String Theory 2.0

Sleeve one complete

2012-02-12T22:27:00.001-05:00

I still need a daylight picture. The more I work with this color way the more I like it. More soon ....

Progress

2012-02-09T22:00:00.001-05:00

Dinner

2012-02-07T19:53:00.001-05:00

There are some compensations for soccer practice. Tuesday's I have time to cook and an all adult audience to cook for.
Chicken thighs with sage and garlic.

Progress

2012-02-03T20:02:00.001-05:00

Working on commission

2012-02-02T19:31:00.000-05:00

Are my 3 readers getting tired of looking at endless photos of the stained glass pattern worked in Chroma Fingering? When I'm done with this one , I may be too.

This is Regency on itself - I wasn't sure at first, and I need to take pictures in daylight to do this justice - the colors are softer than they look here. But it had a rhododendrons-in-the-mist effect that's quite nice. I sent the blue/green version to my mom who has gotten me my first actual commission (second, I guess, since I did the Lions baby hat) to make the same sweater only in Regency.
It's a lot of stained glass, and when I asked hopefully if she wanted something different of course the answer was "no, exactly the same".
;)

Yet another hat

2012-02-01T20:40:00.001-05:00

In Chroma fingering - midwinter and upick, which was a combination I wasn't sure about, but it's pretty nice. Largely done while watching Steven Frye crossing America. I just need to put a lining in it.

At school

2012-02-01T19:21:00.001-05:00

The little had a ceremony to go - here he is wearing dad's tie. I just like this picture.

New clothes

2012-01-25T18:27:00.000-05:00

The little one got invited to be in Jr. Beta club - the ceremony is tomorrow so I picked up the new clothes. I was surprised how excited someone was to dress up like a frontman to an 80's band. After trying all these on, it was "so, can I get new shoes too?"

Beanie hat - stained glass

2012-01-25T18:23:00.000-05:00

I really like the way this came out - but I think it still needs to be deeper and/or have ear flaps. Lollipop Chroma, nice.

Newly dyed yarn

2012-01-19T15:20:00.001-05:00

With child. Day off of many errands (2 dentist apts, school visit, DMV, clothes shopping, dump pick up) and I still dyed 5 skeins. New method; I mixed up pans of dye and dunked in the yarn. It still comes out tonal because the dye absorbs so quickly but you sort of batik it to get nice patches and blends. Its also much quicker and less equipment intensive.

Stained glass hat

2012-01-14T21:00:00.001-05:00

With cotton headband lining. I love Lollipop Chroma.

New hair (see below)

2012-01-14T20:57:00.002-05:00

Haircut

2012-01-14T20:57:00.001-05:00

Went for dinner at Fox Bros afterwards. The hair cut was his idea - he even found a cartoon picture of how he wanted it to look.

Knitting at soccer

2012-01-12T18:13:00.000-05:00

So, it's been 20 or so years since the last time I knit Kim Hargreaves' Tumbleweed pattern (Rowan#4). Here I'm doing it in Ivy Dishie from KnitPicks. I really like Dishie for clothes, not too soft (read pilly here, soft cotton pills too easily and looks ratty to me after a couple washes) and the color is nice. Im also making another Hazel hat - this one deeper based on feedback from the original. And I'm still making hexes for the vest, but that's slow right now. My big excitement is getting a commission to do another Stained Glass pullover - in Regency on Regency. So of course whenever this sort of thing happens, the "client" wants the exact same thing they saw you do before. I was all excited to sneak in a rose edging or something.
I've never seen Regency in person, so I'm excited to get it - probably early next week.

Finishing lined mittens

2012-01-07T16:14:00.001-05:00

I thought a ribbon and button finish might work on these - I really like the fushia - they're still wet so maybe I'll put them together tonight.

Pink and black

2012-01-01T09:23:00.001-05:00

Happy new year! I'm working on a lining for these - reusing some silk and alpaca from a scarf I made that just didn't work and the rest of the pink neck warmer.

Awwwwww

2011-12-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

He so wants the kitty to sit on him, but is usually too fidgety. Jackpot.

Color ideas

2011-12-30T22:01:00.001-05:00

I have tile work on the brain and I love these colors - fair isle vest anyone?

The back of that sweater

2011-12-30T16:18:00.001-05:00

Done with Korrigan

2011-12-30T14:36:00.001-05:00

Finally has buttons.... I really like this pattern.

