January One -- Flower Basket Shawl
July 08, 2005
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!
I wore it with flipflops and sweats and a baseball cap to get the mail and I felt so ELEGANT! And I swear, it makes me look skinnier. I'm not kidding. I know I said I wasn't going to take pictures today because the weather is so crap and my house is very dark, but things have been kind of icky at Chez Mon Cerveau Est Démence* - think Exorcist-like demons and the DSM-IV - and I just couldn't resist this huge thing sitting in the middle of my living room. So I pulled out all the little pins and...
(LOTS of pictures ahead!)
Straight Off The Needles!
Blocked Out on the Beach Towel
Night Pins
GLORYGLORYGLORYGLORYGLORY
And, as a special treat - I give you a KISS!
That's me, in G's room. (I got the walk-in closet, he got the third bedroom.)
It's the only room with mirrors. This is the FBS unblocked of course.
Don't you just LOVE the poster?!?
Details: Brown Sheep Cotton Fine, color Candy Apple Red. Size US6 Addis. Seventeen repeats (18 flower baskets before the edging.) My next one will be in DK weight - and I think I'll make the Lace Leaf shawl instead. I think a nice wool shawl for the fall and winter will be the perfect thing on my shoulders. Extra Special Thanks goes to Margene and Teresa and Jen and Becky's indispensible notes (Becky - hope you and your family are okay!)
I promise to get a picture of me wearing the shawl - I may actually let G touch my camera! If not this weekend, then definitely while we're away. The shawl is going to a castle - so that makes me a princess!
Oh and Boo-Kish one - it was ALL worth it!
Suddenly my house seems very bright. Thanks for stopping.
* This is my lame ass attempt at French - House of My Brain is Insane.
Posted by Cara at 04:48 PM | Comments (46)
July 06, 2005
Devastation
ETA: Okay. I took the plunge and took out the needles to rip back. It wasn't as bad as I thought and I just knit the 8th row of the 16th repeat. So right at this moment I'm three rows back from where I started today (at 3PM.) I'm feeling quite a bit better about it and hopefully I'll finish the repeats, if I can't get to the border.
Man that was a close one. Who knew knitting could give me such drama! At least, for the last couple of hours I wasn't thinking about any other crap - that's good for something.
Always look at the bright side of life....
I was so close. So, so close. I'm literally sitting here in tears - I was having a bad day as it was and then I made the mistake of watching The Notebook while I finished off the last repeat on FBS. Stupid, stupid, stupid me! I found an error - or should I say I thought I found an error and tried to fix it and of course ended up fucking it up even more. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to rip out an entire repeat - (I was about 3.75 rows into the last one.) I can't figure out how to put in a lifeline further down to just really rip, so I have to pull each freaking stitch off the needles. KILLING ME! I'm so, so sad. All I wanted to do today was finish this shawl. I had a shitty morning and I figured I'd just knit the rest of the day away. I'll be lucky if I can rip it all out today - seriously!
Thanks for letting me vent. I have to go sob for awhile now.
No zen for me, thank you very much. I think I jinxed myself.
Posted by Cara at 06:10 PM | Comments (16)
July 01, 2005
Summer of Hate Love Lace
In honor of the fact that I only have two more repeats and the edging on my Flower Basket Shawl (which unfortunately will have to wait until after the weekend - I doubt my niece and nephews will let me get in any knitting) I'm giving away some beautiful Zephyr Wool-Silk!
Jagger Spun Zephyr Wool Silk
50% Wool, 50% Tussah Silk
1260 Yards (enough for a large Flower Basket)
Color: Iris
Okay - here's what you need to do to win this yarn. Since I'm all about the love...
leave me the name of your favorite love song in the comments. I'll be picking randomly on Tuesday. So you have the weekend to get in touch with your loverly side. (Only one entry per person will be counted. Thanks!)
I'll start you off with some of my favorites:
The Very Thought of You
Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe
Prove it All Night
Drive All Night
For You
You get the picture. And if you want, I'll throw in some cards - sheep or flowers. Or both. Have fun! Can't wait to see what you come up with - I'm a sucker for a love song.
