I wanna be sedated...

Hello again. I have some knitting to show! It's not that exciting, but it is knitting. Hooray!

My dad's socks are almost halfway there. I ended up doing them in garter stitch rib (GREAT IDEA, Liz!). I just have the toe left now, then of course, the other one. Elspeth, fair warning, there are toes in this picture.

No, those are not my dad's toes.

High-Grade Ha'

Last year, our dear friend Rachel in CA made The Bean this hat:

which we LOVED. Now, it looks like a yarmulke. So he needed a new one. I went to my local supahfly shop and got some Rowan Country...

...And proceeded to knit it super tightly to match the other hat's gauge, so that it was STIFF. Needless to say, the yarn store gals and I had a good laugh. Stephanie and Darilee said, "Well, it will sure be waterproof!"

I can't convey in a picture how funny this was when it was knitted so tightly. It really was stiff! So, I did it over of course.

Mmmm. Addi Turbos.

Yay! It fits!

I promise that's not the only shirt he has...

Wish us luck.

The HEB has minor surgery tomorrow. Probably no big deal, just an unhappy baby for a couple of days. But think good thoughts anyway, will you? It never hurts.

Update: We are home and the HEB is doing great and taking a much needed nap. Thanks!

Changes come around real soon make us women and men

Hey all. THANKS again for your continued wishes and prayers. You all are truly the best. At this point, no news is good news, and that's where we are. More news when we know it. Until then, we'll keep taking all the prayers/thoughts/love we can get!

While you all were in Maryland...

I went to North Carolina, to see my folks and sister. Can I tell you how awesome my family is? They are the best. They went with me to dress shop for my cousin's wedding. My family+shopping=goodtimes, because the mockery level is HIGH. We can make fun of anything.

Also, they rock because they took me to Yarn Paradise, and knew the level of mockery had to be reigned in. AND I got 10 skeins of Debbie Bliss wool cotton for $35.00!!!!!!!!!!! Wowie. And some Koigu. So. Good. Then we watched a movie and made some fun of it. Overall, a FUN two days.

But now.

Now, I have to go to work, tomorrow at SEVEN A.M. OUCH. So this is a briefish post to say:

HOLY CRAP LOOK AT MY SOCKS!!!

The lovely Patti sent me these drop-dead gorgeous socks:

High Energy Dad helped with getting the colors right. He's no FAUX-tographer. He's the real deal.

And these fun seed pots! Fun, since I'm into growing things these days!

Patti, I love these socks so much that I have worn them everyday since I got them. I'm wearing them NOW. I'm going to wear them out! And that's a good thing. The color is so perfect, the fit is perfect, the yarn so soft (Cherry Tree Hill, people!!!). I couldn't be a luckier sockapaloooza pal. Thank you Patti!

Speaking of growing things, here for Cara is one of the new flowers from our new front yard landscaping:

I hope everyone gets their socks out there. I have lots to share on the purple ribbed Vintage Knits sweater (only a sleeve to go! some minor sleeve surgery! 3/4 sewn together!!!). Stay tuned!

Sweet Child, Where do we go now...

Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and prayers. You all are the best.

We have some embryos a-growin', so we'll see what happens. They will take over the world. This I know for sure. Bwah-ha-ha-ha!

Have you finished ANYTHING?

Yes.

The Sockapaloooza socks are done.

Click here for a detail shot. Oh, yeah.

And, here's the specs, if'n you want 'em.

Gratuitous Pet Shot:

Ouch.

Now that I have passed the egg retrieval stage, I am taking intramuscular shots of progesterone nightly. Thank God I work with nurses. Take a look at the size of this needle:

Ow. Quit it. Ow. Quit it.

Actually, and truly, they aren't that bad. Didn't really hurt much. Or maybe I'm just numb from all the other shots I gave myself over the last 10 days or so. Hmmm.

Sleeve therapy.

To distract myself from such medical therapies, I finished the Vintage Knits Ribbed Sweater Sleeve No. 1. Or, Bob, for short.

Bob needs to be sewn on to see how it's all going to go together. I have true fear that I am going to run out of yarn. I think I can maybe get the other sleeve done, but there's no way there's enough for the neckband. CRAP. The yarn gods are not smiling. Anybody out there have any Rowan Cotton Glace in color 787, Hyacinth??? We can talk dye lots, people. I can trade or pay. But you can't have our firstborn (if there is one). ;-)

I'm out of time... but I'm out of my head when you're not around...

Hello there. Some Hall and Oates for you. Sorry we have been away from around here, but things have been so busy in the HE Household.

