Venting Frustration

There is no picture of a finished Vine Yoke Cardigan in this post. There is a finished Vine Yoke Cardigan in my apartment. It is not a Vine Yoke Cardigan that fits me. To distract me from the failure, I decided to make the antithesis of a woolen, knit cardigan. That object is a cotton, crocheted potholder.



Double sided, started after eating dinner and paying some bills, I still managed to finish it in one evening. It fits in my hand. It is making me much happier than the Vine Yoke Cardigan. I may be going insane.

Now that I've made it through NaBloPoMo, I'm going radio silent for at least tomorrow if not through the rest of the work week. I hope to reblock the cardigan this week before I inevitably give up the ghost and frog it. I'll blog about it once I can properly address it. On the upside, I'm not as big as I thought I was.

Another Pair Down

I finished the RPMs this afternoon after I finished packing up all of my stuff at my parents' house.



After checking on the Vine Yoke Cardigan when I got back, I'm starting to think that I should have gone down a size or two. I'm going to put the buttons on tomorrow and then see what I think. My gauge was on but I'm thinking I need a new bust measurement taken.

The Thanksgiving Letter

Last year, CaliforniaKara posted a Thanksgiving letter passed down to her from a coworker. In the letter, the coworker's sister gives very specific instructions for what she is expecting people to bring for the meal, down to the appropriate recipe to use and container to bring it in. One of my favorite selections was to the family tasked with bringing fifteen pounds of mashed potatoes "in a casserole with a serving spoon".

Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because
you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the
mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plastic
container and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size
casserole dishes with lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.

I shudder to think what this woman would do with my family's assorted collection of plastic dishes and the occasional aluminum foil or cling wrap cover.

I Braved Black Friday

I went shopping on Black Friday. OK, we didn't even leave Litchfield for the Albertville Outlet Mall until 9 this morning and all I bought was a long-sleeved red t-shirt from Old Navy but I did survive. My sister, mom and I went with two of my aunts and a cousin who had already hit a bunch of the usual suspects earlier this morning. Shopping-wise, it may have been a waste of time for us but we did have a good time together. Also, because the drive to the outlet mall isn't that short and we also went to St. Cloud after we were done there, I got a decent amount of knitting done today.



I'm continuing to knit from stash with KnitPicks Sock Memories, a yarn that was discontinued a few years back. The pattern is RPM by Aija Goto from Knitty Summer 2006. I cast it on Tuesday night after finishing the knitting on the Vine Yoke Cardigan. I'm already past the ribbing on the second sock. They're on US Size 1.5 needles so they're a relatively fast knit as far as socks go.

Tomorrow, I think I agreed to do more shopping, this time with my mom and grandma to Jo-Ann's for pillow forms. I end up being so much more of a "girl" when I'm home. I even end up wearing make-up on a semi-regular basis. It's like I become a curious study in traditional gender roles.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm not even going to try to find time to blog during the rest of the day. I'm off to help get the last few things ready and then spend some time with my family.

Almost Done

Before leaving for work this morning, I blocked the Vine Yoke Cardigan.



I had debated taking it with me and blocking it at my mom and dad's house so I could be finished that much sooner but I decided to be a little patient. Sunday night, the buttons are going on, though. I cast this on sometime on Halloween weekend, so I'll still have a fully-done sweater in less than a month.

I've been finishing cleaning my parents' basement tonight. I feel like vacuuming at 10:30 at night is completely unnatural. My sister and I are rewarding ourselves with tonight's episode of Glee before bed. If we don't watch now, one of our cousins is sure to spoil us tomorrow.

Buttons

As the end of the Vine Yoke Cardigan has been getting close, I started to look for buttons. I was almost positive that I was going to have to order them from somewhere as even when I'd find ones that would kind of work, I wasn't thrilled with them and there were never at least nine of them which is what I need. Then I stopped at Lila and Claudine's in Mahtomedi for the first time.

In addition to being a cute shop with a decent selection of yarn, especially considering that it's not huge and is also a gift shop, they had buttons that look like they're going to work perfectly.



Now I'm off to finish the knitting while watching V. Can't believe it's going on hiatus already.

Palette Cleanser

I think The Pipettes have scrubbed the endless loop of "Bad Romance" from my head.



