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Wee Tiny Sock Club Renewals

2011-10-16T22:15:00.001-04:00

Updated November 27, 2011
Sign ups are now open for the Winter 2011-2012 Wee Tiny Sock Club! Yarns this round include a little alpaca, a little cashmere, and a little glitz. We'll ship one kit each in December, January, and February with themes ranging from home-sweet-home to winter wonderland and back again. Two of the kits are inspired by two crafts other than knitting, and one gives a nod to one of those patterns it seems like everyone on Ravelry is knitting!

Ready to sign up? You can join using the buttons below. The "Buy Now" button is for a one time purchase, while the "Subscribe" buttons below are to set up a a subscription which will automatically renew your membership and bill your Paypal every three months. Any questions, please let me know!

Please choose 1 blocker or 3 blockers? Do you want to receive the "blocker of the month" with each kit - the 3-blocker option - or just the one blocker that is included in the first kit - 1 blocker option? The blockers are designed each month to go with the sock pattern.

United States - 1 blocker option - $30

Canada - 1 blocker option - $33

Everywhere Else - 1 blocker option - $40

United States - 3 blocker option - $47

Canada - 3 blocker option - $50

Everywhere Else - 3 blocker option - $57
Thanks for being a part of the Wee Tiny Sock Club!

A little fall color

2009-10-14T23:02:00.004-04:00

For September's Wee Tiny Sock Club kit, I knit up a little apple sock, with an inchworm buddy inside. The yarn I used was mini sock blanks from Mango's Fiber Fun, which I Kool-Aid dyed to work with the apple pattern. Here's a little tour of the process.

First, I soaked the blanks for about 20 minutes, just to get them good and wet before dying them.

While they were soaking, I mixed up my colors. I wanted a nice red for the apple. That's just Tropical Fruit Punch Kool-Aid, straight up. For each packet of Kool-Aid, I mixed in 4 tablespoons of water.

Next, I needed a soft yellow-green for the apple's rosy cheeks. To get this color I started with 1 packet of Lemonade Kool-Aid mixed into 2 tablespoons of water. In a separate dish, I mixed 1 packet of Lemon-Lime Kool-Aid in 4 tablespoons of water. Then I added it teaspoon by teaspoon until I was happy with the color. That was about 2 teaspoons of green.

The last color was for the leaf and the worm, a green, but not so bright as the Lemon-Lime all by itself. I started with 1 packet of Lemon-Lime in 4 tablespoons of water, and separately mixed up 1 packet of Orange Kool-Aid in 4 tablespoons of water. Then I added the orange a teaspoon at a time until I was happy with the color. I used about 4-5 teaspoons of orange.

I poured my final color mixes into squeeze bottles that you can get a beauty supply store for hair dye. Now we're ready to dye! I dyed them 2 at a time. First I squeezed out as much water as I could, then laid them out in a 9x13 baking dish (make sure you use one that fits in your microwave). I spread them out as well as I could, but the edges were a bit curly. Then I just squirted the dye on. For this particular project, I wanted to have a bit of color separation, so I did not over saturate the blanks with dye.

Next step is to microwave them for 30 seconds. Your microwave may vary, of course.You are just going for getting them nice and steaming hot. Just be careful you don't let them go so long they start to dry out, as I'm pretty sure you run the risk of burning your yarn if that happens. The house smells really fruity after this step. :) Most of the white spots fill in as the dye soaks through after the blanks are heated up.

After they come out of the microwave, let them cool completely. I used wire cooling racks. It only takes about 5-10 minutes for them to cool.

Then, rinse well until the water runs clear and lay them out to dry.

I couldn't resist making a little rainbow one. still have a couple undyed blamks left, waiting for inspiration to strike. I may add some food coloring into the mix next time. Last time I dyed yarn, we used vinegar for the acid with the food coloring, and that worked well.

Each blank is unique, so all the apples will turn out just a little different, like real ones. The club member who have knit them up have taken the cutest photos. Check out the gallery on Ravelry. I love them all. :)

Fall leaves

2009-08-29T11:12:00.002-04:00

I've really enjoyed reading twist collective since the premiere issue a year ago. I like their photography and the overall aesthetic of the magazine, and how much it feels like a real magazine as you turn the pages. My favorites from the Fall 2009 issue are Lorelie, a pretty lacy girly Sunday brunch cardigan, Vaganova, a chunky pullover with a big lace panel up the front and a cozy floppy turtleneck, and the Vine Yoke Cardigan.

I even like the advertising in twist, full of good things to lust after. For example...the Isabella Hat/Scarf/Mittens set, designed by Through the Loops for Sandra Singh. I'd seen it on Ravelry - just fell in love with the color combo (pinky purple and chocolate brown) and I really like the stitches used (it has that stitch that looks like a butterfly). Darcy and Sandra are having a giveaway for the Isabella Mittens pattern along with the yarn to make them. Did I mention it's Malabrigo? Love that yarn. Enter the giveaway by tomorrow!

Back to the Vine Yoke, its construction intrigued me; you cast on at the button band and work sideways around the sweater, all in one piece, including the sleeves. Plus, by frogging my languishing Hourglass sweater, I had yarn (Malabrigo again :) ) that would work for it. So, the Vine Yoke pattern hopped into my cart one insomniac night at about 3AM, and I swatched and cast on before sunrise.

The pattern notes say that the sweater will stretch lengthwise in blocking and when worn, but after getting most of the right front done, I was really worried that I was knitting a cropped sweater that I would never wear. :P But, there is a point after the right front is done that all the live stitches are slipped to holders. I took the opportunity to get the WIP wet and block it out, and happily found it will be just right. :) I'm now on the the first sleeve, maybe 25% done with my new fall sweater. I hope the insanity of my fall school schedule doesn't prevent me from finishing it before fall is over.

It's really feeling like fall here, in the 60's and lots of rainy days. The kids got their teacher assignments yesterday, by robo-call from the school. Russ went online to get their supply lists, and Rachel needs a thumb drive for 5th grade. (!) Ben's teacher is expecting a baby in November, and I'm more than a little disappointed that he will have the disruption of a substitute for a month in the middle of first grade. :/ All in all, I'm really excited for the start of school. Monday, September 14th is Sammy's first day of preschool and we will all head out together, Russ to the bus stop with Rae and Ben, me to drop Sammy off and then off to school myself. That is going to be awesome! :D

Wee Tiny Sock Club - Fall 2009

2009-08-07T13:16:00.004-04:00

Mark your calendar!

21 new memberships in the Wee Tiny Sock Club will be available starting at 10AM Eastern time on August 15th at BraveLittleKnitter. :) I've got 3 fabulous fall kits planned, with something new to learn in each one. Summer club has been lots of fun - hope you can join us for the fall.

Best laid plans

2009-08-07T13:16:00.000-04:00

My solstice shawl has been getting a lot of knitting time lately. The colorwork is ever so much more motivating than the acre of stockinette was. I've started modifying the pattern to fit my own whims, too. The progression in the pattern as written is: suns, roses, disks (or "blobzenges" as they are called by the KALers on Ravelry), vine with berries, and stars.

The shawl was intended by the designer to reflect the return of sunlight after the dark of winter. As I knit on this shawl and the seasons change (I started it December 21, 2008) I want to also incorporate elements that reflect the seasons. So, first, I have added a leaf motif just before the roses. I used the leaf from Chart 3 of the pattern, which was just a single leaf in red on either end of the roses. I put 2 leaves, mirrored, centered over each rose. To have enough room for the leaves and a stitch between them, I added one extra stitch between each of the roses. I was hesitant about adding green into the color scheme, but I like it. It's Mossay from BMFA.

So far, so good. The next change I have planned is to substitute a wave motif for the disks, possibly one I found in Knitting Over the Edge. This will represent water, which along with sunlight is essential for growth.

I'm also thinking of changing up the colors in the vine section. The pattern shows a red background with a blue vine, but I'm currently planning to use my bright gold for the ground, with a green vine and the berries in Thraven (dark blue) - this combo reminds me of the blackberry bushes along the side of my house, one of the sunniest spots in my yard.

Finally, the stars at the end will become acorns - for fall. I need to find a good acorn motif that's the right size, about 11-13 rows tall. I'll do this last section with a red background and use the Oregon Red Clover Honey for the acorns. The combination of red and gold feels right for autumn.

My new progression: sun, leaves, flowers, water, fruit, seeds. And so the cycle begins again. This is merely a record of my thoughts at the moment. It's a big project and many stitches lie between thinking and realizing those thoughts. And, there's a lot of time to keep on thinking, so I personally will be interested to see how this project continues to evolve as I knit. Right at the moment, I'm preparing for Fall Wee Tiny Sock Club (busy) and things are starting to get into back to school mode (even busier), so the shawl may have a little rest for a bit. That, and, at row 12/22 of the roses, it's feeling like bit a of a slog.

Shop Update

2009-07-24T13:59:00.003-04:00

I've just updated the BraveLittleKnitter shop with some new items - plus restocks of blue dragonflies and blue birds. We added green dragonflies, red birds and yellow birds, too. I think the red birds are my favorite from this batch. :)

Here's a little peek at some holiday designs, just one of each available in the shop today. We'll have more of these closer to holiday time.

And here are our new beaded Hogwarts house blockers - blue with bronze beads, crimson with gold beads, yellow with black beads, and green with silver beads.

OMG, it's time for DRT!

2009-07-18T11:27:00.005-04:00

DRT = Dish Rag Tag, or more precisely, Son of Dish Rag Tag, coming soon! This is the knitting relay race I joined last year, hostessed by Emily of Yarn Miracle. 22 teams of 10 knitters all around the US. You get a box in the mail with a ball of yarn and a dishcloth pattern, knit it up as fast as you can and pop it in the mail to the next knitter on your team. I had so much fun with this last time around, and can't wait to do it again. Sign ups open here on August first, and run until there are 220 knitters signed up, or August 7th, whichever comes first. More details on Emily's blog, and fund-raiser patterns for sale, too, to cover the cost of prizes. :) Are you going to play?

OMG = One Million Giraffes. I read about this in the Knitted Toys forum on Rav, and immediately my kids and I set to work on our first giraffe. This guy is trying to collect 1,000,000 giraffes by 2011. Whether he makes it to that goal or not, he hopes that a lot of people will take some time out from the electronic world to make a giraffe using their imagination and doing something creative with their own hands.

Here are our ice cream cone giraffes. Today we have plans for Lego giraffes. :)

Edited to add our afternoon giraffes:

And now for something completely different...

2009-06-18T09:37:00.004-04:00

There will be no men with tape recorders up their noses on this blog.

That's 7 sts and 7.5 rows = 12".
Needles by Russ. Don't you just love a man who is supportive of his wife's hobby?

Get 'em while they're hot!

2009-06-09T12:48:00.005-04:00

Fresh wee tiny sock blockers for sale!

Which one is your favorite?

And the club membership goes to...

2009-06-08T15:39:00.003-04:00

CeRae of SweetDreams! I printed out all 66 comments from the contest on Darcy's Blog this morning, numbered the entries, with extra numbers for those who blogged or followed or left comments about new knitting techniques, and then headed over to random.org to pick the lucky winner. Although there were 76 entries in all, the lucky number was 3!

Thanks to everyone who participated. I especially enjoyed hearing about the new knitting things you've done or are hoping to do soon. Keep your eyes open for fall sign-ups in mid August.

Dance out of the lines

2009-06-03T06:52:00.005-04:00

Here's a little sneak peak at the work in progress around here. Russ will be putting the findings on these while I'm in Iowa at a conference these next few days, and I'll pop them up in the shop after I get back on Monday.

Any recommendations for what to do or where to buy yarn in Iowa City? :)
Anyone (besides you, sister) recognize the song lyric in the title?

Giveaway

2009-05-27T06:41:00.005-04:00

When I launched the Wee Tiny Sock Club, I reserved one spot to give away...and the giveaway is now open here. One of the ways to enter is to follow my blog, so hit the "follow" button over in the side bar and then head over to Darcy's to comment on her giveaway post to officially enter. The drawing will happen on June 8th.

If you are new to wee tiny knitting or to sock knitting, this may be the perfect way to give it a try. My wee tiny socks have all the same elements as big socks (cuff, heel, gusset, toe) but on fewer stitches, so they can be completed in an evening. You can use US size 1 or 2 needles, and everything else you need will be in the kit. I strive to make the patterns super clear, and they have been test knit by 2 different people to make sure all the kinks are worked out.

May the random number generator (or hat draw, as the case may be) be lucky for you!

Thanks, Darcy, for hostessing the giveaway. :)

And, super extra special thanks to my sister for my new blog header picture, best Mother's Day card ever, painted by her and scanned by me.

Sold Out!

2009-05-23T09:21:00.003-04:00

The last spot for sale in the Wee Tiny Sock Club for summer was sold this morning. There's just one more spot reserved for a giveaway, happening soon, watch this space!

I will be getting the kits together and out to all the members as soon as all the goodies arrive at Wee Tiny Sock Club headquarters. :) If you missed joining this time, watch for fall sign-ups in August.

Thank you so much to all the club members for joining up for the first round of this new adventure in wee tiny sock knitting!

Announcing: Wee Tiny Sock Club

2009-05-19T23:50:00.004-04:00

These are a few of my favorite things:
-designing wee tiny socks
-sending fun packages in the mail
-learning new things
-taking inspiration from the seasons
-meeting new friends
-crafting with my family

I think I've found a way to combine all of these in one fun-filled package. I'm calling it the Wee Tiny Sock Club, and sign ups are open at my brand-spanking new Etsy shop, Brave Little Knitter.

Here are the details:
As a member of the Summer 2009 Wee Tiny Sock Club, you will receive a package in the mail each month this summer, June, July and August.
Each package will be based around a different summer theme, and will contain:
-An original creative wee tiny sock pattern
-A taste of yummy professionally hand-dyed sock yarn, plenty to knit the wee tiny sock
-All notions needed to complete the pattern - for example, beads and beading needle, so you don't have to run out for extra supplies.
-Stitch markers that coordinate with the theme
-Surprise goodies!

In addition, the first package (June) will include a special wee tiny sock blocker hand-made by my husband, ready to be attached to your keys or your favorite knitting bag.

All this can be yours for less than the price of a single package from the big giant sock clubs, with the added bonus of no second-sock syndrome and plenty of time to finish the wee tiny sock before the next installment arrives! Plus, each pattern will incorporate a little something that's new to me and might be new to you, too, perhaps a new stitch, edging, technique, etc.

Personally, I like surprises, but if you want to know more about what I've got in store for the next three months, please email me, bloglessmeg-at-gmail-dot-com. I can do spoilers, too! ;) If you have any questions at all, ask away!

Also, the lovely Darcy of Knotty Knitter will be hosting a giveaway of a Wee Tiny Sock Club membership in the next couple of days - so keep your eyes open for that. And, if you pop over there now, you'll find she has a giveaway going for a skein of Malabrigo Sock from SandraSingh.com. Yay for free yarn!

I'm going to keep enrollment in the first quarter to 20 members. If we all have as much fun as I think we will, we can do it again in the fall, and maybe invite some more friends. I'll keep sign-ups for the Summer club open until June 7, or until full. The packages will go out about the 15th of each month. I don't know if my sock patterns can live up to the beautiful socks in the logo my sister made for us, but I will try my best. Hope you'll join me!

Lacewing

2009-05-11T22:17:00.006-04:00

My latest obsession: lace. Can you see why?

This is the Seraphim Shawl from MimKnits, knit for my Grandma in Florida (GIF). To me she's just grandma, but my kids have so many grandmas and great-grandmas, lucky kids, we have to be specific. Anyhow, Seraphim was the perfect project for Grandma because she loves angels, and for 2 craft-specific reasons:
1.) I used to cross stitch a bit, and my grandma over the years gave me I don't know how many patterns for gorgeous cross stitch angels. The most I ever actually stitched up were some little ones on a few hand towels for her. The patterns she sent, which I still have in some corner of the vast crafting stash, were beyond my skill level, or maybe just too much for my attention span. So, when I first saw this shawl over on Abigail's blog, I immediately thought of Grandma.
2.) When I brought Grandma the Hemlock Ring blanket I made for her, which was intended as a small lap blanket for watching TV, never meant to leave the house, she ::gasp:: wore it to church! As a shawl. Apparently there were oohs, and there were aahs, but that project did not remotely fit my idea of a proper wear-it-to-church lace shawl. So, Seraphim was the remedy to that situation, too.

The yarn is Knit Picks Imagination in the colorway Looking Glass. I chose it after seeing another Seraphim on Ravelry in the same colorway, and I even had my Christmas gift cert to buy the yarn with. (And oh, the irony of who gave me that gift certificate...and who got the shawl. Let's just say that transaction would never have happened without a middleman.) This is really an enjoyable yarn to work with, fuzzy but not too much, no snagging or anything. The colors don't quite photograph true to how I see them. I think it's the halo that makes it look a bit more pastel, where the real blues are diminished a bit from how my eye sees them.

When it came off the needles, I was sure it was a failure. Not quite big enough, and kind of scrunched up and unimpressive. Definitely not a church shawl. :( (Photo is a row or so before bind off, all scrunched up on a 24" needle.)

But the blocking, it is a miraculous thing! (And here, a big shout out for my fabulous husband, who upon hearing "I'm almost done binding off" and knowing that I intended to use the kids mats for blocking, straightaway went and got them out, dusted them off, asked me for dimensions and made them into an appropriately sized triangle, and there they were all ready for me to pin it out.)

Lilacs are blooming, makes a nice photo shoot.

So, I somehow (really not sure how this happened) found myself in Busy Hands on the way home from school Friday. They had 1.) a 20% off the whole store sale and 2.) a new shipment of Malabrigo. Now, I have 3 skins of Malabrigo lace, in search of my next lace shawl pattern.

My criteria for the pattern are 1.) it will look good with the little bit of variegation in this colorway (Ibiza), and 2.) it has to have points I can pin out when I block it! :D I'm considering Swallowtail or Laminaria, or maybe Gail, but I know there are so many lovelies out there. I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Have some cake

2009-05-01T12:15:00.004-04:00

I have a recipe for apple cake that I think originally came from a friend of my mom's - It's yummy and easy and not too super sweet, by my standards, anyway! :) The recipe calls for a yellow cake mix and a can of apple pie filling, and last night I decided to give it a try in a chocolate cherry version. Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Here are the 2 versions:

Apple Cinnamon Cake	Chocolate Cherry Cake
Batter:
1 box yellow cake mix 1 20 oz can apple pie filling	1 box devil's food cake mix 1 20 oz can cherry pie filling
3 eggs 3 tablespoons water 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Topping:
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon	2 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup white sugar (or use all brown) 1/2 cup flour
Mix all batter ingredients together in a bowl. Do not overmix, just enough to get rid of the lumps. Mix the topping ingredients together in another bowl. Pinch the butter in with your fingers until the topping has a sandy consistency. Spread the batter in a greased and floured 13X9 pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake.Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Enjoy!

New and awesome

2009-04-25T09:10:00.006-04:00

I received my signed copy of Hansi Singh's new book in the mail yesterday and it is fabulous. It has a range of difficulties from the relatively simple veggies to get some practice with techniques like knitting in the round, short row shaping and grafting, which are used extensively in the more complex designs. There are nice photo step-by-step instructions for all the techniques in the front of the book, followed by four themed chapters: Veggies, Sea Creatures, Backyard Critters, and Cryptids. I need a hand-knit eggplant. Here's a selection of my family's favorites.

