Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

"Let's make Big Ass Knits even more uncomfortable."
"Yeah. That sounds great!"
"What if we make them really stiff and unyielding?"
"Perfect!"

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

I have officially found my new favorite designer.

"But, wait," you say, shielding your eyes and slowly rubbing your now throbbing temples. "I can't really see the designs."

I think I'll call this one, "My Eyes Are Up Here."

Um, "Psychedelic Poodle Go-Go Dancer."

"Dia de los nutsos"

Lastly, "Ay yi yi, I Give Up!"

Sheesh

Every day I think I'll do a blog post. And then I don't.
 

There's quite a bit of knitting going on here. This heap is a Retro Prep I started back in April. I did a crocheted steek on it. When I was picking up the stitches for the bands I noticed one stitch that looked a little dodgy, like I hadn't quite caught it in the steek. I set it aside to run under the sewing machine. And it sat for weeks. Last week I finished the bands and when I tried it on I felt the collar was too wide and floppy. I set it down. Another week passed. Finally at knitting last night I completed the bind off with enough decreases along the back of the neck that I think it sits right. It needs a bath and a good blocking.

I knit that crumpled hat with some of the leftovers. I still have enough for another hat. That also needs a good blocking.

At the bottom of the pile is my Seamless Hybrid in O-Wool Balance. I completely ripped out the entire sweater back in July then reknit it. I need to machine stitch the steek since there's cotton in the yarn. I'm also teaching a mini class on steeking at the Seattle Knitters Guild next month. So I'm going to stitch it but won't cut it until I show it to my students.

In other sweater ripping news, I started a Rorschach sweater, also by Elizabeth Zimmermann, on a road trip to Oregon. I cast on on Thursday morning and on Sunday afternoon I realized I had reversed my set-up row and had increased stitches on the wrong side of my sweater on the eleventh row. I ripped it back and began again.

This is it before I realized my mistake.

I'm still doing lots and lots of walking and spending lots of time at the zoo. The otter pups have been out a few times and they are adorable! And a giraffe was born two weeks ago. He's got a webcam.

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

How did I miss Thursday again? It was right there after Wednesday...

I've been hearing a lot about "leaning in" lately. I suggest this model lean in immediately before she topples over backwards.

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

Lord help me. I can't resist posting when I see a crocheted pant.

Add in fringe, evil eyes and stripper shoes and I am done for.

But it just keeps coming.

And coming.

Oh my word, someone get me a fan and a drink.

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

I have been harboring secret knowledge since TNNA. I didn't want to share it because I didn't want it to be true. But now I must warn you.

Thursday Friday Is for What the Hell Is This?

Whoops. Kind of missed a whole day there. Sorry.

So, yeah. This pattern. It's, uh, a little, uh, odd? It's a pattern for fox ears. To wear. And it's modeled by the strangest mannequin head I've ever seen.

I guess this is the perfect accessory if you want to really amp up your Modern-Dead-Eyed-Bride-of-Frankenstein look. *shudder*

And Just Like That It's Over

I'm sitting alone in the lobby of the Marshfield Holiday Inn waiting for a shuttle to take me to the airport. Camp flew by so fast this year. I got a lot done and had more than a few moments of inspiration to fuel my knitting for th next year.

Gone Camping

I'm in Wisconsin this week for Knitting Camp. I'll try to get back to regular posting when I get back.

That Was The Sweater That Was*

The sweater that went all wrong has been ripped out and restarted. The good news is that I do think I'll have enough yarn. The bad news is that I had to rip the entire thing. I have a good chunk of a new sleeve done and have measured and checked gauge more carefully this time.

*I never saw the show but my dad used to reference it frequently when I was growing up.

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

I've found my new favorite design team, On Aura Tout Vu. It means "we've seen everything" in French and I'm sure once you've reviewed their work you too will think, "Now I've seen everything!"

Gone Walk(in')about

Last week Thursday sneaked right by me. It was, after all, disguised as a holiday so it felt more like a Sunday. But looking back I see I haven't updated much at all lately so I thought I'd take a moment to fill things in a bit.

I haven't been knitting that much. I have been working slowly on a new version of this sweater in some O-Wool Balance I bought a few years ago in a stash sale. It makes my hands sore to knit with it (cotton always does) and I was crawling my way through the knitting. On Monday I finished the second sleeve and was ready to join them to the body when it occurred to me that sleeves seemed awfully small. I measured everything and, yes, the sleeves are too small. Plus the body is too big! It's a total loss. I have to tear it all out. Three weeks or so of knitting down the tubes.

What I have been doing a heck of a lot of is walking. I got myself a Fitbit Flex and it has really been motivating me to get moving. And I don't mean 10,000 steps a day. I have been a woman possessed. I've been averaging over 15,000 steps a day. We're having a really amazing summer in Seattle and I have been heading out the door and walking as much as possible.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you might have noticed a lot of photos and videos taken at the Woodland Park Zoo. At this point I don't have a gym membership. But I do have a zoo membership and the zoo just happens to be an easy walk from my house and situated between my home and work. On a non-work day I walk there and spend time walking around. On work days I drive there, walk for an hour then head to work. The zoo has had an amazing baby boom recently. I have been loving checking in almost-daily on the lion cubs (there are four), jaguar cubs (three) and sloth bear cubs (two). Plus the new Asian small-clawed otters just had a little of four pups. They're not on view yet but I can't wait to see them. Their parents are so, so, so, so, soooooo cute I may die when I see the little babies.

I'm leaving for Knitting Camp next week. I can't believe it's already here. I need to start a new project to bring with me though I won't have a new sweater for Show and Tell.