Wiz Knits

Felting in a Front-loader

2008-04-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting some old wool sweaters with the thought of felting them and turning them into pillows, purses, yoga mat carriers, etc. A couple of weekends ago I cracked Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas and read that the sort of heavily supervised felting Bev advises should most vehemently NOT be attempted in a front-loading machine.

So of course I did it. And the results were not bad!

I have a high-agitation, energy-conserving model that only puts in the amount of water appropriate to the size of the load. This is a good thing, since Beverly says that for large items, you want less time in the machine and a smaller amount of water -- a little counter-intuitive. I threw in an old Fair Isle sweater and put a thimbleful of Eucalan in the detergent dispenser. Then I set the machine for Normal wash on hot, and also selected "no spin." Beverly says that you NEVER want your machine to rinse and spin. Rinse isn't so bad, just means you end up with your item in cold water instead of hot and you have to re-fill the machine with hot if it's not fully felted. But rinsing isn't necessary with Eucalan, so it's a waste of water. Spinning is bad -- you can make permanent crease marks in the felted item.

One major problem with front-loaders -- the door locks, so you can't check your work as you go. Beverly freaks out at this idea, since she wants you to check every five minutes. I decided I would risk it, and hit "Start."

After about 15 minutes, I noticed that the machine was draining and getting ready to re-fill for the first rinse. I stopped the machine, but the door was still locked, so I canceled the cycle completely and opened the door. Definite felting going on -- but not ready yet. I re-set the machine to the start of the cycle. Now that I knew the length of the first wash cycle, I was ready to stop the machine and re-set two or three more times until I was pleased with the results. I didn't mind the 15-minute intervals between checks, seemed to work just fine.

The huge problem with this system, of course, is the wasted water and detergent, since it insists on draining before you can open the door. Only a manual dial-type control system will let you avoid draining the water -- and those are rarer and rarer these days.

For example, Spinnity has a top-loading machine, so while we were over at her house last weekend making a birthday dinner for B-i-L, I figured I'd try felting the other two sweaters there. Because her machine is top-loading, you CAN open the lid every five minutes and check on your progress. However, her machine is new enough to have a digital control system, and you can't just crank a dial to keep the machine from rinsing and spinning. In fact, her machine doesn't even have a "no-spin" option. The machine wanted to drain and rinse after only about 11 minutes, and the ridges on the bottom of the agitator started to leave creases on one of the sweaters. (I did them separately so they wouldn't acquire each other's fuzz.) If I canceled and started over in time, some hot water seemed to stay in the machine, but it added more anyway.

Overall, I don't think the top-loader felted any better than my front-loader -- in fact, I think it took longer and left creases. All three pieces felted reasonably well. They're now drying and awaiting further inspiration. Beverly says you shouldn't throw your felted items in the dryer -- they can lose their shape.

I'm pretty sure experiences are as different as individual washing machines, but here's what some other people did. There are some other forums in which people relate differing experiences, easily found with a Google search. I have to admit I was a bad girl and did not put the sweaters in zippered bags first, for lack of having any at hand, but I certainly will as I continue to do more projects.

Props to the hubs

2008-04-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Occasionally there comes a time to pay tribute to those green influences in our lives. Yeah, I know, we all love Al Gore. My biggest green influence, however, never ran for President or made a documentary or posed for photo ops with Leonardo di Caprio. It's my hubs, Mr. Wiz.

When I first met Mr. Wiz, I recognized right away that he was a crank. You have to understand that coming from me, this is a compliment -- I'm English by heritage and when I lived in London, I frequently visited Cranks, a fabulous vegetarian restaurant. Cranks are people who aren't afraid to hold unpopular opinions. They don't care what other people think. They sing loudly (and often off-key) to their favorite iTunes playlist, especially when they are cooking and the list includes the entire musical output of Abba. They pick up trash in public, bring their own Tupperware to restaurants, and have been known to wear swim trunks with collared dressy shirts. (The ensemble Mr. Wiz sported the day I met him. Thank God I attributed the bizarre sartorial choice to some unexplained wardrobe emergency, and only found out later that he had dressed up SPECIALLY in anticipation of being introduced to me.)

When Mr. W started his green crusade, it wasn't anywhere near as trendy as it is now. He even had roommates who would walk across the room on purpose to throw things in the trash if he threatened to recycle them. Even I had initial disorientation with the idea that he re-uses everything -- he saves every plastic container and bag from the grocery store, washes them, and re-uses them. He saves orange peel to make orange soda. He saves every cardboard box and every piece of packaging for the next time he has to mail something. He makes his own toothpaste and re-uses little glass cosmetic jars to keep it in. One time a Whole Foods cashier had to give him something like 25 wooden donation nickels for the number of re-used bags he brought in.

Annoying? Maybe, for about 5 minutes. Over time, though, I started to think it was pretty cool. This is a guy who's managed to reduce our personal garbage output to one small bag a month -- the rest goes into the composter or recycling bins. And he's not stopping there -- now he wants to reduce our recycling to similarly miniscule amounts.

If you want to be a crank like Mr. Wiz, here are some tips:

1. Buy from bulk containers (at Whole Foods or other shops that carry bulk), and bring your own bags to take it all home in.

2. Get yourself a composter if you haven't already.

3. Buy your clothes at Goodwill. Even better, work at home so you don't even have to wear clothes.

4. Get yourself one of these. We're told they're all the rage in Germany. We call ours the "Zizzer."

5. Stop accepting styrofoam takeout containers. Carry your own Tupperware. Yes, people will look at you funny in restaurants. It's okay, you're cooler than they are.

6. Make presents for people instead of buying them, or give "experiential gifts" like theatre tickets or special outings. Very few people in America really need more STUFF.

6. Whenever you start thinking that it's not worth it, the world is going to hell in a proverbial handcart anyway and you might as well dance on the flames, go plant a kitchen garden with your god-daughter and remember this: it's never a bad thing to keep one more piece of plastic from floating into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

New blog focus for Earth Day

2008-04-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time about a year ago, I more or less abandoned this blog. I felt like I didn't have anything very exciting to add that was any different from all the better knitting blogs out there. So I went to live on Ravelry and share projects there instead, and it's been great.

Meanwhile, in life and in art, I've continued to evolve my personal commitment to living as green as possible. This is hard for a shopaholic/yarnaholic who was raised to believe that if something is on sale, it is therefore virtuous and good to purchase it. I had to think about consuming less, shopping less, getting rid of all those tempting catalogues, and living with the bounty of STUFF that I already own.

I vowed that I would buy no new yarn in 2008 unless it's extra yarn for a project that's already underway. I think I've fallen off the wagon only once. I have enough yarn to last me a good five years, might as well start working through it.

Even harder, I'm trying not to buy new clothes unless they are as eco-friendly as possible. That means not just organic cotton, but organic cotton that hasn't been imported from the other side of the planet, therefore negating its virtuousness with a cloud of fossil fuels. Mostly I'm trying to live by the principal that there's already enough STUFF in the world, let's just pass it around a little and make it look different and interesting.

So last Saturday, as part of my Earth Day observance, I went to the Swap-o-rama-rama at the Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo. I brought along a bag of old clothes, and left with a bag of other people's old clothes. Somehow when clothes used to belong to someone instead of you, it's like getting brand new clothes.

Even better, at the Swap-o-rama-rama, I sewed pretty flowers on an old tank top, and learned to screen print designs on an old skirt. Now my new-old clothes are unique as well as recycled.

Swap-o-rama-rama is coming back to San Mateo for the Maker Faire. If you've never been to this event, it's great -- like Burning Man with kids (and fewer drugs and naked people). Crazy creativity and genuinely something for everyone -- the hubs can check out cool new eco-vehicles and robot wars, the kids can do art and science projects, and the shopaholics like me can shop local designers and hang out in the knit and crochet booths.

I'm planning to go back and swap some more, do more screen-printing (my new obsession), and enjoy a fun, creative time with some great people. Come and join me! And happy Earth Day, everyone.

I'm on Ravelry!

2007-12-09T22:25:00.000-08:00

At last! It's really not an excuse for being absent from this blog for so long, but if you want to see what I'm up to before I actually update the blog, you can visit me at WizKnitter.

I know a lot of other people have already rhapsodized about Ravelry, but seriously -- this is a great tool. It appeals to my orderly and organized side. I like cataloging projects there. It frees up the blog for some actual writing. If I ever actually get around to that.

The DH has a great blog now: wiznals.blogspot.com. Visit that one to find out what we've been up to!

Meme-rizing

2007-05-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me point out that I'm blogging for the third time this month. Considering my recent track record, this is notable.

I found this on The Knitist! and thought it looked like fun.

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (twined knitting)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths,tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
LongTail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerlessmitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

As the Knitist says, consider yourself tagged.

Even though frogging isn't on the list, for those of you who've ever frogged (and surely that's all of us), amuse yourself with The Five Stages of Frogging.

I am somewhere around Stage 5 with the Exotic Lace Jacket by Iris Schreier, but that deserves a post of its very own.

Maker Faire

2007-05-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday, the DH and I took the folks to Maker Faire as a belated Mother's Day gift. They were a bit non-plussed by the general weirdness, but Adam and I enjoyed it thoroughly. If you've never heard of it, it's very hard to describe, but here are a few highlights:

People in motorized giant cupcakes (complete with hats that looked like cherries or chocolate drops) zooming around.
Enormous fireballs shooting into the air on a periodic basis.
Glass sculptures made of compressed sugar crystals.
Felted pins of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Handmade bicycles put together from other bicycle bits, available to sample by wobbly riders.
A giant Lego village.
A giant Mousetrap game using bowling balls.
A huge booth encouraging people to make crafts from old wine jugs.
Places for kids to build robots, rockets, crocheted sea anemones, and fairy wings.
And finally, my designs for Great Knit Designs on display at Ada's booth!

The Faire will be the first weekend in May next year, and if you're looking for a little something for everyone and have a high tolerance for slightly wacky people with too much time on their hands (or who genuinely want to change the world for the better using green, DIY, and alternative methods), you should check it out.

Knittin' in the U.K.

2007-05-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

The DH and I got back from England a couple of weeks ago, where we had a very nice time visiting relatives. However, it was quite disappointing from a yarn tourism perspective. Here's what I discovered about knitting in the U.K.:

No one does it in public. Really, I never saw even sweet old grandmas with knitting needles. I thought knitting was supposed to be big in England! There are sheep everywhere! Grommit knits, for heaven's sake! My parents, who are English, had to learn to knit in school! Perhaps there's a backlash going on, but no one was knitting.
There were no cute yarn stores anywhere I went. Even in tourist-y Stratford, the only place selling yarn was a little five-and-dime type place with skeins of nasty acrylic. Bath, a large and lovely city, had a stall in the marketplace, also with acrylic. I once chased a bus because it had a yarn shop advert on the side saying "World of Wool." This was apparently in Leamington Spa, which wasn't on our itinerary. Finally, I found a sewing shop in dull, industrial Melksham with nice wool, so I bought some like the addict I am, even though it wasn't very exciting or exclusive or anything. What are they doing with all those sheep? The mind boggles!
My relatives mostly thought I was slightly mad for knitting so much. One of my aunts said, "Well, you wouldn't really want to knit a sweater anyway, would you, when it's so much easier just to buy one."
I still got lots of knitting done. Trains, which are plentiful and useful in the U.K., though much more expensive than they used to be, are great places to knit. I finished a sock for the DH and got most of the way through a shrug for me, which I finished this past weekend.

Say what you will about us Yanks, at least we know the point of a pair of needles, pun intended!

I know, I know, I know...

2007-04-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

...I've been very bad. I think, really, I've been trying to avoid doing an inventory of all the projects in 2006. Kind of like doing taxes, it seemed sort of dull. So I'm not going to do it. (I will, however, do my taxes. I promise.)

Instead, I'll just show some things I haven't posted yet.

I finished CNITU's holiday vest during a family visit to Wisconsin. Say what you will about the Midwest, all that crummy weather does force you to finish off those UFOs. I think it took me longer to weave in the ends than it did to knit the vest. This is me knitting the Cowboy Waistcoat from Miss Bea's Dressing Up by Louisa Harding, knit in Rowan Wool Cotton.

Do you see all those bobbins? It will be a long time before I knit another diagonal-striped intarsia vest, I'll tell you that.

Stop the madness.

It did turn out very cute, though.

Uncle Adam got CNITU a Sheriff's badge to go with it (since it's the Cowboy Waistcoat and all.)

Here's a belated picture of the throw I knit for Sis for Xmas. I'm pretty far along in this picture. I don't know why the picture is sideways, but hopefully you can still see the yarn. There's a Noro in the middle there, surrounded by Rowan Little Big Wool, and green Manos del Uruguy. There ended up being a little light blue Blue Sky Alpaca on the end, some fluffy blue and white, and a border of shiny ribbon, but I can't remember the name of the yarns.

In 2007 so far, I've knitted a reversible cable scarf for myself out of Rowan Tapestry, from a pattern in Scarf Style. I recently finished a skirt in Rowan Scottish Tweed for Great Knit Designs (a commissioned piece). No photos yet, sorry. Those took me all of January, Febuary, and March -- I was in rehearsal a lot and didn't have much time to knit.

I finished these baby sandals in a couple of nights for a pregnant friend who is due any moment now. They're from Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino book, the same one with CNITU2's onesie. I used some of the leftover yarn from that to make them. The process is a bit fiddly, but they're so great when they're finished. Being me, I forgot to take a photo before giving them to the mom-to-be, but hopefully I'll get one of them actually on the baby.

I finished them off with antique Peter Rabbit buttons. These are so great, I'm going to make them again for the next baby shower!

Triumph!!

2006-12-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

It has been a very Christmas-y/Chanukah-y week! Last Saturday we had our Cookie Party, a soon-to-be annual festivity during which many people show up at your house with plates of cookies, and you eat lots of them, get a massive sugar high, and attempt to send everyone home with a mix of what everyone else brought. Except that you are still left with 900 cookies. Not that this is a PROBLEM, mind you, it's just a test of the will. I have been giving away lots of them, but yes, I have also been eating lots of them.

In honor of Chanukah, we also made latkes for the first time, and they were not only fun to make but DELICIOUS. We used traditional latke and sweet-potato-and-parsnip latke recipes from the December 2006 issue of Sunset magazine, which worked really well. We are not Jewish, although I have huge respect for a religion whose major holidays all go along the lines of they-tried-to-kill-us-again-they-failed-let's-eat! We continued the eating on Sunday evening at Frank and Mark's annual Chanukah party. They had a giant cooler FULL of potatoes and a latke-making assembly line which was very impressive, but I have to say (at risk of sounding like a Goyish traitor) that I think ours were better.

Wednesday night we opened presies with Spinnity and Bill, and I received some wonderful knitting-related gifts from them! From the list below I received the blocking board and blocking wires, and from Mom Wiz I received a wonderful book about how to teach children to knit, which will definitely come in handy if I attempt a repeat of this fall's knitting class.

Last night we exchanged gifts with my BF and her daughter Princess M, and triumph! The Christmas sweater fits and looks adorable.

My BF gave me some knitting goodies, including a gift certificate for CommuKnity in San Jose and a book from my list, Knitting Nature. The poor DH! It turns out he had bought me the same book. It's a very DH sort of book, since it combines scientific principles from nature (fractals, spirals, etc.) with knitting. It's stunning to look at and everything looks quite challenging and interesting to knit.

She also gave me the 10th Anniversary DVD collection of the BBC Pride & Prejudice mini-series, which I have on video and watch constantly, plus a hilarious t-shirt that says "I heart Mr. Darcy." My close friends know that I have a Bridget Jones-esque obsession with Colin Firth and his dashingly understated sexiness.

Tonight we are exchanging gifts with my parents, and then we're off to Wisconsin for five days of holidaying with the DH's family.

The biggest and best gift of all is the gift the DH and I gave ourselves -- our new Toyota Prius! We got her on Sunday. We have named her Priya, and she's so much fun to drive. And the best part is that she will save us gas money AND help save the environment. Happy Solstice to Mother Earth!

Xmas Knitting...

2006-12-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

...is finished! More or less. It's seemed fairly pointless to post lately since everything I'm knitting is a gift, so I'll have to rely on the giftees to send photos to post in the New Year!

But last night I cast off the edging on Sis' throw blanket, and it's now boxed and ready to go to Laguna. But I'm so bad about photos, I forgot to take one, so you'll have to wait to see it until she takes one and sends it. (Hear that, Sis? Please send photos!)

The knitted gifts for Princess M and CNITU2 were done long ago. I have since started a vest for CNITU, but he's so unenthusiastic about clothes that I figured it didn't really matter when I finished. But I think it will be done before the New Year.

Which brings us to a realization I had last night -- is it possible that I could have NO UFOS by the end of 2006!? All that I would need to do would be to finish CNITU's vest and sew a lining in the birthday backpack I'm making for CNITU2.

However, this would mean that if I finish both of those projects *before* midnight on Dec. 31, I wouldn't be allowed to start anything else, which would be silly. So perhaps the goal should be to have only one WIP by the end of 2006.

Here are some reflections on the best and worst of knitting in 2006:

New skills practiced:
Intarsia
Cables
Sweater and Throw design with software
Socks!

Favorite project:
Hands-down winner: Hourglass sweater in Cash Iroha from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I wear it constantly.
Runners-up: My knee socks, Adam's socks, Princess M's intarsia sweater, Gedifra Golden Tweed Auntie Becca purse, Kaalund Water Lilies scarf (also worn constantly)

Biggest knitting accomplishment:
My baby blanket sample selling for $350 at 9R.
Second place: Silver medal in the Knitting Olympics.

Least favorite project:
Fizz cardigan in Rowan Cotton Braid. Annoying to knit, and somehow a little fluffy on me. Not quite my style. Everyone else seems to love it, but it makes me feel like Zsa Zsa Gabor, and not in a good way. (Is there a good way?)

Best knitting book:
Knit 2 Together by Mel Clark and Tracey Ullman. I got to meet Mel at a signing a few weeks ago. She is fantastic. I haven't actually made anything from this book yet, and I still love it. The writing alone is worth the price.
Other good ones: Miss Bea Dresses Up -- beginning intarsia projects, very cute. Got it right after I started knitting, but didn't make anything from it until this year.
Scarf Style -- I've already picked out a bunch of things to make from this great book. Don't know why I turned my nose up at it for ages -- thought I was beyond scarves! But it's amazing.

Projects already waiting in line for 2007:
Commissioned skirt to go with Autumn Sweater for Great Knit Designs.
A few scarves from Scarf Style.
Something for me -- a cashmere-blend cardie from Knit 2 Together.
More socks! Lots more socks!
Something in Fair Isle -- maybe one of the gorgeous patterns from the last Interweave Knits.