My husband just upgraded to the Jaunty Jackalope release of Ubuntu, so that's next up for his toy collection. As Hansi says in the book, "Nothing says 'I love you' like a handknit jackalope." The Black Devil Anglerfish is Rae's favorite. (Her second favorite is the praying Mantis.) A pink spider is just the thing for Sammy, although I know she has her eye on the jellyfish, too, with its spiraling pink tentacles. After much deliberation, Ben resorted to eenie-meenie-miney-moe to choose Nessie over the Hermit Crab.

Hansi sent a little extra goodie, a pocket mirror with a lovely knit sea creature on the back. Being the clutz I am, I already broke the mirror. :( I hope it doesn't bring bad luck to my knitting! Anyway, I have a plan to rescue the little treat, I'm going to hot-glue a pin on the mirror side and add it to my flair collection. :)

I've been making steady progress on my grandma's shawl. (It's the Seraphim Shawl from MimKnits.) I'm almost to the halfway point according to the shawl calculator. (You can find the calculator on the sidebar at Rose-Kim Knits.) I'm just about to hit the really lacy part of it.

I had a little modeling session with Sammy this morning. She says it's itchy. :P

Wouldn't be spring if I didn't post a flower picture: my top favorite daffodil is blooming today. Ben just gave me the first dandelion of the season, too. :)

Up next: Knitting a wee tiny sock that I will put in an envelope on Monday to Dawn of Washington State for the Wee Tiny Sock Swap 2009 hostessed by Yarn Miracle. And lucky me, my sending pal is none other than Darcy. Yay!
I'm going to knit outside while the kids play. :)

Elf-a-long

2009-04-12T21:36:00.003-04:00

Just thought I would also mention that the KAL for my little elf sock is starting up tomorrow in the wee tiny sock swap group on Ravelry. This is just a KAL, not a swap and everyone is welcome to join.

I am so looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of little elf socks being created over the next week or so. I think so far there are maybe about 20 people planning to knit them. Discussion right now is focused on where to get those tiny little (6mm) bells. I got mine at Jo-Ann's, but they only carry silver or gold around here. I'm considering ordering some multi-colored ones from etsy or another internet source. I haven't pick out my yarns yet, but I'm thinking I'll make one for each of my kids.

Come elf-a-long with us!

"almost totally homemade"

2009-04-12T21:03:00.005-04:00

Using what I remembered from watching of Jen and Diane from knit night, the book my aunt sent me and various internet oracles, I made some yarn.

It's nothing short of amazing how easy it is to turn fluff into some fairly reasonable yarn. The first thing I wanted to do was to see if it was knittable. If it would really work, you know? so, I gave it a bath, as the book recommended, and hung it to dry. Next morning, I knit up a little magic bag. Rachel laid claim to it before I was even 10 rows in. It fits an orange or an apple perfectly.

I used a CD spindle - 2 DVDs on a 12 inch length of dowel, with grommets I found (or more accurately, my husband found) at Lowes. He also put the spindle together for me. It's a really tight squeeze getting the grommets on the DVDs. I also let both Rae and Ben have a try at the spindle. I think Ben liked it more, but they both successfully produced a few yards of yarn. I think it's a good fiber project for kids. Seems to me that there are less detailed steps than for knitting, and they were both fascinated watching me do it.

It really gives me the feeling of making something that would normally be bought, even more so than knitting or sewing or baking or even canning. Like having some lost knowledge of how to make the things we need, but which are mostly produced by machines or people earning pennies on the other side of the globe. Maybe it's different because I didn't have the experience of seeing others spin as a kid, so it's not expected to me like those other things are.

I've fallen

2009-03-26T22:00:00.004-04:00

Yep, my first fiber intended for spinning arrived today. I'm going to make some yarn! Do I hear a "Bwa-ha-ha-ha" in the internets? The maniacal laughter of spinners who have triumphantly brought another innocent knitter into their number? I thought I might.

What sent me over the edge at last was this BFL in The Wool Peddler's etsy shop. It's so perfect with the colors of the quilt my aunt made me, and she is, after all, the one who sent me Start Spinning. She's not even a spinner! What's up with enabling crafts you don't even do?!? :) You'd think she would be pushing fat quarters on me.

I also got some "wooly cupcakes" - 4oz. in smallish bits of various colored BFL. I figured these would be good to get some practice with. Guess I need a spindle now. Advice, spinners?

Last weekend I managed to frame up some art class projects that Rae and Ben did.

I love how the circles in Rae's project echo the peacock feathers in the quilt, and how the colors pick up on the fabrics. She got a B- for "neatness and mixing the wrong colors together." Wrong colors or not, it's on my wall now. Ben brought home the stripe painting about the same time as Rae's circles arrived. Can you see the pattern? He wants everyone to know that it's a pattern. Blue, green, yellow, blue green, and I had to cut off the last yellow stripe because it wouldn't fit in the frame. But it was there. Blue, green, yellow. And its stripey-ness goes with the stripey-ness of the quilt pattern, all matchy-matchy. :)

All kinds of goodness

2009-03-18T10:25:00.010-04:00

What we have here: swap goodies, a mini collection, rainbows, babies, birds, a coke and a smile. oh, and math homework, but in a good way.

First off, my SP revealed herself with a great package from KnitPicks - Yarn or three kinds (in greens and purples, yay!).

I love the little keychain - how did you know I needed one? - and the cuticle oil is great for my nails which have become very dry as winter comes to an end. Thank you, Jenna!

Next up, This round of the Wee Tiny Sock Swap, I was paired with Heatherly for the second time - she sent a super colorful tiny sock made of yarn samples from Stitches West. "My friend went to stitches and all I got was the ugly sock" she says. :) Well, if that's ugly, I'll take it! And I need to know where i can get more of this coffee flavored candy she sent. So yummy. Thank you, Heatherly!

Now I've swapped wee tiny socks 5 times, and this is my growing collection. Looks like there will be a KAL for my wee tiny elf sock getting underway on the WTSS group on Rav in April, so if you'd like to "elf-along" with us, watch the group forum for details to come soon.

Sighted on St. Patrick's Day, the rock on Ann Arbor painted rainbow bright. Guess if you wanted to hide some gold, it would be pretty safe under that rock, eh? So cheerful. I just had to replace my 5 year old phone. The dude at the phone store said my old one was about 150 in dog-years. Whatever. But, my new phone takes pictures, so now the blog will be enriched with crappy cell phone pictures, joy! ;)

In the wake of the basement flood, many things have been brought into the light of day for the first time in a long time, including some "commemorative" Olympics Coke that Russ had squirreled away. In case you were wondering, the shelf life of Coca-Cola is at least 13 years. Tasted just fine.

Knitting homework once again, for 4th grade math assignment on percents. What could be more appropriate than the EPS? If I have a chance to send a yarn label in to school, I jump on it!

I love how Rachel wrote "one of mom's many knitting books"

I finished the "bird in hand" for Iona yesterday.

Inside the bird is a silly putty egg and inside the egg is a big old jingle bell. I taped the egg shut, using a lot of tape so it wouldn't get squeezed open and lose its jingle, then carefully stuffed it inside the birdie with the fiberfill. In my case the egg could squeeze through the tail opening, so I could knit the whole bird and just had the grafting to do after the stuffing was done.

I also cut pieces of the plastic from the inner liner of a box of cereal and put several layers of that inside the wings and tail to give a crinkle effect. All the yarn in this birdie is from stash. I knit the wings of chenille. Not my favorite to knit with (so unstretchy), but nice for baby to feel. I really like the colorful stripes - it's leftover from a pair of socks, Yarn Pirate kettle dyed DK weight BFL in Muted Rainbow.

Let's finish with a super cute baby, shall we?

Cloud nine

2009-03-11T19:53:00.010-04:00

I am so happy to finally be able to post about a project I've been keeping under wraps since last fall...the mobile I knit for my new niece Iona. I wrote up the pattern and submitted it to Knitty - it seemed like a good fit for the Spring issue - so that's why it's been top secret.

I've knit a bunch of toys from Knitty (Pasha, Norberta, a couple of Kates, Nautie) and I always love their patterns. Flock is my first ever pattern submission anywhere and I was nothing short of flabbergasted when I got the email from Amy that it was in! I can't even begin to guess how many times I've re-read it to make sure it was really, really, really real. :) But now, it's published for all to see, and if you see it, too, it must be real! And, check out the button, over there on the side bar. It's my bird! I call that one 7-up. :)

The single biggest challenge in preparing the pattern for submission was photography. I have hundreds of blurry photos taken on a cloudy Michigan day, and a few dozen more taken on a visit to my sister on a cloudy New Orleans day. My sister helped me so much with this, taking extra photos until she got the one that Amy used for the top photo on the pattern, where Iona is looking right up at the mobile. Did you notice the beautiful quilt in the photo above? My aunt made it for Iona. I helped pick out the fabric. On the same day, I picked out fabric for the quilt my Aunt planned to make for me. That was back in August, and the finished quilt just arrived in the mail yesterday. When I opened the box, Sam exclaimed "I love your blankie!" (after she got down drooling on the Peeps my aunt sent in with it, that is.) I completely agree with her - I love this blankie.

I love peacocks, so the little strips of peacock feather fabric make it truly mine.

Also, check out the tree mural in Iona's room, painted by my sister. It was a big part of the inspiration for the mobile.

The color palette for Flock comes from my sister's choice of green for the nursery. I love visiting her house because the rooms are full of color and light and beautiful paintings. I just rooted around in my stash for yarns that would go with the colors in the baby's room, which is why the pattern calls for 4 different types of yarn. I always like to have worsted weight wool around in a bunch of different colors as a sort of palette to pull from for making toys.

I have another idea about this pattern that I haven't yet implemented. I think it's kind of a torture in a way that kids just get to look at the mobiles, but they are always out of reach. And my kids, anyway, always want to touch. (On that note, I did let my kids have a go at whirling the mobile around after I constructed it, and it held up very well - still balanced just fine after they pushed it and twirled it around for a bit.) So anyhow, I want to knit an extra bird, and maybe put some crinkly plastic in the wings and tail and a rattle in the body, so that Iona can have a bird in hand, too. I kind of think that a silly putty container with a couple beads or beans in it would do the trick for the rattle. And here's the awesome part: tomorrow my sister is coming to visit me, with "Baby Ona" (as Sam calls her) for 5 days, so I can knit it while she's here and send it home with her.

I am really looking forward to seeing other Flocks out there. If you post yours on Ravelry, I will surely see it, but if you knit a flock or just one bird and aren't on Rav, I would love to see pictures! It so happens that there's a bird in University of Michigan colors (my school) - hard to see him in the photos, he's up at the top. The one I call 7-up is in Tulane colors (my sister's school) or Michigan State, if you're so inclined. I didn't do it on purpose, but noticed it after I finished, and wondered if my BIL would notice when they opened it up. (He's a major Wolverines fan.) He did! So, if you're knitting a flock for sports fans, you could keep that in mind. Baby can be a fan from the cradle on.

I welcome any questions about the pattern. It's labeled Piquant, I suppose because there are a lot of steps, but there's not a purl stitch in the whole thing, and really it's a lot of simple pieces put together. I-cord, knitting in the round, knitting stripes, grafting, simple increases and decreases. and some crochet chains. (That's all the crochet I know!) The leaves are even garter stitch. And I think it's fun that I got to use a saw and sandpaper in a knitting project (for the dowels.)

I just want to take one more paragraph to gush a minute about the other patterns in Knitty this time: There are three things that are perfect for my kids: Imagine for Rae (probably as a tank though), Steggie for Ben and Topaz for Sam. And for me, Decimal. That Shipwreck shawl is some kind of gorgeous. And as for the socks, there are to many good ones to decide. :) Knitty is so awesome!

Oh, and I earned a badge, too!! Happy day!

My decade project

2009-03-10T23:51:00.001-04:00

Friday was my tenth wedding anniversary. I just looked it up and google says the gift for ten is tin. Really? Well, my husband and I shared the gift of a flooded basement and a thousand dollar plumbing bill, which included a nice patch of new concrete after the plumbers took a jackhammer to the basement floor to get at the problem. Joyful, huh? On the bright side, it motivated us to clean a bunch of junk out of the basement that has been accumulating for oh, the past decade. When my mom came over to babysit so we could go out to dinner, I was in still sweats and my bathrobe after spending the whole day moving stuff and cleaning stuff. So, Mom stayed and helped move stuff and bought us Chinese take-away. :) "Romantic anniversary dinner" will be rescheduled in a couple weeks. We've been meaning to repaint down there, and looks like it will actually happen in the next little bit here since it's just about empty for the first time since we moved in. Ok, enough about that.

How about ten things for ten years:
1. How we met: My boyfriend/his roommate introduced us. :P
2. Where we hung out back then: The Fleetwood, drinking coffee until the sun came up.
3. Our first (major) road trip together: Driving to Florida in the "Storm of the Century".
4. How we decided when to buy a house: He fell in love with a puppy, I told him we'd get evicted due to no dog rule, we got the dog anyway, we got the eviction notice, we bought a house. Simple as that.
5. How long we dated before the wedding: 6 years and 3 days, approximately
6. Where we got married: Matthaei Botanical Gardens
7. Where we honeymooned: Big Sky, Montana and Hawaii
8. What he did while I was in labor with Ben: Held my hand, fed me ice chips and read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (This was perfect.)
9. One thing I love about him: He always watches the sky, and always tells me when there's a great sunset.
10. What we're doing right now: sitting on the couch, eating popcorn, drinking tea, watching John Stewart.

Wee Tiny Pattern

2009-03-04T17:07:00.005-05:00

For the last few months I've been swapping wee tiny socks with the wonderful members of the wee tiny sock swap group on Ravelry. Each month I've tried a different stitch pattern or design on my wee tiny sock and it's been so much fun! The tiny size puts some constraint on what will fit, but this actually feels very liberating - I can try any little thing and know that at most it's a couple hours knitting to see how it turns out. My favorite so far is the wee tiny elf sock I knit for the December swap. I wrote up the pattern and just posted it as a PDF download on Ravelry. As a new-comer to pattern writing, I've done my best to check it over, and I'd love to hear any suggestions you have or corrections you find!

Wee Tiny Elf Sock - PDF Pattern download

Wee Tiny Butterfly Sock

Wee Tiny Beaded Sock

Wee Tiny Grapevine Sock

One sweater, two sweater, red sweater, green sweater

2009-03-02T22:21:00.003-05:00

Did you read your Seuss today? Did you see the google logo?

My recently completed February Lady Sweater. How fun to knit a size XS. (used heavier yarn) It was fast. With short sleeves. Even faster.

My recently begun Hourglass Sweater. Malabrigo in Verdes. Love it. Spring time is coming and it's gonna be green! It would be so awesome if I finished this sweater by the 17th, but that is so not going to happen. Only 24 hours in the day and 7 days in the week and all.

Kool

2009-02-27T07:44:00.005-05:00

Here's an old story I've been meaning to post for a long time. I am ready for spring, so it's a good time to relive a day from May.

Last year on Mother's Day, we had a dyeing party at my house. I ordered a bunch of Bare yarn from KnitPicks in various weights. My mom got some of those little bottles for hair dye for handpaints and we got out the big soup pots for kettle dyeing. I bought Kool-aid in every flavor available at my local Kroger and my sister brought some food dye to supplement. We used the instructions from Knitty here and here as a guideline, and away we went.

I soaked the yarn overnight.

Each of the kids had their own skeins to dye up.

If you are concerned about your manuciure, I suggest gloves.

We microwaved the yarn after dyeing, as it seemed much more expedient than the oven method. 2 skeins, wrapped up in plastic wrap, microwaved for 2 minutes, cooled for 2 minutes, another 2 minutes in the microwave, then left wrapped up until it was just warm.

I rinsed the majority of the excess dye off of each skein and then used my salad spinner to finish rinsing and get the excess water out.

We hung them to dry in the backyard and admired our work. :)

right to left: sister's laceweight kettle dyed in rose and green; Sam's Strawberry and Pink Lemonade; Rae's Berry Blue; Mom's violet and green; Ben's in Orange, Lemonade, Lemon-Lime and Berry Blue; my sock yarn in lemon lime; sister's in every shade of blue and green, my favorite of the bunch; my sock yarn in cherry, black cherry and grape.

My sister and I packed sack lunches for all. Sister decorated the bags like my mom used to do for us when we were kids.

This was so much fun!

Philosophy of Blogging

2009-02-23T12:28:00.003-05:00

A recent slashdot poll asked readers "Who Poses the Greatest Threat To Your Privacy?" After "Your government" (47%), "You" came in second with 18% of the vote. I'm not sure I agree that I am the biggest threat to my own privacy, especially given the letter I got from my credit card company last month explaining why they had to send me a new card. ("we regret that your private information was compromised at a third party location" ?!?) Nonetheless, I post here private information for the world to see. Nothing too private intentionally, of course, but it's a window on my world that may reveal more than I intend. And although I know a few of my readers in person, and I consider some to be online friends, it would seem from the google analytics stats that there are a lot of strangers stopping by regularly. (My blog is the top google hit for the search phase "hedge dog". I have 2 questions about this: Why are people googling hedge dog? And what is it about the phrase "mad genius of short rows" that causes them to click that link?)

I don't myspace or Facebook, though the latter begins to seem a bit inevitable. I have objected in the past to family members posting what I considered to be private information about me and mine on the internet(s). I've considered changing all references to Rachel, Ben and Sam to R, B & S like some bloggers do, but I'm not sure it would do any good, or that it does any harm this way. I worry about the self-obsessed, navel-gazing, narcissistic tendencies of personal blogging (did I mention google analytics above?), yet here I am, writing my 113th post. I also worry about my family reading this blog and learning about all the Christmas presents I wanted to make for them and didn't finish in time. ;) That, too, is probably inevitable. (maybe they are just lurking already?) If I read the last 112 posts, would I want to send them all to my grandma? I hope so, but I'm not 100% sure. I worry that I will fail to communicate clearly, and leave the wrong impression on some reader who I never knew. This worry almost completely prevents me from blogging with the immediacy that is touted as one of its benefits. I edit and delete, re-edit and then still end up with typos, worrying over each entry just like it was a submission to Science. And I worry that someday a search committee will consider a knitting blog the sign of a frivolous mind unsuited to the professoriate. Well, I worry a lot in general, so that I worry about the blog is not too surprising.

I worry that whatever time I spend blogging about knitting, I could be actually knitting. In fact, the name of the blog, bloglessnomore, comes from this ambivalence. I usually interpret it as I wrote in my first post, as "blogless no more", moving up in the sock swapping world from "Blogless Meg" to just Meg. However, I also imagined it written "Blog less!" "No, more!" Punctuated this way, it conjures up an angel on one shoulder, telling me to quit fiddling around with the blog and do something important and a devil on the other telling me to go ahead and spend a just little more time writing the story of my day, the details of my sock knitting tribulations. Then they switch places, with the angel advising me to keep a good journal to refer back to, and the devil telling me I'll remember the gauge and needles used, to forget the stupid blog and go knit another round.

So, why do I blog? It started out as a way to be a better swapper, to post thanks and communicate with my swap partners. From there it evolved into a bit of a project journal, posting WIPs and FOs in the dark ages B.R. (Before Ravelry). Now that Ravelry fulfills the "show off my new sweater" function, I like the forum for posting my stories and observations. I like reading other people's blogs, and writing my own feels a bit like completing the circle. Also, though I've never been successful at keeping a paper journal, I think blogging provides a chance for me to record some of my thoughts and experiences for later review and reminiscence. I also think publicly announcing goals (a la 101 things) can help me remain motivated to achieve them.

