Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger. For shame.
So! What's new at Chez Nemo. Well, I learned casting on and joining in the round on DPNs, which went rather well. I decided to cast on the same hat pattern again, this time using smaller gauge yarn (Moda Dea 'Tweedle Dee' in Cinnamon Twist, which means self-shading beret! Yay! The yarn is also incredibly cushy.) That should technically fix the problem, provided I also don't make the body too long. I did not poke myself in the eye this time around, but I will say that I am not a big fan of purling on DPNs in the first row with splitty yarn. It took me about an hour to finish that first round. And then I put it down and haven't picked it back up yet. I'll get around to it. Sometime.
I have also figured out that sadly, the acrylic content in the Gigantic Hat is way outnumbering the natural fiber content, and so... no felting. Damn. I really really hate having that amount of yarn go to waste. And yes, it was good for practice, but... I would've really liked to have a pretty red hat. Oh well.
I also cast on for a Sunday Market Shawl, which is so pretty it really should not be this easy to make. I am using Noro Kureyon (finally!) and size 13 needles, which is about three sizes bigger than she recommends (although she does say that if you are a tight knitter going up two sizes or so is a good idea - I just went three up instead of two...) So far it looks fine to me, and I did want it to be quite loose and not too overly warm. I like the Kureyon so far, the striping amuses me to no end, but it is kinda hard on the fingers... There are still a couple twigs stuck in the fiber here and there, and the fiber is a little irritating, but the end result is so going to be worth it, I can tell.
And on a completely different note, I want to tell you about this show I went to the other day. We went to see a band called The New Cities at the Paramount Lounge here in Moncton, and I had a freaking blast. It's a six-man band from Montreal (or Trois-Rivieres, depending who you ask, but... whatever.) There were maybe... 25 people there, which kinda sucked for them, but they still went all out and gave an amazing show. They're really good, very energetic, and I love their sound. They're also super friendly - my friends and I bought posters and I decided I wanted them to sign it, so we went around asking each one to sign. They were so nice, they each actually hung around and talked to us, and I had as much fun doing that as I did watching the show. (I especially liked the drummer, he was such a cutie. Actually they're all cute, but... he was the cutest. Yes, I sound like a third-grader, shut up.) I bought their EP and I am super excited that they're coming out with an album this summer, so... Yeah. Check them out and give them some love!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
How To Make A Hat
1. Finish a project you really wanted to be able to wear when you were done (see: slouchy beret, last post.) Notice that it is way, way, way too big. Accept roommie's suggestion that it might felt, but feel too nervous to actually go through with the felting process since you invested so much time and energy into the project, and the only thing worse than a too big hat is a too small hat. Decide instead to stall for time, and to cast on another hat. Put on Firefly to watch while you're doing that.
2. Figure out what was wrong with the pattern you used last time. Determine that the rim had too many stitches, and that the body was too long, with decreases too slow. Decide to cast on fewer stitches.
3. Pick a yarn. Any yarn. That nice gray one will do. Sure it's much thinner than the one you used before, and it'll make for a totally different tension, but it's sooo pretty! Use same needles anyway. Gauge? We don't need no stinkin' gauge!
4. Cast on 60 stitches instead of the 66 the pattern calls for, on a 60cm circular needle. Realize there is no way in hell that will ever make it all the way around the cable, and that 60 stitches in that small a yarn might make a good hat for... oh... a two-month-old. Decide (rightly enough) that your head is not two-month-old-sized, and go for more stitches. Pick an arbitrary number - 80 sounds good, right? Sure.
5. Mutter and curse when you see that even 80 stitches ain't making it all the way around that circ. Make a mental note to buy 16" circs at some point in the future, and why make 24" circs anyway when a regular adult head is 22"? Take out the DPNs (thankfully the same size as used in the casting on), and divide the stitches onto three of them.
6. Realize you are totally clueless as to how to join something in the round on DPNs. On a circ, the concept is pretty dumbass-proof, but on DPNs? Um. Stare blankly at your pretty bamboo needles with the pretty, pretty yarn all cast on and ready to go.
