Still Knitting Away

I got one Monkey Sock done.



And got this far on the second one.



Picture of them together to prove that I'm not just showing you an earlier picture of the first one.



My dad called me on Sunday night and said that he was sending me lefsa from my grandma this week. Mmm, Grandma's lefse. As long as I can ignore the lutefisk I'm proud to be almost half Norwegian right now.

Butter Sculptures

There are butter sculptures on Yarn Harlot today! At least the Canadians are smart enough to carve them when it's colder outside instead of making a bunch of dairy princesses sit in a refrigerated display case with their winter coats on in August.

I Swear, I also Grocery Shopped and Cleaned Today

This weekend was pretty low key, so I got a lot of sock knitting done today.

I don't think I'm knitting any faster than I normally do, I think it's that because it's a fairly quick lace repeat (11 rows) that it's pretty easy to tell myself, "One more repeat, just one more." That, and I had the last disk of Six Feet Under from Netflix this weekend and I really wanted to finish it. I just did and it was brilliant. One of the most well-resolved series finales I've ever seen. Now I'm watching The Amazing Race which was only delayed by about 7 or 8 minutes due to football this week so I didn't end up watching almost half of 60 Minutes waiting for it to start.

And yes, I'm already starting to feel a posting burn out at the beginning of the second third of the month. That's why you get a post about the same sock two days in a row.

The Continuing Saga of My Knitting ADD

I started a Monkey sock tonight.

I'm through three of the six lace repeats already. These go a lot faster than Pomatomus. I think I'm now required to be working on a Cookie A pattern at all times. They're out of Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 and they're going to be a gift.

Last Minute Quiz

I finished a project; however, I couldn't find my camera because I shouldn't be trusted with nice things. Because of this, you all get the first quiz that came up when I searched for "knit quiz." Enjoy! I might be back with a real post tomorrow. Which starts in a few minutes.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.com Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

A little of this, a little of that

Fall Knitty surprises are up. The hat in Intarsia Fun is kind of cute. I like Juno Regina. I don't know if I'll ever make it but it's nice to see that the popularity of lace knitting is sticking around. My main complaint with Oblique is that they never show it with all three buttons done up. Either open or with one button. It'd be a little easier to make out some kind of shape if it were shown buttoned up.

In Bohus news, I was almost done with the decreases (about 5 or 6 rounds left) when I ran out of yarn. I know that if I contact the Yarnery they'll give me more since it just means the wrong amount was included in my kit, but I really wanted it done today. Excuse me while I go to my corner and pout.

Ravelry Stuff Has Arrived

When I got home from work today there was a lovely plastic envelope in my mailbox. It contained my Ravelry beta shirt and buttons.

Now everyone can know that I'm a knitter that likes to know how to say "no" in a lot of different languages.

Tonight was the last night of the bohus class. I'm done with all of the colorwork and am now decreasing the top. Picture of completed project should be up tomorrow unless I wimp out on weaving in the ends.

My Favorite Non-Knitting Podcasts

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I'm listening to one right now. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite, non-knitting ones.

• Broadway Bullet. This one covers Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre. There are a lot of good interviews from various actors, writers, and directors. They did an entire month covering Spring Awakening, preemptively landing a musical that landed 8 Tony awards this year. May only interest drama freaks.
• Coverville. This one puts out about two or three shows a week and is put together really planned. It's all cover songs (songs by someone other than the original artists). There are request shows, shows that cover an entire album, and other theme shows like a cappella and ska.
• MPR: The Current Song of the Day. Every Monday through Friday, the Current gives you a free song. It's a really good way to collect some new music mainly by indie performers and groups. I believe it is every Friday that the song is by a Minnesota artist.
• NPR: Wait Wait. . . Don't Tell Me! Wait Wait is the weekly news quiz from NPR and they release it in podcast format. Panelists answer questions and people call in to play for the prize of having announcer Carl Kassel record their voicemail message. Yes, people actually want this prize.
• The 10th Wonder. This is a Heroes podcast. They break down the episodes into topics and are pretty helpful in being able to keep track of multi-episode arcs. Much like Broadway Bullet, this one is only going to appeal to certain people.
• This American Life. Another podcast release of a weekly radio show. This American Life produces essays, field recordings, interviews and other journalistic stories. Well known contributors include host Ira Glass, Sarah Vowell, and David Sedaris.

These aren't all of the non-knitting podcasts I listen to but they are definitely among my favorites.

More Bohus History

To answer Lisa's question from the comments yesterday, I'm going to try to explain more about Bohus Stickning. Pretty much all of this info comes from Poems of Color by Wendy Keele. Bohuslän is the province of Sweden that the industry began in. Some women approached Emma Jacobsson, wife of the province's governor, to create a product that women could produce in the home to be able to generate income during the depression of the 1930s while caring for their families. Eventually knitting was settled upon, with plain, sturdy garments being produced.

Jacobsson commissioned a few women to assist her in creating the designs that are most associated with Bohus knitting. There are a few things that distinguish Bohus designs from Fair Isle patterns. One thing is the inclusion of purl stitches to add texture to the design. In some places on the pattern there are more than two colors used in the same round which is avoided in Fair Isle knitting. Although the hat I am knitting is knit in the round, the yoke on Bohus sweaters is traditionally knit back and forth whereas Fair Isle is exclusively in the round.

