Category Archives: Knitting

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Reading

Another Project Spectrum FO

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Lyssa is having a caption contest – caption the picture she took of a Japanese subway ad and you could win some random goodies from Japan.

I’m a little in shock about how warm it’s been. It’s nice, but weird, if that makes any sense. Put it this way – my SIL laid down the law to my brother today: No turning on the air conditioning in March or April because hello! this is Minnesota. 🙂

Reading Update
Silenced by Syrah by Michelle Scott. The Nikki Sands mysteries aren’t particularly well written, but I keep reading them anyway… Nikki works and lives on a vineyard in the Napa Valley and has a slightly complicated love life.
Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde. This rather predictable romance was a quick and pleasant read. Broken-hearted Hetty takes care of her uncle’s dilapitated country house while her uncle recuperates from an operation. The novel features plenty of cozy British village life. This was one of my alternates for the TBR Challenge.
Out of the Deep I Cry, To Darkness and To Death, and All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming. The most recent three Reverend Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne novels were as well-written and suspenseful as the first two, and the sexual tension remained thick enough to cut. *fans self* I hope Ms. Spencer-Fleming is writing the next book… *taps toe impatiently*

Knitting Update
The Mata Hari Meilenweits are done! Although I usually love knitting with Meilenweit, I think this was a very old skein (of course, I have no idea when or where I purchased it…). The yarn was thinner than usual for Meilenweit and it was kind of hairy – strange white hairs sticking out of the yarn. Not the most pleasant stuff to work with, but the socks are fine – and very Project Spectrum, no?

*yawn* “More socks?” -M

I modified the pattern to be slightly less lacy (and therefore warmer). My pattern notes are cryptic, but I did cast on 72 stitches. The pattern row was *yo, k2tog, k7*, moving over one stitch with each pattern row. I think I knit five plain rows between every pattern row. Fortunately, the hairiness doesn’t show up in the pictures!

In that first picture, May was on her way to the window to conduct important Mayhem business.

*chitter chitter chitter* “Birds!! Birds!!” -M

“I could’ve had that one!” -M

Knitting

Knitted gardens

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You guys are the greatest! Thank you all so much for the cheering words. It was reassuring to know that I’m not alone in the seasonal doldrums. Yesterday was mostly sunny, and after work I took my friends’ baby for a walk. She’s a happy girl, so I sang silly songs and made faces at her and enjoyed the sunlight and exercise. By the time we were done, I felt “right as rain.” 🙂

Oh, and this song just came on my ipod: “The sun is coming to the cold places – now I can feel. The sun is coming.” (Matt Wilson, “Sun Is Coming” from Burnt, White and Blue.)

In the interest of finding some greenery during this decidedly non-green time of year in Minnesota, I turned to Jan Messent’s book Knitted Gardens. You do all realize that I have no intention of ever knitting anything from one of Messent’s books, right?! I just love to look at them and marvel at the intricacy. I mean, can you imagine having a knitted garden bedspread? (All of these pictures are clickable and totally worth it.)

Or knitting wee cabbages, sunflowers, and a tiny little fountain?

How about a crowd of gardeners?

Or a little basket of vegetables?

Gardening friars, anyone?

Complete with tiny beehives and miniscule bees, of course…

*burp* “That was tasty! What kitten?!” -C

Knitting

RPM vs RPM

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Kat’s hosting March Madness again this year and there will be prizes!

A puzzling thing – I crawled into bed last night and realized I was lying on something hard. It turned out to be a 1.5″ long nail. Where the hell did this nail come from and how did it get into my bed, under the covers?!!

Ok, you might remember that I started some RPMs for March FiberFlix a week or so ago, using Lenten Rose, a semisolid from Sundara’s sock club. I haven’t been working on these socks because I started to wonder if Lenten Rose really should be knit into lace and a multicolored yarn used for the RPMs. I pulled out some STR in Titania and started another RPM. What do you think? (Besides that I have yet to see a photo, mine included, that captures how, um, vivid Titania is.)

