socks and socks

Here they are, my fabulous armadillos that I just love. I actually knitted them up to a decent length, because they're so easy I was able to knit while watching the first few games of the European Soccer Championships. But I didn't knit them too long, because I don't like knee-socks, so I have a bit leftover and no idea what to do with it. I'm sure something will come to me.

And another pair of happy socks! Tini sent me these, which was just fab of her and now I have three whole pairs of hand-knit socks to wear around this... summer... oh well, the weather's been fairly crappy, and I do actually need socks in the evening, so that's good.

finished!

The Armadillo socks are done! Yay! But no pictures because my computer's in the shop. Boo. I'll put up pics when I can. I'm very happy with them, though the i-cord bind-off is not quite stretchy enough. I finished them up while Germany was beating Poland in the EuroCup, so that was a good evening.

still here, still knitting

I got the flickr problem sorted, and then kind of forgot about the blog. Oops. So, but some FOs! I finished my Digitessas, finally, and am madly in love. LOVE, I tell you.

I'm working on the Kauni cardigan, and I'm following the pattern for the shaping, but I decided the pattern wasn't quite right, so I wound up charting an Elvish poem in Tengwar script. Which means I can't memorize the pattern, but need to knit the whole thing while peering at a chart, so that's my podcast knitting. Of course, my podcasters are not coming through for me lately, but there's always Podiobooks. And I think you'll agree that it's worth the effort, because it's pretty, see?

In other news, I've started the Armadillo socks with the yarn I won in Mari's contest, I'm test-knitting a new pattern for the remarkable Yarnissima, and I've also got itchy fingers for Giselle, so I'll probably start that soon, with yarn from - brace yourself - my Arwen cardigan, which I frogged. The yarn just wasn't right, the reversible cables were too thick and heavy and dragged the whole thing down. It was very sad. I've done extensive swatching, and this yarn is sorry, but it really just wants to be plain stockinette, please.

So yeah. That's the knitting news.

oh yeah...

Right, I mentioned it on the other blog, but forgot to put it here: we're moving to Utrecht. No details on when, yet, but sometime between September 2008 and September 2009. I've already checked: it has a good yarn shop.

And the Sindelfinger Handwerkermarkt? I think we should do a Benediktbeuern-style field trip, stay a night, check out Sindelfingen - it looks cool, even more hobbit-y than my town.

Sorry no pics lately - I've been taking them, but I can't upload them to flickr until I pay for a pro account, and there's some trouble with my debit card. I'll get it sorted out at some point.

tooooooo much!

Wah! I haven't even told you about the TONS and TONS of yarn (all of it purple or teal... rut, anyone?) that I got at Webs, and now today I was at the Sauerlacher Spring... uh, thingy, and bought EVEN MORE yarn from the Wollmeise!

Yeah. This is me, paring down on the possessions in preparation for the big move. Yes, I know: ur doin it rong. Sigh.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow I start my yarn-diet

Really.

Oh, foo.

yes!

Well, sort of. I tinkered a bit with the color settings, so that the pink table that one yarn is sitting on is the same as the blue table that another yarn is sitting on, but the yarn in the picture is as close to the yarn itself as gamma correction, brightness, contrast and saturation could get me, with a little help from the RGB sliders. IrfanView, I love you THIS MUCH.

But I digress. Anyway. FIRSTLY, even though I bought it ages ago from Tini's Dawanda shop, this is when I finally got decent photos of it. No idea what I'm going to make with this, but it'll have to be something for me, me, ME!

Then there was the Utrecht trip. Now, I asked Amy if she wanted me to bring her anything when I went out to Providence, and she made a seemingly simple request: Lana Grossa Bingo in a nice green. Well, Elemmaciltur's shop didn't have it, but they had some very nice similar stuff, so I bought a bit of that. My LYS was the same, no Lana Grossa but I got something similar, and then it was time for the trip to Utrecht and to be honest I'm glad I had this mission for Amy, because all the boys groaned and rolled their eyes, and if I'd only been checking out the yarn shop for myself, I might have been tempted to let it slide to keep them happy, but no: the fact that I was doing it for someone else gave me the fortitude to ignore the grousing of non-knitting grinches. So yes, I did get to Modilaine, and they did have Lana Grossa, but: both of the greens were yucky. Nearly all of the colors were yucky, actually. But I did get to check out a great yarn shop, AND they have Rowan. So I bought some yarn that might do for Arwen mark II.

The end of the Amy-story is that I went to Wolle Rödel in Munich and found Lana Grossa Bingo in the same icky colors as at Modilaine, so I gave up on Lana Grossa and got her Siena Big, which has the same properties (content, gauge, washability). In purple, because the nice green was discontinued. Sometimes you just canNOT get a break, really.

So look, I haven't even shown you what I got at Webs, and I will, but I really should go make dinner for the offspring, before Sally Struthers shows up to make a late-night commercial about their plight.

I went to WEBS!

Yes, that Webs. And the moment I stepped inside and saw the place, my face fell off. OhmaGAWD, y'all.

And I got SO! MUCH! YARN! And I'm trying to take pictures and upload them, but oh fribnitz, I've said this so often I'm sure you can all say it with me, so here we go, all together now:

My camera sucks swamp water.

Tomorrow, I will try again. Pinky swear.

wheee!

So a nice man brought me a box today, and in it was the woolwinder and um, Haspel... skein-holdy-thingy that I bought on ebay! Oh this is so exciting. -->

<-- Here is what turned out to be the top bit of the skein-holdy-thingy, but I didn't know that when I photographed it, which is why it's upside down in the picture. I thought that nob-thing was a sort of foot that it was to stand on, and I wondered what would keep it from tipping over. And this is what turned out to be the bottom bit. Look, it's all wood and low-tech! I feel so Amish! -->

<-- And the wool winder! I had no idea how to use this, but I figured it out pretty quickly. It's a happy little gadget. It really seems to be enjoying its job.

Winding! Fun! The kids will totally want to get in on this, and they'll try to turn it into a speed contest. I wonder if I have any yarn crappy enough for them to practice on... -->

<-- Voilà, the finished product. Isn't it fabulous? I almost don't want to use it, it's so perfect. Fortunately, it's a center-pull ball... not a ball. Bale? A center-pull thingy, anyway, so it'll look like that for quite some time after I've started knitting with it. Yay!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wind my entire stash into these little bales.

lo! a fo!

