Wednesday, January 03, 2007
With my parents and aunt and uncle, we had a fabulous Christmas/New Years vacation, which witnessed above average amounts of cribbage, knitting, eating and drinking. Too much drinking. I will be more than OK if all of 2007 involved no drinking. But I'm not prepared to make that an actual resolution.
My aunt and uncle were a last-minute addition on our trip, and even though my family normally doesn't exchange gifts (these were all for the in-laws), I figured it would be fun to give them all a little something-something since it's so rare that we all spend Christmas together. So I had to scramble afterall to get some knitted items finished, and reshuffled the recipient list a bit.
I gave my mom the Mardi Gras gloves, my aunt the Yarntini Jaywalkers, and quickly finished these socks for my uncle, and knitted a simple ribbed hat for Dad.
Merry Christmas knits for everyone!
Over vacation I started the Anemoi mitts.
And abandoned the Anemoi mitts. I did myself and the pattern a real disservice with the colors I chose. Booooo!
So put that aside to be frogged, and started these Aran braid socks:
I was able to finish one sock over a couple of days, even while playing cards and drinking and knitting Anemoi at the same time. I mention that not to impress you with my mad knitting skills (a definite 2007 resolution is to learn to knit continental), but to illustrate how fast and easy knitting socks - even socks with braids! - can be. Especially when you use yarn that you just can't put down. So soft, so vibrant! So CTH!
When these are done, Duck will finally have handknit socks of his very own. Luckily he is secure in his duck manliness that he is nonplussed by the pinks, even as they all conveniently pool at the top of the foot.
Filed Under: Gloves | Socks | Aran Braid Socks
Saturday, December 23, 2006
"And I want more tuna now!!!"
Happy Holidays and see you in 2007!
Filed Under: Cats | Life
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
...there was stamping.
I purchased this whole lot in one go. I was in Seattle on business, all by myself, for months, without the leisure of being able to go home once. Oh it was a sad sad day! I wandered bored out of my hotel to the mall across the street to have a sad sad lunch alone in the food court, after which I meandered aimlessly around the mall feeling very sorry for my lonesome, homesick self.
And then I discovered something I never knew existed. It was a store covered wall-to-wall with stamps, their little wooden backs stacked and glowing like tiny blocks of gold. There was ink in all colors of the rainbow, this wonderful thing called embossing powder, shiny stationery and pretty pretty handstamped wedding invitations and baby announcements and Valentine's Day cards.
Some crazy synapse in my brain fired and came to life, it told me I had found Shangri-La, and so many many hours later I walked out with many many dollars' worth of stamps. And then I took them all back to my hotel and stamped, all weekend. Alone. In my hotel room. With rubber stamps. Hundreds of them.
Thank God for knitting.
Filed Under: Life
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Is it just me, or does everyone get all morose and pseudo-philosophical on their birthdays? I take way too much stock in numbers, that's for sure. I'll always find a reason to be unhappy about turning whatever age. For example, after I turned 8 years old I was all, "Oh my god I'm going to be 9 soon and that's just one year away from the double-digits." Turning 17 was depressing because it meant I had only one year left before I became a legal adult which meant probably having to act like one too, even though I wasn't close to even looking like one. Turning 27 was especially difficult, for no reason other than "27" being an aesthetically unpleasing number to look at. Yeah.
So my mother called a few days ago, and we were discussing birthday plans and gifts and whatnot and I just so casually mentioned how last week I decided to buy myself a nice camera and a nice lens and maybe if she wanted, if she were a nice mom, and I am a nice daughter, she could buy me another lens to add to my collection? She bettered the offer and said she would reimburse me for the camera and accessories I already bought. WOOOoooOOOOT!
Now I have the resources available to buy myself another lens sooner than later. I'm looking for a nice telephoto lens to capture wildlife, landscape, and nice, clear shots of people unbeknowst to them, such as this one:
"We love trespassing! Don't worry honey, if we fall and break our necks, we can sue their pants off! Now come on! JUMP!"
Hi, have we lost all sense of propriety? And our minds? These two middle-aged jackasses drove up our street, parked their car in front, walked right up through our driveway, brazenly scaled the stonewall on our property, hopped that very rickity fence to the property behind us, so they could take a close look at the house with the nasty chain-link fence and above-ground pool behind. OH that's ballsy! Was the open house not open enough??
I didn't have a rifle to shoot them with, so I used my camera instead. Then scribbled down their license plate number.
