Bleh!

Today's tree picture looks like crap. I thought for sure I had the macro setting on, but it sure doesn't look like it, does it? I'm not even going to upload this one to Flickr. What a drag.

THIS SUNDAY I'm going to be kinda recruiting for my church knitting group. That's great. But I don't know how I'll even LAST till then. I got home from work today and just felt exhausted in every way. And there are four more days of this to go, plus they're talking about possibly having work on Saturday, ick, but it's only optional. However, I have to be at church after all three services, and it looks as though we'll be having company this weekend. The whole thing makes me want to take a Very Long Nap (like until June).

Grow, little tree, grow.

The tree stretches out to soak up all the sunlight it can. It would be awesome if I could photosynthesize too. Of course, I already don't spend enough time outdoors. Perhaps I need to go for a walk?

it's nice having a camera

The Chinese Pistache in the front yard has been growing a lot and I thought it would be fun to take a photo every day and see its progress. I've focused on one particular branch. Yesterday:


Today:


In knitting news, I've finally gotten a pic of my Picovoli in its finished state. Not a GREAT picture, taken in the computer room with indoor light and stuff, but whatever.



And one final thing, a treat. Banzai went into the closet in the computer room (the only walk-in closet upstairs, and ironically the one that is NOT attached to somebody's bedroom) and seemed to be pursuing something. I watched him put a paw in the wire drawer where some of my fabric is stored, and then proceed to put the rest of himself in too.

Yawwwwwn.

I love pictures of cats yawning or otherwise engaged in having their mouths open. This is Timmy, on Rachel's bed.
I made myself a shirt, Picovoli, but I haven't taken any pictures of it since I finished it. I do have one from when I was working on it and hadn't decided how much longer to make it:

I like it, and it fits well. I used size 5 needles and four skeins of Lion Brand Microspun for it, which feels really nice but tends toward splittiness while knitting. It's also 100% acrylic, so it's not the BEST for garments, but whatever. It reduced my stash.
This is a top I may well make again.
Rachel and I both have gotten new assignments at Pearson (used to be Harcourt), so that's good. It's not a job I've been pining after or anything, but it'll be money, and we'll be working together (ish). We start Wednesday--THIS Wednesday--so that makes me wonder whether they were, you know, planning to get some scorers? Was it a case of divine Providence for them that we called? What a mystery!

Oh noes.

I. Am. Terrified. My church is big on --nay, obsessed with--small groups. I support the general idea of getting people connected to one another, because in my brain I know how much we need other people. In practice, however, I like to hide away from humans. I feel like I've failed if I get stuck having to talk to people other than my cats. I usually wear non-descript clothing to avoid drawing attention to myself. My result from the little character-creation personality test at the start of "Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines" gave me Nosferatu. They talk about what a horrible curse that is, what with the hideously disfigured visage and all, but to me, high stealth + the obfuscate discipline? Dream come true.
Anyway, at my church, in addition to the home groups or whatever they're called where people get together every week to talk about stuff, there are "activity groups" which involve getting together to do stuff. There is a "sportsmen" group which involves murdering animals, and a scrapbooking group, which appeals to me about as much. Scrapbooking is, in my opinion, the most useless craft. I thought to myself, "Oh, if only there were a knitting group, I might actually go to that." I made the mistake of thinking this out loud, and one thing led to another.
And so it has come to pass that I will be starting a knitting group with my church. Probably not meeting at my church, and most definitely not meeting at my house, because I think neutral locations are best. I want people to be able to wander away if they think it sucks. It wouldn't hurt my feelings. I guess the point is, I don't want to do this at all. But I kinda know it'll be good in the long run? Ugh.
And double ugh.

In other news entirely, I've gotten very nearly to the end of Picovoli (here for anyone not on Ravelry). I had to start twice but, on the second time it's going great. I fought against this idea of negative ease, but it's gonna be okay, I think. I'm using Microspun in red because I have it. If I love it as much as I suspect I might, I'll probably end up making it again in different (better) yarn. Microspun, being acrylic, isn't ideal for the hot weather we can count on for half the year here. I've got some other things I've been working on, and I still haven't fulled my Market Squares bag... but I HAVE been knitting and AM still alive (yay?).

THAT IS ALL.

Cutie

It's been really hard lately to do much of anything.
My Cutie, best friend of almost 20 years, has gone. He isn't suffering anymore, and for that I am glad, but I am utterly distraught. He was the most gentle and loving cat in the world, and he admirably tolerated such things as my childhood, a mother who chewed off his whiskers, and having to get shots in his eyes. There were many times when we thought the end was close, but he pulled through and outlived any of our expectations.