Yes, I finished something. Two somethings, actually, I'll put my second PIF thing up as soon as I have confirmation that Alke's received it - I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. But also, Ignatz spotted my Fabulous Fetchings from Tini and requested a pair of his own. I let him pick something from my worsted box and it only took me eight days! Okay, I was doing other stuff, the aforementioned PIF project and a trip to Utrecht, so in all it was probably only 6-8 hours. Anyway. Fetching. Finished.

flickrdork

I should know how to do this, but I don't, so you have to go over here to see what I just finished knitting. Elemmaciltur had to take the pictures because I'm still having trouble with my camera. But look! I made some pretty socks! Well, Yarnissima designed them, and the Wollmeise dyed the wool, so yeah, standing on the shoulders of giants and all that. But still, I'm a little bit proud.

people to knit with!

Yesterday was the second Friday Knitting Night at Lanaiolo, and I just love this. It's so much quieter than Starbuck's, and cheaper, if you don't buy the yarn, which of course I will as soon as I reach a decision - so, probably not until next year. But, you know, it's not an English-speaking group, though some of the members can. German is the default setting, and I don't really trust my German, even though Actual Germans keep telling me I speak it perfectly (I wish these people would share their hallucinogens with me...), so I kept saying things in English. I felt like a total dork. Memo to self: get clue.

PIFyay!

Today my PIF from Tini arrived and it is Fetching! Which is too, too perfect, because with this 8-hour-a-day data-entry job I'm doing, I keep resting my wrists on the desk and they get really cold, and putting on more sweaters or turning up the heat doesn't help at all, because my core temperature's fine, it's just my hands that are cold. And I was honestly and truly just thinking today about how I need something mittlike, but this job (and my own PIF projects) doesn't leave me time to knit them. And then they came in the mail! So very warm and wonderful. Thank you Tini! You must be psychic and clairvoyant!

I also bought some yarn from Tini that is so! Pretty! But my camera sucks so the photos turned out horrible. I'll try again tomorrow.

uh-oh.

I've been so brain-whacked after work, and so busy trying to cram my usual 13 hours of day into 3 hours, that I haven't knitted since Monday.

What if I've forgotten how?

wtf?

Where did all my Bs go? What happened to my blog? The wysiwyg and the page source don't show any missing content, but no matter how many times I reload, my blog looks all weird. This is just a testy-thing, to see if any new entries come up similarly confused. I'm still knitting Very Secret Secrets, so I can't tell you anything else just yet.

this blogging thing is pretty neat

I got stuff! Excellently timed, too, because I am unaccountably crabby today. But look! Look! Is it not beee-yooo-teee-ful? (click to biggern)
Amy sent me these! And they are my favorite colors and silk+merino is my favorite fiber (as of today) and clearly my whining about limited Malabrigo availability* has been heard, which is actually a very bad lesson, isn't it? Because this would seem to indicate that whining pays off, and I should do more of it!

No, no, I'm more intelligent than that. Not much more, but...

Anyway.

The book was blogged about here, and I commented on it without ANY IDEA that it was intended for me. I was so surprised when I saw it, I said, "HA!" loud enough to startle my kids. I recognize the card too, I think Amy blogged about the artist as well, but it may actually have been someone else... And I love the bag, it's my favorite color and so nice I'm kind of afraid to use it.

So, one thousand thank-yous Amy, for the box of awesome! I love all of it.

* Malabrigo is actually available in Germany, via this company, but the photos on the site are so bad, I'm afraid to order anything from them.

I say nothing.

You know how, when you have a secret that you can't write about, sometimes you find that you can't write about anything at all? Yeah. It's like that.

I'll tell you later, I really will. With pictures and everything.

FO!

Oh Heavens, I almost forgot: I finished Henry today! Really finished-finished, tucked in the ends, wrapped it in blue cellophane, put it on DrBob's desk.


So, notes. Hm. Well, I used silk dyed with vegetable dyes, that I bought at a craft market. I asked the dyer if she has a website, but she said she doesn't believe in the internet. Too bad, because you should see her stuff, there's this mulberry-red color that would have made something fantastic for my mom, but I didn't buy that because... well, you know.

Anyway, it was significantly heavier than what the recipe called for, and it was kind of... um, unslippery - I had to push it along the needles and working with it made my hands a bit tired, but not horribly so. The weight difference means it's probably quite a bit longer than the designer intended, plus it's thinner than the recipe wanted, because I just knit until I ran out of yarn, basically, which wasn't very long: this was pretty cheap for silk, but silk? Is not cheap. Anyway, the recipe says 5 feet by 8 inches. Mine's about 7 feet by 6 inches. I also learned a new method of binding off (um, tubular? sewn? something like that) that I now want to use for everything.

So yeah. It was a lot of work, but I'm really happy with it. And I probably won't knit it again. Why knit something twice? That's what socks are for.

what was in the bag...

Why, yarn , of course! Some very exciting fluffy bulky stuff:


Some beautiful shiny dark green stuff:

Cotton and viscose, ooo.

No idea what this is, but I really like it:

If I were going to name it, I would call it "Naiad."

Some sheeny Rowan Damask (my first Rowan, squeee!):


And last but certainly not least, oh I'm so excited...

MALABRIGO! Wooot!

Again, thank you Secret Pal for the supercalifragilistic-expialidocious yarn! Yay!

Secret Pal strikes again!

Heeeewack! Teh awesome arrived in the mail today! Looky!

As always, click to embiggen. Okay okay okay, what have we here... a bear. In a bathrobe! Love that! Ignatz giggled too.

She's also wearing this beaded headband thing that I just love. It's just twisted wire and beads, and black elastic, but when I tried it on and checked the mirror, I said "ooo! I'm a pretty princess!" (that's a video link, so possibly nsfw). I think I actually said it aloud. How embarrassing. It really is shiny and happy, though. Unfortunately, my hair is so slippery (really, I can't keep anything in it for long) that the headband creeps up toward the back of my head. If I had short hair, it would probably eventually just shoot right off my head and scare the cats! Haha! Wouldn't that be GREAT!?

Ahem. Um. Next? A travel-cup! Have I blogged about how dependent I am on porta-coffee? I don't think I have, so I don't know how she knew, but I totally am. I love this. I particularly love that it's from Starbucks, and says "decorate your own damn cup! We're tired of thinking up spiffy new designs!" I'm paraphrasing.

A red-and-silver holly ornament! Sparkly! So pretty! Totally going on the tree every year until forever. Also some foil-wrapped chocolate ornaments which have absolutely no chance of gracing our next Christmas tree. I notice that there are four, and that my family has four chocolate-eating members, but I'm sure that's just coincidence.

Then! A notepad! And! It's magnetic! And has a penguin! This will definitely be used. There were also some Post-its that didn't make their way into the photo for some reason... oh, right, here they are. They'll also be used. The house will be festooned with pale blue exclamation points and DrBob will give me That Look.

Then there are two books that are clearly meant for Ignatz but will certainly be read by me as well: Shade's Children, by Garth Nix, whom I've heard of and meant to get around to reading for some time now; and The Warrior Heir (love that cover) by Cinda Williams Chima, whom I've never heard of, but that's okay. Ignatz sez "cool." He's thirteen.