Speaking of the alphabet, John Oliver admitted in this week's episode of The Bugle that after filming the segment of The Daily Show where he was reading Sarah Palin's book to a bunch of six-year olds, he did have to read them a bit from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, a book about the letters of the alphabet climbing up a coconut tree together. Unfortunately, he did this reading while the camera and sound crew packed up their equipment so there is no recording of it. Also not shown on camera but discussed on The Bugle was the fact that while John Oliver was torturing children with Going Rogue, Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard were in the same bookstore and were witness to it all. Never thought I'd want to be a fly on the wall in a bookstore where the words of Sarah Palin('s ghostwriter) were read aloud.

So Close Yet So Far Away

I've finished the left sleeve of the Vine Yoke Cardigan and am on to the left front.



I've begun to search for buttons with little luck. I need nine of them and it seems that every time I find some I might like, even if they're a bit more than I'd like to spend, there are never nine of them. I'll have to keep the search going and hope that I don't end up with a completely finished cardigan that I can't fasten.

I'll just keep knitting away and watching Spooks. It was titled less creatively as MI-5 in the US. I say less creatively because it's about a bunch of spies that work for MI-5, the UK domestic intelligence agency. I'm on the second season, which has Matthew MacFadyen and Keeley Hawes. It's extremely well-written and they aren't ones to resort to torture a la Jack Bauer.

Mind Leap

Earlier today I had this in my head.

I could blame Chris from knitting on Thursday night but Lady Gaga is pretty ubiquitous these days. Not so common recently are The Everly Brothers yet they are responsible for my current earworm.

Today was another beautiful day and I was out and about for a bit enjoying it before coming home and watching a lot of the TV I didn't watch this week. Glee was a little more awkward and cringe-making than normal but once again featured Artie singing so I was happy and I really enjoyed this week's Fringe. It was also a fantastic week for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I do wish the little kids could have convinced John Oliver to actually read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, though.

White Collar

On recommendation from a friend, I checked out White Collar, a show about an FBI agent who needs the knowledge of a con artist he put away to solve a case. He gets the con released into his custody and they go around solving cases together.



It's a fairly middle-of-the-road, entertaining cable procedural. I'd put it on par with Psych but not quite as good as Leverage. It's got Tiffany(-Amber) Thiessen as the FBI agent's wife if you're feeling any Saved By the Bell nostalgia. Not shown in the trailer is Natalie Morales who was in the fantastic but short-lived The Middleman, which was a poor choice for ABC Family which is more interested in poorly written teen pregnancy drama. She runs and points guns really well which is a great skill to have when you're playing an FBI agent in a procedural.

Because Then You Don't Freeze to Death

Someone is tweeting as Laura Ingalls Wilder (@HalfPintIngalls) and as someone that grew up as a Little House obsessive (books, not TV series) I am highly amused. In the spirit of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), or NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month), Laura is participating in NaTwiHayMo (National Twist Hay Month). She's twisting up 33 sticks of hay a day to use as fuel.

Twisting 33 hay sticks a day for NaTwiHayMo is hard, but it's so satisfying when you win! Because then you don't freeze to death.

On October 27, she was getting ready to celebrate the harvest and Halloween

It's time to bob for apples! Except here on the prairie we bob for salt pork instead.

She was a bit afraid that her costume was a bit edgy.

It'd be a riot if I dressed up as a grasshopper plague for Hallowe'en, wouldn't it? Or is that "too soon?"

But have no fear, she made it work.

But I'd be, you know, a SEXY grasshopper plague.

At least when Laura finds the high point in Chicago not getting the 2016 Olympics, it doesn't come off as really negative.

Chicago is now out of the running for the Olympics. Maybe now De Smet will get it? We have PLENTY of room in S. Dakota!

Laura's really taking to this internet thing.

Oh dear, I clicked on this link and learned what "NSFW" means. Naughty Shameless French Women! http://ow.ly/li2g

Wish List Time

My mom called me the other day asking me to send her my Amazon wish list for Christmas again this year. Last year, she finally saw the value in this and I got a few movies and the Yarn Harlot calendar from it. I'm building a new list for this year and I'm looking for suggestions. This is what I have so far. I'm looking for suggestion. A book you think I shouldn't miss? A fantastic movie? I really don't go to see movies at the theater often so there are plenty I haven't seen yet. I'm also looking for more knitting books to add to the list.

If there's something you think I'm truly lacking in my life, suggest it in the comments. My family are fans of a long wish list so the gift still has the feeling of surprise about it.

