sharp points: September 2004 Archives

Knit Wit is out on the stands! Stopped by Borders on my way home to take a look at the new book and here's some sneaky low-res phone photos of my favorite sweaters:

Janda Hoodie

Hidden Agenda Sweater

Purple Haze Cardigan

For those of you on the Man Along, the Men's hidden agenda sweater is perfect. I'm tempted to do what the book said- knit it up for your man and when he leaves the house, snag it for yourself!

Okay so I didn't buy it yet. To be truthful I wanted to see the laptop cozy pattern and I wasn't all that impressed. I'm sure I could have come up with the red cozy (as seen on the cover which looks like a purse, but the handle is an ibook notebook handle) on my own after swatching a bit. Booo. And come to think of it, it doesn't take advantage of the shock protection of bulkier yarn or felting. So, Knit Wit stays on my wish list. Maybe someone (fuzzystingray people ) will get it for me for xmas instead of yarn? Of course, yarn is also very very welcome... Though once again, non-knitters, yarn from the yarn store starts at around $5 a ball. A book is kinda more practical ;) Unless you're knitter, they know how to buy enough yarn for a given project and not faint dead away at the price tag (Sorry Robin ;) )

I may be guilty of overloading my server with huge sized knitting photos... Well, you really wanted to see it full screen, right? Okay, maybe not.

But what about when you're looking at knitting tutorial pictures? Someone's tutorial is a prime example of teeny tiny pictures that induce eye spasms. If you're like me and wish the images were bigger, well, try this Image Zoom extension for firefox. Hey as far as I am concerned, if you read knit tutorials online, you should get firefox and this extension now. Save yourself from hitting the screech at 10 am.

Here's the body of my bunny which is missing both ears. It kinda reminds me of char and camping. The pattern is from heart string fiber arts which I saw on poor miss finch

And just in case you're wondering what this smart little bunny is reading - Image Compression for Digital Image Processing. Then if you're wondering why the poor little bunny is missing both ears, I need some teeny tiny needles. The tapestry needles (the temporary ears) are too short to comfortably knit with (yes I tried that).

Here's a photo of my Lattice Pattern swatch I knitted up in the elann alpaca. And oh oh! I did this without a cable needle for the most part. Tip for knitting cables without a cable needle - Knit Loosely otherwise you won't be able to get under the loops even with the superb addi turbos.




And here is what it should look like (from knitty.com in Cashmerino)

Perhaps when they meant C4F, actually transfer 4 stitches to the cable needles instead of 2? Mine looks like waves rather than cables. I might re-try this pattern with some scrap yarn which I know hold a cable... In the meantime, I turned the swatch into a cell phone cozy. Since swatching is good for you, I'll probably end up with endless cell phone cozies and coasters. Anyone want one?

On a different topic- I received my amazon book Tuesday via UPS because amazon kindly expedited the shipping all by themselves. Powells, on the other hand, somehow routed my book to Washington from their Portland Oregon store earlier this week. Uh huh. It is a good thing that I am not planning on going to Portland because there would be a story in the newspaper about how some little lady walked into the shipping department and started to jab at people with 14" metal knitting needles. Had I known shipping would have been this slow, I really would have paid for the expedited shipping via Amazon Marketplace powells. Powells shipping is going to get a short letter of peeveness. Perhaps Powells is not to blame but their shipping distributor? In which case I would go to another location and poke. After all, the us postal service is no longer a government organization so I can't be arrested for harassing a federal employee. HAH! (Yet again proving why freecia should not become a lawyer)

Bought two skeins of yarn today from the sale basket for $12. Yay! Cotton Fleece in New Age Teal and Baby Cashmerino in what I'd call dusky lavender.
Now to find a pattern I want to knit with one or both of these awesome yarns. I'm not enamoured with the Fall Knitty since I don't have the funds and time available to knit a sweater right now. However, there are a few books I'm waiting for and these will make me hurl myself right off the yarn diet wagon-
* Knit Wit Out Sept 28th
* SnB Nation Out Nov 4th
* Last-Minute Knitted Gifts Out Oct 1st
* Bags: A Knitter's Dozen Out Sept 28th
* 25 Bags to Knit Out Oct 1st

I am sooo getting Knit Wit and SnB Nation (second of the SnB Series). Also probably snatching up 25 Bags to knit since I don't see too many non-felted bags (High Efficiency Washer so no felting for me) that I like. My credit card is whimpering just thinking about these books.

