Drive By

Mercury remains in retrograde for about another hour and then it will be stationary for the rest of the weekend.   Can you feel it?  Sort of like a train coming to a screeching halt?  Or being stretched like a rubber band about to snap? My internet is also apparently stationary which makes loading pictures a tortuous experience.  It could be worse- I could be trying to register for the Sock Summit.  So while I have things to post this is about all I can handle right now:

Finished at 11:15 this morning- Left at 11:30 for baby shower to deliver it.  Ate well, saw old friends, had a lovely time, came home and slept.

I have almost 2 balls of this yarn left and I have some special plans for it but tonight I am putting it out of my sight.

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On Top of Spaghetti

I wanted to like you, really, I did.  What’s not to like?  You make a nice fabric when you’re knitted up, soft and even.  You’re machine washable too so I don’t have to worry that the recipient of this gift will never use it because you’re too high maintenance.  

But, I ask you, does the ends justify the means?

Your center pull skein didn’t about half way thru and there were 4, yes you, you know who I’m talking to-you had 4 knots in one skein.

This, this is what I get for thinking we could be friends.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Fugly

This is my beloved bag after felting.  What is wrong with this picture?  Notice that even though- and I know this because I counted obsessively- that I had the same number of stitches on the front and back of the bag- the front is about 6 inches bigger.

And I particularly like this:

The dog bone shaped bottom.  I’m just going to call it the Dog Gone bag.  How could you do this to me?  I had so much invested in our relationship.

What’s that you say?  Mercury Retrograde?  You mean what we have here is a failure to communicate?  To who?  the washing machine????  I thought I made my demands needs perfectly clear.   The color design turned out exactly as planned how could the rest go so wrong???  So I can fix it with darts.  Just not now, OK?  My trust has been broken.

This, though, this is making me happy right now:

I can’t tell you what it is because it’s a gift.  In something I never thought I’d ever knit with- it’s a soft quite nice- no really it’s nice- acrylic- Fantasy  from Dark Horse.

Since, unlike the Yarn Harlot, I’m not traveling during the Mercury Retrograde it hasn’t been that bad.  Only well, I’m unemployed for a few weeks and the wireless Internet I had been picking up for the last year disappeared and I’m stuck with dial-up which takes forever to load everyone’s blog pages and pictures and just because I’m home all day doesn’t make me want to clean even though, yes, I do know that there’s dust everywhere and someone or thing put a deep scratch in my windshield and well, wake me when it’s over, Ok?

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In Which Imp Proves She is a Natural Architect

Some cats, I understand, like to fling cat litter out of the box.  Some disdain to use the box if the level of cleanliness offends them in any way, preferring the closet floor or even the laundry basket.  Imp, however, is a digger.  Some days I really think she believes that she can dig all the way to China.  What she plans on doing there is anyone’s guess.

Did you ever try to dig to China?  My  childhood playmate, Melanie, was convinced by her older brother Jimmy that this was indeed possible and the two of them spent three whole summer days- from just after breakfast til too dark to see- trying to accomplish this while I stood on the side lines.   I had no doubt that a hole straight thru would come out in China (although directly opposite central California, I think, is actually  somewhere near the Seychelles) but I was quite skeptical about their ability to dig that far.  Plus, I had superior information- I knew the Earth’s center was boiling hot and they’d never survive the trip thru and said so, repeatedly.   It got deep enough that Jimmy was having some difficulty climbing out of the hole and hauling the dirt up and out was backbreaking.  Ultimately though , it wasn’t lack of enthusiasm that killed the project- Melanie’s father got tired of having big hole and a mound of dirt in his front lawn and  made Jimmy fill it in.

 Anyway, this morning the sounds of excavating coming from the cat  box had nothing to do with a finding a new route to China.  No, it turned out Imp had built something that looked suspiciously like a sandcastle, heaped up and sculpted on one side of the box, waiting for a big wave to wash it away.  I had no idea she was so creative.

 It’s been a very rainy spring here which is a blessing after several years of drought.   It also makes the spring particularly beautiful and lush.

