Finally... a Clapotis!

So I realized that it probably takes most people about a week to 10 days to finish this project, but lo and behold, it wouldn't be a project at Chez Spaz if it didn't look like this at some point. This was taken on 1/31. Note that at least this time, I had enough sense to remember to put in a lifeline. I debated about this one for a while actually. I had changed needle sizes and the ball looked quite large for some reason and I just thought, well heck, maybe changing gauge will be enough to lengthen the scarf without altering the number of increase repeats. I'll go another repeat. I should learn to never trust my judgment on these things.

I have to say that I've become trusted friends with my ball winder. With the number of times that my ball winder has turned a mass of ramen into something more manageable, I'd have to be. I should get it a Christmas present... And with as much as I trusted my ball winder, I never thought that shortly after this picture, it would conspire against me to be the Stupidest Thing I Did This Week*.

* Blatant swipe of a brilliant idea by Carrie over at Every Word's a Purl. She does an occassional, but hilarious series of the Dumbest Thing I Did this Week. See Here for an example.

So, have you ever thought, darn... I wish I could wind my yarn barf back into a center pull ball with my WIP still attached and not have to work from the outside of the ball. Well, I'm here to tell you that yes, you probably can do this if you wind by hand (I haven't tried), but please, don't try this with your ball winder. I did. It doesn't work.

If I must elaborate, I attached the yarn going up to my Clap-in-progress to the winder, strung the yarn through the guide, and started to crank. I quickly realized that my winder was going to try to wind from both ends (and frog the Clap) so I clamped down on my WIP end. Well, it didn't wind around the spool, but all that turning had to do something. A couple dozen cranks later, I found out what: my beautiful flat ribbon yarn turned into a dense single ply tube. Yes, my first experience with spinning, and wow was that effective. An hour later, I managed to de-spin less than a yard's worth of yarn and start working again from the outside of the re-wound ball.

Thankfully, this one's done:Clapotis
Pattern: by Kate Gilbert in Fall 2004 Knitty (as if you didn't know)
Materials: Southwest Trading Company Phoenix (100% soy silk, 175 yards). Exactly 3 skeins. Size 8 Addi Turbo 32" circulars.
Gauge: 5 sts/in
Finished size: 14" x 46"

Started: January 1, 2006
Finished: January 14, 2006
Frogged: January 16, 2006
Finished: February 5, 2006

Notes:
Followed pattern, except repeated increase section a total of 6 times and repeated straight section a total of 12 times. And frogged a lot. Kate Gilbert doesn't tell you to do that.

Discussion:
I actually liked working with Phoenix. After reading the review on Knitter's Review I was a bit skeptical that I'd eventually get the feel of working with a "wet noodle", as some had described. But the reviewer was right, and the very occassional snags were unnoticeable. I highly recommend this stuff if you can find it on sale somewhere. For the first time though, I couldn't meet gauge and get a fabric that I was satisfied with. I ended up meeting gauge for the lighter weight version of this yarn, Oasis. Makes me wonder if I'd turn Oasis into a sport weight yarn...

The pattern is about what I expected it to be. Pretty mindless, but it kept me motivated because I just wanted to get to the next dropped stitch. I just can't figure out how to get the edge stitches on either side of the dropped stitch column to stay tight. Yes, they stay nice and taught when pulled the rows tight, but when you pull the columns tight, the edges of the columns, despite their twistedness, still loosen up. Sigh. I'm living with it, and hopefully the recipient won't notice.

If I ever make this again (doubt it since I already made this one twice) I'd definitely do it in stole size instead of small scarf size. See how it's not as Mr. Yuck short now? I only managed to add 5 inches on to the length, but because of the gauge change, I also took out 4 inches in the width to make it a bit more proportioned.

Previous posts about this project:
Good to be back on 1/11/2006
Too square on 1/14/2006
Beware! on 1/16/2006

Blogging grand rounds

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I had a chance to get out and see what everyone's been doing lately and try and be a better blogger.

Caitlyn just finished up a fair-isle hat and was daring enough to show the floats. Suffice it to say that she wrestled with those floats a bit before she was happy with the outcome (like most of us would... except if you're Eunny and have such ridiculous fair isle skills that you can design a beautiful pattern for which the rest of us have to join the knitting olympics to tackle... just ask IronSteph). It's weird how the knitting world is so small. I happened to get my VK winter 2005/6 issue yesterday, and while I probably wouldn't make a single pattern in this issue, they happened to have an entire article on Armenian Knitting by Meg Swansen. MS described a fair isle technique that ends up looking like intarsia, where you float ENTIRE BODIES of solid colored sweaters before getting to the little intarsia panel at the neck. Interesting enough to at least check out next time you're browsing the knitting magazine racks.

I did finally get my Sockapaloooza match after anxiously checking my email every hour last week. My sock pal wants solid color socks, but I sort of thought that this was so incredibly subtly variegated, that it might as well be solid. What do y'all think?

Also, there's yet another fun You Knit Too Much contest going on over there to test your fiber and pattern knowledge. I think the signups might be closed, but definitely play along!

And finally, I was tagged by Cristina for a meme way too long ago, so at long last...

Four Jobs you have had in your life:
1. Lab teaching assistant
2. Princeton Review instructor
3. Chemist
4. Professional nag

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1. The Princess Bride
2. Sixteen Candles
3. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone
4. When Harry met Sally

Four places you have lived:
1. Brooklyn, NY
2. Houston, TX
3. Boston, MA
4. Princeton, NJ

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch:
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Friends
3. ER
4. That's Incredible!

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Disney (world/land)
2. Maui
3. Caribbean cruise
4. London

Four places you want to visit:
1. New Zealand (Honeymoon, baby!)
2. Australia
3. China
4. Japan

Four websites you visit daily:
1. google
2. amazon
3. bloglines
4. web mail

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Does Chinese count?
2. sushi
3. soup (ANY kind)
4. NY style pizza - lots of sauce, minimal cheese, one or two toppings max

Four things currently on the floor in your car:
1. Windshield wipers
2. umbrella
3. climbing gear
4. rice (it's not my fault the bag broke 9 months ago...)

Four bloggers you are tagging:
I don't really believe in tagging, but please join the fun if you haven't done this one already!

Next up: Another FO!

Jaywalkin'

First of all, thank you to everyone who extended their well wishes to DF's family and me over the past week. It was very much appreciated. We returned from Ohio last night in a haze, so I guess that means we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

When we last left off, I was traveling and having a fantastic time (an anomaly for travels involving work, I must admit). I hopped up to San Francisco for the week and managed to make it to TWO knitting related events: Chicks with Sticks and Knit and Wine at Urban Knitting Studio. The ladies (and gentleman!) at Chicks with Sticks were very open and friendly and two are even fellow knitbloggers. Cristina has tagged me for a meme (I swear I'll get to it) and Beth made sure I didn't get lost on the way back to my hotel (she also managed to find a way to stretch a turkey from here to Friday). Go check out Cristina's and Beth's blogs to find out what the heck I'm talking about.

The Urban Knitting Studio hosted a great little get together. The owner Helen has fabulous taste in yarns and I've never seen that kind of selection of yarns before. Helen stocks more than just the standard Debbie Bliss/Rowan/Cascade mix, so if you're in the SF area, go by and check out her store. I managed to extend the non-yarn purchasing stretch just a bit longer. I scored back issues of IK (Fall 2004) VK (spring/summer 2004, winter 2004/2005) and Rebecca (25) for half off. I also picked up Rowan 37 for full price, but the LYS around here don't have any in stock, so I figured that was a find. I'm not sure that I actually like the Fall 2004 IK, but since it was sold out on the IK site, I figured that it must be a commodity of some sort. Heck, if I didn't already own the FBS pattern, it would have been cheaper to buy the whole magazine at this price rather than just the pattern anywhere else. I may put it up for trade at some point, but I'm debating about trying to collect the whole library of IK magazines...

Since I had the opportunity to stay in SF for an ENTIRE WEEK, I did get a chance to breathe a sigh of relief at the return of common sense. For example, when your parents told you as a young child to look both ways before crossing the street, what did they tell you to do in the following scenarios?

