PRIZES!

I'm sorry to take so long in posting this. I seem to have the magic superpower of making time pass fast for myself. Where is January? Where did it go? And why can I not employ this superpower when I'm getting my stupid yearly physical and girly-bit review?

Thank you so much, all of you who participated in my food drive blog contest. I didn't get a whole lot of response, but I figure it was December, a lot of people were already jammed to the gills with other obligations. I think I'm going to try it again in March.

Anyway. PRIZES! THANK YOU!!

Because you are all such wonderful people I am sending EVERYONE prizes! WOOOO! I have sock yarn in various colors (semi-solid to full-on variegated), lace weight Zephyr, and some DK->worsted. Let me know what you prefer and in what colors! Send me your addresses, Fillyjonk, Carole, Kris, Karen, and Janine! Carrie and Carmen, I've already got yours, but let me know your yarn and color prefs, willya?

This song's just six words long

But this post isn't. Because I do go on and on and on and on, and it's that kind of week. Think of it as an opportunity to improve your blog skimming skills!

Moonrise over Portland

I haven't said much lately because I just haven't had much to say that's worth committing to paper. Um, or bytes. It's been cold, in the 20s of the Fahrenheit, not breaking above freezing all week long (ha, I see you all scoffing in the back there. Scoff away, but when you aren't prepared for cold, it comes as a rude shock.)

But the cold also means that it's sunny, sunny, sunny! (It's a weather pattern thing.) I've gotten more Vitamin D this week than I usually do for an entire winter month.



It's right now that I wish wholeheartedly that I had not dragged my feet about making myself a big comfy wool sweater. I don't have much in the way of heavy sweaters so this week has been Adventures in Layering! And constantly wearing a wool cap!

I've fallen into this trap again where I blink a couple times and wonder, 'where the hell did January go?' The days kind of slide along without me paying much attention to them. This is not good. I need to wake up. I need to stop jonesing after chocolate and cookies and red vines (yum, love those red vines). It's as if I need that little endorphin rush, little comfort of food, so I can feel and enjoy something. Break up the days?


And there's been this kind of low-level grumpiness all the time, which is why I haven't written, because who wants to read unending lists of unimportant things that annoy me? Such as the guy who almost ran me over the other night (no I was not jaywalking), and the stupid building they're building which requires this infernal machine that pounds 60-foot pylons into the ground with an enormous hydraulic-powered hammer. Hey, could be worse, I could be working door next to that building. You can see the glass shake in the windows of the other surrounding buildings when they have it going.


I don't know what the point of this; there really isn't a point. I gotta snap out of it. Maybe it's the cold, dry wind. I think it's just me. I think I get this way every January, restive and dissastified with everything. I need to play my pay attention game, where instead of 'thinking' (dwelling about things), I try to concentrate on all the details of everything I'm seeing, touching, smelling. It helps me focus so that the time doesn't just slip away. It helps me be now, not waiting for something to arrive.

Enh, enough metaphysical crap. The navel-gazing is reaching noxious proportions. Instead I will show you the high, high Kwality local reporting:
I hope the poodle is okay.

Tuesday's child is full of grace

I'm pretty sure I wasn't born on a Tuesday.

Ha. Told you I'd regret that in the morning.

These are the Poirot socks. The pattern is 'New England' by Nancy Bush, from her book Knitting on the Road. They're for Mom. She's allergic to wool so I'm doing them with Crystal Palace Maizy. It's that sock yarn that's made out of corn, with a some elastic thrown in for fun. I'm almost done with one sock now. I think I will send her sock the first so she can make sure it fits and is comfortable before I start sock the 2nd.

....

Because I like words and I like pictures, I think I'm going to do this. I'm sort of maybe still in the first 2 weeks of the year? Close enough?

A is for Apple:
Isn't A always for apple? There's some Law of Nature or something. These are Galas and they sure look REALLY GOOD. Yum. I grew up in apple country and we had a community cider press, so every year a bunch of people would gather in our carport in Fall and make fresh apple cider. It's so good. My Mom would make fresh cinnamon rolls for everyone, so you could go inside and warm up and have a hot cinnamon roll. Every autumn I go a little nutso and have to find some fresh, unfiltered cider.

A is also for avocado:
I used to hate avocados when I was a kid, but now I adore them. MMMMM I think I see guacamole in my future.

A is for angst, Albuquerque, and A-positive. A is additionally for apostrophe. Use, don't abuse.

....

