Knit & Nosh

not so much

Last night was fun.  This morning, not so much.

Friday evenings have a pattern around here.  I generally make a nice dinner, after dinner people seem to separate to do their own thing.  Husband will play a little guitar and then put on some music.  The music gets louder as the evening progresses.  Sometimes the kids hang out and listen too.  I usually take my knitting and laptop to bed.  I enjoy hearing the music, but am ready for something a little calmer.  Usually I fall asleep before Husband comes to bed and everyone is happy.

Last night, I did not take my knitting and laptop to bed.  Last night I decided to hang out.  I stayed up WAY too late, drank too much and am up early for a meeting.  I only do that once or twice a year.  Often enough to keep fresh in my mind that staying up late and drinking do not agree with me.

The funniest part of last night was watching the kids drop off, one by one.  At first we were all dancing around the living room.  Youngest Daughter was the first to leave, she likes her sleep.  Then Youngest Son climbed into bed.  Lastly, Oldest Son fell asleep on the couch.  How he slept with music that loud Is beyond me.  I think it was after 1 when husband and I finally crawled into bed.

I probably would have been OK if I did not have to be up for a meeting this morning.  The aspirin and caffeine will kick in soon enough.  It would be even better if I could go back to bed when I get back home, but no.  Last week a friend was talking about Bloody Mary’s, which I have not had in MANY years, and was surprised to learn that I had never had one made with gin.  We decided to get together this afternoon and have him make one for me.  Sounded like a great idea last week. Today, not so much.

a nice, finished cast on

Here is a SYB update.

It is becoming quite large.  Currently it measures 55 inches across.  I have begun adding squares row by row and after some trial and error have found a way to cast on for the end squares that I am happy with. 

As you look at the blanket, the end square on the right begins by casting on 25 stitches, the rest are picked up and knit in the usual way.  I use the Long Tail method to cast on those stitches.  The squares on the left were a bit trickier.  The first 26 stitches are picked up and knit and then 25 stitches are cast on.  Traditionally a Backwards Loop cast on would be used.  I hate the Backwards Loop and I did not even try it.  I did try the Knitted cast on.  It worked, but the edge was loose and did not have the finished look I am after.  So I had to get tricky.

With a very long yarn tail, I picked up and knit the first two stitches.  For the third stitch I grabbed the tail from the first stitch and knit with that.  For the fourth stitch I used the tail from the second stitch...It is just like alternating colors from two balls of yarn, only I am using one long piece of yarn.  By moving the working yarn across the stitches, once I came to the point when I needed to cast on the next 25 stitches, I could use the Long-Tail method.  This gives the square a nice finish and I am felling quite clever.

denial

One of the blogs I enjoy reading is Rocks, Waves, Beach.  While I do not know where this person lives, i always thought of it as being the Pacific Northwest.  The views on her blog are familiar enough and that is where I had placed her in my mind. 

Yesterday she posted about snow, lots of snow.  My immediate thought was "Oh, I was wrong, she must live on the East Coast."  A smarter person would have stopped and thought a little harder.  A smarter person would have remembered that this blogger has seen orcas from her beach and is familiar with Canadian mail.  A smarter person would seen her snow and checked her own weather forecast.

This morning at my house?  Snow.  Unexpected and unplanned for.  I was warned, but chose not to hear it. 

humpty dumpty was pushed

Yesterday I managed to set my personal best (?) time for crossing the border.  3 hours 5 minutes.  As I was heading south the big sign over the freeway told me that the Pacific Crossing was only  a 90 minute wait.  So I headed for the Pacific Crossing.  I did not take the time to equate the electronic border crossing board over I-5 with the electronic ferry crossing board at my house.   The one at my house is never correct.  It says there is a 90 minute wait for the ferry with no cars in the line up.  It says there is a 90 minute wait when the cars are backed up past my house and in standing in front of the grocery store.  Anyway.

While I was waiting patiently in the border crossing line, ignoring the fact that I had to pee, I finished reading my current book.  After finishing the book I picked up Swamp Thing socks.  Now this is a totally easy pattern.  k5,p1, across the instep, then k through the sole, talk about mindless.   It turned out it was not mindless enough.  I kept screwing up and having to tink.  Why?  Because I could not stop thinking about the book I had just finished.  This is a good sign.  The  book?

Humpty Dumpty Was Pused by Marc Blatte.  This is a smallish book and a quick read.  It is a quick read because it is so good.  I am not sure what it was about the pre-release literature that made me request this book, but boy am I glad I did.  It had me at the first sentence.  “When Scholar showed up at the studio and threw ten G’s in cash down on the automated faders of the classic forty-eight channel Neve mixing board, Biz new there was no way out of the deal.”  I have sat in front of that Neve,  I remember the first time I saw a board that big, the memory puts a smile on my face.  But this book is not all geeky music business stuff.

The Music Industry plays a part, the desire to succeed is fierce.  The book is so much more.  The characters are deep and complex and wonderful.  They are rich and poor, newly immigrated and long suffering.  Well connected and well meaning, all at the same time.  The scene where Vooko drives to the Hamptons and finally finds the “real” America is so touching.  It drops you to your knees.  At that moment you realize not only life as the characters have lived it, but life as the rest of us view it.  Very powerful stuff.

This book deserves your time.  The slang will not get in your way and you will find as you read that the slang is important for the characters.  The look of the book is very Kindle.  Bright white pages and crisp font.  Give it a read.  Listen to what it says and how it says it.  SO satisfying.  Will it turn out to be my favorite book of 2009?  Maybe.