7. Go to knittinghelp.com. Watch the video for circular knitting on DPNs. Boggle a little bit, then try what you think it is she's doing. Fiddle with that for a while, then poke yourself in the eye with a DPN while trying to join. (That last bit is optional, but loads of fun!)
8.Throw DPNs across the room Put DPNs gently aside and rewind your yarn. Pick up a scarf you've been procrastinating on, made with pink bulky yarn and crappy plastic straight needles. Pine for a gray wool beret the whole time you're working on that. Optional: chant 'Learning curve. I'll get better. Learning curve. I'll get better.' to keep from flipping out.
9. Look at your computer and see that it is 11:30. Feel better that at least it's not too late and you'll get a full night's sleep. Then open up your phone to check your messages, and see that the computer has once again switched the time back an hour. Curse loudly and violently.
Okay, so that last step isn't part of the hatmaking "process" (such as it is). But goddamn, am I getting sick of this happening. My computer is still on the old daylight savings schedule, so no matter how many times I fix it, every week or so it'll go, "Hey! I have the wrong time! Better fix that!" and changes back an hour. And I can't download the patch to fix that, because Windows doesn't recognize my version as genuine! It's enough to make me foam at the mouth. Stupid piece of go-se.
2. Figure out what was wrong with the pattern you used last time. Determine that the rim had too many stitches, and that the body was too long, with decreases too slow. Decide to cast on fewer stitches.
3. Pick a yarn. Any yarn. That nice gray one will do. Sure it's much thinner than the one you used before, and it'll make for a totally different tension, but it's sooo pretty! Use same needles anyway. Gauge? We don't need no stinkin' gauge!
4. Cast on 60 stitches instead of the 66 the pattern calls for, on a 60cm circular needle. Realize there is no way in hell that will ever make it all the way around the cable, and that 60 stitches in that small a yarn might make a good hat for... oh... a two-month-old. Decide (rightly enough) that your head is not two-month-old-sized, and go for more stitches. Pick an arbitrary number - 80 sounds good, right? Sure.
5. Mutter and curse when you see that even 80 stitches ain't making it all the way around that circ. Make a mental note to buy 16" circs at some point in the future, and why make 24" circs anyway when a regular adult head is 22"? Take out the DPNs (thankfully the same size as used in the casting on), and divide the stitches onto three of them.
6. Realize you are totally clueless as to how to join something in the round on DPNs. On a circ, the concept is pretty dumbass-proof, but on DPNs? Um. Stare blankly at your pretty bamboo needles with the pretty, pretty yarn all cast on and ready to go.
7. Go to knittinghelp.com. Watch the video for circular knitting on DPNs. Boggle a little bit, then try what you think it is she's doing. Fiddle with that for a while, then poke yourself in the eye with a DPN while trying to join. (That last bit is optional, but loads of fun!)
8.
9. Look at your computer and see that it is 11:30. Feel better that at least it's not too late and you'll get a full night's sleep. Then open up your phone to check your messages, and see that the computer has once again switched the time back an hour. Curse loudly and violently.
Okay, so that last step isn't part of the hatmaking "process" (such as it is). But goddamn, am I getting sick of this happening. My computer is still on the old daylight savings schedule, so no matter how many times I fix it, every week or so it'll go, "Hey! I have the wrong time! Better fix that!" and changes back an hour. And I can't download the patch to fix that, because Windows doesn't recognize my version as genuine! It's enough to make me foam at the mouth. Stupid piece of go-se.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Rare FO Sighting
Whoa, whoa, what?! Nemo actually finished something?! Which project was it? The Holi belt? the Rangoli tam? that Sakura scarf that's been sitting on a stitch holder for a month?!
Nope! New project! New tam, actually. Using Crazy Aunt Purl's easy beret recipe, modified for size 8 and 10.5 needles, using a skein and change of Patons Rumor in Duberry Heather. Pictures:
Look Ma! DPNs!
Showed this one to a non-knitter and they said "... That's a hat...?"
