A Knitting Day

~written 07/29

So, today is an update day at work, so we're in conference all day. I suppose most people dread these days, but I love them, because it means I can sit in the back of the room, listening to these people blabber on about our marketing and sales (about which I could not possibly care less) while I work on my cardigan.

This cardigan is one of my newest projects. I originally intended for it to be for Stephanie's birthday. I was working on my previous cardigan -- an off-white "leftover" cardi. I was using the Soft Sea Wool that I intended to use for a shawl. Unfortunately, I don' see myself making another shawl real soon unless I can make the pattern up. I just don't have the patience for patterns these days. I figure if I'm gonna have to do math on a pattern that someone else created anyway and it's still not gonna be quite what I want, why not make my own.

Anyway, when I was about finished with 'Leftover,' (Top down, raglan cardi, knit in one piece flat, stockinette, garter stitch borders, button band knit in - not on), Stephanie decided that she liked it and that I never finish anything that's for her so I decided to make her one for her birthday. It was Monday and her birthday was the following Wednesday - 9 days away. I thought I would go out and get the same weight wool, but a different color and definitely not Soft Sea Wool again... There was so much junk in that yarn...

Anyway, I went to the yarn store and couldn't find any DK weight that wasn't ridiculously expensive for an entire sweater... Really, I was thinking more of a sock weight but what I ended up with was fingering weight wool. Rowan 4-ply soft in a dusty blue. I love the color and the weight isn't so bad because it's knitting up pretty quickly on my Addi Turbos (yay!), but it's already been a week and i'm only halfway down the torso. Oh, btw, it's another top-down raglan, one piece, knit flat. Mostly stockinette, but there's a little interest (lol reverse stockinette, terribly interesting, I know) above the bust and drop stitch below it. About the knitting flat, I thought I would prefer knitting in the round, but I'm still super afraid of steeking and I REFUSE to learn on a 4-ply. It's just not gonna happen. But now that I've been knitting flat, It's a lot more interesting knitting. I would just die if I had to do the freaking knit stitch exclusively. The knitting is going super fast, so I'm thinking I'll at least be complete with the body by next Monday and the sleeves by the following Monday. (ETA: I finished the body last night, Friday Aug 7 and I LOVE it) That's including some expected break time for another project. What is that project, you ask? I'm knitting a Domo for my cousin because he asked for it. I'm using Patons Classic Wool Merino which might be stupid if he intends to get the damn thing dirty cuz i'm sure he's not gonna remember not to wash it in hot water. Oh well. I knit the body bottom up with the magic cast on so the 3-needle bind-off is at the top. Dumb. I'm thinking about doing it over, but I already stuffed the thing. We'll see how it goes.

Lost and Found

**some "back issues"
~July 12, 2009~


I tend to consider things that are lost because it interests me that objects can exist independent of a person. I usually think of lost things sitting some place hidden waiting to be found.

The phrase 'Lost & Found' though somehow seemed redundant. ''Of course it's found. Everything that's lost is found. "

I'm an organized person. I rarely lose things. I like to say that people with very organized brains don't have to be so organized in practice. They can remember what random peace they put their keys or that piece of paper. Me? If there aren’t a limited number of places for a thing, it will never be found when I need it.

I also have an organized idea of how to find things that works for me 100% of the time (when it works). First, you look in the obvious places, places it should be. Then, retrace your steps to the last time you had it. This is an absolutely fool-proof method save a couple really important qualifiers.

First, I lost the item in transition. That usually means I probably dropped the item in a parking lot. People almost never recover what they drop in a parking lot.

Second, I forget something. Mainly, I forget where I went, which is either where I lost the thing or when I put it wherever it is. The other part of that is I forget what I had on.

Perfidy

–noun, plural -dies.
1. deliberate breach of faith or trust; faithlessness; treachery: perfidy that goes unpunished.
2. an act or instance of faithlessness or treachery.


So today I feel like life is conspiring against me. I'm in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina. I work at A Southern Season and they had asked if I could work on the 9th, the day before mother's day. I said sure. The next day, my mom told me she wanted to spend Mother's Day weekend in GA visiting my sister at Fort Gordon (is that the right fort?). Anywho, she decided to push the trip to the following weekend. This coming weekend. That's all well and good.
Today, my calendar reminded me that the YarnHarlot, who hasn't ever really been near here, is gonna be in Atlanta on the 16th! That's the closest she's been in and will be for quite a while. That would have been some darn good luck if 1) Raleigh weren't 6.5hrs or so away from Fort Gordon, 2) Fort Gordon weren't in Augusta, 3) Augusta weren't another 2.5hrs away from Atlanta, 4) the YH is gonna be in Atlanta, 5) my mother didn't hate driving already, and 6) my mother didn't think I am unreasonably obsessed with knitting. None of those bode well for an impromptu trip nearly 3hrs out of the way. Never the less, I do intend to put it on the table.

