My Year of Yarn

Obsession, part 2

2010-11-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

There has been knitting, and lots of it. But it is secret knitting because it is for Christmas. So I'll go along and talk more about the writing process.

I've almost put the entire first book to bed. It has been edited three times, many spots reworked, some stuff added, some subtracted. As soon as the final polish is done it will be time to start working on query letters, a synopsis and an outline that prospective agents ask for.

I'm really excited and scared to death. I love this story. I love the characters, the plot, the action and the romance. I want to share it with the world.

What if no one wants to read it?

I know all authors and writers go through this. They pour out their hearts and souls into their work, they care for them like children, and want to believe that their baby is the smartest, prettiest and most talented of all. They hope and pray that when someone else looks at it they'll see the Gerber Baby and not something that looks like a miniature Winston Churchill.

The writing process has been interesting. The first draft, while a major accomplishment, is really only the first in a long series of steps. Rewriting is where all the hard work is done. I went page by page and looked at every word, every mark of punctuation and every sentence. Then I read it as a whole and looked for inconsistencies and plotholes. My husband (also a writer) and I are going through it chapter by chapter right now to give it a final polish. We have about 6 chapters to go.

Except for a small lapse of time when I was sick, I have been thrilled with the whole experience. Writing this novel has been the best thing I have ever created and I am so proud of myself. I always wanted to be a writer and up until last April, that's exactly what I was: a wannabe.

Now? I'm on fire. I started the second novel in the series Sunday night and have already completed the first chapter. I wish I could sit home all day and work on it. Maybe someday, I'll have that luxury, but for now? I'll just daydream like I used to do in school. Not very productive, but endlessly satisfying.

Obsession

2010-11-15T21:50:00.000-05:00

And its not what you think. This post is not about yarn.

I think I mentioned before I wrote a novel. I am in the editing process and my deadline to start looking for an agent is January 1. That means I have to have the whole thing polished and shining like a monkey's ass (my husband's favorite expression), have the query letters written, a synopsis and outline complete, and be ready to start shoving my baby in people's faces.

Writing this novel has been an amazing experience. From the day I got my idea and bolt of inspiration (March 31, 2010, approximately 4:30 p.m.) through today I can't say I've ever loved doing anything more. I am what you might call obsessed. The story, the plot, the characters have all but consumed me; they are all I can think about. The soundtrack I've compiled plays over and over in my head.

Let's just say going to work is very, very hard.

It's a curious place to be, one that I often find myself. Ever since I learned to read on my own I've been absorbed by the characters in books. I long to experience their world, and have often put myself in their story. I wonder if it's something most people would understand, or if they would just think I need to get a social life. Well, that's probably true, but my sort of social life usually pales in comparison to the world I've created in my head.

I've already started to outline the first few chapters of the next novel. It's a series, did you know? Well, don't worry, most people don't. I'm waiting for my moment to arrive and then I'll step up and tell the world about it.

My good luck charm.

Very Bad Poetry, or, The Yarn that Lied

2010-11-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

Ever read this book?

Very Bad Poetry by Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras

I actually bought this book at the University of Nebraska Bookstore when I was in Lincoln visiting a friend who was in Law School there. My friend Paula and I took turns reading from it on the drive back to Minneapolis. In between great, shuddering, tear-inducing gasps of laughter, that is. If I remember correctly, the introduction remarked that it is very easy to write mediocre poetry, but it takes a special talent to be truly, completely and utterly bad.

There are some real gems here. "Ode to a Mammoth Cheese" is one that sticks in my mind. Then there was "An Elegy to a Dissected Puppy," and "I Found a Corpse with Golden Hair." But the one they deemed the worst poem ever written is "A Tragedy" by Theophilis Marzials. I reproduce it for your reading pleasure now:

Death! Plop.

The barges down in the river flop.

Flop, plop.

Above, beneath.

From the slimy branches the grey drips drop,
As they scraggle black on the thin grey sky,
Where the black cloud rack-hackles drizzle and fly
To the oozy waters, that lounge and flop
On the black scrag piles, where the loose cords plop,
As the raw wind whines in the thin tree-top.

Plop, plop.

And scudding by

The boatmen call out hoy! and hey!
All is running water and sky,

And my head shrieks -- "Stop,"

And my heart shrieks -- "Die."

* * * * *
My thought is running out of my head;
My love is running out of my heart,
My soul runs after, and leaves me as dead,
For my life runs after to catch them -- and fled
They all are every one! -- and I stand, and start,
At the water that oozes up, plop and plop,
On the barges that flop
And dizzy me dead.
I might reel and drop.
      Plop.
      Dead.
And the shrill wind whines in the thin tree-top
      Flop, plop.

A tragedy, indeed.

Sock knitting continues apace, and I am waiting for some drool-worthy sock yarn I bought on Etsy. I wanted to make some warm wool socks for myself and I had some worsted weight wool called "Poems." I bought it at an undisclosed LYS (not Gabriella's!) and thought it rather pretty. I'm a sucker for pink and green and I bought these two skeins that showed dark limey green and hot pink. It was kind of bright, but I thought I could do something funky with it. I pulled it out last week and started knitting with it. And lo and behold, I have for you Very Bad Socks:

Do you see that? The skein was only half pink and green. After that it turned rusty orange and then blue! And the second skein didn't even start in the same place so the socks don't even match each other. They are the ugliest socks in all of creation.

The yarn lied to me. I was incensed when I unwrapped the orange! Who puts these colors together? I looked them up on the Internet and it said "Poems" is made by Universal Yarns and features artistic colors which shade easily from one color to the next! I think I have found yarn that is not just mediocre. It is bad. It is ugly! They are the yarn equivalent of Theophilus Marzials' poetic creations. The yarn itself is nice, and I will wear the socks around the house because the are warm and rather soft. But these suckers will never see the light of day. They are meant to be worn in the dark.

Don't stare too long - it could burn out your retinas.

2010-11-06T23:28:00.000-04:00

Knitting has been happening, but I am working on Christmas presents at the moment so I don't feel I can discuss them in case the wrong person reads this.

I can talk about cooking, though.

My husband, Kosta, loves to cook. Luuuuuuuurves it, really. And he is damn fine at it. His big passion in life is being in the kitchen on weekends and making delicious messes which he cleans up by himself.

Yes, I know exactly how lucky I am.

This, for instance, is Shrimp Piraeus. It is a rustic Greek stew with tomatoes, pimentos, shrimp and scallops. Those white squares you see are melting blocks of feta cheese. It is served over rice and might just be the best thing I've ever had in my mouth.

But look at this. These are his lamb-kebabs he marinates all day and then skewers with onions and peppers before grilling to perfection. He makes an incredible yogurt sauce to go with this that can make a grown woman weep with pleasure.

Is this sounding sexual? Hmm... it wasn't on purpose. No one tell Dr. Freud.

Did I mention he makes killer chili?

He spends a lot of time in the kitchen because he loves it. He could spend all day chopping vegetables, searing meat, and making sauces. It's his thing. And while I like cooking too, I don't get to do it very often. But yesterday I did. He had to work while I had the day off. We finally got our first taste of cooler weather and I decided to make a hearty supper.

This is it. I made baked pork chops with apples and onions, garlic and Parmesan twice baked potatoes and glazed carrots. I was reminded that I am a damn fine cook myself even if I don't get the chance that often. I am a killer baker and can turn out cakes, pies, brownies and cookies like no one's business. I think I got my good cook genes from my grandmother who reportedly made the best cheeseburgers in Minneapolis way back when she cooked at the Crystal Cafe. I must be channeling her, because I seem to have an instinct, if only once in a while.

Eh...

2010-11-03T15:42:00.000-04:00

Busier-than average week at work and editing my book every night has left little time for knitting. I sneak it in when I can. I am almost finished with the second Robin's Egg sock. Here is how I do it:

I knit:

in the car while husband drives us to and from work
at lunch
on breaks
a little after dinner while we are still watching TV.

As a couple with no children, we don't do dinner very well. We mostly make something quick and dirty then eat it in front of the TV while we watch something. Lately it has been a back and forth between the Office Season 6 (We didn't see it last year, in fact we hardly watch actual television programming at all anymore.) mixed with Absolutely Fabulous. Oh, how we howl over AbFab. We're watching series 4 (courtesy of Netflix) and we just saw the one where Edina drags her daughter Saffy to Paris for a photo shoot. Deplorable, ridiculous fun. Not for the easily offended. Perfect for us.

Of course, I've watched all the Bones I could on Netflix Instant Watch. Instead of waiting for us to finish an AbFab disc and send it back in, I upped our subscription so we can have 2 discs at a time. It was only $4 extra a month, and I have a feeling we'll use it. I adore Bones. What's not to love? You've got forensic anthropology, and eye candy. (For most girls that would be delivered in the shape of David Boreanaz, but I happen to have inappropriate lust for T.J. Thyne who plays Dr. Jack Hodgins, the slime and bugs expert.)

I never claimed to be normal.

No photos or anything today, and I realize this is a detriment to any blog posts. But I just wanted to check in and let you (the one person who reads this) know I'm alive.

Knit Night at Gabriella's

2010-10-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

I did hit Gabriella's Yarn Shop for Knit Night last Wednesday. Since we are managing with one car these days I had to drop off Kosta at home, change, and then whisk myself off to a couple hours of relaxing, knitting, and chatting with the ladies.

