Secret Agent Lemur: Stark Raving Mad

Pre-retreat update

2007-11-04T15:33:00.000-06:00

So, before I jet off for another exciting stitching retreat, I thought I'd post what I'd been up to. In my defense, I've kept up my Ravelry statuses a bit better. But actually, I've been mostly stitching throughout october, which means a lot slower progress than I'm used to reporting. Additionally, all blogging sites have been blocked from work, so drafting entries on breaks or over lunch is a lot harder than it used to be. So, what have I wrought of late? A whole lot of starting, that's what.

Finished:

Andes Charity projects: Pair o' socks #3 left me with juuuuuust enough yarn to make a Karlchen top-down hat with the leftovers.

Aurora Borealis Scarf part Deux: I'm wearing it as a fall scarf with my coat.

Sherwood: I improvised a hat to match, and made my boss very happy. She's threatening to put the boys in their sweaters for her Christmas card, which would be cute indeed.

Oak Leaf Coasters: So it's my turn to host supper club, and, over-achiever that I am, I get the genius idea to make coasters with leaves on them, in fall colors. Borealis had some beautiful autumnal colors in Plymouth Tweed, so how could I say no?
Double knitting would be the key--reversible, no zillion fiddly ends like intarsia, and I've been meaning to get more comfortable with the technique.
It felted down beautifully, but rectangularly--I made two more with the extra length to end up square, post-felting. Those two were done juuuuuust in time for dinner on Saturday, which meant they missed their photo op.

Noro Entrelac Hat: My community knitting buddy Judy worked out a nifty entrelac hat pattern that we community knitters have been bothering her to write up for ages. I finally sat down with her over dinner one week, and we wrote it up. This is what I used to test my own pattern-writing skills. I had so much fun, there's another one in the (lengthy) WIP queue below.

On the Needles:

Shadow Shawl: Languishing in obscurity at present. Alas.

Lacy Dolman Sweater: Put a few more rows on it before I got distracted by Entrelac hattery and Oak leaf trivet-making.

Kid's Puzzle Cardigan: My current "big" charity knitting project. I picked up the pattern at the MN Knitters Guild Yarnover fest in April, and thought I'd try it out with the leftover yarn from Matt's Boundary Waters sweater. The folks at Borealis affectionately call it the Baby Surprise Sweater on Crack--which it is. It's knit in one piece like an Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise sweater, but it has a whole lot more zigs and zags in it. I have a sinking feeling my stitch counts may be off somewhere, as I approach a critical juncture--we'll see. Right now, it looks like a crumpled mess on the needles, with a TON of safety pins in it, so no picture.

Entrelac Hat #2: When Borealis Yarns puts their odd-lot balls of Silk Garden and Kureyon on sale, what do you do? You buy one to make another cute entrelac hat, that's what.

Red Rainy Day Scarf: I fell prey to another Borealis free clinic. And it gave me an excuse to buy the awesome merino/silk Sheep Shop Sheep #3 yarn I'd had my eye on. It's my new interstitial project.

Scroll Lace Socks: I have to have some socks available for knitting at all times--though they're pre-empted for other knitting right now, I'm eager to put more work into them--they were my first foray into a picot edge cuff, and I love 'em.

Silent Auction Socks: I decided to put my handiwork in the silent auction at my office this year--my friend Lindsay won my handiwork, and I've cast on "Rainbow Socks" from the October MagKnits. If the pattern doesn't work with the yarn (the striping may be too long), I might have to pick another pattern.

Stocking on Commission: As a favor for Liz's coworker, I agreed to finish a Christmas Stocking for her co-worker. It's knit flat, so it's interesting, but who am I to deny a new grandchild a stocking that matches the rest of the family's?

In the hoop:

Marion Scoular's Blackwork Acorns: No change. I think I'll take it on retreat with me, however.

Bless this Child Sampler: I've ventured back into the land of stitching thanks to the recent addition to the Miller family--I'm about halfway through a lovely traditional sampler for the wee new lass. That's why my knitting throughput has been so low. :)

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still The Monk, but I finished a bunch of other books since I put it down.
Listening to: Cracker. I loves me some Dave Lowry, oh yes I do.

Rowr! Turbo powers activate!

2007-08-17T17:24:00.001-05:00

August means my Needlework Guild's annual retreat, in Buffalo, MN. Wednesday-Sunday, nothing but blissful, uninterrupted, stitchy-stitchy time. I accomplished TONS, and got caught up with some of my favorite fellow stitchers/knitters/crafty gals. What did I accomplish, you ask? Well, behold!

Finished:
Butterfly: Seamed and button attached! The collar needs to be re-blocked, and it came out a wee bit big (the sleeves are quite long), but it's gorgeous. I acquired the perfect button on one of my Madison shopping trips with Madam--pressed iridescent glass, that reflects blue-purple. Yummeh.

And yet still more socks: Also complete! They're orange, they're happy, they're mine, all mine. I'm going to have to speed up my sock turnaround time, though, if I'm ever going to knit all the socks I want to knit.

Andes Charity projects: I finished the first pair of shortrowed-heel socks, followed by a pair of "class socks" from Sensational Knitted Socks--they come out to perfect toddler sock size. Still burning through the yarn, though.

Loons at Night: I started and finished a counted cross-stitch project at retreat! I KNOW! It's a cute, simple project with loons silhouetted against a night-time lake--all done in negative space, so you're stitching on black fabric with white thread. Clever and simple.

On the Needles:
Shadow Shawl: No change to speak of, but I refuse to apologize, because--look at all the rest of the stuff I did!

Lacy Dolman Sweater: No change. It's next.

Andes Charity projects: Pair o' socks #3 from this yarn is a full-size pair in "Vertical Waffle" from More Sensational Knitted Socks. Top-down, with a traditional heel flap. Decreasing the gusset on sock #1.

Aurora Borealis Scarf part Deux: 6-8 inches of scarf so far. It's a good "interstitial" project because the rows are so short--perfect for waiting rooms, etc.

Sherwood: Well, my boss-lady's in Russia now, taking care of the final paperwork. I bound off the shoulders last night, and once my size 6 dpns come out of the Andes sock, it's sleeve time!

Moved to Hibernation:
Rambling Rows Baby Afghan
Bear Claw Blanket
A bit of a false alarm on the expectant family member, so I don't have to commit to my insane plan of completing those blankets in short order. Someday. Oh yesss precioussss . . .

In the hoop:
Marion Scoular's Blackwork Acorns: My retreat class project--a lovely blackwork piece in gold and green. It's filling patterns are all stitched, and I just need to complete the outlining. I LOVE blackwork.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Monk and The Bourne Identity.
Listening to: Cake.

Wait, it hasn't been anywhere close to six months yet!

2007-07-14T10:12:00.000-05:00

Ah, yes, but rediscovering the wonders of your blog through Ravelry means more updates. Whee. In short, I'm still a project-starting fool (so many babies, so little time), and I'd like to get some of those WIPs out of the queue so I don't have quite so many projects on the needles. Since it's July, I'm starting with the smallest stuff first. :)

My Ravelry stash organizing pointed out that, although my Ikea cube storage thingy is indeed full of sock yarn, when you pull it all out to catalogue it, it really doesn't seem like all that much yarn. (Shock! Horror!) So, my temporary sock yarn diet got thrown out the window, thanks to a new shipment of Great Adirondack Silky Sock arriving at Borealis. (So pretty. The most recent acquisition is "Sugar Maple", which reminds me of nothing so much as rainbow sherbet or spumoni ice cream.)

So, what have I been doing lately?

Finished: Nothing finished. But progress is being made, dammit!

Requiring Finishing:
Butterfly: Still in the seaming pile.

On the Needles:
And yet still more socks: I am in the process of turning the heel on Sock #2. This is the project I default to after completing my "required" knitting on the baby blankets. (Read on for the most anal-retentive plan in all of knitting.)

Shadow Shawl: No change to speak of.

Lacy Dolman Sweater: No change. It's in line for finishing behind the sock.

Rambling Rows Baby Afghan: Fourteen out of fifty-five units completed. My plan is to do one unit (Rectangle, or Large or Small Square) of knitting per day on this afghan, stopping to weave in the ends after every ten blocks. That way, I should be done with it by Labor Day. Even though it's cheap acrylic, it's starting to look really cute. I'm hopeful I calculated my yarn needs appropriately, but we'll see. It's a quick trip to Michael's if I need more, anyway.

Bear Claw Blanket: Well, I got word that my white yarn has shipped from where I ordered it (yay!) and it should arrive today or Monday. In the meantime, I've made all the little center squares (3 green, 3 yellow, 3 purple), so I'm ready to go bonkers as soon as the white yarn arrives. I'm hoping to follow the same kind of "one unit per day" rule on this blanket as well--though once Rambling Rows is done, I'll probably pick up the pace, as the individual pieces on this one tend to be made out of fewer stitches.

Andes Charity projects: I finished sock #1 of pair #1, and cast on sock #2. The pattern I chose is why I'm glad I understand sock mechanics--I stayed with the short row heel, but instead of doing a short-row toe and grafting 36 stitches together, I did a traditional toe and only had to graft 12. :)

Aurora Borealis Scarf part Deux: Still a lonely row or two.

And yet another started project!

Sherwood: Out of some lovely robin's-egg blue Cool Wool--my boss who adopted the baby (Recipient of Pea Pod #2) this past winter? Is adopting another little boy in a few weeks! Evidently, the paperwork came together more quickly than anyone expected it to. So, I can't let this baby go unloved by handknits! I chose Sherwood from Knitty, because its construction results in a super cute result with fairly simple construction. And, since this little dude is 22 months old, it had 4 year-old sizing. :) It's just a few rows off of cast-on, but it will need to see regular rotation as well.

In the hoop: Nothin’ much.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Monk and The Bourne Identity.
Listening to: Interpol.

The Ravelry Effect

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

Boy, there’s nothing like an invitation to participate in the Beta of a website that allows you to catalog all of your past, present, and future knitting to turn up the volume on your hobby. (And remind you of all the things you’ve knitted.) The Yarn Harlot has gone on in more entertaining detail than I could about the wonders of Ravelry.com, so I’ll just link you instead of attempting it myself. It’s had a wonderfully rejuvenating effect on my desire to document and blog my knitting habit, so you may be seeing more of me here—at least for a while. As I was cataloging my works, I found this blog really handy for answering the “so, when did I knit that?” question. Also, I’ve had a TERRIBLE attack of start-itis since I last updated—you’ll see why below. If (by some chance) you’re reading this, and you’re also on Ravelry, I’m PirateLemur. Friend Away!

Finished:
Aurora Borealis Scarf: The Wednesday evening clinic at Borealis on June 6th was a nifty lace scarf that also ends up long enough to be a keen belt. The Noro Aurora was so pretty, I had to buy a few balls (okay, four), with the intention of making them be Christmas presents for my various and sundry nieces.

Requiring Finishing:
Butterfly: Still in the seaming pile.

On the Needles:
And yet still more socks: Sock #1 complete. Sock #2 underway, and we’re tooling up the foot.

Shadow Shawl: No change to speak of.

Lacy Dolman Sweater: On a sleeve-to sleeve sweater project? Those body rows get reeeeeeeally long. Luckily, I just divided for the front and back, which makes things a bit more manageable.

Rambling Rows Baby Afghan: I have a pregnant immediate family member! Yaaaay! I’m using my acrylic stash to make a modular afghan that’s pretty much baby-proof. (Pastel shades of pink, blue, purple and yellow.) I foresee many more projects for this wee one in the future. I have four out of fifty-some units completed. . . .

Bear Claw Blanket: I think this might actually be proof that I’ve lost my mind in excitement over my pending niece or nephew. It’s a beautiful finished project, but it’s a lap quilt. Knit out of fingering weight yarn. Can you say “heirloom”? It will be, if I ever finish it. Three center squares so far, and my white yarn is still on order.

Wool of the Andes Charity projects: One Mason-Dixon baby sweater completed—used just about one ball. Next up? Socks. I cast on for the first of the pair this past Sunday. I’m using a pattern for Children in Common, and was bummed to discover it was a short-row heel—I was looking forward to a turned heel. I think I just might turn the heel anyway. :)

Aurora Borealis Scarf part Deux: I cast it on so I could take a picture of it for Ravelry. I’m kind of sick that way.

In the hoop:
Nothin’ much.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Monk, the first horror novel ever.
Listening to: iTunes on shuffle. Right now, The Communards.

Long-overdue update

2007-06-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

So, I'm rapidly discovering that I'd rather actually be knitting than update a blog. Ah well. It's not like I have a readership to disappoint, anyway. I do like this for a tracking mechanism, though, so I can look back on what I've done. Since I last posted, I've been busy! Let's get to it.

Finished:
Hey, I’m adopting a baby! Peapod Sweater: So, the VP of my department called us in for an emergency staff meeting. Staff meetings with less than 24 hours notice rarely mean anything good, however--this one was to let us know she and her husband were heading to Russia to finalize the adoption of their new son, and that she'd be out of the office for at least eight weeks on parental leave. I cranked out another Peapod with matching hat as quickly as I could so that the I could have a proper "welcome to the US" gift for the little dude when she brought him in for a visit.

Cabled Malabrigo Hat: I picked up some gorgeous green Malabrigo in PA over Christmas, and made an adorable cabled hat out of it. Donated to charity, where it will doubtless make some kid look really cute.

Yet another pair of sox: After languishing sadly at the bottom of my bag for weeks, I decided that they needed to be done already. Thanks to a verrrrrrrry long Needlework Guild Board meeting, I got most of the leg done, and a weekend with a head cold pretty much finished them off. My sister-in-law, the intended recipient, claims they fit beautifully, so no reknitting for me!

Beaded Amulet Bag: This year’s Yarnover project—bright green perle cotton, slightly deeper green beads, with a COOL millefiori bead as the charm. While restringing the beads to the perle was a total PITA, I have to say, the actual knitting process was really fun. I ended up knitting on it obsessively until it was all finished—which took all of two days, really.

Charity Alpaca Sweater with hat: I bought some local PA alpaca when I was home over Christmas, and had enough to make a warm kids’ sweater—to liven up the very neutral grey of the alpaca, I bought some muted rainbow hand-paint thick-n-thin for a stripe in the chest area. It knit up super cute—the “Ryan’s Avalanche” Sweater pattern is a winner. I had enough yarn left to improvise a hat—though I did have to call in some of my leftover Malabrigo as reinforcements.

Vintage Diamond Baby Cardigan: Louet Gems, in eggplant. Holy CRAP, this turned out cute. My only beef is that the pattern comes in precisely one size, so you can’t choose the size of baby you want to knit it for, but . . . great pattern, well written. I bought an extra skein of yarn on purpose--the pattern (Winter ’04 IK) warned that there would be little yarn left over--so I was able to improvise a matching hat and make Christine’s Booties to go with the sweater. I managed to get Chris (the dad to be) all choked up, so go me!

Requiring Finishing:
Butterfly: Ready for seaming! Yay! I joined the shoulders and knit on the collar before a full wet block. Now I just need to get my seaming mojo on, which, with the weather getting warmer, seems like it might take a while.

On the Needles:
And yet still more socks: Foot complete, heel turned, thanks to some air travel. It’s the sock I only work on on planes! Actually, it’s a pain to knit in coach, so it’s really the sock I only work on in airports and miscellaneous hotels.

Shadow Shawl: Finally started! The written description is a little confusing, but once you get it going, it makes a ton of sense. I’m using an impulse-buy skein of Schaeffer Anne (green/blue/purple), and some gorgeous aubergine linen yarn from Louet. I had it nearly 25% complete, when I had to frog back to correct a grievous error in my shadow patterning that I hadn’t noticed sooner. It’s still going to be lovely, but it’s spending some quality time in the “time-out” box right now.

Lacy Dolman Sweater: So, the first yarn I think I ever bought at Borealis was this weird, pseudo-novelty yarn from Schachenmeyer, called “Rainbow”. A white and color (lime green, for me!) cotton core is wrapped with a thin, variegated rainbow strand of rayon. It’s been discontinued since 2004 at least, but it’s kinda cool. elann.com had a great dolman sweater pattern using it—it will require a camisole underneath, or will be used as a swimsuit coverup, but it’s really neat. Being a dolman, it’s knit from sleeve to sleeve, and I’m just to the point where I’m casting on stitches for the front and back. Pictures promised, as it's not a gift. :)

Wool of the Andes Charity projects: From the “tourist yarn” collection (again), I picked up three skeins of yellow and grey WotA at some point—right now, I’m knitting the garter-stitch baby kimono from Mason-Dixon knitting, to be followed up with some toddler/children’s socks.

