7!

The title of the latest (and last) Harry Potter book was announced recently. Although there is no confirmed release date yet for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I've started rereading all the books, just so I can, you know, be prepared and up to date when it finally comes out. And I can't be the only one who is currently shopping for yarn that perfectly matches her Hogwarts house colors, right? (Go Ravenclaw!!!) Why is finding quality gold yarn such a pickle? But all in the name of having the perfect scarf and sweater set to wear to the release party at Powells Books.

Since I first picked up Harry Potter, I was captivated by the idea of the simple and practical magic. No ridiculous sci-fi fairy bullshit. JK Rowling managed to capture magic as humans would actually apply it to their daily lives; ways in which we would use it to aid us and improve our quality of life. Something routine and normal. I've wished many times that I had a magic wand and could perform spells. But the other day I had an epiphany while knitting on the socks and reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in German: knitting is whole lot like magic. I don't need a magic wand, I've got knitting needles. I don't need to say the right words, I can curse alot and threaten the yarn. I don't need to have a recipe, I've got a pattern. With two wooden sticks and some wooly ingredients, I'm somehow able to concoct a finished product. I'm not scientific and if asked, I couldn't explain to you what a stitch looks like or how they all fit together or why it doesn't all just come unravelled. Somehow, it just.......works. Somehow, with two wooden sticks, I am able to tie a long piece of string into a knot so complicated it takes shape and stays that way. I decide what I want the end result to be, I choose the right ingredients and start brewing. If I follow the recipe just right (and try to control my frequent urges to change the recipe) I will have created just what I wanted. Don't ask me how..... its like magic.

As promised...

Would I let you down? Would I lie to you? No, my dear reader, I would never do such a thing. And no, my fingers aren't crossed when I say that. I actually went out and took pictures of my knitting today, just to prove to you that I actually have been knitting during my er, lets it call my time of 'non-bloggery'. I even took pictures of the wonderwool.

I woke up this morning to a headache and a bright sunny day, which if you know anything about winter in the Pacific Northwest, doesn't happen all that often. When one does come along, its important, if not vital, to take advantage of the sunshine because tomorrow will be back to being overcast and rainy and grey and horrible. I took a cache of headache drugs (I like to keep a small arsenal of heavy drugs. I don't mess around with my migraines), threw on some clothes and ran outside with a bag full of knitting and my camera. My neighbors came out onto their porch while I was busy playing photographer, which now confirms their theory that our house and everyone who lives in it is completely cracked. The sunshine even affected the dogs, who started running around and playing like they haven't done in awhile. Anyways, less talk, more action!

What in the world could this ugly little tube of nasty acrylic be?



Its a beer coozy! Specially sized for tall cans! (I warned you they weren't real exciting blog material)



I also started on a pair of socks from a skein of wool I bought at Nestucca Bay Yarns in Pacific City. Its an adorable little shop set in an Oregon coast style shingled house. Its so wonderful and 'beachy'. I justified the purchase of more sock wool as 'souvenir yarn'. You understand, right?



Here's a closer view, the yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multieffekt. At first I was afraid I wasn't going to like the colors, which were a little too, um, 'hippy dippy' for me, but really I'm liking the way its coming along. I was also afraid that since I'm using a smaller needle size than recommended the checks weren't gonna show, but at least in the dark green they are checking somewhat. Too bad I dropped a stitch about 6 rows back and can't find a crochet needle to save my life. Poor sock, I put it back in the case and refused to talk to it for a bit. I think I'll bust it out today and try to fix it with a knitting needle.



Finally, here's the wonderwool that I've been spouting off about for awhile. This was the major purchase from Maryland Sheep and Wool. What you can't tell from this picture is just how wonderfully soft it is. Its a 70% Merino / 30% Angora blend, dyed with only natural plant dyes. Quite frankly, I only really want to snuggle with it for now.



No more knitting for now, but the good weather did inspire me to take a trip to the park. It has an off leash section so the dogs can run like crazymen and a playground so I can be occupied too. One of my favorites is swinging as high as I can. The dogs like to get on either side of me and bark as I come down and whoosh by them. Something about swinging is akin to freedom for me, much like riding my bike. Here's a shot of me right at the top of my swinging pendulum, feet in the air looking at the huge tree thats right in front of the swing set.