Next up is a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, clearly for the Sniglet, and also this neato Matchstick Garden thing, which will also be for him because he's into that sort of thing right now.

Did I miss anything? Oh! Look at that groovy bag with the amaryllis on it! Exactly when I needed it, too: just yesterday I put the beginnings of Kelly's Kauni sweater in a plastic bag, Maggie Righetti's words ringing in my ears ("Don't let me see you dragging your knitting around in a crappy plastic bag!" or something to that effect). The timing on this is nothing short of amazing.

Oh, and Fufu loves the bag. She rubbed her face on it for like half an hour. No idea why. I hope she doesn't try to eat it...

Even better is what's in the amaryllis bag. That's for tomorrow's post. Heh heh heh.

Thank you Secret Pal! You are awesome!

here's a picture!

(click to embiggen)

It's some yarn! (On a knitblog, imagine that.) This came in the mail today, from the lovely, lovely people at Woll-Sucht, who also sent gummi bears and tea! And they speak English! And I love them.

I also love this yarn, and the cardigan it's going to make, although I am fiddling around with alternatives to the squares. This is my next project, and it's big and involves (gasp) steeking! This qualifies it as stunt-knitting, but I'm up for it. This winter I need something warm and woolly in my lap, and sheep are too heavy and I can't get the damn cats to sit still. It'll take awhile, though. It's for Kelly, and if I'm lucky I should be able to get it to her in time for her birthday. You know, in April, when spring really starts heating up in Maryland. Ooo, unforeseen problem. Maybe I could convince her to move to Australia.

boo!

It's the Incredible Disappearing Knitblogger! Um, yeah. I am working on... stuff. To blog, I need to take pictures of things, and for that I need light, and you know what? It's January. And then it will be February, and there will be more light but I will be even crabbier! Not sure how that works, but 37 years of observation have shown it to be true.

So. I'm just poking my head out of the trenches to say I'm still here and I haven't forgotten y'all. And now you're all, I clicked all the way over to your blog, and this is all I get!?

Yes. Yes, it is.

all done

And I promise, the next post will be about something else. Pinky swear.

Happy Hols, y'all.

more flower basket

Well, here it is in its unblocked glory:


And a little close-up:


It's currently drying, and then I'll use the Harlot's tutorial to block it (thanks for the tip Peachy).

And now I don't know how to decide what to knit next. Hm.

home stretch

Ugh, sorry the long silence peeps, but this is my knitting blog, and I'm still working on the same project. I had to let Henry slide, because I do have alterna-gifts for DrBob, but the Flower Basket Shawl absolutely must be done in time, because we don't have any other ideas for my MIL. I'm beading the very last row before the bind-off row, and I'm halfway done with that, so really nearly done. Projektleiterin says it's going to be enormous - she should know, she's actually done lace before. I have to learn to block lace, well, tomorrow. And I haven't been taking photos, but I'll try to get a few up tomorrow.

I'm gonna make it! Probably. Yay!

well, now I know...

...that Christmas knitting is a Very Bad Idea. No time to start other projects, just grinding along on these until I want to jump up and down on them. IF I actually get them done in time (note very big if), when the huz and the MIL get them and say ooo! aaah! thank you! I will respond with GRAAARGH!

No pictures, sorry. No time to put the knitting down. Grargh.

passing it on

Hey everybody! A contest! Where you can win some really nice-looking yarn! Seriously, what's not to love?

Blurry photos in bad November light is not to love. And they're overdue, I really need to send them off tomorrow, so there won't be a lot of opportunities to re-shoot. But at least they're done. I've decided entrelac socks are cool, they seem to go faster than regular ones. But these are bleeping huge! I'm afraid they won't fit Mr Reid, even though I made them as close to his measurements as I could.

tagged! again!

By Elemmaciltur, again! For a meme I already did for Kelly (oo, that reminds me, I owe her another one as well), which means you now know sixteen random things about me. It's enough to make one's head spin.

1. Colors. I color-code things. On the calendar, my stuff is written in green. DrBob is black, Ignatz blue, the Sniglet red. When I knit sweaters, ring marker colors have Deeper Significance: purple for the left side, green for the right. Blue for the back, red for the front. It's important.
2. Numbers. I remember strings of numbers. I do multiplication tables in my head while I wait to fall asleep. I know all the squares up to 25, and I can count to 1023 just using my own ten fingers. None of this knowledge has ever been of any use to me whatsoever, but still. There it is.
3. Because 1+2 is 3, numbers have colors. One is red. Two is blue. Three is pink, four is purple, five is green. And so on. I don't know why I do this. I do know that I would love colored knitting needles, but I can't buy them until I find them in the right colors: the 2mms have to be blue, the 5mms green, etc. Otherwise I'd just be confused.
   
4. The bed must be made. I think I mentioned this one before - I read somewhere that you feel better when your bed is made, and I tried it, and durned if it isn't the truth. On busy days, when I leave the house early and get home just in time to go to bed, I can do without making my side of the bed. But even if I keep my back to DrBob's side, I know that his blanket isn't folded and his pillow isn't fluffed, and I know that they are staring at me. Waiting. And I can't fall asleep until I've fixed them.
5. When I was in junior high, my handwriting looked almost exactly like my dad's. By the time I was 30, it looked almost exactly like my mom's. Now it's like my mom's, only messy.
6. I do not like straight knitting needles. The only reason I even have any is because someone gave them to me. I never use them.
7. I haven't watched television on any kind of regular basis since I was about 17. I really miss it, but I never seem to find the time.
8. My hands and feet are almost always cold.
   

setback

It took me awhile to get rolling on that shawl for my mother-in-law, but it's been progressing pretty well, and I'm about halfway through. I was using a free online pattern from Interweave Knits. I just found out today that they've decided it should no longer be free. I'd just been going to the page when I needed further information (instead of saving a copy on my hard drive - yes I know, that was stupid), and now that it's gone, I can't finish the shawl. I could buy the pattern from Fiber Trends for $6.50, which is wholly reasonable, but they want $10 to send it to me. Ten freaking dollars to put a piece of paper in the mail. Yes I have the money, but no I'm not going to pay that, that's outrageous. What are they doing, mailing it to Saturn?

This is so aggravating, for two reasons: one, it's my own stupid fault for not saving a copy. Two, Interweave Knits owes me nothing: I am not entitled to this pattern in any way, and they are fully within their rights to remove it. So I have no right to be annoyed.

Knowing that it's my fault and I have no right to feel how I feel? Does not make me feel better.

Arrgh.

Yippee-hooray! And a teensy argh.

