Experiments in Greed

and ze wiener is...

2007-06-19T08:25:00.000-05:00

This is a bit late because (as usual) I underestimated how much time things would take*. There was the cheezy moviethon that Fathers Day turned into (I watched van Helsing without complaining and if that doesn't say Happy Fathers Day I don't know what does). The 3 trips to check out a place that we were really warming up to until I realized what was hidden behind all those trees next door (lets just say they won't be moving anytime soon unless they get time off for good behavior). I also underestimated how hard it would be to pick a winner. Thank you so much for your absurd theories. They cheered me up enormously and helped get my mind off all the stress.

So without further ado the grand prize winner of absolutely nothing is (drum roll please)

Stitchy Fingers!

The winning theory - they read your blog and are awarding points to 1) how many times you mention them 2) how upset you get 3) clues to whether you're willing to raise your offer 4) do you really believe that there is another offer.

* It was overestimating my ability to press the publish post button that caused the biggest delay though. This has been sitting in my drafts folder for 2 days. Whoopsie

Moving On

2007-06-15T07:49:00.000-05:00

He went with the other people. Whatever. I'm over it. It's not as if I liked the kitchen so much that I saved the picture from the listing. I certainly didn't dream that the owner went w the other people but called to tell us who did his kitchen. I definitely didn't plan on where I would put my Muppet canisters and the pic I would take to show it to all of you. Nope, wasn't me. We got the news while we were at the Yankees game thanks to a pair of last minute freebies from my SIL so I couldn't cry-kick-scream-curse. Not while the Yankees had the lead anyway. Instead I fumed and performed the expanded version of Carlin's most famous routine in my head for the rest of the game. Since then I've been constantly hitting refresh on the MLS listings and last night we drove up and took a second look at some neighborhoods. There are a few new listings that look promising and hopefully we will get to see them this weekend. I'll post the winners of the contest this weekend too. In the meantime here is some more Hawaiian eye candy.

Doris Duke's Shangri La

BONUS pic!

Hawaiian Penguins

These poor little guys were at the crazy Hilton (correct me if I'm wrong, babe) that was across the street from our hotel in Oahu. I wonder if they are all huddled in the back because that's where the AC is or if they just want to be as far away from the tourists as possible. Sorry for the crappy pic. We were in a rush to get to the beach in time for sunset (that was a tough day).

PICK ME!

2007-06-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

I'm sick of typing "the owner" so I'm calling him the tiger from now on. The tiger finally called about 20 minutes ago. He apologized for not calling early and blah blah blah they still haven't decided. They will call tomorrow. Wednesday at the latest but probably tomorrow. How can someone so polite be so evil? Clearly the mild mannered thing is an act. The contest continues until the tiger cuts me loose.

A contest ! Maybe even with prizes!

2007-06-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night I found out why the owners were so eager to take the other offer. It was for cash. A real plus since the owners want to close by the end of this month. They told Dv this because now the buyer is talking about financing and he seems to have annoyed the owner. So the owner asked us to look into an appraiser and basically be ready because he might decide to go with us. Exciting, right? And also very very mean. He has promised to tell us either Sunday night or Monday morning, depending on how late he and his wife get back from the weekend (How can he go away at a time like this!) So I have all weekend to think things like ;"I hope I get the place. I'm never going to find a place with such a nice kitchen for that price. A slipper chair would look so nice next to the fireplace. Dammit Jess stop thinking like you'll get it! Now you've jinxed it. " rinse and repeat. Then of course there is the ultimate question, Stress Eating vs Anxiety Induced Nausea; who will win? So in an effort to keep myself sane I've devised this ~~desperate plea for comments~~ mildly amusing game.

Tell me why they need to close so soon. Some background; They seem like nice people. I've only meet the husband but he seems like just your everyday blue-collar mid thirties just started a family suburbanite. Drives an SUV, has boring even by Pottery-Barn-standards taste in furniture. His new house probably has a picket fence. He's pretty good looking and I imagine his wife and child are as well. By suburban standards. Really you don't have much to go on. Be as outrageous as you like. There are no censors here. Points will be awarded for making me laugh out loud, 2 points for making Dv laugh out loud, Triple points if either one of us shoots a beverage out our nose while reading your comment (I cannot guarantee that every post will be read while drinking but what are the chances that we'll stop at this point). 4 points if you make Dv blush (0 points for making me blush. There is no challenge in making a redhead change color.), 1/2 point for including a pun and so on. Oh and points for sending people here since my already slim readership is probably all off enjoying the summer. Actual prizes will be awarded if we get the place and if not you can all be disappointed with me.

She Loved Bamboo

2007-06-08T10:21:00.001-05:00

There is something so sweet and simple about that epitaph. I can't help thinking of Edward Gorey when I read it, though I doubt the pages preceding it would be so innocent.

Well this sucks

2007-06-05T19:03:00.000-05:00

So we went to take a second look at the place. On the way over we went over our opening bid, confirmed our max. Get out of the car say hello to the seller and he tells us he accepted an offer. Today. Like a few hours ago. Even though he had an appointment with us. He couldn't wait a few hours. The cherry on top? The place was nicer than I remembered. I tried to find out how much the offer was for. I tried to make us sound like ideal buyers (Hey babeee you should see my preapproval letter. I've got a credit score the likes of which you've only dreamed about.) If his current offer falls through he'll call us. The buyers already have financing set up so I don't have much hope.

Did I mention we are house hunting?

2007-06-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

We might make an offer on a place tonight. The owner claims he's received offers. Has he? Why did he turn them down? The suspense is killing me. I don't like not knowing. I'm not good at wheeling and dealing. A friend who is says we should offer 90% of the asking price which sounds ok until you do the math and jesus it looks so much lower in dollars. Or is it? Who the hell knows. I'm way too worried about offending someone (prob because I do it so often by accicent). I wish some of the blogs I read covered this stuff. I get way too much info from blogs. Why don't I know more people who have done this already! And of course we are doing this without a broker because involving a professional would just make this too easy. We do have a lawyer so we probably won't get ourselves in too much trouble. I'm trying not to get too attached to the place. Sure its in a great town and the kitchen is beautiful and all that but the bedrooms are kinda skinny and the bathrooms need to be redone. Oh, but that isn't even a negative. I can't wait to redo a bathroom. Any other room in the house I would be totally frozen about redoing but a bathroom thats just fun. Well maybe not the hoisting ceramic thrones but the tilework and all that no prob. I'll be so happy when this is done. Dv thinks it will cost about 1K to move. I have no idea where he came up with that number. We don't plan on hiring movers after all thats what family is for. We put up with those loons for things like this. We'll have to rent a truck but how much does he expect to spend on boxes and bubble wrap? Screw bubble wrap! We'll just wrap everything in yarn. It's the right thing for the environment. OK, I need to take a deep breath and go to my happy place.

Send the Peanuts to bed

2007-05-25T00:07:00.000-05:00

I've got a little something for the peahens.

As further proof of how the internet is the worst thing to ever happen to procrastinators and the easily distracted I present this. I found it while researching something* for this post. It's clearly the love child of an infomercial and a Letterman skit.

*I was trying to verify that baby peacocks are officially called peanuts (turns out they aren't but I used it anyway because I know some people use it and it sounds better than peachick)

LOL SKEIN

2007-05-22T21:17:00.001-05:00

I go lie down now, k?

