Garret Knits Ohio

It's a Saturday

2012-01-28T13:00:00.001-05:00

And I've got nothing to knit.

Let me explain a little. I've really got a lot to knit. I've got plenty of knitting, it's all over the place, I've got about three projects within arms reach. (The knitting basket is right next to my desk, how convenient.)

But the problem is that, aside from the entrelac, I don't have anything I WANT to knit. The entrelac will probably be finished this weekend, and I haven't got a clue about what to do to replace it. For the first time in forever, I don't know what I want to knit next.

I wonder into the place where I keep most of my yarn and I look at say, the sock yarn. I look at it, and I just see yarn. I don't see potential, I don't see miles of fun and infinite possibilities, I just see yarn. That's spooky.

I think about starting another sweater, even though I've got two close by, but they're not fun. I think maybe a cabled sweater. I start to imagine what it has, what it looks like, even what yarn I should use. Then I think cables? Is that really what I'm about right now, do I really want to knit cables? Colorwork? Can I really take a PLAIN sweater now? Don't I already have a bunch of those started?

In response to this . . . despondent feeling (really, I can take HUGE amounts of indirection in my personal life, but not in my knitting) I've decided something. I'm going to go around the house and do a few rows on every unfinished thing that I've got laying around, (not really that many, not more than ten) and see if anything takes. Good plan?

Yes? No? Is this thing on? I'm seriously considering moving to Typepad, or some other place where people who don't have a google account can comment. Is that a good idea too? What does that reader from India think?

I finished Something!

2012-01-26T11:19:00.000-05:00

And it's not Entrelac. I took a brief break from knitting those little squares to finish up the Baby Surprise Jacket. Last night I took it too Knit Nite to deal with the seams there. All it took was an hour and a crochet hook and I was done with it. (Aside from the part where I have to sew buttons on it, which will wait for a baby)

Another Baby Surprise Jacket, knit out of my leftovers. My gauge was a little off, so it's larger. We'll call it the toddler surprise Jacket.

Wow, these pictures aren't half bad. I may be getting better at this.

I know that I'm the one who asked for a spinning wheel, but it's really starting to cut into my knitting time. It's highly additive, and I really am beginning that I like spinning more than knitting. Or at least what I'm knitting, really, the Entrelac is really the only fun thing that I'm working on. The boring sweater which probably will be abandoned soon, the boring socks which still need to get off the ground. I'm looking forward to starting something new and exciting. Which I won't be able to do if I don't back away from the wheel slowly.

A confession and a new project in that order

2012-01-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

First, the confession --

Knitted slipcovers is indeed a bad idea. While I do love me some crazy and/or highly obsessive projects, I think that this one might truly be the one that breaks the camels back. This might be too much even for me. First off, there was the thing about how I wasn't able to cast on 350 stitches in a 45minute episode of Buffy. Then there was the issue of what edging to do. I fixed that, and then when I started the body, I realized that there was a twist in the cast on. I knew I would have to rip back a little. Fine, I can live with that.

Then, while it was off the needles, I tried it on the chair. Let's just say, the size of the start, resembled the size of my chair the same way that my house resembles the Sarah Winchester Mansion. (Though, they both have few straight lines, her's was intentional though.)

Sigh, it was a dumb idea anyway. I'll let Debbie New figure this one out.

A new Project --

Yesterday I took a class over at Cornerstone Yarns* on Entrelac. Yes, Entrelac, my nemesis. And I'm sorry to say.

I've defected and gone to the other side. My new name is Alexander Beaverhousien. This site is now named Alex Knits Communist Style.

Really a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'm a little ashamed to admit how silly it was to be afraid of this. I love how medative the little squares are, the neat way that they interlock (I'm sensing the origin of the name) together.

Love, simply, totally love it.

*What I have to say about this yarn shop is that they've got beautiful yarns, pleasant and knowledgeable staff. It's well lit, well staffed, and perfectly welcoming. However, it's got the price to match. I'll stick to my Jo Ann's, and save this LYS stuff for when I'm a rich and famous author.

Knitted Slipcovers

2012-01-20T15:36:00.000-05:00

Saying that makes people look at you a little funny. I've learned to ignore it, but I suggest you practice shrugging when you plan a project this big, because believe me, you'll get some pretty odd looks. I personally like to keep in mind the fact that no project is too ambitious if you crave the result enough. I think there was something about that over at Mason-Dixon Knitting (link on side bar, and I strongly urdge you to take a look) a few days ago, which is probably the only reason that it's in my head.

I've got about half of an inch of my slipcover. That's a lot better than yesterday. Maybe tomorrow I'll break one inch, but don't hold your breath. I personally kind of like having this big of a project. It's like baking bread (which I did today) you just feel better for doing it. Depending on how sick of this thing by the time I'm done (probably about ready to choke myself with it.) I may even add a cushion to the cover. This ain't exactly the most comfortable chair, and could use a little padding.

But my plan of action is to simply cast on at the bottom of the chair, and knit till I get to the seat. I'll put that on a holder and wait till I'm ready for it. Then, I'll knit a strip that's as wide as the top of the back, pick up stitches all around it, and then knit till I get the to the seat. Then I'll graft the back of the back to the back of the legs (follow that?). Then I'll work on the front of the seat to the front of the back, and then graft there. The sides of the legs will be bound off, and sewn to the sides of the seat.

This would be a lot easier to understand if you could see the hand gestures that I make while I do it.

What's on my needles?

2012-01-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

A much better question would be what isn't on my needles. I've got a lot on the go, but yet it feels like I've got nothing. All the projects, except one, are at the stage where they need a little counting, a little TLC and a little caring. I'm a little short on all those things at the moment. I'll do it, I'll just mutter bad things while I do it.

Anyway, here, in list format, you have my knitting. (Heaven help you.)

1. Finally, the knitting slipcover is on the needles, almost. Earlier today, I sat down and in a 45 minute episode of Buffy, I was only able to cast on 280, of the 350 that I need. I still can't believe this. I just can't. I can't believe that I need 350 (Well, I can, I just don't want to. I am going to cover 70 inches around). It's just unfathomable that I can't cast on 350 stitches in 45 minutes. I thought I could cast on ANYTHING in 45 minutes.

Tomorrow probably, I'll do a detailed post about my plans for this . . . bigness. That way, you can point out to me that it uh, might not have any relation to reality. I'll be lucky if I live to tell the tale at this one.

2. A pair of socks that haven't been seeing that much action. I work on them now and then, great for car knitting. I have to do a little counting so I can figure out where to put the toe. I need to get on these, I can't have too many pairs of socks.

3. The sweater that never ends. I'm actually working on this, and it's the one project that I don't have to count. I really am liking working on this thing, something that I never did before. I'm on the back of it, with one front and one sleeve finished. The sleeve cap doesn't look like it will really, uh, fit into the cap for it, but I think that is normal for set in sleeves. I'm prepared to fix and/or fudge it. This sweater might actually end. Not anytime soon, I started this thing in like June.

4. The Baby Surprise Jacket. I don't think that I've ever not had one of these things on the needles. Or at least it kind of feels that way. I still haven't sewn the (TWO!) seams on the other one, but I'll do them both at the same time. Don't ask me why, but I think it'll be a good way to put this thing to rest. I still love the pattern with this odd and deep love, but to be honest, I'm getting a little sick of it. I'm considering making the adult one (four times the knitting, four times the fun!) but that will be . . . later.

I want to do some color work soon too. I mean like Fair Isle, thought those mittens the Yarn Harlot is churning out seem to look pretty good as well.

What?

2012-01-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, so you know the sweater below, the one that I said I liked a little. Well, I've change my mind. A while ago, I decieded that I didn't want to keep looking at it in the state that it was in. So, I just did a crochet steek up the center, chop, chop, chop. I have a cardigan. I'll post pictures of it once I get up the gumption to sew in a zipper, and can find someone to take a picture of the sweater.

Other that that, I really am not knitting anything now. I'll probably pull out a WIP and let it have a few hours of attention till I feel that I'm ready to start my forray into knitting upolstery. (I swear, I thought that this would be a bigger idea than it was. I tell people my plans and they just look at me.) I just swatched for it, and I think that I'll even that swatch. It's one thing to get bitten by a sweater that's to big, but when you're doing something as ~~crazy~~ big as knitting a slipcover, you need to watch this kind of stuff.

I take back that whole not knitting anything at the moment. I am working on the Baby Surprise Jacket. But that is out for a few days for two reasons. One, I have to count. Two because I have to pace myself on this thing a little. It is a Knit-A-Long after all, and I'm blowing them out of the water. I want to finish first, but I don't want to finish too soon. It doesn't help that I knit fast, and this was really the only thing I worked on for several days and nights.

I've got some mindless socks on the needles because I like to keep them on the needles, but I hate to use those for my main, go-to knitting, it feels like I'm cheating. So I'll probably pull out the sweater that never ends, and maybe help it get a little closer for to that end.

It also dosn't help that I've got a really restless feeling. About everything. Writing, knitting, reading, all of that feels slightly off. I don't know why, but the only thing that really feels right is spinning. Of course, having to re-write a >60,000 word novel by the end of March means that I'll have to hunker down a little, whether I want to or not. I will, I just won't want to. I think I need to go for a long walk.

I think that I may even want to get startitis.*

*To non-knitters, this means that you have the inexplicable urge to start and finish a whole bunch of knitting. I usually hate it, but I think that it would be good for that restless feeling if I channeled it into something. Sane people would tell me that I should get out a little bit more, and maybe get those knitting books off my desk.

Is that a sweater?

2012-01-11T15:11:00.000-05:00

Today was going to be about what's on my needles, but well, night before last had other plans. I finished up a little sweater that I had on the needles, and now it feels like a lot less. Maybe a few days worth of knitting and then I can move on to THE BIG THING. Now, I really feel like I could start it, but I'll wait a day or two. (That and because I'm spinning Alpaca.)

But I finished a sweater two days ago, washed it today, and on the third day I present it to you, and the reasons why I don't really like it.

Though I do like it more in this picture

It makes me feel frumpy though. You know what I mean. I've lost a lot of weight, and I really haven't been able to adjust myself to it yet. This would have been great for the pre-weight loss, but now it's just to big. This is odd, given that I made the pattern up to fit. The main issue is the sleeves, which are too big. If I was feeling really energetic I could rip them out, and then decrease more while I knit them. Yeah, I'll get right on that. Just as soon as I finish licking the kitchen floor clean.

I'll wear it for a while though, Maybe it'll grow on me.

Whinging it without much reason

2012-01-09T16:10:00.001-05:00

Forgive the radio silence, it's been what, four days. I'm working right now toward finishing a book (writing) and I'm so close that I can taste it. I bet that this weekend I wrote more words that you spoke. I'm not joking.

And I've been knitting a lot too. I've got, let me count . . . four things on the needles, but that's not counting all the stuff that's dead in the water (and I'm feeling like re-starting a lot of them, but I'm resisting). Four things really isn't that much, but it feels like a lot. I'll have to do one of those "On My Needles posts" soon. Maybe Wednesday . . .

It probably doesn't help that I've got about half a cold this week. Not enough so that way I could reasonably call myself sick, make some tea and head off to bed. I'm just sick enough to feel miserable as I move through the day to day stuff. Though I've been getting a little bit better, it's just slow.
In short I really just don't know why I'm bothering to write this. I could be knitting something, I could be finishing one of those four things. Why? Why? Why? It's probably because it's nice to write as ME for once. Not this character or that, but ME! I swear, if you're a narcissist who's looking for a cure, just write a book in the third person. It's the last time I do it for something this big. I much prefer first person.

Obsession: Spinning

2012-01-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

Over the past few days, this:

Became this:

An unknown amount of some unknown fiber, which will become a hat, pattern: unknown. Ever get the feeling that you're trying to draw your hand without looking at the paper, this whole hank of yarn was that feeling.

Now I'm working on two things, spinning some yarn that my cat tried to prep for me. (Hint: cats kneed things before they sleep) and then I'll ply it with some more of this fiber that I'm going to spin sock weight. Finally, a plan, however loose. I'll probably use that with some other sock yarn that I spun on the drop spindle earlier this year. (It was right after the dawn of pictures on this blog.)

The other thing that I am working on is clearing the deck of all those things that I'm working on. Really a lot less than I thought it would be. Just a sweater and then I'll be able to start the knitted upholstery of my dreams. (You read that right, I'm knitting slipcovers, more when I finally deem myself ready to start.)

The last FO of 2011

2012-01-03T11:44:00.000-05:00

These were finished last year, I just never got around to documenting them, what with the holiday rush and whatnot. Actually I really could have, but, I just didn't feel like it. You know the feeling.

Yarn: A Goodwill find, as everyone was disappointed to hear. I really didn't enjoy knitting with it, it kind of made me a little obsessive with finding ways to get the little bobbles to appear on the right side. I'll let you know as soon as I figure that one out.

Pattern: I made it up, CO 56sts on a US 3, work in 2x2 ribbing till you get really tired of it, make a flap heel, knit the foot, and then make a toe. Easy Peasy!

These, when I worked on them, were a really quick knit. I started them late in November, but were pushed aside later when I decided to let Christmas take over my life. (We really didn't need THAT many cookies.) When I worked on them though, they just flew by. I think about a whole sock was knit at the hospital, giving me a very Clara Barton* feeling of knitting by the bedside. I finished it at Knit Nite, and sat in a Barnes and Nobel for about an hour with no shoes on, wearing these socks.

Tomorrow, Spinning! (I find I post more often when I tell you I've got something planned.)

*I recently took the Carl Jung personality test as a joke, and she was really the only person on the list of people who have my personality type that I cared to be like. (Clara Barton is the founder of the Red Cross.) The other three, and I don't know why I'm admitting this: Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Ronald Regan. People tell me I would make a good politician, but I really resent that.

What a Year!

2012-01-02T10:28:00.001-05:00

This year has been a reall roller coaster for me. Constantly filled with highs, lows, ups, downs, a couple of loop-d-loops, and sometimes where the whole thing threatened to turn me out. Here's a short list of what this year held for me.

1. I re-learned how to walk.
2. I finished a book.
3. I finished another book.
4. I started another book, which needs about another months worth of work to have a first draft done.
5. Someone really read part of my first book, and they were very surprised to find that it is actually not crap. I was even more surprised.
6. I spent a lot of time with my physical therapist(s), and I was very pleased to go from that doctor/patient, to that good aquantices sort of thing. (In a good way.)
7. I got back into reading, and just since I did that, I've read, let me count . . . 17 books. Wow, I've been busy. I credit this to finding a great used bookshop.
8. I started learning to drive, a little late, but better late then never. (Which, given my fear of the wide open road, we may, may, get to that point. I'd rather walk a mile, or more, than drive it.)
9. I learned that if I really needed to, I could use my great hip-strenth to lift a car off of myself.
10. I knit myself . . . 6 sweaters this year. Plus one for my mother, so that makes seven total, with a lot in progress.

This also has been a great year for getting a lot of great blogs to read, and in turn, getting a few great readers of my own. I'm proud to call you friends, even in the geeky, I-don't-even-know-what-you-look-like kind of way. Let's all get together in a big room together and knit and talk till we pass out. Sound like fun?

I've got a lot of resoulutions I've, made, most of them in the informal, forget about in a few weeks kind of way. But last year I was feeling much more productive this time of year, so lets take a look at what I thought

My New Years Knitting Reasolutions (Aside from learning to SPELL!) (I can't believe I let that go for a whole year I'm suddenly SO embarrassed.)

1. To knit from stash as much as posssible.

Excellent, I knit from the stash, almost all year. I only bought yarn once, (twice if you count fiber fairs, which I don't, and it was one skein of sock yarn). Of course, the stash grew this year, due to my love of recycling old sweaters, and people who give me yarn, because, well, I'm likable, (not at all cocky) a pretty good knitter, young, and a male, all of which knitters love. (And Goodwill, but that doesn't count either.)
2.To keep the number of WIP around 5.
HAH! Define WIP!

3. To not buy any yarn that I would consider subpar.

As far as I can remember, I passed this one with flying colors. I may have aquired yarn that wasn't up to my standards. (I'm so picky, must work on that.)
4. To learn to do entrelac.

This year, I swear. A knitting friend of mine is going to take a class on it, and she's generously offered to let me tag long.
5. To learn to do the long tail cast on.

Did that one on New Year's day, right after I posted the (mis-spelled) resoulutions. See, I wasn't lying about the perky productiveness.

I don't think I'll be doing this again. While it was nice, it felt pretty silly to have those things posted on the side bar in July. Ya know what I mean.

And while I'd like to join all those knit alongs, the ones where you knit 12 shawls in 2012, or 12 garmets, or something, I don't think I have it in me. I'm still tried from the holidays (And still eating the leftovers). Not to mention that I don't like having my knitting governed by what I was thinking in January. I also don't like faliure, and there is no way that I can knit 12 sweaters in one year, so I'm not going to set myself up for faliure.

My main goals for this year are to meditate daily. Run daily. (I usually can do one or the other, but not both in one day.) Blog more, stand up for myself, and speak my mind (heaven help those around me, I think some . . . not nice thoughts, lets amend this one to speak my mind more.)

P.S. Like the new look?

Day Two

2011-12-27T11:21:00.000-05:00

This spinning thing really is as addictive as they say it is, I've had my wheel for two full days -- today is the third -- and I've spun about 10oz. of fiber. This is getting to be a serious addiction. Today I sat at the wheel for a minute while I waited for my coffee to heat up. I spun while waiting for a phone call. It's getting out of hand.

While my wheel, now named Clara and will be referred to as such, still remains temperamental, I'm starting to learn how she works.

On Christmas Day, I spun this:

That's 5 oz. of a nice Lincoln fiber. Great to learn on, and what's more, I actually like the finished product.

Here's yesterday's, and today's spinning.

Here's some merino top, that became this.

Hopefully you'll see ply-ing tomorrow.

Spinning on a drop spindle is like knitting, it takes a while, and can be very difficult and hard on your arms. Spinning is much more like weaving, fast, but none the less magical.

Can't wait to play with Clara more.

Merry Post Chirstmas!!

2011-12-26T12:36:00.000-05:00

I hope that you all had as good a holiday as I did. I walk into my kitchen, and I am thankful beyond belief to think "Wow, how am I ever going to eat all this food." instead of "Where is my next meal coming from.

Moving on from that slightly heavy, but much needed sentiment, I'm here to tell you about the knitty side to my holidays. Or I should probably say, the spinny side of the day.

Any Guesses?

Yes, I am now the proud possessor of an antique spinning wheel. It doesn't work so well, but it does work, as evidenced by the hank of handspun that is drying about three feet away from where I write this. I would show you that, but I had some tec. issues. Still, I did spin 5oz. of Lincoln wool yesterday.

As a spindle spinner for most of my spinning "career" I am amazed by how very quick this goes. People always tell you how much faster a wheel is, but you never really see it until you actually try it. While it took me forever to figure it out (and I was a quick learner, thanks to all that work on the spindle) I sat down yesterday, and by the time I was ready for bed, I had 5 more ounces of handspun for my (very small) collection of it. Today, here in about five or so minutes, I'll have even more. This stuff, I'll even ply it.

