Scribbles & Bits

I don't know how else to say this: my grandmother passed away yesterday.  Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts.  I'll be back later.

*taptaptap* Is This Thing On?

I guess I can't really say that when it's me that's been MIA.  So let's see: what's happened since I last posted?  I applied for a job at random, was interviewed, offered the position, and had to move cross country in less than two weeks time.  This all happened in November.  I don't even know where to begin talking about how much happier I am and all about my new job.  Knitting, stitching, and whatnot got moved to the back burner, but I've taken up a pair of socks to help me through the ups and downs of my grandmother's open heart surgery. 

So that's my life in a nutshell.  What's new with you?  ;)

The Best Thing I've Learned Today And a Tip

I promised myself that I wasn't going to post again until I was posting something I'd made (or at the very least I'm working on), but today has been an epic fest of suctackularity (that's a word, right?) so I'm cheering myself up with this fact: Dr. Ruth was a sniper in Israel.  I can't explain exactly why it cheers me up (Hey!  Way to go!  You can kill people AND give frank sex advice!), but it does.  (and no, this isn't another one of those "Mr. Rogers was a sniper and his cardigans covered the tattoos" things.)

Also, a tip that I've never seen anywhere and it's actually helped one person, so I'm going to pass it on, feeling rather clever that I thought of this on my own.  When the pattern directs you to knit until the piece measures (x) inches, just figure out your row gauge and you can keep clicking your row counter and it makes it go by faster and you don't end up with that black hole of knitting where it never gets any longer and then all of a sudden it's 2 inches too long (like the run on sentence you just read).  And if everyone already does that and this isn't such a novel tip, then never mind.   

Or Maybe It's Just Me

OK, I don't know which came first: the toy named "Sit and Spin" or the phrase accompanied by a rude gesture.  If it's the latter, isn't that sort of a terrible thing to name a toy?  I'm presuming, of course, that this phrase/gesture combo isn't just a regional thing.

This random thought brought to you by Things That Bother Me For Literally Years and Years.

Conversations I Wish I Knew More About

I'd hoped to be able to show you a lovely blocked lace shawl.  However, crawling all over the floor with a bum foot trying to stretch out lace is not, well, any easier than it sounds.  So instead, I present this brief story: my new upstairs neighbor has yet to learn that sounds carry.  Or maybe he doesn't care.  After all, this is a man who carries on phone conversations while he's using the bathroom, such as this most recent one:

"I've already donated $100 to (candidate's) campaign.  (pause)  I don't think so.  (pause)  No, I don't think so.  I've got a 20 gauge shotgun."

Um, what?  Are those two thoughts related or had they already switched subjects?  Because if they're related, I might have to start worrying about that candidate's opposition. 

Picture Pages!

Does anyone else remember that?  With Bill Cosby?  I'll spare you the whole song (aren't you glad I don't have the ability to record things?  Oh the songs you'd hear!  Truly, you have no idea what a bullet you are dodging here!).  But enough parenthetical notation!  On to the pictures!

First up is the half dome I made for my cousin!  It'll fit him much better than Venus is demonstrating here.  When I mentioned that to her, she got a little huffy and turned her back on me.  Armless reproductions can be so huffy.  But it did give me the chance to get a shot of the back! And a nice zoom in on the crown finishing, which I'm really quite pleased with!  But in the end, to get a true feel for the fit, I had to put it on me.  I tapped into my modeling knowledge (gleaned from watching a few more episodes of America's Next Top Model than I should admit to) and put on my "thoughtful" face.  Now to wait for Tyra's call!  ;-)  Actual pattern notes: I worked it as written with the exception of casting on two fewer stitches because I worked it in the round.  The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, one I'd never worked with before and picked up for a pretty good price!  Woohoo! 

But there's still another hat!  This is the hard hat liner for my uncle!  It took less than a skein of Wildfoote sock yarn.  I've read bad things about this yarn (coarse, splitty, things that I hadn't come across before I'd already bought two skeins), but I didn't have a problem with it at all.  Maybe I'm lucky!  But not with models apparently.  I managed to talk Venus into this one shot before an errant comment sent her screaming out of the room.  Thank goodness again for my years of reality show training in the industry, though!  I was able to pull off the "angelic" face!

