More About Me...

So, last night I carefully ripped out the square. Ripped out all that mohair... it was painful. Not just emotionally, but I was peeling a small potato for dinner and peeled my knuckle and then the mohair fuzz got in there and... ow.

But the yarn will continue. I have to knit a fish for work. It will be felted, so it's OK if I effe it up.

And here are more interview questions, this time from Illana. I am really proud of myself for asking her to interview me, because I don't know her. AT ALL. But she left a comment, so I thought it would be ok... (such a wuss am I. wussy wussy wuss wuss)

What is your favorite fiber to knit with? Do you prefer warm and wooly or smooth and silky?

Pure wool is my favorite as far as fiber goes, even though Kidsilk Haze is my favorite yarn. And I'm going to go for a warm wooly yarn (such as Peace Fleece or Yorkshire Tweed) over smooth and silky. Not that I don't love merinos and cashmeres...

This question is just for my ego: Hmmm... I see that my blog is in your sidebar... What criteria does a blog have to have to get into your sidebar? Is it content, pictures, tips, or cool templates? Do you ever take blogs out of your sidebar?

There is really very little criteria to get in my side bar. My blog went on hiatus for essentially 2 years. When I started it (spring 2002) the knitting blogging community was still relatively small. When I came back, everyone and their mother had a blog, so I just would follow links and rings and everything. When something caught my eye, I'd bookmark it, but I was at work and blah blah... more than anything, my sidebar is a list of the blogs I read consistently. It's more for me than anything. I have not removed a blog yet, but am thinking about it. I have some that I want to add, some people haven't updated in ages, etc. For your own ego, I believe the following things caught my eye: 1. The argyle background 2. The countdown to Hannukah 3. You were working on the hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and I was knitting a bazillion baby bonnets from the same book.

Wow you've been to Hong Kong? What was that like??

I was in Hong Kong for exactly 46 hours. It was crazyness. I had been living in Nanjing for several months and had a penpal from junior high in Hong Kong, so I sceduled a long layover on my way home to finally meet her and chill. (48 hours is the cutoff for what is considered a layover and what is just 2 seperate trips)

The weird part about Hong Kong was that is was West and East all mashed together. I didn't have a lot of culture shock issues in Nanjing because it was so completely different than anything I had known before. Hong Kong placed the 2 things I had known (Mainland China and the America) and put them on the same street corner. And there were all these white people. And a lot of the Chinese people weren't from the Han ethnic majority, and I was really sleep deprived and was hanging out with this girl that I had known for years, but had just met and... it was a trip.

The other weird part about Hong Kong is that it's a really mountainous island and the whole city is built up on this little bit between mountain and ocean. I should scan some pictures in and show y'all. The airport though, is gorgeous. It's built out into the bay and a lot of it's window, so you see this plane, then ocean, then mountain and the shopping's really good. ;)

China, in general, was awesome.

What is your favorite online yarn store, and what is your least favorite online yarn store?

Favorite online store is The Knitting Garden. It's pretty much where I go when I need something. I don't have a least favorite. I live in an area blessed with yarn stores and because I work at one, I can get a lot of things ordered, so I don't buy yarn online that often.

What is your favorite recipe? Do you like to cook?

I love to cook. My new favorite is visseychoise from Joy of Cooking.

My second favorite is my own version of one from Desperation Dinners. The essentials are: in a pot with some olive oil, place 1/2 chopped onion and a lot of chopped chicken and 2 cloves pressed garlic and lightly fry until chicken edges are no longer pink. Dump in 2 cans of chicken broth and a package of cheese tortellini. Bring to a boil. Add some diced tomatoes. Simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup pesto sauce and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Pepper and salt.

I make a lot of pizza. My favorites are pesto with chicken and artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers on a whole wheat parmesean garlic crust and pad thai.

I also make a lot of various salads, usually pasta based and coat them in Miracle Whip as a true testament to my northeastern Wisconsin upbringing. Ghetto Mac (blue box macaroni and cheese with hamburger) is my ultimate comfort food.

