finished objects

I've been knitting like mad, not even stopping to take photos or blog! I created for my son's bear a sweater and hat ensemble. He spied camouflage yarn and Michaels, and immediately requested either a sweater for his bear or socks in the yarn. Being that it was acrylic yarn, I decided to go for the bear sweater. As usual, tonight when taking photos, Miss Kitty came running.

This was knit with some acrylic abomination, I've already lost the band. I knit it on size 9 needles, with the ribbing knitted on siz 7 needles. I used a book that has knits for kids and their teddies. The sizes weren't accurate for the bear and my gauge, so I knit it as I liked, but based the neck shaping on their pattern, which worked out quite nicely.


To accomodate his request, I did knit him some sorta-camo socks. I used Andes handpaints. These will felt like mad if I don't wash them carefully. They're tube socks, which is the best solution I've come up with for his difficult-to-fit feet that grow like mad. His ankles are really large. I knit the tops in broken rib, which I really liked with the yarn colours. The broken rib stretched generously over his ankles, but pulled in well to fit the leg. I switched to stockinette stitch for the foot, and once I was past the heel area, I put in a few decreases, to bring in the sock. Then I did a spiral toe so that the socks don't wear out in one specific spot.



These are the socks made for my husband. I finished them just a few minutes ago. I gave them to him, unfinished. When he picked up the package and felt what was inside, he asked, "You gave me some knitting?" These were knit with Trekking yarn on size 2 needles, with size 1 used for the toe and heel. I used the basket rib stitch, which looks simply lovely.

This is a shawl I made for an American Girl doll. I ran out of yarn before I could put on a nice border, and the shawl seems a little small. This is the microspun, and the yarn that was left over from making a dolly dress for my knitted babe.

Freeeeee!

As of Friday at midnight I finished my quarter. No more school for the remainder of the month!

So much needed to be done, and there really wasn't much free time. I went to the gym on Monday at lunch, but for the rest of the week, for the first time this quarter (contrast that to nearly every lunch the last school year) I remained at my desk and did schoolwork right through my lunch hour. I also took Friday off and worked like a madwoman all day. The group project was submitted 2.5 hours before the deadline, and the solo one 1 hour before the deadline. Yeeeehaw!

Saturday was actually a pretty pleasant day at work, I sat in my quiet office all day, playing music and plowed through every paper on my desk, as well as a full cart of books. I even went to the gym for lunch, to which my body said "ABOUT TIME".

I celebrate my love for you with a pint of beer and a new tattoo

Shirley,
it's quite exciting to be sleeping here in this new room
Shirley,
you're my reason to get out of bed before noon


Her name is Shirley and she's been a long time coming. I first got the Knitted Babes book probably three weeks ago, and dropped everything and started knitting with some brown lamb's pride I had hanging around. Well, I misread one word in the pattern and everything went horribly wrong. I knew the pattern was flawed as I read it, but I thought I would have faith and see it through, but in this case the results were not pretty. I ripped it out and went to bed. The next day I didn't go to the gym at lunch, instead I walked over to the quilt/fine yarn shop and combed through the yarn they have scattered from room to room. The only yarn I found that was remotely acceptible was an oatmeal coloured skein of Silky Wool, a 65% wool/35% silk blend that was heavenly to the touch. That night I knitted the new babe top down and in the round, like a sock, on size 3 addi turbo circular needles. Then I stitched on her hair, the same brown yarn I'd frogged the night before.

I was procrastinating the eyes until I had a good block of time without my daughter around, so I worked on other related projects, making her first a bathing suit, and then working diligently on a hoodie. For being a doll item, the hoodie has been taking far too long and I'm tired of it already, but it still needs one more sleeve and a hood.

On Saturday, my daughter had a guest, and I had time to myself to work on the dolly. I initially cut out the eyes directly from the pattern in the book. Yuck! She looked like a vampiric owl. I trimmed and snipped the eyes down to a better size and sewed them on. I was horrified. She was hideous. I emailed a picture of "frankenbabe" to Ember and bawled to her about my disasterous babe, and how I'd done my very best and it wasn't good enough and I couldn't expect to do any better. I was ready to throw out the entire project.


Then I girded up my loins, oh yes I did, and went back to my room and ripped off not just her face, but her hair, too! I realized that her hair was on crooked, and therefore I couldn't put the face on right. I made several versions of the eye until it finally looked right. I really wanted to use a nice grey/hazel coloured wool felt I had, but those eyes never looked right, so I finally ran downstairs and found some fleece in a good eye colour and used that. Since those eyes looked okay, it turned out that the babe has blue eyes.

Once I had a face on that looked okay, I felt alright about proceeding with the project. Next up I started on the dress, only knitting top down, so I could decide how long it should be. What a fiasco! The pattern was difficult to understand. My first version was knitted according to the pattern, only with a needle 2 sizes larger than what the pattern suggested. It was soon obvious that the dress would never ever fit on the babe. The next night I tried again, knitting a back waist into the dress. After a few rows, it was obvious it was too big and just awkward. That night, lying in bed, I finally had a flash of inspiration that allowed me to understand what the pattern was intending. The next night, I started again, adding some increases into the bodice. By the time the increases got the bodice the right size, the bodice was too long. On the FOURTH night, I frogged back yet again, removing several increase rows, to keep the bodice short, and finally finding the perfect width for the bodice. Finally I was happy and proceeded! Today I had a great deal of knitting time, as I used my comp day to sub for my husband, and I knitted in class all day. I finished the dress, and it turned out fabulous!