While Bohus Stickning began as a way for women to generate extra income many women began knitting for the company in order to be able to knit the intricate designs. The Bohus patterns were highly protected and Emma Jacobsson stipulated that they not be published for the public until 40 years after her death. They were high fashion by the 50s and 60s worn by no lesser icon than Jackie O. It is possibly one of the most beautiful examples of unintentional female empowerment I have seen.

P.S. - I'll bring the book to knitting on Thursday. It explains it way better than I have here. I really just wanted an entry for the day.

Bohus Class

I've been taking a class to make a Bohus hat at the Yarnery for the past few weeks. This Wednesday is the last class and I'm almost done with the colorwork portion.

We're using Poems of Color by Wendy Keele for the patterns which is an interesting read all on its own. It gives the history of Bohus Stickening which began as a way for women to earn money from their homes during the depression of the 1930s and lasted as a cottage industry through the 60s. Someday I may even get up the nerve to get a kit for a sweater but until then I'm really enjoying the hat class.

Winter Interweave Preview

The preview of the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits is up and there are a few things that I like without seeing the pattern. The Refined Aran Jacket (on the cover) and the Henley Perfected stand out the most to me in what is mainly a sweater issue. I don't see as much in this one as I did in the Fall and Holiday issues but it still looks pretty good.

Remembering Bertie

This post may have been more appropriate yesterday but reading Sarah's post from yesterday made me think of it today. Last December, my grandma Bertie died. She wasn't my biological grandmother but I consider myself lucky to have gotten the most awesome third grandmother a girl could have. She never married or had children and over the years she was enveloped into the large Johnson clan. Myself, my sister, and our cousins called her Grandma Bertie and she always had great stories.

Last Thanksgiving, shortly after I had moved into the St. Paul area she had to explain where she used to live. She had worked at First Grand National Bank and lived near Lake Phalen. Once, when there was a bank robber, she dropped the key to her cash drawer down the front of her dress. Having got the height gene from my dad's side, she was the only person over the age of ten that was shorter than me at family gatherings, even if I was the oldest grandchild.

From Bertie, I have a throw pillow from her old house, a savings bond, an egg timer that hung on the wall in her kitchen that I'd play with every year when we had Easter at her house, and a small collection of old books that had belonged to her, her sister, and her brother-in-law. She passed away at the age of 94 shortly before Christmas and her 95th birthday that would have been in January and we miss her dearly. Whenever a family gathering got a little chaotic you could always count on finding a quiet space near Bertie to sit down and talk for awhile. After only a few family gatherings since she passed away I already miss that.

I'm Building a Log Cabin

Or at least knitting one.



I've mentioned this before so I figured I'd better show photographic evidence that it really does exist. I started this almost three weeks ago and it's going quicker than I thought it would considering that I've spent most of my knitting time lately on the German Stockings or taking a Bohus Hat class (which is really fun). The garter stitch makes great TV/movie knitting and I actually think it's a pretty good exercise in increasing my knitting speed since I don't have to think ab out what I'm doing and also good practice in picking up stitches.

I'm making the afghan out of six colors of Caron Simply Soft that I got on sale at Michael's on an impromptu side trip from grocery shopping at Cub. I'd been wanting to make one for awhile and glance at the pictures of them in Mason-Dixon Knitting occasionally. I figured a discount on one of my yarns of choice for it was as good of a reason as any other. I wanted it to be washable and not too expensive and Simply Soft isn't bad, especially for an acrylic (Red Heart Super Saver, I'm looking at you).

I'm trying to avoid just posting for the sake of posting for NaBloPoMo so expect lots of knitting updates for the next month. Good luck to all of the other bloggers that have undertaken posting every day for the month of November. I predict a bit of a problem in the days surrounding Thanksgiving.

Die Strümpfe

I was going to save this until tomorrow so that I wouldn't have to come up with something to kick off NaBloPoMo but I was too excited. They're finished!

Sorry the picture's not that great but I have yet to master photographing my own legs and without some sort of large sock blocker they look kind of floppy on their own.

Overall, I'm happy to be done with them and can't wait to wear them.

SP11 Halloween Gift

I received another package from my secret pal. This time there is hand-painted yarn with contrasting yarn for the toe and heel, some Bath and Body products, a packet of hot chocolate (yum), and strawberry and pepper flavored dark chocolate that I am interested to try. Thanks, Secret Pal!

Work + Batteries need to be charged = No pictures

I figured I'd do a bit of a knitting update even though I can't share any photos right now. I've got about a third of the motif of the second German Stocking completed and have begun decreasing for the calf shaping. I haven't been knitting on it much and I want to finish it by the end of the month for The Yarnery's sock KAL. I've been taking a bohus hat class there the past couple of weeks and it's been a lot of fun. The color work is fun and I enjoy the inclusion of purls which add a nice texture to the fabric.

The main thing I've been knitting on is a log cabin afghan out of Simply Soft using the tutorial in Mason Dixon Knitting. It's already over 2' x 2' and I'm trying to decide if I want to make it into a full sized afghan or keep it to baby blanket size. It goes pretty quickly since it's all in garter stitch so it makes really good mindless TV knitting. I've even been a good knitter and have been weaving in my ends occasionally so that I don't pull my hair out later when the blanket is done.

That's all for now. I'll try to get the camera going next week so that I have pictures to talk about once NaBloPoMo begins.

Boots!