I'm also looking for a good tomato sauce recipie FROM SCRATCH. As in, start with 1lb of tomatoes...

No More Yarn For Me

Ugh. I should not be trusted around yarn anymore.

After last weeks fiascos of the Koigu socks and Colinette vest, I thought ok, we'll just take a break for awhile. But I was going on a road trip, so hey, I'll bring along the crochet shawl!

Ugh. Last night I realized some problems.

1. 10 balls is supposed to give me 32 squares. 1 ball did not quite give me 3 squares.
2. I have severely messed up a square. No worries, I'll just rip out the offending rounds.
3. Oh yeah, mohair doesn't rip.
4. Yarn shouldn't go to my sister's house again. Or at least it should stay in the car. 2 days and it's stinky stinky (they smoke in their house).

Oh well, at least the weather's getting nice so I can air it out on the porch...

PS- Thanks for the people who replied to my apperance issues. Beth-- as soon as you mentioned it was looking OK for you all of a sudden, it started looking OK for me too. WEIRD.

Appearance

Oh my.

I just realized that my blog looks AWFUL in Explorer. Or at least the version I have at home. (I usually update at work, using Mozilla, and it's great!) Basically, in Explorer, my side bar is too centered, so it doesn't appear in the nice cross-hatching side bar section of the template, but over a bit, and not until after ALL the posts, so you need to scroll really far. I'm hoping to get some people who actually know a little something about HTML to fix that, but I would like your help.

Please please please leave me a comment stating which browser you use and how the page looks.

THANKS!

Colinette Chevron Close-up

See how pretty the chevron border is?

Colinette Seed Close-up

See how pretty the seed stitch is?

Too Big Vest

See how FREAKIN' huge this thing is????? It's 49 inches long! And I still have to add the button band! I only have a 37 inch bust!

OIY!

Yes, I did a gauge swatch. I was supposed to get 13 sts to 4 ins. I got 14 sts, which was great because the smallest size (41in) was a little big for me, so at the smaller gauge it would work out just right and I didn't need to rewrite the pattern.

BUT! I failed to double check the gauge a few inches in. FAILED. And do you know what my gauge is on the project? 12sts to 4 ins.

OIY!

I cried like Nancy Kerrigan which I realized this. Ku bi zi as they say in Chinese...

So... the problem with wholesale ripping is that the yarn has been cut every 2 rows. And there's a lot of mohair in there and that's not fun to rip.

BUT! The large size might fit my mom and if it does, she'll buy it off me so I can afford to buy another kit and try again.

I *really* liked knitting this project. I did not like f*cking it up so very very badly.

Ripped Socks and few things and Meeeeeeeeeeeee!

In case you didn't notice (which I doubt anyone did) I have stopped using Hello and Bloggerbot because it sucked and have switched to Flickr. I just think it works better. Ultimately, though, I will bite the bullet, steal some of Dan's webspace and actually do it the proper way. I'd like to have 2 pictures in a post instead of every picture-bit being a different post...

Anyway, Last night I realized that my Koigu socks were going to be huge. So I frogged them. I hate it when that happens.

BUT! I have jumped on the interview bandwagon! So, leave me comment. I want to interview you. I'm also a huge wuss and only asked Lynne to interview me, because I know her in real-life, too. Don't be wussy like me. Also, if you want to interview me, leave a comment!

The way it works:

Leave me a comment saying “interview me.”
I will respond by asking you five questions here. They will be different questions than the ones below.
You will update YOUR blog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Lynne's questions:

What is your dream job?

See, I totally answered that in the "about me" file I added yesterday. I said it involved teaching knitting and designing knitting and translating Chinese. But I changed my mind. My new dream job involves getting paid to make-out and do sweaty love scenes with Colin Firth.

How is it coming with the Incredible Sweater Machine?

No better. No worse. I still can't figure out how to make it not randomly drop my knitting after about an inch. (And by drop, I mean literally, onto my foot.)

How about that yarn diet?

So, I fell of the wagon there for a bit. Just like I've fallen off the real diet with all the Easter candy around. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Cadbury Creme Eggs.....

