Let's File This Under "Good Intentions Meet Poor Reasoning"

Dayton Mother Caught Breast Feeding and Driving.

I get it. When the kid's hungry, you have to feed it. BUT PULL OVER! Geez...

New Twist Collective

It's up. Really digging the cute baby stuff.

Knitters Hit NPR

Mo Rocca apologizes.

Asymmetrical Cardigan

Pattern: Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature
Yarn: Noro Cash Laine
Needles: US8 Clover circulars and US9 Addi Turbos
Notes: I didn't make any changes to the pattern. They yarn is fluffy and delicious. I think I will be wearing this a lot. I tried very hard to take a photo of me in it and they were all awful.

Seriously, this is the best I could do.



Self-Portrait FAIL.

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Have you ever asked yourself, "What if deranged circus clowns got really into Norwegian knits via the 80s?" You haven't? Well, once you take a gander at Ashish's fall '09 fashions you'll be wondering why you didn't think of it sooner. It is gold, people. Pure gold.





See the full show here. You'll thank me.

They Keep Going and Going and ...

Over the last several days I've been plying the merino singles I've been spinning for several months. The spinning was taking forever and I finally decided to start plying before finishing all the roving. I never do this. When I spin I always spin the singles then ply. But I couldn't take it anymore. I had to see that I was making actual yarn and not just filling bobbins with fiber. For some reason I think of finishing the singles as being "done" with a spinning project. I think the plying will take no time at all. Like binding off a knitting project. But it takes a really long time. I've spent time over three days plying this skein of yarn. Three days!



And it's only 330 yards! How is that possible? I also tried my darndest to overply this yarn. I was aiming for a tight twist. I checked frequently and thought I was getting the result I wanted but once the yarn came off the wheel I found it much more loosely plied than I thought. I will probably end up running it back through the wheel to add more plying twist.

Speaking of projects that go on forever, I worked on my Auburn Camp Shirt last night. (After I tired of all the sewing on the Asymmetrical Cardigan. Only a few hours left on that one.) I realized well into the night that I had been measuring from the wrong place for the shaping and ended up ripping out another inch of knitting. I reknit until late last night (this time with the shaping in the right place) and have "caught up" to where I ripped. For those keeping score, I have the back and one front complete and this part is the second front. I will finish this sweater, damn it. I will.

I'll end with a crappy picture of my sweater, among others, hanging in the window at Churchmouse.

Doubleknit #15

It's up.

The Only Surprise at the Oscars

Reese Witherspoon was the only woman there who did not look absolutely fantastic. (Okay, I could do without Nicole Kidman's feathers too.)

Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman, Penelope Cruz...everyone looked completely, perfectly beautiful.

ETA: Mily Cyrus's outfit was just deranged. And not at all age-appropriate.

No Spoilers!

I'm pretending that the Oscars aren't happening yet and trying to avoid any news about it until I can sit down and watch.

Today several Purlygirls had a field trip to Bainbridge. Jeanne, Katie, Sasha, Sharon, Molly and I all headed over. We had a very nice lunch (things were pretty bustling because of the Chilly Hilly bike race). There were cyclists everywhere. We stopped by Esther's to peruse the fabric. Finally we made our way to Churchmouse where they were having a little kick-off reception for their customer show. They are featuring the Fair Isle Yoke sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann. They even had a sample fair isle vest knit by Elizabeth on loan from Meg Swansen. Molly and I each dropped off a sweater for the show. Sharon is still too in love with hers to leave it behind. It's too bad. I would have voted for it. We also stopped at Mora for treats. A truly lovely way to pass the day.

In NaKniSweMoDo news, I have all the parts of the Asymmetrical Cardi complete and need to muster up the enthusiasm to tackle the finishing. In the meantime, as I already mentioned, I pulled out the Auburn Camp Shirt. The reason I couldn't just drop down and fix my mistake was that the hem is knitted in. I needed to drop down below that hemline so I had to rip back to just before the joining row then I could drop down and fix. Then I joined it back up and starting knitting. I panicked and thought I had actually done the fix all wrong but I think I'm on track now. That corner is looking pretty rough now but I hope I can clean it all up later.