2007-05-21T12:22:00.000-05:00

Yeah Mondays are supposed to suck and everything but damn it would have been nice if I managed to get 2 whole hours of sleep before being forced to investigate the loud banging noises coming from the back of the house. Also, it would have been nice if I had some advance notice about the replacement of the screen door because really, I didn't need to wake up to two guys in my kitchen. Well, not those two guys anyway. Moving on, here's what was going to be my eye candy last week until something either distracted me mid-post or I decided I didn't like the pics that much. I can't remember which and I had already uploaded them so...
I think this is a useful tip. Of course, I'm the sort of person who reverses direction in the middle of winding yarn onto a niddy noddy so it's probably completely unnecessary for those that don't take the short bus to the yarn festivals. I always use a bit of scrap string to mark the end of the skein that will be in the center when winding yarn into a center-pull cake. Left unmarked it invariably disappears into the dark center and I tug on the some bit from the middle and turn it into a mess.

Must knit faster!

2007-05-14T10:41:00.000-05:00

I think I'm a little more overwhelmed by the latest stash additions than I realized. Friday night I nodded off during a baseball game and when I awoke the TV screen was dominated by a shot of the diagonal striped field. My first thought? Clapotis! Then last night I dreamt that I was talking to my sister and said if I ever knit a Bohus sweater I would make The Wild Apple. I start flipping through Poems of Color to show her the pic but before I can find it she says "Yeah, that one is nice but I would make the Pink Goulash". I was so annoyed that not only was she already familiar with Bohus, she knew of a sweater design that I didn't. Of course, now that I'm awake I'm pretty glad I don't know what the Pink Goulash Bohus looks like.

When I wasn't dreaming of meaty sweaters this weekend I started a Bainbridge Scarf. I'm using some Fibre Company alpaca that I picked up at MDSW.

What's that other thing?

2007-05-10T19:28:00.000-05:00

You know the thing you do with yarn after you buy it and after you enter it into the spreadsheet? What could it be...
Oh I remember now! Knitting. Nice way to spend a car ride, that knitting stuff.

Clapotis
Yarn - 10.5 oz (about 1.32 skeins) Brooks Farm Duet NY D 13
Needle Size - 4.5 mm
Measurements - 84"x20" (approx)
Changes - Finer yarn and needles & 4 extra repeats in the straight section (I was afraid it would be too short).

The colors in the pic are completely wrong. The pale sections are pale spring green and the rest is much more purple. My camera has issues with that shade of purple and I couldn't correct it for anything.

It's a clapotis. The pattern rocks. What can I say that hasn't already been said? It shows off the variegated yarn beautifully. The only pooling is a purple splotch in the increase section and a matching green splotch in the decreases. I actually like it, they make me smile. I made two mistakes because I didn't stick to Kate's instructions. Duet is beautiful and soft and I love how the two plies look but the mohair content made it an absolute pain in the ass when it came to dropping the stitches. I had to poke at every. single. dropped. stitch. Then I blocked it a little too much and flattened the columns more than I wanted to. I really just wanted to straighten the corners but i just kept pinning and spritzing. Maybe it'll bounce back while it waits for the cold weather to return. I wish I knew of someplace that really blasts the AC so I could wear it now! Someplace besides the meat dept at Fairway, that is.

Feelin' Sheepish

2007-05-08T16:52:00.000-05:00

Being a slow blogger is great because it cuts down on the number of times I contradict myself. When I came home from Hawai'i the Maryland Sheep & Wool catalog was waiting for me. I wanted to go but having just spent so much money on the vacation there was no way it was going to happen. Long story short, my mom oh-ed and ah-ed over the catalog, our taxes were a pleasant surprise and of course I'm a greedy piggy. All of which conspired to put me in a Maryland hotel room Friday night with a crab cake in my belly.

I'm having a hard time writing about MDSW. I had a lot more fun at Rhinebeck and I'm not sure why. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy Maryland. There were some great vendors that don't make it up to Rhinebeck. Just, something was missing and I'm just not sure what. I do know that I'm sick of trying to get this post written. I give up. Let's just move on to my purchases.

I bumped into a friend there. When she saw my shopping bag she remembered her first time at MDSW. She said she was like a slut, buying up everything. I was no mere slut, no I was more like a wool crazed satyr. If there was a sexual equivalent to me at the fair you would probably find it in Mick Jagger's bedroom circa 1969. Which is why I will not show off all my purchases. Frankly I'm a little embarrassed at my total lack of restraint. I wasn't helped by my husband.
Me - [on line to pay at the Fold] - I really like Seal Rock and Amethyst too.
Him - So why not buy them?
Me - I dunno. Self control?
Him - [sorta rolls eyes] We did just drive 200 miles to get here.
Honestly, when you start the day off with that sort of logic you can see how I got into trouble. Here's a peak at the ridiculousness -

Hey look! A nearly finished clapotis! Amazing what guilt will do...

Fringe Festival

2007-05-02T15:28:00.000-05:00

I did something today I haven't done in over 12 years. I had a pro cut my hair. I have bangs!
I could go on and on about it but it's hard to type and pet my new bangs at the same time. Also there aren't enough shiny surfaces near the computer.

Muscari

2007-04-27T09:37:00.000-05:00

Snakes on a Train (too late?)

2007-04-25T18:16:00.000-05:00

So, I'm at the 8th St stop waiting for the train and I see this guy who looks exactly like a tv character but I can't figure out who he reminds me of. He has the exact same hair and body type while his clothes and tattoos are pretty close. I can totally hear the character's Vally ~~girl~~ boy accent in my head but I. Just. Can't. Place. It. Just before bed I finally realized he's Snake!

Spring Time Resolutions

2007-04-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's beginning to look like spring around here. Highways in New York are ablaze with forsythia and our parkways are flooding. Maybe that's why I'm so full of optimism and resolutions, especially green ones. At dinner last night, apropos of nothing, I told Dave that I'd like to try cloth diapering. Considering that we aren't even trying to get me pregnant (yet) you can imagine the look of bewilderment on his face. I quickly told him I didn't mean for me personally and we moved on. On a more imminent note I've resolved to bring the number of shopping bags I take home to zero. I always refuse bags when I can fit my purchase in my purse or tote bag but it isn't often enough. I have tons of canvas bags (I'm a sucker for a free-with-purchase tote) but they are too bulky to keep in my purse or pocket 24/7 so they only get used some of the time. My solution? Buy stuff! (Yeah, I know. One day at a time, OK?) I just ordered a few of these super-lightweight bags to keep in my purse and scatter amongst my family. I also bought one of these babies to try out. To my eye that last one looks like an armored paper bag. No one is gonna mess with my bananas!

Bonus link - A gorgeous bit of paper marbling. I would have named the pattern Lotus but that's just me.

Mo-Mullet!

2007-04-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

And on with the Random!

1. Imogen pattern from Perl Grey
Have you ever seen a cozier sweater? I'm ordering the pattern as soon as I decide if I want anything else from their selection of neat pewter buttons & jewelry. Angry monkey stick pin anyone? discovered via Knit Spot

2. Useful tip for users of Firefox - If you accidentally close a tab you can retrieve it by going to History and then "Recently Closed Tabs". You get back your tab with its history intact. Very neat. I only just discovered this so if everyone else knew it forever please just nod and smile.

3. My damn earrings. I bought these for $7 while stocking up on tees at Old Navy. I can not believe the range (or number) of people that have come up to me while I was wearing them. Everyone from trendy blondes to middle-aged women to an old rocker (who was sporting the oddest mohawk/mullet combo) loved them. I can't take all the attention (or maybe it's because they look handmade and I didn't make them) so I'm sending them to live w my sister.

Cat for scale

4. Cat Bordhi's Coriolis Sock Finally an episode of Knitty Gritty worth watching! I was beginning to think HGTV only showed the old episodes (I don't get DIY). The Coriolis sock looks easy and comfortable. It sort of wraps around the foot and I think this new construction will make for an extra comfortable sock. Now if only the publication date of her new book wasn't pushed back! I could have sworn New Pathways for Sock Knitters was coming out in May but the site now reads July/August.