This has nothing to do with A, but I was paging through an old Rowan pattern book from the library and found this:
When did Harry Potter get the gig modeling Kaffe Fassett sweaters for Rowan?

Bor-ing

Ugh, I look at what every cool thing everyone else is doing and I think, crud, I'm so boring. DULL DULL DULL

1. I scrubbed the bathtub this weekend and cleaned the shower (yeah. I didn't quite get to that last weekend. But I did add it to my Enormous, Mother-of-All To-Do Lists).
   
   
2. I went to the gym (bah, I dislike going to the gym in January. Always crowded). Twice. blah blah, hooray for me.
   
   
3. I did some laundry.
   
   
4. I knit on my seeKriT knitting project. Then I tried it on and realized I'll have to rip back my seeKriT knitting project because of some unfortunate lack of fitting. I threw the seeKriT knitting project into the corner.
   
   
5. I took some pictures of objects whose names begin with the letter 'A'. Coming soon to a theater near you.
   
   
6. I failed to answer my email.
   
   
7. I failed to post PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES! Again, coming real soon.
   
   
8. We went to Powell's. And the grocery store.
   

Also, from the Too Much Information Department, my rear hurts.

K gave me a lovely Christmas present of a new bike! Well, more like an option on a new bike. He constructed a little gift certificate for me with random bike pictures off the Net, even.

I don't actually own a bike and I've never bought one and I know jack about bicycles, besides the recumbent stationary one at the gym. Seriously, I've never owned a geared bicycle. I've ridden K's, but that's it. I thought it'd be fun to ride together. Also, my rear and my wrists go numb after riding his bike for 20 minutes. I've been assured that the former is to be expected, but the wrists kind of bother me.

Then yesterday the weather decided to pull one of those Ha-Ha-I-rain-for-2-months-straight-but-to-throw-you-off-balance-surprise! things and gave us a rare warm sunny January day. Yeah, cheeping birds and all. Well, relatively warm. I'll take mid-50s. So we went to the bike shop to show off all my bike ignorance.

Sigh. My Natural Padding(tm) seems to be everywhere except right where I need it. It's a bad sign, isn't it, when my rear end still hurts today -- and after only a 15-minute trial ride yesterday?

K sez I will develop the mythical Biker Butt Callouses, but I'm not so sure. How can something be designed to press so specifically into my most tenderest parts? Honestly.

Sport

I finished a sweater for NY niece, although not quite in time for Christmas.


Sport!

Pattern: Sport, by Kim Hargreaves from the book Pipsqueaks. It's an old Rowan publication with some really cute patterns. My very favorite kids' pattern book. Uh, out of the whopping 4 that I own.

I made the 4-5 year old size, as my niece is large for her age and I hoped the ribbing would stretch, to let her wear it for more than a single season.

Yarn: Rowan Handknit DK Cotton in 307 - Spanish Red (discontinued color, on sale). I think this is the first time I've knit anything with the exact specified yarn. 8 balls wasn't quite enough.

Needles:
4 mm/US 6 Addi Turbos circular, 47", so I could do both magic loop and work flat,
2 pair 3.25 mm/US 3 circulars (neither was quite long enough for magic loop so I needed an extra to work in the round with 2 circs). One Addi Turbo, one Susan Bates aluminum.

Time to knit:
Started 9/07, finished 12/07. I am so lame.



Pattern comments:
Yes, this is a whole sweater's worth of ribbing. On the other hand, it requires no button bands or special cuffs, since ribbing lays flat and the button "band" is constructed while you knit the rest of the piece, out of moss stitch. Also, the ribbing will hopefully stretch to accommodate a growing child.

I found no errors (except the WTF moment with the armholes. See below) and had no problems. I was confused about the # of stitches to pick up for the collar for a bit, until I realized the the number of "neck" stitches included both front stitches and back stitches, all the way to the long horizontal cast-off at center back. The "back" stitches are just those in the horizontal cast-off.

I knit continental style, holding yarn in my left hand. My purl stitches tend to be slightly looser than the knit stitches. I can compensate by tensioning more tightly, but that is a big pain for ribbing. Instead I worked combination style by short-wrapping all my purls, then knitting them through the back loop on the next row up. This produced a much more even ribbing for me. Hooray!

I still need tension practice, particularly on cotton.

I cast on with the long-tail cast-on. First row worked was a "back side" row.
I cast off the collar quite tightly using a typical cast-off in pattern. Tightly, because I didn't want it to flare.
I cast off the cuffs using an EZ sewn cast off. Nice and stretchy and neat.