Here are the changes I made to the dress pattern: I started top down, and knit each strap in a separate colour, so I didn't need to break and rejoin any yarn. I followed the pattern in reverse until the point where I would have increased to 19 stitches. Instead of casting on 2 and 2 stitches, I created those extra two stitches by knitting into the ends of the straps, making the cap sleeves while adding the stitches. After knitting 4 rows at 19 stitches, i started increasing (knit into the front and back of the stitch) one stitch from both the beginning and end, alternating an increase row with a knitting row. I did this until I had knit 12 rows from the cap sleeves, and then took up with the pattern again, increasing as it said to decrease. I always made sure the increases happened when I was knitting on a right side row. Once the skirt was long enough, I bound it off with a crochet hook, by crocheting one stitch, then * crocheting a 3-stitch chain, then crocheting to the next 2 stitches, repeat from * until the end of the row, ending with a crocheted stitch. It gave it a gorgeous little edge.

quick gym notes

I finally made it to the elliptical trainer on Monday and Tuesday, but the rest of the week has not been conducive to gym stuff. I won't make it water aerobics tomorrow, either.

Gym Notes

Sunday was one of those memorable autumn days, where it's clear and crisp, but just warm enough in the sun. I watched my kids play in the leaves at a downtown park, and then while they were playing with friends, went for a brisk walk around the neighbourhood park. It was a nice hour long walk.

Monday I was home with a sick girl, and Tuesday I forgot my gym bag. Wednesday was another lovely autumn day at the park with some friends, but not much exercise. Today, after our non-traditional Thanksgiving feast deluxe, we took a lovely walk around the park again, with a little stop for the kids to romp the playground, until we parents got too cold. With the gym closed for the rest of the week, I'll have to enjoy these sunny autumn days for my exercise.

American Girl Hat and Scarf

I started these a while back, but finished them tonight. I used Andes handpaint, the remnants left from my felted bag experiment. I wind up spending a lot of time thinking about that two-toned yarn, trying to figure out how to get the most of out it. I really put a lot into that felted bag, though the results were less than spectacular. The colours seemed to knit up nicely for the doll clothes, though!

The set is intended as a Christmas treat for my daughter and her best friend. They play American Girl Dolls all the time, so one of the sets is to give to the friend. My daughter already knows about them, and is genuinely pleased with the set. She made the pompoms. Well, she wrapped the pompoms, I finished the first, she nearly finished the second.

Scarf:

While I tried many reversible cable patterns, none of them looked good with that width and that colour pattern, so I just knit it in garter stitch, 6 stitches per row. I used a size 9 needle. When it was long enough, I added a fringe in red to give it a finished look.



Hat:

I wanted 2 matching hats, so I made more of a beanie than the toque I was planning, and just barely finished them, with only 2 yards of yarn left. Knit on a size 9 Addi circular needle, at a gauge of 5 stitches per inch. The hats came out roomy, too.

Cast on 69 stitches. Join without twisting: Pass last stitch over first stitch, then start knitting on the first stitch. (68 stitches)

k2p2 ribbing for six rows

k for 4 rows.

k6,[k2tog,k5]4 times. k6,[k2tog,k5]4 times. 60 stitches.
k for 2 rows
[k2tog,k4] to end of row. 50 stitches.
k for 2 rows
[k2tog,k3] to end of row. 40 stitches
k for 2 rows
[k2tog,k2] to end of row. 30 stitches
k for 2 rows
[k2tog,k] to end of row. 20 stitches.
k for 2 rows
k2tog to end of row. 10 stitches.
k2tog to end of row. 5 stitches.
Pull yarn through stitches, pull tight. Weave in ends securely.

Add a pompom if you'd like.

I plan to leave about 4 rows between the decrease rows next time to make a toque.

FO-Mittens

These were finished and mailed to the recipient about a week after her birthday. I haven't yet heard if they arrived. Just before putting them into the mail, the temporary librarian told me they were way too small for adult hands. Just like her. I made them just a little too small for me, because I wanted them to fit her snugly. I hope they're not truly abysmally small, that lady says a lot of things so I don't take it too seriously.

I knit them cuff up using size 4 needles. The cuff was a 2x2 rib, and then the mittens were knit in a faire isle pattern. I used Karabella Aurora 8 and Schoeller & Stahl's Limbo. The thumb was done in the style of a planned afterthought heel, leaving live stitches so I could come back and put in the thumb afterwards. I had troubles picking up the stitches and that got a little messy. I should have made notes immediately. I think I knitted the cuff with 56 stitches around, and then increased to 64 for the hand.

This week's gym escapades.

Monday, elliptical walker, 1,88 miles.
Thursday, elliptical walker, 2.35 miles.
Friday, water aerobics.


I didn't work out all that much longer on Thursday than Monday, I wonder if I really pushed it harder or if the two machines are just callibrated differently.

On Friday, instead of the really cool teacher who is older than me, who's there to work out and even if no one shows up she'll do the class because she likes the work out, there was a substitute, a spunky young college student, who asked if I really wanted to do it, since I was the only one. As tempting as it was to just go home, I really knew I should work out, so I went ahead with it. She stood on the edge of the pool and told me what to do. As I'm hard of hearing it was extremely uncomfortable for me because she cranked the music and I was straining the entire time to hear her instructions. She probably got paid for the class whether I stayed or not, so I made her work for her fee. It was interesting to experience another kind of class, though. I also told her to make it 45 minutes instead of the hour, which was nice.