This is Gabriella.

She is the delightful owner. She used to work in banking, or investments or something that had to do with numbers, worked long hours and dressed in suits every day. Now she wears Converse sneakers, gets to knit a lot, and often brings her dog to work. (Lily is a Maltese puppy and one of the cutest things I've ever seen. As soon as I get a pitcure I will post it.)

Here you can see Gabriella slyly engaging in product placement. Her husband has an import business and the energy drink she is sipping is one of Mr. Gabriella's products. What? You can't read it? Hmmm... I'll have to try harder next time.

Here are the rest of the ladies. And I am terrible with names, so please don't ask. But I can tell you something about each woman sitting at this table. The lady on the left with the short curly hair just had her first grandbaby this year. The lady sitting to her left in the peachy-orange shawl is a whiz at all kinds of needlework. She was nalbinding and hand spinning that night - neither of which I had seen done before. Nalbinding is an ancient form of knitting, although you can't really call it knitting per se, because it is done with a large needle (usually bone) and not two sticks like the modern form of knitting.

The lady on the far right in the blue t-shirt is knitting a really cool shawl/scarf made up of a bunch of circular shapes. She and I have the same phone and bonded over that. (I was sitting in the chair next to her that is now pushed back and vacant).And the lady in the white with her back to us is of Ukranian descent and is originally from Rhode Island.

We sat and chatted for a couple of hours. I have to admit that I don't get out often and it was nice to be with people who weren't coworkers or my husband. A strong hermit gene runs in one side of my family and I often have to consciously push myself out into social situations. It's not that I have fear of social situations - not at all... I love to meet people and go places. I just have a bad habit of letting my homebody nature take over and I forget to get out there. I've been two weeks running now and will defnintely go back.

Conversation is light and fun. It runs the gamut to where we are from (Hardly anyone in Florida is actually from Florida, especially in a touristy place like Naples), to family, health, pets, yarn stashes, phone companies, Halloween, kids, grandkids, pretty much anything you could think of. And you get to see what everyone is working on. Lots of fun!

Gabriella has many beautiful things in her shop, and I love to walk around, squeeze and fondle. (The yarn, people, I'm talking about the yarn.) At the moment I have been put on a yarn diet, which I am not happy about, but we have some possibly big expenses coming our way in the next few months and need to tighten the belt. It's not something I can talk about at the moment, but I can tell you that no, I'm not pregnant. It's a little sad, because I don't have nearly the stash size someone should for a proper yarn diet. It's like making a 5'4" girl who weighs 130 pounds go on a diet. Probably won't kill her if it doesn't go on too long, but she really doesn't need it.

Oh well, perhaps our fortunes will change soon. If I could just get that novel edited and sold for a jillion dollars I could buy a whole house and fill it with just sock yarn. How's the editing going, you ask? Ahem... well, it hasn't for the past few weeks. But I plan to get back on that editing horse tomorrow (my one day off this week). I don't know why I've been balking at working on it. I guess things have been a little crazy with work and dealing with some health issues. So I've been feeling tired and a little bummed out lately. But I hope I can kickstart myself again tomorrow.

Sock Yarn Fever

2010-10-27T14:40:00.000-04:00

I made a mistake.

I logged into my Etsy account today to leave some feedback on some incredible thick and thin yarn that was delivered to me.

Isn't it gorgeous? The color is called "Shabby Chic" and I bought it from ilashdesigns, and after I left glowing praise in her feedback I did a bad thing.

I went shopping for sock yarn.

I spent all of my break and a little extra just clicking through pictures of sock yarn. Handspun, hand-dyed, superwash, variegated, you name it, it's out there waiting to be purchased. Did you know there is such a thing as a Sock of the Month Club? I could have sock yarn sent to my home once a month for the next year for a mere $325! (Ahem...I believe my husband might stroke out if he watched me plunk down that much money for yarn all at one time.) I tried not to, but I think I drooled on my keyboard a little. And as I found out on the first day of a new job once, liquid in your keyboard is a bad, bad thing. I must be more careful.

But here is the important thing: I did not purchase anything! Even though I could hardly stand it, I believe I showed nerves of steel. So all I did was waste a little time. (Shhh...don't tell my boss.)

Book Reviews
I checked out three knitting books last week that are new to the library. And each one of them I want to own. Is that too much? Probably. Will I buy them all? Eventually. Will I tell you about them? Absolutely.

More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book
(September 1, 2010)

I want that hat on the cover. Screw being a grown-up if I can't have that hat.I want a pointy elf hat to wear when I'm feeling mischievous. I even just received the perfect thick and thin yarn for it!

Besides the hat on the cover, this book is packed with adorable, cute, and fun gifts to make spanning from the 2-hour to more than 8-hour gifts. Some of the projects include fashionable hot coffee cup sleeves, soft baskets, a big lace scarf done on US 17 needles with chunky yarn, and a gorgeous cabled cowl. Wish I could wear cowls, but I was blessed with having very little neck - turtlenecks, cowls and such make me look like a potato head.

Oh yes, the hat will be mine.

Knitting Mochimochi: 20 Super-Cute Strange Designs for Knitted Amigurumi by Anna Hrachovec
Watson-Guptill (June 29, 2010)

Can you stand the cuteness? Look at the cover! This books is full of patterns to create your very own amigurumi. An amigurumi is a Japanese stuffed toy that is either knitted or crocheted. They can either be animals or inanimate object with anthropomorphic features (Think a couch with eyes.)

I was very impressed with this book. It was right up my alley with colors, shapes, and ideas. The weirdness was just a bonus. Someone (Anna Hrachovec, bless her odd little heart) actually came up with a pattern to knit a pig in a wig, and a squirrel on wheels. Count me in!

The pictures of the finished products are cute as the dickens, but the photos with demonstration techniques are extremely well done as well. My absolute favorite was the confused moose:

Is he not the cutest thing? Look at all those little tiny birds! If I ever wanted to make something so cute I could rot my teeth while knitting I may have found it. I give it five squees on the shriek-o-meter.

I also loved the Feet Eaters slippers that are featured in the middle of the cover. How awesome would those be for a kid? I wish I was the slipper wearing type, but sadly, they make my feet all sweaty. Ever since I was a kid and had Mickey Mouse slippers, I couldn't abide them.

Knits Men Want: The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting for a Man Plus the Only 10 Patterns She'll Ever Need by Bruce Weinstein.
STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book (April 1, 2010)

A book on knitting for men by a man! And Bruce Weinstein tells it to you straight in this book full of classic patterns for the man in your life, whether husband, brother, dad, or boyfriend. His rules head each chapter and are basic common sense (I'm a big fan). For instance, the chapter for the basic pullover sweater (featured on the cover) is titled, "Men Resist Change." Others include, "Men Are Babies," "Men are Oblivious," and my personal favorite, "Not All Men Are Worth Cashmere."

I have heard the urban legends. I know that if you knit something for your boyfriend and give it to him the relationship is doomed. I've had friends who have had this happen. It doesn't always happen immediately, but somewhere down the road the other shoe (or knitted slipper) will drop. And women, with all of their good intentions, will often knit something that is what she wants to see him wear, and not actually what he would want to wear. That's why I like this book. It pokes fun at men and their simplistic ways but also delivers the message that when knitting for men, simple and basic are the best bet. Weinstein also points out that simple and basic don't have to be boring either.

I've already knit socks for my husband. I hope we make our two year anniversary!

On the Needles
My Robin's Egg sock is coming along. I have turned the heel and am now knitting the gussets. I love this yarn. The colors are so subtle and lovely. I'm going to Knit Night at Gabriella's this evening and am bringing it with me in the hopes that it will soon be done.

I don't actually have a real camera at the moment, so I am taking all of my pictures on my phone. I have a Droid X and I love it. It takes pretty good pictures too. The above was taken using this app I downloaded called Retro Camera. The pictures get a vintage flair, and there are several "cameras" to choose from.

Birds on Wires, socks, and other sundries

2010-10-26T20:45:00.002-04:00

Bird from a Wire

I have a wonderful friend from high school named Jen.

She was always either drawing or had her nose stuck in a book.

<= This is Jen back in high school. I hope she doesn't kill me. (I could kill her... look at those gorgeous natural curls.)

One of my favorite memories of Jen was a Halloween party we threw together. She lived on a hobby farm in Minnesota, and we decided to clean out the granary and have the party there. We blasted the Doors, cleaned up and decorated. The party was great, but mostly I remember sweeping the floor with my friend who understood my need for classic rock.

We had lots of stuff in common. We both read like mad, loved art (although she was the more talented one when it came to the actual practice of drawing, painting, etc.) and shared a very developed talent for procrastination. (Too bad you couldn't letter in it.)

Jen is now a mother to one of the cutest kids in the world, and a mixed media artist with her own successful Etsy shop, a really excellent blog, and she just published her first book!

It goes on sale November 17. I am so proud of Jen. She has really done some amazing things with her art in the past few years. Let's see:

Successful Etsy shop with over 168 sales? Check.

A really though-provoking blog with a great voice and interesting topics? Check.

A fabulous artistic sensibility? Check.

A published book? Check.

She has been working hard, being persistent, and turning out really beautiful things. I am glad to claim her as a friend and wish her many successes in the future!

Go pre-order her book today! You'll be glad you did.

Socks

I finished KAK's sock last weekend and I was so proud! I made him don them and pose for pictures immediately.

