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August 28, 2006
Liar Liar Pants on Fire
Julia tagged me for two truths and a lie.
Today is the anniversary of Katrina and it just so happens that G and I will be traveling to New Orleans in a couple of weeks, so my truths and lie are all about vacations we've taken.
1) Once upon a time, we were invited to spend July 4th weekend in London, England. The trip included flying there and back on the Concorde (DUDE I saw SPACE!) and seeing The Three Tenors at Wembley Stadium. We had crappy seats at Wembley (although they ended up being good when it started to pour half way through the show and we were under the tin roof) and the sound was totally off so the Tenors sang and we heard it a week later. On the way back to the hotel from the Stadium, we were sort of car jacked. A man walked up to the car and opened the back door (I was in the middle between G and a woman who worked for British Airways) and the man tried to take her purse. I screamed at G to get out of the car get out of the car but he couldn't figure out how to open the door. Meanwhile the woman sitting next to me was totally fighting with the would be robber and managed to save her purse at the expense of her Rolex. Her husband, who was sitting in the front seat with the driver, ran after the theif. G ran after the husband. I stood in the middle of the road in a foreign country screaming, "Come back. Come back." Jolly good fun but at least the trip was free.
2) G won an all expense paid trip to Maui, first class - super deluxe suite at the Four Seasons - by winning a tennis tournament for travel managers. I woke up the morning of our flight with a killer sore throat and ended up being sick pretty much the whole trip. Which was fine with me because hallucinating in paradise is kind of fun. The first two days I barely got out of bed, watching the birds chirp along the lanai trailing rainbows behind their feathered asses. The room, if you could call it that, had two separate entrances, two bathrooms, two kitchens and a wrap around balcony bigger than my apartment. When I finally ventured out of the hotel I ran into David Spade at the restaurant near the pool. It was all I could do to keep my breakfast down. Hula-va good time but at least the trip was free.
3) One of the first trips G and I ever took was to the Balearic Islands in Spain. We hit Mallorca and then Ibiza - land of house music - and had a fabulous European vacation. That was until I decided to go topless and ended up with a hideous ITCHFEST all across my chest. The hostel we were staying in had no air conditioning and I was in agony, begging to cut the vacation short. We were in the pharmacy trying to find something to help with my rash when an older woman in the store heard us asking the pharmacist for help. She started talking to us and took pity - you see - she said, her son-in-law was the manager of a hotel not far from where we were staying and she said she was sure he could get us a wonderful air-conditioned room. He did. It was the phenomenol Hotel Hacienda where every room overlooks the sea and the shrimp they serve at brunch are as big as dolphins. We stayed there for the rest of our trip - two nights. Best rash I ever had; at least the room was free.
Let's make this a contest. Everyone who leaves the right answer in the comments gets a spot in the proverbial hat to win a skein of Mountain Colors Barefoot in Wild Rasberry and some other stuff to be named later. One entry per person please. I'll close comments on Wednesday.
And I'm tagging some new to me blogs for this meme: Rar Made This and Through the Loops and of course, anyone else who wants to knock their socks off.
A very special, very high energy guest(s) is coming to visit, so blogging might be sporadic for a little bit. And as soon as she leaves, my sister and the kids come, so please don't expect great things on the blog this week. Have a good one!
Posted by Cara at 02:04 AM | Comments (201)
August 27, 2006
MT Stylesheet HELP!
Can anyone tell me why my stylesheet has gone wonky in IE? Today when I was on the laptop, I noticed that my font is too large and the borders around my pictures have dropped off. Everything else seems okay. The site looks perfectly fine in Firefox and Netscape. I usually view it in Firefox, so I have no idea when things stopped working - although Ann asked me the other day if I changed the font size. So maybe for a couple of days?
Any and all thoughts are appreciated! THANK YOU!
Posted by Cara at 05:21 PM | Comments (9)
I got SKILLZ...they're MULTIPLYING!
Let's add some new items to my knitting resume, shall we? I have made a toe-up sock.
Before we get into the knitty gritty of the construction, this sock was made with Socks That Rock, Pebble Beach colorway, in the OLD put up, so half of 325 yds. See that weird ridge right at the beginning of the toe? I've had some questions about it - that's my odd purl row to delineate the start of the toe decreases. I HATE the way a stockinette sock looks when it goes straight through to the end of the toe. I call it Gold Toe Syndrome. So I decided to put a purl ridge in there to break things up. It's only on the top of the foot and it's just one purl row. The next row is when I usually start my decreases (or in this case, the row after I finished my increases.) Oh and the shoes? I'm not sure where I bought them, but they are Naot Sea. If you google it I'm sure you can find them.
Okay. The sock. When last you found me, I was getting ready to throw away all my deeply held beliefs and make a short row heel. THANKFULLY, Deb, in the comments (GET THEE A BLOG DEB!) saved me from that woeful fate. She gave me a bunch of links to a FOURTH choice in the toe-up heel. Let's reiterate. There's the short row heel in all of it's incarnations - wraps, PGR, and a million others listed here. You've got your traditional heel flap heel as seen here and here and a million others here. And we can't forget the Afterthought heel.
I don't like the way the short row heel fits and I'm not really a fan of the method and the other toe up heel flap stuff seemed really really really fiddly. (Thanks LA!) And as far as the afterthought heel goes - I'd kind of like the socks to be all in one. There's something deeply satisfying about finishing with only two ends - one at the beginning, one at the end.
In stepped Deb. Deb of the comments. Deb who desperately needs a blog if only so I can link to her and tell everyone how amazingly helpful she is!!! Deb fielded like 80 emails from me Friday and was a saint about answering all of them and even asking her teenage daughters (who also make socks this way) their opinions on my options. Thank you ALL! Deb's suggestion is best illustrated by this pattern.
Did you look real fast? Looks almost exactly like the traditional top down heel flap doesn't it. Get this: IT IS!!! So, I knit until the foot met my leg and then I ripped a few rows, and I should probably have ripped a few more. As I usually do when working from the top down, I started my heel flap - only this time the heel was on the BOTTOM OF MY FOOT. The directions say that you can do a standard s1k1 heel flap (only it's a sole flap - way cooler) but I decided to do a stockinette flap - so I did s1 k to the end, s1 p to the end until the flap met with the edge of my heel. Then guess what I did? I TURNED THE FREAKING HEEL!!! Just like you do top down. I did my normal 32 stitch heel turn (which no matter how many times I do it I still have to check with Charlene Schurch to see how many stitches I need to knit before the first turn) and then I PICKED UP FOR THE GUSSET just like top down. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!
Click for a bigger view.
Once I started knitting the gusset (decreasing the same way I always do!) I knit the 32 stitches on the back of the heel in s1k1 so I could get the extra padding I love so much on my top down socks. I did that for all the of the decreases and a couple more rows until I had my normal "heel" flap. Want to see how it fits on my foot?
No. I don't bend that way. Picture taken by my lovely husband.
Want to see it compared with a regular top down heel flap?
