Instant Gratification
I don't knit scarves. Any attempt to knit a scarf is met with boredom and then despair. I don't have the necessary fortitude to make a giant rectangle of unending sameness. Cowls, yes. I can even see a shawl (especially one of the charming asymmetrical ones). But not scarves. So it may come as something of a surprise when I say I whipped out a scarf on Friday afternoon. A proper, woolly, fiber-y scarf. It started like this. A few minutes later it looked more like this. And a little bit later still it looked like this. That last picture [...]
Encouraging
So you guys are awesome. Your reassurance on the matter of Yard (and our general neglect of) were tremendously helpful. The gentleman from the company who did our patio three years ago came out. He was not judgmental. He did not administer some sort of horticultural pop quiz. He did not chastise me for my amazing laziness. He said yes, we can make it simpler. He said yes, we can refrain from murdering your tree. He said yes, we can start next week. So yeah, that was easy. The nice men will come and make it less awful. He did [...]
Knitting Props En Masse
The image collections on the Library of Congress' website are an endless source of entertainment. And, just as important, I can convince myself they're educational (as opposed to the collections of adorable baby animals or kittens doing amusing things that also seem to flourish on the internet, which are also a source of endless entertainment, but likely not at all educational). I stumbled across this one and thought I'd share it. It's listed as being sock dryers at the Union Point hosiery mill in Greene County, Georgia and was taken in the fall of 1941 by Jack Delano as part [...]
Milestones
I think I've explained before that writing books isn't either as linear or as quick a process as I initially thought. It goes in loops, at least for me. There's a general process for each project. There's some variation, but it usually goes something like this: pick yarn get yarn play with graph paper swatch rinse and repeat as necessary to beat the swatch into submission do some math finalize swatch finalize notes take the notes from the graph paper and turn them into a real pattern get sample knit (and do the first round of testing in the process) [...]
Bad at Yard
We are bad at yard. Amazingly astonishingly alarmingly bad at yard. This is especially embarrassing since our lot is tiny. Like 35 feet across, 100 feet deep type tiny (and that's total...the house plops down in the middle and eats up most of that space, the driveway and garage get a chunk too). And to make matters worse, our across the street neighbor is freaky good at yard. It makes us look extra bad. We used to at least have the best of intentions. We talked about planting blueberries and thought about flowers. Yeah. Not our skill. All plans ended [...]
Deceptively Adorable
The hat is done...washed, blocked, and otherwise prepped. It is totally and completely adorable. That is, it is totally and completely adorable when I have it on my head. It looks rather goofy and lumpy when on Alphonse the handy hat form. For you see, Alphonse is about the size of a normal person's head. My giant dome is a good 2 and a half inches bigger (blame the hair...or maybe I drank too much milk as a kid). All of which means that a hat that fits me doesn't quite fit Alphonse. Some time I'll try and get a [...]
A Pack of Filthy Lies
I had the best of intentions. I have about two thirds of a hat...two thirds of what I am increasingly sure will be a cute hat. I have the firm desire to show you this partial hat. But you see, I also have three nefarious kitten overlords, a tendency to fill the bathroom sink to block swatches, and poor judgement as to how well the kittens will behave in the presence of a sink full of water. Hi-jinx ensued. The short version is that I now have a very damp partial hat that is in no way photo ready. I [...]
Giveaway
The fine folks at knitcircus have a copy of The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet to give away. If you think you might just possibly be able to find a home for such a thing, head over that direction and follow their directions. As for me, I'll be back soon (hopefully tomorrow if the weather gods allow) with a picture of actual knitting. Not swatching. Not yarn. Actual knitting. Most of my knitting time lately has been going to swatches for the third book. While that's great fun, it does mean an alarming lack of finished objects. I needed a proper project [...]
And Then
Having successfully engaged in capitalism, we found ourselves in need of sustenance. I mentioned before that I had stopped in Ann Arbor on my way home from my friend's house in Lansing earlier in the month. While there, I had popped into the Jolly Pumpkin for lunch. This had occasioned a wee bit of envy on the part of The Boy, he having a much finer appreciation of beer than I. A quick glance at a map revealed that we were, if not exactly close to Ann Arbor, certainly much closer than usual. It seemed an excellent opportunity to remedy [...]
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