red

Rachel and I have been swimming about three times a week lately, and I have found Swimplan to be a handy resource. It generates workouts based on a number of factors, and saves me from having to decide what to do. Love that.

I'm making a Red Scarf this year. This picture was taken on Wednesday, so I've made a lot of progress since then, but... at least it's a visual. I love how it's turning out so very squishy!
On June 1st, we adopted a new cat into our house, and she has been under Rachel's bed this entire time. It really seems like there isn't even a third cat in the house, except that there's an extra box to clean. We feed her separately from the boys, too, because they are known piggies (no offense to actual pigs).

Snails!

Rachel removed this snail from the pathway of lots of foot traffic, and said snail didn't want to let go of Rachel's hand. But it's awfully cute. And big. The snails near my house are never nearly this large.


And here's another snail.


Thought for today:
Say no to drugs
unless you need or want them.

Banzai has turned five!

So it's Banzai story time.

One morning a dreadful storm blew down the fence in the back yard. A neighborhood cat alerted us by staring intently at the spot. Not long after, the next-door neighbors' massive dog decided to check out our yard. No problem. Except that Banzai saw him.

He got fluffy.
The situation was resolved peacefully, as Rosco was more than willing to return to his home, and the fence was easy enough to prop back up and stabilize with a ridiculously heavy cast-iron chair that just happens to live in the back yard.


This is the face of contentment. Someone to pet him, AND an afghan to snooze on!

Happy EarthDay to you, Happy EarthDay to you...

Since it's Earth Day, but mostly because I have them, here are some nature-related photos I've taken lately!


We've had several bees around the bushes in our front yard, and they don't really respond to my requests to please hold still so I can take a picture. But this one was a little bit cooperative, and isn't she cute?


I know it's a weed or whatever, but I think dandelions are lovely, and this one greeted me yesterday as I was out the door to go to the health club.


On March 31, it still looked like winter. The sky was grey and the tree was mostly bare (although there was a good deal of new growth).
Now, it's summertime. It was 90 degrees yesterday and this same tree looked thus:

She provides a good deal of shade, for which I am grateful. Even in a light-colored car with a sunshade in the window, it gets mighty hot being parked in the sun.

Angevoli

Mom said I had made enough changes to Picovoli that it was like a different pattern. She recommended I write up my notes. Sigh. I'm far too lazy for this sort of thing! But here we go:

The yarn I used, 2nd Time Cotton, knit up at a gauge of 4 st/in on size 8 needles (Denises, if you were wondering) instead of the 5.5 st/in called for in the original pattern. I'm not gonna let a little thing like gauge stop me! This looks like a job for math!
So, the cast-on specified for the size I wanted to make (40-inch bust) was 140. Divide that by the gauge: 140/5.5=25.4545454545... which either I or my cell phone (which doubles as my calculator!) rounded up to 25.5.
Multiply that by the new gauge: 25.5 * 4 = 102
But I wanted a number that divided by 4 evenly, so I made it 104. I could have made it 100 instead, but I didn't. Oh well! I cast on with crochet hook because I like the way that looks with garter stitch, and purled my first round. Right now, and until I finished the garter stitch rows, I was working on a size 6 needle.
At this point, honestly, I think I just picked nice divisible-by-four numbers to be how many I have at front, back, and sleeves. I went with 16 stitches at each sleeve and 36 at front and back. I didn't take very good notes as I went along.
Anyway, with my markers placed, it was time to work my first increase round. I worked the increase rounds thus, every other round:
*Knit to 1 st before marker, yo, k1, sm, k1, yo, repeat from * until end of round. When I finished garter stitch, I switched to size 8 needles but kept on in the increase pattern.
I worked until I had the sweater the size I wanted it, then put the sleeves on holders (extra Denise cables). On front and back I had 76 stitches each, and at each underarm I cast on 4 stitches, which put the sweater right at 40 inches. Cool.
Then I worked even until the point where it was time to begin decreases. At this point I basically followed the pattern except that I had to adjust the number of stitches between markers on the waist shaping:
The original has 52 stitches at front and back and 58 stitches at the sides, so for me
52/5.5≈9.5*4=38 "untouched" stitches at sides
58/5.5≈10.5*4=42 stitches to start waist shaping with.

This is where I switched my size, too, to account for a larger waist and hip. This part is easy: I just stopped the waist decreases early. The I increased as per instructions and then knit even till it was as long as I wanted it. Switched back to size 6 needle, worked 10 rounds of garter stitch, and bound off.
All this part I finished probably in August, not too long after I had started it.

