day Parade tradition. (I didn't realize this wasn't normal until I was 12 and moved to Petaluma, CA.)
2. It had a steam engine, openly called "the Skunk Train", for obvious reasons
3. Some people actually get to their houses via the Skunk Train because they live in the woods
4. a nearby (under 20 miles away) village was still teaching elementary school in Swedish until 1975, if I am not mistaken...
5. The phrase "we're going to make wood" is not a come on: it's about making firewood.
6. "Garage saling": that's right, "garage sale" as a verb.
7. "Going over the Hill" is not just a remark about aging/senility: it means you are going over the mountain - usually on The Willits Road (aka, Hwy 20, or, as it is known in Willits, The Fort Bragg Road). This "road" is about 20 miles long and takes about 40 minutes to drive. (Do the math on that one and think about it. Parallel parking wasn't on my driving test back home, but hairpin turns were.) My mother assures me the "road" is much better than it used to be: when she was a teenager, it wasn't as straight, and it wasn't paved. The other main route into town (HWY 1) was described my my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot as "terrifyingly scenic."
8. The other roads into town? You don't want to know. I went on one of them once, just for the hell of it, and I turned back after about two hours.

Last night, I:

• had veggie soup and a salad for dinner
• ate things from the OKC but I have blanked out exactly what...
• knit

If you ever go to Frisco, wear a flower in your hair

Today I:

• had some snow peas and a fruit bar for breakfast
• ate a banana for Second Breakfast
• ate a vegan enchilada for lunch
• broke down and added a bag of Fritos to that

I know progress shots of slow projects are not exactly the epitome of excitement, but still. I have a photo.

It grew an inch! It is now 2 1/2" long! Whee! And (most important of all) I have struck the banding. The fun never stops here at Crisis of Praxis, let me tell you.

Actually I am really enjoying this stocking. We'll see if I say that mid-calf, but right now, in the present state of things, this is fun.

Perhaps my definition of "fun" is questionable, but what do you say we let that pass for now?

Last night at S'nB I finished the Boyfriend Scarf. What a load off my back. My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot was quite shocked when I showed it to him. This weekend I am going to wash and block all nice-like, as it should be. The dang thing, all told (not counting labor and emotional trauma) cost over $60. Yep, 300% more than any sweater I have made. It's pure merino.

Dialects

I'm not terribly erudite on this subject, but it is a passing interest of mine. When I lived in California I wasn't very interested in American dialects - it was more about British vs. Scottish vs. American dialects, etc - but once I moved to the East Coast the dialectic differences in the US became glaring to me. Traveling through the South, I had to have a waitress at a Waffle House translated for me. And in Pennsylvania... Well, I could understand people most of the time, but that doesn't mean I liked what I was hearing. In my stubborn Californian way, I still think Tuesday shouldn't be pronounced Tuesdee.

I was cruising through a site on California dialects - something I had always hoped to come across - and confirmed once again that I am Northern Californian, not Southern Californian. Because (for those of you who have never been to California) there is, like, you know, a difference, dude.

For instance, I grew up referring to San Francisco as either (rather unimaginatively) "San Francisco" or "The City":

"We've got a hella long weekend coming up. Are you going anywhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going to The City to buy a bead curtain."

"Oh, dude. I wish I could go to San Francisco, too."

People from other parts of the country, notably Southern Californians, tend to call San Francisco "Frisco". Sometimes with a sneer.

A big bell went off in my head when I came across that factoid. You see, my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot, who is from Philly and says things like "wuhder" for "water", but is otherwise pretty Standard American English, calls San Francisco "Frisco".

And it bugs the living hell out of me.

Yep, I'm definitely Northern Californian.

Last night, I:

• had a baby spinach, strawberry, and blueberry salad with no salad dressing courtesy of the OKC
• had a milk chocolate, cashew, and caramel thing courtesy of the OKC that was... um, well, really big
• ate a panini at the S'nB
• drank a soy latte

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, broccoli spouts, and lox for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• am having two bean and rice burritos for lunch with whatever else I can scrounge up

The Boyfriend Scarf

I started this so long ago that I should link to it so that you all know what I'm talking about. This is the scarf I made for my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot based on his specs. At the time, he did not care if it had any backing. Of course, being stocking stitch, it curled like crazy. He wore it for months anyway, but always just sort of casually brought it up, you know. It was bothering him so much that he even suggested a canvas backing.