This could get very addictive, stay tuned.

(More about the holidays tomorrow. This was the big news, tomorrow you'll hear about the best reaction to any handknit present that I've ever gotten.)

Even I'm amazed

2011-12-22T11:35:00.000-05:00

At how much knitting I can cram into a day. I think it helps when you DON'T STOP KNITTING. Really, I was feeling the burn that both A. Crazy people, and B. Knitters, both feel at this time of year. (Really, A and B are almost interchangeable, it depends on the knitter, and/or the crazy person.) Monday saw one present finished, Tuesday saw a pair of mitts finished -- and it was finished on Tuesday might I add, knitting late at night, party animal. Yesterday saw seems and button bands on the sweater, today it will hopefully see buttons, and woven in ends, (and the recipient RUINING CHRISTMAS*) I hope to do that in additions to weaving in the ends on one giant blanket. Add a few dishcloths to that, and I can call myself DONE. I'm not saying that I'll finish on time, but I'm saying that it doesn't really matter.

Monday, I knit a hat in about six hours, in addition to cooking. My mother guilted my into in by saying those words that she's forbidden to say this time of year, and I quote, "You know, so-and-so, would really like a hat." Well, push me right over and hand my my knitting. She later apologized for planting the idea in my highly suggestive head. Here's Monday's hat. A Prime Rib watchcap in bulky yarn. I got mine from Knitting without Tears. (Where else would I get it.) A little on the small side, but I crossed the finish line with about a yard of yarn -- living on the edge.

Tuesday I was very proud of myself though, because I knit those while doing a lot of my shopping, working a volunteer gig reading at the library (I got a few strange looks as I juggled a book and my needles) and mixing up the dough for several kinds of cookies.

Picture another hand, exactly like this, wearing another one, exactly like this. I did need one hand to operate the camera with.

Here's a sight to make you weep with pride. All the Christmas knitting (or most of it) freshly washed. I did my own then too though, figured while I was at it, right?

2011-12-19T09:45:00.000-05:00

The back of the Not-Jali Cardigan is done. (Of course, this thing is seamless up to the armhole, so it's a lot less knitting then it appears to be.) All I've got left to do on it is the front, (again, only from the armhole up) the button bands, which I'm modifying to make them smaller, and uh, actually close something. Then weave in a few ends, and wham, bam, thank you ma'am, this thing will be done and off my needles. I personally, even though this thing was fun to knit, can't wait to see it go. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I've been a little too faithfull to it for the past week or two. I'm hankering for a change.

I've added the potential for a few more presents to my list, because what's Christmas without knitting till dawn at least once. I plan to unvent some mitt-mitten flap thing that will sound like a total mystery to you until you see it. Plans are subject to change as always.

Tired today. Is it bad that at a quarter till ten I'm ready for a large nap. Thankfully I've got that no nap rule and a fresh pot of coffee . . .

Please Work!!

2011-12-18T17:52:00.000-05:00

(It's not the best, but at least it's something.)

(For those of you just joining this show, scroll down to the post from earlier today, and it'll explain everything.)

That Operation really did have a lot of benifits

2011-12-18T13:12:00.000-05:00

As some of you will recall, this time last year I was flat on my back, bilateral casts from the knee down. While this had the benefit of straightening my feet out, it also made me lose weight (I grew, and I couldn't get out of bed to eat) and I got a huge head start on the Christmas knitting. (I also had an excuse to stay home a lot) You know you have got a lot of free time when you start the yearly round of presents in January. I digress though, and move on to today, and more specifically last night.

Even with all that added knitting, I still wasn't sure if I would make it. I had a lot of my mother's Christmas sweater still to do, and the ends on a giant blanket. So I decided to do what the Harlot (you know what Harlot) was going to do. Hit the knitting hard, and make sure that's it's still possible. And let me tell you something, I don't want to get to cocky, but boy, is it ever possible. While a week ago I was a few skeins short of losing it entirely, I am serene now. (Not to rub it in or nothing.)

Here's some shots of my mother's sweater, which will be finished on Christmas morning, hopefully without any manic midnight (or two or three a.m.) knitting sessions.

Sorry, computer issues, I'll try later today, or tomorrow. I'm really sorry. Suffice to say it's a lot bigger, and actually looks like a sweater, instead of a shapeless blob.

Surprise!!!

2011-12-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

It's a Baby Surprise Jacket. I finished it up maybe Saturday night while reading a book. (Gotta love that Garter Stitch) Here's what it looks like unfolded.

A very colorful manta ray

Surprise!

This was made up of mostly little oddments of this and that. Striped at random. I made a lot of mistakes with this, mostly due to my inability to read, and count. Let that be a lesson to all those who plan on knitting this in the future. Count and read.

I haven't sewn it up yet, and that's not due to laziness, or at least not all due to laziness. Tonight I'll be taking it with me to knit nite, and daring all who plan on making it to fold the Manta-ray into a sweater. I'll also be taking the formula (not pattern) for the larger sizes with me, as one of the knitters wanted to see them in the larger sizes. I can't wait to see the look on her face. (It is a lot of math for a Zimmermann. I balk at it if that tells you anything.)

Random thought on blogging, I hate the thought of doing it, but I like it while I do it. Odd as fish as the Harlot would say.

Pictures!

2011-12-10T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here's some shots of the knitting that I mentioned earlier this week.

That's the not-so Jali Cardigan. I had a lot of issues with the body so I replaced it with a simple feather and fan. So far a lot better, even though it did take me an hour to knit one row last night. It's moving a lot faster now, and I was even able to knit more than one repeat during an hour this morning. Working on it whenever I can. (kind of.)

Here is the BSJ, working on it for a KAL. I'm going to do another one it January, this one it much more of a practice one. I'm going to write down where I ran into problems, and hope that it'll help a few of the less experienced, and less thinking knitters. The pattern isn't hard, but it is one that makes you think, and if you're knitting this for the first time, my advice would be to count your stitches often, and to read through the directions thoroughly. There is one point where she means "at the same time" but doesn't say it. You increase the back while continuing the miter increases. (Sorry for the knitting techno talk, rest assured it will help someone.)

Last but not least is a little top-down sweater that I'm making up as I go along. No gauge swatch, not really much of a plan, knit on the fly, I'm whinging it. Need to get back to this, but I have to work on the two shown above. About two more inches and then I'll be done with the body. I'm not setting a deadline for it, but let's just say I hope to ring in the New Year while wearing this sweater. (Party Animal)

The Lazy Blogger

2011-12-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

I need to haul out the camera and take pictures of the four (!) active things that I've got on the needles. But I'm to lazy, you know the feeling, where the camera seems so far away, and it seems like so much work to put pictures up on the blog. I'm sure you never get like that, only me.

Anyway, I'm resurrecting the BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket). It's sitting about a foot from me, which is a very dangerous place because I've got other stuff that I need to do. As a matter of fact, it's on top of the other stuff.

Do you remember the KAL that I was planning with the Wednesday knit knitters. Well, we decided to postpone it till January, and then we're going to work on it then, because we'll have a lot more people. Let's see . . . there should be six of us, seven if you count Ann (She moved to Florida, but will be knitting a-long.) I'm going to knit one now, and one then to make sure that I can help anyone who has problems, and then I'll knit one then. Schoolhouse Press should really like the boost in sales :)

I should take pic's of the Not-Jali cardigan's sleeves. I've got two, and hopefully I'll be able to start the body tonight. Need to work on that, spending a little to much time with my mother . . .

I also should try to remember where I left that sock I started for a little travel knitting. I think it's in with some Christmas presents, but I'm not sure. Don't ask me how I could misplace knitting, it could happen to you.

Then there is the sweater for me, which is almost done with the body. Moving right along with this one, the only one. It's really simple, so I can work on it while I do everything. Needs a few inches and sleeves.

Please heckle me to death if I don't have pictures of this by Monday. Call, comment, visit me personally and poke me with large sticks, whatever it takes.

More Reasons not to like the Tomten Jacket

2011-12-05T12:03:00.000-05:00

(I'm wearing it now, inasmuch as I want to hate it, I love it.)

Racheal Herron (link on sidebar) wrote a book about measuring your life in miles of yarn. How what she was knitting at the time helped her remember what she was feeling at the time. This is a very interesting concept for me, the knitter who knits everywhere, and everything that I've made has got some memories in it. Whether that's knitting while watching Desperate Housewives, (Brie, don't do it, don't shoot!) or dying Easter eggs, my knitting all has feelings that are bound to it like glue.

This sweater though, it was a really quick knit. (Over looking the slough of despond era) It doesn't have a lot of memories in it. The only ones I can come up with are me knitting while reading Julie and Julia, in the last cool days of summer. I briefly remember cursing over the sleeve that I knit inside out (I did that on Baby Tomten Jacket too, oddly enough I fixed it this time.) There are a few memories of this sweater being knit on during Pan Am too, mostly because it was touch knitting, not seeing knitting.

I think that these memories are a bit of a done deal though. I can't create them when the sweater is already done, they have to be done while the sweater is on the needles. I create memories in the yarn, not the garment. Make sense to you, because I'm not sure it did to me. I'm a little sick these days, and I'm not sure if this is real, or if it's all a figment of my imagination.

Tomten Jacket

2011-12-04T14:28:00.000-05:00

And me being done with it.

Yup, I finished my Jacket, though I really don't think that it really deserves the title of Jacket. The Tomten sweater? Nah, The Tomten Tunic? Not exactly Tunic-ie. The Tomten Bathrobe sounds about right, and to me at least, it feels right.

It might have something to do with the all cotton content, or the way that I can wash and dry it in the machine. I really think that it's the (unintential) 3/4 length sleeves. While I like them, I don't like them that much. Like I said, if they were tighter fitting then they would make me feel manly, a feeling that I don't get very often, or really care about.

I intended this sweater to have a very full collar so it would be cuddly. So I knit the sleeves the right length for the intended collar. The collar though, it turned out less cuddly, and more ruffly. The kind of sweaters that are very fashionable for women at the moment. So I stuffed it in the corner for a month or so, until I got the urge for another sweater. That came a few weeks ago, and I'm just getting to around to documenting it.

Here's a few shots. I like it the way it is I'm not going to fix it, mostly because I don't think there is anything wrong with it. This sweater is going to be for when I need an infusion of cozy, which it really is, without the infusion of heat.

Blurry No? Tomorrow, why I need to wear this sweater everywhere.

New/Old Addi

2011-12-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

It feels almost foreign to not be blabbing my every thought on this page. (Not my every though, but it does get close.) One day away, and I'm beginning to think that I'm suffering from withdrawal, or something like that. While I may not really need to blog, I like to do it. I think I'll be occupying this space a lot more often, which could be seen as either good news or bad news.

I've got several things that I could talk about. There's Abby's sweater, which I don't think would make a very good blog, and because I don't feel like pulling out the camera and going through the million-billion pictures on it. I could show you pictures of the Tomten Jacket, which has seen new life with it's little collar and 3/4 length sleeves. (If they were a little tighter fitting I would feel like "Big Strong Man. So Big, Grow out of Sleeves" be sure to say that last part like a cave man, otherwise it's just bad English.) But the sleeves feel a little bit more bathrobe-y to me. Pic's, well later when the camera doesn't seem so far away.

Last Wednesday was an odd day as far as knitting goes. I pulled back the body on the Jali Cardigan because it was evil. Possessed, I swear it is. That sweater tried to plunge it's needles into my beating heart. So, instead of the cable-lace body, it will be a simple Feather and Fan stitch (I love feather and fan). If this sweater was the bible*, the old body would be the Old Testament, all fire and brimstone. This one however is like the New Testament of knitting -- all love and forgiveness. Hopefully I'll be able to end on a lighter note than the bible.

Ripping out the hellish body knitting was really not that bad. It felt good, like I was getting revenge on my knitting. It was made up for when The Generous Knitter (or Sindy as she is known by day) decided that she doesn't like her Addi needles (Can You Imagine?). For muggle readers of this blog, Addis are pricey, but worth it needles. They've always been out of my price range, but I'm now the possessor of three new-ish pairs.

(Sindy really deserves the title too. That V-neck Aran in Cascade 220, that was her yarn. That and a lot more that is happily resting on my bookcase.)

How she distributed them was laying them on the table at knit night, and everybody dove in head first, trying to grab a pair of two. (I got three, ah, being the only male, and younger, I enjoy being a novelty)

As I later said to Sindy (different one) "If you EVER want to start a riot among knitters, that it how you do it."

*I'm sorry if that offends anybody; I intended it for comedic purposes only.

December Plans (Idea stolen from Knitting on the Cam Mary)

2011-11-30T16:32:00.000-05:00

Here's a few random musings about my plans for the upcoming months.

(And by the way, TODAY is the last day of Nablopomo. I'm surprised that I made it out alive. It really wasn't THAT hard, but I won't be keeping up this pace. Maybe every other day, something like that. We'll just see how it goes.)

1. I have to finish my mother's Christmas present. The red sleeve I showed you about a week ago, that's it. Considering that I've now moved on to the body, which is the front and back together, I'm averaging about a row per day, not exactly the speed of sound. Need to get a move on this.

2. I also hope to finish the top down sweater from a few days ago. This one however is moving faster than light. I'm already on the body of it, thanks to some great TV and equally great company. (Buffy and Abby, guess which one's TV.) I should have this thing out in no time, time will tell whether or not I will actually wear it.

3. I may need to knit up a few presents during this month, but I don't think I'll need them. Still, I've got everything ready just in case I need to turn out a hat at a moment's notice.

4. Weave in the ends on the BIG BLANKIE

5. Work on MY blankie.

Have a great Wednesday, and I can now say that I WON'T be burning in your eyeballs tomorrow.

Random Musing while Running

2011-11-29T10:13:00.000-05:00

1. As I reached the round in the cul de sac I started thinking about knitting, which is a great thing to think about when your whole body is telling you that you need to die. When I was running all I wanted to do was grab some soft wool and start a huge pi shawl. Now that I'm home though, the current sweater is all that I need for entertainment. (That and season two of Buffy. Oy, what a show.)

2. When you run you are free from any suspicion. People look at you while your running and think "oh, just a runner, moving on." but if I were to go for a walk or something, people would look at me like I was pure evil casing out a robbery.

3. I don't have any socks on the needles. Odd that. I should correct that. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking larger gauge. (I told you, knitting and running, hand in hand.)

4. So far today I have had all the words to Dolly Parton's "Working nine to five" stuck in my head. Things about pouring coffee, taking a shower, blood pumping, that sort of thing, and it's only ten o'clock. I guess it's going to be THAT kind of a day.

5. Now I have the urge to go off into a corner and boo-hoo my heart out. I guess that's what I get for listening to "Contemporary Christmas Carols for the Clinically Depressed"* There was this one about this guy who's girlfriend broke up with him on Christmas. And he's like all unemployed and can't afford food, and then he sold his only Christmas present that he got so he could buy her flowers. Just enough to push a giant sap like me over the edge. (Yup, definitely one of THOSE kind of days.)

*Made up name

It's Gone To Far!

2011-11-28T10:42:00.000-05:00

And it really has. This whole exercise thing I mean. Yesterday, I (and I'm not sure if the guy was joking or not) was mistaken for an anorexic. As in the eating disorder. Me. This was a day after I consumed my second several thousand calorie meal in a week. Me.

I guess I could quit doing this running thing. (Not happening, I, for some reason, love it.) Or I could break my years old practice, and have a glass of pop with dinner and ice cream afterwards. Oh boy, I feel positively decadent.

(Is is odd the way that someone insinuated that I have an eating disorder, and that gives me a happy feeling. I think that it's okay, at least I realize that it's a little odd, and a little unhealthy, but I don't really care. Thin!)

I really just love the way that I feel healthy now. For the first time I feel healthy and happy. And that doesn't really matter about your weight, it's more of a state of mind. And I'm in it! Sweet! Like this morning, I was running, in the rain, huffing and puffing, thinking I was going to die, but I was blissed while doing it. Don't think about that to much, it could cause an aneurysm.

Here some yummy knitting!

2011-11-27T15:15:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the sweater that I mentioned a few days ago? The top down raglan in the Red H***t from a certain decade that brought us Madonna, and Flashdance? That one, well, as scary as the yarn is (and I ain't lying, this stuff is barf worthy) I really like the way that it is knitting up. Striped with a quiet light brown yarn of the same fiber content it becomes quiet calm and lovely. To bad there won't be enough of that yarn to finish it, but I should be able to get enough for the yoke. The body and sleeves can be striped in another color.

Would you believe that this is about twenty-eight hours worth of knitting. Which, might I add was all done while preparing and cleaning up after a Thanksgiving* dinner for nine people, and getting nine hours of sleep. Hate me at will.

This is what I hope with be a sucessful attempt to knit top down. I've tried it on another sweater, but I got inpatient and started the body to soon. That was probably not helped by the way I didn't cast on enough stitches. The final injustice occurred when I found out that you can not rip ripping backwards, like they all say. It's really true.

Even the best knitters, (which is what all my knitting friends call me, I don't believe them though. The more you knit the more you learn.) make mistakes, and my only excuse was that I was on pain killers (prescribed) at the time.

*It wasn't on Thanksgiving. My parents love the leftovers, so they always make their own dinner the weekend after. I think it's quite a good idea.

Or is it just me?

2011-11-26T09:28:00.000-05:00

Counting today, there are only four days left of Nablopomo. At this point I can coast along, just rambling on and on about nothing in particular, just talk and talk and talk, till you get so bored when you see my link on Bloglines, or blogger home page, you will weep salt tears and dread the day you got the bright idea to follow me.

Or is it just me?

Last night wasn't a big knitting night, as I, for the first time, made pumpkin pies from scratch. It was a little time consuming, but well worth it. You get such a thrill when you are able to get the skin off the pumpkin in one piece. You know me, I'll look for any excuse to use my hand blender.

The way I see it, making these pies from scratch is like making bread by hand. It may take a lot longer, it might be harder, you may get sore arms and a dirty kitchen, but somehow, they're just better. Like you know how much work went into them, and that just makes you feel that much better about the finished product. You don't see all it's defects, but you do see all it's attributes.

Or is it just me?

Good Yarn, Bad Yarn

2011-11-25T11:04:00.000-05:00

My mission in life, (besides taking down Hostess snack cakes) is to prove, to all knitters, once and for all, that there is no such thing as a bad yarn. There are yarns that are sub-par, not fun to use, and that are really more trouble than they're worth, but I still think that ANYTHING yarn-y is great in my book. There are yarns some don't like to use, and some that are not appropriate for somethings, but nothing that is instinctively good or bad. Feel free to disagree with me at will.

Now I've done all the easy stuff, wool and cotton, and the like, have been proven to me, as you probably, as fun, and good for a lot of things. Those I didn't really have to prove much, but I still feel like they deserve it, at least in my eyes. You can do lace in cotton, and it makes for the drape-iest swishie-iest shawl that I've ever knit. Now I'm on to some less that desirable fibers.

