Update

There are constant discussions about how to define a WIP (work in progress) and a UFO (unfinished object). In my humble opinion, a WIP is something that I have every intention of finishing and soon. A UFO is something that I started and abandoned and may or may not finish up…ever.

With this distinction in mind I would like to point out that I have seven WIPs going. Well, really just six because all I have to do for one is weave in the ends.

My six projects, as named on Ravelry, and their status are:

1. My Mystery Pi: I saw this mystery shawl KAL and decided I needed to do this. I’m not sure why. PLUS I bought new and interesting yarn to make it. I did learn something new…a circular cast-on with laceweight yarn. This is the thing that has prevented me from making The Veil of Isis. Now that I’ve got it –ahem—mastered I will start the Veil of Isis with less apprehension. That project scares me but I WANT it….just like I want the Forest Path Stole…but that’s another story. I have finished the first clue. It took me two tries because I was talking on the phone, but it was done pretty quickly. I figure she’s easing us into some massive chart as not to scare off knitters new to lace. I was stunned to see people having trouble with this first clue. I guess there’s no gauging what will be considered easy to everyone.

2. Oblique in Aporto: I liked this sweater as soon as I saw the pattern on Knitty, but figured there was too much of me to look good in that sweater. Well, there is less of me now and Webs had a sale and I’ve started this sweater. I have stopped working on this sweater so that I can finish another WIP that I’m sick of looking at…..

3. Maddie’s Verde: I can’t even talk about this. All I can say is that I thought it would be so much easier. I’m on square 11 of the 12 and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

4. Nan’s Baby #2 Blanket: I have a friend in NY that I thought would never marry or have children. I was wrong. I needed a blanket for her second child and decided crochet would be a good idea. I’m not crazy about the yarn worked up, but it’s almost done. I just need to get to finishing it up. I think what stalled me is not knowing what to do about the edge. Most of the time I don’t bother with any finishing of crocheted blankets, but I feel like this one needs an edge and I’m not sure what to do. I still haven't taken a picture of this...

5. Marine Shawl: This is Juno Regina from Knitty by Miriam Felton. I just KNEW I was going to get the monster part of this shawl completed while I winged my way to NY LAST DECEMBER…didn’t happen….the best laid plans, right? So, I’m in that center section….forty-two inches of what is basically stockinette…but oh so easy to fuck up. I want to get it done, but it’s just not happening.

6. Morandi Montego Bay: This is a scarf pattern from Interweave Knits….maybe Summer 2008…it’s pretty and seems to be a good fit for this yarn…which I love, but has given me horrors in finding a suitable pattern. Hopefully, it will soften up a bit in the wash and be a joy to wear.

There you have it. An update on my work....I know a little short on pictures, but I have my limits...check Ravelry to see more. :)

So Pissed Off....

I often knit for other people…to be honest most of my knitting seems to be done for other people. The only things I’ve got in my place that I’ve knit for me are socks, hat and scarves….and that 1/8th of an extra large Big Bad Baby Blanket, but I’m only referring to finished objects. I know it's mainly because it was difficult to knit a sweater for myself before the weight loss. You don’t think of the extra yarn that’s needed (well I didn’t), until you figure out the yardage. So, while some people can get a sweater out of 900 yards, I needed almost twice that amount….not a cheap proposition. I’m down to needing about 1200 yards and that makes me happy. But I digress. I knit for other people and am wondering how to deal with being angry at the person I’m knitting for in the middle of a project.

I have been working on a project for a friend for months now (since December) and she pissed me off yesterday. I sent her an email asking for her work address because I don’t know what the security is like at her home if a package can’t fit in the mail box. She sends me an email with the address and a note saying “save it this time.” My reaction was: What? The? Fuck? I’m sending you something, and all you can think to say is save it this time. As if it’s a bother to you for me to ask for this address. If someone asked me for my address every day for a year I’d just fucking give it to them and not act as if it’s a bother to me.

**breathe** My neck is tensing up.

So, I go home and I make banana bread for my local friends. As I’m waiting by the oven I knit. I finish up the first scarf for the soldiers and then start the second one. Then I pull out The Project. My annoyance flashes through my mind as I begin to work on it and I glance over and see the pile:



This pile represents six months of work…off and on, but mostly on….so much on that the SnB ladies have asked when it’s going to be done. Imagine them asking when they only see it once a week and how I feel about it seeing it every single day?

I begin to muse about being pissed off in the midst of this epic project. How would I handle it if I’d been pissed off enough to shoot back a snide remark and probably end the friendship? She’s had a hard half year or so…and has developed a habit of dishing it out but not taking it in very well. As I knit the center of the first of the last four squares I thought about that story of the angry kid with the nails in the fence. And think she put a nail in my fence today. Then I thought, maybe I’m just being too sensitive because I’m not feeling well….I need a Red Tent is all I’m saying. So, while I pondered these things I never stopped knitting. I am about halfway through the first of the last four squares which puts me at 70.83% complete….

