Dainty Kitty

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Here's the Noro Hat I made for my dad.  I've never been so stupid when it comes to knitting.  For some reason, I had it stuck in my head that it was knitted on tens.  I didn't have size ten dpns so I even made a special trip to pick some up.  Well, I got several bands into it and realized I was k4, p3 rather than k4, p4...it also seemed to be rather large.  I frogged it and double checked the pattern to make sure I had casted on the right number of stitches.  Yep.  Oh, but I used the wrong needles - it's supposed to be made with eights!  Oops!

If I make another one, I think I might even use sevens or knock it down a few stitches.  It fits okay (my dad's head probably isn't much bigger than mine - physically, that is - ha ha) but I think it might be better if it were a bit tighter.  I'm not fond of how the colors worked out either - the pretty purple got buried since it came up during the knit stitches - but I was going for bright because that's what dad likes.   And bright it is - except for that gray section above the light blue.  A very odd little bit of the skein that didn't seem to fit with the greens and blues.  Oh, one last note - it says it takes a little over one skein but this wasn't true for me.  I probably used two thirds of the second skein.  Luckily it leaves me just enough to make a tissue holder or two. 

Knitting With Balls

If you're looking to get fired up or perhaps you'd like a good laugh, check out this article by Debbie Schlussel.  I'm not familiar with Ms. Schlussel's work but here she talks about "our society's largely successful attempt to feminize America's men"...through knitting and the book Knitting with Balls.  Seriously.  The article is titled, "Men, the New Women, Alert: No, Balls of Yarn Are not Cojones" if you can believe that.

Other choice phrases -

"Just when less and less women in America are knitting, we compensate for it by . . . having young boys knit?!"

"Here's a note for those who mistakenly think knitting is for men: It ain't. Despite the title of this book, cojones do not equal balls of yarn and two wooden sticks. And the same holds true vice versa."

And in closing, "For the record, I do knit. Or did. Takes waaaaay too long to make anything decent. It's strictly for the very bored, IMO."

And this was my favorite - left by Ms. Schlussel - in response to a comment, "THEY'RE SLACKER DUDES BEING ENCOURAGED TO DO SO IN YET ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO BLUR THE GENDER LINES." 

Go over and read the article.  Then read the comments.  They're great - nearly all are in support of men who knit and full of all kinds of interesting information.   I'm actually glad I found the article (through the blog of a male knitter, by the way) for the comments alone. 

Then leave a comment of your own.  I did. 

Emily the Elf

It's amazing how much knitting you can get done if that's all you do from the moment you walk in the door at a quarter after five until you go to bed around midnight.   Although tonight I actually did the grocery shopping, washed some dishes and finally moved the folded laundry - that I did this weekend and left on the couch - to the bedroom.  Where it has yet to make it into drawers and won't until tomorrow night.   

But I finished one of Dad's Christmas presents - the Noro Hat by Saartje de Bruijn - tonight.  Hooray for getting two projects done in one week!  Now I think I'll take a break and crochet a few more dishtowels for another present.  Well, not now because now I'm going to bed.  ;-)  Pictures, hopefully tomorrow!

Anyone know where to find molasses in the grocery store?  I looked in the baking aisle tonight but came up empty handed.  I'm beginning to wonder if I might have to go so a higher end grocery store to find it....

Elijah's Booties

The baby shower was today and I finished up the booties just in time - late last night.   I also felted them just a little bit so that you couldn't see the seams (they were knitted in three pieces). 

Oh, and in other news, I'm having my picture taken tomorrow afternoon.   So of course I woke up with two giant zits this morning.  They were beginning to rear their ugly little heads last night and I had my fingers crossed that they wouldn't be that bad...ah well, sometimes finger crossing just doesn't work.  They're so bad that I decided to name them - Matt and Brian - because I think they might be sticking around for awhile....

Now back to knitting my brother's three dollar hat....