Experiment

2011-12-26T20:43:00.001-05:00

Scarf alternative - short rows and braided cable cowl so it will cover in front without being bulky on the back of the neck. This is 2 strands of Aloft and Alpaca Cloud each to make a nice, soft and warm neck cover.

Baby!

2011-12-23T19:39:00.001-05:00

So, my college roommate is having her first baby. I finished a blanket - picture soon - and here's the sweater. It's Korrigan (available on Ravelry) and I wanted to try it in cotton (you know, babies) so here is the 3 mo. size in KnitPicks Comfy fingering, ivory.

Serviceman's memorial

2011-12-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

So we have some nice family shot on Flickr and FB, but here are some design type things I really liked - I'm trying a new mobile posting method, so these will each going their own post:
This memorial is a mother lion looking over her cubs. Hard to shoot so this just the mother

Outside the Lincoln memorial

2011-12-22T21:15:00.001-05:00

Lincoln memorial

2011-12-22T21:14:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure how this even came out with my phones camera. We all agreed this was our favorite memorial.

2011-12-22T21:13:00.003-05:00

I just love the look on his face, this was our headphone tour of the Capitol.

Capitol ceiling

2011-12-22T21:13:00.001-05:00

Capitol ceiling

2011-12-22T21:12:00.002-05:00

Capitol ceiling hallway

2011-12-22T21:12:00.001-05:00

Capitol ceiling

2011-12-22T21:11:00.001-05:00

Scrollwork outside the Capitol

2011-12-22T21:10:00.001-05:00

Scrollwork outside the Capitol

2011-12-22T21:10:00.000-05:00

Decorated parking garage - the detail is pretty amazing if you look

2011-12-22T21:07:00.001-05:00

Doors of the DOJ at night (you can't really see them during the day)

2011-12-22T21:06:00.001-05:00

Christmas

2011-12-17T16:22:00.001-05:00

New recipe

2011-12-11T12:07:00.001-05:00

And I'm putting the baby blanket together and the hat is nearly done so today we're making white chocolate brownies. There's only a cup of flour and no leavening so the dough is really sticky to work with and looks like, well, white chocolate. News at 11 I guess.

That'll be the last thing I do in black for a while

2011-12-07T13:36:00.000-05:00

Golly, I think I'm starting to need bifocals. Here it is! It's currently blocking on my playroom floor, I think the neck will look much better when that's all done. Just in time for the coolish weather . . .yay.fin

Nearly there

2011-11-28T22:05:00.001-05:00

I have ripped and redone half these seams and redone the neck twice. Which is even more fun when you're knitting in pitch black yarn. But I'm almost done and thank god for all the nice folks on Ravelry who were willing to part with some of this discontinued yarn - Alpaca Silk.

baby sweater

2011-11-25T17:04:00.000-05:00

So, my college roommate is having a baby, her first, and it's kind of blowing my mind that it's been over 10 years since we had ours. Anyway, I'm making her a baby blanket and a sweater - both in Knitpicks Comfy. The blanket is plain cotton squares in sport weight, nothing fancy, in ocean colors. Lay it on the grass, throw up on it, whatever, just chuck it in the wash and you're good. But I also got some fingering Comfy in cream and I'm going to make an aran baby sweater. My big idea is to start with the bottom band and work a 2 inch cable band laid on it's side, then pick up and knit the body up. I was thinking of making it button up the front, but maybe a pullover with neck-side buttons would be better. I'm doing some checking about sizing here and think I'll start looking at some of my own books for sizing guidance as I start sketching.
We're going to have leftovers tonight - yum.

Happy thanksgiving

2011-11-24T19:57:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had as nice a day as we did.
We tried some new recipes this year:
sweet potato casserole, a simpler version of cornbread and chorizo stuffing, and a new dessert because I spaced out on corn syrup so our pecan pie will be this weekend - creme brulee .
I'm also getting to the halfway point or so my modular baby blanket:

The little one wants to help me plan the layout. It

Soccer and modular knitting

2011-11-19T12:47:00.001-05:00

Women and Neo I think ...

So I'm doing a couple modular projects. One's a baby blanket for my college roommate who's having her first baby. She was a marine biologist so it's going to be squares of plain stockinette in ocean colors in KnitPicks Comfy sport. Here's the first square I just finished.