And while he was lovingly wiggling his toes in the toasty comfort a dropped stitch in the toe ran all the way back down the top of his foot. I was mortified. I was crushed.

I was pissed beyond belief.

I undid the Kitchener stitch graft on the toe (which is NOT easy, especially the fumbling one I made), and worked back to ladder up the dropped stitch with a crochet hook. (And now it looks a little rough and bumpy.) I sewed the toe back up and proceeded to yank on it every which way to make sure the stitches were securely fastened before giving them back to him. And all is well in sock land, although I feel my confidence in the Kitchener Stitch to be less that magnificent.

But undaunted, I cast on another sock immediately. This time I am making a pair for myself out of some amazing Madeleine Tosh sock yarn in Robin's Egg. My heart does a skip every time I look at the color. I am just about ready to start the heel flap.

The sock pattern I am using is from an awesome book on knitting socks that I highly recommend. Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd. I think I bought it at Joann's or Michael's last winter and I love it. Excellent pictures demonstrate steps, and the directions are clear and easy to follow. And after you get the basics she has several pages of stitch patterns to make your socks even more pretty!

I think I might just knit socks for the rest of my life. Another convert has crossed to the dark side. At least everyone's feet are warm.

A Craft Room of One's Own
When we moved into our house three years ago (we're renting, but it's still a house) my husband graciously allowed the extra bedroom to be a craft room for me. (Of which he reminds me. Constantly.) I bought an old unmatched dining room table at a secondhand shop for a workspace, plus I have a couch, and desk where I alternately set my computer or sewing machine.

But this room has not been treated well. Yes, I love having a space for all my craft supplies, but having a full-time job does not let me use the room as I would like. Most often the room becomes a dumping ground for all the "stuff" we don't know what else to do with. Papers, books, the cooler, Christmas cookie tins, odds and ends, and my parents have all been stashed in there at one time or another until it isn't a craft room anymore.

It's a crap room.

When I began this blog it was to really help me focus on one art form for a year to help me stop bouncing from one media to another. I've always needed focus and the crap room was only feeding the fire. I would try to pick up but be distracted by this gizmo or that ball of yarn or that pretty paper or that colorful fabric. My head would swim and I would be wanting to work with them all at once.

In the past few months I've been thinking about what crafts I really like to do, which ones I do well, and perhaps which ones I might want to let go. And it hasn't been too hard to winnow the wheat from the chaff. So last weekend I had a day to myself on Saturday (KAK was at work), so I decided to start overhauling.

Here is what I was starting with:

Here is the wheat I decided to keep:
My knitting supplies (Well, duh...)
My mosaic supplies (Hemmed and hawed over that one, but I do love doing it, just haven't had the time.)
My needlework supplies (Really not that much there, and those dishtowels I wanted to embroider with saucy mottoes is still on my to-do list.)
My fabric (Don't have that much anyway. Just one plastic bin full.
My sewing machine (Because it really comes in handy, and I make one hell of a shower curtain.)

And here is the chaff I decided to get rid of:
My stamps (As much as I admit they were fun, they take up a lot of room and I have barely used them since I moved to Florida. My mom can give them a good home and I can get visitation rights even if she has sole custody.)
My card making supplies (Ditto.)
My scrapbooking supplies (Ditto.)

In all, I have three boxes of things going to my mother (who isn't nearly as thrilled about it as my father is.) and two boxes of miscellaneous items going to the Goodwill.

I realize that some purging was wise, but I don't know if I'm done yet. I guess I'll have to live with it (and actually in it) for a while to know if I need to go further. I hope it will help my focus.

I'll post pictures of the re-organized room when I get a daylight opportunity to take some photos. It doesn't look too much different to the untrained eye, but I know what I'm looking at.

(That didn't sound nearly as convincing as I had planned.)

A hard fall

2010-10-19T12:54:00.000-04:00

And I'm not talking about tripping and toppling over. Even though I do that. A lot. Thanks for the klutz genes, Mom.

No, the fall I am referring to would be the season. Autumn. Where you get crisp fresh air, brilliant blue skies and thrumming reds, oranges and yellows on the trees. Growing up in Minnesota fall meant scarecrows, pumpkins, indian corn, apple harvests, and Sunday drives to see the leaves change. It meant long sleeves and sweaters dug out of bottom drawers, corduroy and wool. When the rains came they would hover all day gently splattering the sidewalks while the chains on the tether ball poles clanked in the stiff wind while I stared out classroom windows. Grandma would shine in her culinary glory turning out savory meatloaf, pot roast, and mashed potatoes. The smell of cinnamon and pumpkins and cloves filled her kitchen. My mother to this day makes the best apple pies I ever hope to inhale. I live for the day after Thanksgiving when the two of us start our Christmas shopping (yes, we are those people), but mostly because I get to have pie for breakfast.

This will be my fifth autumn living in southern Florida, where we live in our own little weather bubble that is completely separate from the rest of the country. As a sub-tropical climate we are now moving into our pleasant weather season. The heat usually comes at the end of April and stays with us until mid-October when we start to see drier, cooler air take the place of the stinking hot inferno that plagues us during the summer months.

I first moved to Florida right after Christmas of 2004 to begin my new job in January 2005. I was coming from New Hampshire and arrived to palm trees, warm breezes and sunny skies. My internal calendar was seriously thrown out of whack. For the first few months I would catch myself wondering where the heck Easter had gone, since the weather was just like a fine June day in Minnesota. It would take a moment to hit me that I hadn't lived through Easter yet - it was still just February. The first summer was unbearably hot... walking from apartment to car or from car to store/work/church was like walking through an oven and I did it as little as possible.

Five years down the road and I can tolerate summers much better. Air conditioning in my place of work is set to frigid so I often wear sweaters to work in June July and August. Going out to the car in a sweater doesn't even make me blink now. That first year if it had been socially acceptable to strip naked to go outside, well, I still wouldn't do it, but it would have been close.

However, in exchange for delightfully warm winters I have traded seasons. Leaves don't noticeably turn, flowers bloom year-round, and the best time for shelling on the beaches is the middle of January and February. I miss all of the wonderful things that make autumn special. And that's what makes a hard fall for me.

Instead of this:

I get this all year:

I know, paradise, right? Most people think so. And it is beautiful, I would never deny it. But most people come here for 2 weeks and sigh over its beauty and then go home. Nature is beautiful no matter where on earth you are, and saying this is better than autumn leaves may be an opinion, but it isn't everyone's. It's all about what you don't have, isn't it? I want cooler weather and leaves changing colors, while folks up north are digging in for winter and longing to escape to a tropical paradise for a few weeks in February.

It's like Eddie Izzard said about squirrels: They sit around eating nuts all day when what they really long for is a grapefruit.

You're probably wondering to yourself why I am prattling on about the weather in a blog about knitting. Though it doesn't take a great leap to understand why it might be hard to get in the knitting mood in Florida. When it is still in the 90's in December and you are sweating like a pig while Christmas shopping it is pretty hard to drum up holiday cheer. Why knit sweaters or mittens, scarves or hats when you never get to wear them? Or if you do, it is maybe one or two days a year at the most? That's not so hard to get, is it?

So why not move? Follow my wool-swaddled heart back north? Ah, there lies the crux of the problem. I am now married to a wonderful man who grew up in Miami. We've talked about relocating to this place or that, but it always comes back to how he loves the weather here so much that it would be hard for him to live anywhere else. I can sympathize, and since I don't miss winter too much I am mostly content to stay here for the time being.

But it does seem that my longing for seasonal changes grows sharper every year. And my instincts to nest always kick in around the end of September, no matter what the thermometer says outside.

As far as knitting goes, I find ways to adapt. I knit with cotton. I knit dishcloths and bags that don't require wearing. Cotton socks can be comfortable year round. And when I get an urge to make something like a scarf or a hat, I still have lots of friends in cold climes who hopefully appreciate my handmade gifts.

The second sock is moving along. I am probably 5-6 inches through the ankle/cuff part. Editied Chapter 12 of my book last night. Life keeps moving forward.

Reunited and it feels so good

2010-10-18T14:41:00.001-04:00

Dang. Now I'm going to have that song in my head all day. I have realized over the years that there are people who are predisposed to having songs perpetually stuck in their heads, and those who don't. I fall in the former category and some days long to be in the latter. How does one manage with all that quiet empty space to rattle around in? I would find it luxurious. As it stands, things are packed in pretty tight in my brain. The song I sing in my head twines around grocery lists, things to do at work, appointments, book plots, and all sorts of flotsam and jetsam that are better left...erm, unaccounted for.

So I've taken a bit of a hiatus. To be fair, in the months I've been not writing here I did write a novel. Yup. I got the thunderbolt of inspiration at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. I wrote the first draft in 12 weeks. I am currently working on my third and hope to be finito by then end of the year and be ready to start looking for agents. Because of that, all my creative energy was sapped by said novel. It wasn't until the last month or so that I began to pick up the needles again.

It all started when I realized Christmas might be a bit lean this year. We are going to Oregon for a wedding in December, and the expense might put a crimp in our usual budget. (Not that I really mind, one of my husband's best friends is getting married, and I can't think of two people for whom I would be more inclined to travel cross country in December.)

