Diving for Purls

Alive and well, really!

2006-08-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, the binge to finish my own Clapotis has resulted in me...not knitting at all. Mind you, still have that September 15 deadline looming, but I figure, Eh, I did the last one in a little over two weeks total, so why rush? This will come back to haunt me, of course.

I do have some serious mailing to do...I'm sending out my final package to my SP8 tomorrow. It'll be the big reveal! Dum dum dum...

Done, with time to spare.

2006-08-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

All righty, so it's only one day to spare, but that was an impressive knitting streak I went on there to finish half of the thing in a week. I was knitting in spare moments at work, and pretty much every night I sat vigilantly in front of the TV (or listening to audiobooks) and working away.

I'm really happy with how it turned out; if it wasn't 80 degrees and August, I'd be wearing it every day. I'm really excited to be taking it on the big vacation - it can double as scarf, shawl or general blanket. It was about 5 and a third skeins of Noro Aurora in color 1 - the majority grey one. It's part wool, but diluted enough that it doesn't make me itch like a crazy woman.

Half Clap

2006-08-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

So here is exactly one half of the Clapotis! My goal is to finish this by August 15, so that I have a good solid month to work on the one for my aunt. Once I actually sit down and start knitting, this pretty much flies by - but I think I'm going to have to knit at stoplights, during meals, etc. to actually finish this in a week. And then do another whole one in a month. I think of it like NFL training camp or something...

Knitting on consignment

2006-08-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, not consignment, exactly. Maybe it's better to say I have a sponsor? A patron of the arts? Actually, that's all crap. I went down to San Diego this past weekend and brought by Clapotis along for knitting amusement. My aunt is a big Francophile, and her birthday is Sept. 23, so my mom and I plotted for me to knit another one for her. So my patron of the arts is, uh, my mom. Who has pretty much been a patron of my arts for 31 years now.

Now, in theory, this should be easy...but in reality I really suck at knitting on deadline. (As my progress on the Sexy Knitters Club Somewhat Cowl should prove. Current status: One sleeve and 3/4 of the cowl yet to do.) So I'm going to use this blog as a public method of shaming myself into finishing the thing by Sept. 15, so it can be wrapped up and shipped to Ohio in time to arrive for her birthday.

The game plan is as follows: Finish my Clapotis so I can get all the kinks out (literally) before I start one that's going to be a gift. Hopefully I'll do this by Aug. 15, so I have a full month to work on Shirley's. Woo, go team! Go!

A wee renovation

2006-07-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

Now that I've had the time to blog like a fiend, I figure it was best to do a little rehab to the ol' website here. I swapped out my increasingly ancient found objects on the right for Flickr zeitgeist, which flips between all your photos. I put all my humble found objects up there, and it's oddly entrancing to watch them swap out. Although I think I need more FO's in order to fill up the 12 little slots. Hee!

Secret Pal? Continues to rock

2006-07-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

My second packages of goodies arrived from my Secret Pal yesterday...it's a collection of three incredibly fab knit baby caps for me to donate to charity (which is so incredibly thoughtful and lovely), two cushy balls of beautiful yarn, and a great twisty sorta Moebius scarf pattern. Love it all! Thanks, SP!

That's gotta be a record...

2006-07-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike, the father of a two-year-old, has a pretty funny feature on his blog where he discusses movies that the rest of the world saw three years ago that he and Maria have only had time to watch now. On that note, I am pleased to reveal that I have started the knitting world's hit of 2004: Clapotis.

I've just booked a big trip for the end of September, so I sat down and tried to figure out the one thing to knit between now and then that would be warm, stylish and that I would actually have a snowball's chance in hell of finishing between now then.

This is the result of one night's knitting. As has been well-documented here, I'm a sloooow knitter. I'm rather proud of my little triangle here. I'm knitting it in Noro Aurora on size 8s. I'm halfway through the increase repeats, which are both easy to memorize and fun to knit. I can see why people became so, so obsessed with this. I'm a happy lemming.

Thanks, eBay!

2006-07-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

When I was in Seattle pawing around Pike Place Market, I noticed a store that was selling recycled silk sari yarn from Nepal. I have something of a faux-Tibetan themed bedroom (read: half-assed authentic and colorful) and thought that it would be great fun to knit something up with it. It was about $30 a skein, however, so a little too pricey.

(If there was to be a description of the thought process behind any eBay purchase, I think that would be it: "Wow, that's cool, but kinda pricey. I wonder if I can find it elsewhere...hmmm.")

So I found 10 skeins of the stuff on eBay, and won it all for $27. Nice! I've been knitting it into a throw using the log cabin technique in, yes, Mason Dixon Knitting. Here are the results so far, with the rest of the loot displayed below.

The good: You really can't see any mistakes. My picked up stitches are a little wonky, but there's no way to tell because the yarn is so wonky itself. I really love the colors, and the totally random variation suits my knitting ADD quite well. It's also on Size 10 needles, so things are just flying along. Here's a better view:

The bad: Damn, there's some hay in there. It may not be the softest throw in the world. (People online suggested pairing the sari yarn with a strand of mohair - but really, like silk isn't warm enough?) I'll take my chances with it, and I have noticed that it gets softer the more you work with it.

All in all, it's a fun project. I think it's going to wind up going in the couch instead of the bedroom. It's all about continuing the faux Tibetan into the Ikea dominant living room.

Dither, dither....

2006-07-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

So as I was dithering at work today (it's summer, and it's sloooooow) I was reading Slate's not entirely interesting article on blogging, and who blogs, and why. The one intriguing part of it was that they had a link to Technorati's list of the 100 most popular blogs, as determined by the number of sites that link to it. "Hmmmm..." thought me. "I wonder if there are any knitting blogs in the top 100?"

Lo and behold, the Yarn Harlot made it in at number 81, with 7,085 links from 4,049 sites.

Whoops, made that 7,086 links from 4,050 sites.

Section 746.2, I love you.

2006-07-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

This, folks, is not a knitting weekend. The prior posts when I was whining about the heat? That was Nordic compared to what is going to be going on this weekend. In some parts of L.A. it's going to feel like it's 105-110 tomorrow. Yikes. That's a day to hide inside, sitting no more than two inches from the air conditioner, reading books and drinking frosty beverages.