My Secret Pal Blanca sent me a gift certificate for Adagio Teas Thanks! As a remiss secret pal, I need to send a partial package to my giftee soon soon (two soons is more urgent than one soon). The happy sad thing is that the package weighs a bit tooo much so I'm waiting to get a tad smidgeon fuller before I ship it out. Good- Lots of goodies. Bad- Waiting. I'm going to dash off a note to my secret pal so she'll know she hasn't been forgotten. Also, October is special for her and I don't want to send the gift too early or late.

I still haven't hit the library or the yarn store. Spent the morning washing the car. Yes. Almost the entire morning. Suitably, my fingers are pruney little things that hurt a bit. Stupid sap. If there was a way to get the dried sap off without scrubbing like a maniac, I'd be glad to take that route. Even the trusty baking soda didn't do much good today. Anyone know a way to get cocoa pod sap residue off my car without a wax job? A nice skein of yarn to someone who comes up with a good solution! How about a ball of direct-from-LYS Lamb's Pride? I'll even take color requests. Save my fingers for knitting. Please. Help. I'll throw in chocolate. Tea? You can't have my blankets, though. I give those up for no-one.

25 Bags to Knit - Trafalgar Square

Have you seen this new bag book? Drooooool They look quick and easy which isn't always my bag (pun intended) but it is nice to knit up something fast and have it be useful. I'm also interested in their handles since I feel some handles are flimsy and become an otherwise sturdy bag's downfall. Like like... A good looking person with a less than pleasant personality. You can look at it but you sure don't want to interface (hey, I'm a computer geek. of course I'd use the word interface) with it. Crafter's choice book club supposedly stocks this book but I don't see it.

Nothing, yes nothing, on the needles. So sad. Must start something today. The last few days have been a bit of a tizzy and I've been admiring the wonderful yarn Blanca gave me. I lined the purple zeeby with those plastic embriodery sheets as a stiffener and handed it off to mom to sew in as I don't like hand stitching all that much and she's much more even anyhow.

Projects I'm considering -
Christmas gifts
- beanies
- wristlets/ fingerless mittens
- cabled scarf
for moi
- kyoto perhaps?
- debbie bliss alpaca silk
- Rowan and rebecca
(see the sweater trend?)
from blanca loves me yarn
- pillow
- beanie

Probably will start a beanie from the alpaca for xmas giftee while I hunt about for a good fingerless glove pattern (fingerless since it is so much easier to type and grip) and decide on a sweater stash investment.

While surfing through the chicknit blog today, I linked to what I suspect could be my secret pal's blog... Doh, and I read this blog from time to time, too. In fact, it wasn't until the latest entry that the clues kinda went BAM! (Emeril style) and I thought "Hmmm. Wow. Remarkable coincidences...". Then my outstanding moral fiber twanged and said, "Stop stop! Don't spoil it!" Yeah, it was more a dink than a twang.

Blanca- not only have I not googled (and if it's in google, I'd find it) the return addr on the package, I didn't rip the address label off to find out who the recycled box was sent to. This is completely un-freecia-like restraint!
Had a lovely Sept 11th which lots of Kobe steak at a BBQ. Is this sacrilegious in light of the history made on this date? I'm enjoying my American privilege of eating bbq'd meat, the lovely sun, and friends. Didn't get any knitting done which was sad but good that I was socializing. Took the Blanca yarn with me to look at and ponder over. It's so soft and the colors are divine! pat pat poke pat. poooke
Updated 9/12 1:08AM PST

Thanks Blanca! I partook of the tea already and it's definitely unique! As for the hopeful yarn- RIGHT ON CHIQUITA! I LOVE this stuff! I'm doing my happy dance in my office chair.

Short on time so I'll include a photo blog for today

I'll post her letter later :) Thanks Blanca! Still doing the happy dance (more of a butt wiggle).

whew. thank goodness for my own server and dsl :)

Wow. Becky came, read (extensively, might I add), and commented! See!
I feel so cool and flattered.

Other knitting blogs I admire (and pretty much auto-check every day-see RSS below)
* Yarn Harlot and her excellent fun writing style. Always great fun and worth not knitting to read. You can do both at once, though.
* Chicknits always interesting
* Knit Happens for their excellent stash/stock sharing! (Check it out, she knows Debbie Bliss. WOW)
* Pinku has great updates about Japanese knitty stuff which I adore. Gotta learn how to say that in Japanese.
* nipperknits
* super eggplant
* Wendy Knits
* The Blue Blog
* Sugar Cubed (she's so cute)
* Vidardottir

And just in case you're thinking that I spend half a day reading blogs, well, I use RSS to grab the headlines and check when they've been updated. This makes it extra quick and easy to see new entries. So, the proper straight answer to if I spend way to much time reading blogs is- "Only if I want to".

