La Cosa Knitstra

I'm sorry!!!

2005-12-14T10:56:00.000Z

Okay, I'm not dead, I'm just dead busy. Work has gotten crazy (as have I after a few nights of staying in the lab until, oh, say 3am), and I'm still househunting, plus Christmas shopping and Christmas preparation, I'm about to go loopy. As you can imagine, that doesn't leave a lot of knitting time, so there's not even much to show you. So, I will give a proper update soon, but in the meantime, go see The Chronicles Of Narnia. Seriously. I'm sure Disney really need that money.

Awww, thanksgiving!

2005-11-25T13:33:00.000Z

I trust everyone in America is recovering from their turkey/tofurky comas, I'm doing the best I can. We had a fun filled, food and wine filled, evening of general excess, with a pumpkin pie that was baked in huge casserole dish, if that gives any idea to the size of the evening. It was good fun, and, being the only American there makes it kinda feel like it's my party. They almost made me sing 'The Star Spangled Banner', though, so it has a flip side, too. The day started off not-so-awesomely when I found out that the people I was going to move in with in January have decided they don't want me now. So, it's back to the househunting again. UGH!
I had a good night out on Wednesday, too, it was a friend's birthday so we went to see a band from Dublin called the Chalets, and they were good fun, nice girl-tinged pop with some rough guitar, in the vein of Veruca Salt. The openers called The Young Knives were great, too. There was a DJ set after the gig, and so dancing and drinks specials were had until the wee hours. There was a bit of a dancefloor disaster, when a friend was trying to drag me back into the fray, he managed to knock my massive huge plastic bracelet into an improperly-healed old war wound (broken bone in my hand), and now my left hand is kinda lumpy and bruised, and memories of my old hot pink plaster cast have been haunting me. Not great for knitting. I think maybe I should change the topic of this blog... I seem to be much more proficient at injuring myself than at knitting...

Oh My God!!! IT's SNOWING! SNOWING!!!!
[R.I.P. Georgie Best]

Everything's covered in frost

2005-11-20T08:06:00.000Z

I thought everyone that was saying this is going to be the coldest winter since the dawn of time was talking rubbish, but now I'm starting to believe it... It's freaking cold. Good for knitting I guess. So here's the completed back of the doctoral hoodie. Tres exciting. There's the eternal sock there for good measure too. I can't seem to not make little ladders where the needles join, any tips on getting rid of that phenomenon would be appreciated.
I think, since the first iteration of the hoodie was too small, that I overcompensated, and now I'm afraid it's too long, but I'm not redoing it again, and, besides sweater-dresses are in this year. Maybe not pour homme, but whatev's. I went a bit OCD on the raglan decreases, because I really like the decreases that you see on commercial knits, you know like the little cable-y looking ones, but not really cables? If not, I took a photo, and I found a really good little write-up about decorative decreases here. (The one I used is called the double decrease, scroll down a wee bit)
On a sort of knitting related note, I was at a book shop the other day, and I saw an older man wearing a jumper with really cool raglan decreases (this was the final inspiration), and I was trying to figure out how they were done just by looking at his jumper... and then I realized that he probably thought that he had something weird stuck on him or that I was checking him out. The next realization that followed was that I've probably freaked out loads of people when I've been trying to analyse how their knits were made. Aaah well.

Added later: For anyone who has even a passing interest in fashion, you will have heard of the awesomeness and chaos that has been going down concerning the Stella McCartney collection for H&M. If you missed your chance to grab some designer goods at high street prices, you may have a chance again, as I just read this, too. But you won't find me pulling the hair and scratching out the eyes of other thrifty fashionistas... No, my smug ass will be sitting right at home, stroking my new sapphire silk wrap dress, that I got off my beloved E-bay for a song. Just to rub it in a bit more, here's the visual.

Lift up the sofa cushions, again...