Have a great weekend everyone - hope I come back with lots of fun pool pictures. If not, I've got plenty of work for everyone!
My New Toys. (Ann! I totally understand now!)
Posted by Cara at 08:47 AM | Comments (186)
June 30, 2005
Fourteen
Flower Basket repeats done,
Fourteen Flower Basket repeats.
If a yarn over should happen to fall,
Thirteen Flower Basket repeats done!
That should sum it all up for you. Time spent: two hours (give or take a little) knitting ten rows. Two hours frogging two. Lace is a bitch - especially when you're a bonehead like me. I managed to work my way back and have started the fifteenth repeat (which I think is actually the fourteenth repeat to be honest. When I'm done this repeat section I'll have fifteen baskets.) I went to bed late. But I've already done a purl row this morning. I like to leave it by doing the first row of the next repeat so I can pick it up on a purl row. It's like doing exercises at the piano - get my fingers all limber.
But the shawl is really taking shape. I was noticing all kinds of interesting things about it's construction last night. Now that I'm almost finished, I'm finally SEEING the pattern. Have I mentioned that I love Evelyn Clark? I can't wait to start my sock pal socks. This weekend for sure. Or next week. Depending on the kids.
Speaking of kids, I got all my work done yesterday. The photos are off to the printer and all I have to do today is clean! My bathroom's in desperate need and the kids will need baths, so I've got to do that. Also, I have some errands to run before they get here tomorrow. And I'm on call in case my sister decides she wants company for the ride. Usually I take the train down and ride back up here with her, but she thinks she's okay. So we'll see. Better for me because I've got tons to do before they arrive.
I hope I wasn't being too pedantic yesterday with my photography blatherings. I am a firm believer in "if I can do it, you can do it!" I thought as proof I'd show you some progress I've made over the years. My family gave me a digital camera for my 30th birthday - five and a half years ago. I had been interested in photography as a teenager - my parents gave me darkroom equipment for my bat mitzvah gift. It was never, ever used (and I really wanted the initial ring everybody else was getting.) The camera was a Kodak with 2.5 megapixels and I basically documented the first year of my nephew's life with it. On his first birthday, I upgraded to my Sony DSC-F707 and I was off.
Almost every year we go to La Quinta. One year (I think 2001) while Georgie was playing tennis, I thought, why not take some pictures of the gorgeous flowers they have all over the property. BINGO! I was hooked. Every year we'd go back and I'd spend more and more time taking flower pictures. And every year they'd get better:
April, 2002 - Sony DSC-F707
May, 2003 - Sony DSC-F707
July, 2003 - Canon 10D
Over the years, I've taken (literally) thousands and thousands of pictures. Tens of thousands. With all of my cameras. (In fact, the shutter died on the Canon 10D after two years. They fixed it though.) I believe in practice makes perfect. ;-)
I also thought I'd show you a before and after "developing" job. I like to underexpose my pictures a little so I can lighten them myself. Especially when I'm using a flash - it takes away the harsh flash light quite nicely. Anyway, here's the same lily from above - before and after.
Before
After
The before picture is completely untouched except for resizing for the web.
I like to think I trained my eye to see things in a more pleasing composition. Don't ever be afraid to get close! Macro lenses (and settings) are essential for this, but I think it gives a much better picture. Remember to look at the background - empty space can be your friend, but not when it's cluttered and distracting. Most of all, experiment. There are many, many days when I go out to take pictures and get nothing. There are also days and when I go out, come back in and look, go back, look, go back until I get what I want.
Photographing kids is a whole other animal. Just shoot until you and the kid fall down from exhaustion. Cross your fingers and hope for a good picture. ;-)
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day.
Posted by Cara at 10:11 AM | Comments (19)
June 28, 2005
A Tisket A Tasket...
A candy apple basket...
I have three more rows to go on the 11th repeat, which will give me twelve baskets on either side of the divide. My goal is sixteen or seventeen. The pattern is very easy, so easy I keep fucking it up - especially on the first two right side rows of the repeat. Something about the k2togs and ssks is freaking out my brain because once I get past those, I'm fine. And now of course it's taking a MUCH longer time to get through a row. Those purl rows are killers. I realized why too. You have like twice as many stitches to knit. On the right side you're always knitting some together and creating yos - on the back you have to purl EVERY SINGLE STITCH. But I'm plugging away. I can see the end and it seems so close.