Needle comments: I started out using bamboo, because it usually gives me more control and better tension on cotton. However, I tried the Addis and much preferred them, and the tension seemed all right. The cotton yarn stuck to the bamboo and was hard to move. This might be because this is an unmercerized cotton, so it's not as slick as cottons I've used before.

Yarn comments: Enh, Handknit DK is okay, pretty good for a cotton. I probably would have subbed if I hadn't found a color I really loved, and it was on sale, because I'm cheap sometimes. I found it neither painful nor ecstatically wonderful to knit with. However, I have a hard time maintaining tension in cotton, so I did most of the knitting while sitting still. Not a commuter project. I didn't carry it around much.

The cast-on edge was fuzzing up by the time I finished the sweater. I cut off some of the fuzz with scissors. I have no idea if this will wear well - the preliminary fuzz is an ominous sign.

I stayed with cotton for multi-season use and machine washability. Also, it looks nice in the ribbing. And did I mention I really like the color?


My first backstitch shoulder seam. I had to do one side 5 times before I got it exactly how I wanted it.

Mods: Many, but mostly in the way I worked the pattern.

1: It's worked from the bottom up, in pieces. I changed this to work the body from bottom up "in the round" (this sounds misleading because it's a cardigan. I still knit it flat, I just knit backs and fronts at the same time in one long piece.) I split the sleeves at the pattern's armhole depth by casting off the recommended # of stitches for both back + side for either side. Then I worked each front and the back separately.

Why? Since it's ribbing and cotton, I thought it'd be more cohesive and less bulky without the seam. Also, less finishing work, woop woop!

2: Instead of working the sleeves separately and flat, I picked up the stiches from the armhole and worked the sleeve down, in the round.



3: Here's my biggest change from the pattern: at the top of the sleeves, I picked up FAR more stitches than called for. Something like 20 more stitches? I couldn't figure out why the pattern specifies so few stitches. Maybe the ribbing is supposed to be stretched at the top of the sleeve?

The sleeve is a boxy set-in: mostly a vertical line like a drop-sleeve, with a few horizontal stitches at the bottom. I picked up ~2 stitches for every 3 rows, based on recommendations from other books for picking up stitches. I did do a few 3 stitches/5 rows, so I could get a number divisible by 5. And I picked up 1 for each stitch on the horizontal.

I had to decrease the sleeves at a rate of 2 stitches every 3rd row. I devised my own decrease pattern, angling the decreases towards a center stitch on the underside of the arm.

4: I ran out of yarn while making the collar. It's only about 4.5 cm instead of 7. This, despite buying an extra skein over the recommended number in the pattern. I guess that got eaten up by the extra stitches on the sleeve. I used all my yarn leftovers to eek out a few extra rows, so the collar was a frankenstein nightmare of strands that needed weaving-in.
Do you like the buttons? K picked them out at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Overall I'm pretty pleased. Except that 2 1/2 year-olds aren't known for patience in trying on clothing, so I have no idea whether it actually fits. Hey, she and Mom both liked the color. That must count for something.

2008, the Year I Get Off My Derriere

I don't do New Year's resolutions.

I never have, either; I once got in trouble in 3rd grade because I refused to write any. We were supposed to write them out and take them home and put them on the fridge or something. Someone tattled on me to the teacher (I believe I wrote things such as "New Year's Resolutions are dumb" and "I resolve to eat more candy this year.")

No. It really bothers me that there's this arbitrary date when I'm supposed to change my life. And because there's such a rich tradition of New Years goals that last all of 2 weeks, it seems like I'm setting myself up for instant failure.

Instead I make "resolutions" whenever the hell I feel like it. My mind gets into this place where it decides "NOW. NO MORE OF THIS PROCRASTINATION CRAP." But I really do have to reach a kind of tipping point in my head, or it just won't work. It's usually set off by some kind of external event (not necessarily something large), but sometimes I just get to the "TIME TO CHANGE SOMETHING, DAMMIT" stage all on my own.

Anyway. I do concede that the calendar year's start is a useful way to measure just how long you've been doing (or not doing) something. Also useful if you wish to plan on doing/not doing things for a sort of seasonal time. Also, all you people are being introspective and crap, and it gets to a girl.

So, loosely, I intend for 2008 to be the year to Get Stuff Done. In all ways, forms, and means.

This weekend: the shower, where the pink mold and the black mold have been fighting for dominance for FAR too long. (I know. ewwww. More information than you needed.)