Neat, huh? Once I was done with my pseudo heel flap, I knit and knit and knit and then STILL had angst because I didn't know when I was ever going to run out of yarn and when should I start the ribbing? I know I know it's not like anything bad would happen (like running out of yarn at the toe) if I started it late and I could just rip until I got it right but where's the fun in that? Anyway, I guessed right and managed to get fifteen rows of ribbing in and then I did Elizabeth Zimmerman's Sewn Cast Off. I also used Julia's innovation of doing the cast off inside out to make a nicer edge on the front side. But guess what? The cast off edge is like a tourniquet! I don't know - maybe I did something wrong, but I don't think so. And I know that I'm known for my tight cast off (wait - you didn't know that? Yeah. I cast off pretty tight. I think it looks neater.) So I might rip it out and do something else, but for now I'll just leave it as it.
This is how much yarn I had left:
So, the toe-up method works for getting the most yarn out of your yarn. But, I'm not convinced. There's something off about this sock. I don't know if I can rightly identify it (besides the tight bind off) but it just feels different. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I did it the way I did it, but I still really really like the fit of my top down socks. I guess I'll do the mate to this one, and then I'll see. Now that I know how far up I can go with my 325yd skeins, I'm thinking the next pair will be top down.
Posted by Cara at 12:08 PM | Comments (35)
August 25, 2006
Don't be such a heel!
Thank you all so much for your sock heel suggestions. I've had a lot to think over in terms of these new-to-me toe-up socks. This is what they looked like this morning:
Please excuse my weird looking ankle. It's usually got a lot more shape than that. Funny angle probably.
And this is what the sock looks like now:
I'm going to take a bit of La's advice in the comments yesterday and go in a different direction. I'm so thrilled with my toe up toe - why not try the traditional toe up heel, no? Trust me if it works, I'll be asking for this recipe.
What'd ya think? Maybe a wrap for lunch? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I crack myself up.
PS - Happy Birthday Sandy!
Posted by Cara at 10:36 AM | Comments (13)
August 24, 2006
The Miseducation of January One
Yesterday was all about the learnin'. I will share.
~~ When you change a password, best check what that changed password will affect. The comments are working now.
~~ Spin all your singles up at once. Then ply everything up at once. It will make for a more consistent finished yarn - especially given my newbie status.
I finished spinning up the 8 oz I had of Moonstone, merino roving from Spunky Eclectic. I was so looking forward to finishing this stuff up because I had grand grand plans for it! I was going to make my first handspun project from this yarn. And now that it's off the bobbins, I've got to say, I'm a bit disappointed. I should clarify - this has EVERYTHING to do with my spinning and NOTHING to do with the fiber. Of all the fiber I've spun (which is limited - I will admit) Spunky Eclectic is by far my favorite - for the color AND the prep. I was quite pleased with the first batch (see post here). I managed a nice tight ply and I liked that a lot. This time around, not so much.
Can you see the difference?
How about now?
NOW?!? New yarn on the left, old yarn on the right.
The new yarn is not as tight at ALL. And therefore I think it looks a little loosy and sloppy. It's not as smooth. Although it looks a TON better now that it's been washed and dried. It's also a bit thinner. I finally see a reason for two wheels. Before you all either start laughing or groaning - how great would it be to have one wheel for plying - where I could keep the tension and everything JUST SO and then be spinning on another wheel where I could also keep the tension and everything JUST SO. As it is now, I'm going to have to spin up all of the singles and THEN start plying. Clearly I'm not good enough to go back and forth. I need the stability of keeping things JUST SO.
In the first batch I've got about 310 yds and the second batch I've got about 566 yds, so a decent amount. I had wanted to make a shawl with it - and I guess I still could - I could use the 310 yds at the top of the shawl - where it's a bit bigger, and then use the rest as it gets to the point. Any and all suggestions for about 800 yds of fingering weight (I'm guessing here) would be great. I'd love a pattern that shows off the yarn - so something with a bit of stockinette to it would be great.
Eh. I'll do better next time.
By the way - before I change topics - CJ asked me to mention a new swap she and Christina have put together: The Spinning Roving Swap. All information can be found at that link. I'm off swaps for a while now, but if I was going to get in on one - this looks really good. Different sign ups for people wanting to learn to spin, and for experienced spinners. Check it out.
~~ Don't be afraid to try new things.
I'm very reluctant to show you this:
Yup. It's a toe up sock - STR - Pebble Beach colorway - old put up. I had almost given up the other day when I had tried the Magic Cast On, Wendy's short row method and Purly's YO method. Then, yesterday in the comments (before I broke them), Rachel mentioned that I should try the Turkish Cast On. So I checked a couple tutorials and MY GOD. This is the most mind-blowingly easy thing I have ever tried. Just wrap the yarn around two needles and start knitting. Seriously. LOOK AT THIS TOE!
The top down knee high I just finished - kitchener stitch at the close - is on the left and the brand new toe up Turkish Cast On goodness is on the right. They barely look any different. All you toe up people - why would you use anything other than this cast on? Also, I love me some M1. I've mastered the right leaning M1 and the left leaning M1 and it's so much nicer (TO ME) than short rows. So much nicer. Check it out!
Again, top down on the left, toe up on the right. You can barely tell the difference. Recently I've learned that I like a wider toe. I start my toe decreases very late - almost at the top of my pinky toe, and then I decrease four stitches every other row until I have fourteen on the top of the toe and the bottom of the toe (28 altogether.) Then I slip the stitch right inside the outer stitches over the outer stitch (I read it somewhere - makes the toe a bit rounder and not as pointy on the edges) then kitchener the 24 remaining stitches. Perfection!
So yesterday, I cast on 24 stitches - 12 on the top, 12 on the bottom) and knit a couple rows then started increasing four stitches every other round until I got to 64. DONE! Perfection!
The jury is still out on these socks, though, because I really don't like a short row heel. So if I can't figure out the toe up heel flap - I don't know. This might be a 325 yd STR prototype and then I'll start knitting from the top down again. Question for anyone out there that has knit a toe up heel flap: When knitting from the top down, I generally have about 58 rows between my last gusset decrease and the start of my toe decreases. Is it the same when knitting toe up - should I start my gusset INCREASES at row 59 from the toe decreases? How do you know where to start the heel? THANK YOU!
Okay. I'm off to help my newbie again today. She's finished the bottom of her bag - I'm so proud. Unfortunately the dog ate my homework. I've done like 20 rows out of 66 on my own bag.
Have a great day!
Posted by Cara at 10:51 AM | Comments (45)
August 23, 2006
My Lips are Sealed
You know. What happens in Lawn Guyland, stays in Lawn Guyland. Not really, but I only took out the camera when there was work to be done (yes, it was a semi-working holiday) and everything's more entertaining with pictures, don't you think? I will say this: there was lots of discussion about tomatoes in season, Vicki's pin-up choices, Jim Croce and The Lady in the Water. Fun times, as always.
Oh yeah. And right before I was leaving for the long trek home, I finished these:
Want to see the other side?
I love them.
DETAILS: Knit on Size #1 Addi Turbo circulars, I used this knee high pattern to figure out the increasing and decreasing. Eventually I made it down to my standard 64 stitch sock. The yarn is Socks That Rock, Jewel of the Nile colorway, two 325 yd skeins. I had 5/8ths of an oz remaining for each sock. Straight stockinette socks. I'm not sure what else there is to tell but ask in the comments if you think of something. [ETA: The shoes are Naot Sea. Very comfortable.]