In the hoop:
Nothin’ much.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I finished all the James Bond novels, and heartily recommend 'em if you like spy thrillers. I've moved on to Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl, which is kind of Secret History-esque, in that it deals with private school scandal, but this time with a wonderfully sympathetic protagonist at a high school, rather than Classics students in college.
Listening to: iTunes on shuffle. Right now, The Decemberists.

Sorry for the delay . . .

2007-02-08T16:57:00.000-06:00

I've been a little busy on the weekends. Here's a quick and dirty update:

Finished:
Charity Tank Top: Huzzah! The end of the Cotton Twist! Though, I gotta say—the top is SUPER cute. .

Super Boring Shawl: Finished it in time for Christmas, and didn't die of boredom. Sister-in-law was pleased, so I can't complain. Too much.

On the Needles:
Yet another pair of sox: One done, one to go. The 2nd sock is about an inch long. The relative inflexibility of cotton might be a problem in these socks—they’re quite tight as they go over my instep. If they don’t fit the intended recipient properly, they’ll have to be unraveled and re-knit from the heel out.

And yet still more socks: Thanks to my paranoia about taking metal knitting needles on planes (technically, I know they’re allowed, but I always get Mister/Miss SuperSensitive TSA rep as I go through security), I started another sock on bamboos in the airport on my way to PA for Christmas. It’s in some nuclearly bright orange/red/yellow/blue Trekking, and I love it. Generic toe-up pattern a la WendyKnits.

Butterfly: My next sweater, out of Noro Silk Garden. It’s a long, open cardigan from the Debbie Bliss/Noro book that was all the rage a year or two ago. It’s really working up beautifully, though I’m near sick to death of the chevron pattern after doing the back. Good news is, I don’t even have to look at my hands any more as I do it. One sleeve left to go. . . .

In the hoop:
I finished all the stitching on my CA Wells bunny pendant. I really need to have a bit of a finishing day—I might actually get something accomplished one of these days.
I also spent some time stitching on the Barn Kitties picture, and cranked out a Subversive Cross Stitch pattern that says "Candy Ass". I'm such a card.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: James Bond novels (I'm up to From Russia With Love, and am just eating them like candy.)

Oh, for the love of Clearance Sales!

2006-11-27T14:11:00.000-06:00

Three Kittens Needlearts had a clearance sale over Thanksgiving weekend that put all other clearance sales to shame. I'd always liked Three Kittens, because they always had whatever I was looking for. I didn't like Three Kittens as much as I wanted to, because it was always so darned difficult to find whatever it was--it was floor to ceiling yarn, with aisles that were so narrow I could barely squeeze through. I picked up some novelty yarn for 75% off, so I can make some lovely garter-stitch thingies for the non-knitters in my life who are easily impressed by such things. ("Oh, what a pretty shawl!" "Wouldn't you rather have this cool cabled sweater?" But the colors are so pretty!" *headdesk*)

Finished:
Noro Transitions Short-Row Rib Scarf: All done! Transitions is expensive, so I used every last bit—and ran out about 2 dozen stitches from the end. I fished some coordinating Silk Garden out of my stash, and completed binding off, just in time for it to get cold enough to wear it.

Peapod Baby Sweater: Heavens, this is a cute, CUTE pattern. Of course again, in my enthusiasm, I didn't take a photo of it before I gave it away. You'll just have to trust me.

Felted Squirrel: From the geniuses who brought you the ubiquitous felted hedgehog, there’s a squirrelly equivalent, too! This is for my brother, for Christmas. (He likes squirrels, despite us telling him they’re really just rats with cute fluffy tails.) Next time I make one, I'll put the ears up higher on his head, but he's cute anyway.

On the Needles:
Yet another pair of sox: Managed to snap a Size 1 Brittany Birch during an enthusiastic SSK, so I switched to my cheap-o Susan Bates metal needles. Poking along happily—the heel turning is in sight.

Charity Tank Top: Whaddya know? I actually finished the back at knitting on Sunday. Only a front left, since tank tops don’t have sleeves. Nifty!

Christmas Shawl: I'm turning some of that novelty yarn into a shawl for my sister-in-law--triangular, on size 15s a la the Grandma's Dishcloth pattern, in a peacock-ish colorway of blue, lavender, and lime. It's pretty, but oh so boring. So very boring.

2006-11-03T16:04:00.000-06:00

Finished:
Schaeffer Anne Victorian Baby Sweater: All done. Now with matching hat and booties. Leftover yarn + a Lemur with free time = entirely too much cuteness. Of course, I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped them up for giving (I was tying the ribbon bows on the booties at shower T-1 hour), so you’ll have to wait until I get a picture of them on little Marta (who arrived on a couple of weeks ago, and is doing quite well, thank you).

Party-Time Apron: Finito! Vintage red-orange button from Borealis? Perfect. Now gracing the home of Babs. Hee.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: Thanks to a weekend car trip to Atchison, KS (that’s 7+ hours each way), the front came together quite quickly. I finished the seaming and neckband at the lake last weekend, and Squid was able to wear it home. It fits beautifully, and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Yarn: Cascade Eco Wool—Three skeins of chocolate brown, plus a skein of green and tan for the stripes. Eco Wool comes in HUGE hanks, so I have quite a bit of yarn left in all the colors.
Needles/Gauge: Size 9, 4 sts to the inch
Pattern: Standard, crew-neck drop shoulder sweater pattern from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, in k6p2 rib. Have I mentioned how much I love this book? It and its companion book of all kinds of patterns, are like learning how to cook something tasty based on what you have in your kitchen, rather than blindly following a recipe to the letter.

A kitty sweater for Trevor: Don’t tell him that it’s actually a dog sweater pattern from Knitty, but my friend Vet of the Dead’s rescued, one-eyed Sphynx cat needed something warm for winter. Check him out:

Tribal Tiger sweater for Trevor: Someone on LiveJournal needed test knitters for her upcoming book of dog sweaters. When I offered a naked, one-eyed cat instead, she jumped at the chance, so I knit another for Trevor--this one in black superwash with an abstract, Skinny-Puppy-logoish tiger head on it. It was totally an intarsia development opportunity. I came close to being reduced to weeping over the end-weaving required, but stayed strong. Once the book is public, I'll be sure to post the picture of Trevor in his new sweater. It's GREAT.

On the Needles:
Someone help me! I’ve had a case of cast-on-itis!

Yet another pair of sox: Cuff’s about four inches long, and I’m really liking the pattern. Foot tests show that the diameter should work—the ribbing draws in so much when it’s unstretched that I was a little worried.

Noro Transitions Short-Row Rib Scarf: I’ve had this yarn in my stash for over a year now, waiting for a spot in the queue to open up to make this clever scarf from MagKnits. It’s working great, and the yarn is seriously fun to knit with—the different fiber sections really do have a tactile difference in the knitting. I had planned on making it two skeins long, and knitting a matching hat, but I decided to go all three skeins for the scarf because long scarves rool.

Peapod Baby Sweater: I love having pregnant friends. It means I get to knit the cutest things. I have a pale apple green Butterfly Super 10 that is knitting up super cute. Baby Boy is due in December, so I need to get cracking. Good thing it’s a quick knit, though, because . . .

In the hoop:
Whaddya know? It was Belisle retreat time, so I actually did some stitching! My CA Wells Needle Cottage is nearly complete--it just needs to have its hedebo edging added, and it will be ready to finish. Only problem is, I don't remember how to do hedebos. It's like detached buttonhole, but my efforts were looking like total crap.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The End, by Lemony Snicket, along with this week's Entertainment Weekly, and The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt.
Listening to: The computer fan hum. And some Daft Punk that's stuck in my head.

Lo, I am become Death,

2006-09-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

Destroyer of WIPs. :) I've been on a bit of a finishing kick lately. Something about deadlines and finally getting my ambition back after this damn heat has broken. I also, happily, discovered that my digital camera is OK after all. It just has a counter-intuitive battery gauge.

Finished:
Baby Kimono: I DID have enough for both booties! Of course, I have, like, three yards of yarn left over, but that’s kind of the point. I handed the whole thing off to Borealis before I snapped a pic of the booties, but they didn't photograph particularly well anyway. Here's the sweater.

Silk Garden Cardigan: Thanks to a temperate few days that got me thinking of fall, and an edition of Crap From The Past, it got its buttons, got blocked, and I wore it last weekend! I love it. Check it out:

Top-down Raglan for A4A: Well, there’s a sweater challenge going on right now at Afghans for Afghans. Thanks to a great sale on Lamb’s Pride Bulky, and some swap yarn from Madam, I have a top-down raglan for an approximately six-year-old kid, all ready by the mid-September deadline.

Requiring Finishing:

Schaeffer Anne Victorian Baby Sweater: Its sleeves are in, which I managed without having to add more rows (hooray). I have one little i-cord tie left to knit, then it's attachment and final end-weaving. Woo!

Party-Time Apron: Guess what I worked on all Labor Day weekend? It's finished, except for the button, which I hope to find at Borealis today. Just in time to give to Babs at the great FNPP reunion next Friday. The Poker Party returns to the air, baby! Yes, it's large, but you totally need to see the diamond patterning. Crazy!

On the Needles:

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: Starting plugging away on the front. Men’s sweaters are so darn big. I’d like to have it done for him this fall, however. Signs are looking good.

Yet another pair of sox: Cuff’s a couple of inches long, and I’m really liking the pattern. I am, however, a little worried that it’s not going to be loose enough to wear—my gauge might be a little too tight. We shall see. It’s nowhere near tragic-to-rip-out at this point.

In the hoop:
Yeah, still radio-silence.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished The Shelters of Stone. I moved on to The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. I loved The Secret History, so I'm hopeful this one will be as good.
Listening to: Dead Milkmen

Photos have been edited in.

2006-08-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I was going to edit in my photos, but my digital camera seems to have gone belly-up, so I'm going to post this anyway. Maybe pictures to come. Who knows.

Edit 9-17: woop! Got 'em. :)

Finished:
I actually forgot something in my giant update a while back. I also made a super nifty multidirectional scarf out of three balls of Diakeito Diamusee! I ran out of yarn three stitches from the end, so I spit-spliced in a little bit of Kureyon to get me through the end. It’s a little lump, but not enough to make a difference post-blocking.

The next pair of socks: All done! These are definitely fraternal twins, but I love them anyway. Those damn tweedy Trekking 100 colors are going to be the death of me. I have at least two more (maybe three) lurking in my stash.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: Done and blocking happily on the floor by my computer. I'm currently trying to make the matching bootees out of the scraps. So far, so good--one is done, we'll see if I have enough for two.

Silk Garden Cardigan: It was too hot. Then it got hotter. Still needing buttons.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: Pulled this back out just today to put it back in active rotation. It's only three inches long, but it will grow.

Schaeffer Anne Victorian Baby Sweater: Finished the body in the car during our trip to and from Madison, WI for the DCI Division I championships. Now, I just need to seam in the sleeves, make some ties, and weave in the ends. All the fun parts. :P I'm a little concerned that my sleeves are off in their gauge--they were knit in the round vs the flat body--and I'm going to have to do some creative easing to make them fit. Ah well. They were quick, if I have to reknit 'em.

Yet another pair of sox: Yep. That impetuousness means they’re just about two rows longer than where they were a few weeks ago. Soon, my darling sockies, soon.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Shelters of Stone
Listening to: Dead Milkmen

Well, it’s a START . . .

2006-08-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

Hey, it hasn’t been a month or more since I last updated! Will wonders never cease. What have I been up to?

Finished:
Huh. I actually haven’t finished anything. Go fig.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: No change. I’ve been on the road so many weekends that I haven’t had the chance to go to Community Knitting. *sniff*

Silk Garden Cardigan: It was too hot. Then it got hotter. Still needing buttons.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: No change. Too hot. Blurgh.

The next pair of socks: Thanks to an unplanned seven-hour stay at Chicago O’Hare, the second Trekking 100 sock got an entire foot, heel turning, and up to the cuff in one loooong day. I’ve put about an inch of ribbing on the cuff, but have been instead distracted by . . .

Schaeffer Anne Victorian Baby Sweater: Dang, this thing’s fun to knit. Both sleeves are complete, I’ve completed the lace part of the body, and am working up the back. Hand-dyed yarn was nearly my undoing for this one—the Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino is a very hand-painted handpaint—no two all that much alike, blahblahblah, and I thought I was in trouble when I swifted up the second skein that looked so darn close in the hank. The balls don’t look at all alike, but when knit up, they blend OK. *whew*.

Yet another pair of sox: These will be in the “Chevron” pattern from Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks. Oh, how I love that book. Sock #1 is . . . . about 10 rows long. I just felt like casting on something new. So impetuous, I am. I’m knitting these in a cotton-wool-poly blend from OnLine. I can tell there’s cotton in the yarn, and I’m wondering if I’m really going to like it—it’s a lot stiffer than my usual super-floppy Trekking.

In the hoop:
*whistles innocently* I have, however, gotten all the bookkeeping done for my needlework guild. So there.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Hot Damn! I finished Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Kinda precious, but worth the read. Next up: finish The Shelters of Stone.
Listening to: Stone Roses.

Heh. She said "duty"

2006-07-16T19:57:00.000-05:00

I'm in a bit of a creative slump at the moment--I've been productive, needles-wise, but I just haven't been . . . in contact, really. Let's try the brute-force method, here, and I'll get you up to date:

Finished:
The Ferret Sock: Finished in a frenzy of knitting over a very hot Memorial Day weekend. It was so nasty hot outside (96 F and humid) that we just hid in the Boogiemonster's living room and chatted. And I knit. Now amusing Obie and his sister at chez Zombie Fan.

Young Love Stripey Sleeping Cap: Yet another stripey sleeping cap--this one done in navy and white Butterfly Super 10 as a wedding gift for two of my piratey acquaintances who are tying the knot in September. Yay Basher and Elfen! I wish you the best.

Charity Mittens: Finished 'em up at the lake today. When I re-sized smaller, I now have a decent amount of Manos left over. I'm thinking of knitting it up with some leftover Lambs Pride Bulky I have laying around for Yet Another Charity Hat.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: No change. I did, however, pull out the pieces today and will seam them at community knitting for the next several weeks until the darn thing's done. Procrastination begone!

Silk Garden Cardigan: It's been too hot for sweaters around here, and putting buttons on a piece that's not going to see wear hasn't been high on my list.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: I've cast on the front and knit a few inches, but put it aside in favor of smaller items that don't mean a lapful of heavy wool when it's in excess of 90 degrees out.

The next pair of socks: Trekking 100 definitely makes fraternal twin socks, but I just love the effect, and watching the slow change of what comes next. Sock #1 is complete, and Sock #2 is a few inches long. After turning the heel on sock #1, I got bored with plain stockinette and busted out a 2X2 garter rib for the cuff, which I really like.

Schaeffer Anne Victorian Baby Sweater: Except I'm knitting it in some Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino. It's a clever, darling little sweater with a simple feather and fan pattern for the bottom of the body and the sleeves. Friends of mine have confirmed an imminent baby girl, so I'm pleased to be able to knit something a little bit more frilly than usual. All baby clothes are fun, but I've been so boy- or unisex- focused lately, it's nice to get all girly.

In the hoop:
Who am I kidding? If there's news, I'll tell ya here.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Still. Getting close to the end, though.
Listening to: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Yo, Leems, where ya been?

2006-05-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

At work, why do you ask?

I just finished up a particularly arduous couple of months at work, and realized I hadn't touched this in ages. Here's what I've been up to:

Requiring Finishing:

Baby Kimono: No change. Just haven't felt that seaming feeling.

Silk Garden Cardigan: Buttons purchased, but in my haste to try to finish Squid’s BWCA sweater before he goes up north (um . . . not gonna happen, see below), it’s been languishing on the back of the couch, unloved.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

The Ferret Sock: No change.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: Well, the 1.5 inches of sleeve turned into 26 (!) after I finished all the increases. Which was, of course, way too long. As it turns out, my gauge was closer to four sts/in, rather than five, which meant that sleeve turned out waaaay too big. It was ripped out with a curse and re-knit to a saner size at its real gauge. So, I have 2 (well, three, but who’s counting) sleeves, and a back, which I just completed in the car on my way back from Madison, WI this past weekend. A front and blocking/seaming before Squid’s departure today just didn't happen.

Charity Mittens: Well, most of the way into mitten #1, I realized I’d used over half of my yarn. Boo hiss. So, I ripped it out (sensing a trend?), then split the ball into two halves so I won’t make that mistake again as I re-knit those mitts in a smaller size.

The next pair of socks: Oooh, Trekking 100. I’m working up the foot on sock #1, according to Wendy’s dandy toe-up pattern, but it too has gotten rudely shoved to the side in favor of Boundary Waters Sweaterage.

In the hoop:

Lauren Sauer Prework: I finished the Sea Squirt Pincushion prework, no problem, and even completed the project in class. (I KNOW!) Of course, the treasure chest lid did not go quite as quickly (hello tons of over-one and metallic!), so it didn’t get done—50% ain’t bad.

