Knit Kitty Knit

Classic Elite Newsletter

2010-03-09T11:20:00.001-08:00

I subscribe to the Classic Elite email newsletter. Often it's got good stuff in it. But this? Really?

This will get filed in the "Just Because You Can Knit It..." category.

Travel Knitting

2010-02-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

I have about 7 WIP and about 900 new projects to begin, and I've got a round trip to Europe and 7 hours on a train worth of time to fill.

But what projects to bring?

I have one seamless sweater that's almost complete on the body -- just the sleeves need to be worked. But I'm not sure I want to lug a whole sweater around Europe with me. That's the one downside of seamless sweaters. They're not great travel projects once you join under the arms and really get moving!

I've got the Dollar and a Half cardigan that's been sitting in a bag for over a year now because I once again screwed it up and have to frog a fair amount. Ugh. Do I want to be frustrated as I fly over the Atlantic? Maybe being captive in a flying tube for so long will actually make me finish this section so I can continue on.

Then there are hats. Hats for me, hats for friends. Hats that have been in the queue to match with scarves and hats that just want to be made. I might have to bring a hat or two with me because they're quick and I'll feel accomplished. And since where I'm going is cold -- I'll get to wear it right away!

I also have scarves in progress. Easy scarves are great knitting companions because you can knit them while watching movies. Or listening to podcasts. I'll certainly have a scarf or two with me as well.

I can say this: I will travel with than one project. I just don't know exactly which ones!

My First Sewing Project is Complete!

2009-03-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

My husband gave me a sewing machine for Christmas and I loved the idea of it.

Learning how to use it proved to be a little more difficult.

So I signed up for a 4-week class at the local high school's "continuing education" program to get me farther than reading the instruction booklet did.

The class was great. We had to bring with us our sewing machines (duh), a beginner pattern, fabric and the sewing essentials (scissors, seam ripper, measuring tape, etc.) and for three hours over the course of four Monday nights, Alicia, from Sew-It-All, spent time with each student walking us through the often confusing process of sewing our projects.

When someone in the class got to a point where others could learn, Alicia would say: "If anyone would like to learn how to make a button hole (zipper, dart, etc.), gather 'round." (OK. She doesn't really say "gather 'round like Tim Gunn...")

I signed up for the next session of sewing classes because I haven't scratched the surface of what's to know about this craft. But just as knitting was overwhelming when I first started, I'm hopeful that I'll eventually turn a corner. I have to -- I've already bought a few more patterns and some really fun fabric.

Here's my first project, finished last night at class. (Thanks to Terry for the perfectly matching monkey sock slippers!)

Sock Monkeys on Pogo Sticks PJs

Blue Sweater is Officially a FO

2009-03-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

I loved this yarn when I saw it at the Knit and Crochet Show in Northern California a few years ago: Lisa Souza's Sock Merino and Kid Mohair. Lisa suggested that I knit the two yarns together for a sweater, which was a great idea. My friend Marissa bought the same yarn combo in a beautiful green. After the fact, we both wish we swapped colors, but now that I'm finished, I'm happy with the blue.

The pattern is the T Shirt Sweater from Ella Rae Book One:

T Shirt Pattern

Pattern Book

The pattern was easy. The front was fast to knit, but I made some adjustments. Of course, I never wrote the adjustments down, so when it came to knitting the back, I stopped at where I knew the adjustments began and stuffed the whole thing in a bag for "later."

Well, "later" turned out to be almost two years. I finally picked this back up again a few months ago and was determined to figure out what adjustments I made and to repeat them on the back.

This was the first sweater I had to seem together. (The two previous completed sweaters were top downs with no seems.)

Damp sweater waiting for blocking

Knitty.com helped a bunch with their articles on mattress stitch and shoulder seeming.

I also used blocking wires for the first time. While a total PITA to put the wires through the knitted fabric, the edges dried nice and straight, vs. the scalloped way they normally dry when just using pins.

Drying on the blocking board

Overall, I'm pleased with the results. The waist shaping is a little too high on my body vs. where my waist really starts to shape, but a little steaming might fix that.

Blue Sweater completed

Since I've started knitting, I've been on the lookout for the "perfect simple sweater" pattern that I would make a few times in different colors with various changes to neckline and sleeve and bottom stitches. This pattern is a good base for my perfect sweater. With a little reworking of the waist shaping, I'd definitely refer to it the next time I start a sweater.

Seamless Sweater Redux

2009-02-15T14:20:00.001-08:00

I finished this sweater three and a half years ago. It never saw the outside world.

Since then has been sitting in a drawer in my closet. In the back of the drawer, I might add, squished behind other stuff so I could forget about it.

Why?

Because I hated it.

I didn't want to admit it that I hated it. What would it say for my love of the craft if I acknowledged that after spending so much time and money on this sweater I couldn't stand it?? What would it say about the zillion skeins of yarn that lay un-knit in my various yarn compartments and drawers?

I often thought about ripping it out completely. But then I'd have to face the curly, trying-to-look-normal, rewound yarn every time I opened my stash. It was all to much to fathom. So in the drawer the hated sweater stayed.

Until it hit me:

Re-engineer it! Figure out what I hated so much and make it better.

So, what didn't I like?

Other than the fact it was too big under the arms (something I knew could not be fixed), I really didn't like the button-less cardigan style that just flapped open. It reminded me of my friend's mom's famous line:

"Touches you everywhere, flatters you no where."

I didn't like the tassel-y thing that tied the top of the cardigan together.

And I didn't like that the sweater hung oddly on the body when worn. It just wasn't shaped properly.

Thankfully, the tie-thing was the last part of the sweater to be knitted, so it was a cinch to make it disappear. That and and the two or three rows of the neckline it was attached to.

To fix the hanging open problem, after re-knitting a new neckline, I seamed the front of the cardigan closed and turned it into a pullover. Because the left and right fronts on the cardigan were done in seed stitch, the seam is virtually invisible.

Then, since I was not aware of the concept of blocking when I first made this sweater, I blocked the sucker, in hopes of having it lay evenly and take the shape of an actual sweater.

Cardigan-turned-Pullover re-inventing itself

I am very happy with my re-engineered results and can admit this sweater has seen the light of day on more than one occasion. It's still a little big, but I look at that as experience in knowing how to size seamless sweaters better in the future.

In fact, I "tested" it by wearing it to work the day after it finished drying on the blocking board. No kidding, three people commented to me at different times before the clock struck Noon.

"Wow," they said.

"That's a really nice sweater. Is it new?"

Felted Winter Tote

2009-02-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I bought 10 skeins of orange Jaegar Como online for a pretty sweet deal. I planned on using it for a sweater in the Jaegar book. But once the yarn arrived, I wasn’t sure I liked it for a sweater. It felt kind of acrylic, even though it’s 90% merino.

(Note to self: buying yarn cheap online is only good if I'm familiar with the yarn...)

I'm lukewarm on the sweater now, too. Not sure if that cable on the neckline would look nice or ridiculous.

Since the yarn has a high wool content, I felted a small swatch of it to see if it would (despite its 10% nylon) and it did. I decided to save it for something felted. My friend copied a pattern for me (I know, not Kosher...but we all do it) from the Holiday Knits book, and I planned to use the yarn for that project. I even (because I'm sick) ordered more of the yarn in pink, so I could make the bag with an accent color. This was after I knew I didn't even like the yarn much...

Fast forward three or four years, enter my obsession with either getting rid of yarn I know I'm never going to use, or starting the projects that have been waiting for me for so long. I cast on for the Felted Winter Tote.

I believe that the authors of this book from where the pattern comes own the store Noe Knits in San Francisco. I was there a few years ago, and remember they had the book on display in the store with an errata note that the yarn should be doubled for this pattern.

I'm only a few rows into it at this point but will make a swatch of doubled yarn and re-felt -- just to make sure it doesn't turn out too thick. Because knitting the whole thing and discovering that after the fact would truly be a drag.

I'll order the suede handles and bottom online and see where this project goes...wish me luck. At the very least, I'll clean out some of my stash.

Knitty.com, What Were You Thinking?

2009-01-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

A recent email from Knitty.com included three special patterns. The third they described as:

"...a little something to amuse you...and perhaps inspire you to give your heart away this Valentine's Day!"

I thought they meant something like this:

But no. They were talking about a knitted heart, heart:

Um. Why??

Jessica Had a Little Lamb

2009-01-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

A co-worker and I were at a company dinner this week, and somehow (really, I don't know how) knitting became part of the conversation.

Jessica: "Oh, you knit?"

Me: "Yes, I do."

Our other co-worker Greg, until this point an active participant in our discussion, rolled his eyes and turned the other way to talk to Marco. I think I overheard him say "Hey. How 'bout those 49ers..." (OK. That last part is a total lie.)

Then Jessica added, "My boyfriend and I are getting a baby lamb this Friday!"

A baby lamb! How cute. I want one! This baby's mom didn't take to her and wasn't feeding her or the siblings. The farmer bottle fed them until old enough to get adopted.

Jessica and her boyfriend live on a multi-acre piece of land about an hour from Portland, and want to keep the lamb as a pet.

Meet the new baby:

I don't know her name yet. For now she can just be known as Jessica's Little Lamb.

I checked on eBay, and in case she ever wants to sell her sheered wool, it seems like the going rate is about 10 bucks for a pound of wool.

Rico's Hat

2008-12-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

My friend Riccardo commented on a hat I was wearing the other day.

"Hey. That's the kind of hat I could use. Something small that will keep me warm on cold days like this."

Cold days...in San Francisco. For two ex-New Yorkers it's kind of embarrassing to admit we speak like that.

I followed the Ann Norling pattern for the Spiral Rib Hat. With just one skein of Berroco's Inca Gold, this is what Riccardo will get when I see him next:

I like quick projects like this one. Took about two days to complete. Wish I could say that about some of my other WIPs...

Yarn Sale!

2008-12-29T13:00:00.001-08:00

Need to make room for more yarns. (This sickness is not new to me...) Posted some nice stuff up on ebay that I know will never get knitted by me.

Take a peak. Maybe there's something there you love.

Excess Kittens

My stash can relate to this!

Mohair?

2008-10-30T11:21:00.001-07:00

This from my knitter friend who just got married.

"Married life is just like dating life but feels more solid and definite - kinda like knitting with mohair - can't unravel, just move forward."

Still Knitting

2008-09-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

It's hard to keep up a blog about knitting when it's hard to find time to knit. But thinking back over the last few months, I've actually done a fair amount of knitting. But not so much blogging.

Over two years ago I was in Sea Ranch, CA, and found yarn made from sheep that graze their hills. I started something with the yarn at least four times and ripped it just as often. I couldn't find the correct pattern for this yarn.

Recently, while browsing the Winter 2007/2008 issue of Vogue Knitting, I spotted the perfect pattern for the Sea Ranch Wool -- a cabled scarf and hat. It's not like that's so unique -- but it was just right for this yarn.

It was a little bit of a challenge because the pattern was written in chart format. I've avoided charts in the past because they looked too scary, but it turned out to be less scary after I color-coded the right and wrong rows.

This wool, because it's made locally vs. at some big yarn manufacturer, had a very gamy smell and was kind of dirty. I couldn't wait to wash it to see what effect it would have on the yarn.

It turned out great. The color took on a less gray color, and felt smooth and soft. (Using some Bumble and Bumble conditioner in the final rinse might have helped!)

I put the drenched scarf in a lingerie bag on the spin cycle for a few minutes. Then I blocked it with pins on this gigantic blocking board that's been sitting in my closet gathering dust since I bought it last year.

Here it is, blocked and dried. I'm really happy with the outcome. The cables are highlighted nicely and the gamy stink is gone.

I'll start the hat shortly, I have to adjust the pattern slightly to fit my big fat head. I look forward to bringing them both with me on my next trip to Sea Ranch.

Interesting Commute

2008-04-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Thought the way the fog sat on the bridge this morning was cool.

And then there was this:

Not really sure what to say.

This is What Drives Me CRAZY about Weight Watchers

2008-02-25T19:56:00.001-08:00

I just saw this on the ever-so-helpful Weight Watchers website:

"For 3 POINTS values* you can have half of a plain, small fast-food burger "

Excuse me, but who the FUCK eats half of a plain, small fast-food burger???

*POINTS values, for those not up on WW speak, means you can eat on average 22-24 points per day.

Did Paula Abdul Have It Right?

2008-02-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm dating myself. But the Paula Abdul song "opposites attract" is not exactly a new concept. Opposites do attract. On one hand that makes perfect sense. You want people in your life who are different than you. But on the other hand -- it's kind of ironic. Think about it. Someone quiet winds up with someone loud. How annoying for the quiet person when all they want is silence.

Someone aggressive lands someone passive. How frustrating for the aggressive person to have to put up with all that passivity. Or someone neat marries someone who, let's just say, is not so neat.

My point is this:

My husband was on a business trip recently and I was meeting up with him to spend the weekend. By the time I arrived, he had been living in his hotel room for six days.

This is what the bathroom sink looked like (coffe cups were not his):

I'm not kidding. Six days! I arranged nothing for this photo.

After 6 minutes, this is what my side of the bathroom sink looked like:

Let's discuss. You're on a trip for about 8 days. You have 3 containers of liquid, some dental floss and toothpaste?

I'm gone for two stinking nights and the thought of fitting everything into one quart-sized ziploc so I can carry on luggage instead of checking is mind boggling.

Two words for a successful marriage:
Separate bathrooms!

Ok. Plus three more words: Breathe right strips...

The World's Brattiest Cat

2008-02-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

The World's Biggest Cat

2008-02-03T12:56:00.001-08:00

The Ten Month Socks

2008-02-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

I started working on a pair of socks for my sister in March 07. I was on a plane to a trade show in Orlando and figured the five hour flight each way would give me a good head start. Plus, I had until November of that same year to finish them in time for her birthday. Piece of cake, I thought.

November came and went. No socks.

Christmas came and went. No socks.

I mailed them to her in January 08.

With this card:

Here's what they looked like:

I used Panda Cotton, a blend of 55% bamboo, 24% cotton and 21% elastic nylon. A really nice yarn. Smooth. Easy to knit with. It's a 4-ply, which can get a little tricky on size 1 needles if you're not careful, but overall a great yarn.

I spoke to my sister the other day and she's loving her socks. But it's already February. If I plan on knitting her something for this year's birthday I better get started now...

Knitted Curtains?

2007-07-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Come on.

I got this via email today from KnitPicks.

"Add a feminine touch to your kitchen with this lovely lacy curtain."

Lovely?

Feminine touch?

How desperate are we that we're making our kitchens feminine and knitting our own curtains??

Even Scarlet O'Hara would think this was retarded. Emails like this give knitters a bad name everywhere.

If you get to this point, it's time for a new hobby.

I'm not even going to mention the tea cozy also promoted in the email...

Dollar and a Half Sweater

2007-03-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

I have many projects waiting to be started. I have many hanks and skanks and skeins of yarn waiting to become projects. But I've been scared off from making sweaters because my last few attempts have failed.

Then I saw the recent issue of Interweave Knits and I fell for the dollar and a half cardigan.

Sure it looked complicated. But at the same time it looked pretty simple. Twelve rows of reverse stockinettte, 12 rows of lace. Repeat. Sure it involves decreasing for the sleeves. And sure, some of this happens in the lace sections. And, oh right, there'a a cable thrown in there, too. But what the hell. I'm a trooper. I can get over my fear-of-making-sweaters and jump right in.

And jump I did. I even joined the Dollar and a Half KAL (which, for those not totally up on knitter's lingo, stands for Knit-a-Long -- a group of people who knit the same project and share their successes and sometime failures.) Gotta love knitters. One thing they're never short on is acronyms: KAL, LYS, WIP, UFO*...

Here's my first post to the KAL:

After driving myself crazy and swatching about 4 different yarns for this sweater, I finally decided on Solitaire in charcoal by GGH.

I had about 14 skeins of it in the drawer purchased for an entirely different project. Let's just say that project never happened...

I still love the sweater pattern planned for said yarn, but it's only written for a small and medium and I'm scared of the maths it will take to adjust the pattern. So I avoided it for more than a year, wondering if this nice yarn would ever become something other than balls taking up space in a drawer.

Enter Dollar and a Half Cardigan and Solitaire has found a home.