From Anarchy to Civil Rights Lovefest

NationStates is an online game in which you can build your own country and decide all of the policies for it. I used to have a nation on there a long time ago which I pretty much voted my conscience when it came to policy and attempted to be reasonable.

This time around, I have The Commonwealth of NoNeinNyet, in which I have been choosing the option that sounds like it will lead to the least regulation. Sometimes, choosing one policy over the other will have unexpected consequences. The greatest example I've seen of this so far is that by allowing bicyclists to ride where they choose, I ended up banning cars. It's things like that that lead from being classified as an Anarchy to becoming a Civil Rights Lovefest. I've basically created a nation full of slacker pot head libertarians.

Twist Collective Winter 2009

The winter issue of the Twist Collective is out and I've been browsing through the patterns. I do think that the best part of the Twist Collective is that it's easy to go back and download a pattern later. The Vine Yoke Cardigan, for instance, is from the Autumn 2009 issue. I do admit that that one didn't take me too long to get through.

My thoughts on the patterns are:

• Tanit's Jacket by Gudrun Johnston - cute, simple but not really my style or the appropriate shape for me.
• Skara Brae by Stephanie van der Linden - I think the color is my favorite part but I do like the used of all-over cables that aren't too heavy. Such a tiny gauge for a sweater, though.
• Mitaines & Moufles by Veronik Avery - Beautiful yet practical.
• Four Winds by Alasdair Post-Quinn - I'd like to explore more double knitting but I don't think this will be the pattern I try it on. The top makes me think of the seal of Rassilon. My geek knows no bounds.
• Dryad by Sivia Harding - Slightly different take on a stole construction. I like the use of beads to weigh down the corners.
• Lesley by Fiona Ellis - I feel like the cables along the bottom are a bit heavy and make it look almost unfinished.
• Polar Chullo by Mary Ann Stephens - well-designed chullo. Great if you're looking for something with ear flaps and polar bears.
• Kirigami - Eh. I think it might just be that I know I'd look like crap in it. I do have to wonder how its afterthought shoulder would work.
• Plaited Tam by Angela Hahn - I do not need more hats. I do not need more hats. I do not need more hats. Yeah, I like this one.
• Mystere by Cecily Glowik MacDonald - I like the subtle cable. Not sure how I feel about the garter stitch neckline, though.
• Orvokki by Mari Muinonen - Very cute motif. I'd make the mittens in a heartbeat. Not too certain on the hat, though.
• Bright star by Cathy Carron - Once again, a piece that doesn't really fit my own taste or shape. Serviceable if you need a cropped sweater to wear with pretty dresses, though.
• Karazuri by Leila Wice - I've seen cuter bag patterns for free. The description makes it sound like maybe there's something else to it that's not being picked up in the picture, though.
• Rover by Jennie Eveleigh Lamond - I think I need to find a kid that really likes puppies.
• Moxie by Kristi Schueler - some very nice colorwork. I wish it had been knit in colors that contrasted more. Definitely a pattern I'm going to have to wait for a bunch of people to post on Ravelry to get a better feel for it.
• Cambridge Cables by Becky Herrick - I think I like this but I don't think the photographer wants me to like it or there would be better pictures.
• Frost Tapestry by Robin Melanson - Lovely charts but I think all of the items worn at once would come off as too matchy-matchy.
• Ormolu by Barbara Gregory - Pretty. I think I'd go a bit batty knitting it and I don't think I'd pick it for myself.
• Farinelli by Ysolda Teague - I love Ysolda Teague, I really do, but I don't see myself needing lace-patterned opera gloves any time soon.
• Sarabande by Kristen TenDyke - I want to like it but I think I see bobbles and bobbles make me nervous. They make excellent Dalek bumps, though. Nupps, though, are clever little things.
• Manderley by Rosemary Hill - Nothing too special and I don't like how much plain stockinette there is. I like my lace more openwork.
• Kelmscott by Carol Sunday - Pretty Pretty. I think I'd like it better with a slightly more traditional collar.

So those are my initial thoughts. I still kind of wish that each pattern was about a dollar cheaper than what they're selling for but at least you can wait to buy until you're ready to knit.

Something that was totally awesome? Last night's Doctor Who. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. It built some fantastic momentum into the two specials left. Can it be Christmas yet?

Half a Cardigan

Between feeling rather achey, coughing and napping this weekend, I managed to get past the halfway point on the Vine Yoke Cardigan.



