It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
Well bummer. Remember when I said the hat obsession had returned? And I showed you the two yarns I wanted to use? Yes. Well. I seem to have fallen under the sway of Malabrigo's lovely but occasionally sporadic colors. Somehow the yarn that looked all blue and green and gray with hints of yellow turned out to be yellow with bits of evil thrown in. Well no, I take it back. The yarn itself is lovely, it just wasn't playing well with that gray and that stitch pattern. Not really at all. So I did what any reasonable knitter would [...]
I Protest
When you don't swatch, or when you do a crappy swatch, or when your swatch proves to be a bald-faced liar (that's what happened here), then you get to rip out the promising start of a hat (while swearing), detangle all that yarn (still swearing), pick up all the stitches that survived the purge (more swearing), and knit it all over. This time with the right size of needle. And maybe with a refreshing and restorative beverage. Here's the bundle of lying crap. The new and improved version will be coming up next. Or, if it doesn't continue to improve, [...]
Rip-rippity-rip-rip-rip
Every now and then someone asks me how it is that all my knitting comes out so well. After I've stopped laughing, I assure them that it doesn't. Not really at all. An amazing percentage of my knitting comes out exceptionally badly. Probably a higher percentage than of your knitting. Every pattern that gets to the point where you see it has had lots and lots (and lots) of failed prototypes. So, just to reassure those of you who might be feeling that you're the only one whose knitting occasionally looks like a pile of limp spaghetti, allow me to [...]
Kittens are Punks, Part I
I preface this by saying first, it's my own damn fault. Do keep that in mind as we go along. But, with that in the back of your mind, I posit that kittens are punks. The other day, I was doing something in the basement. I have no idea what at this point. Laundry is most likely, but I don't actually think that was it. Whatever it was, I happened to remember that I had some boxes of easter eggs down there. Now if you know me, this is really rather surprising. I don't celebrate easter. I don't decorate for [...]
The Stars Did Not Align
We're actually pretty good at the short trip thing. We don't overpack (for one or two nights we just share a super tiny rolling bag). We understand the importance of snacks. We have the music situation well under control. I know all about the care and feeding of car knitting. We have a system. Usually, it just sort of works. But this weekend...this weekend we never quite found our groove. It started when we woke up on Saturday and found the furnace had given up the ghost. We have a service plan through our gas company, so we called them [...]
Denied
The kitten overlords have decreed that I may not use my desk chair. It has been commandeered for their nefarious purposes. They suggest checking back later to see if they're done with it, but they make no promises. Update: Shortly after posting this, the rat fink bastards devious little brats kittens upped the ante in their quest to keep me from being productive. They swarmed me, all three at once, on the tile floor. It was a choice between dropping what I had in my hands and grabbing the sink or going ass over teakettle and landing in the middle [...]
And Then They Fell Down Raining Fiery Death on All
Some things in this world are simply true. It doesn't matter if I remember them or not. It doesn't matter if I like them or not. They just go right on being true in blatant disregard of how I think the world should work. For instance, I am a big person, and I have giant freaky man hands. Also, it is rather challenging to take pictures of hands. Given these two truths, it really shouldn't surprise me that taking a picture of giant freaky man hands that 1) makes them look willowy and delicate 2) shows off the knitting they [...]
Dear Sir
Dear United States Customs Officials, I know that it is unlikely that you have a grudge against me or that you spend your days dreaming up ways to make me unhappy. Unfortunately, your actions of late have made me realize that there is a difference between things that are unlikely and things that are impossible. If you don't stop holding my packages hostage I will be forced to conclude either that this is personal or that you are using your power to feed your uncontrollable lust for wooly goodness. Please release my packages and restore my faith in humanity. Yours [...]
It’s a Process
Having decided to dye the blanket, I thought I should do a bit of research. Armed with a bit of reading, I first washed the blanket (it hadn't been washed for years...because it had been in the blanket chest, not because I'm filthy). Then I dug out my old jug of synthrapol from a previous tie dyeing phase and ran it through with a shot of that out of some vague notion that it would be helpful. Then, while the blanket was still wringing wet, I trundled off to mix up the dye. I used all three packets, and I [...]
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