The other is a mod of the Beekeeper quilt - little hexes worked in the round in sock yarn. I'm going to make a best out of them and stuff them very lightly so they'll be flatter:

Something fun for fall

2011-11-07T08:57:00.000-05:00

We made these over the weekend - awesome. The little one also played soccer, his last regular season games and did a nice job. That could be somewhat to do with his new found interest in hockey. We also went to a Gladiators game:

where I worked on Sara's mittens:

Getting back to finishing things

2011-10-18T08:35:00.001-04:00

So, I finished my Sedona mittens last night - I'll take thier picture tomorrow when they're done drying. It's supposed to get cool this week - 50's and 60's cool - so I'm cleaning out the project basket and finishing another complicated black sweater. I hope I have enough yarn because it's Alpaca Silk and they don't make it any more. Which is sad. I'm waiting at the dr's office this morning - just a check up - so I'll have a little knitting time.

Here's a picture from the weekend - the little one had 3 soccer games and really played his heart out which made us really happy as parents. Here he is having a burger and throwing fry prices to the sparrows:

Kid loves malt vinegar on his fries and has a morbid fascination with the recipe on the back for "peachy chicken". Peaches, vinegar and chicken? Doesn't sound too tasty to me either.

Stuff

2011-10-09T19:28:00.001-04:00

Hmmm, another crazy couple weeks sorry.
What's been going on - building monorails in the kitchen

And going to see Weird Al in concert - clearly we got our tickets late but it was awesome

Finished those pink and grey mittens (pics soon) and started another pair in an Arizona colorway

And we decorated for Halloween tonight. And I'm going to rip out the mitten scarf and redo the yarn into something else.

Finally, some pictures of Glimmer

2011-09-30T15:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I hate to have my picture taken, so I have a hard time getting that stupid look off my face. On the other hand, it's hard to show off how a sweater looks with the heads all lopped off, I've decided.
You kind of need the glaring sun picture to see the sparkle and colors, and the shaded pictures to see the design better. I'm totally thrilled with it, fits perfectly and it's all my favorite colors. The yarn is lovely, light and soft but very warm . . .

You might wonder ...

2011-09-29T19:16:00.001-04:00

What is that?

It a scarf with attached mittens, made in Cadena. I wish lived up north because I would love a sweater out of this stuff. I'm going to line the mittens with Comfy inner mitts.
And this?

Thunder Horn, of course. He's supposed to look stern. I think the artist succeeded, myself.

More lined mittens

2011-09-27T21:53:00.002-04:00

Sorry it's been so long - I finally finished my Glimmer sweater and I love it - the closure ended up being quite the aftermarket job, but it works - now I have to get someone to take pictures. Honestly, I'm shocked my modular do-the-math-as-you-go approach worked. Way to go 3rd grade math skills.
In the meantime, more lined mittens!

And I'm making a mitten scarf - I'm also going to line those. I'll get a snap tomorrow. Here's another picture I liked.

Some pictures

2011-09-12T15:28:00.000-04:00

I finally got some decent pictures of Kinsale (horrible model aside) - I'm really happy with this one and this picture shows the stitch definition nicely. Too bad they're not making Risata anymore! Below you can see my modular experiment cardigan, which actually fits, amazing as all get out. I tried it on in the bathroom first and the little one walked by and said "mom, did you mean to make that really short?" I said no. "Oh good, I like it, nice colors."

Back from Orlando

2011-09-06T20:24:00.001-04:00

I can now say I've stayed at a Walfdorf Astoria (not the, a, mind you) and been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The little shows every sign of being as big a ride junky as I am, so that makes me happy. Here are some snaps:

Why, you might ask, would you put your child in a giant inflatable hamster ball? I don't know either:

I call this one "Cousins with Elephant":

Sorry, gianourmous Lego statues of dragons fascinate me:

Orlando skyline with room lights:

We were all really tired by the end of this trip.
Knitting - working on the back pieces of Glimmer. Which needs a better name.

Doesn't look like much, yet I'm afraid of it

2011-09-01T19:16:00.001-04:00

But I'm doing this sweater in modular prices and designing as I go. I'm using short rows for shaping of the arm holes and to give the bodice shape. Top is worked side to side and the bottom section will get picked up and knit down once I knit the arms on. Free form knitting involves a lot of ripping out but since it's mod pieces it's quick. I'll chronicle the construction.

