Tag Archives: boh

carnage.

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This guy:

Saw this, a bee-yoo-ti-ful Sunday Market Shawl, blocking:

and, in the middle of the night, decided to do something like this:

A few more pictures of the carnage:

I stayed up REALLY late trying to finish this for a dear friend’s birthday — unraveling the dropped stitches took forever. This is beyond repair — or at least my capacity for repair. There are at least four shredded sections of the shawl, and I can’t bear to unravel what’s left right now. Back to the drawing board? I still need a birthday present — was hoping to give this to her over the weekend.

Hard to stay mad at this dog. Sigh. At least today is Friday.

saturday’s a rugby day.

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So is Sunday. No pictures to share, but I spent the weekend volunteering at the D1/D2 Mens/Womens Collegiate Rugby Championship Round of 16. I’m a bit tired, a little sunburnt and a lot happy about the weekend. Saw some fantastic rugby, did lots of volunteering, and spent time with friends who share a love for this game.

Onward to the knitting:

You may recognize the yarn. On Friday, I decided to frog the Lace Ribbon Scarf in favor of something that would go a bit more quickly and perhaps be a bit more useful as an everyday kind of scarf. You may recall that this yarn is for a birthday girl who loves pink. I’m making the Sunday Market Shawl by knitfish/Vanessa Carter, and I must say, this super simple pattern is ingenious: cast on, knit a set up row with yarn overs, knit in stockinette until it is long enough, and then drop the yarn overs to get an open, dropped stitch pattern. I’m already thinking that I want one for myself. (Details: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel in I Want Candy, needles are US 10.)

All of the rugby this weekend meant that *someone* was a bit neglected, so I’ll give him his share of the limelight here:

Fast asleep, Friday night. Fast forward to this evening. Though Boh and I got in a great run this afternoon, he is still a bit pouty that no dogs were allowed at the tournament:

As I write this, he is curled up on my pillow. Life is rough. I hope we’ll both sleep well tonight.

“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…

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:


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…

home again, home again.

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Yup, life is hard. 5 whole days of playing non-stop with your friends can make you dog tired. (Stop me now.) Boh and I re-settled ourselves into my little house, went for a lovely run, and planned an evening of hunkering.

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Netflix, the dog, and a hat project. I actually cast on for the Beaufort Hat last month, knit most of the inch of ribbing, and then realized that I needed those needles for something more urgent. (Not that I can remember what.) I put what I had of Beaufort on waste yarn and tucked it away. I went to pick it back up again, I decided to just rip out the little I had done and start over to ensure evenness in the ribbing…or something.

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I’ve made it through 3 or 4 pattern repeats, and I really like it. The pattern is easy to memorize and it moves quickly. I’m using  Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in a slightly lighter/brighter shade than pictured. This is for a friend who requested a hat. Though she’s seen the blog, I don’t think she reads it regularly, so I’m going to risk it. (She’s heading to Argentina this week for a well-deserved vacation.) I should have this ready to send to her by the time she returns (and maybe enough yarn for one for me, too!)

hip-hop-opotamus:

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Best rapping name ever. Go rent Flight of the Conchords. You won’t be sorry. (I thought about saving this post title for when I attempt the pomatomus socks, but that may be a long way off, and I am laughing about this now.)

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Meet my new teapot. My recent house guest knows me well — a funky teapot has been on my wishlist for a long time, and this is perfect. Also, it was accompanied by a bacon bar:

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That’s right. Said past roommate and I used to make North American breakfast every weekend. As he says, “in Canada, we just call it bacon”. I bought extra for his visit, and I believe we are both shocked that with all of our exploring, we did not find time to eat it! I am very excited about this.

Lest you think I am no longer knitting, and instead just lazing about, watching silly DVDs, drinking tea, and eating bacon:

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I am making progress on my grad school cardigan (Brompton) — into the shaping now. I love Rowan Felted Tweed. I have some cross-country airplane travel coming up this week and next, and I anticipate much uninterrupted Brompton knitting. Hooray!

Also, because of all the bacon talk, here is a picture of Boh being a complete ham. (I blame the hip-hop-opotamus for the corny humor I am employing here. I can’t help it.)

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it may be sunny and 55…

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but I am wearing a sweater!

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(Boy, that mirror is dirty.)  I can justify the sweater, though. Take a look at the mountains:

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See? There’s snow up there! Also, I think there is some kind of rule that you have to wear your first sweater the second it is done. (Okay, not true. This isn’t exactly the first sweater I’ve made. Over the summer, I knit Coachella, but the neckline turned out a bit too low to be worn in most situations…More on that someday.)

Anyway, I spent much of last night finishing the ribbing. Here’s a shot of the shrug in vest form:

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I spent all morning seaming. I was a bit unclear about how everything was supposed to line up — no schematic — so I ended up seaming most of the sleeve caps, looking at them, and realizing that I  needed to seam a few inches more of the sleeeves to the body. This process created many ends to weave in.

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Somebody was pouting. In all fairness, he did miss a leisurely Sunday stroll. (His life is extremely hard.)

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A few more pictures of my finished Bolero Jacket:

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The necklace I’m wearing, by the way, is made by Lisa Donald, a friend who also makes/sells jewelry. She has a great eye — this is made from a clip-on earring that feels very 1960s to me. How convenient that it matches this sweater perfectly!

Posting may be sporadic this week — a dear friend flies in tonight to spend 4 days playing with me and Boh!

boy. i think.

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I finished my second Boy Hat (you know, the one I thought might have to be a girl hat), and I am pretty sure this will work. It is just under 8 inches long (thus, a bit long on me), and the boy in question does not have big hair like I do. The hat is blocking flat right now, rather than in a stretched condition, because I don’t want the ribbing to stretch out too much.  I did give it a few friendly tugs for length. Blocking is still a complete (and magical) mystery to me. Fingers crossed!

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As you can see here, I did run out of wool. My photography skills leave something to be desired here; the color I used for the very top is actually a slightly lighter shade of green — something akin to a celery heather, if you will. I am satisfied with how this turned out, though after I bound off, I realized that the bulk of the hat is superwash, and that teensy circle up top is not. No matter: the boy who will be wearing this will likely never wash it…

I know there’s been a lot of dog here lately, but I can’t help it. He’s so damn cute. Exhibit A:

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On an unrelated point, I’m feeling pretty good about myself today because I cleaned out (read: scrubbed drawers and shelves) my fridge AND removed leftover soups and black beans frozen at least 12 months ago from my freezer. February cleaning has begun.