It's still knitting along quite nicely and the garter stitch that has two very intuitive, easy to memorize charts is very easy to watch TV or listen to podcasts to. Now I'm just whiling away the hours until I can watch Doctor Who and the season premier of Top Gear that I didn't even know was starting up again today. I almost wish it wasn't. I already have James May's Toy Stories to give me my Captain Slow fix for the moment so a later- starting Top Gear season would have spread that out.



How can you not love an entire garden made of Plasticine? I had never even heard of Plasticine until this episode of Toy Stories and now I really want some to play with. It looks way more fun than Play-Doh. It's what Wallace & Gromit are made of. Why yes, I am a hopeless anglophile, why do you ask?

Embracing My Inner Fan Girl

Besides getting David Tennant at Christmas in Hamlet, his last two specials as the Doctor are supposed to air around that time, too. Tomorrow night is his third-to-the-last special, though. "Waters of Mars" is supposed to lead into the two-part regeneration story. As sad as it will be to lose Mr. Tennant, a good regeneration storyline is one of the things unique to Doctor Who and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I predict very little knitting to get done on the Vine Yoke Cardigan during the hour I'm watching it.

"Waters of Mars" is also scheduled to air on BBC America on December 19 and it is speculated that the American airing of the last two specials will follow on December 26 and January 2. I certainly hope that is true.

Hamnet?

On Christmas Day, BBC Two will be showing Hamlet.



Not only is that David Tennant as Hamlet, that's Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Best Christmas present ever! Don't worry, even if you can't get your hands on the British broadcast, it will be on PBS Great Performances in 2010.

Artie!

A lot of the promo stuff for last night's episode of Glee was for the competing versions of "Defying Gravity" but due to my growing love for Artie, "Proud Mary" totally stole the show last night. The only number I may have liked more from last night was another Artie one, "Dancing with Myself".

Size and Scale and Gore

No Vine Yoke Cardigan update today. Imagine yesterday's update with a slightly larger sleeve and that's where I am. Continuing with the eductaion theme of yesterday's post, I have an illustration of the relative sizes of cells compared to larger items as well as things like organelles, viruses and a carbon atom. It's way cooler than I can describe it.

I do have to apologize for another recommendation I made. I've enjoyed much of James Moran's previous work but Girl Number 9 ended up to be a bit like what I imagine the Saw series to be like. I say imagine because I have never wanted to see Saw or any of its numerous sequels. Gareth David-Lloyd acted the heck out of it but it was not a pleasant experience.

Happy Birthday, Sesame Street

In honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary today, I thought the Pointer Sisters could teach us all how to count to 12.

I already loved the Pointer Sisters because they had sang "I'm So Excited" and without that song you could never have one of the most classically over the top moments from Saved by the Bell. Jessie and the diet pills of quick addiction. A few years ago, I found out that they were the ones that sang the pinball counting song and that love grew exponentially.

To mark the occasion , the Vine Yoke Cardigan got to pose with my rubber ducky today.

Look, a bit of sleeve!

Right Face!

Right front of the sweater is done and I'm very glad that I had the foresight to photograph it this morning before work.

I didn't leave work until after 5:30 and it was pretty well dark by then, forget about what it was like by the time I got home. Since then, I've managed to start the right sleeve. After a few rows, the yoke stitches get put back on the needles and the sleeve is knit right along with it. I'm very excited for the minimal amount of seaming that will need to be done on this cardigan. Just a little under the underarms, and grafting down each sleeve. Raglan shaping is made of win.

Vine Yoke Cardigan

Now that my new sweater project has progressed past what was essentially an 85-stitch garter stitch strip, I feel a little better taking a picture.

In addition to the button band, I've also finished about three pattern repeats on the right front. There's an i-cord edge that runs along the neck and the yoke shaping is done by short rows. The beauty of the background of this cardigan being in garter stitch is that all of the wrap and turns blend in with no need to pick up the wraps.

The chicken soup has been made, a bowl has been eaten, and the rest has been divided into single portions and split up between my fridge and my freezer. I'm glad I have a little back up because the worst part of getting home when it's dark is that it's a lot more difficult to motivate myself to prepare dinner.

Fun in the Sun

Since I was already out in the beautiful fall day and I had knitwear I hadn't blogged about yet, I decided to take a picture. Ignore my odd facial expression and crap photography skills and focus on the slightly obscured knitwear.