Blocking! Yes I am actually blocking something.
The pattern was quick and easy and fun. I'd never used DPNs before, and Chris's advice ('think of them as just a bunch of cable needles') really helped. I am loving the bamboo, too - I'd have dropped so many stitches on metal or plastics. I used my Addi Turbos for the brim, I do quite like them as well. The yarn is very nice and soft, though I wish it weren't quite so hairy.
The verdict on the FO, though? Well, the jury is still out. I tried it on unblocked, and... Well I'm not sure if I just made a gigantic, ridiculous-looking mushroom or if I just look like crap with this kind of hat. The roommie is housesitting again so she's not here to tell me. I'm gonna wait till it's dry (that last shot is of it blocking with a plate in it, in the sink) and then try it again. Maybe bring it to work and ask the girls what they think. And yes there is a gaping hole in the top - I decided I was sick of decreasing and to hell with it, the stitches can be pulled together tight, right? Um. Yeah. Not quite. But I don't mind so much. (I'm more worried about the possibility of the whole thing being a complete failure, to be honest.)
In other news, if you want to have a laugh, try explaining a ball winder and swift to a non-knitter, very dirty-minded family. Somehow they ended up with, and this is a direct quote: "The balls whack the skank, and you can do it with your elbow, too."
Yeah, I don't know either.
Nope! New project! New tam, actually. Using Crazy Aunt Purl's easy beret recipe, modified for size 8 and 10.5 needles, using a skein and change of Patons Rumor in Duberry Heather. Pictures:
Look Ma! DPNs!
Showed this one to a non-knitter and they said "... That's a hat...?"
Blocking! Yes I am actually blocking something.
The pattern was quick and easy and fun. I'd never used DPNs before, and Chris's advice ('think of them as just a bunch of cable needles') really helped. I am loving the bamboo, too - I'd have dropped so many stitches on metal or plastics. I used my Addi Turbos for the brim, I do quite like them as well. The yarn is very nice and soft, though I wish it weren't quite so hairy.
The verdict on the FO, though? Well, the jury is still out. I tried it on unblocked, and... Well I'm not sure if I just made a gigantic, ridiculous-looking mushroom or if I just look like crap with this kind of hat. The roommie is housesitting again so she's not here to tell me. I'm gonna wait till it's dry (that last shot is of it blocking with a plate in it, in the sink) and then try it again. Maybe bring it to work and ask the girls what they think. And yes there is a gaping hole in the top - I decided I was sick of decreasing and to hell with it, the stitches can be pulled together tight, right? Um. Yeah. Not quite. But I don't mind so much. (I'm more worried about the possibility of the whole thing being a complete failure, to be honest.)
In other news, if you want to have a laugh, try explaining a ball winder and swift to a non-knitter, very dirty-minded family. Somehow they ended up with, and this is a direct quote: "The balls whack the skank, and you can do it with your elbow, too."
Yeah, I don't know either.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Holi Hai!
Happy Holi everyone!
I posted a while back about Holi, and how I wanted to celebrate it. (Quick refresher - Holi is the Spring festival of colors, celebrated in India by throwing colored powder or water at each other, most often while wearing white clothing so the colors show. I can't run around a call center throwing powder at everyone, so my plan was to get some colorful stickers and stick them on people.) Well, I didn't finish the Holi belt - actually, I finished zero of three incarnations of it - but my amazing roommie came through for me and lent me a white blouse and a gorgeous colorful scarf for the occasion. Then I got these:
which were perfect. Little colorful hands, like I smeared a handful of powder on someone! How cute!
So today I celebrated by running around sticking those things on everyone, yelling 'Happy Holi!' (and then explaining what it was about). It was quite fun actually. I think the only person who enjoyed it as much as I did was the one person who actually knew what the holiday was (he's Hindi). The look on his face was priceless when I got him. I also listened to 'Holi Re' on repeat on my mp3 player. And just so you guys don't think I'm making this up and have gone off the deep end, I went on YouTube and hunted up a bunch of Holi videos for y'all. These are just the Bollywood ones, song-and-dance numbers from movies, but if you put in 'Holi' in the search on YouTube you can find some news coverage and other assorted stuff.