After that I left it in a project bag all by itself for a long time.
When March rolled around, I put one sleeve's stitches on needles, picked up the four underarm stitches, and knit my sleeves, decreasing two stitches at the bottom side every 1.5 inches twice. Then I worked 10 rounds of garter stitch on size 6 to make it match the neck and lower edges, bound off, and did the same thing on the other sleeve. The process took part of an evening.

Then I wondered why I had put it off so long. Oh well, I've got a new top now. It's on Ravelry here!

Octopus Prime

This little fella came from Tamie Snow's book Tiny Yarn Animals: Amigurumi Friends to Make and Enjoy, which I got way back when I had a birthday. I'm pleased with how he turned out.
Something else I'm pleased with:

the shirt I finished a couple weeks ago, a version of Grumperina's Picovoli that I reworked for a larger gauge and sleeves. I changed the increase ratio at the yoke for this, but maintained the shaping because I love it. It's hella comfy, but the neckline is pretty wide. Which WOULD be okay except that my purse is wool and has a wool strap. Which, again, WOULD be okay except that I'm allergic to wool. So the exposed bit of neck/shoulder turns red. Guess I'll just have to use a different purse when I wear this top.

Great Blue Heron?

Today Mom, Rachel and I were meeting Dad for lunch and took a wrong turn. We pulled into an apartment's parking lot to try and figure out where to go, and saw what I believe to be a great blue heron:

He or she (apparently males and females look the same) was just hanging out there. I wasn't close enough, so I had to take this picture with the digital zoom, but you get the idea. I had no idea these guys live in San Antonio, but sure enough, we're well within their range.

I saw a ball of Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton at Joann's and had a coupon, so I thought, why not? So yesterday evening I started playing with it. Here's what the ball band said:


This was a lie. Here's the yarn on my WPI tool (which was a Christmas gift!):



Below I've helpfully drawn red lines between each wrap and numbered them so you can see.



That's 6 wraps per inch. And on the recommended needle size, I don't get 4 stitches per inch. I get just about 3, or maybe as many as 3.25. Either way, this is decidedly not worsted. This is not even Aran. This is straight up bulky yarn, or possibly even super-bulky. So what's the deal, Lion Brand? Did you not realize that numbers have meaning to knitters and crocheters?

It's fine for me, as I'll be using this yarn to make chemo caps and bulkier yarn just means the project works up more quickly, but if I had wanted to make a top from it and had ordered the yarn online going by the information provided I would be a little bit upset.

OH WAIT, something exactly like that DID happen to me back when I made my Lutea Lace-Shoulder Shell from Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. Now, that yarn wasn't as bulky as this, but it was definitely beyond worsted and I ended up making an entirely different size top than I would have.

Is this an organic cotton thing? The Plymouth stuff I used to make my bobble dishcloth seemed to be the actual weight stated, so... uh... was it not really organic?

Photos that are unrelated to Thanksgiving.

I just thought that was too funny, and can't imagine a good slogan for them. "If you need someone to Arse it up..." and that manner of thing.
While I was at it with the uploading today, I took a bunch of knitting pictures as well, because I needed to. I was tired of seeing blank spots on my Ravelry.
Here's the baby sweater, laid out in pieces, waiting for me to muster the conviction to sew it up:

And here's one of the socks for Rachel, the other one still needing to be grafted at the toe:

FINALLY, I've taken a picture of the post-fulling version of Market Squares:

Here's a man-sized hat:

Most exciting of all, part of our tree believes it to be autumn now! It's turned a brilliant shade of red on one side (the rest is still green).


I confess, I'm pretty glad Thanksgiving is over. We had a full 16 humans in this house yesterday, and while I love each and every one of them, everybody at once is overwhelming to my poor senses. Timothy spent the whole day hiding under a bed and Banzai spent most of it hiding behind a plant in a bedroom that was free of traffic. I hung out with him for a long time, because I really have feline instincts about crowds. The food was good though, and the meat-eaters feasted on a free-range organic turkey that we're saying died laughing. From what I've heard, it was delicious. And well, it should be! It was healthy and free of antibiotics, not to mention all the adrenaline that can be found in ill-treated turkeys. And it had a special bonus flavor: Good karma. Rock on. If you're gonna eat animals, you gotta do it right (though I'm still dreaming of a vegetarian holiday one of these years).

Oddly lacking in case of Mondays

I've been in a pretty swell mood today, and haven't had any trouble staying awake, which is strange, because I had tons of trouble falling asleep last night. I ended up being awake until about 3, and then getting up at 7. That's just ridiculous. It sucked too, because I was lying in bed with my eyes closed and they felt gritty and gluey like eyes do when you're sleepy, but my mind was just refusing to cooperate. And it wasn't that there was anything bothering me or consuming my thoughts. It's just that my brain wasn't ready for bed yet.