2005-11-09T16:50:00.000Z

There another knitters' relief thang going on for the India/Pakistan earthquake here, so get thee to a charity website and give them your money. Once again, you can win exciting prizes of knitterly things (and maybe some brownies..) if the warm glow of selflessness doesn't do it for you.
Sock knitting has been resumed. I started drooling over the newish Opal Rainforest sock yarn, and since I don't wear socks (er, I blame this on growing up in Texas, but socks freak me out), and I don't really have any lady friends to knit socks for (I blame this on being very hard to get along with), I decided if I want to do some sock-knitting I should finish up the ones I started ages ago. How's that for being sensible? I think it has something to do with the maybe GREY hair I just found on my head yesterday whilst preparing to, ahem, enhance my natural blonde state... I'm not sure if it was actually grey or just a hair that grew slower than the rest and was therefore still very light blonde when everything else had grown to be, ahem, slightly less blonde.. or maybe it was just a particularly shiny, reflective hair, it's very hard to determine when you can only see about half and inch of it... but I can't seem to find it today, post-colouring... I don't really mind actually, since I've always thought grey hair was cool... and that if my hair was entirely grey I could put down the peroxide for good. Or maybe it's that wisdom tooth that's coming in... That's a weird predicament to be in, maybe having a grey hair while a cutting a tooth. It's like worrying about acne and wrinkles. And by that I mean that it sucks.
Something that doesn't suck, however, is that I have finally found a place to live!!! Hooray! I won't be moving in until January, but at least I don't have to wander around the city going to strangers' houses anymore.

The Birthday Blog (aka Here comes the greed)

2005-11-08T17:18:00.000Z

I just realised that my blog is a year old today!!! Hooray! Of course I'd like to say 'thanks' to everyone who reads this for being awesome and listening to my pointless ramblings. I don't have any wise reflections or tips or anything like that, but in honour of this occasion I have added links to my Amazon(US and UK) wishlists on my sidebar under 'greedy stuff'. And you can take from that what you will, I'm just the prophet.
Happy birthday, La Cosa Knitstra! Wheeeeee!
xoxo

Post Halloween Blues (aka I Have Mono)

2005-11-05T00:27:00.000Z

I don't really have mono (or 'glandular fever' to those of you who were born 'n bred in the UK, also know as the 'sluts' disease' because most people get it for being big ol' hos), but I still fell like crappo. Plus a wisdom tooth is coming in (all you dental enthusiasts can have a guess at my age, then) and constantly pouring buckets of blood into my mouth, then throat, then stomach, creating a) an achy mouth, b) bad breath, c) a rough throat, and finally d) an upset vampire's stomach. So, please everyone, if you're free tomorrow night, you're all invited to my pity party. It's fancy dress, so you can get a bit of extra mileage out of your Halloween costume...
Speaking of Halloween (like my segue?), here we are:
We had one more in our party, a lovely jaguar, but she took this photo. We are (clockwise from the left): a swamp thing(with eyeball in mouth), a CSI, a Marc Bolan, and a Jedi. Dig on the homemade light saber... It's a fluorescent light bulb tube filled with glow sticks then fitted with a bicycle hand grip. Because bringing glass tubes filled with maybe toxic powder to a place where lots of drinking and dancing is going down is always a good idea. The CSI had evidence in the form of various body parts and also came with a vial full of cotton swabs, in the event that a DNA sample would be required. And, funnily enough, there was a lot of swabbing going on.
So. Knitting. Since last we spoke, I knit the entire back to a raglan hoodie (of my own design, uh huh huh) for my PhD friend using that blue eBay merino, and today just ripped it all back out so I could start over again because I'm pretty sure it was going to be too small for it's intended recipient. I took no photos because there has been no sun, and figured I would just insult your sensitive aesthetics with some hazy flash photo. I then wound up the quadrupled yarn with some mo' quadrupled yarn to make it octupled because I decided it was way too flimsy anyway. So a bigger more substantial doctoral raglan hoodie it shall be. I'm glad no one ever mentions the, er, 3 other projects that I have completely disowned (the sock, the 'carnival scarf', and the anthropomorphic cardi). All I have to say for myself is: the sock is boring, the carnival scarf has yet to be assembled because I'm afraid it's going to look like a doily train, and why on earth would I knit a bright green cotton lacy cardigan(stupid bastard never wanna pick it up again) in the middle of autumn? I would however, totally love to be knitting this bright green cardigan/jacket in the middle of autumn. I'm seriously coveting it as I watch it being knit over at Wendy's.
Oh, and Luca, I will write you an email soon, I promise. But I bet I won't have much else to tell you than what I just wrote. Here are some more photos of Halloween hijynx to make up for being crap at writing you back. Sadly, there are no photos that capture the awesomeness of my 5-inch snakeskin platform knee-high boots, but I can tell you they really pulled the ensemble together. The photos are in chronological order... Chronological being a fancy word for 'from least to most inebriated.'