Finally, here's a picture from our crazy house. My housemate Joe (furthest left in the picture) was making a music video and needed dead girls to be in the background, so the housemates and some friends volunteered. I'm the one to the left of the girl with pink hair, looking directly at the camera.

Rebel Knitter phone home....

Yipes! I just took a look at my own blog today and realized just how friggin' long it had been since I last posted. Usually lapses in blogging coincide with lapses in knitting, but I have been slowing but surely churning out knitted objects, mostly of no real beauty but tremendous use. Alas, they aren't very exciting articles to blog about. I have been making ribbed tubes, about 4 inches long to slip over beer cans while we are playing bike polo. Oh, I kid not.

So what else might explain this serious lapse of bloggery? Is it possible that after Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival I entered into a wool induced coma from which I am just now starting to wake? I think this might be possible. Not to mention that I started a new job riding my bike all day, every day so that when I get home in the evenings its about all I can do to drink a beer, feed the dog and get myself wrapped in pj's before I teeter into bed. I also endured the grueling experience of packing and moving into a new house. The house is great, I share it with 3 other bike riding, vegan ladies. None of them knits, but a few have expressed a general desire for some knitted objects, which I have offered to knit out the kindness of my heart if they buy the wool (do you see the evil plan here? I am conning innocents into buying me wool! I'm trying to suppress an evil giggle). The only bad news about this current arrangement is that half of my life got packed up during the move and put in storage. This managed to include about 2/3 of my needles and the charger to my camera battery. Damn..... I'm working on locating both, and working on getting some pictures up here, including the wonder wool that I bought at MSWF. I think enough time has passed that I can embrace the wonder wool (and possibly start knitting it).

Yarn Daze

I'm still a little dazed and confused after this weekend. I'm pretty sure I spent about 12 hours on a plane, I know there were 2 dogs and a cat and a whole bunch of women staying in a very small apartment. I have pictures to prove that while I was on the far coast I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, but I have few memories of it. I do know that I had a yarn accident, that, perpetuated by the generosity of my aunt and grandma, resulted in the purchase of 6 skeins of angora/merino in some lovely spring colors. Its really almost too good to be true.

This booth made me wanna get naked and run through those large, wonderful skeins.



Here's the crew, enjoying a shopping break in the shade. In order, that would be my mum, my grandma and my aunt.



And finally here we are meeting up with my aunts friends Gweny and Marilyn, two of the most interesting ladies I have met in a long time. In my typical fashion, I am instructing the not-so-bright lady how to use the camera, and therefore making a wondeful face.



As I have not yet fully come to accept the amount of money spent (nor have I quite accounted for it all), no pictures of the purchases are being posted. As soon as I have come to grips with reality, I'll throw some pictures up here.

Yo Adrian!

So thanks to the entire Rocky Anthology, Karen now has a complete pair of socks. I knit the first sock in about 3 months, and the second sock in a week. I sat down with grim determination, and the Rocky box set and churned out a sock.

Spring is well, um, springing!

Thats right. Oregon has been blessed with a few rare days of sunshine and its almost t-shirt weather(read: 60 degrees). Here in the stormy Pacific Northwest, it is extremely important to grab a sunny day while you can, because it might be months before you see a speck of blue sky again. On my lunch break today I seized the opportunity to run to the park and do some knitting. And of course, pose it in the grass, and with Jack.



Jack thinks I'm crazy. He has no idea why I made him sit on the bench. He's irritated that I am making him look into the sun, and has no concept of the photographical technique called 'backlighting'. You will note that he is leashed to the bench. This is because the park by my office is not an off-leash park, despite the fact that children are allowed to run around screaming and pissing and snotting and pushing and pulling. If dogs should be kept on leash, then so should kids. I don't want your kids running up to me anymore than you want my dog running up to you. The key difference between Jack and your little poop-machine is that mine actually listens to every word I say and obeys all my commands on a dime. Anybody else see a double standard?