The other project I actually completed was the stole for my grandmother made by modifying the Branching Out pattern.  However, I haven't blocked it yet, so I'm just going to hold off on pictures until after that.  I tried Shedir, but I just couldn't get the hang of the pattern.  So many other people seem to have loved it, so I'm a little bummed that it didn't work out, but Plan B is fingerless gloves of some kind.  My grandfather has arthritis in his hands, so that might help ease that.  Maybe.  And then there's Isabella, which I'm still plowing away at.  It's so pretty, but I just can't seem to keep the momentum going on it.  But I'll look at all this this way: 2 of the 5 Christmas projects are completely complete and 1 just needs blocking, so that's pretty good progress in my book! 

Mobility! Woohoo!

Totally how I felt when I got the boot!  Which I can take off in about 4 weeks!  Woohoo again!  This foot went a lot easier than the left one did.  It probably helped that it wasn't in nearly as bad a shape.  As a result, I really didn't end up taking too many painkillers after a couple of days so I got a lot of knitting (and a bit of embroidery) done!  Now I just need to take pictures!  Not all the Christmas knitting is done yet, but I'm really close!  So close! 

Now to catch up with all of your adventures! 

See Ya On the Flipside (If I Haven't Gone Insane)

First I absolutely have to say a big big thank you to Super Jen!  She sent me a copy of Traditional Scandinavian Knitting which has really kick started me into wanting to try this technique!  I won't be quite crazy enough to try it while I'm on painkillers.  But man, after that?  I think it might just be "Katie, bar the door!"

I guess Mr. is getting used to me.  He just barely batted an eye when I stated that I was planning to knit Christmas presents for the 5 nearest and dearest of my family members.  Ok, maybe he blanched a little bit.  But I'm not knitting sweaters.  Ok, one is a short sleeve pullover (Isabella from Knitty, for my aunt, to be exact), but nothing really REALLY complicated, like intricate cables or lace.  Ok, well, one of the gifts is Shedir for my grandfather, and I'm turning Branching Out into a stole (three pattern repeats!  Woohoo!) for my grandmother, but I've already finished the gift for my uncle (this helmet liner for his hard hat when he's at work) and I'm halfway done with the gift for my cousin (giving Halfdome another try).  And I'm throwing in a little something for me (this short row hat, since I love me some short rows)!  So I'm totally sure I can pull this all off while I'm laid up!  Which dovetails nicely with my next point, which is hopefully tomorrow will be flawless and I'll get this surgery out of the way!  So if you have a chance to think good thoughts for me, I'd appreciate it!  And I swear: pictures when I get back!

Are Those Clickable Pictures on Your Screen? Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

This is the hat.  This is the too-big hat.  It's supposed to be close-fitting.   I got gauge, but I made the biggest size (for bigger heads or people with a lot of hair).  It has become a cloche.  I should have taken a picture with it pulled all the way down instead of trying to style it somehow because in the real world it's not going to stay like that.  I'd kind of thought it would be a good present for my cousin, but I realized that while he is quite tall and his feet are huge, his head is probably about my size.  Plus I'd forgotten that I'd knit him a scarf in his school colors, so I'm going to try a new one knit to match that.  Oh yeah, because I didn't mention it, this is Halfdome from Knitty. 

Still with me?  I'm impressed!  Then let's move on to work in progress one: the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  Perk #1: A very easy project to memorize quickly.  Perk #2: you don't have to work on it very long before you see progress.  Con #1: It is definitely NOT a last minute knitted gift (although, in the book's defense, it's in the More-Than-Eight-Hour category and does indeed say to get a head start on it because it takes a while to make.  But really, as slow as I knit, nothing is particularly last-minute-compatible for me anyway, so I haven't been holding the book to that anyway.  But I digress.).  Con #2: I kind of got bored with it.  So that's me and not the scarf, but that means it's just sort of stalled out.

So the natural progression was to cast on for something else.  This is Branching Out from Knitty and is actually intended as a gift.  I tried to finger block it so the pattern shows up a little better.  Hence the mild wonkiness of it.  Now this pattern I love!  It's challenging, but not too challenging.  The pattern repeat is only 10 rows (even rows are knit borders and purls).  The yarn is awesome!  And I started it on the 5th and I'm over halfway done!  I think I've got about 7 more hours of knitting and it will be done!  So of course I'm a little bummed about that, but I've decided that I'm going to triple the pattern and make a stole for my grandmother for Christmas.  I've got more than enough yarn (might even make one for me!) and more than enough love for this pattern!

*sigh*

My surgery has been rescheduled. 

On my birthday.

Suckiest birthday ever.