I think it was about three years ago that Rachel was home alone with him (Mom and Dad were visiting family, and I was in Austin taking a summer class), when he took a very bad turn and she took him to the vet to be told that he had a tumor, and wouldn't last long, so she should take him home and spoil him. At his age, he had little chance of surviving cancer treatment and even if he did, his quality of life would greatly decrease. It wasn't worth it. So we spoiled him, and he stuck around for it longer than we thought he would. Every day with him was a gift.

I've finished the knitting on my Market Squares bag, and that seems like such a worthless accomplishment.
But I think it's good, in my grieving, to keep on doing productive things instead of hiding under my covers all day and wishing I were dead too, so I'm trying.

Bummer and WIP

I finally got my Winter issue of Interweave Knits...


So I wrote them an e-mail as per the instructions on the website. They must be sick of hearing from me about this damned issue. Oh well! It's not really my problem!


At least the Market Squares Bag, which I started yesterday, is progressing nicely.

Banzai is inspecting my work. It's his job. I love the colors I've got, and I'm doing the tiers in a different color sequence because the final color (an off-white not seen in this photo) wasn't added to the project until after I'd started on that beige there and the two next to eachother lacked contrast and that just wouldn't work. And don't worry, according to somebody on Ravelry (I forget who), even the off-white color of this yarn felts. Huzzah.
This is such a learning project for me. Hem, entrelac, felting. And I'm finding that wool is really a pleasant yarn to work with.

Some knitting, but mostly cats

KNITTING

I finished another string bag and it has already been put to that most noble purpose of carrying a yarn store purchase, since we ate lunch at India Oven today and were so close that we had to go to Yarnivore. I spent $40. I am weak. But from that I should get a bag, some socks, and some playing, so it's not TOO bad, right...?

CATS

Cutie, now 19.5 years old, has been climbing the stairs mom made him to get up onto her bed to enjoy the sun that comes through the window and warms it. I love pictures of Cutie sleeping. He looks so peaceful and his back paws are crossed.


This cat below lives in our neighborhood and likes to hang around our yard. I guess she's probably about a year old or so.

string bags

I've been knitting some shopping bags lately, for my own personal use, and of stash I've had lying around. The blue/green/yellow one has gone to my mom, though, when she commented that shopping bags were "really a good idea". These are both of my own design, and very simple. The ecru-colored one is some twine I picked up at the UT co-op, and is done in crochet only. The colorful one, with knitted body and crochet top and bottom, is Sugar'n Cream in "Summer Splash" that I bought a ton of way back when I started to knit because the colors so charmed me. I still feel just as fond of it because it's so cheery.

Every time I take a step, I feel like it's not enough. So I'm trying to remember that no matter how small, a step is a step. And I think that maybe the next step is to try and get everyone I know to use reusable shopping bags. I figure that, with any luck, I could even sell them at like $5 each? I don't know.

Haha, I didn't do any Christmas knitting this year.

I've been knitting the Nomad Hat and Scarf from Interweave Knits Fall 07 issue, which is still the last one I've gotten (Yeah, I could whine about it but my head hurts too much for shrill noises). Instead of the called-for yarn, I'm using Bernat Alpaca because it was cheap on sale. It's soft, I seem to not be allergic to alpaca (score!!!!) and it being a blend (with acrylic) rather than bulky-weight 100% alpaca yarn means I won't be too overheated if I try to wear it, since after all, I live in south Texas. It almost never gets freezing.
This yarn sheds. The photographic evidence shows the yarn's hairs all over my knee. But I really don't mind that much, because it really reminds me of Pooh this way. She was a prolific shedder, and her hairs were similarly greyish white.
Oh, I've made myself sad.

Changing the subject then! I keep forgetting to take a GOOD picture of my laburnum socks, but this will just have to do! I knit them from Panda Cotton in Red Cinnamon, using two balls, toe-up on 2 circular needles, size 1. I used the instructions from Sensational Knitted Socks, except that I used a Turkish cast-on. They bias a bit because of the stitch pattern, but they're comfy and I like the bright colors. They look great with my red Birkenstocks.

Two examples of "Cozy"

Timothy has found my pillow to be juuuust the right size for himself. It's the kind that has an indentation in the middle, and is good for supporting my neck while I sleep, but Timmy discovered its secret other purpose of cat bed. Such a clever boy.
Oh yeah, and remember how I sometimes knit? Well, I've actually got a FO to show, but it's tiny.

My favorite lip-balm, Burt's Bees, had become lost! I was pretty distraught and for a week or so went around with dry lips. My Mom, my hero, bought me a new tube and I vowed to never lose it again, so I made a cozy. Not much later the old tube showed up, but oh well. I used a minuscule amount of Sugar 'n Cream in countryside ombre, and US size six needles. I saw it as an opportunity to play with double-knitting, and I really like the way the yarn makes stripes when I used so few stitches. Now it's attached to my keychain so I can't leave home without it.

