wip saturday

Nothing much to crack me up this Saturday- except maybe I was a little embarrassed every time I clicked and saw the wee willie warmer and thus have avoided the blog since Wednesday.



Pictured- Bird In Hand (in cashmere) sans thumb. I figure my odds at a decent thumb will improve if I do them together.

The start of Karendipity's marvelous mitts in Lorna's Laces. The main color will be "china blue" the other is a variegated Lorna's Lace.

The first round of the Lettuce Leaf Scarf done in Stitchjones' Dark and Divine. Reading the chart has become easier- especially with the color coding. I didn't make any mistakes until row 17 (of 18) and I'm going to make sure I have the called for 60 stitches and try the next repeat. Mostly becuase I'm tired of frogging this thing every time I make a mistake I can't find.

This chart reading requires a different kind of attention but I'm starting to find some tricks that work I'm loving the challenge of something new.

the answer to the knit night riddle

This is not a sock- it was one of the shared moments at knit night. (not in action)



There was some discussion of Flight-Attendant-Mary's airline employer who's motto we believe is now "We're not Happy until you're Unhappy."

There was also talk of a knit night KAL a great idea from Claire. (possibly one with the above motto involved-but maybe not)

There were three Mary's there. Flight Attendant Mary, Make Me Laugh Mary-Mac, and I Am Going to Demand Every Second of Knit Night Queen Debbie's Time Mary. (Mary Queen of Debbie as opposed to Queen of Scots?)

Is it just me, or do the voices of the talking yarns get louder when you have fewer wips? I resisted because there are several possibilities in the stash but I fear they will get louder still.

why yes, there was knit night

but it's too late to post- instead I'll give you a teaser-

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town
Upstairs, downstairs in his nightgown
Rapping at the windows, tapping at the locks
"Are all the children in their beds? It's past eight o'clock."

Your job? Take guesses as to how that could relate to knit night. More after the pix arrive.

Monday Morning Puppy Musings (with deference to Romi)

I believe that with her limited knowledge of human vocabulary (don't eat the cat being the newest acquisition) the puppy, when she hears the Amy Winehouse Rehab song, believes that rehab=collar.

In addition to the paw raising and the tail pointing, there is further evidence that the puppy is a bird dog- she pulled the needles and a row from the Bird in Hand mittens. Fortunately I was able to save them.



I must say that this is an excellent pattern for stranded knitting newbies (as opposed to the stag bag I thought I could knit and which now lies in a puddle of green.) Any frustrations caused by holding some yarn in the left hand are immediately eased when said hand comes into contact with the cashmere. If you happen to click on the stag bag link, you'll see the blueberry handspun- it's a sleeve and a half away from being "Wicked."

The Grinch

The forces of nature coming together to make this happen: Misti Alpaca Bulky green, Ann Budd book of sweater patterns, 365 stitches a year slipped rib stitch (the "wrong" side), garter stitch, size 10 needles, 4 stitches/inch, Boris Karloff, Dr. Suess.

I can now see why people who live in cold mountainous areas with alpacas can remain warm and without frostbite. This is the warmest fabric I've ever worn. The sleeves are turned up for those wondering about the sleestack effect.

CMUS-only it continues to be early

If the expression on my face alone doesn't crack you up, then the fact that I'm making it at 5 year olds should.

If that's not enough then how 'bout that Lion Brand Homespun Granny Square Poncho I've got going on because it was so flipping cold that day.

This is a picture of a picture- hence the flashpoint. I swear kids are smiling at me (and not just in fear)

Somehow the drum adds something to it- maybe because I try to imagine kmkat having one in her accounting cubicle.



Feel free to inser your own LOL ICANHSCHZBGR caption in the comments.

and then there's this

I started those bird in hand mittens by Kate Gilbert and some yummy cashmere

That Mr. Sophanne

He sure knows how to turn a day around. Then he said, "I have nothing but good thoughts about you, no matter what you think of yourself." There's a guy that knows his wife.

Grinch be done and S&M K Meme

Don't let your mind go there. I'm starting a meme. It has no rules. S&M K stands for Sid and Marty Kroft. You don't have to play. I won't be tagging you. But, as always, it cracks me up a little bit. Here is a partial list of SMK shows I found on Wikpedia:
Red = loved 

Yellow= hated 

Gray=don't remember the details help me out.

The Bay City Rollers Show (1978; aka The Krofft Superstar Hour Starring the Bay City Rollers)
The Krofft Supershow (1978)
Bigfoot and Wildboy (1977)
The Brady Bunch Hour (1977)
Wonderbug (1976)
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (1976)
Dr. Shrinker (1976)
Donny & Marie (1976; aka The Osmond Family Show)
The Lost Saucer (1975)
Far Out Space Nuts (1975)
Land of the Lost (1974)
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973)
Lidsville (1971)
The Bugaloos (1970)
Pufnstuf (1970)
H.R. Pufnstuf (1969)

I can't believe that Shazam and Oh Mighty Isis weren't on the list.  I wonder who thought of them. (loved them both)

Grinch is resting ends will be woven soon and photos to follow.  Don't want to rush things.

me allergic? not so much.

Unless you're talking about that itchy thing you get in the back of your throat when someone has gone overboard on the perfume or say when your working with alpaca that has been steamed.

I've attached one sleeve to the Grinch and while it's a little early to predict, that delusion idea I had about using the slipped stitch ribbing to add stability to hopefully decrease the vertical stretch also added a good bit of weight to increase the vertical stretch.

What started out as just below the waist may turn into one of the robes the Grand Sleestax from Land of the Lost might wear if there were such things. Look ma, no hands.

And yet- it's going to be soft, warm, and green. It may be that rare fo that looks terrible but that I like anyway. If it's really really terrible, I may gently shrink felt it.

What with a snow day and all today, I may just finish it up- if I can face it.

PGH k&c the haul.

A swift that's not an umbrella. It "disassembles" and doesn't need clamped to the table. It's like a lazy susan. Pretty ingenious. Maybe a little not as "perfect" as an umbrella swift but it may be user error.


A Royal ball winder. I wound some cherry tree hill from my stash and have a yarn cake. I think there's a bit of a learning curve in that as well.

400 yds of brown cashmere and 400 yds of white cashmere- Yea, if you're a LYS and you have cashmere under $30, I'm your resident sucker. I'm thinking I'm going to follow some EZ directions for hat and mittens. I still have some unused green cashmere so I may be on to something. (I'd like to point out that I had enough sense to christen the ball winder with something OTHER than this cashmere in spite of every inner voice calling me to do otherwise.)

A "fiber sampler" from a shop that is relatively close and will be at the Waynesburg S and F festival. I don't know what I love yet and this will be a good way to find out.

Some not green (red-ish) sock yarn called "Melody."

