Wild Swan

2007-05-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went down to the Cincinnati Reds Stitch 'N Pitch. Did I mention we moved to OH last August? No matter, we're leaving this fall anyway (hopefully to return to Seattle). A good time was had by all, but especially the Cygnet who had the time of her (admittedly short) life. I was worried she was going to be overwhelmed by all the noise, but after looking concerned for a bit she really got into it. The seats reserved for the Stitch 'N Pitch crowd were much, much better than those at the Seattle event but they were in the sun and I'm pretty sure it was in the mid 80s in them. We'd carried the Cygnet in the Moby, so we pulled her out of that right away, stripped her, and used it to shield her from the sun. She was still sweating like mad. Fortunately, two of the seats reserved for those who can't do the stairs were available right behind us on the concourse. It was a bit noisier, but a very comfortable mid-70s temperature. As soon as we got up there, the Cygnet woke up and spent about four innings completely enthralled with all the people buying their hot dogs and beer. I think she would have liked watching the movement anyway, but it certainly didn't hurt that everyone was in red!

On the downside, the event wasn't quite as... festive as with the Mariners. They had it all muddled up with doing Mother's Day stuff (I guess they must not be playing this week), there was no big announcement, I saw maybe four knitters I hadn't come with, the mascot didn't throw yarn into the crowd, etc.

I didn't manage to take any photos at the game, even though I did remember my camera, but I have a shot of the swag:

It's a really impressive bag; actually nice yarn (cotton fleece), good needles (Bryspun and Clover in tree tru-, er, 17 & 19), coupons for local shops, a Rebecca pattern, the least offensive issue of Cast On I've seen, a little notions bag, and one of each size of my favorite point protectors.

2007-04-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

An average day here at Swan Lake:

8 am: Wake up only enough to attach baby for feeding

8:15: Consider showering while Mark is still home to watch baby
Check baby is breathing

8:45: Wake up enough to say goodbye to Mark
Check baby is breathing

9:30: Actually wake up to nurse, change diaper, choose adorable outfit for baby

9:40: Switch changing table cover because baby thinks it's funny to wait until the diaper is off to make a huge mess (give silent thanks that this time it doesn't involve washing my clothes, all the bathroom rugs, and the far wall)

9:45: Change diaper again (baby also thinks this is funny)
Enjoy morning hour baby is awake aatempning to play with 2 week old
Attempt "tummy time" and realize that as a modern mother, have no idea how to set a baby down on stomach
Manage to get baby down without strangling or dropping and be amazed how
entertaining looking at a plush soccer ball is to 2 week old

9:55: Realize being on tummy and having things near mouth has confused baby, feed briefly
Consider how much easier it would be to just be topless, reject based on week of snow

10: Return to play, realize am clearly best mommy in whole world when baby can raise head and push up on arms for a few seconds

10:30: Sling baby to be able to Accomplish Things
Get one load of laundry in washer or empty dishwasher

10:35: Plunk self on couch and flip on TV to remain there until Mark gets home, rotating between 1) feeding baby, 2) snacking on anything and everything, 3) geeling bad for getting crumbs on the sleeping baby, 4) checking to see if baby is breathing, 5) looking at serger and stack of flannel squares and thinking really should serge those cloth wipes, as all others are dirty and not currently in washer, 6) checking to see if baby is breathing, 7) looking at almost complete knit eggplant rattle and wishing had remembered to buy jingle bells last time at JoAnns, 8) checking to see if baby is breathing, 9) considering finishing the last few diaper covers I had been sewing when my water broke, and 10) checking to see if baby is breathing.

This sedentary afternoon is justified by thinking that when Mark gets home he'll hold the baby and I can get all those things done. Of course when he gets home he does take the baby... and then we all just snuggle on the couch for the rest of the evening. I can't wait until it warms up again and we can at least go for a walk and be less lumpish.

With this schedule (and the fact that basically the whole third trimester I had such terrible carpal tunnel that I couldn't knit) you can see how I haven't had a ton of blog fodder lately. Maybe as baby gets on a more solid schedule I'll start getting things done again and have more to say. We'll see.
So

2007-03-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

7:15 pm, 25 March 2007, 22 in, 9 lbs 4 oz

2006-10-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

I (along with thousands of others) have joined Socktoberfest

Unfortunately I won't be able to take advantage of it to start a new pair of socks or to finish off all those pairs for which I have one sock done through the heel, as much as I really, really want to. I will be using it as impetous to knit the Christmas stockings I'm making for my parents and brothers this Christmas. Let's see if I can make one a week and be done before I even return to Seattle! This seems really unreasonable, but I seem to remember that Mark's only took two or three days. I'm making these on... sort of the same pattern. I'm not totally happy with the proportions of the foot and the top flap on Mark's, so I'll be adjusting those a little bit. To help find the right flap proportion I'll be knitting these from the toe up. I'm also doing different colors and pictures, and using smaller yarn. This time I'll be knitting with Brown Sheep Worsted instead of Lopi, so they should be a bit more reasonably sized. I'll have a light blue/white one with bells on it, a white/light blue one with a skier, a red/green one with a Christmas tree, and a green/red one with a reindeer. Last night I worked out three of the charts (though I'm still not totally happy with the bells) and as much of the pattern as I could in advance, and started by knitting a red toe. Unfortunately, I had to rip out half of it this morning, but I'm still feeling pretty good about my timeframe.

2006-09-22T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to Bath. I really enjoyed it. The city really had that aura of history around it while clearly being a current center of activity. This feeling was helped by the fact that the students had also returned about the same day and were descending on the town center for reunions and exploring with the excitement of the new academic year.

Due to the lack of good public transit options, I tried something I have never done before: I got on one of those busses full of tourists to get shunted from one place to another in a big passel. Well, it was a van and only 15 of us, but still. I took a day tour out into the country and saw

Which was much smaller than I had expected. Well, smaller may not be the right word. More compact is probably more accurate. The height was what I thought from the pictures. And more compact does not mean less impressive.

The tour also included the Avebury stone circle, grounds lovingly maintained by many ovine caretakers

We also made stops in two adorable Costwold towns. They were very quaint, and I'm glad that I went, but I'm also glad that it was just a brief stop on this tour. I think that if I had followed my guidebook's glowing recommendation and done a driving tour through the Costwolds I may have gotten bored.

2006-09-13T04:34:00.000-07:00

So there are two main things that have happened to me since I last updated (whenever that was). Can you guess them from this photo?

How about the combination of these two?

I'm currently in England, and I have a very small companion (who's demanding more room every day). I'm actually in Manchester, to be precise, though I took those photos in London last Saturday. I'm doing some research at the U of Manchester, paving the way for a series of student exchanges between our two schools. At this point I'm basically just dealing with administrative things and training on various equipment until my samples arrive. The increased airport security made us think they might be a little eeked out by my checking uncured epoxy packed in dry ice, so Brian is sending them on. Today marks a week since I left Ohio. Oh yeah, we moved to Ohio too. (We have decided that MS is now the place that shall not be mentioned or we'd just spend all our time saying "x is better than how it was in MS.") In a very scary twist, we also bought a house:

With a huge backyard:

It's technically in a suburb of Dayton, but it's one of the first-teir ones and is more urban feeling. It seems to be the best neighborhood around, and only a very desperate seller (a previous contract fell through and the seller had already moved to a nursing home) and extreme price drop made it possible for us to move there. It needs some (entire) redecorating, but is in very good shape otherwise. While Mark works out the details of that, however, I will be living out of a suitcase until Christmas. Until after Christmas, I suppose, since we'll probably travel for that. First I'll be here in Manchester until the 23rd of October, then I'll go back to Ohio until the 28th when we go to NJ for a wedding and then I'm back in Seattle until the holidays frantically trying to finish my research and general exam. I gave up my apartment so I don't have a plan, per say, as to where I'll be living this time, but I figure I'll work something out on Craig's List or something. If all else fails, there's always the couch in my office and the showers at the gym...

I've worked a little on my River Rapids socks, but otherwise not much knitting has been done.

2006-06-06T00:52:00.000-07:00

WTF?!?! It is TUESDAY! Tuesday is NOT karaoke day! Why the hell are there drunk people belting out Sweet Caroline into the mike downstairs?!?!?!?!? This is completely unreasonable! I should not have to put up with this!

2006-06-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick note to say that I am still alive. Last week I decided that I need to stop blogging in order to become more focused on school. Then I went to the Northwest Regional Spinning Conference this weekend, and realized how much I like being a part of this all and how worried I am that I will be lost when I move away from places that have such events and easy access to fiber. Having a blog seems like a good way to remain connected. When I finish school it won't be such a problem with getting things done, and I still wanted to blog again then. Rather than quit completely I have decided that I will officially make this a sporadic blog until I finish school. I won't feel guilty about not updating much, and feel the need to do it first thing and do a really long post when I finally get on the computer. I'll blog when I finish projects at least, and if I am finished with my other responsibilities and have something to say. Generally, though, things may be a bit spartan around here until Marchish (please, please, please let that be as long as this takes).

2006-05-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I was in a bit of a state the other night, so I may not have been perfectly clear. The evil fiend shown below is none other than a nefarious member of the Tineidae family of moths... THE WOOL EATING KIND! The ones that eat wool, and one of which calmly waltzed out of my Sheep Tote last night, are uniformly buff colored and about half an inch long with similarly small wings. Here is a better photo

I have gone into full lock down and sterilization.

All animal fiber has been bagged into brand-new ziplocs in hopes of depriving any little monsters of air. The freezer is stuffed to the brim with as many bags as I could fit for the first batch. According to research around the internet, the thing to do is freeze for 72 hours (preferably in a chest freezer, but I don't have one so am using the "set the freezer as low as it goes and don't open it for the whole time" method), then warm to at least 50F for a "short time" which I am going to interpret as a day, and then freeze again. Switch out the yarn and repeat. In addition to lack of air and freezer temperatures, the thermal shock is really supposed to do them in.

I didn't see any holes in the tote, so hopefully I nipped this one in the bud. I didn't look all that carefully, though, since it is going to be felted. I believe that any infestation would be limited to the three grocery bags of yarn that were just sort of out, but there has been a fair bit of moving yarn in and out of cupboards, so I'm not taking any chances and just doing it all. Wish me luck.

*Note, there were a number of sites that helped me, I think the best summary of the course of action is at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ipm/schoolipm/chap-7.pdf

2006-05-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

Oh God! Oh God!

What do I do?!?!

2006-05-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the story with Tricot. I started this as my second or third sweater in 2003 immediately after the pattern came out. I finished the body and started work on the sleeves. I was so excited that when I had to rip out the sleeves since they would have fit around my waist, I blocked the body pieces (there was some sizing difference) and sewed them together. I tried it on that night in the bathroom of the restaurant that Purlygirls was meeting in at the time. It fit amazingly. I was so impressed with myself, I couldn't believe how good it made me look and what fabulous fashion wear I could make. Of course the pieces were a little too short...

