There goes my baby, there she goes now...




With a love, with a love that's oh so fine, never to be mine no matter how I try-y...

Adios, Rogue

posted by Anonymous @ 9:23 PM 1 comments

As you may notice, I have added a few free patterns to my site. They are all things you have seen if you've been reading for a while; a 3x1 ribbed hat, a pair of fingerless gloves, and a toe-up short row sock pattern that is specific to right and left feet. In order to do this I needed to try a new file hosting service; please let me know if the links don't work.

posted by Anonymous @ 6:39 PM 1 comments

I just got done with a very enjoyable two days of Jury Duty. I know that this is an odd thing to say, but it really was fun. I brought my laptop and latest Netflix (Mystic River: great acting on all counts, not much else to it) and sat a watched while knitting for just over an hour. Because I was selected for a judge needing a very large pool of jurors, I had a three hour lunch while they went through our initial surveys. This is when I discovered the Kent Cafe and Browser's Used Books. The cafe had good food and great coffee and a stellar waitress. (I've found service to be generally lacking in Seattle. Give a person more than one table here and they panic. This gal had the whole restaurant but my coffee was never cold.) The bookstore put crappy chain Half Price Books to shame. They had an excellent selection of classic SciFi, and much more reasonable prices. I, er, took advantage:



When I got back from lunch they said the case I had been assigned to was no longer going to use a jury, so I left three hours early and didn't even have to miss my shift at The Fiber Gallery.

I went back yesterday, to basically repeat my day (partial movie, knitting, sent home immediately after lunch). This time I also went to Pastimes Yarn. I had never been in there before, but it is huge and very sparse. I was able to peruse some issues of Rowan, however. I'm looking for something to do with the nine skeins of Kid Classic that I ordered for Rapunzel. I would like to do something that actually calls for that yarn, since I think it would use it to its best advantage. I have yet to find anything that calls to me, though.

All in all, a very relaxing way to fulfill my civic duty.

Random link: This would be hilarious the truth weren't so sad.

posted by Anonymous @ 10:39 AM 0 comments

I'm so excited I just have to share, even though this is completely random:

My cholesterol is down to 152!!! The South Beach Diet is miraculous! All of the indavidual numbers are stunning as well, as is the good/bad ratio.

I should explain: even taking the maximum doses of two different cholesterol medications I have only been below 200 once in my entire life, and that was just down to 195 (unmedicated I'm around 450). This is just so amazing I feel like I should throw a party or something. Maybe I'll even be able to back off on the medication...

posted by Anonymous @ 6:57 AM 2 comments

Hey, look what I finished!



I bet you didn't even know that I was working on it. Honestly, I barely did. This has been my "computer knitting" since Christmas, and I tell you it was like magic. I worked on it everytime I had to wait at the computer, but never really thought about it and now there's a scarf! You may recognize the yarn from my brother's Christmas hat, and I'm going to send him what became of the rest of the skein of Eco Plus. I used a 4x2 rib, which I like the look of but in retrospect wish was reversible. Ah well. (I envision it being wrapped around the neck, but I have been informed that look is effeminate.)

posted by Anonymous @ 10:38 PM 0 comments

I took a few parting detail photos of the Rogue cables:





I haven't frogged it yet, but it's on the chopping block for when I have the energy to pick out the shoulder seams. I bear it no hard feelings. I had a blast knitting it, but it is not meant for me to wear. Maybe someday I'll feel inspired to redo it, but not for now. I'm on to bigger (well, technically, smaller) and better things like Ribby Cardi. I love, love, love the Knitpicks Merino Style! It is so soft and wonderful. I have decided to go with popular opinion and have hollyberry sleeves.

posted by Anonymous @ 12:12 AM 1 comments

I present to you the Rogue vest:



...which needs to be restarted. It's too long and lumpy and the pocket is crooked. I think I will go back and finish Tricot first.

posted by Anonymous @ 10:31 PM 1 comments

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been spending every free moment reading Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, recommended to me by Jessica. What a good book! I was skeptical at first, since the blurb sounded like one of those boring, sappy books without a plot that my mom reads, (I prefer adventure and surprises, like in my favorite genre of SciFi, or complex plots with characters you really care about like Atlas Shrugged) but it turned out to be an incredibly dark comedy with multiple story lines deftly woven together.

Fortunately, since I work at a yarn store I still managed some knitting. I've been designing a tank with an applied leaf lace border knit at a 90-degree angle to the rest of the work.* It's been fun working with the new technique, but very slow going. I finally finished the border yesterday:



I am not entirely pleased with the results. Apparently in pattern my row gauge is not all that different from my stitch gauge, so I ended up with a border that is going to ruffle. See how arched it is? This might be okay if it weren't a lace pattern that I wanted to show off. I think I'm going to finish the tank (I got bored very early and wanted to try the new thing), and then maybe I'll be able to stomach redoing the border. Instead of attaching every other row, I'll try knitting the first stitch of the right side rows and the last stitch of the wrong side rows together with the edging. Maybe I should also use smaller needles...