So what books am I reading? Well, last weekend I went to the Central Library downtown. I don't go there nearly often enough - it's an amazing building, and they have everything. (The LAPL system has 6 million books. Pretty much two for everybody in L.A.) The last time I had been down there, I wasn't a knitter. So it was with a sense of exploration I went to the Arts & Crafts floor, figuring they would have a knitting book or two.

Or, uh, a couple hundred. Section 746.2 has three floor-to-almost-ceiling stacks of books just about knitting. (Crocheting gets its own section.) It's really, really overwhelming. They have bound editions of old Vogue Knitting issues, books that seem to have been rebound a dozen times, old stuff, new stuff, insane stuff. In other words, it's perfect. And overwhelming. I grabbed one book, The Urban Knitter by Lily Chen, from 2002. I haven't had too much time to dig into it yet, but there seems to be a couple fun projects to check out.

Really, I don't have to buy a knitting book ever again. Really, I don't have to buy any kind of book ever again - but yeah, like that's going to stop me.

Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know?

2006-07-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

Heaven help me, I'm quoting a Britney Spears lyrics. Perhaps this is appropriate, since Brit seems to be a fertile kind of gal.

My friend Liz in Portland is preggers, due Oct. 1. She travels here once a month for work, so another friend and I are throwing her an impromptu baby shower tomorrow night. We're going to see Thai Elvis, which should tell you how very impromptu this is. For the past four days, I've been working on the baby bib pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. Wha-la:

Yes, indeedy, that's a finished object - from selection to knitting to finishing to buying a button to blocking - in ONE week. This is, of course totally unprecedented. What makes it particularly hilarious is that this is the world's most impractical baby bib - I knitted it out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Cute, soft, durable - and handwash or dry clean. Perhaps this will be the bib the kiddoo will wear in formal baby pictures.

Flower power!

2006-07-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! It's time to record some actual, finished knitting on this here knitting blog. Here's a flower washcloth made from materials from my most excellent SP!

I haven't blocked it yet, so it's still kind of poofy, but I'm really happy with it. My pores are very much looking forward to a good chenille scrubbing.

Not too hot to shop...

2006-07-05T14:11:00.003-07:00

So I ventured from the condo this weekend, seeking cooler air ("Why is the air conditioner making that grinding noise? Oh, sweet Jesus, don't stop working! Maybe if I turn you off for a couple hours, you'll be happy again.") and wound up at Borders. I originally was there to look for a cookbook on seasonal items from farmer's markets - hope springs eternal that if I overeducate myself about cooking, I'll actually learn how to cook - but, alas, it wasn't available. I headed over to the knitting section, just to look, mind you. And....oh hell, there's the Mason Dixon Knitting book I've been curious about.

Of course I bought it. And, I gotta say, yarn embargo be damned. I've been trying to use up my stash - I mean, really, I already have more books that I can read in a lifetime, must I add more yarn than I can possibly knit? (Yes, there is irony that I'm now buying books about knitting.) But there are so many tempting projects. They share my love of washclothes/dishclothes! And bathmats! And nighties! And robes! And I have been pondering how to make a throw for the couch -and dear God, there's a Noro afghan. I MUST MAKE A NORO AFGHAN.

I've added Ann and Kay's blog to my blogroll on the side and am totally not going to spend the rest of the day reading through the archives. Oh no, not at all.

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

And with the big summer holiday, comes this bulletin: It is hot. It is too hot to knit. This is my first summer as a knitter, and I'll admit it, I'm a big siss.

It's about 6:15 p.m. right now. I have had the air conditioner running full blast in my condo for four days. That's the half of the cooling down equation. The heating up half? I am on the top floor, under a tar roof, with full-sunlight south and west-facing windows. So what does that equal? 82 degrees inside, and a seriously three figure electric bill. I should rent it out as a hot yoga studio.

Back to reality

2006-06-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

After the Seattle trip for work, I went to Chicago for a few days to see some college friends. When I went back into work this morning, I caught up on some reading online - and came across an article that linked to Save the Children's recent report on saving the lives of mothers and newborns. What really struck me was this paragraph:

"It’s tragic that millions of newborns die every year,
especially when these deaths are so easily preventable.
Three out of four newborn deaths could be avoided
with simple, low-cost tools that already exist, such as
antibiotics for pneumonia, sterile blades to cut umbilical
cords, and knit caps to keep babies warm."

Shocking, really. It really gives me more impetus to get it together for the UCLA charity program. Maybe with more practice, I can be quicker - and then I can add some international organizations to my baby knit cap list. In the meantime, I've been reading on a lot of other blogs about Heifer International where you can buy animals - or shares of animals - like sheep or llamas - to give to families in developing countries. I donate lots of used clothes, but I'm pretty shameful when it comes to actually giving out cash. Much like charity knitting Thursdays, I should somehow budget some money each week to save up to give regularly. Traveling the past couple weeks really shows me how fortunate I am - and how fortunate this country is - and it's a reminder that I'm obligated to do more to help those who aren't as lucky.

Pop quiz!

2006-06-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

The most appalling thing about this photograph is:

A) The amount of unused alcohol.

B) The amount of unread books.

C) The amount of unused yard.

D) The mirror that they always made fun of in the first season of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

E) Damn, girl, quit blogging and go back to cleaning!

Don't you hate it when work requires work?

2006-06-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed that I don't blog about my job - as it so happens, I have one of those pesky jobs where it is frowned upon to be all yappy and charming about the goingson of your day. (I am not in the CIA. It would rock if I were in the CIA, and I'd tell you all about it. Which is why I'm not in the CIA.)

Right now I'm on a trip for work. I won't say where...

...and I figured since this place that I'm not saying where I am is rainy, I'd have lots of time indoors to do some knitting. Alas, work has been kicking my butt, and I've been running all over creation work work working, so the only thing I've accomplished is this:

A single petal of the flower washcloth pattern given to me by my kickass secret pal. I would have liked to have the entire washcloth done by the time I arrived back in HelL.A., but it appears that it won't be happening. But isn't that one petal purty?

Loot!

2006-06-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

How cool is my Secret Pal? Check this out:

That's two balls of chenille yarn, a pattern for some really kickass flower washclothes and the dpns to do them with, two greenie (in a good way) chocolate bars, AND! And! two travel books that I'm dying to get into. One is a travels-gone-wrong-hilariously collection edited by Tim Cahill, a favorite of mine from his days at Outside magazine; the other is a sojourn through Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak. All this and a nice note, to boot.