I reknit the sleeves several times (I'm pretty sure there were gauge issues). Finally I got to the decreases and saw on closer inspection of the body that while I did all the decreases the same, they weren't what was specified in the pattern, and I had some trouble reading what I had actually done. I had to rip the sleeves again, and eventually shoved it into a basket somewhere. I picked it up again some time last year and restarted the sleeves, but abandoned them after only a few rows.

Recently, I began the sleeves again. I had to start twice or so, but that's life. I am better now at reading my knitting, so I was able to mimick the decreases. I continued the decreases farther up the body and sleeves this time to make it longer. I tried it on. It's too short. Not just from the armpit up like I remember from before, but also from the bottom to armhole. At the moment, I am blocking it as nothing has ever been blocked before (of course the blue ran in the soaking, darkening the green, but I'm telling myself that's actually a good thing). If this doesn't work I probably need to just start over. I guess I could maybe knit a few inches and then graft them on... damn I wish that a) I didn't want this sweater so badly, and b) I could picture this yarn as anything else.

2006-05-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

Remember Tricot? I started it when it was published. Well, one of my New Year's resolutions was to finish it before it becomes a three-year project. It has... not gone well. Actually, you know what, I don't think I can talk about this yet. Instead I'll leave you with the results of an incredible time-waster I discovered last night (free registration is required):

2006-05-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

So, remember how good I was at the WW sale? Well, I went back on Sunday morning to pick up a McMorran Balance and... had an accident:

5 skeins Dianna, a skein of , 2 skeins Rapture (all a dollar each), 1 skein Jaeger Silk, and a *gigantic* bag of denim cotton. I'm afraid I may really hate spinning that, but I'm taking a cotton spinning class in June and at this price I can always sell it on eBay if it's horrible.

Oh, and if you were interested in more/higher quality photos and information about the sock pal socks I received, check out Monica's blog today.

**Upon further research (driving over the bridge and reading the sign) it seems that the Fremont Bridge is not closing completely, it's just going down to one lane each way preventing busses and trucks.

2006-05-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

In two weeks the Fremont Bridge is closing for A YEAR!!! All my busses will be rerouted! Insted of walking out my door and onto a bus I will have to walk quite some distance up incredibly steep hills to get anywhere! That's it, the final straw. The PhD is just too hard now. I'm quitting and going home.

2006-05-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the annual Mother's Day sale at Weaving Works. Look how good I was!

The red isn't even from the sale, it's a birthday present for my mother-in-law I picked up at the Fiber Gallery after realizing the WW sale had no good, basic yarns for sweaters. They did have a fair bit of Jo Sharp Desert Garden and Soho Summer, but I don't want to make a person use a heavy, splitty, cotton for their first sweater.

The clearance portion of the sale has yet to live up to the wonderous extravaganza it was when I first went 3 years ago (were absolutely no colors of something decent discontinued? Really?), but the rest of the sale has gotten better. Even books were on sale! That doesn't really help me much, since between my employ at the Fiber Gallery and my mom's at Barnes and Noble I can get a much better discount on anything, but I was impressed. You can see that I took advantage of the 10% off spinning supplies and picked up a few bobbins. The roving is 8 oz of corriedale, and the beautiful green is 8 oz of a really nice bamboo (I believe it's called Bambu). The little package is a set of knitting-themed coasters, and was my prize for being first in line (let's hear it for inconvenient bus schedules!).

2006-05-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

Last night I came home to find a wonderful package on my doorstep - my sockpal socks have arrived! They're absolutely amazing:

The colors are a big brighter than in reality (they're more jewel toned, ie perfect), but you can see better photos on Monica's blog. The really incredible part about these is that she designed them just for me. On her blog she referred to them as h&g, which she explained to me stands for Hansel and Gretal. You can see the path they followed (complete with breadcrumbs!) through the forest on the sides. She even designed the trees herself! These socks are so cool, and I am so touched.

2006-05-07T00:09:00.000-07:00

I recently (well, when it came out) became completely obsessed with Leigh Radford's new book
One Skein. This is very dangerous, because when they're just one skein projects, you feel like you can just sneak them in and it won't really just into your knitting time at all. I mean, it doesn't really... just a little...

So far I have made the bath puff and bag from Aloo for the shop and this adorable baby bolero.

I pretty much plan to make everything in the book.

2006-04-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

The table:

The podcast:

The sweater:

The receipt:

Why are these elements important? Because if I flip this over I reveal...

Yes, my friends, this is what I was sunning on, listening to, knitting, and eating at 2:21 PDT on this 5th day of April in the year 2006 when I figured out what my dissertation is going to be about. Those are the scribblings of an actual hypothesis, research plan, and... dare I say it? A Path To Graduation. It is indeed a sunny day.

Since I know this is what you really care about, the sweater is The Perfect Sweater I'm designing the shawl collar for. ("Perfect" sweater indeed! The clarity of mind that came from relaxing knitting this garment may have been the source of my inspiration. I shall cherish it forever. (Unless I rip it out to do a different collar or size or because that's what I do.)) I'm knitting it from the top down in an effort to get to the collar bit in a more timely manner. I had just joined the fronts when I had to pause to capture my dissertation seed and the blog about my triumph. I think I should get a good chunk of the collar done tonight at Seattle Stitch 'n Bitch (that's right, Sew Fast So Easy. Bite me.) I'm planning on picking up stitches and working in ribbing, with some short rows to make the back higher.

2006-04-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Now all I want to do is spin. That, and buy my very own wheel. I spent most of yesterday at a Widbey Island spinning event with Jessica. We schlepped all our stuff an hour and a half north to listen to Judith Mackenzie, spin, and shop. Even though I'm still in a great deal of pain, it was totally worth it. There were so many ~~beautiful wheels~~ fun and excited people there we filled the Oak Harbor gymnasium/auditorium/lunchroom (ah, small town high schools). I sadly did not win any of the door prizes, but I did manage to increase my fiber stash a bit. My love affair with alpaca continues and I found roving from an alpaca named Sweetie in a lovely charcoal that I think is the softest I've felt so I grabbed a good 8oz. I'm not sure why, but it never occurred to me that roving could be superwash just like yarn, and there was a very soft superwash merino tencel so I picked up 3.5 oz to give it a try. I've never spun anything that didn't come from an animal, so I also bought 3.5 oz bamboo to play with (which is also... very soft. I need a thesaurus. Or another criteria to pick fiber). There was also a great deal of free fleece lying about at the end but I'm not set up for, nor particularly interested in, washing my own and for a while the feeding frenzy was quite intense so I left that alone.

Hopefully I've been able to fake it alright, but I'm having a heck of a time stringing cohertent sentances together. I think I'm going to take more drugs and pop back in bed.

2006-04-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

In honor of Flash Your Stash Day (which it still barely is in this time zone), I thought I would share a major selling point of my apartment: built-in yarn storage

So you see, my stash is totally under control. Of course when I turned around, I saw this

And then I went to my desk

And my chair swivels

And there's a bunch of yarn in MS. And maybe a few skeins in MN...

2006-03-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Sockapaloooza socks complete!

Pattern: Broadripple
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Comments: This ended up being something of a stealth project, since I kept waiting to post about them until Monday so as to join up nicely with Tuesdays are for Knitalongs and then forgetting to actually do it. I began these during the Super Bowl and got about two thirds of the way through the cuffs by the time Gray's Anatomy was over. After that they were a purse project with a break for the Knitting Olympics. I really like how they turned out. I've worked with Fixation before and really enjoy it. It's fast and makes a really nice material. I also really like this colorway. I have 97% of one ball left, so I think I may be able to get a short pair out for myself.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so I don't know when I'll be coherent again. If I wake up, that is. I'm not entirely convinced I will. (I know many people have this done every day without incident, but I'm very nervous for some reason.)

2006-03-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today I am wearing a sweater that did not exist on Thursday:

Since you probably can't tell from the horrible photo (sorry, early morning rush), it's Teva Durham's Leaf Lace Sweater from Loop-d-Loop. I used Cascade 128, which I can't say enough good about. It's so squishy and springy and wooly. It's also completely inappropriate for a pullover on a day as nice is today is in Seattle, but I will be proudly sweating all day. I knit this thing in three days, I'm going to wear it immediately dammit.

2006-03-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

Well this completely sucks. Before I went to bed I thought I would just pop onto eBay to check for any neat spinning wheels. I found one I was interested in and tried to "watch" it, only to discover that my account (which I haven't used in months) has been suspended. It seems someone was using it to sell electronics. I'm guessing these were not entirely legit transactions. I'm not quite sure what they did to get suspended. Apparently that primarily happens if you don't pay your eBay fees or you seriously violate eBay's rules and standards. I don't know what happened here because the bastard CHANGED MY EMAIL ADDRESS! I can't see any account history or anything since my account is locked down, and when I tried to change my password as they recommended if you suspect fraudulent use, they sent an email with the required link. Here, random person, change my password and really lock me out. They're so helpful.

I tried using eBay's live support, but they only have general associates working who can answer "how do I bid on something?" but who have no power to see what has happened or fix anything. I've emailed the security folk, but we'll see how fast this is taken care of. I cancelled my PayPal account to ensure that eBay has no access to my money. I don't think they are actually trying to get at my finances, just hide behind my name, because this seems to have happened in November and I haven't noticed any suspicious activity on my accounts. I'm still worried, of course. Plus, this means I'm SOL on this wheel...

2006-03-08T23:02:00.000-08:00

I haven't been feeling very inspired to post lately. In addition to the general depression from a winter in Seattle, I think it's mainly in the hope that if I hold out just a little bit longer I'll be able to say "Look! It's a finished Hardangervidda!" I'm trying to let that go and move on (just on the blog, not the sweater. I'm still plugging away. It would go a lot faster if I would stop screwing up.)

I have been mulling over what I'm going to do about that shawl collar for the perfect sweater. When I started thinking about it, I realized that there are many things that could be called a shawl collar. I think my two favorite basic designs are something along the lines of these:

or

I think I maybe like the second design a bit better, the first is nice too and certainly would lend its self well to cardigan conversion. Hmm.

2006-03-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging lately, mainly because I couldn't find the cable to get photos from my camera to my computer. I just found it last night dangling from the lever that makes my chair go up and down, though, so I'm back in business. Here is a shot of how far along I was on Hardangervidda when the Olympics ended.

I'm still plugging along, but at a slightly less frantic pace. I'm now allowing myself to also work on my sock pal socks. I'm making Broadripple using the gray varigated Fixation. I'm knitting them both at once (can't risk SSS here) on two circulars, and they're turning out quite nicely. I have to run to work now, so I'll photograph those later.