5. The crack that is Socks that Rock (BTW they have some new colors up on their site). At Rhinebeck last year I left Dave on line at the Fold with a few skeins of STR. Ten minutes later he calls me away from the Brooks Farm booth so he can pick out some sock yarn. When I left he didn't want any. Did those evil women waiting with him on line convince him that he needed some? Did he just get caught up in the buying frenzy? All I know is now I have to knit a pair of size 12 socks for a man that refuses to wear short socks. I've been putting it off saying the one skein isn't enough and I need to get a coordinating one to do the toes, heels and cuffs. Maryland is two weeks away. My time is up.

6. Eye Candy. Sick of Hawaii yet?

A drizzly morning on the Trail of Devastation
in Volcanoes National Park

Sacrificial Scarf

2007-04-18T21:16:00.000-05:00

I'm sending my first* scarf off to be frogged and used in an afghan (along w the leftover yarn). I've never worn it. I suppose it's technically not even finished since I didn't break yarn after binding off. The bind-off didn't match the cast-on edge and I never bothered to research an alternative method since the yarn is pretty itchy. It was while knitting this scarf that I realized I knit combination style. I had no idea. Not that I've lead a sheltered knitting life or anything but the first time I saw someone knit in the English style I just thought they were left-handed. Anyway, the yarn should make a good afghan. Paisley certainly approves of its squishiness.

A close-up of the yarn, Air by Berroco, that shows off its nylon core.

*That is to say my first since I started knitting again last year. I'm sure I must have knit one as a child.

Kinokuniya Kutie

2007-04-15T00:42:00.000-05:00

Browsing Kinokuniya yesterday I saw this ridiculously cute hedgehog

It's a book on carving your own stamps and creating labels and such with them. Here's a shoot from the inside

The rest of the book features other creatures like penguins and mermaids. I forgot to write down the ISBN. I felt so guilty about blogging a Japanese craft book without it that I started searching amazon.co.jp for it (why let a little thing like not understanding a bit of Japanese get in the way?). Amazingly I was able to find it in a few minutes. Whaa-la! ISBN 4529043398

I'm giving a bag of yarn the stink eye

2007-04-14T08:54:00.000-05:00

I have a huge crush on Artyarns color #106. Some might call it an obsession. It started slow with a sample in my LYS and it wasn't long before I could spot a skein of it from across the room or in the crappiest of blog photos. Shades of lime to darker green, teals and a splash of brown-edged purple, whats not to love? You would think I have tons of it in my stash but I'm cheap and it's everywhere so I waited. I finally see it online for a nice price. 48 hours later it's in my grubby paws and I feel like I finally got to kiss a summer long crush only to find out he has bad breath. The purple edged with brown? Nowhere to be seen. Instead the yarn is dominated by kelly (shudder) green with some lime, a bit of olive, some sad looking teals and making a surprise appearance, navy. I've been disappointed by online purchases in the past but never by something I've seen in the ~~flesh~~ wool (multiple places!). I don't blame the retailer for this at all. I went back and checked the photo (you know, the one I ignored because I know what my beloved 106 looks like) and it looks exactly like what I got. humph

Gecko!

2007-04-13T00:38:00.000-05:00

click to check out its beautiful bumpy skin

Steel, milk, crabshells, corn and now ceramic

2007-04-08T15:34:00.000-05:00

Needful yarns has a new yarn that is 95% viscose and 5% ceramic. It is anti-static, will shield you from UVA/UVB rays and lower your body temperature by 5 degrees. Probably makes a great dessert topping and floor wax too.

Palm Trees

2007-04-06T00:42:00.000-05:00

I learned a few things in Hawai'i. 1 - Not even the Hawaiian sun will color my pasty calves (sadly not true for the rest of me). 2- The day you go to Ka Lae is not a good day to skip braiding your hair (windiest place I have ever been). 3- I really like palm trees, especially their bark (is bark the right word?). I took more than a few pictures featuring them and even more closeups of their many trunks than I care to admit. I wish I could have captured the sound of the wind rustling the palms at Pu'uhonau o Honaunau. I hate summer and I'm not too fond of the warm halves of spring and autumn but listening to those palms as the sun went down...yeah, I could move there.

Three Palms at Foster Botanical Garden

Kitty Strokes and Turtles

2007-04-01T18:45:00.000-05:00

So here's what I spared you since my last wordy post. 1) Finally booked the flight to Hawai'i the husband and I have been talking about for ages. 2) The next day Teddy (seen here licking a pumpkin) had what the doctors called a stroke. It looked like the lower half of his body was trying to roll across the room while the rest of him tried to get away. This was on a Friday and we spent the rest of the weekend going to the emergency vet for an ECG, blood tests and an extended blood pressure test so that we could find out that he has an enlarged heart and a very bad heart murmur but otherwise he's perfect. Long story short he's on medication and is back to his old self and his prognosis is good except for the sudden death part. I wish I was kidding about that last bit. We asked the vet what we are probably looking at in the future and that's what he said. In between there was lots of waiting room knitting on my clapotis. Big mistake. For months afterward every time I looked at my knitting bag it was with dread since I was sure I was going to have to rip multiple rows because of knitting too tight and who knows how many mistakes. In the end it wasn't as bad as I imagined and my mom's motto of eh, good enough worked fine. I also spent a whole lotta time watching Ted in case he did something weird. That was kinda like staring at a stuffed animal in case it gets furry. Once things with Ted calmed down it was all Hawai'i all the time. Everyone around me must have been sick of hearing about the islands, even my husband who was going with me. In the interest of not driving the rest of you away I'll start wrapping this up. The sands pictured in the last post are (from top to bottom) Lanikai (super soft), Punalu'u (turtles!) and the olivine (AKA peridot) was from Pu'u Mahana. Here are two sea turtles snacking on seaweed at Punalu'u.

And she's back!

2007-03-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

So where was I? Here's a hint

Too vague? here's another

Still not sure? This one is really specific

Twilight Tree

2007-03-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

Phragmipedium Tara

2007-02-23T02:36:00.000-05:00

Smooch

2007-02-14T09:15:00.000-05:00

Ebony Jewelwing

2007-02-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

Ebony Jewelwing damselfly in Ponemah Bog last July

Someone is going on my list!

2007-02-08T02:43:00.000-05:00

This past week I've noticed that at least three of the blogs (FemiKnit Mafia, Squid Knits & Yarnageddon) I subscribe to disappeared off my Bloglines. I'm not sure when they went missing since I'm perpetually behind and it took a while to realize I hadn't read anything about Ms. 1890 or window chewing squirrels in weeks. Has anyone else had problems with Bloglines? Was this was a side effect of people being forced over to the new blogger? I wish I knew where to cast the stink eye.

Apropos of nothing here's some chocolate dipped cuttlefish.

Buttons and Wooly Monmouth

2007-02-02T14:54:00.000-05:00

I’ve wanted to go to go to Wooly Monmouth in Red Bank, NJ ever since I saw their name. I’m a sucker for a punny name (it is on Monmouth St in Monmouth County) but what really burned them into my mental list of “things worth going off course for” is their logo. I love it and had to have a tote bag with a knitting woolly mammoth on it. At the end of December I was finally close enough to say it was on-the-way with a straight face. WM is a small shop packed full of favorite yarns (Noro Kureyon, Lobster Pot cashmere, some Koigu) and some I hadn’t seen before (which I can’t remember because I didn’t take notes), pattern books and notions. They also have an excellent button selection. All the buttons pictured in this post are from WM. If it wasn't right after christmas I probably would have bought twice as many. Really, it is just a great little LYS even if they don’t have tote bags (yet!). I spoke to the owner (who seems cool) and she’s thinking about having some printed up. So if you happen to be in the neighborhood make sure you mention how great the logo would look on a tote bag, ok?

