Indelible.
happiness
happiness
Category Archives: Alongs
H is for…
Height.
I’ve been 5’9″ since I was in fifth grade. Haven’t grown even a fraction of an inch. This is good, because when I was two and they were estimating my future height based on normal growth curves and my height then, it looked like I was on track to be 6’5″ by the time I was 16! I’m easy to pick out in my class pictures from grade school – I’m the one looming in the middle of the back row. And I played a lot of basketball during grade school and junior high, even though I was terrible at it.
Interestingly, I don’t really think of myself as tall most of the time. I do when I’m shopping for clothes, since womens pants are nearly always too short for me; I mostly wear mens jeans. I also thought of myself as tall when I was doing the internet dating thing – it turns out that most guys might say they’re ok with dating women taller than they are, but in reality… they’d get weird about it.
That second piece of tape in the first picture? I was trying to figure out what Chaos’ Height is. Let’s just say that it’s not easy to measure a cat and this is the best guesstimate:
“Mom! How can I maintain my cat of mystery status if you share all my secrets?!”
“Hey, it’s kind of fun to pull this off the wall.”
Shortly after this picture was taken, this piece of tape became his new favorite fetch toy… No idea where SRM* has gotten itself to.
*Sparkly Red Mouse, Chaos’ all-time favorite fetch toy
A is for…
Abundance. (Hey, cut me a break – I joined the ABC-Along late! I’m caught up now. Well, after this entry, I am.)
Blogging has brought Abundance into my life: Abundance of laughter, of tears, of joys and sorrows shared… Abundance of friends I would never have met otherwise.
You’ve probably participated in or at least noticed the Abundance of Pal exchanges (be they Secret, Better, or other) and contests in the knitblogging community as we reach out and share with each other, getting to know each other better, getting to know each other beyond the blogosphere. That was something that I never expected when I started to blog – but I’m definitely not complaining.
I love to get postcards from my friends on their travels, but over the past 10 years or so, the cards and postcards have dwindled as the internets increase. We send more email and virtual cards and fewer physical cards. It happened so gradually, I don’t think I really noticed. Until recently. The cards below are all from other bloggers. How cool is that?!
“I’m sure Mom won’t notice if I get up on the TV right now…”
As part of getting to know some other bloggers and sharing the Abundance, I participated in a little spring exchange with Peeve, Mrs Pao, and Eileen. I thought I’d share some pictures of a few of the fun things that have arrived.
Yum… A package from Mrs Pao, with some alpaca, Regia Silk (which I’ve been dying to try), and Fyberspates (which I’ve never seen before):
Along with a very fun goldfish wand toy for Chaos – I love the cat picture on the package!
And the aforementioned chocolate bunny (really, when the hormones hit in a few days, I won’t have any qualms about devouring that bunny), some cute mini knitting needles, a ball of Scheepjes (another yarn I haven’t seen before), some tasty gluten-free biscuits…
And my very own toy mouse, made from some gorgeous fruitwood! We’re having a wee spot of trouble with this mouse right now, since Chaos insists on knocking the mouse down from wherever I put it. Apparently, all mice are his mice.
Along with more gluten-free biscuits and steamed pudding/cake thingies (not available for this photo *ahem*), Peeve sent me Kafka on the Shore, with the far superior non-US cover…
*sniff sniff*
And a “Cat Garden” kit. Although the box says it’s for things like catmint and catnip, I think I’ll be growing a crop of little tabbies and torties and tuxedos. 🙂
One out of one tails exposed to this kit agree!
I highly recommend participating in a Pal exchange, be it one of the larger ones or simply a small one that you organize. It’s a lot of fun, and spreads the Abundance of blogging.
Flashin’ the stashin’
This starts with five overview shots and then a few detail shots of some of my favorite things. For scale, I took the overview shots while standing on my coffee table. I don’t think Chaos is in any of these pictures (although he’ll make a guest appearance) because he was very busy in the closet that he’s never allowed into.
I have nine 66-quart Sterilite tubs, eight 33-quart Sterilite tubs, and all the “miscellaneous” in the first pictures. My conservative estimate is 1000 quarts of yarn… You can click on any of the pictures to make them larger.
Missing in action is another of those black crates, filled with bags of Cotton-Ease. I forgot that it was under the bed until just now…
I know storing yarn in plastic tubs isn’t supposed to be very good for it, since humidity can get trapped in the tubs. I solved that problem by sticking a refrigerator pack of baking soda into each tub.
“Mmmm… smells like salty yarn. Yum.”
A few detail shots… Here’s some of my Kureyon. There’s an Adrienne Vittadini kit (fuschia) that I won a few years ago on the right side of the bin. Some vintage Red Heart wool can be seen near the top of the photo. To the left of the bin are two skeins of Malabrigo.
A 33-quart bin of assorted Noro (mostly Kureyon):
A 66-quart bin of sock yarn, jammed very full:
A modestly sized basket with more sock yarn – Bearfoot, Fleece Artist, and Trekking:
Now I hope you’ll excuse me while I go squirrel away my yarn again… Oh yeah, all this yarny excess is stuffed into a 637-square foot condo. I haven’t resorted stuffing yarn into the furniture… yet.
G is for…
Grape ivy. With flamingo. Very dusty – it’s gotten a bit too large to drag into the shower, so at some point I’ll have to actually dust the darn thing (ack!). I’m in the picture, too, if your eyes are keen.