Not sure this is a good sign

2011-08-23T19:10:00.001-04:00

I'm going with 4's for the Glimmer. Nice hand, good variegation but ....
The gauge is 6.66 sts per in.

Glimmer

2011-08-22T19:27:00.001-04:00

At soccer practice working on gauge swatch for my Paper Crane inspired cardigan.

The colors are richer and fuller than they look here. Hand will be important so I'm working Glimmer in 2,3, and 4. Meanwhile Kinsale dries on the back porch.

Sorry

2011-08-19T20:37:00.001-04:00

I thought after last weekends soccer tournament I would have finished Kinsale. Clearly I underestimated it's tiny gauge and intense darkness. Oh well this weekend - I just finished the back shoulders so speeding up.
I went crazy and splurged on some Juliespins Glimmer and I can't wait to start working with it. Oh wait, another tiny gauge, dark colored .... Clearly I'm a masochistic with a narrow track mind.
Well for fun, here's someone taking a bath and someone else who finds him tasty.

Sad day when you can't play with your Legos without getting licked.
Have a nice weekend!

Last of the new windows and a new back door

2011-08-12T09:26:00.001-04:00

It's hard to appreciate how much better this if you hadn't seen our old door and gross window...

Necklace and earrings

2011-08-09T15:19:00.001-04:00

Leopard Jasper, garnet, tiger eye glass and gold beads. I need a model - this doesn't do the colors justice.

Day not at work

2011-08-09T11:38:00.000-04:00

But not exactly off either. Dentist, termite inspection, cleaning dryer vents, washing the floor.
One nice thing about cleaning the dryer vents this time. For one thing, it wasn't very dirty so it took only a few minutes. For another, I've mastered taking down the laundry closet doors without killing myself or hitting walls. Lastly, I'm both stronger and skinnier than the last time I did this, I was able to wrangle the things no problem and slip back there to undo the vent hose with no twisting or getting caught. Old age doesn't have to suck I suppose.
If I get all my chores done, maybe I'll make something and take a picture of it.

Finally some action shots

2011-08-08T18:45:00.001-04:00

Thanks Urban Farm Wife for taking my picture outside today. I think these give the best sense of the colors of all my pictures so far.

Blocking!

2011-08-05T21:16:00.001-04:00

Very carefully, cool water no soap

Random Friday night fun

2011-08-05T20:56:00.001-04:00

Dinner at McGhin's

Trying to finish Kinsale

2011-08-04T20:50:00.002-04:00

So I'm trying to go through my knitting basket and clean it out. I've picked up Kinsale, which I love and can't wait to wear but it's black sock yarn (Risata) on 2's so I think this is the 2nd year I've had it on the needles. Need to check Ravelry to be sure. But dang it, I'm not starting anything new until I get these 2 self pattern black sweaters off my needles. I'm sure I'll suddenly discover I have a metric ton of needles I'd forgotten about because they were buried in all these dang projects.

What else? I have some Cotlin in Harbor I'm dying to make a cable pull over out of. Some people don't like Cotlin, find it's too sheddy and hard on their hands. Perhaps the color has something to do with that, because I love it. I've lots of Imagination in various colors I want to make things with - I think using the colors together with a black background to make a stained glass effect would be very nice, and I have two sets of neutrals I want to try in a fair isle. And then I'll have massive amounts of tag ends of all this sock yarn so I can make everyone I know hideous Mrs. Weasley socks for Christmas.

I've also been on a jewelry making kick - not that I've been organized enough to take pictures of that. My mom asked me to re-string some ivory beads she had for our nieces and of course once you buy beads for a project, you use only 1/2 to 1/3 of each strand, so then you buy a few more things to finish them off, and before you know it you have a huge stash of beads and people at work who want to buy your stuff.

And finally, 5th grade starts on Monday - yikes. He's half way to moving out of the house. Here he is playing with his soccer ball while we waited for practice to be called on account of thunder and lightning.

Trying to work up enthusiasm

2011-08-03T11:55:00.002-04:00

It's hot down here - heat index in the hundreds, soccer practice started and I'm trying to finish projects.
So not much to photograph except these guys in our lawn this morning

Steeking!