2006-02-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

The arena is empty except for one (wo)man,
Still driving and striving as fast as (s)he can.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But (s)he's driving and striving and hugging the turns.
And thinking of a sweater for whom (s)he still burns.

2006-02-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

I am completely screwed

There is no way I'm going to finish this. In a spurt of completely unreasonable optimism, I think I may be able to finish the knitting, but not the steaking or zipper sewing. Unfortunately, I was only able to knit four of the days I was in MS (between the 10th and the 19th) because a good friend was in the hospital so I was taking care of her house and family. In retrospect, I'm pretty impressed I am so far. I have learned a few things: 1) choose something that is more portable if you're only going to be working on one project at a time, 2) while starting with the sleeves is an important step for ensuring the finishing of a sweater in normal circumstances, the challenge of the time limit will take care of that in this case and the body should be begun during the time there is much sitting around the house, leaving the sleeves for when there is much travelling on the bus (see #1), and most importantly 3) the real challenge for me is not finishing a sweater in a short amount of time, it is working on only one project for 16 whole days. About an hour in I was already thinking about "just kicking out that hat real quick" or "there's almost nothing left to that sock." It has only gotten worse. I don't think I'll be doing this again; I just don't enjoy it, and there's no reason to make my hobby into work.

2006-02-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...

***Warning: this post is all pilot training and no knitting***

The primary reason for my current trip to MS is that last Thursday was Mark's track select day. The part of pilot training he's been doing up to this point has been generic; every AF pilot, including helicopters, goes through this training. At track select they find out what track they're going to go down (fighter/bomber, tanker/transport, turboprop, or helicopter) and then they begin more specific training. Only slightly more specific, though, as fighters and bombers are pretty different planes and there are something like 47 different tanker and transport planes. To determine who goes where, everybody in the class makes up a dream sheet and the Air Force determines how many slots for each type of training the class will get based on AF need for each type of pilot. The powers that be (possibly a computer) then go down the list of class rank (based on academic and flying scores and instructor and peer scores) and pass out the slots available on a first-come-first-served sort of system. The assignments are then passed out in a ceremony that we attended on Thursday.

Before the official event I got to ride with Mark in one of the simulators. It moved and everything, so it was pretty cool. He showed me all his bad moves, and let me try some flying too. I now agree with him that instrument landings do indeed suck. He said my visual landing was pretty good. Excellent, if we pretend it was icy to explain the twisting and turning around the runway. At one point he did get distracted explaining all the gadgets in the plane and let it get too high so the wings fell off or something and we crashed. Not exactly instilling confidence... I also got to walk out on the flightline and see the planes he's been training in.

Unlike graduation the track select ceremony is somewhat informal; it is kicked off with an hour or so of drinking

Mark's class has the dubious distinction of being the only class that has spent every Friday since they arrived in the officer's club for hours on end, so the club manager gave them a free round of their class shot (another dubious distinction) Jaeger and Redbull (eeeeeeeew). They then moved to some special room to take a shot of some sort of whisky with the wing commander. Finally, everyone grabbed another beer from one of the kegs and moved into the auditorium.

The guys all stood off to one side waiting until it was their turn.

A slide had been prepared for each, and the instructors roasted them as introduction.

Mention was made of Mark "making an Excel spreadsheet to choose an Excel spreadsheet," having ear problems preventing flying on a regular basis (DNIF = duties not including flying), and geeking out even while working out (using a metronome to make sure he was lifting at the right speed). Then he would yell clear and spin the propeller and photos of the possible next training planes would flash across the screen and end with the one he would be in next. The plane is the top of the post is the one that settled on Mark's screen, and is a T-1 tanker/transport trainer. This was not what he had hoped for, but was what he had expected, so it wasn't too disappointing. We had a deal, though; we would follow his dreams and I would just hope to be able to work wherever we ended up if he got fighters. Now that he didn't, it's his turn to follow my dreams and let me have an actual career. As a result, he's trying to move to the Guard (you get to choose where you live and stay there) and be an engineer in the real world. This is technically not allowed while you are in a formal training program, but basically everything in the AF is waiverable. If that doesn't work, he'll leave pilot training and just finish his commitment as an engineer and we will say goodbye to the military.

2006-02-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

End of Day 3:

I'm trying to convince myself that the sleeves are the slowest part, since I have to keep stopping to pull and push the needles for the magic loop. I'm sort of tempted to go buy some 16" circulars so I can just go round and round... it's probably best to keep working on them simultaneously, though. I think the random ribbing part way up is a bit odd, and the second pattern doesn't look right without it, so I'm leaving them out.

I forgot to mention that I big sticking point in the beginning was that the first instruction was wrong. That's right, the one that started with "cast on." You don't notice at first. 54 stitches seems like a very reasonable number, so you trust them and start on your merry way. You knit the hem and a turning row. You knit a few simple rows. Then you start Pattern I, beginning in the chart so that the specified stitch will be in the center of the sleeve... hey! There is no center stitch with an even number! And reading further ahead, I'm supposed to add sets of two to get 125 stitches! After some consideration I determined that 53 was better than 55 for the pattern and knit two together somewhere. Since I had used a provisional cast on to be able to attach them hem by knitting two together rather than sewing, this required a k3tog at one point as well, but I think it's all fine.

2006-02-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

And it begins. My olympic knitting had a bit of a rocky start. Despite actually thinking about it in advance, it turns out I had not in fact brought the proper needles to MS with me for my project. Fortunately, Friday is one of the four days a week the lys is open. It sucked to pay full price for needles, but I just got 40" cables so I could do both sleeves on one circular and didn't need dpns or two circulars or anything and it wasn't too bad. My best bet for finishing an item seems to be by beginning with the sleeves, so that's what I did. Slowly, because the beginning looked like this:

That's a provisional cast on using needles rather than waste yarn for two sleeves on one long circular. Two balls of yarn, six needle ends, and extra needles that were only 12" long. Oy. But I pulled it together, and by the end of the evening it looked like this:

Can you tell what I'm making yet? It's the Hardangervidda unisex pullover from Dale, and I'm using Tuir in three shades of gray. It's lovely so far, but I sure hope I accelerate.

Go team!

2006-02-05T00:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, the Super Bowl isn't until tomorrow. The chanting "Sea-Hawks, Sea-Hawks!!!" could really wait. And dude with the ukulele outside my window... why?

2006-02-02T23:52:00.000-08:00

So it occurs to me that I haven't actually shown my Clapotis.

I love it. I wear it everywhere. I use it as a scarf on the way to and from work, and then as a shawl when my office is cold or when I dash somewhere on campus. It's perfect.

Here's the baby sweater I promised, knit from the leftover Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran from Lara:

It's knit from Rebecca Home and Family, though I made some substantial changes. I knit it in the round, added button plackets, changed the size...

2006-02-02T01:24:00.000-08:00

I'm too tired to post anything real (why on Earth am I still awake at 1:29?), but due to house-sitting I've been absent and want to get something up. So I will give you an option: you can follow my link to read this response to President Bush's irrational fear of science State of the Union, or you can read this random internet silliness (or you can wait until tomorrow when you can see photos of a finished baby sweater and maybe, just maybe, Mark's Blazed and Confused sweater blocking):

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Molly Phariss!

The liquid inside Molly Phariss can be used as a substitute for blood plasma!
Molly Phariss is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the World that still survives!
It takes more than 500 peanuts to make Molly Phariss.
The Eskimos have over fifty words for Molly Phariss.
Pacman was originally called Molly Pharissman.
American Airlines saved forty thousand dollars a year by eliminating Molly Phariss from each salad served in first class.
Molly Phariss can clean her ears with her tongue, which is over thirty-nine inches long.
Some hotels in Las Vegas have Molly Phariss floating in their swimming pools.
Molly Phariss is actually a fruit, not a vegetable.
In her entire life, Molly Phariss will produce only a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.

2006-01-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

I read a previous version of this study that Seattle is the most overpriced city in the US a few years ago, but everytime I tell anyone they say "no, LA/San Francisco/Boston/Manhattan is so much worse." Now I am vindicated. I would feel so much better if it weren't such a bad thing to be right about... (or if I could smirk about it while living somewhere else).

2006-01-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

I'm too tired to take and post photos, but I finished the first sleeve of Mark's sweater tonight. Due to the top-down technique, I have already knit the first 40% of the length of the second sleeve. And don't forget that every 4th row decreases, so I've barely got anything left! I also have a baby sweater I started (for the third time) yesterday that I knit in the round, split for the sleeves, knit the front, and made both sleeves. All I need is the last half of the back and I'm ready for February. (I'm kidding about that. February can wait. I have a lot more to accomplish.)

2006-01-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been tagged:

Four movies you would watch over and over:
When Harry Met Sally
Sliding Doors
Hero
The Princess Bride

Four places you have lived:
Minneapolis, MN
Denver, CO
Seattle, WA
~~Hell~~ Columbus, MS

Four TV shows you love to watch:
CSI
Scrubs
Arrested Development
The Red Green Show

Four places you have been on vacation:
The American Southwest
Western Europe
The Czech Republic
Mexico

Four websites you visit daily:
bloglines.com (this one feels like cheating)
cinchouse.com
netflix.com
mybus.org

Four of your favorite foods:
Cheese (the smellier, the better, but I love it all)
Dark chocolate (if I won't drink milk, I certainly don't want it in my chocolate)
Avacados (oh crap... I remember buying one of those not so recently)
Fruit (any kind but bananas, the devil's fingers)

Four places you would rather be right now:
Mississippi (isn't life odd?)
Minnesota/Alaska (anywhere with a real winter)
Maui (if you're not going to have winter, do it right)
New Zealand (there must be someplace there that starts with an M)

2006-01-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

Pattern: Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Shawl
Yarn: 2 skeins Honey Lane Farms Alpaca DK
Needles: US10.5
Changes: One fewer pattern repeats
Comments: I actually finished this yesterday but had to wait for it to dry. This knit up incredibly quickly. If you just count the first time I knit it, it took a week. I had some minor (by which I mean major) problems with the quantity of yarn. I knit all the pattern repeats, and got three quarters of the way through the edging. Oh well, I'm flexible. I ripped back, started the edging again, and only did half and bound off. 5/8 of the way off, to be exact. I went to find more yarn in the right color and failed. I hemmed and hawed about spending the $28 to buy a whole new skein that I would need two yards of and wouldn't really want the extras. I put it away for a few days. I picked it back up and ripped back one pattern repeat. I knit the edging, and bound off. 5/8 of the way. Damn. I hadn't so much ripped back a pattern repeat as ripped out the edging and tried again exactly the same way. I threw it aside in disgust. I decided the damn thing was going to be finished, and it was going to be finished NOW (I would finish, block, and then decide if I really needed more yarn). I actually ripped back a pattern repeat, and voila! I can't wait to wear it tomorrow. I really need it in my office. I may try to get a more artistic picture. The bed is the only thing with decent contrast, but then since I'm so short I really need something even higher than that to stand on.