Enough already!!!

2005-10-26T17:39:00.000Z

Still feeling like dog doo with my freshers' plague. I'm sure it has something to do with me feeling slightly better, then deciding it would be a good idea to go out with friends for drinks and smoking a few too many ciggies. I refuse, however, to be ill this weekend for the Halloween celebrations. I'm still getting my costume together, and I'm super excited about it. What's everyone going as?
Not much knitting has been going on, I have however, wound up all of that merino... I then wound four singles together to bulk it all up and make it knittable, and will (I promise) start on that jumper soon. I also have reclaimed some wool from a jumper that I used to love, but now is waaay too big, so I think I will make a similar, but smaller jumper out of it. Aside from that, there is nothing exciting going on.
PS - has anyone else seen this ?!?! Oh, Anthropologie, you are the clueless friend we only tolerate because she is so good looking. You would think this would be a bad business move for a company that deals heavily in customers' knitting naivete.

added 28/10 - I'm getting comment spammed like nobody's business, so unfortunately I'm going to have to tuen on verification for the comments. This is why we can't have nice things.

Struck down

2005-10-19T14:54:00.000Z

Nothing much to report except, thanks to all the new arrivals in town and one night of mingling with them over the weekend, I have the most exquisite throat issues. Yesterday I think I slept for about, oh, 18 hours, and spent the rest of the time trying to communicate through head shakes, nods, and hand gestures. I still haven't really decided what to do with all of my crocheted stuff, as my original idea will not work as planned... ugh. We'll see. Anyway, if you're around Cambridge, I would suggest upping the Vitamin C intake and maybe ingesting some echinacea, because the area seems to be teeming with all sorts of exciting different viruses and germs. If you're really worried, maybe this is what you need...

This Just In...

2005-10-12T16:21:00.000Z

For everyone around Cambridge who isn't going to the Knitting and Stitching Show in
London (which probably includes my broke ass), I just got some exciting  news about
a knitting gathering here tomorrow. All the details are below, I might make an
appearance, too. The venue is between Mill Lane and Peterhouse college on
Trumpington Street... basically if you know where the Fitzwilliam Museaum is, go
there, then head back toward the market square, and bingo, you have knit. Here's a
map.


NATIONAL KNITTING WEEK
10/16TH OCTOBER

Press Release

No embargo


Cambridge Knit Café is marking National Knitting Week with a special Open Day.

Visitors will be welcome at the Knit Café, in Emmanuel United Reformed Church,
Trumpington Street, Cambridge, on Thursday 13th October between 2pm and 4pm.

They will  be able to meet the regular knitters and look at some of the range
of goods made to go to a variety of charities. These include children and young
people in Kosovo, children of asylum seekers, who have often left all their
toys behind when they fled with their parents, and children in hospital in
poorer countries.

Knitters will be on hand with tea, coffee and cakes, as well as knitting
needles and yarn, to introduce anyone who wants to come along to the group.

The group also welcomes donations of wool and other yarn, in big and small
amounts.

"The café has really taken off since it started again in September" says the
Community Development Worker, Ms Jan Nicholls "New people of all ages have
joined the group - many learning to knit for the first time. There is always a
lot of laughter when the group is meeting."

The café takes place in the Fare Shares Café at the church, which is open every
day from 10.30am to 3pm and serving lunches form 12 to 2pm