Maybe I'm just tired but...

2007-01-31T02:40:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or are these socks a bit disturbing?

Obsolete Eye Candy

2007-01-26T10:40:00.000-05:00

The old Busch Stadium about a week before the final regular season game.

Knitting Philistine's eye candy left me speechless. If you haven't already go take a look.

Sheesh

2007-01-25T01:05:00.000-05:00

I just spent two hours casting-on and ripping and casting-on for a hat. I usually make a mistake or three in the beginning before I get into the grove of a project but this was pretty bad even for me. The last time I went very slowly and carefully counted as I worked the first pattern row and it was still wrong. That was when I remembered the page of errata that I printed out two days ago.

Anarchy in the Parking Lot - Eye Candy Friday

2007-01-19T10:47:00.000-05:00

I may be the only one that thinks this is eye candy. Up until yesterday there was more evidence of snow in Malibu than in southern NY. That just isn't right.

I'm 55 and my husband is 24

2007-01-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

In Wii years that is. A Wii has taken up residence in our living room and it's the latest reason why I'm not knitting much. Thankfully I can knit in the car so all is not lost. Also, I just received a jury questionnaire so that will probably mean more knitting time in the future. Chances are I'll only have to go for one day if I do get called. Defense lawyers usually take one look at me and my perma-scowl and send me on my way. Of course now that I've said that and tempted the fates...

Since last I took the time to do a proper blog post about my knitting I've made myself a Calorimetry and finished that orange scarf for my mom (only a week late). I'll post about Calorimetry soon but the scarf is going to have to wait until I can get a pic. I didn't work on the Clapotis for a few weeks. I'm back at it now and I've noticed that I'm knitting a little tighter. Not a big deal since its just a big scarf. It's annoying though. I didn't switch from the Inox needle (which feels like it is going to break any minute now) to the Knit Picks needles I got for Christmas because I was afraid my gauge would change. Now that it has anyway and the cold weather is making the Inox cable stiffen up I might as well switch. What's the worst that could happen?

If I give you roses...

2007-01-12T01:46:00.000-05:00

will you forgive me? I've been awfully lax at posting pics for Eye Candy Friday. It's amazing how Friday comes as a surprise every single week.

Resolutions

2007-01-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

Is it too late for a New Years post? Nah, I'm only over a week late. This is a great example of what I should be resolving to change. I was thinking about resolutions for a while but did I blog? No, of course not. Too busy procrastinating until I find myself in an mood apathetic enough to allow myself to publish my imperfect posts. I'm gonna have to put an end to that, or at least start drinking to embrace my imperfections. Sounds like a perfect plan and of course there's the usual eat better, exercise more, moisturize more and knit more than I buy. I won't be doing Wendy's Knit From Your Stash '07. I like buying yarn too much and I'm already planning my trip to MD$W. Am I the only one that was surprised by Rabbitch & Wendy's chilly response to the shop owner who freaked out at the idea of an organized yarn fast? Once you get past the histrionics it isn't hard to understand why she is so upset. Small independent shops have a hard enough time competing against Webs, Knit Picks, eBay and all the other discount retailers. Hearing that someone with over 5,600* subscribers to her blog is suggesting that people stop buying yarn right at what is generally a slow period for most retailers, well if I owned a shop I'd freak out too. Anyone that doubts the power of the yarn blog has to go read this post. Maybe I'm just particularly sympathetic because one of my local yarn shops is closing this month. The owner decided being a lawyer was easier than running a yarn shop. Draw your own conclusions.

*That is just the number of people subscribed through Bloglines.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T04:31:00.000-05:00

Planning my next UFOs

2006-12-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

Trekking is for Necking (close up here) Who doesn't need a 4"x93" scarf made out of sock yarn? While looking for samples of the trekking ombre colors knitted up I found Woll Factory. It looks like they carry the full line of Zitron and Regia along with several other companies and a bunch of Inox accessories I haven't seen. Did you know there is a 75% wool 25% bamboo version of Trekking called Pro Natura? I spent so much time browsing this site. There is an english version but it is ugly, doesn't have everything from the German site and they keep slipping back into German anyway so why bother.

Calorimetry - I think this would be a good use for the Fibre Co. Eden I bought last month. Just need to figure out the right # of stitches to cast-on with the yarn sub and the possible pattern error being talked about on the knitty boards. How cute is this cabled version?

Anemoi Mittens - Me and everyone else, right? I've never actually done any color work so I'm going to take my time picking out the colors for this. Maybe do We Call Them Pirates in the meantime.

December is kicking my ass.

2006-12-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

It isn't note worthy because it happens every year. I love Christmas and every year I come up with all sorts of plans and ideas. The problem lies in November. I spend the first half of the month obsessing about my birthday, then there's Thanksgiving and poof the month is gone. This year was particularly bad and I 'm embarrassed to admit that I had a little panic attack on December 1st. I feel like one of those narcoleptic dachshunds that gets so excited that it passes out.

BBQ'd Eye Candy

2006-12-08T20:33:00.000-05:00

Eye Candy Power Squid Message Super-Meme!

2006-12-01T19:28:00.000-05:00

My Eye Candy -

Deno's @ Coney Island

The weather is so bad here that there are two trucks from the power company parked next door waiting for something to fix. Any normal person would find comfort in that. Not me though, I'm sure they will drive away about 5 minutes before we go dark.

Ages ago a certain squid asked about the first waterfall pic I posted. I intended to email a reply but couldn't find her address. I edited the post in question to include the name of the waterfall. I did this awhile ago but forgot to mention it here. Wouldn't want any of my loyal readers to think I ignore them.

Finally (and only because someone demanded so nicely ;) You've all heard about the guy measuring the speed of the meme, right? The post about it is here. Go read about it, link to it on your blog and ping technorati.

That's enough randomness for one day I think.

Over

2006-11-30T23:04:00.000-05:00

It's over! I know I need one more post but all I can think is "It's OVER"! This means November is over and December means holiday shopping. shit.

Etsy ate my brain!

2006-11-29T22:57:00.000-05:00

I spent so much time prowling etsy today. I started out looking for presents but then I remembered a necklace I saw on someone's blog months ago and tried to find the vendor. Turned out to be an excellent method of procrastination cuz nothing else got done today. I don't even have enough time to write a proper post.

Threading Beads onto Yarn

2006-11-28T14:43:00.000-05:00

I'm making the Beads of Earth scarf from Scarf Style for my mom. I hope she likes it because I've already managed to draw blood working on it and I haven't even cast-on yet. Step one is to string 357 beads onto the yarn. I started with a "Big Eye" beading needle and found that they weren't kidding about the hand sharpened ends. I lost count of how many times I stabbed myself with it before I remembered the "Flexible and Magnetic" needle I bought. That one worked much better. It is thinner and flexible enough that I was able to wrap it around my finger to get a good grip. The other thing that helped was separating the four plys of the yarn and threading half through the needle from one side and the other half through the other side. Once I figured that out threading the beads went much quicker.

Ithaca Farmers Market

2006-11-27T22:18:00.000-05:00

My last Finger Lakes post!

Here's the waterfall we found when we couldn't find the market -

I have serious market envy. It's bad enough their supermarket can kick our supermarkets ass but their farmers market rules too. We went there for breakfast and ended up spending about $70. That's without buying any of the excellent looking organic vegetables or herbs or meat or hard cider and wine. I even resisted the yarn. Instead we bought a freshly made flat bread covered in apples and cheddar from this guy, who brought his own wood-fired oven
Had an excellent apple cider donut (or two), Dv bought a new belt (totally unrelated!). Tried the corn fritters from the macrobiotic stand and bought this cutting board from Raintree Farm

The other side is perfect but I really like that evil little face in the lower right corner on this side. It is made of walnut and buckthorn. Buckthorn is an "invasive weed tree" but it makes for a pretty board (and it's dead now!).