First and foremost - High Energy John and Jenny are in the midst of a crazy fertility-test-tube-hopefully-not-alien-baby-making situation. Wish us luck for tomorrow, as the crazyness starts to go down in the am. We'll keep you posted.

Unless you're giving birth to knitting we don't care.

In that case, here is one finished Sockapaloooza sock. ROCK ON.

Click here to biggiesize it.

These are Mountain Colors Bearfoot, in color "Obsidian", and the pattern is "Openwork Rib" from Sensational Knitted Socks.

People, I have all but ONE TOE left. If I didn't have to get up early, they'd be done. They will be finished before the deadline. All of you can breathe a sigh of relief. You know you need to. You were worried, just a little bit. Admit it.

Whatever.

And here's the back of Loll:

Looks about the same. Not too exciting, my dears. But I do have that back bound off now, and I have also began the left front. For the SECOND TIME.

Why did I have to start over? Because I forgot the fringe is on size 8's and the rest on size 10s. The fringe looks too open and floppy on the bigger size. Frogging that fringe was no picnic. Loll has been set aside, just briefly, so it can think about what it has done. It can come out when it realizes it's error.

Sad bit here.

Also, as we are approaching Maryland Sheep and Wool, I must tell you that I will not be going. I am really sad about this, as it was so much fun last year, and since then I've met even more people I want to meet in person! And I will miss seeing the new friends I met in 2005.

But, in order to be off work for fertility treatments, I have to work the weekend of the 6th and 7th of May. Bummer. You guys, fondle some fiber for me, okay?

To keep my mind off missing you all, I have recently treated myself to sock yarn:

The plant is a Shamrock that belonged to my late father-in-law, Richard. I of-the-black-thumb am very proud it is doing so well. Richard would be pleased.

The two most lefthand yarns are from Spunky Eclectic, the middle and next to the right are from Dicentra Designs, and the bright yellow goodness is from the fabulous Mama-E. Handpainted, every one. Be still my heart.

Is like the sun going down onnnn meeee....

I think I love the version best where George Michael sings with Elton. Also, I think Roger Daltry of the Who sings this on the Lost Boys soundtrack - remember that movie? Both Coreys (Haim and Feldman) were in that movie. Good soundtrack though.

Sockapal-issues.

As you know, I am participating in Sockapaloooza, and had the ghastly realization that my socks are due on like MAY 2ND. Not good. I thought I had more time. As you can imagine, the panic has ensued.

And the problem was twofold. I picked out that pretty color of Artyarns, and when I knitted it, it was way too pink. She wanted "deep jewel tones", and I did not think the following qualified.

I'm telling you, there was no damn pink in this yarn before I started to knit it.

And, she didn't want a lacey pattern, which was, as you can see, what was happening.

I sucked on all sock fronts. And heels.

Don't keep us in suspense.

So, I started over. If Mohammed will not come to the mountain... or... anyway, I went to my Mecca, and came home with three colors of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, and have chosen the following:

I'm much happier with it, and I hope my pal likes it. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch, which is truly one of the best knitting books I have read. It really helps you create a sock on your own, and has techniques you may not have tried. It will free you from sock yarn patterns, if you feel chained to them, or at least make you feel confident in them. Trust me. It's a great book.

Loll

And here's a Loll update, just for fun. I was surprised, truly, by how many of you said you'd never knit with Rowan Calmer again. I'm in love with this yarn.

And lastly.

Found these in a Hancock Fabrics. HOW UNFORTUNATE.

What is happening here??? What you need more than a little ugly novelty yarn, apparently, is a whole SHITload of it. Good Grief. Someone stop them.

Now maybe, baby, maybe, baby... I found someone... to take away the heartache...

I disappear for a few weeks, I return with CHER. Pretty much, I think the blog is summed up, right there.

Hello!!!! So sorry for the disappearing act. Only the Chick-Fil-A cow knows where I've been.

I decided to describe the last few crazy weeks in list format. Because, who doesn't love a good list? Really. Also, spiral notebooks. Who's with me!?

1) Mr. High Energy John had a birthday today, which he is less than thrilled about, but also won 10th place in his class in the FIRST Single Speed State Championships of Georgia!!! Go, High Energy Spouse!

2) I have coerced rented my retired parents to come help me paint my house. Go High Energy Parents! Dad already gave me a list of things to get and is bringing ALL their paint supplies. Danger. The former engineer is in charge. Look. Out. And also, woohoo!

3) In the TOO MUCH INFORMATION category, let's just say a monthly visitor has stuck around for two weeks. She needs to pack her bags. She has worn out her welcome, let me tell you.