The college had a health fair, and you were entered into a drawing if you filled out a health evaluation. So I did. The dang thing scolded me for not working out enough. As I feel like I'm making great progress, I was pretty miffed! It also told me to run, not walk, to a doctor because I was at risk for pre-diabetes because I had a baby bigger than 9 pounds and I only work out 3 times a week. Huh? I'll ask at my next pap exam.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I have a copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter on my desk. It's being added to our collection, but because I was looking at it and had dropped it on my desk, it didn't get catalogued when the rest of the books in its set did. So it's still awaiting the next batch of cataloguing and processing. I can't really check it out until it's processed, but I've been taking it with me on my breaks and reading. While reading, the breaks go by way too fast. The book is entrancing. I'm probably about 40% through it. I hate to put it down. I'll have to catalogue it soon so I can bring it home and stay up too late finishing it. I have to do it very soon so I can justify reading and not feel guilty ignoring another impending school paper.

Homework galore

Well, I stayed home from work, sick, on Thursday, so I didn't get any gym time that day. Friday was my comp day, and the entire day was spent on my 550 group project paper, being my turn to write. I finished it at midnight, and the other group members tidied it up and submitted it Saturday. I had intended to do water aerobics on Friday but was so caught up in the work that I forgot. I worked Saturday and then in the evening went to a lovely dinner party. Today I worked all day on my 567 project, in which I marketed library services to pregnant and parenting teens. It's due in an hour and I'm ready to turn it in. I really shouldn't keep doing this last-minute thing, but it keeps turning out that way. Part of the problem is that last year, I did most of my school work during lunch hours and breaks, and this year, I'm going to the gym, and sneaking off to knit during my lunch hours and breaks. In September, I was going to the media room during my lunch hour to watch Cary Grant movies and knit, which was really fun, but it did suck to have to turn it off when my clock said my time was up, and I really am glad to be going to the gym when I can.

Gym Freak

Monday: 25 min, elliptical walker
Tuesday: 30 min, water jogging
Wednesday: 27 min, elliptical walker (2.1 miles--I have never paid attention to this number, but I think it was higher today than it ever was. I was pushing it really hard because it felt really good to)

I have never been a very athletic person. Growing up, "athletic" meant "good at ball games". And with my visual disability, I couldn't see well enough to develop any skill at ball games. When I think back, I realize that ball games were justifiably terrifying to me: I couldn't see the ball until it was quite close, and so balls would tend to just come out of nowhere. By the time I had my surgeries when I was 12 years old, the damage had been done. I hated ball games so much that I didn't want anything to do with sports of any kind.

So this urge to go work out every day is surprising and foreign to me. And while I have little faith it will last, I start going more and more often. Maybe it will last!

Fiery socks, once again

I tried to take a better picture of the fiery socks, because I really do like that yo-cable pattern.

Mittens

The mittens are making steady progress. I made them to fit slightly small on me, presuming that would properly fit a less overtall individual. I pondered making the two mittens match perfectly, but after careful consideration, decided that in this case I preferred them to be non-identical. In socks, I generally really prefer that the two halves match.

it's a tough life

Sleep. Eat. Kill a beanie baby. Rinse. Repeat. No wonder she's exhausted.

Swap-y Thing-y

I spend quite a bit of time strolling through knitting blogs, well, for many reasons. It certainly is really enlightening to see what other people are doing. I've seen swaps, and decided that I would try one out. I joined a mitten-kit swap, because its timing is good. I won't have to pull something off while in school, but can put it together over the holidays.

So. I have to post a questionnaire thingie. Here it is. A Questionnaire thingie.

What are your favorite colors?

I like purples and greens. Blues, too.

Are you a new mitt knitter? How long have you been knitting mittens?

I have knit 3 pairs of mittens. One of those 3 is presently in progress. The other two were for my kidlets, and were knit 3 winters ago.

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?

Yes, and yes. I'm in love with colours. Solids can be so gorgeous. But I'm always sucked in by multi-colour yarns. I really like stripes, stripes that are more than a row or two before changing colour.

What fibers do you prefer in mitten yarn?

Natural fibers. Wool.

Where do you usually knit mittens?

I'm a highly mobile knitter. I knit them at home in front of the tv or in front of an online-lecture. I also knit them at work in the break room, or when I'm on a walk. Or in the car. Or in a box. Or with a fox.

How do you usually carry/store small projects?

If I'm not at work, they're tucked in my cargo pockets. But at work I have to be all work-dressy-lady, so then they get stashed in a project bag and taken along.

What are your favorite mitten patterns?

I've never used a pattern.

What are your favorite mitten knitting techniques?

I make a sock with no heel and a hole for the thumb. And make it hand-sized. A little shaping between the wrist and the cuff. That does it.

What new techniques would you like to try?

I'm open to whatever comes my way.

What are your favorite needles for knitting mittens?

Addi turbos.

What are some of your favorite yarns?

I knit a lot of regia self-striping yarns, and Trekker XL.

What yarn do you totally covet?

Whatever yarn I see/touch/glimpse in the yarn store. I really dig hand-dyes like Manos del Uraguay.

Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?

Meg Swanson's Frost Flowers and Leaves from A Gathering of Lace. I started this once, but I really needed to concentrate on smaller projects.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?

I am hooked on circs. I get Addis when I can, I've not found any other needles that transfer from cable to needle like they do. I've never tried the knit picks needles, though.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?

something stripey, chunky, and woolen in purples and blues.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?

dark chocolate!

What’s your favorite animal?

owl. bear.

Would you prefer super warm mittens or something more like fingerless mitts?

super warm.

If you were a color what color would you be?

plum.

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?

celestial bodies.

Do you have a wishlist?

Nope.

Anything else you’d like to share with the group today?

If I think of something I'll edit it in.

faire isle mittens

I've started a fabulous pair of mittens. I'm not going to try to post a picture. I've been discouraged with the quality of my camera's pictures. I cannot seem to get anything to show in detail.

