BOOKS!

In a vain attempt to stop the sock madness, I have put a temporary moritorium on yarn purchases. As a direct result, a growing trend of book purchases has taken hold. Two weeks ago I bought Folk Socks, by Nancy Bush...(hmmm..... do we notice some repressed sock energy?). The first chapter of the book is an awesome history lesson in sock knitting, running along the same lines at Richard Rutt's History of Handknitting (another huge recommendation!). I believe that the turning point for why I had to buy this book was a picture of a little old lady, carring on her back a huuuuge basket laden with what looks like peat. It probably dates from the late 19th century, and she is obviously wearing a heavy woolen bodice and skirts. Down by her waist, one can see her hands clenched, but if you take a very careful look, you can see she is actually working on some delicate knitting. I love her. When I get an opportunity I will scan her picture and post it here (copyright theft? whats that?).

Now, one book is obviously not enough for a repressed knitter such as myself. So last Tuesday, in a wild fit of folly, I bought Handknit Holidays. Now, I am normally against these books, because I tend to think the patterns are sub-par and average and they usually waaay overpriced. I also think that most of the 'home decorating' patterns are crap. I thought for sure I would feel that way upon picking this book up. Damn, was I ever wrong. The book costs a whopping $27.50 and has some of your typical hoaky crap (like the picture on the cover.... bleck). I judged it this way though, I counted how many patterns I thought I would actually and practically knit, multiplied by 5 (assuming $5 per pattern) and came to $55 before I quit counting. While there is the typical fun fur type BS, there are also patterns that will blow your mind. My personal favorite are the knee high stockings, which I would looooove to do in silk. I technically think that since they are knee-high stockings, they don't really count on the sock tally.

There is no end to the madness however, since the knitting guru just recommended the latest book from Sally Melville to help get me started on color work. She has also promised to be here in December to give me some serious fair isle sessions!

Comments

So Keri pointed out the other day that one couldn't make witty and fabulous comments about my witty and fabulous posts. Today I actually found the time to figure out how enable this feature, so without further ado, you may now comment on my exquisite knitting

La chaussette est finie!

I wish I could say that both socks were finished....... but alas. I started a new sock using my Blue Moon Fiber Arts stuff, and its looking alot better than the first time. I made the rather rash decision to rib the entire leg of the sock. An explanation is necessary: I hate, hate, hate ribbing, with a burning passion straight out of hell. However, given the nature of the yarn and my desire to have a perfectly fitting sock, I decided to make a brave decision and rib.......all 6 f*cking inches. 4 inches in, I am thinking this is not brave, its crazy. I did take the sock surfing with me this weekend. Well, not actually in the water, but the sock, Jack and I camped all weekend while attending the Rogue Longboard Contest. I must say, tent knitting is possibly my favoritist time and place to knit.

Here we have the most handsome, wonderful, adorable, awesome dog ever, posing beautifully from the security of our tent:



And here we have a picture of what I did as soon as I woke up Sunday morning. In the background one can see the tent and my sleeping bag. Thats right, I stayed in my sleeping bag and knit.



Aaaaaahhhhh....... the simple life.

socklings

Curious as to what happened with the sock? Well, I started knitting it with the most wonderful Blue Moon Fiber Arts stuff, cast on waaaaaay to many stitches, knit the most humongous sock until I had finished the gussets, frogged the sock, bought new sock yarn and started over with a brand new sock. Now if that doesn't sound like a knitter, what does? The new sock yarn I bought is a self-striper, a wool/cotton/acrylic blend. I'm just finishing the arch of the sock. Here we see a picture of the sock reposing in some grass at the local park during my lunch break today:



and here we see a picture of the sock on my foot:



So it is official, socks are my new favorite project. I adore them. I have already bought more sock yarn. I now have 5 skeins of sock yarn.......and I haven't even completed an entire sock. If the aforementioned statement didn't sound just like a knitter, the fact that I have already bought skeins and skeins of sock yarn should.

Keri knits a sock or two

Keri is a speedy f-ing knitter. In the time that I knit 3/4 of an inch of ribbing and about 3 inches of sock, she had 2 socks down to the heel completed. The lucky gal, she gets to knit at work. Keri took my sock class with me, making her project out of some lovely purplish-blue and green (I think) yarn that striped diagonally, which was a surprise to all of us, Keri most of all. It was also Keri's birthday last Tuesday. She brought us chocolate, and we sang her happy birthday, where she blushed suitably, though I think she was pleased. A few birthday words about Keri:

-Keri is amazingly intelligent, although a bit ditzy. She has a double major in something bizarre like journalism and physics. Whatever it is, she blows my mind.