                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Knit List

I stole this from Dragon’s Blog which she in turn “Ganked shamelessly from someone on Ravelry”

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

 Afghan

I-cord

Garter stitch

Knitting with metal wire

Shawl

Stockinette stitch

Socks: top-down

Socks: toe-up

Knitting with camel yarn

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip-down

Hat

Knitting with silk

Moebius band knitting

Participating in a KAL

Sweater

Drop stitch patterns

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn

Slip stitch patterns

Knitting with banana fiber yarn

Domino knitting (modular knitting)

Twisted stitch patterns

Knitting with bamboo yarn

Two end knitting

Charity knitting

Knitting with soy yarn

Cardigan

Toy/doll clothing

Knitting with circular needles

Baby items

Knitting with your own handspun yarn

Slippers

Graffiti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street

Continental knitting

Designing knitted garments

Cable stitch patterns

Lace patterns

Publishing a knitting book

Scarf

Teaching a child to knit

Knitting to make money

Button holes

Knitting with alpaca

Fair Isle knitting

Norwegian knitting

Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…

knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars

Dyeing with plant colours

Knitting items for a wedding

Olympic knitting

Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn

Knitting with dpns

Holiday related knitting

Teaching a male how to knit

Bobbles

Knitting for a living

Knitting with cotton

Knitting smocking

Dyeing yarn

Steeks

Knitting art

Fulling/felting

Knitting with wool

Textured knitting

Kitchener BO

Purses/bags

Knitting with beads

Swatching

Long Tail CO

Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards

Machine knitting

Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegated yarn

Stuffed toys

Knitting with cashmere

Darning

Jewelry

Knitting with synthetic yarn

Writing a pattern

Gloves

Intarsia

Knitting with linen

Knitting for preemies

Tubular CO

Free-form knitting

Short rows

Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm-warmers

Pillows

Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine

Rug

Knitting on a loom

Thrummed knitting

Knitting a gift

Knitting for pets

Shrug/bolero/poncho

Knitting with dog/cat hair

Hair accessories

Knitting in public

 

I’ve added a touch- if I have experience with an item or a technique but haven’t completed the item, I’ve put in bold italics because well, my first and so far only sweater (a cardigan mind you) is still a work in progress.  So is the Habu scarf in stainless steel yarn.

If this were my planned project list- the real one, not the Ravelry queue which I see more as suggested guide kinda thing, no I mean  the excel spread sheet on my laptop with all the projects- it would go around the block 3 times be at least 3 times as long.

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i have lost capitalization

i wear contact lenses, gas perm hard ones.  without going into the messy details, that is what works best for my particular situation.  i am blind not very functional without them and usually we get along just fine and have for a long time.

this week they turned on me.  my eyes were a little irritated earlier in the week, not uncommon during pollen season, and i did the things i usually do to help but it didn’t.  today it became obvious that my eyes did not want any foreign how can you call us that?  don’t we belong here?  haven’t we always been good to you?   objects inserted in them so i have been wandering about in foggy muddle most of the day just doing the few things that don’t require clear vision- laundry, napping, meditation, eating, a long soak in the tub….

once upon a time, i had backup glasses- like coke bottle bottoms and really great for fine hand sewing but impossible to use for walking, driving, and general life.  the frame broke about 15 yrs  ago and i never replaced them because they’re unbelievably expensive and really i only need them for things that go bump in the night and to find the right buttons on the microwave to heat water in my pre coffee morning haze.  i now use the unbelievably thick, seemingly unbreakable lenses from the old glasses for this.  i hold one lens up to one eye as needed to see what must be seen.  i can, if bored enough, read  awkwardly and use the computer one-handed this way.  i just can’t manage the shift key.

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My Stash Runneth Over

Now that I’m putting away my Stitches South treasures I’ve discovered that there’s no room at the inn:

 This is only the on display in the basket stuff-

I also have a BIG shopping bag of yarn in the closet and 2 plastic comforter size sweater bags with lace wt and Brooks Farm under my work table.  Plus, of course, 2 or more (5) wips in or about the sofa.  I don’t think I’ve quite gotten to Stash Beyond Life Expectancy, yet.  What’s that?  No really, if I knit everyday for 8 hours I could still use it up in a year…. Ok, well, I could do it in 5.  However, I may have reached Stash Beyond Functioning Adulthood and the EMTs will have to untangle me when I forget that I’m knitting and drag the yarn all thru the house then call 911 because some imaginary evil doer has booby trapped my house.   