I actually finished the fiery socks earlier this week. I tried to take a picture with a camera at work, and the socks were equally lacking in definition, so I wonder if it's perhaps my photo-taking techniques. The yarn-over cables look cool. The socks do not fit my son, but I have faith that one day they will.

The mittens are in honour a friend's birthday. The bday is today, which means, of course, that she won't get them on time, because I'm still on mitten number one. However, I'm very proud of the mittens. It's a variegated Limbo, in autumny colours, paired with an olive green merino. They look gorgeous, so hopefully I'll be able to get a half-decent picture before I mail them off.

water aerobics

I've been to the gym four times this week. Last night was water aerobics. I was the only student, so I had a pretty intense one-on-one session. The teacher was very nice. I've ordered books for her, because she's an English teacher. She told me that water aerobics were great because they don't hurt, but damned if I don't ache like madness today.

gym notes

Monday and Thursday were my days for the elliptical walker. Both times I'm walking harder than before.

gym splash

After overcoming many petty but huge-seeming obstacles, I actually made it to the gym from home today, for 30 minutes of water walking. I have been wanting to try water walking since spring, but I have been very apprehensive. I had plenty of time, while walking back and forth, to contemplate why I had wanted to try it, and why it had intimidated me so much. I think it had caught my interest because it sounded like more bang for my buck. I could go for a 30 minute walk, or I could walk for 30 minutes in the pool and get extra athletic benefits. As for why I was apprehensive, I have been recognizing that I really like to be informed: I like to know the upcoming schedule and I like to read about/discuss things before encountering them. (says the lady getting a degree in information science.) I had never gone water walking, and I had not even seen any one water walking. I was even feeling foolish about going to the pool and walking around. But when I actually did get to the pool, I saw they had a lane specifically reserved for walking/running. I got in my reserved lane and happily walked for a half an hour. I kept walking backwards every few steps, like I read online, and it really did involve a lot of effort to stop my momentum, step backwards a few, and then change direction again.

It's a bit of a sneaky exercise. I just felt like I was drifting around the pool, but now my hips, ankles, and calves really hurt. The good part is that afterwards, there's a nice soak in the hot pool.

felted bag

While working on my 550 class today, my monitor kept going black. While I waited for its return, i worked on my felted bag. I got quite a bit done. In fact, I got it all done. Instead of doing an icord all around the edges, I wound up needing to crochet the front panel to the back panel. I tried to double crochet, cause it looked better, but it needed to be single crocheted.

When the kids came home and immediately started fighting and sassing, I grabbed some jeans and tossed it all in the washer. I'd been told that a front-loading washer didn't felt things adequately, but after the heavy wash cycle, with a dash of detergent and a kettle full of boiling water tossed in, it felted up just perfectly.

This was my expiriment in what to do with striped yarn to really show off the stripes. It involved a whole lot of picking up stitches on all sorts of surfaces. I started it last weekend, not that I had meant to, but I was under one of those knitting spells where I didn't have much choice in the matter.

Made with Andes hand paint, a skein I got on clearance. It was the only one of its colour, or I would have probably bought a few and attempted something bigger. I knitted using a size 9 Addi Turbo, and a variety of crochet hooks, both evil and good. I've found it hard to get good pictures. :(

prodigal needle

okay, okay, I don't understand it, but the evil trickster crochet hook came back to me. I was sitting on the floor, studying on the laptop, and my son sat down beside me to chat. We were talking, and he absently reached forward and picked up a crochet hook off the floor. and that was it! After I bought not one but two to replace it, it comes wandering back into my life.

That carpet was vaccuumed thoroughly just a few days ago, so I know it wasn't there all this time. So where was it?

See, it has no regards for me or my feelings. It just does as it pleases. Fickle needle.

gym

Made it to the gym again. It's going so well I figure it's bound to fall apart soon. 28 minutes on the elliptical walker, I pushed it harder than ever and it felt really good. Not only that, I was acting on this incredible urge to go to the gym today. how weird.

my new best friend

Yesterday I walked over to a yarn store on my break. As usual when I walk in there, the lady who works there pounced on me. I'm not sure what to think of that. Other stores in the area are known for their snottiness and for ignoring people. I walked out of a store after ten minutes of waiting for the lady to stop chatting and ring me up, and wound up driving 30 minutes to a yarn store to spend $55 on needles. So here, this lady's always ready to help, but sometimes I don't need help. I told her I was looking for a crochet hook, and she assured me she had every size, but she didn't, I wanted a 3.25 to replace that trickster needle I have, and she had 3.0 and 3.5 but no 3.25. I went ahead and bought the 3.5, and it's an Addi! So this was no casual purchase, as crochet hooks go it was comparatively costly! I've decided that it shall live in its protective sleeve for its own protection. Rather like a hamster in a hamster ball.

Which gets me to wondering what my cat's reaction would be to a hamster in a hamster ball. It's too bad I'm against animal cruelty, it would be pretty funny if it didn't involve torture of a wee critter.

And then today, I was at JoAnn's, buying my Number One Son a Hallowe'en mask. And I just had to walk through their yarn section, even though I know--I KNOW--they have nothing but crap yarns. And then I saw a crochet hook. Not just any crochet hook. MY crochet hook. The one that always goes missing. A Susan Bates aluminum crochet hook, in size 3.25, in a metallic blue, just like my old trickster, that old thing that has picked up so many stitches and fixed so many errors, and cast off whenever the mood struck. And I had images of good twin/evil twin. I figured since the one I already have is the evil twin, the new one would have to be the good twin. So I bought myself a replica of my missing little trickster needle. I told you it was a dysfunctional relationship! Not only can I not successfully adopt a new hook, I went and bought a replica!