The hat is from last year but the shawlette was done as a test knit this summer. It's Zoe by Emily Kausalik (Rav link). The yarn is Noro Kureyon Sock and while I had my reservations about how scratchy it appeared to be it really does get a little softer as it's handled and after every time it's washed. Plus, the green in it matched my hat.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I had a pot of chicken stock on the stove most of the day. It's now in the refrigerator ready to be soup tomorrow. The reclaimed yarn from Rogue is still being allowed to relax for a bit but I did cast on the Vine Yoke Cardigan in one of the skeins I hadn't broken into yet. All I have is about half a button band so far so it's not a very exciting project yet but I have high hopes.

Adventures in Frogging

Rogue is gone. It is no more. There is photographic evidence that I sat down and picked out the Kitchener stitch that had grafted the two sides of the hood together. I've now frogged the whole thing and have many balls of green yarn on my kitchen table next to the ball winder.

I've decided that I'm going to knit it into the Vine Yoke Cardigan by Ysolda Teague. I'm really excited and I hope actually finish it this time.

To Frog or Not to Frog

I have this sweater.



Yes, I look a bit like a roly, poly elf in that picture.

As you can see, the body is complete. I knit the first sleeve. I knit along on the second sleeve until I got to the cap shaping. Then I realized that I had done the first sleeve incorrectly. Rather than finishing the second sleeve and then going back and fixing the first sleeve, the whole thing went into hibernation instead of having a completed sweater about a year and a half ago.

I'm finally confronting this problem. I love the color of the yarn. It's KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Forest Heather. I could do the simple steps listed above and have a sweater. I could. The problem is, I'm not in love with the pattern anymore.

I think I'm going to frog it and wash the yarn and re-use it for a different sweater. I think it's time to say good bye to my first sweater that never was.

Tale of a Lonely Sock

I've been experiencing a bit of knitting ennui. Example:



This sock has been stalled at this point for two to three weeks. Normally, I can finish a pair of socks in a week, two weeks if the pattern is overly complicated which this is not. A few rounds of ribbing and a sewn bind off later and I have this:



Now to cast on sock number two. Vanquishing knitting ennui and Second Sock Syndrome in one feel swoop!

Browncoats FTW!

On recommendation from Liz, I started to listen to The Knitmore Girls Podcast. It features the mother-daughter team of Jasmin, the daughter, and Gigi, the mother. They have a great report with one another and I was enjoying it quite a bit. Then, as it went along, Jasmin talked about going to a Firefly convention. Being a Joss fan is an easy way to worm your way into my heart.

In Firefly-adjacent news, I watched the premier of V tonight. If you've seen the commercials or the episode, Alien Face in the Sky lady is played by Morena Baccarin, who played Inara George. I didn't completely recognize her with significantly shorter hair. Also, Alan Tudyk. Wash! Casting sure knew how to attract the geeks.

I'm still enjoying the earlier start to the day now that Daylight Savings Time has ended. In a few weeks when it's dark in the mornings, too, I might not feel so cheerful about it though.

Selbu Pinky

This weekend, I cast on a stranded glove. This is my very first glove so it's fortunate that it's not my first stranding project. Starting out wasn't too bad and if you look closely you'll see the very beginning of a pinky.

The pattern is the very descriptive Annemor #17 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shae. I reverse the light and dark colors and I'm using Cascade Heritages for both. Much more yardage than I need so I see the leftovers going into either a pair of mittens or being used with other leftovers for socks with different colored heels and toes.

Tonight, I'm not so keen on knitting. I'm vegging out. I made steak fries and the view of the full moon is beautiful. I'm reading Emma for the first time and loving the affordability of Dover Thrift Editions. Emma never would have eaten steak fries. She might have gazed out of her window at the full moon while swearing off matchmaking for good, though.

Validation

One of these days, I do intend to post about knitting projects again. It might encourage me to finish a few things, too. Startitis has been a bit high lately with very little pay out. Instead, I'm going to post again about something I've watched on the internet. Fly that geek flag high!

Unlike Girl Number 9, (the first episode of which was not bad and not too horribly full of exposition), Validation is happy. It also doesn't involve following a story in five minute chunks for a week. It's cute and adorable. It has TJ Thyne (Hodgins from Bones). It'll take about 15 minutes of your time.

See? Adorable.

Note: For some insane reason, I'm doing NaBloPoMo again. I wasn't going to but my extreme lack of blogging over the past few months is making me a little sad. It's going to get a bit high volume around here over the next month.