I'm usually not too excited about any kind of shopping that isn't yarn shopping but right now I have a huge desire to go shoe shopping. Why? Boots. Need them, want them, probably in black, and they must have cute buckles. I don't even know what height I want them to be, but they need buckles. Do I need boots? Hell no! I have some fairly new black Dr. Marten Mary Janes that I wear most of the time. It would at least make a little sense if I wanted brown boots since I realized the other day that I wanted to wear brown socks and a brown belt but did not have brown shoes. I am now going to bash my head in with my shoe so I'll stop being such a girl.

These are the boots that inspired this insanity. I don't even like the whole boot that much, I'm just enthralled with the buckles. I really need to cancel the Piperlime emails. It's all their fault.

Why People are Silly

I didn't want to add to the drama in the actual Ravelry thread, but I had to say something about this. One of the Ravelry beta t-shirts includes the tagline that's been used for Ravelry on the site, on buttons, and other places, "Where my stitches at?" This is a fairly obvious, but funny, play on "Where my bitches at?" and people need to get over themselves. There has been a couple of gripes in the t-shirt thread about how this phrase is grammatically incorrect. Duh! Plus, there are two other t-shirt options. And I will wear my "Where my stitches at?" shirt with just as much pride as me "Good grammar costs nothing!" shirt.

Banned Book Week

I know that the week is almost over, but I wanted to post about Banned Book Week which is held by the American Library Association each year during the last week of September. Great authors like Toni Morrison, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck have been banned for several different reasons throughout the years. While I think that many of the reasons that books have been banned from various public and school libraries are valid for why a person would not want to read a book or why parents may feel that their child should not be exposed to certain ideas, I don't think that a few people should be able to decide for everybody what reading material should be available to them. I support the ALA in bringing awareness to banned books and hope others do to.

NaBloPoMo

So, remember when I called myself foolish for making a goal to post at least once a week? Well, I've actually been doing OK with that and have now stepped it up to the next level. I signed up for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). If that name sounds vaguely familiar to anyone, that's because this project was inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and also takes place during the month of November. So basically, NaBloPoMo = NaNoWriMo for wimps.

The way it works is that you post every day during the month of November. That's pretty much it. And then there are prizes for the people that have entered and complete this challenge. So I'm giving it a try. Sorry if I start reaching for material a bit much.

SP11 Meme/Contest

For the secret pal exchange I'm in we have to say what our favorite of each of the following things are to enter a contest. Here goes!

Actor - Neil Patrick Harris (robbed of the Emmy)
Actress - Reese Witherspoon
Animal - Chinchilla
Band - Rilo Kiley
Book - The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Bubble Bath - Peach or citrus scented
Candy - Chocolate
Color - Purple
Flower - Daisies
Food - Banana bread
Lip Balm - C.W. Bigelow (the stuff they sell at Bath & Body)
Lotion - Warm Vanilla Sugar hand cream from Bath & Body
Movie - The Princess Bride
Song - "It's a Hit" by Rilo Kiley
TV Show - Heroes (if we're talking current, because it's a debate for my all-time favorite)
Vacation Spot - Boston

German Stockings=1/2 Done!

I'm on a role with this whole "actually finishing stuff" thing lately. Sort of. I got one of the German Stockings done.

I ended up going to the Yarnery on Friday and while I was there I signed up for their Socks in the Cities KAL and I think I'll enter these in that and either the Pomatomus or something else in Knit'n From the Heart's Socktoberfest as I'm not certain the Pomatomus will remain socks because they're a little tight for socks but seem to fit my arm perfectly. I'm just sad that my legs are so stubby because if they were longer then the twisted double moss stitch section would have gotten larger if it had more space to spread across. I am also in need of sock garters.

25 of 125

Lisa posted that the St. Paul library staff, to honor its 125th anniversary, put together a list of the 125 books published in the past 125 years that have changed their lives in some way. The list can be found here (pdf). Often when I see a list like this I like to find the books I've read and see if I agree with their placement or if I feel like something is missing. I've read a whopping 25 of the 125 books on the list. I agree with many of the selections but I still feel that we were correct when, at a camp I worked at, we nicknames The Giving Tree as The Co-Dependency Tree and that while I enjoyed The Age of Innocence, I'm not certain I can view it as life-changing unless you were previously stuck in a very odd, antiquated mindset. I was also kind of surprised to find that Catch-22 was not included.

The one book I'd like to highlight on the list is The Catcher in the Rye. When I first read it, I liked it because I felt, as a moody, obnoxious teenager, that I identified with Holden Caulfield. I still consider it to be my favorite book, not because I identify with Holden but because I really don't. I feel like it's a huge identifier of how far I've come as a person, that I don't feel on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

I actually have more to say about this list than I originally thought I did. I know there is the controversy about whether or not Laura Ingalls Wilder actually wrote The Little House series but I do consider it to be life changing for me, especially as a reader, and am surprised to not see it on a list put together by a library in the Midwest. I still totally want to make candy with snow and maple syrup, OK? Oh, and no recently deceased Madeline L'Engle, either. I know there were only 125 slots and that my paltry 25 books indicates that I'm not so up on the past 125 years of literature, but I still feel that there are a few missing. Perhaps I should have made my own list like Lisa did.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

The Call of the Wild - Jack London

The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Charlotte's Web - E. B. White

The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss

Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling

His Dark Materials trilogy - Philip Pullman

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein

The Lorax - Dr. Seuss

Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell

Number the Stars - Lois Lowry

The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant

Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan

A Time to Kill - John Grisham

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams

Secret Pal Love

I'm in the Secret Pal 11 exchange and I got my first package today.