Okay, I signed up for Secret Pal 11 because I liked the idea of picking out pretty things and brightening a stranger's day. It was all about the giving, I thought, but no! I was wrong! It's the GETTING, BABY! My super-awesome Secret Pal who sent me all those reassuring emails when I was full of doubt about my ability to do a good job on my first SP swap sent me a box of wow! And yay! Look! How cute is this? SO cute! The green-and-black checkery-thing? It's a shoe! A ceramic witch's shoe! And how did she know about the bat thing? Ask Kelly, the bat is sort of my totem animal, but that's not widely known (well okay, now it is). Ha! Love! It!

And Trekking yarn, which is so fab because it solves my dilemma. Remember, I couldn't decide whether to use the Mari-yarn for Armadillo or Anastasia? Well, LOOK at that purple! Perfect for Anastasia, so now I get to choose both! Always my favorite option.

So much happy stuff! Stickers, Mardi Gras beads, pins, pen, paper, and I love that card, that's hilarious. Yay! As for the teensy argh, it's just that I couldn't get a good photo of the little hippo Webkinz guy - he really is a very nice light blue, but all the light blue stuff was really problematic with the camera flash, which I was using because the weather is so very icky today that it's been twilight all day. So I had to shoot it flashless, in natural li- um, what passes for light today. Gack. So the second photo does not do justice to the fabulousness of my Secret Pal loot.

And my Secret Pal is seriously awesome. Thank you SP!

arrived today

Le Swoon.

Now, what do I knit with it?

a meme from Elemm!

For newcomers via Ravelry, the other blog is the NaBloPoMo blog, because even though I've done all right for a week, there's no way I'll be able to write about the same five knitting projects every day for a month. So, if you want to read the wonder that is moi every single day this month (ugh, perish the thought), check over here. But since Elemm is a knitter-friend as well as a... well, the other kind, I thought I'd answer his questions over here. Now you owe me, Elemm! Come on, let's see 'em!

01. Can you cook?
If I must.
02. What was your dream growing up?
I wanted to be a linguist. Heh.
03. What talent do you wish you had?
Making small talk
04. If I bought you a drink what would it be?
A Margarita.
05. Favorite vegetable?
Broccoli! Take that, George Bush!
06. What was the last book you read?
I honestly cannot remember. Probably Between, Georgia.
07. What zodiac sign are you ?
Libra
08. Any tattoos and/or piercings?
3 tattoos, pierced ears
09. Worst habit?
Forgetting appointments. Or worrying. Or possibly being indecisive.
10. If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
Absolutely!
11. What is your favorite sport?
To watch? Soccer, American football, ice hockey, rugby, figure skating. To do myself? Um... thumb wrestling?
12. Negative or optimistic attitude?
Negative by nature, working on faking optimistic
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
Whip out the knitting!
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
My own bad choices.
15. Tell me one weird fact about you.
I can't count sheep to fall asleep. I always picture them leaping into a pond and drowning. It's too upsetting, so I do multiplication tables instead.
16. Do you have any pets?
One cat.
17. What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
Yay! Come on in! Or do you want to check out the LYS first?
18. What was your first impression of me?
Cheerful, talented.
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
Scary.
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
Thicker hair.
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
At 20, I would have been your partner in crime. Now, I try for conscience. Motherhood does change that about a person. And after listening to the podcast, I think you have enough partners in crime...
22. What color eyes do you have?
Blue
23. Ever been arrested?
No! Why? What have you heard?
24. Bottle or draft?
Draft.
25. If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
Spend it on yarn, probably.
26. Would you date me?
If I weren't married? If you were straight? Or if I were gay and a guy? If you weren't almost young enough to be my son? I think that's too many ifs...
27. Where's your favorite place to hang out?
I really, really love my house.
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
Sure, why not?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Knit and listen to podcasts.
30. Do you swear a lot?
Hell to the yeah! Ask my kids.
31. Biggest pet peeve?
People who chew with their mouth open. Ick.
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Confused.
33. Do you believe in/appreciate romance?
Yes!
34. If you could spend 12 hours with me and ask/do anything you like, what would it be?
Benediktbeuern! Vaterstetten! Sauerlach!
35. Do you believe in God?
Um, yeah.
36. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same?
Sure! See?

hopeless

Today in the mail there were 3 CDs and 3 books. But no yarn. This made me just a little bit sad. But the music has turned out to be a good accompaniment for making my first-ever short row heel, and the Shrek soundtracks might just inspire me to watch the movies again. I can knit while I do that!

The books, the books... nope. I can't knit while I read paperbacks. EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! THE BOOKS MUST BE DESTROYED!

Hm. Somebody in this blog might need to get a grip already.

stashmonkey

I sort of accidentally bought some yarn. It doesn't have a plan yet, except that I will keep it near me and pet it occasionally for at least a week because it's so pretty. And yes I read Amy's post about Saying No to Stash Guilt, and I did technically click the "buy" button before I knew that we needed a new washing machine - about nine hours before the repairdude came, saw, and tsk-ed. But now we need a new washer. And yet somehow, I also need this yarn. Might do for the Giselle sweater, because I still need a pattern, so as not to have bought yarn in vain. Especially since, as part of my declutter-with-Tini mission, I dug out some (not all) of my yarn and found some sock yarn I bought when Ignatz was a baby. Heh heh. Oops?

Cut me some slack, at least I didn't buy this.

...Yet.

must. make. this!

I'm in sweater-love. It's a new pattern from StitchDiva, I don't think it's even on sale yet - actually, given how much I have on the needles right now, maybe I want it to wait a bit before it goes on sale, because I can see myself dropping everything to do this. I don't even like following other people's patterns, but for this I'll make an exception. Swooooooon!

Only I can't use PayPal, so can somebody hook me up? I'll send you a check or, if you're Stateside, some awesome Euro-yarn or something.

for the ears

But first: Nah, I don't need a pattern for the Armadillos, I could figure them out. I could figure out the Anastasia socks too, actually. Woo-woo, listen to the SupaKnittah! I sound like an arrogant git. But it's true. I could.

Anyway. This is marginally knitting-related: it's about podcasts. Since my usual stars of the podio world have decided to abandon me in favor of trivial stuff like weddings and grad school and burnout and taking breaks and whathaveyou (nooo! you are here to entertain meeeee!), I've been forced to branch out. Yes - I am actually listening to a non-knitting podcast! Whoa. But I knit while I listen to it, that should make it this a suitable topic for a knitting blog.

The podcast is Will Write for Wine, and it is done by two writers (genre fiction, which is what I like best to read) who talk about the craft of writing and also the business end of it. And also about wine. And tell silly stories. They're very funny, but they're also really interesting and articulate about the writing process, and I'm finding that aspect fascinating. I have no interest in becoming a writer, but I am an avid (and very picky) reader, and I really like understanding the writing process so that I can articulate what I like or dislike about a book. They also recommend various random things they like, like books and websites and music, and I've found a few really cool things through them. Like this. I haven't actually read any of their books, but I did order two from amazon this morning, so I will!