This is all I've got

2006-11-26T17:48:00.000-05:00

I saw the most ridiculous car yesterday. Start with a Ford Aerostar van, add a hood scoop and flames and replace the Aerostar nameplate with one that says Pornstar. I saw the driver (track suit, cheesy gold sunglasses) of the Pornstar walking alone toward it and heard him say "To the Pornstar!". Honest.

25 down, 5 to go

2006-11-25T22:15:00.000-05:00

I can't tell you how happy I am that I only have six posts left to NaPlaBloMe. I have hundreds of posts waiting for me in bloglines. Maybe that's why I've barely turned on my computer these past few days and have been knitting. I'm turning the Brooks Farm Duet I picked up at Rhinbeck into a Clapotis. 176 rows done, 323(?) to go!

More Finger Lakes Yarn Pr0n

2006-11-24T23:13:00.000-05:00

Amazing how many posts I'm getting out of a weekend trip. I even have one more post after this one too. Anywho While I was up there I visited two local yarn shops. Knitting Etc in Ithaca and Finger Lakes Fibers in Watkins Glen. Both carried several local hand dyed and spun yarns. At Knitting Etc. I picked up a skein of Anne -and two skeins of Eden by the Fibre Co.
Eden is soft and wonderful. The sheen from the silk gives it a bit of iridescence and make this color look like a Morpho butterfly. Really pretty and much richer in person.

At Finger Lakes Fibers I picked up a skein of spindle spun yarn by Kathy Halton. It was the day before my spinning class and I couldn't resist it. It is just so even and hey, it was on sale because it's green (naturally dyed with goldenrod and indigo).

What are you thankful for?

2006-11-23T17:36:00.000-05:00

I'm happy my mom is nuts. Today she made muffins, cookies and two pies (and no we didn't have a lot of people over). Mmmm doggy bags. Everyone should have a crazy baker in their life.

Andrea & Martha starting in Yarn Pr0n

2006-11-22T20:43:00.000-05:00

As soon as Dv let it slip that we were going up to the Finger Lakes I started trying to remember which yarn companies are up there. It didn't take long to think of Schaefer Yarn. From the time they said we could stop by I vacillated between fantasizing about all the yarn and worrying about how much I would spend. The business is run out of Cheryl & Erich Schaefer's home and looks no different from the neighbors' save for the employees' cars crowding the driveway. Inside it's clear from first whiff what they are doing. The place is a vinegar scented rainbow. I was given a retail price list and headed in the direction of the wool room (a walk-in closet, complete with cat). The yarns are organized by color or name but not both (make sense? It didn't to me either.). [Dv is watching the latest Harry Potter and I'm being horribly distracted. Does Rita Skeeter make anyone else miss Madeline Kahn? OK, back to the yarn] The only yarn I knew I wanted was Anne, I had a whole list of colors I was hoping for but there was no Anne. A yarn rep was there the day before and had scooped up almost all of it save for a few skeins that were hidden away under a table. So back to the wool closet for more fondling. Eventually I settled on a skein of Andrea in Eleanor Roosevelt and a huge 9oz skein of Martha in Mary Breckinridge. Martha is Schaefer's new yarn made of 80% lambswool, 10% cashmere and 10% dehaired angora. It feels wonderful and looks like it will have very nice stitch definition. Of course I haven't the foggiest idea what to do with it and it is so new they don't have any patterns for it. Oh, crap it's getting late. Damn you Harry Potter! Better cut to the yarn pr0n.

Andrea

Martha

Wreck the Halls

2006-11-21T21:40:00.000-05:00

Dv brought me up to the Finger Lakes because he knows how relaxed I feel up there. The Finger Lakes are a group of lakes in upstate NY. The wineries are primarily located on the edges of Seneca, Cayuga (impossible to say w/o thinking of cartoons) and Keuka Lake. Because they are so close together you can go to several wineries in a day. Just pick a lake and the wineries are one after the other. The hardest part is trying to remember which wineries you didn't like last time. Or maybe it's keeping your eyes on the road. There are dozens of small waterfalls everywhere. How could you not relax sitting in a car going from one wine tasting to another gazing at the lake or waterfalls in between? "Deck the Halls" is how. It's a very popular event where people buy a ticket that gets them a grapevine wreath and then they go to each winery to collect ornaments and enjoy food & wine tastings. Sounds nice enough but people go to this thing planning to get trashed. Normally DtH is the just the first weekend in December but because it is so popular they added a weekend in November. We didn't find out until we got there - Whoops. The only good thing was that most of them rented limos so we didn't need to worry about being killed. You should have seen the limos, I think I saw one "normal" limo. There were tons of stretch SUVs including a Durango w the license plate DA RANGO (da is right), 2 stretch Hummers (the really big one's license plate was GODZILA), a stretch Charger, a stretch pick-up(!). Clearly I don't need to tell you about the group of woman wearing matching plastic grape-bunch necklaces for you to tell this is a classy crowd. We started on the less popular (and lucky for us popular doesn't necessarily equal best) side of the lake and were able to go to several wineries that weren't participating and a few participating wineries that weren't overwhelmed. We did skip one because we could hear a woman's drunken screaming while we were still at the previous winery. Things didn't get bad until after lunch. Several places were so loud we just turned around and left but there was one that Dv really wanted to try. The place was crazy inside but we wedged ourselves in at the tasting counter and I was promptly served wine in a dirty glass with a fruit fly in it! Ah, good times. Despite all the nonsense we managed to go to enough places that weren't insane and I had a good time. The entire weekend was like that, stuff kept coming up that could have ruined it but then it worked out. Dv was even sick as a dog on Friday but managed to recover fast enough to show me a good time.

I was going to post about Schaefer yarn today but I screwed up the pics (damn white balance). I will do my best to post about it tomorrow. In the meantime here's a shot of the one of the lakes (Seneca, I think).

right round like a record baby

2006-11-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

I found out about the spindle spinning class at Flying Fingers about a week before Rhinebeck. Even though I desperately needed guidance if I was to have any hope of using a spindle successfully I hemmed and hawed over it. Then I saw the fibers and spindles at Rhinebeck. The next day I signed up. I am so glad I did . Anna Upton of Maupston Design Studio taught the class. She clearly loves to spin and teach. The $75 class fee included a box filled with bags of natural colored bluefaced leicester and tussah silk, dyed merino, two bobbins of her own hand spun singles (for the plying lesson), written instructions and knitting needles that we used to convert the box into a lazy kate. She also gave us two silk hankies and some hand-painted bluefaced leicester to play with. The only extra fee was for the spindle. She brought an assortment of Kundert spindles for us to choose from. In three hours she taught 3 drafting techniques, woolen & worsted spinning, plying a balanced yarn and finishing. I left the class so excited that I was spinning in the car later that day. I would write more but that box of fiber is calling to me.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2006-11-19T20:13:00.000-05:00

I am having a great birthday weekend. So far there have been wine tastings in the Finger Lakes, a trip to Schaefer Yarn, more wine, yarn shops, a spindle spinning class (shockingly quite fun). OK, gotta go, I think I hear a glass of eggnog and some more gifts calling my name. More tomorrow!

Scary Sides

2006-11-18T01:40:00.000-05:00

Dv took me out to a new (to us) place for a pre-birthday dinner today. I ordered the crab cakes. They came with "RWB" slaw and sweet potato fries. I didn't worry about what RWB meant. I should have because my cole slaw had blue cheese in it. On purpose. Cheese IN cole slaw. WTF? At least the crab cakes and sweet potato fries were cheese free and quite yummy.