Do you ever sing while knitting? Do you ever knit while singing?

All the time. Not so much the classical/choral stuff, but often Dan will play guitar and I sing along. Folk and country and bad Bloodhound Gang covers.

If I supplied you with a ball of cheap cotton, would you be willing to knit a couple of dishcloths for Project Scrubbie?

Sure. But you can't make fun of my failure of a yarn diet anymore!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Vintage Vest Rip

So I started knitting the Colinette Vintage Vest. The pattern says to "cast on loosely". I thought I did, but obviously not enough to make nice points for the chevron edging. Sooooo... I tried to stretch it a bit to make it look nicer. FAILURE.

Vintage Vest 2

Ugh. So I had to rip it all out and start again. But now it's going really well and I'm almost ready to split for the arm holes! YAY!

Thank God the seaming's done!!!!

Now for lots of knitting on that Colinette vest and my socks and everything else I was working on before!

The bag's pretty nice though. I just took way too long to work on it. Work projects should not take that long. (This is not the projects fault, but mine. I feel like a slacker.)

Lynne and I are going to take spinning next month. Drop Spindles... AWAAAAAAAAAAY! Which means more yarn for me.... yummy yum yum yum.

Oh! Although the seaming song works well with the Quizno's song (I miss the spongemonkeys. They put big joy in my heart) the seaming song is actually Bernstein's "I Hate Music" which is an awesome song that I don't sing very well. I bet Margaret does it well though!

Close up!

Finished Patch Purse

I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE SEAMING!!!!!

But I like to knit! la dee da de dee la de da deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

But that's not seaming, not what I call seaming! No sir.

Seaming! Is where you waste all night doing something not right and have to start ooooooover.
Seaming! Uses lots of yarn and safety pins and you can't knit again until it's oooooooooover.

I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE SEAMING!!!!!!!

La dee dade dee... la de da di

Ethiopian Baby Donkey (or, justification on not having my camera for over a week)

Blocky Blocky

Blocking the patch purse

Patch purse strap (unblocked)

Cashmere close up

Colinette

Mmmm.... Colinette

Oh, Peace Fleece sportweight... yum...

Wool silk blend, in a color Ellie calls "Blended Barbie" (if you put Barbie in a blender, this is the color you'd get)

17 balls of unknown wool/acrylic blend

This is non-knitting, but...

UNITED AIRLINES has yet to find my husband's missing bag. They are now admitting that they may NEVER find it.

Dan now has to go and buy a bunch of new clothes tonight as he has a business trip tomorrow and most of his business casual is MIA.

Not too mention that pretty much everything he bought in Ethiopia is now gone, with the exception of my awesome earrings that made it into his carryon.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I mean, how hard can it be to find? Really now. It's either at Dulles, or got hidden somewhere at Detroit Metro and not put on the baggage carosel.

Yes, it's a black suitcase BUT the bottom is covered in duct tape and contains things like "2 paintings done on camel hide"

Stupid United. You need to go squish now.

And, even though it should be covered under US rules for remimbursement on such things, there's still a chance that it will fall under international rules, where compensation is laughable.

OKC: I hate weaving in ends. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate.

I promised you pictures last night, didn't I?

Well, what can I say? I AM A BAD PERSON.

All patch purse knitting is done. YAY.

So, I do at least need to do minimal weave ending, in order to tighten up intarsia corners. Blah blah blah.

I'm tired and want to go home now. Sleepy sleepy sleepy sleepy

If someone really loved you, they would get you these for all of your knitting needs. I know I want some.

No pictures yet. Tonight.

Why, you ask? Well, I offer the following conversation as explanation:

Me: So, is my camera in your bag then? [refering to the suitcase lost by United Airlines]
Dan: Yes [refering to his carry on].

We didn't get that one cleared up until the drive to work this morning...

knitknitknitknitknittyknittyknitknit

See, if you're going to fall off the stash diet wagon, you might as well throw yourself off with an unknown vengence.

Not to let you all think that freddyknits shamed me into this post, but my camera returns from Ethiopia today, so I was going to wait until tonight to take pictures of my new yarn and show you.