Blasphemy!

The past two or three months has been wearing my very nice black alpaca checkerboard scarf in lieu of the scarf I made for him. This has been to buy me time. I have been knitting 6' of stocking stitch to sew onto this scarf. I am incredibly enthusiastic about this project, as you can well imagine. I'm rather inclined to just make him another scarf instead of doing something so tedious, but when ever I mention something I could knit up for him, he always says, "I'd just be happy with a scarf." And I know what scarf he is referring to.

In the below photo you see a haphazardly folded scarf with backing not quite attached. The backing is simply picked up from the edge, so really this is a 12' scarf with 6' of plain black.

The idea of sewing it al together makes me want to do almost anything else instead. Which brings me to what I cast on last night.

Stockings

That's right, campers, I am knitting stockings. The Lady's Practical Stockings from Knitting Vintage Socks, to be precise. I just happen to have about 8 balls of KnitPicks Essential in "Grass", so I cast onto some Us #0 (2mm) bamboo dpns and let it rip, so to speak. Only two more feet to go! Yay! Then I can start the second one.

Last night, I:

• devoured a bag of peanuts during the walk home
• had a bowl of veggie soup, a salad, a couple grape leaf things, and soy White Russian for dinner
• drank a little water, too
• added some snow peas as an afterthought
• read some more from the Tea book
• knit

Let this be a warning to you all

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with broccoli sprouts, cream cheese, and lox for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• had a banana for Second Breakfast
• am having a vegan microwave dinner for lunch
• really don't mind the rain

This rain is awesome. It's like being home. Only, the car isn't getting stuck in the mud and there's no quartet Sunday nights at the coffeehouse. Ah, California. (My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot calls this kind of weather "California winter".)

Diet

I mean "diet" as in "nutrition", not "diet" as in starving. I like food, I like having a body that gets out of bed when ever it wants to. (Not necessarily every day.) I also like being happy. Call me weird.

The Bitter Knitter, Jeanette, and I were talking about how poor our eating choices are and agreed to spend June on a very modified diet. A Raw Food diet. It sounds good, but I did a bit more research on Raw Foodism and it isn't something that can be done for just a trial month. I am not buying a juicer, and I can't really be trusted to turn sprouts in a jar on time, or even remember I have them. I am also by nature an eater who likes something very, very close to instant gratification. So no Raw Food June for me. Instead, Very Modified Food June. Here are the rules I'm giving myself:

1. If I put in x amount of energy toward feeding myself, feeding myself in June cannot take up more than x+(1/2x), if you know what I mean.
2. No animal products if I can help it. (Is that veggie burger vegan? I'm not going to worry about it.)
3. No living on tater tots. Living on tater tots is fun, but bad form. And the tater tots must be baked, not fried. *sigh*
4. No coffee. Tea is okay.
5. No alcohol.
6. Eat a green "salad" of some sort every day. If I can shove it in a bun, fine.
7. 50% of what I eat must be raw, hopefully organic.
8. I am not allowed to eat an entire can/box of olives in one sitting. Bad girl.
9. Same goes for nuts.
10. Drink at least 2 glasses of water a day (not from the tap)
11. Avoid processed sugar
12. Do not flip out at the boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot

June might be very tough month.

Last night, I:

• had a veggie pot pie and a spinach/cabbage/heart of palm salad for dinner
• drank a cup of chamomile
• met an SCA knitter
• drank a Peroni
• sat in the Copley Square library courtyard and watched the rain, only to find my camera battery was dead

Double Duty

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, lox, and broccoli spouts
• picked up coffee on the way to work
• am having cucumber/avocado sushi, a big salad, apple juice, and a banana for lunch

Revised Red Hat
I got the boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot to try on the Father's Day hat because his head is bigger than mine, and he promptly pronounced it to be too shallow. So I picked up stitches around the edge and added a 1x1 ribbed band. Now it is much better, as you can see from the blurry picture below.

