Yeah, I swear every now and then. I guess that makes me a naughty little monkey. If you have a problem with that, more power to ya. Everyone needs a hobby.
WIPs
Gong Stampato
FOs
Hot Head x 2
Ribbed-for-Her-Pleasure-Scarf
'04
Hot Head x 1
Top Secret
Black Bag
Zeeby's Bag
Big Bad Baby Blanket
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Monday, December 13, 2004 |
I hate screwing up!! In fact, I work very hard to make sure that I don't make a mistake in my knitting because I'm terrified of frogging.
Well, some things just aren't meant to be..
I had to rip back *several* inches on my mom's sweater because I messed up on the armhole decreases. Bah! Then, I ended up with one more stitch than I was suposed to have. Do you think I knew how to remedy this? Oh, god, you're too kind. No, I didn't know how to fix it. Clueless. So, I did what I always do when I don't know something...I made up a solution (highly effective in driving, though not always safe or legal. Isn't that right, officer?). I tinked another row.
...still one stitch too many.
Then panic set in. Somehow, by an act of a demon, I'd cast on an extra stitch. And, somehow, I'd incorporated that stitch into the pattern. What horror! I'm not sure if what I did was the right thing, but I just decreased that stitch so that the pattern would still work out. No way I'm starting over. Nooooo way.
Mom's sweater is turning into a nightmare.
WIP update!
That's the first legwarmer for Bethie and the first slipper for dad.
I wanted to make dad socks for Christmas, but when it became clear that it wasn't going to work out, I figured that he would still love me if I gave him slippers. I tweaked the pattern a bit to accomodate for my dad's large (size 14) feet. I showed what I had so far to my mom tonight and told her that I was concerned that perhaps I was making them too big. It's hard for me to estimate and I can't measure dad's feet without giving the project away (I'm big on surprises). We decided that my brother might work out for a foot model and I asked my mom to tell him to see me. Two minutes later, she walks back out to the kitchen with my dad and says, "Oh, Leah, your brother is in the shower. But maybe you could use your dad's feet as an example?"
...
Is she totally dumb? I specifically told her to keep this a secret from my dad. Thank god he didn't know what we were talking about (and was totally distracted by making speculaas). I'm sure that I could have measured his feet and have gotten away with it, but the whole point was that I didn't want to raise any suspicion whatsoever. Is that so hard for her to understand?
The weekend wasn't a total waste. Here's a picture of Mike's adorable cat, Isis:
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Thursday, December 09, 2004 |
Look, guys, Nora shed!
Didn't I tell you that she was the best little girl ever?! I always know when she's ripe to peel. We both have our routines and if I don't see her for a day, well, that means it's time. That and she didn't eat last week. Thank god it wasn't a respiratory infection!
I seriously tried to snap a shot of her in the process of shedding, but it's pratically impossible. She is generally not down with the camera going off while she's undressing ;o) Can ya blame her?
I started on Bethie's leg warmers tonight. She's thrilled. I picked out purple and pink because I thought it would be fun and girlie. But, I want to make it perfectly clear that I would not wear these colors. Sorry, Beth. I almost bit the head off of everyone at JoAnn's. Is it so hard to organize the shelves so that people can actually find things!? Course, sometimes going to that place is better than dealing with the snobs at the LYS *coughPurl'scough*
What? Oh, yeah, the leg warmers. So far...
Wow, that's some crappy knitting. How'd that get in there? I don't know what the deal is. Maybe it's the large (US 13) needles. Maybe it's that I suck. I'm not sure. Hold on, hold on...I think something is wrong with the camera. You know what? I've got the fish-eye lens on, how funny. And if you don't buy that...El Nino did it.
A big round of applause for Kristine. She's a good sport even though I dissed on her style (just a bit!! It wasn't aimed at you!!).
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Wednesday, December 08, 2004 |
Ok, I need to lay this out in the open. I am very annoyed by dramatic bloggers. I'm sorry, it's stupid. Take your emo and sit with the rest of the goth kids outside of the lunch room. Course, no one has to read a tragically dramatic blog and I sure as hell don't. But, here's my number one pet peeve about the blogs I do browse through:
"The senseless rambling ranting musings of an obsessed whoever"
Pick apart that sentence and you will see what I see on 1 in 4 blogs. Does everybody have to use those words in their description? Because - and I hope I'm being offensive here - it's dumb and unoriginal. It reminds me of a 13 year old girl sitting down with her fuzzy pink diary and babbleing about her secret crush. Yeah, we know it's about your thoughts and feelings. Get over yourself! Look at your fellow bloggers! They're all saying "musings,"! If I see that word again, I swear to god...
I guess it's especially annoying when I see this in, I'm sorry to say, knitting blogs. I mean, is nothing sacred in this overly emotional world? Sometimes a knit project is just a knit project. It's not a reason to drip on about your sorry life. People, show some anger, some humor! Don't be a slave to the man! Do something different, something out there. And, if you can help it at all, don't 'muse.'
I'm going to go ahead and steal something from Dave Chapelle here. Since I went on a rant that will probably anger 1 out of 4 people who read this site, I'm going to polish this thing off with a picture of my cat. That way it will channel out the hate.
This is pretty silly:
Gangsta Knitter
Thomas P.: I've got lots of trouble on my mind
My knitting's smooth as ice
My yarn is spinning
The whole wide world knows I'm winning.
People like to call me Gangsta Knitter
And I work with the needles that are bigger.
