she's just saying...

Top Ten Tues: boring details edition

Drowning Girl by Roy Lichtenstein

What idiot said: "Don't sweat the small stuff -- and it's all small stuff"?

Actually, he's right, it pretty much is all small stuff. But it all has to be sweated, or it won't get done. Then what do you have?? The fabric of our society torn apart, rather than just fraying at the edges.

I'm having one of those nights. Here's what I'm obsessing about:

1. Henry's 11th birthday tomorrow - I haven't planned anything
2. Buying cookies for Henry's class on the way to work in the am
3. Finishing videos and the website for the new exhibit we're opening Thursday
4. Flying out at 6 am Sat. for a knitting retreat
5. Organizing Henry for the weekend, complete with ski stuff
6. Valentines Day (the day I return) - cards, candy, etc. for H.
7. Ravelympics 2010 - a knitting event during the Olympics (I'm on Team Hopelessly Overcommitted)
8. Calling my parents
9. Getting Flash to the vet, and oh, who's going to watch him this weekend?
10. Fixing the leak over the kitchen window - needs professional help

Sometimes it's all too much. Nothing to do but have another glass of wine and tackle today's Sudoku. Or whine about it in a blog post.

What do you do when you're being sucked under by the small stuff?

Top Ten Tuesday: Let's talk about sox, baby...

Top ten reasons to knit socks

Obviously not to save money. Sock yarn isn't that cheap, unlike a six-pack of tube socks from Target.

1. You can finish them faster than a sweater, unless you're me.
2. Sock patterns can be as easy or as challenging as you like.
3. There are lots of steps, making them less boring than a scarf.
4. You can practice endless texture and color patterns, and even new "sockitecture." Seriously.
5. They're portable, especially on circular needles.
6. They make unusual and unique gifts.
7. Homemade socks are surprisingly comfortable.
8. It's fun to show them off (but really, don't wear them with sandals).
9. Unfinished socks aren't really counted as work-in-progress, so you can always have some going (one of those quirky knitting beliefs)
10. They're considered "cool" in the knitting world, so you can be too.

Pooling and flashing illustrated (technical yarn terms)

England must be catching a chill...

because hits on my posts mentioning handmade fowl outergarments are WAY up.

Wouldn't it just be easier to just glue their feathers back on?  OK, I concede it might not be easier, but certainly more permanent.

Or cutting up old sweatpants and making drawstring ponchos?

Or how about electric blankets, as in our favorite book "Click Clack Moo?"

(click on the little thumbnails to see more)

• 
• 
• 

I'm not going to spoil the denouement here, but it involves the duck.

Maybe knitting a cape is the easiest, actually. Seems like a weird way to spend your time, but I really can't talk, having knit several apple cozies lately.   

Taa-daa! The finished objays

Now that all the recipients have opened their gifts (except BigBro), I can reveal the results of my knitting marathon (except BigBro's).

First: felted clogs:

Next, many headbands ("Calorimetry" for my Knitty and Ravelry buds):

The ever-popular knitted mitts:

an apple cozy (THIS WAS BY REQUEST)

and a little gray mouse.

Gee, it seemed like I made a lot more than that. Of course, this doesn't show the items that were ripped out, abandoned, half done or just begun. Now to get to them... (January birthdays coming)

PS: the answer to this riddle can be found in the first photo.

The more things don't change, the more they stay the same

On knitting deadline right now, so I'm going to repost from last year. Same story, different projects:

Must. Knit.

First posted Dec. 15, 2008:

I decided this year to make ALL my Christmas presents (with the exception of the necessary plastic electronic junk I'm giving Henry). It's fun, actually - I feel I'm really making Christmas happen instead of buying it. It's a little weird not to be shopping right now, but it's also pretty cool.

The present-finishing countdown has begun in earnest. I have three projects left to complete, so I'm juggling them based on shipping dates, how late I can knit on Christmas Eve, who I won't see til after Christmas (gaining a precious day or two), and so forth, bouncing back and forth between projects. I'm going to be knitting morning, lunchtime and night to accomplish it all. Barring a possible carpal tunnel attack, I should be in good shape.

editor's note: HA.

It's beginning to look a lot like Knitmas

Must. Knit. Presents.