So Christmas. Lean on funds. Not a problem! Mom loooooves the dishcloths I've knitted her out of cotton and those would be a nice bulky stocking stuffer, right? Problem was, I only had slubs left of my balls of cotton. We were leaving for a long weekend in Orlando, so I grabbed a pair of needles and made KAK stop at my LYS to pick up a skein or two of cotton yarn. And I ended up knitting my Mom a beautiful lacy turquoise scarf to which I crystal beaded the ends. (Pictures to follow.)

I was back, baby.

The next thing I did was look through my stash and pick something I thought was pretty and decided to make a felted bag. I used leftover turquoise I used for my Kable needle case earlier this year and 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon I bought sometime this summer. Forget the colorway at the moment, but it was lovely dark blues and purples with a little green thrown in. Here is the finished product:

I am pleased with this one. I felted it in the washing machine by putting it in a pillowcase slipcover. Worked like a dream. The only thing I could find to block it was our old Revere soup kettle. That too, worked perfectly.

And now onto bigger and better things. Earlier this year when I began this blog, I mentioned wanting to make more complicated things than just endless scarves. I finally decided it was time. The stars were aligned, my horoscope was good, my biorhythms were optimal... it was time to knit socks.

I've been wanting to knit socks ever since I started reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Yarn Harlot blog. Wherever she goes on her book tours, she brings a sock she is knitting. It gets its picture taken countless times with many people. Hundreds of people have brought their first socks to show her and she posts pictures of every one of them. When I was a misguided teen with terrible fashion sense, I felt it was super-cool to match my socks with my shirt. I had socks of every color, socks with fabric paint squiggles, tie-dyed socks, I even had a pair of pink socks with zippers on them. (It was the 80's. Sue me.) But when I started reading Stephanie's blog and I saw the gorgeous sock in drool-worthy colors, I knew this was something I wanted to do.

But socks seem daunting. Just uttering the phrase "turning the heel," made me break out in nervous sweat. Earlier this year I had bought a basic book on knitting socks, and last weekend I sat down to start. I decided to make my first sock on dpns (double-pointed needles) because it is the classic way to do things. I am nothing if not classicist first.

So just over a week ago I cast on. I had been intimidated by casting on dpns in the past. I'd tried it a couple of times using different suggestions, but always ended up with a knot of yarn in my hands and a knot of frustration in my head. This time I decided to do it a way that made sense to me. I cast on all 68 stitches onto one single dpn, and then knit them off with each needle in turn. Ha! Conquered you, dpns!

I've always been one who reads directions. From assembling furniture to baking, I've always been adept at deciphering schematics and could successfully put the cam locks in board E so I could bolt it to board C. So I shouldn't have been shocked when I was able to easily navigate the steps for knitting a sock. Even when sick in bed with a sinus infection and bronchitis I did it. The heel flap didn't get me. Picking up stitches was a breeze. And even though I think I mucked up the kitchener stitch on the toe a bit, I did it!

Behold, my first sock:

I used Patons Kroy Sock yarn. The colorway was a number I forget, but it has muddy greens, browns, and tans. And that is not my hairy leg, by the way. That belongs to my husband. Please disregard the rest of the mess, I was sick for a week and our house it not fit for other eyes.

It isn't a perfect sock. The ribs are a little uneven, and I decreased too fast in the gusset, but it is a whole sock, and pretty good for a first try. I hope its not too forward to say I want to show my sock to the Yarn Harlot. Hope she writes another book and goes on tour soon so I can do just that.

Second sock was cast on yesterday. It will probably be prettier than the first. I worry the first sock my be jealous of its better constructed twin, but it can take heart in knowing it was the first, and therefore, just a little more special to me than any subsequent more beautiful socks that may follow.

Aching for Yarn (pink yarn)

2010-03-23T21:42:00.000-04:00

I have been having issues with lace weight. Apparently I think I am a master yarner and that I can do anything that anyone else with years of knitting experience can throw down.

I must remember that I have only been seriously knitting for a few months. I must also remember that while I am deft and dexterous at crafts that everything will not come easy.

What? You mean I'm not special???

Oh dear. No one tell my mother. She'll be crushed.

I did buy two types of lace weight yarn with the idea that I am going to make a beautiful lace shawl ala the Yarn Harlot. Please don't laugh. I forget myself. You will be relieved to know that I did remember myself - over and over each time I began again, messed up, and ripped out.

I even chose a relatively easy pattern. I am trying (like hell) to make the Gypsy Rose Scarf. I cast on countless times, and apparently am unable to count to 63, because I always ended up with either too many or too few stitches at the end of one of the first rows. It was maddening. I thought it might be the needles, so I switched from metal to bamboo. Bamboo was worse - the yarn gripped too much. I figured it out finally, that I wasn't getting the pattern because I couldn't see it as well on such skinny yarn.

So to get the hang of the dang pattern, I switched to a worsted weight yarn on size 7 needles. And lo and behold, the pattern finally made sense! I could see the stitches, and I could see what they looked like when I was working the pattern.

So now I have moved down in yarn size. I purchased 2 skeins of Crystal Palace Bamboo Silk in a pretty pale pink color. It came today, and I immediately started working with it. Oh, I am in love! The yarn is so shiny, and so small and smooth that it makes my heart ache. I love it so much that I would marry it if polygamy was allowed in Florida. And I started knitting the scarf:

It doesn't convey the sheen of the yarn, or the way my heart does a little flip-flop every time I touch it. But now that I have the pattern, I am going to make a whole dang scarf out of the fingering weight. Maybe by that time I'll be more comfortable with skinny little yarns, that I'll be able to tackle lace weight and not pull out my hair.

March Madness

2010-03-11T13:13:00.000-05:00

Sadly, my March Madness has nothing to do with basketball. Work is crazy, with more and more work being piled on us. And my personal time is spent mostly by working on a writing project that my group is desperately trying to make come to fruition. And what little time I have left over I give to sleep, a little reading, and a little knitting.

I knit to and from work while my husband drives. I knit on my breaks and lunch hours. I knit when it isn't my turn typing with the writers' group. And I knit while I am waiting for my turn in the shower in the mornings.

What am I working on? Mostly still the cinema shawl. I really am glad I ripped the whole thing out and started over. I have knit through three balls this second time around, and I think I have just one mistake. (While I always hope for perfection, I also realize I would not want to incur the wrath of the knitting goddess. Athena once turned a woman's children into spiders because she claimed she could weave better than the goddess.)

I am still working on the shawl. It is getting boring. It is straight garter stitch, and I seem to have fallen into the black hole of knitting of which I have heard other speak. I knit. And knit, and knit knit knit knit knit knit knit knitknitknitknitknitknit. And it never seems to grow, or look like I am getting anywhere close to being finished.

I have no pictures of the shawl, and I fear that there may not be any forthcoming anytime soon. I have to work both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Perhaps when I finally get a day off on Monday I will be able to share photos of my work.

For now, my life seems a blur, and I really hope something will come along soon to let me catch my breath. I'm tired.

Ravelympics completed!

2010-03-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

The Olympic officially ended last Sunday, and I finished my Ravelympics project on Saturday. My Kable needle case is complete, and currently housing my 14 inch needles. I am not as pleased as I had hoped. The cables came out lovely, and I like the colors, but the felting did not go as well as I had hoped. I followed the directions carefully too. Maybe I just need more experience with felting. In the directions it told me to weave a length of yarn down both long sides of the piece, and pull them up so they were sort of accordianed. And it worked - on one side. On the other, the yarn broke and the accordian unfolded, and the edge got all rippled.

I have to remind myself that I am still a beginner, and that these things will improve with practice. Which is difficult to do when another part of my brain is screaming, "No! Perfection! Now! NOW!!!"

Sigh. Sometimes being a Virgo isn't so great.

Here is some lovely yarn I purchased:

It is Crystal Palace Merino 5 superwash in the color Violets. (Apparently I am on a purple and green kick as of late.) It is pretty much sock yarn, but I am working on making a shawl out of it. I am using the pattern for the Cinema Shawl from the blog Superknitter. I am using size 9 needles instead of 10.5. I started it last Friday, and I am almost through three skeins of yarn. And what am I going to do? I am going to frog it.

Uch. Such a Virgo.

Why would I do such a thing? It isn't because I don't like the pattern. I do. And it isn't because I don't like the yarn. I certainly do. It is because of all of the stupid mistakes I have made so far. For Lord's sake, this is a garter stitch shawl, and I am dropping stitches all over the place. So now I am going to frog it, start over, and every time I find I have dropped a stitch, I am going to fix it. I need to learn how to do this skill. Si tonight, you will find me ripping up my flawed work to try again.

Ha!

2010-02-20T12:59:00.002-05:00

He confessed to me at breakfast this morning that he ordered the Viking Frying Pan.

Guilt absolved.

Wool Piggie

2010-02-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

wool pig (n.) 1.a person who hogs handknits; 2. a person who buys too much yarn. 3. a pig in a sweater

That would be me. (The second definition, anyway.)

I first heard the term, "wool pig'" from The Yarn Harlot's blog, where one of her daughters called the other this term because they were arguing over who got a fabulous scarf their mother had just made.

This morning my husband (on his day off, mind you) got up at 5:30 a.m. He was checking the bank account online, and he saw a few of my yarn purchases. On a whim (read: let's just see how much she is spending) he added up what I have spent this month so far. He then (gleefully) sprang the total on me at breakfast: $138.

