AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

Ice Blue Eyes

I finished my Red Blue Rings Pullover (Ravelry link) over the weekend, and wore it at work yesterday.  The crochet edging didn't really tame the curling, but at the same time it felt like the curling only went to the first purl ridge.  Acceptable, and I loved wearing it.

I blocked it on Saturday after deciding it was time to weave in the ends and sew up the underarm seams, and it didn't really release the water from its bath.  I rolled it in the towel and laid it out overnight, and it was still completely sopping in the morning.  So, I ran it through the delicate cycle on the dryer for 30 minutes and then ran it through the permanent press cycle for another 15.  It was still damp, but I didn't want to spend any more time or money on blocking so I laid it out again until bedtime, and then folded it up still slightly damp.

I love wearing things I have made!  Even if I don't like finishing things, I need to remember that wearing something from my own hands is worth it.  (And the photo is my second attempt at using the self-timer and the gorilla pod.)

I worked on Henry over the weekend too, and I am nearly at 3 repeats done.  Of course, I have no idea how long the last 4 repeats will take, but I plan to be mostly focused on this project until it is done, done, done!

[10 on Tues] sports?

Whoopsie!  10 favorite sports moments is one thing I'm not sure I have, but I'm sure I have a couple.

1.  Two words:  Own Goal!  I love watching soccer, partially because it is fun and partially because there are no commercials, because they don't have a time outs and other stoppages of play.  Watching someone accidentally score for the other team just makes me laugh with schadenfreude.

2.  2008 Summer Olympics.  Torres, Phelps in particular, but I also watched the women's and men's marathon, some of the sprint races, the diving and as much of the other stuff as I had time for.  Watching Phelps get his 8th gold was a definite treat. While I also enjoy the winter olympics as well, most of the sports I've done were ones that were featured in the summer (so, swimming, track and field, distance running).  While I am bad at my athletic endeavors, I still do them and enjoy them.  The Olympics give me a chance to imagine what could have happened if I had both the natural athletic aptitude and the drive to succeed in a sports arena.

3. The first half marathon I finished will be 3 years ago this May, and while I was pretty slow I did finish and in just over 2.5 hours.  Someday I will get my act together and train well enough to do a better job.  Last year was not that year, so I am trying to make sure that this year is it.

4.  Also from 2007, I did the Wild Fish 1 mile ocean swim. I hadn't done any real swimming in ages, so it was a rush to get out there and do my best even if I was lapped by the two milers.  Ocean swimming is hard!  Maybe I'll try it again this year!

5.  Fantasy Football.  In 2007 I came in second in my league, and won the league in 2008.  Fantasy football allows someone like me who doesn't really care about the teams very much to root for individuals (and against individuals, because schadenfreude).  There are only 10 of us in the league, and at least 3 of the players just set up their teams and then don't pay attention, so there are always a few more easy games in the schedule than one would expect normally. 

That's it.  I watch a fair amount of sports, because they are a decent background to most of my crafting. 

a good cook

Yesterday, I attempted to make Tartelette's Stained Glass Caramel sheets, because they were too dang cool.  Two batches, because I definitely made an error on the first one (umm, hard crack is much warmer than soft crack).

They don't look like hers at all, mostly because the sugar did not stay clear when I poured it.  The beauty of this was the ability for the light to pour through the color like a stained glass window.

They are still usable, but not quite as gorgeous as I would like.  The first batch (the really dark one) with the hard crack stage sugar mostly came out thick.  It just wasn't possible to move the sugar around much and thin it out before it just wouldn't budge.  The top one is much thinner, but still remains opaque.

I broke them up this morning and put them in a bag.  I'll still use them to decorate cakes or what not, because even if I did it wrong they look really neat (and the first batch was made with vanilla sugar, so it smells and tastes good too).

For anyone who has done this before, any idea what went wrong?

snowing!

My Red Rings pullover is sitting on a towel blocking (I blocked it last night).  It's not a real blocking per se, because I just washed it, rolled it in a towel and then lay it on the towel trying to keep the ends of the sleeves and the bottom from rolling so much.  Rolling hems is one of those design features I don't like that much. 

I have about a half skein of yarn left, which I might make into fingerless gloves or other wrist warmers that I can wear over my gloves. 