I mean really, I was in a car, by myself, waiting for an agent to allow me to enter my own country and I could not knit a simple pair of socks because I kept coming back to the book.  It’s worth your time.

just the facts, mam

After reading Vanessa's blog this evening, I learned there is meme going around about what you carry in your knitting bag.  Vanessa (and apparently everyone else in the universe) carry all sorts of functional items, "just in case".  Me?

 

The top part of my case holds scissors, a stitch marker and a couple of finishing needles.

The bottom part contains a 2 inch measure, needle sizer and crochet hook.  Yeah, maybe I need to get out a little.

unconventional blocking

Luna Moth, from

blob, to

bath, to

blocking. 

I am very happy with the way the shawl turned out and I hope it fetches a lot of money at the charity auction.  I really do not want to give it away, that means I will need to make another for myself.  The pattern is wonderful to knit.  Not too simple, not too thinky.  I used about 500 yards of Fleece Artist Seawool, color Moss, size 6 needles.  After blocking it measures 52 inches across and 33 inches down the back.

You may notice that I have a somewhat unconventional blocking method.  There is no place in the house big enough to properly block a shawl.  Sometimes the bed works, but not always.  That means I had to take it outside.  Using blocking wires and zip ties I am able to place the shawl in the sun and still have air flow.  If a shawl is longer than 36 inches than I zip tie it to the outside of the rail.  This allows it to stretch below deck level.  It is a practically perfect method.

For those of you that have been reading the blog for a while, you are aware that I do not stash.  And, that not stashing has caused me some knitting related grief this winter.  You are not going to believe what I did last night.  I ordered yarn without a project in mind.  Yes I did.  Two skeins.  One of them might, some day, become a scarf for Oldest Son.  Maybe.  The other skein was ordered simply because I love the color.  While I do not plan to make a habit out of this sort of thing, I can see the appeal of having a few choice skeins on hand.  Just a few.

no winter or spring festivals for me

I did not go to Madrona, and I have not signed up for The Nordic Knitting Conference.  Serious consideration was put in to both events.  In the end, I reminded myself that I do not like to take knitting classes and that I could save a ton of money if I just purchased the books for the classes that seem interesting.  My current list:

Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush.  Probably will not make a single thing from the book, as I have a thing about nupps.  Her history will be great reading.  Nothing like curling up with a cup of a tea and a Nancy Bush book.

The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin.  I continue to read such good things about her classes.  One of these days I may actually take one.

Sock Innovation by Cookie A.  No, Cookie did not offer a class at either event.  This is forward thinking for Sock Summit.  If I go, I will want to take her class.  If I decide to stay home then the book purchase will be part of the above group.

I will wait a week before I place the order, it is possible there is something else that should be on the list.  Something Nordic.

I will have saved myself many hundreds of dollars and learned something new while hanging out in my jammies.  This is good.  I may have something here with this whole, stayknitcation (insert copyright symbol).

There are rumours of sunshine in Seattle tomorrow.  Luna Moth will head outside for a blocking at the first light.

i heart pink

Yesterday I made the trip up to Canada to fetch Oldest Daughter.  Into the road trip bag went a book, a  Moleskine, a water bottle, a stack of CD’s, and a small knitting bag holding a pair of socks in progress.  I was expecting an easy drive (no snow this time) and was prepared for a long wait at the border.

Sure enough, heading south the wait was almost 2 hours.  This is pretty normal and history has shown me that I can make a great deal of progress on a pair of socks while inching towards the border.  Want to guess at how much knitting I was able to do?  Go on, guess....nothing.  As I reach for the knitting bag, it is wet.  Inside, sock in progress and ball of yarn are also wet.  It appears I did not tighten the cap to my water bottle.  GGRRR

Last night, while the sock was drying, I cast on this

Its been a week and I still want to lick it.  Valentine by Madelinetosh purchased  from Woolgirl and on its was to becoming a pair of Fingerless Garter Mitts.  MMM, love...

a pretty post

In case you are wondering, 1870 is Oldest Sons SAT score.  I no longer have the highest score in the house, and I do not mind a bit.

Last year a friend shared one of her traditions with me.  Imbolc.  Part of her tradition is to write your intentions for the coming year on a small piece of paper, and plant it with some seeds.  As the plants grow so do your intentions.  Because I would like to "reap the fruit" of my intentions, I planted them with food seeds.  Green Beans and peas.  The beans are up!

It is a very satisfying and a happy reminder of my intentions.

Luna Moth is almost finished.  It will probably see the bind off this weekend.

Yeah,I know it does not look any different than the last time I posted a picture, but it is bigger, trust me.

Swamp Thing Socks are coming along nicely.

This is my first 3-ply handspun sock yarn.  I REALLY like it.  The socks are for Husband, his first pair of handspun handknit socks.  I had been hoarding all the handspun for myself, but this yarn really does have his name all over it.  I am worried that once he wears these babies the commercial handknit won't feel quite as nice to him.  Its a slippery slope.

And lastly, the gorgeous yarn I spoke of yesterday.

This is dyed by Madelinetosh, purchased from Woolgirl and is part of the Valentine Sock Kit.  It is GORGEOUS!  I had planned to cast on as soon as it arrived, but it is so lovely sitting on my desk.  I want to pick it up and lick it.  I think I will let it hang around on the desk for a few days before I ball it up.  This will be my first Madelinetosh knitting experience.  

oh yeah

Oldest Son ROCKED the SAT!!

I received some gorgeous yarn today.  No pictures yet.

Things are sprouting.