This is how I would have envisioned wearing my fabulously fantastic new knee highs, if I was, say, ten years younger.
Alas, this is how I will probably be seen wearing the knee highs. (Well, only really seen by my husband and any unlucky neighbors that happen to catch me on the balcony checking the weather. Or peeping through the windows. Ew. Gross. Stop that!)
And, of course, no sock post is complete without the patent pending Sock Shot®. Everyone's doing it.
(Just so you know, I flipped the picture. Liked it better this way.)
Alrighty. I'm off to finish the little bit of plying I have left and then I don't know - I might try to do a toe-up cast on again because I'm really itching to try this toe up heel flap sock. I want to start knitting through my STR stash and I have a lot of 325 yd skeins so I don't want to waste a single stitch. Or I could clean up my house. Decisions, decisions.
Posted by Cara at 12:37 PM | Comments (43)
August 21, 2006
Lawn Guyland is for Knitters
I'm off for a few days of sun, surf and knitty love. See you Wednesday! Knit well and prosper.
Posted by Cara at 08:18 AM
August 18, 2006
Life's a Beach
Yesterday, while at the beach, happily knitting away on my knee high sock while listening to Leonard Lopate on my Creative (I think I found my podcast of choice, by the way), I WAS ATTACKED!
Well, really, I was walking back from the water where I had gotten my feet wet. We were looking for our stuff and had just located it when I shifted my eyes to the right a little bit. I was attracted to a bright pink standing out against the sand. Something in a seagull's beak.... MY KNITTING!!!!! THE FREAKING BIRD STOLE MY KNITTING!!!!!
I grabbed my boobs and ran as fast as I could in the hot sand screaming like a banshee (are we allowed to say banshee? Or is that not politically correct?) The bird sort of waddled away from me nonplussed and I scooped up my ziploc bag with the very edge of my fingernails. GROSS!!!!!
The people closest to us were laughing at me. They asked if there was food in the bag and I said no YARN! They mumbled something about the bird grabbing the bag a few times and I wanted to say to them WHY DIDN'T YOU GET OFF YOUR FAT ASS AND SCARE IT AWAY INSTEAD OF LAUGHING? There's a hearty dose of respect for you.
Lest you think I left the bag out in the open, I didn't. It was closed up tight IN MY BEACH BAG. And lest you think I had food in my bag, I didn't. THERE WAS NO FOOD IN MY BAG. Not even food for thought, unless you count two issues of the New Yorker, Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top and three Soap Opera magazines.
Oh my god I was so pissed. The seagull that perpetrated this horrible attack was as big as a house. G said it was no wonder - that bird would eat anything.
Forget bears, I should've added birds to my list.
All's well now and I've gotten over it sort of - I still hate birds - but the socks survived without any apparent trauma.
The pooling is pretty similar on both socks, but the new sock is a bit lighter than the first sock - the first sock had some really dark color running through it and the new sock doesn't have any of that. I think they look good. I hope to have the second sock finished this weekend. I've done about nine decreases - so only eight more to go before I get to the regular sock part.
I'm off to spend the day with my newbie knitter. She's an old old friend I used to work with and we recently reconnected over our knitting. She's moving away from scarves and onto felted bags. I prefer felted bags as a newbie project because they can get the time in on the knitting and they don't have to really worry about the stitches. It's all going to disappear anyway. AND they have a beautiful functional piece. I'm not really a scarf person either. We're going to knit a bag together - or we're going to each knit a bag at the same time. So I'll have some new stuff to report come Monday. I think I'm going to make the Elizabeth Bag from Black Sheep. In red Donegal Tweed. Nice.
Have a great weekend all!
Posted by Cara at 08:54 AM | Comments (61)
August 17, 2006
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This
NOT!
I woke up this morning from a bad, bad dream. I was writing bad checks all over the place. Fun times. Add that to the list of things I hate. I immediately went and paid all my bills.
Oh yeah and I found something even more boring than spinning the second 4oz of singles. PLYING the second 4oz of singles. But I know now that spinning really IS zen if you can get past the monkey brain. Have you ever tried meditation? I've only done it a few times, but I could never get past the spot where all the thoughts good bad and uglier than ugly just run around in your "empty" mind willy nilly causing trouble. I think I did it twice and realized NOT.FOR.ME! I need to be active in some way or else I'll go crazy. My mind can never be empty - or emptiness leads to OCD which leads to insanity. Spinning is like meditation - not quite as bad because at least you are doing something physical, but once I hit that groove - right tension, right treadle speed, etc. I got the monkey mind. I think if I was able to get PAST that it might actually be zen like but for the time being it was a bit too much and I stopped.
And then I started to knit. I managed to knit the short row shoulders on the back of my BW Top Down Sweater and looking on in the directions I can visualize what I will have to do for the front as well. I'm quite excited about it. It only took me three tries to get the short rows right which is nothing short of embarrassing since not that long ago I was Short Row QUEEN. But alas, it is true: USE IT OR LOSE IT.
Today there will be LOTS of knitting. Mostly on the knee high which I hope to have finished by the weekend. Pictures tomorrow. I'm excited to see how the pooling does or does not match up.
Boring I know. Thanks for all the comments yesterday. I found it funny that a lot the comments were about the people who let their dogs off leash AND that those comments were mostly from dog owners. They say all you need is love but I'm not so sure about that. I think all you need is RESPECT. We're sorely lacking that in today's world. So go on out and respect someone today. Go ahead. I dare you!
Posted by Cara at 08:47 AM | Comments (19)
August 16, 2006
Hate is just another four letter word.
Like L-O-V-E.
I've been accused of loving everything - actually becoming obsessed over everything - and it didn't feel very loving when it was said - but I'm here to tell you that it's just not true. I can hate blindly and deeply along with the rest of you.
To prove it, I'm giving you my very own Stephen Colbert ON NOTICE list that I originally saw over at Julia's. I don't think my post will match the brilliance of hers (and by the way, she stole all the things I hate) but I'm going to give it a go.
People who let their dogs off leash
See here. There are places where you are allowed to have your dog off a leash. Go there. I could give two shits that your dog is so well trained you taught him to shit on cue, keep him on a leash. Oh and my god there's a special place in hell for those of you who HAVE the leash, in hand, but don't put it on the dog. Poor little doggies. It must be just awful to live with you.
Slowpokes in the left lane
(Not to be confused with Snakes on a Plane. Those are okay.) PASS on the left. PASS. Not PASS OUT. Move the fuck over.
Islamojewchristianhindufascists
Orginally I had islamojewchristianhindubuddhistfascists but G said that was taking it a bit far. I mean, who ever heard of a buddhist fascist? (Richard Gere doesn't count.) Also it didn't fit. Here at January One, we're all about equal opportunity hatred. I don't care who you are and what god you might happen to subscribe to - if you kill, maim, disparage, torture, discriminate against, or do anything other than love and respect those that do not believe what you believe IN THE NAME OF YOUR GOD, then you don't deserve a place on this fine planet. Nuff said.