I got Buffy the Vampire Slayer yarn, a cute little crepe fruit strap, orange linden blossom herbal bath, a vanilla perfume sachet, and chocolate with liquid raspbery filling. So thank you, secret pal, this was a great gift.

Friday Morning Footgasm

I actually finished something for once. I think the startitis might finally be cured.

I Caved

I finally decided to get a ball winder and swift. I was waiting for me when I got home from work today and I made lots of pretty yarn cakes.






I've also been taking steps towards avoiding second sock syndrome. Not much more to go before I get to decrease the toe. I haven't been doing much other knitting but I think I should be able to get back to it more again, especially now that it's been so cold and rainy.

Ahoy there, mateys!

Avast, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! So be adding lots of arr's and aye's to your talkin' today or be marked as a scurvy land lubber. I'm off to drink me grog.

Once Again, Bored at the End of the Day

I'm pretty sure I've seen something similar to this as a meme before, but I just did it out of curiosity. I looked up my birthday (February 22) on Wikipedia and wrote down all of the people that share my birthday that I recognized since all I ever remembered before was that George Washington and Drew Barrymore were also born on February 22. I can't say I'm happy about all of these.

1732 - George Washington, First President of the United States
1788 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
1918 - Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer
1932 - Ted Kennedy, U. S. Senator from Massachusetts
1952 - Bill Frist, U. S. Senator from Tennessee
1962 - Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist
1966 - Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedienne
1968 - Jeri Ryan, American actress
1971 - Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer
1974 - James Blunt, English musician
1975 - Drew Barrymore, American actress

I think my new goal is to start learning more about other people born on my birthday.

New Knitty!

Do I need to say anything else?

Actually, now that I've looked at it, I don't know that there's anything I would knit from it. At least not right now. The Woodins are cute and give me flashbacks to freshman year of college, but other than that, nothing inspires me.

German Stockings

OK, I swear that this is the last post of the day. I knitted entirely too much on a pair of German Stockings this weekend and had to share my progress. I knit almost the entire leg and I think I'm only going to get up to but not start the heel flap tonight. It's time for mindless television watching tonight. One last shot of the stocking, close up on the main motif this time.

RIP Madeleine L'Engle

I know this makes post number three for me today and I may get up to a fourth, but I needed to acknowledge the passing of a great author, even if it is four days after the fact. Madeleine L'Engle shaped a lot of who I am as a reader and for that I am grateful.

Boredom to the Max

I can't really do anything at work until after my training session tomorrow so I am very bored. I cleaned my desk and keyboard and now the cleaning chemicals are giving me a headache. I changed blog templates and tweaked the colors. And then I took a quiz.

Free Online Dating from Mingle²

That's right. More useless knowledge that will do me no good in life. I think the only one that I got wrong was who sent the first e-mail. I'm OK with that.

Weekend Knitting

To really show what I knit this weekend I should be waiting until I'm at home to take pictures but I'm updating now, instead.

On Friday, my Knit Picks order came in. Other than the cables I got for my Options set to qualify for free shipping, I got Selbuvotter by Terri Shea and three skeins of Shadow in Lost Lake Heather for the Secret of the Stole KAL. I really liked browsing through Selbuvotter, and want to make more stranded mittens.

I knit my swatch up for SotS on US4 Options. I think I'm going to stick with this size. I don't know if I'll start it when the KAL begins because I still have MS3 along with some other projects to work on plus I'd like to see a little bit of the pattern before committing to it. Takes a little bit of the mystery out of it, but I'd rather do that than start it and feel obligated to finish something I'm not too crazy about.

I actually did a lot of a whole new project this weekend. Due to the drizzly weather and not many other plans, I finished almost an entire leg of the German Stockings. I purchased some Louet Gems in burgundy at Borealis last Wednesday and couldn't resist starting. I'm really enjoying this. It was kind of fun keeping track of the charts along with remembering to decrease for the calf shaping as I went. I'm all done with the calf shaping and just have about another inch and a half to go before starting the heel flap. No pictures just yet but I should be able to add some soon. Maybe even tonight.

Hello Cable

After about 3 1/2 weeks, I finally have cable television and internet services restored to my apartment. I've almost gotten used to not having it. I forget that I can go back to looking stuff up when I'm wondering and I'm still watching DVDs since I just bought Heroes on Friday. In honor of having my own internet connection back, I offer pictures of knitwear.

This from the pair of Corazon I started last winter and all I had left was to kitchener stitch the top and finish the thumb on one mitten and yet I let them sit until now. Instant satisfaction right there

I've also got the Fake Isle Hat from Mag Knits that I finished in about a week It's all bright and pretty colored and makes me excited for winter so that I can wear it.



As you can see, I'm very happy to have my internet back and have gotten quite photo happy. I don't know if this is a trend I can continue, but Ravelry has at least inspired me to start updating a little more frequently.

Ravelry!

I finally made it onto Ravelry. I actually had gotten the email Friday night at about 9 but didn't check my email all weekend. My ID is NoNeinNyet. I will hopefully be able to add more to my account if my cable appointment goes well this afternoon.

Shirts

I ordered these shirts today off of Glarkware. I haven't done much else today other than get free pizza for lunch and sit in a meeting where they told us everything they've told us in emails but this time, it was in person. With pizza. And brownies. And spreadsheets.