Underneath the blue tag is a "yarn keeper bracelet" made by Humes of Delaware. Another ingenious invention (this one more reasonably priced) I'll get a better picture when Mr. Sophanne is around. Mostly the yarn cake can hang from your wriste by way of latchy things and wires with wooden balls at the end of them.

I also purchased the Folk Hats by Vickie Square. I think the hat that Mr. Sophanne wants is a sort of pillbox/cossack design.

The festival itself was overwhelming for this newbie. So much yarn, so many possibilities. So not a clue as to what I wanted to look at or where I wanted my knitting to go after the purchases. I guess that's why I went for the luxury. Then I didn't end up getting as much. I've learned that when negotiating quality and quantity, my tendency in stash enhancement is on the quality end. I'd rather have 4 skeins of cashmere than ten skeins of cascade.

The space itself was very crowded. But that will change as the location is moving next year. I was secretly hoping for a giant ballroom where there would be tables and tables of knit night like knitting to check out. This happened on a small scale but not as much as I had expected. It kind of felt like a missed opportunity. If you're not taking a class you pay $15 to be allowed to buy stuff?

This did not put a damper on knit-night like conversations. As I passed one store I heard a woman say "I'm going to blow up her house, it's all I can do." Passing another booth I heard "How do you catch a unique rabbit? U neek up on him." Now I've heard that joke plenty of times but not so much in passing at a festival.

Just when you thought

Just when you thought you had CMUS(F) wrapped up, life happened and there was a double dose. After an afternoon of whacked out kids, I spent the 25 minute car ride home trying hard not to be cranky. I came home to this:







Totally impossible to get my crank on.

This Is My Job. CMUS(F)

2nd grade teachers are doing a unit on American Scientists and inventors. They came to me and asked me if I had any songs about inventors.

me in my head: Yea, let me just dig up one of those Wright Brothers or Thomas Edison songs written for 2nd grade abilities. It will be so hard to choose which one to use.

me out loud: hmmm. Peter Paul and Mary's The Marvelous Toy might feel like an invention. We could also build our own invented beat machine.

In honor of good old American Ingenuity- (both mine and the Masters') I share with you Mrs. Stiles's Beat Machine Invention. Please realize that I get paid for this job. Kmkat how I envy your cubicle. If it takes too long or is a pain to load- skip it. You can catch it in reruns. HEY! With my new non-celebrity celebrity I wonder if Hollywood Insider wants a copy of this? Or maybe Letterman for stupid pet kid tricks.

further developments

Knit'nat's knit night discussed why skunks are the banana peels of the animal kingdom. This seems to me comparable to discussing Wiccan lumberjacks. She's also looking to share a ride to the MDSW so it looks like I'm making a plan.

It's a little scary making plans with friends you haven't met yet but if she's meeting up with Yarny Old Kim another blogger at the top of the list of MUST MEET BLOGGERS, it's got to have some potential and yippee for not driving alone.

I'm skipping an Orff workshop (usually most awesome professional development opportunity) this weekend to go to Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. This makes me so happy. It feels like "skipping school" only not and I am so guilt-free about it. It's good to be over 40.

So this Portland fan club gathering-I'm thinking that an easy access public place on the evening of July 8 would be ideal. Not being familiar with the area I'll leave it to someone wise to set a time and place.

I wouldn't be pursuing it so much but then QuailHillKnits said When are you going to be in Portland? My home in Washington is 3 1/2 hours up the road. Maybe a bunch of the bloggers could figure out a way to meet up.

I may be dragging some family along- (hopefully not kicking and screaming) but it seems to me that I'll be spending the next week playing grandMOther so a little "me time" before it all would certainly be appropriate.

And Olga suggests that I print a few books (not sure what I'd put in them but how hard is it to make something up) and sign them to make it feel like a book signing. Uber- it does sound fun!

k.n.a.

knit.night.again.

Does it really matter who said what when you have a conversation like this?

What is Wicca?

M calls them "treehuggers."

I don't feel comfortable having a conversation about something none of us know anything about. There are probably right wing wiccans and left wing wiccans like anything else.

Some people call it a religion. Others think it's more about spirituality. It depends on how you look at it.

Yea, there are probably some Lumberjack Wiccans out there.

Oh how I love knit night.

Knit Night Debbie has an African Gray Parrot. K.N. Jennifer also has bird(s). Riley (Debbie's bird) says this to her husband "I like that shirt." Then when he's just far enough away it says "You have something on the back of your shirt." Jennifer's birds have learned to make the kitty feeding time noises. "Here kitty kitty."

There was also some discussion on restless leg syndrome, Parkinsons Disease, Bells Palsy and something to do with the 5th nerve ending and the terribleness of nerve pain. Because Claire, the pharmacist was counting, we referred to Darla for all things medical. Darla's medical background is limited to her personal experience but she's very reliable so far.

Come to find a toilet paper roll works for ball winding as I had experimented with only you're supposed to stay on the sides of it, (not cover the tubey ends as I did) and then take the roll out. I knew I was on to something but somehow got lost in the mechanics. This should surprise no one.


When I came home I found a comment on my travel post from the most recent yarn wholesaler Sharon who noticed that I would be traveling to Portland OR this summer and said, Sophanne is coming to Portland this summer?! Girl, let me buy you a drink! At which point I became giddy and delusional and decided that maybe I could have a fan club and that I could meet all my west coast blog friends this summer and we'd start out small and eventually it would become the most famous Chickenlips and Sophanne Fiber festival and people would flock from miles around.

I also began to wonder if, like the knitting cruises, there could be knitting train trips. There's no better place to knit than on a train. A pile o knit-bloggers reserving business class of Amtrak on certain days knitting their way across country and back.

All it takes is a little knit night action for this brain to start sparking.

odds and ends

Compulsive on-line buying and refraining from fiber purchases landed me at Joanne's buying one of these. A Namaste Jetsetter (for under $50-I'm guessing it's a discontinued color)I am such a bag-ho. I figured with upcoming (o.k. 6 months from now) travel, it's never too soon to find the perfect bag.

Did you catch Puppy Bowl IV? What serious puppy fun with a kitty half-time. It was a cracking me up and convincing me of the amount of Jack Russell in Liza Jane.

One sleeve is done. One to go

'member that other time when..

the Sophanne vacation (look at some July posts if you care to) involved a plane to Seattle, a train to Portland and back, a train to Vancouver and back and then a plane home?

One of the truths about life here is that vacations very often involve various forms of transportation. It would seem that getting there is half the fun (at least for half here in this house.)

One Thanksgiving (because of family obligations and a need to go to the National Archives) we drove to Baltimore, took a train to Charlottesville VA, took a bus (because we thought it was going to be a train) to Washington DC, train to Baltimore and drove home from there.

