I did a very bad thing...

I realize that now that I'm 24 and a half, temper tantrums are somewhat unbecoming. I also realize that when non-knitting friends are over, throwing my knitting across the room while squealing and cursing and finally ending up in the fetal position is not something that they may understand. But the toe of that fucking sock just really got my goat and I have to say that, all in all, I am completely unrepentent. You see, I was knitting along merrily while my friend was playing guitar. I was only 6 rows away from done when all the sudden I realized I'd dropped a stitch somewhere. Damn, thought I, just when I'm about to be finished I have to take one more step. Alas, I'll grab another needle and be done with it. While pinching the slipped stitch and reaching for another needle, two whole needles, needles just waiting to be knit, slipped out and hit the ground, leaving 14 loose stitches that all started slipping away before I realized what was going on. I stopped and stared at the chaos for a moment. I looked at all the loose little stitches and how, naturally, they hadn't slipped in any regular fashion so that I would have to pull back at least a couple inches, more than likely to before where I started making reductions for the toe. I felt a little feeling, like a sprout pushing up through the ground, start down in my guts. But damn if that little sprout didn't grow quick, and suddenly I felt the most overwhelming desire to be as far as possible from that sock as quickly as possible. I struggled for words to describe my feelings but all that came out was a high pitched 'eeeeeeeeeeee' and with a force previously unknown to me the knitting was sailing through the air, over the coffee table, through the dining room door, across the dining room table, where it landed squarely in the dog's bed. Luckily, there was no dog in the bed at the time. Unable to face the knitting and the reality of the fact that I had just two handed tossed sock, yarn and needles a good 20 feet, I turned my head away, drew my legs up beneath me and got as small as possible. Then I did what every good tantrum deserves. I pouted. I refused to acknowledge that the incident had happened. And when my non-knitter friend kindly suggested that I pick up my knitting I firmly said "No". He resumed playing guitar but after awhile he looked over at me, now rubbing my temples, and said "McKenzie, go pick up your knitting....now!" A fit like that needs a firm parent voice, and he has a good one, so all I could do was get up and fetch my knitting, where it was reposing but looking a little bruised. I shoved it back into its case a little roughly and have refused to look at it since. Which I suppose it a sort of exaggeration, because I tried to look at it last night to see if I could repair the damage, but I can't find it. I've looked everywhere for that damn case, but it seems to have disappeared, which is odd for a bright green thing to do. Maybe I wished it out of existence...

an uninteresting sock

I am forcing myself to finish up a bunch of projects that I have abandoned somewhere along the way. Its tedious. Most of the projects were ditched for fairly justifiable reasons, but they are taking up project bags and yarn and needles so I placed on momentary moritorium on yarn buying until I get some stuff finished. So in the spirit of forced knitting, I am finishing up a boring ol' pair of socks that I started about a year ago and then hid at the bottom of my stash due to a misturned heel that I didn't want to rip back. Really, there is nothing great or interesting about these socks. So, here is a boring picture of a boring sock.



I'm almost done with the gusset now, but I'm barely plodding along. To really capture my mood about finishing them, here's a picture of the sock with our rotten jack-o-lanterns that finally got so soggy that one day they just sorta fell with a splat off the railing of our porch.



Bleh.

On an upswing, a friend of mine has a boutique down the street from my house where she sells handmade art, crafts, clothes and jewelry. She's asked me if I'll knit some stuff up for her to sell in the shop. I'm terribly ecstatic about this. It is probably one of the best compliments my knitting has ever recieved. Alberta Street has an event called Last Thursday, which is a sort of street fair of handmade goods and debauchery that happens, as you can probably guess, on the last Thursday of every month and she asked if I could get some stuff to her by then. Thats a mere two weeks. Sure, said I, boldly and ridiculously. I'm foolishly confident sometimes.

fun and done

Its Halloween time! I have never quite outgrown wanting to carve pumpkins but my themes have changed since I was a little girl carving happy faces on my jack-o-lanterns. My friend Rachel came over the other day to carve the pumpkins that we had dumpstered from Trader Joe's and we decided we would both carve our lip tattoos onto our pumpkins;

Here's Rachel carving 'salty':



And here I am carving 'FTW':



The finished products:





I also carved a pumpkin that has my train tag on it, which is 'dot'. Aside from enthusiastically creating jack-o-lanterns, I've also been enthusiastically knitting. I finished the lace Montana socks and I am so stoked on the way they turned out.