Can you believe that no cats came to see what I was doing?! May was busy chittering at birds through the open window (it was 64F yesterday when I got home from work – goodbye, snow!).

*chitter chitter chitter chitter* -M

“Hey, May! Mom left yarn and needles all over the living room floor! What? You’re about to catch a bird? Yeah, right.” -C

Contests, Knitting, Project Spectrum, Reading

Tired Tuesday

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Teyani is having a contest to celebrate her new blog home! Leave a comment by midnight PST on 3/15 and you could win two skeins of Sock Hop yarn.

KnitNZu is having a contest – her 250th commenter will win two skeins of fingering weight Claudia’s Handpainted.

And remember – I’m having a contest! Leave your comments at the contest post by 5 pm CDT, March 19. And if you haven’t stopped by and read the comments – what are you waiting for? They’re brilliant! I hope everyone is having as much fun leaving comments as I am reading them.

Reading Update
Death of a Butterfly by Margaret Maron. I love the Sigrid Harald books, but they’re older and hard to find at my library or used bookstores…
Murder with Peacocks and No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews. More Meg Langslow mysteries! I realized while reading Murder with Peacocks (the very first Meg mystery) how rare it is that I laugh out loud while reading. In Murder with Peacocks, Meg is home for the summer, doing all the grunt work for the three weddings (!!!) in which she is the maid of honor. No Nest for the Wicket (the most recent book) features an eXtreme croquet match…
24 Declassified: Veto Power and 24 Declassified: Cat’s Claw by John Whitman. Hee hee – really, not a lot to say about these. I guess they’re a guilty little not-so-secret pleasure. 😉

Knitting Update
I finally knit my little blanket for HollYarns and Cyrano’s Creature Comforts Drive over the weekend. (You have plenty of time – the deadline is June 2.) I’ve been meaning to and meaning to… and then I realized that my yarn was perfect for the current Project Spectrum color theme. Yup. That was all it took to get me knitting… Anyway! This is about 24″x24″ – I cast on 65 or 66 stitches of doubled Encore worsted on a US13 needle and knit until I had a square. This fortunately coincided pretty closely with running out of yarn. 🙂

*streeeeeeeeeetch* -M

I wish I’d taken the following picture at a higher resolution, so that you could see how long May’s little kitty eyelashes are. Awwww….

“What?! This isn’t staying here for moi?! Hmph. How can everything always be mine if this isn’t?” -M

Contests, Knitting, Project Spectrum

Of Meilenweit and Mayhem

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Aija is having a contest to celebrate her Space Invaders-themed socks appearing in the new knitty! Contribute a few lines to the Choka and you could win some really great stuff from etsy!

KnitWit Kelly is having a contest to help her find her knitting inspiration again – leave a comment by March 13 telling her why you knit, and you could win some yarn, music, and a bracelet!

Recently, I picked up some new Meilenweit Meeting because I thought it looked like a nice Project Spectrum color combination. Unfortunately, after I started knitting it, I realized I hated the colors. The blues slightly clash and there’s not enough grey or black to balance that (for me, at least). So I ripped out this fledgling sock Wednesday evening. (Hopefully none of you got too attached to it.)

“I can see an Addi!” -M

I turned to my stash and discovered some Meilenweit Fun that had plenty of blue and grey to qualify for Project Spectrum. I’m using Craftaholic’s Mata Hari socks pattern (not the charted pattern in that link – it’s explained in text a bit further down). I took these pictures right before ripping the sock back so I could knit another plain row or two between the lace rows so the socks will be a bit warmer and, well, less lacy.

“Maybe if I am very, very sneaky…” -M

“See how sneaky I am? Look out, Addi – you are mine!” -M

Contests, Knitting

This post not suitable for those sensitive to Addis in peril

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Sorry for anyone who was worried that I didn’t post yesterday! I coughed most of Monday night, so when the alarm went off Tuesday morning, I called work, said I’d be in at noon, and went back to sleep. Much better!

Mim needs a name for her new camisole pattern – if your name is selected, you could win yarn, some soap, and one of Mim’s patterns!

