AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

Geek girl in training

It's been a while since I could really feel like a bonafide little geek girl (ignoring the little part, of course). I used to do a lot of web site work as part of a 'marketing' job I had a few years ago. When I wanted to freelance, I worked on a web site to sell my writing which rapidly languished. I have taught people how to do CSS and some of the finicky things you can do in HTML, but at this point almost all of my knowledge is OLD.

So, I hopped up on the band wagon of working on my blog. I have moved locations, created a new template (based on the one I was using before), changed my font sizes and my CSS and generally geek gone wild at the whole thing. Adding statistics, external pages where I can put useful info without having to start a whole other blog, and eventually a real gallery of things I have finished.

Unfortunately, all this geekery means that I made dinner last night and did next to no knitting. On the plus side, the blog looks fine (I won't say great, yet) on every computer I have tried except for the Mac on which I have been doing all of the image and code manipulation.

For those out there who would like to hand code their own journals/blogs:
Stylegala, a good resource for code and standards-related info.

I also like Webmonkey, which is much more basic source of info about web design.

Hot and muggy here in Boston

I was out yesterday, walking, for about 30 minutes (30 minutes around noon and another 30 minutes around 6:30 or so). By the time I got home, I was feeling nauseous and dizzy. In other words, heat exhaustion.

Here is a nifty site I found for medical conditions:

eMedicine (link is to heat exhaustion and stroke)

Given that summer is now here, it wouldn't be bad to re-bone up on heat exhaustion/stroke and the symptoms and not be a stupid as I was yesterday.

Interesting survey

I just took this survey, took maybe 10 minutes.

Once you are done taking the survey, you might want to look at:

Web Survey Methodology or
Invites, Intros and Incentives: Lessons from a Web Survey

On the front

I started the front of the NBAT last night. I really like the pattern, but I find the hem row a little hard on the hands. The front is the last piece I have, so I don't have to do another hem like that one anytime soon.

I brought it with me to work to facilitate finishing the front this week. I am hoping to do the piecing this weekend at the latest. I want to be able to wear this top for something special...

I am trying out for Jeopardy on July 7th. I feel like I should be studying the things I am not quite so up on (more opera, a bit more for the dead presidents, tiny countries that are not the Comoros, etc.), but instead I have mostly been knitting and reading some of the classics that have managed to slip by me. I have played along with the show since my earliest memories (OK, TV memories, so probably about 7 or 8). I used to have a lot of notebooks where I kept my score and I wrote down my guess for the Final Jeopardy. I don't have the notebooks anymore, but I play along with my husband most nights of the week.

The short story is that I am planning on wearing the NBAT to the Jeopardy tryouts next month.

I am a danger to my own bank account

I signed up to Knitswap (a yahoo group) last week. I have looked at spinning wheels (no space, no issue), various wools, and a veritable ton of books and magazines. I now have an idea of where to offload yarns I don't think I will use to support the rest of my yarn habit. All in all, not a bad thing to look at... until this morning.

Noro Lily in a very pastel-ly colorway (not my normal style, but it's Noro). It is mine. All mine! Umm, yeah. So, I reupdated my Paypal, since I hadn't used it in over 3 years. I sent my payment in, and now am, well, golden.

And I am probably going to buy yarn over lunch, because I am an addict. Maybe I should go through the piles of yarn tonight and see if there are any I could send off to better homes.

I am having dinner guests

I am having dinner guests this Sunday. I still haven't decided on a menu. I am thinking of having a strawberry grape salad with honey mint dressing, chilled cucumber soup, and leek-waterchestnut-potato risotto. For dessert I was thinking of making an ice cream bombe.

I always need to be careful when I am doing cooking like this. I seem to either cook for 2 or to cook for 12. I think there are going to be a max of 6 of us on Sunday. I really don't need to be making that much extra food.