Birthdays

Siblings #1 through #3 are all Taurus' (Tauri?) like me. Our birthdays, actually, all fall in the same week. Sibling #2 is the day before me, Sibling #1 the day after me, and Sibling #3 three days after me.

You can imagine the parties.

Or rather, one party, and two cakes, with candles at either end. It's a little like having your birthday fall on Christmas or some other such holiday, because it's never really just about you.

Fortunately, Siblings #4 through #9 have birthdays that have nothing whatsoever to do with mine. They were born in other months, which at this point just seems weird to me, as if being born in May is the only real option.

My dad is also born in May, so the Father's Day hat is going to do double duty, just like those birthday cakes.

Last night, I:

• had two bowls of veggie soup
• drank a glass of wine
• had too much coffee
• ate yet another salad
• ate some tater tots
• had some walnuts
• was basically eating myself into oblivion
• got the gas oven relit (whew!)

Soup Weather

Edit: Okay, I suck. I am totally bunged up writing-wise tonight, and I kind of want to have a nice day, so the next episode is postponed until next weekend.

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and lox for breakfast with some organic coffee
• had a spinach salad with heart of palms, broccoli sprouts, and balsamic vinagrette for Second Breakfast
• am about to eat this bowl of soup

16 Bean Veggie Soup

Ingredients: 16 oz bag of 16 bean mix, cauliflower, red cabbage, red potatoes, red onion, garlic, kale, miso, veggie boullion.

I am writing - sort 0f - but mostly I'm cooking and knitting. (Today is my 31st birthday, so forgive me if I'm being a bit of a slacker.) It's been raining for nearly a week straight here in Boston, so I'm thinking we could all use a hot bowl of soup. This soup is unintentionally vegan.

I'll post on the story later. Really.

Friday FO's

Today I:

• had a croissant and cup of coffee for breakfast
• called in sick to work
• ate eight brussel sprouts for lunch
• had some walnuts and snow peas for Second Breakfast

There is an up side to being sick. You know, other than not being at work. Esp. if it's not a truly debilitating sickness. I've got stomach cramps, I'm a little tired, a felt a wave of weird dizziness when walking to work yesterday. That's about it. I'm trying to eat things my stomach will like and watching a lot of DVDs.

And, of course, I'm knitting.

Wavy Socks

Pattern: my own

Size: 66 CO, 9" foot on US #2 (2.75 mm) dpns

Yarn: Sockotta (Color 6)

They are done! Hopelessly flawed, but finis! I was in such a rush with them that I didn't compare the number of stitches I used for the heel flap on #2 with #1. The number of stitches in the heel flap determine how many ribs got knit across the top of the foot. Sock #2 has one less rib. Whoops. But these socks, they are the same size: 9" long at the foot.

I found my sock-size chart this morning that compares shoe sizes to actual foot length. According to it, my mom has an approximately 10 1/2" long foot. It is sheer coincidence that this is also her shoe size. For me, a sock that is 1" shorter than my foot fits comfortably. So this morning is riddled with doubts about these socks. Mismatched, possibly 1/2" too small.

Naturally, I am pushing it out of my mind. To know they are too small, Mom will have to try them on first. And since the entire purpose of this pair of socks is to get her do exactly that, as opposed to, say, putting the socks in a glass frame to hang in the foyer, the odds are about 50/50 she will notice. Which of the two pairs of socks I have made her she will sully with her feet now that she has a back-up pair is a matter of much speculation with me right now.

Father's Day

I'm on top of these family holidays today. Here's the hat I started as a Father's Day present last night.

Pattern: my own

Size: large

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (Color 113)

Gauge: 20s = 4" / 10 cm on US #7 dpns

Yesterday, I:

• had a "veggie burger" for lunch with a latte from Lulu's
• ate soem cauliflower, some snow peas, walnuts, strawberries, and pasta salad all day
• drank mineral water
• watched stupid movies

Sick, but crafty

Today I:

• had a croissant and coffee for breakfast
• went home sick before lunch
• hit the LYS on the way

Okay, maybe the LYS isn't on the way home. But it is only a little out of the way. I bought a searing red ball of Cotton Ease to make my dad yet another hat for Father's Day, a ball of Crystal Palace Yarns Deco-Ribbon (Color 112), and a set of Susan Bates aluminum needles that range from 1.5 mm to 2.25 mm.