C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: No change.

Edward Scissorfish: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Listening to: Gnarls Barkley. Man, that’s some good, groovy stuff.

Viva Las Vegas

2006-03-19T16:53:00.000-06:00

Because, even though I was in Las Vegas, of all places, I managed to get some decent knitting done, and buy a souvenir skein of sock yarn. I may make progress against this year's list yet!

Finished:

Checkerboard Scarf: Finished in Las Vegas on Monday, blocked at home on Wednesday, worn to work by Squid on Friday. I was afraid it would be a little too short, but it blocked out very nicely indeed, and he's not a big fan of Dr. Who-length scarves anyway.

Dragon-Scale Socks: Finished them this weekend, after putting some major length on them during my plane flight back from Nevada. I'll have to take a photo of them on my feet--I love how they turned out.

Requiring Finishing:

Baby Kimono: No change. Just haven't felt that seaming feeling.

Silk Garden Cardigan: Crochet successfully completed once I remembered the difference between a single crochet and a slip stitch. All it needs is buttons, but I'm strangely unable to find any I really like. Current front-runners are some plain matte brass ones at Borealis.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: Up to about 60 rows complete on the main body, thanks to an all-Loot viewing of Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

The Ferret Sock: No change.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: I finally put together a plan for a sweater that Squid likes! With any luck, I'll have it ready for him to take to the Boundary Waters with him at the end of May--it's a basic drop-shoulder model, but I'm doing it in a 6x2 rib for a little variety, and making a high neck on it to keep out the drafts. We picked the lovely, soft, bulky but not-too-thick Plymouth Eco-Wool in a nifty chocolate brown color, with a nice green stripe. It's currently about 1.5 inches of one sleeve, so don't get too excited just yet.

Charity Mittens: I have a lovely charcoal skein of Manos del Uruguay that I'd bought for the original fluffy cuff mittens--before I found the awesome acid green llama that I ultimately made them out of. I decided to turn them into a pair of mittens for charity--all wool, for Afghans for Afghans.

The next pair of socks: I've been sitting on a skein of Trekking XXL color 100, for a while--but I wanted to finish my current socks before starting another pair. Hah! The time has come today. However, I was having a terrible time figuring out what size to cast on, so I had to actually swatch. (Gasp!) Looks like Wendy's standard toe-up pattern will be my choice at present, though I reserve the right to change my mind.

In the hoop:

Lauren Sauer Prework: Continuing my alarming trend of stitching nautical-themed stuff, I'm taking the "Mermaid's Menagerie II" and "Mermaid's Treasure Chest" classes from my Guild in April. I need to complete the "Sea Squirt Pincushion" and chest lid stitching prior to class--I'm about 60% done with the pincushion.

C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: No change.

Edward Scissorfish: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Listening to: My usual polyglot, with an extra helping of Tom Jones and William Shatner.

Gold medal, baby.

2006-03-05T10:37:00.000-06:00

Behold, my prize for knitting obsessively in front of curling matches and speed skating for two weeks straight:

Finished:
Fair Isle Sampler Hat: My gold-medal project for the Knitting Olympics! It’s really awesome, and I’m so glad I took the challenge. This was just enough of a challenge to stretch my skills, but not such a huge undertaking that it drove me insane. If you look reeeeeeally closely at the finished object, you can see that I got a little puckery towards the pointy end, but I've chosen to forgive myself--the end was in sight, I had 40 or fewer stitches on doublepoints, and dammit, the gold medal was going to be MINE. As previously threatened--photographic evidence!

Charity Raglan Kid’s Sweater: Darn, it turned out cute. However, when I got to my very last two yellow stripes, I realized that I didn’t have enough yellow yarn. Since it’s a leftovers project, I was NOT buying another skein. So I found the leftover fringe I’d cut for the Harry Potter scarf I’d bought the yarn for in the first place, and Russian Joined it all together to make the last stripe. This just in: I am certifiable. But check it out anyway--I'd have loved this sweater when I was a kid:

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: Since nobody I know is having girl babies after all (there’s been a run on Y chromosomes in my circle of friends), I’m going to finish this up and donate it to Afghans for Afghans. So, I took it to Charity Knitting Sunday at Borealis and did some end-weaving, and picked up the next never-ending tie of doom.

Silk Garden Cardigan: All seamed! It’s going to fit after all, thanks to wet-blocking before assembly. Now, to figure out the crocheted edgings. Have I mentioned that crochet is my nemesis?

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Dragon-Scale Socks: First repeat completed. I think these will be seeing more action now that the K.O.'s out of the way.

The Ferret Sock: No change.

Checkerboard Scarf: While catching up on the Battlestar Galactica episodes I'd skipped due to Olympic Fever (tm), I managed to put on several more repeats. I'd kind of like Squid to have it before the weather gets too warm. :)

In the hoop:
C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: No change.
Edward Scissorfish: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still unable to get into reading at bedtime—I’ve been doing GAMES Magazine puzzles instead, and actually succeeding at those devilish little paint-by-numbers thingies.
Listening to: Goldfrapp, mostly, with a hefty peppering of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

T-minus two days to Olympitude

2006-02-08T08:36:00.000-06:00

Well, I have the needles I need, all my yarn is wound into balls, and I'm ready to get going on my Knitting Olympics project on Friday. Go me. Of course, in the meantime, I've been pottering along happily on the stuff I already have going. I really need to suck it up and do some finishing. Geez.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: No change.

Silk Garden Cardigan: No change.

Charity Raglan Kid’s Sweater: All the main knitting is done! Woo! I have two little underarm seams, the collar to pick up, and approximately a zillion ends to weave in now.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: On row 45 or so of 85 for the main apron body. Have I mentioned that I love the pattern, but hate the yarn? Yeah, I thought so.

Dragon-Scale Socks: No change.

The Ferret Sock: One skein down, next one started. Obie, one of the lucky ferret recipients, got a chance to check it out at the Super Bowl party I attended on Sunday. He approves.

Checkerboard Scarf: No change.

In the hoop:
C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: No change.
Edward Scissorfish: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Have been entirely unable to get into reading at bedtime—I’ve been doing GAMES Magazine puzzles instead.
Listening to: The Mountain Goats. Tallahassee and The Sunset Tree.

Well, now I've done it.

2006-01-23T20:30:00.000-06:00

I've gone and gotten all trendy like, and jumped on the Knitting Olympics bandwagon. I can't help it. I like to watch sports with Squid, and I like to knit while I do it. This is right up my alley!

For the scoop on the nuttiness I've gotten myself into, check out The Yarn Harlot, here.

Now, let's see if I can link in that nifty graphic. . . . Aha!

My chosen project will be the Fair Isle Sampler hat from the Winter 2004 Interweave Knits. Scroll down, you'll see it. I guess that makes me a proud member of . . .

The hard part now is, of course, delaying the gratification of starting this project until February 10th. Fortunately, I have plenty to keep me busy until then.

In other news, I've gotten myself a handy digital camera, so you'll have to put up with pictures of my knitting one of these days. Woo. Go me.

Well, looky thar. An update!

2006-01-23T10:30:00.000-06:00

Belisle was lovely, as always, and the scene of much frantic stitching to complete my Floral Afghan square before we called "donesies" on the 2005 Lists (tm). And I did! Woo! Coming soon, the 2006 List (tm). Here's the scoop:

Finished:
One more belt for the Outlaws: I forgot to mention this last time, but I took over and knit a belt out of some fancy railroad yarn (like Plymouth Eros) for my brother’s mother-in-law (I’ve taken to calling her my mother-out-law). She was so impressed and grateful that I’m going to make her a couple more. I got one finished this weekend, in a neat pewtery-pink-gold colorway.

Floral afghan: I finished the basket in a weekend of frantic work, and passed it back to Candy for its final finishing.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: One side tie done. One more to go, and it’s seam time.

Silk Garden Cardigan: Still in pieces, but I pinned it for preliminary fit. I’m hopeful it will fit correctly—it looks to be a bit close-fitting, but I think it will be OK.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: Dug it out while watching football this weekend, and put a dozen or so rows on it. I actually like the pattern, but this Berocco Cotton Twist will be the death of me. Splitty, splitty, splitty.

Charity Raglan Kid’s Sweater: One sleeve down, one to go. I’m hoping my yellow yarn holds out. . . .

Dragon-Scale Socks: One sock done—I had to get creative with the bindoff, since it was a little bit tight, but it looks great! Sock #2 has its toe in, and a couple rows of chart started.

The Ferret Sock: Put some more inches on it during a dark car ride.

Checkerboard Scarf: One skein down, one to go!

In the hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: Demoted, since I’m not going to work on it for a while.

C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: A little bit of progress-finished the trim, and am working on the detail.

Edward Scissorfish: A little more progress—I’m going to have to get creative with his lips, as I think I’m running out of room.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Started The Kite Runner for Book Club and set aside The Shelters of Stone for a while. Shelters is so easy to read that I just don’t fall asleep on it at night as quickly as I should. Is that praise for, or condemnation of, “Literary Fiction”?

Listening to: Keyboards go clickety clack.

Long time, no talky.

2006-01-12T08:57:00.000-06:00

Funny how much difference time away from work makes. The Belisle November retreat has come and gone, as has my time off for Thanksgiving (just about a week in PA), and the 2005 Pirate Party in Key West, and some time over Christmas. Fortunately, I got a lot of knitting and stitching done over that time. And I’m bound for Belisle again this weekend, so I need to post some status here so I can update you with some more amazing progress next week. (Har.)

Finished:
Whale Tail Hat: The intended recipient of Trellis arrived and received the name of Jonah. Now, how could I resist making a little stocking cap with a whale tail on top instead of a pom-pom? I couldn’t, that’s right. Since I had plenty of Cotton Fleece left over, he got a matching hat, too. :)

Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Wrapped and hemmed while relaxing at Belisle Ranch. I gave it its final pressing and delivered it just before Christmas. It turned out beautifully.

Leetle Teeny Bebbe Sox: Delivered before I ditched town for the Thanksgiving and Pirate holiday. Totally cute, and totally appreciated.

Muppet Pelt of POWER: So, my buddy Madam was recovering from elbow surgery post-moped accident (just about as bad as it sounds) and had to wear a giant robo-brace for the next few weeks. I knit an elbow-warmer thingee (like a legwarmer, only about a foot long, and for your arm) out of my leftover magenta and lime Lamb’s Pride Worsted, and added lime and hot pink/peach funfur in the body of it. It is HEINOUS. It is ATROCIOUS. It was PRECISELY what she needed, since she finished PT/OT three weeks ahead of schedule.

Joe and Sally Snow: I took advantage of a week in PA to complete these two and give them to my brother and sister-in-law for their anniversary. They turned out beautifully—and twisted cord finishing hides a multitude of my sewing-machine sins.

Another pair of socks: Super-cute, nearly identical, and very warm—which is good, since it’s January. Wool socks rule.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: No change. Going with me to WI this weekend, though.

Silk Garden Cardigan: It’s sooooooo pretty. I knit the lion’s share of the back piece on the way to, during, and back from the Pirate Parrrty in Key West, FL. Kniterati, indeed! It’s all in pieces—needs to be seamed and have the crochet edgings applied.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Charity Raglan Kid’s Sweater: The body is done and on hold for sleeve joining at some point in the future. Sleeve #1 is about 3 inches long. The stripeys seemed like a great idea on the body, but all those color changes on tiny sleeves might not be so fun.

Dragon-Scale Socks: I loved this pattern when I found it at Marnie MacLean’s blog, and thought my stash Trekking yarn in a pale green/yellow/tan colorway would be perfect. After starting, however, I thought it might be too busy and end up obscuring my stitches, but that was because I was reading the damn chart wrong and was doing the wrong decreases. Ripped it out, started over, and now it looks great. Turned the heel on sock #1, and am moving up the leg.

The Ferret Sock: My friend the Zombie Fan has a pair of ferrets who love getting into trouble. I was knitting a sock at his house while we were watching movies one night, and he commented that the sock was just about the right size for a ferret, and wouldn’t a really long sock tube be fun for his little beasties? Well, I’m not doing a 6-foot+ tube in fingering weight, but I have a lot of Red Heart leftover from some craft project that’s going to become one big long tube of ferret toy. I’m going to knit until I run out, and if it’s not long enough, I’ll add another skein. Woo!

Checkerboard Scarf: Yes, I’m knitting something for Squid again, finally. I found this NEATO yarn while I was in PA from a local farm. It’s a colorway called “Barn Swallow”, and it’s mostly wool, with some intriguing little bits of cottongscattered in it, but not “novelty” at all. I’m making a ribbed checkerboard pattern, which takes a bit more concentration than I’d expected.

In the hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Floral afghan: Some progress on the basket.
C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: A little bit of progress-finished the trim, and am working on the detail.
Edward Scissorfish: Okay, he’s hard to describe, but he’s a beaded fish scissor keep, and he’s sublimely ridiculous. I have his eyes in and his “nose-like” area.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished Something Rotten. Read Anansi Boys, which, to me, read like a Noel Coward farce (a good thing). Took another brain break w/Lemony Snicket’s The Penultimate Peril, and then actually read and enjoyed Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides) for book club. It’s been a looooonnnng time since I both read (for the first time) and enjoyed a Book Club Book. (Killer Angels and Wicked were re-reads for me.) Then I tackled David Sedaris’s latest (Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim), and just finished The Sociopath Next Door, buy a Dr. Stout whose first name I can’t remember. Next up are The Kite Runner for Book Club and The Shelters of Stone because I started reading the Earth’s Children series at one point, and just can’t let it go. As long as I don’t think too hard about the clunky language, they’re very interesting.
Listening to: The Avalanches.

2005-10-31T21:46:00.000-06:00

Ugh. Kind of blitzed from a crazy month or so of work. Here's what I've been up to when I'm not in front of a PC for work:

Finished:
Chunky Charity Slipper Sox: All done! Off to St. Joe’s to keep someone’s feet warm.

Second Sock: Dude! I knit a pair of socks! In sock-weight yarn! And they fit! And I love them! More exclamation points!

Trellis: It’s done, done done, and as cute as the dickens. I can tell I had some rowing-out problems (I HATE reverse stockinette stitch) but it blocked out just fine. The cables are gorgeous! Now, the little bundle o’ joy just needs to arrive.

Fair Isle Swatch Hat: Borealis Yarns is such an enabling institution. I took their class in learning to knit Fair Isle, and this is the class project. The two-handed knitting method “clicked” right away, now it’s just a matter of practicing it until I can do it as easily as I pick one-handed. My needles were too small, so this hat doesn’t fit my head at all, but someone somewhere in this world will appreciate it. I have a wonderful color combination in mind for the next hat.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: No change.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Another pair of socks: Sock #1 of the pair is complete. I made the garter-stitch cuff and picot edging from Lucy Neatby’s Cool Socks, Warm Feet, and darn, it’s cute. Sock #2 is little more than a toe square, but it’s started!

Charity Raglan Kid’s Sweater: From the Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, I’m winging a kid-size pullover in stripes of all my leftover Cascade 220: White and red primarily, with black, orange, yellow, and a little aqua. Striping will be loosely Fibonacci based, I think.

Leetle Teeny Bebbe Sox: A good friend just became an auntie to a very premature niece—I want to make some itty bitty socks for the itty bitty baby. (Born just over 3 pounds, breathing on her own—a real fighter.) I’m making some cotton socks in the “X and O” pattern from the Summer IK. They’re really cute, but I’m HATING my ssk’s on the heel for some reason.

In The Hoop
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: I finished the border! I finished the border! I didn’t have to go buy more metallic thread! Woo go me! I finished all the cutting without a serious error (Yay). Still need to:
*Wrap the Hardanger bars.
*Figure out how to handle the hem
*Figure out if I’d like to back the eyelet clusters with some sort of interfacing to stabilize them and further secure their ends.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished Two Years Before The Mast. Inhaled Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots. Halfway through Something Rotten.

Listening To: All the Dance Pop I can get my hands on. Pet Shop Boys? Expose? Propellerheads? KYLIE MINOGUE?! What is wrong with me?

Status Update

2005-09-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

I just finished a ton of work-work, so this is bare-bones status.

Finished:
Gnat Mittens: One dear little pair of mittens, ready for giving.

Burly Spun Handpaint Scarf: It definitely wanted to be a seed stitch scarf. Thanks to a verrrrrrry long Needlework Guild meeting, I finished it last Tuesday night.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: Tie #1 now 16" long. Only another 8" to go, then I can do it all over again!

Trellis: Finished up the second sleeve—it’s time to put it together!

On the Needles:
Second Sock: Some more progress on its foot.
Party-Time Apron: No change.
Another pair of socks: No change.
Chunky Charity Slipper Sox: No change.