Eye Candy Friday - It's Gorges

2006-11-17T20:31:00.000-05:00

Taughannock Falls

Can't blog for long today so I'll just leave you with the pic. For a sense of scale look for the two people on the bridge.

Afghan Envy

2006-11-16T13:37:00.000-05:00

I want to knit an afghan. A big cozy thing made out of whatever insanely colored stuff appeals to me. The sort of yarn that just doesn't lend itself to clothing like oh, I dunno, Colinette. Or maybe some sublimely comfy Malabrigo. Kureyon looks incredible knit up into Lizard Ridge. I'd have one of those on my needles as soon as I saw the pattern if it wasn't for one little thing. I'm clumsy, I live with someone who is, well, lets just say I've threatened to buy him a sippy cup more than once and then there are the cats. Two lovable, hairball hacking, shedding balls of surprises. I'm not about to hand wash an afghan whenever one of us has a gravitationally challenged moment. I'm horribly jealous of all the people on the Lizard Ridge KAL. Do they really have spill & hairball free homes? are they only going to use their afghans for show (heresy!)? are they just ~~insane~~ in denial? Feel free to tell me about the great hand-dyed *washable* yarns out there and shut me up. Until then I'll just contemplate making a blanket from sock yarn.

I'm losing it

2006-11-15T17:57:00.000-05:00

I was all set to blog about Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs and how I lucked out and got a hardcover copy of it for $4.50. There's only one teeny-tiny little problem - the book actually cost me $23. Somehow I completely forgot that I spent that much until I was checking my credit card statement. I know I was shopping late one night and my purchases represented a fit of pique on my part but I can't explain the discrepancy between the prices. Maybe I dreamt the bargain price (it wouldn't be the first time I was bargain hunting in my dreams). At least I don't drink and shop. I'd probably be struggling to explain my new mail-order bride to my husband right now if I did. Moving on. The book showed up yesterday and it's fabulous. I could go on and on about all the great designs but I suspect I'd just be preaching to the choir. I have to say I do love that the charts are handwritten. I think the subtle variations help to keep me from going all cross-eyed. The spider at the beginning of the twisted-stitch chapter is so lifelike even its chart is menacing. I need to find a use for it. Maybe on a bag for a spindle? I've already found the cable pattern that I liked in one of Louisa Harding's pattern books. Since it was the only thing in the LH book I would use my new book has saved me about $16 which brings the cost of it down to $4. See the $4.50 price wasn't a crazy dream it was a premonition! Ah, nothing like desperately justifying my lunacy. As long as we are on the subject of lunacy there is one truly special pattern hidden right at the end of the aptly named Uncharted Miscellany chapter. Behold the Mask!
She even includes instructions for adapting it to a ski or halloween mask.

Furry Blue Insects

2006-11-14T22:52:00.000-05:00

I saw the oddest little fly today. It looked exactly like a baby-blue pill (the kind you pick off your clothes) with wings. Sadly my google-fu is failing me and I have not yet identified it. I caught it and took this craptastic camera phone pic. Of course the pic is no help at all unless you count reminding me that i need a new sweatshirt.

I don't want to blog today.

2006-11-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

Ages ago my sister and I convinced my parents to take in another cat. The latest was a kitten and once we convinced our mom we brought her to the vet. The vet told us she was too young to be fixed and to come back in a month. We kept her indoors but Zig hadn't accepted her role as an indoor cat. One night before the month was up she snuck out and came back pregnant. She had two kittens and we kept them. Siren bonded with my dad over a mutual love of the recliner, and Bear shared an ice cream craving sweet tooth with my sister. Zig was a tough creature being kept here against her will, she wouldn't look you in the eye and would cut you if you looked at her funny. Naturally she bonded with the teenager in the house (me). It's 15 years later and they have all hit old age at the same time. Siren was the first to get sick. He developed a thyroid problem and it's now under control. Then Bear lost a lot of weight. The vet thinks it's a kidney problem but we've caught it early and are treating it. Everytime something happens with them my mom tries to prepare me for the worst. I know she wants to protect me but I don't need any help worrying. Mom doesn't just worry about the worst happening, she completely expects it. All year I've been listening to her hint at the end and now Zig is sick too.

Terra by the Fibre Co.

2006-11-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

I saw Terra by the Fibre Co. in person at the Brooklyn General Store. Gorgeous colors. They are richer than the Webs pics but those are the only ones that show the duotone colors. I really need to come up with an excuse to buy some of the dark indigo. At $16/hank I'm not about to buy it without a plan.

I would make a lot more gifts if they were all this well received.

2006-11-11T22:40:00.000-05:00

Die big fuzzy ball! You're mine now!

Oh, you want to see the toy?

OK, but no touching! It's mine!

Macodes Petola

2006-11-10T20:49:00.000-05:00

My first contribution to Eye Candy Friday. This is Macodes Petola, a terrestrial orchid with beautiful sparkly green-gold veins.

Does Calamari Felt?

2006-11-09T17:49:00.000-05:00

These days you can get yarn made from tofu leftovers, corn, doll heads, shrimp & crab shells and who knows what else. So I can't possibly be the only one who scanned the latest Webs email, saw something-quid thought, for just a split second, SQUID YARN?!? Can I?

Last-Minute Fabric Gifts : A Book Review

2006-11-08T14:58:00.001-05:00

When I saw this addition to editor Melanie Falick's growing list of books I was quite excited. 2004's Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson quickly become a staple of the internet knitting world. Her designs are beautiful and combine classic shapes with appropriate and attractive materials. She often exploits her chosen yarn's attributes to create something greater as is the case with the Child's Rainbow Scarf and many other designs. I expected more of the same from Last-Minute Fabric Gifts by Cynthia Treen and was disappointed.

The thirty projects contained within LMFG primarily emphasize clean lines to the point of boredom with occasional messy attempts at shabby chic. (Notable exceptions to this are the two children's toys in the book. They are both stylized but sweet.) Fully one third of the projects are simply rectangles of fabric with minor variations. There is a sarong (rectangle with ribbon ties), a herringbone scarf (rectangle with applied fringe), a herringbone guest towel (rectangle with applied & self-fringe) et cetera. Fabric choices for the projects are for the most part dull (lots of herringbones, tweeds and the like) and sometimes puzzling as is the case for the bed sheet-esque sarong and guest towel that looks like a scarf. Occasionally a project starts with an interesting idea but doesn't take it anywhere. The tie pouch falls into this category. It is a cute idea for recycling out-of-fashion ties that is marred by clumsy finishing.

Quick projects need either beautiful materials or interesting details to transform them into great gifts. LMFG offers neither. The only project that works perfectly as-is to create something greater than the sum of its materials and the amount of effort required are the Felted Rocks. With that exception I don't think there are any items I would make as instructed in this book. It is worth flipping through at your local book store. You might see a project with potential but it will be up to you to transform it into something interesting and gift-worthy.

Instructions for the felted rocks can be found here.

Election Day! Now with Knitting Content!

2006-11-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

No more idiotic commercials, no more ugly signs stuck into the grass at every intersection, no more trees being killed to weigh down my poor mailman and tell us that candidate x is going to let all the baby rapists out of prison and candidate y is a baby rapist. happy happy happy. And of course you have to love those old school voting machines we still have in New York. There is something very satisfying about the sound of those little metal levers.