Enough with the rant, here's one finished sock and the cuff of #2. When I gave Karen the first sock to try on I thought I was going to have to pry it out of her hands. It was only through carefully chosen words that I was able to persuade her to surrender it, with promises to return it with a mate in the near future. No second sock syndrom for me.

The Guru

The Guru has come down from her high mountain perch, where she has been sitting in the lotus position for the last 10 years, simultaneously shearing the sheep, spinning the wool and knitting it into beautiful knitted garments. She was last seen wandering around North Portland, scouting out a project to take with her on her next devotational trek. Knowing the Guru's yearning for yarn, VW's and yellow, I felt a stop at The Naked Sheep was in order. The Guru is seen here in a rare photo of her posing with said dream vehicle. When asked for a quote, she said "Its a good thing I'm so devoted to Hilda." Hilda, as you will remember, is her beloved Volvo.

u r friend from canada......

Missed Connection

You: left comment in my blog saying 'i r friend from canada' and later on a post saying 'now I just feel neglected'.

I checked with my canadian friend and he swears up and down he didn't post it and went on to state that the only way he might have left that comment without his knowledge is if he was on crack, which he also swears up and down is not true.

So, Mystery Person, I am going crazy (well, crazier). Who are you?

Look closely....

What you can't see in this picture is the sock. The sock is just one of many dark forms obscured by the contrast of lights. The sock is rocking out to GBH. Oh yes, the sock attended a punk concert with me and let me assure you, it was fucking awesome.



Not sure yet if knitting at a punk show is extremely punk rock or extremely nerdy....

Only God is perfect....

Which is a really good thing, because I messed the sock up. I accidentally dropped some stitches off the end of the needle while I was working on the heel flap and couldn't figure out how to pick them back up, so I sorta fudged it. It may not be pretty, but it works. To solve the problem of the suicidal stitches, I taped the edges of my little tiny needles.



I also worked on the sock today at work, where, to be quite frank, it didn't help me get any work done. It had the opposite effect, actually throwing itself across my keyboard in an attempt to prevent me from typing. I'd like to say the attempt was in vain, but alas, the reasoning of the wool seemed so sound that I couldn't really argue...

Thank goodness for school...

...otherwise I might not get in any quality knitting time. The sock has been brushing up on its philosophy.



Later in the day I sat down to read some Nietzche, and made some more progress. The sun was beating down and I was able to kick off my shoes. No shoes, good book, good knitting.... what more could a girl want? (I know, a cup of coffee)



The sock has decided that it is more or less not a an existentialist, and feels that somehow it is not just a free unit. This is especially poignant coming from a piece of knitting.

The "its been awhile since I last posted" link-o-rama!

Yay! Links! And things you can buy me! So exciting! (Don't work yourself into a frenzy now.)

*Let it be noted, that I am in love (love, I tell you) with the folks over at Fiddlesticks Knitting. I have been admiring their patterns at Woodland Woolworks (who most miraculously carries alot of their patterns) for awhile now but have managed to fully convince myself that next paycheck (hello March 5th!) I will be buying the Creatures of the Reef Shawl Kit, keeping in mind that I have never, ever knit even a swatch of lace. Why am I doing this, you might ask? Because I'm insane, legally and certifiably insane. And maybe because I like to be really frustrated, yell at my knitting and scare the dog.

*I didn't make socks for the Knitting Olympics! Ooops. Actually, I ended up having lots of work to do, plus numerable papers for school that I, erm, left until the last minute (me? procrastinate? let me get back to you on that one....) Instead, for my knitting challenge I am teaching myself to knit continental style, and hopefully be able to start 2-handed knitting. Let me assure you that it brings me back to being 14 and the frustration of learning in the first place.