I’m trying really hard to be faithful to my wips but the anxiety level…   the stash is big enough that using it up seems inconceivable and makes my head spin with project possibilty overload. I’m  dying to start a lace project, a couple of fun toys, something for a friend’s baby, another lace w/beads project, and, and, and… my lys is having a great contest to knit a chicken (yes, really) using  yarn purchased at the store, personalize it, and the winner gets a $25 gift certificate to the store EVERY MONTH for a year.  Only, I’d have to buy some yarn to do it and how will that help my stash problem?

 

Meanwhile I am slogging through, sticking my nose to the grindstone- que the Volga Boat song– trying to finish my bag before I go on to anything else.  Engineering the flap with the color work proved to be a frogging nightmare of do overs  a challenge but I  almost done with the flap and just have the never !@#$% ending strap to do.

 

I finished the multi directional scarf what

seems like months ago-

and in  what I think must be a subconcious need to control some aspect of my stash obsession- I’ ve been sewing.   Maybe if I sew up all the fabric, I’ll have room for the yarn, hmm.   I finished the jacket of Japanese Cotton I started last fall.  Made a linen bathing suit cover up last week and a dress from the fabric I got in Berkeley last summer today.  I also made my granddaughter this lovely blue dress:

   Not a great picture, but it makes her look like Alice in Wonderland.

 

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In Which I Prioritize and Decide that Yarn is Better than Sleep

This week I put  my life back together.  So far I have accomplished this:

I have slept.  That is, I have slept for more than 6 hrs a night.  My sleeping schedule is still fockacta because I can’t seem to get into bed before 1 am but I am working on it and it wouldn’t be a problem if you wouldn’t jump on me at 7 am- yeah, you know who you are.  Don’t look at me so innocently with those big yellow eyes.

 My fingernails now appear to belong to a person who has not been trying to dig up the street with her hands.  Not only were they broken and jagged- I had purple leather dye under my fingernails. No, didn’t use leather dye without proper safety equipment- I merely wrestled with handled something that had been dyed with purple leather dye after it was dry.  Thanks for your concern. It seems an inevitable part of my life that come opening night of any show I will have some horrible non-removable gunk on my hands that causes other people to assume I have a contagious disease and fall over themselves trying strive to stay at least 10 ft away at all times.

My house has been tidied.  It was very, very bad,  messy, messy, messy, very bad Feng Shui and I was no longer able to pretend that the cat hair was Art.

I now have clean clothes, sheets, and towels.  It was a close call as to whether or not I would run out of things to wear before I got it done.  I was saved by the weather turning warm.  I don’t need clean socks and jeans if I can wear sandals and linen pants. 

My car is clean and shiny- as soon as the daily dusting of pollen ended the daily bird droppings appeared and it had this textured marble Martha Stewart gone bad looking finish.  I also didn’t want to touch it.  Ewwww, bird poop, ewwww.

Of course, I would have a lot more  done if I had actually started last weekend but well, I had better things to do.   Who needs clean clothes and sleep when there’s yarn to be had.  I  went  to Stitches South instead!

It was a good thing I went with Jane and Diana who had been able to scope out the market on Friday.  I was so tired I probably  would have come home with fuschia Red Heart if I’d been left on my own. (I’m attracted to bright colors when tired- it’s a real problem in the grocery store- if no one is with me I will buy anything in a pink or orange box)  After visiting almost every booth a least 3 times and consulting with my companions, these  few things stuck to my hand  begged me to take them home:

Brooks Farms Willow- a bamboo/wool blend in a soft blue-  Brooks Farm has some of my favorite yarns.  I got the last 2 skeins which I hope will be enough to make a tank.

Brooks Farm Mas Acero- wool/silk/rayon- probably for a scarf.

Miss Babs Bamboo Baby- this was an orphan, the color was softer and less purple than the other hanks in that colorway but I have been hankering for a rose colored scarf.  No, it will be not be socks.  Give up already.

And my favoritist of all:

Maple Creek Farms Norfolk- heavenly soft, the colorway  is:  Winter Nights.

After exhausting my resources the market closed we went to dinner at Scalini’s with the Knit Witch and a hundred or so fellow knitters and had an outrageous time.  Prizes were raffled off and I won a $20 gift certificate to Anzula who has lovely, lovely hand dyed yarn.  Most of her yarns are sock weight so now my dilemma is:  Do I get a colorway I like and knit maybe lace with it?  Do I get a colorway I can give someone as a gift?  Or  maybe, just maybe, I could try knitting…..oh my God... socks?

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