I've also been slowly knitting on my retro rib socks:
I have to admit, these socks aren't half as fun as my stripey ones. I'm beginning to think I'm a stockinette sock girl - as long as there are funny stripes. But I have been getting loads of compliments on them when I knit in public. People keep thinking it's a sleeve for a kid's knit. When I tell them it's a sock, for me, they look at me like I'm crazy.
Speaking of which, time for more forward progress on my brain. I'm finally admitting to myself I have a touch of OCD - but, of course, without the compulsions that get you a clean, organized house. Just the crazy, wacked out obsessional thoughts! Who knew I could be so lucky!?! Shrink day today, so maybe a meds adjustment is in the works. Although I don't do too well with medications - of any kind. I'm very sensitive. ;-) Oh and Tom Cruise - FUCK YOU.
I got a new toy this weekend. A new phone! I've had my old one for a LONG time. Longer than these things are supposed to last - especially when three babies have chewed through them. But a new toy I have and I've discovered the wonders of RINGTONES!
When Georgie calls from his cell phone: DETROIT ROCK CITY!
When he calls from work: UNDER PRESSURE!
When he calls from home: OUR HOUSE!
When my sister calls: BLISTER IN THE SUN! (or maybe the theme from Days of Our Lives. Hers may change.)
When my bro calls: CALIFORNIA LOVE!
When Joe Random calls: 1 THING!
Georgie wants me to work in Tubular Bells. You know - the theme from The Exorcist? I can't even hear that shit without getting creeped out. Let him put it on his own phone!
I'm having a fantastic time - Georgie and I spent hours (literally - we were at his office) going through ringtones. I'd try to stump him with a polyphonic greatest hits of our lives. No good Bruce tones though. Bummer. Tell me what your favorites are!
Off to do stuff. Thanks for hanging out with me!
Posted by Cara at 10:01 AM | Comments (16)
June 22, 2005
Hump Day
You know when you wake up with a headache, the day just might suck. Too soon to tell - I have a lot of work today, so hopefully that will keep the demons at bay. Thanks for making me feel like I'm not alone in my craziness.
I've lived with anxiety and panic since I was thirteen for sure, but probably earlier. It's like an addiction - always there - even on the good days. I've learned A LOT about it over the years - it all has to do with control. The last few weeks I've been making some emotional breakthroughs (baby/infertility stuff mostly) and when I get very emotional I have a very nasty habit of hiding it with rationalizations. I'm not sure about you, but feelings CANNOT be rationalized. And when I can't rationalize, I panic. It's as simple or as complex as that. So I've let myself go a little. It's okay - I'm figuring things out. Incredibly hard things, for sure, but stuff that needs to get worked out. I need to be patient with myself and kind to myself and let myself be sad, so I'm working on that too. In the meantime, I've got good friends/family who will listen, a shrink who's kid I've put through college already and the greatest husband/best friend a girl could have. And blog buddies who don't think it's (TOO) crazy to buy 87 different kinds of self-striping sock yarn. Thanks for that, by the way! (My favorite, so far, is the Trekking Crazy Stripes. I LOVE the colors and the feel of the yarn. It's all I can do to not cast on RIGHT THIS MINUTE!)
For all of you who asked about where I got the sock yarn from - I googled Cotton Surf or Trekking Crazy Stripes. The three places I bought from were The Knitter (they were super friendly over the phone), The Knitting Zone and Carodan Farms. Hope that helps! Have fun. (Oh and don't say I didn't warn you!)
Some progress was made yesterday on the FBS. I finished another repeat. My goal is at least one repeat a day. We'll see. I'm at nine repeats now and I want to go to 16 or 17 for the large shawl. Or maybe 15 or 16. I'm surprised at how fast the lace row goes (right side). The purl rows seem to take forever. I'm usually a little faster on the purl side. And I hate strongly dislike the first couple rows of the repeat. I don't like the k2togs or the ssks, so I'm trying to get that first row done on the next repeat. Couldn't do it last night, but that's my goal. It's good to have goals.