This summer is gearing up to stretch the limits of planes trains and automobiles as we've thus far known it.

1. Train to Portland
2. Rental car to Seattle
3. Rental car on a ferry to a condo on San Juan Island for a week.
4. Return on ferry.
5. Rental car to Portland
6. Airplane to the 'burg.

The hows of travel to the train station and home from the airport will be figured out later on but thems the plans. Mr. Sophanne still thinks a train ride with the grandchildren somewhere in there is possible.

This all came about as a result of the "free tickets" we got from US Air on the last trip home from Seattle. Don't even get me started on how "free" can be reinterpreted when you're an overbooked airline.

Remember that time when...

Those of you who have been reading my ruminations for a while might remember this conversation about the knitting terms "after every 4th" vs. "every 4 rows." as in:
1
2
3
4
inc

OR

1st
2nd
3rd
4th inc

That little puzzle has revisited the Grinch sleeves in a Knitting Goddess Vengeful Laughing sort of way.

Ann Budd's directions read Then inc 1 st each end of the needle every 6 rows 9 times.

Based on the last sweater's mistake (going 1 2 3 inc instead of 1 2 3 4 inc) where I ended up with shortish widish elephant sleeves, I looked VERY closely at Ann Budd's directions and knit 1 2 3 4 5 6 increase (several times-as well as 1 2 3 4 increase which happened earlier in the directions) I have finished the row of increases and not even started the cap and have 22" instead of the suggested 18". The cap is going to make for at least another 2" if not more.

But Sophanne, why didn't you measure the sleeves along the way? Because I was in the Knitting Black Hole and didn't want to jinx myself and make it go slower.

Common sense says to save this frog project until knit night and find out if there are alternate solutions. And yet I'm off to frog.

Maybe the reason I can't quit green is because I do so much frogging. Next thing you know I'll be addicted to African Tree Frog colors.

p.s. this is Not a CMUS post. Did I mention that I was knitting 2 sleeves at a time?

Groouuund haawwg

Dear Jill Trinka, If you happen to see this and are opposed to it being posted, contact me immediately and I will remove it. Otherwise, I believe that there is a vast audience of bloggers that do not know about the existence of this song and I like to have an informed readership.

If you can't read it if you click it or don't care to, I'll just tell you that verse 9 is my favorite. "Up stepped Sal with with a snigger and a grin x3... Groundhog grease all over her chin."

To some of you this may be CMUS. To the music teachers, it's just another day at the office!

ETA If you don't need the melody or you can't embiggen-here are the words.

Whet up your knives and whistle up your dog (x2)
We're off to the hills to catch a groundhog
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Too many rocks and too many logs x2
Too much trouble for an old groundhog
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Over the hills and through the brush x2
Boys, I see that hog sign fresh
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Up stepped Barry with a ten-foot pole x2
To roust that groundhog out of its hole
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Work boys work for all you can earn x2
Will skin 'im in the loft and tan 'im in the churn
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Work boys work just as heard as you can tear x2
The meat'll do to eat and the skin'll do to wear
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Took 'im by the tail and laid 'im on the log x2
Swear to my soul he's a very fine hog
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Put 'im in the pot and the younguns gonna smile x2
Ate that groundhog 'fore it struck a bile
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

Up stepped Sal with a snigger and a grin x2
Groundhog grease all over her chin
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

So whet up your knives and whistle up your dogs x2
We're off to the hills to catch a groundhog
Whack-fol-did-le ol-ly day.

winter-ference

Life interfered with knit night.

The dog is interfering with knitting progress.
"Pick a Spot" has been replaced by "Drop it" and "Down" as words most likely heard in the House of Sophanne.

I taught a mom and her 13 yo son to knit after school today. He didn't bring any needles- he might have been spotted with them. He learned to knit on pencils. Freshly sharpened pencils are good at preventing slipping Noro. They don't keep their points quite as nice as addis though.

I've cast on and frogged 9 rows of the Lettuce Leaf Scarf twice so far. Wise lace-knitters are saying that it's like algebra. If that is the case, it makes perfect sense. I always understood the concepts- I just couldn't get past the details.

The Ice Storm Cometh- or so I'm hoping.

That's all I've got.

Why yes, I DO knit

Amidst all of of this meme-ing and tagging and cmus-ing, it strikes me that a little knitting content would not be inappropriate.

First up- "The Grinch." My first designing attempt- the sleeves are on the needles. Ann Budd is guiding me through this.

I was tempted to change the name to "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie," as most of it has been finished after puppy is asleep on the lap. This is the tv/couch knit. Right now it's moved from process to product. I want to wear it and I'm still naive enough to believe I might make a sweater that looks the way it did in my head before it came into being.














Second- Wicked #2. This is the handspun I bought at the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival last summer. I believe it has committed itself to a pocketless long-sleeved Wicked and am hoping for the best.










The knitting in my head is much too vast for one post but:

After yet another 6 stitch error on the go at mangled joke, it returns to time out. Recognizing that I suck at reading charts I wrote out the row pattern. I felt a lot more relaxed while knitting it but the results were the same.

I bought some fingering weight hand-dyed "Dark and Divine" from ChickenLips/Stitchjones/Mymommadethis and am thinking about this pattern as recommended by Sharon but I believe it must simmer for a little longer.

There is some Lorna's Lace waiting to be frogged and tried again in the Print-o-the waves stole. The fearless knitter button on my sidebar is really there as a reminder saying "hey- you Can and Will read Lace Charts before the Year Ends."

I'm still frogging every sock I start for one reason or another. There must be a reason it's called the SUMMER of Socks.

And now back to our daily ridiculousness

Books? Who reads Books anymore?

O.k. not really but I've certainly decreased the number of books I make it through since this knitting obsession took hold. I used to devour them like a glutton at a buffet bar in P.K. (Pre Knit) Now they're the hors d'oeuvres that you eat when you're on a diet. I'll only indulge in the ones with cream cheese and don't bother with the chips and dip.

I've now been tagged twice for the page 161 sentence 5 meme that's going around. That means I get to give two page 161's. (though I guess I could have gone to page 322 instead.) I can't just have one thing at the bedside so I'm picking up the two most recent reads.

From Viktor E. Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning I was actually ON page 161 which was the afterword written by William J. Winslade.

"Frankl's comment hints at the reasons why Man's Search for Meaning has such a powerful impact on many readers"

The other comes from Pat Miller's book The Power of Positive Dog Training

"The target stick works really well in place of coddling."

The first book was a powerful read and one I would recommend to anyone-but especially to any blog friends who are a little more intimate with depression than they'd care to be.