I've knit a new hat. I started it last week sometime and finished it today. I'm pleased with the stretchiness of the tubular cast-on and the swirls of the decreases and the softness of the yarn. I hope it goes to a good home.

I also want to show off a use for my cellphone that takes full advantage of its skinny shape:

Resolved: No more woollergies.

Wow, it's been a long time.

I guess it's regularly a long time between posts, actually. But this time I have a really good excuse: I'm employed. It's temporary, and it won't last much longer, but I've been here since July and that's adding up to a decent amount of yarn money. My Banzai is trying to make sure that a lot gets spent on him as well, by having been diagnosed as having anxiety issues. He's on fluoxetine now, which thank goodness is a generic drug, but still. That's fifteen dollars a month for my cat to take Prozac.

Meanwhile, lately I've enjoyed torturing myself by looking at all the pictures of projects that people have made from Noro Kureyon, the yarn I'll probably never be able to use because I'm allergic to wool. Siiiiiiiiiigh.
It started when I saw this scarf on Knitty and said, "I must have it." Except that yarn with Noro-like color patterns doesn't occur in vegan varieties. There are self-striping cotton yarns, sure, but they always wind up with nasty and obvious spots of The Dark Color in the part that is supposed to be The Light Color, and the colors don't transition into each other, it's just a blunt (and sloppy) switch.

With this in mind, I've decided to quit being allergic to wool.
It won't be easy, and it may not be possible. But the other day I wore a pair of socks all day that have some wool in them (not too much) and they didn't make my feet itch much, so I figure that's a start, amirite?

Missed it by that much.

I saw Get Smart on Saturday, and loved it.
Anyway, before the movie I cast on a scarf I could work on without looking-- a lot of stitches for a knit-sideways garter stitch fluffy purple affair. Mindless knitting. When the movie ended I started casting off with what I assumed was just the right amount left. I thought to myself, "My, what a clever knitter you are" and patted myself on the back until I ran out of yarn about, oh, ten stitches from the end? And that's what the picture shows. The sad remainder of live stitches. You can't see it but the tail is only about 3" long.

But wait!
I AM such a clever knitter! I fixed it. Tomorrow maybe I'll tell how.

A dream of gloves

Knitting shows up in my dreams. Sometimes in a dream I will be wearing a project I'm working on in my awake life, and I like those dreams because they make me feel like it's gonna be just great.
Last night, however, I had a strange one. In my dream, I was wondering whether to frog something that I had knitting back in the days of wrapping my yarn the wrong way so that all my knit stitches were twisted. This item was never knitted by me while awake, and that's what makes it rather strange.
It was a pair of gloves, using very fine yarn--laceweight, or maybe a crochet thread. I remembered having used size 0 DPNs for it, and the gloves were done in a self-patterning yarn.
It wasn't just stripes or anything like that, though. it was yarn that gave itself a skull and a couple of... cats? Or some kind of adorable little characters, that looked like they were screaming. And I had gone back and duplicate stitched over that (in the same pattern) to give it more definition or something. So these were some unusual and labor-intensive gloves, and here I was thinking about ripping them out!
If I recall, the hand part was white (to better show the design) and the ringers and cuffs were striped in cool colors, like the chevron socks I'm working on now.
I have no doubt parts of this were from the fact that in my working on said chevron socks, I came to a knot in the yarn. I cut it, joined the yarn like nothing was happening, and realized a couple inches later that the yarn hadn't even been knotted in a place where the stripe pattern would continue. So I ripped back and joined the yarn anew at a place where the sequence would continue appropriately.
What a hassle. But it looks SO GREAT now and I'm awfully proud of myself for being so clever.
Back to the dream, though. I guess I totally have to make those gloves now, and knit them right so the stitches don't twist.

Juke Sock

Last month everyone in the family got new cellphones and switched carriers. I picked out this adorable little combination phone/mp3 player, the Samsung Juke, and immediately had to begin knitting it something to wear so it'd stay shiny and safe.
I like to use fun details like the Turkish cast-on to give me a nice start and very little finishing, and the i-cord bind off to make the edge look clean.
Without further ado,

The Juke Sock.
yarn: sport weight
needles: US size 1,16 in circulars, x2

Turkish CO 16 st (8 wraps)
increase (kfb) at 2nd and 2nds to last st each needle until there are 16 sts each needle (32 total)
knit 1 round.
Begin cable pattern:
Round 1: (p4, k8, p4) twice
Round 2: k4, c4f,c4b, k8, c4b, c4f, k4
Round 3: rep. rd 1
Round 4: knit.
Repeat these four rows 12 times
Work i-cord bind off:
co. 3 stitches using backwards-loop caston.
1. knit 2, k2tog through back loop.
2. slip 3 stitches back to left needle.
Repeat 1 and 2 until you've come to the start, then kitchener the ends of the i-cord together.