In the knitting bag:

-A felted purse. I got really excited on Saturday and had to start on this. It was out of control. I'm not sure if it will be half as cool as I knew it would be on Saturday. I've done the front panel and I'm working on the back panel. There be cool poolage.



-The Fiery Socks: I've officially run out of fiery yarn, and am making a red cuff. I struggle with these socks. They're for my Number One Son, who loves warm woolen hand-knit socks. But his feet are so hard to fit. First of all, he has really broad ankles. Secondly, well, I guess secondly is that growing problem. And third is that he wears them out very fast. I made him a previous pair of fiery socks, but he outgrew them quickly and wore them so the whole heel was under his heel, and they wore out where the heel changed to sock. The blue ribbon socks were designed to withstand all sorts of abuse, and but he's growing out of them at top speed. The back of the heel of the sock is already pulled down under the ball of his heel. So. I made these with a little growing room built in. And he says there's too much growing room built in. Not to mention he struggles to pull them over his ankles. Considering he's such a slim child, it's odd that his ankles consistently present a problem for hand-knit socks. So here I am, finishing them, but he won't wear them this winter, probably. And I wanted him to have a pair of handmade socks as soon as possible! Bah.


-The basket rib Trekkers. These are trekking along. They kinda get knitted on when I'm not knitting anything else.

gym status

28 minutes, elliptical walker, yay yay yay!

disfunctional relationship

I have a crazy, crazy relationship with my crochet hook. It comes and goes as it pleases, with absolutely no regard for my feelings or needs. For example: when I was doing seasonal work at Barnes and Noble, it came to work with me in my pocket. The next day, I was restacking holiday cards, and I found that little trickster hook hiding between the boxes of cards! It had escaped for an entire day, and showed up in an area of the store I never frequented!

I have tried to break it off with this crochet hook. More than once I have decided I won't wait around for it to reappear anymore, and I have replaced it. Strange and mysterious things happen to the replacements. The pink plastic replacement suffered a devastating injury, in which it was broken in half. The gold replacement, while safe in my knitting bag, was tossed out and left behind. I am certain that foul play is involved.

And now, I am in great need of a crochet hook, and the little trickster has gone off again. Last I saw it was in my pocket with the fiery socks a week ago. And I was monitoring it, so I know it made it home from the bookstore. But where it's run off to after that, I cannot say. Dastardly thing! I'm right where I need to crochet the top border of this crazy purse I'm trying to make!

If it doesn't show up by tomorrow, I will be buying YET ANOTHER crochet hook. I shall have to take drastic measures to protect it.

Rip-a-rama!

We have taken the turntable out of its box and after some very frustrating episodes, have successfully begun to rip vinyl to mp3! I spent $8 on a cable at Radio Shack, (RCA to 1/8" stereo line-in jack) and then wound up spending $10 or so on a Rip Vinyl software, which made it all come together.

The first to be ripped was a Byrds album. This was a test, for we have a CD boxed set that covers it all. Then we went on to rip in earnest, first 2 Husker Du albums (Flip Your Wig and New Day Rising) and then 2 English Beat albums (Just Can't Stop It and Special Beat Service). Last night was actually playing the albums, tonight I was cutting out the pops and converting them to mp3. It's a lot of work! I had Mr. LoverMan playing the albums while I worked hastily on my paper last night, today I took the time to work on his tracks for him, using Audacity.

You can see from the pictures that the feng shui of my work space is abysmal. I have found that lack of clutter frightens me. I need some serious feng shui reprogramming.

Studying

The paper is due at midnight. After two weeks of postponing, Sunday is THE DAY to do the work.

Guess who doesn't give a flying fish...

Amazon disclaimer

I do include links to Amazon at times. I am not affiliated with Amazon in any way, but have provided links to them as an Associate for years, starting with book recommendation pages when my kidlets were small. I do not make much income from this, but I do get a bit now and then to buy some more books. If you shop through my links, I can buy my kids or me more books, and we are always grateful.

Splendid view

and look what I was seeing while I knitted....

Candy Baby Hat

Candy One Skein Baby Hat

• pattern from label--adjusted for circular needles
• Candy--64% cotton, 32% acrylic, 3% nylon, 1% elastic
• by Artful Yarns
• knit on size 7 addi turbo circular needle
  

I started this a month ago, for a little upcoming grand neice. I'm afraid I'm bouncing from project to project, and failing to do my homework. So I've been working on socks ever since starting this hat, but as I heard a baby shower was coming up, I refocused on the hat. After all, it really didn't take very long, and it was very nice having rows and rows of nothing but knitting.

gym bunny!

Success! I made two trips to the gym this week, 25 minutes on the elliptical walker. While I still feel crappy, today was better than Tuesday's experience.

I'm sitting in a coffee shop downtown. I feel smug because the wireless access is provided by my ISP. So for once when I get the dreaded "log in" window, I can log in without problem! I'm watching the train go by, watching the people up and down the street. Sipping an ice tea. Doing my homework. (See? see me doing that homework?)

me and jake

I was about to shut down the computer for the night, and down comes my dear Mr. Man to say good night to me. He's been playing with his CDs all night, and some how after saying goodnight, he wound up looking at his cassettes, and then he was sticking one in, and it was "me and jake", their cassette "Pine", recorded in 1992. And I grab my knitting, tonight it was the baby hat for my incoming grand neice, and sat there listening. We can both just listen, the whole cassette just listening. And reminiscing. We were both in the studio, and neither of us felt that the cassette sounded nearly as good as the songs when they were recorded. So we analyzed the quality of the sound. And the overall fabulousness of many of the songs. How great they sounded, and where are they both now? Remember when we had a me and jake sho in our back yard? How many people came to that, anyway? He started wondering if that producer still has his studio over near Trolley Square, if the masters for me and jake are still out there, if CDs could be made. But then he hasn't done what he needs to do to get his band from 1982 on CD.