November leaves (shut up, I know it's January. I need to remind myself there are more colors in the world than grey, green, and beige (thank you 70s commercial buildings)).

Back

Hi. We're back from the cornfields. Actually, not much of the cornfields left anymore. More like edge-of-strip-mall-land. In fact, I was able to observe the complete lifecycle of the American suburban strip mall: from larvae to adult to dried out empty husk.

We took the train up to Chicago on Christmas eve.

Why yes, we saw the bean.

What they don't tell you is that the curving on the middle inside makes these really neat infinite reflection patterns.


Even the lions at the Art Institute were dressed up for the holidays.

By the way, Christmas Eve (especially if it's particularly cold) is an excellent day to visit the Chicago Art Institute. It's not as crowded as usual and there's little to no wait time to see the exhibits. (On one other memorable Christmas Eve there were maybe 2 dozen people in the whole building. K says he has NEVER seen the garage look so empty. We parked next to the stairs.)

There was this nifty Indonesian textile exhibit that we got to see. Lots of fabulous and intricate ikats (both warp and weft!), batik, and embroidery, among other things. I was sad that they'd archived the big Chagall windows during their renovation, though. I would've liked another look at those.

We saw what will ever be fixed in my mind as the Blues Brothers Hut-Hut building.


And that Picasso.


It wasn't super-fantastic cold (like the day before. mmm, 17 F and windchill to 0. Something to make me appreciate my mild Pacific Northwest winters), but it was 25 F chilly. Still, both of us had had a little too much sedentary time and pizza lately so we walked all over downtown. Here's the Chicago river (yeah, the one they dye green on St. Patrick's day):


I don't really have much in the way of other pictures but it was a lovely restful Christmas and I was able to dump all my guilt and worry by the wayside for a week. I got a lot of knitting done too, including finishing off the Sport sweater. No, not in time for Christmas, but in time to give it to NY niece. Who is, as always, unbearably cute. She's a good kid.


Hap-hap-happy new year everyone! We're cooking jumbalaya, drinking Gluhwein, and baking New Year's bread (a new tradition, brought about by necessity after we forgot the 2-3 hour final rise AFTER the initial rise): you make it in the old year and eat it in the new year. I wish you all a wonderful new year, may it be better than the last.

blog on the road

Thank you all so much for your kind words. I'm feeling a lot better, at least in part because I've run out of time to do stuff for xmess and because I'm now several thousand miles away, visiting the in-laws. It's difficult to clean the shower from here, so I'm free from shower guilt for the moment.

I did manage to get the packages off, personal triumph there. Still working the xmess cards though. They are likely to be new years cards instead.

Gotta go, heading back into signal-less cornfields. Very happy holidays to you all!

Fragile

I don't know what's up lately but it feels like just one touch will break me into a million dull-edged pieces. I am keeping up with the gym, mostly, and then in the shower my head is full of angry rants. Where are those endorphins when you need them?

I like December, usually. What with Christmas and birthday and new years it's kind of a big ol' party for the whole month. I really like the holiday pageantry (ain't that a $10 word) because I don't get a whole lot of pageantry in daily life and I like to see things shake up a bit. And more red everywhere, and shiny lights. But I can hardly drag myself along this year, it's a all a bunch of thhbbbt, too much bother.

I can't seem to keep a straight and coherent thought in my head. No, I haven't finished buying Christmas gifts. I'm embarrassed at how much gimme gimme want want I feel this year. I feel guilty that I only managed to make a couple pair of mittens for the Oklahoma project.
It's mid-December and nothing is done. Mostly I'm just tired and fat and full of doubt about everything. I'm starting to resemble J. Alfred.

Ain't even got no pretty pictures. I wish it would snow. I wish I could hibernate for 3 months. I wish I could magically come up with the perfect gift for my mother-in-law (or heck, make it my father-in-law.) The parents ask for my xmess list, but what do I really want?
1. to feel like more than a lump
2. to have 40 pounds magically disappear from my body. Although not all from one location, please. Or you can gift me with a faster metabolism. I'm not picky.
3. a pair of pants that actually fits - you know, in both the waist and hips and thighs. It's probably too much to ask for them to look good, too. It's been years since anything flattered me. I got so mad last time I ordered some pants I sent back a whole diatribe inscribed on the L.L.Bean return form.
4. world peace. This should be #1. There's a bunch of other world problems you could also fix while you're at it.
5. 3 extra hours a day. Some might favor the "extra day each week" but I find spreading out the time allows for greater laziness.

oh damn, I just need to get out of my head. I'm all focused on me me me.