For further information contact Jan Nicholls on Cambridge 351174

   - ends-

All the news that fits

2005-10-11T14:03:00.000Z

**(Beware, lots and lots of photos)**
The Rebecca wrap has been finished for so long now, I'm not even very excited to blog about it... But, of course, I will. The sunlight has been non-existent lately, so today was really the first day I could get a good photo, so please excuse the wrinkley shirt I'm wearing under the wrap. Here she is, all fluffy and sunny.
Specifics:
Pattern - 'Wrap With Eyelets' pattern, from Rebecca #29
Yarn - Knit in Rowan Kid Silk Haze in colour 577 (held double throughout), almost exactly 5 balls.
Needles -with 4.5mm needles (I used 4mm needles to cast on and for all of the ribbing).
Modifications - I lengthened the body by 1 cm . I lengthened the sleeves by about 15 cm, I just did 10 cm of 2x2 ribbing and half an eyelet pattern repeat on each sleeve before starting to knit as the sleeve pattern suggests. I also made a thicker (about 10 rows) neckband in 1x1 rib, then did a tubular cast-off. For the side tie, I didn't really follow the pattern at all. For the long tie, I just picked up about 8 stitches with a 3.75mm needle, and knit until it was long enough to wrap around my waist, and for the front, I just picked up every stitch with 3.75 mm needles, and knit, decreasing at both edges of every other row a few times, then every row, until only 8 stitches were left, then I just knit those eight stitches until it was long enough to tie to the first tie I made. blah blah blah blah blah.

I really really like this wrap, but if I would have liked it to be just a bit longer. I was thinking of adding some ribbing to the bottom edge, but I don't have enough of the Haze left, so I'll just leave it. Other than that, no complaints, she is lovely.

Other fibrous endeavours have been occurring, too... I've done a bit of cheeky scarf making, the first one knit on broomsticks (20 mm needles) in Rowan Biggy Print is being modeled below by it's recipient. I just used moss stitch for the whole thing, and it took 3 balls of yarn and an episode of Lost (give or take). And while I'm on the subject of Lost, I just want to remind folks in the USA that here in the UK, we're only like 7 episodes into the first season.. I'm just sayin', is all.
I've also been doing a bit of hookin', too. I liked me some of that Carnival Shawl that was in Classic Holiday, but since I don't really do the whole shawl thing, and I don't really like any of the other patterns in that booklet, I decided to go it on my own, and try to make a Carnival scarf, but in the angora I was gifted from Florence. I've made about 8 motifs so far, and they are soo much fun. I'm not sure how to assemble it to make it look like the shawl, so if anyone has some helpful hints (ie - owns Classic Holiday and wants to throw me a bone on how they suggest to assemble the thing), they would be much appreciated. This is one of the motifs, held against the light so you can see into it's soul.
I finally realised my folly in thinking I could hand-wind almost a kilo of laceweight merino, and splurged on a wool winder. And by splurged I mean I payed less than Â£7, including shipping. I LOVE e-bay. I wound today, in about 10 minutes, what would have taken me, oh, about 27 hours by hand. This means that now, 3 months after it's original deadline, I can soon begin on my friend's jumper. Whatever, I mean who really wants a jumper in July anyway? Since I'm on a roll with the photos, here is my new saviour, he is loud and creaky.

If anyone is still reading this, here comes the personal bit. I'm STILL STILL STILL looking for a bloody flat, and I'm about to go ka-razee. Once again, I am waiting to hear back from some people about whether or not they will have me in their house. The idea of commuting from Texas is becoming more and more tempting.

I thought I was kidding, too...

2005-09-27T17:04:00.000Z

The Rebecca wrap is speeding along, and I'm nearly finished with the main knitting. Since I'm the last person on the planet to knit this particular item, and because it was originally intended for spring/summer wear, but I'm going to be wearing it in the autumn/winter, I have lengthened the sleeves from quite short to 3/4's length. That also means there will be more of the Haze in direct contact with my skin, which is a concept that sends me into rapturous exaltations. You can see my progress for yourself. Isn't it all too exciting.
As far as other excitement in my life goes, well, there hasn't been much. The search for a new abode continues, and my patience wears thinner and thinner. I really hate waiting for other people to make decisions that affect my life. Boo hoo hoo. I'm also having to move at my work... I'm going into my fourth year of my PhD, and once you reach that point, the group that I work with takes you from your lovely airy office and shoves you in a dark, windowless hole with the rest of the fourth years. I guess the reasoning is if you have nothing to do and no one to talk to, that you will write. I think it's just another way they are trying to remove our 'will to live'.
So, I'll quit whinging, but I won't stop talking about the Haze. So, today, when I sat down in my usual knittin' place, I looked out the window and this is what I saw:

I'd like to think it has something to do with the Haze, and the comment I made about it a few posts ago. See, sometimes, knitting does make magic happen.