Oh, by the way, I finished the baby hat and the socks as well.

2006-01-24T00:33:00.000-08:00

I just signed up for Sockapalooza; you should too. Hurry, you only have until midnight, EST Tuesday night.

2006-01-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Given that the cheering, chanting, and screaming from downstairs have not stopped since I walked in the door, I'm guessing the Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl. Rah.

2006-01-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

Last night was the monthly spin-in at Weaving Works. I unfortunately didn't have it together enough to get over to WW when they were still open to pick up some new fiber, so I spun very slowly and still ran out well before the end. I used my drop spindle a bit to, but also ran into supply issues. I now have two bobbins of single ply worsted-ish weight yarn in shades of blue, gray, and purple. It's definitely large enough to use as singles, but I was really looking forward to what would happen with the randomly combined colors when I plied it, so I may still do so and just end up with some really chunky yarn.

2006-01-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

Alpaca Ski Cap of my own design (pattern available at the Fiber Gallery), knit out of Frog Tree Worsted (yumm) on size 5 needles. If anyone signs up, I'll be using this to teach a class on two-color knitting.

2006-01-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm getting organized, and therefore finding a ton of unfinished projects. Shall we take an inventory? (Note: Some of these photos are a bit out of wack due to odd angles. I swear all of the items are nicely proportioned.)

Project: Hugs and Kisses Socks from IK '05
Due Date: Unsure, maybe for some unknown baby of a friend, otherwise 1 July for Dulaan
Status: Needs... ahem... toes kitchnered

Project: Basic Baby Hat
Due Date: ASAP (long-forgotten shop sample)
Status: Must knit another inch or so and decrease

Project: Felted Sheep Tote
Due Date: None
Status: Needs another 1.5", pockets, and straps

Project: Mittens
Due Date: 25 Dec 06
Status: Needs thumb and partner

Project: Clapotis
Due Date: None
Status: I'm on the decreases, but I need to buy another (!) skein of Manos and work through 9 more ladders

Project: Manos Purse
Due Date: None, but this is getting embarrassing as it is several years old
Status: Needs flap and strap

Project: Koigu Socks
Due Date: None
Status: Ready for gusset decreases

Project: Blossom Sweater
Due Date: Marchish
Status: Need to rip back a few inches and split for the sleeves

Project: Fixation Tank-Turned-Sweatshirt
Due Date: None
Status: Needs sleeves

Project: EZ Fair Isle Cardigan
Due Date: None
Status: Ready for yolk, and all the yarn is now in the same state

Project: Mark's ~~Christmas~~ Pilot Training Phase I Graduation sweater
Due Date: 8 Feb
Status: Needs sleeves and collar

Project: Country Socks
Due Date: None
Status: Done with one cuff

Project: Tricot
Due Date: 1 Jan 07 (This was a New Year's Resolution)
Status: Needs sleeves (are we seeing a trend?). This will require some math, as the raglans are not deep enough so I will need to extend them.

Want to see how old this is?

Those are straight needles, people! I seem to remember that I didn't actually want to use straights for this, they were just what was free. But the fact that I even knew I owned some at the time speaks to its age.

Want to know why I have abandoned it? Well, this for one:

And this is just what I have in WA! I know I've got at least the Cherry Blossom Shawl and Retroprep on needles in MS. Oh, and here I also have the Leaf Lace Shawl (needs another skein for edging), a baby sweater for Feb (barely begun) and Jaywalker (ready to knit heel flap on first sock) somewhere around here...

So here's the plan: tonight I kitchner those baby socks and do all the math required to finish these things. Mostly, this means figuring out the increases and decreases for sleeves, and figure out how many inches to do on the baby hat before decreasing. Then I will start working on finishing this stuff in the following order: baby hat, Manos purse, baby sweater, Blossom sweater, Mark's sweater. These should all be finished before the lighting of the Olympic torch, at which time I will participate in Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. Consider this training.

2006-01-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

Mother nature is spiteful. We had 27 consecutive days of rain. Then it didn't rain yesterday. Now it is raining again. I swear the nice day was in there just to keep us from breaking the record (33 days) so that now this winter just sucks, rather than being history making. I'll blame the weather for my Leaf Lace Shawl issues while I'm at it. The depression is making me knit looser so no matter how much I rip back I am unable to have enough yarn to make it through the bind off. Yeah... the weather... that's it.

2006-01-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Look who I made!

Spherey from Fun and Unusual Toys to Knit out of Cashsoft. This was very quick and not nearly as irritating to knit as many toys. I did a few more increases since I used a smaller yarn to make the toy a bit bigger. While doing his face I learned that all needle crafts are not created equal. Embroidery is stupid and I hate it.

2006-01-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

Uhhhhhh-ffffffffffffff...... *ah-choo!* Pardon me, just dusting off the old blog. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again; I do not blog well when in MS. This time was even worse as for most of the past month I was on the road driving to and from various family. I did take some pictures, though.

I finished a few presents:

Napkin rings from Simple Knits with a Twist: these weren't nearly as bad as everyone says. They were slow, but not that bad.

Stitch markers for my close knitting friends.

Scarf for my long-time friend Aaron using the chart from the AntiCraft.

Okay, I already showed these off, but I'm just so happy with them.

We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner:

The stockings were... draped by the chimney with care:

My great-grandmother made the felt stockings for me and my brothers and coincidentally my grandmother made a very similar one for my dad when he was growing up. In high school I made one for my mom so that she wouldn't be left out. The giganto-stocking you may remember from when I knit it last year for Mark. I've been meaning to re-knit it in a more reasonable size, but it is the only one anything fit in...

Mark and I got each other the same gift for the third year in a row (Shrek, a dart-board, and now alarm clocks). At least since we now live in different places it sort of makes sense to have duplicate items.

New ways to be entertained by a ball of yarn were developed:

Mark spent his usual few hours throwing my cousins around and chasing them for copious tickling. He's been so busy with pilot training this year he's not had much time to work out, though, and was a bit unprepared:

And I proved that I am very, very old by using my ability to chose anything at all to do on my birthday to drag a husband who couldn't complain around furniture shopping. (I also had a dream in which my apartment was broken into and the majority of my horror was from never having clarified whether my computer is covered under my renter's insurance or I need a separate personal article floater. 24 seems to be a pivotal age in adultness.)

We also saw the neice who was born in June and of whom we haven't seen even a photo since, but sadly I also forgot to take one. Speaking of adorable babies, one of Mark's classmates conveniently welcomed one on the very day I finished this gift:

Isn't it just so cute? This is an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket knit out of the leftover Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton from the Sheep Dress. It's a tad hard to see since they are of different reflectivity, but I used the layered button technique I saw on our trip to churchmouse. One tiny, detailed flower on a bigger, plainer one. I made Mark look at it and make appreciative noises about eight times the evening I sewed them on.

The drop spindles are two of seven I made in about a minute and a half from a dowel, a wooden car wheel, and a mug hook (all from Michael's). I made them for the two little blondes above. They've been knitting for a few years now, so it seemed a good time for the next fiber addiction. I also gave one to my mom. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the other four.

2005-12-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

I have tons to do, so I'll just leave you with a little something delicious to take the edge off Christmas knitting (safe for Fuzzy Feet or a scarf, but I wouldn't try it with anything with a chart).

Homemade Eggnog:

Separate six eggs. Beat the yolks until frothy. Add one cup of sugar and mix until thick. Add 1 pint milk, 1 pint half and half, and a dash of salt. Add 5 cups of whisky, brandy, or rum (we used 1c brandy and 4c rum). Mix and chill. You're supposed to chill this in the fridge for "at least two hours." We did 10 min in the freezer. It seemed fine. Beat the egg whites with a bit of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold into the mix, enjoy!

2005-12-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!!! Christmas is so fucking close!

I was just updating my Netflix queue and debating whether I should change the address to MS yet, when it hit me. I go to MS on Monday. That's really soon. And then we go to MN just a few days after that, and then the next day or so it's Christmas! Okay, time to rally the troops: call 877- SOS-KNIT.

Whew. It's going to be okay. I am not alone, and I will make it.

Let's take stock:

Mark: Sweater of my own design - Half done with body and sleeves
Penny: Yarn/needles/book/teach to knit - Purchased
Chuck: Brioche Hat from Weekend Knits - Done
Ray: Green/blue Fuzzy Feet from Knitty - Done
Amy: Blue/green Fuzzy Feet - Done knitting, needs felting
Maggie: Bobbi Bear - Needs duplicate stitching around neck
Tammy: Red/green Fuzzy Feet - Done knitting, needs felting
Mike: Green/red Fuzzy Feet - Turning heel on one (forgot the short rows the first time and had to rip back the finished foot; I can't afford these mistakes!), decreasing toes on other
Rachel: Age-appropriate (non-religious) book - Purchased
Cory: Age-appropriate (non-religious) book - Purchased
Mom: Fair Isle Mittens adjusted from Folk Mittens - Done
Dad: DNA Headband - Have the yarn (every step counts)
Peter: Thrummed earflap hat of my own design - Designed
Paul: Books - Purchased
Aaron: Scarf - Have the yarn, moved it to the bottom of the pile to become a Jan birthday present if necessary

At least I have a plane ride, a 16 hour drive to MN before the headband and sweater are needed, and an 8 hour drive to MO before the fuzzy feet and bear have to be done...

2005-12-11T01:44:00.000-08:00

On the one hand, living within stumbling distance of the bars of Fremont is nice; no worries about driving home or responsibility. On the other hand, getting up for work is going to suck tomorrow. And typing is hard. I hate when I act my age (in retrospect).

2005-12-10T00:24:00.000-08:00

To move or not to move? This is a question I need answered rather promptly. Lately I've begun to feel a bit guilty about how expensive my apartment is compared to my other options in the city. I'm not really in a position to sign a long lease at this point, so I hit Craig's List and started searching for other people's leases I could latch on to (aka "roommates"). After some good people and places and others that were not so good (did you know a flop house can charge $400/month in Seattle?) I think I have found a place. It's in a great part of Wallingford, three blocks from the shops and the bus route to school. It is one bus to get to school and all my knitting meet-ups except Purlygirls (2 buses, but easy to get a ride from) and two to get to work. I will save $150-$200/month by moving there. I think there is enough space for all of my furniture and belongings, though it may be a tad tight. The apartment has decent sized shared areas, is clean, doesn't smell of stale hamburgers, and doesn't have drunk karaoke on Sunday nights. The gal living there seems nice and is... A Knitter (learning, anyway). I also get lonely being by myself all the time and end up going out and spending money, so it could be good to have a roommate. Of course she travels as much as I do, if not more, so who knows if I'll actually have much company.