Yesterday I was organizing around here a little bit and accidentally deleted two posts. One was the picture of me in the Israeli Army. Don't worry, they're back. Apparently when you delete a post it's deleted from your database, but not from your server. So I was able to cut and past them no problem. The thing I don't have is all your wonderful comments. They're there, on my server, but I'd have to cut and paste them all back in. I might. Not today. But I might. Anyway, be careful out there. When's the last time you backed up all your stuff?
Another one for Norma - go see how her garden grows!
Posted by Cara at 11:44 AM | Comments (12)
June 21, 2005
SOCKASTRIPENANZA!
Admittedly, I've gone a bit crazy the past week or so. In more ways than one. My anxiety has reared its ugly head and I've let myself give in to it - something I've been working on for a long, long time. My shrink always says that my being smart and having an excellent imagination are recipes for torture - and torture myself I do! I'm exceedingly good at making myself feel awful! YEEHAW! (See, Margene, I'm working the yeehaws in every where I can.)
Don't feel sorry for me or extend sympathy - unless of course you yourself make yourself crazy - because then I'd like to hear I'm not the only one. (LOL - I'm only half serious.)
Anyway - the craziness has extended into SOCKS! I know. I've made one pair. And it's not like I haven't been collecting sock yarn for a awhile. But the STRIPES made me NUTS!
Columns left to right:
| Opal Petticoat | Regia Cotton Surf #5413 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #48 |
| Regia Mini Ringel #5217 | Regia Cotton Surf #5411 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #39 |
| Regia Crazy Color #5402 | Regia Cotton Surf #5414 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #35 |
| Mountain Colors Wild Rasberry | Regia Cotton Surf #5412 | Trekking Crazy Stripes #38 |
In my defence, It looks like the Cotton Surf and the Trekking Crazy Stripes are being discontinued. Or, if they're not, they were on sale. Seriously, I don't know which ones I want to knit up first! The Cotton Surf #5411 (The Reds) might be for my Sockapalooza 2 Pal. She likes red, stripes and cotton - perfect, no? But she also likes lace. So I might try to find a nice cotton solid (anyone know of any cotton solid sock yarns?) and make the Go With the Flow socks from IK - or I may just go with some nice Koigu instead of Cotton. But I think Go With the Flow is the pattern. Maybe I'll make the exact socks in the magazine. Can I make my sock pal two pairs?
Knitting saved me this weekend. I don't know how many repeats I've completed on FBS, but I've completed 8 baskets on each side of the divide and am two rows into the nines. Experienced FBSers: Does that mean I've done seven repeats? I don't know how to count this.
The pattern is great. I look at the chart at the beginning of the row and I'm gone. I've had some to rip back a row or two, but for the most part it's going well. I like it - the yarn is good, the color is good, the pattern is good. It rescued me from a panic attack the other day on the train - although it is hard to knit when your hands are shaking. But it was a blessing because I HAD to concentrate. You know, get out of my head and all.
I'm home and feeling a bit better. Georgie calms me down. No matter how crazy and evil my thoughts - he can always do me one better! Gotta love him. I'm off to get my hair done today so I can look pretty for Vicki on Thursday. I'm thinking a yarn crawl that day - so anyone in the NYC area interested, send me an email and we'll map out a plan. We've got the whole ISLAND to cover and a contest prize to buy! (Thanks Jackie for the link!)
Oh and this is for Norma:
Posted by Cara at 10:08 AM | Comments (25)
June 17, 2005
DING ding ding ding ding....
We have a WINNER!
Brown Sheep Cotton Fine (20% WOOL/80% cotton) in Candy Apple RED. (Vicki - where's my button? ETA: Here it is!)
So far so good - I like the yarn, I like the pattern, I can see the little baskets coming along (although they look like leaves to me.) It's on Addis size 6. I only had to cast on three (maybe four) times until I was satisfied. I'm happy with it. I think the red will be good - go great with black - it's a garnet red - leaning way towards the blue purple rather than orange - and I think it will be nice and dramatic for the event.