Holi Ke Din from Sholay.
Let's Play Holi from Waqt.
Holi Khele Raghuveera Awadh Mein from Baghbaan.
Rang Barse from Silsila.
Holi Holi Holi from Meri Jung.
Soni Soni from Mohabbatein (this one has Shah Rukh in it, so pay attention...!)
Holi Re from Mangal Pandey (which is what I've been listening to all day.)
Holi Aai Re from Mashaal.
Ayi Hai Holi from Ilaka.
Aayo Phagun and y'all I don't even know what movie that's from, but I'm putting it up here because the quality is hilariously awful.
And now I will go celebrate some more - in the form of cherry cheesecake my grandmother made for me!
I posted a while back about Holi, and how I wanted to celebrate it. (Quick refresher - Holi is the Spring festival of colors, celebrated in India by throwing colored powder or water at each other, most often while wearing white clothing so the colors show. I can't run around a call center throwing powder at everyone, so my plan was to get some colorful stickers and stick them on people.) Well, I didn't finish the Holi belt - actually, I finished zero of three incarnations of it - but my amazing roommie came through for me and lent me a white blouse and a gorgeous colorful scarf for the occasion. Then I got these:
which were perfect. Little colorful hands, like I smeared a handful of powder on someone! How cute!
So today I celebrated by running around sticking those things on everyone, yelling 'Happy Holi!' (and then explaining what it was about). It was quite fun actually. I think the only person who enjoyed it as much as I did was the one person who actually knew what the holiday was (he's Hindi). The look on his face was priceless when I got him. I also listened to 'Holi Re' on repeat on my mp3 player. And just so you guys don't think I'm making this up and have gone off the deep end, I went on YouTube and hunted up a bunch of Holi videos for y'all. These are just the Bollywood ones, song-and-dance numbers from movies, but if you put in 'Holi' in the search on YouTube you can find some news coverage and other assorted stuff.
Holi Ke Din from Sholay.
Let's Play Holi from Waqt.
Holi Khele Raghuveera Awadh Mein from Baghbaan.
Rang Barse from Silsila.
Holi Holi Holi from Meri Jung.
Soni Soni from Mohabbatein (this one has Shah Rukh in it, so pay attention...!)
Holi Re from Mangal Pandey (which is what I've been listening to all day.)
Holi Aai Re from Mashaal.
Ayi Hai Holi from Ilaka.
Aayo Phagun and y'all I don't even know what movie that's from, but I'm putting it up here because the quality is hilariously awful.
And now I will go celebrate some more - in the form of cherry cheesecake my grandmother made for me!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Longest. Post. Ever. Seriously.
The thing about slacking off on blogging is that when I get back to it, I have a lot to catch up on. So this post is gonna be a bit long-winded.
Let's start by getting the bad news out of the way. In point-form, because I am a dork.
Right. Now that that's out of the way... The good.
My mum called me the other day to tell me that she'd bought me a new mattress, and they are apparently delivering it on Thursday. My current mattress is old, and uncomfortable, and causes me a lot of back pain, so this is Really Good News. The caveat being, my room has to be clean and clutter-free for the delivery on Thursday. (Let me put this into perspective for you: I have lived in this apartment for six months. I have not unpacked the boxes in my room. Stuff has been piling up in jumbled heaps. It is... The Disaster Area. This is quite normal for me, but perhaps not conductive to mattress delivery... especially if I can't even get the door all the way open.) I am taking this as good news, since a clean room would probably be a good thing.
My mum also said she would take me to London-Wul as an Easter treat, and - her words - get me 'some wool... as a gift'. MY MOM RULES.