Next up besides the Camp Shirt and the GLMC will be Bountiful Bohus by Chrissy Gardiner. I got some Cascade 220 in Vandyke Brown* and will use leftover gray and ecru from my Granny Smith FI**. I also got an idea during Madrona for another project. I hope to make an Adult Surprise Jacket with my own handspun. I have many, many small skeins of heavy worsted to bulky weight handspun. I thought it would be fun to throw them all together in a Surprise Jacket.

Okay, off to watch the Oscars.

*We were just discussing today the fact that Cascade names all the colors of C220 but doesn't make the names available anywhere but on the packing slip when yarn is delivered.

**I wore it to the show but couldn't part with it and the gray sweater.

I Was Just About to Feel Good

I finished all the parts to my Asymmetrical Cardi last night. I wanted to watch tv (see previous post) and didn't think it was the right moment to start the seaming. I reached way down into the neglected knits pile and pulled out the Auburn Camp Shirt. I knit on it for an hour or two last night and this morning I pulled it out to mark the buttonhole placement. And that's when I saw it. I forgot the ribbed edge for the button band. The whole thing needs to be ripped out and reknit. Crap! Double crap!

I Have Created a Monster or How We Ruined Our Lives

We have had the same tv for 14 years. We inherited it after my dad died. We finally decided to replace it as a Christmas/Hannukah/Valentine's Day gift to one another. When it arrived Wes discovered that we now get about 8 million channels (we don't have cable) including some basic cable channels. But our very old ReplayTV which has terrible recording quality can't "see" any of those new channels. So we got Tivo.

And now our life is over. We don't record that many more shows than we used to but somehow it seems that we are constantly feeling like we have to watch what's on there so there's room so we don't miss something else. It's a little nutty.

I had seen two episodes of this season's Top Chef on Hulu before we got the tv. I asked Wes to record it. He's watched three episodes with me and he is completely hooked. I just logged on to Facebook to see that he has joined at least two "Carla better win Top Chef" groups. When the man falls, he falls hard.

Excuse me, I better go watch some tv...

OMFG!

The Sock Summit teacher's list is up and it is nothing short of extraordinary. I am amazed. They are getting Meg Swansen to leave Wisconsin. Wow. I'm am booking a hotel room right now.

VK Knitbook

This is kind of an interesting idea.

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

When I saw this vest I thought, "Whoa, that is a low neckline."

Then I went in for a closer look.



The neckline is supposed to run under the model's breasts. This, I think we can all agree, is a major fashion faux pas. As vests of this style should only be made of latex or, in a pinch, pleather.

Post-Madrona

I didn't spend as much time knitting on my cardigan as Madrona as I had planned because I was seduced away by my spinning wheel. After Janel's class on Friday I didn't want to stop spinning. Ever. I spent all of Friday and Saturday night spinning my pink merino from OFFF. I'm this close to finishing the singles. The body of the sweater is just a few rows away from finsihed. Then there are is a lot of ribbing, bands and finishing to do. A lot.



I didn't get to take Judith MacKenzie McCuin's spinning class on fat yarns but it looked like so much fine I made my own when I got home.



This is just over a pound of New Zealand wool I got as a gift many years ago from Jeanne. It took no time at all to spin it all up and ply it. I have a jumbo flyer on my Ashford Traditional. I don't think it would have been as easy or fun without it. I'm going to try fulling it just for kicks.

Madrona Photos

The Fiber Gallery's Booth



The lovely Sarah Anderson in her stunningly amazing handspun, beaded, self-designed cardigan


Samples from Janel Laidman's Spinning a Painted Skein class


Aran Sweaters from the Top Down sample (front). Please ignore the enormously hideous bobbles


Aran Sweaters from the Top Down sample (back).


Lucy Neatby's class sample. Note side-opening pocket and X on front.


And R on back!