Long story short, I blog because I want to, and I accept that there is some loss of privacy that comes with it. I don't participate in meme's that ask for my mother's maiden name and the name of the street I grew up on, but I may reveal more than I care to from time to time. Or, I may fail to get what's in my mind onto the screen in such a way that I won't be misinterpreted. Nonetheless, I hope what I post is entertaining, informative or otherwise useful, to me and to some of those friends and strangers who happen by. As I read somewhere once, receiving a comment is like getting a little present, so I hope you'll close the circle and let me know what you think about it now and then.

Priceless

2009-02-23T11:43:00.004-05:00

Well, it's cliche, but I'm going with it anyway. :P

3 tickets to Flogging Molly at the Fillmore: $75
dratted service charge: $24
Parking: $12
Beer, whiskey and tips: $69
(OMG I drank too much)
3 shirts, 2 buttons and a CD: $71
Babysitting: free!
(Thanks to my mom)

Taking my first baby to her first rock-n-roll show: Priceless.

She was wiped out by the end of the show, being very late for a school night, but the pure joy of her dancing and singing - I will hold on to that memory for a very long time, and I expect she will, too. Plus it was educational: she learned about bouncers and crowd surfing and mosh pits, oh my. :) ETA: and designated drivers, too.

No! NO!! NOOOOOO!!!!!

2009-02-03T14:30:00.005-05:00

What you see here is the result of inattention. The result of assuming that a 2 year old who is quietly watching Spongebob will continue to watch Spongebob when her parents leave the room. The result of laziness, leaving a knitting project next to the couch, rather than up on a *high* shelf where knitting projects are supposed to live.

The result, also of having scissors in the knitting bag. There is a reason I cut yarn with my teeth, and this is it.

Notes:
1. There were not one but 2! balls of pink fun fur, in the same bag, and of which I have more than I know what to do with. They were untouched. Untouched! The STR, well, you saw what happened to the STR.
2. Having a husband who is a little OCD about untangling things that are tangled is very awesome. (Thanks, love)
3. The good news is, she did not cut the shawl. Only the yarn. She didn't even take the shawl off it's needle. This is good.
4. She also did this to some yarn a got for a swap, just before Christmas. 2 balls, mixed together, but not cut. It's not like I didn't know what the consequences could be. I now also know it's easier to untangle when she cuts it a bit. :P

Thank you again, SP!

2009-02-01T00:07:00.002-05:00

I received a lovely package of goodies from my Secret Pal yesterday. She sent the Knit and Purl book from the Harmony series - a very nice addition to my library. She sent cute little decorations for my kids - flowers for the girls and a baseball for Ben. They loved getting something special in the package. There was also a magnetic pad, a photo frame and photo book and !!chocolate covered fortune cookies!! As my daughters friend commented when she saw them, I didn't even know there was such a thing as chocolate-covered fortune cookies. :) My pal also included some Valentine themed items, cookie cutters and pretty red ribbon with roses and Valentine card for me. Thank you SP! And happy early Valentine's Day to you.

Snowed in

2009-01-20T00:41:00.003-05:00

I am working more hours this term than I have since I can't remember when. Teaching at 2 different universities, plus doing a couple hourly jobs for extra cash are really cutting into the knitting time. Pretty much the only thing I've been doing lately is the occasional row on the solstice shawl. Nice and easy (so far). Our power was out on Sunday as of 7AM. We had planned to visit my SIL in Bay City anyhow, so I had plenty of time to work on the shawl and worry about how cold the house was getting during the car ride and while the kids were playing with the cousins. Power didn't come back on until midnight. The kids and I camped at my mom's. My crazy husband stayed home in the cold.

I'm going on a little weekend trip to visit my sister in NOLA. Can't wait to see her and my new niece (and BIL, too). Tomorrow is packing day and I'm debating whether or not to try to get the 47" circular on the plane so I can take the shawl with me. Better check the ravelry forums, I guess. Someone must have tried it.

That's all for now. Oh, except I gave blood today. It was much easier this time than my first time was. Hydration is the key!

101/1001

2009-01-11T11:30:00.001-05:00

So, I've been wanting to join the 101 things craze, and I like the idea of having an end date that is significant/easy to remember. in 1001 days I will turn 39, so I begin today, even though I only have a list of 43 so far. I will add to this and organize it as time permits, but that is not an item! I also want to do monthly progress reports.

1. donate blood 3x
yoga class 3 months
couch to 5k
swedish heartwarmer
learn 10 constellations

6. calligraphy vows
make 3 photo albums
go camping 3 times in one year
bake bread 10X
family trip out of US

11. get ears pierced again
fix up blog and write philosophy of blogging
blog daily for one month
go on 20 dates with husband (maybe more)
get set up for composting kitchen scraps

16. go on a yarn diet for one year
read 12 new books by 12 new authors
re-read 12 books I've read before
try facebook
Learn to use my digital camera well

21. Learn some photo editing trick on photoshop or something similar
make a time budget and track time use daily for one semester
stick to a bedtime routine (for me!) for one month - getting things ready at night instead of in the morning
organize all my sister CDs
Make a book of all existing fSbs comix

26. 3 crochet projects
3 cross-stitch projects
get my 401ks sorted
use or give away the fabric stash
learn to recognize 20 birds that I don't already know

31. build wardrobe up to a more professional look
decorate house with handmade items (etsy & me)
make a fairy door
write birth stories
get a birthday calendar and fill it up

36. Learn to recognize names/research interest of people in my department, including new people as they arrive
knit 5 items for charity
go to 5 museums I haven't been to before
go to 5 nature centers i haven't been to before
write three poems (not necessarily good ones ;) ) in constrained forms (sonnet, haiku, etc)

41. write a teaching philosophy that I really like
visit 5 states i've never visited
go skiing

Mouths of Babes

2009-01-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

2 excerpts from recently.

*Sam: (grabbing yarn from my knitting bag) I want yarn.
Me: No.*
Repeat from * several times.
Sam: (grabbing again, getting out of my reach this time) I want pink yarn.
Me: What are you going to do with pink yarn?
Sam: (hugging it to herself) Knit it.

Love. The 2 year old is going to knit.

At dinner:

Russ to Ben: Do that again and I'm going to slap your hand.
Ben: If you slap my hand it won't work.
Russ: Oh, really? If I slap your hand it won't send a message from your hand up your arm and to your brain to stop that?
Ben: No, it won't. It will send a message from my hand, up my arm, to my brain and right out my ear!

LOL. Out my ear. That kid kills me.

Here's one from Rachel. She's on Ravelry now, just posted her first 2 projects the other day. I'm thinking this is a good way to get her feet wet in the online world, get used to some etiquette and to get some practice with what you should and shouldn't do online, in a place where I can easily supervise her. So at the end of her first session in there, she asks me how she can heart something. And then she asks me to show her my projects page. First thing she looks for is how many hearts her Hedgehog Hedge-Cloud has. See, it's been kind of a competition between Rae and Ben about whose hedgie will get more hearts. Hedge-Cloud and Hedge-Frog (Ben's) had been tied for hearts at 6 apiece. And now, given the opportunity to tip the scales in her own favor, guess what she did? Yep, favorited her own! So the score stands at 6:7 in favor of Hedge-Cloud. For now.

2008 FOs

2009-01-04T21:38:00.002-05:00

I counted up my FOs from Ravelry for 2008. Apparently I had no FOs last January, which seems odd to me since I already have 2 FOs this month. But, I digress. Here's the stats:

40 total FOs

What:
6 sweaters (one for me!)
6 toys
5 pairs of mittens
5 miniature items
4 hats (counting Calorimetry here)
4 dishcloths
3 pairs of socks (all for me!)
3 covers for inanimate objects (tea cozy, cup cozy, votive holder)
2 shawls (since grandma wore the Hemlock Ring as such)
1 pair of slippers
1 TSP (top secret project)

When:

	starts	finishes
January	0	0
February	2	3
March	4	4
April	2	0
May	0	2
June	3	3
July	3	2
August	4	5
September	4	4
October	4	3
November	4	4
December	10	8

Why:
12 items for me
10 items for Russ or the kids
10 items to gift
8 items to swap

Patterns I knit more than once:
Huggable Hedgehog (4)
Composed Mitts (2)
Unoriginal Hat (2)

My proudest accomplishments:
Sammy's Robin Hood

My Composed Mitts

the TSP

Getting the most use:
Russ's Cobblstone

my cup cozy (LOL, that was going to be a "cop cozy" but I caught the typo!)

What a year! Ravelry rocks, this was so easy and fun to look back on 2008 in knitting.

Beginning

2009-01-03T22:25:00.003-05:00

For many months, a couple of years even, I've been flipping through the book Handknit Holidays, a book crammed full of things I want to knit, and returning again and again to the Swedish Heart-Warmer Shawl. This is an epic adventure of a shawl, made in fingering weight yarn on US 2 needles, finished size a triangle 84" by 25" as written. It calls for 4 slightly variegated colorways of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, a deep purple, a dark royal blue, a crimson red and golden yellow. The colorwork motifs include flowers, vines, suns and stars. The pattern notes indicate that the progression of colors and motifs are meant to represent the return of light after the solstice, which appeals to me very much. But a project of this magnitude is not something I could begin lightly, so I kept closing the book.

The photos in the book are pretty limited, but the text says it's meant to be wrapped around the back and tied in the front with tassels. I had a hard time imagining the finished shape of the shawl, so I started to look for more photos on the net. Eventually I got into Ravelry and looked there. When I first started looking for the shawl, there were none. Checking back now and then, eventually I found some, and there was even a KAL in the Stranded group last April, which produced a long thread full of hints and suggestions and some pattern clarifications. My favorite Heart-Warmer of all incorporated a 5th color, a brighter yellow-orange in the final section. I found that the suggested yarn had a bit more variation within the colorways than I really wanted, so I started thinking of yarn substitutions.

I think it was the introduction of the Ravens line from Blue Moon that inspired me to choose STR to do my Heart-Warmer. I agonized over the different reds and yellows on their website, found they looked different on different monitors and couldn't decide. Eight skeins of STR is quite an investment for me, and I wanted this project to be perfect from the start. Eventually, I decided to email Tina and ask for advice. She responded so quickly and promised to pull some colors and see how they looked together and get back to me. Eventually after a few emails she suggested I give her a call to discuss. I was pretty set on using Spinel as the blue, and we worked out the rest of the colors from there. Tina sent me a couple photos of different groupings of colors so I could come to the final conclusion. In the end I chose Thraven as the Raven that represents the darkness of winter nights, Spinel as the blue of the long twilight, Brick as the red of the rising sun, Oregon Red Clover Honey as the first rays of light and 24 Carat as the return of light. I had been lusting over ORCH since I first saw it and was delighted it worked into the shawl.

I made one more decision about yarn choice, to use STR medium-weight rather than lightweight. I feel that 25" is a bit shorter than I would like and I wanted to make sure this shawl fit me comfortably and wasn't at all skimpy when done. I am getting about 6 stitches and 9 rows to the inch as opposed to 9 stitches and 11 rows that the pattern calls for. I pulled out the calculator and Pythagorus and did some calculations about the size of the shawl. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the dimensions the book gives do not match up that well to the dictates of geometry and gauge. But, if my math is right, (a fairly big if, really) my shawl is headed for being 110" in wingspan by 36" long at the point of the back. Probably a bit bigger than I want. But, I've got a ways to knit in the first section, which is just stockinette in the Thraven until I get to about 370 stitches on the needle. And I've got some more reading to do in the KAL thread, as I know others have done yarn substitutions with heavier weights.

I ordered the yarn after my birthday (with birthday money!) and decided to cast on this solstice at sunrise. This shawl is at least as much about meditation on light and life and the passage of time as it is about a desire for the finished object. It may take 6 months or it may take a year. Given my tendency to knit a lot of small projects during any big project, I suspect it will be more like a year. I hope at any rate to be wearing it next solstice.

Christmas so far

2008-12-25T02:39:00.002-05:00

12:00 midnight: Knitting with Rachel on some last minute items for her dad. Me on my project, she on hers, knitting peacefully away. We think maybe another hour will do it.
12:30: Hear Russ coming upstairs and hide our knitting. He peeks his head in, inquires if we think maybe we should stop and go to bed. We think not yet.
1:00: Again with the footsteps and the hiding of knitting. Again with the inquiry, but less inquiry and more strong suggestion. Ok, maybe 9-year-olds should be in bed (and asleep) by 1:00AM on Christmas. Some people are so parental. We finish our rows. We put stuff away in bags. Rachel sets her alarm for 7 to finish the project before present opening. (She only has a little sewing up left to do.) I say she could just give it to him in pieces and tell him it would have been done if he hadn't made her go to bed. She says she will if I will. I am non-committal.
1:15: Rinse hat that was soaking in bathroom sink (finished knitting around 11PM, it's Grandma's present). Roll in towel, squeeze, repeat. Put it on cookie rack next to dehumidifier and hope for dryness by 3PM tomorrow.
1:30: Finish up wrapping presents and arrange artfully under tree. Search epicurious for baked bean recipe with good ratings. (SIL and I are making Christmas dinner on Grandma's behalf, and I don't have any of her reicpes.)
2:00: Beans in the oven. (reviewer says leave them overnight at 275 degress - I'm hoping that works) Look online for a good recipe for golumpki. Read some blogs. Generally waste time.
2:45: Russ just went up to bed. I'm going to sew the wings on a dragon now.

Merry Christmas or Happy Thursday, as you prefer.

SP13Q2

2008-12-17T09:51:00.002-05:00

Part A:

Are you doing any holiday knitting?

Yes.

Part B:

Have you finished?

No.

I'll be getting back to knitting now. :0)

Just posting...

2008-12-11T13:00:00.003-05:00

I am unmotivated to post, but just thought I would stop in and say hi! I am knitting secret things lately. Swap things and Secret Pal things and Christmas things. I blame the lack of motivation half on Ravelry (which sucks up internet time as I suppose you well know), and half on fear that if I post secret knitting, recipients will see. Oh, but I can post some crafty links I've gathered lately:

Cool paper craft trees on Martha Stewart, found on Yarn Pirate.
Cute sewn booties on greenJelly on Etsy, found because someone somewhere linked to her knitted ferret pattern.
Felt owl ornament by Anna Maria Horner, author of a sewing book reviewed by Alison.

That was super linky. :)

SP13Q1 and package received!

2008-12-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

Okee-dokee, it's the dreaded "what are you thankful for" question, that still makes me feel like a rebellious kid being asked by Grandma and having to wait for *everyone* to say what they are thankful for before we can get to eating the darn turkey already. Jeez! It seems, however, that everyone else on the whole planet really likes this question and gives such nice answers about all the big things there are to be thankful for, so I guess I just have issues, huh? Well, so be it. I'm gonna say I'm thankful for, in no particular order, $2 latte day, that I didn't injure myself badly when I wiped out at rollerskating tonight, and the package I just got today from my Secret Pal!

She sent me a mini hat ornament and 2 CD's from a local ska band - have to get those onto my iPod ASAP.

And the most hilarious card:

Kitten #1: Last Christmas, I swallowed a ball of yarn!
Kitten #2: Oh, yeah? What happened?
(open the card)
Kitten #1: I had mittens!

ROFLMAO! Am I easily amused? yeah, well, maybe, but that's OK with me. :)

Did you see Stephen Colbert on subversive knitting? Love! there's hansigurumi pattern that flashes by in there, too. way cool.

Still Hot

2008-11-27T00:23:00.004-05:00

Grandma got out of the hospital today! (early even) She'll be staying with my SIL for a while. Thanksgiving plan A was dinner at SIL's. Thanksgiving plan B is to preserve the peace and quiet over there for Grandma's sake, so the turkey and the cousins will be over here instead.

Two pumpkin, one apple and one cherry-berry are cooling on the table and Aunt Alice's jello is in the fridge.
SIL dropped off the 26! pound turkey this morning...got to wake up early to get that stuffed and in the oven. I really should be in bed right now. but I don't wanna! :P

Happy Thanksgiving!

Buy a bean

2008-11-24T13:04:00.006-05:00

Invitation by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends is a favorite of mine. I recite it for my kids sometimes when it's too late for a story, just to send them off into dreamland with a little something more than a hug and a kiss. But it popped into my mind this week in a different way.

Invitation

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer ...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

The liveliest 86-year old I know is in the hospital today, and from what the doctors say, she may still be there on Thanksgiving. I have a hard time asking for prayers, but if you're a magic bean buyer, please buy a bean and plant it for Grandma. I'm sure she has more tales to spin.

Three for Three

2008-11-13T23:39:00.000-05:00

A big knitting goal for me this year was to make a sweater for each of my kids for this fall. As of last week, that goal has been accomplished. I chose to make each one in their favorite color, blue, green, and pink.

Rachel's is the Jill Hoodie from KnitPicks, in Swish Superwash. This yarn is sooo soft and yummy squishy. It is holding up pretty well to wear so far. She's actually worn it to school several times, which I take as high praise from a fourth grader! :)

This was one of my Ravelympics projects, started 8/8/8 and finished in the wee hours of 8/24/08. The pattern only offers one photo of the finished sweater, so I was a little unsure about the construction. The sleeves come to a point, right down to one stitch at the shoulder. I was worried after I did it that I decreased too much or something, but when it was all put together and the hood attached, it worked out just fine. The hardest part of the project for me was attaching the zipper. I am a wimp when it comes to hand sewing. Sewing up knit pieces - no problem. But anything else makes me feel incompetent. Again, though it turned out just fine. I did have to get a shorter zipper by 4" than that pattern called for though, even though everything was knit to the correct measurements.

When I first saw Sherwood in Knitty, I knew I had to make it for Ben. For starters, this kid loves green. I showed him the photo online and he loved it. And I could just picture him sitting in the tree like the model on Knitty.

I chose holly green in the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece rather than the jungle green the pattern called for. This is my second sweater in Cotton Fleece and I do like it. The wool cotton blend is much easier on my hands than pure cotton. This pattern required a little more attention from me. Several times I got cocky and started chitchatting or watching TV too much while knitting this, which resulted in several fixes for mis-crossed stitches. There remain 2 errors I decided not to fix. I don't think they are too obvious, but I'm not gonna show you any close ups for inspection! ;) The only thing I'd change about this pattern is the neckline. It is too wide for my taste. Actually it looks fine in back, but I'd rather have a few more decreases in the front. I am considering ripping out the last few rows and trying to tighten it up a bit. I put about 2:1 odds against that happening, just because I've got a lot on my plate between now and the end of the year, and Ben is happy with it, so why should I worry? I started Ben's sweater 4/2/08 and finished just in time for the Olympics, on 8/7/08.

Last but certainly not least, here's Sammy's Robin Hood from Zoe Mellor's book Adorable Knits for Tots. It is adorable, isn't it? No, I'm not biased, why do you ask?

This is my favorite of the three as a knitting accomplishment. This pattern with all the cables and moss and the tassle on the hood just seems like such a classic heirloom-style knit to me, and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

I stressed a lot about having enough yarn, and just squeaked through with 6 balls of Berroco Pleasure, a discontinued yarn with 65% angora, so soft. Loved knitting with it. And, the yarn was a gift from my mom, so free sweater. In fact, she even found the buttons for me. Thanks, Mom! The pattern calls for Rowan Cork, which has a few less yards per skein, and only 5 balls, so I thought I would be OK on yardage, but I did add a bit of length to it. Sammy's on the tall side for her age and the pattern suggested length just didn't seem like enough in either the body or the arms. I'm glad I did because it's just about perfect as is. The only thing I'm going to need to do with this is tighten up the button holes somehow. The buttons seem to pop out a bit too easily on this squirmy 2-year-old. :) I was hoping it would be wearable next fall, since it's the 2-3 years size, but we'll see. For the moment. it's perfect for a little walk in the fall weather.