Since my knitting is channeling a Diebold machine and currently at a negative I'll leave you with this screen grab of a video game played on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The holiday stress begins

2006-11-06T13:02:00.000-05:00

Ah, the first weekend in November. This now marks the beginning of holiday negotiations for me. I still haven't gotten over last year's nonsense which leaves me in a foot stomping-ly stubborn mood. I want to be with my family and that's that. Except it really isn't because I am sick with guilt and worry about possible arguments with the in-laws over my decision. I think I need to go play with the buttons I picked up at Rhinebeck from Moving Mud and pretend I don't need to deal with anyone.

Purring w Sleek Sophistication

2006-11-05T01:48:00.000-05:00

Only four days into NaBloPoMo and it's already making me edgy. Last night after we watched a movie I freaked out for a second because I thought it was after midnight and I hadn't posted yet. (It was only 10:30, how sad is that?) Then I spent forever trying to figure out how to add a button WITH a link to my sidebar under the new blogger. They make it super easy to add pictures but they don't give you a way to have them link to something. My preferred method for editing html (cut & paste, change a few bits) doesn't work too well since they no longer let you get at the html for anything besides the template. You can only add little bits of code which means I had to go to someone else's blog and find the bit I needed to copy blah blah blah... It drives me nuts when things are dumbed down to the point that you can't do anything. So that's why I had my panties in a twist last post. It's a shame really because up until then I was happy watching a movie with one of my boyfriends in it (Babe, if things don't work out with you and Maggie give me a call. I'm gonna be available if I keep badmouthing IT professionals in my blog.) and I was shopping at Fire Mountain. The shopping doesn't count against the fast. I need stuff for projects already in the works. I think I might have to do a Knitpicks order too. I started working on the Tannenbaum hat despite not being able to find my 2.5mm dpns. So I tried to do it on a 2.5mm 24" circ. I figured if Kristie can make a sock on a 12" circ surely I can make a hat for my ginourmous head on a 24" needle. Turns out, not so much. Anyway, while I was shopping at FM I noticed a new Swarovski color - Crystal Silver Shade Effect. Hmmm, sounds sparkly. What's it like? Of course FM didn't have a description so I googled and found this from an eBay seller;

Like a nocturnal sphinx basking in a pool of shimmering light, Crystal Silver shade purrs with sleek sophistication. The appeal of this new effect lies in its timeless and understated elegance

Still wondering? Well duh, It's clear with a silvery coating on some facets. How could you not get that from the description?

Hey, you know what sucks?

2006-11-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

Google's beta blogger. I know big surprise. I only updated to get someone nagging me about it to shut up. Never ever trust someone who works in IT when they tell you something is new and improved. Don't believe what they say about how fabulous the back end is. It's just like internet dating, never trust a back end you can't see.

Anyway, the NaPlaBloMe list has been updated and I'm on it now so I've added the randomizer button to my blog. So go click on it and check out a few other sites. Double points if you find someone who has already missed a day

Wooly Wooly Lust

2006-11-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

I've decided to go on a shopping diet. No yarn, no nothin'. After Rhinebeck and way too much online shopping I need to take a breather before the holidays. So what am I doing? Obsessing over everything I can't buy. This yarn from twisted.etsy.com is gorgeous. Normally I don't go for the self-striping stuff but this is different, it's like self-striping yarn by Koigu. Luckily I'm not a fan of pink but if she paired those greens with periwinkle and blueish-purples I'd be all over it like a $2 whore. The other big object of my lust is the queen of all sock of the (every other) month clubs. I've always loved the idea of of-the-month gifts. What could be better than having a box of goodies arrive every few weeks? I'm trying to convince myself that I don't want it and I'd probably end up getting a bunch of ugly colors but who am I kidding? It's STR, I'm sure I could trade the inevitable ugly skein with someone. I'm even obsessing over stuff I wouldn't normally buy like Koigu 123a. The way it looks in a skein is blah but knit up into a Jaywalker and I'm in love. It looks exactly the way some dyes look when they "break" into their individual components. Here's a fun little exercise in frustration I like to play. 1) Go to Grumperina's Jaywalker Gallery. Either page is fine. 2) Browse the submissions nonchalantly. 3) Fall madly in love with a color. 4) Discover that the color is a) discontinued b) mislabeled and therefore a complete mystery c) only available in Germany or d) the product of an independent dyer who is flakier than the cereal aisle at Stop & Shop. Have Fun!

Christmas Knitting: Naughty or Nice?

2006-11-02T17:35:00.000-05:00

You can deny it all you want but Christmas is going to be here way too soon. I had all these great ideas for what I would make people but haven't actually cast on for any of the projects. I'm not even sure if I will. Here's the problem. Me & deadlines, we don't get along. Plus if I only make gifts for some people I'm pretty sure other people will pout. And then there's my way of dealing with problems - throw it in the corner for a month (or two). That's not gonna work when we only have 7 weeks to go. Choices, choices. In the meantime I've picked out a bit of Christmas knitting for myself. The Tannenbaum Hat! I've bought the pattern, the yarn has been wound into a ball and hopefully I'll cast on for it tonight. I'm going to try to find some little bells instead of beads to use as ornaments. A tree shaped hat really isn't obnoxious enough, I need it to make noise too. That should also make knitting around the cats more exciting.

Stalling for the sake of NaBloPoMo

2006-11-01T00:22:00.000-05:00

I've decided to sign up for NaBloPoMo. I wasn't going to but the blog could use a bit more content if I hope to have anyone find it and hey there are prizes so why not. Since I'm pretty sure I need to pace myself if I have any chance of actually posting once a day I'm putting off my first christmas post in favor of this. NaBloPoMo is going to send my comment to post ratio straight to hell especially since at least one family member has broken her computer to get me to stop pestering her about commenting (she claims it was an accident).

Halloween was pretty good at Chez Greed. The husband carved pumpkins with me without (too much) complaining about how icky they are and I baked an apple pie. I also learned that raw pumpkin is tasty to cats. Who knew?

10/31

2006-10-31T16:21:00.000-05:00

Behold The Fuzzy!

2006-10-30T18:17:00.000-05:00

BEFORE

After

Parttern from Stitch & Bitch Nation
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky in Limeade, Lion Brand Fun Fur in Turquoise
Changes: I grafted the top to the sole instead of using a three-needle bind-off.

These babies are huge. I felted them to within an inch of their life and they are still big on my size 9 feet. Right now they are perfect for stomping around the house saying things like "Jack not name, Jack job!". The size really isn't a problem since I, uh, never wear slippers. I love slippers in theory and the more absurd the better but I can't be bothered to actually wear them. I was all set to make a joke about my toes being naturists. I went to wikipedia to make sure I was using the right word and realized I couldn't come up with anything funnier than this nugget from their Naturism page - Canuding is the act of canoeing in the nude (work warning: boobies). How can I possibly think of a toe joke when all my brain wants to do is come up with a canuding based toungue twister? Hmmm, how about the Canuding Canuck canned the cannoli scarfing canary?

Do these slippers make my tentacles look fat?

2006-10-29T22:43:00.000-05:00

More tomorrow

I'm so Craftster circa 2005

2006-10-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

And the award for dopiest color names goes to Artful Yarns* for their Reality line. The "Extreme Makeover" colorway actually looks like a giant bruise which is pretty funny. If the rest of the colors mimicked the shows so well I'd be impressed, too bad it's obviously just a gimmick. I guess now that the popularity of novelty yarns is waning yarn companies need to look for new ways to make themselves look foolish. Did I say something was going out of style? That can only mean one thing! Yup, I'm knitting with it. When I cataloged the stash I realized that I picked out the wool and fun fur to make the fuzzy slippers from Stitch & Bitch Nation ages ago. I'm glad I didn't try to make them back then. The instructions in S&B Nation read like they were written by committee. Once translated they are a quick knit and I should be rocking the muppetskin shoes by the end of the weekend. As long as I'm on the subject of novelty yarns how about some "Natural Novelty Yarns". This is Spincycle Yarns' The Mariners Revenge Natural Novelty Yarn I think I love it but I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't in one of my absolute favorite color combos I'd be making a rather tacky joke about someone standing too close to the spinning wheel. They have some really pretty yarns (and the best knitting tattoos I've seen). Has anyone used their yarn? I've only seen one mention in the blogs I read regularly and it wasn't a perfect experience.