I already cast on the the Father's Day hat as a means of avoiding the Mother's Day socks. (Quite apropos, when you think about it, as far as family dynamics go. I have already resigned myself to not having the socks on time, anyway. Not that I am completely avoiding them. I've already done about an inch on them since I got home.) The hat is just a ribbed beanie.

The Deco-Ribbon I almost feel guilty about. Does it count as novelty yarn? I'm going to make a hat with it. I'll post pictures when I am done and then you can all let me know if I have totally lost it or whether is was a brilliantly inspired, original move on my part.

Yikes.

And I always need more sock needles. Even though I recently (last night) said that I hate aluminum dpns. This is where I insert the qualifier. I hate aluminum dpns when they are heavy, and when their wooden/bamboo counterparts are just begging to be broken. 2 mm and below are okay as aluminum dpns. So, Wenders, I am rounding up my US #2's and US #3's for your pleasure, because they certainly aren't mine.

Last night, I:

• had a panini, a bag of chips, and a soy latte at S'nB
• had some chips with awful fake sour cream and onion dip from a can while watching Wes Craven's Invitation to Hell
• learned that the movie title was not lying. It was hell.
• drank some chamomile tea

Today I:

• had a croissant and coffee for breakfast
• am having leftover pesto pasta salad and a bag of Fritos for lunch
• am experiencing some powerful nostalgia via the rain

This is the yarn I got last week to make a summer tank top. (There's actually a couple more skeins, take my word for it.) It's a nice blue. I want to start on it, but there's this little problem a called UFO's.

Not knitting

I bought a potted bamboo thing. I should know the name of this, but I don't. I'm a terrible Sinophile, I know. I have always wanted one of these.
This one has less frogs than the others.

Last night, I:

• had tofu ravioli with vodka sauce for dinner
• drank a little wine
• considered getting back into the SCA, much to my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot's discomfiture

Imagine a hat

Today I:

• had a croissant and coffee for breakfast
• am seguing Second Breakfast smoothly into lunch
• am having a banana, half a tuna sandwich, and some pesto pasta salad for lunch
• am being thwarted by Blogger

I crocheted a sun hat this weekend. I even took a picture of me in it this morning. However, Blogger will not let me upload it. Perhaps later I'll pop the photo in when I can. (I have resorted to Flickr.)

For now, the specs:

Pattern: my own

Size: that of my head

Yarn: slightly less than 100 yds. of JP Coats Speed Cro-Sheen (size 3, 8 ply) in Vanilla. (I imagine any sport weight yarn will do.)

About six years ago I used to whip out hats in crochet thread all the time. Berets, beanies, snoods. Patterned and plain. I guess I'm getting back to my roots now. This hat is a slight departure, however, because I never made anything with a brim. This hat is kind of like cloche-meets-bucket-hat. I made it in response to the sunny weather we were having last week. I needed something to keep the sun off my head while I walk to and from work.

Of course, now it's raining.

But I love the hat. Crochet is super-quick and it looks good at a small gauge in hats (even if I do say so myself.) Crochet thread is also cheap. I used mercerzied cotton so that my hat would be a little glossy. I think I'm going to use this same yarn to make a summer purse to match.

I think I'm also going to make one more hat as a refining process. If anybody is interested in the pattern, let me know, and I'll work it out for ya.

Wavy Sock

I finished the first sock!

Now I only have fourteen more inches to go on the second one.

To quote my boyfriend / partner/ whatnot this morning at breakfast, "You can do it; you're a Gold Medalist."

Yeah, well. I suspect for Mother's Day I'll be emailing a photo of socks.

Yesterday, I:

• had a croissant and a coffee for breakfast
• had half a tuna sandwich and a salad for lunch
• scarfed a banana during the walk home in my **new** hat (Oh, the excitement!)
• thought about next week's episode
• knit on a sock (you know which one)
• ate an eggplant parmesan sub with an Italian beer while on my laundry date