-Keri has a very mathematic mind. She goes crazy for mathematical knitting like moebius scarves and the like. All the stuff that usually makes me dizzy. I like that about her.

-Keri is a newlywed. She got married about 3 weeks ago. Big congrats for that too!

So here is a picture of Keri trying on her new sock (without the toe finished). I even promise not to mention the fact that she ended up with gaps in her gussets. *grin* It doesn't matter anyhow, since the quality of my camera seems to getting worse and worse. Don't bother checking your vision, you now know what everything will look like when you are 97.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERI!

PS.... isn't that wall behind her just delicious?

Silk + Corset = loooooove

I love silk. I love corsets. I love knitting. I love short row shaping. I love historical patterns. Mode Knits apparently loves me. She has the most exquisite silk corset pattern that I just had, I repeat had to possess, not own, possess. With any luck, I will be able to stop myself from drooling on the silk as I knit this wonderful thing.

Sock it to me.....

Yep, I made the lamest joke possible in naming this post. And I love it. The point here is, I am taking a sock class at Lint. I was ssooooo stoked to start this thing I almost jumped the gun and started. I managed to wait, and man am I glad I did. The duration of the class was two hours, two hours in which I got about 5 knobbly little rows completed. I was incredibly nervous the entire time..... don't ask me why. My hands were shaking in the fear of really and truly screwing it up big time. Later that evening, nerves back in hand (well, beer in hand actually) I was able to make some progress. I finished 3/4 of an inch of ribbing (which was about all I thought I could handle if I was going to continue with the damn sock) and then started in on the leg. The bad news is, I bought this wonderful cotton/lycra blend that is hand painted in exquisite colors. One might wonder, why this is bad news. As I'm knitting it up, the colors are all blending to form what looks like a very poor tie-dye job. *sigh* Oh well, I'm just so stoked to be a knitting a sock.

In a completely unrelated incident, last night I went on a yarn spree and bought this book, 7 skeins of GGH's Scarlett to make the twin set in aforementioned book, 2 skeins of a self-patterning sock yarn and a new set of Crystal Palace double points. Thus far, I have yet to do anything but rub and smell my new yarn...... but just you wait Henry Higgens.

Hat? What hat?

I don't recall any old hat. Cloche? Hmmmm.... nope, doesn't ring a bell. I can't recall getting very angry at a certain hat, frogging it, getting really pissed while trying to get it back on the needles, throwing it under a huge pile of yarn and shoving it in the back of my stash. None of that seems familiar. Hat? I have no hat!

the yarn basket

My grandma keeps a basket of yarn in her house. It is truly wonderful stuff. It is handspun wool. She keeps it in the guest room where I sleep when I stay over there. From its perch on the hand painted wooden bench, it mocks me. While it is only two skeins, it still cries out to me...."knit me......knit me". It is unattainable. Why, you might ask, does my grandmother keep beautiful, handspun wool in a basket in the spare bedroom where it mocks me hauntingly?








Because she is evil I tell you. Pure evil.

HARLOT!

I met Harlot! As you may well be aware, I am an avid Yarn Harlot reader. I really love the Yarn Harlot. Anyways, about a month ago, my knitting guru bought me her book, which I have loved since the moment I got teary eyed reading the introduction. Anyways, last Wednesday she came to Portland to promote the book. As it turns out, I was not dissapointed. She is just as, if not more, witty in person as in her blog. With my crap-tabulous camera phone, I got a picture of the two us on either side of this bitchin' skull picture. Please, for a moment, overlook the fact that we seem to be entirely made out of little squares and that our faces look like they were blurred to protect our identities. I swear, absolutely swear, that its us.



PS..... if you go to her website and look at her pictures from Portland, you can see me sitting in the crowd. In the second picture down, look for a lady holding a large red blob (which is actually an exquisite shawl) and then look to the right of that. There I am!

1...2.....3.....

Thats me counting to 10. It took me a little bit of calming down before I felt I was ready for posting again after the last entry. I was, however, inspired to create a new blog focusing mostly on political topics. As it turns out, I, like 90% of the world, can't shut up about it. I'll link to it when I get it ready.

In the meantime, back to knitting. I was looking at my reductions the other day and realized that during my SSK's, I was twisting one of the stitches, causing a rather noticable and unsightly reduction. I have done that for about 4 rows now, and I have cast away the project in hopes that I will have a revelation about whether to rip it back (and almost impossible task considering the project) or just felt it lightly at the end to try to mask the mistakes. In the meantime, I am refusing to touch the evil thing.