Not much new here. I'm falling back on the regulars from the last several years: washcloths (with pretty soaps) for teachers, fingerless mitts, felted clogs, hats, maybe even a coffee cozy or two.

Oh, I'm also knitting Calorimetry. I'm not going to explain what it is, but my Ravelry pals will recognize it. I'm knitting it with Crystal Palace Taos, my new favorite yarn.

Little bits of photos to come, just to tease you all...

I'm also definitely going to knit this:

This is not mine. I stole the image and the idea from here.

Getting back to my knitting

Alright, wallowing time is over. Back to the happy.

Let's talk about KNITTING! Whee!

Here's the finished cable jacket:

So now that I've shown my mad knitting props, I can go back to making cup cozies and washcloths.

Step away from the knitting needles. Please.

Clearly, an ongoing challenge for knitting magazines is coming up with 10-12 new patterns every month, year after year. Vogue Knitting is the queen of this creativity exercise, with its very fashion-forward, technically challenging designs. They just announced a web sale on all their patterns, so I spent some valuable work time (kidding!) perusing the 834 projects. There were some very beautiful pieces and some weird and bizarre items as well, ones that cause you to stop and wonder what they were smoking up there in their skyscraper high above Manhattan.

There were a handful that literally took my breath away, but not in a good way. Shockingly, monstrously, unbelievably freakish. So of course I immediately thought of you, my readers, knowing how much you'd want them agree.

So here they are: the winners of the Weirdest Vogue Knitting Patterns ever. I'll start with the slightly strange and move up to the obscene.

Second runner-up: Here's one I can possibly imagine someone knitting if they just bought their first car, maybe a cute little VW bug. I suppose a Juno-kind-of-teen could pull this off:  steering wheel cover and fuzzy dice.

 

First runner-up: moving on but staying in the accessory category: egg cozies in the form of tiny sweaters.

Maybe a little old lady in England could go there, but otherwise, those who knit these should probably be institutionalized for their own welfare.

Third place: This was a tough one as so many deserved it, but I gotta go with the lampshade. Don't knit this in acrylic. 

Second place: I could see these popping up at a junior high rodeo somewhere in Oklahoma, or maybe it's the hat.

 Love the heart on the back pocket!

And finally [cue drumroll], the FIRST PLACE winner, the item that wins overall for style, wearability, the kicky name and even how the totally hot model works it:

...

...

...

...

...

The Men's Brimster Beanie. Only $2.99 for the pattern. I'm thinking Christmas list ...

Sweater building

A knitting update: the big tweedy cabled jacket project. Luckily for the sweater, I was recuperating from eye surgery last month so was able to get back to it and accomplish huge chunks of knitting; or who knows if when I would have picked it up again.

It's now in the pre-final stages, in that the pieces are all knit up. All that remains is to seam the shoulders, pick up stitches and knit the collar, pick up more stitches and knit both front button bands, weave in all ends, sew the whole thing together, add buttons and wet block it. I'm really close! I can feel it! But at least I no longer have endless yards of stockinette to slog through.

I know, I know, it's all about the process of knitting. However, to paraphrase a boating saying: the best days of knitting a sweater are the day you start it and the day you finish it.

Here are all the pieces that turn into a sweater.You can't see the beautiful color, but you get the idea.

Soon I hope to be posting a photo of it with me wearing. All my knitting gift recipients had better hope so too, as I can't get to Christmas knitting until this is snuggled on my neck, vs. hanging around it.

[Like an albatross, get it??  Oh, never mind.]

This is just wrong. In so many ways.

Found on a cracked-out crafter's blog:

Christmas Countdown

In which I do nothing, then take a break

I think I'm getting the hang of doing nothing. Really, it's not so bad. And I'm not even on drugs.

What I have been doing:

• Eating
• Wandering around the house poking things with my toe that I can't pick up
• Watching the Red Sox via computer
• Teaching Robin to knit
• Wiping the counters -- I really like clean counters
• Making stuff to eat
• Un-hibernating the tweedy sweater. I had to relearn the pattern, remember where I made the mistake so I could re-create it on the next section, and dive in again. Very gratifying.
• Trying to remember which eye drop I just used
• Doing the daily Sudoku
• Presented a PowerPoint research analysis to the Museum Board from my bed
• Snacking
• Pointing at things for Henry to pick up
• Wandering around the back deck
• Looking for stuff to eat in the fridge

Don't you envy me, just a little bit?