I'm sending off my first package to my secret pal today at lunch - hopefully they will like theirs as much as I like mine!

Ribbed for her irritation

2006-06-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yep, Thursdays are for charity knitting again! I finished the cap to go with the previous week's bootie...and let me tell you, 7 inches of 2x2 ribbing in moderately nasty acrylic? No fun. The successful making of my first pom-pon, however, makes it all worthwhile.

Enjoy the orchid while it lasts, folks!

GOOOALLL!

2006-06-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

Is this:

A) A pre-World Cup homage to the lovely locks of Brazil's Ronaldinho, the world's most joyous, kickass, graceful soccer player?

or

B) The detritus of the sleeves of this increasingly-more-irritating Somewhat Cowl?

Despite my burgeoning obsession with all things World Cup (Hey, 4.7 billion people can't be wrong), I regret to say that the correct answer is B. I finished the sleeve with the errant row of purling (the "design feature" I mentioned below) and it really just looked like crap. It looked like somewhat did a pathetic job of sewing the sleeve and the main body of the sweater together, instead of doing a pathetic job of knitting the sleeve and the main body of the sweater together. So I frogged it, and because this yarn is splitty, it got all fuzzy...so I ditched that section.

So the SC and I are taking a break. It's not that I don't like the Somewhat Cowl pattern - I really do! I envision what I'm going to wear it with, etc., it's just that I'm irritated that I'm in the home stretch and now everything seems to be going awry. The deadline for the Sexy Knitters' KAL has passed - not that I thought I was going to finish it in time, anyway - so now I can really, truly proceed at my own leisure and make sure it's right instead of, uh, unique.

Austenathon

2006-06-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in an attempt to ignore the fact that we live in a city where it was 91 degrees at noon and there are 16 million people and about three living green things, my friend and I had a Jane Austen movie marathon. We watched Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice - all 5 HOURS of it - cowering in my air conditioned condo.

As I knitted away during the seven hours of Jane, I started thinking what life would be like in that era. One of my friends, during a famously frustrated moment in college, declared that what she really wanted to be was in a Jane Austen novel, so she could just "live on an estate and wonder about who loves me all day." Now, there is an appeal to that, don't get me wrong. But then I thought about it, and all the things I think of as an hobby - knitting, reading, going for my daily constitutional in the manor's gardens - errrr, running down the sidewalk on Highland and trying to not get hit - would be things to do to kill time, instead of things I do as a respite from my job. How would that change the psychology of me and knitting? Instead of it being something fun I look forward to, would I get irritated by the tedium of it? In turn, if knitting were my job, would I seek respite elsewhere?

Mighty deep thoughts, yes. Distracting enough that I didn't finish the *$($& charity baby hat I was working on.

Give it to the poor babies!

2006-05-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid and being generally selfish and wasteful (a mood I visit frequently to this day, alas) my dad would say: "If you don't use/take care/appreciate that, I'm going to take it and give it to the poor babies!" So here's a bootie for the poor (cat) babies.

I'll be mailing this off to Rebekah tomorrow. It's 100% cotton, with a "candy bar" of catnip that I got at Petco sewn inside. It's cat tested and approved, obviously.

The origin of this bootie is a great tale of knitter newbieness: I saw on Crazy Aunt Purl this pattern for baby Ugg booties. My friend Lisa was just about to have a baby, so I figured I would knit them up really quick - because all Southern California newborns need Ugg booties, after all. This was before I knew about things like gauge and yarn weights and oh, blends of fibers, etc. I figured I would try to make her blue Ugg booties, since she was having a boy, went to my LYS, bought some 100% cotton skeins...and wound up with the Bootie That Ate Hollywood.

I promptly went back to the pattern and ordered the recommended yarn online. Note the difference:

Cute! Small! Ugg-looking! Three for three! Even though Ugg boots are out, children of my friends will be receiving knit versions for the rest of time!

I had long intended to turn the misbegotten bootie into a cat toy, and now seems as good of a time as ever to give it to the poor kitties!

How cool is this?

2006-05-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

All righty, I'm seemingly on a charity knitting binge. Going through my Bloglines last night, I found a link to Rebekah's blog. She's accepting knitted cat and dog toys to donate to a shelter near her with some really sad, bored animals. Now, I have a bootie (perhaps I'm also going through a bootie binge) that will in no way, shape or form fit a baby, because it's huge enough for a kid that actually can wear shoes. I've long intended to fill it with catnip and give it to the Beast to destroy...but you know, she's just going to have to learn the lesson that there are far, far less fortunate kitties than her out there. (And I'll probably break down and buy her something at PetCo while I'm getting the catnip to stuff the bootie with, anyway. Spoiled.)

Thursdays are for charity knitting

2006-05-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

As promised, I settled down to ease my shame by knitting some UCLASM baby items tonight. And behold, below, is a completed bootie about to be attacked by a cat.

Thankfully, the bootie was saved without further injury.

Finishing this up made me think of another charity knitting item that I completed, but, of course, haven't sent off yet.

This polar weight wool hat was knitted months - MONTHS - ago for Afghans for Afghans. Though the American Friends Service Committee, they send hats and other warm garments to Afghanistan for the winter months. (Quakers, people. I'm letting down the Quakers.) The yarn is Rowan; I picked the color because of the importance of green to the Islamic faith. Anyway, slacking on the simple act of sending out this one is particularly horrendous, notably because it's May. Not exactly the cold season any more in Afghanistan.

My New Year's Resolution this year was to do more charity work; it seems as though I'm all good intentions and very little follow through. So I hereby declare a June renewal of my New Year's Resolution - call it a six-month update - to do charity work and actually FINISH it. Arrrgh.

Yes, I'll be mailing the hat out tomorrow.

Now this qualifies as embarrassing...

2006-05-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

So I got a call on my cell phone the other day from a number I didn't recognize. This usually means it's someone work-related that I don't want to talk to, so I let it go to voicemail. When I checked it hours later...it was from someone at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center wondering where all those baby booties and caps were that I promised to make when I took their yarn lo these many months ago. Ahem.