Isn't this the most awesome picture ever? My niece on a sugar high:

Other niece's xmess pic:

There's another one on the way. Is this not the most freaky clear ultrasound you have every seen? I am a little freaked at the little bones.


Oh yes, in a few months we'll be a triple niece household.

Still here, not treading water

We did get lots and lots of rain, but the wind hit the coast and most stopped there. It was a little blustery on Sunday and Monday, but not unusually so. Fortunately metro Portland didn't really get hit very hard. We didn't even lose power. We live up a couple hundred feet from the nearest water, out of the flood plain, so there was no worries there.

The coast, however, is in bad shape. They had gusts up to 126 mph, and many, many trees are down and rivers are flooded.

Now it's warm and even sunny today. They call this weather pattern the Pineapple Express because it's a storm formation that comes straight up from Hawaii, bring warm air and lots of moisture. The warmth melts some of the snow in the mountains, making the flooding worse.

It doesn't feel like December at all, not when it's 50 degrees F outside and the high was around 60ish. Oh well, the weather report assures me we'll be back to highs in the 40s by Thursday. (The freakiest thing to me, because I grew up in the desert, is the difference between high and low. High 44, low 37? That's only 7 degrees (F!) of temperature differences. Very different than the 40-degree swings you could get in Albuquerque).

Sorry, blah blah blah interesting weather blah blah.

One Skein Food Drive

I was so affected when I read this New York Times article today about how the U.S. food banks are depleted, down to their emergency supplies, that I'm going to try to do something. I'm not very good at these do-something things, but here goes.

The food banks been hit by a triple whammy this year:

1) farmers are doing well and selling most of their crops, so there is less leftover for emergency food supply.
2) a lot of grocery stores have been tightening up their inventory systems, so they don't have as much excess product, which they used to donate. And if they do have excess or past-seasonal goods, they're selling more of it to discount stores instead of donating it.
3) there is more need than ever this year.

If you have a moment and the means, please consider donating to your local food bank. They could really use your help. The Oregon Food Bank can buy 5 pounds of food for just $1.

So this is my meme. Created by MEMEME. Call it the One Skein Food Drive or Knitters against Hunger or whatever you like. Please consider donating the price of purchase of one skein of yarn to your local food bank. Or donate some non-perishable food items - the OFB has a list of most-wanted foods if you'd like some examples.

Or, if you are unable to donate (for any reason. I am not in a finger-pointin' business), please PASS THE MEME ALONG. Blog posts, comments, mailing lists, groups, word of mouth, whatever, we're all-opportunity communications here.

And because everything is more fun when it involves yarn, if you do any of the above - donate and/or pass on the meme, leave me a comment here and say "I participated" or something to that effect (Ed: fixed the spelling. Thank you Pacalaga!). You don't need to say what you did. I'll drop your name in the hat and give out some yarny gifts at the end of December. How about, I'll collect names through 11:59 pm PST December 31st, 2007.

I'm not going to keep tally of how much anyone donated or what they did. Just one chance for each name, ok? (I admit this is partially motivated by laziness. Ha. She said "motivated by laziness.") But this is FOOD we're talking about, a basic need, so please be generous if you can. I'd like to think that Knitters (and Crocheters and whomever) Don't Let People Go Hungry.

------
Ed to add: I am too US-centric. There are food banks and community food drives all around the world. Hopefully they're not as bad off as the ones in the States, but they could probably still use your help.

Mittens

It's supposed to snow tomorrow.

I will believe THAT when I see it.

And following that, there's supposed to be a big mother of a windstorm (leftover hurricane) and lots and lots and lots of rain right following. It's kind of cool to see the cloud formation on the satellite map, the cloud stretches all the way from Hawaii up to Alaska:

I am making mittens for the Soaring Eagles project. I am late to the party on this one, but I finally got around to visiting that blog site and I was seized with a feeling that I really really need to do this. A big thank you to kmkat and her excellent post which reminded me. So now I am scouring the stash for anything machine wash & dryable and working myself up, worried that the superwash wool I'm using won't handle machine dry very well. Mmmph. I think there's some wool-ease stashed somewhere, and a lone sad skein of Plymouth dreambaby.
Will Toasty Toes felt (it's supposed to be superwash)? I hope not but I'll make a swatch to test just in case.

I'm all for using the appropriate yarn in the appropriate conditions, but acrylic really doesn't insulate as well as wool so I'm at least trying for a blend. Oklahoma can get pretty cold in the winter. But I also don't want someone thoroughly disappointed because their mittens shrank with the first wash and dry.