So y'all. If your podcasters are in a slump or on hiatus, here's a new one to check out.

dilemma

Remember that yarn Mari sent me? Looks like this? And she suggested that I use it to make Armadillo socks, and I really like that pattern, but then I ran across the Anastasia sock pattern and I really like that too. Now I can't decide.

(Common Sense: Erm, alala, you already have five projects on the needles, including two Christmas gifts.
alala: La-la-la I can't heeeeeeeear yoooooooou...)

because I'm insane

As you all know, I bought yarn at a craft fair (from a woman who doesn't believe in the internet, or I'd send you to her site, because really - fantastic stuff) for Henry, and since it wasn't the yarn the pattern calls for, I had to do some guessing about needle sizes. Turns out I guessed wrong - I went bigger than the recipe said, but not bigger enough, and the combination of silk yarn and bamboo needles may have been part of the problem. It was kind of thick and inflexible and didn't travel over the needles very smoothly, so it was hurting my hands, but I thought I could live with it until I was about halfway through. So. I've started over on Henry, even though it has to be done by Christmas and I can only work on it when DrBob is not home, and I have three other projects on the needles at the moment.

Erm. Make that four. Because changing Henry to larger needles may have had the eensiest ulterior motive. I needed to free up my 3.5mm circs for the Mystic Waters shawl. Of course, there's no particular urgency on that one, so I don't have to cast on for it yet.

But um. I kind of did anyway.

I got mine!

So when will you get yours?

This actually came in yesterday's mail, but I didn't find time to blog it on the same day, but look! A zippy new thing from Yarnissima! And it is so darn cute I may just hang it on the Christmas tree as is, instead of knitting it up. Except I can't hang up the cookies, which I already ate. And I've actually met Yarnissima in person, so I don't know if everyone gets cookies or just me (*twinkle twinkle*), but even without the cookies, this is one adorable little kit. I am seriously considering ordering a few more... for my Secret Pal, for various friends, for having LOTS to hang on the tree! Whoopee!

PIF - Pay It Forward

via Tini:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

I think this is a great idea, a way to put some positive energy out in the world. So hey people - sign up, send people stuff, and I'll send you something! Let's all create some happy mail-days! I love those.

I won!

So there was a big squishy envelope in the mail today! From M.V., in Frankfurt - do I know anyone in Frankfurt? Nooo, I know someone in Hessen, but not Frankfurt-Hessen, and I haven't ordered anything from her lately, I'm still working on the last yarn I bought from her. Very mysterious. But not for long, of course, rip! shred! open! Mari! I love reading Mari's blog, even though I don't understand a word of Finnish (seriously, not one word. I know at least one word in a surprising number of languages, Swahili and Czech and Quechua and Indonesian, but no Finnish. Really. Zero.), because I like the look of it. I like double letters, as those of you who know my real name can attest. One of those things I would have put in that "six weird things about me that you probably don't know" meme, if I'd ever done it.

Anyway! My envelope of stuff! Does she know me or what? It's chocolate! With orange-y bits in it! And sock yarn, my very favorite kind that I never buy - it's both marled and variegated, such a joy to watch the colors change as the yarn slips through your fingers, but then once it's knitted up, you can't see the beauty of the yarn unless you stand closer to me than my West Coast-tuned proximity sensors will allow (I am all about the personal space, it's one of the reasons that living in Europe makes me so twitchy). So when I see yarn like this I always carry it around the yarn store for an hour, decide it's not a practical thing to buy, and put it back. But now I have some! In fabulous October-birthday colors too, purples and reds and browns and golds, see?

The photo of the yarn and chocolate together didn't turn out well, but you can see the yarn, at least. Click! Embiggen! It's pretty! This will have to make some very special socks. And then I will be the only one who knows how special they are.

Thank you thank you thank you Mari! This made my day.

Interlude

So I signed up to knit teensy hats for drink bottles (for the Big Knit) and then forgot about it because the deadline was way far in the future. That is what I do with events that are not Next: I forget them. Anyway, the deadline suddenly zooped up to next Monday, and I got the reminder email yesterday morning and went "ack!"

So I did other things yesterday, but I also knit five tiny hats. And it was fun. It did take time away from a translation that I have to do before this weekend, though. And now I am somewhat sorry about that because I have found that, even though this is not an academic text, and is quite interesting and I even understand everything, the fact is, after five pages my brain is fried and I have to take a break. But I have too many pages and too few hours, and I don't really have time for a break. Nevertheless, my brain is fried. So I guess it's fortunate that the person who was supposed to take Ignatz to Tae Kwon Do bagged on me, and I have to go sit in St. Wolfgang for an hour and stare at the wall, but to be honest, with the number of things I really need to get done, that lost hour is kind of bothering me.

But at least I had fun knitting five tiny hats. And now back to our regularly scheduled knitting.

gone over to the Dark Side

You know, I've read the posts and listened to the podcasts about Stash, and all these people who have more yarn than they'll be able to knit up in their lifetime, and I have concluded - I may even have written about it somewhere on this blog - that I am a knitter, not a yarn collector. I only buy for specific projects. Now, sometimes the yarn doesn't work out for the project I bought it for, and I have to put it to some other use, but I never buy yarn without some plan for it.

Until now.

Okay, most of these do have a specific purpose, the blue and brown will be Ravenclaw socks, the black and yellow is intended for Hufflepuff socks, that orange on the left there will be Firestarters. Three dark red and black skeins are intended for a cardigan to go with a specific dress I have. But others... the Dark Peacock and the Rainbow were just too beautiful to pass up, and I may never even knit them, just pet and admire them.

And today, I sank even further into the abyss:

That's right, 1200 meters, that's 1312 yards of purple MariSilk, and no plan whatsoever for it. No project is fantastic enough for this color and this yarn. I can't imagine what I'll find to do with it.

It sure is pretty, though.

ADD and the knitter

Well, the Henry yarn + stitch pattern is kind of inflexible, and the scarf is pretty long, so it's not going very fast - and I have to put it aside completely when DrBob is home this weekend, because he's not supposed to see it. Christmas present.

So then I'll work on the MIL's Flower Basket Shawl, but it's a bit of an attention whore. Usually I can sort of grok a pattern after a couple of repeats, and I can see what this is doing in retrospect, but I'm not learning the pattern well enough to anticipate what comes next. So I have to squint at the pattern the whole time, and tink back if I lose my place, and never stop in the middle of a row. This too must be finished by Christmas.

