she's just saying...

Strapping on, buckling in and tightening up

Well, for all you people who thought this might be an exciting bondage post (or is it just me whose mind travels along those paths?), this will be a disappointment because it's about KNITTING! Peripherally at least.

As you may remember, I painstakingly knit my big sis an entrelac purse um, a few months ago. Knitted, felted, blocked. But months later, it's still awaiting a strap. We agreed that a webbing strap might be most comfortable (neck issues) and I found a purse strap set all ready to go with nice hardware. But it wasn't adjustable, and I couldn't figure out how to sew the rings on without a bunch more work. Let me just say here that I'm really tired of looking at this purse.

So, inspired by my nylon briefcase, I decided to go get the adjustable ring hardware and do it that way. After hours on the internet ("she has no life!"), I found out the thing above was called a tri-glide, a center-bar, a rectangular slider, or a number of other labels, and you can buy them from buckleman.com. Not wanting to pay $7 shipping on a .45 cent item and wait, I went out to find one, and FOUR STORES later, I'm admitting defeat.

Popped into Joann Fabric and came up empty on the hardware, though props for the large webbing selection. At Michaels Crafts, nothing even close. Home Depot had industrial tie-downs that seemed a bit much. I then had a brainwave and hit Sportsman's Warehouse to find backpack straps/buckles. [Note: I'm always a bit apprehensive walking into a store that has on its signage: "Camping, Outerwear, Reloading."] They had a huge amount of bizarre and arcane implements of mass destruction, and actually came close to a buckle repair thing, but not really. So I gave up.

So, Susan, I apologize, but I'm now going to have to order on line and hope for the best.

Random things I learned this weekend

herringbone braid
short row garter stitch heels
modified conventional bind off
braided cast on
designing traveling cables
three-color fair isle on two hands
color dominance management
Viking rune patterns
horizontal purl braid
Japanese short rows
driving to/from Tacoma sucks (I already knew that)

Photos to come. Bet you can't wait!

Vikings who knit

Learning new stuff is always exhilarating. Elsebeth Lavold created this technique and taught it today. Expect intricate traveling cables in all my future projects...

Fiberfill-y

Made it to Madrona! It's at the Hotel Murano. There is a lot of cool art here, plus this horse wearing a lampshade. We've been shopping at the Market - filled with fiber artisans selling their handspun yarns, handmade spinning spindles,glass needles (not for the butterfingered), etc. We're just about to go into our afternoon workshops. I'm not at my sharpest after driving last night, early this morning, and wandering around boothes inhaling yarn fumes. Got to get focused for intricate cablework: "Viking Knits."

The (not-chicken) whippet jumper

Still needs some alterations, but very handsome!

I see some fiber coming my way

Tomorrow afternoon my friend Hildy and I are headed up to the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat in Tacoma, Washington. I attended last year for the first time, and I remember how mortified I was to tell people that I was going to a knitting conference. This time I'm fine with it, which says something, I guess.  It's billed as a retreat, but it's really a conference, in that there are hundreds of people, banquets, workshops, a vendor market, etc. all in a big moderne hotel.

It's a pretty funny scene, as there are loud and raucous knitters of all shapes, sizes and ages knitting furiously everywhere. In the restaurants, at the bars, lounging around the lobbies, drinking and knitting into the night. (Plus spinners, who I don't really socialize with.) Quite a colorful bunch. I'll post photos for sure.

My classes look to be challenging and varied:

Basic Viking Knits
Latvian Wristers
Short Row Wizardry

I had to take Latvian Wristers just so I could say the name a lot. Sort of like Buddy the Elf saying "Fernando." Latvian Wristers.

Can't wait!

Latvian Wristers, courtesy Beth-Brown Reinsel

Baby Surprise

Ha! Got you there - this is a knitting post! This is an iconic pattern called the Baby Surprise Jacket.

Isn't it cute? Photo doesn't do it justice. It was a ton of fun to knit. (If that phrase confuses you, I'm guessing you're not a knitter.)

For Clementine, Henry's Big Brother's new baby.

sacrificial mouse

Liana's prize for being the 7000th visitor to the blog.

Don't you wish you had won?

To clean or not to clean: is that really the question?

