I Was Not Kidding

Last night after dinner I went upstairs and fell asleep at 7:30! Unfortunately I woke up around midnight (?) and read for several hours then went back to sleep. But people, I was so tired yesterday! How tired? Brace yourselves.

I did not knit.

Okay, a knit a little at work because I was helping someone and I work in a yarn shop. But I didn't touch one of my own projects. I did carry my Country Socks upstairs with me thinking I would knit last night instead of falling into a coma. But no. Passed out. Dead.

Here's a little knitting content for you. Durrow, 4.5 inches into the body.



Sorry, gray ribbing shot at night makes probably the worst blog photos. It's all I've got, people!

Bad Knitalong Host!

Somewhere along the way I accidentally overwrote the Martha knitalong participant list with the Handknit Holidays knitalong participant list. D'oh! Of course, there's no back up. Sorry for screwing up everyone. I'd be happy to try to recreate the list if you want to remind me who was in it.

Oh My Aching Body

Today at the shop we got in 5 HUGE boxes of Cascade yarns. I spent the entire day helping customers, unpacking, sorting and putting away all the yarn. I am totally worn out. We did get many new colors of Cascade 220 and I can safely say that we carry the biggest selection of C220 anywhere in Seattle. Yet, funnily enough, a woman called looking for a particular colorway and we didn't have it! Crazy.

Yesterday I knit the first 4-5 inches of Durrow. It's good mindless knitting. I decided to knit it in the round so I'm just going around and around and around in k4, p2 ribbing. I also worked more on the Leaf Lace Shawl. I weighed my yarn and despite making a bit of an effort to work on the shawl this week I see I've only knit 1.5 out of my 6 oz of yarn. I am still continuously amazed by how easy the pattern is to knit. I'd also like to point out that when I said it takes under three hours to knit a repeat this means knitting at a coffee shop while chatting with friends, drinking coffee, eating pastries, etc. I have over 200 stitches my needles. I was wistfully imagining that if I were knitting the small size shawl in the largest yarn I would already be done. But no. I'm knitting the biggest size in the smallest yarn.

Hope dinner shows up soon. I'm starving!

Please No Pictures

Now that I'm making Wes a sweater everyone wants in on the action. After my older son ordered his own pirate hat, my younger son asked for a pair of black mittens. We settled on some Deep Charcoal Lamb's Pride Bulky from the stash. I just presented the finished mittens to him and asked to take a picture. He told me that I could not take a picture of the mittens. But I could take a picture of his toes. So there you go.

How Many Sweaters?

At Purlygirls we were talking about stashes and I mentioned that I had yarn for 5 sweaters in my stash (Cotton-Ease for a summer version of Rogue and for a Debbie Bliss sweater from the Cotton Angora collection Grace or Katy, Cash Iroha for something cabled and wonderful, Rowanspun 4-ply for Isla and the yarn that I spun for the Union Square Market Pullover). But in the cold light of day I realized that I also have the yarn for

• Another Retro Prep


• The Cabled Riding Jacket from Loop-d-Loop


• Isla in Koigu


• A striped Kid Classic sweater


• A lace sweater in Knitpicks Elegance


• Cotton Angora for a kid's sweater


• Cascade 220 for Durrow (in progress)


• Kidsilk Haze for Marianne (in progress)


• Cotton Top to dye and make Hopeful


• An Elizabeth Zimmermann style seamless yoke sweater in Peruvian Highland Wool

That's fifteen sweaters! Oh dear...

All Right!

Jon Stewart to host the Oscars. Take that, Billy!

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

The biggest internet knitting mystery of the week was the preview for Rowan 39. It appeared briefly then vanished from the Rowan site. But fear not, my friends. I was quick enough to catch a bit of it and I can share it with you today because it is so very, very Thursday, if you know what I mean.

What the hell is this?





Let's hope it was just a hoax and the real Rowan with pretty patterns that real people will want to knit will be available soon.

Awesinine New Movie

Have you heard about Snakes on a Plane? It's sounds so supremely stupid that a new word, awesinine (awesomely asinine), is being used to describe it.

Terse

I've been a bit short lately, haven't I? Well, I have been busy. Last week I worked a full five day work week for the first time since my oldest son was born. It was fun but tiring and I didn't see the kids at all (which was kind of fun in its own way). I know all you moms who work full time are having a little chuckle at me right now. It's okay. Go ahead. Now the kids are back at school (hallelujah!) and I'm back to working three days a week.

I saw three great movies over the weekend. They're all a bit heavy but all great in their own ways. I started with Hitchcock's Lifeboat which is one of only a handful of his films I have not seen. It's classic Hitchcock--dark, snappy, visually creative. And it's got Tallulah Bankhead which I just like to say a lot. Tallulah. Ah. I also got Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man. What a thought-provoking, disturbing film. I've been bursting to talk about it with people. It's the story of a self-acclaimed grizzly expert who spent 10 summers in Alaska observing (and interacting with) the bears until he and his girlfriend were eaten by the bears. Unbelievable stuff. And lastly we saw Brokeback Mountain which was stunning, heartbreaking and impeccably executed.

I finally picked up my Leaf Lace Shawl. I can still knit a full repeat in under three hours but those rows, they just keep getting longer and I still have a long, long way to go. I've used 1/6 of my yarn so far.



And last night my oldest son asked me to knit him a hat!! He has never asked for or accepted any knitting. Last night he asked me to make him a hat "just like Daddy's." Aw man. He wants the same colors and everything.

I also finally cast on for Wes's Durrow yesterday. I've been stalling because I'm still not sure about the right size to knit. I made my swatch. The pattern's stated gauge is "18 sts and 28 rows = 4" / 10cm in 4 x 2 rib, slightly stretched." Slightly stretched. Those words just set my teeth on edge. How much is slightly? I made a swatch that I could stretch to about 8 inches that was 5 inches relaxed. How the hell do you determine the gauge on that? And I couldn't decide on how much ease. Wes had me measure two shirts that had 6 and 10 inches of ease. The boy likes his clothes loose. So I bucked up my courage and started making what I hope will be the right size. I'll knit a few inches, put it on waste yarn and have him slip it on. That will work better than a stinkin' swatch.

So. Very. Tired.

It's done.




and the obligatory close up.





Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Mountain Colors Alpaca Blend in Glacial Teal
Needle: US6 Addi Turbo
Changes: Made it a little skinnier.

Done

Now sleep.

Someone Make Me Go to Bed!

Only 34 rows left on Clapotis. 1:48 am. Crap.