At a crosswalk with cars coming:
a. step out in the street and hope the cars have good enough brakes (which are never required to be formally inspected by the state) so that they can slow down from twice the speed limit to zero within 20 feet
b. wait for cars to pass, then cross

At a red light with no cars coming:
a. wait for walk signal, then cross assuming that all the cars who run the light will swerve to get out of your way
b. cross

Not at a crosswalk with no cars coming:
a. Walk over two blocks to find a crosswalk and step out into traffic
b. cross

I'm happy to report that pedestrians in SF tend to choose B in most of the above scenarios. I can't vouch for LA pedestrians.

Speaking of the road rules, I did manage to finish DF's birthday present and only be a few hours late!

Jaywalker Socks
Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Materials: Vesper Sock Yarn by Knitterly Things (100% merino wool, 440 yards). 1 skein in Neapolitan (test batch so it's different from what's available now) gifted from Keohinani. 2 Size US1 Addi Turbo circular needles (24", 32")
Gauge: 10.5 sts/in in pattern
Finished size: 8" circumference, didn't measure length of foot and cuff, but fits SNUGLY on DF's size 11 feet

Started: December 26, 2005
Finished: January 29, 2006

Notes:
Worked as 2 socks on 2 circs. Cast on 38 sts with Turkish cast on and turned short row toe (decreased to 20 sts unwrapped). Knit one round across cast on row and toe sts then increased evenly around to a total of 84 sts. Worked in stitch pattern as for larger size. When length looked "right", turned short row heel on half of the sts (decreased to 16 sts unwrapped) and continued in pattern. Started ribbing when DF complained the yarn left over wouldn't be enough to make ribbing as long as he'd like. Kept going until I ran out of yarn.

Summary:
I think I get why everyone in blogland is making a pair of these. First of all, they count for my J in the Sock-A-Month KAL (thanks Chrissy for posting these pics for me in time). More importantly, they really show off self-striping yarns and make it look like you did a whole lot more work than you really did.

For the knitpicky (ahem, *me*) there were some things I thought worth pointing out. First of all, I still can't quite close up the hole at the ankles when turning a short row heel. The toes don't have this problem, but it's a whole lot more noticeable on the heel. SEE?

If you didn't notice so much from the picture above, somebody up there decided to align the sun, the moon, and the stars so that the striping went completely uninterrupted across the cuff and the instep despite not doing an afterthought heel. Makes the OCD knitter in me extremely happy. And for the thrifty knitter, the beauty of knitting toe-up:

Yes, that's less than 1/2 yard of leftover yarn. A word of caution though, binding off takes a whole lot more yarn than you think it will, especially if you go up a needle size to avoid the tourniquet effect. I thought I had enough for one more round before the bind off, but the bind off ended up taking what seemed like twice as much yarn. So I had to tink back ON THE NIGHT OF DF's BIRTHDAY. I tell you, if it weren't for that, they wouldn't have been done on time!

Clearly, I didn't really follow the pattern as written, but I'm still calling them Jaywalkers!

I'll leave you with one last pic of how DF feels about his new socks...

*note to self: do NOT take pictures of DF after he's had a nightcap*

Previous posts about this project:
I'm on the wagon on 1/24/2006
Pretty in Pink on 1/18/2006
Gotta love having a camera on 1/17/2006
Beware! on 1/16/2006
Good to be back on 1/11/2006

to be continued

I apologize for my absence... before mentioned trip was too exciting to interrupt with a blog post. Lots to catch up on: observations on life outside LA, new knitty folk in REAL LIFE, DF's birthday on Saturday, God has a backhoe, Jaywalkers done, progress pics...

Unfortunately, I'll be away again this week unexpectedly. DF's grandpa passed away this morning and we will be going home. If you're the spiritual type, please keep Grandpa Russ in your thoughts and prayers.

I'm on the wagon

I thought it was bad when I jumped on the bandwagon to knit Jaywalkers (which btw, are nearly there... they even cover DF's ankles!) and Clapotis. Now, I've gone and done it. I actually signed up for Sockapalooza!

Sign ups close at midnight (GMT -5:00) TODAY, so go there now if you're interested...

Short post with no pics today since I'm actually on the road this week. More about that later...

Let's play a game

How about, What's ticking off the Spaz today? Anyone want to hazard a guess? You do actually get 2, but the one where you say "Your stunning inability to photograph burgundy as anything other than pink?" doesn't count.
That's 12 inches of progress on DF's zippered Raglan, which translates into almost 2 full balls (30% ish) of progress. And, gotta love him, he still likes his sweater so far despite its imperfection.

Pretty in Pink

Okay, since I'm on a pink roll...

Let me just put a disclaimer on this before I start: I am often still asleep when DF leaves for work in the morning. To my dismay, when DF came home from work yesterday, he was wearing this:

I think he looks fantastic in orange, and pretty in pink. I'm apparently not hip enough to be able to combine the two without turning into Mr. Yuck. I'm wondering if DF has Duckie fashion sensibilities. Which, if he does, that's totally cool, because I always wanted to be Molly Ringwald when I was a kid. Only problem is, Duckie didn't get the girl...
This, by the way, is total fodder for DF's second favorite website of all time: http://www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com/. The all time favorite? A now, apparently, defunct website dedicated strictly to the combover. Visit here for its US counterpart.

No knitting content for today. I cast back on for Clapotis and turned the heels on Jaywalker. Nothing earthshattering to show, so no pics for you!

gotta love having a camera...

Okay, my picture taking skills suck, as evidenced by the pictures on my last post. But since there was a request, I did finally take a picture of the lovely stitch marker that Chris sent to me. It's true color, and the fabric in the background is much closer to true color of DF's zippered raglan than the hot pink version I posted yesterday.
Also, I got a better picture of the pink variation in the Jaywalker socks. It's really hard to tell, but if you look closely, there are actually two different shades of pink between the khaki stripes. One is more peachy and the other is closer to cotton candy pink.
Not that DF is at all embarassed to wear pink. He may be accused of being a bit metro for it, but I still think he looks kind of hot in pink.

Must say though, I'm much happier with blogging now that my camera's back in my possession. One of the last pictures we took on the camera before my parents hijacked it:

Just outside Red Rocks Canyon, NV; November 2005

Beware!

I decided that I couldn't bear ripping out the Clapotis just yet... I still have to get up the nerve to rip out my first finished object of 2006 all the way to the beginning (the gauge was just not right). So instead I decided to cast on for something else on Saturday night. Let me present to you, the DF's zippered Raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Yeah, not much to look at, is it? I'm most of the way through the first ball (out of an anticipated 7) of Malabrigo in burgundy. And might I say, there's nothing about this that could possibly make this a last minute gift. Let's face it, who can knit a MAN'S SWEATER at the last minute? I worked on this for hours and got a whopping 4.5 inches! Those are handmade stitch markers from Chris, by the way... I know, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

To try and relax from the slow progress on DF's sweater, I decided to work a little more on the DF's Jaywalkers. I'm just about ready to turn the heel on these babies, and maybe, just maybe I can have a FO for DF's birthday at the end of this month, and ALSO qualify me for a double entry in Chrissy's Sock-A-Month KAL. Just a word of caution though for anyone who does 2 socks on 2 circs... pay attention to what you're doing or you might end up with this (really bad picture... why can't I take indoor pictures?):

Anyone notice anything weird here?

Too square

So I think I know why everyone loved that Clapotis pattern so much. It's just so mindless that you can just leave it for a while, and then pick up right where you left off without nary a thought. And it's SO fast.

So I finished it this morning. Sort of.

I put it on, and it looked great over my shoulders. The drape is nice, though it seems the solid portions may be a bit loose. But I can live with that. There's no pooling that's really noticeable. That's good. And it covers the shoulders nicely. Also good.

Then I put it on as a wrap around scarf. .
Not so good. Look at how ridiculously short those ends are! Not acceptable. Not at all. I laid it out flat and measured. Or at least measured as best I could when it can be pulled in every direction at once. It measures a perfect 20" wide as the pattern described. And a measley 43" long. I knew 3 balls of Phoenix just wouldn't be enough!

I think it I take out an increase section, I should get an additional straight section out of it. If my calculations are correct, that additional straight section should give me about 6 inches more and take away a couple of inches from the width. It may still be a bit small, but at least it will be a little closer to the right proportions...

That, btw, is my Mr. Yuck face. In case this is a regional thing, the poison control center where I grew up had a campaign to distribute neon green stickers with a unhappy face squiting it's eyes and sticking out its tongue as if to say, Tastes yucky! And you're supposed to put those sticker on Drano, Windex, etc. That's the idea anyway. My dad instead decided that a better use for them would be to put them over my face in pictures where I was not coooperating, pouting and generally not smiling pretty for the camera.