Yesterday I went to Cricket Cove, and expanded my needle collection by a lot. I got some bamboo 8's, and double-pointed bamboo 10.5's and 8's, and circular Addi Turbo 8's with a 24-inch cable. (Yes, I realize I now have three different pairs of size 8's. Sshhh.) I also found this gem:
That is 12-ply 100% Cashmere, y'all. It is the most gorgeous, soft, cushy, squishy, yummy yarn I have ever seen. The colors are gorgeous. Trust me, that photo does not do it justice. The pattern it came with is also adorable, and really easy, and done on size 13's so it just flies off the needles.
I am maybe in love with this kit. (At 36$, it's probably a good thing I got the last one of this colorway... Otherwise, helloooo bankruptcy.)
Nathalie the GENIUS fixed my computer monitor, sort of. See it's this old CRT that has seen better days, and when you power it on it'll go black for a while, then really light, then power off, or get white lines through it... When it warms up it works fine, but there's a like, 20-minute span where you have to hit the side of it for it to get to a point where you can see what you're doing. And when I say hit I don't mean 'gently tap' like my friends think when I tell them to hit the monitor. I mean 'really unleash your frustrations on the thing'. But then Nathalie - my awesome roommate and UNCONTESTED GENIUS - said, What if you just leave the screen saver on and don't power off the monitor? Well hot damn, it worked. I just leave a blank screen saver on all night, and in the morning I wiggle the mouse and voila! The monitor works! (Someone remind me to get Nathalie a cake or something.)
Nat and I had a pretty darn good weekend, which included me getting seasons 4 and 5 of Buffy on sale, the world's best waiter, amazing sweet potato fries with curry dip (y'all, seriously, go eat at the Old Triangle. Get Mike to wait on you if you can. That guy is awesome.) and a lot of Guitar Hero 3. Crystal even came over to play, it was fun.
And then today was the Knit-In, which Nat and I attended and thoroughly enjoyed. What a day we had though, let me tell you. See when we signed up we didn't really think of where Saunders Country Inn was in relation to us and how we were gonna get there. "Oh, we'll just cab it!" said we, foolishly assuming it'd be a relatively short drive. Well. Let's just say Saunders Country Inn is not exactly next door, yes? It took us about a half hour to get there, but dang did we ever luck out on the cabbie we got. This guy was hilarious. He kept telling us stories of how he freaks out the drunk people he gets after clubs close. Like, one drunk passed out in the passenger seat without telling him where to go, so the guy drove a block, stopped the car, shook the drunk guy awake and said, "Ok buddy, we're here, now what part of Halifax did you say you wanted to go?" Then he did this hilarious imitation of the drunk guy freaking out, before he looked around and said, "Wait a minute, we're still in Moncton! Don't freak me out like that man!" to which the cabbie replied, "Well now that you're awake, tell me where you really want me to drive you."
Hilarious. I just couldn't stop laughing, and he kept telling us more stories. Eventually we got to the inn, and I looked at the meter... $38.50. Ouch. And we didn't have a ride home, either, so I mentioned how we were gonna need a ride back... So he says, "Ok, tell you what. Just give me 30 for the ride here, I'll give you my cell number and when you need to get back just call me." How nice is that?! (We ended up getting a ride from one of the other knitters, which I feel bad about because we didn't tip him... I was expecting to do it on the way home. I left a message on his voicemail, though. I hope he calls back. If anyone deserves a tip, that guy does.)
The Knit-In itself was really nice. I met the lovely K of Ladybugs and Yarn (and she showed me what I was doing wrong with the long-tail cast-on... As predicted, I am a dumbass and was making a dumbass mistake that was easily fixed!) I was the youngest person there, but I didn't feel weird about it at all. I recast the Rangoli tam, worked on that for a bit, then worked on my Handmaiden cashmere kit for a bit. I met some nice people, saw some gorgeous projects, and had a good time with my best friend. (Also, they served us chocolate cake. What more do I need.)
I picked up these beauties:
Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool. Just gorgeous, I had a hard time picking just one color. Nat got three skeins of a really nice red with subtle pink variegation, it's beautiful.