In the hoop:
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Found corner #3, and stuff is still lining up nicely. Still need to:
*Finish the border
*Cut and wrap the Hardanger bars.
*Figure out how to handle the hem
*Figure out if I’d like to back the eyelet clusters with some sort of interfacing to stabilize them and further secure their ends.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still Two Years Before The Mast. I should finish it tonight, if I stay awake.

Ugh. I just thought of a bad Van Hagar song.

2005-09-02T17:26:00.000-05:00

Somebody help me get these WIPs under control!
I can’t seem to stop starting. Yikes.

Finished:
Devan: It hit the post this week. It is sooooo cute!

Two more dishcloths: In the classic garter stitch/yarnover diagonal pattern. I can crank one out per car ride to the lake.

Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: I made one of the ties a few inches longer, but not much change.

On the Needles:
Second Sock: Cruising down the foot.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Trellis: Back, left, and right front done, first sleeve cast on. I’m starting to wish that this sweater was my size. Darn, it’s cute.

Another pair of socks: Yep, I’m weak. I just HAD to try a toe-up version while my other sock was in a holding pattern. Anyway, I’m knitting the cuff of sock #1 after marking the insertion for the afterthought heel. These are in a super-cool rainbow Opal self striping jacquard.

Gnat Mittens: My niece thought my fluffy cuff mitts were so cool, she wanted a pair for herself. I re-tooled the pattern to fit an 8-year-old, and have completed the “wool” part of mitten #1. Before I put the fluff on (which is a PITA), I’m making her try it on to see if it fits. They're done in a very cool blue-purple-green variegated Emu Superwash sportweight.

Chunky Charity Slipper Sox: Stash eradication charity project #3: Some nice slipper socks out of the (last?) of my Wool-Ease Thick and Quick. One sock finished.

Burly Spun Handpaint Scarf: So, I bought some of Thusnelda’s extra stash—and included was some pretty, pretty handpainted Brown Sheep Burly Spun (Blue! Magenta! Black! Purple! Aqua! So cool!). I’ve started a lace rib scarf in it, and I think it’s really pretty—but, like Thus herself, I’m just not sure if this is “the” pattern for this yarn. I may change my mind and rip it out.

In the hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Finished all the inside eyelets and kloster blocks. Had to rip out 99% of the inside border that I thought was OK due to an extremely early miscalculation/extra thread or two. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued, but it was for the best. I have recalculated the corners to work with whatever errors may have ensued on the inside, and it should be smooth sailing from here. The border is now about a third complete. I need to:
*Finish the border
*Cut and wrap the Hardanger bars.
*Figure out how to handle the hem
*Figure out if I’d like to back the eyelet clusters with some sort of interfacing to stabilize them and further secure their ends.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References

Reading: I’m reading Two Years Before The Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, but put it aside briefly for Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair, which was a more appealing vacation read.

Listening to: Squid mow the lawn.

Now delighting cats in Pennsylvania

2005-08-03T13:27:00.000-05:00

My dad’s birthday present was a total hit with him and the beasties. The kittens hopped into the cat bed immediately, and are having a ball playing with the catnip toys.

Next week, I’m off to the scenic Buffalo, MN for my Needlework Guild’s annual retreat. I’m excited to go—I need the vacation, and I’m looking forward to getting lots of stitching on the Hardanger piece done.

Finished:
Another Thick & Quick Hat: Sunday knitting this week was another hat—this time, I made a bigger size and added stripes!

Fluffy Cuff Mittens: All done! Acid green with black fluffy cuffs. They’re so ugly, they’re cute!

Requiring Finishing:
Devan: All seamed, ends woven in. All it needs is buttons, but I can’t find just the right ones.

Baby Kimono: No Change.

On the Needles:
Second Sock: Knit up to the heel flap. I’m holding off on the heel turning until I get to Retreat next week—one of my guildmates wants to see how it’s done.

Party-Time Apron: I am working the slip stitch diamond pattern like a champ. I’m even managing to C2L without a cable needle, which was completely beyond me a year ago. I’m so proud. I’m decreasing toward the waist—which is quite a long way away.

Trellis: I’m making this in a nice light teal Cotton Fleece. (Color name: Rue.) So pretty, and not 100% “baby” looking. I have about a dozen rows of the cable chart started, and it’s super cute.

In the hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: I found the second corner of the inside border. I’m cruising now. . . .
Floral afghan: Shelved for the summer until it gets cool again. Though it may get some air time if the evenings are cool at retreat, or if the A/C is a little aggressive.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I finished Stiff. Before I tackle the next book club book, I’m reading Two Years Before The Mast, by Richard Henry Dana.

Listening to: Office noise.

Bring on the Babies!

2005-07-21T18:28:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm nearing the finish line on the baby stuff I had in the works. Of course, today, I discovered that I lost my little bet that my friends would have one of each in their various pregnancies--the NJ folks had a boy this week, and my local friends found out that theirs is a boy, too. So, the kimono won't be gifted to either of them. It'll keep. :) I'm going to start Trellis for boy #2, due in October. No sweat!

Finished:
Bunny Hat: So very darling. If I ever make another one, I’m making the ears a little bit wider, but darn, this thing’s cute.

Thick & Quick Hat: So, Sunday knitting at Borealis is supposed to be knitting for charity—St. Joseph’s home and Afghans for Afghans, etc. I’d been working on my own stuff on Sundays instead, and it finally got to me. I’m cleaning out my stash of Wool-Ease Thick-N-Quick by making stuff for St. Joe’s—it needs to be machine washable, since the main residents at the place are kids, and, well, y’know how kids and dirt are. I cranked out a cute little baby hat in the two hours I was there.

Several cat toys for Dad: I made a Koigu fish, kitty won-ton and eggroll, and a Wendy catnip mouse to go with some purchased toys and the Wendy cat bed I finished a few weeks ago. They hit the post this week!

Requiring Finishing: The next exciting challenge will be: setting in and seaming up the sleeves.

Devan: Button band complete. I admit to blaspheming a little bit while attempting to pick up all 242 stitches on size 1s . . . and Rowan arrived on Tuesday! (The baby’s name, not the yarn company.) Time to get those sleeves in!

Baby Kimono: Shoulders seamed, neckband picked up and complete, one tie picked up and started. I cursed over that neckband, too.

On the Needles:
Second Sock: I knit some rows on the cuff while in the KFAI studio, sitting in on an interview with Steven Greenberg, the writer and producer behind Lipps, Inc. (a.k.a. Mr. Funkytown.) Pretty cool!

Fluffy Cuff Mittens: I cast on the fluff for mitten #2, but not much more.

Party-Time Apron: Back from the dead! Now without a fluffy hem, because it annoyed me and obscured my stitches, and didn’t seem like it would wear well. It’s 13 rows big right now, but it’s BACK, baby!

In the hoop: (with the dust blown off)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: I found one corner of the inside border. Woo! Go me.
Floral afghan: Shelved for the summer until it gets cool again.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Stiff, by Mary Roach. I love icky, nasty books about dead things and true crime. This one isn’t disappointing me. And, of course, I took a little break from it to plow through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. Really, how could I resist?
Listening to: The cat yodel out in the hall.

Finishing School

2005-07-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, I did this on a conference call while I was wishing I was knitting--no nice backstory for you--just the goods.

Finished:
Tank Girl Tank: Finished! I’ve even worn it once—it turned out nicely. It’s warm when it’s super-hot out, though.

Wendy’s Felted Cat Bed: Felted and blocked over my Tupperware knock-off cake taker. Ready for giving!

Dishcloth: Cheesy. Easy. Will make a great Christmas gift! The pretty variegated cotton at Michaels got the best of me. But I know for a fact that my grandmas love ‘em.

Requiring Finishing:
Bunny Hat: Cuteness pending! I sewed up one ear the other night.

Devan: Shoulders bound off, pieces blocked. Assembly continues . . .

Baby Kimono: All pieces finished and ready for assembly.

On the Needles:
Second Sock: Ribbing the cuff, cuff, cuff, ribbing the cuff. . . . (is it bad that I think of this Two Lumps song as I knit along happily?)

Fluffy Cuff Mittens: Yeah, it’s July. I decided to knit mittens. I’ve been wanting these mittens since I picked up Stitch ‘n Bitch originally—but the GGH Esprit fluffy cuff yarn proved too difficult for me to join and knit with my limited experience one year ago. This past weekend however, I just sucked it up and plowed through it. One mitten done! I should have enough cuff fluff left over to make a pair for charity with some stash oddballs.

Several cat toys for Dad: To go with the felted cat bed up there for a super-nifty birthday present.

In the hoop: (with the dust blown off)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: No change.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished Assassination Vacation. Have officially given up on Under the Volcano, and am seriously considering giving away the book. Re-read Wicked, which is our next book club selection, which I enjoyed the first time AND this time. Gregory Maguire’s written a sequel, too—due in October. Should be fun! Started Stiff last night as a nice, gory break from fiction.

Listening to: Office noise.

Block(ing) Party

2005-06-23T12:51:00.000-05:00

I love a lazy weekend at the lake. It means I get a lot of knitting done without the chores around my own house nagging at me to do them. The pile of waiting-to-be-finished-objects just keeps on growing—I’d like to get a lot of them seamed this weekend.

Finished: Nothing 100% finished since last time, but here’s the list of the invitees to the block- and seam-party:

Requiring Finishing:
Tank Girl Tank: It’s warm enough to wear it now, but it still needs its seams.

Bunny Hat: Cuteness pending!

Devan: Can you believe it? All pieces knitted—just need to do a little blocking and it’s ready to put together and have its button band picked up.

Wendy’s Felted Cat Bed: I was so darn tired of fine-gauge knitting that I did this for instant gratification. As luck would have it, my parents just adopted two new kittens, and my dad has a birthday coming up . . . . Done in Big Kureyon—reds/greens/purples, and some crazy chartreuse and flaming orangey pink eyelash for trim. As Squid said, “Well, the barf won’t show on it, that’s for sure.” I don’t think it was a compliment. ;)

On the Needles:
Sock: No change.

Baby Kimono: Cruising nicely up the back—about 7” completed out of 10 or so. I want to get this last piece finished, then start the blocking and seaming extravaganza.

In the hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Metallic-thread eyelets still suck.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished Assassination Vacation. Have officially given up on Under the Volcano, and am seriously considering giving away the book. Now re-reading Wicked, which is our next book club selection, which I enjoyed the first time, so have high hopes for this time.

Listening to: Zero 7, When it Falls

Baby Got Back

2005-06-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

Backs of sweaters to knit, that is. Some folks get marooned on Sleeve Island, I get stuck on the backs.

Finished: Nothing 100% finished since last time, however, I’m going to be having a seaming party soon:

Requiring Finishing:
Tank Girl Tank: All knitted, shoulders bound off together, ends woven in. Just need to run up the side seams and it will be ready to wear. Of course, it seems like it’s going to be kinda heavy, but I’m looking forward to trying it out. Now, if it would only get warm enough up here to wear it . . . .

Bunny Hat: All the pieces are complete—I just need to seam up the ears and stick them on. So. Tooth-achingly. Cute.

On the Needles:
Devan: Two inches done on the back, and a big road trip coming up. I’m expecting great things.

Sock: No change.

Baby Kimono: I have two sleeves, a left front, and a right front completed—just the back to go. Sound like any OTHER project you might have heard of?

In the hoop: (with the dust blown off)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Metallic-thread eyelets suck. Just thought you might want to know.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I set aside Under the Volcano, as it was making me cranky and keeping me from what I actually WANTED to read, Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation. At last! Something entertaining that doesn’t feel like work to read. And besides, she calls Robert Todd Lincoln “Jinxy McDeath.”

Listening to:
mp3's of a chat with Cleaver (aka Daniel), the CEO of Three Rings, Inc.

Knitting ADD

2005-05-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

Must be what I'm suffering from at present. I can't stop starting new things. I'm just not happy if I don't have four or more projects competing for my attention. So, there's lots of fun new stuff in the WIP bin. Let's discuss!

Finished: Nothing 100% finished since last time, I'm afraid, but quite a lot of lovely progress.

On the Needles:
Devan: Another row or two in, but nothing thrilling. I'll be white-water rafting again at the beginning of June--the ride there and back will be key Devan time.

Sock: One sock is completely finished, and fits perfectly! I took someone's excellent advice and cast on for sock #2 while I was still psyched up over completing sock #1. Sock #2 isn't much more than a few rows of ribbing right now, however.

Tank Girl Tank: I finished the back this week, and am on the second ball for the front. (The back took four balls--the front is very similar, and should take roughly the same amount.) This is a quick knit, and really quite a lot of fun.

Baby Kimono: Remember all those pregnant friends I mentioned? Remember that sherbet-colored yarn I was going to make socks out of last year? As luck would have it, I have exactly enough of that yarn for a kimono and bootie set out of the Debbie Bliss Noro Collection book. One of these babies is bound to be a girl, and this will be just perfect. (If it's a boy? Helloooo Devan cardigan.) I have one sleeve complete, and about an inch of sleeve #2 done.

Bunny Hat: The last baby project for the time-being--I couldn't resist having the excuse to make the bunny hat from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. I finally found the right gauge and color of yarn at Borealis to sub in for the Rowan Wool Cotton--Emu Superwash wool, in a nice bunny grey, with pink for the ears. I've done the short-rowed ear flaps, and have about an inch of the hat body done. So. Cute.

In the hoop: (with the dust blown off)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: I put in some side star motifs and started the main border at Guild on Tuesday. I will find the groove with my stitching again. I will, I will.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry. Another Book Club book, and I'm afraid I'm just not clicking with it at. all. I keep falling asleep on it after about 5 pages at a go. I suppose it would help if I wasn't reading it late at night with a significant sleep debt.

Listening to: Just the hum of the PC fan. Though I'm currently hooked on The Sunset Tree by The Mountain Goats.

Finishing things . . .

2005-04-23T16:06:00.000-05:00

feels really good. Today's "finished" list includes a novel and a sweater, and I'm pleased as punch. My Denise needle case is actually full right now--no tips or cords are tied up in a WIP, which is kind of weird. And, if I know myself, is likely to be temporary.

Finished: I am wearing my Lite Brite sweater right this very minute. I'm thrilled with it, actually--the seaming was easy. It went together pretty quickly and easily, and looks just like I want it to.

On the Needles:
Devan: The back continues at a snail's pace. It's about an inch and a half long at this point--I'm waiting for a nice long car ride to really put some length on it.

Sock: I've put a few rows on it while watching TV this week, but it's been a busy week, and bad for knitting. Besides--I finished Lite Brite! Woo!

Ripped back to its component yarn for a time-out:
Party-Time Apron: I took a look at it this week, intending to work on it a bit, and realized a couple of things:

I really didn't like how the gauge was turning out on size 9s--just a little bit too loose.
I had hopelessly screwed up the slip-stitch diamond pattern, and wasn't sure how to rescue it.

So I frogged it. There's something really satisfying about putting one end of your knitting on a ball winder, and just unravelling away.

Coming to my needles, just as soon as I get this posted:
Tank Girl Tank: From Stitch 'n Bitch, I found the Goa yarn in Madison in November, and I've been itching to get it going. This should come together pretty quickly. No sleeves, after all.

In the hoop: (with the dust blown off)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: No change.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished The Killer Angels this morning, just in time for book club, which is tomorrow. I don't know what I'll read next. I'll figure it out before I go to bed.

Free the Craft Nook Four!

2005-04-16T16:19:00.000-05:00

I’ve completed my deadline-based knitting for the time being, and am knitting on whatever I darn well please at the moment. It feels gooooood. Of course, there’s much more deadline-based knitting in the future, as many of my friends and loved ones have decided to have babies in the next 9 months. (I gave a friend of mine a hard time the other day, as her due date is pretty close to Britney Spears’. She was mortified.) Babies I didn’t know about ahead of time have a HORRIBLE impact on my 2005 list. (From a few posts ago.) I’ll have a good laugh at that one come year-end.

Finished:
Yet another Sekrit Project: All done and with the assembler in sunny Toronto. Mailing the package was not without drama (check my LJ (linky) for the scoop), but it arrived unmolested. I can’t wait until it’s ready to go—it’s going to be great! Man, I hate talking about it in generalizations. You’ll just have to trust me, here.

On the Needles:
Devan: Finished sleeve #2, cast on the back. After using nothing but Cascade 220 and DK cotton for 3 months, sock yarn feels like dental floss. The back of this sweater is gonna be loooooooong and booooooring and grey. But it’s the last piece!

Lite Brite: Finished the front, and am approaching the waist shaping on the back. It’s going much faster than I anticipated—I could be seaming next weekend!

No longer imprisoned in the craft nook, but unloved and ignored for a little while longer:
Party-Time Apron: No change.
Sock: No change.