Party Poopers
You know who these people are. They have something to say about everything and more likely than not it's negative. You know what? My life isn't so great all the time, but I CAN CHOOSE not to dwell on the negative. Or at least try not too. It's going to rain (when the sun's up in the sky.) You're doing it wrong (my way or the highway.) She's happy all the time (walk a minute in my shoes.) GET OVER YOURSELF. If you don't have anything nice to say, then find another Party Pooper and go to it. There is so much negativity in this world why perpetrate it? And THERE IS SO MUCH DIVERSITY it's paralyzing sometimes. SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT I/WE/THEM ARE DOING - GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE!!!
The smell of your cooking
Dude. It might be your favorite dish in the whole freaking world and your grandmother's secret recipe from the old country and I'm happy for you that the recipe survived three wars, two marriages and a boat ride across the Atlantic BUT I DON'T WANT TO SMELL IT IN MY BEDROOM. Please turn the fan on in your kitchen. That's why you have it.
Humidity
I'm rendered speechless by the hate.
Entitlement whores
Ah. One of my favorites. I should be able to drive any car/truck I want regardless of its damaging effects on the enviroment and the safety of others because THIS IS AMERICA GODDAMIT! My kid should be able to push your kid around in the sandbox without repercussions because kids will be kids and THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY GODDAMIT! My problems are the most important problems in the world and must be attended to this instant because THAT'S WHAT DEMOCRACY STANDS FOR! I want it NOW. I don't want to wait. I don't want to work for it. I WANT IT THE WAY I WANT IT BECAUSE THAT IS MY RIGHT UNDER THE GOOD OL RED WHITE AND BLUE. What happened to this fine country? I'm all for individual freedoms and rights and the pursuit of happiness but we all still have to live together. Whether we like it or not, sometimes that means doing things for the greater good. We're not all perfect, but we can try a helluva lot harder to RESPECT. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me.
Pain
Emotional pain. Mental pain. Physical pain. Psychic pain. Pains in the ass. I'm against it all. But especially the pain that my love suffers through every single day. That pain I hate more than anything.
Whew! That felt good! I encourage you all to try it. Thanks person who was so judgemental towards me! I appreciate it!
Yesterday I spent all day fixing up things around here. If you'll take a moment to notice - I cleaned up the sidebar. There is now a drop down hierarchical topic list for better navigation, as well as a search bar. I hope it makes your reading easier and more efficient. Also, I moved all of the Spin Out information over to its new home: SPIN-OUT.ORG! Getting things ready a bit early for Spin Out 2007. I had a bit of trouble though and accidentally erased the blog for Crossed In Translation. Eventually I will get it all back up - it's been very very slow for awhile anyway, so I'm not going to kill myself, but BE CAREFUL. Back up your blogs and my god check like eighty times before you hit that delete button.
My back is feeling better - thanks for all the suggestions. I had a really weird episode with a chiro once (had nothing to do with back cracking and everything to do with being half naked in an exam room and being seriously creeped out) so I won't be going back anytime soon. I'm sure you understand. Anyway, I rested it good yesterday (read: no knitting or spinning) and that seemed to work for me. The other night I did cast on for my BW top down sweater - which meant CROCHET. My god that provisional cast on is fiddly. But I did it and then started the short rows for the shoulders but didn't like the way I was doing it on the purl side so I ripped and I have yet to go back. I did do some work on my STR Knee High number 2 - I'm past the ribbing so it's SMOOTH sailing from here on out. Maybe some plying on tap for today. We'll see.
Have a FANTASTIC DAY!
L, C
Posted by Cara at 09:57 AM | Comments (44)
August 14, 2006
My Aching Back
G and I were sitting on the couch, both of us in pain, and he said how much it sucked to get old. Now he just had a birthday putting him in the EIGHT YEARS OLDER than me category and I said, "DUDE I am not old." And he replied, "That's what makes you all the more pathetic."
Fucker. I hate it when he's right.
I know I've talked about this before - god, it's over ten years now - once upon a time G went away on a business trip and I slept funny in the bed and it got a little too cold that night and the muscles between my shoulder blades basically froze and I was in extraordinary pain for a couple of days. I remember going to work that morning and almost throwing up on the subway and when I took a car service home the jostling in the car almost made me pass out. I was able to function after a couple of days and it went away completely about a week later but it left me with a weak spot. Know what I mean? Whenever I sleep a little too deep or the temperature drops a bit or the sun transverses the moon at a 180° trajectory or some other such nonesense I get a nice crick in the muscles between my shoulders. See what happens when you wish for Fall and Summer's not finished with you yet?
I woke up Saturday and true to rules of the universe, my funk seemed to have passed, but my back was killing me. I've never ever had it as bad as the first time, but it's annoying nonetheless and I want to weep for my husband who is in physical pain on a pretty much constant basis. I probably would be better right now but I'm not because, you see, my husband was in more pain than usual this weekend and nothing tortures my sweet boy more than the weather being a shade better than perfect and him not being able to run around on the tennis court. A good indication as to how much pain he's in: he asked ME to play tennis with him.
I was going to the tennis court anyway to sit and knit and enjoy the outdoors while he played but he said he might not be able to find anyone to play with so could I bring my stuff. Just in case. I said sure full well knowing he'd find someone. I mean it's been AGES since I played with him. No such luck. You know what? I'm not bad. He even said I could be really good if I took lessons. You know why? Agression. I've got it in spades. I'm not kidding. One time we took a golf lesson out in Palm Springs and I could barely connect with the golf ball but the pro was really impressed. He told G that I had a lot of agression in my swing and "you can't teach that." The same applies to tennis. One guy that was there told G that I hit really hard. I do. And I love it when G hits hard back. (Go to it google freaks.)
About thirty seconds into playing I knew I was going to pay for it the rest of the weekend. It didn't really hurt my back to play, but I knew that as soon as I cooled off I was going to be fucked.
Fucker. I hate it when I'm right.
My back has been awful ever since. And not just my back but pretty much every other muscle in my torso, and a couple in my legs and arms too. Although I have been able to wrangle quite a few BENGAY massages this weekend. Soooo sexxxy!
I did have fun though. I'm looking forward to playing again - sooner rather than later. I also did a lot of knitting and a lot of spinning, neither of which helped my body recover at all. BUT I finished spinning up the rest of the Blue Heaven singles. I think I'm going to wait a few days to ply it all because I want my back to be better not worse. And, of course, I finished the first of the STR Knee Highs. G, in particular, loves the sock. He's already requested the outfit I'm to wear with it but honestly, these babies will be staying under cover. Like wearing sexy underwear - only you know it's there but oh does it make you feel good. I've cast on for the next one and I'm about halfway through the ribbing. I can't get a really comfy position to knit with though so I don't know what I'm going to do. Request for stats on the sock: US #1 Addis. I started with 325 yds of STR (in the old put up) and I have a little more than 1/2 oz left. Not sure what the yardage on that would be. You probably need AT LEAST 500 yds depending on how high you want to go and how big your leg is. I start out with 88 stitches, increase up to 98, then head all the way back down to 64. Whee!
Before I called it a day fiber wise, I decided to turn my attention to the roving Teyani sent me to finish off my Sock Hop Knee Highs. Now that the Blue Heaven only has plying left, I can think ahead to spinning up the heel/toe yarn:
I quickly (read: sloppily - I was in pain and frankly tired of spinning) spun up about a tenth of an ounce of roving to see how it would look and to test run if I can get it thin enough. I think I did okay considering I was high off BENGAY fumes.