SP13 Questionnaire

2008-11-09T23:24:00.007-05:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I like wool the best, so long as it's not super scratchy. It's just the most versatile thing to work with, I think. I like superwash sock yarns. I love alpaca. I can't knit too much with pure cotton, it makes my hands hurt. I can do a dish rag here and there, just not all the time. I don't like yarn that squeaks or anything sparkly/metallic.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have a needle roll for my DPNs and I have the binder that the Options set comes in for my circs. I don't use straights so I gave them all to my sister. :)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting about 3.5 years now. I learned from a friend. Actually, I first learned from my aunt when I was 16, but as they say, it didn't stick. :) I am an adventurous intermediate. It may not turn out perfect on the first try, but I've never been afraid to try a new technique.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Loopy Ewe
and my Etsy favorites.

5. What's your favorite scent?
My favorite scent would be pink grapefruit. The Body Shop used to make a pink grapefruit soap that I miss terribly. I also have some herbal sachets for my stash (from Scout's Swag) with lavender and rosemary maybe, and I like those a lot. I like lavender and vanilla, and cucumber or citrus scents in other things, but nothing that's too overwhelming. ETA: I just found a scent at Borders that I am loving: Avalon Juniper by Pacifica. So grapefruity. It has an owl and a raven on the package, love that, too. I just noticed on the website they have a lilac scent, too, which they didn't have in store. One of my favorite things about spring is the blooming lilacs.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Yes! I like good quality American chocolate best, dark and milk are both good. With caramel or coconut, even better! No hazelnuts, though. The purpose of a hazelnut, as far as I can tell, is to ruin otherwise perfectly good chocolate. ;) That goes double for pretzels.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Not a spinner, but I like to do a little beading, some stamping/cardmaking, crafty little projects like painting unfinished wooden frames or stuff like that.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, I have an iPod. I like a variety of things, hard to put my finger on it exactly. Techno, metal, ska, 80's, alternative, singer/songwriter type stuff, classic rock, classical, too. Not much into jazz, country or rap. I'm happy to hear something new if you have something you think is great.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Green! Purple! I like them all really. Look at my blog header, you will get the idea. If a color can be found in nature, I like it. I gravitate towards the deeper, richer or brighter shades. Pastels can be pretty, but they are not usually my first choice.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
March 6 will be my tenth wedding anniversary. We've got three kids, you will see them all over the blog. Rachel is 9, Ben is 5 and Samantha is 2. We've got a husky and a cat and some fish and a guinea pig to round it out.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
yes, yes, yes and no. I'm kind of picky about hats and scarves in terms of the itchiness factor. Anything too fuzzy or scratchy seems itchy to me.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I think I've come around to the point where i like to knit just about everything. I have major issues with actually finishing socks (or pairs of socks, for that matter), but I still like them. I like to knit toys and accessories and sweaters, too.

13. What are you knitting right now?
hat for me, some toys for my nieces for Christmas

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes, please! Handmade and local items are my favorites.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
circs. the material depends on the project, how much grip I want. In general, metal for stockinette to keep it sliding quickly and wood for anything more complex, so it doesn't escape from me. :)

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
winder yes, swift is my husband. :)

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I have half a sock from the first shipment of last years Socks that Rock. So that's about 22 months.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?
We celebrate solstice. It is my favorite winter holiday. We also celebrate Christmas, but in a family tradition kind of way, not a religious way.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
buttons/pins (I like my knitting bags to have "flair".) and yarn, of course.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I just renewed my IK subscription for 2 years. Books I'm interested in would be Color Style, It Itches, Best of Interweave, Fitted Knits, 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. I think I might kind of collect books too. :) I also have realized lately that I have only one stitch dictionary (a Japanese one), and I'd like more. Maybe the Harmony guides? I haven't really looked into what the best ones are.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
2 handed knitting for colorwork. I heard that the book YnotKnit has some great tips on this.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, size 11 - 10.25 around and 10.25 long. I like my socks with a bit of negative ease.

23. When is your birthday?
October

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes, I'm meggles over there.

In defense of stash

2008-11-06T19:04:00.000-05:00

Stash is a resource for homework projects. 'nuf said.

Halloween Photos

2008-11-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

5 little pumpkins, sitting on a log...

I got one of the "warty" looking pumpkins, thinking one of the kids would like it. That thing had an amazingly hard, brittle skin. It was fun for the science geek in me to think about this in the context of pleiotropy, but too darn hard to cut. Like the knife would not even puncture it, had to get Russ to do it. Won't get that kind again. :)

The candy buckets are just those regular orange plastic pumpkins, plus felt and a whole lot o' glue. I first thought of doing a cookie jar for my Cookie Monster, then the Pokeball for my Pokemon. Russ helped me out with the idea for Superman: the Daily Planet globe.

This is Infernape, a Pokemon, think monkey with flames coming out of it's head. Sewn by Grandma (my mom). I was her lovely assistant. :)

Here's a picture of the real Infernape for comparison.

The flames are made of netting and other sheer fabrics just free-hand cut into flame shapes and sewn to the hood. Love how the sun makes them look like real fire.

Here's Superman - up, up and away!

Saving the day!

The elementary school here has a great Halloween tradition: half day of school, starting with a parade and then pretty much party on until it's time to go home! :)

Superman in parade with his buddies, the bad guys.

So many kids in the parade gave a shout out to Cookie.
"C is for cookie, that's good enough for me!" That song is so in my head. :)

Here's my favorite random kid costume from the parade.

They brought home 18 pounds of candy!!! (Yes, I weighed it.)

Hope your Halloween was awesome, too.

VOTE (and get free stuff!)

2008-11-04T15:36:00.000-05:00

I was almost disappointed that there was no line when I went to vote today. With all the talk of high turnout, I was surprised to find myself one of only 3 or 4 people voting at noon. I've heard the waits in Ann Arbor have been 1-2 hours and it seems like everyone in town had the "I voted" sticker on.

Starbucks is giving free coffee to voters. I'm headed over there in a minute. :) And also, even better yet, free Ben and Jerry's from 5-8PM at the A2 State Street location. Maybe others?

So go vote. And then get yourself a coffee or an ice cream or something. You deserve it!

Halloween is upon me...

2008-10-30T16:07:00.000-04:00

Halloween snuck up on me! I'm not ready.

Still to do:
carve pumpkins (5)
finish decorating goodie buckets (2)
finish costume (1)

Of course, I'll have help with the carving. And the costume finishing is just feet. But still, tomorrow!?!? How did that happen? I will be posting costume pictures ASAP. In the meantime, check out the festival of cuteness here (Alison's lil' pumpkin fairy) and here (Georgia's lil' Garden Gnome).

Happy haunting everyone. And please do comment if you know of other super cute or otherwise awesome Halloween goodness I need to check out.

A book, some pancakes and spiders

2008-10-22T22:55:00.000-04:00

Check out my daughter's library book this week - I am >90% sure I read this book when I was her age. They had an area at the public library where I grew up with all the "independent reader" mystery books, and this is just the sort of thing I would have read by the stack.

And, as you can see, it was definitely in circulation when I was 9!

Last night I made pancakes for a quick dinner and they the best pancakes I ever made, if I do say so myself. So light and puffed up with hot air. I had some leftover pumpkin from making these muffins on the weekend, so I modified my usual recipe a bit to use it up. So, here you go, give them a try if you like. They don't even need syrup IMO.

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if you've got it, I highly recommend it)

In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (egg through pumpkin). In a larger bowl, stir together dry ingredients, then add in wet ingredients and whisk until well combined, but don't overdo the mixing. Oh, and throw in a handful of wheat germ at the end and mix it up. I always do - mom of a friend of my mom's did that, and I just don't feel right about pancakes without wheat germ for some reason. Weird, right?

Batter is slightly thicker than is usual for pancakes. Cook as normal, (sizzling hot pan with melted butter over medium heat), flipping when you can see the edges start to look a bit done. I found these take a bit longer to cook through then I am used to. Make sure you check for doneness on the first few until you get an idea of how long they take, so as to avoid the dreaded creamy center pancake. This will make plenty for 5 hungry people.

And here are the spiders...Ben helped me with them. I'm very happy they are up well in advance of Halloween.

There's even a spider for Sammy.

I decided hungry spiders should catch something good to eat. :)

Oh, knitting? Actively on the needles I have the second sleeve on Sammy's hoodie. The first of Ben's racing socks is nearing completion. And I'm trying something new, recycling yarn from a sweater I loved, but hasn't fit me since before I had kids. It's rayon chenille, from Banana Republic. Love the color, which in the real world is a little more green and less yellow than on my monitor. So far I have reclaimed the yarn from one sleeve. I think it will be much more usable as a scarf.

Have you turned on your furnace yet? We're holding out. It's pretty much up to Russ to turn it on when he's ready, since he's the one here all day.

Educational

2008-09-15T15:29:00.000-04:00

Ben had his first kindergarten math homework over the weekend, to look for numbers around the house, then draw a picture of something he found with numbers on it. Russ just emailed me what he drew...'cause, yeah, we didn't do the homework on the weekend, he's in PM, so what better time to do HW than Monday morning, right... Anyhoo, it's his knitted robot "primary", which had the binary "01" in duplicate stitch. Love it. This will be my desktop picture for a while now, it just makes me smile. See how he drew the little intarsia heart in, too?

music meme

2008-09-09T21:27:00.000-04:00

I found this on Anita's blog today - she's one of my teammates in the Dish Rag Tag. Speaking of which, the box is on its way to me as we speak! Either tomorrow or the next day, it's my turn.

So here are the rules:

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com

B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year

C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline or italicize your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

D.) Optional, but I highly recommend checking out some videos on YouTube while you're at it.

1. Hold On, Wilson Phillips (seriously, Wilson Phillips is #1 on this list? I'm crushed.)
2. It Must Have Been Love, Roxette
~~3. Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor~~
~~4. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe~~
~~5. Vogue, Madonna~~ (it's a love/hate relationship)
6. Vision Of Love, Mariah Carey
7. Another Day In Paradise, Phil Collins
8. Hold On, En Vogue
9. Cradle Of Love, Billy Idol
10. Blaze Of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi
11. Do Me!, Bell Biv Devoe
~~12. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, Michael Bolton~~ OMG, hated Michael Bolton, so much. But somehow I think I went to a concert of his once. free tickets, maybe? Yeah, I think that it was free tickets for a box and we were hoping for free beer with that.
13. Pump Up The Jam, Technotronic
14. Opposites Attract, Paula Abdul
15. Escapade, Janet Jackson
16. All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You, Heart
17. Close To You, Maxi Priest
18. Black Velvet, Alannah Myles
19. Release Me, Wilson Phillips
20. Don't Know Much, Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville
21. All Around The World, Lisa Stansfield
22. l Wanna Be Rich, Calloway
23. I Remember You, Skid Row "I dismember you" SNORT
24. Rub You The Right Way, Johnny Gill
25. She Ain't Worth It, Glenn Medeiros Featuring Bobby Brown
26. If Wishes Came True, Sweet Sensation
27. The Power, Snap
28. (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection, Nelson
29. Love Will Lead You Back, Taylor Dayne
30. Don't Wanna Fall In Love, Jane Child
31. Two To Make It Right, Seduction
32. Sending All My Love, Linear
~~33. Unskinny Bop, Poison~~
34. Step By Step, New Kids On The Block
35. Dangerous, Roxette
36. We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel
37. I Don't Have The Heart, James Ingram
38. Downtown Train, Rod Stewart
39. Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson
40. I'll Be Your Everything, Tommy Page
41. Roam, B-52's
42. Everything, Jody Watley
43. Back To Life, Soul II Soul
~~44. Here and Now, Luther Vandross~~
45. Alright, Janet Jackson
~~46. Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice~~ (doesn't everyone?)
47. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
48. Have You Seen Her, M.C. Hammer
49. With Every Beat Of My Heart, Taylor Dayne
50. Come Back To Me, Janet Jackson
51. No More Lies, Michel'le
52. Praying For Time, George Michael
~~53. How Can We Be Lovers, Michael Bolton~~
54. Do You Remember, Phil Collins
55. Ready Or Not, After 7
~~56. U Can't Touch This, M.C. Hammer~~ (And, yes, sadly, I owned 2 pairs of hammer pants. In my defense, they were tie-dye and not shiny. Or maybe that makes it worse???)
57. I Wish It Would Rain Down, Phil Collins
58. Just Between You and Me, Lou Gramm
59. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven, Phil Collins
60. Black Cat, Janet Jackson
61. Can't Stop, After 7
62. Janie's Got A Gun, Aerosmith
63. The Humpty Dance, Digital Underground
64. I'll Be Your Shelter, Taylor Dayne
65. Free Fallin', Tom Petty
66. Giving You The Benefit, Pebbles
67. Enjoy The Silence, Depeche Mode
68. Love Song, Tesla
69. Price Of Love, Bad English
70. Girls Nite Out, Tyler Collins
71. King Of Wishful Thinking, Go West
72. What Kind Of Man Would I Be?, Chicago
73. Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over), Technotroic
74. Here We Are, Gloria Estefan
75. Epic, Faith No More got this on a mix from my sister not too long ago, still love this one.
76. Love Takes Time, Mariah Carey
77. Just Like Jesse James, Cher
78. Love Shack, B-52's
79. All Or Nothing, Milli Vanilli
80. Romeo, Dino
81. Everybody Everybody, Black Box
82. I Go To Extremes, Billy Joel
83. Whip Appeal, Babyface
84. Oh Girl, Paul Young
85. C'mon and Get My Love, D-Mob With Cathy Dennis
85. (It's Just) The Way That You Love Me, Paula Abdul
87. We Can't Go Wrong, Cover Girls
~~88. When I'm Back On My Feet Again, Michael Bolton~~
89. Make You Sweat, Keith Sweat
90. This One's For The Children, New Kids On The Block
91. What It Takes, Aerosmith
92. Forever, Kiss
93. Jerk Out, Time
94. Just A Friend, Biz Markie
95. Whole Wide World, A'me Lorain
96. Without You, Motley Crue
97. Swing The Mood, Jive Bunny and The Mastermixers
98. Thieves In The Temple, Prince
99. Mentirosa, Mellow Man Ace
100. Tic-Tac-Toe, Kyper

U Can't Touch This, Unskinny Bop and Vogue were in HEAVY rotation on the radio the summer I graduated. I had this job painting schools where we listened to the radio all day every day. They will forever remind me of that summer.

And not on the list: no Megadeth, Metallica, Scorpions, Van Halen, Cinderella, Whitesnake, Great White, Anthrax, Faster Pussycat, Roxx Gang, and seriously, no GNR? Tragic.

Other crafty stuff

2008-08-27T00:37:00.000-04:00

Here we have all kinds of crafty goodness I've been saving up: beading, painting, knitting, needle felting, and even chain mail from my husband!

I'd been thinking about making a Beaded Pendant of Blindness and Insanity for quite a while, since I first saw them over at Anitcraft in the Samhain 2006 issue. They call for size 14 seed beads, but the bead shop I go to in A2 had no such critter - some 15's, which looked really too small for my level of blindness*, and 13's, but only a few colors to choose from. I settled on 11's, and chose a shiny metallic dark green and a matte pearly medium green.

This worked up very quickly, in about an hour and a half on the first attempt. I love that half way through the instructions it says "Sit up straight and stretch." Good advice. :)

The pattern calls for a 1/2" marble to be placed inside the pendant. After inserting it, you are supposed to "gently pull thread until it fits like a sinister little glove." Owing to my choice of larger beads, that size marble fit more like a baggy beaded shower cap. Not what we are going for here. ;/

So, I got out Russ's bag of gaming dice, and found a d20 that fit about right. Then I made a little Sculpy sphere of the same size, baked it up, and then the whole "sinister little glove" thing worked out much better.

I strung it on a simple leather cord and I'm pretty happy with it, even though I'm not usually much for necklaces, my preferred jewelry being dangly earrings.**

I made another in pearl and gold, with a particular gift giving occasion in mind, but the sculpy ball for this one is not entirely spherical, and so it doesn't look right. Maybe I will try again. I have beads for a couple more in different colors, I think I got carried away with how much fun it was to sit down and have finish a project in about an hour when I went shopping for beads again.

At the Plymouth Art in the Park a few weeks ago, Rachel noticed a needle felted ladybug. I told her that rather than buying it, she could make one herself, and right away ordered a kit from WoolPets. The kit was for 3 ladybugs and 3 bumblebees. We haven't done the bees yet, but Rae and Ben and I each made a ladybug and it was fun for all. The kids did poke themselves a couple times with the felting needle by accident (just little pokes) until they learned to be careful. Sometimes one poke is worth a thousand warnings from your mom. :)

I gave mine to my mom for her birthday. Samantha has ripped the heads off both Ben's and Rae's, so they are waiting for me to dig out the felting needle to reattach them. Little sisters can be such trouble! My favorite part of these was their tiny antennae, which are just pinched up from the head after needling it, and twisted into shape. So cute, but sadly did not photograph well in close up.

While Rae was off a Girl Scout camp a couple weekends ago, I grabbed the opportunity for some Mom and Ben crafting time. We did some spool knitting, taking turns pushing the little loops over the pegs, and created this cute little guy from a $1 kit from JoAnn's. He lives on Ben's bookshelf and is always hungry for some reason.

Then, we got out my paints and stamps and decorated this little bird house, also a bargain bin find at JoAnn's. I just love how the leafy roof turned out. It awaits a decision on where in the yard to hang it.

In knitting, I finally worked up the sari silk I got in Barcelona. I will wear this shawl to the Renaissance Festival next month.

I got both the regular spun sari silk, with which I knit the body of the shawl, and "uncarded", which is the crazy thick fringe.

Russ has started making chain maille again. He made a vest for himself of heavy gauge steel and brass once upon a time before I knew him. The thing has to weigh 50 pounds! When we were dating, he made the back of a vest with chaos arrows in copper and gave it to my brother to finish up. My brother's high school band was called Chaos Theory and they had a chaos arrows logo so it was the perfect thing for him. Recently Russ has started making little metal loops again, this time experimenting with different weaves and finer materials. Some evenings he sits linking his loops of metal and I sit looping my loops of wool, while we watch the Daily Show and Colbert in the most companionable old married couple way ever. :) He made this anklet as a prototype for me. I asked him to make one in multi color, with jinglies. I think a jingling chain maille anklet is just the thing for renfair.

* My level of blindness is pretty high, uncorrected, and I know even with my glasses I can't see as well as Russ or any of the kids. Rachel had to get a physical before going to Girl Scout camp, and I stood next to her while she took the eye screening test. She scored 20/15 in one eye and 20/20 in the other. I took off my glasses to see what line I could read, and lo and behold, if I didn't know it was an E on the top (you know, the big one?) I wouldn't have been able to read it. I told her that and she gave me this astonished look. Lucky kids that they got good genes from Dad.

** And yes, in addition to being blind, I sunburn easily. Got this lovely shade of red from walking from my house to Art in the Park without sunscreen. Oops.

Check out the Dish Rag Tag

2008-08-04T11:49:00.000-04:00

I just signed up for the Dish Rag Tag over at Yarn Miracle. Basically it's a relay race: When you get the box, you knit a dishcloth and pass it on with a little treat. First team to get the box through twelve knitters and back to Emily at Yarn Miracle wins!

It's been a while since I did any swapping, and this seems like a perfect little $10 swap for the end of summer. Sound like fun? Look at the August 1st post for rules and a link to the sign ups, which are open until August 8 or 300 knitters, whichever comes first. The race begins August 15!