I'm bouncing from project to project. I'd like to finish this little hat and mail it off, I think there's a baby shower soon. I think that when I was as young as that new-mother-to-be, I thought all hand-knitted objects were tacky and hideous, and I question whether this stranger will appreciate the hand-knitted hat from an unknown great aunt. Great Aunt sounds so old and stodgy! But her baby's only 8 years younger than mine. I picked out some really cool yarn, but it knits up messier than it looked on the ball. I can't explain why, but I look at the ball, and it looks all great, and then in the hat, and it's just a mess. Still, it might be cute, I'm often hyper-critical of my own work, going back to my days as a professional seamstress.

I came home from work today, sick, and slept for two hours mid-afternoon. I awoke from a dream of an incredibly cute (like, think neopets-cute) wild fox loose in my parents' house, harrassing my father's dog. I physically woke myself up to go get the camera, and as I stumbled off on sleep-drunk legs, I slowly began to process the fact that there was no fox, I wasn't at my parents' house, and I didn't need the camera.

There, I ran off and took a picture, to see if I could demonstrate how the hat looks messier than the skein. Huh. I may just be nit-pickity.

hell or gym

Well, I may or may not be on the slippery road to hell, but I did make it to the gym. It was harder this time, it's been getting progressively harder, not easier, hurts where before it didn't ache at all. I found Dharma and Greg, despite the fact that the channel had leapt 20 spots higher on the so-called dial. Since when do channels jump about from week to week?

I will have to employ forethought if I want to make it to the gym again this week, as Friday clearly won't work. But I've been on the edge of sick all week, and the gym just sounds so painful.

Fiery socks!

I did manage to turn 2 heels this weekend. I short rowed them during a Who video about the making of Who's Next. This made for very excellent heels. I also ran out of yarn on each foot. The thing that astonished me is that I ran out in the exact same place on each foot, only one row apart. Now the two socks are sharing the remaining ball of yarn, and I'm not sure how much more sock I'll get, I'm starting to see the empty middle of the yarn. I'm pondering a red cuff just to make the socks taller.

I did not make it to the gym this weekend. Instead I did the mild fever, pounding head, snuffly nose thang. I also did a birthday party, which involved 8 wound-up 11-or-12-year-old boys, 2 8-year-old little sisters, and Laser Tag. Plus pizza and ice cream. What more can be expected of me in a weekend?

gym grr

I know this is the slippery slope to hell. I missed the gym today. Forethought did not kick in soon enough to have me go yesterday. We had a work luncheon today to say farewell to not one but two coworkers. Later there was a party for them. No gym time. Maybe I can go tomorrow!

It's also very stressfull, the coworkers leaving. Not only will we miss them, as they were interesting and colourful people, but a staff of nine will be down to a staff of four. Plus one part time, on her way back from maternity leave, soon, and a substitute, in 2 weeks. I'm stressing about this. It will be difficult to keep the place running. We will not be able to perform our own duties well. Additionally, once the hiring is complete, the new people will need time to learn their way around and to get up to speed. We will need to train. I am already behind on my job. I see that getting worse, not better.

Oh, oh, and I checked the status of my jury forms. I have qualified. Apparently they don't just take citizens. This could be a very interesting December.

creeping along

Well, the fiery red socks are creeping along. I did so much over the weekend, and then along comes Monday and my progress slows to a crawl. I've been about to turn the heel all week. Now I think I am in the perfect position to turn the heel, at long last. I woke up last Saturday and turned 2 heels, perhaps I'll do that again tomorrow. I really want to finish them, my son loves warm socks and he needs more.

yay gym!

25 minutes on the elliptical walker. Yay! I forgot my headphones: horror of horrors I had to be alone with my thoughts the entire time. Except that 2 buddies together got on the walkers next to me and instead of spending my workout thinking, I heard their verbal thoughts the entire time.

I'm thinking today that it will never be this easy to work out. Well, excepting going for walks, which is Good Fun, too, but I tend to fizzle out as winter blows in. This gym is so close--one building away. And way affordable, too! Elliptical walkers are the least painful workout I've ever done, although today I pushed it a little and my body has been a little traumatized. (they also claim to be a total body workout. Being no expert, I want to believe them, but find it hard to really believe that hanging on to moving handles offers my arms and whole body a workout.) I've never had troubles getting an empty machine, although by the time I was half-way through my workout, all the walkers were in use: the busiest I've ever seen it. Being able to hop there during my lunch hour, not even any travel time? That just rocks. I hope I manage to keep myself motivated and going all winter. It'll suck, even though it's so close, having to get into my boots and winter coat just to go to the gym.

Nomenclature Rant

I enjoy working in Technical Services, and like that there is a good strong mythology that has evolved about those in technical services. At residencies, I room with fellow cataloguers and we have a total blast. But I'm feeling very frustrated about the name today.

Our office says "Technical Services" on the door. Library patrons see this and the word "technical" makes them think computer, so they come in for computer help. I'm quite competent with computers, but no I don't know why your network connection has slowed to a crawl nor can I fix your forgotten password. It's a shame, it's not like I can blame the patrons for the misunderstanding. They really need IT, not TS. Neither do I see any good chance of changing the entrenched name of technical services. I just wish I could avoid the misunderstanding. It goes against the librarian in me to turn people away, but I really can't help them and they really should be able to walk their buns down one flight of steps to the people who can help them. We even have an elevator if they need it.

Lonesome skein

I just joined the lonesome skein knitalong.