Summer of Lace here I come!
Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for all the suggestions.
L, C
Posted by Cara at 04:27 PM | Comments (21)
June 16, 2005
Drumroll please....
And the winner is...
And Chelsea gets an honorable mention with her follow-up quote - Georgie loved that! Presumed Innocent (who knew it was that easy!) is one of our favorite movies. It's one of those we watch every time it's on. (Funny how Harrison Ford is in a lot of those movies. Go figure!) Georgie can be heard exclaiming "What a colossal blunder!" and "It was dem dat fucked up!" all the time. Seriously. It's right up there with "met-a-mor-PHO-sis" and "Immobiliare" (Extra, EXTRA special prize to anyone who can come up with the first one - you will never get it. The second one you might get - but the first - no way.)
Jackie - send me your snail mail and give me a week or two! Congratulations!
So I basically can identify every Flower Basket Shawl on the Internet - because I've seen them all - twice. I'm still unsure as to which yarn I want to use and after the great dress debacle yesterday (to be fair I wasn't wearing a baseball cap or sweat socks - but I did look like shit. I figured that was enough.)
My problem is I want it to be sturdy - not light and airy. And I want the color to be BRIGHT - not subdued. So I'm leaning towards a cotton - like maybe Cotton Fleece or Cotton Fine - weigh in on this people! Tell me what you know. Teresa used Cotton Fine and said it had - wait let me get the technical term - "loopy thingies" hanging off the twist. Was this an anomaly? Or a feature of the yarn?
[Okay - so I just mentioned cotton to Cassie, and while it was through email, I swear to god her head spun around like a top! Go see her CONTEST. There's still time to be wool-obsessed. Cassie - I love you!]
I'm also thinking about going naked and wrapping myself in an Alchemy Yarns Bamboo FBS. Since I can't find a dress and a shawl made from this stuff will cost as much as a dress. But will it block?
And there's still the Euroflax Linen. Although, honestly, I don't care how soft you people say it gets, it's kitchen string to start and I don't know if I can knit that. I'm a very tactile knitter. If I don't like the yarn - forget it!
I tried, I really tried to cast on with the Zephyr. In the end, I'm figuring I could probably get it to work for me, but that's not the end product I want. I'm not a light, airy kind of person.
Besides killing my self with Zephyr yesterday, I knit nothing. I may try to cast on again for the short row front, or I may just stick with sock knitting today.
I'm going to see The Fantasticks tonight. The way I'm feeling these days, it better be FUCKING fantastic. ;-)
Posted by Cara at 09:01 AM | Comments (22)
June 15, 2005
Serendipity and Disaster!
So Jen and I went dress shopping today (and why didn't anyone tell me how gross I've become! Seriously - you'd think I was bathing suit shopping or something!) but first we stopped in at an LYS I haven't been to in a while, The Stitching Bee. Jen had never been there and I was on the look out for a ball of Cathay - just to play with it. Lo and behold, on the table is a Leaf Lace Shawl, which is almost identical to The Flower Basket Shawl!
I tried it on and was able to gauge what size I'd need. I bought the pattern. Most importantly, another customer came in and the woman working at the store was all set up to teach her how to cast on the shawl! So I got to watch the provisional cast on and set up rows up close and personal. I was so happy - because seriously, I don't think I would've gotten it by reading it alone.
Then I get home and the Zephyr is waiting for me! I (almost) immediately try the cast on. Bad. I think the yarn is way too thin for me - I want this shawl to be thick - the one in the store was made from Euroflax Linen. I think it wasn't soft enough for me - but I loved how it was thick. Do you know what I mean?
I've searched through the Summer of Lace database and I just can't decide. Help me decide. Suggest yarns for me to use. I might try some Koigu I have around the house, but the Euroflax was really nice. They say it softens up - anybody knit with it? I'm dying here people. I want to start this ASAP. All suggestions welcome!
Thank you.
Oh and thank you for all your good wishes. I'm usually pretty okay, but circumstances arise as always. It'll be a long, long time, unfortunately, until everything is healed.
Posted by Cara at 06:29 PM | Comments (9)