On Rule Breakers

2008-07-31T14:11:00.000-04:00

Russ, the kids and I went to the Detroit Zoo a week ago Sunday. I wrote this post last week, but it's been sitting waiting for me to get the picture of the bear off the camera.

It was hot and sooo humid that day. Towards the end of the day, more or less on the way out, we got to the black bear enclosure. This poor guy was way too furry for being stuck in the sun on a day like that. He was pacing and all the people around were saying how hot he looked and making sympathetic comments. He finally got over to the one patch of shade available and settled down, still panting. Despite the important role I know zoos play in education and conservation, and despite the fact I know things are much better for the animals now than they were once upon a time, scenes like this make me feel quite ambivalent about going to zoos and taking my kids to them.

Then this dude (adult spectator) starts throwing things at him - not sure what, some kind of small bean-sized objects. He did it like three times in a row. And I think he was getting the whatever-it-was from his kid (or anyhow, he was bending down to someone v. short). Now, this is definitely against the rules. For sure, I've broken a few rules in my time, but why do you want to bother the poor bear? This is just not nice. And, it sets a bad example for the numerous children around about how to treat animals. So I was fuming. Dude kept it up, and I'm thinking about the Yarn Harlot's post about this guy who kept his iPod on when the flight attendants said to turn off all electronic devices. (Dude was a weenie, for sure.) So, what do you do when someone else is breaking the rules, and appears to be getting away with it?

I know if I say anything to him, it carries the risk of confrontation, which I generally prefer to avoid, but I am thinking of my Rachel, too, who loves the animals, and thinking that this poor bear has enough trouble today, and thinking that this dude is really pissing me off.

So, I turned in his general direction (there were quite a few people between me and him) and said, loud enough that everyone in the area heard me, "Dude, you seriously don't want to be throwing things at the animals." And he leaned back from the edge of the enclosure, looked my way and said "I don't?", as if he could not imagine why in the world he wouldn't, to which I replied, in my best mom voice, "No, you don't. And if you think you're feeding him, that's not the right stuff for him to eat." Real eloquent, huh? But, I'll give myself a break, I was stressing big time. No response from him, but he didn't do it again in the next couple minutes while we were still there. We didn't stay much longer, as I was having a major adrenaline rush at actually standing up and saying something. I don't think I made any real dent in that guy, but maybe I saved the bear some small amount of irritation. Grrr.

Does anyone from Michigan /Detroit area remember this commercial?

Just saw it posted by a friend of mine from high school. I actually think of this commercial quite frequently, when in a group that turns out to be going the wrong way. "Wrong way, guys." "Nice goin', Melvin." LOL, YouTube is so awesome.

sea slug or baby sweater?

2008-07-11T23:02:00.000-04:00

Quick FO post:

BSJ for my niece or nephew (TBD) due on Christmas Day. I'll get buttons when I know if it's a niece or a nephew.

It's maybe 0-3 months size.

Sammy thinks I made it for Bear. Rachel helped me to hide it while she wasn't looking so I could keep it clean for Pele. (Yes, my sister has given her child an in utero name after a soccer player. This seems unwise to me.)

Yarn: This is a stash buster - using up some Cascade Fixation I bought for socks before I decided I prefer wool for softer socks. I used just barely more than 1 balls of each color, one a solid red and one variegated coral-red, yellow, orange and blue. I ran out of both colors with less than 2 rows to go in their respective sections. I think I could squeeze another one out of just 2 balls by taking 2 rows out of the button band and taking a couple rows out of the short row section, which would shorten the length just a bit. Although the baby is due in December, I think the cotton yarn will be fine, since they live in New Orleans. No snow for this baby! Also should be easy care.

Needles: US 10, due to the stretchiness of this yarn (cotton & elastic), it just shrinks right up unless I use abnormally large needles. My gauge is about 6.25/inch.

This pattern was fun to knit, all the while trying to figure out how it would turn into a sweater and how the stripes would look, and above all, how on earth EZ came up with such an idea!

flickr meme

2008-07-09T16:19:00.000-04:00

I've had fun seeing people's mosaics over the last few weeks and decided to join in when I saw Tiennie's today.

Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

Questions:
1. What is your first name? Meg
2. What is your favorite food? ice cream
3. What high school did you go to? Andover
4. What is your favorite color? green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? none
6. Favorite drink? coffee
7. Dream vacation? Alaska
8. Favorite dessert? pie
9. What you wanted to be when you grow up? genetic engineer
10. What do you love most in life? home
11. One Word to describe you? distracted (as this was a distraction while at school)
12. Your flickr name? mbakewel

If you decide to do it (or already have), leave a comment to let me know. I'd love to see your mosaic.

Sibling Rivalry

2008-06-24T22:20:00.000-04:00

Since the first Simian Sakura sock got to go see the Harlot and all, I knew I'd better do something special with her sister, too. Got to keep things equal, right? So we went to Barcelona. To tell the truth, both socks came along, but only one got to hang out with Gaudi's pet lizard.

(Taking that picture was awesome fun. I was waiting for a group of (other) tourists to finish taking their photos, just looking over at them, and waiting my turn, since I figured they would not want my sock in their picture. They could tell I was waiting, but I think they were all surprised to see me stick something in the lizard's mouth before i took my photo, LOL.)

The real reason for going was to attend the SMBE2008 conference, lots of fun there...

but I also did a bit of sight seeing, (Parc GuellX3, La Sagrada FamiliaX2, Columbus statue near the waterfront)

There was yarn shopping, too, at Persones Llanes where I met Jennifer (ravelry link) and her beautiful baby girl and a really nice guy who was knitting a shawl of sari silk. I bought some yummy yarn and I'm going to make a shawl like his. :-) Jennifer was super friendly - I walked in (triumphant to have found it after seeing the shop on Ravelry) and said "Hola" and then stopped, since that is about the extent of my Spanish. She said "Can I help you?" and I said "I found you on Ravelry". She carries a selection of yarns I normally can get only online, so it was fun to fondle them all in person.

Lots of street performers to watch, especially in the touristy Las Ramblas area, touristy meaning there was McD's and KFC and BK and other American acronyms all over the place, and a guy walking around with a placard that said, in part "This sign is in English because YOU, by your excessive presence here, have destroyed the local language, culture and traditions," or something quite close to that. Sorry, dude, I really don't want to see McDonald's in Spain, either. (Or the US, for that matter, but that's another story.)

Just by chance I ran into a cool drum corp parade in the Bari Gotic.
ETA: embedding video from my Flickr since the Blogger video uploader does not like me today.

This is a city of many dogs (especially pugs), few cats, and not that many pigeons, either.

Being a pedestrian in Barcelona is apparently dangerous enough that they have spray painted morbid statistics on the cross walks, but it's a very bike friendly city. They have a neat system of rental bikes which I saw everywhere and there was a bike and roller blade festival outside the conference venue on Sunday, complete with synchronized rollerblade conga lines and BMX bikers on ramps.

I also did some sangria drinking and tapas tasting. Depsite the USDA (who don't allow Spanish pork into the US), but with the help of Zingerman's, I was able to recreate some of the tasty food for my family - chorizo and jamon serrano and 3 Spanish cheeses (Mahòn and Manchego and an amzing goat cheese whose name escapes), tortilla de patatas and sangria and crusty bread rubbed with the cut side of a fresh tomato. So good. oh, and olives. Which I wish I could like, but I don't. Green olives stuffed with anchovies seemed to be the thing in Barcelona. I'll keep trying. And, with any luck, someday I can take the kids over to try the real deal for themselves, and have a little explore around the Parc Guell, too.

Did I bring enough yarn for three projects to Spain and come home with yarn for three more projects as well? Why yes, I did. Did I even finish one sock while I was there? No, as a matter of fact I did not! :) But I did finish up the second sock after I got home, so here they are. TTFN.

Single Simian Sakura

2008-05-22T21:29:00.000-04:00

My last splurge at The Loopy Ewe included a single skein of Cherry Tree Hill DK in the colorway Cherry Blossom. The colors in the skein include a bright fuschia pink, a pretty blossom pink, dark bark brown, sky blue and white. I imagined sitting under a tree in bloom and looking up through the blossom-laden branches at the clear sky, maybe watching a few cottonball clouds passing by. The idea of tree branches reminded me of the lace in the Monkey sock, so I decided to use that pattern. This day-dream also inspired the photos here.

Since my own crab apple tree was past bloom by the time I finished the sock, I "borrowed" a tree in a new development that's on my way to work. The trees at the entrance of the development were in bloom this week, so I wasn't in anyone's yard or anything, but the first day I thought I would get the photo, the landscaping crew was there in the morning. It's one thing to be taking crazy sock pictures laying on the grass under someone else's trees; it's another thing entirely to do it with 5 lawn guys watching me, so I came back the next day!

I divided the skein in half and knit the first sock with the slightly lighter half. During the first lace repeat, I estimated how much yarn would be needed for the sock by measuring how much was needed to knit a single round, and averaging that value over several rounds. By my calculations, I didn't have enough to do all 6 repeats suggested for the leg, so I cut it down to 5. I ended up with less than a yard left after the first sock.

I cast on the first sock a few days before the Harlot's Ann Arbor event, figuring I should have a sock in progress for that event - not that any of the others languishing in my project basket wouldn't have done as well. :) Arriving about an hour and a half early, Kath and I got 2 of the last seats left in the downstairs room. I turned the heel while waiting for the event to begin and worked a good bit of the gusset while Stephanie talked. One of the coolest things about going to see the Harlot was that three different people came up to me and asked "Is that the Monkey sock?" rather than the usual thing that happens when KIPing - "What are you doing?" or "What's that gonna be?" And Stephanie recognized it, too, of course. Just nice to be with people who understand the whole knitting thing. I cast on the second already, but I'm not past the ribbing yet.

My main project right now is Sherwood for Ben. He has 2 comments about the sweater when he notices I'm working on it. The first is, "Green is my first favorite color." Sometimes he follows that up with, "I like all colors. Except for pink." The second is, "Will you knit only my sweater every time we drive somewhere until it is done?" I am itching to cast on other projects, it is the way of me, but how can I resist a plea like that?

Here's some more spring: Ben calls the pansies "butterfly flowers" - can you see why? I never noticed that before!

And my Ballerina tulips, love, love, love them!

His and Hers

2008-05-21T21:40:00.000-04:00

Russ's Cobblestone is finished. It took me just about 2 months (not monogamously, of course) to finish this up, and I think it is probably the biggest FO to date, in terms of stitches knit, anyhow. The fit is good, thanks to Tiennie's helpful advice, veteran Cobblestone knitter that she is. It's been getting quite a bit of wear, too, with the chilly weather we've been having.

I had considered using the jogless garter technique to avoid the "seam" in the back, but after trying it out on the cuffs, I decided I liked the clean line of the jog better then the almost (but not quite) invisible diagonal line of the jogless garter.

It may end up needing a small modification - the neckline is stretching a bit with wear, and this makes the sleeves hang a little long. I made sure to bind-off extra loosely so it would go over his head easily, but maybe I went overboard. If this proves to be too annoying, I may pull out the last 5 rows, back to the final decrease round, and re-do with a few extra decreases in that round, and possibly add a couple more rows before binding off as well. Nonetheless, I declare the sweater a success, and while we haven't specifically discussed it yet, I think there's room for additional handknit sweaters in his wardrobe. The River Forest Gansey (ravelry link) from Handknit Holidays is still on my mind.

It's been months actually since I finished my Venezia Cardigan, but I'm not thrilled with the photos, so I delayed posting. However, it's now packed away for summer, so I guess I'll have to go with the pictures I have.

This should have been a pretty quick knit, given that every 6th row is double wrapped, then drop the extra loop on the next row, so it grows quickly. And it's all knits. But the pattern (from the 2007 Stitch-n-Bitch calendar) had several errors, so this project spent many weeks (months, even) in timeout. Overall, from start to finish it was very nearly a year on the needles. I completely re-calculated the sleeve caps using the very helpful tutorial from the Winter IK, because if knitted according to the pattern, they were nowhere near big enough to match the armholes. Yes, using the Pythagorean Theorem in knitting makes Meg a happy girl. Also, I measured myself for this while I was still nursing Sam, so, post-nursing, it's got a lot of ease. And, the the red halo of this yarn (a discontinued one called Winter from Dive) sheds like nobody's business. Maybe that will let up after it gets some more wear.

So, it sheds, it's too big, the pattern was bad, I don't like the pictures, and I've complained before about the straight needles I used...I'm complaining a lot here, but...I really like the sweater. The yarn just glows the most beautiful red in the sun, and it's super warm. The sleeves are extra long, which I love because I almost always find sleeves too short on purchased clothing. I've worn it dressed up with a skirt and it looks good IMO. I think the buttons make it fancier than it might have been otherwise. I found them at Knit-a-Round in Ann Arbor, and I wasn't sure they were a good match at first. They have kind of a pinkish cast in the shell part (which the photo doesn't show that well) and I never know about pink with red. But, after looking around at a lot of other places, they were my favorite, so I went back and picked them up.

The spring show is still on, so I'll end with flowers: Wool of the Andes in Claret Heather and tulip Queen of the Night.

Spring

2008-04-29T23:07:00.000-04:00

The spring show is underway. I planted about 200 daffodils, maybe 300 tulips and assorted others last fall, mostly along the back and side of the garage. I bought a mixture of daffodils (I think it was this one.) and I'm really happy with all the different varieties that are coming up - big yellows, some with orange cups, ruffled cups, white with pink, little narcissi. I'm looking forward to the tulips though - Ballerina tulips, my favorite, stunning orange, lily flowering, just a couple more weeks I think. At the rate the rhubarb is going, there may be pie by Mother's Day.

dandelions
violets,

daffodils,
& more daffodils,

peonies,
lambs' ears,

rhubarb popping up
& unfolding its crinkly leaves,

bench with forsythia,
tulip.

More spring here.

Brownies go green

2008-04-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

Rachel's brownie troop met today with the fifth grade Junior Girl Scout troop who will be "bridging" them to juniors. After this year, we'll trade in the brownie vest for a green sash. For each of the last three years since the troop was organized, I've led the girls through a Try-It badge - each year something science-y, since I'm known as the science mom. This year we did the Eco-Explorer badge, which is right in line with Rachel's interest in the environment and concern for wildlife.

Each girl researched an endangered animal and presented the information to the rest of the group. We learned about habitat fragmentation and poaching, recurring themes in the girls' explanations of why their animals are endangered. We talked about predators and prey and food webs. We planted some seeds for a butterfly garden and compared host plants and nectar plants. I wanted to talk about indirect effects in ecosystems and energy flow and competition and about a zillion more things, but hard to fit it all in during a short meeting and still have time to sing a song and have a snack. :) I'm filing this entry under Project Spectrum Earth, because it fits in color and in spirit. I've noticed that a lot of folks have been interpreting the color brown with chocolate, so here's another element that fits in: S'mores bars. I made these for the Brownie square dance last month, from an old Williams & Sonoma cookbook.

In knitting, I finished Mom's composed mitts. They are blocked and everything and I can hardly believe how much time I have to spare before Mother's Day!!! I'll wait for a better photo to post those, though. I'm about half done with Russ's Cobblestone. He agreed to try it on still on the needles to check for length and it's looking pretty good, I think. He seems happy with it so far, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it will be something he enjoys wearing when it's all done. There is some concern that it might be itchy. It might also be hot. Umm, yes, it's wool, why do you ask?

It seems that after my hat knitting binge this winter, Sam thinks anything I'm knitting is a hat. She will some up to me while I'm knitting and pat her head, saying "hat" and wanting to try it on. I'm trying to convince her that not everything is a hat. Somethings might be a skirt (or a sweater for Daddy).

2 pairs of mittens

2008-04-22T22:31:00.000-04:00

Trying to catch up the FO's here...

Here are my Composed Mitts from Fall 2007 IK. I used Knit Picks Telemark in Cardinal, Tangerine, Northern Green, Squirrel Heather, Charcoal Heather and Lazurite Heather. This made for a $12 pair of mittens, nice! My mom has a crimson cape - red is her color - and she commented that she should make a pair for herself to go with it when she saw mine finished, so I am going to surprise her with a pair for Mother's Day. I just finished the first one this evening (except the end weaving, that is). I am using the leftovers of the red, blue and greys, plus some other yarn from stash, switching some of the colors around, so they won't be twinners with mine.

Next up: Elliphantom's Herringbone Mittens, made for my Coffee Swap pal Lyndsey.

At first, this pattern was driving me crazy because I kept losing my place. Totally not the pattern's fault, just the herringbone made my eyes buzzy, plus the chart is in white and blue, and I chose to knit the whites in blue and the blues in brown, so much tinking occurred! (The yarns are KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Blueberry and Chocolate, but the photo is not showing the blue quite right here.) But, at some point I realized that if I viewed the stitches as columns rather than the rows, I never had to look at the chart again. In each column of stitches, there are 2 main color stitches, and then 2 contrast, all the way up the mitten. So, if I looked at the stitch I was about the knit into and the one under it, I would always know what color to knit. If they were the same, time for the other color. If they were different, I would knit another in the same color at the top stitch. Easy. On the second mitten I knits the first 4 rows following the chart carefully, and after that set up, I could use my column trick and I was home free. If I was making these for me, I would probably leave off the poms, since I would likely knock things (coffee!) over with them, klutz that I am. But I think they are super cute, plus, fun to make. I especially love the way the thumbs are done, and the column of stitches it creates along the edge. I also added an extra 4 rows to the length of the mitten, because I think my row gauge was a little off.

Happy Earth Day!

PSA re: Magknits

2008-04-13T23:36:00.000-04:00

I read on Grumperina's blog that Magknits has closed up, with no archive. I really liked that site and I'm sad to see it go. The pattern for Very Berry was from there, and the Snowflake Socks (Ravlery link) have been on my to-do list for a long while. Seems like a lot of designers are taking steps to make their patterns available again, and some of them are already downloadable on Ravelry or elsewhere. (The copyright still belongs to the designers so they can do this.) Here's another possibility if you had some Magknits patterns in queue, and, like me, panicked about not being able to get them anymore: the Way Back Machine. This site is an internet archive that basically grabs a snapshot of web pages and stores them in an internet archive. The last archive for Magknits was August 2007. I didn't think of it myself, but it pays to have a geek husband! :)

Hedge-Dog

2008-03-30T21:41:00.000-04:00

I have a new FO since the last post - knit, felted and finished over the last four or five days. Meet Hedge-Dog.

This pattern truly lives up to its name: Huggable Hedgehog. It is quite possibly the best thing I ever knit, judging by the number of smiles it has produced.

Our dog Blue likes to look out the front window - when we are coming and going, or generally whenever people are passing by. He gets especially excited for dogs or bicycles. Hedge-Dog likes to look out the window, too, but she's much mellower.

Hedge-Dog is about 9" tall and about 23" inches around - nearly a ball. The designer of this pattern is a mad genius of short rows. The whole back is a big series of short rows, starting at the top. I used Cascade 220 in two colors of pink leftovers, definitely less than one skein total, and about 1.25 balls of Lion Fun Fur. Now I have leftover rainbow eyelash - what to do with that?!?

Hedge-Dog is so named because his dear friend Samantha classifies all creatures great and small as either cat, dog, bird, fish or snail. ("kitty", "doggie", "bird", "bish" or "'nail") Our guinea pig is a kitty, or else she is saying "guinea" and it just sounds like "kitty." But Hedge-Dog is called "Doggie." Not sure why, because "Kitty" seems to be the default for furry creatures unless they look a lot like a husky, but she says it's a doggie, so Hedge-Dog it is.

