A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

April 26, 2012

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Doing these Thursday posts for all these years seems to have warped me. I now find myself looking at patterns and hoping they're horrible instead of pretty. So when I saw this all I could think was, "Please God, tell me the earrings are attached to the hat!




Sadly not. But still.

April 25, 2012

Join Us for the Fiber Gallery Anniversary Sale!

I know many of my readers live far, far away from Seattle but for those of you in the Puget Sound region I wanted to let you know that the Fiber Gallery's annual clearance sale is this weekend. Not surprisingly you won't see much from me until it's over.

The sale runs Friday, April 27 to Sunday, April 29 during regular store hours. We will have loads of clearance yarns at 40% off and all other yarns will be 20% off. Don't forget that we've moved and are now at 8212 Greenwood Ave N. We have a parking lot behind the building with access off of 83rd St. There's no back entrance though so you need to walk around to the front.

April 20, 2012

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway

I'm really enjoying getting a chance to do giveaways and contests. I was contacted by Shabby Apple to do a giveaway for one of their dresses. You have a chance to win the dress of your choice from their site. I've enjoyed their site for a long time--I really like their vintage style--so I was excited to have a chance to try one of their dresses myself and give one away to a reader.



I opted for Bon Voyage. I felt its simplicity would be flattering to my figure.



George helps me model the dress. I added the sash.

I had a hard time choosing. This sexy little red number wouldn't get much wear in my low-key life but it's so pretty. And I'm a sucker for polka dots.



To win you need to “like” Shabby Apple on Facebook, then leave me a comment saying which dress you'd choose if you win. I will choose a winner on May 1.



You can also use the code "rosekim10off" to receive 10% off an order from Shabby Apple for the next 30 days.

Good luck!

April 19, 2012

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Today, let's play a word association game. I'm going to say a word and you say the first thing that comes to your head. Like if I say "school" you might say "bus." Or if I say "dog" you might say "bark."

Okay, the word is "teapot."



You said "bikini," right?

April 18, 2012

Way to Go, Seattle Times

This terrible juxtaposition of image and text was the on front page of their website this morning.



Did anyone look at this before publishing it?

When in Doubt Knit Hats

I've been suffering from knitter's block. Or perhaps knitter's ennui. Or just a crisis of confidence. I spent days swatching various yarns for several different sweaters and nothing worked. So I grabbed a skein of Taiyo and knit a hat for charity.



Nothing to write home about. But I had yarn left so I knit a helix stripe hat with my Margot-ish leftovers.




This one I love. And I had yarn left. So I knit a little charity had with the leftover gray leftovers.



Aw, cute. But I still had yarn left. (This is starting to sound like Extra Yarn.)So I knit another wee helix stripe hat with some Creative Focus Worsted.



Can you believe there's still yarn left??

I also knit this floppy kids' hat in a sample that lost its label. I'm thinking Classic Elite Firefly but I could be wrong.



I'm already on to another hat. There are always heads out there that need a good hat.

April 12, 2012

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

It was cruel enough squeezing little Suzie into the Compression Cowl. But placing the novelty mustache on her face when she couldn't raise her arms to defend herself really took things too far.

April 8, 2012

Margot-ish



Pattern: Inspired by Margot but completely improvised
Yarn: Noro Retro, 4.5 skeins of black, 3.5 skeins of gray
Needles: US 9 and 7
Notes: I started following the numbers for the second size of Margot. I immediately changed the neckline because I wanted to add a button tab. I increased until the yoke met under my arms and split off the sleeves. I used Margot-ish waist shaping and then knit garter in the round using the smaller needle until I liked how it looked. I went back and knit on the sleeves at the same time to use as much yarn as possible. I picked up stitches at the base of the sleeve (Margot doesn't) then decreased them away. I knit until I thought I wouldn't have a enough black yarn to finish, knit some garter stitch and bound off the sleeves. Then I ripped out the neckline and reknit it this time with some short rows to build up the back of the neck. Margot has no back-neck shaping which I think is a major flaw in the pattern. I would have put some shaping in the yoke but it would have made the stripes look funny with one stripe on the back of sweater being several rows taller than all the rest. I used the smaller needle for the neckline to keep the garter from being too floppy. I decreased at the sides of the neck to keep the neckline shaping like Margot and bound off when I thought it was deep enough.

April 6, 2012

He Got Me

Last night Younger Son was complaining that he felt feverish and had a sore throat. He insisted that I take his temperature. It was 97.7°. No fever. Go to bed.

This morning he comes to me again. "I don't feel well," hand pressed to his forehead. I take his temperature. 99.6°. Oh my. Guess you're not going to school.

I call the school. He goes upstairs. I wandered into the kitchen to make some tea and realize the electric kettle has been on and the water is still very hot.

"I need to take your temperature again."

98.4°

"Did you have hot chocolate this morning before you took your temperature?"

"Not right before."

Yeah, he's fine.

April 5, 2012

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Perhaps this has happened to you. You're at a social gathering, meeting someone new. You're playing the "getting to know you" game and asking all about one another's work and interests. You tell this new person you're a knitter and their face kind of freezes and they have no idea what to say to you. I have finally figured our what is happening in their mind at this moment.

You say, "I'm a knitter."
They see this.



You'd be speechless too, right?

April 1, 2012

March Makeup Favorites

Thank you for all the comments and feedback on my makeup videos. I really appreciate it!

My Kids in the New York Times!

Not an April Fools' joke. I have circled them for better viewing.