The colored yarn is a couple strands from each of the skeins I'm using for the sock bodies. My plan now is to spin it up (I've got enough for like five pairs of socks here - at least it seems that way) and do the heels and knit with the old stuff until I run out or I need to start decreasing for the toes. Then, I MIGHT, might - depending on how it looks, clip the cast on stitches and unravel the American Pie yarn down to the stockinette and then knit it back in stockinette and only then start the ribbing with the new blue stuff. Does that make sense? Would it work? I've only got like 20 rows of ribbing - then I can make them extra long. We'll see. But I have a feeling it will work just fine.
Posted by Cara at 11:03 AM | Comments (34)
August 13, 2006
I love to knit!
Posted by Cara at 11:35 AM | Comments (25)
August 11, 2006
Ask and ye shall receive
You guys are worse than a thousand [insert ethnic group of choice here] mothers! Sheesh! Morgan's comment yesterday sent me over the edge though. The guilt was just too much and I pulled this baby off the couch:
I know it's not the palette one or the green one but it IS a log cabin. That counts right? I finished binding off the latest red section then did the newest white section and then I'd had enough. I did actually do a few rows on the main piece of the palette blanket - I've only got like 2.5 strips to go on that one and the big piece is finished - but I couldn't do it. It was late and I was sort of on fiber overload.
Here's a picture of the back of the Chance Log Cabin:
People always ask to see the back. I don't think it's so bad really, but then I've successfully woven in the ends of Short Rows, so, this is a piece of cake.
Here are some stats to date in case you're interested:
Yarn: Socks that Rock Heavyweight in the colorways Lover's Leap (red), Earth (brown), Rock Salt (white), Cotton Candy (pink) and Black Onyx (black.)
Needles: US Size 5 Addi Turbos
Pattern: It's RANDOM.
Currently, the piece is measuring 23.5" x 27" and according to the handy dandy spreadsheet I'm keeping of all the numbers, I'm through 28 sections. I plan on continuing until I run out of yarn. I've got a ways to go I'm afraid. I know I've said all this before, but people keep asking. And currently I don't have a good way of searching the archives or a complete listing of categories, but I'm working on that. It's in the queue.
This thing's getting harder and harder to photograph in a pleasing kind of way, but I try. I have to say, the pictures don't do it justice. It's SO MUCH BETTER in real life.
Yesterday was a long day. G never made it in to the office, but it certainly didn't feel like he was home. CNN was on the TV all day and I loathe cable news so I stayed in the bedroom doing what I do best. That is, not cleaning and doing fiber stuff. I spun some more and I decided that slow and steady wins the race. As much as I'd like to spin it all up in one day and get it over with, I'm better off taking my time and stopping when I get really bored. So that's what I did and I much more pleased with the spinning results. I hope I didn't fuck things up too bad the other day. Yesterday's session went much easier as I spent the time daydreaming about what I'm going to knit with my fabulous yarn. A shawl of some sort. It really depends on how much I end up with.
And I continued on with my knee high.
The pooling took a rather drastic turn around 76-70 stitches! Check this out!
It's starting to even out again now that I'm one decrease away from my beloved 64 stitches. I think it's going to be pretty good and maybe I can start churning out plain stockinette STR socks. Wouldn't that be cool? I'm a dork, yes I am! I find the whole hand dyed hand painted yarn and how it's manipulated by the number of stitches very very fascinating. Anyway, the sock fits perfectly. Natch. I LOVE THIS PATTERN!!!
Today is a NEW DAY people!! This morning I opened the window as I often do, to smell the weather. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending of course, I have a very highly honed sense of smell. Forget doppler radar and all that shit - I can tell what the weather will be like by my nose. And today? Well today when I stuck my schnoz out there I squealed like a $2 whore!
"What?" said my husband. "What is it? I'm coming!" He ran to the balcony door.
"Shit, it's cold out."
"I know." I sighed. "Isn't it great?"
Posted by Cara at 09:43 AM | Comments (29)
August 10, 2006
Wake Up Call
It's been an exciting morning in the JanuaryOne household, and not in the good way. G's work cell rang at 6AM this morning and I was up for good the second I heard him say WOW. When you are head of Travel in the Americas for a Global Bank - this is not a good thing. Not good at all. He's been on the phone since 6AM - literally the phone has not stopped ringing. He's home today, but not the way I want him home.
So I've been hiding out in the bedroom knitting on my new knee high.
Sorry to leave you hanging on the socks yesterday - dramatic license and all. You know how it is. The yarn is Socks That Rock in the Jewel of the Nile colorway. I have to say - it's been a while since I knit with STR lightweight and OH MY how I've missed it. I just absolutely love knitting with this yarn: I love Tina's colors, I love the fabric it creates, I love how it knits - the way the yarn feels between my fingers, the way it slides off the needles - EVERYTHING!
There's a bit of pooling in the mid calf section where I've increased to the largest number of stitches, but I'm excited about it because I see it as kind of an experiment - I'm decreasing now and I can't wait to see if it pools a bit more when the numbers get increasingly smaller. I'm not one of those people who really hates pooling or anything - it is what it is. I had a moment of wishing that I had alternated skeins, but I got over it quickly. There's a pattern in the pooling - I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures - but the blues seem to go through the reds and yellows as if they are striping. I like that.
It just so happens that I have two skeins of this colorway from the old put up - so 325 yds each. Just perfect for knee highs. I added about 8 extra rows before I started increasing for the calf and I probably could've added more but I decided to be safe rather than sorry. I can't wait to get down to my regular 64 stitches - I've never knit just plain stockinette STR socks and I want to see how my 64 on 1s works with the yarn - will it pool away? Stripe? Do something else? Something completely unexpected? Stockinette is my best friend these days and I'm sticking with it. For socks at least.
Vicki asked me yesterday in the comments how I take pictures of my legs/feet when I photograph my socks. Very simple. I bend over.
Posted by Cara at 12:33 PM | Comments (22)
August 09, 2006
Marathon
DUDES! Enough with the L words. If you're not careful, you're going to turn this blog into a more scary than sexy soft porn cable drama about women who say they love women but only end up hurting each other in the end. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm on L word overload - too many to process - but I'm all about turning lemons into lemonade so hopefully I'll have a new ABC entry this weekend. Get your M words ready. Just in case.
And thanks for the book ideas. I used to read more than I now knit so I'm always gratified to ask for book titles and find that I've read a hell of lot. It's one of the only bad things about knitting - I read so much less it's pathetic. I'm off to the book store today, so I'll let you know what I pick up.
Yesterday was an experiment of sorts. I started out the day with only a couple of goals: Fold the laundry. Check. Spin up the rest of the blue merino. Not so check. Guess what I learned about spinning? The first 4oz? Exciting! Fun! You don't know what you're going to get so you spin spin spin and then you ply ply ply so you can smother yourself in handspun goodness! I MADE THIS! It's beautiful! Look! I turned THIS into THIS. YIPEEEEEE!
The second 4oz? Not so much. OH MY GOD I'M SO BORED I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!