Because I'm impatient, I'm probably going to take the sweater, turn it inside out, toss it into a lingerie bag and put it in the dryer for a half hour or so.  I hate shutting Saru-chan out of the bedroom, because she gets whiny and makes it hard to sleep.  She doesn't like closed doors, but I can't leave the door open.  She cannot resist the tempation and then I would have shredded sweater.

Back to Henry (and the little green monster).

Almost done

My first sweater of 2009 is almost done.  I was working on it last night, and I probably could have bound off then.  However, I want to put the stitches for the neck onto waste yarn and see how high the turtleneck actually goes.  It would be great if it were at an appropriate length, because I would love to do a bit of crochet edging (probably just single crochet) around the sleeve openings and the bottom, where the stockinette curls. 

Of course, I've been looking at new projects for ages.  Silly, because i have a scarf to work on and another crochet figure to finish. 

While I am working on that, I'm also reading a book called Vows, which is about the Catholic Church in Boston (it's a biography of sorts).  It's either that or I will finish up a couple of other books that I have lying around to read.  This feels like a reading weekend.  Today is supposed to be cold, and Sunday and Monday are supposed to be warmer but snowy.  It will be nice to stay in and read and knit with the weather being brisk. 

I think the next project I will start for myself (which is at least 2-3 projects down the road) is Tubey.  It's been in my queue for a while.

after reading Twilight...

I should read something that makes me think a bit.

I was browsing knitting blogs, when I came across the Feeling Chunky site.  Now, I'm on a no book buying kick to keep our space neat and clean, so anything that can help me along is getting extra bonus time.  Mostly that is the library, but I have a tendency to read junk.  Fantasy novels of dubious quality, kids lit, etc.  While these books aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination (or at least not categorically), I want to urge myself to a bit more effort.  I'm currently reading a few kids lit books and As I Lay Dying (which is definitely not kids lit), so when I saw the site it was like a light bulb!

I signed up (or at least I think I'm signing up, having never used the Auto-Linkies before), and I think I'll be doing Mor-book-ly Obese.  I know that there is at least one book that we kept out that is fairly large, which has been the victim of many a failed attempt at completion (and it isn't even Moby Dick).  

Hopefully, reading some of the better quality adult literature out there will scrub my mind of glittery vampires and soon!

My short list of books I would like to read (that I either own or from the library):

Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
I am a Cat by Soseki Natsume
Don Quixote by Cervantes
Les Miserables or Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

I have started all of these books at least once, but I have a tendency to have multiple books going at the same time and, well, the young adult literature and scifi/fantasy books are so much less dense (in content and page count) that these books eventually would be put aside for the easier to read selections.  Here's to a reading 2009!

java java

more animals

Yeah, I needed the caffeine today. Some days it is just hard to stay awake, which is weird for me.

I used to have no problem getting up for a 4 a.m. run, but it just hasn't been happening this year.  Between that and the weather, I've been doing pretty much all of my training on the treadmill, which is not a true answer.  Treadmill training is a good stopgap, but nothing truly prepares you for the rigors of a road race than giving your ankles that pounding that they really need to get accustomed to.

On the other hand, my program to get back in shape is working pretty well.  The fall show was such a bad idea for my overall health and fitness, and I really want to do the spring show so I have a month or so to decide how I'm going to reconcile those two objectives without going bonkers. 

I'm nearly done with the Red Rings pullover.  It would be nice to get a few major projects done this month, because I've mostly been ignoring Henry.  As soon as I have finished that I will be free mostly of my project obligations, and I will thriftily not be buying yarn at quite such a gluttonous rate for the rest of the year (well, at least if I get into the Loopy Ewe's Sock Club).

a quick bright break

I picked up a skein of Malabrigo on Saturday (it's like knitter's crack or mother's milk or something!), because I wanted to make a hat.

This winter I've been wearing my Emergency Backup Hat, which I made a few years ago out of some green-white-purple variegated Red Heart acryllic yarn.  It had a seam up the back and was long enough that I had to double the area over the ears.  No problem, except I didn't know enough at the time to reverse the seam so it wouldn't show on the outside.  So, every time I wear it I am reminded that I find it ugly and not warm.  I could live with ugly (and do so with better grace now than I did growing up), but I decided I do not need to live with not warm.