Heather is helping to raise money for books for an impoverished South African school, which is the sister school to the Montessori school Heather’s daughter attends. If you pledge $20, Heather will send you a skein of her hand-dyed All Things Heather sock yarn. If you pledge $25, she will dye special yarn for you. But really, any amount will help. Deadline is March 19.

The polls are open in La’s DeFeet of Cuteness contest. So hard to decide! So many cute feet! Polls close March 9 at 5 pm PST.

I finished my Jailbreak Jaywalkers. True, true, they aren’t quite finished in the pictures, but they’re finished now and waiting for a little bath.

“Those are some pretty crazy socks, Mom!” -M

The sock on the left was knit from the outside of the ball of Opal Zebra. The sock on the right was knit from the center. Who knows if that led to the dramatic difference in the cuffs between the two socks! These socks definitely grew on me as I was knitting them, especially when I discovered the dramatic changes adding a few stitches made – the feet were knit on 72 stitches and I increased to 84 for the cuffs.

“Let me just sneak in here and work my magic on this yarn…” -M
*sound of shooing off-camera*

“Hmph, if you’re going to shoo me away, I’ll go after the ball itself.” -M
*sound of shooing off-camera*

“Sheesh, Mom, you leave me no choice but to go after the needle!” *chomp* -M
*sound of shrieking off-camera*

Alongs, Contests, Knitting, Project Spectrum

Snow is Project Spectrum, right?!

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Margene is celebrating her third blogiversary! Leave her a comment revealing a little secret about yourself and you could win some fibery prizes on March 14.

Sundara is celebrating the first anniversary of Sundara Yarn. Guess how many skeins of yarn she’s dyed in the first year – submit your guesses by March 7 and you could win some very yummy yarn!

It’s very snowy here. That truck hadn’t been parked there more than 60 minutes yesterday when I took this picture. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the snow falling (use the truck as a backdrop). This morning? The cars look like snow banks. I’m working from home again today. 🙂

While I was looking out the window at the snow, I got this cute picture of Mayhem’s little kitty arms:

Awwww…

I started another pair of socks earlier this week, using some Opal Zebra. This yarn is boring me (why is it more interesting in the ball than when knit?!), but at least it fits the Project Spectrum theme (the white). The foot is plain, but I’m knitting the cuffs in the Jaywalker pattern.

“Dum-de-dum-de-dum… oh, look, some yarn on the floor again.” *yawn* -C

I joined FiberFlix. There are two films for March – you can watch Run Lola Run (my personal choice) and/or Logan’s Run. Fitting the theme of motion, I’m knitting the previously mentioned Jaywalkers and will also be starting some RPMs from my first Sundara Sock Club yarn, Lenten Rose (also a very Project Spectrum color – sort of a greyish plum).

“You put this yarn by me and you expect me to be good?! As if!” -M

“I mean, look at that tasty yarn cake!” -M

“Mmmm… yarn cake…” -M

I quickly rescued the yarn at that point!

Knitting

Refinanced raglan

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At last! The refined raglan is finished. I really like how this turned out – I’m wearing it right now!

I did make a few modifications to the pattern:

  • I knit the body and sleeves longer.
  • I changed the sleeves to be standard tapered sleeves, not bell sleeves. Bell sleeves drive me nuts. 🙂
  • I shortened the funnel neck. I look like a dork in a funnel neck – it only took me three tries to realize that and change the neck.
  • I added a few short rows to the upper back so that the front of the sweater wouldn’t give me that slightly strangled feeling. I should’ve added a few more short rows.
  • I used a three-needle bind-off to fasten down the neck instead of sewing it down later.

I can see myself adding some cables to the raglan shaping in future projects. Here’s a little cabley detail:

Chaos and May eagerly awaited blocking. (Please excuse the blurry shot.)

“I can just tell something’s going to happen!” -M
“Hopefully something good involving tuna.” -C

“Big kitty, I don’t know why you ran away when the iron came out! It isn’t very scary to me.” -M

“And see? With me here, Mom doesn’t even need the iron.” -M

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Randonymity

Let it FO! Let it FO! Let it FO!