Seriously, y'all?

I'm kind of in awe of this. After over 2 months, I'm pretty much within days of Ravelry. Downside: I have not had Internet in my house (or any kind of cable services, for that matter) for two weeks. I'm going to get membership to a service that I can't even use in my own free time in my own living room unless Comcast gets a move on. Boo!

One Big, Happy Family

This past weekend, I spent the entire weekend with my family. From early Friday evening until I left a little after 8 on Monday morning. That's a seriously long time. I forgot the camera, so no pictures. I rarely remember to take them anyways.

Friday night it was my sister, my mom, and I as my father worked until 6. We made burritos and then headed off to see Hutchinson Community Theater's production of Bye Bye Birdie. It was pretty good, especially for community theater. Much better than the production of State Fair we saw there two years ago. The sound had sucked (still a little bit of an issue with this production but much improved). They had mainly focused on the dancing so the blocking, acting, and some of the singing had been off. There were some outfits that mysteriously included gauchos and I saw little to no gingham. The Iowa State Fair of the 1930's and gingham go hand in hand. As I said, this years production was very good. I would say their Conrad Birdie was a bit weak on the singing but the other casting was great. Gorgeous singing and Albert and Rose were amazing all around. Good full pit orchestra, too.

Saturday was a family reunion of sorts at my dad's cousin's house near Cambridge. Yes, I went west just to come back east and return west in about 24 hours. This was my biological grandfather's family and since he left when my dad was two my dad had lost touch with them and hadn't met many until this weekend. It was nice to meet about a forth of my extended family that I had known little about.

Sunday was the reason I ended up staying until Monday morning. My aunt and uncle have a Swedish exchange student that arrived this past week plus five of my cousins and my sister are starting or returning to college this year; of course, my grandma felt this meant we needed to have a picnic. It was at my parent's house, my dad grilled, there were salads, tortilla roll-ups (mmm), sweet corn, and more deserts than were really necessary. There were many pictures taken (I swear, my cheeks still hurt from all of the smiling), and I was sent off to the new Wal-Mart for supplies beforehand.

A Wal-Mart in my hometown is rather surreal for me. We've always had a Pamida but this Wal-Mart is new and imposing. I felt like I stepped into a wormhole and was far, far away from my nice small town. I would have rather gotten ice and pickles at the grocery store, thank you very much.

"Stop playing Reservoir Dogs"

One of the many reasons why Coupling is amazing.



Why did I have to see the crap US version first?

Secret Pal Questionnaire

I signed up for Secret Pal 11 and the following is the questionnaire I need to fill out to let my secret pal know a little more about me. Here goes.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I'm not too picky. I like cotton, alpaca, pure wool, merino, and even many acrylic blends. I've been a little afraid of mohair since it tends to shed and is difficult to rip back with. The only things I really don't like are Red Heart acrylic and fun fur and even those have their places, I just don't like to knit with them much.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I've mainly been using the Knitpicks Options set and store them in the holder that comes with the set. I also recently purchased the Knitpicks sock needle set and also store those in the package they came in. I keep most of my other needles in a zip-up holder from JoAnn's.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting for about two years. My sister finally talked our mom into teaching her and while my mom got me going a little bit my sister relayed a few more things. My sister and I also picked up quite a bit from Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller and I've taught myself a few other techniques mainly from online resources.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Yes, I have an Amazon wishlist. It should be able to be found using my name.

5. What's your favorite scent?

Peach and coffee come to mind quickest. Separately.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

A bit. I like chocolate, especially dark chocolate that also has mint, caramel, or raspberry flavor with it.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I also cross stitch a bit. Otherwise my free time is filled with a lot of reading and watching movies.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like a lot of indie music and Broadway. My favorite band right now is Rilo Kiley. I listen to MP3s a lot and rely on my iPod to get me through long days in the lab at work.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

My favorite colors are purple and blue. I'm not a big fan of orange.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I currently live by myself in an apartment and don't have any pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I like scarves, hats, and mittens but not ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I've been into sock knitting lately but also enjoy knitting hats and mittens/fingerless gloves a lot as well as dishcloths.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I've got two pairs of socks going, Mystery Stole 3, a cabled scarf, a pair of felted clogs, a pair of fingerless mittens, and a pair of stranded mittens.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

I appreciate handmade gifts a lot.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I prefer circular needles and dpns in metal.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

I do not own either.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

A tessellating fish afghan that's probably just under a year and a half old that has been sitting dormant for about nine months or so. It's out of Red Heart.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving. All of the food and family of Christmas without the stress of gift giving.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

I have a collection of old books I received from a recently passed away family friends that I cherish.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I've thought about picking up The Happy Hooker and try my hand at crochet. I don't have any knitting magazine subscriptions yet but I have been thinking about getting one to Interweave. There were a few patterns in the most recent (Fall) issue that appealed to me.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I'd like to try some entrelac and some mosaic knitting. I'd also like to improve my stranding skills.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I've hit a bit of a sock knitting kick lately. My foot is about a women's size 8 to 8 1/2. My ankle is about 10" around. It's about 6 1/2" from my ankle to the base of my heel. My foot is about 9 1/4" long.

23. When is your birthday?

22 February

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

Not yet. There are now less than 2,000 people in front of me, though. I'll probably post my ID once I get on, though.

Banana Bread

Proof that I didn't just sit around on my ass and waste a Saturday.

Big Ups to Dan!