All the pink rainbow fluffiness was cute even before felting and stuffing, but when it came out of the washer, I'm afraid it looked like rainbow roadkill. It took a bit of work to get the tummy to look nice, since it kind of wanted to wobble into three tummies rather than making a nice curve, but with a bit of stretching and tugging, it turned out well. I'm very happy with the safety eyes and nose as well, so much easier than embroidery.

I think I first saw this pattern over at Kathryn Ivy. It seems likely that reading that blog is the single biggest contributor to my Ravelry queue, largely because Grace and Alice knit so many great toys. My next Huggable Hedgehog will be for Ben, a blatant copy of Alice's awesome "Zeke". Since it's green that fits in well with Project Spectrum for the Earth element, while Hedge-Dog is my first post for Fire.

"january knitting"

2008-03-18T00:17:00.000-04:00

January knitting is the knitting that happens when the holiday knitting is finished, knitting that is free of deadlines and quite possibly, just for the knitter her(or him)self. My January knitting happened in February. I gave Rachel the choice of the colorways Little Lovely (bright pinks with white) or Melilla (fuschia and apple green with some rusty accents) for her replacement hat. She emphatically rejected Melilla, so it was mine! The colors feel a bit daring, but I love them all the same. It took some fiddling with the camera settings, but I think it looks pretty close to the real thing here.

I started with a pair of fingerless mitts: just a 2x2 rib with thumb increases done in one of the purl sections so the thumb is a reverse stockinette. Nice and easy. I was so pleased with the way it striped/pooled on the first hand that I wanted to see if I could make the second match up. I am very pleased with the method I figured out to make them mirror images of each other: I knit the second one inside out. Since they are essentially reversible, the only change needed was to knit the thumb increases into a knit section for the second one. When done, turn it inside out, and voila, mirror spiraling mitts.

These have gotten quite a bit of use and are getting a little pilly, but I guess that's to be expected with such a soft spun yarn and I don't mind at all.

With the rest of the skein, I made Calorimetry. There were just a few yards left over.

Sam tried it on, too. Definitely cuter on her! :)

I love that the buttonholes are built-in to the pattern - the short rows are done without a wrap so it creates a series of small holes, making it adjustable, too. I even had a matching button in my button drawer.

I found a nail polish that matches the green just exactly - also perfect for St. Patrick's Day, about the color I imagine gold would be after being in the keeping of a leprechaun for a while. Hope you had a good March 17!

I have at least 4 more FO's, and now that the sun is coming back to the north I might just be able to get decent photos of them, so stay tuned.

9 holidays

2008-01-11T20:56:00.000-05:00

I've tried to choose one image to capture each of the holiday events of 2007 and mostly succeeded.

1. Feast at Dad's
Sister took a cake decorating class this year and learned super fancy techniques for the buche de noel. The rest of the menu was the usual fun with trying out some new things.

Hors d'œuvre
Stilton and Walnut Shortbread
Lemon Rosemary Pinenut Shortbread
Cranberry Chutney
Assorted Cheese and Fruits

First Course
Gingered Carrot Bisque

Second Course
Crisp Green Salad with Lemon Ginger Vinaigrette

Main Course
Dainty Seeded Whole Wheat Rolls
Wine Poached Pears with Chèvre
Kale with Garlic and Cranberries
Gratin of Potato and Butternut Squash with Gruyere
Seitan and Roast Beef Tenderloin with Port Sauce

Dessert
Chocolate Bûche de Noël

2. Solstice
I used Trader Joe Gingerbread mix and added craisins, walnuts and apple slices to make the sun cake.

3. Christmas Eve at Mom's
Rae and Sam in fancy dresses from Grandma in Florida, Ben in the vest Sister brought him from India.

4. Christmas morning
Ben got bunches of presents; Rae got the one big thing she wanted: roller skates.

5. Christmas dinner at great grandma's
Playing Nintendo DS with the cousins

6. Sightseeing weekend in Chicago
Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Sears Tower, oh my.

It was a big weekend of fun, and probably worthy of it's own post, but I'm gonna cram it in here anyway. We took the train there and back, which was fun for the kids, but I have to say it's nice to have them fall asleep in their car seats on a long late drive home, and that does not happen on the train. We stayed at the Best Western Grant Park, which I would totally recommend for location if you are planning to hang out on the Museum Campus for a couple days - easy to walk over there, even in the snow. First day, I got to see the Darwin exhibit at the Field Museum, which was mostly about the development of Darwin's thought, his education and influences: good for me, but pretty boring for the kids (except when Rae saw the iguana poop in it's water bowl and announced this fact to everyone within earshot). The Underground Adventure was much more kid-friendly, how can you not like an earthworm that's bigger than you? We all enjoyed watching the animation of the Cambrian Seas for a good long time (Check it out.) Shedd was just how I remembered it from the last time I was there 20 years ago: Way too many people, but the fish (and assorted other sea creatures) were amazing. I have about 10 pictures of Ben with various turtles; he's a turtle fan. and one of Rae with a ray. :) Sears Tower was a last minute addition because the line for ice skate rental at Millenium Park was entirely too long and not moving a bit, but I am very glad we went there anyhow to see the bean. So cool. We walked a long way that day and Rachel lamented the fact the 8-year-olds are too big for strollers. When we got Sears Tower, we waited in a line to go in an elevator down to buy tickets, and another (longer) line to go up to the top, and then when we were done looking out the windows, we waited in yet another line to go back down. While in that line, Ben summed the situation up perfectly:

Home, sweet home, indeed.

7. New Year's Eve
Our tradition of late, The Lights Before Christmas

8. New Year's Day
New snow to begin a new year

9. Picture Day
Is it possible to get 7 cousins smiling and looking at the camera at the same time? Ages are 8, 8, 6, 4, 4, 1.5 and 11 months. My SIL is a photographer at Sears, and if anyone can do it, she can. We'll find out tomorrow, with the final event of the holiday season for us.

To give and receive....

2008-01-08T00:02:00.000-05:00

Well, despite my best intentions after last Christmas, the knitted gifts were last minute again this year. 2 are still WIPs: a scarf for my dad and a little bag for his wife (the Little Green Clutch from IK Holiday, but this one is blueish-purple). Actually the bag is technically done, but I am not satisfied with the finishing, so I'm going to redo the lining and a little trim bit. But here's what I did finish so far:

Fingerless mitts for Brother, very well received. I was afraid they'd be too small, or he would think fingerless mitts were useless, or he would not like the yellow, but no! He says that you can't have too many of these gloves and requested another pair to rotate when these need to be washed (or several more pairs should I feel so inclined.) I just made up this pattern as I went along (tube with thumb gusset = not hard), 3X3 rib over 36 stitches in Yarn Pirate Killer Bees (Booty Club from a few months ago) double stranded on US 4's. He also said his roommates were wondering if they could commission a pair, but I have too many things I want to knit to take on commissions! Confession: I finished these in a parking lot a block from my mom's where Russ kindly stopped to let me bind off. I put them in a gift bag, got to Mom's, then went to hide in her office and weave in the ends while everyone was busy in the kitchen!

Meet Butternut. She is a little sister for my little sister's cat Hazelnut. They have matching pink collars with matching pink sparklies. Isn't that cute? Sister was a great admirer of my previous Kate, so I surprised her with one of her own. I understand that the other feline resident of my sister's home now wishes he had a little brother. Only Little Brother would be a gray guy cat, with a macho red collar with studs.

Fingerless mitts for BIL so he doesn't try to borrow sister's anymore. These are much more manly than rainbow, don't you think? Again, an improvised pattern, in Malabrigo that is leftover from a hat my sister made for him. US 7's. Modeled by Russ. I think there's enough left of the Malabrigo to make the Little Brother cat. One potential problem: when sister tried these on, I became concerned that she would be borrowing them from her husband, leaving him with cold hands again! Kureyon is beautiful, but Malabrigo is so soft.

Here is yet another Unoriginal Hat, for my grandma this time. [In fact there will be a fifth (!) coming soon, since Russ washed Rachel's blue one! Washed it! "I wash your socks all the time." "Well, yes, but those are superwash!" "How was I supposed to know that?" "Well, I guess you wouldn't, but please, please, ask before washing the handknits!" But really, he does the laundry, and it is much better to knit an extra hat here and there than do all that laundry, so no complaints! ;-) Note to self: make sure Russ is aware of washing instructions for any knits larger than hats.] Back to Grandma's hat, this one is again Malabrigo held double, again on my awesome Knit Picks Harmonies size 11 DPNs, and the colorway is Amoroso. This one has yet to be distributed as it was not done in time. I'm going to visit her tonight. Hope she likes it.

This final photo is worse than average because I just got a quick shot of it on my mom's mantle on the way out the door after Christmas Eve. Major camnesia with the gifts this year. The pattern is Criss-Cross Lace Scarf which I got at The Loopy Ewe and the yarn is Inca Gold which I picked up in Halifax last summer, knowing that this red was perfect for my mom. The yarn might have been a bit on the thinner side of DK for this project (or these needles, I used 7's for this, too), but I think it's OK overall.

So that's all the giving (at least the hand knit giving). I got some awesome goodies this year, too:

An ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer from Russ and the kids. It has a 2 quart capacity, too! Yum. So many good things will come from this.
Alligator Scarf kit from my mom in a deep dark gatory green. Looks like fun. Ben wants it.
Certificates to Bellanina (annual sister spa day will be in February when we need some pampering) and The Loopy Ewe from my dad
And best of all, Rachel and Ben had been hiding out in Rae's room for days before Christmas, working on a top secret project. They made me a book, which I just love. It's a counting book with sea creatures on each page. Rachel did the writing and Ben did the coloring. It's a keeper.

winter wonderland swap package = wonderful!

2008-01-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

Russ and I took the kids to Chicago for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year. One of the last things I did before leaving was to mail my package for WWCS, and upon our return, what should be waiting for me on our porch but a wonderful big box of goodies from Tanja.

She really spoiled me with so many lovely things. One of the best parts is that she chose items from her local area, things I couldn't get here, like the house blend from her local coffee house, and salt water taffy from a family owned candy maker. She also included yummy chocolate penguins (one for each member of the family) and cinnamon stir sticks. Can you see the two little cups under all that taffy? My husband had just been saying how nice it would be to have some small cups for espresso when he was making some for me to use in a tiramisu for Christmas Eve at my mom's. And then, as if she could read our minds all the way from California, Tanja sent them. :) She also sent a little pot especially for making Arabic coffee and the recipe to go with it. If you have never tried this (I hadn't), you definitely should! It has cardamom in the coffee, and it is boiled with a bit of sugar - well, you can read the recipe!

It makes a very rich and syrupy coffee - very different from ordinary coffee, but I like it a lot and so does Russ. I like it best piping hot. Tanja also included a puzzle made by her son Zaahir for my kids - the message says "Peace be with you". This was such a sweet touch. Ben got a couple puzzles for Christmas because he is in a big puzzle phase right now, so this was especially appropriate.

She also sent a beautiful pop-up book with a winter theme, another gift I can share and enjoy with my kids.

Last but not least, the yarn, beautiful yarn. 2 big 100 grams balls of Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran. In real life they aren't quite as purple as this, just a lovely deep plummy tweed. I have a project in mind already.

And what I should have mentioned first is how great the packaging was: When I first opened the box, there were a few sprigs of dried lavender on top giving off their beautiful scent. Each of the items was individually wrapped with tissue paper or a miniature gift bag and pretty wide ribbons. It was a joy to open each item and discover what all the treats were.

Thank you, Tanja! You're the best.

Hats

2007-12-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

Here's me and my girls in our new hats. (Photo credit: Ben) Stephanie says in the pattern notes "Betcha can’t knit just one!" and boy is she right.

Mine's in Leticia Holly Days on US 11's. Russ tried it on and said I have a big head. But I told him I have a ponytail and it's just right for me.
Rachel's is in Malabrigo worsted held double in Blue Surf on US 10.5's and evidently it is perfect for her, considering she's been wearing it non-stop (even to bed!) since I finished it. She's sad in the picture because she just got home from school where the kids were giving her a hard time for not believing in God. I wish people would be more tolerant. Every year since she's been in school this issue comes up, and it's usually worst around Christmas. :(
Sam's is also in Malabrigo Worsted held double in Cactus Flower on US 10's, and it's just a bit snug for her 18 month old self.
I've got one more planned in my present flurry of gift knitting, for my grandma, another beautiful Malabrigo colorway coming up!

Rae didn't want to take the hat off for this photo, but I liked Tiennie's jellyfish picture, so I wanted to do one too, even though these jellyfish don't have tentacles.

My favorite contest for the Knitters Coffee Swap 3 was the last one: we were to take a still life photo with yarn and coffee and post to the swap blog. There were some super cute and creative entries (you can see them all here). I was lucky to have my winter themed photo randomly chosen and I received this lovely prize from Laura: Laceweight in cream. So soft and delicate. I'm not worthy yet of this yarn, but I will hoard it away for some adventurous day. Big thanks to Laura and my hostess Dawn and Knittymama for organizing.

We got the decorations up around here last weekend. Just the tabletop tree this year, so Sam ~~doesn't try~~ has to reach really high to eat any ornaments.

And I'll leave off with kitty cuteness.

WWCS TotW and TMBG

2007-12-13T09:52:00.000-05:00

For many people, Winter is a time of cold weather and snow - and many fun outdoor activities that can only be enjoyed during those times! What's YOUR favorite activity in Winter, and is it even outdoors??

I've been a downhill skier since middle school and wish I could go more, but I find it's hard to do with kids, not to mention very expensive. I do hope I'll get back to skiing someday, but I think my favorite winter thing right now is going for a walk in the woods after a big snow, with my family of course and maybe some friends, especially if the sky is blue after the snow storm. I like getting the kids all bundled up like little marshmallow people, the crunch and squeak of snow under boots, the winter creatures of the forest, breathing the cold sharp air, the shiny newness of the world in white. And then, afterwards, a good hot coffee or hot chocolate and maybe a lunch of soup or stew. so lovely.

Also, check out the knitted They Might Be Giants in video.

Big thanks to Russ for hunting down a link to the video for me!

WWCS Topic of the Week

2007-12-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

Topic of The Week:
I want you to make coffee talk with someone new either by blog post or email where available that you don't know and make a post on your blog about what you have learned about someone else other than your secret pal or the friends you already know. You can talk about projects they are working on, coffee they like to drink or this Wintery Season in your part of the world right now. Some of my best blogging friends I have gotten to know, were from just going down the roll and checking out blogs and leaving comment on their post. So, that is it. Go, fix you a hot cup of coffee and find you someone to chat with.

I visited Kat's blog and learned that she's a Georgia girl who loves the snow in NYC, she's a grad student studying history, and she's having a contest in honor of a paper she's writing about how women's relationship with technology affects their involvement in activism. Wow! See this post and comment with your views on feminism to enter the contest.

My views are admittedly a bit vague, but as the only female student with kids in my department (there are guys who have kids, but no one else in the prelim study group was pregnant, let me tell you!), and the only one with 3 kids, and also a returning student (i.e. 10 years older than everyone else in my cohort), for me the balance of my role as mom and as student and not to mention wife and sister and daughter and friend and sometimes teacher is a difficult thing most days. What I want is for all women to be supported in their own choices about how to achieve balance between all the elements they value in their life, and not constrained by someone else's idea of what she should be doing, or when the "right time" is to have (or not have) kids. And while I'm at it, I want stay-at-home dad to be a choice that is respected and valued without question. Here's one major step forward: as of next year, grad students will get paid family leave at my school. I don't know the details yet, but this was always an option (via short-term disability insurance) when I worked in industry, yet unheard of for grad students until recently. And another: my husband has said that when he was taking our oldest to pre-school, he was often the only dad there. Four years later, he's taking our son and there are usually at least a couple other dad's dropping off and picking up. Hopefully that's not just a sign of the crappy economy in Michigan.

And just to insert some knitting content here:

I finally started my second composed mitt (major second mitt syndrome there), but somehow my gauge didn't even remotely resemble the first mitt (way too loose). so, frogged that back to the bobbles, will try again hopefully sooner rather than later.
Those super secret mittens I started also had gauge issues, they will be frogged and I'll try again with smaller needles.
My sweater (yeah, the one I was wanting to finish before Thanksgiving) is boring. Sleeves are boring. And I hate straight needles. Wah!
To relieve the boredom and gauge frustration, I knit an Unoriginal Hat. Love it. In Blue Moon's Leticia in Holly Days. So yummy. And done in about 4 hours with no frogging involved. I needed that. Rachel liked it, so I got some Malabrigo (still on sale at Busy Hands for the low low price of $7.95) in sky blue and I started one for her, but it's too small, so that too will be frogged. :-( I went to get a little bigger needles for that (Mine was on 11's and my first try at hers was on 10's) and learned that there's 1.5mm difference between US size 10.5 and US size 11. 6.5mm to 8mm. What's up with that? Because the ideal size needles for this hat would be 7mm, which would seem to be the logical intermediate size between 10 (6mm) and 11 (8mm), would it not? On the good side, the too small hat for Rachel fit Sammy perfectly, so I'm planning a third, in flamingo pink Malabrigo I have in stash, for Sammy.

Oh, and did you see the chimps remembering numbers in the news this week? This video is pretty cool, but honestly the videos that the researchers provide as supplemental material with the paper in Current Biology are way better. They have one of the human subject and you can just see her second guessing herself and hesitating, just like I would. But the chimp gets it, and fast, and confident, almost every time. Pretty amazing. It's funny to me that most people would have no problem admitting a chimp could be physically stronger than a human, but to consider that their mental capacities may exceed our in some ways is another story. What the researchers really need to do, though, is to test human children, because the older chimps don't have this amazing recall ability.

Check out what my little girl is reading!

2007-11-28T12:37:00.000-05:00

Pay It Forward

2007-11-26T21:59:00.000-05:00

Cece over at FiberFish was my sending pal in the first knitting swap I ever joined, the Summer Sock Hop Swap of 2006. In her note to me in the package, she suggested that I should start a blog, and I did! I have since enjoyed reading her blog - she's always knitting something fabulous. Last week, she posted a pay it forward (PIF) exchange - I like this idea very much. Here's how it works:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So, if you are interested in receiving a handmade something from BlogLessNoMore, leave a comment. The first three will receive something...........knitted, sewn, food? Who knows?

Cece found the idea on Tammy's blog, and Tammy got it from Angela, and so on. I decided to follow the chain backwards to see where it all began, since unlike in some meme's there's no "I tag anyone who wants to play" in this exchange. This was a fun trip through blogland, and I encountered knitters, quilters, photographers, poets, designers, crosstitchers and all sorts of beautiful craftiness. Check out the beautiful quilts at Spirit Cloth, my great-great-great-great-great-PIF-grandma. And the amazing photography by Caroline, my 8X-great-PIF grandma. I got back as far as 25 links before me, to Alkotásaim, but that site is in Hungarian, I think, and I can't find a good translator. If anyone reading this can read that blog, I'd love to know if that's where it started. I think it's possible, since the post seems to reference the movie Pay It Forward. Here's the amazing thing: If my math is right, and if the PIF kept rolling forward for 25 generations in every case, there would be about 200 handmade gifts for every person on Earth. 3 + 9 + 27 + 81 + 243 + 729 + 2187 + 6561 + 19683 + ...

Anyhow, I hope there are enough passers-by or lurkers hereabouts who will take me up on this offer! I'd love to make something for you.