In the hoop: (with the dust blown off)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: A few more words on the verse! Lookit me go.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Did all the counting necessary to place my motifs correctly, then realized I hadn’t taken my fibers to the Guild meeting with me. D’oh!
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara. I should finish it in time for book club, if I apply myself.

Listening to:
Squid play Once Upon a Knight.

Now leaving Scarfland, population 1.

2005-03-31T18:27:00.000-06:00

Whew. As cute as Harry Potter-style tube scarves are, remind me never to do two full-size ones at the same time again. Ack. So glad to be finished.

Finished:
Rubby’s Sekrit Scarf: Blocked, fringed, monogrammed, and with its new owner in New York. He was thrilled with it, as, I hope, the ultimate recipient will be. I’m a sucker for young love.

Shelly’s School Spirit Scarf: Blocked, fringed, and delivered to a very happy sports-watchin’ mom.

On the Needles:
Yet another Sekrit Project: The yarn? Kelly Green Butterfly Super 10 cotton. Three point seven five out of seven squares complete, and if I hadn’t been wishing about my gauge on threes, I’d have five. I had to go up to fives to get the dang row gauge to work out.

Imprisoned in the craft nook:
Party-Time Apron: No change.
Devan: No change.
Sock: No change.
Lite Brite: No change.

In the hoop: (and gathering dust)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: No change.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara. I had to read this book for AP History class waaaaaaay back when (1990/91), and remembered it being a good book, but not something I truly dug. Now its up for book club, and I’m reading it all over again. I’m hoping the story grabs me soon.

Listening to: First 10 random iTunes tracks:
Ride Across the River, Dire Straits
Galactic Mason, Bran Flakes
Listen to What You've Got, Idlewild
The Sorrowful Wife, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Wasted Life, Stiff Little Fingers
Peaches and Cream, Beck
Triple Trouble, Beastie Boys
Slicker Drips, White Stripes
Pigs Will Fly, King Missile
Every Word, Belly

Trundling ever onward.

2005-03-07T21:52:00.000-06:00

Scarfward ho! It's been more of the same around here, lately--scarf, scarf, scarf. That's why I've been kind of quiet. A HORRIBLE cold didn't help matters either. Here's the update:

Finished: Baby Love Baby Blanket. Except I turned it into a cute little seamless raglan cardigan when it became completely obvious that the blanket wouldn’t be complete anywhere NEAR on-time. It turned out wonderfully—A white cardi with a red stripe above the ribbing on the body and sleeves, and another red stripe around the raglans. Cute red buttons finished it off, and it’s just as sweet as can be. Delivered to the mom-to-be prior to baby's arrival, so it all worked out.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.
Devan: No change.
Sock: No change.
Lite Brite: No change.

In sad news, the preceding four projects have actually migrated back upstairs to the craft nook, where they are unable to glare at me and make me feel guilty while I work on:

Rubby’s Sekrit Scarf: Fifteen stripes out of nineteen. I’ll say no more, as it’s Sekrit.

Shelly’s School Spirit Scarf: Thirteen stripes out of nineteen.

Yet another Sekrit Project: The yarn? Kelly Green Butterfly Super 10 cotton. It’s cast-on, and about an inch long—I’m hitting gauge perfectly on size 3 needles—and gauge is important, since this project has three different knitters working on it.

In the hoop: (Don't even ask. I haven't touched my embroidery)
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: No change.
Floral afghan: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Completely slacking on the reading front. I just can’t bring myself to start anything, so I’ve been doing crossword puzzles and reading Entertainment Weekly in bed at night instead.

Listening to: First 10 random iTunes tracks:
Pink & Blue, Outkast
Pride (In the Name of Love), U2
The Blues, Eartha Kitt
Another Girl, Another Planet, Mighty Lemondrops
Baba O'Riley, The Who
Someday, The Strokes
Achin' To Be, The Replacements
Back to the Old House, Smiths
Breathless, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
All Worked Out, Semisonic

Obligatory Title Here

2005-02-10T18:10:00.000-06:00

Well, since I last posted, I've finished nothing, but started yet another gift project. This isn't on the list! Ah well. The List usually ends up getting laughed at anyway.

Speaking of getting laughed at--check out the WIPs below, if you'd care to snicker. Note how they grow! Note how the older projects get no love at all! Note how this keeps me up at night! (Well, actually, it doesn't.)

Finished: Um, nothing.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.
Devan: No change.
Sock: No change.
Lite Brite: No change.

Baby Love Baby Blanket: It’s about eight inches long—I’ll be cutting it close to the due date, but I have faith. I abandoned Hoover in favor of a pretty wavy pattern. Red and white Cascade 220 (I’m a Cascade 220 fool).

Rubby’s Sekrit Scarf: Four stripes out of nineteen. I’ll say no more, as it’s Sekrit.

Shelly’s School Spirit Scarf: Eight stripes out of nineteen—a tube scarf in black and orange Cascade 220. It’s going to be gorgeous.

In the Hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: They’re all done but the finishing.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished The Cases that Haunt Us, casting about for something to read. Bailed on the Dostoyevsky, considering Chip Kidd’s The Cheese Monkeys.

Listening to: First 10 random iTunes tracks:
Over our heads, Zero 7
Nothing Stays The Same, Elastica
Little Boxes, Pete Seeger
Hairdresser on Fire, Morrissey
Ball and Chain, Social Distortion
Stand On Your Own Head, They Might Be Giants
Beauty Way, Eliza Gilkyson
Sky Is Broken, Moby
Add It Up (Demo), Violent Femmes
Hey You, No Doubt

The cure for the January Blahs

2005-01-23T21:01:00.000-06:00

Is another trip to Belisle R&R in Wisconsin!

The January retreat has come and gone, and it was just as much fun as November's. I stitched like a little dervish, and managed to 1. Work on everything I took with me, and 2. Actually get some stuff finished, but 3. Ended up with a project I hadn't started with (they talked me into doing a square on Candy's floral afghan)

The Monday after I got home, I was off work for MLK Jr. Day, so I got even more done! (Sort of--I really kinda kicked back, too.)

But this year, I decided to participate in "The List". My clan of stitching buddies always puts a list of project together early in the year, then seals them away until the January Belisle retreat--at which point we open them up and see how we did in comparison to our goals. It's all in good fun, with nothing more than pride on the line, so we'll see how things go. What's my list?

Knitting
Fluffy scarf for Lisa
Devan baby cardigan
Lite Brite Sweater
One pair of socks
Party-Time Apron
Felted Cat Bed
Tank Girl Tank Top
Fluffy Cuff Mittens
Pool Scarf
Baby Blanket for Anna
Tiger Stripe Scarf for Shelly

Stitching
Joe Snow
Sally Snow
Dana and Kris Wedding Hardanger
Floral Afghan Square
Stitcher’s Barbell
Sailor’s Huswif
Piece of Cake
C.A. Wells Bunny pendant
C.A. Wells Needle Cottage
Holiday Fat Cat
Mail Art

The nice thing about lists being due by Feb. 1 is that you can cheat a little and put stuff on them that you finish in January. So, what's changed since we last chatted? Here's the scoop:

Finished:
Fluffy Scarf for Lisa: While in PA, I found some really cool scarf yarn--some short, dense, chenilley stuff, and some wispy eyelash, in black/aqua/gold/copper that made a really cool scarf. And since Lisa had requested some of my handiwork, I was glad to make them into a scarf for her. I delivered it this week--and she's quite pleased. Yay!

Stitcher's Barbell: I've had the actual stitching done on this piece forever--but finally got around to the actual finishing--putting it together and filling it with BBs--on Monday. It's a heavy, glitzy frame weight, which serves as a third hand when you're working on a piece of needlepoint.

(Almost) Finished: Joe and Sally Snow: They're all stitched, and just need to be sewn into standups. Yay!

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Devan: Second sleeve cast on, starting to work the increases.

Sock: I took it to WI with me, and therefore I worked on it. If by "worked on", you mean "knit about two rounds of ribbing". But I did pick it up and put some stitches on it.

Lite Brite: Started the back--working the waist shaping decreases.

Tiger-Striped Scarf: I donated a hand-knit item to my department's charity silent auction this year--the winner requested a scarf in her son's school colors--Black and Orange. I'm doing a stockinette tube scarf in Cascade 220, with about 3" stripes. It's really cool--and very easy knitting.

Baby Love Baby Blanket: I'm making the Hoover baby blanket from Knitty in red and white stripes for a cool co-worker due in March. Also in Cascade 220. I swatched some double-knitting this weekend to see if I could do it, and damn--that's like magic! It's about 2 rows of garter stitch right now, but it won't be for long.

In the Hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: Finished a queen stitch flower, and added a word to the verse.

Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: Started, and I completed the center motif. The Hardanger is fairly easy, but dude--isolated eyelets in metallic thread are teh suk.

Floral Afghan Square: The last square on Candy's Maureen Appleton Floral Garden Afghan is a basket full of impatiens. I started it in WI, and put in the basket bands--it's in Flower Thread on a 100% wool afghan, so it's nice and snuggly to work on--remind me to finish this before summer, okay?

Obligatory Cultural References:
Reading: Finished Obsession and promptly started another book by the same duo--The Cases That Haunt Us. I like this one a lot better. Douglas can get awfully full of himself, and having more factual subject matter makes things go down more easily. I also inhaled Food Court Druids and Cherohonkees: And Other Creatures Unique to the Republic, a really funny humor book by the same folks who brought you The Hipster Handbook. However, it needed a copy editor in the WORST way. Dude--Food Court Druids play "Magic: The Gathering", not "Magic, the Gatherer". And learn to use a semicolon already. And hire a proofreader, dammit. Um, okay. all done.
Listening to: The 12/31/04 edition of Crap From the Past. All Stevie Wonder, all the time!

What I did on my Christmas Vacation

2005-01-04T09:07:00.000-06:00

by Secret Agent Lemur.

I spent a week and a half with my folks for the Christmas holidays (and assorted college friends for New Year's) and all I got was a truckload of presents and really de-stressed. Seriously, it was a lovely time, and I got to have a legitimate week off for the first time in I don't know how long. Wheee! Let's get to the knitting content, shall we?

Finished: Skully: Seamed! Worn several times! Overall, I’m really pleased with it—as a first sweater, it’s quite nice. I learned a lot from it—if I had it to do over again, I’d make the sleeves a wee bit longer (they’re a little shorter than I like them, but they don’t look dumb), and do something different with the sleeve shaping—they’re a little tighter than I'm accustomed to at the armpit, but not a big deal. Also, as my first experience with seaming that “counts”, I thought it went pretty well. Mattress stitch is like magic.

Secret Christmas Project #2: Oh, okay, it was another stripey sleeping cap. Fishtie was so disappointed that I’d given full-size stripey hat #2 to Iole and not to him that I had to make him his own stripey hat for Christmas. He’s quite pleased.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Devan: No change.

Sock: No change.

Lite Brite: Sleeves done, after some reworking. I don’t know if my gauge is off or what, but the sleeves were not working for me over break—I completed my sleeve decreases, held it up to my arm to check for length, and realized that the 33 stitches left on the needles would not fit around my arm. And my arms are not that big around. The armscye/raglan shaping was a little tight as well, so I ripped it the whole way out and started over, one size larger, with gentler and fewer decreases. 37 stitches seemed to work. I also didn’t bind off the sleeve hems, (they’re top-down), as I might have to add length later—see Skully above. After I get some stockinette rolling on the body (it’s only a few inches long right now), I’m going to have to see if it’s my gauge or the pattern that’s driving me crazy.

In the Hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No Change.
Wedding Snowflake Hardanger: For my most excellent friends Dana and Kristi--a nifty Hardanger table runner for Christmas decor. Supplies purchased and organized, ready to start.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Obsession is still at bedside, as I knew it wouldn't last the vacation. Instead, I started and finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (not annoying and precious at all, as I feared, but actually really good, and seriously deserving of all the praise, while still being awful and funny and self-conscious), and the Escapist comics, vols 1 and 2, while on vacation.

Listening to: The printer and the copier whine and spit out paper.

Christmas prep!

2004-12-19T15:14:00.000-06:00

Is what I've been doing and, as a result, not updating this thing. I've been doing lots of s3kr1t Christmas knitting, and all the attendant shopping and shipping and prepwork. I'm also getting ready to go home to PA for a week and a half--looking forward to getting lots stitched over the break. Here's the rundown:

Finished: Secret Project #1: The JoJo the Clown Beret. The youngest niece (she can't read--I'm not too worried about spilling the beans here) is a JoJo the clown fan. I engineered a beret like the one JoJo wears for her this Christmas. It's cute.
Pamela purse: This one didn't take very long at all, and it was a super fun, fast knit. The pooling of the Zebra colorway really came out nicely.

(Just about) Finished: Skully: Haven't seamed it just yet--been busy with the rest of it all.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Devan: No change.

Sock: No change.

Lite Brite: Finally got my gauge, and have the first sleeve started--just crossed the sleeve cap zone, and will be decreasing toward the cuff for many inches . . .

Secret Christmas Knitting #2: Can't say what this one is, but it's 75% done, and will be ready in plenty of time for giving over New Year's.

In the Hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.
Joe and Sally Snow: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished Peanuts vol. 2, and Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. I'm now tearing through Obsession by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. A true-crime overview by the FBI's first profiler. Not "light" reading in topic, but certainly fast.
Listening to: Cosmic Slop's penultimate show. I'll miss you, Chuck and Joel!

Thanksgiving break rocks!

2004-11-27T17:18:00.000-06:00

Because there's little else to do but loaf around the house and knit and stitch. I'm not going near the malls this weekend--no no no. So here's what's gotten done since I started my little break on Wednesday:

Finished: The Rockabilly scarf is done and its ends worked away. I think it turned out nicely. If I had to do it all over, I think I'd have done it on smaller needles so the parts between the dropped stitches weren't quite so loose, but it works as it is--very loose and airy. But still warm--I noticed that when I was modelling it.

(Just about) Finished: Skully: The knitting is 100% done. All ends are woven in. All I need to do is block it a bit and seam it up. When I pull it over my head, it seems to fit just like I wanted it to. It's a big, black monster of a thing, but that was the idea all along.

On the Needles:

Party-Time Apron: No change. I really have to pick this up again one of these days.

Devan: First sleeve complete! One more sleeve and a really boring back to go.

Sock: No change.

Pamela purse: I couldn't resist casting on something else once I finished the Skully knitting. I can't find photo of the pattern for it on line, but I'm making it out of one skein of Colinette Giotto, Zebra colorway--so a cool black and white ribbon. Its straps are also the way it closes. Must find photo somewheres . . . In any case, it's going fast and won't take me long to finish.

Lite Brite: Currently swatching for this spring Knitty pattern, but instead of black/Kureyon, mine's going to be lime green/Kureyon 95. It's going to cause blindness, I just know it.

In the Hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: I sewed on the final interior pocket, and sorted out the stitching that's left to do so it's a portable project again. Queen stitches, here I come.

and from out of retirement:
Joe and Sally Snow: Originally intended to be a shower or wedding gift for my brother and sister-in-law, they didn't quite get done on schedule. Maybe for Christmas this year.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished The Salmon of Doubt, and moved on to the second volume in the complete Peanuts series. I'm not quite ready to go back to "serious" reading yet, dammit.
Listening to: Thunderball. If loving James Bond movies is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Range, WI is really conducive to knitting . . .

2004-11-15T20:27:00.000-06:00

And blogger-eaten posts. I did this all once already last night, dangit, and it vanished into the ether. Let's see if I can remember what I wanted to write.

Had lovely time at Belisle Ranch and Retreat with the stitching ladies. Ate lots. Used the hot tub. Can't wait for the January edition. Killed off a few WIPs:

Finished:
The Colinette Throw was finished the morning after my last post. Whee!

I finished the Koigu Baby Booties, and they are darling indeed. A little magenta ribbon through the eyelets makes 'em really cute. And for the record: I started these booties of my own free will. Thusnelda had absolutely nothing to do with it. She is blameless.

I finished the Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler--a good pressing, and it's ready for framing. It's so delicate and pretty.

And, because I'm easily distracted, I started and finished a scarf for Candy. During the pilgrimage to Wind in the Willows for a little shopping break, she noticed a scarf shop model that caught her eye. I realized it was criminally easy and offered to knit it for her. Two balls of microfiber eyelash (Plymouth Firenze, yellow-pink-purple pastel) and one skein of Plymouth Galway wool (sunshine yellow) later, it was a cute scarf. US 13 needles, co 15 sts, k every row w/yarns held tog until you run out of yarn. Though I left enough for fringe. Very soft and cuddly. One evening, one afternoon, one finished project.

