Things burning holes through various containment systems

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Needless to say I've come down with a raging case of knitting standstillitis. I believe the cure for this evil will be time. Time and perhaps more sangria (I really have been drinking a boatload of that stuff lately, so much that the acidity from the wine and fruit and whatnot has burned a little bit of skin off the roof of my mouth, aren't you glad you asked, but all that vitamin C surely is good for you).

I mean the other day I actually did only one other activity while watching TV, and that was to sit on the couch. Hands idle, except when they were required to convey more sangria to the lips, needles nowhere to be seen. It was so wrong yet so right. For our week at the Cape, it was only after everything else was packed away did I think to bring some knitting along, and even then I couldn't decide what, because I didn't know what I wanted to knit, so in desperation I stuffed 6 random cakes of leftover sock yarn into a bag and decided I would make a Chevron Scarf out of them. It's going to look interesting, that scarf. If I ever finish it.

Is this the beginning of the end?

And I have so much inspiration that ought to keep me going too...

1. Two gift certificates to Purl Soho from Kitty, burning a hole on the refrigerator door since September!

2. A whole rainbow of Sundara Sock Yarns, burning a humongous but pretty hole in the drawer since the winter!

3. And of course, Rambling Rose, on the brink of world domination...yet burning a sad, lonely hole in this bag since March.

I did bring it down to Atlanta in April hoping my mother would finish it for me, but with the move and whatnot there was no time. Now it's June and it's supposed to hit 90 degrees this weekend (heaven!). 90 degree weather does not bode well for our little sweatery friend here. Nor for the bottles of rum I will destroy while making more sangria and/or mojitos.

Comments [15]
Filed Under: Rambling Rose

Hey, congrats to me!

Monday, March 31, 2008

For I have just knit the ugliest pair of button bands ever in the history of knitting.

Don't come any closer. I am ugly.

Poor Rambling Rose. What did you do to deserve such inelegant, pigeon-toed button bands?

All I did was pick up the selvege (slipped stitches) along the front panels, like we do when we pick up the slipped stitches along the gusset of a sock heel. Why did it pucker so much here? Did the ribbing of the button bands pull the fabric in? Should I have gone up a needle size? Should I occassionally knit into the front and back of a few of the slipped stitches to increase the pick-up count? Will you do this for me?

As far as mistakes go, this is pretty fixable. Easily fixable. In all the time I spent screaming "EFF! EFF ME! EFF me in the effing HOOHA," I could have ripped out the bands and redid them three times over. But for some reason I just so don't want to do it. I don't want to figure out how to knit a smooth button band when it shouldn't have required any thought to begin with. You're supposed to simply pick up the slipped stitches and, the end! But no! Now I've got to experiment with RATIOS and different needle sizes and whatnot so I've tossed it aside for the moment. I am angry at it. I am angry.

I'm seeking a little therapy by knitting socks again.

Pomatomus (or the Best Sock Pattern Ever) in Sundara Yarn "Aqua Over Lilac"

I'll finish the cardigan once I'm feeling a little more rational.

Comments [18]
Filed Under: Rambling Rose | Socks | Pomatomus

The worst is over

Monday, March 24, 2008

I've just finished the yoke and will be starting the neckband and button bands tonight. Oh the bliss of knitting from a single ball of yarn!

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Rambling Rose

Chugging along...and a new game which I hope to follow through on

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Miniscule progress on Rambling Rose. I lopped off all the yarn balls and am dealing with several yards of yarn at a time instead. Better. But still messy.

I tried on a sleeve and boy. it is tight. I really hope this turns out because if it doesn't I just might have to hurl myself off the roof. I just might.

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OK. So. In an effort to get myself back on this blogging horse I have devised a scheme in which every day (heh) I will post about a topic which will differ day-to-day but remain consistent week-to-week. ie I will post under the same topic every Tuesday. Topics are to be determined by myself and rules may change at anytime.

So for today, Tuesday, I bring you...My Favorite Things. Besides Knitting.

These are candles from Diptyque, a perfumerie based in Paris that also sells soaps and house sprays at - I will not lie - kind of exorbitant prices. Except I think it's worth it, and who doesn't deserve to splurge on themselves every now and then?

I love this place. Unlike walking into say, YankeeCandleCo. and having your little body pillaged with a freight train of a million headache-inducing scents, walking into Diptyque is a subtle, tranquil, zen experience. And if you're lucky the lady working there will actually be FRENCH who speaks perfect English with that wonderful French lilt, and if you're really lucky, she also distributes wine on the side, so when she's describing to you a scent, it doesn't simply smell "good" or even "fruity," but has a base note of "bananas" or reminds one of "ghosts in the closet." Hee hee!

My favorite one included Feu de Bois (Firewood). It was like Santa Fe on chilly nights, but I came away with wanting Paris a little bit more. Myrrh. It smells like a 600 year-old French cathedral, dusty, damp and cavernous. So while it's burning, you have to talk in hushed tones.

Cathedral in Aix-en-Provence, France. Taken August 2007

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Rambling Rose | Tuesday is for Favorite Things

Tangled Up in Blue (Moon Fiber Arts)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

I've stalled big time on my knitting because I've reached the yoke for the Rambling Rose cardigan and now it's much less knitting and much more wrangling. And crying.

The right front panel is joined with the right sleeve is joined to the back is joined to the left sleeve is joined to the left front panel. That's what, about one trillion some-odd stitches squished on a needle with 9 strands of yarn - kept wound in small balls - jangling and twisting like windchimes in a hurricane and it SUCKS. I suppose I could/should make the balls of yarn smaller but I feel it wouldn't make the process any more manageable. The whole yoking was a bad idea. Fine so you don't have to seam later, but seaming is a small, TINY price to pay for not having to knit back and forth - no yoking in the round, this is a cardigan! - and deal with the all that yarn getting all insane all over your lap. Nightmare.

Here is a shot of Veeb's humungous backside to make everyone feel better.

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Cats | Rambling Rose

Koochie-mama

Friday, February 08, 2008

Here are some better photos of HRM the Kooch.

(Love my little Duck to pieces, but the guy cannot for the life of him take in-focus photographs.)

I jumped the gun with all the seaming. That photo in the magazine is misleading. The awesome belt which really is the whole reason why I started this 2-year knitting sojourn, is not actually belt. WHAT? you say, if not a belt then what? Well, they are actually ties which end at either side of the waist. One tie for the right, one for the left. The right tie is attached to the waist seam of the front right panel, and vice-versa for the left. THEN the left and right front panels are seamed to the back panel.

Does not that sound entirely nutters to you? And how odd would that look, a cardigan with a half-belt? And how empty and naked the back.

So screw the instructions and the design, I'm making a full belt.

Here are some more photos of Rambling Rose to fill up space. I blocked the back and fronts and let us now bask in the glory of the awesome stitch definition. Go STR Go.