Thursday, June 29, 2006

Ooo, pretty

So, somebody somewhere is doing some sort of posting involving pictures of the sky, which I could very easily look up but I'm making ice cream and it is almost done. Anyway, the sky is so beautiful right now I wanted to share. Have a wonderful evening.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Yipee!

Thanks to all the creative energy flying around the room at the SnB last night I actually figured out what my problem was and fixed it. Mim and Shelley were especially nice as I sat there and stared at my pattern for easily 30 minutes, knitting and then tinking the same 14 stitches over and over. It seems I missed a YO on one side of the pattern and picked up some random loop on the other side, making my overall count ok but still nothing was fitting.
Now if I stare at everything else for long enough, maybe my next move will become clear...

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Arg.

Overall, the knitting on my Shetland Tea Shawl has gone extremely smoothly. Until tonight. I'm not really sure what the problem is, in fact, yesterday I finally figured out what the heck they are talking about when they talk about moving the stitch markers, and why I should do that. But I either have a missing stitch or my markers are just scattered helter skelter through my stitches or something. At least I've isolated the problem; it is definitely somewhere within the lace.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Strangest thing I've knit

I was kind of burned out for a few days from working on nothing but the big-ass shawl, so last night I started Nautie from Knitty. Very weird and cool, plus a good use of the crappy Red Heart I have floating around since before I started knitting with decent yarn a few years ago. The green of the shell is Wool-ease, and not bad to work with at all. The cream is the tiniest fraction of a giant skein of Red Heart, and is nearly impossible to touch with knitting needles. I've been knitting for 24 years, how did it take me so long to pick up decent wool? Anyway, since I started this I am full of ideas of who I know that needs such a strange knitted object. My mom is a science teacher, of course she needs one! Brother in law and his wife just had a baby-and what better toy could an infant have than the weirdest thing in the ocean? My cousin is pregnant, hurray! A pink one for her baby-in-waiting. Tomorrow I'll pick up some googly eyes for the wacky little guy.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Getting better all the time

Today was a much better, smoother running day than I have had in a while. My post-seizure paranoia has lessened to the point where the Monkey does not have to be in my direct line of sight. And my outlook on everything always improves after yoga, which I went to tonight. The kind people at Knitpicks also sent me a catalog (yarn porn) the other day, so I also partook in a little retail-therapy, and bought myself a project or two-s yarn.

Last Saturday I did a little KIP at the Farmer's Market and met David and Jessica. Beautiful day, and the Monkey was actually really good while I sat and knit for quite a while (food always helps him hold still-eating is serious business to this kid). When the wiggles got to be too much for Monkey, Jen had arrived and we did some shopping. David's genius idea for my impossible to shop for MIL's birthday was to knit her a washcloth. The farmer's market is a really easy place to pick up some delicious handmade soap, and I whipped up a cloth from cotton in my stash that night. Done in plenty of time!

And last, I will finally post my Knit Sock Kit Swap questionnaire for my very on the ball secret pal. I admit I didn't answer some of the questions thought. What kind of yarn would I be? The kind that is baffled by that line of questioning.

What are your favorite colors? Purple, brown, earthy dark colors
Are you a new sock knitter? Very new, I've knit two whole pair so far!
How long have you been knitting socks? Just a couple months.
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? Solid or very lightly variegated
What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn? Haven't really been doing this long enough to have a strong opinion. Wool/nylon blends seem like a good sturdy idea.
Where do you usually knit socks? The park while chasing my kid (or otherwise on the go), with the ball of yarn tucked under my arm.
How do you usually carry/store small projects? Ziplock bags. Serious class, that's me.
What are your favorite sock knitting patterns? dyeing to try Pomatomus, it is so pretty.
What new techniques would you like to try? I would like to try magic loop.
Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting? DPNs, but only because that is all I've used.
What are some of your favorite yarns? I'm working on a huge lace project with some Gems Pearl, and it is a delight to knit with.
What yarn do you totally covet? Sea Silk. Never seen the stuff but I'm smitten by the idea of yarn containing seaweed.
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? I'm still looking for the perfect yarn to knit the Shoalwater Shawl with. Were I to fall headfirst into a big pile of money I'd use Sea Silk.
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? All but two pair of the needles I own are straight wooden, made by me.
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? I have one easy to satisfy sweet tooth.
What is your favorite animal? Cats! I even spun cat hair once...
Do you have pets? Just my husband and kid
What are their species/names/ages? Homo sapien/Marc and Monkey/30 and 2 1/2
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else's).. I designed and screened a Muddy Waters shirt for my boy. Coolest shirt ever.
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? I have a special place in my heart for the ocean and most things in it.
Monkey had another seizure yesterday, so back up to Primary Children's ER. So I'm a day behind again.
Fuck.
I have actual updates to do, but they'll wait until tomorrow.
Really big hugs to the SLC SnB girls, you have no idea how badly I needed a fun normal night tonight. Thank you.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Nemo!