On the Needles:
Skully: Halfway through the chart for the 2nd sleeve! The end is in sight. Maybe not this week, as there's another trip to Madison coming up--and it's no longer a really portable project.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Devan: First sleeve roughly 2" long. Increasing like crazy. Dangit. Decreasing is much more fun, 'cos the rows go faster and faster instead of slower and slower.

Sock: No change.

Rockabilly scarf: One skein down, one more to go. Though I likely won't use the whole thing--it would be reeeeely long if I did.

In the Hoop:
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change. After finishing the Birth Band, I couldn't bring myself to do eleventy billion queen stitches.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, Douglas Adams. Stupid early death. Stupid stupid.
Listening to: Liz Phair (Cue Wesley Willis voice. Liiiiiz Pha-aaaair! Liiiiz Pha-aaair!)

Time for another update

2004-11-06T13:50:00.000-06:00

It's been kind of busy around here, but not so much that I should have ignored this. So without further ado, here's the news from knitting-land:

(Just about) Finished: The Colinette Throw is off the needles and having its sides crocheted--one side done, one side 1/4 done--once the crochet is done, it's fringe city and I have my largest finished object yet. I'm really impressed with the additional structure and stability one little row of crochet adds to knitting. No wonder it's such a popular edging.

On the Needles:
Skully: Still dormant. Just about ready to pick it up again because, dangit--I want to wear it.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Devan: Left side complete. First sleeve cast on, but not much more.

Sock: No change

Rockabilly scarf: I settled on an amended version of Wendy's Japanese Lantern scarf. I wanted mine to be a little bit wider (24 stitches), and am making a very open-looking scarf (size 17 needles, anyone?), so I'm knitting six rows in between dropped areas rather than four. Nearly one skein gone, one more to go.

Koigu Baby Booties: So, you know how I said a few posts back that I wasn't going to start anything new until I'd finished something? Yeah, that worked really well, didn't it? One scarf, and now one bootie pattern started, with nothing else really finished in the meantime. But they're small projects, they don't really count. Right? Right?! In my defense, this one was started as a favor to a friend since we both had the pattern and she needed help figuring it out. Yeah, that's it. Thusnelda made me start this project. Anyway. One bootie finished, one unstarted. It's a darling little pattern, and quick work to boot.

In the Hoop:
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: Put in a few stitches at guild a week or two ago. Baby's name is taking shape nicely.

Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished the Snicket, and plowed through Memoirs of a Geisha in record time. It's been a while since I've read a "literary" novel that didn't feel like blasted work to get through. This one moved so nicely, I found myself staying up too late reading it, rather than passing out on the 5th page.
Listening to: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Dum te dum te dum . . .

2004-10-24T16:10:00.000-05:00

A brief update: I've been knitting away happily, and amazingly have not actually purchased any more yarn since I last updated. No, I don't know how that happened. Some people have drugs. I have yarn. Probably a $25-50/week habit if I have to be honest. And, of course, there's a bag of Blue Sky Alpacas 100% Alpaca in pistachio waiting for me at Needlework Unlimited. They're sooo cute! And sooo soft!

So, what's been going on, crafty-wise? Well, wonder no more!

Finished: Um . . . not so much just yet. Read on.

On the Needles:
Skully: One sleeve! Entirely complete! All ends woven in! Extraneous exclamation points! And I'm going to finish something else before starting sleeve #2. That intarsia completely depleted my patience reserves for a while.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Colinette Throw: Finished with the third pattern repeat--starting the final repeat. Should finish it up this week, if all goes well.

Devan: Left side is having its shoulders shaped. I'm thinking about working both sleeves at once to prevent mind-bending boredom.

Sock: No change

Rockabilly scarf: Okay, so my old boss (who I am now pleased to count as a friend) has the chance to go meet Brian Setzer this winter. Squeeeeee! She's as pleased as all get-out, as she's an even bigger fan than I am. (Where my fandom = "like him just fine and actively seek out his music" and her fandom = "has arranged family visits to coincide with concerts") Anyway, I decided she needed a funky scarf to wear on this excursion (or just to look really stylin' on the way to California, or whatever), so I picked up some neato Schachenmayr Scaletta yarn (the black one) and am knitting a fun, simple scarf out of it--garter stitch with a row of twisted drop every so often. Though I might unravel it (it's only 4" long or so right now) and follow Wendy's simple scarf pattern instead.

In the Hoop:
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: No change, but I want to have it to the framer in time for X-mastide framing.

Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I did set aside Vanity Fair. I rewarded myself--or at least gave myself a break--by reading The Grim Grotto, the 11th Lemony Snicket book. Yeah, I'm thirty. What's your problem?
Listening to: U2.

Progress, I tell you! Progress!

2004-10-10T19:34:00.000-05:00

Frequently recurring four-hour car-rides are a lovely thing indeed. Non-knitting details about the weekend's festivities are over in the other place (or will be as soon as I type it), but I must say that I was able to get a good bit of knitting done in the car on the way home from Madison this weekend. I lost the light too quickly on the way to WI, or I'd be unstoppable! Devan is an excellent in-the-car project. Small size, brainless knitting.

I also had the good(?) fortune to go visit Lakeside Fibers while in Madison, which is a lovely store with wonderful light, a nicely broad selection, and a website that looks alarmingly like a Puzzle Pirates shop. I left with some magenta Lamb's Pride worsted for the body of the Lite Brite sweater I have in mind (Kureyon 95 for the sleeves), two skeins of LOUD Kureyon for the bunny and bear in Debbie Bliss's Noro Collection book, and two skeins of Koigu PPPM (a pinkish one and a blueish one) for the cutest little free bootie pattern in the world. I think that's it. I left without doing too much damage. I was a little worried for a while, though.

What have I accomplished since last time, you ask? Why, here's your answer:

Finished: Booga Bag has been felted and assembled (and is super-cute and handy, I might add), and the Flora scarf has had its ends knotted off and secured.

On the Needles:
Skully: I've picked up the first sleeve, knit the plain black 1" section, and have four rows of skully intarsia complete! Yes, it's not much yet, but I have figured out how to work out purl-side intarsia. (Knit-side came to me easily when I was knitting the stripey sleeping caps) So, a few more evenings of work, and I'll have me a sleeve. The main hindrance to progress from here on out will be Rusty. With 16 pounds of cat on your lap, your spare balls of yarn aren't always so easy to find.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Colinette Throw: No change.

Devan: Right-side complete, left side within an inch of starting the shoulder shaping. The left side just flew along this weekend. Wheee!

Sock: No change.

Okay, so not much news on anything but Skully and Devan, but dude! Such progress!

In the Hoop:
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: No change, but I'm ready to tackle it again.

Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change, but a weekend at home should enable me to wrap up what I left unfinished in class, then it's back to eleventy-million Queen stitches.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still Vanity Fair. I love it. I'm enjoying it thoroughly, but I wonder if I should set it aside for my next Book Club volume.
Listening to: They Might Be Giants

Just a quick update . . .

2004-10-04T21:29:00.000-05:00

To renew my commitment to the blog and let you know I'm not dead. Thanks to an impromptu camping trip weekend before last, and a two-day class with Merry Cox this past weekend, I've been a little bit busy.

The new job at work is going well--I think. I'm not as panicky busy as I was in my old job, and I've forgotten the feeling associated with having the time to do things right/well. I need to get reacclimated to sanity, it appears.

Here's the score on my projects. I can't start anything new until one more item makes it into the (Nearly) Finished column. I had a fit of starting, and I feel a little sheepish with so many WIPs.

(Nearly) Finished: Still need to take the Booga Bag to the washer and felt it. I also just bound off the Flora scarf (it wasn't Charm, it was Flora) this evening. Yippee!

On the Needles:
Skully: I've picked up the neck, bound the 2nd shoulder together, and seamed the neck. Ready to pick up the sleeves! In other news, a knot I thought was hopeless and just knit right past appears to be threatening to let go and make me very unhappy. I'll have to figure out how to defeat it. That's my inexperience talking--I now know to cut it out and just weave the damn ends in.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Colinette Throw: No change, but I'm eager to get back to it. October weather is perfect to knit on it!

Devan: Working the neck and sleeve decreases for the right side--almost to the end of the first piece!

Sock: It's up to an inch of ribbing--I got a lot of knitting on it and Devan done on the drive up to Itasca the other weekend.

In the Hoop:
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: No change, but read on . . .

Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: Took the class this weekend, and had a lovely time. Merry is a really fun teacher, with lots to share and teach. I got the inside pockets completely stitched, and three of them attached to the main piece during class, as well as a good start on finishing the lining of a matching cherrywood box.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Technically, Vanity Fair, though I've been to tired to read of late and have been doing crossword puzzles instead.
Listening to: FNPP volume 7: The Robot Show.

So. Where have YOU been?

2004-09-24T17:53:00.000-05:00

I've been at the lake and on a needlework retreat, and back to the lake, and hosting my parents and working really hard, and getting a new job at my company, and and and . . .

So it's been a while since I updated. And I'm sorry. As it turns out, someone reads this thing enough to miss me. (/em waves at the knitting Loots.) Pardon me while my mind boggles.

Mundane blather, meme-sharing, and trash-talking will now take place in the Lair Of the Lemur (my LiveJournal), so I encourage you to stop by there as well. However, the knitting, stitching, and reading news stays here. Woop woop. Here's the rundown on what I've knit and stitched in the past two months (geez! Honestly, I didn't think it had been that long.)

(Nearly) Finished: The Booga Bag just needs to be felted, and it will be all set.

On the Needles:
Skully: I've finished the back and the front and bound together one shoulder. Now I need to pick up the stitches for the neck.

Party-Time Apron: No change.

Colinette Throw: Put a dozen or so more rows on it after I was too tired to stitch at retreat. With cooler weather coming, she'll make an appearance in rotation soon.

Devan: This cute little pattern at Knitty appealed to the sock yarn fan in me. I know so many pregnant people right now, that I'm sure it will be done at the appropriate time for some little guy. (I picked the blue/purple/green colorway.)

Sock: I couldn't resist this sock yarn either. (Color #28--a sample sock by bruxknits here) And then I just HAD to try the two circular method. It's only about a quarter inch of ribbing at this point, but it's taking up space in the knitting bag.

Charm Scarf: When Mom was in town, I took her out to Borealis Yarns and had her pick out some wacky scarf yarn. She picked a green/gold colorway of Trendsetter Charm that is knitting up quite nicely--even if it does kind of remind me of camoflage netting.

In the Hoop:
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: I got past the halfway point and finished up the personalization chart before setting it aside for . . .

Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: Completely basted. Inside main piece complete. Minor finishing required on the pockets. Still need to complete the outside cover, which has about 800 queen stitches left to complete. Ain't gonna be done by 10/1, and that's okay. I'm pretty sure the class will focus on the inside pockets first anyway, which I will have done by that point.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
Listening to: First Ten Random iTunes trax:

Love is Blindness, U2
Naked Pictures (of your Mother), Electric Six
Don't Ask Me Why, Eurythmics
When I Hear My Name, White Stripes
Can't Get There From Here, REM
Devil Song, Beth Orton
Thursday's Child, Eartha Kitt
World Full of Nothing, Depeche Mode
T and T, Breeders
Come On Darkness, Camper Van Beethoven

Turtle Lake, WI

2004-08-01T14:48:00.000-05:00

Is where I spent the day yesterday, helping my in-laws settle in to their new lake place. They're extremely excited, and with good reason--it's a darling little place, on a lovely lake. It needs some love and attention, but they have plenty of enthusiasm--it will be super in no time flat.

The previous owners only used it once or twice a year, and it showed in cobwebs, mouse leavings, and general schmutz--but with only one day of (admittedly hard) work (by seven adults), it started to look like a really nice place. Though it is overrun by seriously hideous 70's-era ceramic lamps. They're dreadful.

Let's cut the blather and talk projects!

Finished: Nothing, though some things are close . . .
On the Needles: When my Kureyon color 95 arrived, I couldn't resist it . . . I cast on a Booga Bag right away, and I've done nothing else. I'm about 80% done with the bag--10 more rows and some i-cord and it's ready for felting.
Skully: No change
Colinette Throw: No change
Party-Time Apron: No change

In the Hoop:
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: Another band down, more to go.
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I got a good start on Lolita, and realized it's going to be a bit of slow going, so I moved straight into Reading Lolita in Tehran instead, so I'll be sure to get it done in time for book club. Nabokov can wait.
Listening to: Psychedelic Furs.

Hello, again, Hello . . .

2004-07-25T21:40:00.000-05:00

I have no idea what possessed me to use a Neil Diamond quotation for an intro, but what the heck. It's been a while, and I've been somewhat busy. But more accurately, it's been stinky nasty hot since I last posted, so sitting with a lap full of wool hasn't been exactly a thrilling proposition. The heat broke this week, though, so I have some successes to report! Let's recap what's been going on since 7/5:

The Pirate Party in San Francisco was a tremendous amount of fun. Got to meet a lot of wonderful Looterati and others, and see some of the basic sights of San Francisco. The Argent is a wonderful hotel, and I can recommend it highly--they put up with a lobby full of pirate-costumed people as though it happened every evening.

Of course, flying back from the West Coast means a late night, so I was practically useless at work on Monday. Came down with a cold on Wednesday. Stupid aluminum tubes full of germs that they call airplanes.

Didn't knit a whole lot on the plane--got totally sucked into Astonishing Splashes of Colour instead. A very compelling plot made the plane ride just fly past--I finished it before we got home--but talk about a book full of damaged goods. Sheesh.

I made my first eBay yarn purchase--a bag of Kureyon color 95 is on its way to me. Whee! Enough for a Booga Bag and the sleeves of a Lite Brite sweater--though instead of Kureyon/Black, I'm going to do Kureyon/Acid green. Because I'm an acid green kind of girl. And I'm in good company. (Scroll down to July 14th.)

Well, let's just cut to the chase now, mmmkay? Here's the news:

Finished: Fiona is a done deal. Wheee! Finished the applied i-cord this evening, sewed on the button, and called her done! Took me a few tries to figure out the i-cord application, but once I had it figured out, it was a cinch.
On the Needles: I'm trying to be strict with myself. I wasn't going to start anything new until something came off the needles. And now that Fiona's done . . . we'll see what strikes me as fun tomorrow. In the meantime, progress on the other WiPs:
Skully: I'm about 10" up the back side--9 more inches to go, then the shaping starts.
Colinette Throw: Is just about ready to come out and play again.
Party-Time Apron: Started the pattern stitch, and I'm not quite sure I'm doing it right. We'll see how it looks in a few more rows. If it's still funky, I'm pulling it all out and starting over.
In the hoop: And, because I'm a born cross-stitcher, more WiP news. I don't actually use a hoop any more--either a Q-snap if I need tension, or I just stitch in-hand, but I need to get these projects on the radar as well.
Drawn Thread Birth Band sampler: Gotta get moving on this one again--there's a due date around the corner. But 40-count linen. Aigh!
Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif: The front-side basting is in, and I'm working on the back basting. I need to have the pre-work done prior to a class in early October. I hope I make it--there are a lot of Queen stitches on this darn thing.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Just finishing up the first volume of Complete Peanuts, 1950-52. The books are well-designed, and I just LOVE the old Peanuts cartoons. I checked them out of the library obsessively as a kid, and am looking forward to owning the complete collection. I lost touch with Peanuts in the latter years, but the older ones are genius. Next up is Lolita, then Reading Lolita in Tehran, for next book club.
Listening to: Nothing right this very minute, but I went on a retro music kick at iTunes--it's been nothing but Dead Milkmen and the Communards since. (Yeah, that's kinda schizo--don't ask.)

Where does the time go?

2004-07-05T21:15:00.000-05:00

Yipes. Has it really been nearly two weeks since last update? I've been simultaneously very busy and not very busy at all. When last I wrote, I was bound for the Magnetic Fields, and that was a wonderful time.

Work has been work--lots of turnover, which means fewer people but the same number of projects. I'm so snowed under at this point that it doesn't matter--40 projects or 60, I can still only do 5 or 6 at a time.

Super-short week this week, thanks to today being a holiday, and I'm bound for San Francisco on Friday. There's a big old Pirate Party there, and I need to get my costume's skirt hemmed, so I'm going to keep this short.

In knitting news . . .

Finished: The piratey baby hat is all finished as of this afternoon. It's adorable. The acrylic yarn looks a little bit cheap, but it's non-allergenic, which is the important bit. It's also a little bit big for a newborn, but being an August baby, he/she likely won't wear it right away anyhow.
On the Needles:
Skully: The back is cast-on, and the bottom "hem" area of garter stitch is just about done. This will make a most excellent plane project for this weekend.
Fiona: So close it's almost criminal. The pocket is knit-up and sewn on (couldn't quite figure out how to attach it as I went by picking up stitches--next time, next time)and the flap is complete. Now it's just applied i-cord city.
Colinette Throw: Has stayed in its lovely hand-knit bag quite nicely, thank you.
Party-Time Apron: Knit one more row of seed stitch to straighten out my stitches that got all wonky from the tear-out experiment. This one's going to require some concentration, at least for a while.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still Quicksilver. Though it's a bit heavy to take on the plane. I'll take Astonishing Splashes of Colour (the next Book Club book) to CA if it arrives on time, otherwise, I think I might take The Little Friend on the plane.
Listening to: Nothing at present. Except for the bratty kids next door who have firecrackers left over from yesterday.