Favorite LYS:
Nine Rubies, Nine Rubies, Nine Rubies. It's down the street, they have beautiful yarn, there are always wonderful knitters hanging out there, and did I mention I can walk there?
Honorable mention goes to Fengari, where they can always find that obscure last skein that you desperately need in a box somewhere.

Watch this space in January for a complete list of 2006 FOs.

Have a wonderful holiday season, my friends and family!

Xmas List

2006-11-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Fun! I'm writing this in the new Blogger Beta, so I can change fonts and text colors. I like it!

The DH is always suggesting to yarn stores that they introduce on-line gift registration for clueless husbands, but this is tricky for most LYSes to manage on limited staff and budget. I'd love to create a sort of Amazon-style wish list for yarn and things, but the local yarn stores I like to patronize can't really do that.

SOOOO... I'm creating this wish list for the holidays for family members who are looking for the perfect knitter gifts. Some of these items are available at local yarn stores such as Knitting Arts, Fengari, and Nine Rubies, and I'd much rather you go there (if you live locally) than spend extra on shipping and handling. But some places, like KnitPicks, offer really great deals on some of the things I want, and are useful for those out-of-town people (Hi, MomWiz!) who are always asking the DH what I want for Xmas.

PLEASE do not feel as if I am begging for gifts. This list is certainly not meant to imply that anyone should feel obligated to give me anything for Xmas. I have a lot of yarn (and other stuff) already, and if you do want to give a gift, I am just as happy to have donations made to my pet charity, Heifer International. (If you've never been to their site before, please go now, but I suggest you grab a box of tissue first. It's powerful stuff.)

So without further ado...

Wish List 2006, Part One: Books and Tools (all these items are linked from KnitPicks.com, for the out-of-towners, but most can be found elsewhere)

KnitPicks magnetic chart keeper

I've created a monster

2006-11-09T16:57:00.001-08:00

Actually, several monsters. They are my 4th-6th grade after-school Shakespeare students in South San Jose, and I have made them all addicts. Knitting addicts, crochet addicts, but mostly just yarn addicts.

It started a few weeks ago when wee Caitlin, who is about as big and as cute as a button, saw me knitting the Autumn Sweater. She asked me a lot of questions - "Is it hard?" "How long does it take?" "Who's it for?" - until she got to "Will you teach me?" I started doing little lessons with her during their 15-minute rehearsal break.

The other kids saw what we were doing, and every day a few more stayed inside at the break - boys as well as girls. I found more leftover yarn, and started bringing as many needles as I could collect around the house. Some of them can't quite grasp knitting, so I tried crochet. Some of them can't quite do that yet, but they are taking to finger-knitting like moths to wool.

I bring good yarn for these kids - leftover bits of Noro, Debbie Bliss, Karabella, Great Adirondack. Their attention spans are short -- so far no one's managed more than a few rows or a long chain before deciding they want to start something else. (Sound familiar, anyone?) Anna, who is quite a good crocheter, made herself a pretty necklace yesterday out of some Great Adirondack. Robert lamented loudly that knitting just didn't seem to be his thing, but he's picked up crochet with no trouble at all. Michael made a fingerknit chain from the stage into the audience.

As for Caitlin, she managed to finish a project yesterday. She calls it a "dolly scarf," and it's a four-inch long bit of Noro Cash Iroha, twisted, knotted, and looped, but an FO as far as she's concerned. As she says, "Sometimes I have a little trouble keeping the stitcheries on the needles."

Here's the problem - they are so busy knitting that they don't want to learn their lines, paint backdrops, or even rehearse anymore! I may have to start confiscating yarn! This goes against my very moral fiber, but kids, we've got a show to do. There's a time and a place...

I took some photos of them yesterday and I'll post them soon.

Bits and pieces: Ada loves the Autumn Sweater. I'm glad it's in good hands! We picked out yarn for the matching skirt (a nice tweedy reddish-brown Rowan).

Dropped off some Auntie Becca purses at Come Ci Saturday, but haven't heard anything from Valerie about them yet.

Signed up for Stitches! Bad timing this year -- I'm opening "Arcadia" at the Pear Ave. Theatre the same weekend. So no Thursday or Friday classes for me. I grabbed two Saturday classes -- Entrelac with Margaret Fisher (about time I took something from her) and Pattern Writing 101 with Edie Eckman (I always love Edie).

New blogger in the blog-o-sphere

2006-11-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

Sis and the CNITUs are now on-line! Check out the hysterical new blog "Boys in Tow" (also linked in the sidebar) for the continuing hilarious adventures of a "stay-at-home" mom and the two little guys who WON'T GO TO SLEEP! A must-read for all parents and those who think they might like to become parents, or even those who need excuses for NOT becoming parents.

Bad, bad blogger

2006-11-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, I know, it's been almost two months. I'm terrible. Shortly after that last post I went into Shakespeare overload, directing "The Comedy of Errors" by day and rehearsing for "Richard III" by night. Both shows are now open and playing at a theatre that may or may not be near you. "Richard III" runs through Nov. 18 at Project Artaud -- click here for more. "Comedy" is touring all over the state. You can book the show by going here, or just stop by the Excelsior Library in San Francisco at 3 pm on Nov. 8, the Treasure Island Boys and Girls Club at 4 pm on Nov. 15, or the Mission Bay Library at 2 pm on Nov. 18 for free public performances. "Comedy" is only 55 minutes long and great for children -- they did it for a crowd of 4-8-year-olds yesterday and they all got the serious giggles.

Self-promotion over -- on to the knitting content! I've been dragging a large lump of orange Nature Cotton with me everywhere since that first rehearsal, and yesterday I proclaimed the thing an F.O. This is the Autumn Sweater, designed using Great Knit Designs Knitware software, which I really like (and I'll like even more when they have it for the Mac). I'm very pleased with this sweater. I especially like the big bell sleeves. It's designed for a size 32 woman, a little smaller than me, so the sleeves are a bit short and the length is a bit short, but I still kinda wish I was going to get to keep it instead of watching it pose at the Knitware booth at Stitches West. There will be a brown knit skirt to match -- short and straight, I think, in a fine gauge wool, to contrast with the bulky top. Should be worn with brown opaque tights or leggings and some fun flats.

The yarn is Araucania's Patagonia Nature Cotton in color 204. No dye lots so you get a patchy effect, which doesn't bother me, but if you want more uniformity, they suggest alternating 2-4 rows from a couple of different skeins and carrying the yarn up the side. Size 9 needles, body worked in the round, sleeves flat, neckline made by picking up stitches with size 8's and casting them off on the next row (Spinnity's suggestion, and a nice one).

I've also finished off a nice little Auntie Becca purse in Gedifra Golden Tweed, with an antique pressed flower button I picked up at Stitches. It's in a great stitch pattern, seed stitch sections in a sort of wide rib, finished with the seams facing outward for that raw-edged look that's everywhere these days. I love this purse and I have enough yarn to make at least one more!

Now I've got the giant Christmas throw blanket for Sis on the needles, and it's getting too big to carry around comfortably. But I like the way the textures are working -- photo soon when it's a little more interesting to look at.

End-of-summer productivity

2006-09-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling very designer-ish lately. First off, I'm a sample knitter for Great Knit Designs, Ada's fantastic knitting software company. My assignment is a skirt and sweater set, and I just love this idea -- it's so 1960s. I've been cataloging stash yarn, trying to figure out if there's something I can use.

I went down to visit the Laguna Beach crowd (including the CNITUs), and knit CNITU2 a new hat (he's outgrown the old one.) It was fun to design while I could try it on him. I wanted sort of a party hat with a floppy tassel -- I had to rip almost the whole thing back once, but it turned out really cute!

Here it is off the model.

And on the model.

I tried to get a closer side view, but of course if I came near him he just turned to smile at me, and I ended up with a big blur. But a really cute baby smile every time, which was nice. He's the happiest little guy I know.

We visited the beach on Friday -- what a great day! CNITU and the DH made a huge hole in the sand.

CNITU2 just ate sand. He loves eating sand.

Saturday Sis and I went to the LYS, Strands and Stitches, and picked out yarn for a throw for Sis' new couch. It's beautiful, all creams and browns and blues and greens. I'm planning to use the Great Knit Designs software to design it.

Meanwhile, I've just been swatching, sketching, and planning for the holidays. Oh, and the secret project is a lovely FO, but I can't post it until Christmas!

Where did the summer go?

2006-08-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

It always happens this way... the summer Shakespeare schedule gets crazy, and there's no time to blog. But summer camps ended Friday, and I've got a short breather between major work projects, so it's time to catch up!

Here are a few fun highlights:

In June, I started work on the Fizz cardigan from Beach Cool by Rowan, in cotton braid color #357.

My Bollywood "Taming of the Shrew" opened in Stinson Beach in early July, with wonderful weather, a wonderful cast, and fortunately wonderful reviews. Here's the set against the Marin hills.

In my production, Kate (the shrew)'s weapon of choice is a knitting needle.

CNITU turned 3 and blew out the candles on a train cake he helped to make himself.

CNITU2 got cuter, if such a thing is possible. Here we are at the birthday party.

Mom Wiz came for a visit, and on July 20, we joined a lot of other knitters at AT&T Park for Stitch 'n' Pitch. Here's Spinnity and Mom Wiz:

The yarn they gave away was horrid, but we all got a pair of nice needles, and it was a fun time.

Early August, we enjoyed my BF's birthday at Teatro Zinzanni in SF -- I wore the Charlotte's Web shawl Spinnity made for me. Here we are, birthday girl in the middle.

There was a fun activity day with Princess M, including pancakes, a trip to the Exploratorium, and a ride on the train in Central Park. She really liked her pancakes:

Is it any wonder I want to knit for these children constantly? Could they be any cuter?

In knitting news, I've been hanging out at Nine Rubies regularly for Knitting Meet-up. The sample baby blanket I made for them sold for $350! Valerie at Come Ci Interiors wants to carry my kids' bags and backpacks later this fall.

I finished the Fizz cardigan in early August but have yet to take a picture. I also finished a Christmas sweater for CNITU2 -- soooo ahead of deadline! Here it is -- it's a Wendy/Peter Pan yarns pattern for Velvet Touch, color 1224. Kind of a weirdly written pattern, I made a few changes to it along the way to make it look right. But I'd definitely do it again, the results are superb and it's the softest, cuddliest thing ever, and machine washable.

I have a couple of other Christmas projects in the works, but they're secret!

Last Sunday I took a machine knitting class at Knitting Arts -- very interesting, and I definitely want to try more. Spinnity has a machine I can borrow. Here's the swatch I made, but it's curling too much to see clearly.

Overall, a pretty good summer -- work has been tough, but rewarding, and despite the 60-hour weeks, there's been some fun family time.

For your admiration and delight...

2006-06-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

I hereby present... the Yarn Party Poncho, from Sally Melville's Colors, modeled by the Princess M herself, at her 4th birthday party!

Yarns are GGH Samoa, Amelie, and Capri, various Great Adirondacks in colorway 124, Target's $1 ball of fuzzy fur, and a nice sparkly one from Wool in the Woods.

PM was a bit flumoxed by the poncho at first. She kept looking for somewhere for her arms to go, then slipping it down like a skirt. Finally we explained "like a cape!" and she got it.

I should also mention that she got a pair of pink slippers from Mom Wiz. Here she is putting them on:

And showing them off:

The next day, DH modeled his socks at the Memorial Day BBQ. I think they're quite fetching with his sandals, although I am not normally a socks-and-sandals fan.

Here's a close-up:

Saved!

2006-05-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

I found time to go to Full Thread Ahead yesterday. And they had the right colorway of the DH sock yarn. Wrong dyelot, but since they're both already knitted to the same spot, the two socks will still look relatively the same.

The DH tried the socks on yesterday, before I finished the first one:

Is it me, or are they kind of thick? I'm worried they won't fit in his shoes. He was between two sizes, and I went for the bigger size, so they're already a bit big. They're awfully cosy, but since the man is never cold, I wonder if he'll get much use out of them. That, of course, means that they'll last for years and years, which is always nice.

Now I have to share Alimum's genius, since I just saw this on her knitting blog:

How fantastic is that? There's a fuzzy white bikini in the same post, it's almost too fabulous to wear. Alimum is the person who knit me the purple mohair scarf before I knew anything about knitting or how much effort something like that takes to create. She is divinely talented and a very good writer, so her blogs are fun to read.

Not much to report...

2006-05-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

...in the knitting world, anyway. Professionally speaking, things are crazy, with two final student performances in the last week, plus preparation for my next directing gig (Taming of the Shrew). Throughout all this, I've been stuffing the DH socks into my purse. There are some issues with the DH socks at the moment:

1. I stopped just short of the toe on sock #1 because I weighed the yarn and was about halfway through it. I'm nearly to the same spot on sock #2, and it definitely looks like these will be yet another pair of contrasting-toe socks.

2. Unfortunately, this Cherry Tree Hill yarn comes in really small dye lots, and I've never seen this particular colorway anywhere but in this one beautiful skein. Solution -- blue or brown toes! Cherry Tree Hill makes a nice indigo yarn in the same weight.

3. Full Thread Ahead, the only place I know of on the Peninsula to buy Cherry Tree Hill, closes at 6 on weekdays, thus making it impossible for me to get there after work. And I'm gone over the weekend. When will I get my yarn? What if I run out of this skein before I get a chance to get over there?

Yes, you know what will happen if I run out of yarn. I will start something else. And if I start something else, the DH socks will languish, toeless, in a drawer until who knows when.

I do have a triumphant FO to boast about, but I can't say anything about it here until the end of the month, after a certain birthday. Let's just say it's very cute, and was much admired at the San Mateo meet-up on May 10.

I think my next project will be the Peter Pan toddler sweater for CNITU2 -- the goal is to make it to fit next winter. Yes, I'm starting the Christmas presents now. I've been a knitter for almost 2 years now, and I'm learning a thing or two.

TKGA review

2006-04-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Since most of us were still in post-Stitches yarn comas, I don't know that many people who attended TKGA (it was in July last year, when we were ready for more; this year it just came too early.) This led to smaller classes (nice for students, bad news for teachers being paid by the student), and a very relaxed, uncrowded marketplace. I did see some friends (Jocelyn, Ada, and Patt from Meet-up, plus Spinnity, Jen, and Bogie), but most of them were just at the market. My classes were primarily populated by guild members from Arizona and Oregon.

My first class was Saturday afternoon: "Celtic Cables" with Melissa Leapman. I have avoided Melissa since Stitches 2005, when she seemed much too self-promoting for my tastes. Still, I have several friends who like her a lot, and the information she gives is excellent, so I decided to give her a second chance.

I went in steeling myself to not get annoyed at the inevitable book sales, and I succeeded -- it was a full class of about 30 people, and she did the full spiel. I *was* interested to hear about her new cable books, because, after all, that's what we were there to learn. She showed some samples from the books, then got down to the meat of the class -- making those cables!

Melissa always assigns a lot of homework, which I don't mind because it means you'll really get to do some serious knitting in class. This class was no exception. One problem: too many beginners. The whole row behind me literally seemed to have started knitting last week, so Melissa had to cover a lot of basics. This was frustrating for the rest of us, who moved quickly through the exercises and were ready for more. Sadly, we never got to the design portion of the class, or to knitting the final, most difficult, swatch. Not Melissa's fault -- she was well-organized as always. I blame TKGA. Can't there be some sort of prerequisite for so-called intermediate classes -- like you have to know how to read a chart, do basic increases and decreases, etc.? I had never done cables before, but I had enough skills to pick up that part quickly based on charts and instructions.

At any rate, I love Celtic cables, and the DH saw my samples and immediately ordered a sweater in charcoal grey with a celtic motif. That's a successful class, if it can get the DH to want to wear a sweater.

Second class: Sunday morning, "Going in Circles" with Edie Eckman. Edie taught me to crochet at Stitches 2005, so I figured I'd be comfortable in a crochet class with her, especially one labeled as "beginning." It was a tiny class, about 5 people, mostly crocheters, a couple of people who do both. I was probably the second least-experienced crocheter, but with a small class I tackled what I could and ended up with some nice motifs, including a square and a triangle. It was nice to have so much individual attention.

We also stole peeks at Edie's amazing collection of Japanese crochet books. This class inspired me to go down to the market and get Edie's "Crochet Answer Book," a handy little guide for those of us who crochet rarely and need to understand the basics.

Third class: Back to Melissa for "Perfect Pleats." With my interest in design, this was the class I was most excited about. As it was Sunday afternoon, a lot of people had left, and there were only 6 of us in this class, mostly very experienced. We got through the whole lesson and had time to chat. Melissa taught us a number of different and interesting ways to make gathers and pleats and flares, in order to add couture shaping to garments. I love this stuff. Even better, because most of us had taken classes from her before, Melissa kept the sales pitch to a super-minimum, and we focused on the knitting. There was a problem with the way TKGA had posted the homework on-line, and although I had seen it after they'd corrected it, a couple of people had done the wrong thing, and one woman hadn't done it at all. She was quite behind and a little difficult, since she didn't know some basics and was a slow knitter. In a small class, this didn't affect us nearly as much as it had in the large class -- Melissa could see that she was in the minority, and moved on with the rest of us. I know that small classes are a bummer for teachers, but this one was a blast. One of my favorite classes ever! Definitely take it next time she offers it.

I guess my biggest accomplishment for TKGA was learning to like a teacher I hadn't cared for before. I can also do cables now, and read cable charts.

On the shopping front, I focused on the sock yarns -- a couple of men's colors from Village Spinning and Weaving, some Lorna's Laces (on sale, couldn't resist), and a little Koigu project. Not much at all compared to Stitches -- came in well under $100.

Knitting progress: Still on the fab DH sock! Also the birthday project.

The socks at last!

2006-04-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to write much, so I'll relate tales of our Easter weekend in LA at another time. This post is all about photos I should have posted a long time ago. First of all, here they are, the Olympic socks!

Here's also a photo Alimum has been asking for, of me in a scarf she knit for me long before I knew how much work she had put into it. It's a great lace mohair scarf, very beautiful:

Here's CNITU2 in his favorite hat, the one with the letter "L" that I knitted for him in January:

Ooo, de shnuggems! He makes me talk all silly!

Finally, here's me starting the DH's socks on the way to LA. I loooove this Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn. It's glorious. And the DH has decided it's not too girly, so there's some hope he'll wear the socks even though they aren't black.