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Limedragon is having a contest – give Trekking XXL color #76 a better name and you could win a skein of sock yarn! Submit your suggestions by midnight CST on February 28.

Guess how many books Chappysmom has read since January 1, 1996, and you could win some Koigu. Leave a comment with your guess by February 28.

We had a little snow over the weekend… This picture doesn’t show the final accumulation. See the Beetle? By the time the snow stopped falling, that Beetle had snow nearly to the top of its tires!

I did finish two projects over the weekend, although I didn’t finish my refined raglan (after I redid the neckline for the third time, we needed some time apart…). I finished the stripey gift socks, made from Cascade’s new Sassy Stripes yarn, using the stitch pattern from Kristi’s Gentleman’s Socks. I’ll definitely use that stitch pattern again.

“Hello! I’m lying here, May. Quit walking across me!!” -C

“Mmmm…. socks….” -M

(Although it may occasionally look like May is nearly Chaos’ size, that’s all illusion. She’s about 8 lbs; he’s about 15 lbs and looking trim! Yesterday, I noticed that one of his paws can entirely cover her eyes, nose, and mouth. Alas, I did not get a picture.)

I also finished my Project Spectrum socks. The stripes matched up pretty well between socks, until I bound off the second sock… See the little white blop? Grrr…

I decided I had to fix that, so I gathered my tools.

Voila!

Much better. (My toe-up bind off always looks wonky until the socks are washed.)

“This cat bed certainly lacks in cushiness, Mom. Why did you put those boards in it? Do you think I need more back support when I sleep?” -M

Knitting, Randonymity

The muffin incident

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Shall we start with some foreshadowing? Last week, Leah was nearly run down by an impatient driver in a Whole Foods parking lot; the driver then proceeded to scream at her. In her post, she commented “it amazes me how horrible we can treat each other just because we are strangers.”

*insert ominous music*

A few days ago, I stopped in my neigborhood co-op on my way home from work and was delighted to discover that it was gluten-free cherry almond muffin day and there were muffins remaining. (The muffin schedule varies monthly and seasonally. There’s a gluten-free muffin every day, but usually they are long gone by the time I get to the co-op. It’s been at least six months since gluten-free cherry almond muffins were on the schedule.) I carefully placed the last five muffins in a bakery bag (the muffins freeze really well).

This guy walked up to me and asked if I planned on taking all of the gluten-free muffins. Um, yes, since I just put them into the bag… He freaked out and called me a jerk, then a bitch, then an asshole, then started saying things like “You look like a nice person, but you’re obviously a nasty bitch!” WTF?! He continued stomping around and shooting me nasty glances and saying crap like that as I took my cart and walked down the next aisle. A few minutes later, I happened to look up as I was getting something out of the freezer and he was standing at the end of the aisle, flipping me off and yelling, “Bitch!!!!” I flipped him off in return, grabbed the last few things I needed, and got in a checkout line.

I was really quite freaked out by then and kept darting nervous glances around as I paid for my groceries and headed out of the store. I would not have been at all surprised if the guy had darted out, pushed me down, and taken my bag of muffins! Fortunately, that did not happen – I got in my car, drove home, froze the muffins, and sat down to write Tuesday’s list of things that make me happy. Like Leah, I had a strong urge to “accentuate the positive” and not dwell on the incident.

I’m writing about it now because I can see the utter surreality of the situation. Since the muffin incident, I have been observing people more closely, seeing how easily we lash out when angry or impatient instead of dealing with it, or excusing ourselves, or apologizing, or just being kind to the people around us. I can see where I do the same thing sometimes (although certainly not to the degree of the muffin man), and I’m resolving to be more patient and more aware of others.

Related to being aware of others and accentuating the positive, I knitted a few pieces for the Blanket of Hope that Rebekah’s putting together from some yarn I dyed last summer. Hopefully Rebekah will be able to use these for fill-in bits throughout the blanket.

Besides knitting, some other positives…

*purrrrrrrrr* -C & M