One of the very nice and generous Cricket Cove staffers drove me and Nat back home. We helped them bring back the stock they'd brought from the store, and some new stock, and I just had to take a picture of the trunk of the car:
That's all yarn, and there were two more garbage bags full of it in the backseat with us. (K and I both took pictures of this momentous event. You can identify bloggers by the crazy, I guess.)
Right, 1:12 am and the towels should be done in the dryer. If you made it through this whole post... pat yourself on the back.
Let's start by getting the bad news out of the way. In point-form, because I am a dork.
- I had to frog the Celtic Cable scarf. I dropped a stitch somewhere in the second pattern repetition... in the middle of the Saxon braid... and I wasn't using a lifeline. (Hubris much?) I probably could've laddered it, but let's be frank, I'm not that good at laddering stitches even in plain stockinette, so I said #$@! this and ripped it. (Actually I said a lot more than just #$@!, I'm sure the neighbors were scandalized.) I'll recast it at some point.
- The bib was also frogged, since I'm not so sure about using a satiny acrylic for a baby bib... I'll hold off on that and see if I can find a nice cotton, though I doubt I'll get the same chocolate-brown color.
- Still more frogging: I frogged Kaitlan's Rangoli tam, having figured out that yes, it does bother me that I knit the rim inside out and thus the cables don't line up properly.
- Boys are stupid. Let's leave it at that.
- So when they were writing the third season of Buffy, do you think they just went, Oh, let's turn all Buffy's friends/family/acquaintances into raging arseholes? (Show's still good, it's just... I kinda wanna punch Willow, Buffy's mom, and especially Xander in the face.
- Oh my GOD there are dirty dishes in the sink again I swear I just did them and what is the DEAL with all these spoons and no forks?!
Right. Now that that's out of the way... The good.
My mum called me the other day to tell me that she'd bought me a new mattress, and they are apparently delivering it on Thursday. My current mattress is old, and uncomfortable, and causes me a lot of back pain, so this is Really Good News. The caveat being, my room has to be clean and clutter-free for the delivery on Thursday. (Let me put this into perspective for you: I have lived in this apartment for six months. I have not unpacked the boxes in my room. Stuff has been piling up in jumbled heaps. It is... The Disaster Area. This is quite normal for me, but perhaps not conductive to mattress delivery... especially if I can't even get the door all the way open.) I am taking this as good news, since a clean room would probably be a good thing.
My mum also said she would take me to London-Wul as an Easter treat, and - her words - get me 'some wool... as a gift'. MY MOM RULES.
Yesterday I went to Cricket Cove, and expanded my needle collection by a lot. I got some bamboo 8's, and double-pointed bamboo 10.5's and 8's, and circular Addi Turbo 8's with a 24-inch cable. (Yes, I realize I now have three different pairs of size 8's. Sshhh.) I also found this gem:
That is 12-ply 100% Cashmere, y'all. It is the most gorgeous, soft, cushy, squishy, yummy yarn I have ever seen. The colors are gorgeous. Trust me, that photo does not do it justice. The pattern it came with is also adorable, and really easy, and done on size 13's so it just flies off the needles.
I am maybe in love with this kit. (At 36$, it's probably a good thing I got the last one of this colorway... Otherwise, helloooo bankruptcy.)
Nathalie the GENIUS fixed my computer monitor, sort of. See it's this old CRT that has seen better days, and when you power it on it'll go black for a while, then really light, then power off, or get white lines through it... When it warms up it works fine, but there's a like, 20-minute span where you have to hit the side of it for it to get to a point where you can see what you're doing. And when I say hit I don't mean 'gently tap' like my friends think when I tell them to hit the monitor. I mean 'really unleash your frustrations on the thing'. But then Nathalie - my awesome roommate and UNCONTESTED GENIUS - said, What if you just leave the screen saver on and don't power off the monitor? Well hot damn, it worked. I just leave a blank screen saver on all night, and in the morning I wiggle the mouse and voila! The monitor works! (Someone remind me to get Nathalie a cake or something.)