How to prepare for eye surgery

1. Go to Costco.
2. Clean the house.
3. Freeze casseroles.
4. Mow the lawn.
5. Wash the dog.
6. Begin Pinot Grigio detox.
7. Hit the bank, return library books, rent movies.
8. Get a pedicure.
9. Update the iPod.
10. Remove toe ring.
11. Buy pretty panties.
12. Clean the fish tank.
13. Prepare low-vision knitting strategy.

I think I'm ready.

What would be on your list?

Yes, I do knit -- why do you ask?

I think this blog was supposed to mention knitting from time to time. It is even listed in knitting blog rings, something that must frustrate devoted knitting-blog readers (there's a lot of them).

As mentioned previously, once summer comes, knitting tends to drop off around here. Knitting magazines attempt to entice us with "summer styles" which tend to be a bit weird IMHO. Knitting just doesn't fit into a summer scene - who wants a hank of wool on their lap at the beach? Too sandy.
(I'm sure I'll get comments by dedicated summer knitters who disagree with me on this, which is fine 'cause I'll take all the comments I can attract.)

But I still knit a bit these days. Mostly cotton and silk, simple stitches on small projects. This scarf fits the bill.

 Montego Bay scarf

This is as close as I'll get to lace knitting, which is incredibly frustrating and tedious for me.

My friends turn out exquisite lace shawls and sweaters and socks knitted with toothpick needles and thread-like yarn, but I'll stick with the humble worsted-weight and my size 7's.

                                                               

Cindy's shawl

Of Mice and Monkeys

Now this is impressive:
 

Remember that little blogoversary contest I ran? Probably not. Well, I was very cleverly guilted in my last post into actually delivering the prize to the local winner, Chris K., a blog buddy. (I'd call him a bluddy, but that's not so cool, actually. That's his photo montage above, and I even stole his post title.)

For his patience, I tucked in a little surprise with the catnip mouse he won.

Its use temporarily stumped him, but he quickly figured out what it must be...

...a monkey poncho.

So now it appears that in addition to the whippet sweater and the poultrywear, I'm into simian wraps.

And you have another must-read blog to visit!

In which I knit. And garden. Though not at the same time.

This blog is supposed to occasionally focus on knitting. However, when summer finally arrives in Central Oregon, my knitting switch goes off and the gardening switch is triggered.

We only get about four months of gardening in here before it starts to freeze at night, so Central Oregonians go into a bit of a frenzy trying to pack it all in between May and September. It's a real challenge to garden in the high desert. The weather is dry, scorching and freezing, so it takes a pretty hardy plant to thrive. The temperature last month ranged from 31 degrees to 82 degrees, though not in that order, so you can see the issues we face.

But I digress. Knitting. I'm working on the tweedy cabled cardigan that is going along pretty quickly. I don't have a lot of motivation to finish it until fall, but I don't want to lose the rhythm of the pattern, so I work on it sporadically.

I'm also oddly stuck in a never-ending loop of coffee cozies and felted mice.
the latest cozies

Each can be completed in the space of a movie so they're pretty gratifying. This occasionally happens to knitters, getting stuck on repeat on a certain pattern. I'll snap out of it eventually. Meantime, I'm producing a lot of little convenient gifts. I seem to have a problem taking the final step of delivering them, but that's just logistics, right?

Knit one purl one; pass it on.

I've taught two people to knit successfully.

The first was a 15-yr old boy who lived across the street. What motivated him to learn were the other snowboarder guys who were crocheting hats on the bus to the mountain. Seriously. He would watch out his window to see when I was home from work and come over with his yarn and needles. He caught on quickly and we progressed through the steps to start on his first hat. Every couple of nights he'd appear at my door with a dropped stitch or other little goof he'd need me to fix, then go back home and knit. He finished his hat and we moved on to slipper socks. He had a grand plan of producing slipper socks and selling them to fellow students. He even got orders, but eventually other things intervened, like girls and a driver's permit. He's way too cool now to knit, but you never know, someday...