*To apply a border: Begin piece with a provisional cast on. The total number of stitches must be divisible by half the number of rows in a repeat of your intended border pattern. When you are done (or get bored), pull out the waste yarn from the first stitch and put it on a needle.

If the border pattern begins with a wrong-side row: Using the first stitch and the knitted or cable method, cast on enough stitches for one row of your pattern. Turn work and knit back in pattern. Turn work. Pull out the waste yarn from the second stitch and knit it together with the first stitch of your pattern.

If the border pattern begins with a right-side row: Cast on enough stitches for one row of your pattern. Slip the first stitch from the bottom of the finished piece onto the needle. Reverse the position of it and the last cast on stitch. Pull out the waste yarn from the second stitch and knit it together with the first stitch of your pattern. Work in pattern to the end of the row. Turn work. Work in pattern to the end of the row. Turn work. Pull out the waste yarn from the third stitch and knit it together with the first stitch of your pattern.

Continue, knitting a stitch from the bottom of your work together with the first stitch of each right-side row of your work.

posted by Anonymous @ 11:14 AM 0 comments

Spring has sprung.

posted by Anonymous @ 11:24 PM 1 comments

I am the biggest idiot in the world. My research project is to examine peel ply surfaces. I make peel ply samples in order to look at their surfaces. Today I drove all the way down to Boeing, and what did I not even consider bringing with me? Peel ply. Dammit! And even with nothing to do, I was still down there for 3 hours. Herding cats, I tell you! I am herding cats!

posted by Anonymous @ 1:35 PM 1 comments

Okay, in my new apartment you can sometimes hear the bar below. Normally, this doesn't really bother me but it seems that Sunday night is karaoke night. I want to tear off my ears and pull my brains out through the holes. Some people are pretty good, but of course those don't carry the way four drunk guys belting out Sweet Caroline at the top of their lungs does. At least I get to watch a classic episode of Buffy with some great lines. Their must be some fans out there who recognize "Well, there's a gathering, a shindig, and a hootenany: that's a whole lot of hoot and just a little bit of nanny" or "Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead!... Bloody Americans" or "You can't just bury stuff Buffy, 'cause it'll come back up to get you" [cue zombies] or "Generally speaking; when scary things get scared, it's not good".

There are more, but I can hear Jess groaning, so I'm moving on to knitting ;-P

In all of the moving craziness for a while the only project I could find was the wristlets (which I have decided ought to be fingerless mittens) for the Knit Your Bit Along. Fine with me; I had really been wanting to finish those anyway. The first had been sitting thumbless for quite some time. I added the thumb during a freezing meeting so that I could wear it and hopefully be warmer. Then I started cruising on the second. When I reached the thumb, I happen to look closely at the first again:



Do you see it? At some point I decided that I was too good for a three row repeat and just started alternating the second and third lines. I haven't entirely decided what I'm going to do. Since the switch pretty much exactly at the hand it would probably okay, but I really like the original pattern better. And they definitely have to match. I have ripped out the second and started over. When I get to the hand I'll decide what I'm going to do. I'm suspicious that I will be redoing the first. I tend to hem and haw over a decision, and then realize that I've frogged it all while I was thinking. I think we all remember this.

It has been said before, but I'll say it again. Rogue is just so friggin much fun to knit. Here's what I've got:



I'm working with Mission Falls Wool. It's so soft and pretty and machine washable...

And finally, a finished project:



It's a filet crochet produce bag of my own design to replace those damn plastic ones that are constantly filling my house and are, unlike grocery bags, completely un-reusable.

posted by Anonymous @ 11:59 PM 4 comments

Well, I'm all moved in, and actually partly unpacked. Enough so that I am currently sitting on the couch. If you don't understand what an accomplishment this is, picture all of your furniture in a place half the size of your current one. Then imagine everything else just piled on top of it. There are no boxes. I do not plan well enough for boxes. Some really lucky items got put in grocery bags (amazingly useful little things, but not so stackable). Oy. I have had some brief respites from the moving to knit, so tomorrow I should have some pictures and comments on that front.

posted by Anonymous @ 11:09 PM 0 comments

Having moved several times with several different methods, I can now say with confidence that I know the secret to an efficient, well-organized, speedy, low stress move; hire a professional.

posted by Anonymous @ 1:43 PM 4 comments