I have one more thing I'd like to give away...Would you like some morning glory seeds? In pulling down the vines that grew this summer, a bounty of seeds fell on my front porch, and I can't bring myself to toss them, but I know there are already hundreds of self-sown seeds ready to sprout for me next spring. They've been coming back for me for about 5 years, and all my firends and family who garden have some, too, by now. The variety is Grandpa Ott I believe, it's purple with a ruby throat, and the blooms stay open 'til mid-afternoon here in Michigan. They grow at least 12 feet high and of course, make lots of seeds, so make sure you have a good spot to put them where you don't mind them coming back in abundance, year after year. I think they like a little sun, and lean soil. If I understand correctly, a morning glory that gets too much fertilizer will make all leaves and not many flowers. They're yours for the asking, just leave me a comment and I'll email you to get a snail mail to send a packet of them to.

One more related item: did you see the contest over at Sheri's blog at the Loopy Ewe today? She's running a Random Acts of Kindness contest each Monday through December - today you leave a comment about a RAK that was done to you to get your name entered in a drawing for all kinds of Loopy goodness. Then go out and do some RAKs of your own, comment about them in the coming weeks and get inspired by all the random kindness going around. Nice!

WWCS TotW

2007-11-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

What is the ideal setting for enjoying the perfect cup of coffee? Who would be there - or would you be alone? Inside or out? Morning or night? With food or just the steaming cup of joe? I think the coffees I really enjoy most are the ones my husband and I will get as a treat when we have to go out running a lot of errands. We will make the local coffee shop one of our first stops, and then we have a nice beverage to enjoy as we drive to all the places we need to go. Sometimes we get a snack too, but usually it's just the coffee. Russ almost always gets a large capp, iced in the summer and hot in the winter. I get different things - lattes or mochas or sometimes a chai or in summer an iced tea.

Swatching for Cobblestone

2007-11-26T00:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't even get close to finishing the cardigan. See, this big box came from KnitPicks, with yarn for secret mittens for someone, Cat Bordhi's New Pathway's book (love it!), and most distractingly, the four candidate yarns for Russ's Cobblestone. Based on the color card, we picked Onyx Heather, Claret Heather, Arctic Pool Heather and Sapphire Heather as possible choices. I ordered one ball of each so I could swatch and Russ could see how they look knit up and pick his favorite. It looks like it will be Claret or Onyx. As soon as he decides, I will place the order.

We had a good Thanksgiving, just the five of us plus Russ's grandma. She made the turkey and I did the everything else, so that was not too hard. The kids and I made pie on Wednesday. They decided we should make pie starting with a pumpkin, so we did - roasted a pie pumpkin and even made crust from scratch. It made a wonderful pie, of which there remains only one piece, and that has already been claimed by Russ. The other pie was cherry-berry, also ever so yummy, also gone, baby, gone. This is why we traditionally make about 4 pies in my family - there's never too much pie. For sweet potatoes and potatoes, I tried some new recipes, which were both really good. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving for me without my Great-Aunt Alice's jello. And the best is last: I made turkey rice soup yesterday. So good on a cold day after doing a bit of yardwork.

I've done some housekeeping on the blog - not done quite yet, but I hope you like it so far!

Wool is a gas on the surface of the sun

2007-11-19T10:33:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday my husband and I went to see They Might Be Giants at the Michigan Theater. I have blurry pictures, and I have dark pictures, so I'll show you one of each.

The crowd was depressingly sitting down and pretty quiet for the opening band, but they (mostly) perked up when TMBG came on. Except for five people right in front of us, one of whom kept checking what time it was on her cell phone. How can you go to a concert and sit, especially when everyone around is standing and clapping and hooting and generally bopping about? I don't quite get it. Maybe they weren't feeling well? Or coerced into attending by overzealous friends? Anyhow, it's a stretch for knitting related content here (not that un-knitting-relatedness ever stopped me before), but they did a song called "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (Because the sun is a mass of incandescent gas, of course!) and part of it went like this:

The sun is so hot that everything on it is a gas.
Steel is a gas on the sun!
Wool is a gas on the sun!
Steel wool is a gas on the sun!

Did you know? And, the sun is 93,000,000 miles away (that's why it looks so small.) I'm glad it's cool enough for wool to be a solid on Earth.

True story from my youth:
In first grade (maybe second), an encyclopedia sales person came to my class. He handed out this list of questions about the solar system, which kids were supposed to find interesting, but not know the answers to, so the dude could say "You could find all these answers in our lovely encyclopedia if only you convince your parents to buy one!" Including, "how far is it from the earth to the sun?" Problem with that was, I did know the answers, because I was reading a book about the solar system at the time. And, we already had at least 3 encyclopedias at our house, one of which I was reading, cover to cover, A to Z. Because that's the kind of bookworm kid I was. Admittedly, it was the World Book I read, not the Britannica, as it was much shorter and had better pictures and was kept on a shelf I could reach without getting a chair. And although family legend says I read the whole thing, I think I petered out somewhere about R. Nonetheless, it has stuck with me ever since that the sun is (about) 93,000,000 miles from the Earth, and it was absolutely delightful to hear it on stage at a rock concert.

I'm desperately trying to finish up my cardigan by Thanksgiving, but I don't think I'll make it. This was an arbitrary deadline, but it seemed reasonable at the time. I've had quite a few no-knitting days in the past week due to concerts and math homework and babies who won't sleep. I'll keep trying though! I'm about halfway on sleeve one, and progress feels very slow. I had switched from the size 9 straights I used for the back to a size 9 circ for the fronts. It affected my stitch gauge but not my row gauge, so the fronts are each about an inch wider than they should be. I'm not too worried about it at this point, since the fit on the sweater is very loose and sweatshirt like, but I did switch back to the straights for the sleeves, and that's probably part of the slowdown.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, the Topic of the Week for the WWCS is:
The Thursday upcoming is Thanksgiving in the U.S., so let's all - American and not alike! - just share a post with what it is we're thankful for. A wonderful thing to do any time of year, I thought it'd be a nice thing to share for this week with the group! At Thanksgiving at Grandma's we used to go around the table answering this question at dinner. As a teenager, I hated it. Like, soooo lame, dude. And the question still makes me feel a little like that. A little rebellious and prone to say something like "I'm thankful I'm not sitting next to my little brother because his feet stink." Not that I think it's lame to be thankful or that I'm not truly thankful for many many things in my life, it just bugs me to be put on the spot and required to spout gratitude. And, I'm not the only one who feels that way! So, for today, I will say I'm thankful for the game "Ants in the Pants" because it makes my son smile.

WWCS QotW

2007-11-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

As the cold of winter approaches, do you change the projects you work on? Do you work on gifts for others or do you continue working on projects for yourself? I worked on summer cotton sweaters this summer, and then as fall arrived switched back to warmer woolier things like my Venezia cardigan. I find that my color preferences change with the seasons as well - brighter colors in the spring/summer and deeper tones in the cold months. I had such good intentions this year about spreading the gift knitting out, but it totally did not happen. So, there will be a flurry of mittens and other giftable things in the next month or so, and maybe I'll even finish some of them on time! I'm not quite ready for that yet though, as I want to finish that cardigan and my Composed Mitt still needs a mate. Maybe Thanksgiving will be the turning point.

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap: Topic of the Week #1

2007-11-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

I received my downstream pal's info and got in touch - here's the first of the weekly topics for the swap.

When did you first start drinking coffee? What age were you? Was it about the caffeine, or do you love the taste and smell? Tell us how your passion began! Even as a kid I would beg sips from my mom and my grandma would sometimes make warm milk with a little coffee or tea and a lot of sugar in it for a special treat, but I guess I really started drinking coffee regularly around 15. It was more of a social thing than for the caffeine - I'd hang out with friends at a local diner, and then after we got our driver's licenses we'd go to Denny's a lot, so needless to say it was not for the wonderful flavor, either. Hanging out for hours, driving the wait staff nuts no doubt, but the refills kept coming on those bottomless mugs! Aside from the first cup of the day which is required just to get my brain moving, coffee is still a very social thing for me - conversation and coffee go well together.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T00:12:00.002-04:00

We had a good Halloween here. Last Friday and Saturday were crunch time to get Rae's costume sewn and wired with lights. She decided 2 years ago that she wanted to be an Ohm this year, and did not change her mind in all this time. This creature comes from an anime film by director Hayao Miyzaki called Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I highly recommend the Miyazaki films if you have not seen them, especially My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa, Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Spirited Away might be a little scary for young kids, but Totoro especially is just a great story for the whole family. Disney has released a lot of them on DVD in the US, and the dubbing is good, with good actors. Anyhow, the Ohm is a creature that lives in the toxic jungle and usually stays there unless disturbed by humans. It looks a bit like a giant house-sized roly-poly bug with many eyes. When it is angry, it's eyes turn red, but when it is peaceful, they are blue. So my husband wired up a switch so she could be peaceful...or not. It also has golden tentacles with healing powers.

The back:

My mom sewed Ben's robot costume and Sammy's penguin suit, so thankfully I only had one costume to create!

Sunday we went to the Museum of Natural History for their Halloween party. The kids did crafts and played games and got candy, but the highlight was a giant boa to pet and some baby snakes to hold.

The kids got more candy than they can eat in a year trick-or-treating. I will now toss out any candy we have that's older than a month to make room for the new stuff! Yes, there are still Peeps in the house from Easter. Rock-like peeps. My kids don't eat enough candy. Even though I help. :)

Here's Sammy the Penguin chasing a cat, trying to pet it, on the way home from the Halloween parade at Rachel's school.

Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Incoming!

2007-10-31T23:42:00.000-04:00

Lots of yummy packages have been rolling in lately. First, today I got my package from Cathy for the Knitter Coffee Swap 3, filled with all kinds of nifty little surprises. She sent a coffee sampler - 12 different beans from around the world to try. The yarn is a sport weight mercerized cotton. Love the colorway. The goodies include sheep-shaped post-its, chocolate with almonds, beads, pretty pink stitch markers, a hot pink notions holder, bee balm lotion, and best of all, she sewed me a really lovely apron. Thanks, Cathy for a great box of goodies. Yours will be on the way soon.

The latest installment of the RSC is by far my favorite, in pattern for sure and quite possibly in colorway too, although Firebird is up there, too. I was trying to avoid the spoilers and staying off the RSC blog, but even just reading the Harlot's blog was dangerous, since the first comment on her blog a day or 2 before my package arrived was someone saying how they loved her RSC pattern. Oh, so it's a pattern by Stephanie, hmmm? well, that sounds good to me! Despite how much I liked this package, I decided not to renew for next year. For one thing, I have major sock yarn stash at this point, and I should try to knit up some of it. And, there are so many non-club colors coming up that I really want and can't justify when the club colors are rolling in. (How do I love thee, Oregon Red Clover Honey!!!! and Pond Scum, too.)

The latest from the Booty Club is called Killer Bees. This wants to be boy socks. and maybe matching mittens. It came with hot pink aluminum circ's in US1 and US2. so, I guess it wants to be magic loop boy socks, if I can figure that one out. :-)

Finally, I got some Urban GypZ Twisted DK weight from The Loopy Ewe for some supposedly instant gratification socks for me. I'm hoping the DK weight will knit up quickly, because sock weather is here and my toes are so much toastier waiting for the bus in handknit socks. I got some Louet Sport in coordinating colors in case it doesn't seem like enough yarn I can do ribbing, toes and heels in a contrasting solid. I decided to exchange the purple for a grey that I think will go a little better with the more pastel Urban GypZ. The colorways, BTW are Mod Olive Cocktail, which I just love, and Magic Pavement, the name of which which brings all kinds of happy memories and associations for me: my sister coloring on the driveway with chalk when we were kids, my kids "chalking" on the driveway, and it reminds me of Mary Poppins, too!

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap

2007-10-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

Loving these coffee swaps...my package from Knitter's Coffeeswap 3 is on the way from Cathy. I'm still shopping/deciding for her. Here's my questionnaire for Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap, signups close today I think.

Coffee

What are your favorite kinds of coffee? (Brands, Roasts, anything at all you'd like to share!)
I like dark roasts, nothing too high in acidity or "fruity", but words like "earthy" "smoky" "syrupy" and "spicy" (not meaning flavored, but just the natural flavor of the beans) usually describe my favorites. Most often I get Starbucks, Trader Joe's, I like the Ethiopia and the Sumatra from there, and my "daily driver" is the house blend from Espresso Royale.

Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee? Whole bean, please

This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee? Do you enjoy special blends? I do like special blends, but not flavored coffees. I always enjoy Starbucks holiday blend, and I would really like to try some others.

How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf? Straight up, no milk, no sugar and all the caffeine for me! I do sometimes get a vanilla latte or a mocha, but that's usually only when I have filled up my punch card with 10 black coffees.

Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer? Mug.

Winter and Holidays

What is your favorite part of Winter? I love the changing of the season, the change from the riot of fall colors to the austerity of a world in black and white, the first snowfall blanketing the earth, the devastating beauty of ice storms. I also love the coziness of home when it's cold outside, the warmth of wooly sweaters and flannel sheets, the pleasure of curling up with a cup of tea and my knitting. Yes, I drink tea in the evenings and that's usually when I have time to knit. My favorite tea is Trader Joe's Pomegranate White Tea.

Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday? My husband and I were both raised in families that celebrate Christmas and we still do - tree and all. There are a lot of family events and traditions I really enjoy that center around Christmas, starting a week before Christmas with a big feast at my dad's, Christmas Eve is spent at my mom's, Christmas morning the kids open presents at home, Christmas dinner is with my husband's family. We even do the countdown to Christmas/advent calendar type thing. For me, though, none of this is religious. I am borderline atheist - heavily skeptical about all religion and supernatural, but hopefully maintaining enough humility to realize that I don't know or understand all things and respecting the right of everyone to follow their own beliefs. I see Christmas events as family time, getting together with the most important people in my life. For the past 4 or 5 years, my husband and I have been celebrating solstice with the kids...just us, dinner by candlelight with holly greens adorning the table, spice cake for dessert, and then we read traditional stories and new ones, out loud with the candles flickering, until bedtime. This resonates for me as the central celebration of the season, not because I identify with pagan or earth based religions/beliefs in any way, but because I believe it tunes us in to the rhythms of the seasons and of the earth upon which we all depend for life. People have been celebrating at this time of year for a long, long time, and there's a reason to come together in the darkest days and re-affirm the bonds between us and the centrality of light in our life. The solstice celebration is also the most intimate, relaxed and calm one, centered just on our little family, and that's important to me, and a refuge in the hustle and bustle of the season. Sorry for the long babble here, but I do feel the season is a very special time, a truly cherish the celebrations and traditions I have, though they differ in important ways from what seem like the "regular kind". I celebrate the season itself and life itself, my family and my friends.

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree? As mentioned above, yes, a tree. A big fake one. :-)

Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package? Well, since for me, it is the season I am celebrating, I would really love a winter themed package. I like penguin and peacock ornaments, so long as they're not wearing Santa hats.

Do you collect anything? Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect? Does yarn count? Not really much of a collector otherwise.

Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats? Yes, Yes and Yes! Especially love scarves. In fact, that might be getting to the level of a collection!

What is your favorite holiday or winter treat? I do like hot chocolate, made from scratch with milk and good cocoa, especially after sledding or playing in the snow.

Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory. My husband proposed to me at the bottom of a ski slope. Actually, his plan was to propose mid-slope, but I was getting kind of cold and wanted to get to the bottom and then to the lodge for some hot chocolate, and of course had no idea what he was up to, so I skied right by him. Despite my not cooperating exactly with the plan, he proposed on bended knee at the bottom of the hill. I said yes and grabbed him in a big hug in a snow bank, as deliriously happy as can be. We got married in winter too, and it snowed eight inches the night before, so I got the winter wonderland wedding I had always dreamed of (minus the sleigh, but we did have a nice limo). We took one half of our honeymoon on the slopes at Big Sky, Montana. (The second half was in Hawaii!)

Yarn and Crafting

Do you Knit or Crochet? For how long? Knit for about 2 and 1/2 years now, and crochet only when necessary for edgings, etc, and then with help from my husband!

Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight? not plastic, ever! Not a big fan of bamboo either. Wood and metal both have their place, but generally I prefer wood. I use DPNs whenever feasible, circs for everything else. I have the knit picks options set in metal and I'm planning to give their harmony tips a try with my next order.

What sort of projects do you enjoy making? I like socks and toys, and I seem to go on a mitten/glove/fingerless binge each year about this time. I am pretty new to sweaters, but I am enjoying learning the different sweater constructions. It does take me about forever to finish them though.

What are your favorite types of yarn to work with? There are lots of yarns I really enjoy..I like nubbly wools like Noro Kureyon, I like alpaca for it's super softness. I love hand dyed sock yarns for the color and the revelation as I knit of what each yarn is going to do Will it stripe? pool? will it change half way through? I really like the sheen of bamboo. I've been dying to try some 2 ply handspun but haven't run across just the right one yet.

Do you spin or dye? no, but I bet I will eventually.

Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else? Not so much.

General

When is your birthday? October 9

Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!) 3 human children: Rae is 8, Ben is 4, Samantha is 1. Also in the family, Blue, a 9 year old husky, Catlife, a 14 year old cat, assorted fish (my husband is in charge of those), Rachel's guinea pig, Caramel, and her apple snail, Snaily.

What are your favorite colors? I like color, period, so long as it is intense - brights, jewels, deep darks, too. I am not into pastels or muted neutrals. I do love all things purple and green.

Do you have any allergies? itchy eyes in spring time, that's all!

Chevron

2007-10-24T23:51:00.000-04:00

I haven't worked on it in a couple weeks, been distracted by fingerless mitts mostly, but I did take pictures of my Autumn Chevron. I really had high hopes for the colors of Lucy Neatby's Sugar Maple (inner skein) and Yarn Pirate's Butternut (outer skein). The greens and browns seem to go together, and the overall color intensity of the Butternut is less, which I thought would play well with the alternation in a chevron.

After winding it up, I felt that maybe the red was too dominant in the Sugar Maple, but I proceeded anyway, "just to see how it would knit up".

After a few repeats, my husband observed that it seemed lighter down the center and darker on the edges. Examining it carefully, I figured out that this is because in the decrease areas (center), each stitch of the butternut was showing, so it was equally visible with the Sugar Maple. However, in the increase areas, the stitch of Butternut that is increased into gets pulled very tight. The result is that one row of Butternut kind of disappears into the increases, leaving a more-or-less 2:1 ratio of Sugar Maple:Butternut in those areas. I am entirely open to the possibility that this is due to some error or misinterpretation of the pattern on my part, but I wanted to have a more balanced contribution from each of the 2 yarns throughout, so I decided to try a little experimenting.

First, I tried a kfb instead of the m1 increase. A little different look, but no better for letting the Butternut show through. I figured what was needed was some extra slack in the stitch that was going to have the increase in the next row, so I decided to wrap the yarn around the needle twice on just those purl stitches that were going to be the increase stitches in the next row. Then, in the increase row, I drop the extra wrap and there's more room to make the increase, and voila! the Butternut can show through equally with the Sugar Maple. You can see this in the last few rows in the photo. OK, so mission accomplished, but there's a sort of side-effect which is that the chevrons have gotten a bit flattened out. So, at my sister's suggestion, the scarf is now called "The Eroded Hills of Nova Scotia" in honor of the Sugar Maple being acquired on my trip there last summer. It didn't seem a particularly hilly place, but whatever! The scarf is hilly and now the hills are flattened, and I'd definitely bet on some beautiful fall color on Nova Scotia's hills if it has any.

Probably a big reason for the present delay is that I now have to rip out my "swatch" and start over. Despite my initial concerns, the red I think works really well, but I'm a little iffy about the gold color from the Sugar Maple in this combo. I think it doesn't blend as harmoniously with the rest of the colors as it could, but I'm willing to forge ahead. So, after the other Composed Mitt is done (all ends are woven on the first and the second is just barely started), this is next in queue.