It feels like I'm giving myself a little gift (not going to call it a Christmas present, as it is STILL NOT DECEMBER and I'd like to bask in my post-Thanksgiving glow for a little bit longer, thank you). It's a gift of time-off from everything on the I Must Do list, time I will instead spend working mittens.

They sure are pretty fast. I've got one done almost already (an adult Small, even). The thumb gusset is way less hard than I thought it would be.

If it does snow tomorrow, it'll go nicely with the mitten-knitting.

Knots Socks, the Sequel

I finished these a while ago but I've been lazy about getting pictures.

I think I mentioned before that my first attempt at the Knots Socks were a little bit baggy. I like a socks that stays put. So here is another variation on the knotted ribbing:


Knots Socks 2!

Pattern: my own. Ribbing incorporating the cross stitch rib from BW #1. Cuff-down.

Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL in colorway...66 ? mostly dark blues and purples but with greens, lighter blues, lighter purples, and reds thrown in. I used about 7/8 of a ball - more left over than I would have thought, but I guess that 6 stitches per row makes all the difference.

Needles: 2 mm/US 0 double-pointed bamboo, 5 sticks.

Gauge: about 8-8.5 st/inch. I'll have to go back and check row gauge.

This is probably the picture closest to the actual color - most of these pictures were taken in very autumny-yellow sunlight.
I don't like this colorway quite as much as the one for Knots Socks 1. These colors don't blend and meld as well as the other colorway's did. But Trekking XXL is always fun to work with.


This time I did a 2x1 K/P ribbing, and a special ribbing along the top. I like having the border between the real pattern and the edge. Plus, it makes it easier to add a little calf shaping at the top and then decrease at the edge of the cuff for the rest of the sock. I am still loving those twist stitches. I did a better job this time of balancing out the stitches that go on the top of the foot and the ones used for the heel then then bottom.


I kept meticulous notes this time, instead of just random scribbles on whatever happened to be handy, so the first is actually fairly identical to the 2nd.

The cast-on is my favorite of this year: the Twisted German cast-on. So stretchy! So pretty from both sides!

I am very pleased by how well these fit. I think I've finally hit my Trekking magic number (at least for ribbing): 66 stitches for the body. That seems pretty small for Trekking, doesn't it? But these guys STAY UP and STAY PUT in the shoe.

Can't stop knitting, clowns will eat me

I thought I'd cast on a new sock, for some less-bulky commuter knitting.

Who knew what horror was lurking in that happy rainbow skein of Opal?

I worked 3+ stripes before I realized what I had on my hands.
(cue screeching violin horror):

CLOWN SOCKS

And the most dire thing? I Can't. Stop. Knitting. Them. Damn you, clown socks! I've got a huge queue of backed up knitting and I yet I am obsessed with 2x2 ribbing, just to get through this accursed skein. I'm on the train this morning, chanting under my breath, "Come on, come on, gotta make it to the orange stripe. Just a little bit more. Faster faster faster faster." All I can hope for is some sweet release soon, as I've only got one skein of this (although the other Opal I have? I'm kinda worried about that now. It's looking like big bruisers, lurking in the corner of the stash, waiting to spring some more Ill-Considered Sock Yarn Color Choices on me).

(random obObservation: I see Blogger has finally gotten around to supporting Safari for basic WYSIWIG text editing, and the images, as they appear in the upload box, now don't always appear as the can't-load-this-image icon. Gosh, it looks like I could even use their tools to insert some video now instead of whipping up the HTML myself. WILL WONDERS NEVER CEASE?)
(I know, I should not be so rude and bitchy, since Safari is some teency tiny amount of the browser market (3-5% or so). Thanks Blogger, I appreciate the love.)

Fall

A few days ago it was street leaf-cleaning day here.
They have these bulldozer-type things (but faster, and with hockey-nets in front of them) that push all the leaves on the streets into big piles at each intersection. Then the mystery leaf eater comes and consumes them all (I'm always at work when this happens, dang)

This was actually one of the smaller piles
It looks kinda like the leaves ate a car.

We highly suggest you stop for this leaf pile (ha ha, I slay myself)

On the other hand, this camellia down the way says: "screw this Autumn thing, I'm gonna bloom NOW."


Meanwhile today it's raining that medium, steady winter rain, the kind that makes it clear that it's sticking around for the long haul. It's been inside-of-a-ping-pong-ball dim all day here. The grass, though, the grass is LOVING this weather. Bah, stupid grass.