Pattern: Fiber Trends Raindrop Lace Socks
Yarn: The Black Stitch sock yarn, 100% wool
Alterations to Pattern: made socks 10" rather than 8", eye of partridge heel flap

Hooray! And Happy Halloween!

quest for the pattern

I always prefer to buy locally if I can, so I've been seeking the Creatures of the Reef shawl pattern at all the shops around here. Since moving to this area, I had yet to go to the fairly new shop that is just a couple blocks down the street from me. I'm a creature of habit and when I get comfortable with a shop, I tend to stick with it. Its now quite a haul to get to my old shop, so I thought I'd give the new shop, Close Knit, a try. Now, normally I would abstain from talking shit on any person or business within the knitting community, but I've had two bad experiences in that shop now. The first time I went in just to check out what she carried for needles and patterns. I picked out an intermediate sock pattern and took it up to the counter. The woman acted as if I were an absolute beginning knitter and a fucking moron to boot. "Oh", she said, "I think you probably don't want this pattern. Have you ever even knit socks before?"

Listen bitch, whether I have or haven't knit socks before, whether I'm a beginner knitter still shopping the bulky aisle or a seasoned pro working delicate lace, don't talk to me in that tone of voice and don't question my choice of purchases without any prior knowledge of who I am or my knitting ability. Even after I'd explained that I'm quite comfortable with socks and all the skills needed to knit this particular pair, she proceeded to explain sock knitting to me in a tone usually reserved for 5 year olds. I bought the pattern and left swearing that I would never go back.

Silly me, while looking for the shawl pattern I decided to give it another go. As I walked in the front door she practically lept from her stool and blocked my entrance into the store. "I don't allow dogs." she snooted while looking down her nose at Jack, standing quietly beside me. "Oh" I replied, trying to smile and be friendly against her snobbish demeanor, "He's a service dog." (you'd think she might have figured this on her own, dressed as he was in a 'service dog' vest) She looked again at Jack and asked if there was somthing she could help me with. This was not her being friendly, but more of a 'I'm not moving from my position to let you in the shop and I'd prefer to just get this over with right now before you bring that thing into my store' type of question. I asked her about the particular pattern I was looking for and she told me that she didn't carry it. I asked her if she knew of any shops that might and she told me she didn't. "Try the Naked Sheep.", she said while turning on her heel and walking away dismissively. Fine, I thought, I will. I will go to the Naked Sheep, where they have always been friendly and kind, and I will never return to your store.

As it turns out, I didn't go to the Naked Sheep, instead I took the drive out to Carlton, OR and Woodland Wool Works. I rarely make a trek out there, but I'm always gratified when I do. WWW has been around for a long time and is a well established place that supplies for knitters, spinners and weavers. They have a mail order catalog that I recommend you get a copy of. Anyways, out to WWW, where they not only have the shawl pattern, but 14 copies of the pattern. I resisted the temptation to buy some Addi-Turbo lace needles until I had gone all the way through my circulars to make sure I didn't already what I needed. I left with just the pattern and a copy of the new catalog. Luckily for me it was a fine fall day, with plenty of sunshine, the smell of crisp air and brightly colored leaves stirring along the country road there so the drive was just a part of the adventure. Sometimes its nice to get out of the city.

This morning I've been cursing a bit. I went through my needles and I don't have either of the circulars that I need. Shoulda bought those Addi-Turbo Laces.... Maybe I'll venture over to The Naked Sheep. I will not, however, be going back to Close Knit.

Aquisitions and Observations

Am I the only person who doesn't take a laptop to the cafe? I went for a cup of coffee this evening and out of 7 people in the cafe, I was the only person not staring at a computer screen. I took a dog and some knitting.



I'll take that and a cup of coffee over a computer any day of the week.

Aquisition wise....well, this is a long story but it starts with cleaning out my mom's garage, the guru coming through with a really cool gift ages ago and ends with a reavowal to organize my knitting. Awhile ago my aunt and I saw this awesome vintage knitting organizer in a magazine and I lusted for one similar to it. Lo, when Christmas came around there was one sent to me from the guru. I've had it in the garage with my yarn (gasp! yarn in a garage?!) for awhile and finally dug it out and organized it. I also put my stash into nice, clean plastic boxes, compiled all my knitting books and patterns and collected all projects, which is all for another blog. The point here is, and I say this with enthusiasm, this thing is rad. Fucking rad.



All your needles can be slipped into little pockets around the exterior, and inside is plenty of room for current projects and works-in-progress. There's even a little zippered pocket inside for small stuff.



Jealous? You should be. Which provides a natural introduction to my current new cool yarn.



What you are seeing here, is a cone of 1,260 yards of Zephyr Merino/Silk laceweight yarn in Sage. My mom, who is undermentioned on this blog, partly out of spite for the fact that she never reads it, bought this for me while she was in Lawrence, Kansas. The Guru told her about Yarn Barn and she popped in to see if they had the yarn I needed to knit the Creatures of the Reef shawl. Right now I'm just keeping it in my room and occasionally rubbing it against my cheek. I can't find a local store that carries Fiddlesticks Knitting patterns, so I think I'll just adore it lovingly until the pattern comes in the mail. Anybody know if I need to do anything special to it since its on a cone and not already balled?