Early April FO's

2006-04-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

The Oat Couture windowpane baby blanket in Zara is now in the window of Nine Rubies! I finished it up last Tuesday and took it to Social Knitting. Saloni and Sudha were quite pleased with it. I rewarded myself by buying a skein of Tilli Thomas beaded silk. DE-CA-DENT! Here's the blanket on the sofa before I said good-bye to it:

Lest I submit to post-partum depression, on Friday I finished the Hourglass sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I looooove this sweater. It fits just right, it's amazingly soft and warm, and the color is perfect. Yes, it's the same color as my sofa. I like green, okay?

I steam-blocked it Saturday morning and put it on while it was still wet for a mini-yarn crawl and pedicures with Spinnity. We went to the two yarn stores in downtown Los Altos, Uncommon Threads and Full Thread Ahead. At the first, I got a copy of "One Skein," from Interweave Press. I got it just for the knitted cupcakes. It's pretty cute, though, some nice baby things and other little projects.

At the second, I got some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, "Sensational Knitted Socks," an adorable new purse from Lantern Moon (it's sort of a knitting bag, but I think I'll mostly use it as a purse!), and a little bottle of Eucalan. I'm going to make socks for the DH. I really like the sock knitting book; Spinnity and the Knitist both recommend it and it seems really easy to use. I can't wait to start the next pair of socks!

Now I'm in the midst of a top-secret birthday project... I'll show photos in the fullness of time.

So out of touch!

2006-03-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Part of my out-of-touchness is due to opening a show on Friday, and part of it is due to continuing guilt about my failure to take photos of my completed socks.

The show is Tales of the Lost Formicans, and you can see it at The Pear Ave. Theatre in Mountain View. It's a funky little play; so far a lot of people like it and some other people are confused by it. But you won't be bored, I promise.

Now that I am no longer working 14 hours a day and knitting one row before crashing into bed, I am making some progress on both the green Hourglass sweater (yes, the one in Cash Iroha, it's not done yet, but only about 10 rows to go!) and on the more pressing project, the Windowpane baby blanket I'm knitting as a sample for Nine Rubies. This thing is frickin' huge, and it's supposed to be done by Friday. Probably not gonna happen, as I'm not even halfway done, and with 170 stitches/row I'm hard pressed to do more than 20 rows a day. I think I calculated that the whole thing is about 250 rows long. Nice yarn, though, you should go right over to Nine Rubies and buy some. It's called Zara, from Filatura di Crosa. Not cheap, but it's 100% wool, completely washable, and soft as a kitten's tummy.

By the way, a lovely lady named Kathy from Tennessee commented on my blog a while ago -- she wants to make the Cashmerino onesie that I made for CNITU2. However, she can't find the darn Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book! If you see it somewhere, would you let me know so I can email her? It's the first one, not the one that just came out.

Finally, I have a new favorite blog, which I have added to the sidebar along with some other new links. It's called Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog. Go there now, especially if you were an English major. Don't let the spelling throw you, trust me, it's hysterical.

Quick check-in

2006-03-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks to everyone I tagged. It was fun and entertaining to read about you! I am delighted that we all share such good taste in movies and television.

Secondly, I would like to report that I finished the Olympic socks, thanks to being home sick last Thursday and Friday with the flu. Convenient, that flu, if annoying. I wore them to Spinnity's spinning party on Saturday, where they were much admired, though I completely forgot to take pictures. As soon as I remember, I'll post those.

I am now slogging away on the Hourglass sweater, which is going very slowly since I'm working 12 hours a day at the moment. I can't wait to wear it, though, it's looking fantastic. The sleeves are on the same circular as the body now, and I'm working the raglan decreases.

The next thing I must do is the baby blanket for Nine Rubies -- my deadline is the end of the month, and I don't want to shirk! Plus, I get paid, always nice. Should offset my $500 Stitches spending spree.

Finally, I would like to wish my DH a happy anniversary! We were married one year ago this Sunday. I'd do it again in a second. The traditional 1-year anniversary gift is paper, and the modern is clocks. The DH cleverly combined the two into new Palm PDAs for both of us! This is very useful, since my rather obselete Visor has been by my side for four years now.

I love you, cute boy!

Tagged by the Remarkable Cow

2006-03-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

Been tagged. Gotta talk about myself. Here goes:

Four jobs in your life:
1. Current job -- Eduction, Outreach, and Casting Director for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.
2. Part-time Associate at Balzac Communications and Marketing in Napa (wrote PR copy and came up with the Bug Spot Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter campaign for Napa, Marin, and Solano counties.)
3. Janitor at U.C. Davis while at grad school. Vaccuumed a lot of meeting rooms and set up a lot of chairs.
4. Part-time Sales Associate at Accessory to a Wedding Bridal shop in Chicago. Learned that most brides are really horrible to deal with, and their mothers are worse.

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1. The Princess Bride (my first date ever)
2. Pride & Prejudice, which is technically a mini-series (the Colin Firth one, not the Keira Knightley)
3. To Kill a Mockingbird. Love me some Gregory Peck.
4. Vertigo. The ultimate San Francisco movie.

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Deadwood
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
4. The Daily Show

Four places you have lived:
1. San Francisco, CA
2. Chicago, IL
3. Napa, CA
4. London, England

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. New Zealand
2. Fiji
3. Belize
4. Switzerland

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Google
2. Yarn Harlot (not quite daily, but almost)
3. SF Gate
4. Spinnity

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Anything Indian -- Palak Paneer, Aloo Gobhi, it's all good
2. Fish and chips
3. Dark chocolate
4. Really good San Francisco sourdough bread

Four places you'd rather be right now:
1. Our honeymoon jungle hotel in Belize
2. Just about any yarn shop
3. In my cozy bed on a Saturday morning
4. In a theatre, watching a really good play

Four favorite types of yarn:
1. Karabella Aurora 8
2. Noro Cash Iroha
3. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino
4. GGH Samoa

Four bloggers I'm tagging:
1. Alimum
2. MKMonahan
3. Jeff
4. Jo Knits

Feelin' a little like Sasha Cohen

2006-02-26T22:11:00.000-08:00

I said I'd reward myself the silver if I made it halfway through the second sock, so there it is. With absolutely no time to knit on Days 11, 12, and 13 (having gone into rehearsal for my next show), I only just managed to cast on and knit about six rows. Friday night, I sat down and accomplished this:

Saturday morning, I got a lot done -- about 30 rows. With rehearsal Saturday afternoon and dinner and a show on Saturday night, I added just about 5 more after we returned. Today, I woke up and did 30 rows before heading out in the afternoon, but when I returned my hands were pretty cramped. I decided not to push it. Here's where things stand tonight, as I watch the closing ceremonies:

Not bad -- very nearly done with the leg, and the foot is much easier without all that lace. I should finish this week, and that's the true reward -- gold medal or not, at the end of the day I'll have a nice pair of socks.

I wish we knitters got to have a big closing ceremony, with us all waving our FOs and not-quite-FOs in the air as we march triumphantly into Stadio Olimpico, no doubt to the tune of some terrible pop song.

Congrats to all the participants! And good night!

Week One = One sock

2006-02-21T11:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging. I've been knitting. Oh, yeah, and somewhere in there was Stitches West -- four classes in three days, three large bags of yarn and other sundries purchased.

But at the end of it all, I have a sock! And it's beautiful and it fits. I'm going to reward myself the bronze medal right now just for getting one sock done. I may have to kill myself to get the second sock done, but even if it doesn't happen, I feel pretty good about accomplishing one.

Here's the quick wrap-up of the last few days:

Days 4 & 5:

So little accomplished on the sock that these days hardly count! We did have a lovely Valentine's dinner at 231 Ellsworth on Monday, and saw "Brokeback Mountain" on Tuesday. No way could I knit complicated lace patterns in the dark.

Loved the movie, but the idiots at the Century Theatres in downtown San Mateo had WASHED THE SEATS that afternoon. By this, I mean that they had sprayed the seats with water so that the aroma of human sweat and spilled sugary soda pervaded the theatre. We also had to SIT on these seats. By the end of the movie, half the theatre looked as if we had wet our pants. To their credit, they did refund our money, but their short-sightedness was amazing to me. They said they thought it would be a slow night at the theatre. Valentine's Day? A major date night? Not to mention the fact that this is the most critically acclaimed romance of the year? Hellooooo, people.

Day 6:

I headed over to Nine Rubies, our lovely new San Mateo LYS, for social knitting, but unfortunately I finished up ball #1 quickly and ball #2 was at home. So I sat in front of the TV and watched some skiing while plugging away at the leg of the sock. And then, like Lindsey Kildow during training, distaster struck! I missed a couple of yarn-overs and didn't notice, blithely knitting on until, about five rows later, I realized I didn't have the right number of stitches to decrease properly! I tried to drop a few stitches back and add in the decreases, but I knit pretty tightly and it just wasn't possible. I frogged the whole thing back and then had quite a time trying to get the teensy little stitches back on the teensy little needles. The DH needs special kudos for bearing with me during the 45 minutes of frustrating wasted time this all entailed.

Day 7:

After work, it was off to a friend's 40th birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo. Stuffed to the gills with eggplant parmigiano and fried shrimp, I managed a few rows after we got back. (Fortunately, I stayed away from the Chianti, or we might have had a repeat of yesterday.)

Day 8:

I was supposed to work at home in the morning, but my webmail account was down, so after I'd made a few phone calls, I had nothing to do but knit! At this point, I crept toward the end of the long leg section, then headed down to Stitches for my first class of the weekend, "Two Hands, Two Colors" with Sally Melville, my absolute favorite knitting teacher.

By the end of the afternoon, I could do Fair Isle! Gotta love it. I can't wait to do my first Fair Isle project, and I spent much of the class blessing Nancie Wiseman for successfully teaching me Continental in TKGA last April. I love holding a color in each hand, far superior (in my opinion) to any other way of doing it.

At random moments in the class, I picked up my sock for a row or two, thinking that I wouldn't have much more time to knit that day, since I had to drive up to Berkeley for callbacks that evening. Fate had other things in mind, however -- I ended up stuck in terrible traffic with no way of getting to my destination by 7, let alone 6, my planned arrival time. I abandoned hope of joining the director and choreographer, called in to let them know I was stuck, and made a left turn across the bridge to home and a cozy evening with my sock. Leg finished, heel begun.

Day 8:

Officially halfway through the Olympics, and the first sock ain't done. And not much chance to knit today! First there's Nancie Wiseman's "Intarsia Basics," and by lunchtime I can add Intarsia to my list of new color knitting skills. Lunch with Spinnity, a quick dash through the marketplace, where I purchase a little more alpaca for the DH hat/scarf at Yarn Barn. In the afternoon, it's back to Sally for "Creativity," a fun, mind-opening class that's mostly lecture, so I knit away at my little sock and turn the heel, which is no big deal as far as I can tell -- not sure why it's supposed to be so challenging.

Then I dash back to the marketplace and make some more purchases, yarn at Webs, buttons at the Button Lady, and Nicky Epstein's new book signed by the lady herself. So far very little financial damage done. Then we had a birthday dinner to run to, and a play to run to after that, and then I crawled into bed and only knit a couple of rows. One more day gone, and still lots of sock to do.

Day 9:

I wisely did NOT sign up for a class Sunday morning, so after sleeping in a bit I headed out for a calm stroll through the marketplace. Fewer people, much more mellow, which put a bit of a strain on my pocketbook resolve. Particularly when I came across the must-own kits from Drops yarns, sold at a knitting store in Washington state. I got a cute bolero kit on green alpaca and mohair with a bit of sparkle. Then I bought some yarn at Hand Jive Knits from Sacramento. Then I bought some more buttons, from Buttons! in Calistoga.

I was starting to get a bit reckless, you know that "I've already gone over budget, what does it matter now" feeling. I got some Debbie Bliss cashmerino Astrakhan on sale, and some sparkly colorful Wool in the Woods for a certain birthday project. Luckily a call from Spinnity saved me from more spending, and I went to sit with a bunch of Santa Clara and San Mateo Meet-up friends in the stage area, to eat lunch, knit, and wait for the grand prize drawing of $750. Lo and behold, it went to Bogie! We all gave her a standing ovation, she was totally overwhelmed. If anyone deserves it, she does, my dear Fairy Godknitter who helped make the extra Shawlapalooza for my wedding!

My afternoon class was "Keeping Trim," my first ever with Lily Chin, and I have to say, believe the hype. She is funny and creative and clever, and she taught us a number of useful trims for the bottom of sweaters that won't curl or cling or make you look pregnant, and showed us a lot of great new stitch patterns and techniques to use just about anywhere. She's very high energy and New York-y, but she didn't flog her books or spend half the time self-promoting, which is what I was afraid of. I prefer Sally's laid-back hippie Canadian charm, but I would certainly put Lily on my good-teachers list.

By the end of the class, I was exhausted, and ready to curl up with my sock. The DH and I met up at Spinnity and Bill's for dinner and yarn-sharing. The foot of my sock was growing, and a new problem presented itself -- there was no way I was going to finish this sock without running out of yarn. Sure, I had two more balls at home, but those are for the other sock! What to do!

Day 10:

I made an emergency run to Nine Rubies for more sock yarn. Unfortunately, they don't carry Rowan 4-ply Yorkshire tweed. Choices -- order on-line, wait, risk missing Knitting Olympics deadline, not to mention a totally different dye lot. Or do the toes in a different color. The second option started to appeal to me; after all, then my socks would be truly unique! Nine Rubies yielded plenty of gorgeous colors of 4-ply Scottish tweed, which is a little loftier than Yorkshire but claims to have the same gauge. I got a nice contrasting burgundy. I actually really like how it's turned out. My lack of patience has resulted in something truly lovely.

The sock was finished about 11:30 last night with the painstakingly grafted toe (thanks again to Sally M for last year's Good Grafting class notes). I will never like grafting, but it did work and the sock is done, except for weaving in ends and adding the cute ribbon bow trim (which will be burgundy to match the toes, of course).

So I'm 10 days in, only 6 to go including today. Can I do another sock, especially now that I have rehearsals every night? Solani and Sudha at Nine Rubies cheered me on yesterday, making me think that just maybe, if I give up a certain amount of sleep and sanity, I could do it. Time to give it that old Olympic try.

Sean White rules, but so do I

2006-02-12T23:22:00.000-08:00

While watching Sean White kick snowboarding butt, and poor Apollo Ohno not even get to compete, I completed my goal for the day -- 42 rows of the pattern, the complete first chart!

And some unexpected news in the Knitting Olympics world: Team San Mateo has a new surprise member! My DH picked up the needles for the first time since childhood to make me a coaster to match the one I gave him. The yarn is GGH Samoa in a nice green. He's using my size 7 needles. And honestly, for his first two rows, he's doing pretty well, even if he looks a bit annoyed.

Immediately after I took this photo, he returned to playing Civilization IV.

The next two evenings are somewhat busy ones, with Valentine's Day and all, but I'm setting the modest goal of completing the next 29 rows of the pattern and 1 decrease row. 15 rows a day, pretty manageable. Wednesday is meet-up night, and I'm hoping to get to the heel that night -- another 42 rows, but shorter ones, so I might make it. The heel terrifies me slightly, I might need a little help from the sock goddesses.

If the first sock is finished by next Saturday, I'm in great shape to finish the second by the closing ceremonies. However, Stitches looms large on the horizon. It's kind of like suddenly broadcasting a Nascar race in the middle of the Olympics... oh, wait, they're doing that.

A busy day, a rest for the hands

2006-02-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

Day Two:

When I woke up Saturday morning the cramps were gone from my hands -- the exercises seem to have worked. It was a very busy day, not very much knitting time, but I got a good start on the leaf lace pattern of the body of the socks. Here's a different angle, with a bamboo chopstick mat backdrop (a present from Bill and Spinnity):

So far it's not difficult, and the size 2's aren't killing me.

Let the games begin!

2006-02-12T22:53:00.000-08:00

Day One:

Marathon couch session during the opening ceremonies.

Cast on and knit 25 rows. Challenges: #@*! tiny 1.5 needles. I was determined to finish the ribbing, and I did, but I had to do some major hand exercises afterwards. Felt MUCH better when I switched to #2's; it's amazing what half a needle size can do. Here's what I had at midnight:

And here's the goal. One sock certainly doesn't seem impossible, but can I do two?

A good month for FOs

2006-02-06T21:18:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting to blog until I finally had some photos to show. I'm very pleased with my January output -- my butt may permanently weld to the couch, and I have watched a LOT of Veronica Mars and Battlestar Galactica (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I have a bunch of FOs to show for it!

Here's the Kaalund Waterlilies scarf from a yummy Wizard of Yarns find:

I love this scarf; it matches with everything I own and it's nice and long. I cast on length-wise instead of width-wise, and did just a few very long rows of garter stitch, then added fringe -- very simple, and shows off the thick-and-thin yarn really well. I wear it about every other day; on the off days I'm wearing the Anny Blatt scarf that was my second project ever. Here's the Anny Blatt taking a trip to the Palace of Fine Arts:

That was a great day -- we took Princess M to the Exploratorium for the first time. I should also mention that it was my DH's first time at the Exploratorium. I'm not sure who was more excited.

Here's Ethan's car backpack, finally finished and ready to go to the little guy (one of CNITU's pals). It's in Karabella Aurora 8 and GGH Samoa. Please note the cute VW Bug button and racecar lining:

I knit this little hat on the way back from SoCal, for CNITU2. It's from Crystal Palace Kid Merino held together with Filatura di Crosa Millefili Fine, my own design:

Including the onesie and Heidi's gloves, that's five FOs in the month of January! If I can keep that up, it'll be a record year. I also started the Hourglass sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, one of my favorite books. I've got the body and one of the sleeves done now, but here's what it looked like a couple of weeks ago:

It's in Noro Cash Iroha. This yarn is so amazing it should be illegal. Miles of stockinette stitch, but never boring because, oh my god, the yarn!

You might notice that the FOs have a deep, sexy Espresso wood background. This is my new Stinson coffee table from Pottery Barn (or, as Spinnity likes to call it, Poverty Barn.) I swear to you, we went to buy bedside tables, and this followed us home. It was on sale! I swear! It has five deep drawers that can be pulled out from either side. They were designed especially for yarn. At least, that's what I'm telling the DH. He asked politely if he might have just one of the five, but he has yet to come up with anything better suited to these drawers than yarn. Just look at this Patagonia, you can tell it feels right at home:

These random leftovers look quite cozy:

I don't think I've ever been quite so enamored of a piece of furniture. I may have to betray it soon, however, because we have purchased the matching 16-drawer CD Console. It's clearly named a "CD Console" for purposes of deluding non-knitting SOs into buying it. CDs can be stored on computers. But yarn... yarn can live in deep, dark, espresso-stained drawers. Yum.