I've got a bad case of the yarn shakes lately and so I think I will be doing some stash sniffing this weekend. Also hopefully some dyeing (looks like that kind of weekend). I've got some new sock yarn I want to try out and a backup of stuff-to-be-dyed. I also am seriously needing to scratch my organizational itch. It's not obsession or compulsion, I just... like to organize stuff.

When I had a sticker collection when I was a kid back in the early 80s, I would organize EVERYTHING over and over again, agonizing over the cross-category items (does that oily belong with the unicorn stickers or the oilies?). I love categorization. I am kicking myself for not getting in on Ravelry earlier (Hi! I'm bigalice there too!) 'cuz I love entering obscure little details, and most of the popular stuff has already been entered now. I enjoy alphabetizing. I got this little thrill when I discovered a yarn in my stash that hadn't yet been entered on Ravelry. This little fixation extends to yarn too, a bit. I actually find pleasure in unraveling a tangled skein and putting it back to rights. Yeah, I know, I Am Weird.

Perhaps I should have gone into stamp collection vs. fabric and yarn. Also, the compulsion part is when I start obsessing about "must fill out my collection." *That's* just stupid. But I'll admit to dreaming about buying one skein of every kind of yarn my yarn shop has, just to swatch it up and see how it behaves. And then publish the results in an organized, annotated, easily searchable format, of course.

Evidence

This one's for Michelle.

I picked up stitches for the right sleeve on Sport on Sunday. It was a PITA and took me awhile. I had to use a crochet hook. Yeah, I went with picking up the stitches instead of making the sleeve separately and backstitching it on. It seems pretty firm so far, so all my fears of stretchy sleeve joins may be unfounded.

I picked up and knit 85 stitches - 15 more than the pattern directs. I have no idea what's up with that. The armhole is exactly the length stated in the pattern (17 cm). My row gauge seems right on or very close to the one in the pattern. The sleeveholes look way too big to me.

I'm knitting the sleeves in the round, but using two circs seems to push me into Death Grip Mode and along with the cotton, it does a number on my wrists. I had to quit after about an inch when things started twinging. I am TRYING TO RELAX but I'm not being very effective at it. It's now my new commuter knitting, since 20 minutes 2 times a day doesn't cause any wrist pain. I get maybe an inch done a day.

Also, since I am dancing to the beat of my own salsa band when it comes to this sleeve, I'm decreasing at a faster rate than instructed, trying to work off those extra 15 stitches.

Current status: uncertain but plowing on ahead anyway. Someone find me a brick wall so I can ram my head into it to knock it down.

Saturday is Too Exciting for Me

• met new knitters! They seem pretty cool.
  
• new sock yarn from BMFA!
  
• some of it cotton (ruh-roh)
  
• realized every skein I bought is almost exactly same colors.
  
• sunny day (totally unexpected)
  
• K the love monkey is sick with a fever. :(
  
• I feel fine (for now). I'll start sucking down the Cold-Eez at the first sign I might be getting it.
  
• Thanksgiving moved to Seattle this year (Tarewyn, you still want to lean how to do socks? I'll be within driving distance around T-giving time.)
  
• Frances the cat looks very comfortable and very asleep in the chair across from me. She's doing that all-her-paws-in-a-big-heap thing.
  
• I talked to my brother tonight and this week he purchased the item I was intending to give him as a Christmas gift. ARGGH
  
• Fortunately I have something else in mind.
  
• And I kept the receipt.
  
• However, I am so truly idea-less when it come to the in-laws. Oh I am screwed.
  
• Scheduled an blood donation with the vampires for next weekend. Kristen's latest post reminded me that I was due
  
• I just re-learned that "obliquely" means: "not straightforward" or even "devious" according to Merriam-Webster online

Sorry, sleepy, past time for bed. There will damn well be toddler sweater knitting tomorrow.

Argggh, Tired

I had a good workout this morning, I was feeling all dull & sleepy when I got to the gym and there's nothing like a treadmill for dully & sleepy. Funny how all I need is an 8% grade at about 3.6 miles per hour to tire me out. OK, not so funny, more like pitiful. Anyway, my new gym book + music kept me nicely distracted for the 40 minutes and my calves decided to behave today instead of cramping up. But now I just feel so tired. It was a chore just walking that mile to work, picking my feet off the ground instead of scuffing them along. I'm such a wuss. No way would I survive a zombie apocalypse.