On a lighter note..... I am definitely going to enter this contest. How can I refuse a challenge like this? I am keeping my master plan a secret for now, but when I take and submit the picture, I will post it here as well. I encourage, no rather, challenge all of you to be creative and come up with something awesome.

what have we done....

...and what are we doing? Knitting blog my foot, I feel the need to publicly condemn our actions in the Middle East here and now. My heart is in London right now, and I wish my fist was in GW's face. And while I'm kicking asses, I would like to take out any of the extremists who feel that it is their duty to destroy and ruin innocent human life. In the meantime, here is my letter to dearest GW:

Dear George W,

You sicken me. You stand for everything that I abhore. With your foreign and domestic policy, the US will crumble like the Roman Empire, and I hope you are alive to watch it go. Only in your sick mind was it necessary to invade Iraq, Afghanistan and whatever other oil-rich country you decide to 'liberate'. Somehow you have been able to blind and trick the uneducated American public, maybe it is that jackass grin that you hide behind. Under the guise of freedom you are executing the rights of the American people and making the US not only the laughing stock of the world, but also the enemy of it. Do you find it at all ironic that despite the London bombings, there has been no anti-Islamic movement in the UK, either from the people or from the government? They don't feel the need to prove their hubris, which is exactly what will bring your downfall. I know that you like to play the 'good ol' boy' card, so I will put this into terms that you can understand. You are like a man with a small dick and big truck. You have to make up for your inadequacy somehow, only you are playing with countries and human life. Empire to Ashes, George.

Sincerely, McKenzie


News that isn't censored for the American public

ma velo

I bought a bike! Yes I did! And whats more, I rode it! Last night I rode my bike to open knit night. Since its only about a half mile away from my house, I've had a hard time justifying driving my gas guzzler there. The downside was that it was so friggin' hot, and the inside of Lint was so stuffy that I only stayed for about 45 minutes. Well, that wasn't the only reason, or the real reason. The real reason was that a visiting knitter, who had at one time lived in Portland, was there visiting. Under normal circumstances, this would be exciting news. I love meeting new knitters! But this knitter, who I shall refer to as Nelly Know-It-All, was an entirely different case. She knew, and I do not exaggerate, everything. Or at least she thought she did, which seemed to be good enough for her. Name a topic, she knew more than you. Talk about knitting, she was better at it. She had travelled more places, knew more languages and had tried more than you. Emphasis is here place on the phrase "thought she did". The more she opened her mouth, the more it was obvious that she was full of shit. Nelly Know-It-All actually managed to break up a group of people that normally stay for 3 hours and force them to go home only 45 minutes into the night. I only got through one glass of wine! The good news is, I got to go for a nice long bike ride due to Nelly. The bad news is, I didn't get any knitting done.

Enough of Nelly Know-It-All, I could bitch for hours. Back to my bike, its a Trek 1220 road bike. Its awesome. So am I. Did I mention that I'm humble? This is the bike, only mine is a veeeeerrrrryy dark purple, almost black.

the mean reds

Lately I've had the knitting mean reds. I was just in a total funk. I didn't want to work on my current project (the cloche) and I couldn't get inspired to start a new project. Last night, I was cured by attending Open Knit Night. First, I sat down to page through a book, which happened to be Exquisite Little Knits: Knitting With Luxurious Specialty Yarns.
I picked it up because I have this belief that there is nothing new and exciting going on with all those novelty yarns, but am somehow always trying to prove myself wrong. Turns out, I'm pretty much right. This book offers such exciting variations as instead of knitting a Fun Fur scarf, you can make a Fun Fur shrug. Right. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I didn't see anything I thought was unique.

After reviewing my book, or rather eyeing it cynically, I decided it was time to take a stab at the cloche. Much to my astonishment, once I picked it up I felt the surge of knitterly conviction running through my veins. All the way down my arms and into my fingertips was the tingle of knitterness. Or maybe it was the red wine I was drinking. Either way, I got over that bit of the mean reds.

On to what you have been waiting for........just what exactly have I decided to knit for my second project? Before I tell you, I must lay out a disclaimer.

