A word of advice...

If you are thinking about buying one of those outdoor tent-canopy dealios that every store has out now, do not buy the inexpensive one from Super "Floor"-Mart. My sister bought one on clearance last fall, when the price had dropped from $100 to $25. Today, in preparation for a garage sale this week, she decided to break it out. What better way to host a sale, then under a canopy, in the shade, drinking iced tea.

However, when we went to put the thing together, the wind caught the canopy, pulling the center pin (the one that holds the entire contraption together) completely out of its socket. Since neither she nor I had a soldering iron handy, I used wire ties to get it mostly back together. We took the canopy back off the frame to avoid future damage,. and might try it again later, on a day with no wind. I hope it works by Thursday, when the sale is set to begin. Sitting in the hot sun, trying to sell used baby clothes and old magazines is NOT my idea of a day well-spent.

In other areas, I've gotten nothing done. The office remains 3/4 painted, half of the impatiens I bought last week remain in their little plastic temporary housing, and I still have not attempted to swatch the Leda's Dream Stole. The dishes aren't done. The garden is not tilled.

But at least the blog is updated, and that's the important thing, right?

A happy accident, or something more sinister??

A while back I made a shrug. Just a simple rectangle in a drop stitch pattern to cover my shoulders when I get chilly in the summer. No big whoop. At first, I made it too small, so I pulled out the cuff and added a couple more inches. Then I plopped it here on my desk to wait for me to bother weaving in the ends. Some time later, I stuck it in the bag that hangs on the back of my office door. The bag has become a holding place for all the bits and pieces that need finishing.

This afternoon, I decided that I ought to finish up said shrug, since it is sometimes chilly in here and I wear a lot of tank tops. But alas, this shrug was just not meant to be.

Somehow a hole got in it. Now I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the perpetrator is one of my offspring. I'm pretty sure my cats are too lazy to bother. If I had loved the thing, I'd be sad. But after trying it on today, it turns out I didn't like it so much.

Adventures in lace and ebay yarn.

I bought this merino lace yarn from Yarn Treehouse on ebay. It is beautiful. But it is so very very fine. At 880 yards per 50g ball, it falls somewhere between 'cobweb' and 'gossamer' on the weight chart. I started swatching with it last night, and it's like knitting with a spider webs. I think I'll try the swatch again tonight with it doubled up. It was actually not as hard to knit something so small as I expected (my previous lace-type knitting has been done with fingering and sport weight yarns), but I'd need much better lighting. Knitting by the light of a little table lamp and the television just doesn't work with this stuff. I'll post pictures when I have something large enough to photograph.

Happy Zone 5a Average Last Frost Date!

No worries about a frost today. It's going to be 85 degrees! I planted a few beans this weekend. I dug out the space by hand, and even built my own tepee. Those better be some good beans, as that was very hard work. They are Chinese Red Noodle beans that a friend sent me. She also sent me some Principe Borghese tomato and Jelly Melon cucumber seeds, but those seedlings aren't ready to be planted outside yet. (I finally looked up pictures of the cucumbers-- they are really scary-looking fruits!). I am so very ready for fresh vegetables: one of the worst things about living in the Midwest is the lack of real tomatoes eleven months of the year.

In the new little plot I created last week, the raspberry bush seems to be dead. I don't know why I even attempt bare-root plants. I have about a 10% success rate with them. I need to go ahead and learn my lesson: it is worth the extra money to buy regular plants. I planted some lettuce and spinach in the same plot. I have a couple dozen little lettuce seedlings out there, but no sign of the spinach. I know you are all on the edge of your seats, waiting for news of my spinach; I promise to keep everyone posted.

In knitting news, I have not picked up needles in three days. (I know!) I plan on making a rectangular lace shawl next, but won't have the yarn for another week at least. I hope it is as pretty in person as it looked online. We don't have a whole lot in the way of local yarn shops here, so I am learning the "joys" of internet yarn shopping. One of those joys is not knowing if the seller's photo accurately shows the color of the yarn. Oh, the drama!

And now for a joke. My mother sends me jokes in her regular emails, and I admit to not reading the long ones. But this one was short, funny, and knit-related. So here it is:

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL OVER! "

"NO!" the blonde yelled back, "IT'S A SCARF!"

