AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

[10 Tuesday] on Thursday...

I'm stupid levels of competitive, so I've been doing this week's wisdom quest for Fitocracy in a way that seems to be eroding any actual wisdom I have. I want to get at least my share of the 20,000 points the group is accumulating, and that means heavy working out, lots of weight lifting (group weights of 100,000 pounds), tons of DDR, other dance or martial arts, and smaller exercises that I haven't tried yet like box jumps and burpees.

So, this weekend started off right. I did some awesome things.

1. Played in 2 D&D games. One of my characters leveled and has picked up her prestige class. The other character went from celebrating beer o'clock during a festival to having horrifying crap happen and now has an insanity point. Yippee!

2. Wove in ends. I finished weaving in all of the ends for the blanket on Friday. Now, I've been concentrating on Fitocracy so much that I haven't taken the time to block the remaining squares. Hopefully I'll get to that this weekend.

3. Biked from home to MIT and did the first "jogging" I've done in months. I'm slow and really out of shape and run much better on the treadmill.

4. Started a red scarf for the red scarf project. It is 100% baby llama in a wonderfully warm red. It is a staggered rib pattern and it will probably take 4 balls of yarn.

5. Made butternut squash linguine. This mostly resulted in the pasta having an orange color. I do not think there was enough squash in the pasta to do much to affect the flavor. It was still good. I need to make ravioli, because I made filling but did not turn any of the pasta dough into raviolis.

6. Washed Victor with both deskunking shampoo and a mix of hydrogen peroxide, water, dawn dish detergent and baking soda. Of course, I think he went back to the area where the spraying happened, because the smell isn't gone and I still have to figure out how to get it out of furniture.

7. Read a book. More like reread a book (for the umpteenth time). A passing comment has me back at the Tamora Pierce books.

8. Went to the knitters brunch and talked with a number of new people and a few regulars including a woman with the most gorgeous embroidery (she uses a water soluable fabric marker to draw out her pattern and goes from there. It is awesome).

9. Raked. My husband and I have started our annual combat the frisking leaves that fall all over the lawn. In 50 minutes, we didn't even get a third of the back yard done. Sometimes I think we have too much yard. Mostly when we are in the middle of yard work projects like this.

10. Sang. The poor people on the train have been early morning captives of my rehearsing strategy. Thankfully the train is loud and most people wear headphones. Otherwise, I'm sure someone would complain about hearing With heart and with voice over and over and over again. I did figure out how easy it was to make a playlist for my iPod on the fly, so now I'm just listening to songs that involve the men's chorus.

Randomly, theater is dangerous. When I did Sweeney Todd, some people were hurt on the slide for the barber's chair. This time around I am trying to see how much bruising I can get in a single blocking session. My record appears to be this:

We avoided cat cow during yoga yesterday, so I wouldn't need to be on the knee.

Apparently my knee is no longer used to kneeling. Stupid knee. Of course, I bruise really easily so it isn't the only bruise I have. Just the biggest.

a monster in the office

Last week I finished making a monster toy from the latest issue of Knit Simple. M. Monstre joined me at the office and then hopped into a backpack to go to a little girl. Such a great step in life!

Of course, M. Monstre had much more humble beginnings.

Yeah, that's a hand up my butt. Leave me alone!

Needless to say, such an auspicious beginning led M. Monstre to a career in politics. Starting this career was a little challenging. People don't hire monsters as a matter of course. So, M. Monstre decided to start small with kissing hands and shaking babies (I did try to explain that it wasn't how it is done, but M. Monstre was having none of it. Thankfully, there is no muscle strength in M's arms to hurt a fly) and came in to work with me to find a new home.

M. Monstre took a look around the office and enjoyed a nice latte from downstairs. Pleased, M. Monstre spent a bit more time imagining life as CEO and President of the world and then hopped into a backpack to start a career to span many a child.

I tried to tell M. Monstre that children don't provide lattes, but I could be wrong. I don't really know that many 6 and 7 year old children. Maybe they play coffee shop and serve "lattes" to each other. Or maybe that is only the children of coffee afficianados like me.

M. Monstre did care. Children are more important than lattes after all even to monsters. And office chairs are not as much fun as a future with a little girl or boy who will show them all that they can be. And dreams of the future are best shared with those who will take your dreams and expand on them until you could never believe that you ever dreamed so small.

Welcome to a new child's life, M. Monstre. I hope the journey goes well for you.