You know what I'm talking about. Acrylic, mid-eighties, in a particularly garish colorway. (But really, aren't they all a little frightening?)

So, here after I get the bulk of the Christmas knitting behind me, (that would be finishing the afghan) I plan to start a little top-down raglan with stripes that will hopefully help to temper the "Copper Kettle" color way.

I hope to finish up that blanket tomorrow night, maybe? Not sure.

Thankfull For . . .

2011-11-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

Here we are on this day for giving thanks, or at least in this country. I for one have got many things that I'm thankfull for. There's the usuall stuff like food and clothes, then there are the other things like a good internet connection, the perfect cup of coffee this morning, and having holidays that fall in the middle of the week.

But, due to the current reading of Cold Mountain*, and watching Gone with the Wind yesterday, these days, I'm just feeling pretty thankfull that I don't have an invading army fighting a crutial battel right down the road. I'm pretty thankfull I don't have to pick cotton or worry about re-shingling the hen house.I'm very thankfull that I do not live in a time where the phrase "Fiddle De De" is socially acceptable. I'm thinking fond thoughts of synthetic fabrics and grocery stores, and my small yard.

*I always fall late on these reading fads. Cold Mountain was preceded by The Help, which wasn't too far off, and Eat, Pray, Love, which was, well, a while ago.

I don't even like them

2011-11-23T11:18:00.000-05:00

Not a lot of time to talk today, because it is the day before Thanksgiving, and I have to help my mother make Apple Dumplings today.

I don't know why or how I got roped into helping her. It may because I'm a sucker, or a nice person, depending on how you look at it. Let me tell you a few things though. A) These things are such a pain to make, I would sooner lick my kitchen floors clean. B) The few times we do make them, we MAKE them. I'm talking a couple dozen, giving them to everyone we know. I probably wouldn't quite dread making them so much if we didn't have to triple the recipe. C) There are a lot more steps to making these things than you think there is. Making them is as complicated a dance as the Virginia Reel, everyone has to know exactly what their doing, otherwise the whole thing falls to pieces. D) They require you to use a rolling pin. The only time I like to use a rolling pin is when I have to whack an intruder upside the head with one. I don't have a chance to do this very often because I don't see a lot of intruders, and if I did, I don't think they would wait for me to rifle through the pantry to find a rolling pin and, E) I don't even really like the things. I don't get it and I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Good-ish sweater, really bad mug

2011-11-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

So last night someone got off work a little early, and was home while it was light out, a rare thing in these short days. They didn't even have time to pop out of their grubby uniform before a camera was thrust in their hands and pulled out onto the deck.

Here's a few photos of me having fun in Elizabeth Zimmermann's V-neck Aran. Knit in Cascade 220 (which conveniently has 220 yards in a hank.) In the color Permission. Call me unpoetic, and a bad writer as well, but to me it's just red, or maybe even brick red.

In that first picture I either look high or crazy, or a little of both. I don't really remember being either when it was taken. Odd that.

In the second picture you really see what I mean when I tell you about the messed up dye lot thing. Oh well, I should have checked it before I knit it, or noticed it while I knit it.

Feel free to make fun of what I'm wearing, the dye lot thing, the look on my face, my messy hair, and really just about anything you can think of.

Spaced out, not in a good way

2011-11-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

Without showing you the new inches that I've added to the current scarf, and the inch to the current sweater, I got nothing for you. I'm not one for the "Here's my inch" kind of posts, to me it just seems like you blogging because you feel like you have to, not because you want to. (We'll overlook why I'm writing today, when the blog well went dry long ago.)

Let's see, my fingers are cold today, almost to the point where they feel like typing is work. Each key is a lumbering motion, only getting better with each word. Slowly warming, but warming nonetheless.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have something, probably one of those posts showing you my new inches, but at least it'll be something. This is when a lot of people drop off of Nablopomo. You've just had all the blogging that you can, and another mention of the current knitting is enough to knock the will to knit right out of you.

(Sorry this post is so . . . spacey. I didn't sleep to well, and well, this is day 21. Down the home stretch baby, nine more days to go.)

2011-11-20T13:14:00.000-05:00

Here's a pic of the scarf that I'm knitting to go with the hat that was off the needles a few days ago. It's in the same yarn, done in a lovely Basketweave. I tried to do kind of a slanting cable, but after an hours worth of knitting I had ripped it more times than I care to count. Basketweave keeps turning up more and more on the things I knit, and I don't know how I feel about that. It's a good pattern, and keeps me busy when I want to just knit, but simple enough to where I don't have to pay attention to it if I don't want to. The two are a match made in heaven, and it's rare to find a stitch that does that.

I'm very proud of myself that I managed to pull out another day's worth of content. Thankfully I've been working on all the Christmas knitting, so I at least have a little something to talk about. I think that this might be the first year where I'm not knitting for the holidays in the month of December.

And am I the only person who thinks that Christmas is coming a little to early this year. I mean they always push it a little to early, but this year it seems ridiculous. It's like they went straight from Halloween to Christmas. We should still be thinking about pumpkins and Pilgrims, not elves and snow.

Call me old-fashioned but I think we need to have AT LEAST a month between The Monster Mash and Jingle Bells.

Here's what I'm knitting.

2011-11-19T14:32:00.000-05:00

Here's a little shot of my mother's Christmas present. It's the Jali Cardigan from Summer 2010 Interweave. (the only reason I cancelled my subscription was because I didn't have the money, not because I don't LOVE their magazine. If anything, it really improved.) I'm making it in the smallest size, (I should knit more for my mother, she's conveniently small.) in a recycled cotton. A beautiful red color that seems to SCREAM Christmas.

Yes Abby, if you can read this, it is indeed the stuff you admired when you went to use the bathroom. I should never let you wonder the house alone. Though nothing has come up missing yet. (Hee Hee.)

In my master plan, and I do have one, I hope that knitting the sleeves first will make the lacy body seems a lot more interesting. Then, when I get to the other sleeve it will be like a release from the lacy. At least that's my plan. I do have one sometimes, but it's not always successful.

Here's a hat

2011-11-18T12:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a little hat I knit up in the past few days. It's just my basic men's hat pattern, 88 stitches, work in 2x2 ribbing until you either get sick of it, or you feel it's long enough (usually one in the same) Then switch to stockinette and knit till it's the size of my hand. (Your hand is about as long as the bottom of you ear lobes to where you should start decreasing for the crown. Handy that)

The yarn is Plymouth Encore in Worsted. Shade #455 (what an alluring shade name).

There is a story behind the purchase of this yarn. I went into Sally's Yarn shop here in town, and I looked at the yarn there. I hate how she doesn't label the yarn, so if you want the price, you have to ask. Then you have to either buy it or appear to be cheap (which I am, but that's not the point). So I don't go in there a lot. But she was having her yarn sale (half price) so I figured that I should go in and at least get the yarn for my father's Christmas present.

I buy a lot of yarn on the cone because it's a lot cheaper that way. I could get a sweater's worth of yarn for what this hat and it's matching scarf would cost. She didn't have a worsted on the cone in the color I wanted but she brought something out of the back that she thought would be in the right shade. She showed me the yarn, told me the yardage (conveniently covering up the label) I assumed it was 100% percent wool because that's what I asked her for. I bought three skeins of it, and headed out my way to find that this yarn is 25% wool and 75% fibers that shall not be named (hint: Wal-mart yarn, only a higher quality).

I could have taken it back, but I didn't want to because then I would have been the ass who didn't ask about the fiber content. Sigh, it does knit up nice, works just like a wool, but I know in my heart that it's not. Live and learn, but it still peeves me, It'll be at least six months before I am able to go back there.

Running From What?

2011-11-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

Okay, here's the thing, my Physical Therapist told me that, in addition to the home program that I am already doing, (which is about an hour worth of stretching and strengthening) he wants me to start running.

To those of you who only run to chase the ice cream truck (I miss those days) this running thing is a lot harder than it looks. After about maybe three minutes of running my whole body (or just my lungs, which should be pretty damaged, spending as much time as I do around smokers.) was screaming stopstopdearholyheavenstop!

Still though, the things I do for feet. I really want to be a runner. I want to be one of those people who get up before dawn, drink their eggs, put on their specially designed workout clothes and go jogging around Philadelphia.

Let me tell the whole story. I was raking leaves today for about an hour today. That was about one giant tarp load of leaves. Not really what I would call an hours work, but I spent a lot of the time today screaming "No! No!No!" as the wind blew my tarp across the yard. I spent a large amount of time failing on it shouting. (and the neighbor guy in the back, he just stood on his porch and watched me attempt to stay sane and rake leaves at the same time.) But I did get a load of leaves out to the curb, and I hope to get another one tomorrow, actually tomorrow, if I can wrangle someone to help me, I hope to get them all out. Dare to dream, I know.

Sorry, got a little sidetracked there. But as I hauled the leaves out to the curb I saw one of the neighbors go running by. He's one of those eggs for breakfast before dawn types. I figured that the best way to become a runner was to start running. He also made me remember what the Physical Therapist told me, which I worked very hard to forget. (I also forgot that he wanted me start jumping.) So I go in, lace up my running shoes (which are my everything shoes) put on the closest thing I have to running clothes, and set off.

I got back a few minutes ago. Gone for about twenty minutes, ran for about ten of it. Not to bad of a start. It beats raking leaves, though the grass might not like it.

Still not yet

2011-11-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

No pictures of the V-neck Aran yet, at least no modeled shots, Here's one of it lying on the ground.

While the sleeves might be too long, and the zipper too short, I still love this thing so much. I washed it up on Monday, and it is now buttery soft and sweet. Smells like shampoo too. I should be able to get a few modeled shots of it later today. I really do love this sweater, and I've worn it the past two days.

Here is a little hat that I've been working on since yesterday. I've gotten a lot done, which kind of surprises me. That's about three hours of knitting, mostly done while reading. Knitting while reading still remains one of my most favorite tricks.

I bought the yarn for that hat yesterday, so all the knitting in the meantime was on an Afghan that's been on the needles since January. Almost done, and you can see it then. It's pretty much four giant mitered squares made out of left over yarn. Have less than half a square to go, wish me luck!

What to do today

2011-11-15T08:52:00.000-05:00

Today will be a busy day for me. I plan to go yarn shopping for the approaching holidays (1 point for planning slightly ahead.) I hope to find some green/grey wool on the cone. Enough for a hat, scarf, and a sweater (don't worry the sweater isn't for Christmas). Then I have to go to the library and copy some pages out of an Itailian phrase book (things like bathroom, I will have, and many swear words to make learning a language culturally appropriate) (You may not have noticed, but the Itailians are very gutteral people.) Then I have to work my shift at the bookshelf (a measly three and a half hour one). And I also need to make some time today to ponder the absurdity of life, and write it down. All while maintaining my pleasent demenor. (I hate people thinking I'm nice, I really wish I could be mean, I just don't know how.)

I got up kind of early for me this morning. And if I have time I need to write a letter. (Also have to buy stamps today, check.) Of course though, now I'm not at all in a productive mood. I don't want to write, I don't want to ponder the absurdity of life, in as much as that sounds like fun. (And when you think about it, isn't life itself a little silly?)

Geez I'm whine-y today. Haven't been sleeping to well, maybe that's why. Or maybe I should change my name and my identity and move to New England where I'll operate an old fashioned ice-cream parlor. Nah, I'll stay here.

(By the way, how's my spelling in this post, spell check says I'm good, but I don't believe them.)

Peeved but Appeased

2011-11-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening was one of the longest evenings of my life, (I've been having a lot of those lately) This was not due to any outside influence, as these things usually are, but it was one of my own doing, and I personally would love to know what the hell got into me. Oh yeah, it was the desire to finish this sweater, once and for all.

The weaving in of the ends went oddly quickly, which is unusual, because I usually procrastinate a lot on that (I only did it for like a day with this sweater, if that tells you anything about the fever I was in). It took about three hours to sew in the zipper, a freaking 14'' zipper. Yup, I highly doubt that I'll be doing a lot more sweaters with zipper. Though after this I should have a lot easier time of sewing in zippers because I have a little experience. It'll be a lot easier now that I've learned that it's not a good idea to sew the zipper to the inside of the sweater. And that you should use little stitches, so they don't come out an hour later.

Oddly enough, for as many pains as this sweater gave me, the way that I kept giving and giving to it, and the way that it gave me crap back, I really do love it. Sure, the way that the zipper was about three inches to short peeved me (I can live with it, the zipper was free after all). I may have been irrigated by the way I forgot to phony seam the too long sleeves. That one diamond that I forgot to cross might make me bitch, but really, who cares. I can even live with the way that the upper back and one sleeve is a different die lot than the rest. (Again, I would complain, but this was a free yarn as well.) (Ah, the joys of being a young broke, great knitter with generous friends, I haven't bought yarn in forever. Will remedy that tomorrow, need to finish the Christmas presents and my father is a bit picky.)

So, about an hour and half after finishing the sweater I started the next one (it is the holiday season). It's from Summer 2010 Interweave Knits. The Jail Cardigan in a red cotton for my mother for Christmas. I think I can have it done, she is conveniently small. Just a few inches of a sleeve, but last night, which usually is great knitting time, I did a bunch of stuff during the commercials. And you know how it is when you start a sweater, you think you get everything you need, you think of ten things that it would be impossible to knit without.

No Sweater, but Huggy Coats!

2011-11-13T13:32:00.000-05:00

Still haven't woven the ends on the V-neck Aran. Don't ask me why, but I haven't felt like fooling with it. Odd, a beautiful sweater needing maybe an hour of finishing, but I still don't have the urge to finish it. I hope to wear it Tuesday, so I had better get on that.

Of course I really don't have the time to fool with that today. Wish I did, but I really need to get some writing done, and I have done my physical therapy since Friday (Oy, I skipped one day, shame on me.) I could do it tonight during the THREE hours of TV I plan to watch. Ah, Sundays, for some it means church, for others football, but for me, it does, and will always mean (say it with me) Desperate Housewives.

Now it's time for me to try and put a funny spin on baking bread, while every so often banging my head into the wall for no apparent reason. Does that sound like the actions of a mentally deranged person? Don't answer that, I'll just wait for the nice people with the huggy coats to take me to a quiet place.

Bread a pleanty

2011-11-12T14:23:00.000-05:00

Last night at about ten o'clock the last stitch (or at least I hope so) for the Elizabeth Zimmermann V-neck Aran was cast off. You may or may not have heard the shout of joy that erpupted from my living room at the time of finishing. I warn you that if you heard this muffled cry that you should prepare for another one this weekend, when I finally sew in the zipper and weave in the ends (of which there are few, gotta love a wool yarn). I should have pictures maybe Monday, we'll see how tomorrow and the next day goes.

As for the bread, well, for the past few days I've had a hankering for fresh bread. I love homemade bread, almost oddly so. I love the tast, the crustyness, the smell, oh, the smell. I even love making it, and I'm not the mamby-pamby bread maker type; I don't even use a mixer. The sensation of kneeding the dough, to feel the slightly warm lump between your fingers, slowy adding enough flour to bring it to what it should be. It's a very (forgive me) sensual experince. It's primal, it's simple, and the way it rises, magical.

This time though, I kind of wanted to do something that was a little sweet. So, I made one loaf normal, and the other I twisted, put on a cookie sheet, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. That one didn't work out so well for me.

I failed to take into account that this bread was more flat and less round. Therefore, I should have lessened the temp, and the cooking time. Yeah, well. It's not really sweet enough, the bottom is as black as the Grinch's heart, (it is that season after all) and there just is something that is not right about it. Ah well, better luck next time.

Here's a shot of the bread's good side. It sure looks tempting. Not to bad. Maybe I'll go give it another try, don't want to be to quick to judge . . . Ah, I'll just have some ice cream if I want sweet.

More Sleeve

2011-11-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

While I know that I will never be one of those bloggers who post daily, I really like this new regime of posting daily. This month might be just enough motivation to get me to this page daily. They say that you have to do something twenty-one times in order to make it a habit, that should establish a habit of blogging daily. But I don't think my life is interesting enough to post daily. I imagine you don't want to see the before and after pictures of my doing the dishes. But this is really a lot of crazy fun, and I do love both of those things.

Anyway, before I went way off on that tangent, which isn't unusual, I was planning on showing you how very far I've come on the V-neck Aran sleeve. (Really need to think of a better name for that one.)

I just realized after uploading this picture that I really did show my natural state of untidyness. See those socks. I finished those, sitting here at my desk, at least two weeks ago. They made it about seven feet across the room to the radio, where I thought they would keep getting in my way, thus prompting me to take them upstairs with the rest. No such luck, oh well.

Sleeve Two and Berries

2011-11-10T10:56:00.000-05:00

I'm about a third of the way done with the last sleeve of the V-neck Aran. I love it so far, and like when you do something twice, the second one usually goes a lot faster, and a lot better. The wool supply is holding out great (second sleeve, and I still have well over a skien left. There is nothing better than wool leftovers, I can felt guilt free) Smooth sailing, and I should finish this puppy in a couple of days.

Almost to the elbow! YAY!

I must say that to avoid missing any more needles I have taken to cableing with a stick that's leftover from a stick of incence. Needless to say that now I'm prepared to lose them, I still have the exact same stick. This is one of those times where I really want to flip off the universe, but I don't, because then I will lose this little green stick, and then not be able to find the other sticks.

And here is some photographic proof that every million years (give or take a few), an Asparagus Fern will have berries. I've had this one for several years, and this is the first time that I've seen berries on it, I wish now that I had only had the presence of mind to take pictures of the little white flowers that it had this summer.

I Vant to Knit

2011-11-09T09:26:00.000-05:00

And that really is all I want to do, knit. I suppose that after a few days I wouldn't mind returning to my current status as the most productive man alive, but I would like to take a temporary sabbatical from that. You know, for health reasons.

I may not be the most productive person alive, but I really do want to cuddle up and knit something. Especially with this weather. (I do think that Khaki season has passed, sigh.) I did manage to start the sleeve of the V-neck Aran last night. It is such a great feeling, being on the last sleeve. It's a sensation that I both love and hate at the exact same time. Love, because, well, the last sleeve never takes me that long because I can't wait to meet the finished sweater, so I always rush to get it done as soon as I can. Hate, because, with knitting two of anything, you're knitting two of it. Don't ask me why I knit so many socks only to know that I will need to of them. On socks the second one is also rushed because I can't wait to meet the pair.

I haven't worked on the BSJ for a week, because I wanted to give Tracy a while to work on it, and I wanted to make sure that Denise was in on it, I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks, so she doesn't know that we're all knitting it. So that's a little hard for me to do. I want to stay ahead of Tracy in case she runs into any hitches, but I want to wait for Denise.

But I must say, that when I finish this sweater, I will have maybe two weeks where there isn't a whole lot on the needles. After that two weeks, I'll be withdrawing from society even further, trying to knit mittens for everyone I've ever met. As Mary from Knitting on the Cam (link on sidebar) pointed out yesterday, we Americans are lucky in the respect that we have Thanksgiving between Christmas and Halloween, where Canadians don't. (Their Thanksgiving is in the beginning of October.)