Once again, I'm losing the battle in my fight against the evil axis of clutter, dust bunnies, projects and piles of paper. (I realize that there's a direct inverse relationship here: the greater my knitting and blogging output, the messier the house. I don't know why that should surprise me, but it just dawned on me tonight. It was during the thought process: "Geez, this house is really a mess... I think I'm going to finish that baby jacket. Or wait, maybe I'll just write about it!")

I really don't want to spend all my "free time" (ha) cleaning, but I'm not comfortable with the level of disarray that results. I'm conflicted. I blame it on my mother.

I grew up in a messy casual home, with piles of clothes and papers everywhere and toast crumbs and jam spills on the counter. As a reaction, as an adult with my own place, I strive to have the kind of home Henry's friends all seem to have, where visitors can drop in any time, there aren't hammers sitting on the dining room table and everything is tidy and spotless (albeit a bit dull, IMO).

On the other hand, clutter is in my genome, and cleaning isn't. So I have a constant tug of war with cleaning up and making a mess, picking up and spreading out. Sometimes I'm on the winning side and the house hums with organization and rectitude. Other times, it veers dangerously into the hovel state. Which is where it is now.

Back when I had a non-non-profit income and a house cleaner, all was under control. I had to pick up regularly for her (a family tradition: "Clean up for the cleaning lady!" which we thought was ridiculously funny.) Frankly, it was great. A lot of money went toward that peace of mind, which is now unavailable (the money and the peace of mind). 

After a full day of work, gathering Henry, cooking dinner, doing dishes and the inevitable homework/bed wrestle, cleaning is the last thing I want to do. So I wipe off the visible part of the counter, shuffle papers around, cart stuff from room to room and move piles from chair to floor, not making much of a dent.

But here I am, writing to you, and I've made a lot of progress on the Baby Surprise Jacket:

taking shape

seven oh oh oh

This should be the day that this blog reaches 7,000 visits (see Sitemeter count below left). If you comment, I can tell if you're the one.

There should be some sort of prize, I guess: how about a custom hand-knitted catnip mouse?

Or maybe a coffee cup cozy for the feline-deficient. Your choice, number 7000.

Of course, since roughly half those visits were to find information on poultry outergarments (I'll never type those dreaded words again), I should knit one of those for the winner. But please don't make me.

 

The British Empire, and her chicken thing.

You may not know that I can track my blog traffic from online search engines. Roughly half my visitors find me through the search phrase "knitted chicken jumpers." (I hate to even type those words again, but whatever, I like traffic.) Almost all of it from various little villages in England.

Obviously, there's a great interest in fowl outerwear there. Is it because so many chickens have been defeathered? Is it due to a great love of flightless birds in general? Is it code for some kinky fetish? What's the deal???

It's clear I should design a knitting pattern and post it on my blog, to drive up my traffic count for one thing. I could resize the whippet sweater...

I'm not going to link to the original story that got me to this point -- just check out the popular search to the right if you must. I'm kind of bored with the whole thing, frankly, and you probably are too.

However, for those who like their poultry live, I'm happy to share some little-known facts about these birds, courtesy of the wildlife curator at the High Desert Museum:

1. A chicken will lay bigger and stronger eggs if you change the lighting in such a way as to make them think a day is 28 hours long. [Kathi D: be sure to tell us how this works for you]
2. The chicken can travel up to nine miles an hour.
3. There are seven distinct types of combs on chickens: rose, strawberry, single, cushion, buttercup, pea and V-shaped.
4. The largest chicken egg on record was nearly 12 ounces and measured 12 inches around.
5. The greatest number of yolks in one egg is nine.
6. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.
7. The waste produced by one chicken in its lifetime can supply enough electricity to run a 100 watt bulb for five hours.

You're welcome.

Don't even ask...

The Big C

Hmmm. I though you guys would leap at the "Two Things" challenge. Maybe you're still working on it. Well, anyway, moving on...

My old roommate's mom was a very proper Southern lady from Nashville. We used to laugh about how she would carefully mouth the word "cancer" rather than speak it out loud: "Well, you know Betty Lou's husband has c a n c e r," she'd say, relegating it to the same impolite category as herpes  or mental illness. Cancer has a scary sound to it - she wouldn't mouth the phrase heart disease, for example.