Here are some of the things I plan to work on. The white is Heilo that I bought on clearance. I plan to dye it, but not until I figure out what it wants to be. The ball is the first skein I dyed, it's variegated in reds with some blue. The baggie is Blue Sky Organic Cotton. Although it's remnants, there's remnants of several knitted skeins in there and enough for something joyous. Then I have some hand-dyed Andes from Chile. I bought this on sale and it was the only of its colour. Last is a skein of Mountain Colours. I read its label and it has 350 yards, so it doesn't count for the Lonesome Skein knit-along, so it's an interloper in the pictures. Ooops.

I have other skeins (of course!) but these are my top choices.

But first I will finish my red socks!

Weekend knitting; aka red sockarama

On Saturday morning I turned the heel on the basket rib socks. I did a short-row heel with a size 1 needle. I've been pondering frogging the heel and making the leg an inch or two longer. But then I think they're tight enough that they shouldn't be any taller. I do have to spend a lot of time thinking about these things.

So while contemplating the fate of the basket rib socks, I started on another pair of red socks. They're knit with red Color4me and firey Big Print. Because they're knit on larger needles, they knit up faster. These are for #1Son, who likes to be warm and therefore likes wool socks. He just keeps growing out of them! His blue ribbon socks can still be worn, but the heel is curving down under where it shouldn't be. His tiger socks has moved on to his sister. Because he appreciates handmade socks so well, I thought I'd get busy and crank him out a pair or two. The weekend afforded me plenty of knitting time, even while doing homework. I knit the toes and under the ball of his foot in size 3, and the rest in size 4. I'm using my own usual toe-up methods, with a provisional cast on and a short-row toe, and then a cable pattern that I got from Sensational Knitted Socks, a 5-stitch yarn-over cable. I'm pleased with it.

I started with a remnant ball of the red, and as I knit the second sock's toe, I was watching that skein get smaller and smaller. I finished the red toe with about 40" of red yarn remaining!

Self-striping sock yarn adventure #1

Inspired by Eunny, I was utterly impatient to make some sock yarn of my own. I keep looking for the perfect stripes and not finding what I'm dreaming off. This doesn't mean my own creation will be any better, but I had to try! Had to so crazily that I didn't do homework last night.

It started yesterday evening. I was driving the ballet carpool. After dropping off the girls, I had to head to pick up Number One Son. While driving back, I saw a grocery store. They don't let me out of the cage very often! So when I saw the store, I just pulled right in and bought an array of koolaid. I used Strawberry, Lemonade, and Ice Blue Raspberry.

This morning I got up early to rinse the yarn. When I got home from work, I was able to wind up the dry yarn into a skein.

I'm so impatient to knit it, but the skeins are so beautiful I want to admire them for a while! They're probably more gorgeous than what comes next.

ellipsis

25 minutes on the elliptical walker. And I even got Dharma and Greg! Once again, forethought happened, and my gym bag came to work with me.

Life as a Mom

It's 6:45am. Number One Son comes running. "I just opened up the bag to get my socks and I was hit by an incredible stench!"

Lesson #362: If you put wet soccer socks and shoes into a bag and leave them there for 24 hours, they ripen!

Instead of the warm shower I had anticipated at 6:45, I spent the next many minutes searching for a lone clean soccer sock. The 2nd pair of socks were washed as they arrived, which meant one each weekend, and the first one washed vanished into the cyclone he calls his room. He finally went to practice wearing shin guards, ankle socks, and long fleece sweats to hide the abomination. He was wearing the fleece pants anyway. #1Son does not like to be cold or wet. And yet soccer practice in October is at 7am.

Geek Girl Goes Elliptical

So my free gym membership ran out in June and I never bothered to pay to renew it. After all, it was summer, and there was plenty of time for biking and roller-blading and walking, right? But now I'm in school, and I know that I'm having sedentary days for the next 9 months. So today at lunch I marched over to the Health and Wellness Center, signed away my life, (authorized a paycheque deduction,) and spent a half an hour on the elliptical walker. I even timed it to be able to watch Dharma and Greg on the walker's TV, but couldn't find it and wound up watching the Cosby Show instead. Sigh. Even more impressive, this action involved **forethought**. I had to pack and bring my gym bag in the morning. Ooh la la!

It was a very intense day at work and I suppose I am grateful for the workout. At the moment I'm just plain befuddled and exhausted.

Oh! And today I got notification that I may be a juror. I didn't ever expect that. But I realize that because I pay taxes, my name is in the pool. I filled out the form and it told me that I probably don't qualify, but to check back in a few days for confirmation. US Government will take my tax dollars just fine, no prob, but doesn't want my opinion in a court of law! Yes, us Canadians are very very controversial peoples.

Seattle yarn

Miss She's-All-That plunked herself down right where I was going to photograph. Yes, she does know where the camera is pointing.

This yarn says Jarbo Garn. raggi. Kvalitet: 70% ULL, 30% nylon.

If ULL=wool, as I believe it does (you know, Baby Ull and all that), then this is just what I wanted.

Bought at Weaving Works for $8/ball.

Potato-Garbanzo Soup

Chop half an onion. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, cook it in olive oil. Add 3 crushed cloves of garlic and continue to cook until the onions are transparent and it all smells divine. Pour in 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add 6 red potatoes, well chopped, 2 veggie broth cubes and a big heaping kitchen-teaspoon of cumin. Boil on medium-high heat until the potatoes are soft. Add a can of garbanzos, drained and rinsed, a cup of frozen corn, and 2 tablespoons of tamari. Serve with a crusty loaf of bread to soak up all the yummy broth.

It turned out yum!

Darn it!

It seems that whenever I go to take pictures, Miss Kitty shows up to get in on the action!