So what's the problem? I love my current apartment, and I can afford it (plus I'm getting a $100/month raise next month). It is cute and old and has character. It has built in yarn storage. I painted the walls very pretty colors that relax me. It only smells like hamburgers in the winter if I don't remember to leave the window open when I leave for the day, and the noise doesn't really bother me (so long as it's not Sweet Caroline). It is in the center of everything. I thrive being in a center of activity rather than a residential area. I am energized by the area every morning when I walk out the door and every evening when I get off the bus. I can walk out the door and into a fabulous restaurant. If I turn I have my choice of several others. The library is a block away, and it is only one bus to anything I do. It is mine; I don't have to share the space with anyone. For a while Mark actually lived in this apartment, so I can sort of remember that I'm married here. And speaking of Mark, if things don't go exactly according to plan for him I may need to move in March (not very likely, but a possibily). And moving is a big hassle in which I have to bribe and abuse my friends.

*Sigh* I need to make a decision pretty quickly. I wouldn't be moving until 1 Feb, but if I want this particular place I need to tell her to stop looking for a roommate. I just don't know.

2005-12-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

I changed my plan for Mark's dad's Christmas present. Instead of the really time-consuming mittens or the lightning-quick Big Kureyon hat I've gone with the intermediate Brioche Hat from Weekend Knitting. I really, really like it. Mainly this is due to the very pretty colors I'm using out of Cascade 220 (I added some extra stitches to make the guage match).

The pattern is a bit fussy to set up, but once you get going it's very simple. In the event you do make a mistake (or ignore the "do not twist" instruction for a few rows), ripping back a few rows is also a bit tricky, but doable. I love the fabric it creates, both in its use of color and how squishy and great it is to feel. I just really hope it's big enough.

2005-12-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

I was recently commissioned to make Mark's grandmother a pair of house shoes, as she has been ill lately. From the description of what she wanted, the Felted Ballet Slippers from Fiber Trends seemed pretty much perfect. I actually finished them a few weeks ago, but have had some trouble getting the buttons to add as decoration since the straps are actually held down by elastic. I thought I was being very clever doing this to account for the fact that her feet have been swelling, but closer inspection showed that's what was in the instructions anyway. First I finished the slippers, set them aside until I could get buttons and forgot about them for a week. Then I bought the buttons and left them on the counter at JoAnn's. Then I forgot about them again. Then I bought buttons and left them in MS. Clearly they want to be buttonless, so they will be buttonless and actually mailed out this year. I actually mananged to do that yesterday, with a minimum of further delay.*

Here they are all floppy and weird looking prior to felting:

And felted, but still looking a tad wonky:

They're pretty cute on an actual foot, I think, I just didn't happen to have one around the right size for modelling. These were knit out of Lamb's Pride Worsted, and I was able to just barely make it with one skein. I had about an inch left.

*While I was waiting at the Wallingford post office, some woman leaving the counter said "Of course I'll be back; this is my favorite post office!" What must the others around be like?! I mean, just ask Jessica about this one.

2005-12-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Of course a new Knitty would come out with lots I want to knit when I can add absolutely nothing new to my queue. I love Kate and Creatures and want to start some right away. Tempting is, well, tempting. Tubey is calling to me, but I'm not sure how flattering it would be on me. Chaos is very cool and Blu is of course adorable. I'm a bit torn about Spike. I like it when it is wrapped around, but not when it hangs down loose. And Mrs. Beeton are? is? so sweet.

2005-12-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

I'm back from MS where I took a vacation so complete I didn't even check my email. It was a time of transformation:

This

Into this

This

Into these

And this

Into this

2005-11-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I passed my oral exam. It's not bringing with it the exhiliration that passing the written did. First of all, I'm exhausted. In addition to all of the tension leading up to this, there is the fact that they questioned me for an hour and forty five minutes after my presentation. It was exhausting (normally I would try to come up with a synonym for a word I used one sentance ago; now is not the time). Also, as I sat there and listened to the questions and ideas about my work it became very clear to me that I have accomplished nothing of value so far, don't understand the chemistry I need to, and may never graduate. Finally, the second on my committee (the guy other than my advisor) has a ton of things he wants changed in my paper, so it's back to the drawing board on that. Ugh. On the up side, I'm going to see Harry Potter soon.

2005-11-14T23:34:00.000-08:00

My oral qualifying exam is scheduled for Friday. I may not be able to blog until then.

2005-11-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

About the food poisoning... many mistakes were made. New rules: 1) no mixing canned and dried beans 2) food goes immediately in the fridge upon finishing cooking, 3) bacon is cooked before addition to crockpot recipes, 4) if it is to be frozen, food doesn't sit in the fridge for a week first (especially with potentially raw bacon). I'm not sure quite which actually did me in. This evening I had to add another (unrelated) new rule to my personal lexicon: no Listerene after massive tounge scaldings.

Actual knitting content when photos can be taken in tomorrow's natural light. I'm making good progress on my mom's mittens, and they are beautiful.

2005-11-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

I always knew that my playing it fast and loose with the rules of food safety would come back to bite me some day. Today seems to be that day.

2005-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

Clapotis is sort of hard to photograph, but here she is:

I've got 16 more inches before I start to decrease, and I'm just about to start my third skein of Manos Flame. I'm thinking it's going to take three and a half and I'll maybe make a little hat or something from the rest.

2005-11-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, Jessica dragged me to a computer and showed me the Starbucks nutrition facts. I now can't look at their bake case without wanting to vomit. This has basically been a good thing for me and my health (though I shudder thinking about the past). There may be a bit of a downside. If, say, one were to find a pint of Ben and Jerry's in their freezer and not be able to resist, it suddenly becomes really justifiable to eat half the container since even two servings has half the fat of the chocolate peanut butter stack. Why, it's practically health food!

2005-11-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

I think I knit more than I ripped back tonight...

2005-11-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

It's time to get organized for the holidays. Here is what I am intending to give each person for Christmas, followed by the backup emergency plan:

Mark: Sweater of my own design (almost to splitting for arms)
Penny: Anatolian Mittens from Folk Mittens (one done sans thumb), yarn/needles/book/teach to knit
Chuck: Greek Mittens from Folk Mittens, Superyak hat and mittens
Ray: Green/blue Fuzzy Feet from Knitty (done)
Amy: Blue/green Fuzzy Feet (at toe decreases of last slipper)
Maggie: Bobbi Bear (needs duplicate stitching)
Tammy: Red/green Fuzzy Feet (cuffs done)
Mike: Green/red Fuzzy Feet
Rachel: Age-appropriate (non-religious) book, Barnes and Noble Gift Certificate
Cory: Age-appropriate (non-religious) book, Barnes and Noble Gift Certificate
Mom: Fair Isle Mittens adjusted from Folk Mittens, enough Cashsoft DK to knit a sweater
Dad: Minnesota Mittens from Folk Mittens, mittens that don't flip open
Peter: Thrummed earflap hat of my own design
Paul: Something a popular 16 year old would like... damn. I have no frame of reference for this

I think I'll go knit now.

2005-11-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

I found my camera, so I'm back in action.

On Tuesday night I sat my self down and gave myself a Stern Talking To. It was filled with words like "responsibility" and "priorities" and "healthy amounts of sleep." I covered how even though I had a new disk of As Time Goes By from Netflix, it was already 10:30 and I was just going to leave it sealed until Wednesday. In the event that I broke down and watched an episode (I mean, they're so short), I most certainly was not going to watch more than one. And on Wednesday I was really going to put my nose the grindstone. I would be in early to the conference, I would see the papers I had set out to see, and whenever I had free time I would work on my qual. I don't know why I even bother; I never listen.

After watching all 7 episodes I had to sleep in a bit, and then was just sort of lazy about getting in. We had the world's slowest waiter at lunch (in fact, I'm not really sure he was a waiter; I think maybe he was just some guy in the restaurant that occasionally interrupted his meal to serve us when he couldn't bear watching us wait any longer), so I missed the paper I was really interested in. As for my free time...

I did all of that on my Bobbi Bear on Wednesday. The Guinness is there for size comparison; I didn't realize until just now how much it looks like I will be giving my neice a drinking partner. Yesterday I knit the ears, but just didn't have the energy to sew them on or duplicate stitch around the neck to tighten it up. I also think I'll make him a little sweater.

2005-11-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

This week the SAMPE (Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering) conference is in town. This is very convenient, but somewhat less fun than when I get free trips to other cities for conferences. Some observations in chronological order:

1. The best way to kill time at a conference is to list observations to blog about.

2. The man running the round-table discussion I attended was wearing a crocheted tie. By the end, I was fairly certain it was not handmade. It was also red and shiny. I'm all about fiber arts, but the ties are just proof of love, not something that should be a standard fashion choice. Why on earth would he pick that up and think "This is the tie for me. I shall buy it and wear it to meet all the important faces in my field."

3. He was also just one example from the many engineering conferences that I have attended that while all men age, they may never mature. This man was leading an official event for industry experts (and roughly 57 years of age), but could not stop playing with the damn laser pointer they gave all the speakers. He kept trying to signal people he knew as they walked by the door on the other side of the room.

4. I have become much more emotionally invested in my work than I realized. It turns out that "Why don't you just use a plain fastened joint? We've been doing them for years, why bother with bonding?" when asked in an even remotely challenging voice is just plain fightin' words. Nor was I the only one. Everyone at the table tensed and got ready to spring.

5. I would like a little coffee with my cream, thank you. (Man that was wretched coffee, but at least salvageable. Nothing could save the iced tea.)

6. One of the very best feelings in the world is to see a very important person (who you desperately hope will hire you some day but are pretty sure they think you are a flake) one day have their eyes light up and the words "that's a very good point I never thought of!" begin flashing in a thought bubble over their head as you are giving the presentation you previously thought was old and lame.

7. If you want to see a room full of engineers spontaneously don tutus and begin a very complicated ballet (and have an hour to debate what falls under your proprietary information contract), suggest that representatives from three different companies have a discussion with a university research group.

8. The curly mustache is not just the provence of Halloween costumes... sadly.

9. Sometimes being way behind (weeks late on reading two very important papers that would take me about 15 min if I would just sit down and do it) can make you look very on top of things ("Was that data included in the paper? Why just let me check, as I am so prepared that I have that paper right here." and "I believe that this group right here did that work. Would you like to copy down the reference?")

10. I always assume that when everyone else is writing, they are writing important and relevant things. But isn't that what I'm looking like too? How many other grocery lists are being made here today?

11. Apparently, the fact that Seattle has moved completely into winter weather has permeated into my subconscious. I looked down at my doodling to discover this:

It's very sad that even living in two different states this year, I probably won't see snow.