The second one has offered some guidance but I was not able, as I had hoped, to give it to the dog to read so that she would know what to do and not to do. So it goes

Full Moon Update

Signs that the full moon is having an effect on your husband. He chants "Purl and Puck, Purl and Puck" on the way to bed. When questioned about it he says, "Isn't that what you do with those two sticks? Purl and Puck." (Damn, why didn't I say Purl and Poke and let him have it?) I said "It's knit and purl. What is Puck? He said "I made it up."

I looked away for a second or two (to find that Yarnhog's jumped on the CPH train) and he calls my attention to him again with both hands nearly up one nostril saying "Uh, honey, can you help me?" and promptly pulls a giant chewed piece of nicorette gum from his nose.

That moon is beautiful but I'm glad it's waning.

NNNfm

It's a double meaning abbreviation today.

No Nit Nite for me

and

No one Nearing Normal full moon.

Ice and snow and freezing rain kept us from venturing out to "Vice Alley" (also known as the LYS and the casino). The puppy was psychotic all evening. Kids were jumping out of their skin all day yesterday.

Three different bloggers either posted full moon pictures or reminded me of nature's way of saying don't take your bad self too seriously.

I'm just relieved to have it all explained.

ETA And I've picked up the mangled joke tangled yoke.

I humbly accept...

Suzanne a.k.a. Yarnhog was one of the earliest readers when I came to blogland- many great laughs were had at my continuing saga of the ill-fated messenger bag. She has awarded me the:







And now, as part of my award, I get to pass the award on to ten bloggers who make my day. According to the instructions, I am supposed to: "Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

While the truth of the matter is, I'd be lost without my ever-growing list of favorite Google Reader blogs, these are 10 of the ones that I look forward to regularly (in no particular order and realizing that there could only be 10)

Penny Karma at Behold My Brilliance
Ruth at 5elementknitr
Joan the Fairy Godknitter
Jenn and Rufus a.k.a. WeirdyPants
kmkat
Magatha
Christine the Dark and Divine Flutter
Lydee my teaching friend
Carol at the knitting-knot
Sunflower Fairy

and of course...

Yarnhog

Go forth fine Bloggers and share your friends with us.

Hooray to all of us who make Blogland real.

f-o-rama

There's the Thorpe earflap hat, the mittens from an Ann Norling 4 needle pattern and a giant sweater made of Rowan Big Wool. This is the one with the elephant sleeves- note the power of a proper pose. Really I could just have put some knitted fabric over me and called it a sweater in this pose, but when Mr. Sophanne has agreed to snap pictures in single digits temperatures, it's best not to insist on the details.

The hat's a little big but will come in handy. I didn't use chunky yarn that was called for. I did use needles that were a little larger. I may frog a few rows or I may just leave it as is.

knitday- hooray

It was a knitting machine demonstration at the Knit Shoppe. Mark loves his knitting machine because it makes quality knitted fabric quickly and creatively. I'm glad he loves it but I am not a convert. I love knitting because it makes my hands happy. The knitting machine reminds me of ironing. I might end up with not as many and not as high quality knitted items but it takes a different person than I to love a knitting machine and that's what makes the world an interesting place. The whole concept and mechanics of it were cool to see. If I had to knit for profit, it would be my tool of choice.

Also a part of the day was an extra few hours at the LYS. ( I offered to do a demonstration on green next Saturday but there didn't seem to be too many takers.) I started a top down lamb's Pride pistachio green earflap hat (called Thorpe from some undocumented blog) and it should be a quick knit. It will also match my mittens (which required moderately successful post dog-nip surgery)

One other lesson learned was that if you're not much of a meat eater because of the whole cow thing, veal parmesan might not be something to order for dinner no matter what the waitress says. Did you ever accidentally order crawdads (also known as crayfish, spoondogs, or yabbies if you're Australian) because you love seafood and you didn't know they would show up on your plate with their heads attached? That's kind of what the whole veal experience was for me. There weren't any signs of former life other than the pictures in my head but that was way too much. No veal for me.

Wednesday is the beckyknitstoo blog-o-versary. Reading Wendy Bernard's Knit and Tonic is what started it all and once was the only knitting blog I read until I figured out how to find the others through the comments- I give myself an "A" in Blogging Year One for the "must please the teacher" part of my personality.

hi it's me again

o.k. so when cmus blog fodder rains, it pours.

After feeling pictured alpaca (that would be the left front of the 65% finished Grinch Cardigan) Mr. Sophanne said, "Wow, I could live in this. Can you make alpaca underwear?"

I think he was humoring me but it cracked me up anyway. After asking him if he just wanted to get put on the blog he said, "yes" I'm guessing he made the fist to show you how strong he is.

be still my heart

The new student teacher paid a visit today. She starts on the 28th. After seeing a handmade crocheted scarf I said, "oh yeah, I knit." She said "Me Too! I have every size needle there is. My grandma taught me when I was 7! My fiance's mother made my scarf as a present"

I have yet to reveal the vastness of my addiction- but I'm pretty sure the squeal of glee gave a little bit of it away.

CMUS (once again posted on Friday)

Certainly everyone is familiar with the "dinnertime admonition"

There are people starving in _____________(name your third world country)who would be glad to eat your food."

This phrase has been amended in the Sophanne house specifically for the New Puppy.

There are plenty of people in ____________________(name your third world country) who would love to eat YOU for dinner.

Mr. Sophanne is a s funny as his name suggests.

Dear Blog Friends,

Is it just me, or is this blogland a real place? Yesterday's knit night post was lame lame lame and yet my friends sensed the lack of excitement and made me laugh at the words Mr. Sophanne anyway.

I am not a comment 'ho. I leave comments if I have something to say- I don't expect them if I haven't written anything "commentable." But you come through like the good friends that you are, letting me know that everything's o.k. and life is good and none of us are really alone on the planet.

Hey Blog Friends,

THANKS

k.n.

Ten Rows is Ten Rows. (circs or straights)

Jewelry from 1970 is not really antique.

Green, I can't quit you.

that's all I got except I was so absorbed with knit night events, I missed the exit to pick up Mr. Sophanne and had to turn around a go back and get him.

The Answers

1 alphabet
2 battle of Troy
3 democracy "invented"
4 great wall of china
5 Jesus
6 gunpowder
7 vikings
8 christopher columbus
9 American Revolution
10 Light bulb invented (as opposed to when electricity was discovered)
11 Civil War
12 WW I
13 WWII
14 Vietnam War
15 Mrs. Sophannes b-day
16 Disco (some of you were too kind)
17 Internet in schools
18. Iraq War

Crate in the van.
Emergency bag packed including
-puppy pad
-food
-water
-interesting puppy toys

Thoughts to self. This looks like packing when mamas take babies somewhere.

Notice anything missing?

