Bad News Bears

Sunday, August 31, 2008

I've been happily knitting away on Kurt's sort-of-camofluage socks now for about a week. I turned the heel on Thursday and finished the gusset increases last night. Then I thought to have him try it on... and the leg part fits... but it's practically impossible to get his foot through that heel.

Help!

Is there a way to increase right before the heel and then decrease down again in the gusset? Will this look weird or fit weird? How do I figure out how many stitches to add?

(On the other hand, they fit me perfectly. Mwahaha. I would keep them but I did promise them they were his so I can't. I have to make them work somehow, even if it means ripping the whole thing out.)

Yeah, I Stole That

Friday, August 22, 2008

My days of freedom are dwindling, classes start next Tuesday. I've finished pretty much all of the house projects I wanted to get done this summer and am just spending my time knitting, reading, and watching the Olympics. Being lazy and relaxed, which are two things I generally don't let myself do very often, especially during the school year. Here's a fun little quiz from Ellie's blog.

It seems I may have eaten a lot of things, but I haven't eaten a lot of non-traditional things.

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles (How authentic? We buy ours at the Asian Market...)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed (Nori, at least.)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

So Far, So Good

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Mystery Stole keeps chugging along. I really didn't think I'd be able to keep up with my lofty goals (half a chart per day = ~2 hours knitting time) but I haven't missed one yet.



The real question is whether I can get ahead enough to make up for the day I'll miss when I go out of town on Saturday to a non-Mystery Stole-friendly event (only because I'll be visiting, not because it's not knitting friendly!) I'd also like to make sure it's pointed out that this is LAST year's Mystery Stole: the Swan Lake one, the asymmetrical winged one that I'm knitting symmetrically by knitting the first four clues twice.

Since my friend Jenna went off and moved to Duluth, the land of prettiness, my friend Courtney and I realized we were going to be shit out of luck if we needed to wind any yarn since she had been our resident ball winder and swift person. So we teamed up and I bought a ball winder and she a swift.



The ball winder doesn't seem like the sturdiest one in the world but it was only $28 at Joann.com, which I thought was a pretty decent deal. I'll try it out tonight and see if it falls apart.

Stranded

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Already posted pics on Ravelry but certainly don't want to forget about the blog.



Pattern: Cat Mittens
Yarn: Dalegarn Baby Ull
Needles: US 3 DPNs
Mods: Used US 3 needles instead of the recommended US 2.

I love these mittens! And I love doing stranded colorwork! I can't wait to start my Little Birds sweater but it seems that everyone else in the world is planning to make it as well because so many yarn stores online are out of the colors required. When I ordered, the site I ordered from said they had them in but I soon got an email saying they were out and waiting for more on its way from the UK. Should be here in a week or so.



Pattern: Elephante
Yarn: Scraps from Jenna. Thanks again, Jenna!
Needles: US 4 DPNs
Mods: Changed the striping, added a short row in the trunk to curve it up, and made the head much smaller because I was running out of yarn.

When I got to Duluth on our mini-vacation, I realized I had forgotten my knitting box at home... with my beads and beading crochet hook in it for the Mystery Stole. With nothing to knit on, Jenna tossed her stash and found me some scraps and I started Elephante. Today we're going to bring him to his new owner, little baby Grady who was born on 8/8/08.

While I wait for Little Bird's yarn I'm working on the Mystery Stole. Damn I hate that thing. I hate knitting with laceweight yarn and I would just frog it if I didn't have this stupid sense of needing to finish it. I will conquer this stupid thing! I've set up a schedule to follow so I can finish it before school starts next week, we'll see if I can follow it.

Almost forgot! My friend Courtney and I knit on Ice Cream Cozies while watching the Olympic Gymnastic All-Around last Thursday. I tried mine out with some Phish Food on Friday and it worked great: kept my fingers from freezing.



Pattern: Ice Cream Cozy
Yarn: Cascade Fixation, Lavendar
Needles: US 7 DPNs
Mods: None.

Vacation

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Now this is the life. No school, no homework, no working... just house projects, knitting, and reading books. Also, this week we went on a mini-vacation to see our friends Jenna and Brian who just moved to Duluth, MN.


We bought yarn.

Plymouth Yarn Co. - Happy Feet


Fibranatura - Yummy


Dale of Norway, Baby Ull for Cat Mittens


We knit on the beach...

(This is the body of an Elephante for a baby that was born on Friday. I best get my knitting priorities straight and finish this little guy up!)

...and at waterfalls.



We ate delicious food.

We saw beautiful sights.

And now I'm home again with nothing to do but knit mittens in the middle of summer. Finished the first one this morning. I think I have a new favorite knitting technique... One step closer to Venezia!





(For those of you who use a feed aggregater: sorry for the triple post! Edited spelling and dumbness.)