Thank God I didn't pick that one up, because as y'all have probably surmised, I have not knit one measly stitch on my charity projects. And I don't really have a good excuse for it, except the fact that I've been working on other things instead. ("Here's a placemat in lieu of something to keep your child's head warm. Maybe you can wrap him in it like a burrito?") So I'm going to institute one day a week to knit on only charity items - no Secret Pal projects, no gifts for family, no things for mememe. Just caps and booties, booties and caps.

Of course, I was going to nominate today, Monday, as Charity Day. But I'm going to see a movie tonight with a friend. Maybe Tuesday - oh wait, yoga. Maybe Wednesday - oh wait, Dodgers game. Maybe Thursday...yes, Thursday. Totally. Yes. And I'm not picking up my cell phone between now and then.

Dear sleeves, I hate you. Love, Purldiver

2006-05-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Let's examine this little fiasco, shall we? So I'm merrily plodding along on the Somewhat Cowl - I finished the ribbing at the bottom, and of course I got too eager and bound off a little too early for my height. It's not scandalous or anything, but it's about as long as the blocked corset, so hopefully I can stretch this puppy out another half inch when I block it. That, however, is the least of the problems.

All rarin' to go, I started on the right sleeve. First I used my circs, and quickly came to realize that I was knitting it backwards, so reverse stockinette was coming out. Drat. Frogged to the last raglan increase, and started over. Realization #2: 24 inch circs perhaps aren't the best for knitting sleeves. It was realllllly a stretch getting the stitches around. Like 2 hours of wondering why it was so hard, but figuring that I was holding the needle wrong again, or something. Drat. Frogged again. Switched to dpns, promptly slipped about a third of the stitches in the process, started over.

Now, I've only used dpns once before in knitting the kitty pi. Between then and now, I'd forgetton one important thing about them - hey, it's the same as circs! You don't have to purl to get stockinette! So I do one round knit, one round purl, and start wondering why that purl row is poking out and OH CRAP AM I KNITTING BACKWARDS AGAIN? Well, sorta. But in a different way, if you can imagine the physics of that.

So I've called that random round of purl in there a design feature, and I'll be doing it on the other sleeve, dammit. I'm also calling those dropped, fuzzy, nasty stitches a design feature, as well. Thankfully most of them seem to be under my armpit, so no one will see them unless I get into a compromising position with Kevin Kline's character in A Fish Called Wanda.

Happy Mother's Day!

2006-05-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've returned from the trip to San Diego, and I'm happy to say that the placemats were a big hit. My mom pointed out that they matched both her new tablecloth as well as her dishes, which is something I hadn't even thought of. That's me, interior decorating GEEENIUS. I didn't bring my camera down, so alas, no pictures in their new home.

On to the next major knitting/gifting experiment...Father's Day. Don't want dad to be left out of my fiber fascination. The problem is, Dad's a big guy. 6'7", so knitting anything to wear is, for the time being, out of the question. Maybe if I started now for Christmas. I was considering using the Debbie Bliss Aran Cashmerino to make a pillow, but I keep on reading everywhere that the yarn pills to all hell with any sort of usage. So it would literally be a pill-ow. Which is just so dang clever I might actually have to do it.

Phew!

2006-05-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

With a few days to spare, here are the finished, blocked and rocked Mother's Day placemats. (Maybe now I can tell my parents about this blog. Oh wait, Father's Day is coming up.)

I still haven't weaved in the ends, but since I have days, DAYS, to spare, I'll get around to it soon. It actually sort of matches the ghetto lilacs, actually.

I don't know whether to even call this a pattern since it was so incredibly simple, but just for giggles I'll post it.

Mother's Day Placemats
Using 1 skein Noro Big Kureyon in 07 Neutral, CO 65 on size 10 U.S. needles.
Knit in garter stitch for 12 inches, which uses almost the entire skein.
Bind off. Block to desired dimensions. Repeat for number of desired placemats.

Obviously the yarn is really the star of this pattern - but I think any heavy duty yarn that has the colors you like will do the trick. I've found that I really like variegated yarn for household items - and scarves - and solids for sweaters and tops.

Secret Pal 8 questionnaire

2006-05-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's like a meme that results in gifts! This is the best thing ever!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I really like cotton blends. I'm allergic to wool, even cashmere (sigh) so if there's any wool in it, it needs to be a really low percentage. I don't want the blog to turn into me posting pictures of my hives because that would be gross and pathetic and dang close to a subplot on Grey's Anatomy.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I just bought a Lantern Moon needle holder. It's loverly.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting since December of last year. I'm very much a beginner.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I don't, sorry!

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

Ooh. I particularly like lavender. And rose.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I do indeed, and am a great fan of anything chocolate. I may be something of a yarn snob, but if it has cocoa butter in it, I love it.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

Knitting is actually my only crafty endeavor, unless you count fiction writing. :)

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like what I fondly refer to as arena rock - U2, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen. Bruuuce! I have an iPod and can play MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

I like all colors, but am partial to blue and green. And red. And purple. Jewel tones, actually.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I have a lovely and charming long-term boyfriend (5 years +) and an obese psychotic cat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I live in L.A., so all my scarves and hats are of the very wispy, more fashion than function type. I have one pair of mittens I bust out for snowboarding. I prefer shawls to ponchos, just because I'm tall and ponchos wind up looking like napkins on me.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I like items that challenge me - which isn't too hard since I'm such a newbie. I really like the corset I did.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Two things: the Somewhat Cowl KAL for the Sexy Knitter's Club, and a drop stitch scarf that I'm playing with.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

I profoundly appreciate the beauty, time and effort that goes into handmade gifts.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I prefer circular needles, and I've used bamboo ones and Addi turbos. I can't really tell the difference between Addi's and other kinds of needles, but maybe my knitting form needs, uh, a turbo.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Neither!

17. How did you learn to knit?

My two-can Jan drunken friend slurred her love of knitting to me, and I thought "If she can do it, I can do it." I picked up the Knitting for Dummies kit with needles, stitch markers and a stitch counter at Michael's the next day.

18. How old is your oldest UFO?

At this point, it would be the Somewhat Cowl...so about a month.

19. What is your favorite holiday?

Easter. Food, chocolate, spring, cuteness...what's not to love?