Intimate Portrait Of A Knitter...

...or, How A Sock Got Finished In A Week And A Second Sock Was Begun.



Winter in the pacific northwest means lots of cold, grey, rainy, drizzly days. If you're a poor early twenty something such as myself, that means months of snuggling in bed, under blankets, or in sleeping bags. Since none of us have any money to pay for the heat to be on, and we live in old drafty houses, our houses are freezing all winter long. Our house was built in the early years of the 20th century and I would venture to say that the heating system hasn't been updated since around then. We could run that thing into the ground and it probably wouldn't make a lick of temperature difference in any of the rooms. Most of my knitting, therefore, is done these days as the early morning light pours into my bedroom window and straight onto my bed. If I get up early enough, I can squeeze a couple hours of effective knitting into a day while saving on heat and electricity.

I have reached a certain zen while working on these socks, which I think is a symptom of lace. Reciting a lace pattern over and over is akin to chanting 'ohm'. When I first start, I have to look repeatedly at the pattern, just to check up and make sure I don't do anything stupid. A couple of repeats in, however, and I've got it down and I'm in my happy place of knitting where I can achieve might feats, like finishing 5 perfect inches while watching an episode of World's Deadliest Catch with my roommate. (I live with all boys. Sometimes they get control over the remote.)

straight to the hard stuff...

Alright, here's how I've been getting my fix as of late. Remember back in September of 2005? Don't worry, I can't either. I had to read back through my blog to remember when I first blogged about the pink stripe socks, the ones with the glitch in the dye job. Thats right, almost exactly two years ago I started what I thought would be a quick and fun sock project. Yesterday, I finally finished the fucking things. Excuse my language, I really should hold them dearer to my heart considering all the changes the socks and I have endured together. This is our 3rd house together, our 4th job together. Two years, I suppose, earns them a little more loyalty. The Guru was in town for about 10 hours. Never one to miss such an opportunity, I had her help me fix the ridiculous error that I had made (I started knitting in the wrong direction. I do this too often for comfort. I'm embarrassed to admit that I even do it in the first place.) and got me back on track. Within the night I sat down to watch The Painted Veil, which I highly recommend and finished the gusset, foot and toe of the second sock. Due to screwed up dye job, the stripes don't match, but I think they look pretty good regardless.



So, with one pair finished it was time for the latest fix. While on a recent trip to Whitefish, Montana, I stopped at the local yarn shop for some more souvenir yarn. Kn it 'N Needle Yarn Shoppe is on the bottom floor of an old house close to the old downtown of Whitefish. I was looking for a local yarn, something to remember Montana by, and I found exactly what I was looking for. The Black Stitch is a local Montana yarn company that makes a wool sock yarn. Alas, they are going (or maybe have gone) out of business. The stuff is great though. I decided to veer away from my traditional and over-knit basic sock pattern and try something with a little more zing. Thats right, I've gotten bored with the original stuff. It no longer gives me the same high that it did the first time I used it. I need something a little harder to try and get that feeling back again. Problem...it's not a problem. It's just a little habit.



Behold, the Fiber Trends Raindrop Lace sock. The yarn I'm using is variegated in shades of brown, which I hope don't detract from the beautiful lace pattern. The picture on the pattern has it in a solid blue, which really shows off the design. I'm about 2 inches in and from what I can see, it looks like a bunch of knots and holes. If I weren't familiar with lace, I'd be concerned. I don't normally block socks, but I think for this pair I will.

Relapse

I'll gloss over the fact that I haven't written in a dog's age and go straight to the bloggery. I appreciate your complicity in this, especially in light of what is proving to be a serious relapse into knitting. The weather in the northwest has turned cold and rainy, which means that I've gone straight back to mainlining socks. More on that next post. While I'm still feeling the buzz of having finished a pair of socks, I'm having lucid dreams about lace shawls. If you've read a couple posts back you'll know that I've been lusting after the Creatures of the Reef Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting for some time now. I'm still lusting but have decided that next paycheck, that beauty will be mine. I think I'm going to take the plunge (no pun intended) and buy the kit in Sage. I couldn't help but notice the similiarty that the Fiddlesticks pattern:



has an uncanny similarity to the Fiber Trends Seascape Shawl:



Coincidentally, I like the Fiddlesticks pattern better. While I'm still in my fiber haze, I also want to knit the Fiber Trends Pacific Northwest Shawl, which is uncannily similar to the other two, but the Oregonian in me feels that it is my duty to knit it. You can't argue with duty.

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?