These blogs all have a style of writing and I'll be trying to come up with my own. Polishing your writing skills and style is always a good thing.

Afghan square for Mason Dixon Afghans for Afghans
My first cabling attempt went quite well. Easy peasy! :) I just kinda freestyled it so some of the cables look a bit longer than others. The yarn is Bernat Denim Style which can be machine washed and dried. Denim Style is actually fairly soft and I wouldn't mind wearing a sweater made out of this but I might use larger needles next time. It shed a bit on me while I was knitting it on the suggested #8 needles and it felt extremely tight. There's a second square in progress made of Encore Worsted which just has some random patterns. Nothing fancy but it should be quick. Just 3 more inches to go.

Still knitting slower than I expect. For some, the enjoyment is in the soothing feeling of the knitting, for others, it's getting the project done and adding to their wardrobe. For me, I like the knitting, but I'm also impatient to see the finished object. The glory moment for me is when it is done. However, the actual mechanics of knitting is nice, too, and if I knit faster, well, then I could knit more. Yes yes, but then I'd buy more yarn... This is the same issue many knitters have.

The past few days have been extremely hot for this area. The houses around here weren't built to accomodate this crazy warm weather so the coolest place is usually the car with the A/C. Newer houses around here are wising up and have air conditioning. I stayed off the computer for the most part and watched tv while slowly knitting. The yarn kept on sticking to me...

Righto. Off to the real world to earn my keep.

Bbora suggested that I spin my dog's hair into yarn. As weird as that sounds, people do that. Yes, really. See?! There's even a book called Knitting with Dog Hair and a company called VIP Fibers that will actually spin your dog's hair into yarn.

I'm torn between paying money for my trash to be turned into treasu... weird yarn and squinting one eye while imagining a environmental-activist chained to a tree wearing a burlap-sack-esque poncho made from dog and cat hair sneezing like crazy. On the other hand if I really detested someone who was allergic dogs, I'd knit my "special pal" an "extra special gift". Some people have their pets hair spun for sentimental value which makes me wonder what exactly you knit with it? It just seems really odd (to me) to knit a garmet with the hair of a deceased pet... On the other hand, there's a certain weird rightness and irony using my dog's hair to knit her a doggie coat.

Though about this some more. Thought I might mention that I'm big on cutesy Japanese stuff like Sanrio and San-x. Favorites are Chococat, Monkichi, and Cinnamaroll (It looks like a white bunny but is a dog). Fair warning for those who don't know me in person- I don't wear girly pastel pink. I'm picky about the exact shades of pink I like and dislike. On a side note, I seem to be collecting jackets as I have 12 or so by now.

Wow. more questions from SP3. Okay.

22. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
This is a toughie as I watch quite a bit of anime, generalized- cartoons from Japan, and there's several characters I love. Of particular non-humanoid cuteness are the soot balls from Spirited Away, Ryo-Ohki from Tenchi!, and Ein from Cowboy Bebop. I went through a "duckie duckie duckie!" phase and all received a lot of duck oriented items so I'm a bit ducked out.
23. What is your favorite holiday?
None, really. I look at all of them as vacation time! Perhaps my favorite holiday to celebrate is Melissa's birthday which coincides with New Year's Eve.
24. Is there anything that you collect?
Dog hair. Wait, that's an unwelcome gift from my dog who sheds like crazy. Other than yarn, I collect foreign currency, postcards, pens, and though unintentional- books. Most of my collections are travel based like my collection of Minidiscs I pick up when I visit Asian/European countries.

Ahh, Blanca. Yes, yes I would go through 177 different sites looking for you. Not all that many people read Isabel Allende, after all. Yes, I've read House of the Spirits and the reference to Blanca had been poking in my mind for a bit. My personal favorite Allende book is Portrait in Sepia.

As for my name, long story short, I was somewhat named after the freesia flower and it's pronounced Free-sha. There are a few other Freecia's in the world and I have no idea how they like to pronounce their name.

Here's my haul from today's trip to the LYS. Scarf Style which I'll just say I'm really really excited about. There are beautiful and interesting to knit scarves in here. I would love to write a review of this book but I'm still gushing and looking at the pictures, trying to keep my drool from falling on the pages.