12. Snowflakes are really hard to draw.

13. I like drawing things based on circles (such as that snowman I'm very proud of). Stuffed bears are really easy to draw this way. I can't wait to start the two Bobbi Bears I'm planning for Christmas gifts. One is going to be out of Ksar, yummmm. Who knew camels were so soft? And machine washable, to boot.

14. I'm doodling very girly things. If anyone notices me, it probably won't help me be taken seriously in the world of old white m--engineers. I should draw some manly to balance it out.

15. I suck at drawing hammers.

16. Do tigers' stripes run around their bodies long- or latitudinally?

It all kind of devolved from there. By that point it was 6:30 and I'd been in a "half hour/45-min meeting" since four. It was a very productive meeting, and I didn't feel I had wasted my time, I was just getting a bit punchy by that point. Speaking of conferences, I'd better get back over there.

2005-10-30T21:09:00.000-08:00

I've got some loot to show off. First up, I made the excellent purchase of this bag

I can't even tell you how much I like this. There are the pockets where there should be (one exactly the right size for my knitting notebook), it's the perfect size, it sits just right, and so on.

This series of photos I like to refer to as "Ooo, look how pretty"

Big Kureyon bought on clearance at Hilltop to be... something.

Now that I have those cute shoes that show off the top of my socks, I need to keep some socks that I knit. And they must be Koigu.

I have finally settled on Manos for my Clapotis (it only took a year).

2005-10-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

This morning I met friends for a little knitting (what a way to start the day), and finished the ballet slippers for Mark's grandmother. I made the pair in just one skein of Lamb's Pride. Just made. They look incredibly stupid at the moment, but I trust that felting will redeem them. I promise a picture in the morning; I'm just already in bed and just don't see myself getting up to photograph and post. I spent the afternoon shopping for shoes and was finally successful. I got these:

Price for the average woman: $100
Price for those cursed with feet so small that 98% of shoes available are covered in pink sequins: $60

Then I stumbled on these:

Price for the average woman: $95
Price for the woman (having an exceptionally lucky day) with no competition for shoes due to abnormally small feet so they end up at Nordstrom Rack: $36

Now if only they would make a classic knee-high heeled leather boot for children...

2005-10-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

I just spent about 5 hours reading about the theory of PowerPoint slide design. Ugh. The people writing the articles were getting just as loopy as I was reading them if the titles of their papers are any indication: the philosophical (“Is PowerPoint the Devil?”), the voice of mediation ("The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Not All Slides Are Evil”), the terrible puns (“The Level of Discourse Continues to Slide”), and the bitchy ("Pictoral Illustrations Still Improve Student Learning"). At least I was able to knit, albiet inconsistantly. Yesterday and today I've been working on a pair of Fiber Trends Felt Ballerina Slippers for Mark's grandmother who has been ill. This is the first project I've worked with Lamb's Pride, and I really like it, and the pattern is so simple they just fly off the needles. I'm not thrilled that they are garter stitch in the round, but life could certainly be worse.

2005-10-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

Dear new neighbors next door,

You may have noticed that we live over a rather noisy bar. Obviously, we couldn't be here if some noise bothered us too much, but that doesn't mean that the occasional night of peace isn't appreciated. Monday nights are the one quiet night we get. Relish it. Meditate. Watch TV without a random soundtrack included. Do not blast your music so loud as to fill the void. Just on Mondays, pretend that we live in a normal building where you have to respect your neighbors.

Sincerely,

Molly

2005-10-24T01:47:00.000-07:00

I just got back to my Seattle apartment. It took two hours for me to get back from the airport, according to my internal clock I should have been in bed six hours ago, someone is belting out Funkytown, and I just saw a man dressed as a duck propose to a woman at the airport... And now it's Sweet Caroline. Welcome back to Seattle.

2005-10-17T04:05:00.000-07:00

2:02 PDT/4:02 CDT My friends were going to sleep, I was making breakfast. And being greeted by the welcome wagon.

2005-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

2005-10-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

A while ago I finished the first socks in the Knitting on the Road along. I made three of them. The pink I previewed before. I, er, can't find the sock or pictures at this particular moment. I have to wait to do the second because I am planning on using the scrap yarn from my EZ sweater. I didn't read all that carefully when knitting, so I turned the heel and moved right on to Chart 2 after having completed Chart 1 only once. I like the shorter ankle, and just repeated Chart 2. I don't really like this sock at all. I much prefer the repetition of Chart 1, as written, and I just don't like this yarn as a sock. I think it's the mohair.

The completed pair I made out of

(Sorry about the crappy picture. It was the clearest I got, and I've decided that blocking is unnecessary.) I followed the pattern more closely for these. I still made a short ankle, but repeated Chart 1. I like this and the yarn a lot better. This yarn is much smaller than the sport-weight the pattern is written for, so it created child-size socks. I have decided that my carry-along project will always be something for the Dulaan project. In this case I made the sock as written in smaller yarn to adjust it to kid size. Others I'll have to cut parts of the patterns, or just donate things for the older kids.

2005-10-06T22:53:00.000-07:00

In the midst of my Christmas knitting, I am knitting the sweater in Elizabeth Zimmerman's first newsletter. I've completed the sleeves:

They look awfully lumpy here, but blocking will straighten that out. I'm using Dale's Tiur, which is a joy to work with and is very reasonably priced. It has a nice soft halo from the mohair, and all the ease of knitting with wool. I'm not into EZ's ribbing and then increasing suddenly afterward so I put a five row hem with a purl turning row at the bottom of each sleeve and the body. The row where I knit two together all around to connect the hem is incredibly tedious but it's better than sewing it in and I love the look of a hem. I'm a few inches up on the main part. There's quite a bit of stockinette yet to do.

2005-10-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been on something of a blogging hiatus. I find it really difficult to blog when I'm in MS, because I just want to visit with my friends. If I ever manage to park my butt in front of the computer I have to work on my qual. Speaking of which.... 12 pages down! I have made it my goal to have a completed draft by the one year anniversary of passing the written exam. I have until a week from Monday. I have a ton of finished objects to show, but am away from home and my camera at the moment. I am very proud of my day today, though. This morning I ran to the Fiber Gallery. For those of you not familiar with the geography from Fremont to Greenwood, this is all up hill. And it is not a gradual hill in any sense. I even increased my middle running segment from 8 to 10 min. Oh, and the reason I'm not home right now is that I walked an hour to a friend's place to hang out. I rule.

2005-09-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

At 6am this morning I was wandering blearily around the kitchen attempting to pull together breakfast. I glanced over near the door to the living room and saw the biggest spider in the world staring at me with a plotting look in its eye. "It's just a spider, it's just a spider..." I chanted to myself as I tiptoed around the kitchen trying to ignore it while keeping a sharp eye on its wherabouts (fortunately it was stationary) at the same time and hoping Mark would get out of the shower soon.* A thought struck; what if he has a ton of gigantic friends?! "Spiders are solitary, spiders are solitary..." Suddenly it was gone. Stifling the urge to run screaming from the house while tearing my clothes off and shaking my hair violently I went out the other door of the kitchen and around to find it in the living room. Okay, so far, so good. I went back into the kitchen where I found his nearest and dearest friend. Apparently, spiders are only territorial against those of their own kind. This was a completely different species of humungous spider. I edged around it to the stove, started the water boiling, realized that Mark had been in the shower for half an hour, and went sprinting to the bathroom to tell him he had to get out of there NOW and take care of the situation (and make sure he was not drowning in the bathtub covered in spider bites). He laughed and came out, gasping when he actually saw the gigantic beast realizing that I had not been panicing over nothing. The kitchen spider was gone. He went after the living room spider while I hunted for the other. Suddenly I heard "Oh good God!" and then "Roomba! Attack!" Apparently gigantic spider #1 had been carrying an egg sack which it dropped as soon as Mark touched it, sending hundreds of tiny spiders scampering in all directions. As the Roomba collected them, he found spider #2 which had gone out to help its friend, and then re-found and killed #1. All before the sun was up. *Sigh* I'm back.

*I am perfectly capable of taking care of spiders on my own. If I were home alone or in Seattle, the spider would be outside in a few shaky minutes. However, if Mark (or anyone else of either sex) is around and willing, I am more than happy to let him take care of it. He doesn't mind and I do. Plus, he kills them which is probably better (the thought of squashed spider is much worse to me than the thought of live spider).

2005-09-13T00:19:00.000-07:00

I had such a nice weekend, it almost makes up for waking up with a bout of food poisoning in the wee hours of the morning today. On Friday Jessica and I went to the Weaving Works Spin-In, which was great fun. I didn't remember to bring my camera, but you can see a photo of me spinning away on Jessica's blog. I finished up my experimentation bobbin, and have decided on a comfortable technique. I almost filled another bobbin before we left and got quite a bit better just during the three hour session. In a delightful twist, a woman who no longer spins came and gave away quite a bit of roving. I now have a big bag of

On Saturday I frantically finished Lara from the Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca book. I really like it, and can tell that I will be wearing it often. It's very comfortable, and so easy to just pull on and go. I'll have a photo soon. The reason I was rushing was to have it complete to wear to Churchmouse's anniversary sale. Jessica and I took the ferry (on which I wove in the last few ends) over in the evening and enjoyed their cake and champagne celebration. We had quite a bit of luck (as usual) in their clearance bins. I am now the proud owner of enough Kid Classic to make a sweater in a deep blue, and some 4-Ply soft in burgundy for socks. It seemed fitting to get a clearance sweater from them on the day I finished my last clearance sweater from their shop.

Since the weather has cooled, Sundays in the shop are not nearly as lonely. This week I was also working with someone else as we have a new employee. The day went by much more quickly for it.

Well, I have an early plane to catch to MS so I should really get to bed.

2005-09-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

It seems that intimidation by Excel's many functions and capabilities is keeping many knitters from using software they aleady own for an excellent and time-saving method of charting. I have therefore posted detailed instructions to my techniques in the right side bar. I am very dependent on Excel when I am working a Fair Isle design in different colors than the pattern. It is so much easier just to make my own chart than try to remember that the dark green is really light blue. I also chart my cables and lace in Excel when I am writing up patterns. I just posted the basics here (which could be all you ever use and not feel deprived), but as you get more comfortable with Excel and poke around its menus you can find all sorts of neat new tricks like merging cells for even fancier charts.

2005-09-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Comcast guy is coming today, so hopefully I will be able to post consistantly again soon. In the meantime, in addition to todays post, some impressions from my spinning Tuesday.

I'm finding spinning on the wheel trickier than my drop spindle. My main problem is that you don't get any feedback. If your yarn doesn't have enough twist on a drop spindle, it breaks. If you have too much it will twist up despite the weight pulling it down. On the wheel you have to stop and tug on the yarn to tell if it has enough twist, and as near as I can tell it will twist up on itself if allowed no matter how much twist is in it. As a result of the uncertainty, I am overspinning everything "to be safe". I also wish I were using locks instead of this stuff that comes in thick snakes (I can't remember the word right now, and my books are way out in the other room). It would be a lot easier to connect what I need to do to the pictures and instructions in the books I got out of the library.