Chance Kitty approves of the sweater's start

It took a few swatches of lace practice to get it right, but once I remembered that it's a multiple of three PLUS one -- all worked out well. Al's tutorial for row 7 was extremely helpful, as well.

Close up of lace

I'm this far along on the back. I got a little nervous after the first few rows because I was getting the Michelin Man effect, so I blocked it to make sure it would look OK. That's why the bottom is flatter than the rest. (That's if you can see that in this crappy photo... )

Almost up to sleeve shaping...Scary

I have to say, getting the correct gauge in lace was a bit beyond my knitting abilities. It's measuring to the width I want, so hopefully it won't be too big or too small. (Not that I've even done that before.)

After completing the first section each of stockinette and lace, I didn't like that the stockinette section was wider than the lace. So I've altered the pattern a bit: in the the first row of reverse stockinette (a purl row) I decrease a total of 3 stitches. In the first row of the lace section (the knit row), I add the 3 stitches back in. I'm hoping this won't bite me in the ass later, but the edges are more even this way.

Being home sick with the cold from hell for the last week has really moved this project along. And I totally agree with Chef Messy. By the time I get to the end of the stockinette section, I'm so ready for something a little more exciting. Then, by the time I get to the end of the lace section, I'm so sick of counting I can't wait for the simplicity of purl a row, knit a row.

Wish me luck. I'm about to start decreasing for the sleeves...

*Now you can be hip to the lingo of the knitter: Local Yarn Store, Work in Progress, Unfinished Object.

Never Say Never

2007-03-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

I never wanted to knit socks. Those tiny needles. All those tiny needles. And that skinny, skinny yarn. Why would anyone want to torture themselves knitting socks? Considering that they'll be hidden inside a pair of shoes or boots, or worse yet, worn around the house in your PJs.

I was totally Anti Sock.

But then, my sister who is a flight attendent, often picks up discarded books from passengers. To kill time at 30,000 feet, she reads. (She should really knit -- imagine how many things she could finish on those long flights??)

Anyway, when I last saw my sister, she had just finished reading "A Good Yarn" by Debbie Macomber. In a nutshell the book is about a few divorced woman and a depressed, overweight teenager who bond over a sock class at their local knitting store. (Need I say more about not wanting to ever knit socks?)

Sister: "I just read this book about knitted socks. Do you ever knit socks?"

Me: "No. Never. I hate the thought of knitting socks."

Sister: "But why? They sound like they'd be so soft and comfortable. This book I just read made them sound great. And they knit them on something called 2 sets of circulars."

Me: "Never. It's torture. Knitting on 2 sets of circulars is horrible. Sock knitting would put me in the looney bin in no time."

Fast forward a few weeks to me in my LYS.

Me: "My sister read this crazy book and now wants me to knit her a pair of socks."

Helen (owner of LYS): "You want to knit something for someone else? Are you feeling well?"

Me: "Yeah. Well. You know I'm not from the knitters-of-stuff-for-other-people crowd, but she is my sister."

Helen: "Well...yeah. And knitting socks is really fun. You'll become addicted (not like you need another yarn addiction.) And I have a class starting this Thursday night for 3 weeks."

So I signed up and learned how to knit myself a pair of socks. We used DPNs vs. 2 sets of circulars. Which is fine for me because I've used the 2 circulars to knit sleeves once and really didn't enjoy it. (Translation: I cursed a LOT.)

Progress

Completed

Heels together now

Yes, I stand like a duck

Here's what I learned from knitting socks:

Those little needles are annoying. I sort of got used to them, but let's face it -- straight needle knitting is far easier.
Knitting on a plane with double points is rather dangerous. The guy behind me was sick of looking for my lost needle. I think that's why dpn comes in sets of 5.
I hated the fact that I did my first pair in stockenette. But it was quickest and we had to finish a large portion of the sock before each class and I was afraid anything else would have taken too long. It doesn't make for the most attractive sock, but I'm not about to rip these out and start over.
Size 5 needles for socks make them just too damn fat.
My husband keeps calling my socks "boots" because of how wide they are.
He can not understand why anyone in their right mind would knit socks when they are available at Nordstrom for $4.
I prefer the look of short row heel to the heel flap.
The toe shaping on this particular pattern was a little too "pointy" but I assume there are other options out there.
I know I took this class to make a pair of socks for my sister, but I couldn't give her the first pair I made. There are just too many things I want to change for her pair.
I've finally learned that K2Tog slants to the right and SSK slants to the left.

Clearly, Helen was right. Knitting socks is somewhat addicting. Mostly because they are a challenge and I like a challenge. I even bought this book to learn other sock variations:

I've now got the yarn and needles for my sister's socks. Let's hope I finish them before the local looney bin comes a knockin'.

Polls. They're Not Just For Dancers.

2006-12-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

Call me dorky, but I've added a polling feature to my blog. (It's on the left column, scroll a little bit down the page.)

What do you think? Do you like polls? If so, go ahead and vote.

I'll add a new one each week.

Purl Shell Scarf

2006-12-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a scarf that I made for my friend Terry for her birthday. I know. I'm not usually a knitter for other people. But the color was perfect for her (a really soft pale blue, which clearly doesn't show up in these pics...)

Le Scarf

The stitch is Purl Shell from Barbara Walkers Treasury of Knitting which I've renamed Treasury of Torture, since many of the stitches cause me to curse a lot.

Taking a Saturday morning stitch class at my LYS finally had me master it. It's really not as hard as I first thought, but definitely one of those stitches where you have to pay attention when knitting.

Up close look

I used four skeins of Merino Big Superfein from Lassa Grossa, which was 520 yards of yarn. This stitch is a bit of a yarn pig, as I didn't think I'd need the 4th skein, but used almost all of it.

All in all worth it because I think the scarf looks pretty unique. I've already started a purl shell scarf for me with different yarn. (Yes, for me. I know. Shocking.)

If Only I Could Train My Cat...

2006-12-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

If This Isn't Enough

2006-12-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

To keep me from munching on the holiday snacks being delivered to our office by the truckload....

...nothing is.

Does anyone else feel sorry for that chair? ;-)

I'm Not Dead

2006-12-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

Oh, I know. It seems like I am. I haven't posted in what seems like forever. I should probably blame my job as got promoted right about the time my posts stopped -- too coincidental to be just a coincidence.

Blogging has come to a screeching halt, but thankfully not all knitting. And my shopping for knitting? Certainly NOT stalled. I'm working on a few items. I'll post them soon.

I just wanted to let anyone who still reads this blog know that I am still a resident of the land of the living. Despite how my blog reads...

Will post pics & projects soon.

Promise.

My Secret Pal Went to France...

2006-08-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

Forget those lame assed t-shirts: "My (fill in relationship) went to (fill in city) and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

My secret pal went to France and I got way better than a lousy t-shirt. Check this out:

The secret package arrived at work on Monday.

I had no idea what it was. Our office manager who delivered the box to me said: "Yarn from France, perhaps?" (I guess she's figured out I'm a shopper.)

My response: "Hmmm. I don't know anyone in France. I and haven't bought anything online from there (that I can remember...)"

Wrapped goodies inside. Even the tissue paper from France was nice. All thick and textured.

Unwrapped

What _is_ all this stuff, you ask? Beautiful angora yarn from rabbits who live in a great chateau (my pal said photos were to arrive later on where and how they live); yummy French cookies; sea salt from France (can't wait to cook with that!); bath gel/soap (this particular part of France is known for their bath items); and the most adorable monkey pen.

See how fluffy?

Look at these adorable monkeys.

My pal can find the greatest stuff for me. Thanks, Secret Pal. I now need to figure out who you are.

Because I Need More Yarn

2006-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

My husband and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We got married at Carmel Valley Ranch and thought it would be a great place to visit again for this special weekend.

The night of our anniversary we had dinner at the Pacific Edge restaurant at the Highlands Inn.

The view from our table

My heirloom tomato salad (deeeeelish!)

The anniversary cake

The view after the sun set

I ordered the cake from the same bakery that made our wedding cake. I spoke with the restaurant in advance and told them it would be a surprise for my husband. The plan was: take our desert orders from the menu, but substitute what we order with the surprise cake.

All seemed to be going well until I saw that a cheese sampler was one of the desert choices. Since my husband is the lover of all things cheese, he studied the list and selected the three he thought would be best. While he placed the order I thought to myself, "damn the cheese course."

While the cake was truly delicious (and the added ice cream a complete bonus - diet be damned) my husband's response after we cut into the cake?

"I guess this means I'm not getting my cheese course?"

It was pretty funny.

Maybe next anniversary I'll have them make a cake of cheese.

While on our getaway weekend we had to stop at the LYS in the area. (Of course...)

I had visited Monarch Knitting in Pacific Grove the last time I was in the area, and I really liked the selection. Plus, the owner and her staff are completely friendly and helpful -- so why not stop in again and see what's there?

This is what I came home with. Because, you know, I need more yarn.

The polka dot black and white is actually for my mother

The brown will make this felted bear (minus the retarded "sweater" he's wearing...), which may eventually be a gift for my neice. Or not...

Inspired Again

2006-08-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

I've been a little dismayed by my knitting lately. I have SOOOO much yarn and SOOOO many patterns to make, but my last sweater attempt has left me gun shy.

As I mentioned here before, I'm sick of making scarves and yet another kitty pi. But it took the monthly knit and wine at my LYS to get me back into action.

I obviously couldn't go there with nothing to knit, so I scrounged around my stash and found some yarn I bought before the summer started. Nashua Wooly Stripes. One of the other knit and wine participants made a great mistake rib scarf using this yarn, alternating two skeins every two rows.

So I gave it a whirl. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Broken Rib Wooly Stripes Scarf

Now if only it would cool down enough to wear said scarf!

The pattern:
Multiple of 4 plus 3 sts
K2, P2 across row. End with K3
Repeat this row throughout

I Know There Are Ignorant People Out There...

2006-07-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

...But come on. This one takes the cake. (Mmmmm. Cake.)

My husband and I were in a taxi the other night going to a friend's house for dinner. We were in San Francisco, the city in which we both work and have lived for years before moving north over the Golden Gate bridge about 12 miles.

San Francisco. Bumfuck it ain't.

Or so I thought. We're at a red light. A pickup truck pulls up next to our taxi. Woman in passenger seat leans out the window and says to our driver:

Woman: "How do we get to 101 South?"

Driver: "Make a left at this light and go about 2 blocks. You'll see it on your right."

At this point, the guy driving the pickup truck who is out of our line of vision calls out the the taxi driver:

Redneck Asshole: "Hey. Where are all the gays at?"

Driver: "Huh?"

Redneck Asshole: "You know, gays."

When he didn't get a response, he kicks it up a notch:

Redneck Asshole: "OK. Where are the prostitutes at?"

I'm no pollyanna, but if I didn't hear this with my own two ears I may not have believed it. And not because he ended his questions with a preposition. But because of his sheer stupidity.

And...these two morons had little kids in the front seat with them. So for those of you wondering where ignorant children come from, I'll tell you: Ignorant parents. Wouldn't it be great if one or both of the kids turned out to be gay?

That would be just desserts, so to speak.

(Mmmm. Dessert.)

Secret Pal Goodies!

2006-07-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I've been remiss in posting pics of what my fab Secret Pal sent to me. Things have been a little busy (yeah, yeah, who isn't busy?) and my knitting, and all things related to it, have just taken a back seat.

Here's where my head is currently when it comes to knitting:

A.) It's friggin' hot out. Who wants to knit in this heat?
B.) I have 9 million projects but don't know which one to start.
C.) I'm still "perfecting" how to figure out adjusting sweater patterns for me and I don't want to start something that will just get ripped out.
D.) I'm the kind of knitter who wants to wear something immediately. There's nothing I want to wear less in 90 degree heat than a scarf, hat or sweater. And since I don't knit socks, that's not an option.

So those are my lame excuses for not posting about knitting or my Secret Pal. But enough of that. Let's see what my Secret Pal sent:

The packaging:

Everything wrapped up so nicely inside.

Now to the goodies:

Pattern and lovely red yarn to make the "potato chip" scarf. A friend of mine made this scarf and I was interested in making one myself. Now I can!

Mini tootsie rolls. Who doesn't love these? (These will stay hidden until I win my weight loss competition!)

And wait until you see this:

The Laughing Cow! My favorite. Where on earth did my Pal find this? It's a little tin tray with the famous cow. So great. I love it! And Monkey tissues! Adorable. Anything monkey is perfect for me.

A book that celebrates the power and potential on one: You. (Or in this case, Me.) It contains interesting quotes such as:

"Put your future in good hands--your own."

and

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift of life is yours; it is an amazing journey; and you alone are responsible for the quality of it."

Hmmm. My brother should contemplate that last quote...

And the very best (IMHO, tho it is hard to top the Laughing Cow...):

Beautiful glass beaded stitch markers.

I have always used the crappy plastic ones. Not any more. These are just beautiful. They could be earrings. Or a necklace. They'll be fun to knit with. I'm inspired to start something right away that needs markers!

My Pal also sent delicious raspberry Altoids, but those are on the desk in my office and were not able to participate in the photo shoot!

Thanks Secret Pal. You researched me well and did an awesome job of sending me unique things that are just my style. You're a great Pal! (And sorry, once again, for my late posting...)

Thanks Secret Pal!!!

2006-07-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

I got such a great box of goodies right before I left for the long holiday weekend. All of the items are truly fab. I will post pics tonight of my goodies.

Thanks Secret Pal. You're the best!

Obesity...Part Deux

2006-07-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

Who could imagine all that could happen as a result of purchasing a stupid scale?

As my previous post mentioned, I bought a new scale. This new purchase of mine tells me I'm 44% body fat. While I don't necessarily believe its technology and doubted its reading to be true, I was realistic enough to know that my body fat percentage was higher than it should be.

So last week, I had my body fat percentage tested at a nutritionist's office. (Said nutritionist also mentioned that I should start eating meat again -- which I found a bit strange for a Northern California nutritionist, but I digress...) Thankfully, my real body fat percentage is not 44%. But it ain't very pretty. It's 36%. And I should be in the vacinity of 24%. Oooof.

So now I'm faced with a decision: A.)Ignore it. Or B.) Do something about it.

I opted for B and decided to join Weight Watchers. I know. How dorky. But they must do something right. They've been around for 40 years and are the number one weight loss plan around for keeping weight off.

My friend Marissa decided to join me in my quest to lose a few. Which then led to the two of us crafting a little competition. Who could lose the most weight in a 10-week timeframe? The winner (ie: biggest loser) pays the loser (ie: not the biggest loser) $150 bucks.

That led to adding our frind Christina into our little competition. Which led to adding Judi, and Alison and Ally and Terry. Now we've got seven participants in our little weight loss-apalooza.

The rules are simple: she who loses the largest percentage of body weight after 10 weeks collects $150 from all the other participants. That's a total windfall of $900 smackers.

I'm going to win.

Think of the yarn I'll buy.

I'll keep you posted. Or you can follow along at our blog.

I Am Obese

2006-06-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yup. It's official. I'm obese.

I'm 43 years old (horrors!), almost 5 foot 9, wear a size 12 on most occasions, and yet, I'm obese.

O.B.E.S.E.

Not pleasantly plump. Not slightly overweight. Obese.

I could live with "she could lose a few pounds." I would prefer that some of my pants were less snug. And really, who couldn't drop 10 pounds and look better?

But obese? I'm having a hard time with this one.

Just where am I getting this data? Tanita. The scale people.

It all started with an Amazon Prime membership*. That's where you pay Amazon a $75 flat fee per year and get free 2nd day shipping on ANY product sold by Amazon. (The fine print: sold by Amazon -- not a third party merchant.)

Even with the fine print, it's a great deal. Especially if you share the membership with a friend from work. (You can add up to three family members on your account.) So according to Amazon, Christina and I are sisters. Hi Sis. How's your free shipping?

Anyway, back to my little obesity issue.

Christina ordered a new Tanita scale through her Amazon Prime account. (The amount of Amazon stuff that now arrives at our office is a little scary...).

She loves it. It's all digital. It gives body fat and water content percentages. Me, being the shopping whore that I am, think: "Why shouldn't I spend $50 bucks to save $7.99 in shipping? I need a new scale. My scale must be 15 years old, isn't digital and I should know my body fat and water percentages, too."

Two days later my scale arrived.