Fun Quizzes, or, How to Not Get Writing Done

2007-10-24T23:14:00.000-04:00

50 States Quiz: I have to admit that I got 49 of them and then could not figure out what the heck that state was next to Maryland...doh, it's only the first one (Delaware)! so my time deserves a penalty for peeking on one state.

3m 8s

Click here to try the quiz.

Personal DNA Quiz: Personality tests of this sort often tell me I'm a leader. While I think it's true that I can lead when it's clearly needed, I really prefer to wait and see if someone else will step up. If not, I'd rather lead than muddle about in chaos. As for the concerned part, it said "Your understanding of others' emotions, your sense of right and wrong, and your skeptical nature make you CONCERNED." Well, the understanding other people's emotions part is dead wrong, because there is nothing that confuses me more. but skeptical, yeah, got that, by nature and by training.

Concerned Leader

Nerd Quiz: I wonder how my husband would score on the computer nerd parts of this...my bet is his Linux-evangelist, Atari-2600-loving, still-has-a-286-in-the-basement-if-I'm-not-mistaken self would be off the charts!

I know I found the states and the personal DNA on Scattered Gemini and the Nerd one, well I am not so sure where I wandered to find that one!

Warm hands for me and my girl

2007-10-17T23:07:00.000-04:00

I knit a pair of fingerless mitts over last weekend for my daughter for her birthday, which was Monday. I got some super soft yarn in her favorite color from my LYS, the main color is Colinette Cadenza (DK merino), which is so soft it makes the Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light I used for the trim feel positively scratchy. The Colinette colorway is called blue parrot. I'm also working on a pair of Composed Mitts from Fall 2007 IK for me, so I took that basic pattern in terms of the thumb shaping and sized it down for Rae. The ribbing at the wrist was inspired by a sample I saw in the LYS when I bought the yarn. She has been wearing them everyday this week, so I guess they're good!

As you can see, Composed Mitts = many ends to weave in. I'm almost done with the ends on glove one, and I will cast on the second as soon as the last end is woven. I've joined the Fingerless Mitts for Fall KAL, and have plans on a pair for my BIL for Christmas, and maybe a pair for my brother's girlfriend, too. I also want to knit a second pair for me, just to keep next to the computer where I need them in the winter.

I've also pulled by Venezia Cardigan out of hibernation. It needed a good long punishment for having errors in its pattern (from Stitch'n'Bitch calendar), but now I've decided to let it come out again. I finished up the back yesterday and cast on the first front today. I did the back on straight needles, because at the time I did not yet have my wonderful Options circulars. Since I hate straight needles, (the long kind, that is, not DPNs), I am doing the front on the circs, but I have fear I will end up with gauge issues from the change from straight to circular even though the needles are the same size.

In other news, I got a 94/100 on my stats test. This I consider to be a minor miracle because I showed up about 20 minutes late to the one hour exam and had to rush through the last 2 problems, which were worth half the total. See, I was studying a commons area near the classroom, and I wasn't wearing a watch, no clock around, and I forgot my phone at home that day, which is my usual clock, but I figured I would notice when it was time to go to the test anyway because there's usually a lot of traffic as people change classes on the hour. I ended up getting tired of studying, went to get a coffee, and seeing the clock in the coffee shop was already quarter past, turned around and ran to the test! Oops! I guess I was so enthralled by studying I missed that change of classes traffic??? Yeah, that must be it. ;)

Coffeeswap Questions

2007-10-10T03:46:00.000-04:00

1. Whole bean or ground? usually whole bean
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? always fully loaded
3. Regular or flavored? definitely regular
4. How do you drink your coffee? black, but usually not piping hot - at a cafe I ask for 1 or 2 ice cubes to get it to that perfect drinking temperature. At home, the kids distract me until it's cold and then I drink it anyway!
5. Favorite coffee ever? don't have one particular favorite, but I do look forward to Starbuck's holiday blend.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? Kinda fussy, I would say. I like dark roasts, I like earthy or smoky flavors. I do not like fruity or acidic or "bright" coffees.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? scones or muffins or a buttery cookie, or some super dark chocolate.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I usually drink black coffee all day long, never decaf, but I do like a latte now and then, or a mocha sometimes.
9. Yarn/fiber you love? Alpaca
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? anything super snaggy, or anything not soft
11. What's on your needles? 3 socks in progress, hoodie for my daughter, cardigan for me, and a chevron scarf
12. Favorite colors? green and purple, but I truly love all colors - so long as they are bright or deep - no pastels for me. I love seasonal colors, so right now I'm drawn to deep forest greens and crimson and earthy or rusty browns.
13. Allergies? none
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I am up way too late and I have a stats test tomorrow and it is so not fair for profs to give tests the day after people's birthdays! So there!

Tarot Quiz

2007-10-10T00:28:00.000-04:00

Science and education...no surprise there.

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

random ten

2007-10-09T01:29:00.000-04:00

1. My sister knit me a scarf for my birthday (tomorrow), but gave it to me already since I was over her house for her birthday (yesterday). Now if only it would quit being 90 degrees in October! This photo shows a lot of browns on my monitor, not sure why, the color is Black Purl from Lorna's Laces. It totally pays to encourage your sister's knitting habit. :) It even has beaded fringe! She also got me some honeycrisp apples from Eastern Market, may favorite apple by far, an apple so juicy you need a napkin! I got her a little strawberry pendant from one of my top favorite etsy shops, Bethany Cooper Design - sister loves strawberries.

2. I heart math homework - yes, that's right, math homework - because it's so neat and orderly and triumphant when I can figure out the right answer, a little puzzle solved, and once solved, finished, on to the next thing, neater than most puzzles life has to offer. I don't really heart math tests the day after my birthday though. On the bright side, at least the calc3 pre-req hasn't kicked in yet.

3. You know how you come to a cross walk and the little hand is flashing and you think to yourself, "I can make it," but sometimes you can't? Well, some of the intersections in Ann Arbor now have a little countdown next to the flashing hand, so you know exactly how long you have. 5, 4, 3....run! Love it.

4. Once upon a time quarters were for video games at the pizza parlor. Then, they were for laundry, and needed in massive quantity. And then, for a long time, I had no particular use for quarters. But now, they are useful again - for milk money. I know I could send dimes, but it seems better to send 2 quarters for my daughter's lunchtime milk.

5. Sungold cherry tomatoes are so yummy, and very tolerant of my gardening slackerliness - I planted these from seed, and they are sweet with a nice thin skin, yet do not crack easily, and came up to nice big plants even though I didn't start them indoors, but rather sowed directly into the garden in June and then pretty much ignored them.

6. Look, finished socks! 2 pairs even.

7. I sewed without cursing. (usually, I get out the sewing machine and wind the bobbin wrong or break a needle within 20 minutes, and it goes downhill from there) But, Alison said September was national sewing month, maybe that is what did the trick. 2 very simple leopard print corduroy skirts. No pattern, just rectangles with a little gathering and an elastic waist. Rae's even has pockets, per her request.

8. I forget what 8 was for...

9. Finished blankie! (she's not picking her nose, she's playing peekaboo with daddy and this is the best picture I got!) I'm so glad this is done, really should have finished about 3 days after I started, but it got back burnered until the right moment appeared, and it appears that it being 90 degrees all weekend inspired me to knit a lap blanket. Hmmm. It's the perfect drag-around-the-house-like-Linus size for Sammy.

10. I'm off to indulge in a little reading before bed - I'm plowing through book 5 of Sara Donati's historical romance series - there is a lot of tarot thrown into the book. Anyone know what Queen of Swords with 7 of swords would mean?

ooh, I remembered what 8 was for! The Knitter's Coffeeswap 3, organized by the lovely Knittymama. I'm in. coffee and yarn, 2 great tastes that taste great together!

Badges

2007-09-30T23:21:00.000-04:00

I have lots of stuff to post (FO's even), but it needs to wait for pictures. But, go check out the mama merit badges, which I found via Knittin' Smitten . I need the set. Have you also seen the knitting merit badges? I earned The “Knitting Whilst Under the Influence” Badge (again) this weekend. Bar Louie makes a lovely Pomegranate Margarita and NPR events are perfect occasions for KIPing IMO (went to see Terri Gross at the Michigan Theatre with DH on Friday). I get to lead my daughter's Brownie troop in a Try-It badge again this year, probably in January or February. I've done Science in Action and My Body with them in the last 2 years - need to pick another good science/environment badge for this year. I love badges. Night.

Blog, Shop and Knit...

2007-09-24T21:09:00.000-04:00

Those are the three things I want to do right now. So I will do them all, quickly, in that order, before it comes to bedtime for me. First, Blog:

Here's me in my Pink Gable sweater. I am very happy with how it turned out, the fit seems right, not too "curve-hugging" but not shapeless either. The back neckline tends to roll a little bit, but my sister said she likes it that way, so I'm going with it as a feature not a flaw. :)I'm knitting away on Rae's croc socks, sub-titled "Socks Only a Daughter Could Love" because, personally, I think they are, umm, not elegant. Not a good design. But she likes sock #1 and that girl drives a hard bargain: when I asked her to try it on with her crocs so I could see how the colors looked, she said "I'll try them on with the crocs after you finish the other one" So, I have that as incentive, and I am also planning to reward myself by winding up two yarn cakes of autumn goodness, which, if my guess is right, will make the Chevron Scarf of my dreams.

This is Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino in Sugar Maple and Yarn Pirate Merino Tencel in the September Booty Club colorway Butternut. When I pulled that yarn out, the merino tencel just seemed a bit crushed from the shipping, and it said to me "Thank you for rescuing me from that terrible, terrible envelope. I must be free, I must breathe. I must not, cannot be socks!" And then it threw back it's head and draped a delicate wrist over it's brow in a dramatic sort of black-and-white film star kind of way... OK, I'm a little loony, but I know I'm not the only one who hears the voices in the yarn! So, it came to me a little later that it might look good with the Sugar Maple I picked up in Nova Scotia. To be continued...

I leave you with last weekend's harvest (well, part of it)...the left eyes of 200 bullfrogs and minced wing of 80 pygmy bats. Add sugar, flour, lemon butter and a dash of salt....pie. Mmmm.

OK, off to shopping: I need a new purse (mended the lining on my present one 2 weeks ago, and already the holes are bigger than before I did it) and a wrist watch and I need them now!!! Target closes at 10.

Pink Gable Done!

2007-09-21T01:37:00.000-04:00

I finished my first ever me-size sweater, it is now blocking and I have the dehumidifier running right next to it in hopes that I can wear it tomorrow while we have this last burst of summer weather. In other exciting-for-me news, my new glasses are in so I can pick them up tomorrow and I just know this Rx is going to be so awesome compared to my 2+ year old glasses I have on now. Only question is, will I regret choosing purple frames?!? We shall see.

Springtime in September!

2007-09-07T21:48:00.001-04:00

Timing is a funny thing sometimes. Last Wednesday, within hours of each other, my sending and receiving pals from the Spring Sock Hop Swap both got in touch with me. Katrina let me know she was back from a bit of a blogging hiatus and had posted about the package I sent her, and Sandy was emailing to let me know it was time to be stalking the mailman - her package to me was on the way. It arrived today, as you can see, filled with a nice assortment of goodies.

The sweet sheepy shelf sitters (say that 5 times fast LOL) are super cute and so soft - Sammy wants them for her very own, and I do believe they would look quite cute sitting on a certain shelf that will go in her room when she graduates from the crib. Sandy also sent 5 stitch markers, each one unique, inside of a neat little fishy bag, and a sock blocker keychain (with pattern), I've had my eye on those. She also sent along the most coveted extra Monsoon so I can get those Inside Outs out of hibernation and knit on with confidence that they will not be anklets!

And, last but certainly not least, the sock she knit for me is called Swirly Girl, and it's made with TOFUtsies in the loveliest colorway of spring green, bright pink and aqua. I love how springy the color combination is and the pattern looks great. This sock is super comfy on - soft and very lightweight. Sandy used the magic loop method, so I'm debating whether I should give that a try or stick to my trusty DPNs when I knit up the mate. Hmmm.....we shall see.

Thank you, Sandy!

Right now all other WIPs are taking a back burner to 2 pairs of socks, one for Rae and one for Ben. I'm calling them their croc socks because they're made in colors to match their crocs. Ben's are actually done, in orange with green, blue and purple stripes, but they went on his feet before I got any pictures of them, and by the time I had a chance, well, I wasn't going to take pictures of his sweaty little boy feet socks crumpled up in the laundry. So, that will have to wait.

But, here, I have a picture of the first pair of socks I ever knit, and the socks that the new Orange croc socks have replaced.

I made these about 2 years ago and he wore them about every day they were clean and not confiscated to stop him from roasting his feet off when it was 90 degrees out. His love for those socks was pretty amazing, but he watched me make them and was just so proud of them. His love for them is all the more incredible considering the "features" of these socks:

They're not even remotely close to the same size,
I did a short row heel on the first one, gusset on the second.
I never wove in any of the ends, can you see the cast on tail?
I have a pretty good hole at the corner of the short row heel on sock #1.

I guess little knitting details like that don't matter when you're 3 and your mom knit you a pair of striped socks. Another thing about these socks is that one of the big motivations for me to start knitting was when I learned from Kath that you could knit socks (who knew?!?) and at the time, I was bummed because cool little boy socks are a lot harder to come by in your local Target than cute little girl socks. I felt like Ben was getting the short end of the stick compared with his big sister's extensive wardrobe of cool socks. So, to knit him some socks, that was a big reason for me to learn how to knit.

In garden news, my vision of a sunflower garden has been somewhat realized at this point.

What I wanted to do was create a space within the garden, surrounded by tall sunflowers with morning glories climbing up them and zinnias alongside, a space where the kids could play. I got some good stout sticks and made a little teepee at the entrance, so to get into the sunflower garden, you have to crouch or crawl through, making it more of a kid-oriented place. I also envisioned morning glories climbing up the sticks at the entrance, but due to the failure of the first batch of seeds to germinate and to the dog getting tangled up and knocking over the teepee at one point, that didn't work out quite as planned. But all in all, I'm happy with it. The sunflowers always turn toward my neighbors, since she has more sun. I wouldn't trade my shady yard for anything, but I do wish some days the sunflowers would face me.

I'm definitely planning to try this again next year. I will certainly have plenty of seeds to plant. Oh, and did you see the lounge chair there in the corner? It was mine when I was a kid! Gotta love my dad's packratting sometimes!

Last of all, my Rae is off to third grade, hard for me to believe, but true all the same. One of the mom's at the bus stop mentioned that her daughter and Ben will be off to kindergarten next year. When she said that, I had to do a double take and my instinct was to tell her that was a couple years away yet! They were just babies when Rae started kindergarten. But, it's also true, my little boy has preschool starting next week, and next year really will be kindergarten!

365 days and a few hours later....

2007-08-31T02:47:00.000-04:00

It's my blogiversary (well, yesterday at this hour!) To celebrate, I decided I would figure out how to put titles in my posts. And I did it. It wasn't hard, I just had to look in the help of Blogger. So, yay, I have titles now. And I've been putting tags on some of my old posts, just being a little OCD about that. Tomorrow's my committee meeting. My mom is making cookies for it. :) Icebox cookies, a very favorite cookie from childhood. Except I suppose she's going to bake them, and I always loved going to the icebox (the freezer at my grandma's house was always called that) and getting a slice of some frozen cookie dough. Ben and Jerry's has nothing on this recipe LOL. Don't get me wrong, they are super good baked too. I'm going to save a couple for Rachel's lunch box this first week of school. Home baked cookies in the lunchbox: it's a good thing. Night.

Booty Club Installment #2

2007-08-31T02:15:00.001-04:00

img_1044, originally uploaded by mbakewel.

I'm so excited to try the Yarn Pirate BFL, it feels so soft and fuzzy, and I think it will make exceptionally cozy socks. No pattern ideas yet.

Seahorse and Pirates!

2007-08-28T00:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess it's no surprise I've been spending a lot of my online time at Ravelry. I've also had a bad case of start-itis and started a few new projects: A log cabin blankie (a la Mason Dixon) in some bulky weight acrylic on size 15 needles. OMG they are huge! (That sentence should bring out some freaks, huh?) We were at Joann's picking up a cable needle for the Robin Hood Hoodie from Adorable Knits for Tots (yeah, that's another thing I just had to start for some reason) and Sammy grabbed this Pattons Melody from the shelf and mauled it - she was clearly in love, plus she had drooled on it, so I kinda had to buy it, and I suppose there's plenty of time to refine her taste in yarn when she gets a little older. For now, it will make a nice blankie to cuddle and love. OK, so that's 2 of my new projects. What else? I made a seahorse from a pattern I got at this etsy shop. Check out the octopus too! Love it. And it's done even :) Gave it to Ben for his birthday.

I started my Yarn Pirate Booty Club Rum Runner Drunken Bees while at jury duty last Wednesday - I so almost got picked for a 1st degree murder trial that was going to last 2-3 weeks. I was juror number 3 for several rounds of rejections and I was just sure I would be stuck there for weeks and then, finally, the defense rejected me. And then, instead of making me wait around to see if some other court needed me, they sent me home at 1PM, too cool! So anyhow, no photo of the sock - it is probably not going to work out because the yarn and the pattern compete with each other, but I'm going to give it a little longer to see if it grows on me. And I think that's it for new projects.

I'm still on the pink gable, it maybe needs about 3 more inches at this point. I keep trying it on to see how the optional belly/hip increases are going, and so far, so good. When I cast on for this, I cast on the largest size. When I got to the end of the decreases, I measured myself and I actually am more in line with the medium (and coincidentally, I'm not nursing anymore, either), with about 1.5" negative ease. I ripped the last couple inches of decreases and just continued on from there, but still using the length for the XL size. It may or may not be clear from my self portraits (mostly look at the sleeves, I think), but it is soooooo much better fitting now. Looking closeup my stitches are uneven in a lot of places, I think this comes from the constant start stop on the bus in the car on the couch with kids climbing on me etc etc, my tension is not so very even. It's not the end of the world if it stays like that, but I'm hoping it will even out a bit when it gets washed.

Before	After

Here are some garden shots from a week or so ago - and before and after shots of some amazing peaches I got at The Produce Station in Ann Arbor. We ate most of them just plain ol' juice dripping down your chin over the sink, but I've been wanting to try making homemade peach ice cream because store bought always seems a little off somehow. It was yum! :)

Before	After

Oh, and I also finished the pirate hat for my little brother - modeled here by his lovely niece. He likes it. I can tell because even though I gave him a wool hat on a 90 degree August day and he was totally sweating, he tried it on and grinned. And then he asked me for washing instructions. Such a smart brother. But Smart me made it out of washable wool. And even though he's running away from winter this year, he says it gets breezy by the ocean sometimes, so maybe it will come in handy after all.

Non-Knitting: If all goes well I will advance to candidacy after my first committee meeting on Friday afternoon. Since I just submitted my draft thesis proposal to my advisor this afternoon and I should have already sent it to the committee members so they can read the darn thing before Friday, and it's possible that it's total crap and in need of major revisions, well, I'm just hoping that all goes well. Wish me luck.

Antsy

2007-08-13T11:55:00.000-04:00

Here's what I found when I checked my Ravelry invite status today

* You signed up on June 13, 2007
* You are #8634 on the list.
* 2 people are ahead of you in line.
* 16282 people are behind you in line.
* 34% of the list has been invited so far

2!!! 2 people in front of me. My toes are wiggling in anticipation! :)
Soon I will have to confront the true extent of my stash with photographic evidence thereof.