Is the pretzel our best chance at peace?

December 2, 2004 By

Best. Protest Sign. Ever.

What? After three freakin’ years we’re only now getting around to thanking the Canadians for helping us after 9/11? Letitia Baldridge would not approve.

I have a book: The Day the World Came to Town : 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. Reading the blurb on the back made me cry, so I bought it – I never read the whole thing. But it’s here in my house. Sort of my own version of thank you.

Not much to report in the knitting world. Still making progress on G’s Vest. Oh, and Cassie was nice enough to let me know that Purl is now open on Mondays. Thanks Cassie! (Said with only a tease of sarcasm.) I’ll be popping in there on Monday after my shrink appointment. And I remembered that I have to go to the dentist on Monday as well, which just happens to be around the corner from Seaport Yarn. Kill me now.

Oh well. I guess now I have no excuse NOT to pick up the Cascade 220 for Sophie.

PS – When I was on Amazon looking for the link to the above-mentioned book, I watched this short film with Mr. Big from Sex & the City. The movie is interesting for a few reasons. First off, the family is bi-racial (and beautiful at that.) I find this interesting because the gossip columns have always reported that this is Mr. Big’s preference. I can add my two sense and say that the one time I saw Big on the street in NYC (8th Street off of Fifth Ave.) he was in the company of a gorgeous, tall, African-American woman. I just think it’s interesting – especially in our red state world. Also, the character is decidedly Big – a real ass who gets his in the end and realizes it’s all about the love. (Is this the only character Chris Noth can play? He was like this in Law & Order too.) But, perhaps the most interesting (and truly disturbing) part of the film is the credits. The tableware, pots, pans, electronics all get mentioned with FREAKIN’ HOTLINKS! So, you know, you can buy all the crap in the movie. Commericialism (i.e. commercials) at their best.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Last Letters Home

December 1, 2004 By

I’ve been avoiding Last Letters Home on HBO because I didn’t think I could handle the sadness. I had Oprah on in the background today and she had some wives/mothers reading letters and I was right, I can’t handle it. It’s so overwhelmingly sad the loss these people have been dealt. To hear about parents losing children, people losing lovers, soul mates, life partners is unbearable. I feel physically ill imagining it in my own life – but for these families it’s real. Eventually I’ll watch the whole thing – with a pound of Kleenex and Georgie by my side. Hug your loved ones today. Please.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Dusk

December 1, 2004 By

Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in Dusk.

Fun with my Macro Lens.

Filed Under: Stash

Oops, I did it again!

December 1, 2004 By

[Stands up awkwardly] Hi.

[Voice cracks in the middle of a two letter word.]
Cough, cough.
[Clears throat awkwardly.]
Hi. My name is Cara. I’m an addict.

[Crowd of knitbloggers and elann.com personnel clap wildly.]
Welcome home!

My husband’s going to KILL me!

Damage done today:


Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran
Empire
Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra
Truffle

AND

Filatura Di Crosa Primo


Navy
Deep Denim
Blue Cloud

I bought enough of each color of the Jo Sharp to make a sweater, but I only bought two balls each of the Primo – I’m going to make Max a simple ribbed hat with a pompom on top to replace the hat he lost. The Primo seemed good because it’s superwash. (You make ask yourself why a soon to be four-year-old needs Filatura di Crosa Primo for a hat instead of an AC Moore special, but c’mon, everyone deserves nice yarn!)

Okay, that’s it. I’m done. Except of course for the tres cool Cascade 220 for Sophie!

I feel sick.

On a more positive note, I helped my sister, Jolie, pick up stitches over the phone! She’s been alternately working on a booga bag and a ribbed scarf (3×3 ribs). The scarf is for my nephew, her son. Well, last night while she was relaxing on the couch watching either Country Mouse & City Mouse, or the scary episode of George & Martha, or even Spiderman for the sixty millionth time, with Max by her side of course, she decided to work a little on the scarf. Barely, into it, she went to check on Charlotte sleeping upstairs. She left Max alone. With the TV. And the knitting.

When she came back down, you guessed. The addi turbos were missing from the knitting – which was lying quietly on the sofa.

[my sister] Max, where are the needles?