2011-07-25T12:52:00.001-04:00

Sewing them by hand this time:

This one is done:

Ugly back side

I hope to start assembling tonight.

Cleaning out closets

2011-07-25T09:36:00.002-04:00

Going to Goodwill - the cat was hanging out with me, so we played "hand attack"

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Random but tasty

2011-07-18T19:24:00.002-04:00

Curry chicken salad - tasty in pitas, my nine year old liked it

Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
6 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt
2 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3 cups finely diced chicken (about 3 boneless skinless breads poached)
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2-3 teaspoons brown sugar

Preparation
Whisk mayonnaise, yogurt, sugar and curries in medium bowl. Mix in chicken, peppers, nuts and green onions. Season chicken salad to taste with salt and pepper.

And I'm working fingerless gloves pics soon.

Kinda broken

2011-07-14T19:18:00.001-04:00

Ever have one of those days where the grown up part of your brain comes unhooked? You know, the part that makes you persist in work activities or chores just stops working and all you want to do is sit around? I'm blaming it on the heatwave - it's just been disgusting - but I think I just break every so often and wallow with my medulla.
Anyway here's a picture of the finished socks - I like them but I couldn't knit last night I was so tired.

Back

2011-07-05T16:21:00.001-04:00

We went to Gatlinburg for vacation. We hiked (12 miles, my knees think I'm too old for that) and rode horses and went to Dollywood and saw fireworks and now we're all really tired.
Here are the socks I did on the trip and some nature shots while I wait for the bread to cool for dinner:

Chroma

2011-06-30T19:29:00.001-04:00

Looking at the Ravelry boards, one sees that Chroma is a love it or hate it kind of thing. I love it, but I think appropriate use is important to maintaining the love. It's thick and thin, it felts if you look at it funny, it occasionally has big honkin' hairs in it. (All singles have that thick and thin thing I find). My only real complaint is the knots in the balls. Having to pull out lots of yarn to match up colors seems like a waste and hassle.
But the felting, that intrigues me. In the back of my mind I'm working up lined felted slippers and a felted vest.

Mmmmmm Lollipop ...

Well, that's interesting

2011-06-23T19:23:00.001-04:00

Tonight I made the mistake of leaving a can of refried beans our on the counter, which the cat ate half of.

I wonder if beans give cats gas?

On a less totally disgusting note, here's the front of the stained glass pullover, which most assuredly does not have gas:

That's more like it

2011-06-19T19:23:00.001-04:00

Happy fathers day!
We went to a AAA baseball game last night

And to see Super 8 today. I liked the movie, but that could just bey generational thing there.
Started on the back of Stained Glass again, much better

Gag, so not a hand model.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Man, I HATE FLYING ANTS

2011-06-16T21:10:00.000-04:00

5 nights a week my spouse and I go running and do 3 miles. We've adjusted to the dogs, the light, the HEAT (yes even running in 94 degree heat doesn't bother me that much any more) but in the summer, when it rains, all these flying ants come out. And we've had a bit of a drought until last night, so we're talking an ant plague of biblical proportions. Up your nose, in your mouth, in your hair, into your shirt, catching in your throat, getting in your eyes (and when stressed, ants secrete acid, isn't that just awesome in your eye???) GAGH. Disgusting.

What's not disgusting - I'm going on a finishing campaign. No new projects until I clean out that basket and I have ideas for socks and cardigans and mittens galore.

So, first down, the Green Mtn Spinnery Stained Glass pullover. Looking at it now, I think I stalled out because the color repeats were so nicely spaced on the sleeves, but when I got to the body, the repeats were cut in half and I wasn't as happy and really not sure about putting the whole thing together. So I think I'm going to take out the body and make the front and back as flat pieces so the color intervals will be more like the sleeves and then I'll be happy. It's much too nice yarn and such a great pattern and I was so happy with those sleeves, I can short change it by not having the color intervals look right.

I'll post pics later to show you what I mean. After finishing this one, I want to get Kinsale done, which I love but damn that's a lot of knitting and my god I started it in Feb of 2010. Maybe I could wear the dumb thing this fall??

Damask is done

2011-06-15T22:10:00.001-04:00

And blocking:

Of course the cat goes and sits on it - as my spouse pointed out "isn't that wet? That can't feel good".
And the beads. ...