I was a little taken aback at the total. After all, it is only the 19th today. But then when he told me that he could buy a Viking frying pan for that price, I thought, "Aha! So this is what he wants. He wants justification to be able to spend a ridiculous amount of money on cookware." So when I told him to go ahead and do it, he said he wouldn't because we are trying to save for a trip to Greece.

Aha. He's trying to make me feel guilty. Well, it worked. I am properly shamed.

But it is hard! I keep finding things I want to make. For instance, I bought 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca laceweight in Cilantro Melange. I am going to make myself a nice little shawl out of it. I don't know why I am so desperate for a shawl. I found one in my Grandmother's things, and I have been wearing it around the house. I love the warmth it gives, even though it is full of holes. My grandmother must have made it in the 70's. It is white, and a crappy acrylic yarn (which is what most of the available yarn was in those days) and is crocheted. But I love it, and I want more.

I also bought 4 skeins of Crystal Palace Merino 5 in Violets. This is another shawl I am going to make. It will probably be the first one since it is a simpler pattern. And shut up. I do too need lots of shawls. It's been chilly around the house. It was 62 degrees inside when we woke up this morning. Getting out of the shower was a little brutal.

Anyway, the pattern I am going to use with the Crystal Palace Merino 5 is the cinema shawl. I was browsing through free patterns online when I ran into this one. It is pretty, and pretty simple. I am really excited to get started on it.

And I didn't just spend all that money on wool either. I bought 2 books as well.

The first is this one: The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting, by Nancy Queen and Mary Ellen O'Connell. It is a beginning knitter's book that has patterns for working on building different skills. (And yes, there are shawls in it.) I had checked the book out of the library and loved so many of the patterns I figured I might as well own it.

I don't know what I shall make first out of it. There is a really easy little felted clutch in it, and there is also a cute little stripey ribbed hat in it too. I suppose I will have to wait to make anything out of it since I would need to buy more yarn to do it. I don't think I should go down that path just now. Maybe next month.

The second book is another I had checked out of the library and I am completely smitten with it. It is called, Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Mandy Moore (no, not the singer) and Leanne Prain. I am totally enchanted by the idea of yarn bombing. That is where you "tag" public places in your hometown (or on vacation, or where ever) with little bits of handknit color. And you do it surreptitiously so people will be surprised when they come upon it. It really isn't vandalism, since you aren't defacing anything, just adding a bright, happy spot of color to the world. I just might try it, so look out!

Finally, I am working hard on my project for the Ravelympics. I finished knitting the body of my felted needle case last night. I am just working on weaving in the ends, and I'll probably felt it Sunday. In the meantime I can start working on the cables strips that hold the needles in place inside. Oooh, and I have to find buttons! Crap. How can I? Well, I can always scrabble through my button box. That was another thing I inherited from my Grandmother. I don't know if there are any appropriate for this project, but we'll see. I have been enjoying watching the Olympics on TV as I knit. I used to just catch the figure skating, but this year I've been watching all sorts of fun stuff: downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, curling (!), and speed skating. I loved the snowboarding, I can't believe the height those men and women get on the half pipe.

I have to work tomorrow. (Craptastic!) So I won't be knitting all day. But next week I will have a three-day weekend. (Must. Not. Spend. Money.)

I'm taking up the torch!

2010-02-11T16:12:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite knitting bloggers (the Yarn Harlot) is once again hosting the Knitting Olympics, and I have decided to join the team. The object of the Knitting Olympics is to choose a project that will be challenging to complete. You are to cast on during the Opening Ceremonies (this Friday night!) and finish before the torch is extinguished. I am scared and excited.

I want to knit this:

It is called Flower Basket Lace Shawl, and I love it. I have always wanted a really pretty shawl, and I think I can tackle the pattern. Of course, I'm choosing a different color, because beige ain't my thing. I might do a pale pink, I don't know. I am going to buy the yarn tomorrow because (Hallelujah!) I have the day off.

I have also joined the Ravelympics at Ravelry.com. I will enter the same project there.

Otherwise, life is going on the same. Work is tough, time off precious, and knitting is great. After being engaged in knitting for a month here, I can really see the attraction. It is so meditative. I can sit and knit without TV, or music, or radio, and just be in the moment. This is a huge thing for someone like me who is a chronic worrier. Seriously. If worrying was an Olympic sport? Gold right here, baby. My poor little brain is more often than not turning things over and over, until my thoughts are as finely polished as tumbled rocks. Actually, I don't think the thoughts ever look that good. I am that person that will sit there and rework a conversation I have already had until it comes out to my satisfaction. I will spend hours coming up with things I should have said. And I will imagine future interactions with people, only they never come to pass the way I think they should. I ruminate...please send chocolate.

However, knitting does help with that. Every now and then I will have a night where my brain will not shut off, and I have to get up and read. If I don't I will toss and turn and fret that I am not sleeping. Perhaps in the future I can try knitting to quiet my mind. That might be nice.

All right. I am ready for my four day weekend now, please.

2010-02-07T12:19:00.001-05:00

It is a week now since we have returned from Minneapolis. I am back at work (though blessedly, not today) and we are returning to our normal routine. I still feel like bursting into tears at weird random moments, but I figure that is healthy considering. This week was rather emotionally draining, and I am glad I finally have a day of rest.

We aren't actually home a lot, my husband and I. We work late on Monday nights, Tuesdays and Thursdays we are at our friend/writing partner Sarah's house working on scripts, Thursday nights my husband has a standing dinner date with an elderly friend. Fridays we usually go out for dinner to celebrate the end of the work week. And during tourist season (January - Easter down here) one or the other of us is usually working on Saturday. Yesterday that would have been me.. So Sundays are generally for relaxing and thinking about all the housework we should be doing. I am in charge of the laundry and I think there is a mutiny forming in the closet. How can two people dirty so many clothes?

Sunday mornings we usually make breakfast and a large pot of coffee, then read. Kosta is a nut for Greek history and usually surrounds himself with the book he is reading plus all of the other resources he needs to check foot notes. He is a huge nerd and I love him for it. I will most likely be found reading either historical or young adult fiction. I am thisclose to finishing Fire by Kristin Cashore. So good.

I have been working on a birthday present for my good friend Beth, which I finished and would love to post a picture here, but it will have to wait until after her birthday on the 15th. After I finished this present, I whipped up this cute little dishcloth I found the pattern for amongst my friend April's Ravelry projects. It knits up so fast, and it is totally useful, even here in Florida. I think I might make a bazillion of these. I bet they will make great stocking stuffer. (I know it is February. Shut up.)

I also finally have pictures of the teapot hot pad and coaster set I finally finished. I actually finished it before I got sick, but I never got around to taking a picture of it until this morning. I really set up the shot too. I photographed it outdoors on our lanai (that's Floridian for patio) because the light was good. I brought out a nice tablecloth and set up the set with the teapot and coasters. Well, you be the judge.

I mostly like it, but it was my first foray into felting. I did the felting in the washing machine, and it took two runs through before it looked like it had shrunk enough. But I didn't think about weaving in the ends before I did it. I don't know why I didn't. I can't imagine weaving them in post felt. Silly me. Anyway, the loose ends got all tangled together and made the coasters pull out of shape a little. Most of them were able to be fixed, but some of them I think will have permanent over-pointy corners. Lesson learned.

Still, I am more or less pleased with the effort. Now let's see if I will ever use them. (My suspicion in the hotpad will be, but the coasters will go to the cupboard to die a slow death of neglect. Shh... don't tell them!)

I also took a picture of another project I made a few years ago. It was a scarf I was making for a friend who moved to Montana, but I lost touch with her before the scarf was ever completed. (Obviously we weren't too close - I think it was more of an excuse to knit than anything else.) I found the scarf when I pulled out my knitting things in December. All I had left to do was put on the fringe and block it, which I did. Here is the finished product:

It was a simple basket weave scarf made out of purple yarn that if I remember correctly that half merino, half alpaca. It is lovely and soft with an almost magenta sheen to it when it hits the light. Well, it is something I can keep in my gift arsenal. (By the way, I just created my gift arsenal. There will be many dishcloths forthcoming to add to it.)

I didn't go back to Gabriella's Yarn Shop last week for the group knit. I was just too tired. (Still coughing a bit and all that.) I just sat on the couch, watched Bones and knit. I really hope to get back there next week. Lily the Maltese puppy must be photographed for your edification before she gets any bigger. Not that she will, being a Maltese, but she will lose her puppy cuteness. Weeks make a difference in Puppyland.

Grandma Eileen

2010-02-03T11:18:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted for a while because last week my grandmother passed away. I was home sick when my Dad called saying she had gone into the hospital, and that the doctors were saying we had better come. So I flew out last Tuesday and got to see her one last time before she passed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Her funeral was last Saturday, and I volunteered to speak a few words. The speech I gave is below.

My grandmother was wonderful and handwork of all kinds. She was a fantastic knitter, making me many sweaters as well as clothes for my dolls. She also crocheted, beaded, embroidered, and sewed. She was a remarkable woman. I inherited her large collection of knitting and crochet needles. Every time I use them I will think of her, and I will knit with the love she always did for me.

My grandmother was just sixteen days short of being on this earth 95 years. Woodrow Wilson was president when she was born, and she lived to see sixteen more men be sworn into the office. She lived through two world wars, and the Great Depression. She had two boys, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, two of whom just started college. It is a remarkable span of a lifetime.