20. Is there anything that you collect?

Books. Mounds and mounds of books. I have hundreds, and it may be actually more like a thousand. I'm a big reader, I come from a family of big readers, and we should really just join together and open our own library for the public. I'll read anything, although I'm going through a non-fiction travel book phase right now, with Frances Mayes' A Year in the World.

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I'd love the Mason Dixon gals knitting book, and one the One Skein book. I also have something of a crazy notion to knit a throw for the couch, but have no idea on how to proceed with something so big, in terms of pattern or yarn. Chenille? Something with serious acrylic to clean off the cat barf? I don't know.

I don't have any subscriptions to knitting mags, but I've picked up and enjoyed Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I'd like to learn how to crochet, actually - just for finishing items. And I should probably try Continental to see if that's easier for me, but the directions always make my head spin.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I'm not, because I actually don't wear socks that much. (Los Angeles, again.) (Great, now you're envisioning me like some Don Johnson in Miami Vice barefoot loafer wearing freak. Sadly, it's not that far off.) Another reason is that I have gigantor feet - size 10.5 ladies, and very narrow AA. Surfboards, I tell ya.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
9/25

Knitting TiVo

2006-05-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

Boop-boop, boop-boop! Let's pause on this:

(Side note: Yay, it's lilac season! Absolutely my favorite flower.)

And continue playing this:

That's placemat four of four for Mother's Day. We did a lot of driving this weekend up to race cars in Atwater, which is located between Merced and Modesto. It's about 5 hours away, so that's ten hours of knitting time total to get placemat three and half of this final one done. Of course, that was knitting interspersed with napping, eating, and cracking up while listening to Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country on audiobook.

Secret Pal 8

2006-04-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Yep, I've done it - I've signed up for Secret Pal 8 and I'm actually quite excited about it. When I was a little girl, I used to always sign up for pen pals, and I kind of see this as an extension of that kind of fun. I like getting stuff in the mail! I think we should all go back to Jane Austen days when we wrote letters to one another and left calling cards at each other's estates. Instead I get spam for all sorts of weird crap. So unrefined!

Lucy!!!

2006-04-23T15:24:00.001-07:00

Remember in the sitcoms of old, when the wife would go out and blow too much money on something (inevitably shoes, hats or long gloves) and she would come back and get crabbed at by her husband, and her only response was: "But Riiicky, it was on sale!"

Um. It was on sale. All of it! (Not that my boyfriend would ever crab at me for spending money on knitting, because God knows his hobby is racing cars, and what I just spent wouldn't cover the cost of a new cupholder.) A Mano Yarn Center is having a 10-40% sale this week. The store opened at 12, and I thought I was a big ol' knitting nerd for getting there at about 12:20...but the line was already out the door. Gentlemen, if you were looking to meet lovely ladies, the place to be was on Venice Blvd. today. (I mean IN a yarn store on Venice Blvd. Not actually on Venice Blvd. Because those ladies are not lovely at all.)

So here's the damage. I'm still formulating projects for some of them, which will be revealed in due time. This blog's gotta have some suspense, after all.

Here's a Lantern Moon needleholder I've been lusting after for a while:

Apparently I am now a sock yarn buyer, if not a sock knitter per se. Yes, this confuses me, as well. It's Sockotta from the Plymouth Italian Collection, a cotton, wool and nylon combo that's machine washable.

Here's a scarf-of-some-ilk-to-be-determined for my father for some holiday. He's a big guy, so this is six skeins of Elsebeth Lavold's Angora in Oats. A manly color, I hope.

Since I only got two of this Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, I will pose them with the flower so they are not lonely.

And was there anything that screamed "ME! ME! ME! MEEEE! ME!" But of course. Here's Noro's Aurora, which. I. Love. Love. Love. Love. Shawl? Kickass scarf? To be determined.

Cowlifornia Dreamin'

2006-04-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've frequently said that after I get done working and family obligations, I only have time to do two of the following four things: knit/read, go to the gym, hang out with my friends, or clean the house.

Let's just say I've been going to the gym and hanging out with my friends:

A whole three weeks into the Sexy Knitters' Somewhat Cowl KAL, I've done a whopping six inches of the raglan, out of the 10 inches that you should have done before you join it in the round. Part of this is due the rising panic from the Mother's Day placemats (two down, two to go.)

I really do like the color and I think it will be the perfect cutie thing to wear with a denim skirt when I'm done. In Summer 2008.

Time trials

2006-04-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Before the pestilence set in last weekend, we were in Long Beach for the grand prix and to see some friends. One of them started knitting around the same time I did, and she's on a roll - she's made a skirt, a complicated hat, cute wristbands and about a million other things. I've made....uh, a corset and a kitty pi. And some sad hats. And a laugh-inducing scarf. I think one of the reasons is because I'm a slow knitter.

Now, I learned how to knit from a book, and I know my form is sketchy. It occurs to me that maybe my yarn hold is what's slowing me down. Well....that and my general ADD. I knit a row - I do the dishes. I knit a row - I put laundry in the washer. I knit while I watch Lost, and lose time staring and being slack-jawed the entire time Sawyer is on the screen. I knit while I read, and screw up a row and have to go back.

So in the spirit of those Cheaper By the Dozen family/efficiency books I read when I was an only child and a budding anal retentive freak - I'm going to time myself knitting under various conditions. Armed with my handy timer for jogging (might as well use it for knitting, because the jogging hasn't happened recently) I'll see how long it takes me to do one row of garter stitch on the Mother's Day placemats. I've CO 65 stitches in the Big Kureyon on size 10 straight needles for this.

Round #1
The Setup: No TV, no book, sketchy hold
Here's a photo of the sketchy hold (you do not even want to know how I balanced the camera to get this picture):

The Result: 3 minutes 20 seconds.
The Analysis: I know it looks like I have to pick up the yarn every time, but really, I don't. I just hold it continuously and whip it around. Perhaps I'll figure out a way to grade on flair, instead of efficiency.

Round #2
The Setup: No TV, no book, loopy hold.
This is a modified hold of what's in one of the Stitch N' Bitch books:

The Result: 3 minutes 28 seconds
The Analysis: I think it's comfortable, with a couple loops around my pinky and a couple around my index finger, and the tension is nice, but sometimes I have difficulty feeding the yarn through. It also tends to bunch up on the right needle, so I had to spend time moving the stitches down in order to keep going. I generally alternate between my sketchy hold and this one, so the time differential isn't because I'm inexperienced at it...unlike the next item on our menu...