Sleeve one has landed

2011-11-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

I repeat, sleeve one has landed.

And it's even been sewn in. Am I an over achiever or what? (Over look the fact that I still haven't started the next one. I'll do it today, right after lunch.)

Here's a few terrible shots of it with one sleeve. It's so hard to take a picture of yourself, and other people look at me funny when I want them to take a picture of me wearing a half-knit sweater.

All it needs now is a sleeve, some odd collar thing-y that I haven't quite decided on yet. (I'm thinking the Norwegian collar. It's in a lot of EZ's books. Essentially a flap with the ends sewn down. I'm sure it looks a lot better than it sounds.) A few ends to be woven in (I do love a wool yarn, for many reason, but one of which is the spit felting method of dealing with the ends.) And then, I should have a perfectly fitting cardigan.

Good News: Considering that I have more than a ball of yarn left for the sleeves and collar, and the first sleeve took less than a ball of yarn, I will have enough to finish. Such a good feeling, and now, I can do as EZ suggests, Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises. I must say that this is a lot easier to do when you don't when you are confident that there won't be any crises.

I love the fit, the drop shoulder really doesn't look to bad on a man (sorry ladies). It's easy to knit, and if done right, quite good looking. I managed to avoid the winged arms look, by stopping the sleeve increases when I thought I should be done. I love how well this thing was seemed. So neat looking, so clean and tidy, and . . . so not me.

So what to talk about today?

2011-11-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

I'm kind of running out of ideas. I've told you about my plans to learn a language that is only spoken in one county. I've told you about Project: 333, and how I'm not doing it. You've heard about my knitting, and how I've got only a few rows till I'm done with sleeve one on the V-neck Aran. (I should have come up with a better name for that one.) Desperate Housewives last night lacked the magic that it usually holds for me.

So, in short, I've got nothing. No insect has endangered my life so far. There have been no revelations, whether they be minor or major. I haven't decided to go on a life changing quest (or I haven't decided which one to go on). And I don't think you want to hear my views on whether or not the U.S. really went to the moon. (Which last night's Pan Am really helped me concrete my views on this. The U.S. government will do anything to get ahead.)

So, I'm just going to go (I may be posting more entries, but they are a lot shorter.) Hopefully I'll live to blog another day.

Project 333: and why I'm not doing it

2011-11-06T14:14:00.000-05:00

You may or may not have heard what is going on over at Yarnagogo Rachael's place. (Link on sidebar.) She is doing Project 333, which you probably haven't ever heard of. Basically it's where you winnow down your wawardrobe to 33 items, and where them for three months. This excludes things like jewelry, underwear pajamas, ect.

I like the idea of this. I like the idea of only having clothes that you like. It seems really noble to me, but I have got a couple of reasons for why I'm not doing this.

1. I live in Ohio. This means that during the summer I need a lot of cool clothes, because it can get pretty hot here. But it also gets freezing in winter. So I need to have an extensive supply of both sweaters and shorts. I would be find now if I were to keep the sweaters and get rid of the shorts, but what about in a eight months when it gets hot out? Then I won't have anything to wear.

2. I like most of my clothes (or I do now, keep reading). If I look through my closet I see mostly things that I like. While they might be a little outlandish, (At the moment I'm wearing jeans, a cardigan with suede elbow patches, and an "I'm with Stupid" shirt.) I really do like them all. There are some that I don't wear a lot, mostly because I don't have the occasion to wear them a lot, but I do like all of them.

3. There are days where I feel like dressing differently than others. I have some days where I like to cozy up in sweaters and feel like a collage professor. There are times where I like to dress like other people my age do (to an extent, I hate conformity) and there are days where I like to dress like a free loving hippie. It varies based on my mood.

Still though, I do like the idea of this. So yesterday, I carved out a couple of hours and got rid of the stuff that I don't like. The dumpy last resort sweatshirt went, as did the drop-shouldered monstrosity that is older than I am. I got rid of the tight cut-offs that made my legs look like sausages. The stuff that doesn't fit me went, and the stuff that weighs me down went too. Clothes should lift you up, Right? (Hell, clothes should fit.)

A love affair with all things Italian

2011-11-05T11:05:00.000-04:00

In the past few days, my mild obsession with all things Italian, has developed into a raging case of consumption with all things Italian. I've always loved the country (At least the people, the government, a touch unstable) but due to a few recent book reads, and just me being me. I want to know everything about it.

I'm going to start learning the language. I already know a little, mostly gleaned through media, but that's still a start. I want to start taking classes in it soon, I just need to find out where would be a good place to do that.

Sure it's impractical. Sure, only one country speaks it, but you have to figure, at least it's not like the time I wanted to learn to speak Finnish. At least one country speaks this (most Finns use Swedish). And this is an easier language to learn, because it's based on Latin, like English. And this will make learning other Latin based languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese (sic) a lot easier.

And it's so pretty.

In other news, I finished the body of the V-neck Aran. Pic's tomorrow. I really like it. Always a plus.

Aran Update

2011-11-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

Is there anything better than knitting in the middle of the workday? Don't answer that, just enjoy the calm, the quiet (not really, my neighbors are getting a new roof. I keep thinking that someone is knocking at the door.).

This is Elizabeth Zimmermann's V-neck Aran. Knit in Cascade 220, in a lovely shade called Permission. I would call it red. If I was feeling particularly descriptive I may say 'brick red'. Another inch or two and I'll be able to say that the body is done. WOOT!

That's the sleeve there. The first one, about halfway done. I'm so happy that on this one you're able to see the cable pattern. See the way that each diamond is filled with a different stitch, that's on purpose. So much fun, deciding which one is next. You can see it a little on the body, but not very well.

I changed the pattern a little bit, nothing major. She wants you to knit the sweater in the round, and while I can see that if you're making a pullover, or doing colorwork, I can't see it for an Aran like this. Sorry Elizabeth. But I am knitting it all in one piece, with Phony Seams (so much fun). I need to go do a little math, and see how long the sleeves need to be. Love this knitting.

Issues

2011-11-03T10:40:00.000-04:00

More than one, hence the "s"

1. I am trying to write a book, this is my third. I have yet to intrest a publisher on any of them, but I have yet to try and intrest a publisher on any of them. Today, since I over slept and have got other stuff to do today, I let my self do only 500 words today, instead of the usual 1,000. I'm at about four hundred now, and that's taken me as long as the usual 1,000. This may be related to the twitch over my eye.
2. I don't think I can upload the sock pictures. This may be the fault of my camera, my computer, or blogger, or some combination of the three. (We are ruling out operator error on this one, my mental state is fragile.) I'll try, hold on one second.

WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(It was operator error, leave me alone.) Okay, I figured out what I was doing wrong. Okay, you know how when you want to add a picture to blogger you have to click that little add image button. Well, I clicked that and I tried to upload photos, but I couldn't see them on that page. But then today I just clicked the add images button, thinking that it may work or something. I don't really know what happened, I may have blacked out for a few minutes, who knows.

I guess that takes it down to one issue, or at least one that I can think of. There are probably a few more, but I'm going to ignore them.

(Let me know if you want the yarn and the pattern, more than happy to help, but only if you want me to.)

More needles than a Pincushion

2011-11-02T09:41:00.000-04:00

Last night I lost a knitting needle between 10:22 and 10:25. I was knitting away on the sleeve for the EZ V-neck Aran, when I decided that I should finish watching that episode of Body of Proof upstairs. I planned to get up early today and get a jump on the day. (That didn't work so well.)

Somewhere, between the chair I was sitting in, and bed, I lost a knitting needle, and one that I really liked as well. A green metal DPN. Now I only have three of them. I managed to replace it with a Harmony bamboo DPN of the same size, but that still peeves me. And we all know that there is a huge difference between an aluminum DPN and a bamboo DPN. Oddly enough I prefer the metal, which totally negates the whole hippy-cruchy thing I have going.

I swear, this sweater is eating knitting needles. I've lost almost a whole set of the Harmony bamboo DPN's, and that's just from cable-ing. I think that's probably because I only need them every ninth round -- just enough time to lose them. Sigh.

You'll have more entries to look forward to like this. Nablopomo, you are one cruel, cruel mistress. Ask me why I did this and all you'll get is an icy stare, and a poke in the ass every time you sit. (Knitting needles are pokey)

Nablopomo Day one

2011-11-01T08:35:00.000-04:00

I figured that what with Today being November 1st and all, that I may want to start posting for Nablopomo now. I must say, doing this crazy blog daily stuff, well, it sounds a lot better in October. I also must say that this will most definitely not help that twitch over my eye.

Let's see if my computer will cooperate enough for me to get pictures of some socks on it . . .
No! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

I think I better go run the defrag, maybe that will help. It may also help if I take a minute to knit and drink coffee. Or maybe I could go to websites and look at pictures of new computers, you know kind of scare mine into submission.

A Halloween Miricle

2011-10-30T17:54:00.000-04:00

I have got great news. Really great news. Some news that makes me weep salt tears of joy. This sweet, sweet, joy. (Really, if something this small gives me joy, I can only imagine what I'll feel when I get offered my dream job as a book writer. Joy in the small things)

I finished the Christmas socks. Let's have us a crappy little look see. (I lost a camera war) (I think I may need to learn a few new war tactics.)

Never mind. My joy was sucked up by my computer's inability to do what I command it. I don't know if this was machine error, or operator error. Probably a little bit of both, Sigh.

I swear, I just get a little bit ahead and then the universe smacks me like an overcooked pancake. Grr!

But on the bright side, whether or not you were able to see them, the Christmas Socks our done (if only the word socks could be the word knitting).

So tonight I will be casting on for a little knit a-long that I'm doing with some of the Wednesday night knitters. We're all making the Baby Surprise Jacket. (I apologize to those of you who grow tired of the Zimmermann. You may want to stop reading, I think I'll be on this for a while.)

I'm a touch short on babies at the moment, but Tracy (one of the knitters) isn't. She is awash with babies. Tracy is one of those knitters who aren't really sure of themselves, so I'm knitting it along with her, just in case she runs into trouble. She was fairly certain it would happen and asked me how late at night she could call me. Ann is having a grandchild, so she's making a boatload of baby stuff this is just a drop in the baby knitting hat. Denise is knitting it too; she's also short on babies (who's fault is that?) but she likes to have fun.

And in the next few days I will probably cast on some new socks for me. I'm thinking large weight, and heavily cabled.

The V-neck Aran is at the armhole, and and the right one is done, and the left one is almost done. I'm loving this so much that I don't even care if it fits. Except that I do, and I hope it does. So far all signs point to yes, but I'm not holding my breath. You know how it goes. You knit till you turn blue, and then it doesn't fit. Sigh.

I'll try again with pics tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

One that's working and one that isn't

2011-10-24T11:33:00.000-04:00

I'm here to tell you the news that I have developed a new obsession, and I love it. While these compulsive feelings are nothing new to me, this sweater is. I knit it in little bit here and there when I wanted something fussier than the Tomten Jacket. (We will get to him and his doomed fate in a little bit.)

That is the new obsession. It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's V-neck Aran. (I am nothing if not predictable) I got this in the Opinionated Knitter, and I love it. The yarn is Cascade 220, and it bears no resemblance to the color in the picture. (sorry, the light here is so bad, it's the middle of the day, and the lamp is lit in what is usually a well lit room. Ohio has become one lightless gray mass) Now that the Tomten Jacket is more or less done, I am free to work on it all I please.

Except I am not free to work on all I please, because Christmas is coming. (I originally wrote Christmas is knitting, which is so true.) I must get to work on my presents. There is surprisingly little to do, but I have a feeling that I'm lulling myself into a false sense of security.

Here is the Tomten Jacket, and it is now stuffed under my desk till I either A) get an urge to finish anything, or B) when I get tired of looking at it.

There are a lot of issues with this little puppy. For starters the collar drapes in a rather feminine fashion. While I think that is a great look for a lot of women, I don't think that it is that great on a six foot tall man. I wanted the collar to be . . . cuddly. (I think that six foot tall thing was just compensating for the cuddly) So I knit a lot of collar. Now, I'm going to have to rip back the collar, re-bind off it. Then that means the sleeves will probably be to short, so I'm going to have to rip out the (sewn) bind-offs on those, and knit about three more inches. I still have to put the toggels on this, and then weave in the ends, then I should be done.

I need a break from it, I'm sure you understand. Just drop me a line every now and then so I don't forget about it. Hopefully one day I'll finally be able to put this sweater in it's place once and for all.

Sunday Morning Yarn

2011-10-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

This Sunday was one of those days. Those days where I wake up prior to the crack of dawn, and my brain just screams "YOU'RE AWAKE!! GET UP AND DO SOMETHING!!!"

Those kind of days tend to be very productive days. I am usually done with all my usual work by maybe . . . eleven? It depends on how much I have to do, so those days, I have a whole day to play with. (I made up for it today with my crappy alarm clock and staying up till all hours that night watching Pan Am.)

So yesterday, I made use of my extra time by winding and washing an old sweater that already was missing its seams. The sweater was procured for free, (I heart volunteering!) and I am now in possession of a sweater's worth of 80% wool, and 20% nylon. If it matters at all, the yarn was from Abercrombie and Fitch. It practically reeked of men who had as little sense as they did shirts. I think that's why they let me take it. (Or because it had more pills than a pharmacy.) Now it smells like Dawn and dawn.

Sorry, I didn't get a pic of the original sweater. I don't make it a habit to think that far ahead.

My yarn pre-wash

My yarn drying in the morning light.

And after it started raining.

The Tomten Jacket suffered a painful rip back, because I knit one sleeve inside out. Funny, the same thing happened to me when I knit my baby Tomten Jacket. The directions pick up and knit WITH THE RIGHT SIDE FACING YOU can't really be stressed enough. ETA: Got about four inches left on the sleeve. I've been knitting like the wind today. Give me a minute, and I'm cranking out a row. Please don't ask me how that's different than normal, somehow I'm getting more done, I'm going with it. Woot!

Sleeves and leaves

2011-10-15T15:50:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick peak at the progress on the Tomten Jacket (the word Tomten is harder to spell than it really should be).

Getting a good picture of this thing is like getting a good picture of bigfoot. You are pretty sure that it's something else.

Really loving this thing as a project. I have the urge to carry it around the house with me. (I also have an urge to put a D in the word urge.) Oddly, this thing is entertaining me to no end. But, the little slip stitch socks bore me to tears. You would think that would be the other way around.

I really love this yarn which is a recycled cotton. The "string-y-ness" of it really appeals to me. And I should have some leftovers. (Rather shocking, I wasn't sure I would have enough to finish it.) Can anybody say "Dishcloths?"

In other news, I have decided to do Nablopomo this year. Just like I did last year. For those of you who don't know, Nablopomo is where the author of a blog posts to their blog every day for a month. Aren't you just jumping for joy at the thought of knowing what I'm thinking at every possible moment. What can I say, It'll be an exercise in narcissism. (Try saying that five times fast.)

Here is few shots from my walk yesterday. Like I said before, I really missed out on Autumn last year, so I have to make up for it this year. A lot of the trees here haven't fully changed, so you'll just have to take what you can get.

I would entitle these pictures "I need to get a better camera." (My apologies to the little-camera-that-could. You know I love you.)

Winging it.

2011-10-11T08:36:00.001-04:00

The title is a long story, but suffice to say that I am winging it more than I actually know what I'm doing.

I've been reading a lot lately, and I've learned a few things about myself. (Self realization, always startling.)

1. It's okay for me to not always read the intellectual crap. When people see you reading a book, they generally assume that you are a smart cookie. (Usually) I don't have to plow my way through an Austen every week in order to maintain my bookish exterior. Now, I find myself drawn to the kind of books that I actually want to read, and . . . actually reading them.

2. When I have a good book, I read it. A few months back I was yaking about when I first saw the movie Julie and Julia. (Watch it, you won't be sorry) Well, I just now got around to reading the book that it was based on, and I read that book in about thirty-six hours. It was that good. Better than the movie, and that's saying something.

3. When you don't have anything that you feel like reading, go out and buy or borrow a book that you do want to read. All of our time is too valuable for us to spend it with our nose in a book that is boring us to tears. The librarians will not kill you if you leave unfinished books around the house. (Provided they aren't library books. That's the reason I have to go book shopping. I never have enough money at one time to pay my library fine.) (I go to a charitable used bookstore though, it's for a good cause.)

4. Don't be ashamed about what you're reading. I recently read a book called Lipstick Jungle. (Let me know if you want a link.) It was kind of like Sex and the City turned into a book. Only with a lot more heart. (Both the books are by the same author, that might be why.) It wasn't the sort of thing that I would go for, but I loved it. Made me think about the value of friendship, and the value of a good career.

5. Like the post-it on my desk tells me, LIGHTEN UP! HAVE FUN! (I know it's bad that I have to remind myself to do those things.) And if we apply that to every aspect of our lives, we will be just fine. (Reading, knitting, family, all within limit though, like all things.) I always say, (not really) we are not in this life for toil, anxiety, or stress. We are here for fun and happiness, let your life, in all it's aspects, reflect that.

Jeez, I started talking about books, and then I segway into how people should live their lives, sorry! Didn't mean to do that.

Self realization is indeed a startling thing

2011-10-09T16:21:00.000-04:00

And, as I sat at my desk and began to write this, I had a little realization about myself:

If I want to blog, I have to sit down and blog. It's that simple.

I usually start off the blogging process with a little head blogging. I sit there and knit a few stitches while I think about what I'm going to write about. That usually stays in my head for about ten minutes, (if that) and then I'm off to thinking about ways to cook eggplant, or why an eggplant doesn't look like an egg, or why it's called eggplant, not aubergine. (I know my colors.) Generally, I think a lot about eggplant, more than is really healthy. (Or maybe thinking about eggplant has lead me to absorb it's nutrients through thought.)

Now, when I think about writing a little something here just to let you all know that I'm still kicking, I will simply sit down and write something. Anything. I apologize in advance.

Still working on the Tomten Jacket. I'm on the sleeves now, and we've had a few issues. I was going to to some weird thing where I knit half the sleeve from the cuff up to the cap, and then knit the cap and graft the two together.

Ha, Ha!

I'm working from the cap down to the cuff. And I'm not at all bitter about it. On the bright side I'm pretty sure that I will have enough of this recycled cotton to knit the whole sweater in one color. I ripped it out of a sweater that was just right for me, and now I'm knitting it into an oversize sweater. I guess the gauge (Tomten is knit a lot looser than the original sweater) is the difference. Still, let me know if you have any voodoo that you need me to work on any of your knitting. Happy to help!

Some knitting

2011-09-26T12:49:00.000-04:00

Clearly creativity has left me. Blog titles are hard to nail down, they tend to be really good, or really bad.

It is obvious which way I lean.