Olympian effort

2006-01-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

I was reading The Knitist's blog just a short time ago. She has declared her intention to enter the Knitting Olympics, hosted by none other than the Harlot herself, that mad, wonderful creature. I, of course, not being the type to resist a challenge, have been thinking about it for the past twenty minutes. Can I do it? What would be my challenge? Then I thought of it -- socks. My first pair of socks.

I own plenty of sock yarn but have resisted the temptation thus far. I like big, impressive projects, I guess, not things that get hidden inside of shoes. However, this may be destiny calling my name. Surely I can complete socks in 16 days, even if I'll probably be working on my Stitches homework simultaneously. Surely.

To make it harder, maybe I should do knee socks? I am a pretty fast knitter these days. I am tearing through my 2006 projects. I have completed four so far (the sexy Kaalund scarf is off the needles, love it love it love it), thanks to watching the complete first season of Veronica Mars, and I'm a good 5 inches into the Hourglass sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (in blessedly sensuous Noro Cash Iroho, how decadent). And knee socks would be less hidden by shoes, especially if worn with gauchos or a short skirt.

Hmmmm...

In other knitting news: CNITU2 wore his Cashmerino onesie out on the town Saturday night -- it finally got cold enough in SoCal. Wouldn't you know it, he picked that night to projectile poop with such force that his diaper leaked all over his pale blue loveliness! Sis has washed the thing twice and it's still stained. I am less upset about this than you might think -- after all, it's meant to be worn, and babies poop and spit up and pee all over things, that's just what they do. I do hope she can get it out well enough for him to wear it again. At least I got photos...

Year in Review (and look! actual photos!)

2006-01-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

It was great to see Spinnity, Jo, and Lori at Meet-up last night. Spinnity brought in a "conundrum" for our review -- a turquoise FunFur shrug, knitted by a friend, that (despite gauge swatch) was many sizes too large and also included some dropped stitches, thanks to the tricky yarn and a slightly complicated pattern. Solutions ranged from tearing the whole thing out to clever use of steeks. The project can't simply be abandoned, because the yarn was a gift from the knitter's adoring husband. The fact that the dear man went to a yarn store and voluntarily purchased this yarn for his wife while she was sick in bed means that she *must* complete it. And wear it, so it has to fit.

Being in a knitting frame of mind, I came home and posted photos! I calculated that I completed 25 knitted and/or crocheted FOs last year. Here they are, with their recipients, and eventually I'll link to photos of all of them (the numbers are all different than my first list, because I forgot a couple of things):

1. Shawlapalooza (Sis)
2. Yellow crocheted dishcloth (in our kitchen)
3. Red crocheted coaster (DH)
4. Princess M purse (PM)
5. Koigu Bias Betty scarf (Mom)
6. Pillow sachet (Mom Wiz)
7. Red fingerless gloves (Me)
8. CNITU's fish backpack (CNITU)
9. Blue Cardy (CNITU/CNITU2)
10. Squiggle Choo-choo scarf (Sis)
11. White Lies Nicole camisole and panty (Me)
12. Vintage camisole (Me)
13. Green fingerless gloves (Ragnar)
14. Basket stitch scarf (Andrea)
15. Basket stitch hat (Luke)
16. Mini-longshoreman stockinette stripe hat (Ethan)
17. Bear costume (CNITU)
18. Ugly yellow hat (hiding in the stash somewhere)
19. Zofia purse (sold)
20. LuLu purse
21. Lucas backpack
22. Kylie purse

Here are those last three for sale at Wizard of Yarns!

23. Green bolero (Sis)
24. Rowan flower pin (BF)
25. Rowan flower pin (Mom)

Here's my best friend modeling her flower pin before Christmas! Isn't she pretty?

So that's my year! A heck of a lot more FOs than last year. Plus, I've got three FOs since January 1st. Here's CNITU2 modeling his gorgeous Debbie Bliss Cashmerino onesie:

His big brother thinks it's pretty cool, too! (Notice his lack of clothing -- it was actually about 85 degrees in Laguna, and a cashmerino onesie was hardly necessary.)

And here's my neighbor Heidi modeling one of the fingerless gloves I made her for Christmas (I was her neighborhood Secret Santa. I actually gave her a ball of yarn and promised I would turn it into gloves by the new year.)

The third FO has yet to be photographed -- it's a little blue hat with the letter "L" on the front, knit during the drive back from Laguna for CNITU2.

Yesterday at meet-up I started a gorgeous burgundy, purple, and green wool scarf made from yarn I bought at Wizard of Yarns -- an Australian brand called, I think, Klaalund. It's amazingly lovely and soft. I got some other interesting goodies there, but some of it's meant for knitter gifts so I won't share just yet.

Happy New Baby!

2006-01-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

I just returned from two weeks of heavy holiday-ing, playing with my 2-year-old nephew, and moving furniture and appliances around Sis' still-being-remodeled house. But the best news is wee CNITU2, born 12/30/05 (two days after my birthday, oh well), a special gift for us all. (And a big one -- little chunky is 9 lbs of adorable chubbiness.) He looks really cute in his onesie, too!

CNITU did pretty well when Mommy was in the hospital, and he really loves his baby brother. There were, however, a couple of major tantrums involving the correct way to prepare a muffin. I include them here just in case you know a 2-year-old and need to make them a muffin.

1. Put whole muffin in microwave WITH PAPER STILL ON IT.
2. Microwave so that it goes "beep-beep" - very important to have the beep-beep.
3. Bring muffin to table, remove paper, in that order.
4. Do NOT under any circumstances remove any part of the muffin until instructed. Even when instructed to "make baby pieces," double-check before actually doing so. The two-year-old may still be contemplating the serene beauty of the COMPLETE UNTOUCHED muffin, and if you dare to defile it, woe betide you.
5. If you have double- and triple-checked that it's okay to tear off a piece, remove one small piece from the muffin for your young master to savor. Terrible things might still happen. Your best plan is to convince the young gourmand that things will be much better for everyone if he just makes his own baby pieces and allows you to retreat strategically to the other side of the table.

My sister, brother-in-law, and I broke some combination of these rules not once, not twice, but three times IN ONE DAY, causing serious screaming and crying and near bodily harm (to us, not to him). After which, we hid the muffins in the fridge. Imagine our trepidation when he opened the fridge the next day and asked for a muffin. Sis very carefully talked through each rule in order, checking with the sage at every step. He happily tore off his own pieces and ate all the pretty outside parts of the muffin, which is all you can expect a two-year-old to eat anyway.

Let us all pray that CNITU2 will be the sort of relaxed kid who will, when he turns two, bring his mother tea and fresh fruit in bed, before whipping up muffins from scratch and serving them on a tray garnished with hibiscus blooms.

Ha.

Happy Holidays to all!

2005-12-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post before I take off for Laguna Beach. There was a bit of a scare earlier this week that CNITU2 had too large a head and may have something wrong with his wee brain. However, Sis saw a specialist yesterday and it turns out that he's just large in general, so they don't want her to carry to term but will induce next week. Hopefully on my birthday!

We had some Xmas present opening already -- wonderful gifts from Spinnity and Bill include a gift certificate to Creative Hands in San Carlos as well as fun goodies from REI. Their birthday present to me was a beautiful pair of fingerless gloves, in brown and cream with lacy cuffs. So elegant! Susan and Princess M went all out with a brand new knitting bag for Christmas (it's Jordana Paige's messenger bag in brown) and a beautiful silver Tiffany necklace.

And at last, Adam got some of the photos out of the camera. Here's me finishing up (L to R) Kylie, Lucas, and LuLu bags for the sale.

Another long hiatus

2005-12-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

After this one, it will be amazing if anyone's still reading this blog! My very good excuse is that I have been rehearsing and performing in "A Christmas Carol" up in Napa. I think it turned out rather well, so if you're interested visit our website for more information.

In a triumph of holiday knitting, I also finished four purses for the trunk show in Laguna Beach. I failed to finish the fifth. Turned out that the sale was badly attended, anyway, but I did sell one purse! Zofia, the sherbet-colored one with sparkly maribou trim. Wendy is keeping the other three in the shop for the time being. It was a fun experiment, but I have to admit that it got boring, knitting the same thing four times in a row. I couldn't wait to get back to Lucas' onesie.

I *did* take all kinds of photos, still in the camera, of course, but I promise, they're coming.

I have not been to a knitting meet-up in ages due to all this rehearsal stuff, but last Wednesday I did spend a delightful evening with M.O. at Julie's in Alameda, working on our Christmas knitting projects. We like Julie's; they are very knitter-friendly and have a crafting night every Friday. And very good teas, coffees, and cookies.

The rest of my modest Christmas knitting is a secret. I have not taken on any big ambitious projects this year, except for the onesie, and that's progressing well. Needed a break from deadlines. But for all of you who are counting the hours, keep the faith! You will make it!

Music plug

2005-11-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

No, sorry, no photos yet. But I just wanted to mention the lovely night of music the DH and I experienced yesterday! Normally, I try to avoid plugging theatre too much on this blog - it's impossible to promote everyone's shows, and as a casting director I don't want to be perceived as slighting anyone. However, when it comes to music, I am purely a consumer with so little talent of my own that I can only sit in awe when I have an experience like last night's.

My former roommate Megan and her partner Sam are extremely talented musicians, and they played a great gig last night at the Bazaar Cafe in SF. This is one of my favorite music venues -- tiny, cozy, great food, nice folks, and of course, you can knit to your heart's content. If you're familiar with Beth Waters, Mokai, Vienna Teng, or Ira Marlowe -- they play there. It also happens to be half a block away from our old apartment. It was a birthday show for Megan, and the owners even had chocolate cake for everyone. When was the last time you went to a concert and got free cake?

Anyway, we bought the new Bazaar compilation CD, which M & S are *not* on. This morning, I went to the SF Hootenanny website where you can buy a compilation CD including two of their songs. The site also heaps praise on this terrific duo. If you can't get enough of Sam and Megan's acoustic brilliance, their CD is on CD Baby, too.

In other music news: Four tickets to KFOG's concert for kids (featuring Madeleine Peyroux, KT Tunstall, and Aqualung) up for grabs! After purchasing tickets to the concert and pre-show wine and food tasting, I found out I can't go due to my rehearsal schedule. The rest of the group decided not to go either. These are great seats, so if you're interested in buying them let me know!

Knitting news: Trunk show progress continues -- the knitting for LuLu is all done and I've started Kylie. Friday, I'm planning a big sewing day for all the linings, buttons, trim, etc.

Trunk Show preparation...

2005-11-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

... is actually going pretty well. Credit goes to long hours spent in rehearsal. Knitting really is the perfect hobby for actors. You can simultaneously pay attention to what's going on, study your lines, and get projects done. No missed cues, which tends to happen when you immerse yourself in a book during rehearsal. And you never get mad at your director for keeping you there for 2 hours without ever getting to your scene. It's all good -- it's knitting time.

The adorable little girl playing Tiny Tim is also a knitter. Last week she saw me with my knitting and told me all about her projects. Yesterday she brought a little fuzzy scarf in to work on. At one point, leaping to her feet to make an entrance, she got tangled in her yarn and arrived on stage trailing pink and blue fluff. If I had done this, I would have looked stupid, but coming from Lucy it was just about the cutest thing that ever happened on a stage.

I finished lining Zofia and sent it off to Sis to show to Wendy at Wizard of Yarns. Stupid me, forgot to photograph it before I sent it. It's pink, orange, and green sorbet colors with a fluffy trim and a green floral-embroidered lining. The button is a little green butterfly.

I'm close to done with the Lucas backpack (named for CNITU2). This one is all Aurora 8 wool, smoky blue, persimmon, and Aurora Melange in fall colors. The lining has little trucks on it, and the button is a wooden teddy bear.

I started LuLu a couple of days ago (named for CNITU's best girlfriend). It's pale blue, yellow, and green, very preppy. I plan for it to have sparkly trim, a little blue button in the shape of a house, and a blue lining with girly sayings on it like "call me," "let's shop," and "girlfriends."

Ethan's backpack is already spoken for by its namesake (CNITU's other best friend), but I'll probably do it next. It's primary colors -- blue, red, and green, with racecars on the lining and a little green VW bug button.

Kylie is the last one I've designed -- it's spring green, pink, and lavender, probably a floral lining and a button in the shape of a little purse. It's named for my DH's co-worker's adorable daughter, who is amazingly cute and smart.

I'm debating whether to do a couple of holiday-specific ones, with sparkly blue and red yarn and a fluffy white trim. Maybe if I have time! Sis thinks they would sell well.

Check out the new look!

2005-11-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

I kept the address, but changed the title. You like? I had to make sure first that other knitting "Wiz"es Spinnity and my MIL were not interested in using it.

I opted *not* to use "Auntie Becca Knits" as the title, although it is my brand (I have a brand! Hee hee!). I have been in touch with lovely Wendy from The Wizard of Yarns My purses and backpacks will hopefully be featured in a trunk show in Laguna Beach on Dec. 2-3. I say hopefully because I will actually have to work damn hard on making them before then. I had better finish Zofia's lining tonight, so I have one to send to Sis (my business manager) tomorrow!

New books, since I can't leave a knitting store empty-handed

2005-11-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

At Wednesday's meet-up, I acquired two new books and a magazine. One was a carefully considered purchase, one was a whim, and one just jumped into my bag, helped there by my DH.

The first is the new issue of Rebecca Home. (I always like to pretend this magazine is named after me.) Some great Christmas ornament ideas (easy, fast gifts!), and a little bed jacket in GGH Amelie that I saw on-line and really like.

The second is last summer's Rowan. I like the pictures. I'll probably knit something from it eventually, but mostly it's for inspiration. It's all kind of girly and vintage and all that stuff I like.

Finally, I got a great book of patterns for kids called New Knits on the Block, by the host of Knitty Gritty. This is like Stitch 'n' Bitch for kids. My DH made me buy it for the miniature Viking costume, but I also like the mermaid, the chain mail, and the superhero cape. For an auntie who constantly finds herself knitting Halloween costumes, this is essential.

Speaking of which, CNITU was a major pill about wearing his Halloween costume this year. Sis managed to get a photo of him right before he took the hood off, which she says she'll email me shortly. Luckily there will be a new nephew next Halloween, who will have to be either a ghost or a bear.

Pick an M&M, anyone?

2005-10-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

First of all, I wrote Draft One of this post on Monday. For some reason, no matter how many times the universe proves me wrong, I never think I have to save my posts before posting them. Especially if they are particularly long or particularly (I think) witty. I even go through a thought process wherein I say to myself, "Self, you should save this before you try to do some fancy photo thing and the whole post vanishes into the blogosphere." And Self always says back, "Ha! I am all-powerful Blogger Babe! Take that, Me!"

*sigh*

I haven't had the heart to re-create this post for the last several days, because, as Garrison Keillor knows, the Great American Novel was the one you left behind on the train 10 years ago.

So the post was all about this sale at Vanessa's. Vanessa's is fairly far down my list of favorite LYS's, somewhere around #7. However, when they send me a postcard advertising an October pick-your-discount sale, of course I have to go. This is because, as the yarn harlot has said many times in much cleverer ways than mine, buying yarn is not about needing yarn. It's about the fact that somewhere out there, there is yarn that needs you.

(There, I just saved. Ha, Universe. Ha, Self.)

The postcard said that depending on whether you picked an orange, purple, green, or black jellybean, you'd get a 20%, 25%, 40%, or %50 discount. Shopping AND gambling combined! So I had to go.

Vanessa's carries a lot of Trendsetter and Crystal Palace (unlike other yarn shops I could name), as well as a whole wall of Cascade 220 and lots of Berocco. They also have random yummy things like Great Adirondack and this:

This is called Patagonia, and I've been admiring it since I received a sample from Yarn of the Month a little while ago. The color seemed appropriate to the season.

Vanessa, being smart, doesn't actually let you pick the jellybean until you are checking out. And in the end, they weren't jellybeans, but M&Ms (preferable to the DH, who sanctioned the yarn purchase since he was getting free chocolate out of the deal.)

I have to give Vanessa props for letting me put back the first three green 20%-off M&Ms until I got a 25%-off purple M&M. I think she was feeling generous since I had promised not to buy Sally's latest book on Amazon but wait until she got it in the store. (By the way, Sally, what's up with the bad 80's look on the cover?)

I still wouldn't place Vanessa's super-high on my list, but 25% Patagonia is a good thing. The sale's on until the end of the month, and there's no limit to the number of times you can go. I think I'll have to take the MIL when she's in town this weekend.

Oh, and I'm trying to think of a new name for this blog. I ignored my bloggiversary altogether (since I didn't know there were such things until I read C's blog), but on Kathy's urging I will move on. Knuknitter no more! Anyone have any ideas?

Stitches is up!

2005-10-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

How many blog posts have that entry today, I wonder? Anyway, I'm all registered -- two Sally, one Nancie (Wiseman), one Lily. My theme for the year is color -- intarsia, fair isle, and creativity. (Lily's class is on edgings, so I guess that kind of counts as long as they're colorful.) As soon as I find out if I got my first choices I'll post my full schedule.

Went to Meet-up in Santa Clara last night for the first time in a while. Went over to Knitting Arts, picked up a new Rowan book, Classic Woman. Nice vintage-look patterns, particularly fun flower pins that will make nice gifts. Knitting Arts is also discontinuing Crystal Palace and Trendsetter (are they high?), so I gathered a few random skeins for trims, etc. Nice and cheap.

Here's the promised photo of the bear costume:

Hopefully it will fit! That's 2005.18, for those who are counting. I think at last count I was around 200.14, the White Lies panty. I've now gone through 2005.15 (Vintage camisole), 2005.16 (Ugly yellow hat), and 2005. 17 (Green bolero).

Go sign up for Stitches now, y'all! See you there!

I'm baaaack!

2005-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've also added word verification to block all those annoying blog spams. I actually got excited when I saw 6 comments on my last blog; alas, most from anonymous sploggers (blammers? blommers? splaggers?)

I'm finally back to the place where I can waste time blogging at work again -- after three weeks of rehearsal for The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Fortunately, my lack of blogging has not coincided with a lack of knitting. I finished the cute green bolero in time for Sis' birthday. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a photo before I mailed it, so I'll have to rely on her for that. It's apparently a bit small for her in her very pregnant state, but that will only last a few more months.

I also finished the bear costume for CNITU and mailed it out this morning. Photos to come! It's in an annoyingly fluffy cotton washcloth yarn from Ironstone yarns, with a baby alpaca and eyelash yarn trim.

Haven't done much more with the Gedifra tweed project, and the Zofia purse remains a UFO, waiting for a lining. Last night I made a swatch for a Debbie Bliss onesie in light blue cashmerino for the new baby. Size 3 needles -- wow. Teensy. But so soft and pretty. I'll just have to switch to a larger-needle project occasionally so I don't lose my eyesight.