I was fortunate to have my grandmother in my life for 35 years. As most of you know, she came to live with us when I was just a year old, and she was there with us until I was about 16 when she went to live at the Lilac Parkway Apartments. She has always been a part of my immediate family since I can remember. And when my mother went back to work she was the one who looked after me. She got me ready for school in the mornings, and was there after I came home from school. She took care of me when I was sick. I remember one time when she just wanted me to eat anything, and she sat there and mentally went through the entire contents of the kitchen until I was able to agree on something that sounded palatable. I think it was celery.

And even though she spent such a long time with us, she had a whole lifetime of memories and experiences by the time she reached her life with us. She used to tell me stories of her life as a little girl, and her grandparents and parents. Many people my age don’t know a lot of where they came from. I am rich in the knowledge of my heritage and family because of her.

Just like everyone, Grandma had challenges to face, some very difficult. Growing up in the Great Depression wasn’t easy for anyone.Grandma actually had to postpone graduating from high school so she could help work to support her family. She should have graduated in June of 1932. But because of her determination and independence, she graduated in January of 1933.

Obviously one of the greatest challenges Grandma faced was her paralysis. When she had her surgery in 1970, she didn’t know she would never walk again. And even though she spent forty years in a wheelchair, she didn’t let that stop her from living her life to the fullest. She travelled, she helped raise me, she lived on her own for the last 20 years of her life. She didn’t let anything stop her from doing what she wanted to do. I know that up until last month she was taking Metro Mobility up to Target to do her own shopping. She used to tell me that her father would tell her she was too darn independent. What a wonderful thing to be.

Grandma taught me many lessons in life. I know that even though deals hard knocks sometimes, it doesn’t do any good to complain. You just need to soldier on and get to the good times. She taught me that being independent is important. There is a certain pride and satisfaction in knowing you can do things for yourself. Crossword puzzles and reading keep the mind sharp. Always measure carefully when you bake.

I think the most important lesson she taught me was that it is always important to be kind. Warmth and sincerity are always the right path. And I think everyone here today can agree with me when I say that all these things made a great, great lady.

I love you, Grandma, and I'll think of you every day.

If I'm dead, this isn't heaven...

2010-01-23T14:18:00.000-05:00

I cannot shake this cold. It settled in my throat earlier this week and now I have no voice and a terrible dry cough. Vast tracts of blowing sands and acres of prickly cacti have sprouted in my throat. And I haven't been able to take sick time because it would short-staff us to the point of leaving one person on the Reference Desk for two days in a row. I can't do that to my coworkers.

For the past 2 nights I have awoken sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning in a fit of coughing that won't subside until I get up and make some tea with honey to sooth my vocal cords. I think it is entirely possible that I may have died in my sleep last night but if I did, I didn't go up. This afterlife that I am floating through like a jellyfish looks remarkably like a library with a Reference Desk I must staff and answer questions. And I know it must be hell because the questions seem stupider today. (More stupid? I'm stupid.)

I didn't go to my knitting group on Thursday...I stayed home. We didn't do anything last night....I laid on the couch. We're supposed to go to Sarah's tonight to write, but I have a feeling we'll bag that too. If I am, in fact, still alive, I will need to rest mightily before going back to work. Chicken soup, lots of fluids, blah, blah, blah.

Of course, no one tells you that when you are in the middle of an obsession and you get sick, that yearning for yarning doesn't go away. My husband calls my knitting "yarning" which I think is cute and endearing. But I was lying in bed like a good girl on Thursday night, resting my weary bones. I took a nap until about 8 when my Mom called. After that I lay there and thought about cabling. I knew the theory of how to do it, but I wanted to try. And I actually dragged my ass out of bed to knit. What is the matter with me? I did, by the way, my first swatch of cable. And everyone who told me about it is right - it is really easy.

So when I go home at 5 I am getting chicken soup. I am going to go home and have dinner. Then I am going to try to fight the urge to knit and actually get some rest.

I really hope I'm not dead. I thought heaven would be full of hand-dyed, hand-spun cashmere.

Frog of a different kind

2010-01-21T08:43:00.000-05:00

The cold is better, but I have lost my voice. So instead of the usual "frog" of knitting (i.e. ripping out stitches) I am croaking. And that makes working with the public a special treat. No one can understand me. Especially on the phone.

Last night at we met with our writing partner to finish a script. While we worked, I knit. I finished the pumpkin hat! I learned how to do the vine on the top from Crazy Aunt Purl here. It was really freaking hard to increase two on every stitch because the work got super tight on my needle. But it worked on the first try! The secret is to cast on super loose so you have room to knit into the front, the back, and the front again of every stitch. When I finished it, Sarah and I squealed over the cuteness. Well, she squealed, I just sort of did a squeaky hiss. I can hardly wait to send them off. I just have to get the address again. I am notorious for losing addresses.

Here are the pair:

Can you stand it? I am so freaking proud of them. I just found out another friend of mine from college just had her third little girl, so maybe I'll whip up another apple hat. They go so fast! If I had the uninterrupted time, I could knock one off in an evening.

And I just might have some time tonight. I was going to go to Gabriella's tonight for weekly Stitch n' Bitch, but I think I may have to stay at home and rest instead. I have to work Saturday, and I am going to need some strength, as mine appears to be waning. Who are we kidding? I'm shot right now. Besides, I don't want to spread my lovely germs with my coughing tonight. It's bad enough I have to come to work and spread it around. I still can't believe Kosta hasn't gotten it yet. He is usually the one who gets everything that comes down the pike, while I stay well.

Well, time to suck it up, make some tea, and go face the world.

Getting off the Couch

2010-01-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

Seriously. It is harder than you think.

This cold has kicked my ass. Finally today (that's SIX DAYS after I initially got sick) I am starting to feel better. I only made it through half a day of work yesterday and slept most of the afternoon. No one talks about it, but it is really hard to come back to 8 hours a day at work from being prone for 5 days. I slept all yesterday afternoon. Then I finished the apple turned orange, turned back into apple because I found some appropriate red yarn hat.

I was so pleased with it, that I am going to make a pumpkin hat to go with it, and send them off next week!

I have also discovered Ravelry. (I sound like I am a pioneer who has made a breakthrough here, but no...I am a bit late to the game.) Ravelry is a knitting social networking website. Let's just heap another one on the pile, shall we? I'm already on facebook, twitter, and have an old, decaying page on MySpace. I also have an account on Good Reads, where I keep track of the books I read, and now I have Ravelry. I don't use MySpace anymore, and I have decided just this week that I am decidedly OVER twitter. I don't need to know what you are doing right now, and my life is so boring that I would be completely vain if I thought you wanted to know what song I have running through my head. I used to follow a bunch of people, but my phone was dinging every time a text came through, and 99 times out of 100 it was something so inane, that I started wondering... do others feel the same about my clever little snippets of life? Surely not! Well... um, maybe... But I digress.

Ravelry is cool because it isn't just a social network, it is an organizational tool too. I am able to keep track of all of my knitting needles, stash yarn (which has almost outgrown it's container, thank you very much), and keep track of projects. I can post pictures, and keep track of details. It is pretty nifty.

I am wondering what I am going to do next. I think I might make something for myself. I desperately need a knitting needle case, and I thought I would make one. There is a neat pattern in Fabulous Felted Hand Knits that I thought I would try. Right now my needles are in an untidy pile in my craft room. A jumble, more like. Also, I need a better way to store my circulars. There is a pattern in Stitch N' Bitch, but I don't know if I like the idea yet.

I still have to felt the hotpad and coaster set. They lie there, limp and languishing. I am waffling over how to do them, by hand or in the machine? Having never felted before, I don't know which one would be more suited. The book recommends the machine, so I'll probably do that.

Book Review: Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Okay, so I finished it late last week, but I've been siiiiick. (Yes, that was indeed a whine.) Anyway, I chose this book over most other knitting books that we have because Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is none other than the Yarn Harlot. Yes, that Yarn Harlot. I started reading her blog way back from the beginning, She has been doing this online blogging thing for going on six years now, and I think she's a stitch to read. (Horrible pun intended.) I know she has published several books, and this was the first one I could get my hands on, though not the first one she wrote.

I didn't know what to expect with this book, other than I knew it would be funny. And funny it was. Stephanie has a self-deprecating humor that has almost made me snort Diet Coke out of my nose on more than one occasion. If you are a knitter and you haven't read anything by her, go to her blog. Now. You're welcome.

The book is broken down into chapters about categories of knitted things, or knitting knowledge you must have. There is a chapter on hats, socks, scarves, and one chapter just about swatching, and its importance. I have already learned my lesson. The first hat I knit I did without swatching my yarn and checking my gauge. My first hat is lovely, pink, and would fit a watermelon. A jumbo watermelon.

Stephanie also talks about easy in-your-head patterns for things like hats and socks. I will make a pair of socks, but I think I will hold that off for this month. But it is nice to know that there are things you can make without any set pattern. I like that. It's like the brownie recipe I have in my head. I've made it so many times that it is indelibly engraved on my brain.

Thank you, Yarn Harlot, oh wise and wonderful knitting goddess, for bestowing your words of wisdom down upon lowly beginners like me. It is all good to know for the future.

Stay tuned for my forthcoming review of Knitting Lessons by Lela Nargi.

Another kind of cold

2010-01-16T20:09:00.000-05:00

Uch. Thursday night I came down with a cold. I spent all day in bed yesterday with aches and chills. I feel better today, but still like I've been hammered into a new shape. And I don't think it is a very attractive shape.