Googly Things & Knit Nights

I've been meaning to post this picture ever since I took it at Fulton Farm several weekends ago.  This isn't the pumpkin I came home with but I had to take his picture and give him a couple of googly eyes.

Today was proof that I'm not made of steel.  I think I thought of things I wanted to tell Jake no less than a dozen times and going the entire day without emailing him or getting an email from him was strange (we would email at least once or twice a day).  We also talked on our drive home every day so that was really hard - it's the first time I've cried since we actually talked.  Thank goodness my drive is only about ten minutes long. 

I had plans to meet up with a few women I met from Ravelry tonight but by the time I got home I was feeling pretty worn out.   But I made myself go!  I forced myself into the shower for a little wake up, gathered my things and hit the road.   Of course, once I got to where the Panera was supposed to be, I couldn't find it which drove me to near tears.   But I eventually found it and had a good time.  I can't imagine what I'd feel like right now if I'd just stayed home.

I think I'm going to frog the Noro hat I was working on.  It's a beehive pattern of k4, p4 but I was k4, p3 for some reason.  I kept losing track of the purls, I guess.  Over and over and over.  And it's huge so I think I'm going to drop it down a few stitches (although doing that hasn't  worked all that well for me in the past).

And I completely forgot to return Knocked Up on my way home so I have to run back out.  That reminds me, I finally watched Snow Cake.  It's like I was saving it for a special occasion when I knew I could just sit down and watch it uninterrupted, without feeling the need to do something else with my hands.  It was certainly worth the weight - Alan Rickman is just dreamy and this was such a good role for him.  That reminds me, I have bunny ears on the television in my bedroom which also double as a picture frame and held a photo of Jake.  Yesterday I replaced it with the Rickman photo Kim included in that awesome Knitter's Hunk prize package.  ;-)

DO NOT BUY THIS YARN

This is the Noro knock off by Debbie Bliss that JoAnn's is selling for $5.99 a skein.  There's even a thread on Ravelry about it.  Looks kind of nice, doesn't it?  It isn't.  I loved the redish brown tones and thought it would make a lovely ripple scarf for my granny (who isn't a red hat lady but loves every thing red and purple)...nope.  First of all, I couldn't get it to look right when crocheting with it at all.  So I started knitting a scarf like the one I made with the Misti Alpaca.  First I found out it gathers quite a bit but it wasn't too bad...until I got to a point where they knotted two pieces together: a red end and brown end so it immediately changed colors which looked pretty funny but it awful and I'd already knitted a couple of feet so I continued.  Today, the last day I'll ever knit with it, I found that it's actually just fibers wrapped around black core.  It had gathered to the point where there was more of the core yarn than the outside fibers so a quarter inch of the black stuck out. No more.  Anyway, I bought two skeins and am taking this one back.  I'm tempted to toss the one I started to knit with just so that I'll never use it again but I hate to just throw yarn out. 

Anyway, this is a perfect example of why Good Yarn is a bit more expensive.  I have two Christmas project in mind that require Noro and I'm not going to have any trouble what so ever shelling out twelve or thirteen bucks for a skein.

Beep's First Trip to a Yarn Shop

Meet Beep.  He's an UglyDoll.   

While in Destin, Beep and I took a stroll down Miracle Strip Parkway and came across the cutest little yarn shop called Unwind.

Beep's first trip to a yarn shop couldn't have been a better experience.  It was a beautiful place and the owner, Ellen, was absolutely wonderful.  I wish I could move her and her shop here (because I really don't like going to my LYS all that much - it's never a very warm experience).

I fell in love with the felted Noro bag with the big red dot.  And keep an eye on the scarf next to the pretty blue sweater. 

Her window displays were adorable, too. 

I also fell quite in love with these seventy-five dollar namaste leather bags.