The world's ugliest hat

2005-09-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

The yellow kid's ski hat turned out to be the ugliest thing I've ever knit. I don't even want to give it to charity -- I can just picture some little Afghan child looking at it and going "ew."

Perhaps I will leave it lying around and the first person who says "nice hat" will own it.

Anyway, it's off my needles and out of my mind. I dithered around about what to do next (must finish CNITU's Halloween costume, but I'm way ahead of schedule), and cast on several different things at once.

1. New Auntie Becca signature purse, in melon, strawberry, and lime sorbet colors. This design will be called "Zofia" after one of CNITU's friends. Knitting is finished, just have to sew it together and add the lining. I also pulled yarn for two more designs, "Lulu" and "Ethan."

2. Did a little more with the Gedifra Golden Tweed. I think it's going to be a little purse for me for fall.

3. Finally figured out what to do with light green Rowan cotton rope -- a version of Debbie Bliss' Fiery Bolero from Interweave Knits summer edition. Did the math at meet-up on Wednesday, cast on afterwards, and I'm about a third of the way through already. I think it will be a present for someone...

I must put the Halloween costume back at the top of the queue shortly, but for now I am just having too much fun with the Bolero!

M has convinced me to go to Fengari tomorrow to sin. It wasn't very difficult to convince me. I have way too much yarn already from the earlier shopping spree, but I like helping other people fall from grace.

I am so behind!

2005-09-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

My one consolation is that many of my various blogging friends seem to be behind as well. Must be some sort of end-of-summer thing.

I am behind primarily because I went on a glorious end-of-summer-camp vacation last week to Laguna Beach, my traditional September sojourn. There's nothing nicer than Laguna Beach post-tourist season -- it's still sunny, it's not crowded, you can get a table at Javier's, and Little Bohemian has a sale. This year was somewhat less glorious than last year because CNITU and family are doing a remodel. A massive, marvelous remodel that will be absolutely amazing when it's finished, but right now it means everything's covered in dust, they're living out of half the house, there's no real kitchen, and they have a two-year-old, difficult enough at the best of times.

Yes, CNITU has entered the terrible two's with a vengeance. He hurls violently back and forth between adorable sweetness and shrieking tantrums. His favorite words are "no" and "mine." He speaks a combination of English and a peculiar tongue known only to him, and when you can't translate fast enough, he gets annoyed.

He is always forgiven, however, because he adores his auntie. He always wants me to sit next to him in the back seat, and laughs at my stupid jokes and silly faces. He lets me play with his matchbox cars. He thinks my DH is as cool as I do. He asks me to make him turtles out of play-doh, and collects shells with me on the beach.

Highlights of the trip include a trip to San Juan Capistrano to have tea and watch the trains (CNITU's top ten: 1. Mommy 2. Daddy 3. Grandma 4. Auntie & Uncle 5. Trains 6. Fish 7. Turtles 8. Trucks 9. Cats 10. Dogs). We also had a great little shopping spree at Little Bohemian followed by lunch at Zinc. On Saturday we went on a hike in the canyons all the way to Dripping Cave, which was lots of fun.

The knitting highlight of the trip was a visit to a brand-new, teensy tiny knitting store called The Wizard of Yarns. The owner, Wendy, is an interior designer who has decided to use part of her office space to indulge her yarn hobby. She carries some Colinette and some really lovely local stuff that I haven't seen anywhere else. She also sells jewelry by some of her designer friends, and she may, soon, be the first retailer of Auntie Becca purses and purse kits.

You see, Sis has decided that I need to become a brand. Her friends have been asking about the Fish Backpack, and even requesting them for their own kids. I figured that I would just have to charge too much for the things for anyone to ever buy them, but Sis took me to a number of local high-end baby stores with $35 hand-knitted booties, $115 sweaters, etc. So there really are rich people in Orange County who will buy these things.

So I am trying to come up with a logo and a website. And make about ten purses by the end of November for a trunk show. I am also vowing not to let this little endeavor take over my life or make me stop enjoying my hobby.

There are so many FO's in my world, but as usual a lack of photos. Off the needles: White Lies panty, finally, and Vintage camisole, which is fabulous and divine and my new favorite thing. I have been goofing around with the Gedifra golden tweed, not sure what it's going to be. I have a crazy yellow kid's hat on the needles. And CNITU's teddy bear costume is coming right along, should be done in plenty of time for Halloween.

Sick girl and yarn shopping

2005-08-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

I suppose it was inevitable that my all-powerful immune system would eventually succomb to all the kid germs I've been exposed to all summer. I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and stuffed head.

CNITU may have been the culprit -- he and his family were visiting from Laguna this week, and he has a case of the sniffles. Didn't slow him down much -- we had some rousing games of Frisbee, trains, and Play-doh, and we went to the train museum on Thursday (he loves choo-choos).

We have all been trying to think of a name for CNITU2, the younger brother who will arrive in January. So far, my favorites are Oliver, Jeremy, and Miles.

Because a younger brother is imminent, I have been yarn shopping! Sis told me yellow was unacceptable, she's so tired of yellow from when CNITU was born (they didn't know the gender in advance.) So she wants CNITU2 to have an all-new, all-blue wardrobe. So I had a yarn crawl day last Saturday with M and Spinnity. Here's what we got at Creative Hands in San Carlos:

Debbie Bliss cashmerino in light blue for a onesie from Debbie's Baby Cashmerino book.

Crystal Palace Kid Merino (this comes in amazing colors!) with Filatura di Crosa Millefili Fine cotton to make baby hats/booties.

Creative Hands is a wonderful store -- lots of helpful staff and well-labeled containers with the cost and fiber content of everything. It is well-organized, everything is easy to find, and the prices are fairly competitive. Love it!

After Creative Hands we went to Fengari in Half Moon Bay. This place is the opposite in personality to CH, but just as good in its own way. If CH is a librarian, Fengari is a disorganized packrat. There are boxes and bags of yarn everywhere, spilling onto the floor and rolling down the aisles. It looks disastrous until you realize that the girl behind the counter knows where everything is! And they have things I've never seen anywhere else. Here's some Gedifra Serano I bought to trim the edges of the onesie:

I got some soft, fluffy GGH in a lovely aqua color -- maybe a scarf for me?

I couldn't resist this Peter Pan yarn. So soft, and they had a pullover made up in this color that was just adorable.

(Excuse the blurry photo!)

Just when I thought I was done, I noticed a shelf under the counter loaded with Mission Falls cotton! I have become an addict, and someone told me it was being discontinued, so I grabbed a ton in a bunch of different yummy sorbet-y colors.

Finally, to complete my yarn purchasing frenzy, I stopped by Vannessa's yesterday to but a gift for a friend, and they had some great stuff in the 50% off basket! I got her some nice Berocco Monet in lovely fall colors, and couldn't resist this Gedifra Golden Tweed. I'm already working on a seed stitch rib, it's a little too firm for a scarf but might be a purse? It's a really lovely, chunky, natural-looking yarn.

In other news, I gave Ethan his birthday hat. Here it is finished and on a bear.

It looks even cuter on Ethan. He looked like a miniature longshoreman. His mommy took some photos right away, and she promised to send them to me.

I also finished Luke's hat in time for his birthday next month. I really like how this one turned out. I made it to match Andrea's scarf, just cause I like the yarn combo.

So I have plenty of things to keep me occupied while I sip tea and sniffle.

Babies!

2005-08-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Just found out that my friend Eryka's baby Ethan turns one tomorrow -- ta-da! Stockinette stripe hat recipient.

I had lunch yesterday with another friend whose adorable son Luke turns one next month. I cast on another hat last night -- I think after the success of the Mission Falls scarf, I will design him a Mission Falls hat in basket stitch.

At the San Mateo meet-up last night, I finished up the major knitting on the Vintage camisole -- I just have to block it, seam it, and do the funky edging and straps. This part looks tricky, so the project has graduated from a carry-in-the-tote-bag-to-the-park project to a finishing project.

I had a weird yarn dream last night, perhaps caused by hunting through my stash for hat inspiration last night. I was in Mervyn's, why Mervyn's I don't know, but there I was. And Mervyn's had great yarn, major brands, for cheap! They had Noro, they had Berocco, they had some of the beautiful green alpaca M brought to Meet-up last night. I kept on picking up skeins, thinking, okay, this is here, I'll just look at what else they have and come back for it. Then I'd go down another aisle and around a corner and see more great yarn. But when I came back for that perfect yarn, I couldn't find it anymore, the bin had moved or the aisle had changed direction. If I was able to grab an interesting skein, I had no basket to put it in. I took it up to the counter and left it there, just hoping it would stay until I returned. And of course, it was gone, or it rolled off the counter and down an aisle and I couldn't catch it.

A fascinating, realistic dream, with amazing colors and textures, both thrilling and endlessly frustrating. I am sure it's deeply symbolic, but the symbolism hardly matters when the content itself is so interesting.

Knitting Adventuress!

2005-08-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days.
http://marniemaclean.com

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

That's me, according to the quiz I found on The Knitist's blog. Fun quiz with very good questions, I had to think before answering them. But I think the final result is something most people would agree with.

I am nearly done with the baby hat I'm doing for Continental Knitting practice! It's turning out quite cute, but man, I am encountering some challenges. First of all, I kept doing my SSK's backwards in Continental. I think I've figured it out now. Secondly, my double-points are annoyingly long and awkward and I'm at the point where I very nearly stab myself in the eye every time I attempt a decrease. I guess I would rather buy yarn than needles, so I always think I can survive with the dp's I already have, but I've been using them a lot more lately with wrist warmers and hats.

The stockinette stripe pattern for this hat does make for good Continental practice, though, and I'm enjoying alternating between this project and the camisole I'm knitting English-style. I worry a little about the Rowan tweed being a little itchy for a bald baby head -- the design was actually for a cashmere-cotton blend, but I had the Rowan lying around and I love the color.

Next question -- who will be the recipient? The hat is sized for a one-year-old, and I know a few of those. The main criteria is that the parents must own a camera and be gushingly appreciative.

Today was not a good day

2005-08-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

First of all, I spent way too much time dealing with parents of Shakespeare campers who didn't think their kids had big enough parts. Granted, there were only two such parents, but two stage mothers is two too many in one day. One parent proved eventually to be rational, the other cannot be reasoned with.

I have been doing this long enough not to let the turkeys bring me down, but lest I attempt to have a good day in other ways, I found out this afternoon that a dear friend's father has suddenly had a coronary and isn't expected to last the week. This friend lost her mother to cancer about five years ago, and she has barely recovered. She's completely devastated now. I called a number of mutual friends and we are going to attempt to do something for her once she returns from hospital, funeral, etc. in New York.

We DID see a great movie tonight which cheered me up -- March of the Penguins. I urge you to waddle as fast as possible to the nearest cineplex and see it! It is just amazing, and will make all your troubles go away for an hour and a half while you worry about the survival of baby penguins.

In knitting-related news, I finished the Mission Falls scarf for Andrea, which was just a week-long project and therefore quite satisfying. Here it is, a bit fuzzy:

I really like the way the nubby texture of this yarn looks in basket stitch, and I have to congratulate myself on a good design choice. The design also incorporates some of the nice fuzzy nubbles I got at the Stash Swap. Here's a detail:

I knit this scarf on #9 needles, a little bigger than recommended for the Mission Falls, but I like the airy-ness of the stitch this way -- looks more like a basket. The fall colors look so nice together. I used almost two whole skeins of Mission Falls Cotton, so the scarf is quite long and wraps nicely around the neck and falls to the waist on both sides. Andrea lives in Pennsylvania for most of the year, so I figure she needs scarves for more than just a fashion accessory. Here's my easy pattern:

Cast on 15 stitches on #9 needles, holding cotton and novelty yarn together. Garter stitch (knit every row) for eight rows, then drop novelty yarn. Continue in basket stitch:

Row one: K3, P3, K3, P3, K3
Row two: P3, K3, P3, K3, P3

Repeat rows one and two, then:

Row five: P3, K3, P3, K3, P3
Row six: K3, P3, K3, P3, K3

Repeat rows five and six*, start over at row one and repeat to *. Continue in this 8-row pattern until you've made the scarf as long as you want it to be, then pick up the novelty yarn again and do eight more rows of garter stitch. Bind off.

I have a little over a skein of the Mission Falls left over, so I might try for a pair of wrist warmers to match. Don't think I have enough for a hat.

I've also updated the links on the post below to include photos of wrist warmers and my Rowan baby hat.

FOs springing up all over

2005-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

I was reading Spinnity's blog, and I like the way she numbers her FOs 2005.12, etc. This probably comes from her librarian training, but it's a good idea, certainly imparts a sense of accomplishment! I decided to make a list of all my FOs so far this year:

2005.1 Shawlapalooza for Sis (Love Prism shawl)
2005.2 Princess M Purse (Katja and Muench yarns)
2005.3 Crocheted dishcloth (never shown on this blog since it's embarassingly lopsided, but it was good practice.)
2005.4 Crocheted coaster (very small and easy but turned out well. I gave it to my DH, the only thing I've ever made for him!)
2005.5 Red wrist-warmers (from last-minute knitted gifts -- in Brown Sheep Prairie Silk
2005.6 CNITU's backpack (Muench and Karabella)
2005.7 Blue Cardy (Rowan 4-ply cotton)
2005.8 White Lies Nicole camisole
2005.9 Squiggle Choo-choo scarf (Crystal Palace)
2005.10 Green wrist-warmers (Karabella Aurora 8 in parsley, my new favorite green. A gift for my co-worker, photos coming soon)

Very, very close to FOs:
2005.11 Mission Falls basket stitch scarf for a friend's birthday
2005.12 White Lies Nicole panty

Next in line:
Dark pink Vintage Knits camisole in Rowan cotton glace
Ribbed baby hat in Rowan DK Tweed (Continental practice project)

If only I could photograph them as quickly as I knit them, I'd have a really interesting blog!

TKGA Conference

2005-07-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have SO MUCH to blog about, and so little time to do it, but TKGA is the sort of event that it's important to blog about, so here we go.

I had a somewhat mixed experience, starting with arriving at 8:30 am on Saturday and finding out that there was no record of my existence in the TKGA files. (Even though I was holding a print-out of my email confirmation.) Apparently, I should have received a packet in the mail with tickets and badges and things. Odd, since you had to check in at the registration desk anyway! Fortunately, my classes were still available, so I paid (again, or so I thought), and went in to Nancie Wiseman's Continental Knitting class.

I looked around for Spinnity -- alas, she was up at the registration counter having the same experience. It's not a huge surprise that a craftspersons' guild like TKGA might be filled with Luddites -- and I should have been alerted by the hopelessly inept website that I won't even link to here -- but this is the 21st Century, people! Even knitters do things on-line! Especially California knitters. I doubt Spinnity and I were the only ones -- I overheard another woman talking about how they had her signed up for all the wrong classes.

So, one strike, or maybe even two, against TKGA already. However, by 9:01 am, when Nancie Wiseman opened her mouth, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. I love this woman. I would take any class from her. She is so down-to-earth, so modest, yet so knowledgeable. By the middle of the class I was knitting Continental. By the end I was purling pretty comfortably and even contemplating Fair Isle. And it felt painless! My only gripe was my crummy yarn kept splitting, but that was my own fault. I never like to practice with good yarn, so I had some crummy Lion Brand Wool-ease. Should have brought the good stuff.

So by noon we were in a grand mood and singing the praises of Nancie. I took a quick spin through the market and got some gorgeous deep red bamboo yarn from Habu (a cool fiber company in New York, very expensive but it's one of those things I needed in order to go on living), a skein of undyed alpaca which looked like my DH might actually wear it, and a ball winder, which I've been meaning to get for ages. Then I had to go to work, no afternoon classes for me.

After a late night finishing the seven (!) swatches for Joan Schrouder's Finishing class, I came in Sunday caffeinated and ready to learn. Alas, I picked the wrong class. It was advertised as "Intermediate," but this clearly means very different things to different people.

We spent the morning, all three hours of it, practicing grafting. Now, I had a brilliant grafting class with Sally Melville at Stitches, and completely understood it, but I haven't had an occasion to do it since, so I needed the practice. But Joan's teaching method pretty much consisted of saying "This is important, you need to learn it. Now do this," without demonstrating very clearly. I basically followed the instructions on her handout, which I could have done at home. Some of the students were completely clueless, and Joan spent a lot of time helping them and no time at all with those of us who were semi-competent. Or she'd just stop by, glance at my work, say "You're doing this wrong," and move on without helping me. I was not pleased.

But the two-hour lunch break was great. I spent way too much money on Rowan and Manos at Skein Lane, bought enough Koigu for a Baby Surprise jacket at Foxyknits, and visited White Lies to show off my camisole, which I was wearing. Joan had some excellent suggestions on finishing the Nicole lingerie that I will share in a future posting. The market was not very big, but there were some interesting new things.

We had a delicious lunch at the hotel's restaurant -- this, at least, seemed an improvement over Stitches, since everyone complained about the hotel food there. Spinnity had taken a Slim Stash Reduction class in the morning, and had a couple of adorable swatches to show off.

In the afternoon half of Joan's class, we started by grafting in garter stitch. Ack! More grafting! Then, believe it or not, we did mattress stitch. This, to me, is a beginner skill. I have done a LOT of mattress stitch already. But Joan, who knits her sweaters in the round then grafts the shoulders, hardly ever does it, so I guess she considers it to be a difficult skill.

At about 3:30, we actually got to some of the new stuff I was interested in learning, but we were running way behind schedule since there were so many beginners. We learned two nifty ways to join slip-stitch edges, both of which are very pretty. Then we rushed through 3-needle bind-offs, which I will have to review, but I was happy to learn them. We skimmed lightly over button bands, which I really could have used more work on, and blocking.

Joan is a brilliant knitter (her sample sweaters have graced numerous magazine and book covers), and her sweaters are always gorgeously finished. However, she is not a great teacher. I should mention that many of the beginner students around me seemed to be learning a lot, but I would say that the class was not as advertised, and therefore not right for me.

I should have gone to Nancie's Color Work with Short Rows class -- what a gorgeous swatch Spinnity had to show after that class! And what praise she heaped upon the divine Nancie!

As one student observed, the class subject matter itself is not necessarily what's important. A good teacher will always teach you something new. Nancie and Sally are at the top of the pantheon for me.

I did like one thing Joan had to say, which is particularly relevant to my White Lies designs experience: knowing how to finish something is your responsibility. A lot of pattern writers will not give you great directions, so you should figure out what works best for the garment and do that, regardless of what the instructions say.