Round #3
The Setup: No TV, no book, Long Beach Crew hold.
This is what my fellow newbie FloJo knitter friend uses.

The Result: 3 minutes 49 seconds.
The Analysis: Oddly, this felt the fastest of the three. Maybe with more practice, it will actually be faster - this was literally the first row I'd ever done using it. I might modify it to have it wrap around my pink as well - there was a moment with this when it seemed like I was accidentally about to knit the tail in twice. Yikes.

And the winner is...the sketchy hold. Go figure. But this wasn't my typical knitting conditions. Using that hold, let's move on to Round 4.

Round #4 - This time, with distractions!
The Setup: The Daily Show (special guest Sharon Stone), sketchy hold

Sorry about the flash, sigh.
The Result: 3 minutes, 7 seconds. Boo-yah! And that was with me distracted by Jon Stewart crank calling Lou Dobbs.
The Analysis: I am a perpetual multitasker, so knitting and watching TV comes very easily to me. And, apparently, knitting, watching TV, and cleaning the house between rows. But now is not the time for cleaning. Now is the time for making a mockery of the scientific process.

Round #5 - OK, now let's go with something boring:
The Setup: Capital News Today on CSPAN 2 - not even regular CSPAN, people - sketchy hold.

Again, the flash, not a UFO.
The Result: 3 minutes, 7 seconds.
The Analysis: Oh thank God. Because, seriously? If had to watch this shit on CSPAN while I knit, I'd stop knitting. I think it was something about mutual funds. Interesting, however, that even horrible TV is faster than no TV. Maybe I'm just warmed up.

Which brings us to Round #6 - Information overload

Woo! Flashdance!
The Setup: The Daily Show, heavy reading - The New Yorker article on Episcopalians and their controversy over a gay bishop, sketchy hold.
The Result: 3 minutes, 21 seconds.
The Analysis: So let me get this straight - I can knit, be enriched by The Daily Show and read The New Yorker at the same time and knit basically as fast as in utter silence? This does my Type A soul much, much good.

Round #7
The Setup: The Daily Show, light reading - Food & Wine's article about Bobby Flay eating in Savannah, sketchy hold.
The Result: 3 minutes, 36 seconds.
The Analysis: Aha! Too good to be true. This was the time I jacked up a stitch and had to pause and figure out what I'd done. And I became barfingly irritated by lines in the story like: "Flay, in Prada shades and a leather jacket, and March, in a Severyn tee over Seven jeans, looked every bit the red-carpet couple; as they approached, the throng of tourists fairly parted for them." Um, yuck. It also took time when I had to flip the magazine to keep reading. So, in summation - The Daily Show and gay bishops? Not distracting. The Daily Show and Bobby Flay making me roll my eyes? Difficult.

And, finally, Round #8 - Countdown
The Setup: I have a job that requires me to constantly be on deadlines; I work well under that kind of pressure. Let's go backwards by setting a timer for 6 minutes - allegedly about the time it takes me to do two rows - and see if I can beat it.
T minus 6 minutes and for pure competitive conditions - no TV, no books.
The Result: One row and 51 stitches; with 65 stitches per row, it's pretty much dead on a 3 minute and change rate per row.
The Analysis: There was some minor interruptions in the form of cat disciplinary action.

I only hide at the end of the hall when I've been good.
And, finally, the flash works in my artistic favor.

So what conclusion can we draw from this Nobel-caliber experiment? Uhhh...In order to knit faster, it appears as though I should simply knit more with the hold that I once considered sketchy. And have Jon Stewart and The New Yorker handy. Ain't this a great hobby?

Sicktacular

2006-04-11T17:15:00.001-07:00

The good thing about being sick, I suppose, is the ability to catch up on all your Internet reading. The new Knitty is up, and I really, really love this:

It's the Nagano Sakura. I love Japan, I love cherry blossoms, and I love this scarf. I have vowed not to buy any more yarn until my next 4,934,778 projects are done (literally, the placemats for my mom, the Sexy Knitters KAL and something for my dad for father's day to be determined) but after all those, honestly, this is next on the list.

I also loved the article on the history of knitting. I had no idea the Victoria and Albert Museum in London has such an extensive knitting exhibit. I didn't have a chance to go there when I was in London in 2000, but it's nice to have another thing to add to my list of reasons to go back.

This post makes it sound like I'm getting a bad case of wanderlust. Hmmm...vacation time. In the short term, I may venture out to Target tonight for more sicky supplies. The real world! It's going to be exciting!

Snot knitting.

2006-04-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

No, that is not some clever Cole Porter play on words. I am sick with a head cold, therefore I am not knitting. I know for many this would be prime knitting time, but I just think of my grody hands that have just been wrapped around a grody kleenex suddenly holding yarn...which would then be grody. I think of all the cat hair embedded into the things I've knit, and then I think of all the germs that could be embedded into the knitting. Ewwww.

Not so simple, after all

2006-04-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

So a couple of posts ago, I cavalierly talked about the placemats I'm making for Mother's Day, a simple rectangle in garter stitch, to be felted upon completion. What could be so hard about that? Ha, oh, the gods have smited me.

Here's placemat number one:

It's a little small - and that's a whole skein of Big Kureyon. AT $18.75 A POP. So to get four placemats, that's four skeins. Suddenly, my mother will be the owner of the world's most expensive placemats, which I will not allow her to eat on. A pity, really.

The size also kind of rules out felting, because I'm pretty sure it's going to shrink to smaller than the silverware. I can block it to even out the edges, at least.

So here I am, using the ghetto ball roller I read about on Carrieoke's blog for skein number two of four of this "little" project. The laundry basket works quite well, actually.

Note the cat is not looking at the teeny ball of yarn, but instead at the tuft of her fur on the floor nearby. Because housekeeping is a BIG priority here.

U! C! LLLLL! A!

2006-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

My, isn't this a harmonious event? My fake alma mater (OK, I've taken a night class there) just happens to be playing for the NCAA basketball championship right after I pick up the yarn to volunteer knit caps and booties for the newborns at UCLA-Santa Monica hospital. Coincidence? I think not.