When you're finishing your first, I'm two-timing
Hear the nasty knitting rap that I'm rhyming
See I'm rich, see I'm smooth and fast
Knit so well knock you on your ass.
There's a new line this season
See my gauge, so even
Knit and purl, make you stand when you're sittin'
Like a trip on some page in Vogue Knitting.
Chorus: Gangsta Knitter, Knit for me!
Doug E. Fresh: Word up – I'm a Gangsta Knitter!
Get back to your baby sitter!
I'm so good, see my scarf? Doesn't curl
Number One, gettin' jiggy with the girls.
If you see me coming better step to one side
A lot of men didn't, though not many tried
One fist of mohair, the other of wool
I'm gonna knit your socks off you slow-knitting fool!
Look there, can't you see? My ribs are nice and tight
You're too slow you knitting neophyte.
When I'm finished my hems never pucker
Unlike your sorry seams mother fucker
Chorus: Gangsta Knitter, Knit for me!
Knitmaster SSK: Stand back boys,
you should both take a hike
Master SSK is stepping to the mike.
Your gauge is wrong, you dropped a stitch
I can knit so well that you'll both be my bitch!
You two scrubs you knit like a jackass
Don't ya know? I'm knitting with alpaca.
Didn't weave your ends in, you bind off tight
Your sweater's always looking like they just lost a fight!
Chorus: Gangsta Knitter, Knit for me!
Knitmaster SSK: Go back to patterns, little boys,
We're freestyling here.
Doug E. Fresh: Owww!
Thomas P.: Ouch!
Doug E. Fresh: Oh man, that was harsh!
Thomas P.: That was harsh, Doug…
Knitmaster SSK: Rip it out!
Thanks to Tom and Doug, whoever they are, I'm not sure. All I know is the Doug E. Fresh in this song is not the Doug E. Fresh that I know of. I guess this little 'rap' is travleing the blog circut, so I thought I'd do my part in sharing the gangsta love. Granted, it's got nothin' on Snoop or ODB (may he rest in peace).
Just look at how the socks are coming along!
How fun! The hard part is going to be the heel gusset and toe and all of that stuff that I have no idea how to do.
I finished the back of mom's sweater and I'm - oh - about halfway done with the front. I decided that dad is getting slippers and a bitchin power tool from Sears for Christmas. I can make socks for his birthday in March when I have this technique down.
I picked out a legwarmer pattern for Beth and I think that I can have them done by showtime next Friday. Did I mention that I'm assisting with stage managing for my old dance troupe? Did I even metion that I used to be a ballerina? Oh well, it wasn't that exciting anyway.
I ordered yarn for Hot Head, yay! The boys are going to be so happy, I can already tell. The hard part is going to be figuring out what size to make. Well, I have a brother, I can always base it off of that, right?
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Sunday, December 05, 2004 |
Theta...damsel in distress Did I ever tell you why Theta drives me totally nuts? Because somedays, I could go on about it forever.
I have these windows in my room. They meet with the celling and are just for light/decoration. There's not an actual 'windowsill,' just a tiny indent not wide enough to set anything on. Outside of the window are some trees and birds frequently run up and down the outside border. One morning, I awoke to the cats jumping from my desk and grabbing on to the ledge under the window. It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen them do. Obviously, they were after the birdies, but there was no physical way for them to get to the window. That didn't mean they gave up. They launched themselves up the wall, grasped on to the ledge with their little paws and hung there for a second or too, not really sure what to do with themselves. Then, they'd let go and try again. This annoyed me for two reasons. The first was that I feared for their safety. The next was they were keeping me from sleeping. I shushed at them, which got them to quit at the time, but the prank was pulled every once in a while. I guess it's maddening to hear those birds outside and not be able to get to them. One afternoon, I walked into my room to this: 
I have no idea how she got up there. I can just imagine her paws digging into the wood while her little feet furiously scrape at the brick. You can see how the ledge is only about as wide as her paws. Once she got up there, she had no where to go! Me and my brother spent a few minutes rolling around laughing before Theta got the courage to jump back down. I will admit that I was worried that she might hurt herself. She landed on my bed, which wasn't far away, and walked away like nothing happened. But the best part is I haven't seen them try to get back up there since.
I let Mike run around with the digital camera this weekend and then forgot it at his apartment. I did work on my projects and I've got the very tip-tops of my socks starting to take shape. I think that something is terribly wrong with the sweater. The ribbing doesn't look that great. I remember hearing Connie say something about untwisting stitches with the German method...could this have something to do with it? I'm not sure. Good thing that good advice is only a phone call away.
I've been seeing scarves all around town lately. I asked my dear friend about it and she told me she's nuts for scarves. That works out well for me because scarves are easy to knit and fun for other people to wear. I don't wear them. They only time that I've ever worn a scarf - exculding my childhood which I cannot totally account for - was when I went up to Flagstaff last year with Mike to visit his sister. There was snow and it was ungodly cold and his sis lent me a scarf. It actually made a big difference. (An interesting postscript to that story: The scarf she lent me was handmade and given to her by a friend. The pattern was from, I'm almost certain, Stitch 'n Bitch.)
The point is, I've wanted to make the 'Alien Illusion' scarf from Stitch 'n Bitch, but I thought it would be a waste of time. Now that I have someone who is dying to wear it, I might just start on it this week. On the other hand, a k2 p2 ribbed scarf might suit her just fine.
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