While on the plane yesterday, I was looking at the ball of trekker yarn I was knitting, and pondering that this was not the first trekker socks I'd made--where was the other pair? That's when I recalled they were languishing on my dresser, having gotten a hole after only a few wearings. This morning before work I grabbed a needle and yarn and darned up the hole. I did the traditional woven-in darning I learned in brownies, then I used my yarn to secure all the loose stitches so they wouldn't drop, and then just generally stitched the beezees outta it to make sure it was well-armoured against further troubles. I hope it lasts! They're purty socks.

Residency

LIS 567--Our teacherman is an honest-to-goodness full time youth services librarian at SPL. "Seat of your Pants Library". He said so.

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a blur today. Perhaps I'm sleepy. Perhaps I'm reluctant to start a new quarter. The summer off has been perfect.

It was weird how we had to change classrooms at lunch. We couldn't they find us a classroom that was open all day? How hard is that on a Saturday?

Lunch time sorrow: I've been waiting for months for my residency, so I could get a bowl of borscht and a piroshky. I've gotten that at every residency so far. At lunch, I tried to find some one to come with me. Lisa wanted sushi, and I didn't want sushi, I wanted borscht. Margaret wanted to go to a seminar, so she needed something quick on campus. So I went alone. Just as well, SIGH. When I got there, the tiny little restaurant looked unchanged. Same furniture and case and all. but it was now a SUSHI JOINT!!! I was devastated. I remain devastated. I loved that place! I've looked forward to it for months! The place at Pike's Market doesn't have as good of borscht.

Marjorie and Teressa came and picked me up and we had lunch at a pastaria. I've never eaten at a pastaria before. I had a mozza panini and CANNOLI. I've heard it referenced on tv many times but never actually ate one. It was dreamy. We all had bites.

Tonight I wound up yarn shopping. I nearly bought some Lorna's Laces, but the colour repeats weren't large enough for my current tastes. I don't particularly relish the messy look of short repeats. The lady offered a class of how-to-dye-self-striping-sock-yarn. I wanna go! I have plans to dye my own anyway, but a class would be fun.

I bought several treats at Trader Joe's. I got some green ice cream nuggets. They were larger than I expected and not nearly as tasty as I'd hoped.

In-class knitting

Trekker XXL yarn. Size 2 Crystal Palace Bamboo Circular Needle. Basketweave rib. It's very cool!

Residency

LIS 550. At times I can be so negative, and when I'm so positive I surprise myself. I started the class immediately adoring our instructor. I hope that opinion holds! She had us each mention an ethical concern as we introduced ourselves, which made for a really interesting start to class. It was a very lengthy set of introductions. I brought up my concern of choosing age-appropriate materials for kids vs censoring children's reading, and also my worries about the difference between selecting materials and censoring materials. As one can never select everything, the very act of selecting is going to entail some censorship.

The method of choosing a group was entirely insanse. We had to get a partner and spend 2 minutes staring at them and writing our impressions, and another 2 minutes writing what they must think of us. Catherine and I were pretty tepid in our writing about each other. It was way outta comfort zone for me. After that, we had to sort ourselves into coloured hats. I sorted myself into white hat, which meant I dig figures and facts. Then we had to assign our partners to the hat we thought they belonged in. She sorted me into green, which meant creative. Hey, I'd been knitting (and wearing) green socks. I sorted her right back into red, which meant emotional. Then we had to find a group of three of all different colours. I wound up with Catherine and Lesla. Having not worked with them before, it's cool to have a chance to work with them. Group work can be such a challenge if no one gets bossy. It's rarely me that gets bossy!

The afternoon was content-rich. She lectured on ethical streams. Then we had cases to discuss, and to justify according to various streams.

At one point, as an example of an something that is legal but not ethical, I brought up the nuclear bomb tests in Nevada. Legal, I assume, but with all the downwinders wasting away from terrible diseases, hardly could be considered ethical. She said that she personally agreed (which I thought was a triumph! She said she'd never give her own opinion!) but then tried to give the other side. She spoke of national security and the safety of the masses, and how these downwinders were a long way from New York, and it would be easy at that distance to put national security ahead of those few people. I wonder if it's easy, in New York City, to dismiss the downwinders as just a few people. Two students from Utah, one former and one present, were both nodding, and I spoke with them afterwards about cultural differences. The downwinders issue is very pertinent to Utah but just not relevant to people in Washington. Well, quite possibly relevant, but not immediate. It's good for me to be reminded that what is immediate in Salt Lake City is not immediate everywhere.

In-class knitting

Size 4 clover bamboo needles. The points are getting all ragged and may start snagging. Nature Spun yarn in olive and pine green. Knitted in baby cable. Baby cable looks way cool! I wish I could show it better.

I only took bamboo needles with me because I wanted the needles to not trigger any problems with the x-ray machine at the airport.

Needle Fairy!

At lunch, I sat down at a table outside in the warm autumn afternoon. The sun was out, the shade streaked the tables with light and dark, and the temperature was just perfect for sitting and enjoying a lunch. I didn't even knit, just sat. And then when I got up, I found an Inox circular needle lying on the ground! A size 1, 32" Inox circular! I had wondered where that puppy had got to, but had expected it was somewhere in the house. And I hadn't eaten lunch there, due to inclement weather, for over a week! Ember asked if I was sure that it wasn't a gift from the needle fairies, but I know that was my very own size one needle. She was also cracking me up. I told her that something had chewed up the cable and she was painting word pictures of hungry raccoons and rapid squirrels.

Why I wear cargo pants

I love it when I'm knitting something small enough that I don't need to carry a knitting bag around. Okay, I have a bazillion knitting bags, many of which that I adore, but I really like being able to stuff the yarn in one pocket, the knitting in another, and pull it out at any possible moment.