Nat and I had a pretty darn good weekend, which included me getting seasons 4 and 5 of Buffy on sale, the world's best waiter, amazing sweet potato fries with curry dip (y'all, seriously, go eat at the Old Triangle. Get Mike to wait on you if you can. That guy is awesome.) and a lot of Guitar Hero 3. Crystal even came over to play, it was fun.
And then today was the Knit-In, which Nat and I attended and thoroughly enjoyed. What a day we had though, let me tell you. See when we signed up we didn't really think of where Saunders Country Inn was in relation to us and how we were gonna get there. "Oh, we'll just cab it!" said we, foolishly assuming it'd be a relatively short drive. Well. Let's just say Saunders Country Inn is not exactly next door, yes? It took us about a half hour to get there, but dang did we ever luck out on the cabbie we got. This guy was hilarious. He kept telling us stories of how he freaks out the drunk people he gets after clubs close. Like, one drunk passed out in the passenger seat without telling him where to go, so the guy drove a block, stopped the car, shook the drunk guy awake and said, "Ok buddy, we're here, now what part of Halifax did you say you wanted to go?" Then he did this hilarious imitation of the drunk guy freaking out, before he looked around and said, "Wait a minute, we're still in Moncton! Don't freak me out like that man!" to which the cabbie replied, "Well now that you're awake, tell me where you really want me to drive you."
Hilarious. I just couldn't stop laughing, and he kept telling us more stories. Eventually we got to the inn, and I looked at the meter... $38.50. Ouch. And we didn't have a ride home, either, so I mentioned how we were gonna need a ride back... So he says, "Ok, tell you what. Just give me 30 for the ride here, I'll give you my cell number and when you need to get back just call me." How nice is that?! (We ended up getting a ride from one of the other knitters, which I feel bad about because we didn't tip him... I was expecting to do it on the way home. I left a message on his voicemail, though. I hope he calls back. If anyone deserves a tip, that guy does.)
The Knit-In itself was really nice. I met the lovely K of Ladybugs and Yarn (and she showed me what I was doing wrong with the long-tail cast-on... As predicted, I am a dumbass and was making a dumbass mistake that was easily fixed!) I was the youngest person there, but I didn't feel weird about it at all. I recast the Rangoli tam, worked on that for a bit, then worked on my Handmaiden cashmere kit for a bit. I met some nice people, saw some gorgeous projects, and had a good time with my best friend. (Also, they served us chocolate cake. What more do I need.)
I picked up these beauties:
Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool. Just gorgeous, I had a hard time picking just one color. Nat got three skeins of a really nice red with subtle pink variegation, it's beautiful.
One of the very nice and generous Cricket Cove staffers drove me and Nat back home. We helped them bring back the stock they'd brought from the store, and some new stock, and I just had to take a picture of the trunk of the car:
That's all yarn, and there were two more garbage bags full of it in the backseat with us. (K and I both took pictures of this momentous event. You can identify bloggers by the crazy, I guess.)
Right, 1:12 am and the towels should be done in the dryer. If you made it through this whole post... pat yourself on the back.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
I Need More Hands...
No new knitting at the moment, as the roommie and I are busy...
Guitar Hero 3. Seven day rental.
See you in seven days.
(Okay, I'm exaggerating. The Knit In is on Saturday, and I will definitely be posting something then.)
Guitar Hero 3. Seven day rental.
See you in seven days.
(Okay, I'm exaggerating. The Knit In is on Saturday, and I will definitely be posting something then.)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Ten Things
My shift at work is changing, which means I finish at 7:30 instead of 10, which is good... But it means that my days off have changed, and instead of having Sunday and Monday off I have Thursday and Friday. So right now I am on day five of what I thought was an eight day stretch with no days off, but I learned today is really a nine-day stretch. Oy. Plus my back hurts, and I bought myself some muscle analgesic... but I can't reach to put it on. (Damn stubby arms.)
So to keep my mood up, here are Ten Things I am happy about today.
1. Season 2 of Buffy. Specifically, Angel, Spike and Oz.
2. Roses on the coffee table. I went to the grocery store yesterday and picked these up because they were pretty... They're making me think of spring.