4) In the "hahahahahaha!" category, one of my nurse buddies, Kim, was telling us about parenting her teenage daughter, and how she cracked herself up when she told her: "Well, listen, when the shit hits the you-know-what..."

Daughter cocks head, looks amused and confused. To which Kim said, "Because, young lady, we don't say FAN in this household."

5) In the "NO. WAY." category - there is no longer a giant hole in my front yard. REPEAT: NO HOLE. No driveway, either, but it's the little things.

6) Hey!!! Still with me? I finished these socks!!!

Happyhappyjoyjoy. If you want to read the details (pattern, needles, yarn, etc.) click here. Then come back!!!

7) I am officially in love with Gil Grissom and CSI. In. Love. I am midway through Season three and I can't stop watching. Really. It's that good. I even liked the episode that set up for CSI:Miami, and I used to make fun of the fact their were three of them: (Such as "I enjoyed another fine episode of CSI:Des Moines.") But I was WRONG. I take it all back. Gil Grissom is my new hero. And also Nick Stokes. And Sara.

8) I picked out yarn FINALLY for my sockapaloooza pal. Here it is:

Artyarns Ultramerino 4, color 111. Hubba hubba.

She said she wanted "Deep Jewel Tones," and nothing in my stash was even close. I've been looking and looking and I think she'll like this. God I hope so. Don't tell me if you think it sucks. I can't take it.

9) In the "I can't believe you saved it till last" category, I got a phone call from the fabulous owner of my fabulous LYS, Main Street Yarns in which she said, "Hey HEJ, how do you feel about knitting a sweater for the shop? With some Rowan Calmer? Come pick one out. Whenever."

?????

!!!!!!

Dear Knitting Gods: thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou. When someone finds my lower jaw, close it for me, will ya?

More news on that bit of goodness soon!

Who who who who?

Hello all. I have not been killed in a fake suicide or pretended I was buried alive or anything.* I am in fact alive, but was so crazy I have had no time to update. I am like 700 posts behind in reading in Bloglines, so I'm so sorry if I haven't seen your blog in awhile. If you have emailed me I SWEAR I will get back to you soon. Just too much going on...

BUT WOWIE LOOK!!!

I finished my sister's sweater, finally!! And like a good sister she immediately sent a pic for the blog.

Here's the inside, where I carried the yarn up the sides:

I did this because, and TRUST ME ON THIS, this yarn will not work well if woven in as you knit to change colors. You will see it from the front, I tried, it sucks. And you don't want to weave in all those ends, no you don't. Carry it up the side. It will work. ;-)

Pattern: "Stripes Go Round" from Interweave Knits, Summer 2004

Needles: US 1 and 2.

Yarn: AllHemp3, in Aubergine, Sapphire, Sprout, and Avocado. This yarn is slubby, so beware. It softens up a lot when you knit it and even more when you wash it.

Info:Here's the deal: As before mentioned, I found it very difficult to get this yarn to match the required row gauge, even though it's the yarn called for. In fact, I couldn't get it to match at all and had to rework the yoke math. But it was worth it, as it fits her well. I hope she gets a lot of wear out of it.

Uh, that's a frontloader, sweatheart.

And just for Keohinani, here's a lighter picture of what I so carelessly called a tractor. ;-) I'm a city girl, what can I say.

Mahalo for any big truck clarification you can give, Keohinani!

SOCKS!

And in other news, I started a new pair of socks:

and I love them. I think these will be for me, I've given away a lot of knits lately. This pattern is a subscriber-only pattern from Interweave Knits called "Diagonal Rib Socks." The yarn? Koigu. I feel good that I have 1 1/2 socks done, and I worked on them really only over 4-5 days so far. I want to finish a pair of socks a week! (or maybe that's a tad ambitious). And also, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MISS ENABLER, for this. You are in huge trouble.

OK! Big love to Anne-Marie who basically just mumbled something on her blog about her first MARATHON!!! 26.2 miles and smiling! You did it!!!

And even though it's daytime, she's wearing her reflective vest.
She's a safety gal.**

See you later!

*Methinks I have been watching too much Season 1 CSI.
*Name that movie. ("I'm a safety girll!" is the actual quote.)

Oh God can't you keep it down....

FIVE RANDOM THINGS:

1. Olympic Ice Skating TV commentators might be the most BITCHY people on earth. Next to Diving commentators. For the love of Pete, I wish I could watch ice skating with music only so I don't have to listen to those assholes. Good God. Last night the woman commentator said something like, "The Chinese can do choregraphy, but they just never skate technically like the Russians." Oh, like THAT isn't a huge generalization. Give me a break. Or give me a non-comment channel. I'd PAY for that and I don't even pay for cable NOW.