What is going on here?

First, it was the horrible burned thumb and fingers. Then the other thumb got slammed in a door. Then I reached into the dishwasher and bruised thumb took a fork up under the fingernail. (I really understand why torturers used to do the thing with the bamboo under the nails. yeeowch!) The other day, while trying to reach a water bottle on the top cupboard shelf, I managed to fling the other cupboard door open onto my cheekbone, leaving a cheek bruise. (luckily it is more pain than visible bruise, so no one has called the domestic abuse line on my behalf yet).

Then last night, my son decided to hop into my lap just as I was sitting down. His head and my nose made contact. The crack sound was sickening. DH heard it from across the room. Yes, my 2.5 year old broke my nose. I felt like Marcia Brady, with my hand over my nose, doubled over in pain. There is a huge red spot on the bridge of my nose and some swelling. Thankfully, the break is pretty minor and my eyes aren't blackened, but the usually dark circles are a little darker than usual today. And it farking hurts. I took some tylenol, but it didn't help even a little. every time I try to blow my nose (which is a lot during allergy season), or scratch an itch, or even bend down, it hurts. And the pain is referred to my forehead and teeth.

What the hell is wrong with me? Why is it that nearly every day some harm befalls my body? is the Universe pissed at me? What did I ever do to deserve all this??????



And to add insult to injury, we later watched Celebrity Fit Club, on which Maureen McCormick is a participant. And they showed the "Ow my nose!" clip. DH laughed out loud. At least I don't look as bad as she did after her football incident.

An FO and a new bed

I've finished the little scarf that I started a few weeks ago. I made it long enough to tie at the back of my head instead of being just a headband. In fact, if push came to shove, I could use it as a belt. I might have gotten a little carried away. It's made from Omega Sinfonia cotton from Hobby Lobby. Since my previous cotton knitting experiences were all with dishcloth cotton, this sport weight mercerized cotton was really nice. But I do wish it were a little narrower.


In outdoor news, I created a new flower bed yesterday. This had previously been a weedy patch of weeds, with weeds growing all over it. But now, after a whole bunch of time getting my fingers dirty, it is home to a new raspberry bush, and some spinach and lettuce. I 'm thinking about extending it along the fence and putting in a bunch of asparagus and rhubarb. I still need to figure out how to edge it. I don't like those little plastic flower bed edge thingys, but I need to do something to keep the weeds (and my husband's lawnmower) out of there. My poor trillium were decapitated last weekend in a horrible lawnmower accident. I'm still not over it.

Some giant yew bushes to the left of the picture will be removed in the next few weeks, thus allowing much more sunlight to the area. That is going to be a humongous task. But the bushes are huge, and serve no purpose except to steal valuable sunny real estate in my mostly shady property.

Fong f- fong fong fong!

I just knit a fong, a 'socklet' with a thong strap, to facilitate wearing flip flops without injury. I learned of this pattern on Knitty's Message board, and knew immediately that my skinny, flip-flop-averse feet needed a pair. So I got to work. Since I've yet to knit a pair of socks (although it's on my to-do list), I have no stash of sock yarn. I'd heard a rumor that Lion Brand Microspun might work, so I tried it. (Anything to save a trip to the yarn store with two kids in tow, right?) I made a few tweaks to the pattern (some suggested in the original pattern's comments, and a few of my own), and even figured out kitchener stitch. Here is how I did it:

* I cast on 42 stitches in Microspun, size 3 needles. (I know that 42 is not the right number for a pattern containing k2p2 rib, but there was beer involved during this knitting session.) 42 is still too big, however, so I'll re-make them with 38 stitches (my feet really are that skinny!).
* I used k2p2 rib on this, but in my remake, I'll probably go with k1p1, mostly for aesthetic reasons.
* I used reverse stockinette for the little thong part, and really like that. I got the idea from the comments section on the original pattern.

I have only made one so far, though; it's a little big, so I'll make a smaller pair. But the idea translates to a real, usable product, and I'll be able to purchase thong sandals for this summer without the fear of them flying off my feet when I dare to walk a pace quicker than "chain gang shuffle." Here's my bony foot and its need for a fresh pedicure.