Here are all the squares of the epic project…just three and a half more to go before I begin the finishing:

I want this thing done and out of my house....after that it's all knitting for T all the time......although there are several stash members that are earmarked especially for gifts for her....I'll have to chop it back to special occasions only.

Longing

I had to go back to school in February...not sure if I mentioned that before. I figured a week or two and I would be free...on my way to a site to begin my new career. Things haven't happened that way. I'm still in school...three months later...and last weekend was the three month mark. I'm fighting the bitterness. I'm just saying.

All along school to me has meant knitting time for me. I knit LOTS of socks during classes. It kept me calm and able to sit quietly and watch other people scan. It kept me from getting anxious while the poor scanners were on the job. It kept me alert during lectures. In my world School = Sock Knitting. My current teacher is not so excited about my knitting...not the knitting per se because she knits herself, but she is not happy about me knitting while patients are in the room....or when she thinks I should be scanning.

This weekend I'd pulled out the pink socks I started with the intention of working on them at Unleash The Power Within. After two repeats I decided that the pattern was too complicated and I needed something simpler to work on and the teal socks were started. Ironically, that pattern was too complicated as well, and not as nice as the picture so the sock was frogged and restarted at the seminar and in the end there was too much jumping around for much knitting to get done.

Anyway, I took the Pink Primaveras with me to school....blind hope that I would get a free moment or two to knit. At one point during the day on Saturday, while a patient was being scanned by another student, I glanced over and saw this:

Those two and a half inches were all that I had been able to produce in terms of knitting and only about half an inch had been produced that day. The longing it produced was palpable. It made me sad that I was stuck in class watchign this inept person fuck up a simple scan and not be able to quell my nervousness with my knitting.

Although, in the end the weekend wasn't all bad for the knitting. By Sunday afternoon I had turned the heel and made my way down the foot of the sock. I think it was because there were two extra bodies in the room that made the teacher let me slack off and knit, but whatever the reason I'm really happy. She was feeling lethargic and some other students showed up, and she let me sit and knit, and by the end of Sunday I was halfway down the foot on that little sock you see up there. Hopefully, I'll have my site very shortly and I won't need to knit to calm my nerves in class anymore.

It's been a long time...

"I shouldn't have left you, without a strong beat to step to...think how many weak shows you slept thru...times up, sorry I kept you..." (anyone know the song? artist?)

I'm still around. Still knitting. Back in school. I've been super busy and disinclined to write. I'm feeling up to it this evening. I hope you're still out there!

So, there's really waaaaay too much knitting to rehash in one post. I'll try to give you the short versions of projects as we go along, but tonight's post is especially for Nic & Christine...and Tom & Dan....I made a purchase and I think it will excite them. It didn't do much for the Atwater knitting ladies, but for the Burbank bunch it should be a little bit more interesting.

So, I haven't had a lot of time to read blogs either, but there was a lull at work and headed over to make. see. eat. do. to catch up with what Tom & Christine have been up to. I read all the way back to his post about their Red Hot entry...can I just say reading this blog makes me want to eat! Anywho, I read and thought, why isn't this item available here? I wonder if.... And so it went. I made a purchase.



I must say being busy at work has been wonderful for my saving plans, and not working at a computer will probably be even better....back to the tale at hand. I found it on the web. I'm not sure what the website was, and I have absolutely NO idea how much it cost me in dollars, but it's now with me. So, there is a Red Hot in Burbank and a Berry in Glassell Park. Maybe we can get them together to have a party! Whoo hoo!

So, there was lots of knitting...this week I've worked on Oblique, Verde Verde Verde, Kasan's Slippers and my teal sock...quite exciting really. I have even crocheted in my long absence.

Here is Oblique, for me, which I am particulary proud of:


I'll be back soon! I promise.

I'm still here....I really am!

I'm out here and have been knitting quite a lot since November or so. I decided on some last minute Christmas knits that were treated to a lukewarm reception and no use since gifting day. **sigh** Why do I keep trying? Yes, of course it was something for the baby. Here she is in the Dream In Color Tulip. She looks pretty much the same, but is getting rather weighty.

Wait! Where the hell are the place photo options? Why? Why do they keep changing things?

What is the point of a blog with no pictures? Sure I've got witty reparte, but damn, it's a knitting blog and now I can't seem to upload pictures. This kills my desire to blog.

Let me dig around a bit and see if I can find the option somewhere. If not you'll have to look me up on Ravelry.

Be back in a few.

Even I'm tired of looking at that title!

I'm still out here. I'm tired and a bit cranky. I don't feel like talking or in this case writing. I have been knitting...quite a bit. I've sewn and cooked and baked. I've been to NY and back. I've worked several short-term gigs to make a little extra cash without resorting to Santa Monica & Highland. I'll post again eventually, but just not now. I wanted to Twitter like Dix, but they don't support Blogger...or Blogger doesn't support them....Perhaps I'll twitter on my own...with pictures even!

Hope you all had a great holiday season and that the new year brings you all the joy and happiness you desire!