The next morning I got on it.

And holy fat ass, Batman -- my body fat percentage came up as 44%. Forty-fucking-four percent. What is that??? My body is almost 50 percent fat??? How could that be? Am I one of those people who don't realize that my belly is hanging over my pants? My ass fits in a coach airplane seat just fine. I work out. I can get my heart rate to 165 and still breathe. Yet I'm 44% body fat??

Then I look at the handy chart that Tanita provides, and low and behold -- I'm obese.

My husband doesn't believe any of this. He completely poo-pood their claims:

"Tanita has patented a revolutionary new way of measuring BIA that is faster, easier, less intrusive and includes a precision scale making this a simple one-step process. In fact, Tanita was the first company to introduce the world to the body fat monitor/scale. Tanita's monitor looks just like a bathroom scale. A person inputs age, gender and height, then steps onto the platform. Electrodes in the foot sensor pads send a low, safe signal through the body. Weight is calculated automatically along with body fat content in less than a minute. All Body Fat Monitor/Scales and UltimateScales feature Tanita's patented BIA method."

But he's not the one they're calling obese. I think it's time to find me someone with some fat calipers and determine my true fat count.

After I have my ice cream Sunday, of course. (Ha!)

*Imagine if Amazon sold yarn? It would be insane.

"Are You This Picky With Your Men?"

2006-06-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

That's what Joseph, the guy who sits at the reception desk at my office, said to me today when I dropped off yet another box for FedEx to pick up.

It all started innocently enough, but yet, it's the unfortunate reason I haven't knit ANYTHING all week.

Cell phone purchasing.

What a pain in the ass.

It was time to replace my Motorola V710. I had it for two years and was done with it. Technology had surpassed my boring phone and it was time for an upgrade. Also aiding my decision to upgrade was a strange class-action suit brought against Verizon for this particular phone -- which, to spare you all the dull details -- permitted me to return the V710, buy a brand new Verizon phone and get $250 off the purchase price.

Even someone as math-challenged as me could figure out that if I purchased a phone costing less than $250, I got to pocket the difference. (Hi. More yarn anyone?) Or, if I selected a more expensive phone, the first $250 would be covered.

Not a bad deal. Gotta love class-action suits. (OK, not really. I think they're all pretty stupid, but in this case I made out.)

So what kind of phone does a girl who loves pink go for?

The Pink Razr

It's adorable. It's pink. (A nice, light shade of pink, much more attractive, IMHO, than the fuscia pink introduced last year. Almost the exact shade of pink as my iPod mini.)

Problem was: I hated the phone. While still within the measly 15-day decision period that Verizon gives you to test out new phones, I decided the only thing I really liked about this phone was the color. The buttons on the side were all in the wrong place. It wasn't comfortable. And even with all the gadgets available today, I was still stuck sending text messages using the ultra inconvenient keypad as a keyboard.

So back in the box it went, whisked away by the nice FedEx man at work.

Next up:

The Motorola Q

Made by the same people who make the Razr. It's very hot now. And very thin. With a nice form factor. (Hmmm. I'd like to have those attributes...)

Joseph called to tell me another FedEx box had arrived at the front desk. The Motorola Q was about to become my new favorite gadget.

But then I started playing around with it. I found it uncomfortable. And unfortunately designed for right-handed people. The extremely useful scroll wheel was just not that useful for a lefty. The screen, while crisp, was kind of teeny. Worst of all was the Microsoft Windows Mobile interface.

Admission: I'm a Mac girl. I use a PC at work, but ultimately prefer my home Mac Mini. While I knew about the Windows Mobile thing going into this purchase, it just didn't sink in.

Until the had the phone in my hands to fiddle with. I didn't like the software at all. It was so, I don't know, Microsoft. I didn't like the calendar. I didn't like the datebook. I didn't like that it took 5 steps to get anywhere useful. I've used a Palm PDA for so many years I just wasn't ready to attempt to badly retrofit all my data into this Windows operating system.

So after two days of the Q, it too found itself in a return FexEx box waiting for the man in the FexEx uniform.

They say three's a charm (sorry for the bad cliche), but it's true. I've found true love.

The Treo 700p

Everything I wanted in a phone. Palm interface. Qwerty keypad so I don't spend 3 minutes typing a "I'll be home in 15 mins" text message to my husband. Phone and PDA in one package with an interface that I love.

Ok. It's not pink, there will be no slush money from the $250 rebate for yarn purchases and I've read more cell phone instruction manuals in the last 3 weeks than any human should have to read in a lifetime.

But I've found my new gadget and I love it. Now can somebody please bring me my knitting so I can get back to doing something fun?

SP8

2006-06-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

I received this postcard from my Secret Pal today:

How cute is that? It's from an artist named Yoshitoma Nara. I love that they're so mad.

My Friend Christina Thinks I'm Crazy

2006-06-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Why?

Because I wrote a complaint letter to Safeway via their website today.

I guess that's just me. The Safeway in my town sucks. Seriously. I guess this was the trip that broke this camel's back, so to speak, so today I opted to let them know.

Christina suggested I post this on my blog so that others can learn how to write a complaint letter. I'm not sure this one qualifies as one of my better complaint letters (yeah, yeah, I write them often...) but I'll post it here anyway.

Dear Safeway:

I don't understand why my local Safeway is such a terrible store. Nothing is ever in stock, the store is a wreck, even the Safeway branding inside the store is half missing -- it's like the Safeway that time forgot.

With all the competition in this area, I'm surprised at the horrible condition of this location. My checker said it best last night: "Well, I guess they don't want to spend the money to have items restocked in the evening."

It was 8:30 pm and the shelves were bare. No blueberries. No strawberries. Nothing but a few green bananas that even a chimp would turn down. The yogurt aisle was wiped clean, as was the frozen ice cream department (no sugar free, fat free fudgesicles for me...). I opted for frozen blueberries instead -- and even those were out of stock! My trip was a complete waste of time.

If this Safeway doesn't want to pay the money to keep its shelves stocked, then I don't want to pay the money to buy my groceries here. I'll be sure to frequent (the other two local stores) much more from now on.

What a disappointing store. Safeway should be ashamed.

So there you have it. My letter to Safeway. What can I say? When I get mad, I speak my mind. And for those of you who think I only send letters to complain, I have been known to send complimentary letters, as well...they're just not as much fun.

You Say Fashion Show, I Say Fugly

2006-05-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is one of those posts where I might insult some of you. Yet I don't feel I need to apologize in advance. I say that because on some level, I feel those who are insulted are really the ones who need to apologize to the rest of us.

What am I talking about? Knitters who give knitters a bad name.

We've all experienced it. We tell someone that we knit and the conversation goes south pretty rapidly. For example, who among us hasn't experienced a similar casual conversation:

Knitter: "Yes...my (insert: weekend, evening, vacation, commute on the bus, etc.) was nice, too. I got to work on a bit of my (insert current knitting project) and make some progress."

Friend/acquaintance of knitter: "Ha! Knitting. My grandmother used to knit. Yeah, that sounds really hip."

Knitter: "No, it's not knitting like that. I don't make doilies and tea cozies."

Friend/acquaintance of knitter: "Yeah, right. Sure you don't."

And there you have it. The perception that knitting is grandmotherly. Many non-knitters out there think that knitting is all about dorky, unnecessary household items, misshapen sweaters, ugly unwearables and scratchy wool items that need a few months with some moths in a dark, damp place.

They don't understand that knitting isn't like that. Knitters are not required to be in a rocking chair with a cat underfoot as they knit into oblivion lining their drawers and cabinets with lacey placemats and gifting their families with ugly items.

We, the knitters, know that. We, through our blogging and shopping at great yarn stores and felting and knitting truly beautiful stuff, hopefully are changing the perception of knitting-is-just-for-grandmothers thinking one non knitter at a time.

But then, out of the blue, you come across a link from the recent Knitting Guild of America's Knit and Crochet Show held in Northern California.

And all bets are off.

This, my dear fellow knitters, are pictures from their Fashion Show held in April 2006.

Am I the only one cringing at these so called fashions?

What IS this thing??

Please tell me you DIDN'T knit a top and matching skirt.

Last I checked, hot pink doesn't match green and black stripes. That aside, this wrap-cum-scarf-cum-giant tube is just fugly.

Knitting with rags. It's the new cool. Really, it is. You haven't heard?

I'm not picking on this item because the woman is large. I could care less. I'm picking on this because it's UGLY. In any size.

No doubt this was a complicated piece to knit. That doesn't make it pretty.

This pattern as a scarf? With different colors? Maybe. As a square jacket that touches you everywhere and flatters you nowhere? No.

Hi. I know A LOT of stitches. Some of them are really, really hard. And I'm going to knit a sweater that incorporates every single one. In one garment. I am. I am.
Hi. It's still ugly.

Was that the whistle for the fashion train about to leave the station? Ladies, aka "Fashion Show" winners? You just missed the train.

Boring Blog

2006-05-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

I know. My blog is boring lately. My knitting has been boring lately. I have 5 zillion projects waiting to start, but I'm my own worst enemy because of my latest obsession with altering patterns to fit me the way I want.

Which means that I will no longer start a pattern in "hopes" of it fitting when I'm done. I've gone that route and it turns out ugly. On so many fronts. My new obsession means I have to do "the maths" every time I want to start a new project.

I'm not such a big fan of "the maths."

It requires the use of a calculator. And thinking. And counting. And concentration. And rewriting the original pattern.

So here I sit working of scarf after boring scarf or kitty pi after kitty pi because they are easy and don't need pattern rewriting. But I've got the long weekend and I'm determined to at least get the pattern reworked so I can cast on a new not-a-scarf, not-another-kitty-pi project.

Wish me luck!

On the SP8 front, my spoiling pal sent me an adorable Hallmark ecard. This one was wishing me a happy long weekend. Why can't all weekends be three days? For the secret pal that I'm spoiling, I've been reading up on her through her blog and have started to build her first care package. Were it not for a killer migraine on Thursday nite that kept me from my LYS "knit and whine" event, I would have been able to send off a package already.

I Should Be Surprised By This?

2006-05-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted and moody. And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

What's Your Ideal Pet?

Help Pass the PETS Act

2006-05-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

To all my pet-loving blog stalkers...

If you read my blog regularly, you've read about our Katrina foster kitty Henry and his unfortunate ending. As you can imagine, losing Henry was quite sad.

In honor of him, on Sunday, June 11 at 3 pm, my husband (CrazyCatMan) and I are hosting an event to raise money for the passage the PETS (The Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards) Act -- which would protect animals in future disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Thousands of people were forced to leave their pets on the street as they evacuated due to laws and regulations that simply made no accomodation for pets to be rescued along with their guardians. This made a heartbreaking situation worse for the people, and a sheer hell for the animals.

If you're local to the Bay Area, please RSVP "yes" and make a contribution of whatever you can. 100% of the funds we raise will go directly to the Humane Society of the United States' legislative fund to pass the PETS Act and other humane laws.

If you are busy and can't attend, or just live too far from our party location, RSVP "no" but please consider making a contribution nonetheless to help us achieve our fundraising goal.

Find out all the details here: Friends of Henry

Feel free to pass share this post with other animal lovers to help pass this important legislation.

Hope to see you on June 11.

Thanks.

P.S. Donations to the Humane Society Legislative Fund are used exclusively to press for new laws to protect animals from cruelty and therefore are not tax deductible.

SP8 Questionnaire

2006-05-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love merino wool, alpaca, alpaca blends, merino blends, mohair. Anything wool based. I do not like cottons, 100% silk (it smells funny to me) or acrylic. I despise acrylic yarn unless it's a novelty yarn that's fun and not cheap looking.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
After many attempts of finding storage, I settled on some ziplock closure pencil cases that I bought at Office Depot. I have about 6 or 7 of them connected with binder rings. Each case is numbered with a range of needle sizes, ie: 1-5; 6-8; 9-11, etc. In each, I put the appropriately sized needles. Straight needles that are too tall go in the bottom drawer of my desk. It's not perfect, but it sort of works until I find something better. My friend Marissa gave me a beautiful Sally Spicer hanging bag that she uses for her needles, but I think I have too many to jam in. I like that piece better for packing my make up when I travel.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting since February 2005. My mom showed me one stitch, the knit stitch, and I went nuts after that needing to learn everything I possibly could. I took classes, I read books, I ask all kinds of questions. I would say that I'm intermediate at this point. But I still have lots I still need to master.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No, but I should. But on second thought, I'm not sure a wishlist would have anything on it. When I want something I buy it. It's why my family can never figure out what to buy for me.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I am very picky about scents. Primarily, I hate perfume. But there are scents that I love: lavender, Goatmilk from Crabtree & Evelyn (don't ask me what it's called Goatmilk. It smells nothing like a goat and nothing like milk!), the baby line from Crabtree -- it used to be called Tom Kitten but now it's just their baby line. I also like linden blossom essential oil.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I wish I only had a sweet tooth. Unfortunately, I have sweet teeth. I love many kinds of candy. Smarties. See's peanut brittle (chocolate covered or not), red Twizzlers, Milk Duds, Tootsie Rolls. M&Ms. See what I mean? And this is just the short list.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
The only spinning I do it at the gym on a spin cycle! (And it's been a while. Must get back to the gym!) I looked at spinning at the Stitches West show and it looks interesting, but it would take time away from knitting so I'll stick to purchasing yarns instead. My true creative outlet is knitting. Although I sometimes wish I had a sewing machine because I think I could become addicted to that (odd given that I HATE to sew by hand...) but I don't want to even think about where a sewing machine would go in my house. I live with the equivalent of Felix Unger, and my husband would not think a sewing machine was "tidy" enough!

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
My computer can play MP3s. I like alternative music, "chill" music, stuff like Moby, Zero 7 and Delirium. I also like a lot of what I call "chick music:" Sara McLaughlan, Madonna, Alanis Morisette, Dido, Frou Frou, etc. I also find myself stuck in the 80s & 90s sometimes because I still like Tears for Fears, INXS, George Michael, Simply Red and stuff like that.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I have a few favorite colors: pink, purple, red and orange. When it comes to yarns I find myself falling into color themes. I'll buy everything in the red family for a while. Then pink. Then oranges. I like certain shades of blue and green. I am not a big fan of browns and tans and beige. I completely stay away from yellow and yellow-based hues. They make me look dead.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married with cats. My husband's nickname is CrazyCatMan. This is why.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, yes (but sizing can be an issue what with my big head), not so much, I've had a bad experience with a particular poncho so for now I'm sticking with just one.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Scarves. Purses, felted or not. Sweaters, if I can ever master them. And I like vests. I know a lot of people laugh at vests, but I like them. The ones I like are not dorky. At least that's what I think!

13. What are you knitting right now?
I'm knitting a very simple scarf using some novelty yarn that I just picked up on sale. I don't normally like novelty yarns but this one was fun. It's kind of a pain to work with it, but I'm hoping once I start the next skein I'll be used to it.

Fuzzy Scarf (bad flash)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I'm a very picky person so I think my answer here is no, but it really depends -- because if it is really suited to me it would be foolish to say no.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I tend to use bamboo circulars for mostly everything, but lately I've been getting frustrated with the length of the actual bamboo part. I've discovered 10" bamboos, which are a great size for a scarf because they don't hit the arms of chair. Primarily I have Clover bamboos, but I just bought a pair of Lantern Moon 10" straights (the ends looked like leopard dots...) and Brittany. They are both very nice. I might have to get more. I'm tempted to try Adi Turbos because so many people rave about them, but what if like them? It means a whole new collection of needles I'd have to buy.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Both.

17. How did you learn to knit?
See question 3.

18. How old is your oldest UFO?
About 8 months.

19. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween. I love pumpkins. I can never throw mine out. I make my husband do it when I'm not looking. It makes me sad. To me Halloween signifies the start of winter and the general holiday season. And the weather finally starts to get cold in Northern California. Or what Northern Californians call cold.

20. Is there anything that you collect?
I like monkeys. Sock monkeys. Small stuffed monkeys. But only if they're cute. Paul Frank Julius the monkey. Felix the Cat. Polka dotted things. I love polka dots. Pens. I love a good, fun pen. Or a good, good pen. I also collect wine. I tend to buy more wine than I drink. Sounds like my yarn buying, too. I buy more than I knit. Oh yeah. Shoes. I like to buy shoes. Is that collecting?