P.S. I now have that horrible Cisqo song stuck in my head.

Fear me, thrift store sweaters!

I'm on an unraveling rampage. Really, I'm too cheap to buy really great yarn. The idea of spending a hundred buckaroos on one garment's worth of yarn just boggles my mind. But for just a couple of bucks and a whole bunch of time and work, I can have heaps of good wool at my disposal. I have started with a men's XL sweater. It's a pretty heathered dark green.

The yarn seems to be completely untwisted when I frog it, which makes it fairly weak. I hope it is all worth it. According to my (rather inexact calculations, I have about 300 yards from just the left sleeve.

I'll probably go find a scale after I frog the whole thing to really figure out how much I have here. This had better be worth it. It's sorta a lot of work.

****
In other news, I really need to get better at photographing this stuff. It's maddening to have a hundred pictures of project that don't end up resembling the real thing. I've vowed to get better at it. And to create a picture-taking space on my front porch. It has windows on three sides and gets great morning sun. So expect upcoming yarn pr0n from me.

But don't hold your breath for it. I'm a horrible procrastinator.

The Song of the Lace Siren

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a lace person. I have never been a lace person. Nor have I even been a fan of pink. Or ruffles. Or overly feminine clothing. So why have I become obsessed with knitted lace? And dream of making something like the Pacific Northwest Shawl or Scheherazade?

I spend too much time browsing the internet, looking at the beautiful shawls women have made for themselves, wondering if I could possibly master the art of knitting laceweight yarn in a huge complicated pattern. And could I master knitting from a chart? In my first attempts at chart-reading, I kept getting confused and knitting random rows backward. Have I mentioned that my fingers have a tendency to knit willy nilly, not paying attention to pattern or number of rows? (I'm working on that, though).

Whatever the reason, I keep imagining myself with a huge beautiful shawl wrapped around me, looking horribly elegant in spite of my my t-shirt and jeans. I don't know, but it is a strong pull. I just need to practice a little more before I go tackling the Peacock Feathers Shawl.

In the meantime, I'm practicing on sport weight yarn and a small pattern. This is the Kendal insertion, and I plan to make it long enough to tie back my ever-longer hair. It's not perfect, but it is progress.



P.S. I also need to learn the art of photographing lace. I promise to get good at that soon, too.

an old house haiku

my home's workmanship
thy name is surely shoddy
sigh, neverending

I'm waxing poetic today. A rare occasion indeed. When pulling down the old wallpaper in the living room, in preparation to prep the walls for eventual paint, I am finding that the plaster underneath is not sound. It's not falling apart at the moment, but nearly everywhere I push, it gives. (For those not in the know, plaster is supposed to be solid.) I think the keys are intact, but it is delaminating. I wanted to learn to skim coat plaster myself, and give the walls a nice new smooth finish, then paint. I'm now sure it will not be that simple.

I actually have a plaster professional coming out tonight to look at it. I'd rather to do the work myself, but I'm just not up to that scale of job right now. I have a job and a husband and two children who also need my time.

Update on the headband

I finally located the pattern for the headband that I posted about the other day. I still don't have the darned thing finished. It's been crazy around here. But it's getting there. It's hard to made headway when you have all of 10 minutes at a time to commit to the stitchery.

On the other hand, I did complete a couple of Wonder Woman tiaras for my daughter's birthday party tonight. I'm pretty proud of them. There's no pattern to share, because I made them up in my own little noggin. To any purists out there, I know that there is not a second point on them, but 5 year-olds have little heads, and I was afraid the bottom point would not work well in the combo of felt and gold lame'.

Work in Progress

Sadly Mr Dangly still has no legs, but I have managed to knit his second arm to help him through until I can bring myself to finish him. Having only one appendage was just too much of a handicap for him.

Meanwhile, I've got a new work in progress to report. It's a little headband to tie up my not-so-cute hair. In an attempt to change up the hairstyle I've been sporting for several years, I am growing it out for a few months. Once I get to the "I cannot stand it one minute longer!" point I will most likely go see the handy dandy hairstylist and have her cut it in exactly the same shape. But hope springs eternal that I'll be able to break out of my hair rut.