And Back Again

I'm home from Madrona. I went on Wednesday to set up the Fiber Gallery booth in the market. On Thursday I worked the booth. I thought I would hate it. I thought I would feel trapped in the market while there was a party going on in the other room. Instead it was wonderful. I saw everyone because everyone goes through the market. On Friday I took an all-day spinning class with Janel Laidman. I learned a bit and it was a pleasure to spend the day spinning the beautiful BFL from Chameleon Colorworks. On Saturday I took an all-day "Aran Sweaters from the Top-Down" class with Beth Brown-Reinsel. I finally feel inspired to knit Celtic Dreams after buying the pattern a year ago. I bought enough Black Water Abbey in Grey Sea(?) for it. Beth is a great teacher. She is skillful and knowledgeable with a very easy way about her. Today I took a half-day class with Lucy Neatby called "Double Knitting for the Addicted". Lucy is an outstanding teacher. I took her buttonhole class in June at TNNA and would absolutely take classes from her again. I learned a lot in her classes. Today in three hours we learned how to make a vertical pocket using double knitting as well as how to knit a double-faced fabric with completely different designs on each side. It's fiddly and tedious but very cool. I can't say that I'll be doing a ton of double knitting in the future but I feel much more comfortable with it now.

The best part of Madrona is seeing everyone. Every time I looked up or turned a corner I saw someone I know. It's a very happy place.

I took a shockingly poor number of photos (like four). I'll post something later to prove at least that I was there.

I'm Outie

I'm headed to Madrona first thing tomorrow. I will try to take lots of pictures and tell you all about it when I get home. Take care and have a great week/weekend!

For the Meme-Weary

Instead of a boring list of 25 random things about me read William Shakespeare's.

Anatomy Confusion

After the discovery of a dead squirrel in the woods today, my younger son asked, "Do bugs eat dead squirrels' intesticles*?"

Several minutes later Wes and I stopped giggling.

* He meant "intestines."

Zoom

This is knit in one piece. The fronts have been knit to the "armholes" and the sleeves have been cast on. Zooming along. (GLMC is also getting lots of attention but the progress is not so dramatic.)

IK Preview

It's up. What do we think?

Everything is Better With Bacon

Like this blog.

I'm Sorry, Those Only Come in One Size

I worked a pizza place when I was in high school that made 10" and 13" pizzas; we called them small and large. Often customers would ask for a "small 10" pizza." If I was feeling impish I would sometimes say, "I'm sorry. We only have one size 10" pizza."

Today I walked by a bar with a sign that read "16 oz. 20 oz. pints." I'm sorry, guys, but pints only come in one size.

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

What the hell have you done with your legs?
Are they melting? Is there something inside them trying to get out?



How cold do you have to be for this to be a viable option?



The fur, the nubbles, the colors. What could be worse?



Oh.

Snuggie Silliness

I don't watch commercial television so I was a little late about learning about Snuggies. But I've really been enjoying the parody videos that are popping up.

My Solemn Pledge

As you may have realized, I suck.
I had a blog contest in OCTOBER for the Donor's Choose challenge and I never picked the winners. Man, do I suck.
My promise to you is that tonight I will pick and post the winners. I have three lovely prizes. There's Smooshy Sock, Malabrigo Sock and Socks That Rock. I promise, promise, promise tonight I will announce the winners.
Sorry for sucking!

ETA: Winners have been chose and contacted. Thanks again to everyone for donating.

Asymmetry

The Asymmetrical Cardigan is charging on. After two pattern repeats working on only the right front I started the left front and have now knit them to the same length and am working on them together. The photo above was taken yesterday (?) before the two sides were the same length.

I'm now dividing my time between the GLMC (such small needles, such a long chart) and the AC (big needles, cashmere). I only brought GLMC to knitting with me last night so I wouldn't be tempted to leave it by the wayside. I will complete this sweater soon. I will!

I'm a Northwest Icon

Counterprogramming

Today I

• Went to the art museum
• Went to the ballet
• Went on a dinner date with Wes
• Went to see Milk

I know there was that whole football thing but I like my way more.