Thanks for the great comments about my Amazing Lace challenge post. My guitar is an older Fernandes Native, which I love. It has a sustainer, which has become more fun the longer I play. It really does look a lot like a Jag-stang, but has more of an evenly curved bottom so it doesn't quite have that retro cool. Real great warm tone, solid wood body without weighing a ton. Has the added bonus of being the only non-black instrument on the stage too-in case I don't stand out enough, as the only girl.
On to the crafty stuff, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. Tonight I pulled my Supermom costume out of the closet and made my kid some really cool Finding Nemo shorts. So easy, and when you're making size 3T clothes you need less than half a yard. The pattern is only two pieces also, so you don't even have to finish that many edges. Pictures of him actually wearing the shorts will have to wait for some time when he is awake (as opposed to now when he is supposed to be asleep but I can hear him jumping on the bed.)

Have a wonderful time everyone who is going to Estes! I'm jealous already!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Amazing Lace Challenge #2

My weekend involved some pretty x-treme knitting in public, combining both the Amazing Lace Challenge #2 and WWKIP day.

Picture, if you will, a purple-haired rocker grrl standing on the stage of a smoky bar. Lights flash, the beer flows, loud music is produced. Finally a set break, and does the grrl light up? No. Look perpetually confused like her drummer? No. Regret her comfortable but kind of dorky footwear choice? Maybe a little.
She pulls out the lace...























This lace that has been mountain climbing, worked on before yoga and kickboxing classes, sat beneath trees and grown in four city parks and one Utah State Park, and has been to the PCMC ER three freaking times. But I think this is the most extreme we've gotten so far.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is some serious bad-ass lace. We rocked, and we rocked hard.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Nakedfotolady do not look!

A few months ago I started a spirituality swap project on Glitter. Lots of things have come up for both myself and my partner, so it took until early this week to mail it off. It will probably arrive at her house any day now, so I can finally post pictures hopefully without spoiling the surprise.




You're not looking, right NFL?






Embroidery with cool silver thread. The first not crappy embroidery I've really done.













The banner! Hung so attractively before shipping on a yardstick. I sincerely hope it is not as crooked as appears in the picture. Hard to see, but there are a small embroidered sun and moon in the top corners as a reminder to keep life balanced. The two pockets on the bottom are green, the color of Mother Earth, and blue, the color of Father Sky. The pockets are there to place goals and wishes, the appropriate side depending on whether the goal is physical or ephemeral. I spent a lot of time trying to think of different ways to embellish this banner, before I realized that personalization would best be left to the recipient. The medicine wheel and most of the surrounding space is blank, to leave lots of room to place items that are important or symbolic.



I'm still too chicken to proceed with my Shetland Tea Shawl as the pattern is written to my understanding. The patterns have so far been very intuitive, so I'll follow along the way that makes sense to me. And if that completely fucks it up, well, that is why I've placed no small number of lifelines.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Bread

An interesting facet to my character is that I always bake my own bread. I the past 8 1/2 years I've bought maybe a dozen loaves. I started out with a bread machine as a wedding present, and wore two pans and eventually the machine out. My second bread machine was not as good, so I only used it to kneed. A couple of years ago my parents got me a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas, and I've been baking up a storm ever since. When I do need to pick up a loaf at the grocery store I feel like I've somehow failed myself, or that The Man is bringing me down. So with this abominable heat we've had here for the past couple weeks I've really been suffering. Mid 90s for days! Unseasonable! So today when it was forecast to reach only 80 (the average temperature for this time of year, according to weather.com) I got busy early in the morning and pounded out 4 loaves of bread to freeze, which is exactly how many fit at once in my oven. Not nearly as exciting as the other foodie pics from Utah grrls, but still delicious.
Please ignore the absolutely black bananas in the corner; you just can't make banana bread with yellow bananas.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Music, yarn, love and logic