Clicking around the interweb, I recalled that the Durham Bulls StitchNPitch game is coming up. I clicked over to the calendar. It's the 16th. Yes, the same day I'll be in Augusta, not seeing the YH in Atlanta and there isn't another one for a year.

Talk about your perfidy. I've lost faith in the randomness and/or justice of the universe.

A Series of (Un)Fortunate Events

I told a good story the other day and, as it's about knitting, I thought I'd write it down. Then I remembered that I sometimes write about knitting on this blog, so here it goes...

A few weeks ago, I wanted to start some socks. I really like bamboo needles generally and I had some leftover Shibui Knits Sock yarn (in Sky) so I bought some 0's, 1's, and 2's in bamboo. It was the first time I'd used smaller than 2's, so I struggled through more than half of the Absinthe foot chart before I realized that I was having a hard time because the yarn was sticking to the needles (I knit tightly) and they were too flexible. I decided to buy some metal dpn's. This is where the story really begins:

I went to Michael's in Cary (near where I work, about 30mi from home) to find some inexpensive metal dpn's (I'm on a super tight budget these days). I craft a lot, so it's really been my go-to craft store. They didn't have any sock needles. NONE. I left, disappointed. It suddently occurred to me that there was an AC Moore nearby and I thought I'd give it a shot. I got there and found a lovely set of 4 sets (of five, of course. Michael's didn't even have ONE set of five) Bates sock needles in a pack (not to mention a vastly superior collection of needles in general) for $10.99. I took them to the register and proceded to pay for them with my ATM/Debit card. They were having a bit of a sale and rung up a 25% off coupon for me. However, my card didn't work. They said that happened sometimes and I should try another time. Sure, I thought. I'll just head home after work (did I mention I should have been at work?) and go to the AC Moore in Chapel Hill and buy them. I stopped by Michael's in Chapel Hill first, thinking I might find something else there, but with no luck. Back to AC Moore I went and found the needles easily (again, vastly superior needle collection), went to the counter where the cashier used a 30% coupon, ran my card, then told me I couldn't use that card. I gave in (because I really wanted to finish the socks and could NOT knit with the bamboo another torturous minute) and got cash out of the ATM. When I got back, I picked up my needles, and the newest cashier rang me up with a 50% off coupon. I paid, left, and went directly home to knit. It was SO much better. You know what was the best though? An entire day of searching for needles, four stores, five times and I ended up paying FIFTY PERCENT of a price that I thought was crazy reasonable in the first place. What a fabulous day!

PS: Just a note, I could have easily found the needles at my LYS, Yarns, Etc., but they don't take my ATM card (I don't have one with a credit card logo on it and I don't use a credit card), I was really trying not to take out cash, and by the time I leave work each day, they're already closed.

Stymied

-noun a situation or problem presenting such difficulties as to discourage or defeat any attempt to deal with or resolve it.

I just want to start by saying that I almost never watch the news. By almost never, I mean I might watch ten minutes once a year. I hate watching the news. It's artificial and depressing. Instead, I prefer to get my news from public radio, where people have intelligent discussions about what's going on. Maybe I should be more diverse, but I'm not. I deal pretty well with that.

Anyway, today, I started watching the news because it came on HLN after Clark Howard. They did a quick pre-blurb on crocheted graffiti. Like, Knitta Please style. What stymied me? They said it's "... graffiti that even your grandmother could enjoy...." and "... this ain't your grandmother's crochet circle..." and it's a "...radical approach to an old-fashioned craft..." All in TWO blurbs, not more than thirty seconds, of talking about the craft, BEFORE the actual story. Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE my grandmother. She did, in fact, crochet. As a matter of fact, I'm teaching her to knit. But why does the media make it sound like there's some reform going on to make the crappy-old crafts that our grandmothers did into something hip and glowing and new? Is it not worth talking about unless we make that point? I think the crocheting that my grandmother did was awesome and beautiful and useful and artistic, just like knitting and crocheting are now.

I just saw a commercial on tv that included fishing. Something that men stereotypically do. Older men, in fact. Perhaps our grandfathers. But nobody talks about what our grandfathers do in a demeaning way. I don't even think that most men who fish recreationally, eat those fish. It's certainly not necessary for most people to fish. Why no stigma?

The ladies are here, and I have to forgive the announcer because the ladies used the words "old" and "grandmotherly" in the interview.

I'm not upset that's it's called "grandmotherly," I'm more upset about how they make that sound: not warm, hardworking, nurturing, and artistic, but "cute" and "old-fashioned".