Knitwhitties: A Little Knitting Nothing

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex. - Oscar Wilde

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Show and Tell, and 100 Posts

I haven't shown you any pictures in a while, so here goes.


Here's the nearly finished body of the cape. I only have about 30 rows of the hood to go. Hurray!




Can you see the mistakes in the neck ribbing?





And here's a picture of my uncle's scarf. It is safe to show the picture because he doesn't read my blog




Can you see the mistake here?






And the Secret Pal Socks, which have now been frogged, oh 5 or 6 times

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Obsessions

Those of you who know me well, and those of you who are coming to know me, realize that I am prey to temporary obsessions. I initially thought that knitting would be one of these obsessions, but it's a year and a half later, and I am still, well, obsessed. I'm not sure if it's knitting I'm obsessed with, or if I have a love affair with yarn. Mmmmm, yarn. And what I do with yarn behind closed doors must be illegal in all 50 states. But we won't discuss that.

I blame my latest obsession on the Yarn Harlot. Did you see her post on her trusty steed? Mmmm hmmmmm. Admittedly, I have been obsessing about a bicycle for several years, off and on. What I really want is the bicycle I had when I was about 12. It was a Columbia coaster bike, and it was blue, and I loved it. Yes, the 10 speed that replaced it was pretty cool, but that bike was special. I did find a cheap bike on E-bay a few years back, but it was old (really, really old), which made it very cool. Unfortunately, the chain didn't revolve smoothly, which made riding it like trying to haul 75 pounds of dead weight up the side of Mt. Everest. Not that I've ever done that, but you get the idea. So, naturally, there was very little riding of it happening, until finally I put it out to the side of the road, where I knew some enterprising person would snag it, fix it, and put it to good use. Which is what happened. But since reading Stephanie's post, I've been thinking (yes! alright! obsessing!) about a bicycle again. I envision myself riding it to work, stopping to pick up flowers and french bread on my way home. No, I don't live in France, and there is nowhere to stop for these things on my way home. (Why, yes, I DO have a rich and varied fantasy life, thank you!) But that is a mere bagatelle. With the proper bike, this fantasy can be mine. I'm kind of leaning towards a Schwinn. Because, you know, it's blue.

My other recent obsession involves a tattoo. It's not the first time I've obsessed over a tattoo. At the end of the first obsession, I abandoned the idea as not terribly practical in my life at the time. After, of course, drawing it meticulously, and coloring it. At some point in my delusional obsession that I am organized and practical (hahahahahahahahahahahaha, yes I do crack myself up), I disposed of the picture. So in my recent incarnation of the tattoo obsession, I won't be using that picture (especially since I can't seem to draw it again. What is up with that??). But it's just as well, since I've had an entirely different idea this time. I can't seem to draw that either. The renderings look like something produced by a two year old (no offense, Eli, but the results are not something I want permanently upon my body). It has occured to me to explain what I want to the tattoo ARTIST and allow them to draw it, which would be far more satisfactory all the way 'round. I've even found an artist whose portfolio indicates that they can do this sort of work - because naturally I don't want anything simple. No, no, I want an involved Celtic Knot. Of course, I do. So I just have to hie myself thither, and voila, I will have the tattoo of my dreams. We also won't discuss my phobia of needles. Did I mention that rich and varied (and delusional) fantasy life?

On the knitting front, the scarf is slowly coming along; the cape is driving me insane, but I have started the neck; and I have started my Secret Pal socks (that's what I'm calling them), and ripped them out, three times. But I get better with the cast-on each time. It's a good thing I'm stubborn, er, I mean persistent, as well as obsessed.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

UFO's

My wonderful secret pal sent me that beautiful yarn, needles, and a sock-knitting how-to book. I thought I would start the socks last Monday. So I read the book, and on Monday wound 1 skein into a ball. On Tuesday, I wound the second skein into a ball. I don't know how to wind it into center-pull balls, so I just wound it into regular balls. On Wednesday, I read the book again, along with a lot of head scratching. On Thursday, I read the book yet again.

I came to the realization that the socks would not, could not, be my carry-along project. (No, I still haven't cast on for the socks). I decided I needed an easy carry-along project, and went looking through my stash (heh-heh, I said stash. I always chuckle when I say stash). And I found some yarn I had forgotten I had - Oh! I remember you! I don't know what I'm going to DO with you, but I remember you! One of the yarns was the Frog Tree Merino I had gotten to make my Uncle a rib-knit scarf & hat. The first time I tried to make the rib-knit scarf, there was a lot of frustration and ripping out because I just couldn't get the hang of the pattern. When I saw the yarn in my stash, I thought AHA! his birthday is coming up in 3 months. And perhaps now I have enough experience to manage the rib knit. So I grabbed the yarn, some Lantern Moon needles (size 6, instead of the size 9's, when the pattern calls for size 8. I'm not sure why), looked up the rib knit stitch in my handy-dandy how-to-knit book, wrote down how many stitches to cast on, a paper, and a pen, and stuffed it all into my felted knitting carry-along project bag. When I cast on, I decided that 30 stitches was too few, and tried 34. And decided that those were too few, as well, and added 4 more. I was happy with 38. So I knit, and knit, and knit on my lunch, and on my breaks, and have about an inch done. Wow! and not nearly as much frustration as the last time I tried it, altho I do have a tendency to purl the knits and knit the purls, and have to fix that. I'm going to try stitch markers in the hopes that that helps. But all in all, I'm quite happy. And I absolutely love this yarn. It's so soft, and fluffy, that yes, I just want to roll around in it.

So at some point this busy, busy, busy weekend, I also need to cast-on the socks. I'll once again have 4 UFO's.

Monday, May 14, 2007

It's Magic!











Finally, an F.O.! My son loves it, and now he can wear it as part of his Harry Potter costume. It's kind of oddly lumpy looking, but really pretty cool. I wonder if we can get away with using that for Halloween?

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Happy Mother's Day!

Monday, May 07, 2007

My SP to the Rescue Again!

I knew I need to blog again today, but wasn't really looking forward to it. After all, I have no completed projects to show off. How many times can I show pictures of the unfinished Manos cape? Yes, I've gotten more done, but it still looks a lot like it did last week. And yes, I've been working on the wizard hat, in fact I have less than 50 rows to go and since the rows have fewer and fewer stitches, it's going quickly. But still,it's an unfinished project. So I was dreading the whole what-am-I-going- to-say-on-the-blog thing. And then I got home from work, and found a completely unexpected, totally amazing surprise, from my SP. Which gave me an excuse to blog, and some cool pictures to post along with it. Take a gander at this:












What a cheerful package to come home to!











And this was inside the package. Aren't those colors FANTASTIC?!













And when I opened the plastic bag, I found these. Worsted sock yarn, (so soft, so smooth, so touchable), what a beautiful card, and 2 sets of circs. I think I've been challenged! Uh-oh.











Thank you, SP, this is totally astounding!
 
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