I had a cool graphics assignment given to me yesterday: come up with a flyer for the show my band is playing in on Saturday. We (Lucky Dragon) are opening up for our friends General Confusion, and it should be a blast. Assuming you are into Punk/Blues.
In knitting news I am at the last pattern section in my Shetland Tea Shawl and am sooo stuck. The directions helpfully advise me to "move the marker one stitch to the right." Um, I can not for ANYTHING figure out why I should do this. The pattern balances out with increases and decreases, at least to my eyes. Grawr. The pattern corrections are here on page two (Diamond Madeira pattern), in case anyone feels like enlightening me.
This would probably be easier if the Monkey had taken a nap today. I get to be the mean momma tonight, as he was also sent to bed without (much) dinner. He's had a major food-throwing issue of late; not a desirable trait. So he was informed that food on the floor would result in dinner ending. Three bites of salad later and there is food all over. Calmly he was marched to bed, where he cried/sniveled for an hour. Being weak and concerned that he would be too hungry (I've been warned low blood sugar might bring about seizures on him) so he got to get up and eat a PBJ. He was mostly finished before the food throwing began, so back to bed for him. I am determined to be a real hard ass about it this time. We'll see how it works out tomorrow evening.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Dark ages...

Yesterday afternoon our power was out for a couple hours, and you would not believe the suffering we did because of it. It is not as though we are weak people, shuddering at the first sign of the wilderness. We weren't even doing anything power-intensive: Marc was studying for the bar, Monkey was sleeping and I was knitting and fixing dinner. But with our complaining you would think we had to dodge dinosaurs to sharpen pigeon feathers to scratch our crude marks onto curls of birch bark. Monkey woke up because it was hot and his fan wasn't going any more, therefore distracting Marc, and my dinner plans were shot to hell. I was making bread and ice cream for a friend's birthday-fairly low tech. PIONEERS made bread and ice cream, for crying out loud. But typically I use my lovely pink KitchenAid mixer to knead the bread, and I needed the stove to cook the ice creams custard base. So with much sniveling and suffering on my part I kneaded the dough, which we threw on the BBQ at the party (yum!) The ice cream was cooked and frozen at the party which occurred in a more enlightened, electricity-blessed part of town.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Lace

I'm up waaaaaay too late tonight, but I was really on a roll with the Shetland Tea Shawl and didn't notice the time creeping by. Marc is reading, which quite effectively removes him from the realm of this earth's time too. No matter, I finished the second block of lace patterning (the horseshoe design, to be exact) on the shawl and am zipping along on yet another increase row. Possibly the last increase actually, but the book is all the way over on the coffee table-much too far to check. The rows are about to get twice as long but I think I'm going to be finished with this a lot sooner than previously anticipated. Something about frequent stress and knitting to pull myself together...
I waffle between being afraid of running out of yarn early and worrying that it will turn out too small. I could probably do some complicated math to determine actual number of stitches done vs. remaining stitches as well as comparing weight of remaining ball of yarn with knit yarn. But that is going to have to wait until at least tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

So I get another Thursday tomorrow, right?

Apparently when you are prone to seizures, every time you get sick your threshold is lowered and you are more likely to have a breakthrough seizure. Easy to read, shitty to experience at 7 and 9 in the morning after a long sleepless night. So we got to spend the morning at Primary Children's again, where for probably the first time ever the doctor heard someone cheer when they announced "Your kid has strep." Hurray! This is very reassuring; this is the first time we've had a reason for a seizure. So his anti-seizure meds stay the same, and we add some antibiotics to the mix for the next ten days, and we start the X days since the last seizure clock again. I was hugely upset this morning-we had been doing so well-but the monkey and I curled up on the couch together and took a long nap and are both feeling a lot better.
But all this does lead to my missing day. I honestly did not get a single thing done off my list today. Nothing. I barely got dressed. So I'm going to need to schedule a make-up day, to catch up with myself.
Meh, who am I kidding? I know I would just lay around knitting.

On a more cheerful note, broccoflower is really beautiful.













It looks like fractals up close. I am such a geek.