Anyway, this week I worked on my felted hotpad and coaster set. I have finished all the pieces, I just have to felt them now. If I have the energy, I'll do it tomorrow. Here is what they look like pre-feltiing:

I also finished Kosta's pair of hand warmers. I took some awesome goofy pictures of him wearing them, but he didn't want me to post them on the blog (for someone so unabashedly weird, I find that surprising). So here are just his hands:

Why he looks like he his clutching the sofa arm for dear life I cannot say. At least now that I have finished these hand warmers, the weather is guaranteed to promptly hit the 80s again, and render them quite useless and unnecessary. So that will be nice.

In other news I went to a wine tasting/Stitch n' Bitch on Thursday night. Gabriella (of Gabriella's Yarn Shop) doesn't call it that per se, but that is definitely what it was. There were about a dozen of us grouped around the big center table in the room. Gabriella's Maltese puppy, Lily, made the rounds, being adorable and snatching balls of wool off the lower shelves. I'll be sure to bring my camera next time to capture the little munchkin. So was so dang cute I wanted to put her in my pocket and take him home.

The wine tasting was an unexpected surprise. We had tastes of five wines, I think. There were some really good Chilean reds, and there was a kick-ass Sauvignon Blanc that we sampled.

I was a little timid walking in the room, but the ladies made me feel welcome right away. (The wine also helped.) I sat next to a very nice lady name Mary Pat who was from the Chicago area, and another lady (whose name I shamefully can't remember) from the Milwaukee area. That's the thing about living in vacationland - everyone is from somewhere else.

After we had wrapped up, I asked Gabriella to help me pick out yarn for my next project. One of my really good friends in high school just had her first baby one week ago today. I am going to make this for her her little baby Jude:

She didn't have the right yarn in a good red, so I got orange and I am going to make an orange instead of an apple. If I feel ambitious and lucky after I finish the hat, I might try booties to go with it.

Otherwise, I am still pretty pooped from being sick. I don't feel I have made a very witty or interesting blog entry, but I wanted to keep up to date with things here.

Tomorrow I will write about the book I finished: Stephanie Pearl McPhee's Knitting Rules! I am currently reading Knitting Lessons by Lela Nargi.

Key Worst

2010-01-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

Well!

Well.

We had a craptastic weekend in the Keys. I should have known better. While I am not one to put a lot of stock in astrology, Mercury in retrograde kicks my ass every January. Thankfully it is over on the 15th. I always seem to have a run of bad luck in the first few weeks of the new year.

This year was no different.

Our Friday started off very nice. My husband and I had breakfast at our favorite place, then we packed up and headed out by 10 a.m. We decided on a leisurely pace, so we took US 41 across the state. You can take the freeway, but it isn't as pretty. Our drive was full of swamps with palm and buttonwood trees, wading birds, kingfishers, and yes, alligators. I knit the whole way across the state.

We turned south at Homestead and moved towards Key Largo. This was my very first trip to the Keys, but my husband had lived on Key Largo for a year back in the 90's. He even showed me his old apartment. Let's just say his life has improved since he met me.

On Islamorada we stopped for lunch at Wahoo's Bar and Grill. We sat on the deck in the sun and had beers, conch fritters, and fish sandwiches. Yum.

From there it was just another hour down to Marathon where our first stop was - The Coconut Key Resort. I think there needs to be an inspection you have to pass to earn the right to call yourself a resort. Our room resembled what I thought a prison cell at a low security prison might look like: cinder block walls, faded blankets, tile floor. Their slogan on the sign was, "Florida the way it used to be." Hmm... sometimes progress isn't all that bad.

We took a nap and went out to search for dinner around 5. We ended up at a place just next to the 7 mile bridge called Chappy's. After our meal Kosta renamed it "Crappy's." For the amount we paid for the meal, you would think it would have been a little better. The best thing about my meal was the Mango Poppy vinaigrette on my salad.

Here's one secret no one tells you about the Keys: unless you're a drinker, a diver, or a fisherman, there is absolutely nothing to do. After dinner, we retired to our prison cell and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday met us cold, and rainy. There was a strong wind blowing from the northwest, and it was in the 40's. Surprisingly, for a "resort" with no heat, we stayed quite warm during the night. We headed across Route 1 to breakfast at the Wooden Spoon. We got the last table in the house, right by the door that blasted us with cold air every time someone came in or went out. Have you ever had the experience where you are seated at a table, you place your order, then you proceed to watch everyone else around you get served, eat, pay, leave, and then watch the whole cycle begin again? Add to that constant blasts of cold, wet air, and food that finally arrive cool and bland, and you have our dining experience at the Wooden Spoon.

We were even debating on whether to continue on to Key West with the weather being as miserable as it was, but one small fact clinched our fate: I had made our room reservations on Priceline.com. It is a great tool for getting awesome deals on hotel rooms, but if you use it, you pay in advance. Since we had already paid for our room in Key West, we had to go. Besides, how bad could it be?

The road to Key West was long and skipped across expanses of what surely must have been heartbreakingly turquoise waters, and leapfrogged over tiny islands with tropical houses and palms. I am sad that I did not get to see it in its full glory of the brilliant sun, but that's what I get with Mercury in retrograde.

When we finally got to Key West it was raining in earnest. We drove down past Higg's Beach, and on to the end of Route 1, and the southernmost point in the United States. (Kosta points out that it isn't really... you have to be on the naval base to have access to that). We took pictures in the rain, and shivered back to the car. We drove over to Duval Street, paid for 3 hours of parking, and only managed to use 2. We wandered around in the rain for a while, but got so cold and wet that we stopped for lunch even though we weren't hungry. We had more conch fritters, fish sandwiches and beer at a place called Fogarty's. We saw lots of bars and t-shirt shops, and we bought dry sweatshirts to wear that evening. We were cold, damp, and miserable.

So we went to the Days Inn where we had prepaid our room. The Days Inn's lobby shares a building with a Waffle House. Now some of you reading this may not be from the south and have known the pleasure of a Waffle House. (And I am using the word, "pleasure" the same way Coconut Key used the word, "resort.") I don't want to offend any southerners, but I am afraid I am going to anyway. My only previous experience dining at a Waffle House (which I refer to as a Shit Box) was in Pooler Georgia, with my good friend Beth. There was lots of cigarette smoke, the waitress yelled in our order from the counter, and a woman sitting at the counter peed in her pants and made a puddle on the floor.

And now our hotel has a Shit Box on property? Uh oh.

Actually, the room was much nicer. It had carpet, plaster, and heat. The TV was bigger, and the lights were better. But we find out very shortly into our stay that our room was right next to housekeeping, and both men and women kept coming and going, speaking in loud voices. (Door creaks open. Door squeals shut. Loud conversation. Door creaks open. Cart crashes out. Door squeals shut. Cart rumbles away. Repeat 50 gazillion times.)

We were cold and wet so we changed clothes and took naps to warm up. When we got up we didn't feel like braving the elements anymore for another fried fish dinner. So we ordered pizza. We watched football. I knit. And the next morning? You guessed it - my darling husband persuaded me to have a quick breakfast at the Shit Box. I realize the food really isn't that bad. But the couple that had a shouting match 2 tables away wasn't all that great. It isn't the food so much as the company.

Oh right. This is a knitting blog, isn't it? Heh. The knitting was the only thing that really went right this weekend.I finished two of the coasters for my teapot hot pad and coaster set, and I made the set of hand warmers! I finished the first on Saturday night in our hotel room, and then the second was completed last night. They are very toasty, and worked very well today. Did I mention the cold snap is continuing? I had many lustful looks at my hand warmers today from ladies at work with cold hands. My coworker Karen said if I had brought in 10 pairs today I could have sold them all. My husband was so enamored of my hand warmers, he demanded that I make a pair for him out of the same yarn. I started them yesterday. I wonder how he is going to feel about them when he finds out they are going to be predominantly lavender.

My question is, what am I going to make next? I was thinking I might knit a roll-up needle case for my knitting needles, which are all in a jumble at the bottom of my stash box. I am sure I just made a bunch of seasoned knitters either scrape their jaws off the floor, or they are still howling with laughter. Yes, that's right. My knitting stash fits in one blue plastic tub. I vow to make it grow. I vow to never be mocked by another knitter.

I have to say though, that it is easy to become obsessed. As soon as I found out I didn't get car sick from knitting, all I wanted to do was watch the stitches grow, and to see the gorgeous Noro colors unfold. It was the most turqouise I saw all weekend!

I am going back to Gabriella's on Thursday night. I hope it will be fun!

Crap...here's a dilemma

2010-01-07T21:06:00.000-05:00

So I went to the yarn store tonight. I drove up to Gabriella's Yarn Shop. It is a good half an hour from my house, but I got good vibes from the website, and I had emailed Gabriella herself earlier in the week to see if she was offering any classes soon.

So when I pulled up tonight I was a little surprised to see an ambulance and police car in front of the store. There didn't seem to be anything going on inside (I could see in the windows and saw two women talking), so I went in. It turns out the husband of Gabriella had an allergic reaction to some kind of food and wasn't doing so well. They were all in the back room with the paramedics. I felt instantly awkward and made to leave. But Jill (one of the ladies I saw in the window) told me that he was doing all right and that I should look around. So I did while they were finishing up with Mr. Gabriella (can't remember his name, or their last name at the moment). I picked out some yarn, and Gabriella herself came out and talked to me for a few minutes. She was really sweet and encouraged me to come back next Thursday night for the group knit.