Pattern: Malcolm the Monday Monster (rav link)
Yarn: Berocco Plush
Needles: Size 8 (5.0 mm)

Started July 28th (picked up the yarn after work) and finished on July 31st for knitting and stuffing, and August 4th for sewing on the mouth. Rav project details.

There are no pictures

I left the memory card for the camera at work for a week.  It was a fairly crucial week too. 

Saturday I dug through my potential boxes and things that should be Dulaan knits, and put together a package for FIRE.  I'm glad that I was smart enough to print the form on Friday.  On Saturday, June 16 (this makes it sound so much more official doesn't it?) I sent a box containing 13 items.  Of these, there were 2 hats, a pair of socks, and a walloping 10 scarves.  I had cabled scarves, ribbed scarves, striped scarves, basketweave scarves.  Apparently 2006-2007 was a time when I would randomly buy 1 or 2 balls of yarn and make a Dulaan scarf.  Some of them appeared here, but most of them were just part of the knitting I did in between more interesting projects. 

I'll do it again for 2008, but I think it will have to be the year of something else.  Maybe the year of the worsted weight slipper sock?  Or maybe the year of I buy the smallest thing of really nice fiber and see how many projects I can add it to (not that I think I can actually afford to make that many Dulaan items out of quiviut).  Even possibly the year that I finish the vest I started the first year I did the Dulaan project.  Now, there would be a miracle.

Heck, I have 2 and a half projects ready to go to Dulaan (they needed weaving in of ends, which is why I copped out and just sent the 13) already.  Maybe 2007-2008 will be a banner year for me.  Maybe I'll get to send 23 projects.

Doing everything all at once

Wednesday, I worked on the Fiery Bolero.  I am on the left shoulder area, and am hoping to square away a decent portion of Saturday to work on the bolero. 

Thursday, I worked on Argosy in the leftover pink yarn from the thong, and made quite a bit of decent progress by being too tired to go to the gym.  I also started a hat for Dulaan, which is bulky enough that I should be able to finish by Saturday (when I bring all of my goodies to the post and then have my teeth cleaned).

Today I knit on Argosy over lunch.  It has progressed from the I am not sure I'm doing this right stage to the this is crazy nifty, come look at this stage of knitting.  You know, those projects that are just a touch unusual and so you have to show them off to everyone and their cousin who comes by.  Hey, look at this.  Can you believe this?  I'm sort of knitting it sideways!

Tonight (or rather in 3 or so hours after this goes up), I will be taking inventory of my Dulaan items and prepping the box to go out on Saturday.  After I've done that, I will have a lot more space for completed knitting projects.  I think next Dulaan will be the year of the socks.  I finished one (or did I finish two pairs?) pair for Dulaan this year and I like the idea that they need under layers as well.  Of course, now I'm picturing pairs of frighteningly thrummed knitted pants.  I bet they'd be warm.

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy birthday to me (I won't actually post a wav file of my singing, because Happy Birthday is the song I have traditionally butchered at a number of auditions)!

Tonight I bring my computer in for repair (boo! stupid video card), and will have to chuck another $250 out the window to make it all pretty and works good again (and yes, I'm using that particularly appalling bit of grammar on purpose).  My video card decided to go kaput kaput (I leave my laptop on nearly all the time, which I think is part of the problem), so if I get it repaired again I believe I'm going to need set up my energy saver settings to automatically shut down at 10:30 each night.  Fun!

Today, the Dulaan project gave me extra cute pictures!  Heck, read the entire post!  Of course, I need to get a box large enough to mail everything this weekend and I'm still trying to cram a few hours of quality hat knitting in for the mix.  I love reading about all of the wonderful stuff knit for the Dulaan project, but I haven't managed to get nearly as many items done as I'd like to this time around (though it is over 5).

Of course, with my computer on the fritz, I don't have access to any useful or interesting pictures (and my honey does not seem to have any pictures of the cupcakes I made over the weekend). 

The allure is gone, or when Muppets attack!

For Christmas, my mother sent me a strange box (it is shaped like a hat box - that might even be what it is) filled with 3 small stuffed doggies and 3 balls of dark turquoise blue Patons Allure.

I've never really worked with a yarn that bulky, though I have worked with a yarn that hairy.  I figured that the extra fur would trap warm air, using the same principle as down jackets, making a warm scarf for the Dulaan Project.  They're looking for more garments for adults this year, so I took my three 47 yard skeins and cast on 15 or so stitches.  My 3x3 rib doesn't really show up, which is perfectly acceptable because my mistakes don't really show up either.