G is also for Goldfish. Yes, Chaos has a toy from Creative Kidstuff. How could I resist giving him a goldfish in a bowl, er, ball? The goldfish always stays upright as the ball spins, providing a great deal of feline fascination.
And finally, G is for El Gato! (Oh, come on, you would’ve been disappointed if I couldn’t work him in here somehow.)
“Of course, you already knew I sound just like my hombre, Puss-In-Boots from Shrek 2, right?”
F is for…
Furry Friend who loves to play Fetch.
“I’m a bad-ass house panther, carrying my prey. You’d do well not to mess with me.”
F is also for Feeding station, which is a Favorite location for house panthers to hang.
“I must say, that’s a bit disappointing. I thought you came over to Feed me.”
And F is for Fur, so soft and so dark…
…which becomes Fluff drifting by on the Floor.
E is for…
Expansion, stash. Boy, did I ever fall off the Stashalong wagon.
“Mmmm… yarn on the floor.”
Edit: Due to multiple requests for information on the yarn, here’s what we have, clockwise and starting with the skein Chaos is sniffing. That’s Sleeping Dragon sock yarn, color Purple Night, from A Swell Yarn Shop. Next are two skeins of Fleece Artist (colors H and MR) from Simply Socks. Then a skein of superwash sock yarn (color Carnival) from Brooklyn Handspun. Next are two skeins of Treadsoft sock yarn (colors Black Pearl and RoseGarden2) from ebay seller lotusblossom. Finally, two skeins of Schaefer Anne (colors Purple Waters and Watercolors), also from A Swell Yarn Shop. Whee!
“Wow, I really can’t believe how much yarn is here.”
Earplugs, a must-have so that the cat-owning urban condo dweller can get some decent sleep.
Espresso. Really, what needs to be said? Ahh….
Exercise. Alas, I have shamefully neglected my exercise routine this winter.
“I don’t think this looks too complicated. If only you’d adjust the pedals for me…”
A Knitblogger’s Field Trip
Today is the Knitblogger’s Field Trip, organized by Becky of Knitting Interrupted. The premise is simple – show the blogging world your backyard. So, with no further ado, I present my backyard, er, alley. Ta-da!
It’s not going to be a very bright day today.
In fact, that white stuff? Not there yesterday. Not snow. Sleet. Blech.
Hey Sandy, check out that sky! 😉
Inside, SRM was rousted out from under a cabinet this morning, using the trusty yardstick. Check out this rare midair footage:
“SRM, oh sweet SRM, how I love thee. Let me count the ways…”
“Hey, give us some privacy! You paparazzi, you are all the same.”
In which I achieve both Olympic Gold and Stashalong Failure
Sorry to send so many of you off to get your eyes checked – I was really excited to have finished (including some steam blocking) and wanted to share but didn’t have time to goof around with the timer and all. Thanks for all your kinds words!
Here’s the sweater in action. (Ignore my red eyes. Me fixing red-eye results in eyes that look like bottomless pits. Trust me that the red-eye is better.)
Besides providing evidence of Chaos’ evil nature (the glow! the glow!), it should also give you a better idea of what a big cat he is. (He’s not fat, either.) This monster can handily fish things off the counter when he stands on his hind legs. But I digress. Back to the sweater…
It’s not easy to take a good photo of a black sweater that’s 50% silk – very reflective. What you can see in the picture below is that there were definite color differences between the skeins. It’s much less pronounced when I’m wearing it (and not being photographed). I didn’t knit from two skeins at once because that’s just such a drag to do when knitting in the round.
Pattern: Hourglass Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Brooks Fiber Farm Four Play (50 silk/50 wool)
Modifications: As part of my training, I gathered advice from others who had knit the sweater (let us pause and give thanks for Google). Based on my research, I added some short rows to the back of the neck and am very pleased with the results – no sweater strangulation. I also decreased the size of the neck opening. I’m not a fan of bell sleeves, so I completely redid the sleeves. Finally, since I hate sewing (and with tips from Jeanne), I picked up and knitted in the hems and the neck – which meant that this sweater required very little finishing.
Thoughts on the Result: I love this sweater! I already wore it to work today. Circular swatch notwithstanding, my gauge on the body was a little loose while my gauge on the sleeves was a little tight (my average gauge was perfect!). My sweater fits more loosely than many other Hourglass Sweaters I’ve seen, but I think it’s still very flattering.
Thoughts on the Knitting Olympic Experience: If I planned and prepped for all my major projects like I did for this one, I’m sure I’d have a lot more knitting success stories. I was also very surprised at how quickly I knit this. Had I truly applied myself, I would’ve been done last weekend. Because I apparently don’t have a good grasp of my knitting speed and skill, I didn’t select a sufficiently challenging project. That said, I think I’d rather be in the “pleasantly surprised” boat than in the “oh oh, I think we’re sinking!” boat.
If you’re wondering what those blobs are at the bottom of the picture… That’s my leftover yarn. I originally had five skeins. I purchased two extra skeins, just in case… and I so didn’t need them. Of the seven skeins, I have three full skeins remaining (plus that little bit on the right). So, just to finish off my Stashalong aspirations in fine fashion, I headed over and joined the Rockin’ Socks Club. Sorry, Kim…
“Dang it, you really messed up my fur during that photoshoot! It’ll take me hours to get it just right. I can understand how yarn led you astray. Happens to me all the time.”
B is also for…
Blurry.
Chaos is obviously very impressed… I’ll get some better pictures later. I love this sweater!