That's also the face I make when I finish something and then decide that it needs to take a trip to the frog pond.

Bleck.

Good to be back

Ok, so I don't really have the time to do this right now, but I'm going to post anyway.... Thank you for everyone who noticed that I had been a bit MIA in the past 3-4 weeks and welcomed me back to the world. I'm really sorry for being so far gone. As promised, a nice LONG post to update you on where I've been hiding all this time. And it's numbered because I like numbered lists.

1. Christmas Giving
As some of you may have guessed, I was a bit busy finishing the 9 Christmas projects I had planned. All but one was finished. Unbiased Redux wasn't looking like a winner, so it got scrapped. It was a bonus gift anyway.

If any of you were guessing exactly when I'd finish and guessed that it would be Christmas eve, then you'd be mostly correct. I finished the knitting on Christmas Eve around 11:00, but I was blocking and installing zippers as of Christmas morning. BTW, if you need to install a zipper by hand, do not leave yourself 2 hours to install 2 zippers. It just won't happen. Especially if you're OCD. I ended up having to give the garment and the zipper with a note, "Some assembly required." Just trust me that it's a bad idea.

Overall, I think the Christmas gifts went over well. My grandfather thought I made his vest for DF but gave it to him instead when it didn't fit DF. Here's a pic of my grandpa trying it on. A moment of panic washed over me as I was wondering how big of a noggin he had as it just wasn't fitting over his head.
Turns out, it fit him just fine. Of course, I look at the picture below and cringe at how the ribbing around the V-neck was causing the chest stripes to pull. But overall, the fit was good, and he was happy.
I couldn't get a good picture of my grandparents wearing their matching hoodies. Here they just look confused, and well, maybe a little bit embarassed. But give them a break. It was like 80 that day, and probably closer to 85 in the house. My grandfather just isn't a hoodie kind of guy. I'll have to recommend that he doesn't wear it up unless he's really cold...
And my great grandmother thought that her Charlotte's Web shawl was very pretty. Too pretty in fact to wear. Her comment was, "This would be really pretty... if I were younger. I'm too old. Don't make me anything anymore." Okay, so I'm kind of sad about this because honestly, I just don't want to think of my great-grandmother going anywhere. But I told her that I made it for her to wear it, not put it somewhere where it wouldn't be ruined. My mom told me last weekend that my g-g wore it to her doctor's appointment last week. :-) I didn't get a good picture of her wearing the shawl, but here I am trying to put it on her. That hat she's wearing was a gift I made her last year, btw.
DL's hat was perfect! DF did a really good job. We did have to argue a bit about whether or not to add a pompom/tassle on top. But when DL received the hat, he just remarked, "Well, sometimes women are just right." Word on the street says he wore it all weekend snowboarding. He wears it off-center, for a "jaunty" look as he puts it. I think it looks better that way too. As you see below, the skull right above the face just looks like too many faces and just a bit weird. Wait, what am I saying... it's a PINK hat, how could it not look a little bit weird?
2. Christmas receiving
I was very lucky to get a gift this year from a Secret Santa! She managed to pick out a lot of different things that I am REALLY looking forward to working with. Look how generous:
Not pictured: delicious Funyuns. They just didn't last long enough to make it into the picture... shown here counterclockwise(ish) from far left: enough Jaeger Baby Merino for a short sleeved top; Knitpicks Shine which is destined to become a cute baby hat for the numerous babies on their way this year; some very cute, very awesome hand knit socks (see below for just how WELL they fit!); Knitpicks Shadow which is most definitely going to be a purple Flower Basket Shawl; hand beaded stitchmarkers (in the purple sachet, but not pictured separately); and a calendar, which will be a good reminder as I dive headlong into planning TBD (the big day). Also, my favorite part of the whole package, if I had to pick one... right in the middle is a handmade Christmas card with just the sweetest note that I ever could imagine. Secret Santa, you spoil me!

As if that weren't enough... I also got RAK'd! Apparently, some people just have that yule attitude. I was too excited when I opened my package to take a good picture, but along with some incredibly beautiful stitch markers and a pin, I got Vesper sock yarn!!! Yay, I know just what to do with this. Thank you SO much, Jill...

3. Real Live Knitting Progress!

I have been coveting time to make socks ever since Socktoberfest. Thanks to my RAKer, I have the perfect excuse to start the infamous Jaywalkers for DF. I cast on for these 2 days after Christmas, and boy, 2 socks on 2 circs with a new cast on method (Turkish) toe-up using short rows for the toes was just a bit overwhelming at first. Thankfully, it got a whole lot less so once I finished the toe and was on to the main part of the sock. Here's the progress as of last Thursday. Since then, I've only completed 2 more of the beige stripes and I'm preparing to turn the heel. I'll let you know if I throw them out the window at that point...

A word to the wise, if making socks for man-sized feet, don't pick fingering weight yarn if you want to remain sane. Oh, and especially don't combine it with a stitch pattern that requires MORE stitches per inch than normal. Sigh. Well at least I'm finally making SOMETHING for DF. DF's sweater is in this stage:

Yup, that's a BRAND SPANKING NEW swift. DF made me promise not to leave it set up with the ball winder on the coffee table all the time. For now, I've faithfully put it away to leave the coffee table free for things like, um, coffee.

I also jumped (somewhat belatedly) on the blog bandwagon of 2004 and cast on January 1 for Clapotis using Southwest Trading Company Phoenix soy silk. I think it's looking quite lovely except for some pooling going on. I was seriously considering ripping back to the increase rows and taking out one increase section because it looks like this number of stitches is perfect for stacking the colors on top of each other. Can you tell that all the turquoise is in that pool on the left and all the lavender is in the pool on the right?

4. Projects for 2006

Oh good god, this is ridiculous. But, here we have a short(ish) list of projects I was hoping to cast on for in 2006 (in no particular order):

1. Jaywalker socks
2. Clapotis
3. Raglan zip front sweater for DF from Last Minute Gifts
4. Union Market Square Pullover from IK Fall 2005
5. Hoodie from VK Fall 2005
6. Blackberry from Knitty Fall 2005
7. Unbiased Redux in Kureyon
8. Un-Blaze
9. Flowerbasket Shawl from my Secret Santa package
10. Lace Throw from IK Fall 2005
11. Arisaig from Knitty Fall 2005
12. Embossed leaves socks from IK Winter 2005
13. Bad Penny
14. Karabella Ruffle Shawl in Gossamer
15. Handwarmers
16. Head wrap
17. Split Neck short sleeve polo for DF
18. Baby gifts

Well, I didn't quite make it to 20 on the list, but the sad thing is (but probably not surprising) that I have yarn for all of these projects already. And a whole lot more left over.

5. Other announcements

In case you didn't notice, THAT'S MY FACE in the pictures above. New for 2006, I will not be camera shy. Granted, I'm not going to fold my feet behind my head to model new socks just to get my face in the picture, but I won't go out of my way to smudge out or cut off my head in pictures anymore. Unless of course it's a REALLY bad hair day. Who was I kidding? What web stalker is going to look for knitting blogs for their next victim? Plus, I like seeing what people look like in their blogs. It makes meeting up with your blog friends in real life much easier.

Planning for TBD is in full swing. If I don't post for long stretches of time, you'll know why. No other decisions other than date and time have been made yet, but I don't think anyone really wants to read about the minutia of wedding planning here. I don't want to hijack my own knitting blog with this stuff.

Anyway, there are 500 unread posts in my bloglines account right now. Umm, yeah. Don't know what to say about that one...

Houston, we have liftoff!

Okay, I know that I haven't blogged in about 10000 years, but traveling for nearly 3 weeks in a row and leaving again this weekend has wreaked havoc on my blogging, reading and posting. So no, I don't hate you, and I have a lot of commenting to do, but be patient...

On my to update list: secret santa and other Christmas swag, the Christmas knitting recap, projects for 2006 and progress on new projects I've cast on. I swear, I really have been knitting a lot, just not blogging much.

Today's is a quick post, but I wanted to share that WE'VE SET A DATE!!!

Drumroll please...

On October 14, 2006 at 7:00 pm at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Houston I will officially become Mrs. DF.

Let the mayhem ensue.

Because you asked...