Here are a few photos of my favorites:

Picked up a few cable needles while I was there because I've been wanting to try cabling but want to figure out how to cable before I just drop the stitch from the needle. I've explained this to Char, that you can cable without a cable needle holding the stitches, but she finds it unnerving. It's theoretical knowledge for me, too, and I decided that perhaps it'd be more pragmatic to learn how to knit cables with a cable needle then after I get used to cables, forgo the cable needle.

The needles are Bryspun Bry-flex 5 inch double point #8 which my LYS owner, Louise, gave me to try out. She received them as a promo item and doesn't like the points so she passed them on to me which was extra nice of her since she certaintly has employees and other favored customers she could have kept them for. I'm to tell her how I like them :)

Melissa made a nice purchase of two additional cream balls of Cashmerino. She'd originally wanted to return an extra ball of the light blue but it had snagged on something. Instead, she purchased two cream balls and will probably start her first colorwork! I offered to liberate her blue ball on Char's or my behalf. Blue-y would have a good home with a lone black ball of Cashmerino I picked up from the sale basket. Why I only bought one, I'm not quite sure... but sometimes those sale basket items, tossed in a basket proclaiming them as leftovers, exiled from their well organized relatives in their neat little piles on custom built shelves, they say "I'm on sale!". What, you thought I felt pity for them? Ah, I do, my friend, I do. I would take all you little orphans home and give you a place in my stash, but I'm a harsh harsh woman and realize that most things take more than the lone lot ball in the basket. Not to despair, lovely yarns, I usually succumb, allowing myself to occasionally bring one or two home, unlike those kittens from the Davis Farmer's Market. Hey, if I can resisit kittens, I can resist a ball of ... well. maybe. stop being so soft and cute you. you. YARN!

My secret pal has an alias. How very cool, eh? Evidently it's from a book and now I'll be thinking about novels with characters named Blanca... Leave suggestions people!

Hi Blanca! It's a pleasure to be your victim! Oh wait, I meant secret pal recipient. As for calling me Melissa, my best friend's name is Melissa and we're sometimes so much alike, it's scary. We've been friends for more than half our lives and our parents agree that we bicker like an old married couple. You'll be seeing lots of Melissa references, I'm sure. Her alias' are M, missa, lissa, and "you-better-not-call-me-that-or-I-will-hurt-you-so-don't-even-think-about-it" (and I don't... but others do call her by the name-which-will-not-be-named (see missa? I know what's good for me)).

If there's any questions you'd like me to answer, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. My blog is not excessively extensive, as my life is fairly mundane, but if you're feeling procrastination-empowered, surf on over to my pictures and wander about. If you can't tell, I love to travel and eat! And shop. And knit. And electronic gadgets. And being a geek. And sleeping. And reading. Okay, for the most part I'm like a cat- I sleep, eat, and play with yarn. Oh, and japanese-toilets, but is that a gadget?

Oh how tempting it is to want to share who your secret pal is. Must resist... Because I would, in my dorkiness, surf through all the websites (again. might I add) in sp3 and look for my secret pal, totally defeating the whole, you know, secret part of secret pal. And if I would do that, well, secret pal recipient of mine, so might you.

Here's some more questions from the SP3 newsletter

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
"ooooh ahhhh" soft wool or blends from DK weight and above. Worsted weight is my favorite
14. What fibers do you absolutely not like?
thin center strand eyelash and coarse feeling yarns. Haven't knit with shetland and probably won't ever knit a shetland sweater
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
sweaters. I want to make a sweater. Becky is so inspiring and I love her sweaters even though I don't wear pink. Plus, I know I can do it!
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I can't decide yet! There's so many more things to try. I love knitting purses and bags. They're the perfect size for a quick project. I don't think I'll like knitting socks.
17. What are you knitting right now?
Christmas gifts :/ >> scarves, hats, and gloves. I want to be knitting bags and sweaters
18. What do you think about ponchos? (this is really a curiousity question for us)
On me? No thanks. Everyone else? If you like 'em, go for it
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular all the way. I have short arms. I like my Denise set but if Addi Turbo came out with an interchangeable set, I'd buy them in a flash. Bamboo circ's are nice, too, but I love the Addi join, cord, lightness, and glide.
20. How did you learn to knit?
My Chemistry teacher hosted a craft club while I was in junior high. As a result, I could knit and crochet a really long chain. As for actual knit experience, I started a few months ago.
21. How old is your oldest UFO?
One knit bag which is waiting for me to line if that counts, 2 months. If not, uhm, about a month? I try to finish my projects before I start another so at any given time, I'll have two or three WIP

psst. domesticated because the international buddies have already received their assignments. I'm banging on the refresh button every half hour