Shock of shocks. . . .

2004-06-23T22:03:00.000-05:00

. . . There's been serious progress on Skully. But, because I am contrary, you'll have to skip down to the knitting progress section for the specific information.

Life has been unusually hectic of late--my team at work is down two members--our leader and my closest co-worker both have taken new positions in the past few weeks, so there's PLENTY of work to go around, I'm afraid. I thought I was doing okay, until last night. After I got back from the cat shelter and ate a bit of dinner, I fell stone cold asleep on the couch at about 9:30. When I did wake up to go to bed, I was so out of it, I forgot to turn off not just the TV the whole way, but also my computer. Maybe I've been more stressed than I give myself credit for.

In knitting news, however, we had the opportunity to spend a weekend on Round Lake, and much knitting was accomplished by me. It was just a bit too cold to swim, so I didn't feel too bad about spending a lot of time knitting and purling. I did get to see the wonderful touristy boulevard that is Nisswa, MN, however. It doesn't get much more "Up North lodgey" than Nisswa. Had a lovely time visiting with my in-laws and Squid's aunt and uncle and their three daughters.

A busy weekend ahead--a Middle-Eastern Potluck on Saturday, along with possibly helping a friend bedeck the shelves in her store, and Book Club on Sunday (discussing The Namesake, which I enjoyed, but didn't really feel that it stuck with me past the last page)--and a trip to the Textile Center to retrieve the sampler that's been on display there this past month. And tomorrow night? The Magnetic Fields in concert at the Pantages. I'm excited--should be wonderful.

And now, without further blather, the hot knitting action:

Finished: Nothing's 100% complete. But there was PROGRESS, I tell you! Progress!
On the Needles:
Skully: Nearly done with the front! I've made the armhole decreases and should start the neck/shoulder shaping tomorrow or Friday, if I'm lucky.
Fiona: The bag part is finished, and she has her I-cord through the eyelets. I just need to do the pocket, the I-cord trim, and find a button, and she's finished for reals.
Colinette Throw: No progress (see what happens when I put her away?
Party Time Apron: Finished the eyelash section, and started the seed stitch hem, and about 3-4 rows into it, I got my seed stitch pattern so hopelessly muddled (never knit tired or drunk) that I had to rip out some rows. She's cooling her heels while I make some Skully progress.
New: Baby Stripey Hat: Crankyjake and Smilie's baby (due August 1 or so) needs a little piratey sleeping cap, so I found some baby-weight red and white and am making one. I figure combining the striping/decrease logic of the adult sleepy hat pattern with the dimensions of the umbilical hat should give me the desired result. I started striping in the car on the way back from the lake. Looking good . . . .

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Quicksilver, though I really need to get reading and stop doing crossword puzzles at night.
Listening to: The Magnetic Fields, in preparation for tomorrow night's festivities!

Hmph. Another week gone.

2004-06-13T21:22:00.000-05:00

Sheesh! I'd intended to do so much with my week of bachelorettehood, and as it turns out, Squid got home before I'd accomplished any of it. Alas. However, being so dang busy meant that my loneliness and self-pity factors were at an all-time low. Usually by the time Boundary Waters Thursday rolls around, I'm climbing the walls and I think the cat is doing a bang-up job of holding up his end of the conversation.

So, yes, Squid and the boys returned safe and sound from their wilderness adventure. The Boogiemonster's new kitty is striving to make friends with Stinky, the resident diva cat, but not making much progress. If Stinks doesn't accept new kitty soon, she might have to go back to the shelter. Boo hoo.

My organizational skills need a touch-up. Last week I panicked about Father's Day--had to get a gift! Had to get it in the mail so it would be unaffected by Reagan-related mail delays! It didn't dawn on me that I was a whole WEEK early until TODAY, when all the newspaper ads were advertising Father's Day as June 20th, NOT today, June 13th. Argh.

Enough life-related blather! Let's log the knitting:
Finished: Bupkis. Last week was finished-project week, I'm afraid.
On the Needles: Some nice progress to report, actually:
The Sherbet Sock: I gave up and unravelled it. I shall knit socks out of this keen wool at some point in the future, but for now, I don't need it sitting around, looking at me, and making me feel guilty.
The Colinette Throw: Second repeat completed, and I've put it away for a while so I can focus on some other projects (read: I need to free up one of my Denise cords for a new project)
Skully: Not quite languishing in obscurity--I plan to take it to the lake with me this upcoming weekend.
Fiona: Cruising right along. Just a couple more repeats of the triple cross, and I'll have the 9" I need and can more on to the final top sections. Whee!
Party Apron: Six rows of eyelash done. Really. This thing's going to be so WONDERFULLY tacky, I can hardly stand it.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Back to Quicksilver. (not Cryptonomicon. I am a dolt. Wrong Neal Stephenson novel.) I just need to find the rhythm of reading Stephenson again, and I'll be burning up the pages.
Listening to: Nothing right this very minute. I'm pleased to say that I found Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" on iTunes the other day, and I've been driving Squid crazy with it ever since.

Bachelorette for a week

2004-06-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

Well, I've safely packed Squid off to the Boundary Waters for a week, and I'm enjoying puttering around on my own for a few days. I'll get really lonely round-about Wednesday, but at least for the first day or so, I generally like being a lone wolf. My days have been pretty action-packed, actually--yesterday, after dropping Squid off at the in-laws, I did some hard-core yarn and needle shopping--picked up some dpns in sizes I was needing, the bamboo #9 for the tacky, super-fun party-time apron, and a copy of Socks Soar on Two Circulars. In the yarn department, I picked up some Rainbow, to make the sweater pictured--only I got the "green banana" color.

Today, I got to do a guest spot on Cosmic Slop as a "thank you" for purchasing a large number of watts during their last pledge drive. Since I'm board-certified at KFAI, and have guest-hosted for Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber before, I had a fine time and wasn't too nervous. After that, the Boogiemonster and I went cat shopping at my shelter to find him a companion for Stinky--after the loss of her buddy Pukehead last year, and the loss of La Femme Makita and all her stuff this year, she's a bored little kitty. We found a wonderful new kitty for Ron, who'll go home with him later this week. We followed that up with ICE CREAM FOR DINNER! Hah! at Izzy's.

In knitting news, I actually have had some time to put some rows on of late, so let's just cut to the chase.

Finished: Round About is done! Straps sewn on, opening reinforced, and now it's holding my balls of Colinette for the throw. I also finished Stripey Sleeping Cap #2--Iole, it's bound for you as soon as I get your zip code.
On the Needles: I'm nearing completion of the 2nd repeat on the Colinette throw, and the colors are starting to work together--I had been worried. I actually put another row or two on Skully (Shock! Horror!), and several more rounds on Fiona. I couldn't resist casting on the party time apron, though all it is at this point is one row of very fluffy eyelash. I know the apron is one of the loudest things going, but Babs, the Homemaker from Heck, really needs one. The rainbow-sherbet sock continues to languish in obscurity.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I finished The Namesake last night. I think I'm going to return to Cryptonomicon now. I miss it, and Squid's ahead of me in his copy.
Listening to: My own CFTP show. I finally had the guts to listen to it. I didn't do too badly!

I meant to do something useful today. . . .

2004-05-29T20:54:00.000-05:00

But instead, I frittered it away by knitting all day in front of the "I Love the 80's Strikes Back" marathon on VH-1. Squid and I determined that these VH-1 retro-pop-culture shows are like caramel corn--you don't necessarily go out looking for caramel corn, but if some is right there, and you start eating it, you'll NEVER STOP. Not until it's all gone. And you enjoy it, but you have a bit of a stomach ache afterwards. However, all the time with the knitting means I have some stuff to report in the status part of the blog. Whoopee!

Hot Tang! Whoo! I owe y'all an explanation, I believe. Whilst camping last week, someone came up with the genius idea of making Tang orange drink with the hot water for tea/cocoa instead of the traditional cold water. It was a chilly, damp morning, so a warm beverage was a good idea. And behold! It wasn't half bad. Of course, as news of hot-water Tang started to spread around our little group, we got an inordinate amount of joy out of saying "Hot Tang!" Wouldn't you? I mean, 1. It sounds awfully dirty; and 2. If you give it that James Brown "Hot Pants!" emphasis, it's a LOT of fun. As we were sitting around the campfire that night, drinking, eating (including those tasty little cakes cooked in orange skins--which I hadn't had since Brownie Day Camp), and talking, we decided to make some sort of Hot Tang! cocktail. We concluded that Tang + Vodka + Hot Water would be worth drinking. However, we couldn't agree on a name for a warm fake-orange screwdriver. My geek cred favored the "Sonic Screwdriver" after Dr. Who, but others preferred the "Hot Tang Screw". Which meant, of course, that plain Hot Tang would be a Virgin Hot Tang Screw. Oy. Such a crowd we hang with.

Okay, enough! On to the knitting news:

Finished: Nothing more, yet. Still needing to sew that strap onto Round About.
On the Needles: No progress on the socks, Skully, or Fiona, but! I've put tons of stripes onto the Sleeping Hat--I should finish it tonight or tomorrow, no sweat. I've switched off the circ to dpns, and I'm down to 30 stitches on the needles at this point. I'm also well into the 2nd repeat of rows on the Colinette throw.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished I had Brain Surgery . . . in record time, as predicted, and started on The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri for book club.
Listening to: U2 is up in the iTunes party shuffle. First 10 random iTunes tracks tonight, since it's fun:

Mary, Morphine (live)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
Kiss Me Like You Mean It, Magnetic Fields
Ha Ha High Babe, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Help!, Beatles
Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Warren Zevon
KJ102 Sign-off, (courtesy of the Boogiemonster)
Snow Cherries From France, Tori Amos
Hats Off to (Roy) Harper, Led Zepplin
Postcard Blues, Cowboy Junkies

Hot Tang!

2004-05-24T22:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from a soggy weekend of white-water rafting. The Peshtigo River in upstate Wisconsin (75 mi. NW of Green Bay) has some class III rapids that Squid and I CONQUERED this past weekend, thankyouverymuch. The weather was quite nice for the actual river trip, but after we went to bed Saturday night, the rain started and didn't stop. Which meant that we broke camp in the rain, loaded the van in the rain, and drove home in the rain. Ew. We can't put our car in the garage right now because there are two fully-pitched Eureka Timberline tents drying off in there. Now all we need is a sunny day . . .

The rafting itself was a lot of fun--though a LOT more strenuous than I thought--I'm a little creaky today. There were about 22 of us in our group, and everyone got along famously--which in a group that size, is rare. Though we're all well-meaning dorks, so it's not a big issue. Unlike the campsite full of jackholes who blared their mickeyfrickin' Linkin Park/Marilyn Manson/Metallica/G'n'R CD collection at deafening levels all weekend. We mocked them quietly amongst ourselves as "annoying, but harmless" until the fireworks came out. At that point we complained, since we were on the doorstep of a national forest, after all. And every piece of signage and documentation you saw at the campground stated "no fireworks", often in multiple places. They left shortly thereafter. We're so darn tame by comparison--"Hey, you! One more Simpsons reference, and your asses are outta here!" isn't that likely to happen.

I'll explain the Hot Tang! title later--tomorrow perhaps. The camp cuisine deserves an entry of its own.

In knitting news--I got a lot of knitting done on the way up, but was a little too sore and sleepy on the way home to get much done.

Finished: Someday I'll sew the strap on my Round About.
On the Needles: Fiona: has several more rounds of full triple crosses on her now, and I know it's working as it should. I'm a little concerned about my tension in the transition from the triple cross back to purl--it seems a little laddery, even when I purl through the back loop. However, Brooks mentioned that hers was that way too--I won't sweat it, and if it's too holey, I'll line it.
The Stripey Cap: I think I'm done with ribbing, and ready to get stripey. Wheee! The hat will progress quickly from here, because the stripes are so much darn fun.
Colinette Throw: It didn't travel with me, so no real quick progress--I'm up to the Isis section in seed stitch. I hope to start the 2nd repetition of the pattern this week.
Skully and Sherbet Socks--no progress at all.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?, Suzy Becker. Surprisingly amusing for a memoir about the aftermath of having a brain tumor surgically removed. I'll be done with it in no time. Next up: The Namesake, for book club.
Listening to: Squid swordfight on Puzzle Pirates and the dryer go thump thump thump.

So it wasn't a project I finished . . . but I finished something

2004-05-16T13:38:00.000-05:00

Just in time for book club today--The Sea, The Sea is all finished. If anyone told me that I'd enjoy reading the memoirs of a self-centered, vain, arrogant, asshole aging actor who couldn't get over his first love, I'd have told him/her (s)he was crazy. (Yes, I did start with them/they, but I'm feeling grammatically stilted and overbearing this afternoon.) What I also can't get over is that a woman wrote this novel. The point of view was so well put-together that I can't really believe it wasn't autobiographical.

In work news: an absolutely crazy week of work-related drama. My leader is taking a new position. Lots of other people are taking new positions. I'm interviewing for a new position. New people are starting in our department left and right, including on my team. And on top of it all, I'm dealing with a huge national rollout. I feel like I'm spinning, rapidly, in very small circles. I hope I don't get dizzy and fall down.

In other news--white-water rafting at the end of this week. Wheeeee! The Peshtigo River in Wisconsin has some class 3 rapids, and friends of ours have gone to an outfitter there for the past several springs and have had a really good time. We're joining them this year--I'm dying for a day off, so this should work out well. And I can knit in the car on the way there. Wahoo!

Which brings me to the knitting part of the blog. I checked out Borealis Yarns last weekend, and I'm pleased to say (although I fear for my pocketbook) that it's a wonderful little shop. Lots of interesting yarn of all types, and a big table in the sunny front of the shop for community knitting. And a coffee shop is going in next door. Squeals of glee, I tell you. Squeals of glee!

Finished: Nuthin', really. I just need to sew the strap onto Round About and it will be done-done.
On the Needles: Project rollcall! In order of disappointingness:
Skully: No progress.
Sherbet Sock: No progress.
Stripey Hat: Worked a bit more ribbing, but going quite slow.
Fiona: Coming up the sides. Not sure if I'm working the triple cross right, but I'm giving it time.
Colinette Throw: 30-some rows done on the first pattern repeat. It's a little smaller than I'd hoped, but will still make a most excellent lap robe. And the colors look like Walt Disney threw up on it--which is great for a throw, but I think this would make a baffling sweater.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: In-between books. A lovely place to be. Should I pick up my next book club book right away, or return to Quicksilver? Or find something else entirely to read uber-quickly as a palate cleanser? Decisions, decisions. . . .
Listening to: Just my fingers go clickety-click. Though I really need to synch up my iPod--there's Siouxsie to be had!

And so it goes

2004-05-08T22:28:00.000-05:00

ugh. Tired prosimian this evening. My mother- and father-in law are moving, so Squid, Fishtie and I spent most of the day packing up and moving boxes from one home to another. Fortunately, they're moving less than a mile away, so we didn't have to be hyper-efficient or anything, but still--people accumulate a lot of stuff when they live in a house for 11 years. I was in charge of packing up the kitchen, and am proud to report that I didn't pack any boxes that were too heavy for me to carry out to the van myself. I'm usually good for at least one giant, heavy box that's wonderfully packed, but too damn heavy to take anywhere.

We also did the birthday thing for the nieces and me--we all have birthdays within four weeks of each other, and since I'm old enough that my age doesn't really matter any more, we usually just celebrate them all in one shot. I managed to borrow Scurvy Pete's Creatures and Siouxsie CDs as well--been having a craving for them lately.

Looking forward to a nice, quiet day of puttering about the house and getting some knitting done tomorrow. Let's run down the current list of WiPs, shall we? (It gets longer every time I think about it, though.) And Borealis opened today, so I'm going to have to head over there tomorrow to see if there's anything there I just HAVE to have. Oh, who am I kidding with that "if"?

Finished: Very soon! The Round About bag. It's all felted and dry--I just need to do a little bit of sewing to put the strap on and finish up the shaping.
On the Needles: I de-hanked and balled up all my Colinette yarn, and couldn't resist casting on my throw. I now have 3 rows of mohair on the needles. Whee!
The stripey hat isn't back to where it was pre-frog, but there are 4 or 5 rows on the needles at this point and it's ready to grow nicely. The sock and Skully have seen no action at all. And Fiona is cast on and the bottom is about 4-5" long at this point.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Gotta get back to The Sea, The Sea. Book club's next weekend!