The store had lots of beautiful stuff, and a I bought a few things. Here is what I am going to make my hand warmers with:

Pretty, huh? This is Noro Silk Garden Light, color #2027. It is beautiful with blues, greens, purples and browns. I am starting on them tomorrow morning.

And then I bought some other stuff too. I don't have any definite plans for it yet, but the colors are so pretty, I might make a ribbed scarf out of it.

This is Galway Pure Wool, worsted weight in 149 (turquoise), 145 (lime), and 15 (dark periwinkle). My mother would call the last color blue, and I would call it purple. We always disagree about blues and purples.

And finally, here is a picture of the teapot hot pad I am currently working on:

And herein lies my dilemma. What on earth do knitters do when they are in the middle of a project and they buy new shiny yarn that is begging to be used?

Tomorrow morning: The Keys!

Knitting Weather!

2010-01-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

Baby it's cold outside...

So it is really cold for Southwest Florida. Yesterday the car thermometer read 41 degrees on our way to work, and 48 this morning. And I know I will catch a lot of flack from Northerners, especially all my relatives in Minnesota for mentioning it. Yes, it gets very cold in Minnesota. I heard it was 2 degrees in Minneapolis last night. That is mighty cold. It is what my father calls, "colder than f*$%." And he's right. And if one is properly dressed for such weather, you can survive just fine. (You won't have fun, but you won't die of hypothermia.)

When the temperature gets down into the 40's here in Florida, most locals freak out. Especially if they are Florida natives. (Incidentally, Florida natives are rare - most people are here to escape the cold.) The reason we have problems is because we are not properly dressed. When I moved to Florida I had lots of sweaters, heavy shoes and coats. Not to mention scarves, mittens (my favorite being a pair of red angoras knitted for my by one Miss Sally Watkins of Seabrook, NH), and hats. I gave most things away to the Goodwill because even the winters here are usually in the 70s and 80s everyday. I have lots of sandals. I wear flip flops almost exclusively when not at work. I don't own any pants that are appropriate for work. And then a day like yesterday comes, and I freeze all day because why? I am not dressed appropriately.

And add to the fact that it is like a meat locker in the back room of the library where I have my desk, and I was an ice cube by the end of the day. Kosta, my husband, made a strangled squealing noise when I put my hands on his neck.

So what does all this mean to a blog about knitting? I can actually knit something for myself that I can wear now! And I am going to make myself some arm/hand warmers this weekend! I am using this pattern from Crazy Aunt Purl. I am all jacked up because I am going to a yarn shop on Thursday night. There is a place here in Naples called Gabriella's Yarn Shop. They have a drop-in knitting group on Thursday nights from 6-8. Anyway, I am going to pick up the necessary yarn needed for this project, because the next day we are headed off to the Keys for a long weekend! I have never been to the Keys, which is a travesty, considering how long I have been living here. So the hand warmer project will go with me. I don't know if I will be able to knit in the car without getting sick, but we'll see.

Yarn Porn
I can't take credit for coining the phrase, but I love it. I said I was going to review knitting books, and I already have two in my possession that I am going to read. The first is Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Stephanie is the woman behind the blog Yarn Harlot, and she is a true obsessive knitter. She knits everywhere, including the subway and bus. (Oh, that I could take public transportation to work! Think of all that uninterrupted knitting time!)

The other book I got (so lovely working in a library) is Knitting Lessons: Tales from the Knitting Path by Lela Nargi. I don't know anything about it other than what it says on the book jacket. Lela Nargi seems to be not a knitter, but she sets on a quest to find out about it when she notices everyone around her is knitting. Neither book has patterns (at least, it is not a book of patterns) but more essays on the ways of the knitter. I'll let you know when I finish them.

Current Project
You probably want me to put my money where my mouth is, right? All this blathering about knitting, but am I really putting forth the effort? Actually, I am! Right now I am working on my first (and hopefully very easy) felting project. I am making a hot pad and coasters for my teapot. I got the pattern from Fabulous Felted Hand Knits, and I had to slightly alter it a bit. I needed felting yarn, and couldn't get to a real yarn store. So last weekend I went to JoAnns and bought a skein each of Lion Brand Classic wool. My teapot it pink and green, so I bought the following colors: petal pink, jade heather, and taupe (which is closer to a chocolatey brown). I am using the pink and green for the stripes, and the brown for the main color of the hot pad. The pattern in the book called for chunkier yarn, and this is worsted weight, so I just cast on the right amount of stitches (I hope) to get the finished size. I will post pictures tomorrow. I keep forgetting to put my camera in my purse. I am almost halfway through the hot pad, and will make the coasters afterwards. The knitting is pretty easy, just counting colored rows. The yarn says on the label it is good for felting, so I hope it works! I'll keep you posted.

Craftically speaking....

2010-01-04T13:31:00.000-05:00

Is craftically a word? It is now! Craftically speaking, I am all over the map. I love to create things, and I have tried my hand at lots of them. I even have an entire room in my house dedicated to crafts. It is full of things I dabble at: scrapbooks, cards, mosaics, stamps, paints, papers, scissors, pens, glitter (oh yes, there must be glitter), ink, silk flowers, ribbons, beads, yarn, needles, thread, fabric. You name it, I probably have it. And it is fun to have a project to do and make something beautiful (or cute) that makes one proud of their crafty prowess.

And yet, there are problems with this too. I find that since I don't delve deeply into anything, I just skim the surface. And all the supplies and effort I begin with leaves a room full of unfinished craft projects. For instance, 2 Christmases ago I was making everyone a mosaic gift. I finished 3, I believe, and the other 15 hundred sit in a pile in one corner. Then there was the wild hair I had that I was going to start an Etsy store and sell cards and paper goods. I did indeed sell a few things, but I was never thrilled with the paper products I was producing. And there were too many other things that were catching my attention and drawing me away. I am like a magpie in my craft room, really. I flit from shiny object to shiny object and never stick with anything seriously for more than a month or so.

That is why this blog exists. I have decided that it is time to stop being a crazy butterfly and settle down to one craft and do it in-depth and obsessively for a year. I want to see how my skills and talents develop when I really apply myself to something. And I chose knitting as my lucky craft. And there are several reasons for this which I will set forth to you:

Knitting is portable. I can take my needles and yarn anywhere and work. This is going to be highly useful because I haven't been home a lot lately. I just know one day my husband and I will come home and the cat will have sold our belongings at auction and moved to the south of France. We are both working on a writing project with another wonderful writer and we are trying to get it going. Therefore portability is key. I can work in the car when we go on trips (for instance, we are going to the Florida Keys next weekend). And I can work on knitting while I am sitting in front of the TV. I don't do that much anymore, but when I do, I find my hands itch to be busy with something.
Knitting is not messy. I love making mosaics. I love working with paper. I love stamping. But each time you want to engage in one of these crafts, you have to drag out your supplies, make a huge (mostly glorious) mess, and then clean up. And usually you have too much stuff to take it anywhere else but your home. That's why knitting is also excellent - it gives me the freedom to work without making a mess that needs to be cleaned up. With knitting, you just wrap up your work, stick it in canvas bag, and it's all done!
Knitting is utilitarian. I can't wear a mosaic. But I can wear a scarf, hat, mittens, sweater, or bag. Generally, the first four I can wear for about 15 minutes here in Southwest Florida, but other people I know and love can wear them.
I already know how to knit. Well, sort of. I learned how to knit your basic knit and purl stitches about 5 years ago, just before I moved to Florida. I was in a knitting frenzy back then, and I really liked it. But when I moved to Florida I found that knitting isn't the most practical of crafts. So why go back to it? Well, I figured the weather can go hang itself. I like knitting and I can make more than just hats and scarves for crying out loud. I still do need to increase my skill set. I can knit in the round and do decreases, and in theory I can do increases, though I have never tried. I would love to learn how to make cables and different types of stitches. And I will! That is what this year is for. To focus my creativity. But you already knew that.
Yarn is amazing. I don't have much of a yarn stash, I must admit. I've read of other knitters. Crazy Aunt Purl and The Yarn Harlot both talk about insanely huge and crazy stashes. I have been to yarn stores before and felt the pull of gorgeous wools, silks, and cashmere. It could become a problem. But hey, at least I'm not shooting heroin, right?

I think you see why I have chosen. It wasn't because I love knitting over anything else I have tried. I have known for a long time that I had to pick something and stick with it, I just couldn't choose. Well, it is January and I feel like knitting. So there, now I am stuck with it for the next 12 months. If I find I am sick of it by next January, I'll try something else. I just really wanted to do this as an experiment to see if I could. I am not going to put any sort of pressure on myself. ("Gee, this is awesome! I should sell these and make some money!") I am going to do it for my own pleasure and see what comes of it.

Now that I've said, "no pressure" (snort) I am going to set some goals for myself, just so 12 months from now I don't end up with a million scarves and cell phone cozies.

I will learn new skills. This means I will keep trying new things that I haven't done before, no matter how scary they may seem.
I will seek a knitting community. (Whether or not we want each other remains to be seen.)
I will chronicle my projects, review books, and yarn stores here. (As a librarian, I can't help reviewing books. It is an occupational hazard.)
I will drive my husband crazy. (That will probably be just a lucky bonus.)