If you look closely, you'll see the reflection of a striped bag in the window.  I managed to walk out with only three skeins of yarn.  Remember that scarf I said you should keep your eye on?  My mom admired it so I (pretty blatantly) bought a skein of the Misti Alpaca 100% baby alpaca it was made from (the pattern was conveniently free with purchase) to make her one for Christmas.  I admired the other colors but the color they had chosen to knit it in was really the prettiest.  Maybe by the time December 25th rolls around, she'll have forgotten....I love this yarn and I love this rib pattern.  It's so soft (I gave a piece to Jake while we were watching BSG the other night and he rubbed it between his fingers for several episodes) and the pattern is so easy but makes such a pretty scarf.  I'm definitely going to make one of these for myself as well. 

I also bought two skeins of Jojoland Melody sock yarn for my second pair of socks.  :-)

And that was our trip to Unwind, the sweet little yarn shop!  Later on you'll get to meet Beep's friend, Bop.  But that's for another day.

Besides finishing my sock, I managed to (finally) unpack and get things ready for the living room rearrangement tomorrow so right now I think I deserve some curled up in bed book time....

It's Finished!

My first sock!  Pardon the L O U S Y photo but it is ten o'clock after all.  I finished it up with a shaky kitchener stitch just as House was ending (it was a tearjerker - and, Kim, doesn't the next episode look awesome?).  I know I should cast the second one on asap but I really want to finish my Hep Cat from the Doherty book (if I can remember where I left off on the his head).  But it will get done - I can't wait to wear my new socks! 

Socks, Moral Dilemmas & Stitch Markers

It's rained here most of the day but it was finally clear enough to take photos of my first sock in progress.  Hooray for the sock yarn Kim sent - the kick in the arse that I needed to finally give sock making a try!
I only have a few minutes - Jake's coming over for dinner and the season premiere of The Office here in just a little bit.  Of course, we had to have a bit of an argument.  He mentioned that the next book in the series he's reading isn't available for him to pick up at the library so he might have to spend a couple of hours at a bookstore, reading.  I said that I couldn't imagine reading a book at a bookstore only to put it back on the shelf and not purchase anything.  He seems to think that because they have comfy chairs, this is okay.  Especially if it's a big chain bookstore.  He wouldn't do it at a smaller, locally owned store which just astounds me.  I asked what the difference was and added, "Oh, you want to 'stick it to the man,' right?"   Really, some times I think book smarts totally leave no room in person's mind for common sense.   He then said that he would ask his friends on the forum what they thought.  I shot that down because what you really need to do is ask employees of a large chain bookstore what they thought about it.  He went into something about a poll of employees because one opinion wouldn't do... which was my point exactly.  Then I said something about how going to the forums for an opinion isn't always the solution.   Anyway, long story short, he got off the phone pretty quickly.   Gah, I swear.  What do you all think about reading a book in a book store?  And I don't mean perusing a new book of knitting patterns.  I mean sitting down with a novel and reading it.  Not just a sample to see if you like it (I always read the first page)...just reading.  And the next time I'm at a Barnes & Noble, I'm going to ask an employee for sure. 

Anyway, great way to leave things before your boyfriend comes over because you're leaving for a week.

To close on a cute, happy note here are the stitch markers I received from Better Bead It! Designs and how cute are they?!  Finally!  Cute crochet stitch markers!

I'm so ready to sink my feet in the sand!  And my dad is bringing his laptop (the condo has internet access) so I can keep up with my blogs - yay!   

A Wool Gathering

I almost went to the Wool Gathering again today.  I think I felt like I didn't spend enough.  I didn't buy any yarn (or come home with an angora rabbit which were selling for only twenty-five bucks - can you believe that?).  I'm sure that seems strange but I did buy a drop spindle and some wool roving to learn to hand spin with.  So far?  Tremendously difficult.  I got a book at the library today, though, that I think will help me out.  I also bought a merino/alpaca blend to spin when I actually get good at it.  If there's enough (and there should be), I'm going to use it to knit the Bainbridge Scarf.