I finished both the socks this weekend. That wasn't to hard, neither one of them really needed that much work. Later today I hope to cast on the second pair of the plain one, and work a little bit on the fancy one. We'll see if that works. I hope it does, but I am ~~consumed~~ entertained by this little number.

It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Totem Jacket, and despite the fact that it is acres of garter stitch, I am in LOVE with it. I'm aming for mid-thigh lenth which means that I will probably have to get it about hip-lenth, and wait (let it sag).

The yarn is a reycyled cotton that I ripped out a few months back. I'm not sure if it will be enough, but I am physically and emotionally prepared to deal with contrasting sleeves.

Don't expect to see a hood on this puppy. I aim for a nice elegant collar. Maybe some pockets too.

It's about sixteen inches long. I hope to be at the armhole by tonight. Wish me Luck.

(And by the way Desperate Housewives last night was a little silly. I can't even count how many murders those girls have covered up, but yet this one is giving them issues? Come on!)

(Pan Am was a good watch too. A little hard to follow, but it all came out in the end.)

Here's the knitting

2011-09-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

As promised the knitting is here, and I am going to proceed to blab my little ole' gums off about it. Here is project number one:

A little pair of socks. These little beauties are destined for the long range planning box, whose range is getting smaller and smaller. Do you feel the hot sticky breath of Christmas breathing down your neck yet? If you're a knitter than you probably do. I am doing EVERYTHING to avoid "IT" this year. Last year wasn't too bad, I had a lot more free time (not being able to do any housework really frees up a lot of time). This year I don't think that I will be forced to descend into midnight knitting madness, (famous last words) Given the time I have left to knit, and the amount I have left to knit, if I work steadily at it, then I should be fine.

What was I talking about? Oh, socks. These are the Edwardian Boating Socks. Ever since I first saw them over at the Harlot's* I knew that I would be knitting several of these in the near future. Since these ones are a gift, I am going to be making some for me here pretty soon. Thank god these aren't my size, I would be keeping them.

The aerial view

The yarn is Serenity Sock Yarn . I must say that while it is rather plebeian, I really do like this stuff. (I like most yarn though.) The price is right, and so is the feel.

It's hard to get a good picture of this thing.

And because I've been reading a lot lately, I'm working on a mindless sock to churn out while I'm doing something that I have to look at.

A plain old ribbed sock. This too is going towards the long range planning box. I'm such a good person.

*I love how most knitters know what I mean when I say that. For those who don't, I mean The Yarn Harlot.

Hmmm,

2011-09-17T23:26:00.000-04:00

That's exactly how I've been feeling for a little while now. Hmmm, I've been knitting, but only on some secret things. (Well, I guess I could tell you, but I've already given them away, and I forgot to take pictures,) There are a few socks, but I'm in bed right now, and I don't feel like going down stairs and getting them and the camera, you'll have to use your imagination.

Since I last blogged, I've been a touch busy, but that is no excuse. Really now, it isn 't a good excuse. Truth be told, I've been reading a lot (shame on me!). Yes, he of the knitting, has forsaken it all (not all) for the written word. (We will over look the fact that I've finished my second book, and I'm thinking about a third, I'm talking about someone else's words.)

I have a little confession. The book that has sucked up my every thought for the past week is, The Thorn Birds. There, I've said it. My name is Garret and I'm reading The Thorn Birds. The one with the whole forbidden-love-Australian-sheep-ranch-family-saga deal. That Thorn Birds. The one with the priest and the young girl. (Sick at first, gets better after time)

And here is the thing, I'm freaking loving it. It is compelling, to say the least. Every word of it makes me want to keep reading. I think that is what I'll do now. Knitting soon, I promise!

(If you want to discuss, leave a comment, and I'll jabber your ear off about it!)

What I have I been up to?

2011-09-03T18:56:00.001-04:00

Whenever I'm away for a little while, I always have the urge to title a post "Hello, Hello!" But that is one that I deal with quite frequently.

Despite the fact that it's a million degrees here, I know that Fall has come. That might have something to do with the fact that it is Labor Day weekend. Another way that I know that Fall is here is because I now have lost several hours a day, Fall tends to be a little busy for me. I have got so much editing to do that I don't know if I'm ever going to get it all done. I may just start hoping that the little fairies will come and do it all for me.

What with all this, knitting has fallen by the wayside by just a little. You know how it is when studying short fiction just has to come before finishing a few rows. I figure that since I do write a lot of fiction, mostly fiction really (oddly it seems more real to me), that I might want to know something about it.

But I have managed to get a little bit knit while I was away.

I even sewed elastic. Ignore the note, it's hot, my plants are thirsty.

These are the Dublin Bay Socks from Mossy Cottage Knits (I'd link, but my computer won't cooperate and let me open another window. Fussy machine) (Look on the sidebar if you're interested).

I had to sew some elastic into the tops of these, as you can see. They turned out about a few million sizes too big. I knit loose and don't check my gauge (on socks).

These might look like a little something that I whipped up in a few days, but no. I've written books faster than I've knit these socks. They've been on the needles since . . . forever. I guess that forever would be about early May. They just needed a quick toe and a dose of confidence. It look herbal tea to finish them.

I've also knit a shawl for a friend (a knitty one, not a blogger) who's moving to Florida. Her going away present will be this (plus a few rows, I'm going to finish it).

It's not a shapeless bag, no matter how much it resembles one.

It's the Pie shawl from the Knitter's Almanac. (I am nothing if not consistent.) I'm making it out of some black stuff I bought at Goodwill. This stuff breaks easier than any other yarn I've ever seen. There are times where it just breaks for no reason. Maybe it resents me, being turned into a shawl, and everything that shawls represent. (It's okay when your yarn talks to you. When you answer it (out loud) that's when you may have a problem)

Here is where I was about three weeks ago. I just wanted you to see how open it was (is).

Remind me to see how many Wraps Per Inch I get with this yarn.

Well, I'm off to go over analyze poetry. Maybe some day here really soon I'll actually have a chance to write one.

It's only the begining

2011-08-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

And really it is.

I know you love the feeling of starting something new. The possibilities are endless, and almost enough to make you go dizzy with all the possible options. You sit down and decide to knit a sweater (we won't ask how you decided to knit a sweater, that's a lot more possibilities) and even knowing what it'll be has a lot of choices. Cardigan or pullover (cardigan), What kind of sleeves, what kind of collar, what yarn, solid colored, or striped, or even Fair Isle? Steeked or knit flat? What pattern should it be based on, if any? Should I do Elizabeth Zimmermann's seamless yoke sweater, or the seamless raglan sweater? Or should I just ditch EZ and go with someone who's already done all the math I need? (I'll take EZ any day though, speak softly and carry a big calculator!)

And with every choice you make about your sweater you lose so much of the potential for anything else. If I make the edge ribbed than I can't have it be hemmed, seed stitch, garter stitch, or a million other things. If I give it stripes than I can't make it solid. If the yoke is garter stitch, then it can't be Fair Isle.

It's kind of like writing a book. With every sentence you write there are million less things that you can do to your plot. If you make it take place in San Francisco, than it can't be in New York, or anywhere else equally amazing. If the main character is a woman, than it can't be about a man (unless it's like a really unimportant character telling the story, or if it shifts the view point a lot) Every time you take the left fork there is no way for you to take the right fork. (Unless you rip it out.)

Boy I keep mixing all those metaphors. I'll try to stop. Off to go attempt to felt a store bought sweater, I don't think it'll work, but more on that later. (I've got a lot left to do today, but I've been stewing on this post for days, and I wanted to get it out there ASAP)

And does anyone know the reason for the spike in hits on the sixteenth? I expected maybe ten-ish, and I got like twenty-three. Not that I'm complaining, but did I win something or did someone link to me?

One you see, and One you don't

2011-08-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a while, but what else is new? There are several reasons why I haven't said in anything in forever.

1. It takes a lot to shake my to my core (not really). Desperate Housewives will be having their last season. I was unable to move for about a week when I heard this, and even now writing that last sentence I still feel slightly off. I have a feeling that when the hope of a new episode of Desperate Housewives has gone, I will become the Desperate one. I'll be the Desperate Writer.

2. The weather here is actually pleasant enough for me to spend some time outside without hating that ball of fire in the sky. Not to hot, not to cold, just right, like porridge. There were a few mornings where I even wore a sweater. See, that wish for some cooler weather of mine really did come true. Maybe I'm magic. I wonder how I'll use my powers next . . .

3. I wanted to finish the two things that I had on the needles before I posted.You'll only be able to see one of them, because the other one was a baby sweater and I wanted to put buttons on it before you got to see it. Right on cue, I can't remember where I put my buttons. That sweater will be a while.

4. I've been having some pretty wired dreams lately (is there such thing as a normal dream though?). Like last night I dreamed that I was living with a blind man on Nantucket Island. He had four kids from a previous marriage. I do remember that the blind guy I was living with wouldn't let me give the kids cereal for breakfast. The night before that I dreamed that I was King Henry the Eighth. I do believe I ditched the current wife, (whichever one it was) and ran off to live in the Italian country side with Sir Tomas Moore. I may or may not have dreamed that I chopped his head off too. About a week ago I dreamed that I was trying to out run a train. I may have beat the train (was I running to save my blind husband, and his four children?).

(I apologize for that impromptu look into my head. It ain't pretty in there.)

See, four perfectly good reasons for my silence. Actually, it was like 3.2 good reasons, and 0.8 okay reasons: it's not like I blog in my sleep.

When I'm not busy writing, and dreaming happy/bizarre/unrealistic dreams, I've been knitting this: (Sorry for all the pictures, There was really about double what you're seeing here. I weeded out the ones that I say are just to weird for people to see.)

Just having a little soak in the tub

Lookie, a visitor

Here's a few shots of the blocking:

bigger than a shawlette, smaller than a boat cozy

a close up of the lace

And here's the finished shots:

It looks big on a short person. But because of the way that I assed up the directions, it was twice the size of what it should be.

The boxwood is not moved.

The Sweet Annie is scared.

I gave it to the recipient last night and they were thrilled. Thrilled is really an understatement for how excited they were.

I think I may need to learn that a few good pictures are better than a lot of crappy ones. Bear with me please.

Another bump in the road

2011-08-04T11:06:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was a bumpy road. Actually for the most part it was fine, except for where I stared at my computer screen and cried because the words didn't come, but that really doesn't qualify much as an event. These days it's more like a thing I have to do during the day, like the dishes.

The only real bump in the road was what happened with July's sock of the month socks. I was knitting on them all day, really, all day. Well, not all day, but more that usual. I really wanted to hurry up and finish July's socks before July was over. That didn't work so I figured that I should some close right? August's socks are going to be small so I figured that this might be my time to finally catch up. To finally, for the first time ever, to be actually knitting the sock of the month, in the month.

I sat on my knitting and bent all four needles. I bent them back a little, but it's hard to keep and US 1 from slipping, you know? I wish I would have gotten a picture of them, I would really have to say that they were around a 60 degree angle. I tried to knit with them (just to finish the heel) but I couldn't. If you need me I'll be on my back porch whacking at knitting with hammer. That will be sure to entertain my neighbors.

Socks and Supersition (Good title Eh?)

2011-08-02T09:56:00.000-04:00

I am a suspicious person. I am also a superstitious person. It has been years since I've used salt without giving it a little toss over my left shoulder. But I don't use that one a lot, mostly because I hate food that is to salty.

I also think that it is bad mojo for one sock to be shown on the blog. One finished sock. I can show you it almost finished (if I had thought to take a picture of it) and I can show you the next one having began, but under no circumstances can I show you just the one sock. I'm almost done with July's sock of the month (I'm a mess, mock me at will) I'm really less than a sock behind. I need to get working on this, but the sock is at a point where it requires me to count. Maybe sometime today I'll work up the courage to attempt to not screw it up hugely, but we'll just have to wait and see.

This is going to sound a little odd, and people are likely to smack me for saying this, but am I the only one who's tired of summer? I personally am more than ready for a nice cool autumn (hopefully I can walk in it this year) I am so in the mood to throw on some jeans (I miss jeans) and a beautiful cardigan and scuffle through the leaves piled on the edge of the sidewalk. I want to see the brilliant colors of the autumn leaves and feel the crispness in the air. I also want to see how long I can go without turning the furnace on (I hope for Halloween, but no body else thinks that this is a good idea, sigh . . .) Just a few more months and it'll be sweater weather again

And please, for the love of wool, don't tell me I said this come February, by the time that rolls around I'll be one skein of sock yarn away from losing it.

Also, I don't trust Blogger's spell check, I'm sorry for any spelling/grammar errors. I'm editing the first book right now and if I have to fix yet another comma splice people are going to have to start refering to my house as the place where that crazy knitter who never shuts up about writing lives (more than they usually do).

Hello!! Have a good feeling!

2011-07-30T23:40:00.000-04:00

Just in the mood to stop by and say hey. Such a good feeling, not blogging because I feel like I should, or because someone coughabbycough told me that I have to, otherwise she will not speak to me. Really good feelings.

Today was mostly a day of good feelings. There were a few low points, but that happens any day. And something good came out of those low points, so in the end it's all worth it. I worked, I wrote, I took some time for myself, took a long bath, and had a great dinner. ( A store bought sub and REAL corn on the cob. Have I mentioned how much I love corn on the cob. It's like, we've got a great food, lets make it better by putting it on a freaking cob!) Today was pretty much a day where I broke even. And that's all that I can really hope for. I think that would be great title for a sitcom, don't you think so: Breaking Even. I think it should be about a couple who want to have children, but are having problems doing so, and neither one of them makes a lot of money. Sorry for rambling, it tends to happen to me.

Almost started something new today, but I held off. I don't know why, but I'm a little glad I did. I kind of want to finish up a few things first. You know how it is. I still need to knit the crap out of July's socks (I'm not doing sock of the month, I swear it) And I want to finish Wendy's mystery summer shawelette. I figure that even thought the mystery has gone, it would be a good idea to finish it while it is still summer. It would be be unsports man like to do otherwise. This will be done soon. I can feel the rows getting shorter.

Do you like the blogs new look? The old one was kind of a little to cozy for summer I thought. This seems so much more breezy. A little late, but I am still knitting the mystery shawl. I started the rest of it with ya'll, that's all that counts.

Good night,
Sleep tight,
Be sure to knit a little tonight.

~Garret!

Busy day, not so busy

2011-07-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

Today was going to be a busy day. I had to walk up to the woods, and pick an ass-load of jewel weed for my mother, I had to walk to the store and pick up cat combs for the alpaca (and maybe a scented candle for me, I do lurve those things (yes, I lurve them to much to spell love right) I had to pick a million of everything in the garden, and the grass would need mowed sometime or another.

So I got up early this morning, ready to start tackling the inside stuff before I did the outside stuff, I had gotten about half (really, less than half) of the inside stuff done before I was ready to switch to the outside stuff. As I stepped out the door it started raining. This is not the kind of rain that you could ignore either, this is big rain. So I now have about two or more free hours today. I could use this time to get caught up on everything, but I don't want to.

I was almost hoping that it would rain on my way down to the store. I LURVE getting caught in the rain (but I am into yoga . . . ) I think it may have stopped raining. Off to go get caught in the rain.

I've got a fever

2011-07-23T17:23:00.001-04:00

And that fever is not because it is hotter than hell here. It is a knitting fever and the only cure is more socks. Here's a little picture of what I've done in my free time for the past few days. All the other WIPs were cast to the wind, and I'm pretty sure the Jet Stream has left them around Iceland by now. Let me pull out the little camera that could and snap a few pictures of them. (What it could do I don't know. I am lucky if it gets pictures, let alone good ones.)

Here's a few shots of some socks that I finished a little while ago, maybe two or three days.

All that yoga is starting to pay off. A little secret to make yourself more bendy, do it in the bathtub. Make sure you have those non-slip daisies.

Ignore the messy backround. This is the room where homeless furniture goes.

If I were doing the sock of the month club these would be June's socks.Yes, June's, but I'm not doing the sock of the month club, so it doesn't matter. I just happen to be knitting a pair a month. It's all an illusion.

The blue is an unknown fiber, as is the white. Blame Goodwill, and blame me for being to cheap to buy my yarn new. These are going to be a Christmas present (maybe, I'll get to that later) and when I give a present that is hand knitted, I am weird about making it as cheap as possible. I think that blue has at least 50% wool, just because it feels like it does.

These were knit from the toe-up, which I really want to like, but I just can't wrap my head around it. I love the way that you can use all the yarn (which I didn't do, I thought I was running out, hence the white) I love the way that you just have to cast on for the toe, instead of all the way around the ankle. I like the way that you can try it on as a mitten if you want to (I did it less this time than the last). But it just seems like it is missing something. I don't know what, but I am beginning to realize that I am a weired person who likes weird things.

The thing is through that I am beginning to think that these might be a little Mid-Century-Modern for the intended recipient. I thought that I could put these up until the holidays, and if I have time make him a different pair in plain black and I could just wear these for myself, after the holidays of course. I asked him once and he said that he would wear them, but I have my doubts (for instance these aren't machine washable). Does anyone who knows my father have an opinion on this (you know who you are)?

I hope it rains tomorrow morning. I can get up early, there will be baked goods (I will have to make them appear, so that part might not happen) there will be overly sweetened coffee (I know I will make that be there) I will be in cozy jamies, and I will have a mountain of editing to tackle. Have I mentioned how much I loathe editing. There will either be a lot of editing or knit-blog reading. I hope editing.

Unless it doesn't rain. Then I'll just zonk out in front to the TV like most people do on Sunday morning. If that happens I could get a lot more done on this sock.

Ugh! What a crappy photo. Ignore the bottle of ink the backround.

These are the Dublin Bay Socks that are slowly getting done. More on them later, I really have to go. (Editing Grrr!!!)

Has it really been over week, feel like a lot less time

2011-07-18T14:34:00.000-04:00

I was poking around the blog for a minute, and I learned a number of things. Some things disturbing, somethings not. There was one person who found my blog by searching for "did paul young die desperate housewives" I don't really know what to make of that. There was one who found it by searching for "julie and julia netflix" and apparently a lot of people found it from searching Reynolds Katsura. Are you one of those people? One of the most shocking things is that I have only done thirty-four posts this year. I really don't deserve all the hits that I've gotten. I most fix this.

(By the way, while I'm thinking about it, is .ru what you put at the end of a Russian web site. Like Canada is .ca and the UK is .uk)

But I am proud to admit that no one found me by searching for Body of Proof, and it took admirable self-restraint to keep from yammering on and on about that one.

But no one has found this blog by searching for "finished sweater" either. To help remedy that here are some shots of the sweater that I finished last weekend. I kept putting it off and off, until it was a week since I had promised to share pic. Naughty, Naughty blogger. (I really just did that for the hits, you have your entertainment, I have mine)

Sorry for the bad photo. I'm not very good at this, and I figure that trying to get a good picture of this sweater is like trying to get a good one of bigfoot. The day I took this picture was really hot, and I was not in the mood to wonder around wearing a mohair sweater

The yarn is Reynolds Kitten, another long discontinued brand. This was gift from a knitter who has yarn in her stash that is older than I am. This yarn is probably one of those. The acrylic mohair combo was not the most fun to knit with, but I do like the effect of it. In real life it is a lot more fuzzy, almost annoyingly so.