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get
your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I subscribe to Vogue Knitting and Interweave. I used to subscribe to Creative Knitting but couldn't stand the patterns, the models, the makeup, the colors, the yarns. Horrible. I own the first two Barbara Walker stitch books. (They intimidate me. I love them, but they still intimidate me.) I just bought the Vogue Stitch book. I also have the two Stitch and Bitch books. Another one on scarves. Probably some other random ones as well. I believe that the more books I own, the better knitter I will become simply through the process of ownership. Not sure there's any truth to that, but I'll keep believing!

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I want to learn how to knit polka dots into something. Like a big felted bag with a dot on one or both sides. I'm on a kick to learn about pattern sizing and adjusting for me. I'm sick of making stuff of which I don't like the fit. I want to finish that one perfect sweater. And then make it in 6 different colors. I'm not sure I ever will. I also want to learn how to cable without a cable needle. And I'd like to knit in colors. Not fair aisle stuff (that looks way too detail oriented) but the ability to work in different colors as I knit a particular piece.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
No. I will never knit socks. You'd find me in the looney bin if I attempted socks. I have a very petite (not) size 10 foot.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
Tax Day. April 15. I was born the year JFK was shot (ie: you do the math!). Coincidentally, April 15 is also the date Lincoln died and the Titanic sunk. (Clearly very different years.) What a day!

25. Do you have a favorite local yarn store?
Yes. Urban Knitting in San Francisco.

26. Tell me three stores where you like the style of what they sell. You don't actually have to shop there, and it doesn't matter what it is that they sell (clothes, yarn, furniture, whatever.)
I love Design Within Reach, Knoll, West Elm, Banana Republic, Sea Ranch Lodge, Press, The Carneros Inn, Urban Knitting, Studio-Knit.

27. Any favorite drinks, snacks, foods?
Sticking to the coffee arena, my Starbucks card gets a workout every morning. And Pete's Coffee (local to the Bay Area) is pretty much crack for the non drug addicts among us. There's this other local coffee chain (mostly in LA but a few up north) called Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Their iced blended Ultimate is appropriately named. Yum.

28. Do you have any allergies?
I'm allergic to just about every eyeshadow other than Bobbi Brown, I sneeze when I dust (what an excuse to have a housecleaner!) but other than that I've been spared the bad allergies gene. My sister? Not so lucky. The mention of pollen has her sniffling and sneezing.

29. Anything else? Pet peeves? Alien abductions? Stories from camp?
My list of pet peeves is so long, so I'll keep it brief. It drives me NUTS when people say "you guyses" as if "guys" isn't already plural. If I've been abducted, I still have no memories of it. I wish I did because riding in the spaceship was probably a blast! I was not allowed (hello???) to go to camp. But when I was about 9 or 10 years old I wrote a letter to the Laughing Cow cheese company asking them to please send me the cow from their cheese label. I thought it would be fun to have a cow in the backyard. Sadly, they never replied. :-(

So what that the cow is red and a cartoon? I didn't care...

Secret Pal 8

2006-05-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

One day when reading Inky's blog, I heard about this thing called SP7. Secret Pal 7. Apparently, it was the seventh time that knitters threw their hat in the ring and participated in the co-spoiling of a knitter anonymously. (IE, Knitter A spoils Knitter B, while Knitter C is spoiling Knitter A.) All the while the knitter being spoiled has no idea who's actually doing the spoiling.

The rules for Secret Pal 8 are here, to give you a better idea of how this whole thing works.

Call me crazy but I thought it sounded interesting. Of course, I missed the deadline for participation in SP7, but added my name to the list of knitters for SP8. I even volunteered to be a hostess for SP8. Not knowing exactly what that meant, or realizing that my hostessing duties would fall pretty close to the busiest time at my office (!).

Fast forward to today. The biggest part of my hostessing duties are behind me: I had a list of about 25 people who had to be matched up to each other based on various criteria like interests, allergies, pet ownership, the desire (or not such desire) to make or receive hand-made items, etc. I then had to contact each of them and let them know who they were to spoil. They each then need to contact the person they are spoiling. But the trick is, it's secret. You can't let the person you're spoiling know it's you doing the spoiling.

But not only am I a hostess, I'm also a participant. (Geeze. I sound like that guy from the Hair Club of America. "I'm not just the president, I'm also a member...)

And today, my spoiler introduced her secret self to me with a cute e-card from Hallmark.

I owe my spoiler my "questionnaire" so she can learn more about who I am and what I like (and what I hate) and that will follow shortly.

And I have to start learning about the person I'm spoiling.

In the meantime, check out SP8. You never know. You might be tempted to join SP9.

Let the spoiling begin!

Short Rows for Busty Babes

2006-04-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

I started this post weeks ago. Since then, my job got crazy and kept me from knitting anything all that substantial, which also meant not a whole lot of blogging. (I work for a company that produces trade shows and for the last 6 weeks or so leading up the event, I've been working most nights till 9 pm -- so you can imagine how much time that left me to have a life, yet alone a life where one knits and blogs!)

Prior to work going nuts, I had made progress with a particular sweater project, so I started this post, thinking that I would add an ending quickly...and that it would be positive. That's not exactly the way things turned out. So here's how the post originally started, with the unfortunate ending.

Short Rows

I have heard that short row shaping is a great way to add, well, shape, to a sweater for those who fall into the "busty" category. Since that's me, I wanted to discover more about these things called short rows.

(Hi co-worker Ben who for some reason likes to read my knitting blog. This is all about knitting for girls with big boobs. Are you blushing yet?)

I did a little online surfing and came up with this very helpful article in Knitty. The image below, in particular, really visualizes the benefits of short rows for busty babes.

See how short rows provide a little cuppage? (Thank you Knitty for the image.)

Upon further searching, I found this article from MagKnits, also with detailed instruction on short row shaping -- and it included how many stitches to increase on each side based on bust size:

6 for C cup, 12 for D and 18 for DD.

(Ben -- still with us??)

Better still was the video from one of my favorite websites, Knittinghelp.com. Reading how to knit something is one thing. Watching it on video is completely different. That's why I love knittinghelp.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should.

I'm working on my seamless sweater again. Only this time I have the right gauge, so it's coming along nicely. I was at the point for adding short rows, and I decided to give it whirl.

But...I screwed up when it came to knitting the stitches with the wraps.

Those obvious lines? I'm guessing they shouldn't be visible

So I ripped back and redid. (This orange yarn is convinced it will never truly be a sweater. Ever.)

Attempt number two seems to be successful. I'm not sure I like the way the stockinette stitch changes direction -- but the weird stitch line from the first attempt is gone -- and the short rows do provide added room in the front of the sweater.

One thing that bugs me, though, is that because this sweater is knit from the top down, the darts aim in the wrong direction. I'm concerned that may be bad.

I asked Helen from Urban Knitting if it looked bad enough to rip out. She's the queen of telling me to rip, and when she said no, I was thrilled. I'm continuing along --not convinced I won't rip -- but for now I keep knitting.

Update: I decided I hated this sweater. Not so much because of the short rows, but the whole sweater. It was too tight. Yes, the short rows provided extra give, but it just didn't work. It was a boobfest. (And not in a good way.) So I ripped again. But this time I ripped the whole sweater. Not just to where I started the short rows.

I'm not sure it it's me, the yarn, the pattern, the phase of the moon...But this sweater may not ever happen. For now I just end this post, frustrated that I've started and restarted this sweater too many times. This yarn will sleep soundly in my stash drawer until I find a different pattern...

Ben, you looking for something in a nice orange worsted wool?

Shopping for Yarn in Pebble Beach

2006-03-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

My husband had a business trip to Pebble Beach so I tagged along. And even though I am on a strict yarn (and everything else purchase-able) diet for the next many months thanks to my car engine blowing up and needing a 10 thousand dollar (!!!!!) replacement, the trip was planned weeks before the car happs. Since I had already stalked out the local yarn sellers, I wasn't NOT going to see what the local stores had to offer just because a stupid car engine had a complete and fatal seizure.

We checked into the world-renowned Inn at Spanish Bay. Five-star hotel, blahbity blah, blah. Whatever. I'm a hotel snob, having stayed in some of the world's finest hotels due to a great job I had years ago, but IMHO, this hotel is completely overrated. Granted, we did not have an ocean view which does alter one's opinion, but even if we did, I would say that the view was spectacular, but the hotel? Nothing to write home about. Or for that matter, nothing to blog about, so that's all I'll say about the Inn at Spanish Bay.

Overrated hotels aside, the whole Pebble Beach/Carmel/Monterey area is beautiful. While my husband was busy working, I took a drive on the famous 17-mile drive, and even though I've done this drive before, I still find it as striking as ever. I left NY almost 13 years ago yet I still am in awe of the beauty of the West Coast.

One of the many lookout points of the 17-mile drive

Pebbles. Beach. Oh, I get it. Pebble Beach.

After my 17-mile drive (or most of it), it was time for yarn store visiting. First up was Knitting by the Sea on 5th and Junipiero in downtown Carmel. It's a very small store that perfectly fits the whole aura of downtown Carmel. The woman in the shop was the owner and we chatted about many things yarn. She had a nice selection of yarns -- some I've seen before and some I hadn't.

Key for me when visiting a non-local yarn shop is to find something I haven't seen before. Otherwise, what's the point? "Oh, I got this Rowan in Carmel." Big whoop.

I spotted some Elsebeth Lavold angora that was quite nice.

The green is kind of avocado. Clearly my photos need some work...

Since I didn't really have a pattern in mind -- and let's not forget that new engine purchase hanging over my head -- I bought a measly three skeins for a scarf. It's very soft and lofty, so I'm sure my scarf will be great. (And...if I really want to make something more, Knitting by the Sea will ship anywhere.)

Before heading to the next yarn store on my tour, I diverted off the "yarn only" concept and stopped in Concepts -- a jewelry and art store where my husband and I found my wedding band. I wanted to see if its designer, Barbara Heinrich, had anything new I could covet. Of course she did, and how annoying that it looks great with my existing rings? (It's the one on the far right on her site.) It's called "gears." And guess what? It's only $2835. I believe that's why it's called coveting...

OK. Back to stuff I can sort of afford. Monarch Knitting and Quilt in downtown Pebble Beach.

The woman there was also really nice. This was a much larger store than the one in Carmel and had a wider selection. Again, only looking for stuff I hadn't seen anywhere else, I was attracted to this crazy mohair that reminded me of a Dalmation dog. With almost 300 yards to the skein (and a very within-my-budget $8.99), one ball will make a fun scarf.

Somewhere in one of Cruella de Ville's closets is a bunch of this stuff

I also spotted some Handpaint Wool from Plymouth Yarn. This was $12.99 and came with a free hat pattern. Being the hat whore that I am, I could not pass it up. A nice purpley/pink variegated yarn was now mine.

I made the hat on the drive home

Since I had a little extra yarn, Chance got a hat, too

I think I'll felt his little hat and stuff it with catnip. Something tells me that will get more use...

Redeemed

2006-03-08T07:38:00.000-08:00

To follow up on my knitting shit I hate post, I can happily say that my kermit the frog green purse now falls into the "things I knitted and like" category.

I cut off that doofus handle (I love that you can just cut felted items!) and replaced it with a pair of lucite handles that I bought at my scary local crafts store. Some sewing was required (not a favorite pastime of mine...), but it was quick to do.

I'm just waiting for the magnetic clasp to arrive in the mail, and then kermit will make his debut to the outside world.

Kermit the Fuzzy Purse

Henry Update

2006-03-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

We all heard the stories of the animals left behind after the Katrina disaster. I blogged about our Katrina foster kitty Henry, who came to us via our local animal shelter's Orphans of the Storm recovery effort.

Henry lived with us for 3 months in his own room, away from our resident cats (SOP for foster cats). He was quite sick for much of time, but eventually he got well and we brought him back to the shelter to be put up for adoption.

His stay at the shelter has not been a pleasant one. Because of stress and I'm sure myriad other reasons, his illness would reoccur and Henry would be taken off the adoption circuit to recover. For one brief long weekend, he came back to our home to recuperate once again.

My husband and I have visited Henry every week since he's been back at the shelter. And always it's the same story from the adoption staff: "Yes, Henry is such a sweet cat but no one seems interested in him."

My husband was convinced that Henry would never get adopted and really wanted to give him a loving home. Even with our existing cat family (hello?? 6 cats!), my CrazyCatMan husband felt that we must take Henry home.

We agreed that when he returned from an upcoming 10-day business trip, if Henry was still not adopted, we would seriously consider adopting him.

Unfortunately, this week while CrazyCatMan was on said trip, Kristen, the Foster Care Manager from our shelter, IM'd me.

Basically, she said, Henry was not doing well. He was sick again and they did further bloodwork on him to see if he is FIP positive. And he is. Feline Infectious Peritonits. A deadly cat disease with no cure.

Henry can't come home with us. His disease would put all of our resident cats in severe jeopardy. Moving him to a former co-worker's cat sanctuary is also not an option because the trip would compromise his condition further.

It breaks my heart to write this, but Henry will be put to sleep on Saturday morning. CrazyCatMan and I will be by his side to love him and make his last minutes on earth pleasant. Even though we feel we did the best we could for him, sometimes the best is still not enough.

Cables Are Not So Scary

2006-03-01T02:09:00.000-08:00

Since I've taken up knitting, most of my subscribed-to magazines collect dust. So I figured if I subscribe to Vogue Knitting, I might actually read one of my magazines for a change.

My first issue, Winter 2005, arrived, and it featured this sweater and scarf pattern:

The scarf kind of blends in with the sweater here...

I had just purchased some super soft Blue Sky Alpaca that had no specific project associated with it -- so I decided to make the scarf. (Let's not be crazy -- taking on the sweater might land me right in the looney bin.)

I adjusted the pattern a bit to make the scarf less wide. The original called for about 120 cast on stitches -- I adjusted to 62.

Here's what I've got after one skein: 11 inches

The cables are really easy and the bobbles are truly not so hard. Knitting the four final stitches together is a bit annoying, but there's only one bobble in a 16 row repeat, which means there will be 30 bobbles in the finished scarf. Maybe by bobble 28 I'll be the master of K4tog!

One skein down. Four to go.

Stiches (and Bitches) West 06

2006-02-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

I heard of knitting trade shows before, but never attended one. (I've only been knitting for a year, and it's not like they're in my town every month...)

So when I heard that Stitches West 06 was going to be about an hour's drive from where I live, my friend Marissa and I planned to attend.

Attention Yarn Whores. Get in Here.

I imagined a convention center filled with vendors upon vendors selling yarns and yarn-like accessories of stuff I've never seen before. Shopping galore. Bags and bags of stuff wedged into my trunk for the drive home. And it was sort of like that, but also sort of not.

There were many "this is your grandmother's knitting" kind of vendors. (Nothing against the grannies, but they do give knitting an "old lady" reputation.) There were lots of rather unhip vendors selling a lot of boring, blah yarns. A few were there to sell bags of sale yarns that if you asked yourself the all-important shopper's question "would I buy this at full retail?" the answer would be a resounding "no!"

But there were certainly vendors that made the trip worthwhile. Many are small companies that you can't find in your local yarn stores. Some had beautiful yarns of interesting colors. One booth even gave us a brief introduction to spinning. It looked interesting, but thanks -- I'll just keep buying ABS yarn. (Already Been Spinned.) All that spinning would take time from my knitting!

WEBS' booth was jammed with both shoppers and a whole lot of yarn. Their stuff is quite nice and really affordable. Both Marissa and I bought more yarn for a kitty pi ($4.99 a skank, plus a discount, isn't bad for a cat bed. It's not a thick as Patons UpCountry -- but hey, it's not discontinued and my cats need another kitty pi.)

From WEBS I also bought some wonderful Malibrigo that was so soft I couldn't resist. Yeah, yeah, I broke my sort of rule that I won't buy yarn without knowing what I'm making with it, but this was too nice. And when I finish the 7 gazillion projects on my list, this will make a really nice sweater. Eventually.

The other booth that was really crowded was Tess' Designer Yarns. Marissa's dog is named Tess, so we laughed as we entered the booth as she asked: "What kind of yarn has Tess made for us and why isn't she sharing the profits with her momma?"