I've been drinking coffee in the morning again because of the early mornings I've been pulling lately. I got going a little late this morning and didn't make any coffee. My coworker Dan has brought his coffee maker in though, and provided me with a delicious cup of Kahlua Vanilla Cream coffee this morning and I am now very happy. Let's hear it for Dan! If only it actually had the alcohol in it.

What? This is a knitting blog?

I've finally finished clue 3 of MS3.


I now have to decide if I want to shorten or lengthen it or just knit it at pattern length. I'm tempted to just knit it to the pattern since I just don't know what kind of length I want it to be. My decisiveness is blowing your mind, I know. Clue 4 may just have to wait a bit. I've got more than another week so hopefully I don't get too caught up on it.

I also pulled a sock out that I had started awhile ago but ended up ripping out because the 0's I was knitting it on were giving me a fabric that was too tight. Now I'm using the 2.50mm needles from my lovely new KnitPicks sock needle set. I use the Yarn Harlot's current sock needle of choice. I feel suddenly cooler.



I started it on Friday after work and knit on it while standing in line for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at Borders. I went to the baseball game with a coworker and knit on it there. She also brought her crochet but we didn't sit in the Stitch and Pitch section because we used her family's season tickets. I've gotten the heel turned and decreased the gusset. Other than that long ago frog this is one of the fastest moving socks I've knit.

Ouch!

I went to the dentist today. I get to go back Tuesday. My teeth make me sad.

And So It Ends

Reading done. Can't speak without bursting out with spoilers. They all look really pretty together, don't they?

Shoo Bop Shoo Bop, My Baby

I'm going to see Rilo Kiley! They'll be at First Ave on 14 September and Liam and I are going. Tickets are bought and I'm so excited. They're my favorite band. We're also planning to go to They Might Be Giants on 17 September but the tickets aren't available for that yet. It's going to be a great few days. Liam will be here and we'll go to some concerts for bands we love.

Good News, Bad News

The good news?

You can now look up where you are on the Ravelry invite list.

The bad news?


Yeah, I think I should just be glad that it shouldn't take much longer before they're open to all and go distract myself with Harry Potter and MS3 instead.

Yea Harry!

I felt that this was appropriate for the next week or so. It's a LOLcats picture from a couple of weeks ago and I am now obsessed with the LOLcats, only months later than the rest of the world. I'm going to the movie tonight with some coworkers and I'm rather giddy about it.

Moving Forward?

Not much knitting news in this one. I've caught up with MS3 and that's all I've really knit on in the past week.

In other, more progressive if maybe less exciting for others, news, I have registered to take the GRE. I have a college GPA of slightly under 3.00 because I slacked a little too much sophomore and junior years so I have to take it for pretty much any grad school program I would like to apply to. I really do want to start taking classes in something and so this is the first step towards that. I'm not quite sure what I want to do yet but my two main thoughts right now are either secondary science education (mainly chemistry) or a Master's in library and information science.

While I think the need for good science teachers is huge (my sister's physics teacher was horrible at interacting with students), I'm still trying to decide if it's something I could really commit to. In a way, I think I'm being selfish about it. I think I could do it. I've worked with middle and high schoolers a lot in the past few years and have enjoyed it. On the other hand, it wouldn't pay that much. I'm probably making about teacher's wages right now. I would only need the GRE for this if I decided to enter an initial licensure graduate program where you go to school and then student teach for about a year and then you're licensed. In order to complete your education Master's you only have to come back for three months (generally over the summer) to finish it off.

If i pursued the MLIS I would probably use it to research for companies that produce chemicals, most likely pharmaceuticals or to work in a science library at a university. I would still find this fulfilling, albeit in a very different way than teaching, and the financial benefits have the potential to be much greater. I love research so much and getting to explore different scientific advances for other people seems really interesting to me.

I do know that whichever program I would pursue I would continue to work while going to school, at least at first. Between that and the fact that I could defer my student loans while I was in school, I'm pretty confident that I could be OK financially while I went to school. The problem would just be the massive amount of debt I could be under once I left school. That's why, as much as I'd like it not to be, the financial aspect does have to be a factor in my decision.

Ella, ella, ella

As a rule, I don't listen to top 40 radio. I said rule, not law, though. I usually listen to the Current or my iPod but occasionally I break down and listen to something like KDWB just so I'm not completely behind on what's on the radio. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised and hear an independent group starting to get mainstream play. Other times I hear songs like Rhianna's "Umbrella."

This "song" is on loop in my head, the annoying way that umbrella seems to be pronounced um-ba-rella and the echo-y part (ella, ella, ella eh, eh, eh). I've tried listening to Beck and Rilo Kiley, I've tried to listen to some catchy oldies, nothing works. It's one of those songs that's popular not because it's good but because it creeps under your skin and stays there and you need to hear it so you at least have a verse to go along with that grating bridge or chorus that you remember after hearing it two times. This is what I get for listening to a Clear Channel station.

ETA: Yesterday in the lab they had the radio on KDWB and sure enough there was umbrella. I didn't hear it today but Rehab by Amy Winehouse came on and one of my coworkers hates the "no, no, no" part of that song. The radio is working to drive us all insane.

In Minnesota We Say . . .

I know that this is by no means a unique post, but at work we were coming up with a list of things that are uniquely Minnesotan. A lot of things that seem to be strictly Minnesotan are still fairly regional throughout the state or pretty generational. I don't mean the things that we as Minnesotans will make fun of themselves for saying. Take "ya betcha," for instance. These are the things that Minnesotans (or at least me) take very seriously.