This morning I finally woke up at a decent hour, got up and started getting ready... then grabbed my backpack and crawled back in bed to knit and read blogs (and now blog myself). This seemed much more wonderful before I realized that I'm going to need to rip out everything I did last night and this morning. I'm working on Mark's Christmas sweater (the colors I am using are a testament to just how much I love my husband)

This was really difficult to get a good photo of. It's a top down V-neck sweater with a simultaneous set-in sleeve that I am designing. I wussed out a bit. The pattern is supposed to be a slip stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, but I'm doing it as intarsia at least on the sleeves. I couldn't figure out how to do it since I needed the blue to continue around the sweater not in pattern. The problem requiring ripping back is this:

This is very tricky to see, but do you see how the shoulder jogs down from front to back? I did notice it when I picked up the stitches but thought "a little more space in the back is probably good" and didn't consider that you would be able to see the jog. Also, the stitches next to the pattern are a little loose, and I want to tighten those up. I'll probably give ripping out only the sleeves a shot, but I'm not tremendously hopeful.

2005-09-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

I've been having a heck of a time logging on lately, but hopefully my connection will last long enough to post this. I haven't accomplished a ton of my own work, but I did finish this for the shop:

It's the spiderweb capelet from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. I made it out of Merino Frape as called for, though it took me two and a half skeins. I think mine was a bit larger around than it was supposed to be as it would barely stay around my shoulders. No worries; it's not really my style.

2005-09-01T04:42:00.000-07:00

Seattle: Kitchen staff at a local bar were disturbed at 4:32am on September 1st when a woman clad only in a T-shirt and panties burst in screaming and grabbing several bottles of liquor before dashing once again into the night. "It was all such a blur. This crazy lady with really long, wild hair and insanity in her eyes ran right through the kitchen and into the bar. She was yelling something, but over our radio all I could make out was 'two extra stitches,' 'yarn... too... short...' and something that sounded like 'no sleep'. Joe here thought she looked sort of like that gal who lives upstairs," reported dishwasher Sam. It is still unclear as to why the employees were still around listening to the radio at top volume over two hours after closing. Inspection of the woman's apartment revealed a scene that filled this reporter with shock, revulsion, and pity. A recently sent email explained that the resident had been suffering from severe insomnia and had been working on formerly put-off tedious bits of knitting. The charred remains of a sweater on the desk displayed 64 out of 67 stitches painstakingly grafted before the victim's yarn came up short. And the coup de grace, though wear patterns suggest repeated recounting, the top piece appeared to have two more stitches than the bottom. "From what the neighbors heard, it seems she reached the end of this piece after hours of late night work, realized the two gigantic problems, and just lost it. We believe this is the point she set fire to all of her yarn and flushed all her darning needles down the toilet," related Office Johnson of SPD. When asked about the woman he added, "We've sent patrol cars to all the yarn shops in town, but we just got a call about someone huddled with a huge bottle of gin against the Fremont Troll trying to convince it to lend her the VW bug so she could get to Mississippi where no one knits or needs sweaters."

2005-08-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

Remember these? They're back. I've spent all morning redesigning them to be mittens, and possibly have a different fair isle design using the same colors. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'm feeling that this year they might actually work.

Yesterday I worked on the Friday Harbor sock:

This is actually my first pair of socks for myself. I'm using Tiur, and it is really nice. And even though it isn't a designated "sock yarn" I won't need to reinforce since Jessica pointed out to me that "mohair is nature's nylon."

2005-08-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today I joined things. First I joined the Knitting on the Road Sock Knit-along. I've really been needing a new purse project, and this will be a good continuing supply of them. I knew it was meant to be when I saw that they have chosen my favorite pattern from the book (Friday Harbor) to begin. I'm making myself use stash yarn (Fortissima Socka) for this one, and hope to continue that on the future socks too. Then I added the Frost Flowers and Leaves Knit-along. This was the first pattern I loved from Gathering of Lace. I'm planning on using Zephyr, I just need to buy some. I don't feel that the shawl should be more than a foot taller than I am, however, so I am planning on making it a bit smaller. Finally I joined a running group for knitters. I thought about it yesterday and realized that I haven't run in maybe a month. Unacceptable. Hopefully this will motivate me a bit.

2005-08-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

On my new scientific schedule for crafting, Tuesdays are for spinning. So without further ado I would like to present to you 11 yards of the finest... blue stuff... hot off the wheel here at Chez Swan:

Most of this I spun with Jessica the day I got the wheel (and some she had done, and a little her six year old made); today was mainly about plying. Since I had been experimenting with differing guages while spinning, I thought I may as well make it a complete sampler and work on varying plying methods. I tried a standard two-ply and navajo plying. I actually think that by the end I had gotten pretty smooth with both.

Now, I'm new to this, but I think I may have added a tad too much twist overall:

I set the twist to hopefully get this to calm down (it's drying now). I wanted to go back and spin some more, but try as I might could no longer get the yarn to wind on the bobbin anymore. I'm hoping the gnomes will fix it while I'm asleep.

2005-08-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought there's an MC at Karaoke nights to ensure that I don't have to hear Sweet Caroline three times in one night...

2005-08-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a bad technology day.

My blog doesn't seem to be fixed if looked at with other computers

I stepped on the headphones of my iPod.

I ran all around doing my errands of great distance (they need to be saved for one big day of suckage since I don't have a car), only to find out about five minutes in that I only had the first four chapters of the book I was listening to on my iPod (Dark Tower III by Stephen King. Great series.)

I got home, was very ready to relax, put on my lounging clothes and went to plug in my computer. No power cord. At that moment I ran out of batteries. You know, I dropped my bag at work and everything scattered (hence the headphone issue)... It was about at this point that I realized how dependent I am on my computer. I couldn't work on my blog or my research. I couldn't veg and watch Six Feet Under while knitting, as was my plan since I don't own a TV. I couldn't plan my day tomorrow since bus schedules, store hours, etc are all online. Again, I would like to point out that I have no car. I have to take the bus all the way back to the Fiber Gallery. Of course the bus was 20 minutes late and the one back home was leaving as I stepped off the bus there. On a normal day this would mean an irritating 15 minutes wait but since it's Sunday it means I walk the 40+ blocks home.

This all meant that I didn't get any time at home tonight before Karaoke started. And what song was the latest drunk belting out in all his atonal glory when I got home? That's right. Sweet Caroline.

Oh, and my Six Feet Under disk is scratched.

2005-08-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Success! (Mostly.) Now the first post is at the top, there's just a huge gap before the comments and later posts. Good enough for tonight. I also restarted the Cherry Blossom Shawl:

Nothing went severely wrong, but I have a tendency to start every project several times since it seems easier just to restart if anything seems off. I had begun a few times before, and then hadn't so much marked where I was when I set it down a few weeks ago. Out it comes. I've completed chart A and am completely enchanted. I'm using Lorna's Helen's Lace, which could be why.

2005-08-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my code for the past few days, though as you can see I've had no luck. On the other hand, I'm lucky enough to know Jessica who was recently lucky enough to get another wheel which she is lending me! Yipee! First she showed me what to do:

I've been playing with a drop spindle, but this is my first wheel attempt:

I made yarn!

2005-08-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

I finally got the free patterns up and running (I think). Click on the links at the top of the right sidebar (I'll get the sidebars to line up with the body next, I swear) to download pdf versions of a 3x1 ribbed hat, a pair of fingerless gloves, socks that have a specific right and left, and the instructions for my variation of the double start cast on that I posted in December. Enjoy!

2005-08-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

I had a very full day today, which fortunately involved a lovely evening with friends, so I am too tired to take and post pictures. Instead I will leave you with advice that may save your life one day since Mark has been telling me all about his survival training. You may be aware that there are several snakes that look very similar to the most venomous North American snake, the coral snake. Mark's instructor taught them a little poem to help clarify the situation. You may have heard (something like) it: "Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black... you're still too fucking close to the snake!"

2005-08-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Seattle and my photos are no longer being held hostage in my camera. I had an adventurous two weeks. Well, maybe not as adventurous as, say, Mark:

But I did head over to the land of the Four Chickens for a little hen-sitting:

And I finished the leafy tank (as I believe I mentioned earlier, but now I have photos)

Someone bought the pattern today. I'm terrified. It's going to be all wrong and worded in the worst possible way and they are going to hunt me down and gouge me to death with their dullest Addis while screaming "there is no way this shaping is right!!!" It's especially nerve-wracking because the tank doesn't really fit the mannequin. It fits me, I swear. The mannequin is just smaller-chested and doesn't have a back.... really...

Upon returning to MS I found that this had happened to my garden:

Look closely and you'll see the black edging marking the border of the garden. If it's not a tree, light green bush, or dark purple stuff, it's not supposed to be there. Apparently when before getting on the plane in June I said "You need to either lay down mulch tomorrow or weed regularly while I'm gone" and Mark said "I'll mulch," no formal or binding agreement had been made and it is ridiculous to think so. I forgot to take an after picture, but all is well and mulch has been laid. In fact, I think we have one of the coolest backyards on base.

The neighbor had a baby while I was gone, so I whipped up a pair of these:

Using the scraps of Shepherd's Sock from Conway I made a pair of the baby socks from the summer IK. I hated the toe that was written, so after a few attempts settled on decreasing one stitch in from each edge of the top and bottom every other row. They are bigger than I expected, so I also made a pair of the Hugs and Kisses socks with only 29 sts cast on and other measurements adjusted accordingly. Perhaps I'll have a photo of those tomorrow.

I gave the dress I designed from Cascade Sassy Stripes to our friends before I thought to take a photo, and it has yet to be worn so you'll have to settle for a picture of the recipient instead:

"He's wearing the same outfit, but I really don't think this is Daddy."

I started a few other projects as well, but more on those another day.

2005-08-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

It often feels that I kick into domesticity hyper-drive when I come down here. For example, in the last 24 hours I have trimmed the hedges, made a small garden around the mailbox, swept the driveway (long and covered in the remains of the three inches Mark just cut off the grass), pulled up all the grass around the bushes along the front of our house, weeded the garden (anything I say about the state of my garden you will think I am exaggerating, wait until I can post a picture; think meadow), done three loads of laundry, spent three hours cleaning the kitchen (some people were not meant to live alone), went grocery shopping, prepared and froze eight meals (for Mark when I leave again), made two meals to eat at present, and knit one of the little cabeled socks from the last Interweave Knits. For contrast, in my month in Seattle I prepared and ate one dinner at home, tidied up in the 15 minutes before I had to leave to catch my plane out here, and can't readily think of the nearest patch of grass, much less garden.