While I hate to say it (you'll see why later), they had nice yarns. But it wasn't cheap. And not that I went to Stitches West looking for bargains -- but Tess' Designer Yarns is expensive for what it is.

They had a very beautiful ribbon yarn with samples that showed how well it knits up. I was already imagining a scarf with an interesting pattern and had to have the emerald green at $25 skank. We wanted the deep red as well, but none were out on the tables. We asked one of the staff who suggested we speak to Melinda. Melinda almost bit our heads off when we asked for the red, so I just moved to the cashier to pay for the green. And here's what happened next:

Cashier: "Oh, we have a show special on that yarn and you can get two for $20 each."

Me: "Yes, I know. But the other color I want is not on the table."

Cashier: "We can get that for you, there are plenty of boxes underneath."

Me: "Yes, I know that, too. But when we asked that woman (pointing to Melinda) she was not the least bit interested in helping us."

Cashier: (befuddled) "But what do you mean?"

Me: "Well, quite frankly, she was rather rude and not interested, so let's just call it a day and I'll take only the green."

New Cashier Sitting Nearby: (with an attitude) "That woman you're taking about happens to be the owner."

Me: (never amazed how quickly my NY attitude kicks in) "Oh really? Well that's even more reason for her to treat her customers with respect."

At this point, I was so ready to throw the green yarn on the table (or, quite frankly, the floor, just to make a point) but I really wanted the damn yarn. Oh how the yarn ho is conflicted.

The original cashier was getting physically nervous so I poured on my faux-friendly Californian attitude.

Me: "You're the only one in this booth who's polite. Let's just complete this sale and I can move on."

And as we left the booth Marissa summed it up quite nicely: "My Tess is much nicer than those bitches."

After checking out their website, we discovered that Melinda is, in fact, the owner, and the obnoxious little cashier is her daughter. (And if you want to see some really lame prom & graduation pictures, it's worth a visit for a chuckle.) But don't buy anything. As I said, their yarns are nice, but not all that unique and too expensive for what you get. And who wants to support a company where the owner and daughter are two rude and nasty peas in a pod?

All in all it was an OK day. I bought some good stuff, found some good yarn sellers and enjoyed a good laugh at some of the awful clothing samples on display. Would I go again? Probably, because you never know what you might miss if you don't go. (Hello? Can you say problem shopper?)

But I would sign up for a knitting class as I've heard they're great, and I wouldn't buy from Tess' Designer Yarns.

Bitches or not, I picked up some good stash

Frog I Am

2006-02-24T13:10:00.000-08:00

Considering the amount of knitting I frog, it was easy for me to answer Val when she IM'd me earlier today with the question: "What is frogging?" "Ripping," I said. "Something I know very well." But I also told her that I had no idea why it was called frogging.

She then sent me this link to Knitty where it was all explained.

In nature, frogs say "rip it, rip it." In knitting, we say "frogging."

Ah ha. Light bulb: on.

This article also gives a name to backing out of knitting. (Something else I do quite frequently.) Tink. Why? Because it's knit spelled backwards. Backing out of knitting. Oh so clevah, as my mother would say.

But that's not all the article revealed. How 'bout a trick for ripping out a bunch of rows without painstakingly having to put all those stitches back on the needle? Just place a smaller needle or thread on the row under the row with the mistake and rip, rip, rip. The article has photos and very clear instruction.

This is a tip I'm sure to use again and again...

Rip it. Rip it.

Thanks for the link, Val!

I'm Sick of Knitting Shit I Hate

2006-02-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

I've become one with the concept of "ripping is a part of knitting." I'm comfortable with my little "problem" of buying more yarn than one human would ever need or closets could ever store.

But I am not content with the fact that I still create projects that I ultimately hate.

Case in point. The "cute little felted purse." My first attempt failed miserably because I used non-felting wool. I didn't fret, I moved on. I bought new, felt-able wool and started again.

And this is what I wound up with (note: the color is not this bad in real life):

Unfelted. Not bad. Has potential.

Felted. Bad. I hate it.

What's with the handle? It's stupid. Too short. Too horsey. I know it's been said to "trust the pattern." So I did. Despite the fact that I knew the handle was too wide. But I "trusted the pattern" and thought all would solve itself in the felting process.

It didn't.

Lesson learned: Trust my instincts and adapt where necessary.

Valerie's "cute little felted purse" came out really cute. Mine? Not so cute. Time to cut off the handles, re-wash to blend in the cut marks, then replace the horsey, knitted handle with something else.

I'll keep you posted.

Make Room For...Yarn

2006-02-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

Remember that Nordstrom tv campaign: "Make room for shoes?" The woman in the spot was getting rid of whatever she could (in one, her husband...) because she needed more room for shoes.

In my case, I'm getting rid of yarn -- to make room for, well, more yarn.

I've admitted in this blog before that I have a bit of a problem when it comes to buying yarn. I like to buy yarn. I like to buy lots of yarn. But after reviewing my yarn stash this weekend, it became incredibly obvious that I buy too much yarn. So, I'm having a sale.

I listed 11 auctions of yarns today on ebay. Lots of Rowan, some GGH, and some random stuff as well. Maybe there's something that you'd like for your own stash.

And as they say at ebay: Thanks for looking!

Two Words on Felting: No Superwash

2006-01-30T13:24:00.000-08:00

I've had success felting two Kitty Pi beds for my cats. I'm into this whole felting craze. My cats are into this whole felting craze.

I love the excitement of putting this humongo knitted thing in the washer and taking it out in a completely different, yet usable, form. Call me crazy. I love it.

So when my friend Marissa found this adorable felted purse pattern and made herself this purse, I wanted in, as well.

I had just purchased some beautiful black superwash wool and had a ton of black eyelash yarn from an abandoned project. Why make another hat? I would make a fuzzy black purse instead.

It knit up in hours. I was ready to felt. But not before Acacia could examine the fluffiness of my knitted item.

Here's what it looked like pre-felted:

And here's what it looked like post-felted:

Funny. They look exactly the same.

And that's when I learned this important point: Superwash is secret knitting code for "doesn't felt."

Not with one run in the hot cycle. Not with two. Not even with THREE and an overnight soak in hot water.

Superwash. Washable yarn. Go figure. It's treated so it doesn't felt. Yet I missed this concept entirely.

The black, fluffy, stretched out non-felted purse is now in the trash. I couldn't even bother ripping it out.

Now I've got the right wool and I'm starting again...

Cascade 220 felts nicely. I know. It's what Marissa used...

You Can Take the Girl Out of New York...

2006-01-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

This summer will be 13 years since I moved from New York to San Francisco. While I much prefer the weather and my lifestyle on this coast, I guess I'm still a New Yorker at heart...

You Belong in New York City

You're an energetic, ambitious woman.
And only NYC is fast enough for you.
Maybe you'll set yourself up with a killer career
Or simply take in all the city has to offer.

What City Do You Belong In?

Happy Birthday. Hope You Like Your Present. Now Give it Back.

2006-01-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

That's pretty much what I told my friend Terry when we had dinner for her birthday.

Terry had always commented on how much she liked the first poncho I knitted. So I knew that I would make her one, it was just a matter of when -- because there are two kinds of knitters: those who knit for others and those who knit for themselves. And since I fall into the second bucket of knitters (aka: the selfish bitches) finding the time to knit said poncho for Terry would prove to be difficult.

Almost a year passed before I finally took the plunge and purchased the yarn. Because her birthday is in December my procrastinating was justified. (See how naturally I justifed that??)

Once the yarn arrived I began the project. Also on deck was a matching hat. This is a really easy pattern and you can make it with Lion Brand yarn. (ewe. I know. But it works for this pattern, I swear.)

Before the poncho was finished, and before the hat was even started, I called Terry to schedule a birthday dinner where I would present her present. Dinner was approaching fast, and I just ran out of time. Not to mention, it was January. So I was late on many fronts.

What do I do?

Bring it with me anyway. Unfinished. But nicely wrapped!

Happy Birthday.

I promised the matching hat and weaved-in ends hanging everywhere would be done soon -- after she gave me back the present I just gave her. And now, almost two weeks after our dinner, Terry's birthday gift is finally complete!

Poncho

Hat

Up close view. I used a Berrocco eyelash yarn for the trim.

Is Ugly the New Pretty?

2006-01-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

This is my completed Zephyr poncho from the Rowan Plaid book. I finished it over a month ago but didn't have the heart to post anything about it.

Rowan Plaid "Zephyr" Poncho

Why?

Because I hate it.

Is it possible that ugly is the new pretty? If so, then I'm in luck. But since it's not, I'm SOL.

All that time. All that yarn. All that money. And now I get to rip. Again.

I hate the ripping. But I hate the ugly, so I guess I'll have to rip.

My friend Marissa says to take off the fringe and maybe that will help. My husband says to post the completed disaster on ebay and hope to get 20 bucks for it. I say I'll just rip and make something else out of the yarn. One day. Like 2025.

I already have the yarn to make the Rowan "Thunder" poncho.

But I'm afraid. Very afraid...What if that one is ugly too?

What do you think?

Kntting Books, Worm Farms and Horrified Friends

2006-01-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

My sister and I decided that we would tell each other what we wanted for Christmas this year since we are both convinced that the other is the hardest person in the world to shop for.

I asked for this:

Barbara Walker's classic Treasury of Knitting book

My sister gave me a hard time.

Suzie: "A stupid knitting book?? That's what you want for Christmas? Is that the best you can come up with?"

Me: "She who asks for a Worm Farm can't really be scoffing at my request for a Knitting Book, can she??"

Side Note: Yes. My sister really wanted a Worm Farm for Christmas.

I think her friend David, who she has been friends with since junior high, had the best comment:

David: "What the hell has gotten into you both? You scare me! One is asking Santa for a Knitting Book and the other wants a worm farm? Are you mad? Have you both lost your minds? A knitting book! A worm farm? You want a worm farm? Please... I'm going to have to order a second bottle of wine with breakfast if you keep this nonsense up any longer..."

Well, Santa did OK. I got my knitting book and Suzie got her worm farm.

Start of a scarf - the first project combining two patterns from the book

No news yet on the worm farm is coming along...or if David opened that second bottle of wine...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to New York

2006-01-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

I saw a "feather and fan" sample scarf in my LYS that I just had to make.

It was made with Bouton d'Or Melody, which is a mohair yarn. The only other time I knitted with mohair I mixed it with a straight wool yarn and it was really easy to knit. I was soon to discover knitting solo with mohair was a big pain in the ass.

The needles were small, the yarn was both lumpy and hairy. This pattern has a lot of K2tog's -- and the lumpy-ness and hairiness of the yarn made really difficult to see what the hell I was doing.

I started the scarf and loved the way it looked, but absolutely hated knitting it. Using my F-Factor rating system, I gave it an F-5.

Pretty. But so hard to knit...

I was leaving on a 10 day trip to NY and decided that the only knitting project I would bring with me was the Scarf of Hate. I had a 5-6 hour plane ride each way and the assumed down time during the trip. My reasoning was that if this was the only project with me, I would be forced to knit it.

And while I easily could have bailed on the project (given the trazillion others patiently waiting to be started), I didn't because I knew what the completed scarf looked like and I really wanted it.

So off to NY I went, me and my Scarf of Hate.

I knitted on the plane. Knitted and knitted. I knitted occasionally at my hotel when I had a free moment. And somewhere about day 5 of my trip, I got used to the hairy, lumpy yarn. My scarf was moving along nicely and I no longer felt the same level of hated for my yarn. You could even go so far as to say that I started to enjoy this project.

Even with a NY yarn store visit and purchase (ie: new project!) -- I continued knitting the scarf formerly known as the Scarf of Hate.

A Blurry Image of Completed Scarf of Hate No More

Close up of Feather and Fan pattern

Feather & Fan is easy. I'd like to try it next with a less fluffy yarn because I'm thinking the pattern would be even more visable. Here's the pattern if you'd like to do it yourself:

CO mult of 18 + 2 (the scarf I made was 38 on size 8 US needles)
Row 1: K
Row 2: P
Row 3: K1, *(K2 TOG) 3x, (YO, K1) 6x, (K2 TOG) 3x; REP from * to last
stitch;end K1.
Row 4: K
REP these 4 rows.

It helps to place a marker after 1st stitch and before the last stitch. This way, you can easily keep track of the 18 stitches of pattern repeat.

Kitty Pi a Little Late for Christmas

2006-01-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. Cats don't know it's Christmas. They might be intrigued by all the wrapping and ornaments and the smells of the stuff we drag out of the attic every December -- but they have no concept of the gift giving season.

That's why I wasn't too concerned that I didn't complete my Kitty Pi in time for Christmas morning. But I did, however, finish it. While my husband likes to think it was to give our cats a belated Christmas gift, I'll let you in on a little secret: it was to get rid of the bulky yarn taking up valuable space in my yarn drawer.

I got the pattern from Wendy Knits. I bought the yarn several months ago but never had dpns in size 15. I hadn't knitted successfully on dpns before -- I normally work with two pairs of circulars, but I could just not figure out how to cast on 9 stitches and then increase in every stitch with the two circulars. I was a frenzy of wires and needles so I worked in dpns. I guess you could say I'm no longer a dpn virgin. Imagine that.

Anyway, on to the Pi. I used Paton's Up Country wool (Crazy Aunt Purl swears by the stuff and I am as bummed as she is that's it's been discontinued...)

Here's the Kitty Pi all knitted up but not felted yet.

Pre-felted with an inspection by Chance

Further inspection by Chance

Kitty Pi is now felted but not yet blocked

I only had to wash it once in the hot/cold cycle. I think next time I may try the warm/cold cycle instead because I feel like it shrunk up a bit much. (Next time? Yes, I bought enough wool for two kitty pi beds...)

Again, the inspection team at work

After blocking and drying, Moneypenny loves her Kitty Pi

She refuses to share

Beat it, Missy. This Pi is all mine. Wait for the next one to be knitted...

Who Would Do This To A Baby?

2005-12-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

The Lion Brand yarn company. They call it "a clever baby headband" -- part of their "one-hour holiday projects."

I call it pathetic. Making this kid a fashion victim at such a young age just can't be good.

Who Invented the Phrase: Ripping is a Part of Knitting?

2005-12-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

Because I'd like to give them a big kick in the ass, thankyouverymuch.

I haven't been blogging so much, but I have been knitting. And ripping. Lots of ripping.

I started a new seemless sweater because I fell for some beautiful orange Nashua Creative Focus Worsted 75% wool/25% alpaca yarn.

Self, I thought. I've made two of these seemless numbers so far: a crew neck sweater and a cardigan. Who's counting that I really don't wear either becasue the crew neck just looks dorky and the cardigan needs to be reblocked or reknitted or who knows -- sold on Ebay.

But I saw this orange wool and thought: Maybe three's a charm?

So I bought the wool and start making my third seemless sweater -- this time with a v-neck. I followed the pattern but altered it slightly because I wanted a deeper V than the pattern called for. How cool was I altering a pattern to adjust the V? I'm such an advanced knitter!

Not so fast hot shot.

About a third of the way through the sweater I looked at it and thought -- "WTF? Am I making this for Barbie? Because it sure looks teeny." No way this sweater is going to fit across my bust. This is an alpaca/wool blend. Not expando-elastic.

I made an emergeny trip to Urban Knitting, where I bought the yarn, and showed Helen my work-of-art-soon-to-be-disaster sweater.

Helen: "Oh yeah. This is way too small. Your gauge is supposed to be five stitches to the inch and you have five and a half."

Me: "Well, um. yeah, mumble, mumble. I know that, mumble, mumble. I just figured I would make it slightly bigger than the pattern says."

And this is when I was reminded: I am Math Challenged.

More stitches to the inch on your gauge and your project will be SMALLER, not BIGGER.

Doofus.

And so I ripped. 350 yards of beautiful orange yarn. Now nicely wound up waiting to be started again using bigger needles that give me a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch.

It was a painful lesson.

Ben is Annoyed with My Blog

2005-11-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure many of my IIFs are. (That's Imaginary Internet Friends, pretending that I have some left.)

Meet Ben.
He's one of my co-workers at my not-so-new-anymore job.

His official job responsibility is to manage all of the company's PR efforts. His unofficial job responsibility is to plan all of the drinking-related events for the office.