Don't worry, I'm not about to announce I have c a n c e r, except for a little skin lesion now and then (loved that baby oil when I was 14!) Since half my immediate family has had the real thing (all survivors!), it does lurk as a possibility, but so do a lot of things.

It's on my mind today for two reasons. First, I went in this morning for my annual skin check, and for those who haven't done this, let me tell you: there could be nothing more fun than having a handsome young doctor examine every inch of your bare skin under fluorescent lights. Then he cuts away bits of it to examine even more closely. Ah, yes, I did look great with a tan all those years...

But, more important than my skin, another member of our knitting group is preparing for surgery in a few days for breast cancer. Like any fanatical devoted knitter, Julie's looking at it as an opportunity to get a lot of projects done. I'm standing by for emergency yarn shop runs as needed. 

You can head over to her blog and leave some encouraging words if you'd like. While you're there, be sure to check out the breast prosthesis (aka the titbit) she's knitting up. Hilarious, and quite practical, really.

Julie's had quite an eventful year, so here's a wish that 2009 is quiet in all the best ways.

Never mind. Just delete that last post.

So, most of my knitting resolutions lasted exactly one day. How about yours?

We had a group class on the Baby Surprise Jacket, so I had to start that, and since Gossamer was so nice to provide the class space, I had to buy some yummy Cashsoft yarn for my knitting retreat in February. I didn't use point protectors and lost some stitches, then spent a few hours on ravelry.com when I could have been knitting.

However, I did finish Mark's clogs before he left Sunday a.m., and the dog sweater. See photos on the right. Next, sister #1's Christmas gift (yes, I know) then on to the BSJ. The baby decided to come two weeks early, so I'm already behind.

Unfortunately, the winter vacation break is over and work is going to cut into my knitting time, darn it. The more I knit, the more obsessed with it I become. It's clearly starting to overwhelm my blog as well.

Sorry!

Knitting up some resolutions

Ah, a fresh new year, with new knitting hopes and dreams. Isn't that what your new year is all about? But before we cast on for the next project (mine is a baby sweater for a friend's just-born), it's time to write down those serious, serious knitting resolutions for 2009.

This seems to be a popular topic in knitting blogs: Google turns up 4,900 search results for the phrase. EVERY ONE includes the resolution "Knit from my stash" (which of course is one of mine). So, without further ado, I resolve to:

1. Use point protectors on my needles. How hard can this be, seriously?

2. Knit from my stash. No, really.

4. Re-learn fair isle and maybe even intarsia, as long as it's not 

a teddy bear blankie. 

4.Spend less time looking at knitting and more time doing it.

5. At least attempt to finish projects before I cast on the next.

6. Organize my patterns.

7. Knit patterned socks so they won't bore me to tears next time.

8. Finally tackle the aran sweater with the cables and the bobbles.

So, at the risk of repeating myself piteously, won't you share yours???

Top Ten: Year in Review edition

You know the purported Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." This has been an interesting year, both globally and personally. Because this blog is ALL ABOUT ME, here is a top ten list of interesting things that happened in my life this year. (in chronological order - I'm not about to rank them!)

1. I started the Bend Knit-Up, which grew from six people to over a hundred in a year.

2. My dad turned 90, and we all celebrated together in NC and everyone got along.

3. AT&T bought Edge Wireless, and we no longer had any work, though we still had jobs.

4. Neighbor X and I broke up, got together, and finally broke up.

5. I taught myself the whole blogging thing, that which you are reading at this instant.

6. Henry and I went back east for a family trip and went to Fenway. Go Sox!

7. We were finally released from AT&T, though were still paid, allowing me a summer off.

8. I spent the summer off shoveling dirt and hauling rocks for my waterfall.

9. I got a new job at the High Desert Museum - yay! and patted a badger.

10. My dad broke his hip and I flew back east for the third time.

What were your interesting times?

The F.O.'s of '08

(knit slang for finished objects)

So here is the panoply of Melissa's Knitting Gifts for Christmas 2008:

Some of the many mitts for friends, nieces, teachers:

(I should be a hand model!)