Change of clothes after puppy gets car sick. I was holding her on my lap. Just 20 minutes earlier (before the pit stop) I had been protected by the fleece jacket on my lap. When we returned to the car, I knew there was a good reason for that, but not knowing what it was, decided it was too warm.

Puppy has good taste- pukes only on the best- that would be the Malabrigo Wicked worn to show off knitting skills to temporarily disabled aunt.

Lost? The L.L. bean jeans that are my "comfort jeans". Well not really lost just bi-colored thanks to well-meaning Mr. Sophanne who thought the easiest way to clean the pants was with a window squeegee at the gas station. Come to find that seems to rub it in. I did not let him go this route on Wicked and it is blocking now. It needed to be blocked anyway.

Won? The hearts of the nursing home/rehab residents. Lil Liza was on her best behavior and one wheelchair bound woman who appeared to suffer from delirum just petted and laughed and petted and laughed. I think I know what our summer plans should be.

A New Game

I'll post my answers (not guaranteed correct as they came from some goofy internet timeline) to yesterdays Smarter than a 5th Grader on Sunday night in case any of you are wondering how you did.

Today however, is a new game I made up for myself. Remember the song "Man of Constant Sorrow" from O Brother Where Art Thou? (most recently that is) If I were going to write my own theme songs, one would definitely be "Sophanne of Constant Worry." So I made up a game called "Before I can do that."

Good reason says, don't worry about what's going to happen because it never turns out that way anyway blah blah blah. BUT, actually moving from out there to now is not always so easy. "Before I can do That" helps that process for me.

A mental example- "oh man- I'm the chair of a safe schools meeting on Tuesday morning and I don't know what we have to talk about. Before I can do thatI have to go to school on Monday. Before I can do that I have to go to the grocery store on Sunday. Before I can do thatI have to finish this blog post. Before I can do that I have to finish this sentence." You get the idea.

Today it's an adventure to visit the Aunt who broke both her shoulders. Puppykins is going with us. Let the adventure begin.

Smarter than a 5th grader? CMUS

My favorite "theme" to take on with 5th graders in January is the story of Ulysses. We make up dances that go with the stories and play and listen to music to accompany them. There are obviously many life lessons learned from these stories as well and there is just enough of a suggestion of battle and adventure to lure in even the coolest of 5th graders.

To begin this unit, I want to make sure that they have some concept of a timeline of the History of the World. Much as I'd like to watch Mel Brooks and his version- totally not appropriate for school.

Instead, I gave them the following list of events and asked them to put them in order. Do the best you can without cheating- no google help (if you care to) and see how close you come. I'll post the answers in a later post.

As to whether you are smarter than a 5th graders, I will only say that if you are aware of the fact that I, Sophanne, was born AFTER Christopher Columbus, and you recognize that the Viet Nam war (at least the one most often spoken of) did NOT happen immediately after the Battle of Troy, then you are smarter than Monday's 5th grade.

1. Battle of Troy
2. Alphabet invented
3. U.S. Civil War
4. American Revolution
5. World War II
6. Viet Nam War
7. Birth of Jesus
8. Vikings (not the Minnesota kind)
9. Gunpowder invented
10. Great Wall of China built
11. Christopher Columbus voyage to North America
12. Disco
13. Mrs. Sophanne's Birthday
14. Schools have internet access
15. Iraq War
16. Concept of Democracy "invented"
17. Invention of the Electric Light Bulb
18. World War II

p.s. on knit night--- Mr. Knit Night is going to demonstrate his knitting machine at The Knit Shoppe in Canonsburg from 10:00-4:00 if you are interested and nearby!

kkkkkkknnnnnniiiiittttt nnnnniiiiitttttteeeee

I have no creative compositional technique for this knit night post. But it was great and then a little bit better.

Claire and I have made plans to go to the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. If you check out the link, tell me what saturday a.m. thing to go to. If you're going, I'll have my Ravelry button that says "Sophanne."

There was also some discussion of getting a Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival posse together. Woo hoo!

KNQ Debbie Cut. Her. Steeks. RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! I watched someone cut a sweater. A very colorful stranded knitting sweater. When she finished I shouted "What They Say is True!" Nothing unravelled.

In just the way they say you can't hold space, you can't find the Buddha, so it is with knit night. Once you put words to it, it becomes something else.

ALSO!!!!!! Hooray for SnuffyWump and her Beautiful Smelling Soap that was a Prize. (Capitol Letters are my NEW favorite thing.) It is delicious. If you haven't before, do go visit her blog. She posted about high school freshman Kyrin (DD?) who wrote a letter to the author Tom Robbins AND he wrote back. Thanks Snuffywump!

D.O.N.T. C.R.Y.

Don't Cry Don't Cry DON'T CRY DoNt cRy.

Nothing sad to report. Just a vent of sorts.

To Whom It May Concern-

If I want to whimper, weep, sob, wail, mew, or bark when something happens in this thing called Life, I will be doing it.

If my favorite cook, who has fed me for the last Ten Years, is retiring, I am ALLOWED to have a tear or two because I'll miss her. She Fed me whenever I was Hungry. She Knew whether or not I needed to Eat before I did. This does not mean I am not happy for her. I am. You Smarty-Pa-Tarties who go 'round sayin' "d--'- c--," can do whatever you want. I'm guessing she knows how I FEEL about it.

Furthermore, if there is additional change that may or may not take place in my Life that either makes me Really Happy or Really Sad, I reserve the right to Bawl My Eyes out at the Beauty and the Sorrow.

P.S. I don't walk around and tell you "Hey you Thoughtless Moron, How Come You Aren't Crying?"

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog.

an adventure?

Not so much. I was going to make up a story about how we went to an exotic land where we couldn't understand the language. Husband wanted me to put a freak snowstorm in it. It also involved a bazaar haggling over mysterious bargains with peculiar merchants.

What we really did was go to Gabes for some shopping and a late lunch at Old Mexico.

I appreciated the suggestions that I go yarn shopping. Options are limited when you live in the 'burg, so I did the next best thing. I found "The.Perfect.Bag" for my dpns and short needles. Mind you I have the really cool needle holders from Joannes but they're so organized and cumbersome. I present to you this week's Perfect.Bag.

There's a post a-brewing on the very concept of The.Perfect.Bag, but I have still to gather my thoughts. Is this quest a terminal condition experienced only by travelers and knitters I wonder? Oh the bags I have to share.





Puppy news- today she joined me in the shower. Is this gross? Is it an opportunity for puppy wash time? What's the appropriate etiquette? Should I have asked these questions prior to fessing up? Also the latest keep puppy occupied trick is a thin layer peanut butter spread along the inside of the plastic peanut butter jar. (realized after giving her the last of the peanut butter.) ONLY if this causes certain death do I want any warnings. This gave me 45 minutes of quality blog time.

looking for fodder

I'm in the middle of three not so small projects and when you're there it feels like you're not really knitting anything. I'm on the brink of making mistakes on sleeves and shoulders but only close enough to dread it rather than deal with it. Someone (something) has put a voodoo hex on my sock mojo. Every time I get about 2.5 inches into the sock I drop a stitch that can't be found.