Because words do not do justice to the wonder of 4 balls of dark blue with various flecks 100% cashmere at 1/2 off that came home with me on Saturday.

Plus, I could hide it with all the pictures of the almost finished patch purse.

oh, patch purse. Even though you are a shop sample, I will still take some old denim and line you. That way I only have to tie up all your intarsia induced ends and not actually weave them in.

But, seriously now... YARN STORE SALE IN 2 WEEKS! mwahahahahaha

I am a bad person. A very bad person.

Why? Well, I went up to Lansing last night to chill with Dana and Ellie. Now, when hanging out with old (knitting!) friends on a new town, what do you do?

You go to the yarn store.

Now, I had heard of the huge Threadbear, so I said, "let's check it out".

And we did. And it was hilarious, because we couldn't find it. It wasn't in the phonebook. Information couldn't find them. Dana and Ellie thought I had made the store up!!

Finally, we just called everyone we knew until we found one sitting in front of a computer so they could google it for us. (Thanks Dad!)

And eventually we found it. And it was BIG.

And I saw this and had to buy it.

So I did.

Sigh.

So, you all know about my New Year's resolution of NO NEW YARN, right?

My horrible self-imposed stash diet?

Well, first off, it's going much better than the real diet (Which was so easy! "More salad, less ice cream" And yet, I fail)

Anyhoo... it's been hard, but I have only purchased 5 balls of yarn since January 1. Only 5! And they're *completely* justifiable! Watch me justify them!

1. 3 balls were half priced Kid Seta. 5 dollars/ball for a super fine mohair/silk blend! It's essentially the same as Kid Silk Haze! On clearance! It would have been a CRIME to not buy this yarn. That's all I'm saying.
2. 2 balls of Kiogu KPPM. For a pair of socks. This is only justifiable in that I had to learn how to knit on 2 circs and do the magic loop well enough to teach my class on Saturday. All that practice might as well result in something! And so far it has resulted in a very large gauge swatch. It could already be socks, but I'm too lazy to take off my actual socks and measure my foot and do the math. Lazy lazy lazy.

And, even though needles weren't part of the diet, I've been good there, too! Only needles purchased have been for the socks. 3 pair-- 1 16in Addi Turbo size 1, 1 40in Addi Turbo size 1, 1 set of Brittany 5in dpns size 1 (see a trend?) And see, this is despite the fact that Latern Moon needles are currently on sale at work. Aren't I good?!

But, now I have an ethical dilema.. my dear friend Ellie came to visit. I taught Ellie how to knit one drunken evening in July 2000. I remember because that's the year we celebrated my birthday for an ENTIRE month. Seriously. Every weekend that month had something birthday related. I don't remember large sections.

Anyway, Ellie gave me some of her stash. A box of her stash. Like, 3 sweaters worth of stash, or at least close. A sweater's worth of Peace Fleece Sport Weight! And it's all in large quantities, so it's a box, but only 3 kinds of yarn, so yeah...

Did I mention the sweater's worth of Peace Fleece Sport Weight in Kamchatka Sea Moss? Did I? Because damn. That's going to get used soon.

So yeah... but I didn't pay for it. It was a GIFT, so it doesn't count, right?

RIGHT???!

Oh My! Oh My!

So I sat down to learn this new mobieus technique.

IT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER.

let me repeat that:

IT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER.

Seriously!!!!!

Go by the book NOW!!! NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!

Look it over, if it doesn't make sense, come to my class on March 12 at Knit A Round Yarn Shop in Ann Arbor, or find a class in your area. (I try not to schill myself too much on this site, but this is something that everyone should know how to do.)

Plus, it made me feel like a rockstar, as my boss said that it was easy once you got it, but she needed to shut herself away from distractions for a while to "get it". I totally got it in 15 minutes while watching Law and Order reruns.

See, I don't mean to brag, but it made me feel so awesomely cool and rockstar-y! Especially as my Ultimate Sweater Machine is still making me feel like an utter dunce.