The yarn is actually quite cute - it's Lion Brand's Jamie Baby acrylic. Yes, I figure acrylic is OK, since babies are, uh, messy. I especially like the "Circus" color that's mostly white with some great bright colors mixed in. I can mix and match the blue, pink and white however I want, but maybe a baby cap isn't the best place to make the statement that it's OK to have some gender ambiguity. Right? Right.

The pattern is actually kind of complicated, with ribbing and seaming and a pon-pom, oh my! It calls for seaming, but I think I'm going to try to figure out a way to knit in the round. This is a recipe for tears, isn't it?

P.S. UCLA's already down 15-8.

Corset: A study in albino.

2006-03-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

The second blocking worked! The very pale headless model above is me, in my first knitted thing that I'll actually be able to wear. Those are pretty low-rise jeans I'm sporting there - with almost any other piece of clothing you wouldn't see as much (pale) belly. I'm really pretty happy with it; there's an odd row in the back where it gapes a little (and a touch of albino shows through) and obviously I was drunk when I put that second from the top button on. But that's easily fixed.

The yarn I used was 3.5 skeins of Noro Lily in Grey to make the XXS. (Note: I am not a small girl. However, my mass takes the form of vertical instead of horizontal, so my sizes read small. Trust me, I added some to the length of this while knitting and in retrospect, I probably should have done the XS size to avoid the insane blocking that had to take place.) It's 70% cotton and 30% silk - and boy, did it withstand a beating. One of the balls got tangled into the snarl from hell that I spent an entire afternoon undoing, and then when I started knitting this I ripped out the beginning about eleventeen times. The yarn withstood everything without any ill effects. I am impressed.

I'm trying to get over my shyness in sending this to the pattern designer, Annie Modesitt, because I know she keeps a gallery of photos of completed work. I'm not so much afraid that she'll nitpick (knitpick?) my errors - because from my blogstalking I can tell she's very nice - but because I'm afraid she's going to take one look at this and think: "My God. That woman is so pale. She must have knitted this from PRISON."

Blocking: Once more, with feeling.

2006-03-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

So I put on the buttons on the corset and tried it on...and it gaped. So I seamed up one side down the flat by the buttons, and it gaped. So I seamed up the other side of the flat...and it gaped, except in smaller teeny gapes. And there are not pictures of any of this, because even with the teeny gapes it's kinda pornographic.

This is when it dawned on me that perhaps the whole shebang should be blocked again. (Admit that knitting a 32 bust for my 33 bust was too small? No, never!) So here it is, blocking part two, with some added length, and, hopefully circumference. And some ugly temporary water marks.

Gone Luna-y!

2006-03-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Sure, I could finish my corset. I finally bought the needles and thread and am good to go...but I have a case of finish-itis.

Instead, I'm prepping for the Sexy Knitters Club's next KAL, which starts April 1: The Somewhat Cowl. I really like the neckline and the fact that it's knit from the top down. I'm (obviously) a little hesitant about seaming and such since I think that's where my knitter newbieness will really shine through. Knitting you can rip out again and again - seaming just seems scary without that degree of leeway.

In case you can't tell from my cheerleader pyramid o'yarn below, what I'm using for it is Luna's Endless Summer Collection in Burnished Clay. It's a mix of cotton and viscose because - and here's a confession - I'm allergic to wool. Nice for a knitter, eh? I find I can knit with it (so far), but wearing it (even cashmere, sigh) can make me break out in hives. Charming.

So far, so good.

2006-03-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

So I removed the pins from the non-mildewy corset right now, and damn that blocking works. It will fit fine, both in, uh, diameter and length. I'm tall and skinny so usually one is too loose and the other is too short. I'll let you guess which dimension is which.

I weaved in the ends and had the frustrating realization that the damn tapestry needle I have won't fit through the buttons I'm using. Grrr. I'm going to have to chase down an appropriate size needle and thread (and, of course, I can't find the ones I already have around the house.)

I really learned so much from this project - the first non-scarf, non-hat, non-kitty pi one I've done. I was so, so intimidated when I first bought the pattern; I figured it would take me months to finish it. (Well, it did take months - but two months instead of, like eight.) And that was with my general knitting ADD, and flitting from one project to the next.

There are some mistakes in it - a few instances of the lace are wider than I'd like - helllo skin - and the ribbing doesn't always track in the back, but it's nothing that's going to get me arrested when I wear it out. It's just so cool that I will be able to wear it out in the first place and not look like a crazy lady that I can hardly believe it!

A corset is a corset, of course of course

2006-03-23T22:12:00.000-08:00

So I don't know whether to feel exhilarated or very, very wary at this point of the corset saga. The knitting is all done:

(Forgive the psychedelic nature of the picture - I didn't quite realize that ribbing on the guest bed sheets would look so insane.)

And then I blocked it with my cute little multicolored dress pins that a bought at Michaels...and then I used the spray bottle to dampen it. Except the spray bottle is more of a squirt gun, and while the whole thing is certainly damp, there are areas that got a more direct hit.

I ask you. It looks like graffiti. (Yes, that's a Nigella Lawson cookbook in the upper right corner. Yes, I keep cookbooks on the bed in the guest room while I'm spraying water all over the place. No, I am not a very good cook.)

It also occurs to me that the guest room is dark, and rather musty and the home to probably 4,587 kinds of bugs I am reluctant to actually face in the light of day. This is becoming less blocking and more of a bacterial experiment. I think tomorrow I'm going to bust out the hair dryer to prevent mildew.

The cat's out of the bag.

2006-03-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

The WIP bag, that is...

Volunteering...or an excuse to shop?

2006-03-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I went to the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center (where Britney had her baby, y'all) to attend volunteer training. I've signed up for their Knitters for Newborns program, which knits hats and booties for the babies born in the very large maternity ward there-something like 2000 babies are born a year there - four a day! Despite the Britney birth, apparently there are a large number of low-income and uninsured families that go there - I figure that if I can give one of their kids a warm noggin it makes the world a better place.

The training session, however, was for all types of hospital volunteers, not just the knitters. As a result, I sat through two and a half hours of information about TB tests and background checks and how to operate a wheelchair. Not entirely germane, but interesting nonetheless - always back a person in a wheelchair into an elevator, because if you push them in the front way the wheels may get stuck between the doors and you'll send them whumping to the ground.

