I have yarn pr0n

February 27, 2009 at 9:00 am | In yarn | 3 Comments

And it’s really beautiful.

Oh the turquoise!

Ooh, a shot of electric green!

All the colors together equals one thing: Manos Silk blend.

All hail Turtlegirl, who can choose yarn like nobody’s business. I’m so happy I was able to help you get to the right guys to get your Vista working again.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I’ve got to find the perfect pattern for this.

Not a Book Review

February 25, 2009 at 2:22 pm | In Pigeon, books | 1 Comment

I am infatuated with the new Mason-Dixon Knitting book. Love it. I want to make the Cardi Cozy, Emma Peel, a kippah, and while I’ll probably never make it, I love the look of this coat. (If I ever get svelte and trim, I’ll totally be making it.) I’ve been hunting down some Kid Silk Haze through Ravelry, and I might just have found some I can afford. If I can really make the Cardi Cozy out of two balls (yes, I’ve seen that it might take more, but I would want mine to be very airy, like the sample in the book(OK, maybe I’m delusional. Even Margene needed 4 balls. Damn.)), I will be a very happy knitter.

The Knitting Workshop tapes from the library are here, and I started watching the first one. I am amused that the first project uses stranded knitting. I think it’s great, actually, that EZ is making it seem like it’s nothing to be afraid of. She doesn’t over analyze it, just says be consistent and you’ll be OK.

An evening at my house (not normally this dark, but what can you expect taking video on a digital camera?):

Yup, watch out. Pidge is mobile.

OOEEOOEEOOEEOOEEOOOOOO… WAH WAH WAH

February 18, 2009 at 11:22 am | In Ladybug, Pigeon | 3 Comments

The good

A friend of ours sent a package with hand knit and sewn gifts for the girls!

A Sheldon (in Ladybug’s favorite colors!), a Pea Pod (look at those cute green buttons!), a sewn portable drawing studio with gorgeous fabrics that didn’t make it into the picture, and some yummy looking jelly. (Sorry the picture’s not the best. Hubby doesn’t know how to focus on the knit stuff. Me, yeah, I’m peeling an orange for Ladybug.)

The bad

I’m a bad blogger. I finally fixed the hole in my Poms, and I didn’t take pictures. But I’ve learned something very important: DO NOT just knit past a knot in a ball of yarn. You will hate yourself later.

The ugly

Dude, the flu. ’nuff said.

Gotta Love the Library!

February 13, 2009 at 12:31 pm | In books, knitting | 3 Comments

The best part – these were all just sitting on the shelf. I didn’t even have to place a hold!

I did, however, place a hold for 3 more items that were at different branches: the 3 videos in EZ’s Knitters Workshop. I am totally stoked. Now I hope they’ll get here before I have to stop working from home!

Now, Elizabeth Zimmermann is one area where my regional library system is lacking. The author search today yielded only 2 titles – Knitters Workshop and another video that I can’t remember. 10 months ago they didn’t have even those two. (Way back then, I tried to get KW via WorldCat, and failed miserably. I wonder if that’s why they have the tapes now?) I’d love to go out and buy the books I want, but we’re not buying much these days (see house, new; baby, new; and economy, bad.)

So pardon me while I go curl up with a blanket on the couch and read a book. After my visit with the mechanical baby, of course.

Talking about cables and Contest Winner!

February 12, 2009 at 12:44 pm | In WIP, knitting | 2 Comments
Tags: contest

Is it common, when a cable is traversing a reverse stockinette background, to work the cable all in knits?

That’s what the instructions for the Chevalier mittens say to do, but it leaves a weird little almost hole looking place right above the cable, where I can tell it should have been purled instead of knit.

But in the good news category, I’ve learned how to cable without a cable needle. My right leaning cables at the beginning are full of Holy Wonky Stitches Batman! moments, but I learned to tighten up the float and now they’re much better.

So, I didn’t realize it was Thursday until just a moment ago. There were 29 comments (deleting the pingback that I never deleted, but didn’t count) and random.org generated a number for me: 1. (Can you believe it? I thought random number generators never generated #1. I checked to make sure I was doing it right, though.) That means our winner is….

Lisa!

Congratulations, and thank you all for entering. I hope everyone comes back to visit now and then!

Rejected

February 11, 2009 at 10:29 am | In knitting | 1 Comment

A conversation:

Me: Here are your socks, Ladybug.

Ladybug: Did you finish them?

Me: Sure did.

Ladybug. Oh. I don’t like them.

Me: (Internally) WHAT?!?!! (Externally) Oh. Why?

Lbg: They don’t have any pink in them.

Me: *head banging on keyboard*

I’ll stick ‘em in her drawer, and make her wear them. I may have to write the word “princess” on them somewhere, but she’ll wear them!

What is this?

February 9, 2009 at 10:11 am | In house, weekend wrapup | 3 Comments

A) A basic kitchen light fixture.

B) A beautiful hanging light up water fountain.

Yeah, that was a nice evening.

ETA: Ladybug was playing in the bath, and somehow (we have been unable to replicate this) splashed water in such a manner that a gush of water ran down our kitchen table light fixture (seen above in the picture. It’s directly below the bath tub). There will be caulking in our future.

Second Blogiversary Yarn Contest!

February 6, 2009 at 9:42 am | In yarn | 30 Comments
Tags: contest

I woke up this morning with a desire to give away some yarn. And as it turns out, tomorrow is my second blogiversary. How fortuitous!

What am I offering?

Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Sierra.

Want it? Leave me a comment, and I’ll pick the winner using a random number generator. Oh, and please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you. Contest ends at noon CST on Thursday, February 12.

And if you are a knitter with mohair issues, a deal could be reached regarding some Koigu.

Today is for me

February 4, 2009 at 1:44 pm | In FO, Socks, knitting, me | 1 Comment

Today I have finished socks:

Pattern: None. My own. Simple 48 stitch CO. 3×1 ribbing for a while. Make swirls. Mirror swirls if you’re so inclined.
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: 2.00mm US 0 DPNs
Size: Ladybug
Started: October 17, 2008
Finished: February 4, 2009

I am so sick of this yarn. It’s being put into the bag of scraps, and we’ll see if I can bring myself to knit with this colorway ever again.

To inspire me to finish these socks, I did the second one with a short row heel. I think it turned out well (who am I kidding. This is my best short row heel ever. Let’s not discuss how it’s my second short row heel.)

I also ended up with the second one being a little bit shorter in the leg. My gauge was also tighter. Eh. Ladybug won’t care.

Today I joined Plurk:

I’m not much of a joiner. I don’t do knit-alongs, because there’s no way I could keep up. So why plurk? It’ll probably be good for me. Maybe help me open up or something. I dunno. If I fail at plurking, I can always quit.

Today I am wearing pajama pants:

Dude. You so did not want to be me last night. Pidge had some issues. I don’t know what they were, but they prevented her from sleeping for more than a couple hours at a time.

Today I reached the point in the Yarn Harlot’s archives where I started reading her blog:

Did that make sense? In an attempt to fill my pumping time with lots to read when google reader was empty, I started reading her archives from the beginning. (Does it freak you out that her first post had 19 comments? Crazy.) Also, my favorite post of hers that I had never read? The goat fiber one.