More on Malabrigo

Apparently (Alison of Circles mentioned it) Malabrigo sells their yarn at wholesale prices to anyone through a website (which I am not mentioning here), which is why Circles no longer carries the line of yarn.

Now, I still intend to buy this yarn (and probably a lot of it given how much I am enjoying it now), but I will be buying it from a shop. I work hard for my yarn money, but I really appreciate the help I have gotten at yarn shops. I have been helped to pick the yarn for my wedding shawls, given advice on sock yarns, and other useful services (not the least is use of a ball winder with swift) that I don't get at home via the internet. Now that is not to say that I won't buy yarns off the internet, but I am buying them from businesses based in the United States as far as I know (Patternworks is in NH, and most of the rest are either in MA or CA).

I wish Circles carried this yarn. I know and understand why she won't, but it means I will be spending my ducats for this at Windsor Button.

A la Malabrigo

I went to Windsor Button yesterday, because Subway Knitter keeps mentioning how good they have gotten. While I was asked if I needed help once, I don't really think that the service itself has improved though the selection has by leaps and bounds. I am not surprised that the hardest thing to improve in that store is the service. The yarn shelves are tall and once you are among them it is like being in a cave (there is very little natural light). You can't see half of the people from the service desk in the back and you definitely can't see any of them from the button/check out counter. But I snagged myself a couple of skeins of Emerald Blue Malabrigo and started a simple variation on the Irish Hiking scarf.

This is gorgeous stuff to work with. The colors are vibrant, the singles are soft and relatively even (there are a few overtwisted areas), and I don't often jab my needles through the singles in the knitting. It holds together well enough that I don't need to worry about stitches slipping through when I do my cables - I am using the no cable needle method, which is a lot easier than I originally thought it would be.

My hope is that the narrower scarf will allow me to make a scarf with one skein and with the other make a pair of wristers (fingerless gloves, what have you) from a modification of the same pattern. It's pretty rare that I find any winter gear I like from the stores when I need it, and this will be done well in advance. Very nice.

In completely different news, I have to start the front of the NBAT, but the back and sleeves are done.

Around the bend (over the hill)

Soon I will have one of those milestone birthdays that people seem to love to talk about (like turning 21, which doesn't do much for nondrinkers). For some reason, 30 seems to be the first age of 'over the hill.' Doesn't really seem that bad, but I can go from feeling my age (or older) to wild frenzies of immaturity (or lack of maturity, which isn't quite the same thing) like a car from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds.

This past year has been pretty memorable. I got married, and bought a condo (first mortgage). I stopped knitting just scarves and moved onto socks and shawls and scarves. I even have a bit of sweater to my credit. I moved away from cross-stitch (which I still love) to work on projects with a faster rate of completion. We got a cat, who wakes me up almost every morning at 4:30. I still want a dog.

Life is pretty good. I have good friends, mostly good health, and a lot of love (and probably 'too much yarn').

So a nice hug for myself and a happy me day (though it is not today).

UFO Alerts

These are all of the UFOs I could find. The picture on the left is all of the things I have started recently (since April mostly) but not completed. The picture on the right contains items that I either started last year or where small and easy enough that I should have finished them already.

On the left:
Dulaan vest (needs seaming and neck finishing), blue halter top (rip to fix), NBAT (just started), Short Row Rib Scarf (also Dulaan), swatches for one pair of socks and a sweater. Missing: pair of socks for husband that I put aside until I learned Magic Loop.

On the right:
Alien Scarf, Irish Hiking Scarf, Cat Bed, Lap Blanket, fishnet stockings. I am sure I am missing something here as well.

Things I need to start (and mostly already have):
birthday present (secret), a baby present (also secret), and a few dolls (also also secret).

I have actually made progress on the completing front, though not in the way I originally intended. I am nearly done the back of NBAT. I have spent my lunch break today teaching myself the Magic Loop method, so I will be able to redo my husband's socks soon. And I have a few inches of knitting to do on one or two more projects tonight to wrap them up. Not bad for the first week of June.