The pattern was the Perfect Sweater from the side bar at Mason-Dixon Knitting (link on the right) This is the second time that I've knit this pattern, and most likely not the last.

Here's a close up of the V-neck. I can't get over how less fuzzy this thing is on camera. Just like when it's underwater. Yes, I need to shave in this picture. Leave me alone, I'm just not into appearances like the rest of the vain vain world.

A letter of Pictures

2011-07-10T12:59:00.000-04:00

I had a really great day yesterday. Have you ever had one of those days where you just don't want it to end? While I spend a large part of the day cleaning, it was all happy cleaning. It wasn't the kind that you feel forced to do. I didn't get to everything that I wanted to get to, but I did perform all the necessary maintenance that was needed on the house, which I am afraid to admit has been neglected for the past few days.

I washed the sheets yesterday, a act that always makes me feel like a saint. A real saint would probably not care about whether or not their sheets were clean, they would be to busy achieving greater spiritual purity. I would simply tell them to enjoy their bread and water, and to not drool to much over my stuffed peppers. (Freezer brand, but still yummy.)

Here's a few shots from yesterday. I had a fresh pack of batteries, and the urge to share EVERYTHING. I hung my sheets out to dry, only after they were dry, I keep forgetting that I have a clothes line. So I really was just sunning them.

Pretty Huh? I felt like I was on the prairie hanging my sheets up on the line. Some of you my wonder why the clothes line is over the garden. This is because the line is supposed to be somehow used to stake up the tomatoes. I'll let you know when it works.

Suffice to say that the second after I took the picture that I stuffed all of these into my mouth at the same time. It was like a mouthful of red. A mouthful of red and of seeds.

But there were a lot of berries, these six, and the other million I ate made hardly a dent in all the berries.

And this was after I ate them for lunch. Them and cucumber. Have I mentioned that I LURVE cucumber. And from the looks of it I will have a lot more lunches similar to this.

All those little yellow flowers . . .

And while I have the pictures on the computer, here are a few shots of some knitting. Here is a sock that I am working up, a little Christmas present for my father. I am a planner, either mock me, or fear me.

Here is a pretty good picture of the color, and here is a picture of the ribbing.

My ribbing is a lot less wonky in real life. It almost resembles, good knitting.

The little sweater I'm working on. Really finely knit, but I'm enjoying it. V-neck, cardigan, and taking forever. This has taken about a month, and it's the first piece. Granted there were a few places where I had to frog, and I wasn't exactly monotonous with it, but it is still taking a while.

But, I did finish something else up this weekend. A little sweater that makes me yearn for fall. I still have a few ends to weave in, and I'll show it to you after I finish that, probably tomorrow.

If I can call it dinner . . .

2011-07-07T11:20:00.000-04:00

I will start by making a promise that this will NEVER become a foodie blog. I don't want to bore all of you with that, and disgust you.

But last night's dinner was an odd one. Not that I had anything unusual to eat, but the way I felt about it. It was odd, maybe not odd for you, but odd for me.

Since I go to Knit Night on Wednesday nights, dinner is usually simple then, it tends to be one of those take-and-bake pizzas from the grocery store. But I had pizza for lunch yesterday, and while I like the stuff, I don't like it that much. Anything more than once a week is a little much for me. So, I picked up some Chicken patties (barf) and some pre-boxed fake-ass pasta side, (less barf, but still not my dinner of choice) and a bag of frozen corn. (Not the real stuff you buy two for a buck. And really, two for a buck, a little unreasonable.)This is not the sort of dinner that I relish making, there is little to season, so little creativity, all of it really just involves stirring and flipping (and me flipping) with a lot of setting timers.

But yet, I loved making it. It took me just long enough to cook it without getting tired of it. Everything turned out perfect, and the only down side was that it tasted like crap. Well, not like crap, more like breaded processed crap, creamy over-seasoned crap, and crap with butter.

But I had fun making it. And does anything else really count? (Yes!)

Other things to do

2011-07-04T20:39:00.000-04:00

I keep meaning to snap pictures of my knitting. I am fueled by the urge to stick the stuff in a bush and snap away at it. I would be doing this but someone coughbriannacough took the batteries out of my camera when 'they' borrowed it for the weekend. That I'll teach me to leave things lay on my desk. I would be more upset, but they're fricken batteries, I would have given them to her if she would have asked me. Well, I probably wouldn't have, but she didn't ask me so the world will never know.

I think I have a few crappy photos on my camera, maybe some of the handspun I just made, a long time ago. I don't think it counts as just made, if I did it a week or so ago.

At the risk of sounding like a valley girl, I have to say: Cameras are like so totally cool, ya know!

Not the prettiest handspun, but I love it like a baby. Better than a baby really, it smells good, and it doesn't make messes. This is from Homespun Acers an alpaca and wool blend that makes me go weak at the knees. I didn't think there would be enough for me to get a decent amount of sock yarn out of it, so I added an ounce of Romney to stretch it farther.

Sorry for the crappy photo. My little camera ain't seen a whole lot of use in a long time. I am still getting used to it.

This is my one-hundredth post here. I really thought I would be farther along by now. But I now can add some pictures. Maybe soon I can add good pictures.

Off to go do something, I think I may knit and watch some TV or read. Another wild Fourth of July here at Casa de Garret. Bye!

PICTURES!!!!!

2011-07-01T08:56:00.000-04:00

Okay, you guys all know that I am some technical genius right. Yeah, well, not so much. I rudely awakened by that fact a few days ago when I realized that my computer (my wonderful, badly abused) computer has an SD slot. To those of you, who are like me, and have no clue what that is, an SD slot is a slot in your computer where you can put your memory card in, and upload pictures to your computer.

I spent about a half-hour this morning, wrangling with my camera and computer and this is what I've come up with. The pictures were taken at around midnight last night, so please forgive the *ahem* quality. I'll try to do better.

Here are a few scrubies that I have been cranking out the past few days. They are perfect to knit while you read. They are also perfect for using up scraps. Garter Stitch and acrylic, oh boy does that take me back.

This one is a lot less glowing than it really looks. I swear, it is not radioactive.

I finished this one off with two rows of green, that explains that thing on the bottom. Didn't want you all to start thinking that I was already using these things on dishes.

Don't tell the other ones, but this one is my favorite. So sunny and cheerful. Again, in real life it doesn't damage your eyes that bad.

And here is a dishcloth that I cranked out to go with those three. I had to change the way I was striping it in the middle of it because I realized that it was the EXACT same one that I had made for my mother previously. And because this took me so long to post, I missed my window in the bathroom time shedule. Grrr! It was worth it though. Now I feel like one of the *real* bloggers. I am going to run around today and snap pictures of everything.

Cronicle of a Bee

2011-06-27T11:20:00.000-04:00

I was bothered by a bee in the house all day yesterday. Not intentionally bothered, it only messed with me when I was near it. This all probably sounds a little strange to you, let me explain.

When I got out of bed yesterday I went to use the bathroom like I usually do. I opened the bathroom window, as is my routine. Buzzing on the screen was my arch-nemesis for the day, the bee. Not wanting to deal with this big old mess first thing in the morning, I slammed the window shut, and told myself that I would deal with it later. That was a big mistake, I know now that I should have dealt it then and gotten it over with. And for the record, this was a big bee, one of those ones that are over an inch tall, and are that ugly brown color.

Later in the day, I went back to use the bathroom again. Not thinking I opened the window once more. There was that bee again, but this time he looked a little bit madder. He started to fly toward me, so, me being the big old bug-a-phobic that I am, slammed the window shut once more. I kill a lot of bugs, I thought that this time it could be somebody else's turn. I ended up slamming the window on the bee. I could hear him buzzing around underneath it. I didn't want to open the window up and risk letting a mad bee into the house, so I just pressed down really hard onto the window until the buzzing stoped. No big deal, right? Bug dead and the world is now at peace, clean up to follow.

No, apparently someone else opened that window later in the day. They unknowingly let out a bee that could crawl, but had no wings. A bee that also had a vendetta for me. When I find out who that person was, they will be the next thing that I go after with a shoe.

Late last night, I got out of bed to go to the bathroom before I fell asleep. On my way to the bathroom, I noticed something crawling on my dresser. At first glace I thought it was a big spider (which would have made me freak out that much more) But, after I turned the light on I realized that it was a bee that couldn't fly. After telling it not to move, I ran (as much as I can run) downstairs and grabbed the nearest shoe that I could find. I pounded it into the dresser and waited until the buzzing nose stopped.

It was still not dead. So with the shoe, I beat the bug into a pulp, pick it up with toilet paper and give it a good flush down the toilet. I was quite satisfied.

A bug outside is a beautiful cog in Nature's ever turning wheel. A bug inside is THE ENEMY!!

I still don't know how I feel about bugs on screened in porches . . .

2011-06-24T16:10:00.000-04:00

All day yesterday I had a desire for finished stuff. I just wanted to have drifts and drifts of finished stuff to be gathered around me. I wanted to suffocate in the doneness of it all. I wanted to not only finish all the knitting, but I wanted to finish the writing, clean the kitchen, fold the laundry, make the bed, vacuum the stairs, weed the garden, sweep the porch, and read every unread book that I own. I ended up just standing in the living room doing that flippy-floppy thing with my hands. I needed a little direction, as I do quite often in my life. So, by the end of yesterday, I was determined to finish something, anything at all.

I had a pair of socks on the needles. These socks were different from the rest of the socks on my needles. (one other pair, not that big a deal, they don't deserve the plural) These socks were almost done. They had just one little toe to go, and I couldn't let them go unfinished.

So I pulled out the latest New Yorker, determined to finish it before the new one came. (I might add that it is a day late. This sort of thing happens to me a lot) and I sat there, multi-tasking my little heart out. There is no experience that exceeds reading while I knit, I feel so smart and clever.

Despite several distractions, and people wanting crap from me (which was less than usual) I was done a little while before bed. I even grafted the toes and wove in the ends. (Do you see who serious I was!! I wove in the ends the moment that I was done!! Does that prove to you just how serious I was about needing done stuff!!)

The socks are made out of Berreco Comfort sock, a very nice sock yarn if I ever saw one. It is made out of a rib and cable pattern that changes from rib to cable about every inch and half. The cable, and the rib for that matter, is on two stitches separated by one little purl stitch. They are going to be put away (for exactly six months and one day) as a Christmas present for my mother. Over plan much? Oh please, I was working on 2011 Christmas during 2010 Christmas. (It was kind of an accident, long story)

It is a Friday, I just went out to get the mail and the new New Yorker came. It is gently raining outside and it will be for a while. The windows are open and I can smell the sweet air drifting through them. I have done all my work for the day, and will probably spend the night nursing a hot cup of tea and the sweater that will never end. (I'll tell you about it later.) Tonight is clean sheet night. All the twitchy feelings have gone away, and I am more than happy to do nothing. I can only hope that I feel the same way while I'm trying to sleep.

HELP!!!

2011-06-19T19:09:00.000-04:00

No, I haven't fallen, and I most certainly can get up. (At least at the moment, we'll see about tomorrow.)What I need help with is the novel. (Dear holy heaven I hate calling it that.) I have a character that has a secret. My protagonist is a little suspicious about him.

My big dilemma is what should his secret be? Should he be an axe murder, a sex addict, or a member of the Mafia? Or are all of these dumb? Am I dumb? (We can get to that one later.) I need help. I have to figure out what the hell is wrong with this guy before I can move on.

Throw out any ideas. There may only be a few of you, but I trust your judgement.

2011-06-17T10:25:00.001-04:00

My it has been a while, and for that I am really sorry. The thing is, that since I finished the book, I started another book. And while they first one was written as an old man telling a story of how he fell in love, (Kind of like How I met your Mother) this one is about a divorced woman who drives around the country to try and find herself. And that one is written as a diary, so it is like I am writing a couple of blog entries a day. Pretty entertaining to write, but it makes blogging feel less like a hobby.
And I must say that it is a relief to write as me, not a character. I fear that I am starting to think exactly like a character, which isn't a bad thing, mostly because the character thinks a lot like me. But it still is rather upsetting. I kind of narrate my days, so it would make for good blogging, but I have a crappy memory.

And the other reason that I haven't posted is because I don't really have anything to talk about. I am still knitting, I still start projects that I know I shouldn't. My life is still rather dull, and I still drink a lot of coffee. And now that Desperate Housewives is in re-runs, I don't really have that much to talk about. Like really, the most exciting thing in life is that I ordered a book that wasn't about knitting, and then Barnes and Nobel messed it all up.

(And the way that blogger messed up my posting was a little thrilling. Great, now I have to re-edit. I barely even edit.)

Happy Friday All!

Look at the FO's (Read about the FO's)

2011-06-03T14:08:00.000-04:00

Here an FO*, there a FO, Everywhere an FO.

I am knitting so fast these days that my knitting was fallen behind my blogging. (That and my terrible case of startits, I am learning to move beyond it; I must say that I am failing.) I've got several FO's that I need to blog about.

I think that I have finished three things, but I only can remember two. The third might be a dishcloth or some such; nothing of any importance, believe me, you would know if I finished anything important.

1. A little pair of socks that bother me more than ants in the kitchen. They bother me so much I think about cutting them into little bits and burning them underneath a full moon while I dance naked around them in hopes of better socks. They bothered me while I was knitting them, and they also bother me now that I am done. Number One Husband Socks, I wouldn't knit them if I were you. The pattern looks great, but it took me forever to make, I started these last September, and they were done on May 21st. The only reason I remember that is because it was supposed to be Judgement Day; they now say that the world will end in October, funny fundamentalist Christians.

I ran out of yarn on the last toe. The socks were in a really dark Navy Blue, so I made the toe in the whitest white that I could find. Then I ripped back the other toe, and made it to match; I really like the effect of it. I love it when a mistake like that turns out to make the socks. If only it worked that way every time.

The socks sag like you wouldn't believe though. I had to wear my braces just to keep them from falling down. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself about the braces. I really am wearing them becuase I was a terrible person in a past life, or because I had short tendons. One of those three for sure though.

(While I was looking for the link above, I read about the problems at ravelry. I changed my password then and there. I will now spend the rest of my day changing them on all my other accounts. I first went with a password similar to my old one, but I changed it to something that is totally cool and something that I will probably never remember.)

2. This sweater got the buttons sewn on it, after only having the knitting done for a few weeks. I Hate sewing. I did it while on the phone, just so I would hate it less.

This sweater only a lot nicer, and a lot bigger, and a lot more colorful (that word needs a U) Oh, and it is now a cardigan. I do love me some Elizabeth Zimmerann, and this is based on her Seamless Yoke sweater that I could knit again and again, and yet never knit the same sweater twice.

Off to go work on some more WIP clearing, I can't wait to start something new.

*For non-knitters who have a life, The abbreviation FO means Finished Object. I save a whole twenty seconds in my day by abbreviating that. I spend longer than that typing this note. What I do to educate the ignorant!

What's on my needles

2011-05-26T17:27:00.000-04:00

It would be a lot faster to name what's not on my needles.

1.A WIP that is always within arms reach of me, especially when I am on the computer. Despite always being SO CLOSE, this sweater is far from done. I don't know what the pattern is, or what book it's from, but I do know that almost a year ago a knitting friend walked up to me with a pattern, told me that I should knit this sweater because it would look good on me. I tried it pretty soon after that, but I didn't get very far, despite the US 10's. The yarn was splitting, and I was using some pretty old Susan Bates needles that had the finish worn off of them. I ripped it out, and put the pattern away. I think I filled it under "I tell people that I'm working on it, but I'm not really" That file is filled with gifts for other people.

I was searching for a pattern that would look good with the CRAP that I am using for the . . . fifth time. I think the fifth time, I am starting to lose count, that's how many times that I have used this yarn. I bought it on sale, (ten bucks, it may be crap, but at those prices I can't resist a thing) so I have defiantly gotten my moneys worth out of it, like it or not.

It's a sweater that has graduated stripes; I mixed the gray from above with a little brown that I rescued from being crocheted into a terrible Goodwill fate. It seems to behaving, aside from the not getting done, and this is it's best look yet. I think that it just needed to be knit at a loser gauge. I might actually deem this sweater appropriate to be considered clothes.

Bad Yarn + Bad Pattern = A sweater that has a chance of becoming halfway decent. Who Knew?

2.(Dear God, we're only at two, I just wrote a novella about one sweater that isn't even half done) A Log Cabin afghan that is FAR from being done. This thing is no where near finished despite my best intentions to work on it daily. (I fall short a lot.) I plan to have nine squares with a thin border of applied I-cord. I am almost done with the second square. This thing has been on the needles for about a month. Last spring I made one that was very similar to it, but I gave it to some friends/relatives who really wanted a blanket from me,and they are some of the few people who I deem good enough to recieved a handknit of that magnitude. (They knit to.) I decided that I would then knit myself one, much later. The last time that I knit it I did so in less than a month. This time it will be WAY over a month, it's already been a month. I give it a LONG time. It's knit out of odd-ball acrylic, which means that none of the colors match, and that it will clash terribly once it is done. I say that it is part of the blankets charm. (Take that Hannah!)

3.(Seriously, three! Better go get yourself another cup of coffee; I knit a-lot, can you tell?) The absolutely lovely Dublin Bay Socks! The lace panel is wonderful, and the plain bits make it perfect for while I'm reading, or waiting, but still interesting enough to be quiet time knitting. This will defiantly not be the last time that I use this pattern. The yarn is a Goodwill find that I paid two dollars for a fair bit of yarn. I do love me a good bargain, there will probably be enough for a little sweater after these socks.

4. Some more socks. This time they are a little bit more fancy, a pair of cabled socks that I am knitting up out of Comfort Berreco Sock Yarn. I can't remember the color way, because I tend to get kind of fidgety when I have a pile of paper on the coffee table the size of my head. I know that it is turquoise with the occasional stripe of brown or gray in it. I'm not doing the Self-impossed sock club, I just happen to be knitting a pair of socks a month, I'll tell you the sorted story of April later.

5. Just about the same this as many people are knitting. Wendy's Mystery Lace Knit a-long. I am so far behind on this thing that I might never catch up. (not really) I just need to knit the second clue, and if I fall a little bit behind, it will not be the end of the world. I am knitting it out of some recycled cotton that I think will make a great summer shawl for . . . someone that is not me. Anyone want a shawl?

6.A Baby sweater that is almost done. I literally can smell it. I just need to knit the edging on the sleeve, and weave in the ends. I'm worried about this sweater though. I think that with the red and white yarn that it might look a little to Santa-ie. That is why I'm stalling on it. Of course, I knit a whole sweater, (a small one none the less) I don't really care if the thing makes that baby look like a space alien, they are getting, and the mother better at least pretend to love it.