So I take the wheel out onto the deck because it's still early enough that the sun hasn't come around to my side of the building and I download a couple of episodes of Cast On because Ann and Julia have been singing Brenda's praises and I have my water and phone and fiber and I'm ready to go. There's a nice breeze and it's fairly quiet (read no kids in the pool) and I start spinning. It's okay. I'm not loving it - but it's nice to be outside and not sweat and stuff. The podcast is fairly interesting but I keep getting the headphones caught in the fiber and then my water goes flying with a big gust of wind and I'm sure the fiber's wet now and after I curse for like ten minutes and the headphones come flying out of the CD player (no IPOD here thank you very much) I pack everything up and head inside.
Lesson learned: I'm not an aural kind of girl.
Even the Bruce music I love so much I love because of the words - not so much the music. G is all about the music. He's always telling me what a great song such and such is and I'm always horrified because the words are like "I'll be so happy when you die" or something like that. But he doesn't even hear the words. Don't get me wrong, I like music - even love music - but it's the words that get me. Anyway. I'm not an aural kind of girl. I'm visual. I'm about touch. I'm not so into a voice inside my head (unless, of course, it's my own voice driving me insane - then again, I'm not really so into that either.)
Lesson learned: You know what I like to do when I spin? Watch TV. So much for the lofty pursuit of zen while spinning. I only want to watch episodes of Another World. That's it. And since I was all about accomplishing something yesterday, that's what I did. I moved the wheel back into my bedroom (where the Tivo lives) and started watching. But I was still so bored!!! It was then I realized that I have never gone back to a fiber before - I usually buy a decent amount of something I like but when I spin up and ply that first bunch - I don't go back. I move onto something new. But I want to knit something significant with this blue stuff so I've made a concerted effort to go back.
It was about two episodes in, when I couldn't even stand the latest Cass and Frankie shenanigans anymore and I was tired of waiting for the new Vicky to show up so her and Ryan can get it on, that I finally understood the TRUE zen like quality of spinning. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's like hitting the wall when running a marathon. I've never run a marathon and can pretty much guarantee I never will, but I can understand that point where you just can't do it anymore. You are dead for all intents and purposes and somewhere deep in you, you need to find the strength to soldier on. I think I hit that wall in spinning yesterday. I couldn't do it. The yarn was killing me. I was blurry from the wheel spinning and spinning and on my god the spinning and my fingers were burning a little bit from running the fiber through my hand and I had a weird tingling sensation radiating down from my left shoulder and it got so bad I couldn't tell the difference anymore between Vicky and Marley and OH MY GOD! I DON'T CARE IF I NEVER SPIN ENOUGH FIBER TO EVER KNIT ANYTHING BIGGER THAN A BABY HAT! MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!!
And then, as quickly as it came on, it was over. I kept on spinning and I broke through that wall and achieved some kind of fiber like zen that I can't quite communicate to you. It was a centering, a balance between my hands and my heart and the fiber and I did the only thing a person can do when they are in that sacred place:
I cast on for another pair of knee highs.
Posted by Cara at 12:16 PM | Comments (26)
August 08, 2006
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah.
That's about it. I got nothing exciting. Nothing exciting at all. There is SO MUCH to do around my house that I'm paralyzed. There is SO MUCH going on in my brain - not much of it good - that I might actually attempt some of the stuff around the house as a way of trying not to think. It's still hot.
We had a nice dinner last night - G was very happy. I was happy because he was happy. But still. Blah.
I think I'm going to attempt some stuff this morning and spin away my afternoon. I got the wonderful heel/toe roving from Teyani yesterday and I want to finish up some stuff before I spin it. I may start another knee high. Or my Barbara Walker sweater - although I read through the instructions AGAIN and I still can't make any sense of what she's talking about. Makes me feel stupid.
And I want to get back to log cabinning. That makes me happy. But it's big and tedious now. Blah.
I would love to take some pictures. LOVE IT. But it's still too hot to go outside and I'm feeling paralyzed by the ABC-A-Long in that I can't think of an L that I like. Sure there's love and laughter and all those sappy sentimental L words. Give me something good. That will stretch my creativity.
Seriously. Give me an L. I need an L. Any L. It can be a thing or a concept or anything. But just don't give me Light. I've already had that one floating around in my head.
And while you're giving me an L - give me a book to read. I need something good - something I can sink my teeth in that's not too depressing - not too mainstream (re: Grisham, et.al.)
Go to it. Help a girl out.
Posted by Cara at 09:50 AM | Comments (121)
August 07, 2006
What a Feeling!
Thank you all so much for the anniversary wishes. We both like the idea of taking a new photobooth picture, but alas, all the directories I looked at on where to find a photobooth are sorely out of date. I'm toying with the idea of making my own makeshift photobooth though. We had a nice, uneventful day yesterday - which frankly, are the best kind in my opinion. I cooked dinner Friday night - best breaded chicken cutlets I've ever made - I really like my new stove - and yesterday I went swimming with G in the evening. I never go swimming in the pool at our house so it was a nice present for him. Tonight we're going out to dinner for G's birthday - he asked me to wear the very fun outfit that I wore to AC and I will happily oblige. I was just thinking I'd love to wear those shoes again.
While G was recouperating from his very stressful work week, I finished the legs of my knee highs:
Dude! I've got legwarmers! Can I just tell you? I've never seen Flashdance. I was thirteen when it came out and I'm pretty sure I was allowed to see R rated movies at that point (which oh my god today's Rs would've passed for X back then) but somehow I never saw it. Thankfully, the video still survives so I can watch that and pretty much feel like I've seen the movie. Did you know that three different people did the dancing in that audition sequence - and none of them were Jennifer Beals? Crazy!
I've got my next pair of knee highs all planned out. I may even cast on for them today, since I think it will be a little bit until I finish these. I have to get the new fiber, spin it up, then knit it. And I want to finish spinning the blue merino I was spinning before I get to the fiber for the socks. I don't have enough bobbins and I want to FINISH something. My brother and his girlfriend stayed the night Saturday and Jen is a knitter and I was showing her stuff and taking out some unfinished things cough:SHORTROWS:cough and I was immediately smitten all over again - with finishing that is. So I'm not going to start spinning for these socks until I've finished spinning what's on the bobbins.
Besides, I'm liking this knit the leg, knit the next leg - then do the heels and the feet. Maybe that's the key to avoiding SSS.
Off to be domestic for my baby's birthday. This time I'm going to try really really hard not to fuck up the laundry!
Posted by Cara at 11:12 AM | Comments (16)
August 06, 2006
Posted by Cara at 10:21 AM | Comments (43)
August 04, 2006
Yarnival
This week has kicked my ass. In a totally different way than last week. Last week was all about the physical - moving stuff. Exhaustion. Somebody else's problems.
This week has been all about me. Alone. Not eating right. Being hot. Not getting enough done. Feeling unmotivated in every area of my life. Except for the knitting. The knitting was actually really great this week. Which I guess is a good thing and I can't write off the whole week except I'm not making any money knitting and sometimes I feel guilty that I'm not working hard enough or taking care of my family enough or taking care of myself enough and then, well, the knitting can almost feel a little bad. ALMOST. Not really, but almost.
