Monthly Archives: April 2008

“why is bad taste ubiquitous?”

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That has absolutely nothing to do with any of the knitting I am going to share with you, even though my clapotis looks more like a blob and less like a glamorous french scarf. Worked on (the also ubiquitous) clapotis yesterday while watching Helvetica (which is far more fun and dramatic in a German accent), and one of the font designers may have said this when asked about Helvetica’s popularity. Love it. T-shirts may be necessary. I’m told that preliminary research into whether or not this could be printed in Helvetica has begun.

Anyway, lots of pictures today. I left the house early yesterday in order to do laundry before work — no time for blogging. First off, I roasted some fennel for dinner on Tuesday night. Yum!

Next up? This morning’s sunrise:

Oooh. Pretty.

Now, onward to the knitting progress.

I am moments from the halfway point of my clapotis (which I am making in Brooks Farm Riata, for those keeping score). I’m not sure if I’m going to have enough yarn to knit the pattern as written — If I can get through the 6th repeat of the straight section before switching to the next skein, I’m golden. If I only get through five, I’ll shorten the straight section by a repeat or two. Now that I am dropping stitches in each repeat, the knitting is moving along more quickly — and it is good TV/conversation knitting, except for the SSK and YO in one of the rows — I may have fudged this a few times so as to not rip back, as Riata is fairly sticky and I don’t think the errors are noticeable in the least.

Boh is a bit concerned about dropping stitches, as is evident from this photo:

I’m not sure that there is anything Boh isn’t worried about…

housekeeping.

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I was tired yesterday — too tired to really focus on most of what I am working on — so instead, I did some knit-tidying. You know what I mean. One of the bibs I finished a few weeks ago still needed…something.

I added a deep teal flower to match the button.

Then, I wove in the ends of the pinwheel blanket, and laid it out to block on my bedroom floor.

And then…

It was that kind of Monday.

distraction #2.

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Again with the need to be knitting something that isn’t fiddly. I had at least 120 yards of leftovers from the third skein of the Cascade 220 I used for the pinwheel blanket, and somehow the magic of ravelry led me to cast on for the hurricane hat by Andrea Goutier (size 7 needles). This is a fast, fun pattern with lovely crown decreasing that maintains the purl ridge swirl ’til the end.

I may have a problem. How many hats does one person need?

I mean, I don’t have a grey hat yet…

Off to work.

distraction.

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Oops…I may have accidentally knit a beret — Le Slouch, by Wendy Bernard, to be exact. How did that happen?

I wanted something simple and soft to work on…and even though spring weather is definitely here, early desert mornings remain cold enough for beautiful headgear all through the summer.

I didn’t want a full-on beret, but rather a comfy hat that wouldn’t flatten my curly hair in the morning. I followed Wendy’s instructions for the stockinette version, using US 8 and 9 DPNs, and began the decreases at just under 5 inches. The yarn is Malabrigo in colorway verdeazul, and while the pattern called for roughly 200 yards, I’m wondering if I can get another full hat out of what is left — looks like I used just over half the skein.

I also managed to cast on for the Lace Ribbon Scarf. I can see how folks get into a rhythm with this pattern, as I sat down to get started and looked up 10 rows later. This Yarn Pirate booty is tough to photograph, as the tencel in the yarn seems to make it super shiny to my camera. In real life, it has a subtle sheen that I think will really add to the beauty of the scarf.

Also, more evidence that my dog is absurd:


pinwheels and a new project

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First of all, whoa! WordPress got fancy! (Overnight! This may take some getting used to.) Second, look at my pinwheel! Binding off 430 st took forever, as in, I had to call a friend to apologize for my lateness and explain that I was still casting off…

I really like this — which is good, because I am planning on making several. I followed the pattern exactly for this first pinwheel, and it only required about 2.5 skeins of Cascade 220. I think the size is just right for a cozy lap or reading blanket — perfect for the intended recipients. If you look closely at this picture of the center of the pinwheel, you’ll notice that it isn’t perfect: seems that when I switched from DPNs to the circular needle, I screwed up a YO or two. I realized this a few inches later, and a moment before I began ripping back, I decided against it. You see, this blanket is a wedding gift for a historian-to-be and his fiance.  They are new friends, and hopefully folks I will spend more time getting to know in New Home. This new friend and I spent a lot of time talking about scholarly processes, in a range of contexts. What better gift than a blanket with a few quirks? After all, marriage is process-oriented! These small “mistakes” will provide me with an entry point to write a little love note along these lines. Boh thinks so too.

He looks particularly worried, likely because he isn’t sure if we should block this to maintain the swirl of the pinwheel or if we should straighten it out. Life is rough when you have these kinds of things on your mind. Boh is also thinking about the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the most recent Knitty.

A friend had this on her dining room table yesterday, and a closer look revealed that this pattern is intended for sock yarn! I have been trying to figure out what to do with my February booty from the Yarn Pirate — gorgeous colors, but not really for me. Seems that the stars are aligned — or at least Knitty is aligned with my calendar of friends’ birthdays…

Alright — the sun is fully up, and it is time to get on with the day: long overdue breakfast date, rugby practice, dog play date, yarn shop outing…and then margaritas?

Ahh, Saturday.

spring sunrise.

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treeshadow.jpg

I had prettier pictures of the sunrise and the mountains this morning, but I wanted to share this one — see the leaves on the trees? So nice to see green around town here in the Southwest.

Also, even though I’m not sure that you can tell that I’ve made progress, here is a picture of what I have been referring to as the jellyfish:

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I’ve started the seed stitch border. It is hard for me to tell how big it is going to be — I want this to serve as a cozy lap blanket for curling up with a good (or required) book. I am planning to make a handful of these this spring as gifts, and I find myself knitting quickly in order to see if this is going to be the size I am envisioning…

Happy Friday!

yep, i’m fine.

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“Are you okay? You didn’t post this morning.”

These were close to the first words I heard from a friend from both blogland and the real world this evening as we gobbled up salmon fish and chips, drank beer, listened to music and discussed issues of critical importance, like font choice. (I have Helvetica here, courtesy of Netflix.)

I didn’t post this morning mostly because my pinwheel, though ever growing, looks the same. I finished my second ball of yarn, and while winding a third just before our dinner plans, Boh decided to help me with the knot that appeared at the end of the skein:

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Yes, that’s right. Help.

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When faced with two options: (a) rescue yarn or (b) take cute pictures, I tend to choose (a). Tonight, I chose differently, deciding that this was funny enough to merit sacrificing the last 15 yards of the ball. I mean, it does seem a little unfair that Boh doesn’t have any of his own yarn to play with…

car commercial picture.

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At knitting group this evening, there was much discussion of silver Hondas. I may have mentioned that I like to take pictures of my CR-V, particularly when the situation at hand requires that I get out the picnic table in the back, sort of like we are in a car commercial.

I’m learning that you can’t mention such a thing to people who actually READ your blog without requests to post photographic evidence of said table/car. Here’s the best CR-V and picnic table shot I’ve got, taken in the fall of 2006, on the CR-V’s inaugural camping trip. It’s not a great picture of me. It was a deceptively cold October weekend during elk season (not that we were hunting), and I’m both shoving food into my mouth and wearing many flattering layers of warmth, but the CRV and the picnic table look fabulous:

picnic-table.jpg

While I’m dipping into the photo archives, here are a few more pictures from that trip (taken by my camping companion, who likely has no problem with me using his pictures, but also has no idea that I have a blog, so forgive me for not properly/formally crediting him):

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That looks like a setting suitable for a CR-V commercial, no?

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Sigh. I’m going to miss living and playing out here.