Eventually, I'll post photos of my brand new socks! Won't that be nice?

Stripey wrist-warmers

I did not knit these. All I did was cut the holey parts (the feet) off some knee-socks and then make a ruffly edge with the sewing machine. But they're cute anyway, and I like that this photo includes my Banzai inspecting my work.

I suck at titling my posts

Pat's hat has been finished and given to its recipient. If I'd been thinking this morning I'd have brought my camera with me to church to get a picture of the hat on its owner, but I have been feeling dreadful. I'd had this headache for probably 34 hours?
Anyway. I've since embarked on a new project, and photographed the (mid-blocking) swatch: As usual, my photography kinda sucks hard, but I really like this lace pattern and am going to use it on a stole for myself. Though the swatch is in color #80 (ivory), I'll do the stole in #59 (orange) and it will be great. The pattern is Vine Lace from Barbara G. Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns (the first) and is so easy I feel like I'm cheating.

Third time's the charm, eh Vin?

Okay, well. Pat, a woman who goes to my church and loves Newsboy-style hats (I can't blame her!) has asked me to make her the "Headline News" cap from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, in "fire-engine red". I asked what kind of yarn she wanted it out of and she requested acrylic since it's washable.
Monday I went to Yarnivore to get some orange yarn to knit a something to go with my new Earth-mother dress that I love (I got Plymouth Royal Bamboo for that btw) and while there I asked Melanie for help finding a really bright red acrylic. She produced Dark Horse Yarns "Fantasy" and I squeezed the skein. It does not feel acrylic. So I checked the label--aha! It's 50% nylon. Nylon is my guilty pleasure fiber. It's made of coal, so it's not exactly eco-friendly, but it feels as soft as bunnies.
So anyway I've been knitting this dang hat all week, because I'm just incompetent. I didn't like the gap between the last knit stitch and the first purl stitch on my wide ribs so I went down a needle size, which required me to use a different number of stitches and I had a headache. Then I decided to omit the first of two purl stitches at each occurrence then pick up the missing stitch near the end, which worked but it all got cruddy after that as the really loose top stitches didn't match the neat tight stitches below. And so now I've finally decided to just do it as written and hope that some blocking will miraculously make it not so bad (Don't spoil my fantasy). Only now I've lost my cable needle.
Sigh.
So I'm giving cabling without a needle a try, as learned from Grumperina's tutorial here. I've done one round of them, and it looks kiiiiinda messy, but I guess that'll just happen when using worsted weight yarn on 6.5mm needles?

Bamboo socks, yum.

I finished these socks quite a while ago, but only recently have gotten around to taking a picture. I used the turkish cast-on, found at Fluffy Knitter Deb's blog. I worked in beaded rib stitch and followed the heel instructions as found in Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. As might be expected, the second one turned out better--the toe was less tight and heel moreso. As my feet are wide at the toe and narrow at the heel, these changes were welcome, but the first sock is still usable and quite comfy. I haven't really worn socks for several months now, as warm weather makes anything but my Birkenstocks seem a silly choice, but I'm sure they'll get plenty of use this winter. Maybe under my Birkenstocks.

So many pictures.

Heh heh heh.
These are very belatedly posted, even though they were finished and given to their recipients before Christmas. But... uh... well, no time like the present to post them!


And I'd like to say that Ravelry has inspired me to get on the ball about this stuff (I can be found there as Angeluhh) but it didn't. It was Cutie. I took some cute pictures of him with my parents' camera today and then borrowed said camera to get the pictures off it and found our Christmas pictures too.



Cutie turned 19 on July 4th and he's my inspiration. I thought he looked super sweet rolled up like that. I love you Cutie.

But here are some things Ravelry DID inspire me to photograph (I am so bad at the taking pictures):
Needle Roll that I made when I'd just started knitting.



And my Shapely Tank that I've been wearing a LOT this summer (see that unfortunate color pooling? Yeeeeah.):


And finally, my Lutea Lace-Sleeved Shell, which I've also been wearing a lot but which I washed in the washer making it fuzzy. I need shots of me actually wearing these but something > nothing, yes?


And now finally, my Work-in-Progress.

I love the way this yarn looks in the feather & fan pattern, and it's easy enough I can work it in front of the TV or whatever. The only concern I have is that my yarns so far are two different dye lots, but that didn't really dawn on me until I had gotten quite far into skein #2 and said, "Oh my, these don't quite match." I'm debating whether it's noticeable enough to rip out... which I do not want to do.

a wip

I cast on 288 stitches for this, which will become a tunic (knock on wood) and am working feather & fan pattern in the round. All was going smoothly until one of my Denise cables did this:

Well. After a brief moment of panic, I started right at work rescuing the piece. Victory! As for the cable, the Denise people are pretty great about that, so I'll send it off and get my replacement pretty soon. My only concern is that this has happened before. I don't think I'm a particularly rough knitter...