Therapy Knitting and some nostalgia

2005-09-21T17:28:00.000Z

The Rebecca wrap is coming along really well, I really love knitting it and it's such a break from all those cables and moss stitch and cotton from the other cardi. I truly cannot put into words my affection for the Haze (as those in the know call it). The little eyelet pattern is dead simple to memorise, the shaping is very simple, and from what I can tell from photos of everyone else, it's lovely when it's finished. I'm thinking I may alter the way it's tied together, as I'm not crazy about the big ol' knot it makes. I might just knit on a strip about 8 stitches wide (like the closure of the Lucky Clover wrap). We'll see.
Also, I forgot to mention it earlier, but I had a friend stopover in London on her way to Turkey last Friday, and I met up with her at the airport to visit for a while. She, being awesomeness incarnate, brought me loads of Tex-Mex goodies from Arizona, plus about 20 packets of Kool-Aid in loads of different colours!!! Since I have loads of cream wool leftover from the cable jumper I knit last, and I'm not really crazy about it in it's current state, I can't wait to put the two together and make some exciting variegated something. It was also just fun to see Kool-aid again, as it's probably been something like 10+ years since I've even held a packet in my hand. It made me remember how we used to store them like trading cards, and I would alphabetize mine. It was always such a big decision choosing which colour we wanted to make. Also, even though they are named by flavours, everyone always discussed them in terms of their colour, like 'Can I have some Red Kool-aid?' 'Sorry, no, all we have is purple.'
The boiler is now fixed, I'm still looking for a place to live, and that's about it.

The Big Issue

2005-09-18T15:50:00.000Z

Our little Indian summer seems to have made its way back home now... It's a real shame because most of the summer here was non-existent until late August and early September, so I was just getting in the spirit of it. I had stopped carrying extra layers of clothing and an umbrella everywhere I went. Then I got smacked down by the rain and cold that's letting me know that, yeah, it's September, so deal with it. Our boiler isn't working today, either, so I'm sitting inside wearing as much clothing as comfortably possible. Ugh.
Now for some comic relief... Want to see the progress I've made on the anthropomorphic cardigan? Yeah, I thought so. Here ya go. Notice anything wrong? Yeah, I did the armhole and neck shaping the same as the other half of the cardigan, and it has been ripped back. Usually I'm pretty good about dealing with mistakes immediately, but this time I did just throw the whole thing into the bottom of my knitting bag.
To soothe my aggravation, I busted out the Kid Silk Haze and cast on for the Rebecca wrap with eyelets (thanks Tracy!!!! see her version here). I love Kid Silk Haze so much, I was thinking of writing an ode to it. I know detractors go on about how hard it is to rip back, and how slippery and tangly it can be, but I don't care. It feels like the underbelly of a freshly washed kitten that lives in a rainbow. I was making myself wait until I finished the second half of the front of the anthropomorphic deal, but after my massive goof-up, I knew KSH could make me feel better. I would probably be able to knit it more quickly if I could stop petting it.
Other than that, the guitar playing is going okay (read: I'm still rubbish), and also I will be moving at the beginning of next month. I'm a bit sad because I really really love my current flat, it's location is perfect, it's gorgeous, etc, etc, but recently I've also discovered that I like to be able to buy food, too, and to have friends that don't resent me for always making them pay for stuff. So, I'm moving to a cheaper place, and I've already found one shared house that's very close to where I live now that seems cool. I have to wait until early next week to find out if the people there would like to have me as a housemate, so we'll see. The house is VERY studenty, and if I decide to go there I'll go more into it, but it should be funny anyway.

Typical.

2005-09-13T20:08:00.000Z

Okay, to end the suspense and to keep the guesses from getting any more sordid (C'mon Luca, you know I put down the crack pipe for good!), I will reveal the source of the blisters........ Playing guitar! So, the first guess was correct, good eye, Mary. I used to play ages and ages ago, but obviously my callouses have disappeared, and I have to develop new ones. I don't mind it too much actually, now that the pain has subsided somewhat. The hardest part was actually forcing myself to trim down my nails, as I always ALWAYS have long nails that I usually keep painted, and am quite protective of. We all have to make sacrifices for our art, though right? I went along for a while believing that I could play with long nails, but when I read that Dolly Parton couldn't do it, I gave up hope.
(ps - knitting-wise, there is very little excitement... still trying to force myself to knit the other half of the front of my cardi, and making very little headway.)