It's a good thing the pattern is simple. I have misplaced the pattern around here somewhere. To be more exact, my 2-year-old scattered my patterns all over my office, and I have not yet found this one. I promise that I will give credit to the pattern's author as soon as I find it. Why oh why did I not remember to bookmark the page??



I'd also like to mention that this yarn is a thrift store special. It is black wool "super fingering" from Red Heart. Do they still make wool yarn? I don't think so. Anyway, I paid $.15 for the whole skein. I'm estimating that this headband will cost about $.07 when it's all said and done. That's a price this bargain hunter can live with, even if the black is not a fun color to knit.

A few pictures

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make fingerless mitts. I've posted about it, but never got around to showing off the finished product. I'm still in need of a better pattern, though. I have oddly skinny hands, and the pattern as written was just not right for me. I am wearing these all the time, even though they are too short to keep my wrists warm. I tried to take pictures of me wearing them, but I have yet to master the art of photographing my own hands.


Then I started making a Mr. Dangly monkey for my daughter. The pattern calls for it to be knitted flat, then seamed, but I hate seaming. And I am bad at it. So I broke out the teeny DPN's and some Caron Simply Soft yarn, and went to town. I wanted it to be washable, thus the acrylic yarn. This stuff splits like there's no tomorrow. It is soft, but NOT enjoyable to work with. So Mr. Dangly remains a one-armed, legless deaf monkey. Poor little guy.

While avoiding the aforementioned critter, my friend Becky showed me the current object of her affection, the Lady Eleanor stole. Of course I got all obsessed over it as well. With the leftover yarn from the mitts project, I decided to try my hand at entrelac. It is seriously addictive. I love things that are easy, but look impressive. Yes, my life (and hobbies) are all smoke and mirrors.

I've managed a few rows of the entrelac, so I think I'm ready to tackle a real project. I'll probably go with something a little smaller (and something that doesn't sing out for such expensive yarn-- I'm cheap like that). I'm leaning towards the Danica scarf from Knitty. We'll see what happens.

That's all for now. Forthcoming is the story of the Great Homebrewing Debacle of '07. Let's just say that Duct Tape really can fix anything.

Hey look-- I'm spamming on my blog!

1920's Coats O.N.T. Designs crochet pattern books for sale. These are great books that my mother bought at an estate auction. They are so cool that I am loathe to get rid of them. But I cannot crochet, so they have no purpose here. Except to make me tense that my kids will decide to color them. or tear them page from beautiful antique page. eek!

I am sending a portion of all of these sales to Doctors Without Borders, as part of my commitment to Knitters Without Borders. Unfortunately, I have to manually donate the sales of most of these books, due to ebay/missionfish minimums. Y'all will have to trust me that at least 20% of everything fiber-arts related will be sent off to charity.

In addition, I have a bunch of old embroidery transfers that I need to sell, and my mother informs me that she has a collection of tatting books, also destined for ebay. Those will also benefit Doctors Without Borders, too.

I think I'm ready to start a new house project.

After several months and the holidays, I'm finally ready to start on a new house project. I don't know which one yet, but I have lots from which to choose. I'd really like to do the living room next, but it's a ginormous job, including skim-coating the current plaster, then wallpapering or painting. Floor also needs to be redone. Previous owners decided to glue down construction-grade plywood, paint it to look something like red linoleum, and call it a floor. I guess it is a floor, as I can walk on it, and it keeps the furniture out of the crawlspace below. But it is very very not pretty.

Or I can work on my office. The walls are currently white, formerly covered in dark blue wallpaper. The walls and trim need to be painted. I bought paint for this room (oops paint, of course) over a year ago, and it is sitting in the basement, waiting patiently.

I have the stairs to do as well. I ripped out the hideous carpet, but they look heinous now. They need the remaining finish stripped off, then re-painted and shellacked. As much as I would love to tackle that next, it's a open-window-season sort of dealio. Shellac is seriously stinky until it dries. If I want to be loopy, I'll drink heavily. Inhaling denatured alcohol fumes just isn't my bag.

The upstairs bathroom is also on the list, but no one sees it but me, so it's low-priority. It's a really small room, though, so it might not take too much to finish. The kitchen is a project still too large for me fathom. So it waits until summer at least.