*Speaking of dopey those twits haven't updated their website since their Fall '05 lines.

Rhinebeck

2006-10-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going through Rhinebeck withdrawal. Maybe I should play an episode of Lime & Violet or Cast-On and sniff my new yarn. In the meantime I'll just have to try to remember it all and share it with you. We arrived before 10am and left just a few minutes before 5pm. It didn't even feel as though the entire day had gone by (well, except for the achy back, aggravated blister and empty wallet). Almost instantly I started recognizing people from their blogs which is beyond weird. Nothing makes you feel like a freshman faster than being surrounded by people you "know" who all seem to know each other but don't even know you're alive. If only I commented more! If only I posted on the Knitty boards more! I could be one of them! The blogger/Knitty meet-up was downright scary. From a distance they generated a noise like a hive of sorority girls turned up to 11. (You know I'm just jealous). It wasn't just the people I recognized, I knew the names of their clothes too (how perverted does that sound?). There were at least three Klaralunds, even more Rogues and who knows how many Clapotis. The festival itself lived up to everything I had heard. To keep it short beautiful yarn was everywhere and the number of booths selling things I could get elsewhere or crap were minimal. Here's what followed me home;
By far the craziest thing I bought was the skein of laceweight by Skaska Designs. See that little ball with the yellow band? That is 1,200 yards of yarn. I am so not ready to use it but the colors are just so me that I couldn't not buy it. (Trying to get an accurate picture of those colors on this dreary day is what made me sack my plans for more detailed photos of my haul.) There is also Sock Candy in Lapis and Socks that Rock in Blue Brick Wall, Lagoon & Spinel. Two gigantic (1/2 lb each!) skeins of Duet from Brooks Farm. Moving Mud has beautiful buttons. Hopefully I'll get a better pick of the three I bought up here soon. The pale silver/yellow and dark purple 100% silk yarn in the center of the pic and the rainbow* skein are from Ellen's 1/2 Pint. There is a distinct eau d' sheep to both of those skeins which makes me wonder where she stores them. Her yarn was lovely though and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more. My last purchase was the kumihimo kit and the freeze-dried indigo from Carolina Homespun.

Not everyone was as impressed with the show as I was. To quote Trek "MD S&W was much better" Did I say I was going through Rhinebeck withdrawal? What I meant was I can't wait for MD! It's just 6 mos & 10 days away!

*What can I say? Too many of my formative years were in the 80s.

Sheep Overload

2006-10-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

Rhinebeck was fabulous. I was worried that it wouldn't live up to everything I heard and I was so wrong. I even managed to stop being so shy and said hi to a few bloggers including Cara (who was wearing her awesome kneehighs) the entire Squid family and Cari. I'll do a proper post with pics and coherent thoughts later. I need a moment to digest everything. In the meantime I'm going to head over to the shop and sign up for a spinning class so that I can justify buying one of those gorgeous Golding spindles next year.

Soggy soapy bags and the skein of dooooooooom

2006-10-19T22:25:00.000-05:00

That is my soggy FO. It is a bag for a bar of soap. I'd link to the pattern but you really don't want to make this. Dv used it this morning and it is still soaking wet 15 hours later. Probably moldy now. But who cares because I used more of the Skein of Doom. This baby is one pound of Sugar N' Cream. I've also made an entrelac washcloth and the disdressed version of the string market bag and the thing can still take out a pig. Use me before I kill again!

Do I have anything to wear to Rhinebeck? Nope, too busy making cotton housewares. The nice thing about working with all this cotton is all my other yarn feels soooo good.

So much for temporary

2006-10-18T20:29:00.000-05:00

When I set this blog up I thought it would just be a temporary step. Just someplace to get over my initial worries and play around until I came up with a better name and decided who I should let in on it. Two weeks later the name has grown on me (yeah, I couldn't come up with anything better) so I put my webmaster (ha! that's the only time I'm gonna call you master, babe!) to work and we bought drumroll please experimentsingreed.com . Whoo-hoo! I guess I better get my act together and start putting some effort into the posts and maybe let more than two people know about it. Oh and of course I'll make the place all pretty-like. Tomorrow I'll even have a FO.

Introducing Herman

2006-10-16T14:30:00.000-05:00

Herman is a grapefruit sized ball of pure fury or as Ted thinks of him "my new brush". Upon hearing that my two little troublemakers will even eat my moss (who eats moss!?!) Mom decided some protection was in order. Dv is sure the cats are going to horribly impale themselves on the thing. He has even expressed concern that they will put an eye out. He might be projecting just a wee bit. Herman drew blood within seconds of greeting Dv. Ted's meeting was a little different basically it was sniff, ouch, sniff, ouch, sniff, ouch,sniff, ouch, sniff, ouch, sniff, ouch and then he realized he could rub on it like a brush. I might need to protect Herman from Ted. Oh and the name? "You know what's funny about Herrman? There's nothing funny about Herrman". Dv suggested Hold Me Touch Me. Better joke but crappy movie. The musical was so good but the 2nd movie was PAINFUL so I'm sticking with Herman.

You wanna put what where??

2006-10-12T02:22:00.000-05:00

So I went out to the island to help m w bear's iv. Yeah, that went well. The needle was friggin' HUGE. I have drill bits smaller than it. Poor bear. There was saline everywhere. M's gonna need another lesson from the dr. But don't worry, bear was ok once we stopped poking and started feeding her.

Now to cheer you up after talking about such crappiness I give you this. What kind of childhood does someone have that leads to this line of thought "You know what would make this turkey taste even better? Baking it on a huge metal dildo!" Take a look (its work safe).

fun w spreadsheets

2006-10-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

It took me forevah but I finally finished entering all my yarn into a spreadsheet. I have far too much yarn to be wasting time on spreadsheets instead of knitting but I'm glad I did it. Maybe knowing how much yarn I actually have will help keep my spending in check at Rhinebeck. Emphasis on the maybe. The entire time I was working on it I had Skullcrusher Mountain stuck in my head. Go listen! It's like Barenaked Ladies meets The Venture Brothers.

Don't say I didn't warn you

2006-10-10T23:40:00.000-05:00

Whatever you do don't click this link before you go to sleep!

I do not need.

2006-10-09T01:40:00.000-05:00

I do not need giant vinyl bug stickers. I def do not need them in silver. Nope. Nope. Nope. The fact that I am renting is the only thing keeping me from this sticker. Of course I'm deep in the throes of a chrysanthemum-motif obsession so maybe thats all it is. But I know I don't need the insects.

Lookee what I got today

2006-10-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

Compliments of the best husband ever®. Of course the universe wasn't too pleased with the idea of me owning it. After all this isn't just a Yankees cap but a Mike Mussina cap. So the heavens opened up and the game was delayed today until they can figure out how to punish me. I think I need to make an offering, but of what...

I have a problem

2006-10-03T23:54:00.001-05:00

I can't decide which ones I like better, the regular size -

or the small size -

Choices, choices. Maybe someone will decide for me.

BTW I need to pick up some horrified b-movie victims so if anyone needs a bacon wallet or whatever just let me know.

Paisley wants this too

2006-10-03T03:16:00.000-05:00

Frankly I can't believe I've lived this long and never had one. Obviously I want this one. Just look at the detail in the trunk! You can stop laughing at me now. How else am I supposed to grow this ancient wonder food?