I've been knitting the Red Rings pullover from the Fall 2008 KnitScene, and a number of the other projects are growing on me.  One of them was the Double Cap, which is cute with almost cattish peaks and a thick doubled brim to help keep the ears warm.  I was going to knit during hockey, but I left the wrong set of needles in my backpack and knit on the pullover instead (hardly wasted time, just not what I truly wanted to be doing).  I started the ribbing for the cuff on Saturday night just outside of Agganis and finished the hat Sunday evening during one of the football games.  Probably the one where Trufflesburger did a better job than I wanted him to do...

And Monday morning, I wore this cap to my dental appointment and a slew of other places.  I love it.  It is warm and bright and unrepentently cheerful, which is always appreciated during a snowy day.

This hat was pretty quick and it featured something called a fold, which was interesting to work.  Sarah used this on a different hat, and she explained it to me.  It was definitely nice to get to try it in a pattern though. 

At one skein of scrumptiously soft Malabrigo, this was even an affordable hat (I don't want to know what similarly styled hats would cost at a place like Macy's).

Of course, this is item #3 that I have finished this year, which also makes me feel pretty good.  It's going to take me a bit longer to get the other projects that I'm working on right now into the fresh off the needles state!

[10 on Tues] Skilled much

This week's 10 for Tues was "10 Things You're Really Good At," which for me is always a loaded question.  I mean, just because I think I'm good at it doesn't mean I'm nearly as good as I think I am, etc.

In some ways it is much easier to say what I'm not really good at.  I'm a passable singer and runner.  I don't have any real fashion sense.  I haven't done nearly enough spinning to get to the point of passable yarn, etc.

Here is a short list of the things I'm really good at:

I can follow a recipe, and most things I make (baking or cooking) come out correctly the first time.  Correspondingly, I make really good fudge. 

I'm good at making up my own songs.  I'm sure that this causes many people distress, because I tend to take things like Christmas carols and make completely new lyrics about running or fondue or whatever I'm thinking about at the time.  Let the listener beware.

I'm really good at computer things.  I learn software programs and other computer-related systems very quickly, which mostly means I should go back to school sooner rather than later and get my degree in, well, computer stuff.

I am fairly good at crafting.  I'm willing to try new things, though I will gravitate to things I'm familiar with a most of the time. 

I would love to say that I'm fairly good at controlling my yarn purchases, but the truth of the matter is that I'm not.  Buying yarn is as fun as buying books, and both of those are 100 times more entertaining than shopping for anything else (but especially clothing).

January is a good month (so far)

Life has been a busy crazy thing in the past few weeks as we continue to sell our condo in this unfriendly market.  Luckily, it isn't all about the crazy economy.  Friday I went to the first Common Cod Fiber Guild meeting of the year.  Clara Parkes was speaking, which was a lot of fun. 

Here is her formula from the meeting (because it was held at MIT and all):

Stash = (yarn squared / space) to the infinite power.  Just in case it isn't terribly visible from the picture.  Taking a photo of a chalk board isn't terribly easy.

At the meeting I brought my first two completed items of the year to the guild meeting.  They were caps that Guido was collecting for Knit One, Save One.  It was my first time using Rowan Calmer, and it is really nice yarn though it definitely has a learning curve.

Normally I join everyone who is left after the end of the speaking portion of the meeting to knit and kibbutz (a lot more knitting than kibbutzing, because the mix of people changes pretty much every meeting).  This time the demo corner had a weaving demonstration with Carol, using a 4-harness table loom by Leclerc.  After knitting for a bit, I hovered over there while she finished tying off the warp and then we got to try it after she did a little demonstration.  It was a lot of fun!  I did a bit of plain weave and some twill and a bit of herringbone.  The herringbone was especially maddening, because Henry (the scarf that is eating my brain) is a woven herringbone pattern done on the long axis of the scarf.  I could have done a similar pattern with a loom and I would have been done by now.

Carol mentioned the Boston Weaving Guild as a good resource, but the only weaving guild information I could find indicated that the meetings are in Westborough.  While it is under a 2 mile walk from the commuter rail to get to the meeting site, I could never get there on a Wednesday night when the meetings are held.  That's too bad, because it was a lot of fun. 

It is snowing again right now, as I get ready to go to another dental appointment.  So, here is the cap picture to end it today.

I tried taking a picture of the smaller hat on top of a can of soda. Bad idea! Putty color just made it look, umm, a little raunchy if you catch my drift.