And then there's the socks I promised to knit for Billy Reid, in the Knitters Uncensored mini-KAL which has only three participants. I think I have finally settled on a pattern and am ready to start thinking about maybe knitting them. I'm not sure what the deadline on this is, but I do know that MsB knits waaaay faster than I do, and Elemm has more knitting time, what with the not having children. I probably shouldn't leave that till the last minute. Especially since I don't actually know when the last minute will be.

So I think you'll agree that I have quite enough going on, knit-wise. So what do I go and do?


Buy more yarn. And needles. And start swatching.

Duh.

what I would do...

Well. Mari has a bunch of natural white, alpaca-silk blend yarn - I don't know the weight, but swoooon! And she wants to know what kind of sweater she should knit with it. I think that's a very good question, and if I had a bunch of natural white, alpaca-silk yarn (yah - I wish), I'd be thinking Aran. Something cable-y like Jenna Wilson's Morrigan, from No Sheep For You. (Not a lot of images around, outside of Ravelry, but you can follow Morrigan's process on Jenna's blog). Or, if the yarn is bulkier than that, maybe Eris, also by Jenna Wilson, though that refers to "advanced cabling," which some might find a bit intimidating. Ooo! Speaking of advanced cables, what about Alice Starmore? Though that's out of print. Hmm.

For something simpler, I really like Juju's variation on Jen Chau's Cavern Cardigan. Mostly, though, I think I'd pick up a book on cables, like my copy of the Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting (or maybe use this as an excuse to buy a new book on cables, hee!), and assemble something myself. Something fine and girly, because alpaca and silk sounds so refined.

Anyway, good luck with deciding, Mari, and let us all know what you choose!

it worked!

Well, I followed Elemmaciltur's link, showed the photos to Ignatz, and half an hour later he was back with my Lego swift. It did seem kinda flimsy and wobbly, and I was very skeptical, but we put the second skein of MariSilk on it last night, and he helped me adjust the little sticky-uppy bits, and it worked like a dream! So thanks for the tip, Elemm, and kudos to Ignatz for phenomenal Lego talent!

Although I don't know how it'll do on 1700 yards of Wollmeise laceweight... LET'S TRY IT OUT HAHAHAHAHA...

Go, Henry!

My 100cm wooden circular 3.4mm needle finally arrived, and I was able to continue the Henry scarf (pattern is here). I'm liking it so far; once you figure out the repeat, it's fairly mindless, although you do need to look at it as you knit, so it's a good project for TV knitting, but not for reading. The yarn is 100% silk I bought at Benediktbeuern, from a woman who doesn't believe in websites and, it would seem, doesn't sell in shops, just at markets. Okay, whatever. The yarn is yummy, though kind of creepy - I don't like to wear silk because it feels like skin, but I figured yarn would be different. It isn't, really. Anyway, that was a digression. I saw this yarn (DeKnit actually pointed it out to me), and the color was just right and the sheen was so beautiful and DrBob has mentioned that I could maybe knit him something and maybe he wouldn't lose it this time, at least not right away, so when I saw this lovely yarn I seized the moment. It's not the weight the pattern calls for, so I had to go up a needle size. This may mean it turns out to be longer than expected, but that's fine, and it won't have to be wider than expected because I can just stop knitting when it's wide enough.

So then. So far, so good!

tangled up in lilac

I've been untangling for hours.

I think I need a swift.

I give up

Well we had lovely sunny weather in Benediktbeuern, and then one sunny day thereafter, but I had too much else to do that day, so I didn't grab the opportunity to photograph my haul. Since then I've been waiting for the sun to come back so I can have some light to work with, but I have accepted that that's not going to happen.

So here's one blurry daylight photo of what I brought back (note fabulous little project bag made by the incredibly talented Ms.B - I will definitely buy one for my Secret Pal, but I love these so much I may decide that I need two for myself), and you can see closer-up shots of the stuff on my Flickr page (click the photo to get there). Oh, and the fabulous fbz posted all 76 (!) of her photos, and said I could link to them, so here - have a ball. We sure did.

I've cast on the gray silk for Henry, but I'm waiting for needles before I can continue (on order at the LYS). Still dithering about light purple silk or dark blue wool for the MIL's shawl. Ooo! But I finished the Seagrass socks today! I can't post a pic, though, because I'm thinking of submitting them to Knitty or somewhere. Will I actually do it? Probably not, but just in case, I'll hold off on blogging the details for now. Still slogging away on the Billy Reid socks - remind me not to make any more socks for guys with um, large... shoes.

Benediktbeuern

Oh. My. God, that was SO. MUCH. FUN! We met in Munich and took the train and there was a delay so we missed our connection and had to sit at the station café in Tutzing for awhile before we got the train to Benediktbeuern but we didn't mind the delay because we were all knitting and chattering away and we got there and checked in to our (fabulous! cheap! so pretty!) hostel and then went to harrass the Wollmeise and Yarnissima (not only a designer of mind-bendingly beautiful socks, but also a really great roommate!) and meet the Schneeschaf, and ooh and ahh over an unbelievable number of pretty fibrous things, felted flowers and woven stuff and insane colors of rovings and silk yarn dyed with plant-dyes and is this still all one sentence? Sorry. I'm still a bit light-headed. I had a great time. I met some wonderful people. I saw some really beautiful yarn (and I think I bought most of it), and I nabbed cards from a bunch of the artisans there, I'll put up links when I find them. I didn't take photos, but I'll ask for copies from the people who did. There were a few Northerners in the group, and it was such a hoot to see them reacting to all the Bavarian-ness around us - stuff I'd been taking for granted, that I'm now seeing with new eyes.

I now have: gray silk to make a Henry scarf for DrBob; lilac Marisilk to make a Flower Basket Shawl for my MIL; still more Wollmeise sock yarn; indigo laceweight for the Secret of the Stole. Ye gods and little fishes, what to cast on first?

Whew. What a weekend. And I didn't even tell you about the booze!

eta: and I got new needles from these people; the site's still under construction, but you can see a picture - I got the ebony ones, and let me just say: swooooon!

Yay! Oh no! Part Two!

Right, well, there I was wondering what to do for mindless knitting now that Arwen was done, and it occurred to me to bring the helmet liner out of retirement. Problem solved! Then I finished it, so here I am again.

Sigh.

I'll be looking at Benediktbeuern for laceweight yarn and beads for Secret of the Stole, and my next project (like everyone else's, I'm thinking) will probably be Henry.

Oh, and? No pics of Arwen yet because I haven't blocked her. I'm waiting for decent weather so that she'll dry, but duh, hello, it's September! I should probably just get over that.

Yay! Oh no!