Also there have been few adventures around here. Puppy was 5lbs on the first vet visit and is 13.2 lbs now and doesn't have worms. That's all the news that is the news.

I told husband we have to go do something tomorrow so that there's something to post about. He said he was glad he was good for something. He must have forgotten that he gave the puppy a bath.

puppy woes

Someone please tell me that there is an end to this constant need for attention, nipping at the hands (stopped only by household members baring their teeth and growling) and general mischievousness. Also making up songs and singing them to the pets is not abnormal behavior and happens here quite often.

Three Cheers!

One Cheer for anyone who did the snow dance yesterday. It worked and vacation has been exteneded.

A second cheer for TCM on comcast that has the goofiest creepiest collection of black and white movies on this morning.


A final cheer for the glass head that models my stocking cap knitting skills. I could wait no longer for the actual recipient! What appears to be yellow is actually overexposed lime green.

Mysteries solved and unsolved

Mystery #1 Why I'll never run out of blog material-
Yesterday with puppy and husband in the passenger seat, husband was talking to the puppy.

There's a gray truck. There's another black car like mine. There's Burger King- you remember Burger King- you've seen the commercials.

Mystery #2 What to do about stinky boy bedtime farts. Lots of Burt's Bee's hand lotion and put your hands near your head as you try to go to sleep. Note: this does nothing to quiet snoring.

Mystery #3 (as yet unsolved) How to properly knit a thumb on a mitten. Aargh. Any tips would be welcome. I'm hating those big honkin holes.

I'm here to tell you that all is well with the world. Puppy is chewing on a bone instead of me or yarn, I've watched all episodes of Fantasy Island from comcast's On Demand but in the "Free Movie" section I found this: - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians- truly the funniest not supposed to be funny movie I've ever seen! The earth children have some hand knits I'd like to see in better lighting as well.

Anyone interested in extra posts, do a little snow dance for Lydee and I on Tuesday night. Are we greedy or what? the snow dance link is pretty funny if you have some time

p.s. the exercise button

p.s. anyone who wants to use the me on the bike mini button to indicate their own exercising, you may copy and paste. I think that would crack me up.

Here there and everywhere. Mostly here.

The Ten Project Challenge has a certain appeal to me but I'm not much of a joiner and I am a compulsive yarn buyer. I don't have the vast stash that I've viewed on Ravelry but I do feel guilty about neglected stash. Combine those facts with the added need to save up for my own Mac Power Book (the one that got me started blogging is a loaner and may have to leave it's happy home in the next year) and a little stash control would be a wise wise thing.

All that being said, I think I'll list some knitting goals for the coming months. I'll try to be realistic.

1. Mittens to match the as yet unseen stocking cap.

2. A cardigan (with Misti Alpaca chunky-the reward yarn of the holidays)designed by me using the reverse side of a slipped rib stitch and garter stitch for interest. What you see is the back. The sleeves will have an equal amount of WS slipped rib. Depending on the way it pulls or doesn't pull, the front panels may be all slipped rib. Garter collar, set in sleeves. We'll see.

3. A finished or frogged tangled yoke.

4. Finish the Classic Elite Oregon vest without being intimidated by the zipper. Every time I go to the yarn store, I'm drawn to this fiber and every time I'm drawn to it, I realize I have a UFO out of the very same yarn. Doh.

5. More socks, as my collection is dwindling thanks to some dropped stitches and puppy teeth.

But wait, you're wondering what the hell is up with the button at the start of the post? We got one of those cool indoor trainers for the bikes. It is assembled with bike in a secret quiet room in the house. In an effort (at least for a little while) to keep myself accountable, each time I've made use of it for more than 3 minutes and happen to be blogging, I'll put that little picture at the beginning. This way you'll know how the old exercise resolution is going without me going on and on about it. I thought about making a little "hey I didn't get off my lard ass" button as well but I'm trying to keep this positive and with few rules. Not even timing myself yet. Just ride the bike and win a prize.

Keeping the puppy busy, secretly trying to design a sweater with chunky misti alpaca, finished the stocking cap- will post pictures once it is a gift received and you can see it on the recipient.

Kind of glad there's not more to report.

May You Be Healthy

May You Be Happy

May You Be Safe

May You Live With Ease

Overheard in the Rite Aid (CMUS)

...Let's get here these. She always has a headache.

So glad my shopping list is short.

what a wonderful world

I don't have the diversity that Yarnhog describes in in a recent post, but identified myself as more or less Jewish until now lately I think I'm more Buddhist than anything else. This means that as colleagues try to pin a religious label on me so that they think they can understand me, I'm considered by them (because I'm not Christian and I HAVE to be something) "Jewish."

That being said- I'm not so much anything, take no stand regarding the religious practices of others and am just a speck of dust in the wind.

The following is not so much a religious observation as it is one of the basic "Got a clue? Not so much" moments observed recently.

5th grade- had a display of Christmas Around the World decorations on the wall outside of their classrooms. Pictured with several colored menorahs was the sign, "Christmas in Israel."

A colleague gave me a Christmas card (just so you know- I'm happy to get them. I send them on occasion- they're usually more "holiday/winter" themed. I got no problems with them- even the creche/Mary/Jesus ones. I don't expect others to cater to my weirdness.) However- in an attempt to be politically correct this colleague wrote "Happy Hannukah" inside a card with Mary and Jesus on the front. It just blows my mind.

I'm not out to educate the world- especially the grown-ups. If I say anything I fear it would seem that I was getting all religious on their asses and that is also not my intent.

File this under the label- "catch a clue"

No $4M Buyout for this Music Teacher

If you follow Big East college football, you are aware of the feelings of rage and betrayal in the state of West Virginia at the recently announced departure of WVU Mountaineer football coach Rich Rodrigez to the University of Michigan. (Husband and I are both WVU alum.) It is indeed the talk of the town. In fact, no one has been talking about the weather since Sunday. We're so mad, we don't care what the weather is.

This morning I joked with faculty and staff (after listening to some morning radio)that at the a.m. showing of the Winter Holiday Program I was going to put an end to all rumors regarding the buyout of my own music teacher contract. Everyone laughed, but a few teachers (who's judgement I trust) suggested that it was such a hot issue that it might be best not to bring it up.

As the principal gave me the beautiful Christmas flower arrangement at the end of the afternoon show, she also handed me the paper pictured below. Signed by all faculty, it is a petition opposing a buyout of my current contract so that I might go to Michigan.