Of course, this pattern can be easily adapted for like... anything. Just increase at the beginning until you've got the circumference you like, put in more garter stitch between the cables, and knit until it's whatever length seems right to you. Eeeeasy.

on aspartame

A couple of weeks ago I made the decision to give up Diet Coke, when I learned that Aspartame, the sweetener therein, is linked (anecdotally) to elevated liver enzymes, which I have (or had at the time).
Quitting it hasn't been as hard as I expected, with the addictive properties I believed the drink to have. The only side effect I've noticed is that there is no longer any brightness in my life. I have nothing to look forward to, and to reward myself with.
Ah, well.
Who needs happiness anyway?

A Pattern! Tiny Scarf.

This little scarf won't keep your neck very warm, but it's pretty and the yarn (which I'm pretty sure is bamboo) is soft and smooth against a sensitive neck. It'll look lovely with a little brooch to close it, don't you think?


And because I'm always taking and never giving when it comes to content online, I've written it up like a real live pattern.

Tiny scarf that's really way too easy

CO 24 stitches using the crochet-hook cast-on.
Knit 3 rows, and always slip the last stitch of the row purl-wise with yarn in front.
Begin Pattern:
Row 1: K3, (k2tog) thrice, (yo, k1) 6 times, (k2tog) thrice, k2, slip 1 purlwise wyif.
Row 2: Purl
Row 3, 4: Knit.
Work those four rows until you get sick of them or the scarf is the length you like (Mine will just go around my neck twice with a little stretching), then knit 3 rows (slipping last st), and bind off.

Some things I've been working on are:
Pacman on acid. This is the Sunburst Sling Bag from Just One More Row, size medium, and


Rachel Calado's Fern Clog Socks
(click here for non-Ravelry link). They're lovely in this yarn--Kertzer's "On Your Toes Bamboo", which is 75% bamboo and 25% nylon. I'm completely done with this first sock and have yet to cast on the second, but I totally WILL. I swear.

Log Cabin

It is done. I had finished the knitting and bound off but there were still just a few ends to weave in (I did most as I went) and some ends to trim, and for some reason that was enough to make must just set it aside for a couple weeks.

In this blanket, I'm particularly proud of my picking up stitches, as I got my bumps all lined up.



It's worked in Caron Simply Soft on size 7 needles, and following the instructions for "How to Log Cabin" in Mason-Dixon Knitting. I've got on my ravelry here.

Between each brilliant shine

Yesterday Rachel and I were on our way out to run some errands and saw that someone was already using my car!



But we agreed that lizards are generally safer when NOT on my car, so relocated our new friend.
Since it's spring, there is so damn much life everywhere. Our sago (I totally would have thought it was "seigo" from how my mom pronounces it) has these new fronds that look like they came from outer space. Maybe they did. I don't have a hard time at all believing this plant grew when dinosaurs roamed about just exactly the way it does these days.



For a while, I had difficulty reconciling a despairing attitude on my part with the greenness all around. I would see these instances of life, but just behind them lurked Death. It must be the season for roadkill, and for tiny eggs knocked from their nests, inhabitants dying before they ever knew life. A cat who looked like my dear late Kitty had been hit by a car and I felt all my old scars reopening, not healed as well as I'd thought. I was pretty sure I was losing my mind, as these weren't only emotional scars--one morning upon arriving to work I noticed my wrist was bleeding. Oh, of all the days to not have band-aids in my bag!

The conclusion I've drawn from all this, the only LOGICAL conclusion, is that work is bad for me. I'll have to do something ELSE with my life.

potent ninja

First, the tree:

And also, an absurdly beautiful day. I took a walk to get some vitamin D, and found this flower growing by the driveway:

I don't know what kind it is, but I like it.
Progress on my LogCabin blanket has been embarrassingly slow. I knit maybe three rows today. But, since I've run out of one of the colors, I'll be done very soon.

Tomorrow I'll be sitting at a table at church, hoping against hope that I can generate some interest in my knitting group. Oh yeah! That's the whole reason I got on the computer now instead of going to bed. I'm easily distracted.

The Spirit of Some Friendly Imp

Hooray for noticeable growth on our tree.
During work hours I've been having trouble staying awake. I find myself sort of nodding off and hallucinating at different times, and reading things in my visions which are completely unrelated to the papers I'm reading in real life. Today I read something about Egyptian Cotton, and a phrase involving "paranormal purple papers". Today's title comes from yesterday's hallucination. It's entertaining! But I've got to find a way to stay awake.