2. OOOOH! Looky! A tractor!

In my driveway:

Outstanding.

Actually, it does mean they might be done within a couple weeks, the flooding will be over, and we can landscape our front yard. This is good.

3. The jaywalkers are DONE. At 11:47 pm just a bit ago. I squeaked in just under the wire to Cara's nightmare-knit-a-long. ihopeiwinihopeiwinihopeiwin. winwinwin.

4. HEJ has decided to essentially cut out the caffeine in her life.

You heard right.

I've been a super soda drinker since about age 12 despite my parents trying to stop me. It's time though. I've been 7 days now, with only ONE 12 ounce caffeine soda a day. I'm still high energy, don't you worry. So far.

Maybe this is why I went off on the Olympic TV people? Hmmmm.

5. One of my partner's wife had a baby, so I work an extra shift early this am. Must go have a lie down. Think sleepy thoughts for HEJ. 7 am is SO. Early.

But extrashift=extramoolah=spinningwheelio. Wheeeee! That kind of math is GOOD. ;-)

got to be good looking 'cause he's so hard to see

Hello, and welcome, class, to HEJ's superfun knitting math class. For those of you who don't care about math, here is an update of my jaywalker's, mostly for Cara's bloggy enjoyment. It'll be over soon, Cara!

Note that I have finally reached the heel, despite frogging six inches of sock. Whew. Note that the patterns sort of match now. Double whew.

Funny thing about these also, I started them as typical for me on dpns, then I tried two circ's for the first time, but I didn't like it cause of all the jangly needle ends. Then I tried the MAGIC LOOP, and I love it, except when this happened...

Hahahahaha. Not really all that funny, actually.

I think I will mostly use the magic loop from now on. I really like it. Fewer joins, less likely to fall out. I thank the lug who's post made me want to try it.

Knit It! Shrug (Fisherman Shrug) Q and A.

Many have written to me about my Knit It! Shrug (Spring/Summer 2006) for help, after I let the cat out of the bag about the pattern problems. Here's a very mathy explanation that may or may not help, but will let you know what you are up against. Those who don't care, skip. I'll see you later!

I'm going to break down the problems with the pattern in a few steps.

A) Typos: Back

The directions tell you to work until piece measures 8 (10"). Note on the green "back" diagram the vertical distance they show you is 7.5". ????. That's right. 7.5" is not either 8 or 10".

B) Typos: Sleeve

1) If you knit the sleeve until it measures 16" (17") I guarantee unless you are a gorilla these will be too long. WAY too long. Adjust based on your size.

The way I did it was to cast on 34 (36) stitches in a provisional way, decrease as directed for the raglan, then pick the provisional stitches up and DECREASE down to the ribbing, adjusting the size to fit.

2) If you do the decreases for the raglan sleeve as they call for, there is no way you can be left with 16 (18) stitches. You will be left with SIX stitches for each size. However, if you look at the shrug itself it's clear this is too narrow, they want you to have 16 (18) left at the end.

What I did:
CO provisional 34 (36) stitches (as I did) or knit one row.
Purl one row.
Row 3: k1, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1
Rows 4-6: work even st st.
Repeat rows 3-6 five more times.
Decrease as for row 3 every other row three times more (six rows total). Place stitches on holder.

Note that your row gauge may alter this. See "B" below.

3) Third typo - see the purple diagram for the sleeve? See how the top (raglan) is shaped, with the sides marked "front" and "back" not equal in slope? This CANNOT be true if you decrease the way they say. If you decrease one stitch each side, by definition that is an isoceles trapezoid. It must be. Just FYI. Here it is in picture format:

B) TYPOs. FRONTS.

If you decrease the way they recommend, 18 (20) stitches CANNOT leave you with 1 stitch. Unless you can bend math to your will (which maybe only Heather with her aerospace skills or Stephanie with her space-time-warp skills can do), you are out of luck.

It will leave you with 4 stitches. I then decreased these to 3 with a K1, K2tog, K1, and bound off.

C) Row gauge, and why for this sweater you MUST swatch, and MUST care.

Row gauge in this shrug is EXTREMELY important. I can't emphasize this enough. Why? The reason is that your vertical distance will matter with pieces that are triangles, etc. Look below:

Even though the triangle A and the triangle B have the very same STITCH gauge, and therefore the same width, if the row gauge is not the same, heights "A" and "B" will not be the same. Because the pieces all have triangular parts, in order to match them up and fit you, this must be accurate.

Herein lies the biggest problem: You must get a gauge of 10 rows to 4 inches as the pattern wants (or 2.5 rows to the inch), so the math will work.