The only reason for putting a hood on Arwen was that otherwise I'd have to re-write the neckline. But look, this neckline is okay, so I think I'll save the leftover yarn to make hats for chemo patients. I've already done some moss stitch and bound off, now I need the time to listen to the latest Knitters Uncensored (I know! But I really haven't had a whole hour and 20 minutes all together yet! Probably tomorrow...) while I tuck in all the ends, and then it'll really really be done! Which is fabulous! Except that that was my mindless back-and-forth knitting while I read project, and now that it's done I don't have one of those anymore - even worse, it's the Rugby World Cup and I really need something simple to work on while I watch those games - well, the few games that are on TV here - well, the parts of those few games that stupid DSF lets me see. Ten minutes into the second half of Wales v. Australia, the announcer says "we're going to stop showing this and show Germany playing basketball with Slovenia instead, but we'll let you know how this game turned out at halftime." WTF?

But I digress. Arwen! Almost done! Yay! Now what do I do?

limbo

Well Corsica was actually pretty good for knitting. It's hard to knit on the beach, but I got heat rash after two days and had to stay out of the sun anyway, and the breeze off the sea keeps the heat bearable. In September, anyway.

So! Significant progress on the Seagrass Socks. Billy Reid is a bit more troublesome, since they're biggish socks and I'm using 80cm circs, so those are on hold until I can get into Munich tomorrow and get some 100cm Addis. I whipped up a hat for Kelly's daughter on the ferry from Bastia to Livorno, washed it and the Baby Bolero yesterday, they're drying in the basement. And the weather here is quite yucky for September, but it means it's not too hot to have a lapful of wool, so Arwen is seeing some progress. All good, but I can't start anything new, which is bumming me out.

I signed up for Secret of the Stole (and my yahoo inbox had nearly 800 messages in it when I got back from holiday - wow, these yahoo groups are fierce!) (also, I should get that button up on this blog...) and have seen the swatch and am conflicted. I was hoping it would turn out to be a good Christmas present for my mother-in-law, which would necessitate purple yarn, but the swatch - although I have seen many excellent versions in terrific colors - tells me that in my hands, it wants to be a sort of dull turquoise, medium greeny-blue sort of color. Moot point anyway, since

1. Sabi at Sheepaints is not making purple (or greeny-blue) in sufficient quantities for this project...
2. Even if she did, I can't afford 1200 yards of it.
3. The Wollmeise doesn't have anything that grabs me either. I want greenish blue, not green and blue. Also, the designer says variegated is not a great idea for this one, it should be all one color to show off the lace pattern.
4. So I'm still thinking about it, because I can't turn my fussy-brain off, but the plan right now is to look for something suitable at Benediktbeuern.
5. If I opt for greeny-blue, then I still have to find purple yarn for a Flower Basket Shawl for my MIL. Yay, holiday knitting!

Um, I think I should have stopped using numbers earlier. Oh well, whatever. I should stop typing, go back to knitting, get some of the projects over and done with.

sent

I sent off Box #1 to my downstream Secret Pal! I sure hope she likes it! Can't tell you what's in there, though, as she might find me that way. By the time I can tell you, I will have forgotten. Yeah, that's how I roll.

One of the requirements for the Secret Pal swaps is that you have to post to your blog at least four times a month, and at least one fiber-related post a month. That is about the last rule I thought I'd have a problem with. Putting nice stuff together for my downstream pal, maybe. Forgetting where I put it all, probably. Forgetting to mail it off in time, almost certainly. But y'all know that I'm not usually at a loss for words. I just don't feel any real urge to talk about stuff lately.

I'm going to put it down to end-of-summer doldrums. We have had zero routine for longer than I can remember (I can remember back about ten days), and so I feel like I have all the time in the world, and everything can be done Later. You know I still haven't posted the pattern for the Ruby sweater? That went through like 13 drafts before I got it right, you'd think the Knitting World would like to have this information, instead of repeating my mistakes.

Well, I'll get to it.

Later.

Going to Corsica with me: The Seagrass Socks, which I don't want to say too much about because I think I might submit them to Knitty or somewhere; The Billy Reid socks, which are too simple to require a pattern; and a hat for Kelly's daughter Aurora. This time the right size, and perhaps even without mistakes! Whoa, look at me, talking all crazy.

See you on the 9th!

slump

Still here. Still knitting. Lots of second-guessing, lately... I'm having grave doubts about my ability to be a good Secret Pal. My downstream pal just seems so... self-sufficient, I can't think of anything she'd want that she doesn't have. I can't say more, she might stumble across my blog and recognize herself, but ack.

I put most of my projects in hibernation because they bored me. The Seagrass socks are almost to the point where they were when I frogged them back to the toe.

Ho-hum. When I have something to blog about, I will. Pinky swear.

the Wollmeise

Yippee! Okay, so remember the Wollmeise yarn that Pooh was so excited about? Yeah, well, MsB from Bockstark Knits told me that Claudia, the Wollmeise herself, was bringing some yarn down to be photographed, and if she and Elemmaciltur and I could bring ours in, then Claudia wouldn't have to carry so much. I said okay, but it turned out to be unnecessary, because Claudia brought pretty much all her colors with her, but that explains why I still haven't opened any of it. And while resisting was very difficult, it's actually very much for the best, partly because of general virtuousness - I really do have to clear out some of these six projects before I start something new (well, then you shouldn't have frogged the Seagrass Socks should you? - shush, they were imperfect. I had no choice). But also because I still have all this perfect new yarn to look forward to! Yay!

So my Useful was going to be bringing yarn, and once that was unnecessary, they didn't really need me for the project at all, but do you think I was going to mention that to them!? Hell no! So I went! And I got to hold and fondle and smell and rub my face in almost all the shades of almost all the colors and seriously, I may never buy any other kind of yarn again. Well okay, Sabi from Sheepaints is going to have new yarn in about 20 minutes and if she has enough purple silk for a shawl for a certain MIL then I will, but after that? Or if Claudia starts dyeing silk? I will look no further for quite some time, because her colorways are teh yummy. Even the ones you don't like at first, it'll turn out you were looking at the light version and when you see the dark you'll be all YEARN! Or vice-versa.

Also, Claudia's really, really nice and entertaining and fun and cool. But don't stalk her, she hates that.

What would you do?

I have 6 projects on the needles - SIX! Today I thought I'd try to devote at least half an hour to each one, and I did, and I'm not feeling sanguine about my progress on any of them. Fortunately (!) I can't start on any of the Wollmeise until after this weekend because I've signed it up for a photo shoot, but even without that I have six projects on the needles! Should I continue to try to do one or two rows per project per day, or should I just pick one, barrel through, get it done and move on to the next? Hmm...