Still Boring...

2005-09-09T13:59:00.000Z

There has been some knitting, but it looks an awful lot like the first half of the front of the anthropomorphic cardigan, just reflected, and less complete. So, I'll let you use your imaginations on this one. Knitting has been a bit slower than usual (shut it, I know, I know, how can something be slower than stopped?) and slightly more painful due to some self-inflicted blisters on my fingers. If anyone can guess the cause of them, you get a gold star. Just to be morbid, and to provide some photographic content, here they are, with the focus on the most bulbous....

More excitingly, the Knitters' Disaster Relief Fund has raised (as of this moment) $77,676.43!!! Isn't that unbelievable! So, go check out their website, and if you can't be motivated by charity alone, look at all the great prizes that can be won if you donate!

Hmmmm...

2005-09-02T11:03:00.000Z

Okay, so work's been cranked up a notch and there is no knitting to speak of lately. There has been staying in a lab until midnight, etc though, but that doesn't make for good content. So, now that that's out of the way...
I don't usually write too much about current events, etc, but I have to say my bit about what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. I haven't been watching, reading, or listening to the news, because I don't think I can bear to see places only a few hundred miles (which is not much in Texas terms) away from where I grew up devastated. Places I would visit on holiday when I was younger, and that I only have fantastic memories of. In what is supposed to be one of the most developed countries in the world. A country that knew this was coming.
I've gotten in contact with the people that I can who live in the area, and made sure everyone's okay. So, I know I'm not the first person to make this suggestion, but if you have some spare cash kicking around, it couldn't be put to better use than helping out with this. Here's the link for the American Red Cross, where you can donate online, by phone, mail, etc. Keep in mind that most of the areas being hit the hardest were already some of the poorest areas in the states, so a lot of the people affected were probably already living hand-to-mouth and don't have massive savings to help them recover from any sort of disaster. Also, if you're in the UK, your one pound sterling is worth almost 2 American dollars, so whatever you are thinking of giving, don't forget to factor in the exchange rate. Thanks for reading.

(Added on 03/09 : The ladies of I'm Knitting as Fast as I Can and Zeneedle have organised a Knitters' disaster relief fund, which can be found here . If you donate, and then send in the amount you have donated with your name, you get entered to win loads of cool knitting stuff, too!
If you're having trouble with the American Red Cross website, or would like to donate your money to another orgainsation, check out Go Fug Yourself for an exhaustive list of different groups that can do some good with jo money. Then scroll down and partake of the snark.)

Long time, no see.

2005-08-23T14:23:00.000Z

Have you lost weight? Your hair looks great like that. Gee, it's really been ages... I'm hoping a bit of flattery will keep you from noticing how long it's been since I've posted anything of substance. But, here we go folks, the tide's a-turnin'. I have something to tell you. That involves knitting. I finished the left front of my anthropomorphic cardi... Don't believe me? Check it out. If you don't remember what project I'm talking about, I wouldn't be surprised... This is what I'm shooting for, even though I'm pretty sure at this point that by the time I finish this cardigan, it will be too cold and dark to wear it. That is if it's even wearable. That's what I get for trying to design something myself.
As I mentioned before, there has been some crocheting, mainly in the way of blanket squares. I'm kind of using making a baby blanket for a friend as an excuse to brush up on my crochet before I turn my hand at making the edging for this cardigan. I won't show you my blanket squares because they might be made of dirt cheap acrylic, and I might be a bit embarrassed by that fact. I will however show you what I've been working on when not making baby squares (sounds dirty) or lace-y cable-y moss-stitching... I have to wind all 975 grams of this lace weight merino into balls. This is what I'm going to use to knit my birthday-PhD friend's jumper (see 20 July entry), but I'm certainly not knitting it at lace weight. I'm going to have to hold a few strands together, and see how it goes. I bought it off a seller on e-Bay for a song, and it's really lovely stuff, so soft, with just the slightest sheen. I'm hoping I have a bit left over to make myself something lacey. So, hand winding 7 billion miles of laceweight merino, though it sounds like a holiday in the sun, is starting to make me go a bit loopy. It's so pretty though. As you can see in the photo, I use the empty film canister method to make a centre-pull ball. The empty film canister is also where I keep lots of stitch markers and safety pins, so it keeps busy.
I'm not promising anything, but I'll try not to be so derelict in my duties in the future. I've just been absorbed by trying to hang on the the last remnants of the English 'summer', which for me has involved a lot of outdoor imbibing of spirits and staying out way too late, then getting to work late the next day, then having to work later, lather, rinse, repeat. One day I will learn to be a responsible adult... Don't expect it to be any time soon though.