Shawl

2011-06-11T20:50:00.000-04:00

I like this pattern (Damask) because it's both pretty and speeds up as you go.

We also ran a 5k this morning and between shaving off about 7 minutes from last years time and hitting the magic age of 40, I came in first in my age group.
See what sticking with something for a year can do?
Of course now the guys want to do a triathlon ....

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

2011-06-02T20:53:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else remember those books? My brother gave me some when I was 8 or so (I think) and I LOVED them.
Anyway, a friend at work has been working on a sweater for about 2 years now. It's just one of those cursed projects, we've all had them. It's a semi-tailored pattern but she's doing it in handspun and kidsilk haze, so gauge and fit and torque are all in play. She's been very brave and persistent and when it's done, she'll love it because the thing is LOVELY.
But today she brought it to my office and asked if I would help sew it together because easing in the sleeves is going to be hard.
So, I feel like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, who took people's unruly kids and kept them at her farm for a couple weeks until they learned a couple life lessons and started to be nicer.
I think I can teach this sweater to behave.
I'll post a picture of this very pretty, rather badly behaved girl a little later.

Back from vacation

2011-05-31T19:30:00.002-04:00

So, I hope everyone had a nice holiday. We went to Gatlinburg

We went whitewater rafting - the little one is now large enough to do class 3 rapids. No pictures of that (duh).
We hiked the Alum Cave Trail. That's 6400+ ft and 10+ miles round trip. We have one tough 9 year old.
That night we rode the gondola up the hill so my husband and I could live our childhood dream of riding theAlpine slide.

At the top there were other things to do, such air gun shooting at Zeke's shack and even an iceskating rink:

So the next day we went to Clingman's Dome:

And after that, because we're old and our knees and feet can only deal with so much hiking we went to the best amusement park in TN.

One of my readers is laughing me right now - you know who you are, satellite-dish-gazebo-TN-native - but it was a ton of fun. And the little one's first roller coasters.
Not happy unless we're over doing it, we rounded off our day at Hill Billy Golf:

Mini golf is always fun. More so with disused farm equpiment.
Random wrap up, our hotel:

From the top floor

View out our balcony

Some kid

The pool at the hotel (big hit with the kids)

In TN you can apparently travel north and south at the same time.

Needs buttons

2011-05-27T15:01:00.000-04:00

But it has buttons, you say? Did a bad job of lining them up and am not convinced I like them, so we'll see.
I like it, though.
Have a nice long weekend, everyone.

Getting close to done with my boring sweater

2011-05-24T20:55:00.000-04:00

I"ll take a picture later tonight. I've also started a shawl, which has 4 whole rows done, not good camera fodder.

So, random thought.
It seems to me that there's a turn of phrase, more prevalent down south, where people refer to their or another's significant other as "my Mary" or "his Mary". I found this was bothering me on some minor level and I wondered why. I think it's as a northerner, I would never presume to own every aspect of another person, even a spouse. My husband, my mom, my son, all have existences of their own, independent of every connection to me, so I would only call them mine by role, not mine in synecdochical whole. I find doing so sort of weirdly presumptuous.

Okay, back to knitting,like I said, random.

Soccer is over for the year

2011-05-22T19:26:00.001-04:00

And yikes was it hot this weekend. Anyway, it's been a while since I posted soccer pictures, so here's our kid with his amazing hippy hair:

Working on this boring sweater

2011-05-20T20:53:00.001-04:00

Rosa Rugosa - I love the pattern but it's not great copy for blogging:

But I have a pattern now for a shawl to make out of some lovely Malibrigo sock a nice person gave me for my birthday. The pattern was also a gift - yay. That will be nice to take pictures of. And make.
We have a couple big doings this weekend - our final soccer tournament of this year and LA Noir to play.
Oh, if you live in Atlanta and are looking for a yummy lunch, try Local Three - Todd Mussman and friends. Yes, we took a day off today.

New yarn and stuff

2011-05-18T14:34:00.001-04:00

More news at 11...

So very tired

2011-05-06T20:39:00.002-04:00

It's been a long week.
So I took Indy out to the back porch before dinner. He's a good kitty - pretty patient.

I hope to finish those lined mittens this weekend so I can move on.
Have nice weekend, everyone.