Jake bit the bullet and went with me which was nice but he didn't really have a good time.  He liked talking to the ladies from the weaver's guild (one showed me how to use the drop spindle but I'd forgotten how to by the time I left - I should have asked if I could actually try it myself), a man who raised the border collies that were doing demonstrations with geese and a woman who raised alpacas.  It would have been more fun to go with some knitting girlfriends but...you'll have that.

Yesterday while waiting for Jake to get his hair cut in Yellow Springs (down the street from where the Wool Gathering was held), I worked on a crocheted hat using Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in Purple Mountains. It's a gorgeous yarn to work with out in the sun but the hat was floppy and not very hat-like by the time I had it nearly finished so I frogged it.  I've also finished the arms, ears, tail and part of the head of the Hep Cat pattern from the Elisabeth Doherty book but I'm stuck for the moment as I don't have a hook tiny enough to make the eye patches.  So it's been a weekend of fiberous stalls and false starts.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not but there's a tie between another blogger and I for the Knitter's Hunk.  Both of us had nominated the winner, Alan Rickman.  Kim, who ran the whole thing, put together an assignment for us in order to determine the Grand Prize and Second Place winners (I love that we're winners no matter what).  It was an essay question of sorts (ahem, she's a teacher): You have to knit one (ONE) thing for your favorite Alan Rickman character. For whom will you knit? Why? What will you knit? Explain your choice of project, including color(s), yarn(s), etc.

My submission?

My character choice was easy. Who needs something knitted for him more than cold, dead Jamie from Truly, Madly Deeply? This was the movie that made me love Alan Rickman, after all. I had crushed on him after seeing Galaxy Quest but…oh Jamie, baby.

But what to knit? Fingerless gloves to make cello playing easier? A hat? A scarf? A sweater? 

No, no, no…I wanted to knit something that would bring us together.  Therefore, I chose a soft, warm blanket - perfect for snuggling and cuddling. 

I searched and searched. Finally I came upon the Luxurious Bedcover from the Suss Cousins Home Knits book. It’s beautiful – I fell in love instantly. The book wasn’t kidding, though, when it said this blanket was an investment of time and money. Completely knitted in seed stitch with forty three skeins at $12.50 per means Jamie and I aren’t eating for a month (wait – do dead people eat?) but he’ll have lots of time to watch his classic films while I knit and…he’s more than worth it.  

I thought about switching to a less expensive yarn but, after doing some research, I realized nothing would make this blanket quite as…well, luxurious as Suss Butterfly. I was a bit unhappy with the color choices, though. The orange is stunning but not very masculine. The black is beautiful but it doesn’t pick up the contrast as well. I would have loved to have found a brown to match Jamie’s hazel brown eyes but they, unfortunately, don’t make Butterfly in any shade of brown. Blue it is – at least it’ll match my living room! 

So when body heat doesn’t keep us warm enough, Jamie and I can cuddle under this insanely warm soft blanket. 

Naked. 

‘Cause Alan Rickman’s awfully sexy for a dead guy....

* * *

I wrote it up in Word and added a couple of hunky photos.   Yeah, I was that kid in high school who used a large font size when tying a paper in order to make is seem longer.  And I was an English major!  I  liked my English classes, I just  I hated writing papers.  It's silly.  My emphasis was on creative writing - I wanted to write books, not write about them.

Anyway, we'll see how I do!

Also, this is my 101th post on this blog.  I've had several blogs over the years (Diaryland, LiveJournal, Blogger) but I think I'm happiest here.  I've made some great friends on each and every blog, though - the crafty web world is a very good place.

To celebrate my mini anniversary, I put up another one of Bertha's amazing banners and changed the look a bit.

I think I heard my phone ringing with Elvis Costello's "Monkey to Man" a few minutes ago which means Jake called.  He's making turkey burgers tonight and introducing me to the world of Battlestar Galactica...I have my doubts but I'm going into it with an open mind (and a crochet project).

And in closing, a sweet smile from a fella I met at the Gathering yesterday....