Not sure how well the funny transfers for those of you who don't follow the whole college football scene but the fact that all faculty and staff were willing to sign a pretend petition to keep me away from a $4M contract I don't have was worth a post. I mean come on, Lisa even signed her REAL name (Alicia.) She NEVER uses that name unless she really means it.

Another great part of the day was a visit from poly_dactyl who drove 2 hours (one way) over Appalachian mountainage and through the coal fields with 9 week old Benjamin David to see the show. It's always so great to have a music teacher colleague around who will give you an honest assessment. (or at least one you can read between the lines in the gentlest way with.) And now that I have a puppy, I almost know how to play with a baby.

Hey blog friends, if you decide to leave me for Michigan, I might be able to have a real life friend or two.

I'm also considering posting one of the most energetic versions of "Nuttin for Christmas" that I've heard to date. Here's your chance to vote for or against blog content. If I get 15 requests, up it goes.

...in a handbasket

Signs of the above..

Today during a slurred speech microphone moment in front of 300+ kids I'm pretty sure I said the word "shit." oops.

Husband the Great is home and not well. Sure sign that he is not well is him saying "Do you still love me even if I'm sick?"

Hence, I did not go to knit night. Oh so not the best day. For the next two weeks, knit night will be on the Eve of holidays to come so that means nearly a month without a fix. See slurred speech slip above.

Knitting continues in spite of the fact that the puppy very much loves pulling finished and unfinished knits around and being chased. I've tried tricking her by hiding chaseable knits. She so knows the difference.

As a result, fine knitting has been set aside until she pulls it together and lots of loosey goosey what if knits are likely to follow.

The first wip to post is the stocking hat that had great aspirations and needles that were too large. Mostly it looks like the upchuck that happened in the audience this afternoon. I'm guessing that fine "booclay and it's boocles" isn't going to frog so well. There are great possibilities in the yarn/texture combination. I just haven't found them yet.




Also on the needles is a booga bag made with some yarn from the 30% off treasure chest and some leftover from the everlasting gobstopper messenger bag. It's either going to be really cool or it's going to suck or it will be somewhere in the middle. I'm considering it an i-cord tutorial since I've never tried that before.

On Carols

I love language and languages. Playing with words? Sign me up. Figuring out the connections in the Romance Languages? I am SO all over it- even if only in my amateurish way. There comes a time, however in the life of the music teacher when you've "Got to do What You've Got to Do." regarding Latin and 5th graders.

Them: WHY do we have to sing Oh Come All Ye Faithful in Latin?

Me: Because it's what people do, it's cool, it sounds good, people will think you're geniuses, and it will make the song longer.

After pointing out Fideles and relating it to "Faithful" and hence a possible connection to the dog name "Fido" and reminding them that when we sang that song in Spanish and it had the word bienvenidos and how it means welcome and how cool is it that it's almost the same as venite meaning "come" in Latin (and secretly remembering the French verb venir but being smart enough not to give too much information), I had to resort to mnemonics and cracking myself up.

Adeste Fideles
no mnemonic required-they're the first words.

Lae ti triumphantes
The Lady and three elephants or as they preferred the lady is on fire-don't ask me how.

venite venite in Bethlehem
o.k. so the venidos thing might have worked

Natum Videte
they totally came up with this one-they somehow believe its saying "don't date 2 people"

Regem Angelorum
This was the hardest line and I ended up using "Regis is a drunken (rum) Italian angel."

Venite Adoramus Venite Adoramus Venite Adoramus
repetition is the key to all things- they made the adore and adoramus connection as well.

Dominum
Yes, I did. "Let's come adore Dominoes Pizza."

Sign that the name Fido is no longer en vogue- after the above comparison, one student raised her hand and said, "I saw that name for a dog in a book I was reading. I thought you said Fiddo" (with an i as in lid.)

What? an FO

Hey kids! I knit some mitts. I made the pledge at Knit Night on Tuesday that I would finish these before the next knit night. I'm sure that they all saw it as the not so disguised excuse to buy more yarn next week that it was.

In spite of floods, leaks, early dismissals, cancelled Christmas shows, and a puppy that can't yet distinguish sticks from the yard from sticks on the left hand side of the couch , I present some mittens from the Ann Norling mittens on 4 dpns knit in some Lamb's Pride.



In looking at this picture- I perhaps realize from whence Love Of Green came. The afghan beneath the Best Puppy Ever was crocheted by Granma almost 40 years ago- it's seen it's share of Wizard of Oz's.

Damn, I'm old

Here's the thing- as the music teacher, you tend to get tech upgrades only when someone else gets something new. "Auxillary personnel" get the leftovers. This explains why the t.v. in my classroom looks like something similar to the one pictured. Today- after viewing the Nutcracker, I asked a kid to turn off the t.v. and he had no idea what to do.

knit night 432nd edition

A list of new post-knit-night-knowledge along with credit where credit is due.

1. If you go to this site there is graph paper to design your own norwegian style mittens. (Debbie)

2. It takes longer than 45 minutes to design mittens.

3. A 48'x10'x10' cistern holds approximately 35,000 gallons of water. (Marc)

4. A Wallace candy cane christmas ornament can go for as much as $499 on ebay. (Patty)

5. Elastic thread will fix the gigantic issues going on with the burnt orange stocking cap.(Debbie)

6. When doing complicated black and white stranded-checkered sleeves to a golf sweater, be sure to read the pattern. Add a stitch at each end of the sleeve-not just at the beginning. (Chris)

7. When in the company of someone who is just learning about number6, there is an ache in the pit of your stomach even if it's not your own knitting and you may have to walk around and look at yarn to shake it off.

8. Tonka makes a metal fire truck that you can hook up to the garden hose and toy fire hydrant and have loads of summer fun with. This same truck- not so good for the furniture. (Claire)

9. Part of the First Sock Syndrome described in the previous post comes from thinking I look like one bad ass knitter when using dpn's. Last night's solution was to buy a pair of size #1 Lantern Moon dpns, certain that with such great needles, I'll be sure to redo that Lana Grossa sock.

10. If you're feeling guilty about casting on too many socks, buy some Lamb's Pride wool in a shade of green that adds to your green obsession, some size #8 dpns (seriously I didn't have that size-can you believe it?) and cast on some mittens. They feel like socks in so many ways only without the guilt.

And finally an observation on the knit night phenomena. Each conversation builds upon the previous ones so that by the time 7:30 hits, you've reached that blissful state of laughing even though no one's said anything particularly funny- you just know it could happen.