I haven't seen G in like two weeks. The week when I wasn't here, of course, and then this week because he worked late every night. Really late. The project is finished - YAY! - and this weekend will hopefully have lots of togetherness. Our anniversary is on Sunday and G's birthday is Monday so there will be celebrating. Of course, G's birthday is another reason to feel bad. How am I going to top this? I have nothing for G's birthday. Think. Think. THINK! Maybe I'll make him dinner. I haven't done that in a LONG while. And bake him a cake. A chocolate layer cake. His favorite. I haven't done that in a while either.
And then there's the heat. I hate summer, that's not anything new, but this oppressive, dangerous heat plays into my agoraphobic fantasies. I'm not agoraphobic, but sometimes I worry that I will be and staying inside for three days straight only intensifies those fantasies. You know? Why don't I go outside? Because it's hot, or because I'll have a panic attack? Honestly, you really don't want to know what goes on inside my head. It's scary stuff. I did go outside during the day yesterday and I couldn't believe how hot it was - only to come home to find out that yesterday was something of a relief compared to the day before. Almost made me a little sad that I hadn't ventured out the day before. Almost. We're all about the almost today.
Anyway, I don't want to dwell on the negative. I have a shrink appointment in a few hours and I'll be negative enough for ten people today, so why not cheer things up a bit? Yes? My knee highs have progressed very, very nicely. I finished one sock to the heel flap and started the second sock. Want to see a picture? Sure! Why not?
The socks are going to be very different, but I'm quite okay with that. And Teyani and I have come up with a fix for the toes and the heels and I'm VERY excited about that. Let's just say it may be the first time I knit with my own handspun. Now that's a MAGIC sock!! I'm looking forward to knitting up the second leg - I think it will go really fast. I work really well when there's a formula. You know - decrease here, increase there. Do this number of rows. I think that's how I ripped through all those jaywalkers so fast. I had the formula down pat so I knew just what I was doing - how much longer I had to go, etc. It works really well for me when I know where I'm going. HAHAHAHA! If only life could be that simple!
I may also cast on for my top down v-neck Calmer sweater. Might. We'll see. But I'm feeling better about knitty math FOR THE MOMENT - so I shouldn't let it slip by without taking advantage of it. I've got the crochet provisional cast on fresh in my mind as well. You've got to use the skills or lose them.
I've been asked a lot lately about the Chance log cabin and if I've forsaken it. ABSOLUTELY NOT! It's just gotten pretty big and it's been hot and I've found I sweat when I knit - even with the AC blowing directly on me. I think it has to do with sitting in one position for extended periods of time. Anyway, the blanket is pretty big now and it takes a long time to get through a section and it's resting beautifully on the couch and I will go back to it. I love it too much not to and I want the experiment to come to its natural conclusion, but just not this week. Soon. In the meantime, go check out Mustaa Villaa's GORGEOUS log cabin. Smokey pointed it out to me in the comments and I have to say I almost wish she hadn't. It's so blindingly beautiful I am a little envious. It's very inspiring - so much so that maybe I'll sew up the green squares this weekend. Hmmmm.
Okay! On to the title of today's entry. YARNIVAL!!!!
Eve, of Needle Exchange, contacted me before I left for my sister's about her new venture - Yarnival. It's this thing called a Blog Carnival and as far as I can tell, it's kind of like an online compilation of very cool blog entries. Of course, Eve's blog carnival will center around knitting and fiber pursuits and it's a new way for us to read and get to know different blogs. I, for one, seem to be stuck in my same bloglines rut. Not that I don't have excellent blogs listed on my bloglines, but there are tons of new blogs out there and I've been too lazy to seek them out. YARNIVAL will help us all! Anyone, regardless of the length of time they've been blogging or the popularity of their blog, can submit a post to Yarnival. The editor for that edition will choose which ones to include and it will be posted on a certain day of the month. You can read all about it here. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SUBMIT for this month's Yarnival - so RUN OVER and do it. I've already submitted a post. You can too!
Have a great weekend!
L, C
Posted by Cara at 09:34 AM | Comments (17)
August 03, 2006
It's A Kind of Magic
I left the house yesterday.
I also did some work - I really really did. But most of the time, when I wasn't trying to keep myself from falling into a coma from this armegeddon type heat, I knit my magic socks. Yesterday I said I loved them with the intensity of a burning star exploding through the universe - that was putting it mildly. In this world, there are few things I love more than my Sock Hop American Pie Knee Highs. Look at this fabric!
I may never knit anything other than handspun again. Seriously. I want a sweater made from this. And the pattern I'm using? FANASTIC! The sock fits beyond perfectly. I have so much more confidence in the whole decreasing/increasing getting things to fit area. Like maybe I could make a sweater and figure out all the numbers and have it fit perfectly. Like my sock. Which hugs my calf in a way that should really be illegal. Especially in this heat.
So, I pretty much knit on the sock yesterday - with some work interspersed between decreases. I'd knit a decrease (five rows) and then do some work. Then knit a decrease, etc. until I was pretty much decreasing and not working. I've got one decrease left to get me to my normal 64 stitches - somewhere somehow (not a big surprise, trust me!) I messed up either the math or my decrease counting because my hatch marks say 15 decreases and the way I calculated it I was supposed to have 17. So we'll see what happens when I knit the second sock. As of today's weigh in, I've got 1 oz of yarn left and I'm not quite to the point where I will be ready to start the heel. I think I'm going to knit until the heel, and then start on the the second sock. I doubt I will knit that as fast as I knit this one - even though I will still be loving the socks like a schoolgirl alone with her Tiger Beat - but knowing that I will be waiting on yarn to finish them will probably slow me down a little. Teyani and I have discussed a few options - but some may take longer than others, so we shall see.
I DO believe these socks are magic. They may not give you a boob lift (for that you might want to check out Norma's t-shirts) but I believe that by their mere proximity they helped me last night.
I'll set the scene for you. It's 10:51pm. G asks me to pick him up from work since he misses me and the big project is keeping us apart. Still feeling guilty about not getting off my ass to get the mail the other day, I put on clothes that cover all the important spots, flip flops, grab my sock and my keys and head out the door. It's 11pm and I can barely breathe once I'm in the outside air. Oppressive is being kind. I get in my car and turn the airconditioning on - which by the way works GREAT! I had the heat on by the time I was out of my parking space. I head into Manhattan. I haven't driven the dream machine in a while so we're getting reacquainted.
When I get out of the Lincoln Tunnel the temperature thingamajig on the dash reads 101°. Seriously. It drops down to 96° by the time I'm at 40th and 8th. I'm doing the usual NYC dodge and burn with the taxi cabs when I hear the half siren behind me. Blurp. Blurp. I look out the rearview mirror and don't see anything. No lights. No nothing. The blurp blurps get louder and I pull over to let whatever's blurping go past. That's when I realize I've just been pulled over by an undercover cop car. Right outside the New York Public Library no less. The shaaaammmme.
One very young very uniformed officer comes up to my window with his hand on his gun. The other officer stands on the other side of my car with a flashlight beaming into my face. Disconcerting to say the least.
"Why were you swerving like that?" says young cop.
"I was trying to avoid potholes." Seriously - have they driven in Manhattan?
"You weaved in and out back there."