As if one day's worth of trespassing wasn't enough, they came back the next day. Luckily we had just pulled into the garage ourselves and oooo I stared them down, I stared them down with my narrow evil eyes, and they quickly hustled away.
Anyway. Presents in the form of unnecessary stash enhancements came in the post just now.
Two skeins of Lorna's Laces in Poppy from the first contest I've ever won, and two skeins of GEMS Pearl that I don't need but bought anyway because there was free priority shipping. I'm thinking of making mitts with the Pearls, but what to do with my first LL's? Hmmmm...
Tonight I'm going to a nice dinner at my favorite restaurant with Duck and friends, and that will be all the birthday celebrations for today. Nothing as exciting as last year, but it'll pick up again this weekend when we go on vacation with my parents. People ask if I hate having my birthday so close to the holidays and I have to say, I really love it. Since I'm usually so silly and sullen about birthdays, I welcome any and all enhancements to festiveness and cheer this time of year. Birthday, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Hanukuh, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Years, snow, twinkling lights, fireworks! Let's all celebrate!
P.S. I'm turning 29. Again ;)
Filed Under: Life | Yarn Stash
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Stage I: Omniscience
Stage II: Doubt
Stage III: Alarm
Stage IV: Vengeance
Filed Under: Cats
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Pattern: My own
Yarn: Koigu, 1 skein. I've lost the band so I don't know what colorway it is, but if I were to give it a name, I'd call it Mardi Gras.
Needles: Size1 dpns
These gloves were a quick and satisfying knit, taking up just a mere skein of yarn, with a couple of yards leftover. I did make these super small, casting on 52 stitches which yielded about 3.25 inches across the knuckles (when measured unworn). It fits great, and I'm going to put it to good use around the house when it really starts getting chilly inside.
So I kind of made these up as I went along, but the pattern is pretty vanilla and are the simplest things ever. First I knit 3.5 inches of 2x2 ribbing for the wrist (including a little cuff in a dash of leftover yarn from these socks), then began increasing stitches at the start of the round for the thumb gusset, knitting that and the rest of the hand in simple stockinette stitch.
Then I knit the fingers like so...
Left: After completing the thumb gusset, I place its stitches on scrap yarn, cast on a couple more stitches, then join the round for the rest of the hand, thereby closing the circle for the thumb. I continue knitting the hand until it reaches the base of my index finger.
Middle: After the hand is complete, I place the stitches on scrap yarn to make it easier to work with. Knitting fingers with dpns is fiddly enough without having other needles on the hand poking at you. I place stitches for the index finger on two needles, about equal numbers (I did 7) from the front and back part of the hand, and knit to desired length. (For each finger I rearrange the stitches and knit with 3 needles for more flexibility). As I'm knitting the first round, I cast on 2 stitches in the "crotch" of this finger and the next (in this case, the yet-to-be-made middle finger).
Right: After finishing the finger, I cast off loosely and cut the yarn, leaving a few inches to weave in with later. I begin the next (middle finger here) by picking up the two stitches I had cast on for the index finger, and then picking up from the scrap yarn 7 stitches for the front, and doing the same for the back. As I'm knitting the first round, I cast 2 stitches again in the crotch as I did for the index finger. These stitches will be picked up when knitting the ring finger. You won't be casting on these crotch stitches for the pinky, as it's the last finger. Picking up stitches this way closes up the holes between fingers quite nicely.
When I go back to finish knitting the thumb, I also pick up the couple stitches I had casted on when I finished the thumb gusset. All fingers are knit to desired length; just keep trying them on as you go along!
After receiving emails asking which pattern I used, I poked around the web for a concrete example to offer and I found these Cigar gloves on Knitty.com. Construction-wise I knitted these gloves - and the Mermaid Gloves - very similarly.
Oh Bunny, why do you always come out looking so possessed in photographs?
Dude. I love Koigu. Which is why it hurts me so bad to see that their website looks nothing like their yarns. Hurts my eyes, hurts my teeth, and hurts whatever marketing sensibilities I have. I'm no branding guru, but everyone can see that they can do better. Oh that splash page! That craggly 3D logo! How my heart bleeds! I have half a mind to cold call them and ask if they would consider having their website redesigned. And offer my services for free yarn. Just a few skeins of KPM is all I need. But cripes, it's so in dire need of an overhaul that I'd be just as willing to pay them to do it!
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Gloves
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Working on another pair of half-fingered gloves.
"Mardi Gras" gloves in simple stockinette stitch, Koigu yarn
Filed Under: Gloves
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