I cast on for my second pair of fingerless gloves last night -- in Continental. They're green Karabella wool with a little zany Crystal Palace Squiggle at the cuffs, and they're pretty cute!

Busy, busy summer

2005-07-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

As usual, my summers are filled with six- and seven-day work weeks and 10-hour days, so I've been a little lax on the blogging. Thanks to Free Shakespeare in the Park, however, there's been plenty of knitting time. And a couple of FO's to show for it!

First of all, last weekend was CNITU's second birthday, celebrated on the beach in Laguna. He had a blast! Here we are prepping the food (Chef Adam, sous-chef me. You can't tell, but I'm making PB&J sandwiches in the shape of fish.):

He liked his backpack (Stitches courtesy of taking a nose dive off his mini-Adirondack chair. Ah, the perils of suburban childhood.):

But he liked his bunny from Mom Wiz even more:

The beach is a great place to knit:

Finished the back of the dark pink camisole on the beach:

I also decided the fuzzy belt was not a belt but a scarf. I wasn't sure I liked it, but Sis admired it, so I finished it off for her with some green glass beads from a bead shop on Pacific Coast Highway:

The beads aren't terribly obvious, but they're there! I love that this scarf is made from Squiggle and Choo Choo yarns, since CNITU's favorite word is "choo choo." (He is a major Thomas the Tank Engine groupie.)

Finally, here are some photos of the White Lies Nicole lingerie. I will blog extensively about this pattern later, since it has some issues. But I wore the finished camisole to a concert yesterday and it was much admired.

Here's the back:

Here's the front:

And here's the not-quite finished panty:

Yikes! Scandalous photos on my blog! Don't worry, I'll stop short of photos of me wearing the above items, lest I be banned from the blogosphere.

You will notice the lack of photos of CNITU dressed in Blue Cardy. It's a bit small, as expected, plus it was darn hot and no way was the boy going to be put into a snuggly cardigan. It may well end up as a garment for Sibling-of-CNITU, due in January. SOCNITU's gender will be revealed in due course of time.

One-year Knitting Anniversary photos!

2005-06-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

You'll notice that I have a tendency to lump all my photos into one posting. This is because I'm lazy, primarily, but I also like the way they all look together! I particularly like the pinks, blues, yellows, and greens in this spring-y posting.

First of all, I must dance the happy Blue Cardy dance! It's really done! I kid you not!

Here's the dark blue side, with nifty round buttons and pockets:

Here's the light blue side, with a little fish on the chest that I embroidered to match the buttons:

Here's the birthday gift together, cardy and backpack:

What have I learned from Blue Cardy?

1. Gauge is important. Without careful attention to gauge, your two contrasting sides won't fit together exactly, and there will be some puckering. This will bother you even if it doesn't bother anyone else.

2. Buy more yarn than you think you need, and don't give away the extra ball at a stash swap until you're quite sure you don't need it. (It was touch and go there at the end!)

3. If you don't feel like doing it just like the pattern, don't.

4. American children are way bigger than French children.

5. If your intended recipient outgrows the gift before you give it to him, never fear. People get pregnant all the time.

On to more fun photos! Here is a fun new project, made from Crystal Palace "Choo-choo" and "Squiggle." I got one ball of each at the Meetup Stash Swap, and decided to make a little easy belt, garter stitch on the bias, with the two yarns held together. I like it!

And here are some more photos of my Stash Swap acquisitions. This pile of yellow chenille and novelty acrylics are going to go toward a funky layette for the new CNITU sibling. (Sis is going to find out the gender in advance, so I'll combine it with blue or pink accordingly.)

I'm going to make this fluffy washcloth brown into teddy bears, and maybe a teddy bear costume for CNITU this Halloween.

Now a couple of things for me! First, the new project, the camisole from Vintage Knits (super close-up for full appreciation of Rowan cotton glace):

And here's White Lies lingerie, all ready for finishing. Scandalous!

Also, I was dissatisfied with the French knot I used as a button on PM's purse. Found the perfect button at Joann and replaced it on Saturday. She loves it! (She kissed it several times after I sewed it on. It might even get a name, we'll see.)

How satisfying to find the perfect final touch!

New camera, and major progress

2005-06-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Oy! Work has been occupying my time more than usual lately, no time to blog. But a few quick notes:

Camera report: Thanks to the good wishes of several kind friends and family members (and a very nice wife), the DH has a snazzy new early birthday present: Canon PowerShot SD300. Photos will reappear on my blog very soon.

These photos will be of Blue Cardy, which is now seamed and being joined together by nice crochet edgings. I probably shouldn't jinx it, but it looks pretty damn cute. All my gauge issues seem to be resolving themselves, and I like the crochet. It's hard to believe that by July 9, Blue Cardy will be out of my life. I almost miss it already.

Also of White Lies Lingerie, which is blocked and ready to be seamed. Also of my new project, the cotton camisole from Vintage Knits. I bought the yarn for it about a year ago, when I first started knitting. Do you notice a camisole trend? I figured I might as well make the summer stuff in the summer. Go figure.

A year! Spinnity pointed that out to me the other day. I have been knitting for about a year. Pretty significant.

Knitting Horoscopes!

2005-06-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

As I was coasting the web searching for Bahama, I came across this very fun website: Knitting Horoscopes! I'm a Capricorn, which of course means that I like a challenge, something no one who knows me would dispute! My horoscope recommends Artyarns, which looks a lot like Koigu. Nobleknits does carry Bahama in a lot of nifty colors. I think our bathmat is going to be periwinkle with pink and cream stripes.

I noticed that Feza also carries yarns called Barbados and Fiesta. This is party yarn!

Weekend knitting report: Finished Feesh Backpack -- all it needs is a little tag saying it was made by me. DH took lots o'photos, but all on my old analog camera, so patience is required. I was so obsessed by it that I neglected Blue Cardy completely, and made little progress on White Lies -- although I now possess a size J crochet hook from Vanessa's.

Oh! And I almost forgot! There is a book out that every knitter must own! It's called Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. I read about it in Interweave Knits a couple of issues ago, and it's divine. Lots of very deconstructed, fascinating designs, very funky. And Teva gives Sally M. a run for her money in the Zen Knitting department. It's inspirational; I couldn't tear myself away from it Saturday afternoon. She makes me want to become a knitwear designer.

Friends' plays report: Saw B.K. in Harold Pinter's Moonlight on Saturday night. Liked her, liked some of the actors, like the play itself, but thought it was a bit overdirected. Pinter needs less direction than most directors seem to realize. (I can say this because I saw a production of The Birthday Party that the man himself directed in London, and it was more real than realism.) The DH did not care for the play, but I think he'd like it better in a different production. Last Tuesday we saw S.A. in The Black-Eyed, a new play about Palestinian women. Not bad, some bits stronger than others, but definitely had an impact. It was J.H.'s directing debut at the M.T., very nicely done!

Bahama mama

2005-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

My big white envelope from Yarn-of-the-Month arrived yesterday, and I instantly fell in love with Bahama, and the enclosed pattern for a big fuzzy bathmat. It's hard to describe this yarn -- it's a washable acrylic blend, very soft, that looks like a ladder: two side bars and lots of rungs in between. When knit up, it apparently forms a sort of terry-cloth or toweling-like fabric. Suggested needle sizes are 11-15, much bigger than I normally knit with, so it would go fast! I just wrote to them to find out where I can buy more. The problem -- the yarn is shown in very bright summer-y colors like red and turquoise that normally, I would love, but our bathroom in the Bungalow is retro pink and cream. It really needs something a little more pastel.

Chalazion report: Small but still red and lurking.

Pregnant Sis report: Tuesday was a very bad day. Nauseous with a cold on top of everything, she managed to get into two small fender-benders in one day. (This is a few weeks after her DH's car was hit at a stop sign and totalled -- he's fine.) Most mournful moment -- driving CNITU around for an hour to make him go to sleep (we used to call him "Speed baby;" if you stopped the car, he'd explode), then parking at a shopping center and passing out in exhaustion herself. I can just picture them both asleep in the Laguna sun, mouths open.

Knitting report: Body of White Lies lingerie finished! One cup almost finished, only took about 1/2 hour so I'm sure the second one will be done this weekend. The panty should go just as fast. Then I will really be in finishing land. This weekend, I am committed to finishing the Feesh Backpack and making some more serious progress on finishing Blue Cardy. So hard to sit and sew when there's all that yarn to knit up!

Knitting desires: More Bahama. Size J crochet hook for finishing White Lies lingerie. Lingerie elastic for same.

Good-bye, camera!

2005-06-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

It gave up the ghost. Did not care for its salt water bath. But before it died, my DH did manage to salvage the card with photos intact. Here is my favorite girl PM with her birthday present from me:

And here she is with her bunny from Mom Wiz, and her mommy, of course:

And here I am, casting on for Camp Knitting! That's a nice ball of Prairie Silk from Brown Sheep. The circular is 12", which is too big. The pattern calls for 8" circulars, which don't exist. So I spent a lot of time pulling the plastic center cord between stitches.

And you'll have to imagine the completed fingerless gloves, as well as the almost-completed body for the White Lies lingerie camisole, since they happened after the camera's death.

Final note of the day -- props to Christine Stork, owner of Article Pract, an LYS in Oakland. (Don't you love that store name? It's a fun juxtaposition of "Practical Art.") She was cool enough to let our new TD at SF Shakes out of his work obligations there so that he could take over the TD position at short notice. Christine is hoping to replace him, so any potential yarn store employees should contact her at 510/595-7875. Please, also, if you are ever in the East Bay, go check out her store and buy something! 5010 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. If the store's anywhere near as cool as the website, you'll be thrilled to be there.

Big news!

2005-06-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone, time to tell me about all your favorite baby sweater, bootie, blanket, and hat patterns -- CNITU is going to have a sibling! S/he is due about a week after my birthday, in early January. So the little Capricorn will be spoiled rotten by Auntie Becca.

Sis is feeling crappy, fat, and sick, but that phase will be over fairly soon. Meanwhile please enjoy the photos of CNITU, future genius architect, and his cousin James from Manchester making a sand castle in Laguna Beach.

2005-06-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately it's sideways, but here's the little dude all tuckered out from a day making sand castles.

2005-06-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

And here's the completed sand castle! (with sun-burned James)

2005-06-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

My cousin James visited from England last week -- here he is building a sand castle in Laguna with CNITU.

It's Baaaaack! (Chalazion II -- the terrifying sequel)

2005-05-31T17:52:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a WONDERFUL five days of backpacking the Lost Coast in Humboldt County, and woke up this morning to find that my eyelid hurts again. I think the chalazion is coming back. Time for the wet washcloth and eye drops! The doctor warned that this might happen. Argh!

Camp knitting: finished the adorable pair of fingerless gloves! Bound off the last stitch just as the sun was setting last night on the car trip home. The yarn is gorgeous, they're warm and cozy, and I can't wait to make another pair.

I will take a photo just as soon as I know if our camera is okay -- it took an unfortunate dip in the ocean when my DH decided to jump into the waves fully clothed, and forgot it was in his pocket. You have to know my DH to truly appreciate this story -- he gets a little crazy in the great outdoors!

Finally, I received this lovely note from Princess M's mommy: "She was so proud of her purse that Auntie Becca made for her. She took it to school for sharing on Thursday and proudly told anyone who would listen that you had made it for her. She even showed it off to people in the church office with my mom after school that day."

I have a fan! One day when she's a famous movie star, I can be her personal knitwear designer.

Looking forward to my first meet-up in ages tomorrow night -- hooray!

Props to Mel and Camp Knitting

2005-05-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

Please, everybody, if you haven't already, go visit Mel's blog and give her props for finishing the Monkey Bag from Knitty. It looks great, but apparently was a huge pain in the butt. Her descriptions made me NEVER want to knit with hemp.

I have definitely decided on the wrist warmers (or fingerless gloves, if you prefer) for my camp knitting project. This is a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's book "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" -- a book I like more and more every time I pick it up. Joelle goes over all the basics, including color selection, and has gorgeous, detailed photos as well as clear instructions. And as someone who likes to make people presents, I love it.

Knitting Frenzy!

2005-05-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Chalazion report: Smallish red blemish on lower eyelid. Not very puffy. Hopefully will continue to fade in color and not leave a permanent scar.

Head injury report: In what can only be described as a bizarre gardening accident, my former roommate M, who is not a knitter but a jewelry designer, stepped on the end of a rake just like people do in bad sitcoms. The handle bounced up and hit her, and she ended up with a sizeable bruise on her upper eyelid. Be careful out there, people. The star in charge of eye-related injuries is clearly up to something.

Knitting report: My show opened Friday, and after two weeks without a day off and four days without touching knitting needles, I spent Saturday in what can only be described as a knitting frenzy.

Blue Cardy progress: here it is! The completed dark blue half with a partially completed light blue half. Buttons aren't sewn on yet, but aren't they cute?

Princess M's bag now has a cotton lining AND a label indicating who made it for her. She will receive this tomorrow night at her 3rd birthday dinner:

CNITU's "feesh" backpack is now in a state of almost-done-ness. (Note the super-cute lining fabric.)

I cast on the White Lies Nicole lingerie! The yarn is a super-soft wool and silk blend, so nice on the fingers! I'm enjoying it thoroughly. This is how it looked Sunday evening, but it's progressed another few inches since then:

And finally, I made it over to my San Mateo LYS, Vanessa's Needlepoint and Knitting Shoppe, on Saturday afternoon. Despite the annoying extra "p" and "e," this is a nice big store with tons of yarn! I was a bit overwhelmed, but noted some favorite brands including Prism, Great Adirondack, Debbie Bliss, Muench, and Trendsetter, but sadly, no Rowan. GREAT 50% off sale baskets on the floor, and instead of just random balls of weird novelty yarns, they had multiples of the same color in interesting solid color yarns. Here's my on-sale stash from this shopping trip:

Fabulous Modigliani and Muench yarns, also note the free pen and tape measure you get for signing up for Vanessa's frequent shopping card. Vanessa herself is very sweet and was dressed in a gorgeous, drapy black-and-white poncho.

(You'll have noticed I'm posting more photos than usual, this is thanks to my new laptop and my DH's mac.com homepage. I have severed my ties with the Microsoft moster that is Hello!)

For my final photo of the day, I'd like to share MomWiz's terrific bunny for PM's birthday -- she made one for us for the wedding, and now the Princess herself will possess her very own girly version.

Outdoor Knitting report: The DH and I and some friends are off to the Lost Coast in Humboldt this weekend for a backpacking trip. A long car drive and plenty of relaxation time in the big outdoors means one thing: knitting! I will take Nicole along for the drive, but she's just too pale and delicate for camp knitting. I swatched a set of fingerless gloves last night in a nice burgundy wool for my camp knitting project. Might bring along a baby hat as well -- I have a great new pattern from the Yarn of the Month club to knit in Rowan Tweed 4-ply.

Head injuries to knitters week

2005-05-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

It's getting better! The chalazion is now a reddish, crusty scab, still ugly but distinctly smaller than it was. I can now see over my own lower eyelid, which is nice.

So I must turn my attention to poor C, who has stitches across her eyelid. It begs the question, how did this heinous thing happen? Pray tell, Christina!

To all the other knitters out there, I offer this advice: Duck. We must put an end to this epidemic!

The sty that would not die, part two

2005-05-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

A visit to the doctor yesterday about the world's ugliest and largest sty revealed that it is NOT a sty, but something called a "chalazion," which is apparently Klingon for "large ugly bump on the eyelid." I had never heard of such a thing, but lo and behold, you can read about them here, if you are the victim of sick curiosity.

I sometimes think my family was specially chosen by God to experience strange and unusual maladies. My father is just getting over an obscure viral attack on his thyroid, my mother's last trip to Alaska was cut short by some weird intestinal blockage, I'm the only person I know to have ever suffered from viral menengitis, my sister has a bizarre degenerative eye disease, and now this. Much less life-threatening, but much more hideous.

The chalazion, having now been subjected to antibiotics and warm compresses, is turning yellowish and flatter and achieving a whole new level of ugly. I hope this means it is going away. If not, I will have to go back to the doctor next week and have it surgically removed. Blech.

Meanwhile, at every free waking moment I have to have a warm washcloth over my eye, which means I can't see to knit. Evil chalazion! The final insult!

Uglification and disgruntlement

2005-05-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have joined the ranks of the truly ugly. Cinderella's step-sister ugly. Phantom of the Opera ugly. Frightening small children ugly.

I have an enormous sty right in the center of my lower left eyelid. It's the size of a small cherry tomato, and about the same color. It is not possible to camouflage something this big and hideous with anything except dark glasses, and I am not pretentious enough to wear dark glasses indoors, so the end result is that I have spent the last several days frightening people. It's actually fairly entertaining. I'll walk into a room, remove my sunglasses, and observe the expressions of shock and/or horror. People who love me, like my DH, are quite honest about it. "Gosh, it's gotten worse!" he exclaimed last night after I'd spent several hours deluding myself into thinking it had gotten better. "It looks really awful!"

I much prefer his reaction to those of the polite folks who attempt not to comment, like the young teacher I interviewed this morning. She kept trying not to stare at it, but she couldn't help herself. She kept blinking quickly and then jerking her gaze suddenly to the right. Fascinating. I could have taken her off the hook by excusing my appearance in advance, but I was seized with a desire to discover what the truly deformed have to deal with.

I would take a picture of it to share with you all, but I'm not sure I want it documented for posterity. I will be quite relieved when it's finally gone, although it might take a while. Ugliness this profound does not go gently into the good night.

Shall I talk about knitting now? I had a few hours to kill on Saturday, so I made a naughty visit to Knitting Arts for their Mother's Day sale. Acquired a lovely array of Rowan, Muench, and Great Adirondack. The Rowan is all wool tweeds, dk and 4-ply, in greenish-blue, off-white, and rose, the Muench is Samoa cotton(the best for my little backpacks and purses), in lt. blue, lt. green, pink, and peach, and the Great Adirondack is crazy stuff, fuzzy and shiny and sparkly, in a rainbow of pastels to match the Samoa. Kind of like the Prism we used to make Shawlapalooza -- I have this idea for a little poncho and matching bag in Samoa/Adirondack for Princess M, a smaller version of the Fuzzy Sparkly poncho. The Rowan is for a hat from Interweave Knits last winter, plus some socks. When I get around to socks!

I'm halfway through the final knitting piece for CNITU's backpack; soon it will be ready to block and crochet together. Slow going -- I have NO TIME to knit at the moment, since my middle school students have their final performance on Friday and my show goes into tech on Saturday. I recall Sally Melville saying in one of her books that if she doesn't have time to knit every day, she gets grumpy. Ah, Sally, how right you are.