I kind of shrug my shoulders. I sort of know what he's talking about. This fucking cab was pissing me off and I pulled around him and sort of made my own lane. There were 400 cars in line in front of me. I couldn't have been going that fast.
"Can I see your license?"
I start rummaging through my bag on the seat next me - I can never find anything in there in a GOOD moment let alone with a cop with a gun and a flashlight making me sweat. I find my wallet and pull out my license. In the meantime the Spiderman glove that somehow made it into my bag drops into my lap.
"Is this car registered in your name?"
"My husband. Well, it's a lease."
"Can I see the registration?"
I pick up my wallet again and start looking for the registration. I scroll through all of my old driver's licenses and finally get to the registration.
"Why do you have so many driver's licenses?"
"For the pictures. The old pictures. They're all the same license." I hand the cop the licenses. He hands them back without saying anything. He takes my license and registration and goes back to the car.
I'm sitting there cursing myself. I cannot afford a ticket. Funny thing - I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt. I feel naked in a car without it. The minute I pulled over and knew I was being stopped I took off my seatbelt. Isn't that weird? I guess I thought I was going to have to get out or something. While I was sitting there waiting, I put it back on.
A few minutes later they come back to my car - hand on gun, partner with the flashlight - and the young cop tells me to drive more slowly and more safely and sends me on my way. No ticket. As I pull away, I see the flash of an addi turbo in the streetlight. The sock. Protecting me. I believe in magic.
Posted by Cara at 10:12 AM | Comments (23)
August 02, 2006
Shut In
I haven't left my house in two days. That's not really even close to a record for me, but yesterday I didn't even venture to the lobby to get the mail. G was pissed when I remembered at midnight last night (incidentally, when he got home from work) and had to go back down to get it. Today, I might have to go out, even though it's likely the hottest day of the heat wave, but I've run out of Mini-Wheats. I think the milk still has another day, but without Mini-Wheats, what's the use?
You know, nothing says start another project like laying out all your unfinished projects and taking a picture of them all together so that's exactly what I did.
Knee highs, in Sock Hop yarn, American Pie colorway. I love them with the intensity of a burning star exploding through the universe. The only thing is that I am increasingly worried that I won't have enough yarn so I am weighing the remaining yarn after like every three rows. It's a little bit crazy. I'm toying with the idea of emailing Teyani and asking if they have any undyed matching roving and spinning up some white stuff to use on the toes and the heels. Or trying to find a blue that sort of matches for the toes and heels.
I found this website yesterday that gives directions for making knee highs - you just have to fill in all your numbers, and Margene was gracious enough to walk me through the math. I don't like math - especially knitty math. I would love to take a class on knitty math. I've already started the decreases on the sock and I've got 1 7/8 oz left. I was trying on the new sock with my just finished sock hop sock on my foot and I was trying to use 3/4 oz for the "new" part up my leg and have 2 oz left for the rest of the sock - the part that matches the old sock. But I've got a ton more stitches on the new sock, although no ribbing and I suspect ribbing takes up more yarn than straight stockinette, but I'm still worried. As I said, I love these socks more than anything and I know my heart is a fickle bitch, but that's how it is.
And even though I've gotten like a third of the sock done (or god forbid LESS) I think they look super cute and dare I say sexy on my leg. I can just tell they are going to look damn fine when they are finished and I'm going to wear them around my house with G's old work shirt on and I will be cute and fine and SEXY. Like ten years younger sexy.
And then maybe I will get back to losing some weight and do stuff around the house more and clean and cook and be ambitious about finding new photography work and make some money and clear my head of obsessive thoughts and be all zen about my life and then one morning I will wake up and slip on my fanfuckingtastic socks and I will suddenly have the courage to unfreeze those totsicles and get pregnant and have the perfect life.
God I hope I don't run out of yarn. There's a lot riding on these socks.
Posted by Cara at 09:36 AM | Comments (40)
August 01, 2006
Stop this - it's got a hold on me. I said this ain't the way it's supposed to be.*
The move went well in that all the stuff from the old house is in the new house and no one died. Success! There was another Ikea incident that I'm not going to tell you about because when I talk or think about it I get simultaneously weepy and irate. So consider yourself lucky.
Anyway, I don't know what you people do when it's 2841° F (that's 40° for you metric folk) but I knit socks. Preferably handspun wool socks!
How funny is this? I totally forgot what this colorway was called and when I was saving the pictures I remembered - Sock Hop HEATWAVE! HAHAHAHAHA!
I really really like these socks. (And when you're done telling me how FANTASTIC my socks are - go tell Yahaira! She made the same ones! I LOVE IT!!)
So much so I started a new pair yesterday. I was reading The Yarn Harlot the other day and she mentioned this pattern - Widdershins - from the new Knitty - it's toe up socks WITH a heel flap. I've tried a short row heel and frankly, I don't like it. I'm a flap girl. So I tried this toe up thing - if I can have a flap, why not? I spent the WHOLE day, and when I say the whole day I mean pretty much the entire time I was awake, trying to do these socks toe up. I tried the Magic Cast On - at least five times. I tried Wendy's short row method like ten times. And I wound out the day with Purly's YO method. Suck. Suck. Suck. So at about 7PM I said fuck it and started the sock top down. Sometimes you just have to know when to say when and not reinvent the wheel. I like how I knit my socks - I have a formula that works FOR ME - so I'm going to stick with it.
The YARN! Let's talk about the yarn I'm using. It's Sophie's Toes Sock Yarn from Emily Parsons, who, by the way, just happens to be a TV Star! (I saw the episode and Emily was great - her quilts are breathtaking!) When all the prizes were rolling in for Spin Out, there were a number of yarns that I had never seen before - they were all wonderful - but Emily's new sock yarn really stood out for me. The yarn was nice and soft - and the colors were phenomenol! She's been dyeing her own fabrics for quilting for quite awhile and decided to branch out to dyeing yarn. The colorway above is called Favorite Jeans and I tried to show it, but there's a faint hint of purple in there. It's beautiful. After knitting and ripping a million times the yarn is almost too soft, if that's possible. At least maybe for socks. Here are the other two colorways I bought:
That's Campfire on the left, and Garden Party on the right. Beautiful stuff.
I've been thinking a lot about socks - having a new pair on my (very airconditioned) feet yesterday made me remember how much I love them - so I thought I'd take out all of the unfinished socks I have floating around.
In a complete coincidence, this picture works for Scout's new UFO meme.
These are not my only UFOs - not by any stretch.
That's four singles, five on the needles - actually six if you count the one I started yesterday and I have no freaking clue what I'm going to do with all of these. Well - I know I will (eventually) finish the two jaywalkers - the pink picot edge pair mate is already started. The others, well, your guess is a good as mine. I'm not in love with any of them. In fact, I've been really inspired by Melanie's socks lately - I just love the simple goodness of them. They seem like they are squishy comfortable and just the thing you want on your feet when it's finally cool.
Truth be told, I think I'm going to start yet another pair. I'm loving these sock hop socks so much, I think I want to make some more - this time - almost knee socks. In American Pie. I had so much left over from the heatwave socks, it should be no problem yarn wise.
* (Love is Like a) Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas
Posted by Cara at 11:51 AM | Comments (41)