The Worst Knitblogger ever???

2005-08-12T22:14:00.000Z

I don't have much to say about knitting because I haven't done any in AGES. I'm still sorry. The camera has returned from Japan, and it looks like it had a good time. It also returned with some strange yarn that may or may not be acrylic, but hey, the point of the trip wasn't for yarn. I got some very exciting souvenirs though, when the sun is out again, I might take some photos and let you all in on the fun.
There may have been trips to clubs and maybe too much dranking again, but, you know, it's the summertime...

All I can do is apologize

2005-08-05T15:22:00.000Z

So, I have been knitting, and crocheting, and stash-enhancing, but will you believe me? I finished the I-pod cozy that was loosely based on Grumperina's pattern, but knit in cotton and with an extra flap to cover the front... I couldn't take a photo before I gave it to my friend on Wednesday for his birthday, but he at least pretended to quite like it. Also, I went on a crazy granny square kick and got an exciting book out of the library called '200 Crochet Blocks'
by Jan Eaton, and I'm totally nerdin'* on it. I also took out the Erika Knight pattern book 'Baby Bloom' because I just found out one of my good friends from my adolescence is pregnant. This is the first friend that I've ever had to be pregnant, and it's really a bit weird for me, but all I can think of is 'must make stuff for the baby'! I even bought the 'Crumpets' pattern in case it is a girl, and really I didn't need much of an excuse anyway, because I think the pattern is so cute. And if it turns out to be a boy, I have a niece that is of approximate Crumpets proportions, so there you have that. Does anyone have any favourite baby stuff patterns or yarns they would like to tell me about? I've never knit for a baby, I'm kind of afraid I'll knit something that might possibly be deadly. Any words of wisdom?
If you are not too bored by my photo-less ramblings yet, and want to read about of bunch of non-knitting stuff then please continue reading. If not, you have been warned. So, I let the caterpillars go because the stank that they produced was unbearable. And they were suffocating each other with the amount of poo they produced, so I set them free in the front garden. One of them had already gone into a chrysalis, so I put him right outside my front window so I can watch him become a butterfly. The main impetus for getting rid of the smell that I had been able to stand for so long was the cracking hangover I had yesterday after a long night of celebrations for my friend's birthday. Will I ever learn not to drink to much? Probably not. We had a great time though, so I think, now that I'm on the other side of the hangover anyway, that it was worth it.
So that's all for now!

* Some friends of mine in Texas have stumbled upon this theory that no matter what you're doing it's always much more fun if you're doin' it, if you catch my drift. Like fishing is no where near as cool as fishin', knitting is far more boring than knittin', and I'm sure some of you might even be familiar with the concept of 'goin' muddin' ' as a way to spend the weekend . Anyway, so when you know you are doing something nerdy, and that you are probably one of the few people in the world that are actually interested in what ever you are doing, some folks might say you are 'nerding' or 'nerding out' , which is not entirely cool. But if you're nerdin' , or if you have gone nerdin' then you've re-established yourself as 'hip' and 'in the know', and now nerdin' is a fun acceptable passtime. So, when I start going on about knitting to my non-knitting friends I always warm them with the disclaimer that I'm about to start nerdin'.

I'll just have to be more descriptive...