He has a fully stocked bar here at work (hi HR -- it's locked up. really...), a "lounge" area where imbibing employees gather, and he occasionally accepts kisses from the women participants, as you can see above. He's quite the little party planner.

On top of that, he's oddly obsessed with my knitting blog.

Ben: "Stacy -- you need to update that blog. I'm sick of looking at that stupid ostrich."

Ben: "Um...Stacy...what's up with that blog? You've really got to keep that up."

Ben: "Stacy, why don't you blog about my latest press release. It's Ok that it has nothing to do with knitting. It's a great release. You should write about it."

So here is my latest entry. For you Ben. And for anyone out there who still checks in with me on the off chance I've posted something. Anything.

I promise -- I will be a better blogger. I've got so many bad knitting projects in my queue, many that have been ripped out, some that have been finished and ridiculed (ie: not sure I can wear outside my house) and others that just deserve to be blogged about.

Coming soon. Good entries. I promise. In the meantime, enjoy Ben. BTW, he's single, and clearly likes to be kissed.

What A Cat Would Collect

2005-10-31T19:04:00.000-08:00

Meet Henry

2005-10-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

He's a Katrina hurricane survivor.

He came to us from the Lamar Dixon shelter in Louisiana through the Marin Humane Society's "Operation Orphans of the Storm."

We're fostering him until he's a little more adjusted to life away from the bayou in Northern California. (Read: F.O.S.T.E.R.I.N.G. he will not become kitty number 7 in our house...) Not that I don't love him. But six cats are plenty for me.

Henry looks like he's been through a lot. He's super skinny. (So much so that he has kind of a bobble-head that Hollywood celebrities get when they decide that a size 0 is fashionable.)

He's cut some cuts and missing fur. But he is SUPER friendly and loves people. And he's a big head butt-er. His table manners could be a bit more refined, as he tends to chew with his mouth open and spill out food, but hey, we don't know much about his family upbringing.

We named him Henry because his head reminds me of Pink Panther. Originally I wanted to name him "Mancini" for Henry Mancini who did the score for the movies. But my husband thought that was just way too stupid (considering I had just come back from my Italian class when I had this brilliant idea) and he suggested "Henry."

Perfect. He looks just like a Henry.

And coincidentally -- he is.

Because his original guardian from New Orleans found his profile on Petfinders.com the day after we took him home. And guess what her name for him was? Hank. How coincidental is that?

This woman unfortunately can't take him back because she's elderly, recently had a stroke and lost her husband earlier this year. She's a bit of a crazy cat lady, as she claims to have owned 16 cats when the storm hit. (Not that there's anything wrong with crazy cat ladies...)

So luckily Henry found his way safely to the Bay Area and is now happily living with us in Marin --soon to find a new family he will adopt full time.

Anyone looking for a handsome, white, people-loving kitty from the South who just needs a little more meat on his bones?

Knit and Wine

2005-10-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

My husband collects cars. Some of them are named after cats. (For any of you who know my husband's CrazyCatMan escapades, you will not be shocked by that last sentence.)

One of his cars is a 1967 Mercury Cougar.

Once a year, other folks who own classic Cougars get together in wine country for what's known as the Catistoga Run. (Get it? A play on words with the wine country town of Calistoga and "run" because cougars run fast. So very clevah, as my mother would say.)

This past Saturday was this year's Catistoga Run.

What do I do? Bring my knitting. Because, hey. I'm going to be in a car for a while, I'm not the one doing the driving...and I've got a poncho to finish.

There's a glass of Zinfandel with my name on it in the next tasting room. Gotta hurry and finish this row.

They're pretty impressive all lined up in a row. (Row. Knitting. Ha! I made a funny.) Anyone need to use the litter box before the next winery?

So I wined a little. And knitted a little. All-in-all it was a pretty nice day as my poncho nears the finish line.

Progress, If Ever So Slowly

2005-10-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. My apologies to any of you who read this blog regularly and were sick of that ostrich photo that lingered for weeks...

I've been quite busy what with a new job, knitting a zillion things, and taking a new Italian class at the local community college. Blogging just fell by the wayside. I'll try to keep up more frequently.

Here's the update on my latest project(s) -- my Rowan Plaid obsession: Zephyr, Wind and Cool. (Poncho, scarf and hat.)

Wind and Cool are done! Yay! (OK, so I have to re-seem the hat because I screwed it up, but that's a quick fix.)

Zephyr is about 52% done as the pictures below show. Who knew that cats who never venture outdoors could get so excited about a poncho?

Well, no Chance. It's actually my poncho. I know you like it, but you're a cat, you're a boy, this poncho is purple, and, um, you're short. You'd trip on the fringe. But I'll let you sleep on it if you promise not to bite.

I Guess They Took Some Crap

2005-10-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

This arrived in my inbox yesterday:

Hmmm. I wonder what could have prompted such a communique? Berroco has been consistently sending free patterns via emails containing the most beautiful projects. Maybe they finally got wind of some blog bashing going on in which they were a frequent feature.

Can't say I know for sure, I'm just guessing...

Honey, I'll Be A Little Late For Dinner

2005-08-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

My husband, who has been traveling like a banshee lately, made a surprise dinner reservation for us at a great place in Sausalito on Monday night.

Traffic has been so light thanks to summer vacationers, I figured I'd get there in no time flat from the city after work. So when I hit a backlog of cars leading up to the Golden Gate Bridge, I was puzzled.

Until I saw the cause of the backup in the news today:

Poor little ostrich. Her butt broke the rear window of the van in which she was traveling when the driver suddenly accelerated -- and she landed on the bridge pavement.

Let's just say that if *my* butt broke the window while a driver suddenly accelerated on the Golden Gate Bridge I don't think I'd ever hear the end of it...

I'm just saying.

WTF???

2005-08-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

I received the KnitBits newsletter from Berrocco the other day:

Are they kidding me? Does anybody think this "vest" is nice? I think it tops (no pun intented) anything in my "Just Because You Can Knit It" post of a few months back.

I know that the more patterns a yarn company can put out there, the more yarn they will sell, the more money they'll make, the more yarns they can produce. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I get it. I'm in marketing.

But this thing? What were they thinking?

Dear Berrocco: I've got a few cats with a couple hairballs they'd like to add to this "design." But I don't think anyone would notice...

I'm a Ho

2005-08-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

Are you a yarn ho? I am.

I guess it could be worse. I could be a ho on 9th Avenue turning tricks. Instead I'm a Yarn Ho turning web pages and buying yarn like a love-struck teenager.

Lately I've been lusting after Rowan. I guess that makes me a Rowan Yarn Ho. I can't help myself. I love their yarns. I'm obsessed over their yarns. And their pattern books, too.

My favorite new obsession?

Rowan Plaid.

It all started with an innocent purchase of 3 skanks of Plaid in Lavender Mist from my LYS. I wasn't sure what to do with it so I shoved it in one of my many yarn drawers.

Then I found 3 skanks of Plaid in Spicy on ebay. I started knitting a 2x2 rib hat and matching scarf. That's all it took. I was hooked on Rowan Plaid. Or shall I say I became a hooker for Rowan Plaid? (Just continuing with the whole Yarn Ho theme here...)

Which led me to buy the Plaid Collection pattern book.

Which led me to buy yarn for not one, but two ponchos. (I'm pretty sure my What is Ugly, What is Not radar is operating at full-bore again so I'm not afraid of repeating the Razor's Edge Poncho disaster...) But if you think said radar is still on the blink -- do tell. (I won't be insulted, really. Just think of the time you'll be saving me.)

Poncho #1: Zephyr

Poncho #2: Thunder

While this model looks quite lovely jogging on the beach sporting Thunder and a Monica Lewinsky beret, I doubt that's how I'll wear mine when it's completed...But you nevah know...

The Zephyr poncho is part of a "set" -- hat, scarf and poncho

I'm half way through the scarf and almost finished with the hat. (And when I finish, I'm wearing it the next day. I don't care if it's 75 degrees in San Francisco -- it's foggy here in the morning. And cold...)

Then it's on to Zephyr and Thunder. God I hope my radar is working again.

Houston, We Have A Problem

2005-08-07T23:40:00.000-07:00

It's called the Razor's Edge poncho.

I thought it was so cute.

I saw this pattern months ago in the Stitch 'n Bitch Nation book. I've blogged about my issues with the pattern: I couldn't get the lace stitch to line up. Alas, the pattern was wrong in the book. Their errata web page pointed me in the right direction and I've been knitting this thing like a lunatic for weeks, amazed that my lace stitches were looking so groovy.

But then my husband saw my work in progress.

Me, to husband with squished up nose: "What? Don't you like it?"

Husband: "Well. It's not my favorite of what you've done."

Me: "What do you mean? It's cute."

Husband: "It's so old lady."

Me: (to self): "Oh, you just can't see how the final piece will look. It's a poncho. It'll be cute. Really."

I kept on knitting. I finally got to the point where I could put my head in the hole and try on the project that had been consuming me.

And I hated it.

My husband kept making fun of it. "Old lady. Old lady. Old lady."

Where was the cute poncho from the book? What went wrong? Why was this so thing so friggin' ugly? Was it really ugly? Was I just being swayed by my husband? Was I losing my own ability to recognize ugly?

So I showed it to my friend Marissa.

Marissa: "Well...the color is nice."

Thanks. That's like when you ask someone "does my ass look fat in this?" and they reply with, "those are beautiful shoes."

So the Razor's Edge must be ripped out. It's too big. It's too ugly. And by now, I hate the whole idea of it. It's been a week since I've made the decision to rip, so I'm less sickened by all the time and money I've spent on this thing.

But being the yarn ho I am, I've moved on. My new friend is Rowan Plaid. I've got too many waiting projects to get all weepy about an old lady poncho.

Here's a 2x2 ribbed scarf and hat set in progress.

And my first attempt at cables!

So screw that Razor's Edge.

For now it sits in a bag in my closet until I find the energy to rip.

YA Would Have A Lot Of Members

2005-07-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

What is it about knitting? How could something (let's face it) so tedius suck you in so fast and so far? If there were a Yarnaholics Annonymous their membership would be huge. Imagine the Yarn Interventions that would be happening around the country.

The Intervention Police: "You, Miss, have entirely too much yarn. Just look at those closets -- they're bursting at the seams. And what's that in your trunk? Spare yarn? You use your trunk as a yarn storage device? Oh yes, you must come with us. Immediately. We can help wean you off this addiction."

Yarnaholics Everywhere: "But wait! I can't go with you now. I have yarn auctions closing on Ebay in 2 hours that I must bid on. I have a sweater to finish. That poncho -- it must be done by August. And what about my Kitty Pi?????"

Since I've learned how to knit (5 months ago), 3 of my friends have also learned how to knit. And each and every one of them are as obsessed and as sucked in as I am. And that's not counting the friends who already knew how to knit. They're as nutty as the rest of us.

My friend Marissa taught herself how to knit about 3 weeks ago. In addition, she also launched her own knitting blog. Granted, getting uncerimoniously dumped by her I'm-not-sure-I'm-that-into-you-whimpy-boyfriend certainly helped free up some of her time -- but she's passing up dates to knit!

She came over my house on Sunday with some knitting questions. She was struggling to find a project for her Rowan Biggy Wool yarn. So I fiddled around with some stiches, combined a few things from various pattern books, and came up with a scarf pattern for her wool.

The next day she wore it to work.

Yes. Wore it to work. She worked on it that evening, took pictures of her pets modeling the scarf, and then wore it to work. (So what if it was 85 degrees out? It was her first completed scarf!)

It came out quite nice, too.

She posted our pattern on her blog -- which you can also check out. (How nice of her to use my F-Factor rating system.)

Yes. Another Yarn Freak has been born! Welcome to the club, Marissa.

Choices...

2005-07-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

My Quit and Knit theory was a little flawed.

For those of us that have to work for a living (thanks for nothing, dot com boom), Quit and Knit eventually turns into Work and No Knit.

I started my new job last week. Don't get me wrong -- I love it. But with all things new -- there's a learning curve.

So now when I come home from work, after dinner when I usually steal time to knit, I am faced with choices:

Tonight? The report won out...Maybe tomorrow I can get back to that poncho...

Cats Who Think Too Much

2005-07-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

This, from a cat who sleeps all day...Harumph!

The F-Factor

2005-07-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

I've decided to come up with my own ratings system for knitting.

Mostly because I don't believe the current terminology of "Easy," "Intermediate" or "Expert" fully prepares the knitter for the kind of project on which they are about to embark. (See how proper that sentence was? I managed to NOT end it in a preposition.)

Therefore, I've created the F-Factor Ratings System. It's a rather simple system: How many times the knitter blurts out "Fuck!" during knitting a particular pattern determines its "F-Factor" rating*. Easy, peasy.

For example, a simple scarf with a straight garter stitch might only require one, if any, "Fuck!" mutterings while knitting the entire scarf. This scarf pattern would have an F-Factor rating of F1.

Yet a more complicated, let's say, lace patterned poncho with a pattern printed WRONG in the book, and WRONG on the errata page of the book's website, might require multiple howlings of "Fuck!" This pattern would be more likely to get an F-Factor rating of F4.

Even more interesting would be the cardigan I just finished. This was a pretty easy pattern to follow. Just a few "fucks!" could be heard throughout most of that pattern. Until...I reached the sleeves and the two sets of circular needles. The pattern then became an F5...with a bullet.

Thankfully, the pattern redeemed itself as this knitter got more accustomed to knitting with two sets of circulars. In the end, it netted out to have an F-Factor rating of about F3.

So let's review:

The fewer "fuck!" utterances during the knitting process yields a lower F-Factor rating. The more uses of "fuck!" yields a higher F-Factor rating.

Feel free to begin using this rating system. I think it's just a wee bit more realistic. Don't you?

*Or any curse word you favor.

Quit And Knit

2005-07-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

How's this for progress? I quit my job and finished my cardigan.

Oh, I'm not saying that everytime you have a sweater that's taking forever to complete that the solution is to quit your job -- but for this particular cardigan at this particular time in my life -- it worked out rather perfectly.

See, this cardigan was time consuming. What with sized 7 needles and a zillion rows to knit. And my job? Well, it was boring. So I killed two birds with one stone. I quit and then had more time to knit. And finished it just in time to wear to the last-Thursday-of-the-month Knit and Wine at my LYS.

Quit and knit. Could be a new craze taking over the country. Forget that stitch and bitch thing. I think I'm on to something.

It's really not crooked on the bottom. Just looks that way here...

Of course, I start my new job tomorrow. And I'm not expecting it to be boring. I'm just hoping I can still find some free time to knit and blog.

Patience, My Little Grasshopper

2005-06-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

It's no surprise to me that I have no patience. I've lived with myself for as long as I can remember -- and I've never had any.

So why now, as I've taken up knitting these past few months, did I expect anything else?? Let's look at my cardigan. What did I say recently? "I should finish the sleeves in about a week."

Um. This is how "complete" my cardigan sleeves are today. And we're way past the one week mark.

Is it a patience thing? Or a stupidity thing? Or a combination of both?

Let's tackle stupidity first:

To knit the sleeves, once you start decreasing, the circumference gets too small to continue with one pair of circulars. So you add a second pair. (Or you can go with dpns, but supposedly two sets of circulars are easier.) Easier? If this is easy, knitters may soon require PhDs to call themselves "knitters..."

No exaggeration -- I frogged the same 7-10 rows of knitting in the round with two sets of circulars AT LEAST 10 times. The yarn was getting thread-bare. I even went back to my LYS for help. And continued to frog even after getting help.

Now let's tackle patience.

While at the yarn store for yarn "instructions" last week, Norma and I did a little yarn purchasing, too.

She bought Rowan Biggy Print to knit a scarf called Pia. I bought some Rowan Big Wool because I wanted to make a cute sweater vest called Click-Clack to wear over a long-sleeved white t-shirt. Both came from Rowan's Big Wool Just Got Bigger pattern book.

The next day Norma sends a photo to my cell phone of her progress on the scarf.

My patience with my constantly-being-frogged-sleeve wore thin. I thought to myself: "Self, look how much progress Norma has made in less than 24 hours. You could knit up that big wool vest in NO TIME, feel accomplished, then go back to your hateful sleeves."

Yes. Of course I could. Because I'm neither stupid nor impatient. Or so I thought.

Impressive, no?

No.