7. Another Baby sweater, A lovely Totem jacket that will go to another baby. It's knit out of recycled cotton. (cotton is the easiest to unravel) It only has the sleeves to go, so I need to get moving on this one. It has been on the needles way to long. and I have ripped at least each part of it once. Can you say "fussy?"

There are a few more things that I know that I will never finish. I have a sweater that only needs one sleeve, and a blanket that is half done, along with a bunch of stuff that I wished that I had never started. I am constantly thinking about new stuff to start, (but stuff that I'm not going to start until I finish something; I am learning how to live with my serial case of Startitis.) and think about what I would rather be knitting. Let people whistle for their dishcloths, I'm a knitter with a PLAN!!

The sad part is that I thought of about four more things that I want to knit while I typed this.

I'm not loyal to a project, I just like to think that I am loyal to knitting in general. Because I wouldn't have started all this stuff if I really didn't like to knit. Either that or I secretly hate knitting, and just keep thinking that a different project would make me feel any better. My money is defiantly on the last one.

It has been a while

2011-05-24T10:38:00.000-04:00

And indeed it has been a while. To long really, I don't know how I let the blog go dark for this long. The key to being a good blogger is to post often, and I guess that would make me a bad blogger.

Since it has been a while, I think that the perfect thing for me to give you a list. They are easy to write, and fun to read, so I don't know why I don't do more of them. As a matter of fact, all blogs should be in list from. But you might not want to listen to me, I spend twenty minutes looking for a teapot today, only to find that it was three feet from the stove; I tend to be a little . . . scatter brained.

1. I just finished something major in my life. it might prove to be very insignificant to the rest of the world, but it will always be special to me. The thing is, you remember that book that I was writing, I mentioned it a few times before, I sort of finished it. I say sort of because there is still huge amounts of work to be done that will probably be harder than the actual writing. I may never publish it, namely because I don't want to become some sell out (I want to be successful, just not to successful, I don't feel like I deserve it.) But for the rest of my life, I will have the memories of the blood, sweat and tears that I put into it.

I lead a small life here, important, but small. And the incredible high that I got when I finished it was unbelievable. Actually, I got the high about twenty minutes later, when I fist finished, I started at the screen and thought "Now what?"

2. I truly think that I was meant to be a writer. I have all the makings for it. I am a neurotic mess. I don't sleep very well, I have got a hobby that is both weird (weird for a young man) and time consuming. I am a long beard and a dozen bottles of wine away from being a hermit. I don't mind being broke, as long as I have plenty of food, and don't have to figure out how to get running water in a cardboard box. I usually like to read, and I tend to type pretty fast.

3. Knitting, now here is where we get down to the knitty-gritty and talk about what I really am supposed to talk about. This is called Garret Knits Ohio. Now that I think about it, I should have called it something like Garret Blogs Ohio, or Garret Knit A-Lot, or something like that. Maybe I should have left out Ohio and Knitting, and called it something it Garret! But that makes me sound like Cher, or Oklahoma! And while Ohio isn't the greatest state, I think Oklahoma is a worse one, (one word: tornadoes) and I don't want people thinking that I'm from there. Not that Oklahoma is a bad state, I just prefer Ohio, and preferring Ohio is defiantly a thing in my book.

4.This leads me to think about why the hell that I named my blog Garret Knits Ohio, if I don't like Ohio, and don't really like my name all to well. (I learn to live with it.) So what was it that caused me to name my blog after things that I don't like. Maybe I have some complex that causes me to bind myself to the things that I don't like. Or maybe I don't think enough. Or maybe I tend to think to much about these things, maybe it's all the coffee I drink.

5. What was I talking about?

6. I'm sure that it'll come back to me some day. If I can't remember it, then it probably isn't that important. Right?

7. I now that it has been about a week and a half, I must talk about that ~~raging out of control, til it consumes me~~ growing ~~obsession~~ ~~addiction~~ habit of that ~~HUGE~~ little gem known as Desperate Housewives. I just want to say that in the two hours of their finale (I didn't care for the way that they did two different episodes, even though I didn't think that they could have done them both at the same time, I probably would have screamed myself to death) I probably squealed like a little girl no less than five times. I just want to say that A) I can't believe that Felicia did that to Paul. And I also thought for sure that one of them would die, especially when Felicia saw that the siren was coming from a toy car. I hoped that it would be Paul, but I thought it would be Susan. But thankfully I was wrong and they both lived. B) Those girls cover up WAY to many murders. They make me think that it wouldn't be that hard; they make me want to cover up a murder scene.

That's all for now, I did have some other stuff to say, but I don't want to use up all the blog fodder at once. I MUST conserve the blog fodder, otherwise I will be gone for another two weeks, because there still isn't a lot going on.

Startitis

2011-05-10T15:54:00.000-04:00

I don't like to admit this, but I am just like all other knitters. I make mistakes, (oh, do I make mistakes) I say screw it instead of fixing those mistakes. I have a sweater sitting less than a foot from me that needs two seams, some buttons, and the ends woven in, and it will be done. That is all that it needs, and at this moment I would rather crawl down to the corner store, and crawl back with a gallon of milk in my teeth than finish this sweater. It is a beautiful sweater, and one that I would love to wear one of these days. (or maybe in like four months when it is cool enough for a wool sweater) Yet, I cannot get this computer off my lap to do so.

Now, in fairness, I spent the morning doing a lot of necessary fact checking on my novel, (I hate calling it that, but that is what it is) and fixing the story line so that way it makes a little bit of sense. But still, I couldn't spare like ten minutes to just get a little bit done on it. I keep telling myself that I will work on it tonight. That I will work on it for at least an hour, but lets be honest, I ain't working on it.

I think that I might be coming down with a case of startitis. (Quick run for your lives, you don't want startitis!!) I suddenly don't care about how many WIPs there are on the needles (more than usual) and I find myself spending large amounts of time on ravelry. I am thinking about Elizabeth Zimmermann and acrylic in the same sweater; things are not pretty.

I started a little baby sweater last night, and that seemed to help a little, but that was only counteracted by my unraveling of a failed sweater (fourth time I tried to knit that yarn into a sweater, maybe it is trying to tell me that it doesn't want to be a sweater)

I think that I may start something once I finish working for the day. Of course I still have some weeding to do, but that can wait till tomorrow. Or the day after. Or until the weekend. Or until it is so hot outside that I don't even want to walk to the car, let alone work out in the garden in the 90+ temperatures. (And I also have a lot of dishes to do, and dinner to cook, but I can worry about that later)

I Won!!

2011-05-09T11:12:00.000-04:00

You will never guess what I won (or maybe you can, it wasn't that hard)

I won a pattern collection from the Summer 2011 issue of Knitcircus!! From Wendy. Yes, Wendy Knits Wendy.

Getting that email from her was like getting a cake (one with really fancy frosting) in my inbox.

While there are no patterns for men, there are still a lot that I would make, some great socks, and some great baby clothes. I don't know if I'll be making any soon, but when I do, I'll legally be able to show pictures of them.

Speaking of Pictures, here's one of some socks that I knit a little while ago. I didn't yak about them, because they were a gift, and I didn't want to share anything about them. The recipient reads this blog, and I knew she would give me hell (typo: heel, how ironic) if she found out about them.

The yarn was Berraco Sock, I don't know about the shade, but I do know that I lost the label. I liked this yarn knitted up a lot better than I liked it when it was on the skein. I don't know, but I thought it was to . . . dusty. But once I knit it, I felt like it just colored right up.

This was the first time that I knit a sock from the toe-up. I sort of have mixed feelings about this. I like the way that you can make the most of the yarn, and I like the way that the toe was increased (I found toe increases interesting, that just gives you a lovely window into how truly boring my life is)

I used the heel that I made up in the past. I wanted to do something similar to a short-row heel, but was to lazy to go online and look up how to make one. I just did some short-rows, and did a few decreases, and picked up a few stitches, and decreased a little more. In the end I ended up with something that was like the bastardization of a short-row heel, and a flap heel. I call it the Garret Heel.

Some one has probably come up with this before. (Maybe Cat Bordhi?) I am almost sure of it, but I still feel really clever with myself for thinking it out. I almost always use that heel now. Maybe one on these day, I will figure out how to do a short-row heel, but until then, I am quite happy with my Garret Heel.

A Quick Pic

2011-04-27T17:05:00.000-04:00

I had some relatives come into town this weekend. These people are not only relatives, but also close friends with me. (being a relative does not always mean that I like you) And most importantly, these people have BOTH a working camera, and a USB cord. That's right folks, you actually get to SEE my knitting. I'm talking about real pictures, of my knitting. Not me posting stolen pictures and telling you to imagine it in the colors I made it in.

I am in a hurry today (the only reason that I am doing this today is because I realized that it had been a week since I blogged last) So I will only post a quick picture of the sweater that I'm working on, and that will have to be all.

It's the Seamless Yoke Sweater, form Knitting Without Tears. I may have said it before, but I LOVE Elizabeth Zimmermann. And this is very Zimmermann-y

Okay, I can't figure our how to move the picture, so it will just have to stay at the top. (Why don't they make a Bloggers operational manual) (ETA: I figured out how to move it, that was really easy)

As must be done with all of Elizabeth Zimmermann's patterns, it must be heavily modified. I added some Fair Isleing to the bottom of it, and some to the middle of it. I like to think that it looks great, and I do hope that you agree with me.

I finished one sleeve, and have gotten the other up to the elbow. The Fair Isle at the bottom of the body is also at the top of the sleeve. I can't wait to get up to the yoke. Maybe then it will be a little bit more interesting.

Off to Knit Night at the bookstore!!

A cry of the un-rippable

2011-04-14T16:44:00.000-04:00

I keep meaning to write this, I even go as far as to form the first few sentences in my mind, but I keep putting it off, and off, until a week (or so) had gone by and I still had no blog entry.

I'll start with the bad news, I prefer to hear the bad news first, so I will just assume (you know what happens when you assume) that you are of the same mind set.

Can you recall that top down sweater that I was knitting. The grey one that was made of recycled (and recycled) yarn. The sweater that will haunt me till my dying days. Well, It was a little tight on me, I could have worn it, but I would have felt like I was on display. It was pretty tight, and I didn't like the feeling of the tight turtle neck, I felt like I was being choked.

I had one sleeve left to knit, so I tried it on and it fit, but I still wasn't pleased with the fit. So I thought that I could simply hack of part of the collar (hack, with scissors) and unravel to the point to where I thought it was the right size, and then bind off. That would have taken care of the collar problem, and for the tight problem I could simply do a crochet steek (I love the crochet steek, I don't know why anyone would do any other kind) up the middle, and knit a couple of really wide button bands. That sounded like a good idea; I much prefer cardigans to pullovers.

I decide to do the collar first, and then steek, so that way I could alter the ribbing pattern, and thus make it easier to cut. So, I pulled out my SHARP scissors, and hacked off the top inch or so of the collar. Then I tried to unravel it. After about twenty minutes, I realized that it was imposable to unravel ribbing from the cast on edge toward the bind off edge.

I threw away the yarn. That was the first time, and hopefully the last time that I ever will do that.

Moving On!!

I finished a couple of presents, but I know that one of the recipients reads this blog, so I will wait till after I give it to them to tell you about it.

(And did you know that 'steek' is not recognized as a word? Ah, what does spell check know about knitting)

I still knit

2011-04-03T18:56:00.000-04:00

I really do, quite a lot as a matter of fact. There are few moments were I'm not knitting, and those moments are very far between. I don't talk about my knitting that often. I don't know why, this is a knitting blog after all. But I just feel silly, talking about something that you can't see. I need to hitch a ride to radio shack, so I can get the USB cord that I need to post pictures.

So, I need to work on getting over this silly feeling. I will just tell you about my knitting, (because if I talk about what was on TV last night one more time I will become a TV blog, and I don't want to slip that far) whether you care or not.

So, The Top-Down grey raglan is on the last sleeve. At this point it is no longer a portable project. [sigh] I need a portable project, so this sweater is put on standby (like so much else) until I develop the stamina to do it.

I started a nice wrap to become my next all-purpose project. I need this wrap to be done soon, because the ~~victim~~ recipient's birthday was well over a month ago, and I still haven't even started it. I love feather and fan, so I am making this wrap in that stitch, and I hope that it will be done soon. The colors are tan, purple, and green, in a real soft acrylic, I think that it is Caron Simply Soft . (sorry, I couldn't find the exact colorway)

I have got a lot of stuff on the needles, and I always do. I try not to let this sort of stuff bother me. But it does when I want to start a whole bunch of stuff. At this time, I am obsessed with Elizabeth Zimmermann. I want to make the Colored Yoke sweater, and I want to make the Totem Jacket. The Colored Yoke sweater is the one that I really want to make, but the Totem Jacket is the one that I kind of need to make. By need to make, I mean that I feel a personal responsibility to make this jacket. I know two people who are about to blow that they are so pregnant, and I need to get moving on this stuff. But, now that I have babies to knit for, I don't want to knit anything for a baby. That is the way that the cookie crumbles, I guess.

2011-03-30T10:08:00.001-04:00

All right, you guys know that I watch way more TV than is really healthy, or normal, or sane. So I am just going to say a few things about last night, and then I will move on.

1. Mike Catherwood was robbed. I may have never heard of him before this, but I really liked him and thought that he was the most improved out of all the cast of Dancing with the Stars. I will speak no more of this, not another word. (Maybe a few more words, I have to leave it open)

2. Watch Body of Proof. I may be slightly biased because the star of this show was on Desperate Housewives, (And she also answered the phone when I voted for Mike) but I really liked this show. I laughed, cried, and went "ewww" several times, (each) and if that isn't the making for a great show, then I don't know what is.

Moving on!!

I woke up in a very odd way yesterday. Around five o'clock in the morning, I rolled over and heard a popping noise. (Looking back on it that was probably the sheet popping of the bed) I didn't think anything of it. I finished rolling over and looked over by the fish tank to make sure that there wasn't a cat on top of it. I saw a small red-ish light coming from underneath the fish tank. That coupled with the popping noise made my insane brain immediately think, FIRE!! I race (or as close to racing that I can get) over to the fish tank, and see that there is no fire, but there was a the red light coming from the power strip underneath it. I stare at that power strip for almost ten minutes, almost wishing that it would have been a fire, I was all geared up to put it out.

By that time I was wide awake, and figured that I might as well get up. It was nice to have a little extra time to play with. I would get up that early every day, but that would entail me getting out of bed that early.

About to start the last sleeve of the top-down gray sweater that I'm making. I don't have any books on top-down knitting, so I'm just whining it. That usually doesn't work, but today it does.

Did you here it?

2011-03-28T15:18:00.000-04:00

Well, around one p.m. you may have heard a faint shrieking sound coming from the direction of Ohio. I apologize if that affected your day, and/or your hearing.

I wasn't really that upset, it is only yarn after all, and I was only half heartedly attempting this whole dying thing anyways. I got the yarn washed and in the end that was all that I really needed to do. I could have lived with the original color of the yarn. (which is also the dyed color of the yarn) I wanted something a little darker, and a little thicker, but I wasn't able to get it. Oh well, this will be a Zimmermann Sweater, and I could easily modify the gauge and number of stitches to cast on. (Oh. thank you knitting goddess, a.k.a Elizabeth Zimmermann.) I still have the thrifty feeling that comes with unraveling anything at all, and at the end of the day, that thrifty feeling will keep me warmer than any sweater ever could. (Ask me again when I am in the middle of a blizzard, trying to stay warm with that thrifty feeling. Better yet, take me inside, and don't ask me any questions, that could result in my getting rather violent.)

Speaking of Thrifty, I have been extremely Thrifty here lately. (note the capital T in Thrifty) Thrifty like I went down to a Free Store, (A charity where you can take a certain amount of items per week without any charge) where I used to volunteer, and got four sweaters to unravel for the yarn. Well, I got four, but I will only take three out. I put one of them on and found out that I LOVE it, so that one will stay until I get the frugal feeling again. I took one out, and I've yet to start on the other two. I'm winding up the one that I already took out, that's about half done. I think that I will try steaming this yarn instead of washing it. Washing is a kind of drawn out process, and I've never tried steaming. I think that I'll just hang this yarn up in the bathroom while I shower. (There is something new, showering with yarn, it was bound to happen to me one of these days.)

Yesterday, I had a cat get stuck behind our TV stand. He was stuck back there for about two hours. I ended up pulling him out from behind there by the scruff of his neck. That was only after trying to coax him out, on and off, for several hours. Does Anybody have any good ways to keep a cat out of places where he shouldn't be. . .

Tales of coffee and EZ

2011-03-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

I recently discovered Elizabeth Zimmermann. (By recently I mean about three months ago, I am just now able to afford two of her books, I didn't think I should mention it until now)

For a long time I avoided her. Partly due to the large cult like fallowing that surrounds her, and then I realized: They are talking about how much they love this woman for a reason, she might actually have something to teach me.
And look at that, she does, she is a knitting goddess, just like everyone says she is. Now, for the record, I only own Knitters Almanac and Knitting Without Tears but still, I can see myself owning all of them pretty soon.
It is because of this knitter par exelance, that I have on my basement landing a pot of yarn, cooling in a dye bath. Did I mention that this yarn was forty-eight hours ago a shawl, a nice one that I worked hard on. I fell in love with her seamless yoke sweater in Knitting Without Tears. I had to have this sweater, and none of the cotton that I had recycled would do (I unravel a lot of old sweaters in case you were wondering, I have one within arms reach of me right at this moment) this was a Zimmermann, so it must be made with wool.
I hunted around a little, but I came up with no wool that was A) the right weight or B) enough to make a sweater. So, because I was hell-bent to have this sweater, I started looking around for any thing that could be unraveled to get the yarn. After searching for several minutes, I found a shawl that I knit about a year ago when I was in the middle of hermit hell* It was large, and portions of it were chrochet so I thought that there should be enough of it. (Why did I say that, I will now run out in the middle of the second sleeve) So I pulled it out, and wound it up into skiens, Yes, you read me right, skiens. I usually just wind it into balls and call it a day, but no, this time I was doing it right. So I wound it into skiens, and started to wash the skiens. About mid-way through washing, I noticed that the color wasn't as dark as I would have liked it, so I made the bright idea to dye the yarn. I used coffee, and vinegar. I will let you know if it turns out, if it doesn't you will hear my anguished cries coming vaguely form the direction of northeast Ohio.
I'm off to go work on the novel a bit (gulp) I have to finish a scene where I have to kill of one of my favorite charecters. I'm so unsure of how to write it, that I am going to write two different chapters that tell the same story, and pick the one that I like the best. I will be sitting all alone, with tears pouring down my face (like they are now, dear God, how am I going to write this) chanting: "Fictious charecter, Fictious charecter."
I think that it will help if I just remember that all the great writers had to kill of charecters that they loved. Like L.M. Montgomery, (one of my favorite authors) do you think that she wanted Mathew to die, no, she didn't, but she knew that it was important to the plot of the story, it had to be done.
"Fictious charecter, Fictious charecter."
*Hermit Hell was a period last winter where I left the house about six times in three months. I am both glad that's over, and almost miss it a little, I go back and forth.