• Hotdish. You can make it in a casserole but the food itself is called a hotdish. That's all there is to it.
• Duck Duck Gray Duck. Frankly, this game is far more interesting than Duck Duck Goose. Instead of just saying "duck, duck, duck" over and over again, you get to be a little more creative and say "red duck, chartreuse duck, blue duck, cerulean duck, magenta duck" before yelling out "gray duck". You can play tricks on a person by drawing out the "gr-" sound in something like green duck. It is clearly the superior "sit in a circle and say duck a lot" game.
• Pop. Now, this idea seems to skip from Minnesota over a bunch of Wisconsin and shows up again in the Chicago area, for which I am grateful. I get enough crap from Liam for saying hotdish. Even I'll admit that soda is an acceptable substitute; however, the fact that the following dialog is possible disturbs me:
• "Want a Coke?"
• "Sure!"
• "What kind?"
• "Diet Pepsi."
• The Cities. You say it, people know where you're talking about. This one gets use a little more outstate than in the Twin Cities I've found. I may have gotten laughed at for sounding a bit like a hick one day. Maybe.
  
• Up North. See above. Yes, it is capitalized.
• OK, those last two are a bit ridiculous and I get why out-of-state people think they're weird phrases.
  

Blonde Cordy!

So, lately I've been rewatching Buffy and Angel and I've gotten to the unfortunate portion of Angel season 3 where Cordelia is blonde. More than anything else in this season, including the whole "child of two vampires is born and then goes away and comes back as a teenager" thing, blonde Cordy disturbs me. Charisma Carpenter is seriously beautiful and can pull off many looks, but blonde is just not one of them. Granted, if I keep watching Angel in order I'm going to have to relive the fact that Connor and Cordy get together to parent Jasmine, but I still think blonde Cordy bothers me more.

My Inner Good Girl Shines Through

Thanks to Sarah, I now know that

Mingle² - Online Dating

This is really disappointing. I don't want to egregiously start swearing and talking about sex and violence, but I don't quite see myself as being a G rated person. I think I'm having an identity crisis.

I Have a Problem

Look familiar?

What, you mean I made a pair of Fetching before?

Do I need another pair of Fetching? No. Could I have at least knit a different kind of fingerless mitt? Probably. To be fair, I am at least working on something else.

This is the beginning of Tiffany for my sister's birthday in October. Apparently my obsession is not just with Fetching but with Knitty patterns in general. And finally, note to self: must remember not to tell little sis about the blog until after the mittens are in her possession.

Socks!

I couldn't sleep when I got home after knitting group so I finished my Trekking socks.

Pattern: Basic Sock Patterns from Knitting Rules! and the Knitty Socks 101 article (and tons of other sources, I'm sure)
Designer: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Kate Atherly respectively
Yarn: Trekking XXL, unsure of color number, 1 ball
Needle Size: US 2.5 (3 mm)
Date Completed: 21 Jun 2007 (pretty certain it was before midnight)

Pattern: Basic Sock Patterns from Knitting Rules! and the Knitty Socks 101 article (and tons of other sources, I'm sure)
Designer: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Kate Atherly respectively
Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta, color #363, 1 ball
Needle Size: US 2 (2.75 mm)
Date Completed: unsure (sometime in April or May, I think).

Here endeth the reporting of my first two pairs of socks.

Once A Week? I Was Clearly Foolish With That Goal!

Despite the fact that I haven't had too much to do this week, again, I haven't posted anything this week and it's already Wednesday. The reason? I promise it's a good one:

The Impossible Quiz

What? A ridiculously long, ridiculously evil flash game isn't a very good reason? Well, that's all I've got. We've only got six questions left so it's time to try again! Oh, and I've started the second Trekking sock. That's all that's up on the knitting front right now.

Crazy Knitting Scientist

I have come up with a possible explanation for why I tend to rip out my knitting a lot. I blame it on being a laboratory scientist, especially my particular job of analytical chemist. While obvious, I'm pretty sure my Analytical Chemistry professor had it right when he said "there's a reason the word anal is part of analytical." This is at least more insightful than one of his colleagues saying that the barrel cortex might be the part of the brain used for stacking barrels.

While I'm by no means a perfectionist in my knitting, a small problem in a project has me ripping it right out and starting over. My job essentially has me doing the same thing. If I mess up, I don't just get to take the same unit and perform the same test again. I have to go get a new unit and start over. Maybe I'm just trying to find creative ways to complain about the idiosyncrasies of my job. Then again, fixing a miscrossed cable or leaving an accidental patch of ribbing in a seed stitch border isn't quite the same as incorrectly testing a drug product. I maybe need to learn to live my mistakes.

DNA Scarf

I've finished Alisha's scarf. Ends woven in, all blocked. In fact, I blocked the hell out of that thing. It liked to fold in at the purled area between the seed stitch border and the mock cables.


And here it is close up

Pattern: Dr. Montville's Double Helix Seaman Scarf (minus the "Seaman" portion)
Designer: June Oshiro
Yarn: KnitPicks Andean Treasure in Summer Sky Heather, 4 balls
Needle Size: US 2 for lower and upper borders, US 4 for the rest
Date Completed: 30 May 2007

It'll be off to Alisha next week, maybe on time for her birthday. Yes, a scarf for a June birthday. I'm brimming with logic.