Knitting at practice

2011-05-05T18:18:00.002-04:00

And listening to Jane Eyre. How bad can life be? I really like these mittens. Entrelac is fun but just as you get sick of it, you're done and move on to straight knitting. The lining will keep the embroidery from snagging. They're a labor of love. I think I'll write this one up with some mix and match colorways - one idea is a fawn grey with cherry branches and pale pink lining ....

Stuff

2011-04-30T21:40:00.002-04:00

This mittens are going slowly - i have the first one and lining done minus thumbs.

Lots of soccer and other stuff - like this little guy eating my lawn the other night when I was making dinner.

Today we went to get new running shoes, walked up Kennesaw

and had dinner at Dave Poe's.
Very nice day.
Oh yeah, watched Night Moves sort stumbled across it. If you like noirs (and I do), it's worth a look. Plus bad 80's hair and 'stash ... Always a bonus.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T20:57:00.002-04:00

Spouse has had a truly awful flu all weekend (sad) but Easter was nice.
Mittens in progress

Oh and we had turkeys this morning

Saturday before a soccer game

2011-04-23T12:34:00.002-04:00

Yet more mittens

2011-04-22T20:51:00.002-04:00

Another experiment - lined entrelac. Entrelac is way fun with Chroma.

Mittens done

2011-04-20T18:34:00.002-04:00

I think next I want to do a lined pair of entrelac mittens. I'll block these tonight.

Sorry it's been a while

2011-04-14T08:52:00.000-04:00

Things have been a little nuts.
I finished the vest - I like it, my spouse thinks it makes me look like an old lady so he hates it. I'm sure there's any valuation of my design or execution in his statement of his preference :), but it's nice to hear that I can still not look old, if you get what I mean.

Let's see, what else? I'm working on some mittens - I'm messing with the Guardian Glove pattern that's available on Ravelry. It's lovely and uses multi-strand fair isle for these amazing looking gloves, but I have opted to take the ~~lazy~~ easy way and use verigated yarn instead of all those color changes.

Last weekend we went to an Atlanta Silverbacks game, that was fun. We also spent a lot of time mowing and cleaning up the yard and so the little one got a tick. I didn't notice until we got home from the game and since it was so late and I couldn't get it out right then, and I knew if it was me I'd NEVER get to sleep knowing I had a tick in me, I lied to him and covered it in Neosporin and a band-aid. The next morning I pulled it out. I later apologized for lying but he was nice enough to agree that I had probably done a good thing by lying about that.
I've also started on a freeform Cotlin cardigan - brown and dark red in a broken rib pattern. I'm hoping the ribbing will help with fit and drape, but I don't have enough to take picture of right now.
And tomorrow my sister and one of her sons is visiting for the weekend - not sure if that will mean more or less knitting time, but should be fun. The little one is very excited.

Final dose of Philly pictures

2011-04-02T11:30:00.001-04:00

From the reception last night (in case you've ever wondered, librarians probably shouldn't drink and dance)

Right after this the living statue started to move and this lady screamed and ran away

Founding fathers looking a bit like bronze zombies

From the display hall, this is a statue to educate one about the nations roadways

What a lot of sauerkraut

How Philly prioritizes print news (look at the relative condition of the two dispensers)

I think if you're a juror, you should get a bigger discount

More Philly pictures

2011-04-01T16:28:00.002-04:00

Liberty Bell and Philadelphia Museum of Art:

More Philly

2011-03-31T20:19:00.001-04:00

Conference center

These are coffee cups

The Reading Terminal Market

City hall

My hotel on the left

Philly

2011-03-30T20:15:00.003-04:00

Random images from around my hotel. I'm staying right next to city hall. It's interesting to be back in a walking city - the old buildings and brown stonework are fun to look at.
And I don't think I've ever had so many randomly friendly conversations. I always think of Philly as being full of mean people - or gruff. They are a little gruff, but I like it.
All the travel is good for knitting - and I've been listening to No Idle Hands. Talk about overkill. :)

Adult situations cont.

2011-03-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

Yeah, that's more like it.

We're getting new sinks in the bathroom too. Those were also old and cheap - and so failing.
And I blocked the super scarf. Aloft takes wet blocking well - clouds up and gets very even and soft.