[my nephew] In my pants.

Ah those little boys and their pants. Reminds me of those grown men and their pants.

My sister hasn’t been knitting very long, what with two kids under four and a third on the way. She doesn’t have much time. Usually she calls me from the car while the kids are sleeping – their generally parked outside her house – with a knitting question. So last night she called me – what do I do? I told her you need to put the stitches back on the needle. We talked a little bit about how to do this, maybe rip back a few rows, etc. We hung up. She called me back about 10 minutes later to say she had done it, but a couple stitches looked funky. We determined they were actually dropped stitches. I told her how to pick them up and she did it! Hey, it worked! she cried. Ooo, I felt so good!

One more note about Jolie, and then I have to go to work TO PAY FOR YARN! I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought the Rowan Vintage Style book to make something for my other sister, Samara. Well, I was flipping through it and wouldn’t you know, one of the sweaters Samara was looking at was named Jolie. Very weird, since Jolie is NOT that common a name. Trust me on this. But the truly freaky part is the very next pattern was called COLLETTE. My sister’s full name is JOLIE COLETTE! I was dying, but I think my sister was a little more weirded out than amused. I mean, what are the odds?

Filed Under: Stash

Tuesday*

November 30, 2004 By

This is killing me. How do you stop?

Norma knit the most perfect, most funky, most fabulous Sophie. Perfect for my sister. She doubled the yarn – great idea. Gots to get me some Cascade 220 and knit, knit, knit that Sophie bag.

NO MORE PROJECTS!!!!

Oh and I signed up today for not one but two classes with Shirley Paden [Bernstein] at Gotta Knit in NYC. The first is in February and meets for two nights (6 hours altogether) – it’s on Intarsia and Fair Isle – I’m dying to learn this. The second is kind of a strange class, but I couldn’t resist:

CHALLENGE YOUR SKILL LEVEL! LEARN 14 DIFFERENT METHODS TO CAST ON. SHIRLEY PADEN BERNSTEIN will be teaching 14 different methods of casting on, when and where to use them. Bet you didn’t even know that there was that many ways!

Three hours of casting on. Should be interesting to say the least. I think Jen might take it with me, which would be much fun. That class isn’t until March.

I took a finishing class with Ms. Paden last March – it was really good. She’s pretty intense and does amazing handouts. She also supplies all the materials – so you don’t knit your own stuff. This is the only thing that I don’t like about the class. I think that if I worked on my own project I would retain the skills better in my mind. Like you learn directions better when you’re actually driving rather than when you’re a passenger. Make sense?

I’m bummed. I’ve been working hard on my blog to join the Knitting Blogs ring, only to find out it’s closed until the new year. Oh well. It’ll be (yet another) birthday present.

Got some good work done to today on pictures. The house is disgusting. I’m the worst housekeeper in the world. Bar none. Okay, I’m sure there are worse. But I’m pretty bad. I’m in the middle of laundry too. Ugh. I’m sure it’s all ridiculously wrinkled by now.

* This is what happens when you can’t think of a title. Pathetic, I know.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Baaaa!

November 29, 2004 By

Some stuff about me.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

the Postman always rings twice

November 29, 2004 By

I got some goodies in the mail!

Half of my elann.com delivery came in:


Jo Sharp DK Tweed – Paper Rose


Jo Sharp DK Tweed – Cedar

It’s so nice, I want to start knitting with it immediately! I’m thinking cardigans for both colors. Now to find patterns….

And Margaret Klein Wilson was kind enough to send me some Mostly Merino to sample:

I found out about it from a really nice article on Knitter’s Review. Margaret sent me a sample in the Worsted Weight and the Fingering Weight. It seems really nice. Thanks again Margaret!

I also got a very nice letter from the United States Botanic Garden requesting my portfolio of macro botanica photographs for a possible exhibit. Clearly I am very excited. It would be wonderful to have another show. My sister-in-law, Margaret, was kind enough to mention me when she went to an exhibit there featuring Andrea Baldeck. Baldeck was one of the jurors in the Morris Arboretum Garden Life Exhibit, which was held in Oct ’03 through Apr ’04. I had three photographs chosen to be in the exhibit, and Baldeck chose “Sunny Side Left” as her Best in Show selection. It was quite a thrill.