For example, if you knit the Front pieces for the small size as they describe, it will take 17 rows to go from row 1 to four stitches. Let's make it 19 rows by purling the next row, then decreasing one more stitch the next row as I mentioned above. If you call it 20 rows with the bind off, 20 rows at 2.5 rows/inch is 8" tall. (20/2.5 = 8)

The diagram states the triangle looks like this:

By the Pythagorean Theorem, X must be 8.06" because:

X = sq root [(9x9)-(4X4)] which is 8.06". Which is essentially just 8". And that's great.

But, see how if your row gauge is off at all, (which for my yarn was 13 rows to 4 " at correct stitch gauge), your pieces will not have the vertical or diagonal heights they need?

Even if your row gauge is correct, other diagonal and vertical numbers are off on their diagrams and pattern, if you check them all out, so you might still have to manipulate them.

I redid the math for each geometric piece to fit my recipient, and to fit together. If you get all this knitting geometry and have some experience, you can do it. One way that might help is using the suggested yarn, "Wool-Ease Thick and Quick", but that yarn states a row gauge of 12 rows = 4 inches, so you'll have to try it to see. I didn't use it, and don't know if i will work.

If not, you may decide it is too much work, and no one will blame you... I am not trying to dissuade all of you, but you shouldn't knit like a fiend and have it not work in the end. THAT's frustrating.

I hope this has been helpful. All I know is, my brain hurts. Time for a nap. ;-)

What've I done to deserve this?

Warning: Negative bit ahead.

Now you all know that I keep my personal life mostly out of this blog. That is by choice, because I have a very public hospital job, and I know that people are weird. (No, not you, dears.) I just mostly don't want people all up in my business.

But I am going to rant, just a bit:

I was waiting while getting my Prius's (that's a funny word) oil changed. Across the waiting room was a young couple, the woman pregnant. While I knit on my Jaywalkers, the woman was going on and on about how she didn't like her ultrasonagrapher, how she didn't take enough time to figure out the sex of the baby, how there was NO REASON she couldn't have found out, that her friend said, "you can always tell", blah blah blah.

As both a medical person and half of an infertile couple, it was all I could do not to start crying, leap across the room and STRANGLE her and yell at her:

"Lady, be glad your baby is healthy. Be glad you can HAVE one. Be thankful you have a family at all (I know single people who would love to be in your shoes). Be thankful you have a car that you can afford to take to the Toyota dealership. Now shut the hell up!"

You think being pregnant makes you crazy? Try being infertile in a world full of children and parents.

NOW. HOLD ON.

BEFORE the pregnant knitbloggers (and everyone else really) start throwing rotten fruit or dpns or God forbid, scissors, at me, know this:

While sitting there quietly I completely screwed up several rows of the socks, such that they had to be frogged back and redone, which took forever.

And it gets worse.

Then later while gnoshing Taco Stand with me buddy Anne-Marie, we we're discussing why my socks don't match at all:

You know, that it must be one was on dpns, and the other magic loop, or that they are two different skeins, or the gauge just a bit different, or just a weird thing like happened to a pair of Carrie's a long time ago, when I went to count the stitches before I started the heel and realized:

The number of stitches between the increases and decreases, which should be 8 each time, went like this:

8, 8, 7!, 7, 8, 8, 7, and WTF? 9?!.

I'm a sockapaloooooz-er. Clearly non-standard.

Dear Knitting Gods: I promise not to be mean to innocent people in my head anymore. Frogging 6 inches of sock is just punishment. Sorry.

There's a guy who's been awake since the second world war.

Things that are keeping me from sleeping:

1. Hunger.
2. Sadie.
3. Three lectures to give today.
4. The people digging up my street for sewer work. LOUD.

I finished work last night at about 1:30am, had to finish lecture notes, then give said lecture at 7 am. Will give it again at noon and 7 pm. Oh well, has to be done. I'm used to sleeping in weird patches, mostly, although it does get a bit tiresome. The husband is out of town for two days (sad) so that helps the sleeping situation. Although a certain dog will wake me up a lot. She's bad.

Knitting, please.

So many updates. My sister's sweater is now on size 3's (3.25 mm) needles and at about 10 inches in length!!! Three more inches to the armholes. Yay.

I finished one Jaywalker. Update THIS, Cara!!!! Hahahahaha!

We shall not speak of the pooling.

This is Knitpicks Sock Memories. Didn't pool till the foot, so I'm leaving it. A little big for me, these are*, but I like them still.

How 'bout Mittens?

LOOKIE HERE!

Psych!** They aren't actually done.