The back is too long and the edging stitches are all screwed up so it will need to be redone from the armholes up. The front has now been frogged twice. Maybe three's a charm?

So thanks to my knitting stupidity and lack of patience, here I sit with two uncompleted sweaters and no feeling of accomplishment. Thankfully, I finally did get the hang of the double circulars. And while it's no speedy Gonzales process, I really can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And Norma?

Wearing her completed Pia scarf.

Rumor has it, she's considering purchasing more Biggy Print for yet another. Which I'm sure she'll finish before either my cardigan or my vest...

Bakeries, Apple Pie and Father’s Day

2005-06-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

When I was a little kid, around 5 or so, my dad and I would go to the bakery to pick up breakfast for the rest of our sleeping family. And he would teach me how to drive. In my feety pajamas.

There I was behind the wheel, turning at the corner and pulling up in front of the bakery. Of course, I was sitting on my dad’s lap, and he was really doing all the driving, but in my 5-year-old’s mind – I *was* the driver.

Granted, this was the late 60s. Seatbelts weren’t something anyone actually put on, airbags were still years away from development and there just weren’t that many cars on the road. I was driving. At 5.

My dad also taught me about apple pie. My dad and I seemed to be the only ones in the house awake in the mornings. Hence our secret driving trips to the bakery. Some mornings we’d just have breakfast in the kitchen together. One week in particular I remember that he kept eating apple pie for breakfast. I thought it looked SOOOO gross. And I told him so. Day after day. “Ewwe, Dad. That’s looks gross. How could you eat that? Ewe.”

But he just sat there with his boyish smile, shoving pie down the ole’ pie hole. Finally, after a few days of this, instead of just smiling, he said: “Pinky” (the nickname my sister gave me before I was born that has stuck long into my adult-life…), “have you ever tried apple pie?”

Me: “No. Gross.”

Jimbo: “Why don’t you try it? You might like it.”

Me: “No. Gross.” (As you can see, my vocabulary was very advanced at this young age.)

Jimbo: “Please. Just a bite?”

Me: (Never able to deny my favorite father) “Ok. Just one bite.”

Me: “OH WOW!!! THIS IS GREAT! Can I have a piece?”

Jimbo: “Nope. That was the last piece.”

And right there in the kitchen I learned a valuable lesson: Don’t scoff at apple pie until you take a bite!

My dad also taught me how to swim.

Or in this case, how to raft.

Years later, he walked me down the aisle on my wedding day.

He looked so cute in his tuxedo. It was all I could do to not burst into tears and ruin my mascara.

My husband named my dad Jimbo shortly after meeting him and meeting a pair of my shoes. "Huh," you say? It all came about because I had a (what I thought great) pair of black loafers with a kind of platform-y rubber sole. My husband thought they looked like shoes my dad would wear. The shoes became known as my Jimbo shoes, my dad became known as Jimbo, and the name just stuck.

This is my first father’s day without Jimbo. He passed away in February, one month before his 70th birthday. I miss him every day but know my memories of him keep him alive. I will continue to relish those memories, his funny sense of humor and the things he taught me about life.

And the apple pie.

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy.

James O'Connell
March 5, 1935 - Feb 1, 2005

Cardigan, Oh, Cardigan

2005-06-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Back in March when I posted about taking on my first sweater project, a seamless sweater, I got a comment that said: "Once you knit a seamless sweater, you'll never want to knit any other kind."

I must admit, I did get kind of hooked. (Sorry, bad pun...)

I saw a pattern for this seamless cardigan and had to make it.

I bought the pattern here.

My progress so far:

All that's left to do are the sleeves and the neckline. Knitting is super slow, what with size 7 needles, but I'm hoping to be done in about a week.

Because I have yet another seamless sweater project waiting to be cast on. A v-neck.

MyMy MeMe. Part One.

2005-06-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

Inky Knits tagged me for my very first MeMe. You know, the series of questions you answer that are all about YouYou (or MeMe, but you know what I I mean...) Shortly thereafter, Kristy tagged me for a totally different MeMe. But since this one took forever to answer, I'm making no promises on how quickly MyMy MeMe, Part Two will follow.

Here's how it works:

Pick 5 of the following questions and then complete the sentences. Then pass it on to 3 more of your blog friends! (No tag backs allowed.)

If I could be a scientist?

If I could be a farmer?

If I could be a musician?

If I could be a doctor?

If I could be a painter?

If I could be a gardener?

If I could be a missionary?

If I could be a chef?

If I could be an architect?

If I could be a linguist?

If I could be a psychologist?

If I could be a librarian?

If I could be an athlete?

If I could be a lawyer?

If I could be an inn-keeper?

If I could be a professor?

If I could be a writer?

If I could be a llama-rider?

If I could be a bonnie pirate?

If I could be an astronaut?

If I could be a world famous blogger?

If I could be a justice on any one court in the world?

If I could be married to any current famous political figure?

Here are my choices:

If I could be a musician?
I’d be Madonna. Not because I want to make a book called “Sex” and be photographed walking nude down the street, but just because I think it would be quite the exciting experience to perform in front of a huge crowd screaming your name and dressing in the same clothes you made stylish. And if you’ve ever heard me sing – you’d know this would never happen!

If I could be a chef?
I’d cook just like Michael Chiarello. His family is from the same part of Italy as my grandfather and I love his style of cooking. Fresh. Flavorful. Simple. And he always has such fun dinner parties at his house on his television show. Every time I’m in Napa I wonder if I’ll run into Michael and get invited over to be a guest on his cooking show. There I’d be: smiling, sipping a glass of wine, tasting the dish he just made and saying, “Deelish, Michael. Mangia, mangia.”

If I could be a librarian?
I could never be a librarian. I’m too loud. And I like to laugh. I don’t own any dresses in a floral print. And I really don’t care to teach anyone about the Dewey decimal system.

If I could be an athlete?
I would be a gymnast. How cool would it be to fly around the parallel bars and actually know what you’re doing? Or to do a back flip on a balance beam without killing yourself? And how fun to make the finishing pose on the matt: “tah-dah!” Gymnasts have such grace and strength. I admire that.

If I could be a farmer?
Stacy the Farmer? Recipe for disaster. I hate direct sunlight. I hate bugs. I do not like digging in the dirt. Plus, I have two brown thumbs. And I suck at watering plants

Case in point.

The current state of my herb garden.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for....The next 3 lucky bloggers to be handed the MeMe baton: 20goingon40, rincaro, Ms. V.

No I Didn't. Nuh Uh*.

2005-06-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

I did not just receive an email from Yarn Express with the subject: "Yarn Sale!"

No I didn't.

And I did not click on the link inside the email that told me more about the "Yarn Sale!"

No I didn't.

And I did not fall in love with and subsequently purchase the super cute orange wool to make one of the sweaters featured with the yarn. 10 balls for $30! Merino Wool!!

No I didn't.

*Liar.

And Then There Were Six

2005-05-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong. I love cats. I have always loved cats. I've had cats since I was a little kid.

I just never knew that one day I would live with SIX of them. And a husband who from now on will be known as CrazyCatMan.

Yes. Crazy Cat Man. Oh, I know. That's not an expression in today's vernacular. Crazy Cat Lady is far more popular. Cats and spinster women, blah, blah, blah. They go together like cookies and milk. But cats and men? Yes. Welcome to my world.

CrazyCatMan never had cats. He grew up with dogs. Then he met me. I loved cats. I just didn't have one at the time because the apartment I lived in had windows that opened out, were unscreen-able, and the thought of coming home to a cat who had fallen out of the window was not feasible. So cat-less I was. But I digress.

We moved in together. Rented a house in the suburbs. One night coming home from dinner we spotted something at the end of our dead end street: The silhouette of a little kitten. Sitting there right in the middle of the street. In the pitch dark.

Doesn’tYetKnowHe’sCrazyCatMan got out of the car and jiggled the light of a flashlight near the kitten. (CrazyCatMan is also CrazySafetyMan and carries a flashlight in his car.) The little kitten played with the beam of light. Then three more kittens came out from under our neighbor's parked car to play with the light. Four kittens in all.

They followed the light up to the front door of our house. I ran in to put some milk in a bowl. (OK, half and half, but I digress again...) The kittens went for that bowl like starving tigers.

One by one we lifted them up and put them in the bathroom and shut the door.

Doesn’tYetKnowHe’sCrazyCatMan: "Now what?"

Me: "We go to the all night Safeway for kitten food and litter."

We discovered later that someone had left them in a big box at the bay lands at the end of our street. LEFT THEM IN A BOX AT THE END OF OUR STREET. What is wrong with people??

How cute are these kittens? (Moneypenny: upper left)

After a week of 4 kittens running (literally) all over the house, Doesn’tYetKnowHe’sCrazyCatMan had his fill. It was time for them to go to the shelter for adoption.

But alas, I had fallen in love with Moneypenny. Fallen. In. Love. Had to keep her. So we did. Her siblings were all brought to the local Humane Society and Moneypenny stayed with us and became the world's most spoiled cat.

Fast-forward a year. Reading the local paper at breakfast. Article on Missy the one-eyed cat. Found in a box with her four one-week old kittens. And a newly stitched up eye. The kittens just got back from foster and were all up for adoption. They were adopted in no time flat. But Missy lingered. Adult cats don’t get adopted fast in the middle of kitten season.

AlmostCrazyCatMan fell hard. Can you fall in love with a picture in the newspaper? He did. Had to have Missy. Missy: adopted. The world’s second most spoiled cat moves in.

Fast forward another year. Both of us at the shelter for “volunteer training.” (Volunteer training? Yes. CrazyCatMan is now officially CrazyCatMan.) We see a Missy look a-like in the cage. Turns out it’s one of her kittens – returned after a year. How could we resist. One of her babies! A family reunion! Wow! We adopt Chance.

Chance and Missy have NO FRIGGIN IDEA they are related to each other. Noideawhatsoever. And never will.

Acacia. At the shelter for 5 months. Bites a potential adopter. (Who flipped her upside down like a baby. Who can blame the cat for biting?) She was put on the PTS list. (That’s Put To Sleep list for you non-shelter types.)

CrazyCatMan could not have it. She was too sweet. Too cute. And not a biter at all. Cat number four adopted.

Local shelter. Madera County, CA. Rural county about 2.5 hours east of San Francisco. There is such an overpopulation of pets in Madera that the local shelter deals with it by putting something like 90% of the pets it houses to sleep.

That’s what happens in rural areas. “Neuter my dawg? No way, dude. My dog needs his balls. He’s a man! I don’t want no wussy dawg walkin' round my trailer park.” (Apologies to all you rural folk who get the need for spaying and neutering.)

So once a year the Marin Humane Society empties out Madera’s shelter and takes all the animals back to Marin where they are fostered, spayed and neutered, given necessary shots, and put up for adoption.

We fostered a cat from that rescue. He was a cuddly bear. He’s got a slight neurological problem and therefore walks around in circles a lot, especially when he's excited -- like right before he gets fed. His right side paws slip on the wood floor. And he’s a little dumb. But he is the sweetest cat. We named him The Bear.

CrazyCatMan: “There’s no way we can send this cat back to the shelter. No one will understand his needs. He has to stay with us. We’ll give him the best life he could have.”

Adoption number five.

And that’s how it’s been for about three and a half years.

Until we fostered Kitty Cat.

The world’s most timid and scared cat ever. Cross eyed and no tail with a heart murmur. She was cowering in her shelter cage. Really – no one would ever have adopted her. It was so sad to see her like that. Apparently her previous guardians had her for three years but then got a new dog that "scared her." (Said the paperwork.) Scared the hell out of her. So they returned her to the shelter, which was a far better choice than putting her in a box and dumping her by the bay. We fostered her to help socialize her and make her friendlier and less nervous. She’s come out of her shell a bit – but still, IMHO, not adoption material because she's such a frady cat.

CrazyCatMan two months into Kitty Cat's fostering: “KC is trying so hard for keeper status. Look how sweet she is.”

CrazyCatMan four months into Kitty Cat's fostering: “KC will never get adopted. We can’t possibly send her back."

CrazyCatMan five and a half months into Kitty Cat's fostering: “Look how well she gets along with our other cats. Plus, she hides most of the day. We need to keep her.”

Kitty Cat: Officially adopted May 28, 2005.

And then there were six…

Not that I don’t love each and every one of them and their adorable cat-like ways. The way their fur is knitted into everything I knit. The way they swat at the working yarn as it comes over the needles. (See, for those of you wondering 'what does this post have to do with knittiing?' I just worked it in for you...)

So before you think "Hmm. There goes Another CrazyCatLady" the next time you see a woman with multiple cats -- take a look around. Don’t be surprised if you find a CrazyCatMan lurking nearby -- dreaming of his next cat adoption.

CrazyCatMan is also AnnoyinglyGoodPhotographer, as you can see by the photos in this post...And he cleans the litter boxes, too. Fab!

One day all of our cats will be up on Catster.com. But for now it's just Moneypenny, Missy & Chance.

If you want to see photos of some of our fosters, click here. But be forwarned. I'm not that good at HTML...

I'm Stacy, Fly Me

2005-05-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

I finished the seamless sweater a few weeks ago. I tried it on and said to my husband:

Me: "Look honey. I finished my seamless sweater. Do you like it?"

Husband: "That looks great. But what are you going to do, go flying with those sleeves?"

Seamless sweater version 1.0

Close up of bell sleeves that I thought were such a nice touch...

Denying that the bell sleeves were, in fact, a bit too bell-y -- I wore my sweater to work and used my co-workers as a small focus group.

Nice co-workers: "Wow, the bell sleeves are pretty. I really like them. Unique."

Wise ass co-workers: "Hmmm. Nice sweater. But what's with those sleeves? Are they supposed to be that way?"

Oh well. As the saying goes: Ripping is a part of knitting...so I ripped. And re-did the sleeves.

Seamless sweater version 2.0

Missy says: "Even with my one eye, I can tell this version is better."

"Balls!" Said the Queen, If I Had Them I'd Be King

2005-05-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

I used a thing called a "yarn winder" at my LYS and thought it was such a cool gadget. And since knitting is not exactly a gadget-rich hobby...I was quite interested. Which then lead to my desire to own one.

I found a new one on ebay and promptly bought it with "buy it now" -- the instant gratification option on ebay for those who have no patience for the auction to officially end.

Within two days the box was waiting at my front door when I got home from work.

The new winder

Quite the odd-looking gadget, no?

So I started winding. I bought beautiful Cascade 220 yarn that comes in the long skeins that needed to be made into balls of yarn. Little did I realize that knot factor was an issue while turning the long skein into balls. My patience wore a little thin -- and I wound up with a big wad of knots!

Look at that mess.

"That mess" took me about an hour to unknot before I could wind it on the yarn winder properly. So frustrating. My husband walked in during this process and said, "that yarn winder thing is stupid."

Me: "It's not THAT yarn winder that's stupid," pointing to the gadget, "It's THIS yarn winder that's stupid," pointing to me.

After recruiting him to hold the next two skeins of yarn while I wound them up, it occurred to me that this was a two person job. You need two hands to hold the long skein, and one hand to wind on the machine. Then and only then do the balls wind up perfectly.

My husband doesn't know this, but from now on he's my full time ball winding assistant.

Look how purty my newly wound up balls came out.

Fab Lace Workshop

2005-05-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night four of us went to a Lace Workshop at Urban Knitting Studio. TheMotha (who flew in from New York for this); Kristy, Norma and me. Helen, owner of the knitting store, was our master teacher.

Norma’s been knitting for years and can run circles around the rest of us. TheMotha is a knit-and-purl-exclusively kind of knitter. Kristy is willing to try anything no matter how many times she has to rip it out. Me? I’m in Kristy’s camp. You fuck up a few, you rip out a few, curse a little (or a lot), and start all over until you figure it out.

When we showed up at the studio we announced that we brought wine with us. “Hmmm,” said Helen. “There will be no wine until 9 pm.” (The class was to start at 6:30 and go until 9:30.)

The objective of the class was to create a swatch of 5 new lace stitches. So if YOs, SSKs or PSSOs make you shiver, either run for the door immediately or put on something warm, pull up a chair with some yarn and needles, and get to work.

First we learned the Turkish Stitch. That one, we all agreed, was pretty easy.

TheMotha getting some instruction.