Click for more detail.

Filed Under: Stash

bloat…

November 29, 2004 By

Thanksgiving’s over. Let’s move on. Please.

It’s not that I hate the holidays per se, but I don’t really see why singling out a special day for thanking those you love is necessary. Don’t you do that every day? I try to. I try very hard. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t, but I like to think I don’t need a day to remember. Same goes for Valentine’s. I don’t even like turkey.

I did get some knitting done even though the beloved children keep me very busy. They’re definitely the goofiest, craziest, most wonderful people I know. There is almost no greater pleasure in my life than being their aunt. Sometimes, I miss them so much it hurts. Okay, okay. I almost made myself cry.

Back to knitting – this is the progress I’ve made so far on the Geometric Scarf:

I’m not sure about the yarn – it splits, but it is very, very soft. The scarf will have to be blocked well though.

And since these days finishing one project means starting 18 more, I bought a couple of pattern books. Samara, my baby sister (12 years my junior), was in for the holiday from Michigan with her man Ted. I picked up the Rowan Vintage Style book and Magazine 36 at Ewe and I. (First time I’ve ever been able to find what I needed there.)

I also bought a ball of Kid Silk Haze #598 (Toffee). I’m going to make the Brie gloves in the magazine for Samara. They’ll go perfect with the “vintage” (read Salvation Army) coat Ted bought her. We also decided on Laurent, from the Vintage Style book, for her birthday present in March. Should be a good project for me since I’ve never done intarsia. I so want to learn.


Brie
Laurent

My sister and I both enjoyed perusing the Rowan books – so much so I’m considering joining the Rowan club. Could be a nice birthday gift to myself.

Progress has also been made on G’s Vest. Not enough, but progress still.

Filed Under: Brie, Geometric Scarf, Laurent

Ta Da!

November 24, 2004 By

Without further ado….

Click pictures for more!

It was tough going, I have to admit. I started losing stitches again once I switched to the dpns, but I figured it out pretty quick. I wasn’t pushing the stitches to the middle of the needles not being used, so they were creeping up to the edge and falling off. I was three rows from the end and somehow I messed up a purl stitch so I was off. Ripped back. Did it again. It was quite exciting though. And you really do only need one ball of Calmer. I was very surprised at how much I had left.

The stitches toward the top are a little bit sloppy. That’s because I had to rip back a couple of times, or pick up dropped stitches and the yarn is so stretchy and splitty. But it’s done, and I really have a sense of accomplishment. By far, I think, the most difficult project I’ve done so far. It was fun to be sure.

I finished it about 1:30 – G worked late and didn’t get home until close to midnight, so I had plenty of alone time to curse and yell in frustration. I was so pumped after though I didn’t fall asleep until 3 – and then I was up early because I was excited about my first big elann.com sale! (I was at the computer at 7AM, so I worried for two hours I wouldn’t get what I wanted.)

I was able to get all the colors of Jo Sharp Silkroad I wanted!


Paper Rose
Cedar
Dusk

The Dusk is the Aran Tweed for my dad. When he saw I was making G a vest and Max a sweater he popped up with his request. I’m hoping it’s a gray/brown kind of color. I’ve seen a bunch of websites and the color is different on every one. The Paper Rose and Cedar are DK Tweed. I got enough for sweaters in each color – I’m thinking cardigans. Maybe one for Samara. Maybe both for me. Depends.

My goal for today is to cast on the front of G’s vest and cast on the Geometric Scarf. That way I can knit whichever one I feel like on the train to Philly tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Remember to unbutton your pants before you start eating.

Filed Under: Shedir

I DID IT!

November 24, 2004 By

I don’t know how (I ripped out the top like too many times to count!) but the FUCKER wonderful, beautiful, inspirational chemo cap is DONE! Details to follow tomorrow later on today. I’m going to bed buy some Jo Sharp at elann.

When I run errands later I’m going to stop by the craft store and buy a nice big Styrofoam ball to model my hat. Pictures to come! she says, jumping up and down. Can you tell I’m proud?

Filed Under: Shedir
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