Now, let me say something about that gusset. The instructions call for you to put the thumb stitches on waste yarn, and cast on by backward loop the stitches over the gusset in the contrast yarn. I got nothing on Beth Brown-Reinsel, that's fo 'sho, but I did something a little different. I carried the main color through the cast-on stitches, cause I didn't want a big loop hanging out every time I put my thumb in. And I didn't want to stop/start the yarn. So I cast on with a knit-on method and wove the burgundy yarn through:

When I pick up the stitches I swear you will not be able to tell. Well, at least I think so. I guess we'll find out. ;-)

Ok, kids. Must take a small nappynap.

*Apparently I'm channeling Yoda now. What is happening? Happening what is?
** Oops. My age is showing.

Annnnnnnd a feeling that will last all through the year...

Oh, Billy Squire. How you rawk. How I suck, because f**k f**k, f**k, I had this entry DONE and lost it. This is the first time this has happened and WOW DOES IT SUCK THE BIG ONE. I want to throw up. Yeah, my time's not valuable or anything. GRUMPY!

(grump). Klaralund is done.

We are in NC for Christmas which we did early, cause of my work schedule. Therefore, I can know show you the Klaralund I made for my mom.

Knit with Noro "Silk Garden" which despite it's twigs and easy breakability I still like it ok.

Smart Aleck

I came home to find my sister wearing this:

However, the lil stinker gave me yarn for Xmas. Good sister.

I never said I wasn't a follower.

Like everyone else on the planet I'm knitting some Jaywalker socks. I almost didn't, cause they lost their flair being all over the knitblogweb, but I saw Carrie's and AM's in person, so I had to. And if Cara has knit like four pair, well, what does that say?

Uh Oh. We got a spinner.*

I made the teeniest skein of yarn:

This was from random roving sent with my new Charis spindle, recommended by Bobby of the super fabulous Thuja socks. Fortunately for me, I think I got the last one at Kendig Cottage. I love the spindle so far. I am getting better at it. But overall I still suck. This yarn is 2-ply and of course is thick and thin and feels scratchy and uneven, but whatever. I MADE YARN!!!! WOOT!!!!

Here's a pic of it knit up into an ?elf scarf? pen cozy? crappy way-too-thick-to-use-bookmark?

Hope you all enjoy whatever holidays you celebrate! I'll be working through the Christmas holiday. THANKS for the kind words about Madli's Shawl!

* anyone who can tell me what I'm quoting wins HEK blog-reader of the year.

I promised more stuff, and here it is.

First, I must describe how the knitting was perfectly planned for my trip to Tampa. I finished this headband on the shuttle to the airport:

That's my sis's head. She has better hair.

Don't like the colors now that it's done, but probably will redo it in a solid. Maybe black?

Then, on the flight to Tampa, I finished my sister's socks:

Here they are, at the Salvador Dalí Museum. I love Dalí. His paintings are probably my favorites of all.

We thought the Maestro himself
would appreciate the socks-as-snot shot.

Then over the weekend, another flight, and another shuttle trip, and Clapotis was done. I should travel more often!

NBaT!!!!

I have started the ever-popular NBaT, designed by the ever-fabulous Alison.

What is that book doing there?*

I am using GGH Goa and am IN LOVE with this yarn. Head over heels. Forever in it's debt. It's great to knit.

The front design will be...

OH NOT SO FAST, THERE, CHET:

That's right, I smell a contest. Stay tuned.

*I still haven't read HP6 yet. It's still sitting on my coffee table. "The anticipation suspense** is killing me. I hope it'll last."
**Oops, I quoted wrongly before...

lacking my joie de vivre...*

Seriously. I am lacking. Sorry for the lack of post, and lack of reading. I don't know what's up. Everything is overwhelming.

And you know, it's really stupid when the things that stress me out are because I HAVE things, ya know? Woe is me, we have all this stuff to take care of, but we have a roof and food and money, so what's my problem? How stupid I am to be upset.

But our roof leaked, and it's one more issue with the contractor who did our house who hasn't followed up on ANYTHING. So, now, an attorney threat later, things are supposed to get done. I won't hold my breath, you'd have to intubate me. Or I would have to intubate me. (Tricky, that).

So the latest issue is that the remote hold I had over my environment went to sh*t with the bringing home of my late father-in-law's furniture and stuff. It's as if we moved TWICE in SIX months. Kill me now.

Witness:

And: THIS, and THIS, and THIS.

Whaddya gonna do.

There has been some minor knitting. First, I did find I could knit a sock during the Alias fest I had recently. I must say I am very upset with Season Three. I'm not sure I will watch Season 4. I hate it when great TV goes to poo.