One of the nicest thing about this scarf (aside from contributing to Dulaan) is that using these three balls of yarn (OK, and the pink when I get around to Argosy) will mean I have used more yarn than I've bought.  I don't normally manage parity in my yarn purchases, so it is always a welcome bit of relief to at least the closet space when I manage to use up about as much yarn as I have recently bought.

Pros to weirdly hairy novelty yarns:

1. Mistakes are pretty hard to spot; and
2. The finished product is surprisingly warm.

Cons to weirdly hairy novelty yarns:

1. You probably won't notice a dropped stitch until its done its damage;
2. It is hard to get your needle fully into the loop; and
3. Mistakes are pretty hard to spot (if you want to fix them).

I don't recommend the novelty yarns to beginning knitters.  I find the fuss and bother getting the needle into the loops makes it less fun when you just to make something pretty and quick.  Probably why I keep buying Malabrigo as beginning knitter gifts.

I figured out what I can do with my Jaeger Pure Silk DK.  I can make Argosy out of the leftovers.  It will be a little smaller than normal, but I can give it to the bridal shower girl for Christmas (though she doesn't really need a scarf to match a thong).  She loves pink, and it will probably work a lot better for her than the last pink scarf I made her (fun fur anyone?).

Ye Olde Socks

I finished!

I can't believe I finished.  I started these socks when I last visted my in-laws in Pennsylvania.  I was kind of weirded out that knitting was like a spectator sport, but they were probably weirded out by all of the knitting I was doing (and then the balance was restored).  I started them when I still didn't have that great an idea of how to make socks that fit me, so these were knit with a size 2 (2.75 mm for those who really want info) over 64 stitches using Sockatta (that's the bright bits) with Matchmaker Merino for the toes and the afterthought heels.

I like the idea of afterthought heels.  With a self striping yarn, it seems like the best idea ever.  In practice, it feels a little fly by the seat of your pants to figure out how long to make the foot before decreasing for the toes.  I have another pair of socks that I started sometime last year (rather than in 2005-eep!) that I also plan to do afterthought heels, but mostly as a way of doing the striping on the heel without interfering with the striping elsewhere. 

Of course, now that I have finished one of my really old projects that just means all of the other Ye Oldes are clamouring for attention.  Pick me!  Pick me!  If I'm good...  but more likely, 'Maybe next year!'

Feet!

In honor of the Dulaan project, my husband and I watched Happy Feet (actually just finished watching).  Oh my goodness! I had read the comments about the movie and Ryan's review, but nothing prepared me for the strange combination of March of the Penguins, Moulin Rouge and the Club of Allegory.  Wow.  Now I want to watch Moulin Rouge again if only for the amazing rendition of Roxanne.

Not bad, just a little odd.

Like most movies I watch, I spend most of my time listening and knitting.  I started a sock for Dulaan.  I'm about an inch from the heel flap and I will probably get at least that far this evening.  I have about 2.5 hours left before bed, because it's been that kind of a weekend. 

But socks! and penguins! and omg trippy strange movie of terminal cuteness!

Knit like the wind, Bullseye!

Ryan just announced 86 days left (85 now - doh!) for Dulaan.  I've been knitting, but it is mostly socks and some odds and ends and almost nothing has been for Dulaan.  I have Dulaan items in my stash (hats and scarves and more scarves and maybe some more scarves), and I know it is over 5 but I can and should make more than that!

I'm going out tonight dancing, but I think I can squeeze in a hat or a scarf or some socks (just need to look at my Handy Book of Knitting Patterns) today and more tomorrow after my run. 

What yarn weight would you knit socks for Dulaan?  I am thinking that even if I make wee tiny socks out of my sock yarn leftovers, that would be good because that would make them socks that can go into other socks and it would use up my Regia Silk leftovers (and some matchmaker merino as well) that is too small for nearly anything else.

More charity knitting

Made by Hand is knitting for homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters for 2007.  Most of my charity knitting has been for the Dulaan project, though I was considering adding the Red Scarf Project after getting one of my coworkers onto it.  It felt weird to be suggesting a charity for which I wasn't actually knitting.

I have made 5 scarves (and I have a few hats as well) for Dulaan.  I even have a vest that is 2 years old and is still waiting for the neck band and finishing for the sleeves.  I'm terrible when it comes to finishing that type of thing on time.  But small projects:  scarves, hats, socks.  Those I can do.  I even have a pair of socks that I know is going to charity right now.  I loved making them (they are nearly done), but I know I wouldn't love wearing them. 

Maybe I'll knit socks for Made by Hand.  It would be good to send something in.