A whole bunch of stuff

2011-03-18T21:27:00.001-04:00

Before I get started with the post of the week (I swear I always plan to have more than one post a week, but I for some odd reason always end up posting on the weekend, probably because I'm not with real friends, so I'll just be with the virtual ones, you guys are better, you actually read this blog) I just wanted to let you know that the Red Hots from the last post, they have meet their untimely end. No, I didn't eat all of them (my dearest wish in all the universe) But about ten minutes, after I had posted here, I grabbed the jar off of the end table, popped a few of the heavenly red orbs into my mouth. When I went to put the jar on the end table I missed the table, and the Red Hots went ALL OVER the floor. I mean that they went out of the jar in all directions, it took a good twenty minutes clean them up, and I'm still finding them all over the house. I wasn't too upset, I probably would have ended up in a sugar coma had I ate all of the Red Hots. When I first saw what I had done, I burst out laughing, and every time that I would find a Red Hot in my knitting bag, I would peal over laughing so hard. I must have looked like some sort of freak, sitting all alone, in the quiet living room, clutching a Red Hot and just giggling myself silly.

Now what was I going to say? I really don't remember. Okay, I'll just go with the flow, and see where it takes me.

I have a question for any writers out there. Do you like to write evil characters more than nice ones?

I personally love a purely evil character, I think that they are just so easy to write. You can make them do anything, and they don't always have to be so ever loving perfect. (Well, none of my characters are perfect, I hate perfect characters) They are unpredictable, and unstable, and you can make them really sexy, with devilishly good looks.

And there are so many different words to describe a self-centered person in the English language. I mean there is a lot. You have vain, egotistic, narcissistic, shallow, arrogant, pompous, self absorbed, self-serving, selfish, self-loving, conceited, boastful, proud, and haughty just to name a few. There are so many different words that all mean the same thing.

I almost can't wait until it's time to introduce a narcissistic character into my novel again. The only drawback to that is I have kill off a character that I really don't want to. I love that character, I don't want him to die, and I really don't want to replace him with a total self-absorbed character like I have to. But if I don't that, then I won't have all of the characters in the right place for the big climax. But I'm trying to look forward to writing about the complete jerk, but that will not make up for having to kill off the other character.

Maybe I just need to get out a little more, maybe I should be doing something else on a Friday night, maybe I shouldn't care so much about a fictitious character. Maybe I should go and work on that novel . . . Nah.

Had a busy week this week, in addition to a whole bunch of academic stuff that I had to do, I got the brace for my other foot, and I also started Physical Therapy. All of that put together, plus all of the writing work, and my usual work, made me a very tired person, and a very busy one. I love being busy, I just hate how little free time it leaves me with.

Why do people find massages relaxing? That bothers me. I mean, whatever works for you, but I just do not get what the appeal is. When I go to PT, I have to get one on the back of both my legs. (Yes, I HAVE to, I asked the Physical Therapist, and he said that it was necessary, he also said that he would be tender on them, I'll believe that when I see it)

Someday I may be able to put all my weight on my right leg . . . Or at least that's what the Therapist said, I don't know is I believe him . .

Off to go stretch, or read blogs. . . Ah, the choices. . .

( ETA: I made the blog red, in the spirt of the Red Hots. I think that it looks classier, I'm not saying that I'll keep it like this, but life's to short not to change things up a little)

Boring or Simple?

2011-03-12T21:01:00.000-05:00

I am sitting in my living room on a Saturday night. I am alone, not even a cat is here to keep me company. Neither the TV or the radio is on. Aside from the wind hitting the siding, and my typing, It is completely and utterly silent. It is a quarter to nine. I have been writing for an hour, and will probably pass at least the next hour doing so. (or I may break out the fortune cards, you never know what the future will hold) (Oh, wait, I could know what the future holds, what are the cards for) (On second though the cards are too much work, I will eat a fortune cookie, they are easier to use, and they always give nice fortunes) (Am I the only one who loves parentheses this much? They're like the writers form of the side bar)

I am eating Red Hot candies by the pound. Every year we by a bag of Red Hots that we use to make Christmas cookies, (Good ones too, they take frosted flakes, and yes, I will quite abusing parentheses) and every year we throw out at least half a bag out in June. This year it will be different, I will not let a single one go to waste. Please be kind and over look the fact that it is March and I am still eating away at them, slow and steady wins the race.

And I ask you, Is it pathetic the way that I am spending my Saturday night? That I am sitting here typing, and eating my own body weight in Red Hots while everyone else my age goes out and has fun. Even the Dungeons and Dragons kids get to leave their house.

The thing is though, while I feel that I should feel sad and lonely, I don't. I feel perfectly happy and content. I could not possibly think of any better way to spend the night. (I could think of a few, but I'm not putting that smut on my blog) Really, The only times that I feel lonely is in a roomful of people. Odd, isn't it. That I could feel lonely in a room full of people, usually those people are talking about principle that I don't agree with, or topics about which I have no interest.

Either way, I don't feel sad or depressed at all, I am happy, perfectly happy, and I will no go to enjoy the silence that is so precious to me. That, or I'll watch some TV. I'll fun any way though.

I was right! Sort of

2011-03-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

(Again, my apologies to those of you who don't care about Desperate Housewives. Move along now, there is no light of knitting content at the end of this tunnel)

I was kind of right, sort of. I guessed about my three most likely candidates for who would kill themselves. I said that it would either be Brie, Susan, or Beth. Brie because her boyfriend just left her to be with his son in Florida. Susan because she was dying, (not any more, she found two kidney donors) Or Beth because her husband left her. (Ordinarily, I would go into some long and painful rant about how we are teaching young children that with out anyone loving them that they are worthless, but I am already caught up in one long winded speech here)

Through out the whole episode I swayed about which one it would be. There was a minute where I thought it was Lynette (No! Take any one but Lynette) and there was even one minute where I thought it was Renee`. (Don't take Renee` either) But the one constant was Beth. There was always the possibility that it would be Beth. And When Brie told her that she was going to be Susan's donor, not Beth, well, I knew it exactly who it would be.

Beth had to have something to live for, even if she had to die for it.

And we all do take comfort in things, some of us like big things, some of us like small things. Some people take more pleasure in family, others prefer their friends.Some have their faith, and others, have their passions. It could be the love of another, or a fulfilling career. Everyone has something to live for.

(I was trying to be really morbid in the previous paragraph, was I?)

Well, Lookie here!!

2011-03-03T14:08:00.001-05:00

I know some thing you don't know.

No, I really do; honest!

I bet your dying to know aren't you, well, I guess that I'll tell you. I finished something. Something big! I hear by announce that the Bohemian Cardi is finished.

This was a little irregular sweater that I dreamed up as a way to use this really yummy yarn that I got at Goodwill a little while ago. The yarn is Reynold Kasura, and while I loved knitting with it when I first started, by the time that I got to the sleeves, I was more than done. The other yarn that I was using was not at all bothering me (well, the yarn was Red Heart Super Saver, so it wasn't annoying me more than usual) so I must not have been bored with the project, but just one of the yarns.

But all yarns aside, I really loved this knit. It was relatively quick to knit, though you wouldn't have guessed that to watch me knit it. I put beads all over it, whenever I wanted, and the result of that helped to back up that bohemian feel that it has to it.

And I made the pattern up myself too. That was the first time that I had ever done that. It had raglan sleeves, not because I prefer them, but because they are easier to design for. I gave it a jewel neck color, because I feel that that neck goes best with cardigans. I made a mistake with the button holes, and ended up having to put them on both side, and I will just sew up the holes on the wrong side whenever I buy buttons for it.

Pictures soon! As soon as I get a USB cord, whenever that may be. (I swear, when I do get this cord, I will end up taking so many pictures)

Which housewife is the most desperate?

2011-02-20T23:23:00.000-05:00

(If you have a life and don't really care about Desperate Housewives, please feel free to skip to the bottom for knitting content, how ever little it may be)

Some readers will recall that I have a ~~nasty~~ ~~terrible~~ ~~insane~~ growing addiction to Desperate Housewives. I can't explain it, I just do. In my defense, the day that I started watching it, the remote was broken, and that was D.C. (during casts) so I couldn't really get to the T.V. to change the channel, and it really is addictive.

The episode tonight was nothing out of the ordinary, just your usual lies, men, and creepy narration. Susan did collapse, and while that was not too shocking at the time, It may prove to play as a major plot point in the next few weeks.

Apparently, another house wife is going to commit suicide. So naturally, the only thing that I have on my mind is who will it be? Who? Who? Who? This whole not knowing thing is just eating at me. I know, I should grow up and get a life, and stop watching so much T.V. but I don't want to. I just have to know.

Now in my head, I have narrowed out Gabi, Renee`, and Lynette (Why couldn't they have given any of them a normal name) for the reason that they have no motive. This could change after next week's episode, but I am still sticking with my guts. But Susan, Brie and that woman that's married to Paul, I think her name is Beth, but I'm not quite sure, they defiantly have reason to kill themselves. Plus the kitchen in the commercial looked like theirs'.

Susan is on dialysis, and it might not be working, as shown by her collapse, and that might be why she would kill herself; not wanting to wait for death and all that. Brie's boyfriend did just leave her, and she is a bit of a mess anyway. And Beth was just kicked out of her husbands house, that is enough to make anyone think about suicide, as Mary Alice said, "She had know where to go."

Do you want to bet on how much sleep I'll be getting in the next two weeks. I would say about three hours a night. Do I need to get out more? Yes. Am I starting to loses it? I never really had it. Do I care about any of this? Not at all.

Knitting Content Here!!!

Some thing finished here.

No, over here, behind the chair, in the corner.

The pair of socks from yesterday are Done. (Note the capital D) Not much really to tell you about, I think that you can scroll down and ~~see~~ read all about them in the last post. I really want to get that USB cable, one day here real soon. Whether I will or not, remains to be scene.

Sorry about the small amount of knitting content, but this is only a knitting blog, what do you expect, Knitting?

Not a whole lot

2011-02-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

That's exactly what's happening here, not a whole lot. I keep thinking about how I should blog, that it has been almost a week since I last posted, yada yada yada. But that's the truth, I don't have anything to yak about. I lost my ability to yak, I'm yak less. But I need to find something to yak about, I must power through this crippling disease.

Well, for starts it's warm here. Or at least it was a few days ago, I mean it feels great how there's no more snow and the sun is shining, but it is pretty cold and windy. Not unbearable, but certainly not pleasant. I sat outside for all of twenty minutes, then because my fingers were numb, (Damn, why did I leave those mitts in the house?) I decided to go back inside.

I knit a little today, the start of some super secret presents. The person I will be giving these socks to, reads this blog, so I will be keeping this project a secret. (that narrows it down two or tree people) Of course I could just click backspace, and pretend that I never wrote that, and that they're for me, but you can obviously tell that I didn't do the.

While You Were Sleeping is on tonight. I think that I will work on a pair of socks that is distend for the long range planning box. The yarn is Berroco dk comfort in shade 2813, Multi brights. I used some burnt orange-y yarn for the heels and toes, they need about maybe ten more minutes of knitting. I love this yarn, good thing that I have enough to make myself a pair in them. I really do have enough yarn to make more, I've got more than half of what I started with, I know that will be enough.

Mitten Weekend

2011-02-14T15:58:00.000-05:00

This weekend was defiantly a weekend for mitten knitting, and defiantly on for finishing afore mentioned mitten knitting

First finished mitten was yet another Fair Isle one, and a Norwegain one at that. I think that I'm begining to develop a bad adiction to these. I just always need to have one on the needles, and jsut do a few rows every now and then, you know, whenever I have a bad day, or just need to take the edge off. I don't think that I have ever made any that arn't Norwegain. Part of it might be that I only own one book on them. This lovley book is where all of my mitten addiction comes from. I made the mitten day mittens from it (again) and I still love the pattern. This time though, I adapted it a little. I made them with garter stitch cuffs, in pink and white, and this little technique that I just kind of made up. I call it sandwiched I-cord. It it kind of like applied I-cord and I-cord border in one. Not that hard at all, sort of looks like a Latavian braid, let me know if you want to know more about this. Oh, and I also made them with striped palms, I bear an odd love of striped palms. (was that the right bear there, I can never remember whether I should use bear, or bare, because niether one makes any sense)

The next one was thrummed mittens, and I feel even more in love with every time I see the inside of them. For those of you who ~~live normal lives and have fulfilling lives~~ lack in the knowledge of the thrum I direct you here. But I don't advise clicking on that unless you want to lose vast amounts of time to the ways of the thrum.

For those amoung you who don't like links, I will give you the short version of it here. A Thrummed mitten is just a regular mitten that has roving worked into it periodically, to make it super duper warm. I do believe that the technique is of Newfoundland decent. I loved making them, and my mittens were in black with brown roving.

(I have located my camera, but not the USB cord, I will buy one as soon as possible, but that probably won't be very soon)

Tired

2011-02-09T15:21:00.000-05:00

I'm just tiered in more way then one. Way number one that I'm tiered: Well, this should be the obvious one. Everyone in this house keeps different schedules, this usually only bothers me when I think about it. My father is on third shift, and usually leaves for work around eleven thirty. This would not be a problem, if we had more than one bathroom. But we don't, and anytime anyone has to use the bathroom, they have to go through my bedroom. Again, something that only bothers me when I think about it. Well, I usually get up around six-thirty to seven. I need to have a few minutes after my father leaves to, I don't know, calm down. But, the way that people go in and out of my room before they go to bed, usually leaves it closer to midnight by the time I am ready to turn in for the night. That is so not enough sleep, for me at least, so I now rant about this to everyone at any chance I can get, mostly because I'm tired.

I am also sick of what I'm knitting, I like to flirt and flutter between all of the usual projects, but that is of no avail when you are sick of all of them. This bugs me more than the whole lack of sufficient sleep thing, because knitting is supposed to be fun, right? This is my ~~lifestyle~~ Hobby and it is what I do when everyone bothers me to the point where I want to kill all of them.* Not to mention, the sleep thing is really out of my hands, (okay, I could not get up so early, but that also means that I don't get as much done, and I like to get the first cup of coffee out of the pot, its the strongest) but with knitting, I could easily fix this by just starting something knew, but the thing is, I don't want to get too many projects on the needles, but at this point, I'm just about ready to say screw it, and knit what I want, when I want.

*Please understand that I would never kill anyone. I just said that because I am strongly starting to suspect that they are starting to leave me alone, just enough so that I don't chop them into little bits, but enough so that I'm completely stark raving mad. I must investigate this further.

Well, I tried

2011-02-07T15:07:00.000-05:00

All righty I have not been doing to well on a certain resolution. Any guesses (Remember, this is me, the one who knits while he does anything, I'm surprised that I'm not knitting while I type this blog entry up. Oh, I just tired, I don't recommend it, I used backspace more than the actual letter keys)

The one about keeping only a few WIPs. Now I would like to apologize right here, for any upset that this may or may not be causing you. I have thought it through, and I would much rather be defeated by a resolution, than knit on only a few things. I love knitting way too much to do that, but the year 2011, I'm not impressed yet, maybe if the year improves, I will try harder to keep my resolution, but don't hold your breath. Besides, what am I to do if a project misbehaves and I need to punish it for an undetermined amount of time. A lot of my stuff misbehaves, I blame the cats.

But the least I can do with all of my various handknit objects is be neat with their storage. Right? After all the best fate for knitting besides being finished is to be kept neat. So I took a while and now all of the half finished "stuff" is now comfortably nestled in baskets and bags, resting in various places in this house.

I am trying to work on it every thing a little bit here and there, but maybe form here on out I will just knit what appeals to my taste, not to everybody else's tastes. This means that I will now be able to abandon the small bag that will hopefully be a large bag one day, and go knit something fun, really, really fun. Which lets be honest, the something fun, chances are that it is something for me. I'm a selfish knitter, only me knows how much hard work was put into that object, let everyone else learn how to knit their own mittens, what I knit is for me!!

Also, as as aside I now that if I get less than seven hours of sleep,and get up really early (for me at least) that I can function well enough to do a little writing, without any coffee. I don't know how I did this, or if I ever want to repeat it, I'm just glad to know that if the world was struck by some virus that rendered all caffeine bearing plants dead (No, Please no) I might be able to function. I am a mighty force to be feared.

A front

2011-02-02T16:12:00.001-05:00

A front is all that I have done so far on the self-designed bohemian cardi (The sweater form the last post with the Reynolds Katsura, and the yarn that shall not be named, other wise I would be mocked through out the rest of the knit blog community, that is if they don't shun me for even suggesting the very idea of it) I started the other front, but I had to temporarily let my enthusiasm wane for this project for one reason.

The one reason is that I have now become known as the knitter who will knit any thing that you ask him to, without complaining (I usually stay up at night and complain when I;m trying to sleep, do people really think that I'm not that whiney?)It started out small at first, just a few people asking me to make them a dishcloth, or some off subject comment about how they need some new mittens to match their new coat. I am normally glad about this small stuff, it allows me to not feel selfish with my knitting while at the same time I am doing them a service, not to mention how I am getting yarn out of this house because as I use up the stash, the yarn soring areas are getting smaller, where as the hand knits storage area is growing at an alarming rate. I knit the few items for the and I do it with a kind heart. But unfortunately, this plan back fires, not so much at first, but it takes months, years even, before people start to take advantage. It is so easy to say "Oh, would you make me one of those." And of course, because this is me, and I can't say no to a single soul, I say

"Oh, yes of course, I have some purple wool that would make an excellent . . ."

Then I make my cousin a nice fancy . . . and she wears it pretty often, not as often as she should, but still pretty often then other people want a . . . just like hers. I say sure, then immediately want to dig a whole in the ground and bury myself alive in it. So, the next time I see that person they ask me, "Did you finish my . . . " Then I am forced to lie, and I tell them that I forgot about it. We repeat this whole shpeal, until I end up knitting nothing but . . . for a month because I finish one for that person, then three people want me to make them one. So, I do this, then try to give it to them in secret, but word always gets out about how I will make anything, and how I make them so fast (All lies I tell you) and it doesn't cost me a cent. (I swear, do these people think that yarn just comes out my nose as I knit it)

I can usually avoid being detected as that knitter, buy just not knitting in front of a whole lot of people, so as a result of this policy, I don't see that many non-knitters. (just family, but that isn't saying much, I have a pretty big family)

I can also avoid this by making the intended recipient wait a while for their gift. But this usually doesn't work is I see that person every day. They tend to ask if I'm working on . . . yet. If I have to tell then no, then I usually tell them I'm picking out the yarn, and this could buy me a couple of weeks.

Where was I going with this? Oh, right why the bohemian cardi is still on the front. Well, my grandmother wanted a hat, and me being "The Knitter" had to make her one. So, like the good grandson I am, I knit her a hat. (It was a cabled one, if you're going to do it, then you might as well go whole hog, I even learned to cable without a cable needle) And I am now willing to put that one behind me, it was a nice little white hat and its done, 24 hours. Bing Bang Boom, Done!