These are for my sister, and are in Lorna's Laces. So far so good...

But turn it slightly and: WHAT'S. THE. HELL.

Where did the big brown blobbo come from?

Oh, pooling. What funtimes. NOT. I won't rip it out though, otherwise she'll never get them. And in general they will be in a shoe. Mel, if you are out there, now's the time to tell me to rip it out. For you and you only, I will. ;-)

Flower Crapsket Shawl

I am almost done with the Flowerbasket Shawl, but I am quite worried. I haven't used nearly as much yarn as the pattern, and it is only 13" long to the point and 27" wide. Now, it needs to seriously be blocked, but I don't know how much stretch I will get. (It's in Mountain Colors Mountain Goat, which is 55% mohair and 45% wool).

I need some of Alice's "drink me" potion...

The Harlot did her green one in the same yarn but she used US 9s and I used US 6s. Hmmm. I am only about 18 rows from the end... What do you think, readers? Should I just block the crap out of it and hope for the best??

OK. I will try not to have ennui on the blog anymore. Wish us luck digging out from the craziness. Anybody need some furniture?

* More Decemberists on a knitting blog. Can you stand it?!

Four in the morning, came without a warnin'

So here I am, AWAKE, at 4:00am. Just awake. No reason. Bleary-eyed.

So I am blogging.

Last week when this happened I did our taxes. I was reading Wendy's blog. Wendy, who is a DOER, off-handedly mentioned she did hers, and so that caused a mini-4-am freak out of, "oh my god we need to get our taxes done, it's like March (it was still very February) and it will take so long (it took about 30 minutes) and OH MY GOD what if we owe like $32,000? We'll have to make payment plans and put off my loans, and... (we got a refund)."

Clarity.

Sometimes, though, at 4 am, there come moments of clarity. Of acknowledgment and realization of things I knew to be true, but didn't want to face.

[...]

I am frogging the poncho.

Yes, it is 18 rows from probably being done. Yes, I had a cool border all picked out from THIS COOL BOOK.*

But I will not wear it. I know this deep down. I'm not a poncho person. I tried awhile back to be a shawl person, but I can't do it. I'm just much more of a jeans and weird-vintage-too-bright-shirt-person. And I picked the wrong yarn for it. It's too thin, it won't be warm. Drafts will just come up when I raise my arms in it.**

Here's the evidence. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip.

Really, it feels like a weight has been lifted.

Next task: What to do with this super silky wool? It's a great yarn and worthy of something. Thoughts, anyone? I looked through lots of IK and other books and have some great ideas...

One step forward.

I did finish my Sockapalooza socks.

Click me for a close up of the leg pattern.

The amount of cat hair they picked up from this picture session (which took all of 90 seconds) was atrocious. They have been since washed and hermetically sealed till I can send them to my sock pal. I really hope she likes them.

Until next time. Going blearily back to bed.

*Look through this book at least, you guys. It's really cool. No, I don't get a commission.
**[And I love the Yarn Harlot, I really do! No offense, Steph. It's a great pattern. My niece's Yarn Harlot Poncho turned out really well.]

(A little Van Halen for you.)

Happy Runniversary!

That's right. Although I haven't been mentioning it much, I have been running, and I have been a runner for one year. I feel pretty good about this. My last blood pressure was 106/68, and my heart rate 62. Those are good numbers. I think I have really made a positive change.

Finished Object!

[trumpets blaring, processional music, crowd roaring]

I FINALLY have a FO for 2005. I finished my dad's "killing me softly socks." Wow, men's socks take a long time. (Not to be sexist.) Could also be I have like 6 ongoing projects? Hmmm.

Click on the pics for close-ups.

The socks.	A close-up of the leg decreases.

I think they will wear well for hiking and camping, especially.

New SOCKS!

What's this, HEJ? Didn't you promise yourself you wouldn't start something new? Yes, well, cough, hmmm. But these socks are due Mar. 15 for Sockapaloooooza (insert whiny voice here) so I had to start them! And, also, I love them. 100%. With all my heart.

And that fancy bit's the HEEL.

These are Walking Away Socks by Fibertrends. The yarn is Koigu PPM. Super fly.

So you lied.

Ok, well I have one, well, two other FO for 2005. I made two London Beanies the other day. Because the hubby needed a new hat. These were made with Lion Brand Kool Wool, which I now love, and the particular design shamelessly stolen from my friend Carrie. (See link to the original London Beanie page in her gallery.)