2005-07-31T19:48:00.000Z

I saw Charlie and The Chocolate Factory on Friday, and I really liked it. Everyone keeps making comparisons between Johnny Depp (as Willy Wonka) and Michael Jackson, and I see what folks are saying, but the entire time I was watching all I could think of was Francis McDormand in Fargo... We had a fun night, though, it was a friend's birthday and we went to a Turkish restaurant where we were treated to an impromptu amateur belly dance performance by the middle-aged mustachioed owner of the restaurant, some of the waitresses, and some excited diners (including two members of our party) .
Scareport left yesterday for Japan, with my yarn requests in hand, as well as our digital camera, so there might be a dearth of photos in the next few days... I might bust out the old webcam, but I might as well draw, with my left hand, a picture of whatever it is I'm trying to show you. I just knitted an i-pod cover in cotton for a friend who's birthday is coming up very soon, I'm not even sure if it will fit since I don't have an I-pod myself. We'll see.
I just found a preview of the new Rowan stuff... Check it out here. Scroll down for #38.
So, that's about it for now...

Save a few quid, burn your house down

2005-07-27T16:39:00.000Z

Here are the charred remains of my toaster. I was very excited about having some toasted pita, as I often do without conflagration, and not even considering the possibility of ignition when I pushed the lever down and wander off to the computer to check email whilst waiting for my bread to pop. I was so secure in my pita warming ability that when I smelled smoke, and then turned and saw my kitchen filling up with smoke, the last place I looked was the toaster. It didn't take too long for me to notice it though, because there were orange flames licking up from it. First I freaked out a little and cursed myself for not having a fire-extinguished. Then my fire-safety training (yeah,I was head fire marshall in my student housing first year.. not by choice, but I did get to wear a kicky hi-visibility vest during fire drills), and I doused the toaster in baking soda, then put it outside. You would not believe the amount of smoke produced by a kamikaze toaster, if I were a more dedicated blogger I would have photos of that too, but I was more interested in getting it out of my house. So, now I have no toaster and it stinks in my house of plastic and pita smoke. Please let this be a cautionary tale to anyone who thinks that the £5 toaster is a good bargain.

2005-07-27T16:23:00.000Z

Before all of the toaster trauma, specifically yesterday, myself and Stitchdrop went to get our ears pierced. She had been thinking about it for a while, and I told her if she went that I would go too and get just my right ear pierced. I've had my ears pierced several times, and for some reason, the right one always heals up and won't take an earring after a while, but I figured if there's piercing to be had, I'm in. We of course then went to the yarn shop around the corner, and saw that it has just expanded it's yarn section. Unfortunately, it was still disappointing, and the folks that work there are always mean, so we walked away empty handed. I have just won some Rowan handknit cotton on E-bay a few days ago anyway, and it got here this morning, so there is new yarn in the house, anyway. It's light blue and pink, for the edging of the anthropomorphic cardi. Speaking of, I finished the back of said cardi last night, and you can see it here, reclining on the curtains that came off the wall when I was trying to open the window to throw the toaster out.

August Eat Locally Challenge

2005-07-24T12:34:00.000Z

I just read the post over at Knitting Notes, and I've been inspired to join up to the August Eat Locally Challenge. There's a great market here in Cambridge, and I do quite often use it in the summer time, just not as much as I should. There's even a weekly vegetable delivery service that I might look into. Anyway, if you're interested, have a look here. Can't go wrong with helping your local economy and the evironment!

Ring it up, dude.

2005-07-22T14:29:00.000Z

I've decided to start over with the sock. I won't post a photo, because it's too bad. I was in denial for a while, but have come to the conclusion that the best thing would be to put it out of it's misery. I mean, all of the parts of it that make it a sock rather than a cool stripy tube are not ideal.. The toe is not wide enough, the heel is a bit wonky, and I've got a bit of a ladder where the stitches changes needles. The hardest part was admitting I had a problem. The rest will be therapeutic.
I did made some progress on the Anthropomorphic cardi, I'm still trying to find some cotton yarn for the edging, but the back is coming along. I gave the new Addis a spin as well, and I can see what everyone goes on about. I can imagine they would be much better for wool than for cotton, but I'm enjoying using them.
In other news, I've just 'applied' for the knitters in Europe ring, you can see the button below. I've also decided that I should buy myself a laptop, so if anyone knows where I can get a VERY cheap one, let me know.

2005-07-22T14:28:00.000Z

another button