Mutating Virus

I would like to suggest that here in this household Second Sock Syndrome (SSS) has mutated and become most vile. It is now First Sock Syndrome. I have such a lovely (if small by comparison) collection of luscious sock yarns. The aficionados among you will recognize Olive Lana Grossa, 2 flavors of Trekking, some mint-colored Berroco Ultra Alpaca (on 6's for a fast knit), some lemony-lime Koigu, and my recent destash purchase from A.D.D. Knitter on-line 100 (or something like that) in the cool multi-colored variegated black.



You may also notice that several of these fine beginnings have no needles-no scrap yarn in them. Want to start a new sock? Just yank out the needles from the ones you haven't finished. Early treatment of this syndrome included buying more #2 dpn's. Come to find that treats the symptoms rather than the disease.

Should I be contacting the CDC" in Atlanta or is this just an isolated incident?

Also, go say hey to poly_dactyl. She's a real life friend who knits but has had her hands full turning 30, having a baby, and finishing her Master's degree in the last 4 months. She just started a blog- I want her to get as addicted as I am, so leave a comment or ten. Thanks!

Blame Ruth- she tagged me

Ruth tagged me with the seven weird things meme.

I'm not tagging- (it's a bonus weird thing- I never played tag in grade school- too much pressure)

1. I seriously believe that at any moment I choose, I could become a chorus member in a Broadway musical. (just the chorus member- let's be realistic

2. One time while watching Mary Tyler Moore, Phyllis came on the screen saying "hi, hi" and I burst into tears.

3. I also believe that at any time now (actually any second) I'll be able to speak and understand Spanish and Italian.

4. Sometimes it's easier to describe the mood I'm in with a number. Today is 38. 74 is a bad day. 63 is a good one. 494 sucks. Given space limitations, I can't reveal the quality of all numbers, but if you need to know, just ask.

5. I think it's really cool that I can look at my fingers, decide to move them and then they move. It feels like a magic trick.

6. I prefer rainy napping days over sunny weather days.

7. There's always a pattern of some sort (numbers-stitches-piano keys) going on in my head.

I changed my mind- if polly_dactyl and Lydee want to play, tag, you're it.

Wicked Cool Photo Shoot

As promised- I was able to snag GHB to snap a Wicked picture. Note the matching jewels made and mailed by the mama.

Time to go do stuff.

Get The Ball!

So if this takes 100 years to load, just ignore it- I'm trying out Bloggers Video upload to see if there can be action shots of The Liza Jane B.P.E.

Ice on the Roads

We had the worst possible kind of snow today. The kind that starts just as you're leaving for school. It's too late for them to cancel and too late to call a sub. Except I called one anyway because my mental health is worth more than a day of watching the student teacher teach. This means I played "hooky" today. The panic attack was precipitated by thoughts of the curvy icy hill. Husband reassures me that I'm not a loser for bailing on the day. Anyone else who would like to do the same would be doing me a great service.

Batteries are charging and I'll snag same husband for a photoshoot on the Rowan Big Wool sweater and the Spam-A-Not Wicked. Both unbocked fo's that are getting closer to the ideal sweater.

WIP Update- (again maybe some pix over the weekend)

Berroco alapaca socks in worsted weight on size 6 needles because it's the best way to keep the feet warm and man, are they quick. One down, one to go.

Stocking cap for my favorite parent volunteer- not my favorite wip right now. I had such grand hopes. I think I'll take it to knit night for some tweaking. It may be that I just hate novelty yarn-boocles-or burnt orange. Possibly all of it.

Wicked Part II- finally taking that periwinkle handspun I bought in May and am hoping to make a long-sleeved wicked with it. I just trust the sizing on the pattern.

This is the first December I've had a blog. All the secret "cant post" stuff and all. Is there then the government holiday phenomena (like the post office after they get a Monday off, you get twice as much mail on Tuesday) after the gifts have been given?

aren't these cool?

Yea, so since I haven't taken any pictures of recent finished objects, I'll share Debbie's (KNQ) awesome finished mittens.

I think they're pretty amazing. I wish I hadn't promised that I wouldn't take credit for them.



Furhter notes on the boucle. For what it's worth, I pronounce it booCLAY. I pronounce my made up word like it's spelled- boocles. And along with the picture of the fabulous mitts came the advice to PURL the booClay to get more boocles in front. I should have figured that one out given my understanding of knit and purl.

nitte nytte and what do you know of boocles?

Thanks to Marc (henceforth known as Mr. Nitnite) and his camera phone for pictures to post. Stupid dead Nikon batteries.

Had you not noticed? I love knit night. So much so that I rarely spell it correctly because it is so sacred. There were fewer of us last night but when you walk in that place you're just smiling inside even if there's nothing funny because there is such a chance for things to get funny and that's funny all in itself. My job is done if I manage to say something that would cause someone who was eating to spit food out of their mouths-actual food not required. Food Spew Action? Check.

I bought some burnt orange wool and some matching variagated (sp?) novelty yarn to stripe the stocking cap. Tonight's knitting question. Is there a way to knit with boucle (in the round) that has the boocles on the outside instead of beautifully adorning the inside? I tried pulling the boocle through and not pulling the boocle through (I'm pretending that the balls on the boucle are called "boocles".) The next thing I'm going to try is maybe knitting in the back of the stitch and twisting it. It would be much easier if someone who already knows how to do it could help.

two more words for Thursday

Snow Day

knit night blogging when (if) the puppy ever naps.

Two Words

Snow Day

Is it just me or..

every time you wear a finished object do you walk around chanting "feel my sweater, I made it."

Wicked is off the needles. It needs to be blocked but I wore it to school anyway because the weather was permitting.

It's most very cozy in spite of a wide variety of crossover/cable ribbings. For those of you looking forward to a pocket- you'll have to look elsewhere.

What annoys me most (and I'm hoping that blocking will solve this) is the fact that the bottom ribbing is done in moss stitch and is rolling up like a t-shirt rag. Wonder why it's moss stitch ribbing on the bottom.

Next plan in my head is a stocking cap for my favorite parent volunteer coordinator. She loves wacky hats and will make a most excellent blog picture. There's reason enough to knit one.

Six minutes to post.

I must leave for my job in six minutes.

On my mind today- Secrets. You've got your "secrets", your "Secrets" and your "SECRETS."

secrets around holiday time- appropriate-fun-exciting-etc.

SECRETS of any other kind- as in "don't tell, they can't handle it, I can't handle them knowing"- are diseased. A lame attempt to maintain control over a situation that isn't controllable. Those who keep them for others, a lame attempt to exert Power over those not in the Know.

What can you say about secrets and the damage they have caused? Or maybe what about the secrets and the joy they have brought? Talk amongst yourselves. 30 seconds left...

I have 2" of crossover rib on a short sleeve and can declare Wicked finished. Come to find I did the ribbing wrong on the neck, not looking close enough at the pattern before diving in. Given it's top-down-ness, I think I'll grow fond of it.