Hello, my name is Secret Agent Lemur . . .

2004-05-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

And I'm a fiber addict. I already have a sizable collection of fibers for needlepoint and counted cross stitch. How did I ever think I wouldn't succumb to the charms of yarn? I dropped a pretty penny on a Colinette throw kit over the weekend--but I think it was well worth it. I just want to roll around in the yarn--is that so wrong?

I also picked up some Mission Falls cotton for the Fiona-along. I hope they let me in, even though I'm nowhere near Knit Happens (that MN to VA commute is a killer). Even if not, I'm looking forward to another fun, easy bag to knit.

Providing even more temptation to an already weak-willed gal like me is Borealis Yarns (no website yet, I don't think). Opening this weekend, and it's just an easy walk from my house. Part of me wants them to be successful and have wonderful things. Part of me doesn't, since they'll be RIGHT THERE. On the way home. Taunting me. Tempting me.

Finished: the Round About bag is ready for felting! I'd like to do that some quiet night this week so it's dry for the weekend. The Kureyon striping is so much fun--even if the rough wool started to carve a channel in my tensioning finger after several hours of knitting.

On the Needles: Well, I had to frog out the started stripey sleeping cap--there was something funky going on with the ribbing--I had a funny looking stitch that didn't repair when I dropped it and picked it back up. I figured out as I ripped it that I had started knitting the other way round at some point, and that stitch marked the U-turn. Argh. Still--only an inch or so of ribbing--no great tragedy. I'll get it back on the needles tomorrow or later. Gaining some comfort with sock yarn on #3 needles, though the diameter looks a bit too small. I'll give it a chance and see. I'll knit more Skully someday soon, I promise!

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I had to put down The Sea, The Sea for a week. I'm afraid of what's going to happen next.
Listening to: blessed peace and quiet.

Happy birthday to me . . . yesterday.

2004-04-29T18:37:00.000-05:00

Well, what's there to tell? It seems like at least a month has passed since I last updated, but it's really only been a week. A reeeeeallly loooong week. Some happenings since last post:

--Saw Kill Bill, parts 1 and 2. It's Tarantino. If you like him, you like him. If you don't, you don't. He's kinda like Tori Amos in that respect.
--Took La Femme Makita out for a bon-voyage dinner.
--Went shopping for niece birthday gifts. Is it sad that I can shop at Hot Topic for myself AND my 12-year-old niece now?
--Participated in the interview process to pick a new co-worker in my department. At last! Some day the workload will lift!
--Helped La Femme Makita pack up the truck for a move to Denver.
--Celebrated my birthday with a never-ending parade of food, including Hell's Kitchen Lemon-Ricotta pancakes. (how old? *cough*thirty*cough*)

And spent more time on work than I care to admit. However, I did manage to knit a bit over the weekend, to the tune of:

On the Needles: The Round About bag. Once I got it started, it didn't want to stop! I have one end done, rounded the purl corner turning, and have 10" or so of the main body of the bag knitted. Just tied in Kureyon skein #3.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still with the Murdoch. It's going to end BADLY, I just know it.
Listening to: The voices in my head sing the Kenya song. I know there are no tigers in Kenya, but I can't resist it.

Let's hear it for perseverance!

2004-04-21T22:09:00.000-05:00

Circular cast-on after circular cast-on, I finally figured it out. It just took about five false starts. RoundAbout is ready to rock and roll. Wahoo!

That is all.

noo ne noo ne noo. . . .

2004-04-19T21:27:00.000-05:00

. . . um, that was the little song that the animated typewriter from Sesame Street sings as he rolls around. If you're between 25 and 40, you know who I mean. Both Squid and I find ourselves defaulting to that little tune if we need to hum tunelessly.

I looked back over my archives today, and I realized a few things:
1. I need to start posting actual content at some point, here.
2. I need to fix my template so it's more to my liking. I love the nasty green/orange color scheme, it's just that these fonts are in "for the blind" sizes. I just need to motivate myself enough to go tweak the template.

This weekend was eventful, knitting-wise:
Finished: Just in time for warm weather, I now have a pair of knee-high Wool-Ease Cottage Socks. They're really neat, and will be cozy as all get-out when the weather turns cold again. However, for the time being, they go in the finished project bin with my mittens. My experiment to determine whether sock knitting is for me pays off!

On the Needles: I finished off my first skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky on the Skully sweater and joined in the second. Still a ways to go before I have to start paying attention to the pattern again, though. I started a pair of sock-yarn socks, but I'm finding it a little bit of rough going--managing four thin dpns at the beginning of a project is such a pain. The yarn is a really cool orange-green-pink print--like rainbow sherbet.

AND, because I am a project starting fool these days, I cast on the next red and white stripey sleeping cap. Ghoti or Iole, I think it's for you. . . .

I really want to get a felted bag on the needles: Round About is adorable, and done in Kureyon will be stripey indeed, but starting the stitches with a circular cast-on is proving difficult. With only 8 stitches on 4 dpns, I can't figure out where to start and which order to knit my stitches in. Much less work increases after only one round. Grrr. . . . I thought knitting was supposed to be relaxing.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Sing it with me now, you know the words: The Sea, The Sea.
Listening to: Mclusky--do dallas. Such naughty words. Naughty.

Someone please tell me this week will end . . .

2004-04-15T22:04:00.000-05:00

I'm currently attempting to survive the week from heck at work. Just as my main project is seriously gaining traction and requiring serious brain power, I'm looking at picking up several more. All, of course, in time for my birthday at the end of the month.

"So, Lemur, what would you like for your birthday?"
"A successful national rollout?"

Yeah. If only I could get paid real money for sitting around and knitting amateurly all day. In knitting news:

On the Needles: I have knitted my first heel flap! The instructions were odd, so the 10 stitches I'm making the flap out of cross-over the round, so it seems a little lopsided--I'm confident it will come out in the wash--er, the gusset--though.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Sea, The Sea. This might take me a while. I also hope to get to Big Brain tomorrow to pick up 1602 #8.
Listening to: "Rebel Rebel" by Shaun Cassidy. Yes, that "Rebel Rebel", yes, that Shaun Cassidy. It's all the fault of Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber.

Insert Witty Title Here

2004-04-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

Ugh. I'm pretty much completely exhausted tonight. A funeral, plus a late night at work, tends to take a lot out of a girl. However, in a dramatic renewal of perspective, I realized today that work isn't worth the angst I've been feeling about it lately. Important in that I'd like to do my best work, but not so important that I need to obsess over it with every fiber of my being like last week. It's so nice to get the perspective engine working again. Mine's due for a tune-up, as it tends to overheat, which leads to catastrophic failure.

Well, that's enough of oblique professional reference theatre for this evening.

On the Needles: The sock grows. And there's nothing like a nice long car ride for putting rows on a sweater. Must . . . resist . . . lure of new projects! (I don't need a Kureyon sweater. I don't, I don't, I don't.) I'll have cross stitch to do like mad soon--A Merry Cox Sailor's Huswif class is coming up with tons of prework to start in May. Up until January, I was a devoted cross-stitcher and embroiderer. Knitting has diluted my focus! Must . . . return . . . to counted thread . . . .

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch, plus this week's Entertainment Weekly.
Listening to: The Magnetic Fields. Everyone really does need to own a copy of "69 Love Songs".

Thanks, Easter Bunny! (Bawk, Bawk!)

2004-04-11T22:38:00.000-05:00

Well, in one of my most atypical Easters in years, the in-law family dinner was followed by a trip to the funeral home for the visitation and prayer service for one of Squid's uncles. I've never felt less Catholic and more Protestant in my life. I don't know which hand to cross myself with (your right, as it turns out), and I have no idea what I need to murmur in response when the priest pauses. Everyone else does. Alas. We'll attend the funeral tomorrow morning. Squid's uncle was a fireman for many a year, and as a result, we saw no fewer than four fire companies troop through the receiving line. It was impressive. He was a small-town legend.

Finished: The Coronet cap is complete! I need to block it, which should help the brim stay "turned up" at the right place, and it's a little wee bit long for my head, but I'm quite proud of it.
On the Needles: The Skully sweater's growing, and I'm going to try my hand at a sock. This free Cottage Sock pattern from Lion Brand is done in huge gauge, so it won't take me forever, and I should be able to see what I'm doing pretty clearly before I commit myself to teeny sock yarn.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Finished The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste. Full speed ahead on the Murdoch. My bet is that our protagonist is completely off his rocker by the end of the book.
Listening to: Nothing at present.

And so to bed.

short bit tonight--there's a new Knitty!

2004-04-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Stupid bookmarks. Didn't update with the new Knitty issue and I had to find out about it from other weblogs. Sigh. Such a difficult life I lead. The new Knitty issue incuded the Knitter's Geek code--and since I'm both a knitter AND a geek, I couldn't resist. So, if you must know, my Knitting Geek code:

KCR Exp+ SPM+ Bam AddiT+ Den++ Syn Nov+ Wool++ Cot Stash(+) Scale(+) Fin(-)>+ Int Tex Felt Flat+ Circ++ DPN+ Swatch+ KIP+ Blog+ FO+ WIP++ GaugeW(B) AltX++Em+

And, of course, between the new patterns shown at Knitty and on Magknits, I'm dreaming happily of nothing but knitting.

On the Needles: Um . . . no news is good news? Putting rounds on Coronet, not much else.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I'm up to Tuna Casserole in the Encyclopedia. Not far now. . . then it's nothing but Murdoch. Squid finished William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, and it's waiting there patiently for me. I also put Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver aside lo these many months ago (dang book's too heavy to travel with) in favor of lighter (weight-wise) books, and need to get going on it again. I love it, it's just too dang heavy.
Listening to: The voices in my head. Make them stop . . .

mmm. . . wha? Where am I?

2004-04-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

Whoooo . . . long three days. Since the deal on tickets was too good to pass up, Squid and I took Friday off and attended the Looterati meet in Washington, DC. Yep. We traveled halfway across the country to meet people we've met on-line through a game where we all pretend to be pirates. In our defense (?), several of the folks in attendance are long-standing friends of ours, so we knew some of what we were getting ourselves into. As it stands, all of our fellow Looterati mates are really cool people, and we had a lovely time. Thanks to the red and white stripey hat I knit for Squid--who wore it to the party, since it's a trademark of his pirate character in-game--I have an order queue of two or three more. They're fun--I don't mind at all.

However, I had agreed to host my book club at the house today, which meant that we had to be back in town for me to be ready for book club at 3:00. Which meant an 8:00 a.m. flight out of Harrisburg. We left the party in DC at 11:30 or so last night, drove 90 minutes back to our friends' place where we were staying (Hi, Cranky and Smilie!), got in at 1:00 or so, experienced the daylight saving time change, and got up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. (post-time change, so really 4:30--3:30 to our poor little Central Time selves) to get to the airport in time. Okay, so I just took a paragraph to say "short night last night".

Once home, the frenzy of cleaning and food prep ensued. I'm now all cleaned up, and nearly ready to drop. I have a big meeting to prep for in the morning, so I'm thinking of just toddling off to bed, oh, about now.

However, there's tons of fun to report in the knitting part of the blog!

Finished: The kitty egg roll. Amon-Ra, Linus, and Dynamo looooove the egg roll. I finished 90% of it on the plane ride, and decided to finish it off as a hostess gift for Cranky and Smilie's cats. They loved it so much I made them a won-ton to boot.
On the Needles: Couple more inches done on the sweater, and I'm zipping along the outside of my Coronet hat.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Making some progress through The Sea, The Sea. I have no idea where Ms. Murdoch's going to go with this, but I think I'm going to enjoy the ride. Still considering the narrator a bit of a blowhard. However, this is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black.
Listening to: Just the hum of the PC's fan.

Just a quick check-in

2004-03-31T21:53:00.000-06:00

Ugggh . . . so tired. Up too late pledge producing last night, after two solid days of craziness at work. I am a beaten little prosimian. Perhaps just a few minutes on Pirates tonight before I check out?

On the Needles: I bound the Coronet band together, and am picking up the stitches for the actual hat part. Wheee! The egg roll gets bigger, and I hope to get some serious sweater time in this weekend.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: More Bad Taste, and this week's Entertainment Weekly. Will the sitcom survive? Do I care? Do I even watch TV any more? Well, if it's not Alias, Good Eats, or We Are the 80's, not really. I *heart* my TiVo.
Listening to: Doin' it for the Mantis--quality checking my mix so I can burn some copies for a few friends.

Another update! Whoop Bing!

2004-03-29T18:03:00.000-06:00

Well, back again. A pretty standard Monday at work, enlivened by some Puzzle Pirates drama in-between tasks. Two of the largest flags in the game have a long-standing rivalry and near-legendary antipathy between their leaders. They declared a war over the weekend, which lasted all of four hours. The flame war--er, pardon me, discussion--on the forums continues unabated, however. As a former member of one of the warring flags, I've been watching it with a good bit of interest. Though now it's all over but the name-calling.

Not too much progress on the knitting since yesterday's post:

Finished: No news here
On the Needles: Getting wonderfully close to finishing the Coronet band. My 2nd attempt at Kitchener stitch awaits!

In an attempt to gain even more credibility with my non-existent reader base, a few more links to tasty goodness for you:
--I *heart* Neil Gaiman. And being based in the Twin Cities means I get at least my share of local signings, if not more than your average bear. He maintains an excellent blog here.
--It was the ever-crafty and creative Sarah Dyer who inspired me to get off my laurels and start blogging already. She and her husband Evan Dorkin run the House of Fun and create many a cool comic.
--Queen of Wands has been really entertaining me of late. Don't be surprised when a kitty hat shows up on the needles--that's all I'm saying.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: I just finished "Meat Snacks" in the Encyclopedia of Bad Taste. mmmm . . . meaty.
Listening to: First 10 iPod Random tracks, no matter how embarrassing:
Manta Ray, Teen Heroes
Feed the Tree, Belly
Frosted Flake Wood, Hooverphonic
Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Elliot Fisher
Running Scared, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
One Step Beyond, Madness
The Audition - I Love to Be Unhappy, Gilda Radner
Moon Sammy, Soul Coughing
Day of the Lords, Joy Division
The Navajo Know, Pixies

Hey, Remember Me? Of course not!

2004-03-28T18:00:00.000-06:00

So, I set this up nearly a year ago, and have done nothing with it since. This must change! I can't say for certain how soon I'll be publishing "meaningful" content on a regular basis, but I think I certainly want to start keeping this up regularly.

I think it's going to be a knitting blog. (Gasp!) At least to start. I learned to knit in January 2004, and I'm finding that it really scratches where it itches. I love it. I've been an embroidery-based needleworker (counted thread, needlepoint, a bit of beading as well) for years now, but knitting had always eluded me. Too late now. To set the baseline:

Projects completed:
"Princess Snowball" Cat Bed (from Stitch 'n' Bitch)
A long, red and white striped sleeping cap (adapted from a free pattern at About.com)
A kitty won-ton (a super-easy Knitty pattern)
One-skein mittens from a skein of Museum yarn (Zanzibar colorway. Couldn't resist it)
The Umbilical Cord hat (from Stitch 'n' Bitch)

On the needles:
A kitty eggroll (another super-easy Knitty pattern)
Skully sweater (from Stitch 'n' Bitch)
Coronet cap (from Knitty)

Look for an update of some sort here on a weekly basis--probably Saturday or Sunday.

What else am I digging on right now?
--It's Pledge time at one of my favorite radio stations, KFAI. Check them out on line if you're not in my neck of the woods.
--I like to pretend I'm a pirate and kill HOURS doing puzzley games at the same time. Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is way more fun than it should be.
--If you're in the Twin Cities and looking for a cat, try the shelter where I volunteer. I've been squeezing medicine into sick kitties at Feline Rescue for the past five years.

Obligatory cultural references (I love these in other folks' blogs, too)
Reading: The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch and The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste, Jane and Michael Stern. The encylopedia is way more fun than it should be. I just cracked open the Murdoch last night. It's the first of hers that I've read, and I'm trying really hard not to hate our narrator. I should probably give him more than 15 pages.
Listening to: iTunes on shuffle all. Right this moment it's Johnny Cash.

2003-06-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

So, here I am, having finally given in to the small, nagging, voice that insists I get into the habit of writing again. Here goes nothing. Someday I aspire to damnhellassking-ness, but that will require a bit of diligence on my part.

Shall we meet our cast of characters? To start with:

Secret Agent Lemur: Your lovely hostess
Squid: My dear spouse
Fishtie: The emergency backup husband
Rusty: The cat. I don't see a reason to give him a pseudonym at this point.

Reading: Star Spangled Manners, Judith Martin
Stitching on: Heirloom Wedding Sampler, Victoria Sampler
Listening to: Propellerheads