Tomato Pincushion Excitement

After discussing them at knitting group last Thursday, I wanted to find a reason for why the traditional pincushion is a tomato with a strawberry attached to it.

As odd as it is for a strawberry to be attached to a tomato, I understand that it is filled with emory so that a person can sharpen his pins. Strange visual, but highly practical. As for why a tomato, I found a somewhat suitable answer.

During the 15th century, metal pins were very expensive, and thus were usually stored in fine cases. During the Tudor Era, however, it became a common practice to use fancy cushions. Later, during the Victorian Era, parlor rooms were all the rage, and the goal of the typical housewife was to stuff it full of opulent clutter. Pincushions began to come in fancy shapes, such as fans, dolls, shoes, fruits, and vegetables. These cushions were displayed on tables and hung from walls. In the 1800's they began to be mass-produced, and the tomato proved to be the easiest to assemble because of its simple design. Apart from that, the different segments proved useful in separating and sorting pins of different lengths and thicknesses. Now the tomato is still in use because it has become iconic of the entire sewing community (and yes, there IS a sewing community).

The strawberry tassel, believe it or not, is actually filled with emory (fine grain sand) and serves as a needle/pin sharpener. Even most seamstresses seem to be unaware of that.

Retrieved from AnswerWiki.

I wish I could have found a more reliable source but for tedious downtime research, this serves my purposes. It also makes me want to bring back either the fancy pincushions of the Tudor era or the whimsically shaped ones of the Victorian era. I do wonder, though, how informed the Victorians were of Voodooism when they decided that doll-shaped pincushions were a brilliant idea.

Knitting Podcasts

Lately at work, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts. I've got some music related ones, mainly from The Current and NPR. I've got a quite a few from news sources, including NPR, but also the New York Times and Slate. For fluff, I've got a few official and fan podcasts from television shows I watch. In addition to all of these, I have a lot of knitting podcasts.

The more I listen to these podcasts, the more I wish that the Yarn Harlot was a podcaster. I do understand why. I've certainly heard a few podcasters that should have tested out their recording setup before putting their podcast out there. Still, her delivery seems to make her wit even more hilarious. At least there are going to be audiobooks.

Two of the knitting podcasts I've enjoyed the most are Cast-On and Stash and Burn. Cast-On with Brenda Dayne is amazing. She puts a lot of thought into planning an episode and has a clear, smooth speaking voice. She's very descriptive about various things she's knit, different yarns she's encountered, and other subjects in the knitting world. Stash and Burn is two San Francisco knitters, Jenny and Nicole, trying to destash in 2007. While I haven't acquired too much of a stash myself, they are still enjoyable to listen to. They are two friends that have lively conversations about knitting projects gone wrong and a lot of ideas for how to lower your stash. If nothing else, podcasts help a tedious day move along when I've gotten sick of my music collection.

Surprising Thing You Learn About Your Partner #572

Liam hates the word snark.

He despises it. It's not even one of those things that a person doesn't like and you can just keep doing that thing to him 10 times in a row and he'll be mildly annoyed. He cannot stand the word snark.

This is odd to me. One of my favorite websites ever is Television Without Pity and their mission is pretty much to snark. It's a word I don't think twice about using and yet Liam can't stand it. I don't think he's against the act of snarking (not an actual verb, I know), just the use of the word. It could be that it's overused and many people that describe themselves as "snarky" think they are far more clever than they actually are. It could just be how the word sounds. He doesn't know why the word bothers him to such a high degree so I'm just going to respect that.

Now excuse me, I have to go try and remove a word from my vocabulary. Scary.

Mission: Blog More

I started this mainly as a knitting blog but I'm going to try to use it more frequently. I think it would be a good exercise in writing. I used to write a lot more in high school and even early on in college. I noticed that a lot of my papers and essays for humanities courses I took last year were very choppy. The sciences have taken away the flow to my writing and I would like to have it back. I can't make a goal to post every weekday but I would at least like to shoot for once a week.

One of the things that was holding me back was wanting to include pictures in my blog. While I am going to still include them, I'm not going to let the lack of pictures keep me from posting. I'm especially going to try to post more on days like today where all I'm doing at work is the occasional mediocre task. I've even been knitting on the DNA scarf today because a lot of people took full or half days off to extend their weekend.

That's all I've got for now, but I am going to post more frequently. Liam's going home again tomorrow morning so I'll need something to occupy my time, anyways.

Yea Yarn!

My wonderful boyfriend got his mother to purchase me some aran yarn in Northern Ireland when she was there in March. It's superwash and white (or cream, I can't quite remember). I have three skeins of it. Suggestions? I'm mainly thinking cabled scarf as it deserves to be cabled. I'm thinking a stictionary will be handy for this.

Also going on is the DNA scarf in alpaca. I haven't really gotten any further than I was last Thursday at knitting group due to going home this weekend and having Liam here. I did start a new pair of socks on Friday out of Trekking XXL that I've got most of one cuff done on.

That's all for now. I may add pictures later.

Big Hole!

I had a "lovely" surprise last night in the form of dripping water through my roof. A call to the maintenance line and about an hour later and I ended up with this.
Pretty, huh?

Now the corner of my living room looks like this.
Yep, the drip was right above the cable hookup and the main electrical outlet for things in my living room. At least the maintenance guy got here pretty quickly and was pretty nice about coming in on a Saturday evening.