Pacey actually told me where he got his shoes, though it took him a while to recall the name of the store. That either means that he had someone else go out and shop for him, or he was under the influence at the time he purchased them. Okay, I guess it could be a host of other things as well. Then he went on and on about how they weren't exactly what he'd thought they'd be yada yada yada. It was somewhere in this diatribe that I realized, Pacey isn't really a climber. I probably could have told you that before meeting him, but this just confirmed it.

I also wanted to give a shout out to all of the lovely ladies I met on Sunday at Lauren's SoCal KnitBloggers KnitOut. I named that of course because I like for things to have names. It fits into nice categories that way. I thought it was way cool that a girl from New Haven, CT could bring all of us local bloggers together when we usually wouldn't. Thanks Lauren!

I got to meet up with Jillian again, which makes me happy because she's just such a great sounding board. Wendy was in attendance and I felt bad because I hadn't been keeping up with my blogreading to realize that Girlfriend had been sick for almost a week. I was psyched that she could make it anyway! The post I'm linking to discusses the 6 types of knitter. What type are you? For lack of a better category, I think I'm a garment knitter...

I didn't get the nerve up to talk to Marnie and Julia though I stalk their blogs on an almost daily basis. I keep hoping that Marnie's test knitters will finish their work soon so I can buy the Deciduous pattern!

New people I met: Kathy whose blog you must check out because you'll be wishing that the internet could bring you food, MJ who's also a rock climbing knitter, Kris who was wearing a beautiful FO and as far as I can tell scores jealousy points from me for being all-around crafty (check her post and you'll get a glimpse of my unobstructed face!), Allison whom I was happy enough to have a sweater deconstruction conversation over her store-bought sweater (I WILL be making a larger than required gauge stockinette fuzzy sweater just like the one she was wearing!), Lori who gave me a lesson on Canadian geography, and so many more that I just can't list everyone here!

And really, next time: projects for 2006!

Panic time!

Okay, less than a week until Christmas, and FREAKING A I'M NOT DONE KNITTING!

It's not off my chest yet. Is this Christmas knitting ever going to be over?!?!

I watched 8 episodes of Desperate Housewives hoping to get some serious knitting done and went to a Knit Out with many fellow SoCal (and even a knitter from 3000 miles away!) knitbloggers yesterday (bloglines is down, so I can't tell you who right now) and managed to only finish the upper right and half of the upper left of my grandmother's hoodie. EEK! I blame it all on the discovery of this game.

*deep breath*

I've decided that even if I don't finish by Christmas, it's okay. The sari silk Unbiased redux (which I'm slowly starting to think should be scrapped in favor of just doing it in Kureyon instead) is a bonus gift for my SIL and I think my Grandmother would get a real kick out of opening a box with her in progress hoodie with the needles still in.

In case anyone was wondering where I've disappeared to, I had a cross-continental work trip last week, another work trip to somewhere where it's really cold right now, and then I get to finally go home for the holidays this Saturday. So I'm sorry I've been so MIA, but as you can see, it's the same panic as ever.

The good news is, the slow death of my blog due to lack of pictures and not posting enough (stupid deadlines!) is coming to a close after this Saturday. Maybe this won't cure the latter, but at least I'll have access to a camera again! Yay!

Also, I finally got to see the pictures from my brother's wedding. There's a great picture I MUST share. It'll have to wait until I get the DVD from my brother this weekend. See this post for clues.

On a random other note, I've decided that starting my blog has somehow increased my chances of celebrity spotting. Really, I mean it! Back in July when my best friend from college came out to visit me, she was shocked, SHOCKED that living in LA for almost a year, I still hadn't managed a single celebrity spotting. She on the other hand, had even managed a Lindsay Lohan run in living in New Orleans. Not long afterwards, there was the You Knit Too Much incident at Long's. Then there was the anniversary edition. Now this. Pacey Witter at my gym. Okay that's not his real name, but that's the only name I'll ever know him by. Yes, I'll admit it. I watched Dawson's Creek. Can't help it. It was the OC of its time. What did I manage to do this time? Well, in true spaz fashion, I managed to blurt out, "Dude, where'd you get your shoes?"

Okay, so I'm sorry for the randomness of my post today, but I really truly feel all over the place, literally! If I don't manage to post this week, I hope everybody who celebrates it has a very Merry Christmas and Happy Channukah!

Next post: my list of projects for 2006!

The scanner is my friend

Being a blogger without a camera sucks. But the scanner is my friend. I haven't been able to show off my recent Christmas related FO's becuase they just haven't fit on the scanner! I finished my grandfather's Hoodie Boogie Rock and cast on for the last of the trio on Wednesday. I also cast on Wednesday for Unbiased Redux. I wasn't going to show it because I don't think you can make out much from the scan, but oh well, you twisted my arm.

See? Can't tell a bit from that, right? It's not everything I hope it to be, but I think it might be too early to tell just yet. I've decided that this would be perfect for a felted Kureyon version too. Just have to finish this first, and then I can experiment!

On the DF knitting front, he finished the knitting on our friend DL's (those are his initials) Bones hat. It just needs a bit of seaming for the hem and the back where DF had to work back and forth. Not a bad attempt at intarsia, huh? Actually, it's stranded, so it's more Fair Isle, I guess. Anyway, project number 5 under his belt now, and 3 (including this one) without a pattern! I wonder, is this a man trait to just fly by the seat of your pants and knit with an idea of what you want but no directions? He's not bad, huh?


In non-knitting news, I managed to send off a secret santa package today! I'm notoriously bad about sending gifts that I already have to their intended recipients, so this is amazing for me. Which reminds me of a story my cousin told me earlier this week about his adventures in Christmas shopping.

So he went into a dollar store to pick up some stuff for our family's secret santa exchange. Only it's not secret since we all know who drew who. I guess that's more of a gift exchange. Anyway. When he walks into the store:

Clerk: You're back!
Cousin: Um, no, not exactly.
Clerk: Yes you are, you're the guy who likes to collect the Chinese figurines!
Cousin: Um, no!! What kind of pansy do you take me for exactly?
Clerk: Sorry about that, let me ring you up.
***
Clerk: Um... yeah. Do you need a bag for your items? *holding up the girls' opaque tights*

So what would you think if you were a 19 year old boy and you open up your Christmas present only to find: one pair girls' tights, a block of chalk, and leather work gloves? Looking to get him arrested, is what I think!

Actually, it's all for climbing. You cut up the tights and fill it with chalk so your hands don't get sweaty, and the work gloves are to help manage the rope if you so desire. I guess you could probably use trouser socks, but I think the tights might be cheaper.

On the wedding front, still nothing has been decided. A new wrench was thrown into the mix this week: we found out that DF's grandfather's cancer hasn't gone away, it's spread to distant organs. We're thinking about whether it would increase the chances of him attending if we move the date up from the fall. I don't know.

BTW, has anyone else noticed some strange behavior of Bloglines and people's blogs who are hosted on blogger? I haven't seen blogs light up in bold for the past couple of days, but if I click on the feed, there are unread posts in it. Did I do something weird?

Haul

I absolutely love the word Haul. As in stuff I got. Or as in what I have to do in order to get the stuff I got home. I just love that I no longer look at blog posts weird when they say that they just LOVE all of the jumpers in the new Knitty. I don't immediately wonder if some sort of catastrophe in the knitting word was being reported on Amy's blog resulting in many pictures of people needing to be step back from that ledge (my friend). Speaking of the new Knitty, I have to say that I think I'm in the minority about not being uber-thrilled with the issue. Yes, it's a great stashbusting issue full of toys and quick gift ideas, but the only project that made me want to cast on right away was... well Tempting II but, that was really only because I was planning on casting on for Tempting anyway.

Oh yeah, the HAUL. It all started (or should I say continued since I made it public that I could actually line up my yarn end on end and make it anywhere in the country - if of course I only needed to get to a plane at LAX) over Thanksgiving with the early Christmas swag. My future in-laws were nice enough to grace me with (because I love making lists):

1. Odd Ball Knitting by Barbara Albright: The OBK book is nice because it gives you ideas for small items and while it makes liberal use of stripes, they're nice enough to tell you just how many YARDS of yarn you'll need instead of balls. I often wonder if it wouldn't be better practice to state yarn requirements in yards anyway leaving the reader to round up to the nearest ball and add more if they want the extra insurance. Nothing earth shattering, but a good addition to the library I think.