Another happy mom!

2005-05-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

My DH and I presented Mom with her Bias Betty scarf yesterday, along with a book on the History of Chocolate (we are all three huge chocoholics). She was very appreciative and sent a nice thank-you email right away. I look forward to posting a picture of her in her scarf! Perhaps it will come in handy on their upcoming trip to Alaska.

I sewed the hood on Blue Cardy yesterday and finished off one of the pockets with a row of crochet. It looks great, but it's slow progress. Sleeves and the other pocket next, then I'll start finishing the light blue side. Still, it will almost definitely be done by CNITU's birthday, whether it fits him or not! The CNITU "feesh" backpack continues to progress swimmingly, pun intended.

Hooray for thank-you notes!

2005-05-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

As always, it is pleasant to be thanked. My DH is something of a thank-you note champion, which makes me very spoiled. But he was well-trained -- my MIL sent a nice email right after receiving the pillow, which is now residing in a drawer as a sachet. (It's a bit small for a throw pillow, so the sachet use makes more sense.)

I wish there was a way to refresh the lavender without disassembling the whole thing -- maybe a spray of linen water?

Now must get around to writing those last few wedding thank-yous...

2005-05-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here's the knit side of the Mother's Day pillow...

2005-05-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the fabric side. It's filled with lavender to use as a drawer sachet. Size is about 8" sqaure.

Lingerie it is!

2005-05-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, there were very few truly decisive votes, only one on the actual blog, but it looks like at least my male friends are in favor of the White Lies Lingerie. I have to admit it looks fairly difficult, so I'll review the pattern and see if I can handle it or if I need to practice my lace skills on the Aura shawl first.

Anyway, as Spinnity points out, it's spring and one really should be knitting seasonal garments. Ah, spring, when a young man's thoughts turn to lingerie...

Knitting on the big screen: I saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this weekend, which was of course disappointing since it just couldn't be as good as the books, but knitters should watch for the very cool knitting section of the movie. I expect patterns for the knitted elements to be posted on-line any day now, after all the knitting geeks have seen the movie and jumped up and down about it on their blogs. Meanwhile, here's a really delightful column about technology from the late, great Douglas Adams. Hard to know if he would have hated or loved the movie; it definitely Americanized his delightfully dry humor, but he re-wrote the story for the radio and TV shows and doesn't seem to have had much of a sense of self-importance about the whole phenomenon.

Other knitting news: The Nancie Wiseman pillow is finished and on its way to MIL. We took photos; they will be posted in the fullness of time. The Feesh Backpack is ongoing. Blue Cardy is still in various pieces. Spinnity lent me her blocking wires so that I can put final touches on Bias Betty for Mom's Day.

And to respond to C's request for button gossip: I got some teddy bear buttons for the Halloween costume I'm designing for Peter this year. Also got really tiny yellow and orange buttons just because they're so cute and leetle! (What is it about girls and little tiny things? It really is a strange impulse.) And some blue and green shell buttons that are pretty and elegant. The buttons I used for the NW Pillow are silver with a vintage floral design.

Mother's Day progress and more

2005-04-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

The trouble with finishing Blue Cardy is that it cannot be done without complete and total focus. I've had to start a couple of other things in order to have take-along knitting for rehearsals and car trips.

New project #1 is actually an old project -- I'm finishing off my little pillow from Nancie Wiseman's Stitches class for my MIL. Got cute buttons from Joann yesterday for accents. Actually, I went a bit nuts on cute buttons and got lots more than I actually need, but, you know, they were there and they were cute.

New project #2 is just like PM's bag, but it's CNITU's backpack, to go with Blue Cardy. And he won't grow out of it. CNITU and his parents left Sunday for an impromptu trip to Hawaii. Lucky CNITU! Hopefully he will get to see lots of "feesh," which are his favorite thing. I bought fabric covered with "feesh" to line the backpack.

So far I am just coasting along on both of these and will have no problems getting them done in time for various b-days, Mother's Day, etc. The question now is what should be my next big project. Aura shawl? White Lies top? White Lies lingerie? Belle Epoque top? That pair of fingerless gloves I've been meaning to make? Please feel free to vote.

2005-04-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Blue Cardy at last! Side, shoulder, sleeve, and hood seams sewn, I just need to set in sleeves, attach hood and pockets, and of course do the light blue side and sew them both together with crab stitch, add buttons, etc. It's a long finishing process but I'm pleased with the way it's fitting together.

2005-04-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a detail of the pretty beaded edge.

2005-04-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here is Bias Betty finished! I think I will borrow Spinnity's blocking wires to even out the edge a little. I love the beads!

Profound minutiae?

2005-04-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Kevin has accused me, rightfully enough, of dwelling on "minutiae" in my blog. He is, of course, correct -- this is pretty much what a blog is for, particularly a knitting blog with a fairly specific readership in mind.

However, his comment did send my thoughts to the wonderful books of Sally Melville, the Zen Buddhist priestess of knitting, and her ideas about the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and specifically how the right brain is free, while knitting, to expand and create on its own. Sally mentions that activities that are repetitive and require little focused analytical thought can do this. (My DH, of course, uses this as an excuse to spend hours playing computer games. But why not, if it accomplishes the same thing?) Are the recording and processing of minutiae part of this experience, I wonder? Perhaps I will email Sally and ask her.

Thinking about right brain and left brain a lot right now while reading up on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes for my next show. Sylvia's journals are fascinating. I think, had she lived today, she would have been a voracious blogger. It seems clear to me that she was enamoured of her own genius and knew the journals would be published one day. She knew everyone would hang desperately onto every detail of her everyday existence. Those journals are her immortality, and perhaps that's why we all blog, to put some kind of public record of our internal life out into the world.

At any rate, on to the minutiae! I have successfully blocked the light blue seed stitch pieces of Blue Cardy (and yes, Spinnity, you are right, this greatly reduced the differences between the old and new sections), and I have sewn the side seams on the dark blue side. They look very nice and tidy. Shoulders next, then setting in sleeves, which I am dreading -- any pointers? Then the same on the other side and there's a complicated bit where I have to attach the two with crab stitch -- can't remember how to do crab stitch! Luckily the internet exists for such dilemmas.

Just about done now with Bias Betty, so it will have a photo op soon and I will move on to Peter's Backpack.

Blocking vs. Blocking

2005-04-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Now for a brief side trip into etymology. I have been thinking about the word "block." As a noun, it's a square piece of wood, or a child's toy. Or a section of city between cross streets.

As a verb, I use it a lot in my work in the theatre. "Blocking" is basically stage movement -- where each actor travels in relation to the others on stage. I've no idea why it's called that; it's become such a natural part of my vocabulary that I never stopped to think about it. Now, however, another use of the verb has popped up, and I have damp, stretched-out pieces of Blue Cardy all over my living room as a result.

"Blocking" in knitting is where each stitch travels in relation to the others in the piece?

Not exactly, I suppose, but there's something similar there, and it's not the square shape of the stage or frequently square shape of a piece of knitting. It's the idea of balance -- by placing one actor stage right, standing, perhaps another two must be stage left, seated, in order to balance the stage picture. There are no rules to it; it must be seen and felt. The shape has to be right. That's the similarity, I suppose. I'm trying to balance the pieces of Blue Cardy so they will fit together properly and create something pleasing to the eye.

Other notes: I added about an inch to the top of each light blue side in order to "balance" with the dark blue. I'm afraid you can see the difference rather clearly between the older part that's been sitting around a while and the new part. I think I will also have to add about 2-4 inches to the cuffs of the sleeves, since CNITU has monkey arms and is already as tall as a 3-year-old.

And I'm very nearly finished with Bias Betty.

2005-04-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

Here's Melissa's Bag! My sister has requested a backpack version in blues and greens for CNITU -- I'll post the very easy pattern as soon as I remember to write it down.

My other obsession (well, one of them)

2005-03-31T17:57:00.000-08:00

I just have to share... the gang at work just treated me to a delightful afternoon tea at Lovejoy's Tea Room. I've been hearing about this place for ages, and had never been. It's marvelous. If you live anywhere near SF, you must go. They actually get the British tea thing right -- the menu has chutney-and-cheese sandwiches, Ribena, and real live Devon scones that TASTE like Devon scones, not these weird dry triangular things you get at Starbuck's. The china is all charmingly mix-and-match, there are knitted tea cozies everywhere, and crocheted doilies. The two men in our party were very skeptical at first, but were totally won over by the sausage rolls and the generally congenial atmosphere. In fact, John said, "Wow, I should have brought my knitting" -- he was being facetious, but he was right -- it would be the PERFECT place to knit! Nobody there was knitting, but they all should have been.

I had a delicious Vanilla Rooibus, which you may know if you are also a tea nerd like myself, is not actually tea but an African legume. It is naturally caffeine free and quite robust. Then there were the flaky, scrumptious scones, the clotted cream, the raspberry preserves, and the Stilton-and-pear sandwiches. They also serve a nice selection of fresh fruit, including lots of things you probably wouldn't see at Harrod's, like kiwi, pineapple, and grapefruit. Real cream and sugar, not a hint of half-and-half or sweet n'low in the entire place.

It was dreamy. We talked about Belize and weddings and parking in San Francisco (if you're ever in a lulling conversation in SF, bring up parking tickets.) I can't wait to go back. Only this time, I'm bringing my knitting.

An FO! As easy as that!

2005-03-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a very quiet evening in the bungalow. My DH was off dealing with his former place of residence, which has to be cleaned and inspected this week, so I've been mostly alone for the last few days. I'd been working on my taxes (yuck), so the best reward after a couple of hours of that was to work on my knitting (yum).

I had blocked all the Princess M bag pieces on Saturday, so everything was dry and ready to be stitched together. Seaming is not my favorite activity, but I do find it satisfying when the stripes all line up just as they're supposed to. Especially when the object in question was designed on the fly in a Belize cabana without the aid of calculators or even surfaces clean of sand.

So I mattress-stitched everything together, then did a single-crochet edge all round the top of the purse, then did a scalloped design on the flap of the purse. It fastens with a big crochet flower in front. The strap is a strip of single crochet with another flower on the top to reinforce the shoulder. I will get my DH to take photos tonight. It's cute! Very appropriate for a three-year-old who likes purses. I am debating lining it with some yellow linen I have lying around.

Friday night I also started on Bias Betty, my Koigu project from Stitches. It's another small, accomplishable piece. Maybe a Mom's Day gift!

Tanned, happy, and without deadlines

2005-03-25T14:29:00.000-08:00

Just got back from wonderful, glorious Belize, where I didn't touch a phone, computer, or television for 10 glorious days. We rode horses, got massages, ate great food, drank amazing margaritas, explored caves, hiked through Mayan ruins, watched birds and monkeys, snorkeled, kayaked, sat on palm-covered beaches, and generally relaxed -- pictures are coming soon! My sweetie read about four books and I reminded myself how to crochet. Debbie Stoller says it's better than knitting for the beach, and I agree. I made a lop-sided dishcloth in order to practice lots of different stitches, a pretty red coaster, and two decorative flowers, all from patterns in Melissa Leapman's Cozy Crochet. I recommend the book, it refreshed my memory after my crochet class at stitches and the patterns are simple and some of them are really fast.

I liked the decorative flowers so much that I grabbed my knitting needles to knit up a little striped bag, designed off the top of my head for Princess M (her birthday is coming soon!) I've finished all the knitted pieces, and just need to block them, sew them together, and add crocheted trim and flowers. It's in cheerful yellow, red, and orange stripes -- really bright and summery.

This casual, off-the-cuff knitting made me so happy after all the deadlines! It's been a long time since I knit something without a deadline -- Ghosty, Shawlapalooza, and the Stitches homework. Blue Cardy had a missed deadline and now might not fit it's intended recipient at all. But without a wedding or rehearsals or anything else this weekend, I am going to block sweater and bag pieces, and figure out how I'm going to sew everything together. And even better, if I don't finish, nothing terrible will happen.

Don't know what's next, I'll probably try to finish Blue Cardy and Stripy Bag, and then pick up the needles again for something from my Stitches stash. Maybe the Koigu scarf, or one of the White Lies pieces. Hooray for being off the clock!

One week to the wedding!

2005-03-04T15:38:00.000-08:00

Not much blogging going on lately, as you can imagine -- we are getting closer and closer to the Big Day! So I have little to say except that my head is spinning with guest lists, caterer contracts, schedules down to the minute of everything that has to happen next weekend.

I do have some fun stuff happening - I had my hair done by my stylist yesterday and she is GREAT! I ended up with a fun 40's-era chignon, super-cute and chic.

And Shawlapalooza is going well! Bogie finished hers, hoorah, with plenty of time to spare, and I am expecting to be done very soon, maybe even this weekend. Spinnity is not far behind. So everyone will have a charming green fuzzy shawl to wear!

Now all I have to do is keep from chewing my nails off!

Two-Year-Olds in Yarn Stores

2005-02-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of accompanying my best friend and her adorable two-year-old daughter Princess M to Knitting Arts last night to look for ribbon and fibre to bind the cool wedding programs she is designing. I must commend the wonderful staff for not only their yarn-hunting expertise (we ended up with some great stuff to complement the green sparkly paper), but also for their patience with an over-tired two-year-old! S was brave to bring Princess M along anyway, but as a single mom she often finds that she must run errands with the little person in tow.

Children in yarn stores are less dangerous than, say, children in china shops, since the things they are throwing to the floor and bringing to show you are pretty much unbreakable. PM had a swell time at first picking up pretty skeins and balls: "Look, Mommy. Look, Ah-Becca. Pretty." Then she spotted the spring storefront display, which was of little parasols in vases, set on a ledge at perfect two-year-old height. PM saw them and rushed over to pick up a tiny parasol, just her size, and hold it over her head. "Brella. Raining," she told us, holding her hand palm up a la Gene Kelly. Fearing for the fragile parasol, S quickly put an end to that activity, but PM was hooked and just wouldn't stop playing with the parasols until S picked her up and held onto her. She then started that fake-y two-year-old crying, that isn't really crying but more an announcement of the unfairness of the universe.

Luckily, an attentive Knitting Arts employee appeared with one of those measuring tapes that are all the rage right now, with a little animal's tail coming out of a patterned square box, and a little button to make the tail snap back into place. This provided at least five minute's happy diversion, and we were able to focus on choosing some yarn.

The inevitable melt-down occurred, however, with hitting and yelling and yarn-throwing. We had a few moments of that sort of multi-tasking that modern mothers are so brilliant at. "So, how about these two together, just a second, sweetie, Mommy's looking at yarn, do you like the brown or the blue, okay, put that down, do you want a time-out?" Miraculously, we got five skeins chosen before total chaos set in.

And at the end of it all, the salespeople were still smiling. AND saying that they loved kids. Who knows what they said after we had left (and I certainly wouldn't blame them if they expressed other sentiments), but you gotta love that sort of patience.

Typepad issues solved... and Shawlapalooza

2005-02-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

When I came in to work on Tuesday morning, I had a shiny "new" computer with Windows 2000 pro instead of my clunky old Windows 98! (Yes, we in the non-profit world work out of leaky warehouses with no air conditioning, use computers built over ten years ago, and have homeless people in vans living across the street. Ah, the glamour of the thea-tah!)So the long and the short of it is, I can now comment on Typepad blogs. It just works now for some reason, when it didn't before. Huzzah!

The other news is all about Shawlapalooza, which is detailed much more thoroughly and beautifully at Spinnity's Blog. (Wow, look at that, on my new computer I don't have to manually type in the http code!) I would guess I am about a third of the way through the shawl that I am creating (Bogie and Spinnity are also creating one each), which makes me happy because the odds of finishing it before the wedding are pretty darn good.

So for those who are paying attention, the wedding is now 17 days away and counting, and we have actually put together the pieces of our dining room table and unpacked a few more boxes. I love actually living in the same house as my sweetie, except that I find it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Ahem. That sounds a bit naughty, and you can go there if you like, but it's also that it's such a nice warm bed with a nice warm boy in it. It's actually pretty hilarious the number of times the alarm has to go off every morning before we get up - first his watch alarm goes off, which I can barely hear, then my alarm goes off (a gentle beep) which I hit the snooze button on, then after my 4-minute snooze has gone off a few times and been ignored, his clock radio goes off across the room and he leaps out of bed in a panic, knocking bedclothes, books, and slippers asunder, and slams the thing off. (It's VERY loud, with a combination of rapid Spanish-speaking voices and manic beeping that could wake the dead.) Then he shuffles and mutters his way into the bathroom, and without him there, I actually consider getting up. Then he comes BACK, and I abandon that plan. With all the alarms now silenced, it's usually about 45 minutes after the first alarm went off when I actually get up. It's not a great system, and we're going to have to do something about it eventually, but wow, so nice and cozy and lovely to have him there every morning!

What is up with Typepad? Help!

2005-02-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Okay people out there in blogging land, I need help! I have two fellow knitters with Typepad blogs that I would very much like to comment on because they are great blogs! But whenever I click in the comment field and type, nothing shows up on the screen. Just blank spaces. And then my mouse freezes up and I can't use the scroll bar or anything.

Has anyone else had this experience? Am I doing something wrong? Or is it just my lame ancient non-profit organization computer?

(Drum Roll, Please) TA-DAAAAA!!!!

2005-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

I have finished Blue Cardy! Yes, it happened on Sunday morning, appropriately enough during the glorious Stitches West weekend. I woke up early, sat straight up in bed, and thought "Now. Now is the moment." It took about 20 minutes to do those last couple of rows on each sleeve. My sweetie took a picture of me with the finished pieces, soon to be posted.

Now comes the finishing, but I am feeling much more prepared for that after my lovely weekend at Stitches!

Here is the play-by-play for those who are intereted:

Friday at 1 pm: Arrive at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Make mad dash through Marketplace. Complete sensory overload. Run into Julie the sock goddess from Knitting Meet-Up.

1:30 pm: Crochet for Knitters with Edie Eckman. Wow! I learned to crochet! I plan to sew Blue Cardy together using single crochet, and finish the edges with crab stitch, as the pattern suggests. And now I know how!

5 pm: Meet up with Spinnity, another quick dash through the Marketplace. Still overwhelming, but we linger over some Koigu, and I pick up a cheap copy of Lily Chin's Urban Knitter.

6 pm: We get in line for the fashion show and dinner. Not much to say about this other than the gals at our table were lovely, the food was decent, the show was too long and the garments difficult to see. But we took note of some favorites to purchase on Saturday.

Saturday at 8:30 am: An early morning, but worth it! Melissa Leapman's Basic Pattern Drafting. I like Melissa, but she schills her books a little too much, and her sweater patterns are not my personal taste. Plus, there are some obnoxious women in the back of the class who talk way too much. But I get to bend my brain around some math and the handout will be useful, I think.