Then we got the cat’s eye. Not so easy. It was as this point the talking pretty much stopped except for the occasional “shit!” or “dammit” or “uh oh.” We each had to pay extreme attention to what we were doing.

All we really needed was some wine to fog our head while trying to figure out P2, *P2TOG, (P1, K1) into 2 YO’s from previous row…etc. Yeah, right. No wonder Helen knew to keep the cork in the bottle until late in the class.

Norma works a lace stitch.

Kristy rips back.

We continued on with the Double Brioche stitch. This one is really cool. And pretty simple, too, once you get into the rhythm of the stitches.

TheMotha shows off her swatch.

The last two stitches were Roman Stripe and Star Rib Mesh. I wouldn’t exactly call them easy, but certainly do-able. (Sorry, I hate that stupid word too, but it worked here.)

My swatch of all 5 stitches.

Chance says: "Ooh. Your swatch highlights my handsome face. Can I bite you now?"

All in all, a great class. Just think of the projects we can add to our lists using any of these fab lace stitches.

Oh yeah, and that bottle of wine?

Still aging.

"Big Head, Stacy? You Are Not Alone!"

2005-05-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

This just in from Erlie via email, a co-worker who recently learned how to knit. She, too, made the big hat project -- but resized the pattern for her little neice.

Let me just say right off the bat (apologies up front to all those moms out there who are kid crazy) -- I'm not a huge fan of kids. Yeah, yeah, I know. That's a terrible thing to admit. But it's the truth. I'm a 40-something married woman living in suburbia with 5 cats and a husband. Kids just never managed to work their way into the picture. Maybe it's that all their plastic furniture would clash with the decor?

But even me, self-admitted-not-kid-friendly-hates-plastic-furniture-snob, can admit -- this is one cute kid.

Sewing. Only Better.

2005-05-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

My eight-week “Further Adventures In Knitting” class at night at the local high school is about to come to an end and I’ve learned a lot of technical stuff I’m not sure I could have figured out on my own.

Looking at pictures about how to knit a Kitchener stitch and learning it hands on are not quite the same thing, if you know what I mean…so the class was quite useful.

We recently learned how to seam things together. And anyone who’s gotten an up close look at my poncho knows that seaming things together is NOT my forte. Probably because it was very sewing-esque.

Here’s what we just learned. (Contrasting color yarn used on purpose so I could see what I was doing.)

Seaming edges:

Kitchener stitch:

3-Needle Bind Off and grafting open stitches to a closed end:

Duplicate stitch:

See the blue thread? It just follows an original stitch on the WS and magically hides your tails. Imagine that! No lumpy knots to push through the front. Fab.

So in my little knitting world, it’s kind of like sewing, just way better. And no staples needed.

Not a Stitch. Not One Freakin' Stitch.

2005-05-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

That's how much I knitted this weekend. Why? Because I'm a sucker for cute.

Cute, huh? The (relatively) new Mac Mini.

I've been coveting it since it came out a few months ago. It's so small! And so cute! (And if you don't know this about me yet, I'm a sucker for cute.)

Just think of all the room I'll have in my office at home! I can get rid of that clunky desktop on the floor. Spread out. Maybe for once have a neat desk. (Um...no promises on that.)

And since I'm married to a man who makes Felix Unger look sloppy -- he'd be overjoyed at my potentially neat office. And clean desk. (Just don't open the desk drawers. Or the the closet...And, why yes, those are 8 pairs of black boots. They do too look different from each other.)

So I marched into the Apple store on Thursday night, plunked down my credit card and brought me home my very own Mac Mini. I didn't attempt to start setting it up until Saturday. You know, set it up in an hour or so, post all the old crap on Ebay, and finish my seamless sweater sleeves.

Not so fast, sucker.

Fast forward to Sunday night. Let's revisit my weekend:

2 trips to the Apple Store's "Genius Bar"
3 calls to Apple's tech support (45 minutes to 1 hour+ each)
At least one hour back and forth under the desk swapping out cables from one machine to the other
Another hour or so online surfing Apple's tech support pages
That seamless sweater? Still sitting in the same place it was on Friday night.

And I still can't get the data off my old G4 onto my new mac mini. I even brought in my husband, a PC smarty pants. Now a fully confirmed hater of Apple.

The "set up assistant" just doesn't work. And Apple can't figure it out. So much for their Genius Bar...

Luckily I know a guy who is truly a mac genius. He said he'd come by Wednesday night to help sort out the disaster.

But look how purty it looks in the corner of my desk.

I Hate To Sew

2005-05-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of this fact today while suffering through my latest knitting project:

A mohair bag

The bag is adorable, in my opinion. A cinch to knit. I was finished in two days. But because it had no lining -- in the strap or the bottom part -- my teacher from the evening “adult education” knitting course that I’m taking at the local high school suggested I put ribbon on the inside of the strap to keep it from stretching and sagging. (Hey – can I put some ribbon on me, too??)

Always the over achiever me, I decided to not just reinforce the strap – but to add some lining inside because, come on, how cute would that be?

Cute. But the process? Suck, suck, sucky.

I was born with the gene to hate sewing. It runs in my family. My mother hates to sew, too. When I was about 10 years old I joined the Brownies. That’s what little girls did in the 70s. We joined the Brownies, then graduated to a Girl Scout so we could sell boxes and boxes of cookies to make somebody else a bunch of money. Do Brownies even exist anymore? They weren't the ones selling the cookies so who knows.

All I know is that I got kicked out of the Brownies. Really. I did. And you know why? Because my uniform wasn’t hemmed by the deadline for hemming. It was stapled. You read that right: Stapled. There I was, standing in the gymnasium with all my other little Brownie friends, and it was time for “hem checking” for all new recruits. (Of which I was one.)

Dum duh dum dum. “What’s this?” one of those old bitty troop masters said when she got to me. “Come over here!” she bellowed to the other bitty troop master.

Bitty #1: “This uniform isn’t properly hemmed. It’s STAPLED!! Who did this??”

Me: “Um, my mother.”

Bitty #2: “Stapling is NOT in the official Brownie Guidebook.”

Bitty #1 “Sorry kid – but your days as a Brownie are over. Stapling your hem is NOT permitted. You’re out.”

And that was it. Bounced. From the Brownies. Because my mother stapled my hem instead of sewing.

My mother. The first recipient in the family of the “hate to sew” gene.

Which brings me back to my mohair bag. Sewing this lining is torture! Partially because I don’t know jack about sewing. And partially because I just HATE it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

How can I spend 2 hours in the middle of a beautiful sunny day knitting on the couch and not mind a bit that I’m killing the day, but think that every minute spent with a sewing needle in my hand is nothing but a complete waste of my time??

It all goes back to something my grandmother said when I was little. She was teaching me how to sew (having long ago given up on my mother…clearly). I kept wanting to put the longest thread on the needle, so not to have to re-thread it mid-project. And she said to me:

Ma: “You know how you can tell a bad sewer?”

Me: “How?”

Ma: “They make their thread too long.”

Even back then my grandmother got it: Second recipient in the family of the “hate to sew” gene. Me.

Does anyone have a stapler I can borrow to finish this lining?

Not To Harp On The Big Head Thing For Too Long...

2005-05-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Kristy decided that the hat pattern I found (see earlier post) was too cute to pass up. She whipped one up in just a few hours.

Here we are “working” at Kristy’s desk. We work like this a lot. Wearing matching hats and pointing at the screen. We’re very busy discussing a mission critical project. Really.

But take a closer look.

See the pink bar? It represents the width of Kristy’s hat.
Compare the same size pink bar on my hat.

See the red bar? It represents the width of my hat.
Compare the same size red bar on Kristy's hat.

I’m guessing you know where I’m going here…Big Head. Land Of.

So whether you have a normal sized or, um, abnormal sized head, these hats are really cute (IMHO). And the pattern is so easy – it only looks complicated, yet makes you look like a very experienced knitter.

But now I must go. There's a mission critical project waiting for me…

Um. Can I Get A Little Alone Time Here?

2005-05-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is me knitting on Saturday. Can you say crazy cat lady?

I Come From the Land of Big Heads

2005-05-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we took a quick trip at lunch to the LYS Urban Knitting, Kristy needed yarn for a hat she’s knitting for a friend. I knit nothing for friends yet (too busy focusing on my needs thankyouverymuch) and my stash is out of control, so I just went along “to look.” Yet somehow, I came home with a skank of really nice Rowan Big Wool in a great shade of blue. I don’t normally do blues, but the color caught my eye. And it was on sale. I am powerless over sale items.

But I only bought one. And I paid cash. So it was like not really buying anything at all, right?

I just had to knit it up immediately. A simple 2x2 ribbed hat would not do. I wanted something different. Something I haven’t done before. Voila. I found this great hat pattern from Midnight Knitter's site.

Having finished my seamless sweater class last week, my Wednesday night was free. I was ready to start knitting the hat. “Pattern fits normal head size.” Yes. But a “normal” woman’s hat size is 7 ¼. My hat size is 7 3/8. I ignored the subtle reference to “normal,” added 4 stitches to the pattern and started knitting.

And knitting and knitting. I woke up at 6:15 and blew off the gym so I could knit some more. The yarn worked up really quick. I wanted to finish it and wear it today. (I know, I’m obsessed. But I’ve already admitted that.)

The blue looks really bad in this photo

Close up of stitch pattern

I finished the hat and “tried” it on by holding the two ends together over my head. And guess what? At lunch today I ripped it out and started all over.

Why?

Because I come from the land of Big Heads.

It was too damned small – even with the 4 extra stitches. This time I’ll try 8. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll have a new hat for the weekend…

Clearly, I'm Not A Quick Study

2005-05-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Did I have to leave my poncho on the couch again??

One Project Only? Never.

2005-05-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Lest you think I've only been working on my seamless sweater, here is an update of some of the things I'm still working on. (And that seamless sweater is almost done. Really. Just about 3 inches of the last sleeve!)
Polka dot shawl. Not moving quickly, but I'll finish it. Eventually.

Remember this nightmare? Oddly enough, it wasn't me. The pattern was wrong in Stitch N Bitch Nation! A quick look at their errata page and my yarn overs line up sooooo nicely. Now I only have about 9 more feet of this thing to knit!

Hasana shawl. This discontinued yarn is looking nice. And I learned how to do the drop (or elongated) stitch from the excellent site Knitting Help.

The Bear. He just can't help but be a model. These are stockinette swatches that I think we're going to learn how to knit together in my knitting class tonite.

Seamless Sweater - One Armed Bandit

2005-04-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Just one arm to go.

I decided on a slight bell shaped sleeve with seed stitch on the end to match the bottom of the sweater.

By next week it should be completed. Just in time for 80 degree weather. Perfect!

Just Because You Can Knit It…

2005-04-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

…Doesn’t Mean You Should

Since knitting took over my life these past few months, I’ve been looking at a gazillion knitting patterns. Because I really need more projects on my project list. And more yarn bursting out of my closet. Really. I do.

But in the plethora of knitting patterns, there are good and there are bad.

I preface this post with the following: I am not a fashion goddess. Vogue Magazine is not banging down my door to do a photo shoot of my fabulously, stylish wardrobe. In the words of Freddie Mercury, “bad mistakes, I’ve made a few…” Like the horrible linen thing that touched me everywhere and flattered me nowhere. Or the flash dance days when scissors and my clothes were best of friends…But I digress.

I apologize at the start if I insult anyone’s fashion-ability with what I’m about to show you. As they say: one man’s horror show is another man’s love story. (OK, no one really says that, I just made that up.)

Let’s begin:

I’m not sure if this pattern book irked me because of the perky, annoying, girl-next-door-Katie Couric-type model. Or that the patterns inside are so god-awful. Or both.

But look at this poncho. I have nothing against ponchos. I like them. I currently wear one that I knitted and I’m struggling to knit another.

But this poncho? Why? Who? WTF?

This next number I found in a book called “Hip Knits.”

Nice book. But then I started turning pages.

Hip Knits. Oh. I get it. Knits that run out of yarn before they reach your hips.

Um.

The black bar? The fringe?

Ah. That's what was missing.

I bet this would come in handy…

…in a very cold and drafty CONVENT!!

Now really, how much more SHIT could you knit into one truly ugly scarf? Squares. Assorted stitch patterns. Variegated yarn. Eyelash yarn. Tassels. Oof.

And what do you say when opening the box? “Oh, this is just beautiful. You shouldn’t have” Really. You shouldn’t have.

Again, let me repeat. I like ponchos.

Not color-coordinated dishtowels.

Or ponchos that just barely cover ‘the ladies.’

This book is called “Fur all the Time.”

Should be called “Fur. Why?”

You look like…a Gorilla.

Now, maybe in some circles, gorillas are fashionable. But when you meet your friends for dinner and you’re wearing this, do you want them thinking: “I hope they’re serving bananas foster tonight or she’s going to be one pissed off primate.” I didn’t think so.

I love hats. I love furry hats. The more hats the merrier and the fluffier the better.

But a hat that looks like a Smurf barfed all over my head? No.

This fur jacket is really pretty.

No, it’s not. I’m lying. It’s really ugly.

The furry poncho?

I repeat: Just because you can knit it...

And not to slam knitty.com because I love it and all -- but Cleaves? Personally I think they've missed the boat on this one. Who gets cold elbows??

What Happens When You Leave a Poncho on the Couch?

2005-04-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

Moneypenny decides it's a good place to knead.

And knead some more.

Before settling in for what she thinks is about to be a nice nap.

Too bad her momma was leaving for work and taking the poncho with her.

Moneypenny: "This is beat. When the hell am I getting my own Kitty Pi?"

Tricks My Ass. He's Carrying Yarn In That Bag!

2005-04-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

There is a God...And I Can Buy it By the Case!

2005-04-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

For those of you glued to your seats waiting to hear what Colgate had to say...my emphasis in bold italics.

To: stacyo
Subject: Colgate
WebSite Query
From: COLGATE-PALMOLIVECONSUMER_AFFAIRS@colpal.com
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005

Thank you for contacting us. We are sorry that you are having difficulty locating Colgate Cavity Protection Winterfresh Gel Toothpaste.

Our sales force works to sell all our products in as many stores and geographic areas as possible. However, there are retailers who limit their selection of products and may decide not to stock a particular brand. If a store is part of a chain, the main warehouse may order only certain products. Individual store managers choose which products to carry. If the store is small, they may have limited stock space.

The product you inquired about is currently being produced. (YAY!) We have informed our sales force that there is interest for this product.

If you are interested in purchasing our products by the case, there is an independent distributor, DEI Services, Inc., that you can order from, either via the Internet (www.buyitbythecase.com) or by phone (1-800-798-8889).

We hope you will continue to rely on our company for quality products and services and that you will contact us again if you need additional information or have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Alicia
Consumer Affairs Representative
Consumer Affairs

Call Me Hank. Call Me Skein. But Skank?

2005-04-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yup. Skank. That’s what I call ‘em. Those fluffy, colorful balls of yarn that now possess me and all the available space in my closet. My mother’s been a knitter for years. It was one of those things she did that I didn’t pay too much attention to. (Unless it was time to talk about what she was going to make for me!)

And you know the way it goes with mothers. They talk. And talk. And you listen and nod along, and retain about 25% of what they’re yammering about. (Sorry mom. I love you – really. And your conversations are ALWAYS riveting. I swear. I’m just making this up to have a blog entry for today.)

In my mind I knew the words of her knitting – she interchanged “hank” and “skein” at will.

TheMotha, one day, pre my knitting, via cell phone: “I’m in the knitting store now and there are some beautiful skeins here. I see one that I think you’d like. Are you online? Look up Gedefra. That’s spelled gee, eee, dee...”

Me: “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

TheMotha: “Did you find it? Which coluh (Brooklyn accent for “color”) do you like? Make sure you like it. These hanks are $17.50 a piece. This isn’t going to be a cheap scarf. But mahdohn (Brooklyn Italian for “my god”) this is beautiful wool.”

So the day she was teaching me how to be my own knitter, I combined these two mystery words and came up with “skank.”

Me, in knitting store, pretty confused: “So what kind of skank should I get for my first scarf, mom?”

Skank. I kind of like it.

Not “skank” like the cheap, dirty girl from high school who everyone knew was a slut. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that…) But “skank,” the nice, expensive stuff I now carry around with me everywhere -- always on the lookout for a free moment where I can knit a few rows.