Pooh is very excited

So am I, to tell the truth. Eleven skeins of Wollmeise sock yarn arrived on Friday while I was in Munich. I spent today trying (and failing) to get decent photos of them, and I'm a little bummed about that, not least because I can't shake the feeling that I can (and really should) do better, so I should try again tomorrow, so I can't open any of it to fondle or re-hank or cast-on, even though the yearning is intense. But certain other people on Ravelry have such fantastic photos of Wollmeise on their stash pages and I realize I'm setting my standards unfairly high, but still. I can't put crappy photos up there when everybody else is all fabulous.

However, I am making significant progress on the Seagrass Socks as well, and still loving the pattern so much I think I might submit it to Knitty if I can get a good photo. (This is not a good photo, because it doesn't really show the stitches very well.) So I suppose I can busy myself with that for the rest of today, and try to take some more pictures tomorrow. But really, I don't think I can be all that photographically-challenged. I think that our crappy grocery-store camera may just bear the itsiest bit of the responsibility here.

SP11 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Merino is probably my favorite. Or alpaca. Ooo! Washable stuff! I don't mind air-drying, but I really do like things I can toss in the washing machine.

I'm okay with the 25% nylon in sock wool to make it sturdy, but other than that I'm not real keen on synthetics. I don't have any allergies that I know of, but I don't like itchy or rough stuff, and chenille and bouclé, in my experience, are more trouble than they're worth. Oh dear, am I being too picky?

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Heh. When we moved into this house, I put the Good Silverware in the drawer, and the little linen holder-thingy that it came in now holds my needles. I'll put up a photo at some point. It's not really the best solution, but with some refinement I think it could be really great. I keep thinking I'll get out my sewing machine and make a needle case - I even have a pair of old jeans set aside for the purpose - but I'm not getting around to it.

My mom had this cool thing she got from the hospital where she worked, to keep her crochet hooks in. I think it used to hold a giant syringe, or something, but it was awesome. I let it go when she died, which was so stupid, but I really wasn't thinking clearly, and I had to make a lot of decisions under huge pressure and very little time.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
My mom taught me to crochet when I was 7, so that's 29 years. When I was 23, newly married, pregnant, bored, foreign and poor, I had masses of spare time and I taught myself to knit. So that's been 13 years, and I tend to push myself, to choose a project specifically so I can learn a new skill. Therefore, I would call myself advanced: there are quite a few things I haven't done yet, but I can't imagine that I won't be able to do them when I get around to trying.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yeah, but I'm not very good at keeping it updated.

5. What's your favorite scent?
Florals. Lilac, orchid and rose, in that order.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Oh yes, too much of one. Chocolate and mint are my favorite flavors. Especially together.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I don't really do things other than knit or crochet on any regular basis, I tend to pick up something for awhile and then completely forget about it. I like to sew, but I don't have a place to do it right now. I'd like to get into beading, but I haven't yet. I think I would only start spinning (or dyeing) if I wanted something specific and couldn't find it anywhere, and with the fiberarts taking off, and the internet facilitating international exchange, I don't see that happening. But, you know, never say never.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, I can play mp3s. I have a hard time answering the "what kind of music" question because I can't really rule out any genres. Anything you love enough to want to share with me, I will probably like.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Green. Then purples, grays, blues, turquoise, teal, then maroons and magentas and lovely deep reds. Not as keen on yellow, orange, brown, or the whole beige-khaki-olive continuum. I do like black.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married, two sons (age 6 and 12), one lunatic cat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, yes, yes, and absolutely not. Not a poncho person.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
At the moment, socks and hats. Also anything for babies, because I like things that knit up quick.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A teal cabled cardigan for myself, a baby sweater for an as-yet-unknown baby, socks that I'm designing myself, and a helmet liner for a soldiers' charity.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely! The very best kind!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circular. Bamboo. I also have a set of plastic interchangeables that my grandma bought me about eleven years ago. It would never have occurred to me to use plastic needles, but I quite like these, and I always have at least one project on them. Maybe because my grandma bought them for me.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
No, but I don't mind winding my yarn up by hand.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Uh. Good question. Two, maybe three years? A certain son decided he didn't want it after all.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Ooo, tough choice. I guess Christmas, because it's so sparkly, especially here in Bavaria.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Nothing leaps to mind. My husband would say "junk," but I would shush him.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Oh, so many things! So much beautiful stuff is available in the States, and I'm afraid to order it because I suspect that German customs officials like to help themselves.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'm just about to go on a lace jag, I can feel it. Felting is really piquing my interest lately too. I'd also like to try the Swedish tvåändsstickning someday. Also, those Norwegian sweaters. I have all the knitting skills I need, but the fancy cuffs and neck-stuff, ooo. Mitered corners. And not exactly a knitting technique, but writing patterns would be a good thing to know. It's a lot harder than it looks.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yep! Love socks. Measurements, um, hang on lemme grab the measuring tape... 9 1/2 inches long, 8 1/4 inches around the ball of the foot.

23. When is your birthday?
October 21st.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yup! I'm alala on Ravelry too.

behold, a swatch

Okay, today I did nothing else, but at least I got one thing done that I like. If you click the image, you'll get to my flickr page, and you can look at the swatch a little more up-close, and yes, the depth-of-field is minimal because I used the scanner again. But I have a stitch! And I'm happy with it! It has a slight bias, but I think if I change direction every inch or so it won't create too much of a problem.

So. Cast on now, or wait and consult with Elemm on Friday? EeeeeeI think I'll wait. Because so much of my knitting has been neglected for the last few days.

But yay! Love this yarn, love my swatch.

why do I do this to myself?

Designing is for people who learn from their mistakes. Not people with the goldfish attention span. Urgh, it looks so! good! on the back side of the swatch, but not on the front, and re-creating what I did in reverse is proving to be... more challenging than you would think. I write everything down, but I still make the same mistakes over and over again... or do I? I say "meh. That didn't work, okay, try this," and then this looks exactly like that, so I don't know if I did the same thing or did something different, to no avail. And I've been so nose-down in this project that not only have I not knit anything else, I haven't even blocked the two hats I finished last weekend, or photographed the Half Shedir yet. And now I've only stopped because there's nothing for it but to start over, which means the whole day was wasted. I suck!

The yarn is Sheepaints sock yarn, in the Seagrass colorway. The mission is a ribbed sock that suggests sea grass. We'll see if tomorrow brings any positive change.

In other news, I joined Lime & Violet's Chore Wars group. This'll be fun.

celebrity squee!

I met the Knitters Uncensored crew tonight! Well, I've known Elemm for awhile, but I met the other two-thirds of their merry band of players, and then I spent the whole evening talking about myself. Egad, I am the queen of inappropriate. But it's only because they're so good at asking questions, and I had a really good time knitting and watching rock-climbing videos. But next time, the pizza's on me. Um, figuratively. Not really on me, I just meant I'd pay for it.