The other student I had was PJ, my boss at the time and a great friend. We'd work on her knitting at lunch hour. We got a lot of bemused looks and curious comments - knitting was not really that hip at the cellphone company. She started with a scarf and went on from there, joining the knitting group and becoming a masterful knitter. Here's her latest project:

I can't tell you how impressed I am with this.  I've been knitting for a thousand years and haven't gotten to where she is with this sweater. I will take the credit for starting her off, though. I hope that she'll teach two others and pass it on.

Be jealous. Be very jealous.

Presenting the winning prizes for my blogoversary contest.

For Monkey: Bob is testing out the catnip mouse here and deems it acceptable.

Here's KG's Koffee Kup Kozy:

Maybe I should quit my day job and sell knitted tchatchkes. You may place your orders...

the very latest in poultrywear

With fear and trepidation, I bring you a knitted chicken garment pattern. (Not a knitted chicken, but a knitted pattern for a chicken).

(For my newer readers, some back story: this blog catapulted in hits through search results after I re-published a BBC article about a woman who knit capes for rescued chickens. Much of my traffic comes from all those chicken-loving knitters out there, most of whom appear to live in England.)

I've never actually knitted fowlwear myself, nor am I a poultry farmer, unlike my blog friend Kathi D. (Gratuitous Kathi D plug here.)

However, since I seem to be a clearinghouse for the info, here's a free pattern. This knitter makes shawls for young chicks, and as she says, "the front two corners are tacked together, because chickens can’t use shawl pins."

Pretty cute, actually:

Now I just sit back and watch my traffic stats climb again.

Tweedy goodness in the works

I finally landed on a pattern for my tweedy shetland yarn that I've been stashing up for years, and I'm quite happy with it.

I forgot how fast things knit up on size 10 needles. It's an easy pattern with enough cabling to keep it interesting, and quite well-written. I had a question on one instruction and emailed the pattern company (Sirdar), and someone wrote back to explain the stitch. Nice, huh?

I'm going to cut down the collar to reduce the bat cape effect, but other than that, no modifications, which means I can mindlessly follow the pattern exactly, a rare occurrence.

Maybe this will be the mythical sweater project with none of the angst and doubt and disappointment I've experienced in the past. And if that sounds overly dramatic and even ludicrous, you're probably not a knitter.

and so it begins...

Emergency knitting manifesto

courtesy of Illiana's Corner
 
Emergency knitting is the equivalent of the magazines my sister keeps in the back seat of her car, the Hot Wheels in my son's backpack, the pocket flask in a friend's coat. It's a security blanket for knitters.

Emergency knitting tends to be a sock, a hat, a mitten. Something small and portable that can be stashed in a pocket for those times when you have to wait. For me, this tends to be soccer practice (and even during the games: bad soccer mom!), a doctor's office, or the interminable wait before the animated kid's matinee starts.

Typical of many security objects, I don't need to actually get it out: it's the idea that it's there that helps. I've been known to run into my stash at the last minute and grab a skein and a pair of needles with no idea what I'm going to knit, just to have them "in case."

So my latest emergency knitting is washcloths. I know, how tacky and uncreative. But I'm off socks at the moment, after the socks that took a year to finish. And I love the intricate pattern options washcloths offer. It's a pure little swatch of rhythmic knotted fiber, and in the end, useful too! Very soothing simple "emergency" knitting. No shaping, no counting, just the repeated motions of needle and yarn, in, out, around and through.

You could group knitters into two categories: color or pattern people. I've always been a pattern person: moss, seed, cables, guernsey, linen, bamboo, basket weave, brioche, entrelac, even the humble garter. (Though I'm not brave enough to tackle lace.) My mother is a color knitter: intarsia and fair isle. I took a tentative dip into color knitting with the infamous Latvian Wristers. It's a window into a whole new path I may explore at some time in the future.

I know that to non-knitters, the idea of knitting as an endeavor that offers contradicting directions, in-depth challenges and new landscapes to explore sounds ludicrous. But it is. So there.

Say it loud: I knit and I'm proud.

the humble knitted cotton washcloth