2. The Knitters Bible by Claire Compton: The Knitters Bible is handy for a few ideas on stitch patterns as well as a quick reference for various techniques. It's a whole lot more convenient than looking it up on the web, that's for sure.

3. Knitting Magazine (UK) - November 2005: Knitting Magazine from the UK is probably not a magazine I'd subscribe to. Browsing through it, it seemed to lean a bit more towards the Family Circle kind of fashion rather than Interweave fashion. This particular issue is all about the super-chunky yarn, and well, let's face it, Miss McSpazzitron would be swallowed alive if she ever attempted to wear a FUN FUR floor length coat. And then sent straight to hell for wearing the fun fur.

4. Pattern A Day Desk Calendar

5. Addi Turbos! Sizes 2, 3, and 4 in 24" cords

I haven't had much of a chance to look through the calendar or use the Addis yet, but I'm really looking forward to the latter! I've had my eye on the Union Square Market Pullover sweater from the Fall IK for quite some time, but didn't have the needles to do it. Yes, I know, I must be crazy for wanting to do an entire sweater in FINGERING weight yarn, but Eunny's and Stephanie's sweaters are SO beautiful, I can't help but covet.

And then there was more...

I went to the Yarn Lady Bag Sale on Saturday with Teresa and Sara from the Santa Monica Stitch n Bitch. Let's just take a moment to savor the idea of entire bags of yarn for 50% off!!!

And my stash screamed in unison at the idea of trying to shove more sardines into that can.

I think I behaved relatively well. I mean, I only came home with 20% more balls of yarn than I left at home. I picked up some GGH Goa in Spruce and Salmon and the following from a manufacturer that I'm not familiar with, Fare Baruffa:

Gorgeous tweedy stuff. The Settembre is a superwash DK weight yarn and it's actually this magical iridescent navy wrapped in a strand of tobacco brown. A touch rougher than Cascade 220 in the ball, but I'm hoping that it won't be scratchy once knit up. The Aerobic is a superfine merino sport weight yarn. The picture (like that for Settembre) belies the true color of the yarn, more like a heathered plum color.

As if that weren't enough, Wendy was so kind as to send me the Freestyler's Raw as F**k CD since I had asked her what the music was in her hard to forget happy dance music video. It's not what I usually listen to, but it just caught my ear for some reason (maybe it was the crazy lady and her daughter in the video). To illustrate just how cool we already know Wendy is, she even knows the DJ on the CD. Thanks Wendy for sending the CD!

The apartment is bursting at the seams. Amazing that there's any space left for me to actually knit in. The weekend was a slow knitting weekend, but DF is almost done with the Bones hat and I have 20 rows of the hood on Hoodie Boogie Rock 2 left. Oh yeah, and the idea for Unbiased Redux is refining itself more and more as I find myself thinking in the shower. I keep having these daydreams that I'll write up the pattern and somehow everyone on blogland will find the FO picture and it will become the next Clapotis. Uh-huh. Keep dreaming.

I leave not-quite-a-progress-report Tuesday is Knitalong day post today with the following question: Does anybody else have strange places where they like to do their creative thinking?

I hate haloscan

As I stalk myself to see if there are any comments that I need to respond to (I do read all your comments and am very appreciative you take the time to do so!) I note that the haloscan commenting link doesn't always work. It seems to have done this intermittently over the last few weeks. Has anybody else noticed this?

That's going on your permanent record...

I'll admit it. I was an angel throughout school. The mere threat of, "Be quiet, or you're going to sit in the corner!" was more than enough to get me to sit politely for 12 years of schooling. But as time wore on, and the repetitive threats of "Mister, you'd better not act up again in my classroom or that'll go on your permanent record!" came again and again (directed at my classmates, of course!) I did wonder where this permanent record was kept. Perhaps at the FBI? I mean, who else would be able to track you down when you're 38 and remind you that you once disrupted class by falling off an airconditioner and had to ask the teacher to let you go home to change so you wouldn't have to flash your underpants to the rest of the school through that now present gaping hole in the butt of your skirt? Umm, no, that never happened to anybody I knew.

Misdemeanors on my permanent record aside, I didn't really ever believe that I'd need to know anything they taught me in high school anyway. Sheer fear is what drove me at the time to do my homework. I mean, what would I do if I didn't get a perfect score on my tests?

Except that sometimes, those teachers were right. You might just need to prove that a right triangle has the dimensions of a^2 + b^2 = c^2. Like today for example.

So if you've been following along, yesterday I showed a horrible attempt at a swatch to fix my unbiased bag's tendency to dump it's contents out of the too shallow middle. It looked something like this. Eek I say. But there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with the construction, I think. The original just looked like the diagonal edge was too stretched out to make those perfect little squares that make my heart soar. (yes, I get turned on when things all fall neatly within straight lines at right angles to each other. sue me.)

*thinking all morning*

Doh!

It's a triangle, stupid! The diagonal edge has to be LONGER than the sides, so unless you're expecting your gauge to magically change by a factor of 0.7 when you change the direction of your knitting from diagonal to horizontal, there's some adjusting to be made, dumb a$$.

Second try:

This time, I fudged my stitch count on the short rows to get 0.7 times the number of stitches along the diagonal by just K2tog here and there when I knit the stitches from the diagonal. Looks, better, no? Okay, still not a square, but rectangular I can live with. And at least now I don't have to worry about the FBI coming to my house to question my geometry grade from my permanent record.

Big mahalo goes out to Keohinani! She was kind enough to obssess over my design dilemma and send me 4 bmp of diagrams of her ideas. I think she fixed my problem of having to seam the piece together, and now that I have the target stitch count for bag, this is looking like a real possibility! Now the only question is, do I add a gusset or just make it a flat bag?

In other news, I've been having recurring You Knit Too Much dreams. For the past two nights, I've been fantasizing about going to my computer, going to my Knitty bookmark, and hitting reload, reload, reload.. until the winter 2005 issue magically appeared. Yes, that was really ONLY in my dreams. *ahem*

And, it's looking like the Christmas mad dash to finish may come in under the wire. Perhaps even with a day or so to spare! I'm 80% done with Hoodie Boogie Rock 2 and designs for Unbiased Redux are coming along for my ghost knitter, who incidentally is 75% done with the Bones hat for our friend DL. Thanks again DF!

Help please?

Ok, so after my rant about how much I didn't like the unbiased pattern, I thought, well heck, I just need to fill in that little bit of space in the middle of the bag where things are likely to fall out. Here's what I'm thinking is the key: shortrows! Here's a sketch (sorry for the poor handwriting) of what I had in mind. Think of a handbag with a flap closure:

So I swatched to see if I could figure out how to get this to work. My discovery? Stitches are little buggers! Why can't they be perfect little squares so that your row guage matches your stitch gauge? Here's my deformed mess:

Clearly, I have far too many rows to stitches along that diagonal to make a perfect little square that I was hoping for. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix this problem? I was thinking of alternating between knitting one more stitch and two more stitches on each subsequent short row, but am afraid that I'll get an even weirder looking swatch.

So back to the drawing board. I think I may just want to finish the square all on the bias by decreasing on either end and sewing all 4 squares together as planned and just knit the flap in the same way. The only difference to the original plan would be that the back view would just look like two squares knit on the bias instead of the neat V panel in the middle with the horizontal garter stitch. I think I can live with that, but what do y'all think?

Light Petrol

Pattern modified from Knitty: Petrol

Gauge: 20 sts x 29 rounds/ 4” in pattern

Materials: TLC Cotton Plus (51% cotton, 49% acrylic. 186 yds) <4 skeins in color navy (MC), 1 in moss (CC1) and 0.5 in aran (CC2). Circular needles 29” size US7 and size US8 Denise circulars.
Started: November 1, 2005
Frogged: November 4, 2005
Finished: November 26, 2005

Finished measurements after blocking:
Chest: 46”
Length: 24”

Notes:
Stitch pattern – k4, p2 on RS. P all on WS. K last stitch of every row and sl1 purlwise at beginning of every row.

Back:
Cast on 116 sts. Purl row 1. Work in stitch pattern to row 67 in MC. Begin chest stripe section on WS as below. At the SAME TIME, begin armhole shaping.