So that's it for now. Just wanted to update y'all on my thought process. I hope to update soon with new progress pics.

I've been busy.

In the last weeks, I've managed to make a bunch more dishcloths (I really needed some. My drawer was looking pretty bare), a roll-brim hat that makes me look bald (although it is really cute on my daughter) and started on a pair of fingerless mitts. I'm participating in a rather informal KAL on Sewingmamas.com. I started them on New Year's eve, but after knitting up about half of the first one, it was obviously way too big for my puny wrists and hands. So I frogged it and started over with sz 5 needles. I think they will fit this time. I really love the yarn I'm using. I'm not a fan of variegated yarns as a rule, but Paton's Merino in "majesty" is really pretty. I tried taking a picture today, but with three needles, two markers and a stitch holder in there, it just looked like a blob of yarn. I hope to get a good picture of a finished mitt in the next few days.

Update on stuff

First, I finished the December Dishcloth Knit-a-long. I think it's pretty cute, albeit difficult to photograph. It's a rocking horse in case you cannot see. I still need to weave in the ends. It's been waiting for me for 3 days now. I even procrastinate on the little stuff!


After I finished that, I decided to give DPNs a shot. So I cast on a few stitches, and it worked! As a mostly solitary knitter who has learned from Knittinghelp.com and books, I'm pretty proud of myself. So I'm showing the fruits of my experimental labor to you.

I eventually practised decreasing on it, until it looked like the receptacle end of a condom. oops. My 4-year-old said it looks like a bell. We're going to go with that. yeah-- a bell.

I started a hat last night. Not enough progress to show yet. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to show that off. It took me hours to find a hat pattern I liked that was within my skill set. There are a dizzying number of patterns on the internet. yeesh!

I cannot bring myself to scrub stuff with it.

I finished my first dishcloth. I'm happy with my first foray into the world of useful knitting. I have come to the conclusion, however, that I really don't like variegated yarn. I always thought I didn't like it, but now I know so. Maybe something more subtle would be better. But I digress.

Back to the issue at hand. I have grown an odd connection to my creation, and cannot bring myself to stick it in the dish towel drawer. I'm sure I'll get over that eventually, but for now, I just keep moving it from counter to table and then back again, keeping it from getting dirty. I'm such a dork sometimes.


Anyway, I've started on a new cloth with a star pattern in the middle. I'm hoping it will be Christmassey and and pretty enough to give as a gift.

Um, I think I might be addicted

During my hiatus from major home projects, I've decided to start knitting. I started to learn last winter, but never really got the hang of it. I tried it again a few weeks ago, and now I'm rather obsessed. I have always fancied myself a seamstress, but with two kids and a sewing room in the basement (the kids are on the main floor, tee hee), I never get anything sewn. Knitting is much more portable, and easier to start and stop in ten-minute intervals. A necessity in this household.

I started my first dishcloth yesterday. It will have the Om symbol in it, provided I follow the pattern properly. I'm making it out of Walmart cotton yarn, but it probably should probably be made of natural colored organic cotton. I'll work on that for the next time. You can find the pattern here if you are feeling the need for more connection with the Universe whilst scrubbing the dinner dishes.

Taking a break

I'm absolutely burned out on house stuff right now. So I'm taking a break from big projects until after Christmas. Now if I could just get to cleaning the house and hanging stuff on the walls, we'd be all set.

I'm itching to see what this place looks like with holiday decorations on it. We didn't decorate last year, because we had just moved in, and all the boxes were sucking up my holiday spirit. But this year? watch out. I plan on putting every decoration I own out, and then buying new stuff just for this house. Funny thing is, I'm not really into the holiday of Christmas. But stringing lights and greens in the house for the winter make me all giddy inside. If I didn't have 2 kids and 2 cats, I'd put up 2 trees, each decorated with a different theme. Maybe one Christmas and one Yule. But I'm not sure how I'm going to keep the one from being destroyed, so the dream will have to wait a few years.

The waiting game for decorationing is killing me right now. (I'd look crazy if I started now, and I am trying to keep my nuttiness from public view.) But in less than 2 weeks, be prepared for pictures. I have a 1gb memory card for my camera, and I'm not afraid to use it!