Saturday lunch: Ack! First of all, no decent vegetarian options in the hotel at all, so I stuff down a plain green salad and venture into the Marketplace. Insane! Barely room to move. But with Spinnity as my guide, I discover a great new pattern designer, White Lies, and manage to snag a pretty sweater pattern before they totally sell out. I also pick up a pattern for a sweater from Knitter's Studio in Menlo Park, a cool drop-stitch Aran they have on display. I really like Wilma, the owner, and will have to visit her shop in the future.

Finally, the heat and claustrophobia get to be too much, and we head off to class, vowing never again to go the Marketplace at Saturday lunch.

1:30 pm: At last, I fling myself at the feet of knitting guru and goddess Sally Melville, and boy, does she meet expectations! First, though, I find that flowers have been delivered to our classroom by my sweetheart in recognition of our wedding just one month away!

Sally teaches Good Grafting, using absolutely innovative yet simple techniques. I won't describe them at length here, but if you *ever* get the chance to take one of her classes, seize it. She is divine.

4:30 pm: Back to the Marketplace, but I don't last long. Pick up some books at Yarn Barn that have been on my list: Sally's The Knit Stitch and Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (so clever!). They're sold out of Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge, so I'll have to get that later. I also pick up a small crochet hook and a copy of Melissa Leapman's Cozy Crochet for my new secondary hobby! Also fall in love with a Trendsetter yarn called Aura. More on Aura later! And a second trip to White Lies to peruse their ransacked shelves yields a lingerie kit and a second pretty sweater pattern.

Run into several Knitting Meet-up friends -- the Nyquist sisters, Jeni, etc.

Then home to sleep!

Sunday 12:15 pm: After finishing Blue Cardy and taking a quick side trip to Jo-Ann for supplies, I head to the Marketplace for a final shopping spree. This is a good one -- much less crowded, much more room to move! I get the soft, sparkly Aura yarn at Yarn Barn to create an amazing evening shawl. I plan to do this simpler lace project before attacking the White Lies sweaters. I also pick up a small, easy Koigu pattern for a little scarf.

Then Spinnity and I drift over to a side of the Marketplace we haven't looked at much before, and visit Knitting Diva of Fremont, where we meet the talented Miss Tina Whitmore of Knit Whits! I get her new crochet hat kit as well as three other patterns, a circular needle case, and a couple of knitting-themed notecard sets (I can always use those.) We observe the very well-laid-out booth for Los Altos' Uncommon Threads, glance at a few others, and then head to class, much poorer but happier.

1:30 pm: The perfect class for the end of a long weekend! The adorable Nancie Wiseman teaches Combining Knitting with Fabric, after which we actually have a half-finished project. Nancie's easy technique for picking up stitches from tapestry fabric to create pillows and jackets is very clever and easy. I am halfway through my little pillow, which I will share with the Meet-up folks on Wednesday. I want to try this technique to attach fun novelty-yarn cuffs to store-bought gloves and socks.

A great weekend overall, and I feel like I have projects for the next year at least! But with Blue Cardy in the bag and Spinnity making such excellent design progress on the wedding wraps, it will soon be time to tackle something new -- on the beaches of Belize!

I'm a Good Girl

2005-02-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

I finished my homework for tomorrow two nights ago (sitting at the kitchen table of my new home in San Mateo!), and I'm about halfway through Saturday's homework. I am feeling a little less overwhelmed and I'm starting to get excited! Looking forward to seeing everyone there! I'll be taking the Crochet for Knitters class tomorrow just in case anyone else is?

Homework!

2005-02-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

I took Wednesday off in order to catch up with Life stuff (Life meaning wedding, moving, and knitting), after two weekends in a row of Work stuff (casting Much Ado About Nothing for the Shakespeare Festival.) And I finally got around to opening that thick envelope from Stitches West.

Lo and behold! I have oodles of homework to do before the 11th!

I got a fair start last night on a swatch for Sally Melville's grafting class. I used some exciting little bits of yarn from my Yarn of the Month club membership (Kiss by King Yarns, a gorgeous soft acrylic and wool blend, and Prairie Silk by Brown Sheep, a sexy silk, mohair, and wool blend). Of course, the swatch ends up being pretty long and complex, so I have to order more of the yarn. No skin off my nose, since it's lovely, lovely yarn.

Last night I also threw myself at the feet of my yarn mentor Spinnity, pleading for wisdom on the wedding wraps. She researched and swatched (while I did my homework like a good girl) and has come up with some very nice ideas for the precious hand-dyed Prism ribbon yarn. More news to come on that front, but we may actually get somewhere with these. I should also issue public thanks to Spinnity for the beautiful Charlotte shawl she made for me to go over my wedding dress. I picked out the colors a while ago, and through some miracle managed to choose all the colors in the wedding. It's very pretty and I know I will use it for much more than just the wedding.

And finally, the news you have all been waiting for: how is Blue Cardy?! Oh, my friends, it is just so close. So close. About 14 rows to go and it will be done. But I've only been doing about a row a day, since I've been busy packing in the evenings rather than knitting. But I am so looking forward to getting it off the needles and into finishing land!

Where on earth have I been?

2005-01-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

At endless auditions, that's where. I spent three straight days at Theatre Bay Area's general auditions, and I've got another four days of our auditions and callbacks to go. Which brings up an interesting dilemma:

When is it okay to KIP? When is it rude?

When I was at jury duty, it was perfectly okay. I mean, people were reading newspapers, and knitting takes less concentration than that. Not that I was ever in the courtroom, just the training part.

It is perfectly okay to knit in the movies, because the actors aren't really there. However, I find it hard to knit in the dark, so I only knit when I'm watching a movie on DVD.

Auditions are tricky. I mean, I can focus on an audition when I am knitting, just like I can focus when I'm watching CSI and knitting. But what if an actor was to look out and see me knitting? That might imply that I found them dull and needed to do something else. (That implication might even be true.) It might also imply that I am casting Shakespeare productions and therefore not particularly interested in their lovely rendition of "Some Enchanted Evening," which is certainly true. But I have been on that side of the proscenium and I think it would have thrown me off to see someone knitting in the audience.

So I abstained. 24 hours worth of auditions and potential knitting time, and I only knitted during the breaks. Nearly killed me. I kept looking over at my little bag of yarn, usually while someone was butchering Cole Porter, but I resisted. I stared at the stage until my eyes hurt.

The end result is that I STILL have not finished those little blue sleeves. About three centimeters to go. So close it hurts.

Meanwhile, I haven't done much with the wedding wraps. I find myself unsure of how to proceed, and I have gone to Spinnity for her wisdom. DD has also offered up useful pattern ideas, thanks DD! J has shared lovely lacy patterns, but they are a bit complex for the short time remaining.

Where else have I been? In the surreal place known as Wedding Planning Land. I find it hard to focus on anything other than favor boxes, shoes, and Mother-of-the-Bride dresses. Does ANYONE know where to find Mother-of-the-Bride dresses that are not hideous and come in size 2 petite?

The one moment of sanity was when my SO and I abandoned the whole buying-a-house thing in favor of renting. I instantly felt more relaxed. We are signing a lease tonight on an adorable two-bedroom duplex on the Peninsula, walking distance to downtown and the park, extra-cute with little built-ins everywhere, hardwood floors, and a fireplace.

2005-01-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

A New Year of Knitting -- January 1, 2005 in Napa. The ubiquitous Blue Cardy. My SO took this one, and I've been meaning to put it up as part of my resolution to post more photos.

Something new on the needles

2005-01-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

I had to do it, had to do something to break the monotony of Blue Cardy. So... Tuesday night I went out to a wonderful dive bar near work called El Rio for cheap margarita night, and a couple of friends and I drank several and played pool very badly (Tuesday is also free pool night). I came home around 9 still feeling a little giddy, and the LAST thing I wanted to do was take out those little blue sleeves and teensy needles.

I pulled out the slippery brown-and-green bundles of Crystal Palace ribbon yarn I bought at great expense for the bridesmaids' wraps, and I cast on about 50 stitches, and knit a few rows in the drop-stitch pattern I used for Fuzzy Sparkly poncho. Not bad! Not sure I'll keep it, not sure if I'll pull it out, definitely need to confer with Spinnity on this one, but it was nice to have great big 10 1/2 needles in my hands (my new Denise ones) and some different yarn for a change.

Back to Blue Cardy -- no fear, I have not abandoned him; in fact, I had jury duty yesterday and today (and not tomorrow, thank goodness), and one thing jury duty is good for is lots of KIP. I am advancing along both sleeves quite nicely and yes, the end is in sight.

Finally, for those who have been waiting with bated breath, I got a package in the mail from the Yarn of the Month club. The jury is still out, so to speak ;-), since I haven't swatched any of the little teeny samples, but I quite like the Two.Two Classic Elite pink wool yarn and matching felted bag pattern. The soy Phoenix yarn from Southwest Trading Co. is intriguing -- who knew they could make yarn from soy? The bi-monthly newsletter is fairly worthless. I'll bring the whole thing to the Meet-up next Wednesday so everyone can have a feel. Yay for tactile textiles!

Good luck and Meeting Up

2005-01-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

Lesson learned yesterday: even if the yarn store says they don't have a yarn, if they're in the middle of a sale and things are chaotic, they might actually have it. Case in point: Knitting Arts DID have Rowan 4-ply cotton in 136, dye lot 7D3. It was at the bottom of a little basket on the floor. Looks like they might be discontinuing 4-ply cotton, because there were just a few balls of a few different colors. There was a nice spring green color and a pretty Aegean blue, but I couldn't think of anything to make with them. Anyway, there were more purchases to be made at my favorite LYS! Hooray for the 20% off sale!

It was a very Rowan kind of day -- I'm an English girl, after all, and we must have our Rowan. I got Kidsilk Haze in a nice light brown to make Belle Epoque from the current issue of Knitty. I got a couple of balls of black 4-ply cotton to make trim for the camisole from Vintage Knits that I keep intending to make -- I already have some pink for the main body of the cami. I also got some Tweed in a bluish-grey to make the girly ribbon-trimmed socks in the current issue of Interweave Knits. I want to make the hat to match, but they didn't have that yarn. I also got The Purl Stitch by Sally Melville -- virtually free since I had a $20 off coupon.

Then we all trooped across the street to Blue Rock Shoot for the Meet-up. A nice friendly crowd, not as big as some of our other meet-ups, but not shabby, either. There were some gorgeous yarns and impressive projects -- P's creative floor pillow using all kinds of leftover yarn gets my vote for best project of the night. Spinnity was nearly done with the entrelac socks for her birthday! C was getting started on a fluffy, warm, cuddly blanket in a combination of soft and yummy neutral yarns. M, whose taste in yarn is divine, was making a purple hat to match a scarf she already made. I, a new Russian member, had some gorgeous multi-colored wool. J, our first male meet-up member, had a great purple-and-blue scarf in a gorgeous soft yarn. There were lots more that I'm forgetting. As for me, I finished binding off the two sides of the hood and made some progress on the strip that goes down the center back. Probably could have finished it last night, but I opted for sleep instead.

Yarn Crisis!

2005-01-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's official. I'm going to run out of Rowan 4-ply cotton in color 136. I called Knitting Arts yesterday and they are out. I called ImaginKnit and they don't carry that color. Luckily, I called Greenwich Yarns and they do carry it, but might not have the right dye lot. I will call back later to check. Fingers crossed, everyone!

Spinnity suggests a very good option, which is to do the sleeves in a contrasting color. I thought it might be quite cute to do cream sleeves and pockets and maybe stitch around the buttonholes in cream, too. I will not be discouraged!!

On a happier note, I just joined the Yarn of the Month club. Hey, why not? It sounds like a cool way to try new yarns on the new needles I got for Christmas from Spinnity. The January yarns look really nice, so I hope I'm not too late.

2004: Knitting in Review

2005-01-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it wasn't one of the best years on the national front, but for me it was pretty special. The major development, of course, is my upcoming wedding which is starting to feel VERY NEAR. But second to that has to be my new hobby. I've been a knitter for six months now. And although nearly all six of them have been spent slogging through Blue Cardy, the end is in sight and I am looking forward to getting the darn thing off the needles and into finishing land. I have everything but about a third of the hood and the sleeves done now in the light blue, thanks to some heavy knitting in the Midwest. However, I am almost positive I am going to run out of yarn. I plan to run praying into Knitting Arts hoping that they still have my dye lot.

But let's leave the ubiquitous B.C. for the mo, and think about the major accomplishments of the last six months:

1. My first project, a little skullcap in Anny Blatt angora. Although not perfect, the fuzzy yarn hides most of the problems. The pattern's a little odd and I would knit it bigger next time, but I do wear it a lot anyway.

2. The matching scarf. Quick and easy with a coordinated lace pattern. I wear it constantly.

3. Fuzzy-Sparkly Poncho in Paris Nights and Softy. Gotta love this project, worked out perfectly and I wear it whenever I can. I get constant compliments and no one can believe I made it myself. My biggest personal success.

4. Ghosty. The often-frustrating but much-appreciated Halloween costume for Cutest Nephew in the Universe.

5. And of course, Blue Cardigan. 'Nuff said on that front.

Life after Blue Cardy -- I plan to do some quick wraps for the bridesmaids on BIG NEEDLES with a simple drop-stitch pattern. I hope these will go quickly and painlessly. I MIGHT design a little purse for the wedding, but my roommate just gave me an adorable vintage beaded purse which I'll probably use instead.

I got a TON of new knitting patterns for Christmas, so of course my head is teaming with ideas, but I must get this whole marriage thing taken care of first. Priorities, priorities.

One and a half days of knitting time left!

2004-12-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

Forget shopping time -- once you're into this knitting thing it's all about knitting time. I just want to wish those knitters out there who are still in the last desperate hours of project completion the best of luck -- may the caffeine gods smile upon you, may your tired fingers make no errors, and may your FO's be graciously and appreciatively received.

As one who has dropped out of the race, I nevertheless made mucho blue cardy progress over the last couple of days while on a brief skiing trip to Bear Valley -- the snow was uninteresting and not terribly plentiful, so we skied little and I knit lots! I finished the right hand side, and am looking forward to getting well into the left side on the plane tomorrow. The gauge continues to be slightly off, which is worrisome -- I think I can block it fine, but now I'm worried that the slightly bigger pieces will cause me to run out of yarn! I've decided to NOT do the pockets until I'm quite sure there will be enough. I can always put a cute embroidered fish on the moss st side instead of pockets.

I'm off to Illinois in the am, so happy knitting to all and to all a good night!

Zen and the Blues

2004-12-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd better write again, before everyone assumes that I have jumped off Pier 39 with moss st cardigan in hand.

I was listening to Elwood's House of Blues radio hour on KFOG last night, and his special guest was this very cool lady named E.C. Scott. Kinda sounded like Etta James. She said singing the blues doesn't make you depressed, on the contrary, it makes you happy. That made me think about Aristotle's poetics and catharsis, and that made me think about how blogging when you're depressed is a lot like singing the blues -- you get it out there, out of your system, and other people read it and say, "Right on, sister, you're okay."

So, I'm feeling better. I have decided to take a very Zen approach to Blue Cardy. It will not be done in time for Christmas unless I grow two more sets of hands and knit 24/7. But that's okay. It will be done when it's done. In the meantime, CNITU is much too young to care which particular day of the year he's supposed to get his prezies.

I did get the Christmas cards sent, which was a fairly major accomplishment.

I also did something quite decadent and sinful -- I purchased some ridiculously expensive green and brown ribbon yarn to make wraps for the bridal party. It's really perfect yarn and I couldn't resist it.

A Rough Week. A Blue Day.

2004-12-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

Sad news today - I just found out my dear Uncle David in England died yesterday of a massive heart attack. He's only in his sixties and he was playing badminton with my Aunt at the time. The family is in shock, it was just so sudden and unexpected. He kicked cancer a few years back, so this was not the way we expected him to go. I can't afford to fly there for the funeral, but my Dad's going.

It's just the worst thing in a week that has been out of whack in general - I've had a bad cold, had to perform in our touring show Tuesday when both an actor AND her understudy couldn't do it, and ended up with no voice at all on Wednesday. Did get some knitting done that day, but my heart hasn't been in it this week. Just slogging away on moss st, nearly done with the back of the lt blue side but dreading the rest of it. I'd love to finish by Xmas, but I don't know if it's going to happen.

Most of the rest of the Xmas shopping is done, though, and I got the decorations up, so it's nice and festive in our little apartment. The highlight of the week was watching Charlie Brown Christmas on TV. I think Linus is my hero. Of course, ironically, this lovely, wise little story about Christmas being too commercial was interrupted every five minutes by, guess what, commercials. *Sigh* as CB would say.

Thanksgiving Progress

2004-11-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

A great weekend, from a knitting, family, and activity point of view! We had four beautiful days in Bear Valley. I finished the dk blue hood on Wednesday (did not run out of yarn!), thus completing the stockinette side of the Blue Cardy, and got about 12 cm into the Lt blue moss st side during the rest of the weekend. Would have been further, but I made a mistake while simulataneously knitting and playing Scrabble, and had to tink a few rows. Moss st requires a bit more focus than St st.

CNITU was as adorable as ever, and stood relatively still so I could try the safety-pinned pieces of the cardy on him. The sleeves are a bit short -- those French bebes are not as long-limbed as my little American nephew. I think I can fix that with blocking.

Skied Friday and Saturday while my sweetie snowboarded. There were many heated games of Sorry, Scrabble, and Backgammon in the evenings.

When I came back, there was a package from KnitWhits waiting for me! I will not mention what was inside since the intended recipients sometimes frequent this blog. But I will say that Tina Whitmore puts together a nice little package. I would mention, however, that at least on my browser, the colors are much brighter in person. Very nice colors, mind you, but a touch more vivid that I thought I was getting.

IF my luck holds out and I manage to escape jury duty this week, I will hopefully be learning to decrease in moss st at the Meet-up on Wednesday night!

Blessings

2004-11-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. A holiday entirely devoted to eating good food and spending time with family and friends, that's so much less commercial than Christmas, and without the pressure to buy, buy, buy.

I am counting so many blessings this year! Here are a few:

A wonderful future husband
An extended family of in-laws
A job! (Stressful though it sometimes is)
Many wonderful friends
A safe, beautiful apartment
Good health (although that may not last the weekend, I'm getting a cold!)
So much more money than most of the world
A car that runs
A new hobby! Knitting! And all the great new friends I get to share it with.

Looking forward to eating turkey (my twice-yearly meat-eating), cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes! Yum!