Work chest stripe as follows:
13 rows CC1
8 rows CC2
4 rows CC1
2 rows CC2
4 rows CC1
8 rows CC2
13 rows CC1 (begins on row 107)

Begin armhole shaping on RS row 108 (2nd row of last stripe of CC1, work measures 15”) as follows: Cast off 5 sts at beginning of next two rows (96 sts). Decrease 1 st at both ends of every RS row 10 times (86 sts). Work even to 24”. Bind off with RS facing (row 172, row 51 of MC).

Front:
Work as for front up to armhole shaping. AT THE SAME TIME, begin neckline shaping when piece measures 17” as follows. (This will be after 3 rows in the MC, working on the WS). Purl 45 sts. Transfer 2 sts to safety pin and leave remaining 45 sts to be worked later. Working on right front of vest only (left side of RS), slip 1, SSK, work in pattern to end and continue armhole shaping. Repeat decreases for neckline shaping a total of 18 times. 24 sts remain. Continue without further shaping until work measures 24”. Bind off with RS facing (row 172). Repeat on left front of vest. Break yarn leaving enough to sew shoulder seams. Sew shoulder seams. Measure out a length sufficient to sew side seams but do not break yarn as this will be used for armhole finishing. Sew side seams.

Armhole:
With yarn used for side seams, pick up and knit 5 stitches every 8 rows. K2, p2 for 5 rounds and bind off in k2, p2 ribbing with larger needles.

Neckline:
Pick up and knit 5 stitches every 8 rows along neck sides knitting two stitches from safety pins as you get to them and pick up 1 stitch for every bound off stitch across back neck. K2, p2 for 5 rounds and bind off in k2, p2 ribbing with larger needles.

Discussion:
Well, according to Wendy, I’m a designer too. I call this Light Petrol, because it’s so loosely based on Petrol. I don’t necessarily believe that this is a design of my own, since how many original designs for a sweater vest can you actually get? They’re all basically the same shape, right?

I will say that I was not impressed with the directions on the original pattern. Let me start off by saying that I don't really count stitches most of the time because I'm usually off on my own with number of stitches because I never make a size that's actually calculated out in the pattern itself. But this one was glaring. The directions say to start armhole shaping, and then when the piece measured x", start neckline shaping. Great, except then the pattern goes on to give specific stitch counts to shape the neck and the count did not take the decreases for the armhole shaping into consideration at all. I'm sure it was just a typo, but I'm surprised it got past the tech editors over at Knitty.

Of course, I have stitch AND row counts in my notes above, so I should probably be slapped. I'll have to remember the things I complain about if I ever do decide to write a real pattern someday.

This project absolutely flew except for the armhole and neckline finishing. In true knittingspaz fashion, I did each armhole three times and the neckline twice and am still not 100% happy with the finished product since I still think it pulls a bit around the neck. But it’s good enough and I think my grandpa will enjoy it enough so that I can move on to other Christmas projects!

Previous posts about this project:
Yes that’s my binary girlfriend on the floor on 11/8/2005
Vegas style on 11/15/2005
A picture, a picture!!! on 11/16/2005
I come by it honest on 11/22/2005
Tuesday is pictureless knitalong day on 11/29/2005

Unbiased

Pattern: Unbiased on Knitty

Materials: LACIS NP 29 Sari yarn(100% silk, 100g), 3 skeins. Size 8 circulars.
Finished size: 12.5” tall on long edge, 5” tall at middle, and 15” wide.

Started: September 29, 2005
Completed: November 22, 2005

Notes:
Followed pattern exactly!

Discussion:
For anyone interested in making unbiased, the pattern SUCKS, imho. Sorry, did I say that out loud? Maybe it was just my execution, but the pattern diagram doesn't at all look like how it comes out. The diagram conveniently was not drawn to scale. Looking at the diagram, you'd think that the middle of the bag would be about 8 inches tall (only if you got out your ruler and did a little math would you probably arrive at this number. It really looks like it's about half as tall as it is wide). That's reasonable.

But then read the pattern. If you start in the lower left hand corner and increase on either end in garter stitch until your edge measures 7.5 inches you get a 45-45-90 triangle. Then you’re supposed to maintain the bias and knit up the piece until the long side measures 12.5 inches. If we’re not changing the angle of the hypoteneuse, what do you think the short edge should measure? A measly 5 inches I tell you.

Five inches wouldn’t be all that bad, except there's no gusset. So if you put anything in there that's not a flat sheet of paper, the bottom flattens out so that the middle of the bag measures more like 3 inches. What's the use of a bag whose length is 15 inches and is only 3 inches tall?

Previous posts about this project:
She-Ra on 10/4/2005
Shout out on 10/11/2005
Lost on 10/31/2005
I come by it honest on 11/22/2005
Tuesday is pictureless knitalong day on 11/29/2005

Tuesday is pictureless knitalong day

Yes yes, I've been MIA. I blame it on the frenzied knitting and eating and family visiting and flying and... I'll just shut up now.

This post will be short since I have more frenzied knitting to get back to, but in an effort to stay on my promised knitalong updates on Tuesdays (it's 10pm PST, it still counts!) here's the lowdown:
1. DF finished the strap on Unbiased and it was given to future SIL over the weekend. I had to beg DF not to give it to her because it just didn't measure up to spaz standards. I wanted to hide behind DF when future SIL opened the gift. I was too ashamed. Her suggestion was to add a zipper or some other closure to make it a bit functional. I thought it might work well as a trashcan liner myself.
2. I finished Light Petrol. Only a minor amount of spazzing on the neckline and armhole openings for this one. Amazing, ain't it?
3. I cast on for Hoodie Boogie Rock 2 for my grandfather. It's flying this time since I've already worked out most of the pattern details and changed the cable border to garter stitch border. I think this border is significantly more masculine.

No pictures still since the camera is with my parents. I'll post summary posts at some point to clear out my sidebar I swear, but they'll have to be pictureless.

BTW, has anyone noticed that since announcing my engagement early on in the life of this blog, not a peep has been mentioned about the W word? Honestly, it's because I'm SCARED SHITLESS of the planning process. Could it be my perfectionist, OCD tendencies? Or maybe my need to please everyone? Or perhaps I'm afraid of the Catholic church refusing to marry us pagans (okay, it's just me)? Or even, by some wild stretch of the imagination, maybe I could be afraid of offending every family member we have and just elope. Anyone have a paper bag so I don't pass out?

Also, I noticed that haloscan has been slowly eating my early comments. Do they delete comments after a certain number, or do they just delete them after a certain period of time? Thinking more and more about just paying for a blog...

I come by it honest

That's what DF's dad usually says when I complain about something that DF does that annoys me. Usually it's something that his dad also does, hence DF "comes by it honest" and didn't just come up with that all on his own. So I swear, my stashing tendencies are in that category of things that I come by honestly.

My dad used to change the oil in his cars all on his own. He used to have a thing where you always put the same oil in the car so it runs better. We're not talking about just always using 10W-40 here. We're not even talking about just always using Pennzoil 10W-40 here. He means the same lot number of the same product. He should be a knitter. The concept of dyelotting wouldn't even phase him. Anyway, my dad would wait for a sale on motor oil, and then just buy cases upon cases of motor oil. It's not like it has an expiration date on it, right? You can walk into the garage and open up the storage closet and see it crammed floor to ceiling with cases of the stuff. When we sold a car that we'd had for almost 10 years, my dad put the motor oil in the trunk because that's the only lot of motor oil that car had ever seen and of course the next owner would want the original motor oil to come with it, right? He had no further use for that lot of motor oil after all.

The same goes for food stashing. My parents are in a constant state of preparedness. When Hurricane Rita was bearing down on the gulf coast and everyone else was panicking, my parents sat back and watched the mayhem on TV. They didn't need to raid the grocery store for bottled water or canned food items. They have enough to last through 3 hurricanes and the earthquake that might hit in 2065.

I myself only have enough canned food to make it through 1 earthquake. Square footage issues are quite limiting.

I know I said that Tuesday is Knitalong Day. So here's the progress.

Wait, isn't that the same as it was previously? No, it's a different picture, I swear. This is the front, really. So I guess this makes me 75% of the way done with Holiday gift number #4. Technically, the last picture I flashed isn't really the way it is anymore. I realized that when recalculating my gauge i didn't recalculate the number of stitches to bind off and decrease for the armhole shaping. I just followed the numbers blindly from the pattern. Holding it up to DF for sizing, the armholes just weren't wide enough, so I recalculated based on the number of inches that were decreased out so the armhole dimensions are about the same. I have to do the same thing for the neckline shaping now, and well, I'm just tired. Maybe on the plane when we take YET ANOTHER RED EYE flight on the worst travel day of the year. Yay.