*I visited a (somewhat) new knitting shop in Portland, called the Naked Sheep. The miracle here is not that I was able to walk away without buying anything (but I was sorely tempted by some Lorna's Laces sock yarn), but rather that my boyfriend actually accompanied me to the store. In fact, he was the one who noticed the store, told me about it, drove me there, then waited patiently in an armchair while I browsed. (side note: I would like to thank the management of the Naked Sheep for having the forsight to place comfortable man-size chairs in your store) He never even complained. I was almost speechless when we left. I tried explaining to him that the fact that he just did that made him about 50x more attractive to me, I think he thought I was a couple skeins short of a sweater. Is it possible that I could love him just for his yarn scouting?

jumps, tunnels, weaves and socks

This past weekend I went to the annual Rose City Classic dog show. Jack and I have been taking an agility class, and my mum and I went to go see our trainer compete in the agility competition. Naturally, I took the sock, but alas, didn't get much completed. The good news is that I did finish the horrible, god awful, sent-from-hell ribbing at the top and moved on to the 'tube' of the sock. Here's the sock in front of the course that Jane and Jamaica competed on:



And here's Jane and Jamaica going so friggin' fast that they are just a blur as they go running by us:



Let me tell you, they were awesome! Its awesome to watch a team that is so well coordinated they already seem to understand one another without the type of yelling that usually marks Jack and I trying to make it over the obstacles (and my knitting as well).

So upon (re)avowal to organize my knitting, I bought the most bitchin' case from Target to put my sock projects in.



Beauty, eh? But wait, it gets much, much better. It is as though Target understands a knitters inherent needs while knitting a sock. A place for needles, a place for 'doo-dads' (ie tape measure, scissors), and obviously a place for the actual project itself. Clear pockets of course for easy viewing and to wrap it all up in a cute, stylish bundle that can be easily slipped into a purse. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you.....The Ideal Carrier for the Knitting and Transportation of Socks.



Beauty.

Remember this sock? Well, I'm finally getting around the finishing the second sock. Last night I dug up the original sock and balled the yarn for the second ball.



But wait, all is not well in Sock-land. If we take a careful look, we can see that I balled the yarn backward. You see, the sock goes orange to light pink, and the yarn goes light pink to orange.



Damn, damn, damn. I am trying to avoid a raging, screaming fit in which I curse all the yarn in my stash to the deepest pits of hell. Oh well, whats another re-balling session? (other than a complete nuisance that takes valuable knitting time?) To end on a good note, here's Jack at my office, which he has been attending on Monday's before agility class. He brings his blanky and squeaky toy.

Would I lie to you?

Maybe just a little bit....... I did get a digital camera for christmas (thanks pops), but I did not, however, document my trip to Maui through a series of knitting pictures. What really happened,(and this should come as a surprise to no one) is that I got completely wrapped up in my trip and didn't do a whole heck of a lot of knitting. For your reading (or rather viewing) pleasure though, you may here witness the pictures I did take. So, without further ado, and a la Yarn Harlot, pictures of the sock in the various places it actually showed itself whilst in Maui.

Here we see the sock joining in on a BBQ that was held at a park right on the ocean. The blue streak across the ocean is actually the island of Lanai. Megan (my step sis) is kindly providing us with some dinner entertainment.



The next (and most frequent) sighting of the sock was in the back of the pickup truck, riding to the beach. This is where most of the work was accomplished on the sock, before it was stowed safely back into its plastic case, to avoid the dreaded "sand in yarn syndrome".



And finally for your non-knitting pleasure, and also to inspire jealousy within the readers of this blog, a view of the water,



and a view of the sunset.

Anybody home?

*sigh* I'm afraid the blog has been a bit, um, slow lately. Quite frankly, I hate to keep posting half-assed descriptions of my knitting and no pictures. I have asked for a digital camera for Christmas, so I'm thinking after the holiday there will be a resurgence in the blog. In the meantime, you will have to be contented with a list of my projects, and absolutely no pictures that prove that I am not a big fat liar.

*socks for mum, using blue moon fiber arts
*socks my myself, using blue moon fiber arts
*fair-isle swatch (my knitting guru is in town teaching me)
*scarf for step-sister
*sweater from a twin-set in Vintage Knits

One more week, and then hopefully some pictures.

socks be damned

Don't get me wrong, I still love socks. I even still love knitting socks. And I also still really like Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn, I just happen to hate this particular sock. It is the second sock, that I so unwisely decided to rib. The first sock is wonderful and I dream of the day I get to wear the pair, but in the meantime I am in knitters hell. I have three inches completed, and can't stand the thought of knitting one more friggin' inch. Please...somebody....inspire me to get the f-ing sock finished.

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.