rope. tree. fan. spear. snake. wall.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

FO and interruption

The Dunegrass socks are done! And I love them! Wheee! I wonder if I should try to write down the pattern...

Anyway, all other knitting is on hold while I try to knit one zillion teeny hats for Innocent's annual Big Knit campaign. I'm not usually good with charity knitting because they only want stuff that's 100% acrylic and can be tossed in the washing machine and I totally understand why, I really do, but I don't have any of that kind of yarn. I'm also not sure about the environmentalitability of mailing stuff from Germany to a pediatrics ward in Iowa. Or to an office in Flagstaff that will then send them on to Mongolia or Poland or somewhere that is actually closer to here than Flagstaff is. I'm pretty sure they have charities here in Europe too, though I have yet to locate one.

But I can make little hats for drinks bottles, because they don't have to be handled with care, just put on display until somebody buys them. And I can send them to England without too much greenie confusion.

I managed three today. Deadline is October 17th. I'll try and keep you posted.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Benediktbeuern, take two

So yeah, I went to Benediktbeuern last weekend and it was fun. Laris has good pictures (I never remember to bring my camera, probably because it... yeah, you know the rest). Apparently she was there at the same time I was, I wish I'd managed to meet her. I did see Alpenfee, and I wandered off figuring we'd get a chance to talk later, but we never did.

I was NOT going to buy yarn, because I don't need any for any projects, and I am supposed to be getting rid of stuff in preparation for the big move, not acquiring more. But then I saw the Wollmeise, so of course I bought yarn.

It's not my fault! She has Versuchskaninchen (guinea-pig) colorways that aren't on the website so you can only get them at the market, and besides, it's really better to be able to see (and sniff) the yarn in person, and I never make the shop updates, because they're on Fridays when I work. So I can't really buy Wollmeise online, so I have to seize the opportunities that the markets provide. Really, buying Wollmeise yarn at the markets would be fully justified if I actually needed any, and if I didn't have, oh, 20 skeins at home already. But hey - at least five of those are currently in projects, so that leaves... 15... that I have no idea what I'm going to do with... Actually, that's not strictly accurate. I have too many ideas.

Anyway. I was actually shopping for someone else, so I got to shop while feeling all virtuous because it wasn't for me, but then I had to grab one of the Versuchskaninchen skeins that I would say is sort of Spiderman-colored, and also Barista, which I thought was the name of the Fratello colorway because a Barista is a coffee jerk and Fratello is so coffee-like. But no, it's greeny-blue and bluey-blue and dark brown and very Seattle-y. So of course I neeeeeded it. There will be photos if I can get good ones.

Seriously! Only two skeins! That is a very, very moderate amount of S.E.X, wouldn't you say? (say yes.) Oh, and I rode up with MsB, so we got to hang out, which we hardly ever get to do, and that was great. And I also saw Needlegnome the Blogless and her new baby (cute! so cute! But I'm still really glad those days are behind me!), and also the Wollmeise and Yarnissima, and met a very nice Arlene, and I was able to make conversation IN GERMAN and not say anything too soul-crushingly stupid (yes, for me, that is a major achievement).

And then I came home and got sick, which is why it took me three days to get around to blogging it.

Monday, September 08, 2008

pause

Down to seven wips: I finished the Thinking Cap and gave it to Elemmaciltur, to help him with his exams. Of course it's too silly to wear (I'll post a picture as soon as I've nagged him into taking one), so I told him it doubles as a tea cozy and he said he doesn't have a teapot! Can you imagine?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm having a minor eczema episode on the middle finger of my right hand, which is where I wrap the yarn to control my tension, so knitting has slowed a bit. The good news is I haven't started any new projects in the past five days. Go me.

Edit: here's a photo of the hat, courtesy of Elemmaciltur.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

apparently, I am insane

Hey, now that I have my computer back, I can start working on Giselle or NamariƩ again! Or I could finish up the socks and the shrug I started on vacation... or take up one of the two sweaters I started right before I left for vacation. Or, I could start two entirely new projects in two days, bringing my number of non-hibernating wips up to 8.

Hmm, what will I decide...?

(hint: check the title of this post.)