DF is done seaming the Unbiased bag for my future SIL and is slowly working on the straps. We're hoping that this will be done for the Thanksgiving Christmas exchange to occur this weekend at his family's house. *holding breath and turning blue*

The envelope please...

First off, I'd like to thank Laura for the mention on her Three Blog Thursday post this week. I've never thought of myself as a rolling on the floor laughing my ass off kind of writer (usually I'm the one people worry about when I'm doubled over in laughter that sounds strangely like hiccups and hyperventilating to the point where I'm blue and clutching at my sides complaining of kidney pain), so I'm flattered. I like Laura's weekly feature, so go by and check out her blog if you haven't already.

The guesses are in and the balls (tee-hee!) have been counted. And the winner is…

Chrissy with 201!

Since I asked for your guesses of balls, including partials, Chrissy was the closest to my actual count of *looking around to see if anyone else is listening, especially DF* 208 (Strike that, 210. I got MORE yarn today and I apparently didn't remember how many balls of Jaeger Luxury Tweed I had ordered. *hiding*). Granted, 20 of those are partial balls, so if you only count those that are full balls, it’s considerably less. And mind you, 29 of those full balls are for works actually in progress to be included in Christmas knitting. Oh forget it. I'm just rationalizing. I’m coming out of hiding now. Hello, my name is Jen, and I am a yarnaholic. There, I said it. Too bad I have no intention of completing the other 11 steps.

Like Keohinani, I did a spreadsheet to catalog my stash. I’m hoping that it will help me resist buying new yarn when I see a pattern I like since it’s organized by weight and remaining yardage. I have no idea how to link to an excel file, so here’s a picture of the page 1 of 3. I shamelessly filtered out the acrylic yarns… Anyway, if you actually do want to see the excel file itself, I’d be happy to share if you leave a comment.

Lastly, I just wanted to vouch for Laurie's assertion that Angelenos are obsessed with sushi. There's a sushi restaurant on every corner. Within walking distance of my place, I can count 5 restaurants. Realize also that walking distance in LA is no further than a block, despite the fact that you might walk further than that if you drive because there's never parking that close to where you want to go. There are sushi restaurants next to sushi restaurants. I don't get it.

But I will say that I've had the best sushi of my life just last night. The place we went to is something of a sushi nazi kind of place. The waitresses bring you whatever the chef wants to make for you and says, "No Soy Sauce!". Most telling of the 'tude this place carries, the sign at the front door says, "We do not serve California Rolls or Spicy Tuna Rolls." Whatever. It was still worth it.

A picture, a picture!!!!

Lookee here!! I thought it'd be something like 6 weeks before I could post a picture again. Wonder of wonders I realized, hey, wait a minute, I have a scanner! Exclamation points!!!

Anyway, this is the progress I have on Light Petrol. I'm a few inches away from finishing the back, so I guess I'll call it 40% done. That's the chest striping. I looked up suggestions on how wide to make my chest stripes, and all I got was Fibonacci numbers. So you know how on every single IQ test or other standardized test they ask you, what's the next number in this sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21... Well, yeah. Every time I have to figure it out. And no, I didn't realize that there was a name for this particular sequence. Now I know.

Anyway, the problem with using Fibonacci numbers to dictate the width of your stripes is that most of the smaller numbers are odd. Not great for knitting and carrying your yarn up the side of the work. So I cheated and used 4 instead of 5. But that bleed through you see between the green stripe and the blue main color, yeah, that's because I changed colors incorrectly and didn't realize until I was to change colors again that you can prevent the color bleed through if you're careful about choosing a side to change on. If anyone's interested, in this case, I changed on the wrong side of the work to prevent bleed through because that side is where I purl all the way across and on the right side it looks like all knits.

In case anyone was paying attention, of course I'm not following the pattern as written. Most obviously, I changed the gauge altogether and substituted yarns. As you can see, I also changed the chest striping. And amazingly enough for one who hates finishing, I also converted this to a flat piece. I originally did this because I don't like the armhole shaping procedure when knit in the round, and I didn't like the idea of having to keep track of whether I was on an odd round where I needed to knit in pattern, or an even round where I needed to knit around. As a bonus, I did get to avoid the color jog this way. Of course, if I hadn't decided to do this flat, I wouldn't have worried so much about the odd numbers and carrying the yarn up the side. You win some, you lose some.

Stash

Anyone want to hazard a guess on the total number of unused balls (partials included) in my stash???

Answers later this week...

Two posts!

Okay, this shouldn't really count as a post, but in honor of this coming Friday...

GRYFFINDOR!
You scored 8% Slytherin, 36% Ravenclaw, 64% Gryffindor, and 40% Hufflepuff!
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart.

Gryffindors are known for their courage, audacity, and devotion to what is good and honest.



My test tracked 4 variables. How you compared to other people your age and gender:
You scored higher than 4% on Slytherin
You scored higher than 63% on Ravenclaw
You scored higher than 81% on Gryffindor
You scored higher than 81% on Hufflepuff

Link: The Sorting Hat Test written by leeannslytherin on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Also, Keohinani did a quasi Flash Your Stash today. Or maybe it's not really today because I'm so behind in my blog reading. Anyway, I've never seen anyone with QUITE so much sock yarn... I'm jealous I tell you. But also, I've been meaning to flash mine as well because it's just downright ridiculous and my credit card is about to spontaneously combust. But I swear, almost every last bit is earmarked for a specific project. You'll see...

Vegas style

So I have a doppelganger. My brother Bryan married a Jen over the weekend in Las Vegas. People are still creeped out by that, but I don't really understand why. I think it's kind of funny that my brother married a Jen and I plan to marry a Ryan. There's a bit of discussion on what to call Mrs. Jen and what to call me. My dad is pushing for my childhood nickname to carry over to differentiate between us: Jumbo Jen vs. just Jen. I don't think I understood the oxymoron when my dad first coined that nickname as a child. BTW, I wanted to use the word "Ironic" here to describe my nickname, but ever since that Alanis Morisette song, I've never been able to remember the correct use of the word again...

Back to my point, the wedding was a wedding IN Vegas, not a Vegas Wedding. The wedding planners there are trying hard to make a distinction between the two. For my brother's part, he had elements of both. No Little White Chapel, but definitely Elvis and the magic disappearing, reappearing box to make a grand entrance.

The highlight of the weekend went something like this:
SIL: So I had to get special shoes to go with this dress.
Me: Why's that?
SIL: Well, the dress is a bit too big for my height, so I had to get really tall shoes. They're 7 inches.
Me: 7 inches? Should I refrain from touching you lest you topple over?
SIL: Actually they're surprisingly comfortable.
Me: I have to see these. Show me your shoes!
SIL: Well, a lot of brides are doing it these days... *flashing 4 inch clear acrylic platform shoes with clear acrylic heels and clear plastic straps*
DF: THOSE ARE STRIPPER SHOES!!!
Mom: And how would you know that?

As for knitting content, I don't really have anything to show since my camera is being held hostage by my parents until Christmas. DRATS! So there will be many FO pictures after Christmas, and I'll just have to do the summary without the pictures until then. At least that way, you'll be able to see the finished product on the recipient instead of on the carpet. For now, I have the chest stripe section almost done on the back of Light Petrol. Miles and miles of garter/stockinette columns is getting a bit tedious...

Edited to add: I also joined the Who Wouldn't Love a Handknitted Gift KAL. I think I'll do the Blue Blog classic, Tuesday is Knitalong Day update. Hoping to get my butt in gear as it appears I still have 6 gifts out of 9 left! 39 days and counting...

When monkeys fly out of your butt...

So apparently I've been drinking too much wine lately because I'm just not making any sense at all anymore. I think I am starting to take ex rectum to a whole new level. I blame the following exchange on Kim for planting the seed in my head.

Me: Hey what was that wine you were talking about earlier with your dad?
DF: Which one?
Me: You know, THAT one.
DF: No, I don't know.
Me: I don't remember the name of it. Just someone else recommended the same wine on my blog today. I think it was something like Obscuratum or something similar.
DF: Obscuratum? No, I don't know that one...
Me: Yeah, something like that. Maybe Offenbach Obscuratum?
DF: Well what did we say about the wine?
Me: I don't know. It was white?
DF: Oh, I mentioned it was the bottle with the screw top instead of a cork. That was Camus Conundrum! Offenbach Obscuratum?
Me: Well, the alliteration was sort of there...
DF: Offenbach Obscuratum!?!
... (20 minutes) ...
DF: Offenbach Obscuratum!