Now, that stripe was a big deal. At least it's placement was. My hubby frequently says, "oh, whatever" or "you choose" when deciding things like stripe placement, but this is not what he means, trust me. It's like when we picked out china when we got married. He said he didn't care. He blew it off. He didn't want to go look around the store.

But when I dragged him there, with every plate it was, "too white", "too brown", "too girly", "too round" (what?).

So I knew better with the stripes. I made suggestions, which were all wrong.
"Not THERE! That'd look stupid."
"Not two stripes!"
"Not too wide!"

After 10 yrs of marriage you would think this wouldn't surprise me. But he loved the finished product and has been wearing it every day. And I will go on pretending he isn't at all particular when it comes to these things. ;-)

Thanks!

Once again, thanks to everyone who played in the recent "I'm a child of pop culture" quiz here at HEK. It was a lotta fun. We'll do it again soon.

What's up with the title?

So today I was at a local chain craftstore, and was looking at yarn (Yes, I know I have enough yarn. But that hardly seems a fair argument, don't you agree?). Anyway, this lady came up to me and asked, "Are you knitting 'the scarves?'"

Hmmm. The Scarves? Of the Long Island Scarves? Is this a band? What in the hell is she talking about?

Me: "Uh, I knit lots of things."

Our Lady of the Scarves: Looks blank. Blinks.

Me: "You know, sweaters, socks, hats, and yes, some scarves."

OL of the S: Some comprehension. But not much.

OL of the S: "I made an afghan a long time ago. I think I crochetted it."

Me (in my head): Well, that would be two different things, then, wouldn't it.
Me (out loud): "Oh."

OL of the S: "Do you think I could learn to knit with one of these kits?"

Me (inside head): Knock yourself out.
Me (out loud): "Sure. Also there's a knitting store in town that offers classes, and online help." (etc.)

OL of the S (standing under a sign that says "Join our knitting classes and learn to knit!"): "I'll just get this book."

Me (inside): You do that. And for God's sake, don't hurt yourself.
Me (outside): "Good luck."

This issue of the popularity of novelty scarves has been blogged about, and I never really cared much about it. Each to his/her own. And I knit scarves too, I knit three of them at least this winter. I am a big fan of fun yarns to wrap around your neck. I'm NO scarf snob. And I love helping new knitters, I like to think I do it every week at our SNB.

So why did this lady make me want to strangle her?

It's something in me I guess, that was irked that she was so clueless. I should be applauding her desire to learn to knit. But I wanted to grab the stuff from her, and say, "This is not for you. THIS is sacred, and you don't see that."

What's that anger about???? Hmm. One for the therapist.

Yin and Yang

On the flip side, at the car wash I was working on dad's "killing me softly" socks:

A very sweet elderly lady there asked about them, and said she's making socks for her husband whose feet swell and "store-socks" are too tight. She's been knitting for 40 years. She fondled the yarn I was using, and turned the sock inside out to look at the seams. She oohed and aahed. So there you go.

What's the point of that diatribe, HEJ?

I don't know. Draw your own conclusions.

More knitting more knitting more knitting...

So the COOLEST THING is that the socks I made for my super friend Jess went to EGYPT. Those are well travelled socks baby. She says they held up well. To Egypt! How cool is that???

She had to stand on a ledge for this shot.

And I leave you with a SCARF I made for my mom while she was here at Christmas. One of "the scarves"? I don't know. Maybe.

Hi Mom. Isn't she cute? I made the hat too.

Scarf yarn: Landscapes by Lion Brand. Pattern is "Embossed Check Stitch" from July 6th of 365 Knitting Stitches a Year.
Hat: Lion Brand Homespun. My design. Same pattern as scarf.

New Project!

I love knitting socks, I really do. I've been holding off on starting any new ones for awhile, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I chose the pattern "Conwy" from Knitting on the Road and I love it. But first I started with Lorna's Laces sock yarn, and I couldn't see the pattern at all.

Squint. Nope, still can't see it.

So I frogged it and started over with Trekking, and it looks good! These are for my good friend Jess. Just because.

I come from a land down under.

My beloved friend Alex is in Australia visiting her family, but suffering from a dearth of good knitting. She did pick the following Jo Sharp patterns, which are superb. She is so skinny, that skirt will be great!

I have also acquired some new Jo Sharp yarn, this time some Soho Summer...

to make this from her 7th book, "Family:"

sale yarn + debit card = new project

Pretty green. I want to pet it.

Other bits.

THANKS for the birthday wishes you guys! I had a really nice day.

I am having trouble getting motivated to run this week, maybe it's the mid-marathon blahs? I can do it, right? I think I can... I think I can...

More updates on the lace undies (potential swap with Julia???) and Kate soon.

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