Edit: 288 was way too many stitches. Gotta rip.

Yarn porn, and a wee little FO

Admire my photographic (total non-) skills.

This is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton, in color 83 (sage). It's worsted weight, but seems quite a lot thicker than other worsteds I've used. So far I'm using 8s and getting about 3.25 st/inch. Am I counting right? sacre bleu. But oh man is it soft.

Story time!
I have been using Dove body wash for like uber-sensitive skin with no perfumes or anything, and that's all well and good, except that the new bottle it comes in has a lid that's difficult to remove, and I usually like to use "Lotion Saver" bottle couplers to get the last bits of stuff from one bottle to the next so less gets wasted. But with lids that don't like being removed (or replaced once removed) and that lack the standard bottle threading that makes the lotion saver a viable tactic, that gets a little tricky. Not to mention, Dove is made by Unilver and they've made no promises (as far as I know) to, say, not torture animals in the name of testing their products. Add to that the fact that, even though the plastic bottles are recyclable, reduction is still always better. So I decided to go with bar soap. Specifically, Dr. Bronner's, a bar of which I picked up at Sun Harvest, in peppermint scent (one that's never caused me allergic reactions!). I was drawn to it because it's 100% cruelty-free, uses fair-trade ingredients, and has hemp oil, and I'm a huge fan of hemp.
I was feeling all good, but then I couldn't find my soap-saving sack thing from way back. Therefore, I made one. And none of the patterns online really satisfied me. I wanted to knit one because I like knitting, and crochet projects never really work out well for me. Plus, I wanted to use nylon yarn that I have lying around, and most of what I was finding called for worsted-weight cotton, which is great stuff, but takes forever to dry. So I just winged it. Wung it? Wang?

Sorry about that unsightly shadow. Anyway, it's pretty simple. Size four needles. Turkish cast-on 24 stitches (12 wraps), did a couple rounds stockinette then switched to seed-stitch until it was long enough, then a couple more st st rounds, a round of yo, k2tog, a couple more st st rounds, and bound off with a sz 9 so it wouldn't be too tight to get the soap in there. And it fits perfectly. And I already used it too, and it works great. Is it my imagination or did I get cleaner this morning than ever before? Dudes, my SOUL is cleaner.
That's probably the hemp talking.

Oh, one more thing: Those socks I made, they were only 40% wool, and superwash at that, but apparently even THAT is enough to irritate my stupid feet so FINE. I give up! I will seriously never try knitting wool things for myself ever again!

shaken, not stirred.

Ugh. Is the little pop-up on the blogger dashboard (even though your blogs are already showing) a phishing thing? Because I fell for it. And kept on falling for it. And then I thought, "Oh, I'm already logged in... OH DAMN."
That's neither here nor there as I have taken care of it.
Now! I recklessly spent a chunk of my paycheck on an Ultimate Sweater Machine. I had a 50% off coupon for Joann's and ... well... I am weak. I like toys. Especially knitting-related toys. And possibly my least favorite knitting to do is back-and-forth stockinette (that's just knitting; as far as finishing, well, I hate ALL that).
It arrived today and I wasted no time in setting it up and beginning to knit with it. Only AFTER that did I watch the video that came with it, which is mind-numbingly boring. I watched it on 2x speed and even then the lady didn't seem to be talking THAT fast. Anyway, I didn't watch the WHOLE thing because I was eager to get to the projects, which I had heard are something like a workbook; you do each and learn new stuff.
So I started with the scarf which I hate.
I didn't bother with the seaming it up or attaching tassels because I hate this look of worsted weight yarn that is knitted on size 15 needles, single-stranded. This is achieved here through dropping every other stitch. Yeah, it's neat that it works that way but... seriously. If I wanted that look I'd just handknit it on needles that were way too big. It's not pretty.
Also I evidently haven't learned not to drop stitches all over the place. Irritating! AND one of the latches is BROKEN so ... I don't know what to do about that.
In short, I haven't decided yet if I hate this totally or just haven't gotten it down yet. In the meantime, it makes me feel like a really good hand-knitter.

TRAGEDY

That was the cast-on edge. The yarn broke when I was putting on my sock.
Granted, I broke this same yarn twice while winding it and that's why the yarn left over is in several pieces but, still. I mean, I thought I must have been being uncharacteristically rough on it but as it turns out, no. This yarn is just weak! Boo!