I've only knitted the left-side buttonband, but considering how LITTLE TIME it took for me to get it done, and to get it done right, I am ashamed of myself and quite embarrassed for waiting this long to do it. Rambling Rose laid crunched up in a plastic bag for all this time, beautiful beautful Rambling Rose please forgive me.

Based on the very helpful comments from this post, I was able to pick up the correct number of stitches for the band. I had a slipped-stitch selvege for the front right and left panels, and had picked up and knit each of those slipped sts for the buttonband. It resulted in major puckering and pulling in of the fabric; clearly my ratio of 1:2 was short; I cried; I swore; I threw it aside in disgust. When all I really had to do was go for a ratio of 2:3 by picking up every slipped stitch, and knitting through the front and back of every other stitch as well (I usually pick up all stitches first, and then knit them. I find the mechanics to be much easier this way).

Worked like a charm! Happy happy joy joy. So the plan is to finish the other buttonband after work today, block tonight, head to the DMV tomorrow in Chinatown to get my license renewed and re-registered to vote (IMPORTANT!), and then stop by Windsor Buttons for the perfect set of buttons, which I will then immediately sew on as soon as I return home. And Rambling Rose at long last will be finished done complete, wheeeee!

Comments [13]
Filed Under: Rambling Rose

Daydreaming

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I have very little knitting to talk about. I have been day and night dreaming about escaping to Europe. It is a perennial ritual I like to do. It is a little like torture.

Here are some photos from our trip last year to southern France. Who wouldn't want to live nestled at the end of a cobblestoned courtyard? You'd be crazy not to covet a little bit of this.

Ancient town of Les Arcs

How about an evening concert in an ancient amphitheater?

Ancient town of Arles

Or an afternoon at a very nice beach, with a waiter coming around with more pastis?

Ancient town of Nice

Ah me. Always wanting what I don't have.

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Thursday is for Favorite Places | Travel

Bunny Rochester

Friday, August 08, 2008

In case you haven't noticed, I love photographing Bunny. That cat has an endless supply of downright uncat-like expressions. The one expression which he excels at beyond any others is the one I call Most Hateful Disdain.

It looks like this:

Now 99% of the time Bunny is a total lovebug. He likes to sit in your lap, he likes to purr in your lap, if you bring your face close to his he will smear his little wet nose all over your forehead most lovingly, and then attempt to kiss you by licking the corner of your eyes (I don't let him of course but he always goes for my eyes and I'm like WHAT THE HELL you WACKY CAT).

But the other 1% of the time that he spends giving me the most pissed-off looks are the ones I like best. So much material trapped in such a little subject!

I mean he is just so full of soul-crushing ennui here that he's silently crying.

Save me from myself, he says. Save me.

And then there are his moments of intense brooding where he gives Darcy and John Thornton a run for their monies. Or moneys. Not sure which.

He is plotting how to push his Lennie Small of a brother down the stairs and make it look like an accident.

(Do you like all my literary references? Heh.)

Comments [14]
Filed Under: Cats

Bigger is Better!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Boston skyline as seen from Spectacle Island and from the side of a metal bowl.
Not pictured: raw chicken wings inside the bowl.

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Wednesday is for Where I Live

Hold me

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Just had a traumatizing frustrating afternoon at work. Need a martini to chug and a fat orange cat to hold.

Comments [10]
Filed Under: Life

VanBuren is the best

Monday, July 14, 2008

He took it upon himself to block my scarf for me. I didn't even have to ask. See how perfectly aligned his body is. What a professional.

His oversized underside is smothering this:

There is a slight cabling boo-boo on the right which I guess I am pointing out to you so that you know that I know it's there. The stitch is again from my Japanese stitch dictionary. The yarn is Sundara Yarn fingering silky merino in Winter Skies. My first time! I'm using size 3 needles. Probably could have gone bigger for a lacier scarf.

Although the current size is conveniently sized for effective cat-blocking.

Comments [19]
Filed Under: Cats

Plumage for the feet

Monday, June 30, 2008

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Sock in Limited Edition Peacock and Purple
Needles: US1 dpns

I modified a pattern found in my trusty Japanese stitch dictionary. It's basically a pattern of a pair of leaves, mirror-imaged at the "stems." I changed it to be mirror-imaged at the leaves (petals are back to back) (does that make any sense) and suddenly the stitch pattern looked like feathers to me, like a great plume you might see on a Vegas showgirl's headpiece.

The leaf/feather pair were then separated at the heel, with one half continuing down the foot. Threw in a stockinette runner so the beautiful colorway of the yarn wouldn't be completely obscured with complicated patterns, and some gutters in garter-stitch instead of the usual purl-stitch.

I won't lie: I mirrored the pattern after the Loksins knit for me last year by my Sockapalooza pal. I. Love. Those. Socks. Perfect color. Perfect fit. Perfect combination of yarn and pattern. I went through that stitch dictionary like a madman hoping to duplicate such a successful pairing for the Peacock and Purple colorway. Not sure if the stitch I came up with is totally successful...I'm thinking Pomatomus would have worked better...but then Pomatomus always works, Pomatomus looks great in all weather conditions, even humid ones, and besides I've filled my knitting quota on those. Very happy with these nonetheless. And you really can't go wrong with anything knit in Sundara Yarn, am I right? Right.

Comments [22]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks

This town is all about the parades

Friday, June 20, 2008

First, on Saturday the Pride Parade rolled into town.

Afterwards all the bodies crammed themselves into a block party half a block from where we live. You couldn't get away from Cher and Whitney and George Michael all afternoon long, the music was all OOMPTUH OOMPTUH OOMPTUH, the floorboards were shaking, the cats were like WTF, and I was all I CAN'T BELIEVE I GET TO LIVE HERE.

Then yesterday, the Celtics Rolling Rally, which I stopped by on my way to anthropologie. Ha! Ha ha!

Boston. I love you.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life