The hospital provides yarn and the pattern, but the volunteer coordinators are only there Monday through Friday from 9-5, so at some point I'll have to go over there during my lunch and pick up the goods.

Conveniently, SMUCLA is located very close to Wildfiber, the mother of all LYS on 14th street. Seriously, I walked into the place and started hyperventilating. It's like the Internet - IN A STORE. Go figure. I bought some buttons for the Silk Corset - I have only like 25 rows left, I can hardly believe it - and a "project bag" to tote around my WIP in. Is it necessary? No. Is it cute? Hell yah! I'll post pictures when Blogger stops misbehaving horribly.

Felted food

2006-03-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Well, based on the tremendous success of my first felted item (and a tawdry post-10 p.m. eBay affair that I keep having) I've started on my very first self-designed project...if you consider doing rectangles in garter stitch a design.

Behold:

That's Noro's Big Kureyon in 07, Natural, and that's about 10 rows of my first of four felted placemats. My mom, who has something of a Southwest-meets-Danish Modern theme going in the house, will be getting them for Mother's Day. I'm taking for granted that everyone in my family isn't a messy eater, and therefore there won't be too much soup dribble on them.

Yes! Yessss!!!!

2006-03-14T18:08:00.000-08:00

Eat the pi, dammit.

2006-03-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not above flagrant bribery to get the cat to use the Kitty Pi. So far, she seems more wary of it than anything - but hopefully some Purina will change her mind. If nothing else, she has one damn snazzy food bowl. (Maybe this was what it was destined to be, since it was blocked around a roasting pan? You can hardly tell now that it's oblong, actually.)

So here's my specs on the Kitty Pi...uh, plate:

Main color: Patons Classic Wool Merino in Denim Marl. I used about 1.5 skeins.
Fun fur: Bernat Disco in Boogie Blue (or, as it says in French on the label - Bleu Boogie.)
I knitted it on size 11 dpns, changing to circs when it got big enough.

I must say, despite the cat's apparent distaste for it (Eat it! Eat it! Eat the kitty pi!) I had a lot of fun knitting this. I've only been knitting since December and I conquered the dpns fear on this project, as well as using fun fur for the first time. (Don't worry, I'm not going to suddenly only knit muppets. But it was amusing to see what all the love/hate about the tinsel was about.)

It was also nice to have a zone-out-in-front-of-the-TV garter stitch project to contrast with my "Where the hell am I in the chart again?" corset that I'm also working on. Sometimes a girl wants to pay attention, and sometimes she wants to be a knitting zombie.

Felts so good

2006-03-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Well, lookie there. That's my first, official, honest-to-God-actually-came-out-right attempt at felting. (I tried to felt a hat before with Noro Silk Garden, and it didn't quite work the way I wanted it to.) I kind of squealed with joy when I peeked into the pillowcase in the washer - it was so matted and shrunken! Hurrah!

Next time I think I'll have to come up with a better transport plan - I live in a 100+ unit condo complex, so I was doing this in our communal laundry room. Which isn't a problem in and of itself, but carrying the sopping wet kitty pi and pillowcase back up the elevator, dripping the entire way, may raise some eyebrows among the biddies of the complex. (Kisses, homeowners' association. Love you!)

In any case, I'm happy with the results so far. We'll see what the oblong kitty pi winds up looking like once it's dry.

My, my Miss Kitty Pi

2006-03-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

So after knitting around and around (and around) the kitty pi is done, albeit unfelted and unblocked.

I am very willing to admit at this point it looks like a post-nuclear apocalypse mutated smurf hat, but I'm hoping that will be a little bit different after I throw it in the wash. I've only felted one thing before to semi-success, but I'm hopeful that this time...hey, wait a minute...

Just wait one minute! Don't start eating the fun fur and get sick already, beast! So it appears it meets with Boo's early approval. I've been scouring my house looking for circular items to block it around...and I've decided that I don't own any. This does not bode well for my pie-making or pie-transporting ability.

Instead I'm going for something daring: The oblong kitty pi. (I'm sure there is some math term for this, but I have no idea. The kitty parabola, perhaps?)

Oscar night!

2006-03-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

Hey Russell, maybe if you knit more and threw phones less, you would have snagged a nom for Cinderella Man...

In the meantime, head on over to Knit and Plenty to vote for her Oscar picks. I'm for Berocco Mountain, all the way.

LYS: Edna Hart Boutique & Knittery

2006-03-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

In my neverending tour of LYS in Los Angeles, today Jen and I went to Edna Hart's in Silver Lake. It's a sweet place on Rowena with cute gifts and bags as well as knitting equipment. Edna was superfriendly, and I didn't feel like a dork at all of pulling my lumpy mess of a Kitty Pi out of my purse and being like: "Look! Look at this monstrosity!" (And it's still not big enough for the rotund cat, yet.) It's funny how much I feel like a knitting refugee, even though I know a ton of people knit in L.A. The second I saw someone knitting behind the counter at Edna's, I felt like doing a secret nerdy handshake, or something. Crossing needles, maybe, while yelling "wonder twin powers, activate!" I need to get out more. (Amusing side note - we also stopped by the witchcraft store in the neighborhood and got our tarot cards read. The first thing she said to me was: "So, I'm getting a lot of hermit energy from these." Uhhhh....yeah.)

Anyway, Edna offers a ton of classes, and it's such a welcoming place - and I'm such a newbie knitter - that I know when something goes horribly awry that I just can't fix that I'll go back there. I just noticed on her blog that she did two projects for the Knitting Olympics. Barf.

I actually refrained from buying any yarn, which is a minor miracle - but really, look at all those WIPs on the margin there. And I'm the world's slowest knitter, so really - those should last me for the next couple of months at least. I read on the Corset Yahoo group that someone knit theirs in a WEEK, and I just started screaming. I've been working on it for at least a month, and I'm halfway done.

I did pick up the Spring 2006 and smuggled it out of there like the yarn porn it is. Haven't had a chance to look at it yet, though...

Sniff...wanna be like the cool kids!

2006-03-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

Since I spend more time reading knitting blogs than knitting at this point, I figure it's about time for me to start one of my own. Bear with me for the next couple days as I figure this puppy out!