Head injuries to knitters week

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

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

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!

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!

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...

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

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

Lingerie it is!

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

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.

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. 

Here's a detail of the pretty beaded edge. 

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?

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

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.

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)

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!

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

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!

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

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.