1) Please disregard what I said only a few moments ago about novelty yarns while thinking about my project

2) I do not like ponchos............at all...........none.........yuck

3) This is not really a poncho.........................per se

4) I am working with fingering weight yarn to make a difficult hat...... I need something quick, easy and instantly gratifying

Okay- now that we have that out of the way, I am making a poncho. But not really. And it uses novelty yarn. But not alot. Actually this gal showed up to OKN last night wearing this wonderful 'thing'. Sorta a poncho, sorta a shawl, sorta a scarf and very easy. Just one rectangle sew together. You've all seen them, I know you have, I just can't describe it. She had it on over a black t-shirt with a pair of jeans and looked absolutely adorable. She knit it on size 15's and said it went super fast. So last night I raided my stash to pull out all the odd bits of novelty yarn I had lying around to try and put a theme together. Then I flipped through this awesome book that my knitting guru got me for Christmas, whose name I can't remember right now, and found this neat lace stitch. Alright, enough of the obscure descriptions. You'll just have to wait until I get it started and scan a portion of it. For now, be content knowing that I am over the knitting mean reds.


By the way, if you don't know what mean reds are, go watch Breakfast at Tiffany's

la barista

Thats what you may call me from now on. We got an espresso machine at work today and I have been making espresso all day long. I could possibly grow an addiction to making espresso even stronger than my existing addiction to drinking espresso. From the very minute I was taught, I fell in love with steaming milk. I love that deep grumbly sound that gradually rises. I like the smell of the steamy milk pouring out of the pitcher and I like the almost black color of the pure espresso grounds. So what does all of this have to do with knitting you ask? Well, um, I'm not sure, although if you were to push me I would have to explain that its because I like to drink espresso while I knit. But the truth would be that I just wanted to brag and post a picture of my first ever espresso. Without further ado:

Sweet organization

I did it! I sat down and organized all my knitting patterns. I slipped them into plastic sleeves, divided them up by category and labeled them with dividers. Unfortunately, I still couldn't find anything I was just crazy to start knitting. Maybe I need to just start shopping for the perfect yarn......and when I find it, I can decide what to make!

WANTED

WANTED: A Second Project

I feel like the erte cloche isn't giving me enough knitterly satisfaction right now, so I've decided to take up a second project. I was thinking perhaps the Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap, but am hesitant on that one because I'm currently making a hat. I thought about flipping through my binder of patterns, but I just bought a bigger binder for everything, and I have yet to organize it. Looking at my patterns means first organizing them. I'm in a rut..... maybe I'll actually start work on the clapotis, since I've been admiring that since I saw it. On the other hand, now would be a good time to get started on the Giraffe sweater, maybe I could actually get it completed before winter! Or maybe, just maybe, I could justify buying one of the books that I have been eyeing. So many options!!!!

Books, cloches and a really bad cold

Last night I went to open knit night at Lint. Normally, I like to start off my night by perusing through their enourmous book section. Last nights selection was Loop-d-Loop, by Teva Durham. Let me tell you, what a friggin' awesome book! While I'm not crazy about every pattern in the book, some of them really push the boudaries of conventional knitting. The pattern that stands out in my mind is a fair isle that seems to move in uneven waves. By all means, go check this book out.

Afterwards, I worked on the cloche for a bit. I finally got my 4 inches and can now start on the reductions. I had one slight mishap, when I was dividing up the stitches into 6 equal groups of 25. One of my groups only had 24! No biggie, I just picked up a stitch. I'm hoping it won't show in the long run. The weird part is, I can't find where I dropped a stitch to begin with.

And on to the cold. Its one of those evil colds that is not so bad that I have to stay home from work, but is just bad enough that I feel like shit all day long. The weather today is grey and rainy, and honestly I wish I could just chug some Dayquil, put on some sweat pants and work on my knitting.

Hello... my name is McKenzie...

....... and I knit too much. (You reply: Hello McKenzie) But its all okay, because now I own a copy of the Yarn Harlots new book, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Much. I just barely made it through the intro without getting all teary eyed. Maybe my blood sugar was just low. Either way, its really cute and fun. On that note, I almost got caught knitting today when I should have been working. I had to throw my knitting under my desk really fast and pretend to be typing. The entire time I was nervous that during the cloche's flight, or perhaps on its crash landing, some stitches might have decided to commit hairy carry and jump off the needle. Luckily, all the stitches survived their emergency exit intact. Maybe I should stop bringing my knitting to work.......








.....yeah right

pictures!

ssssshhhhhh....... don't mention anything to my boss, but I borrowed the scanner at work to scan a bit of the erte cloche. So without further ado, here it is.



In the upper left corner you can see a bit of the moss stitch. Under the row of pink is stockinette, doing something I've never seen stockinette do before (see post "the bitchin'est little stitch).