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. Not much to see here, and I have about 100 posts to read still. I'm taking a long weekend starting tomorrow, so I'm afraid of seeing how many posts I'll be behind after I get back! EEK!

WOW!

I don't do this near enough, but I just thought that this particular post warranted special attention. If anyone is interested in a very detailed breakdown on how to chart out a cable pattern by looking at an existing design, go to Eunny's post here. She's very good at showing step by step how you'd break down a cable pattern you see somewhere but can't find in a stitch dictionary. This is great for all of you aspiring designers, especially you cable fans. Thanks Eunny for sharing your technical and designing expertise!

Yes that’s my binary girlfriend on the floor

I have no new knitting content today except to mention that I finished #1 on my Christmas knitting list on Halloween.  YAY!  Except that Hoodie Boogie Rock v1.0 won’t fit my grandmother.  BOO!  My mother tried it on and it fits her perfectly.  Being an enviable size 6 at her perpetual age of 29 (she started counting backwards years ago, but she has just stopped de-aging altogether now that she’s younger than both of her children), we decided that the hoodie just wouldn’t be large enough for my very “hearty” grandmother.  Think Polish build but compacted down into average Chinese height.  I hope I didn’t offend anyone there.  So I get to start over on #1 of my list.  Good news is, my mom actually wanted to keep the vest, so it wasn’t a completely loss.  I’m just not going to block and add the zipper in until after the rest of the Christmas knitting is done.

So I cast on for #3 (light worsted gauge version of Petrol) over the weekend.  Nothing exciting to show… just a few rows of 4x2 ribbing.  BTW, TLC cotton plus is a moderately splitty yarn, but it’s actually reasonably nice to work with.  Feels more like cotton than acrylic.  Definitely nicer than the Patons Shetland Chunky I was working with on Hoodie Boogie Rock.

So I don’t really drink.  You name it, and I don’t drink it.  Water, coffee, tea, wine, beer, and liquor are all on my non-preferred fluids list.  Sugar in liquid format is different though.  DF, on the other hand is a huge fan of just about everything I just listed.  In an effort to better understand him, I’ve been trying to find a wine that I can stomach.  I’ve gotten to a point where smelling wine doesn’t make my nose wrinkle 100% of the time.  It’s more like 95% now, but I consider that progress.

DF and I went to a wine tasting a few weeks ago.  No, it probably didn’t make much sense to bring me along to the tasting where some 30 different wines were available for consumption, but I rationalized it by saying that a designated driver was worth the extra cash.  Anyway, DF handed me glass after glass of wine to smell and asked so what do you think?  My answers varied from “Ick” to “eww”.  Except one: Il Falchetto Brachetto d’Acqui.  Asked to describe: “Good!”

So we decided to branch out and try something else.  We picked out a moscato but were wondering what the difference was between two vineyards’ versions.  So I told DF to ask.  The conversation went something like this:
DF: So what do you think of XXX moscato vs. YYY moscato?
Store owner:  blah blah blah acidic blah blah blah rounder blah floral
Me: *blankstare*
Store owner: How would you describe the *Italian mumbling*
Me: I liked it.
Store owner: What did you think of this other *Italian doohickey name*
Me: I didn’t like it
Store owner:  Well what are you going to serve this moscato with?
Me:  *blink*
Store owner: So what was it that you didn’t like about *Italian doohickey name*
Me: *blink*
Store owner: Well, what do you like?
Me: Does Welch’s grape soda count?
Store owner: C’mon.  You can’t say that you like Welch’s grape soda better than *more Italian mumbo jumbo*.
Me: *ducking behind counter*
Store owner to DF: What’s she doing?
DF: She’s hiding.  Don’t worry, it’s normal for her.  

But I’m working on getting better answers than “Like” and “don’t like”.  Although I definitely think that the binary wine scale is much easier to follow than that absurd 100 point scale that the wine magazines will have you believe in.  I even added a third dimension to my wine descriptions: pear.  Just try Cascina Fonda moscato d’Asti.  

If you haven't...

seen this already. You must GO HERE NOW! These guys just crack me up.

Me too, me too!

Okay, so I was incredibly dorky and thinking of tagging myself for this meme ever since seeing it on Carolyn's blog. Thankfully, I didn't have to feel quite so dorky since it's managed to make its way to me. Thanks Chrissy!

1. What is your all-time favorite yarn to knit with?

Gee, I don't think I actually have one. I've only knit with a few things and I can't exactly say that I loved one over another. The only thing that I know for certain is that I have become something of a yarn snob and I don't really like knitting with cheap acrylic. Sometimes it's a necessity, but I don't really like the feel of shag carpet running through my fingers. The Malabrigo DF is using right now, however, feels like heaven and is about the only thing I've actually purchased that I would prefer to knit with over other things I have used. I can't say however, that I actually like the end product any more than other garments I've made, but I certainly like the process a whole lot more.

2. Favorite needles?

Again, I haven't used a whole lot of different ones, but I definitely prefer circulars over straights. I've all but abandoned my straight needles (all Susan Bates). I have a tendency to reach for my Denise Needles more than anything else, but I think this has more to do with the fact that I don't own other circulars in sizes except for 5 and 8 with hat length cords (not very useful for sweaters) and 7, 10, and 10.5 in man sized sweater lengths (also not very useful if I'm making a sweater in the round for myself). I should start seaming sweaters, huh?

3. What's the worst thing you ever knit?

Hmm, does it have to be something I've actually finished? I'd say the abandoned Needful Yarns poncho. As I had mentioned in my UFO report, it got ripped out and is now languishing in another format. I didn't make gauge, and the gauge I had for the majority of the project didn't match my cast on or bind off rows at all, so getting the pieces to lay flat in nice rectangles for seaming was NOT going to happen. And worst of all, the yarn I was using. I'm sure that given the right pattern, it would have been fine, but the novelty yarn thing doesn't appeal to me much.

4. Favorite knitting pattern? The most fun to knit?

Believe it or not, I'd say my favorite pattern was actually Hopeful. Despite the angst that went into that project, it's a top that seems to flatter me. It was however, not fun. The fun award goes to Lelah. The lace was great for my first project and it went fast. Fashion, not function is what Christine says, and I totally agree. I made it in a subtly glittery yarn, so it's not the best next to skin wear, hence, I don't wear it much. Only for going out!

5. Most valuable knitting technique?

Hmm, I'm loving kitchener stitch and 3 needle bind off right now since I seem to be joining pieces vertically a lot right now. Otherwise, I'd just say knitting in the round in general since that's what I seem to do the most of lately.

6. Best knit book or magazine?

I just stocked up on a few Rebecca mags and IK. I subscribe to VK, but I was sorely disappointed with the most recent issue. As for books, I only own Knitting without Tears, so I guess that one's my favorite! I'm coveting a ridiculous number of reference books right now though like Knitting on the Edge, BW Treasury of Knitting Patterns all volumes and Knitting from the Top, Nancy Wiseman's Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques, and the Knitter's Companion.

7. Favorite knitalong?

Hmm, my only knitalong has been the Hopeful KAL. I guess, like the book, that's my default favorite.

8. Favorite knitblogs?

Well, I did a shout out to all of the blogs that I read regularly not so long ago. Of that long list however, I always check Kim, Keohinani, Chris, Chrissy, Karen and Jillian immediately when I see them highlighted on bloglines and because in that weird I've never met you (except Jillian) sort of way, I definitely consider them to be at least blog friends.

9. Favorite knitwear designer?

I'm not sure that I want to commit to this one, but I like the classic look of Debbie Bliss and the fun stuff in the Rebecca magazines (not a specific designer, I know) though the patterns are horrible to interpret. Also, I like Jenna Adorno since she appears to hate seaming as much as I do and is built similarly to me.

10. The knit item you wear the most?

Actually, don't wear my knitting that much, but I carry around my Buttonhole Bag an awful lot!

Whew! I could have been a bit less wordy, right? I'm not going to tag anyone with this since this one has been going like wildfire and pretty much everyone's blogs I read seems to have already been tagged. But if you're reading this and you haven't been tagged yet, please play along!