3. Dumbass-proof Olivieri noodles and sauce means I had three-cheese tortellini with rosée sauce for supper tonight, and will have it for lunch tomorrow. Yum!
4. Kate Nash. I stumbled upon her video for 'Pumpkin Soup' last night, and since then I've had that and 'Foundations' stuck in my head. I really like her style.
5. Not being homeless, especially tonight when it's pouring rain and hail and pretty darn cold. I'm feeling pretty grateful for my heaters and that roof over my head right about now.
6. Nathalie is finally coming back to the apartment tomorrow! She's been housesitting for her parents for six weeks, and it'll be nice to have her back in the apartment. Especially since I'm done work a lot earlier now and we can actually hang out.
7. Knitting. I am apparently the Queen of Cables. Check it:
That is a Saxon Braid cable in the middle, and the pictures show one repeat of the sixteen-row pattern for the Celtic Cable Scarf. I am pretty dadgum proud of this, especially since the first few rows looked really crappy and I wasn't sure if the yarn was right for it... But once you have a few rows done, it starts to look okay, then when you see the whole repeat, it just pops. I can't wait to see what consecutive repeats look like.
(We'll just gloss over the fact that I screwed up the side border on the right...:)
8. Laughing at myself. This morning I wanted to plug in my mp3 player to load it, so I sat on the edge of my computer chair and leaned down to plug the USB cable... and the chair sliiiiiiiiid out from under me, I landed on my butt on the floor and the chair rolled into the hall. I laughed myself silly for ten minutes straight. I wish someone had been there to see it.
9. My Harmony cable needles from KnitPicks. I said it before, and I'll say it again... those things rule. (See point 7, above.)
10. My paid time off request for the Knit In on the 15th was approved, so while I am enjoying myself with my extra day off on Saturday, knitting and whatnot... I'm still being paid! Paid to knit! Does it get any better than that?
So to keep my mood up, here are Ten Things I am happy about today.
1. Season 2 of Buffy. Specifically, Angel, Spike and Oz.
2. Roses on the coffee table. I went to the grocery store yesterday and picked these up because they were pretty... They're making me think of spring.
3. Dumbass-proof Olivieri noodles and sauce means I had three-cheese tortellini with rosée sauce for supper tonight, and will have it for lunch tomorrow. Yum!
4. Kate Nash. I stumbled upon her video for 'Pumpkin Soup' last night, and since then I've had that and 'Foundations' stuck in my head. I really like her style.
5. Not being homeless, especially tonight when it's pouring rain and hail and pretty darn cold. I'm feeling pretty grateful for my heaters and that roof over my head right about now.
6. Nathalie is finally coming back to the apartment tomorrow! She's been housesitting for her parents for six weeks, and it'll be nice to have her back in the apartment. Especially since I'm done work a lot earlier now and we can actually hang out.
7. Knitting. I am apparently the Queen of Cables. Check it:
That is a Saxon Braid cable in the middle, and the pictures show one repeat of the sixteen-row pattern for the Celtic Cable Scarf. I am pretty dadgum proud of this, especially since the first few rows looked really crappy and I wasn't sure if the yarn was right for it... But once you have a few rows done, it starts to look okay, then when you see the whole repeat, it just pops. I can't wait to see what consecutive repeats look like.
(We'll just gloss over the fact that I screwed up the side border on the right...:)
8. Laughing at myself. This morning I wanted to plug in my mp3 player to load it, so I sat on the edge of my computer chair and leaned down to plug the USB cable... and the chair sliiiiiiiiid out from under me, I landed on my butt on the floor and the chair rolled into the hall. I laughed myself silly for ten minutes straight. I wish someone had been there to see it.
9. My Harmony cable needles from KnitPicks. I said it before, and I'll say it again... those things rule. (See point 7, above.)
10. My paid time off request for the Knit In on the 15th was approved, so while I am enjoying myself with my extra day off on Saturday, knitting and whatnot... I'm still being paid! Paid to knit! Does it get any better than that?
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