Nothing's happening, I'm still chickening out from starting the sleeves on the toddler sweater. I don't even have a pair of socks on the needles. I've been taking lace as my commuter knitting. Evidently I'd rather just pet, squeeze, and sniff yarn rather than doing anything with it. I'm glad it's the weekend soon. I predict much lazing about.

Today is the first day it's rained (drizzled, really) for a couple weeks now. Mostly it's been doing this fog-in-the-morning, clear up in the evening, sometimes with big puffy clouds near sunset.

Hi, I am a big puffball, snagged on a building.

I'm reading The Cloudspotter's Guide so I now know that today's low-drizzly-clouds-almost-fog is stratus nebulosus, verging on translucidus. It's really an interesting book - a light read (yes, even with all that Latin) and well illustrated. I had some trepidation at first (I'm vetting it for a Christmas present for my Dad, and it seemed too flippant and artsy maybe for him (or me)) but now I'm engrossed. I'm pretty sure we had some nice cirrocumulus yesterday at sunset. I like knowing the names of things and why they happen.

Other good books I read/am reading:

Company by Max Barry. Bwahahahaha, laugh-out-loud funny. I like this the same way I like Office Space (actually in a similar way too - I liked the 1st half better than the 2nd half of both). It's about life in Hell at the king of dysfunctional corporations. The toss-off lines are the best part of the whole thing:

Elizabeth is smart, ruthless, and emotionally damaged; that is, she is a sales representative. If Elizabeth's brain was a person, it would have scars, tattoos, and be missing one eye. If you saw it coming, you would cross the street.

My favorite book this summer.

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. A close, close second. I'm no good at reviews. This book just grabbed me and I could. not. put. it. down. Compelling and sad and funny and depressing and inspiring all at the same time. The poor book has unfortunately been consigned to the ghetto of Young Adult Literature (ugh. Mini rant: will someone please kill off this designation? 'Young Adults' are either a) not reading at all, or b) reading adult books and are insulted at the 'young adult' label. Although maybe this has changed since I was a teen.) This is a novel, and a good one, and I feel like not marketing it as a novel for adults is a great disservice to this wonderful book.

The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham. The premise sounds hokey but it's pretty entertaining (and sad. And frustrating, by the end of the book I wanted to slap her...actually, most of them, for being so casually and unintentionally cruel to one other).

Territory, by Emma Bull. Let me say this up front: I am so not into westerns. But I'm enjoying this so far (only about halfway through). Give me a good plot and compelling characters and I'm yours.

Still drizzling. Still Friday. Still have a pile o' mail in the inbox to answer (please forgive me). Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Yarn... barbarian?

He looks kind of cold, doesn't he? Someone give that boy a wool sweater.

Pizza Luv

Fair warning: I'm gonna wax rhapsodic about food. Food and I, we get along pretty well. There isn't much I don't like (liver, brussells sprouts, excessively sour, and savory & sweet at the same time are about it, besides my little food prejudices (don't have to do with taste. Just prejudice)). I work up in Food Cart land, not far from the University, so I can get my saag chana fix just about any time (sweet, sweet saag. LOVE YOU).

Anyway. Just to set up the scene. Portland, I lurve you too because there's a lot of people around who cook REALLY WELL and don't even charge a limb for each meal. One of the newer ones is Dové Vivi, a fairly new pizza place.

K the love monkey grew up in Pizza Town (south of Chicago) and so has Definite Prejudices about pizza. He knows what a really good deep dish tastes like. But even he likes this place (and we ordered the corn pizza last time. Corn! On pizza! I was struck dumb when he agreed with me. Actually, we got a half-n-half Corn & Potato-Pancetta). Don't get me wrong, I love a great spinach, mushroom, and sausage stuffed pizza. But I think this place is fan-frickin'-tastic.

This pizza is SO GOOD. It's like the jazz of pizza. They take the central motif of deep-dish pizza and riff on it. There's this amazing cornmeal crust, crunchy yet bready at the same time. It's deep dish, with perfectly melted cheese and prepared ingredients on top (actually, I think they might also have a vegan pizza. Not sure about that). Frequently they'll throw rosemary in the crust. And the toppings: smoked mozzarella, fontina, the above-mentioned corn, potatoes, and pancetta, tomatoes, marinated mushrooms and onions, perfect pepperoni. Oh man. I think I fell in love with them with the corn pizza though. Corn & balsamic-vinegar-marinated onions. It just all goes together into one perfect pizza whole, when a slice is more than the sum of its toppings.

Sorry, no yarn, today. I just felt a bit like an ode to some of my favorite food ever.