Although I have been taking lots of pictures, I don't seem to have a USB cable here to get them to my computer. I'll post some as soon as I can rustle one up. The sock is extremely cute, as is the dress out of the Cascade striping sock yarn I finally finished and gave to the adorable baby down the road (it had been wanting ends woven in for about a month).

2005-08-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

I just got back from an orientation for the spouses of student pilots. It was not reassuring. I'm pretty sure Mark's going to fail pilot training and it's going to be all my fault because I'm not going to be here to make him breakfast.

2005-08-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

The leafy tank for the shop is done! I realize that I haven't posted much about it, but believe me it has been a monkey on my back. In interest of blog-accuracy and in response to an argument with Jessica if I started this in May as I claim, I searched through my archives this morning. I started it in a month that begins with an M...

I had to rush out of town right after blocking it, so I was unable to get photos. I'll take some (and provide more project details) as soon as I get back to Seattle late next week. If you can't wait, you can see it on display at The Fiber Gallery.

Last night I spent a nice evening in my southern home with Mark and I both working on computer projects. I was typing up the pattern for the aforementioned tank, while Mark was working on changing this

to this

for his flight school class patch. CAFB stands for Columbus Air Force Base, and 06-13 is his class (they will be the thirteenth class to graduate in 06. I think.) The plane is called a Tweet (if you want to know why find a training base near you and listen to the planes), and is what they do a substantial part of their training in. Don't you love that this super-intense, hardcore training program starts with arts and crafts?

2005-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

I've been mainly working on Lara from the Debbie Bliss Alpaca silk book lately. The construction of this sweater is fascinating. I had no idea how it was going to come together until I was 75% done. I was cruising and had pretty much finished in under two weeks when it was time to start the ribbing for the second sleeve. I thought I had the right number of rows to make the sleeves the same length, but they just didn't look the same. I counted very carefully and began the ribbing. Notice anything?

It seems my gauge has perhaps changed a bit. I think I'll seam most of it tomorrow and then give the ribbing another shot with smaller or bamboo needles. Hopefully the sleeve size won't be too different. The gauge in stockinette looks basically the same. I'm afraid to measure it.

2005-07-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA since Mark got to come visit this weekend! It was really great. The weather was nice and sunny but not scorching, and we had very little that actually needed to get done. We read the copy of Harry Potter graciously lent by Marti (does anyone else sort of wish they had waited to read this so they wouldn't have to wait the ages for the next book?) (and does anyone else feel incredibly sad thinking about how the next one is the last?), and stuffed Mark full of fabulous food from arouond the world. I have a few finished objects but will need to get pictures taken of them tomorrow.

Oh *&%?*#!! Mark just called, and he hit a deer on the way back from the airport! He's okay, thank goodness, but my beautiful car! It still runs, but he sounded very wry when he said we should get our money's worth out of the insurance even after our deductible. We need some sort of educational effort to teach deer from fawns to look both ways...

2005-07-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have no idea why my posts are being shoved way down to the bottom. I have read through the code several times and see no open tags. I have deleted code section by section and not found the part causing the problem. Of course I can't find the file where I saved my template when it was still working... help!

2005-07-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

Jan 2nd: Happy new year and happy new sweater! I finish the knitting and sewing up of Ribby Cardi. All I have to do is put in the zipper, and I'm set.

April 12th: Back in MN where the sweater was finished, I actually go out and buy a zipper. Later that evening, I realize I have been so seduced by the promise of an "invisible zipper" that I failed to notice that it doesn't separate.

April 13th: I exchange the zipper, but must continue our progress in the move down south. No worries, as soon as I get back to Seattle in two weeks I can pop that sucker in. I'm prepared.

June 4th: Back in MN again, my mom asks incredulously if this is the same sweater. I actually baste the zipper in place, following Bonne Marie's excellent tutorial.

June 6th: With an hour to spare before leaving to catch my flight I frantically pull out my mom's sewing machine, wind a bobbin, and am ready to go. This is it! The sweater will be complete! I turn the crank to raise the needle and discover it is broken. My mom is at work. I have no idea where she keeps her spare needles. I've never changed one before. It's possible I'm not entirely packed. I swear and shove the sweater back in the suitcase.

July 16th: I finally drag out my sewing machine and realize the bobbin I stole from my mom doesn't fit and I can't remember how to wind a bobbin on my machine. The manual is in Mississippi.

July 19th, 9:30am: Jessica comes bearing Sam for a little zipper party. I remember where to put the bobbin to wind it, but it doesn't work. I wind by hand. This time I'm serious.

9:45: I realize the two pieces of the crappy plastic zipper foot attachment I bought won't actually fit together. I want to stress that these were two pieces that came together. I began to hear a funeral dirge drifting in from somewhere.

10:00: After calling around we find a very serious sewing supply store that will sell me a zipper foot (though thinks I'm an idiot since the only thing I can tell them is the brand of my machine, and I was damn proud of finally remembering that). In very small words they told me to bring in one of the other feet from my machine and they would help. But wait! It sounds like the zipper foot from Jessica's machine clips in the same way, we can just use that! We pack up the machine and our sweaters and move out.

10:15: You didn't really think that was going to work, did you?

10:30: Once in the store we find out that I already own a zipper foot, it just looks really weird compared to others we'd seen.

10:45: I cannot. Get. The damn. Thing. On.

11:00: I love the internet. I found the manual for my Elna, and though it was actually pretty poor, it was good enough that I figured out how to attach the foot. In case you ever need to do it, here is what it is supposed to look like:

Great! Now I just have to sew!

11:45: Shit. I have to sew.

11:50: That girl who was so good in Home Ec seems to have died. As I rip out my work, Jessica realizes that my model of sewing machine isn't a good one for her: there's a knob right where she wants to bang her head in frustration. After bonding with my seam ripper a few times, I decide that my basting is actually causing me some problems on one side (twisting my I-cord), so I just follow one row of knitting and hope for the best.

12:00pm: Given that I didn't breathe the entire time I was sewing, and every muscle in my body was clenched, I'm surprised to find I can become even more tense as I remove the basting to inspect the damage.

12:10: It actually looks okay! I rush to try it on. Jessica finishes and does the same. I can't get my zipper to reconnect. She can't get hers to separate.

12:13: I finally get the crappy zipper back together (note: zipper and zipper foot set both came from Walmart before The Oath. I rest my case.) My sweater looks great! (Zipper-wise, anyway. I want to redo the sleeves, as the ribs are just not flattering on me.) Jessica realizes that her zipper is not a separating zipper. Impressively, she does not collapse into tears. We take celebration and solice, respectively, in an Indian lunch buffet.

9:50: The dang sweater refuses to photograph well. I tried on me in the mirror, on the bed, on a hanger... this is the best I could do. It's much cooler. Really.

2005-07-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it has reached that time of year again where it officially sucks that no one in Seattle has air conditioning. It is hot and humid, and the sun has been down for a while. I do not do well with hot and humid (as is evidenced by the fact that even knowing first hand that it is much worse in places like Minnesota for much longer I'm whining about Seattle summer. Screw it; in those other places they have air conditioning.) It's too hot to knit. It's too hot to take pictures and write a good blog entry. It is, in fact, too hot to even read blogs and I have left about a third on my bloglines list bold. It's too hot to link to bloglines. I'm going to bed. Because getting to sleep when I'm hot and sticky is easy...

I wish I had the new Harry Potter book. Then I could be happy I was laying in bed wide awake all night. Just 1183 people ahead of me on the library hold list.

2005-07-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished the sheep dress and it is blocking as I type. My most recent modification to the pattern was to change the border (A question for Miss Bliss: what type of wire did you use in the border of your version? Because there is no way in hell that the one row of picots, which themselves curl in, stopped the curl of your dress). I began by doing a backward single crochet, chain stitch repeat along the edge which was very cute.

I got to three rows of single crochets before realizing that having connected to only every other stitch was not going to be enough structure. I gave in and just did three boring rows of single crochet and then the picots. The edge still flares a bit but it's not too bad and I'm hoping blocking will straighten it out. If not, it's fine.

Now take a deep breath before I show you the finished project, because your going to need it for the long "aaawwwwwww"

Is this not the cutest thing anywhere ever? I'm not bragging about the quality of the work (believe me, there are quality issues I wish weren't there); if chimps could make a vague representation of this dress it would be adorable.

The pattern is from Debbie Bliss: The Baby Knits Book. I of course only followed it in spirit. I knit it in the round (which made the sheep reeeeeeeeaaaaaally slow) and ommitted the sleeves and collar, adding the edging you see instead. I wanted to make it a bit more climate-versitle since who knows whatIn a bizzare twist of fate I had the actual yarn called for, and made it out of Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton (but in a much cuter color, not that blah grey in the book).

I think it's sweet enough for my new niece

Oh, and it is destined to be unique. I will gouge my eyes out before weaving in all those ends again.

2005-07-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

With the exception of missing Mark like crazy, I am so incredibly happy to be back in Seattle. The middle of nowhere can be nice to visit if it's pretty (Columbus isn't), but even then a person can't be expected to live like that. I'm back in a place with busses and businesses and people and reasonable temperatures and above all... decent food! I went to Trader Joes and almost cried at all of the wonderful food of all types that was there. I walked past the Tea House and smelled it's very unique and very foreign scent, and if I could have figured out a way I would have hugged it. When I thought of Seattle while I was in MS it was sort of this vision of restaurants as far as the eye could see of any type you could think of. I may never eat at home again. Yesterday I had Thai. Today I'm thinking Indian. Maybe Cuban. I also hadn't realized how very much I missed my friends. Knitting at Essential last night was just wonderful. I was able to catch up with everyone, drink good coffee, and completely relax. And they gave us all free fancy desserts! I love this city.

Oh yeah, and I finished my sock on the drive back to MS from St Louis where we spent the weekend of the fourth (Happy Anniversary to me!).

Those sock blockers are amazing. It is blocked so perfectly you wouldn't even believe.

2005-06-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

I have something you must do immediately. It requires an ice cream maker of some variety. Got one? Good. Now collect:

* 1/4 cup hot espresso
* 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup half-and-half
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 6 oz frozen raspberries, half thawed

Dissolve cocoa and sugar in espresso. Let mixture cool. Stir in vanilla, half-and-half, heavy cream, and syrup from thawed raspberries. Place mix into ice cream maker and freeze, according to maker's directions. If you are lucky enough to have a husband who asked for an ice cream attachment for your brand new KitchenAid mixer for his birthday, this means put it all into the frozen bowl and mix for 18 minutes. Add the raspberries and mix for three minutes. Scrape the soft serve into a bowl and freeze until it reaches the desired consistency. Taste, preferably in secret away from anyone who might want to share. Feel free to thank me if you can bring yourself to take the spoon out of your mouth long enough.