Sweater for Beanie, the whippet. (awaiting a fitting)

(pre)Felted clogs for Mark (unfinished objects, or UFOs)

Pouch for my bro's earphones (not as garish as shown)

Re-fashioned bag for my mom

Socks for sister #2

Nothing showing yet for sister #1, who fortunately has a birthday in January, or for Henry or my dad, neither of whom will wear anything hand-knitted.

Coming down the home stretch on Sister #1, the dog sweater and the clogs for Mark. Then in January, knitting will be...

ALL ABOUT ME.

Ooo, the anticipation!

Must. Knit.

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.

I'm also cooking up some food and drink items that cannot be revealed until they're gifted. Christmas Day (or shortly thereafter) I'll share the projects and recipes here. Til then, blogging may be limited as it takes away precious needle time.

Life around here is very focused these days. No time for parties, working out, meeting friends for drinks, watching movies, walking the dog, reading the paper, making dinner. Must. Keep. Knitting.

What isn't on the needles

I can't talk about what I'm knitting right now, as most of the intended recipients read my blog. So I'll tell you about the knitting I'm not doing.

I tend to be an ABS knitter: Anything But Sweaters. They take too long to finish, are either too boring or too complicated. I'd rather knit hats, scarves, wraps, socks, ponchos, dog sweaters, bags, mittens, felted objets and so forth. Quicker gratification and I get to move on to something else faster, crucial for the easily-bored. (Hmm -- men, jobs, knitting projects -- could there be a pattern here?)

However, I have this yarn that begs to be made into an intricate, elaborate, crunchy aran cardigan (we used to call them fisherman's sweaters). It's pure tweedy wool direct from the Shetland Islands, in a marled color named "Grouse." I've been obsessively searching for the perfect pattern, one with cables and textured stitches, but not too many charts, with a collar, more of a jacket than a cardigan, not too bulky, not too much stockinette, at a 15 stitch/4" gauge. Ravelry is the perfect enabler for this activity. I'm ashamed to admit (to non-knitters) how many hours I've spent tracking down leads, alternate yarns, photos of variations, charts of instructions, blogs, forums and posts on potential patterns. Hey, it's a creative obsession, right? 

Who knows if I'll ever cast on for this. Maybe this yarn is my golden (Shetland) fleece, a mythical object that represents all I seek from knitting; the archetypal project. Or maybe it's just too itchy.

I've found the secret to grow blog traffic

Post frequently about sweaters (or "jumpers") for chickens.

There's a huge untapped market for information about chicken knitting. (Knitting for chickens, not knitting with chickens.)

Personally, I will not only talk about chicken knitting, I plan to start posting patterns, samples, measuring guides, appropriate yarns for deflecting pecks and poop, and a gallery of comely hens modeling the latest styles. Kathi D, stand by to shoot your chickens. (With a camera, not a gun, of course.)

My traffic count will go through the roof.

Chicken sweaters

I forgot: the other very popular search that brings up my site is about knitting sweaters for chickens. This is what they're searching for:

From the BBC: 

In from the cold: chilly chickens given a winter warmer

How would you feel? One minute you're in a warm battery shed [laying shed] squashed up alongside someone who's pecking out your feathers - the next you're out in an open field with nothing to protect you from the elements. Thank the Lord for chicken jumpers...

Queenie and her three friends are feeling the cold a little more than most this winter.

Recovered from a battery farm in November last year, they were largely without feathers and - away from the artificial heat of the chicken sheds - have been feeling the winter weather.

But owner Brigitte Hawley from Benenden has come up with a clever way of allowing her hens to enjoy the outside world, while being as snug as their more feathered friends. (BBC video clip)

A knitted chicken jumper - or 'Chux Tux' as Brigitte calls it - is the latest must-have item for feather-challenged chickens exploring the brave new world outside of the battery.

Poultry pullies

The 'Tux' can come in different designs depending on which parts of the bird are in need of insulation. Brigitte can also create poultry pullies in a variety of colours.

These hens have all been re-housed by the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, a charity that works with farmers to give a new lease of life to 'spent' battery hens when their egg productivity starts to take a slide.

The good news is that once out in the open - and with the help of a Chux Tux - the hens soon start to re-grow their feathers. Great news for Queenie and for the next reformed battery hen to inherit her winter coat.

How's that for a sneaky way to repeat a post?  Um, Kathi, time to learn to knit . . .