May contain adult situations and themes

2011-03-23T18:33:00.003-04:00

Remember back in the 90's when TV rating first started up? Warnings against swearing and nudity - you know adult situations.
Only now, I'm an adult, so I know what this really means: escrow accounts, mammograms, finding a reliable roofer and ....
Getting a new kitchen faucet.
Yup, here it is, to be installed on Friday.

And here's what it's replacing (and yes, I should be too embarrassed to post a picture of this, but I'm not - mainly because it came with the house so I can't take the blame for installing anything a.) white or b.) made by American Standard)

Everybody say it with me now:
Eeeewwwww.

View out my window

2011-03-23T09:45:00.002-04:00

Or I guess I should say from my office. This is the view out my new office window. I have a nice tree and grass and squirrels. And now, a robin building her nest in my tree. You can see the nest and I've pointed out the tail in the picture I took.
Oh yeah, here's the scarf, I have only a few yards left to go . . . .

No pictures yet but

2011-03-22T21:08:00.000-04:00

I'm within an hour of being done with the big, insane, LOUD scarf I used to play with Aloft. I can't say for sure until it's blocked, but Aloft is nice. I feared it would be sheddy, but it's not.
I now have 3 balls each of white, grey and black. I'm going to design a beaded scarf pattern for Aloft, knit in the round, this will be very exciting, but I'm not allowed to start until I free up my size 6 needle to do it on.
The stained glass pull over is still coming along, I just got fed up with two color knitting for a while. I'll finish it soon. I really like Chroma, and got a bunch of colors in it, as well as some plain Stroll, so I think I'll do some mittens and hats with those, smaller color work experiments.
I'll take some pictures tomorrow . . .

Moon!

2011-03-19T21:21:00.001-04:00

My husband managed to take a picture of the moon through the telescope - this is one our son took.

I like this one. Makes me think of kickboxers:

And finally, I took this yesterday and it's grown on me:

Going out for BBQ

2011-03-18T20:40:00.001-04:00

And I'm abandoning Dinah - more on why a little later. It was in the 80's today.

Dinah test drive

2011-03-17T11:38:00.000-04:00

You can see the fiber better in the first, but the colors look more like real life in the second. Still playing with colors and placement of beads, but the Gloss DK is knit on 7's and the Aloft on 5's. If you start with the bottom portion, when you want to switch yarns it looks like the ratio will be k3, k2tog . . .

Mmmmm Aloft

2011-03-11T20:19:00.001-05:00

It's nice to work with.

In the kitchen with Dinah

2011-03-11T11:01:00.000-05:00

I used to sing that song a lot as a kid.
A very long suffering person I work and knit with has been making Rowan's Dinah for the better part of a year now. This is the sweater. I don't know why they photographed the poor model in that pose - makes her look kind of insane and the sweater really doesn't show to much effect. But, if you have a Ravelry account, you can search it there under patterns and see some handsome FO's (finished objects).
Anyway, this poor woman I knit with is making Dinah with handspun, so not only has she had to redo the gauge, but handspun is wonky. If you've ever knit with it you know; it leans, it does a craptastic job of making shaped sweater pieces, and so the whole project has been a nightmare, but she's almost done and it will be lovely when she's finished.
Perhaps I'm morbid but her struggles have inspired me. I don't think I gawk at traffic accidents, perhaps I give myself too much credit.
I want to try Dinah myself and here's my materials list:

I think this pattern has a lot of potential, but is fraught with peril, too. Here's why:
Color placement can wreck it - light on top, dark on bottom or you'll look like a house. Too light of a color (pink) could make it look bed-jackety in a very unappealing way (for me). I think those who have actual figures (I kind of look like a 12 year old boy) might want to avoid this pattern. And for god's sake, don't let the change in fabric happen directly in the middle of your bust! Doing that a.) draws attention to your boobs in a way that's just going to ruin conversations for blocks around and b.) will make you look like a house. Think empire waist dress, not mohair waterfall off the chest.
So now that's I've tempted the fates in every possible way with my knitting arrogance, I'm going to make this puppy. I'm going to reduce the poof a bit and use beads very sparingly to weight the curtain of Aloft.
And yes, this is going to have a bow! If you know me, the bow idea will be a hoot and a half.
Happy Friday!
p.s. I'm working with my loud Aloft making a scarf - I'll take a picture soon, it's LOVELY - not sheddy, easy to work with, fantastic colors.