Happy Belated Birthday Karen! (I didn't forget....)

tb

Long Nails, Knitting for Babies and Other Tidbits

Long Nails & Short Hair

Way back in 1992 when I willingly cut off a full head of healthy hair for the first time I was very uncomfortable with my decision. I thought about doing it for months, but still I was uncomfortable. So much so that I wore a hat for two solid weeks to keep it covered up. Part of my discomfort was the feeling that I was no longer feminine enough. I’ve never been one for make-up—except lipstick and the occasional eyeliner when clubbing—so I thought I needed to keep just a little bit of the “girl” around so I started getting my nails done. This was back when airbrushing was at it’s height of popularity, and multi-colored highly patterned nails were all the rage. After a week or two of that madness I settled back into either a French manicure or no color at all…every once in a while I would do a single color on all the nails.

I would actually go to a barber shop to get my nails done and thought it would be easy one stop shopping for my “beauty” regimen…I use the term beauty loosely. I met some cute boys and one that I dated for a bit who made me LOVE this hair cut. He would hug me and rub my head at the same time. It was awesome….he had issues and it didn’t last, but he did help me through a time of self doubt.

So, I’ve grown out and cut the hair multiple times since 1992, and the hardest thing is finding someone to cut my hair so that it doesn’t look too hard, too manly…to be frank: too butch. When I moved here I couldn’t find anyone to cut my hair the way I liked it on a consistent basis and just ended up with the Caesar. Caesar being a very low cut even all over, also called a One or a Zero depending on how low it is. I am still not a make-up person, although I have given it what I think is an honest try, and once in a while feel like I need to girly it up a bit. So, I head back to the nail shop. I did this about a month ago.

I started with tips and they’ve grown nicely. They’re about 3/8th of an inch long. They look natural and really nice, even with no color on them. They slow down my knitting. They must go. I haven’t decided if they must go altogether, or if I’ll try to cut them down first. I’m kind of enamored with them so I will likely make them shorter and see if that speeds up my process. If it does not then they’ll be going for sure because I miss making socks!

Knitting for Babies

I’ve told you all about the saga of knitting for my niece. I haven’t gifted the sweater yet, but I think I will this weekend and ask that she wear it to Thanksgiving dinner so more than just three people get to see her in the sweater.

See the pretty colors. These are the colors I chose to make a blanket for her:

The colors are from top left: Soft Yellow, Watermelon, Blue Mint

Second Row: Limelight, Grape, Green, Lemonade

Third Row: Mango, Raspberry, Rubine Red, Iris and Rose Violet

The blanket has stalled. I’ve been working on other things and last night started a knit item for a different baby…she’s the daughter of a friend of my cousin’s. The mother is apparently fond of me and I feel like I should have a gift in hand because she has a new baby. I made another Tulip Cardigan out of yarn that I’m hoping would have been leftovers from Senaiah’s blanket. The colors that did not make it into the sweater are: Rose Violet, Raspberry, Green, Soft Yellow, and Grape...and I added a color not in the picture, Dk. Country Blue.

I’ve only got one full square done so I’ll be able to tell from that color’s leftovers if I’ve set myself up to buy more yarn. No matter, I’ll just make Senaiah another Tulip in a larger size if I need to buy more yarn. I’m setting myself on a cycle here, but it’s too late to turn back now. The only way I can remedy this is to make the blanket smaller if I’ve used more of the yarn than I should have. It will be easy to frog the half square I’ve knit and pull out a couple of rows of the first color, but here’s to hoping that is not necessary.

I don’t have pictures of it, but last night I got the body of the SSBrites sweater completed up to the bottom border. Just a few more rows of that and I can do the front flaps and applied i-cord cast off. If I can keep up the pace it will be done before Thursday. Which is also when I need to have Senaiah’s DIC sweater done…just need to weave in the ends on that. I’m going to try to do that tonight for sure.

Other Tidbits

Here is a shot of my dad’s sweater….I so need to finish this. I’m on the end of the first sleeve. It took me a little while to “figure out” how to do garter stitch in the round. Does anyone out there know? I’m pretty sure I got right, but no matter. I’m not pulling it out. So, just one sleeve to go and then I need to decide about the front flaps and button vs zipper situation.


I started to make myself a hat. I love the look of this, but I’m not sure I’m equipped to make it. The nails might have something to do with this. I might just give up and make a different hat with this yarn, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted in chocolate. I need a hat to tool around New York in.

I started to make socks for myself. I originally cast on with the yarn that Dixie got me for my birthday on the Sox Stix she gave me. They’re gorgeous, but they’re too large for this yarn for my knitting style [I’m a loose knitter—sounds so dirty!], and they’re blunt. Anyway, I moved them to a Knit Picks Classic Circular of the same size and it was then that I realized I need to go down a needle size. So I cast on a different yarn one day and it’s UGLY and kind of splitty. Anyway, the nails are not helping, so they will more than likely go today. I want to knit socks….plus, what am I going to knit on the plane?

And finally a shot of the Lady E as it sits today....I still don't think it's long enough which makes me feel like I'm elephant wide and pissed because I don't want to buy more yarn!