Dead Muppet Purse

Those of you who saw me at Rhinebeck may have seen me working on this bright, happy, fuzzy thing that looked like bits of a dead muppet.



I'm happy to report that no muppets were harmed in the making of this project. There was that one a few years ago, but... I digress.

This project began for two reasons:

- A friend gave me a ball of Classic Elite "Phoenix" in "Pink Plume".

- I got tired of looking at the hoodie sleeve sitting around doing nothing, with the better part of two balls of Cascade 220 in that beautiful green unused.

Now, both yarns have a purpose. They're... this thing! So far it's just a big, striped rectangle, but I'm pretty sure it's decided to be a purse. A felted purse. I think. Maybe.

I may be creative, but I'm not terribly decisive sometimes.



I'm hoping that when it felts, the green stripes, being just the Cascade, will felt a little tighter than the pink stripes, which are the Cascade and the Phoenix held together, and it'll give the piece a neat ribbed effect. Whatever happens, it'll be bright and happy, which is exactly what I need now that the sun is setting before I get out of school.

Everybody have their candy ready for the little ones tomorrow?

Finished!

Sweet jumping jellybeans! I finished not one, but two projects today! Without knitting in the shower!



I'm so happy to be finished with these socks. I hate the yarn, and I'm tempted to take the rest of the ball (see it there on the left?) and just pitch it, but my packrat upbringing won't let me do that. Maybe I'll knit cat toys with it or something.



The greenery hat is also finished, and now I have to decide who it's for. I'm thinking maybe one of my uncles, but it might end up under someone else's tree. I'll figure it out sometime before it needs to be wrapped. I hope.

Hooray, productivity! Coming soon: the brightly-colored, slightly fuzzy thing I was working on at Rhinebeck.

Mental Quote of the Day:

I'm sitting at my desk, working on the Acrylicky sock. I check the time, realize I need to jump in the shower soon, and think, how am I going to knit and lather myself up at the same time?

Yikes.

meme en même temps

Gazing at the horde of knitbloggers at Rhinebeck made me realize that I don't read nearly enough knitblogs. Over the course of this week I've found a bunch that I like, so I've expanded the list o' links over on the sidebar. If you don't already read these blogs, go read them now. Yes, now. I'll be here when you get back. Don't forget to pack a lunch!


Puppy says:
Please, Mommy, not another meme!

Sorry, puppy. This meme has popped up on a bunch of knitblogs, so I figured I'd join in the fun. I've deleted a few questions because they only apply if the meme is transmitted via email.

1. FIRST NAME? I go by Lilith.
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes, I was given the name because of my resemblance to Frasier's wife on "Cheers" when I was in junior high.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Saturday night
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Pastrami!
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? This question makes my brain hurt. Would I be friends with someone like me? Probably not. I'd get annoyed by my quirks.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Paper or plastic?
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes, as far as I know.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Right now it's Shaw's brand vanilla cream mini-wheats. Sugary goodness.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Always.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I lugged five-foot-tall oxygen cannisters around for the better part of an hour Thursday afternoon. You have to be strong to do that. (Yes, I'm dodging the emotional side of the question.)
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Ben & Jerry's "American Pie"
14. SHOE SIZE? women's 8-9.5, men's 7
15. RED OR PINK? red
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? insecurity
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Seth. He was too young to die, but at least he was in my arms when it happened.
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue, black, and none
19. LAST THING YOU ATE? BBQ style meatloaf at Friendly's
20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? I'm listening to the theme song from "I Dream of Jeannie" in hopes of finding inspiration to write a parody.
21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? puce
22. FAVORITE SMELL? wood smoke
23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? my darling David
24. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Sometimes I notice the eyes, sometimes the smile, but usually it's general body language.
25. FAVORITE DRINK? hot chocolate
26. FAVORITE SPORT? rugby (which American television never freakin' shows... grr)
27. EYE COLOR? dark brown
28. HAT SIZE? My riding helmet is 7 1/8.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? The only contacts I have white-out my irises, so I only wear them when I want to freak people out.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? This really depends on my mood. Some days it's mac-n-cheese, others it's venison sausage, today it's pumpkin bread.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I have to peer over my glasses at scary movies so I won't have nightmares (because everything is blurry over my glasses)... so I much prefer happy endings.
32. SUMMER OR WINTER? winter
33. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
34. FAVORITE DESSERT? strawberries with real (not canned) whipped cream
35. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Ethical Slut is the only thing on my reading list right now, but I think I'm going to pick up The Salmon of Doubt again soon.
36. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don't have a mouse pad. My mouse doesn't need padding. It's not one of those pansy American football players.
37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? CSI: Miami... (PTA moms are freakin' scary)
38. FAVORITE SOUNDS? my cats purring, my lovers' heartbeats, the rustling of leaves as I walk through them at this time of year
39. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? both
40. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? France to the east, Portland, Oregon to the west
41. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? making my lover weak in the knees
42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Farmington, CT

Okay, that's pretty cool. After editing out all of the "who sent this to you" stuff, the number of questions is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. It's definitely time to pick up The Salmon of Doubt again.

*My "puppy" is an almost-ten-tear-old retired racing greyhound named Sassafrass. (Yes, that's one more "s" than the tree has. It's unique. Hush, you.)

Ecky Ecky Ecky Ecky Pikang Zoop Boing

As if standing at a welding platform for five hours a day wasn't exhausting enough, now I get to be a math tutor after school for one of the sophomore students. Basic geometry is something he has trouble with, so I'm going to try to help him out.

During my half-hour lunch break each day, I scurry off to a quiet corner of the cafeteria and knit. I'm trying to finish the Acrylicky socks just so I can use the needles for more deserving projects. Working on these socks has confirmed what I already knew: I'm a really slow knitter. In a week of lunches (2.5 hours), I've knit about 5 inches of a 50-stitch-circumference tube. That's... pretty sad, I think. Still, they're ankle socks, so that five-inch section is almost the entire body of the sock. A few more rows, and I'll be turning the heel. Behold, the acrylickyness:



The bag I carry my knitting in these days is this one, which is just big enough for most of my little projects.

I also have a few more Rhinebeck pictures for y'all, here. This one is probably my favorite of the bunch.

Ni.

More Fiber Than You Could Shake A DPN At

Rhinebeck. Was. Awesome.

When you stay at the same hotel as the Harlot and a village-size passel of fiber freaks, the pre- and post-festival knitting circles in the lobby are lots and lots of fun. I wish I'd been awake enough to socialize more... I was running on fumes Friday night after a long day at school, and walking around the festival on Saturday exhausted me so much that I had to take a nap instead of hanging out with the other knitters.

There were so many pretty things at the festival. Cute animals, beautiful tools, fluffy fleeces, and gorgeous yarns almost overpowered the senses. Saturday was Browse Day for David and me: just looking, no spending. This turned out to be a good strategy. It kept us from selling our souls in order to buy every hank of yarn we laid eyes (and fingers) on. On Sunday, we made our selections, and managed to walk away with a little cash left in our pockets. Behold, my spoils!



The two greys are a llama/merino blend from Mountain View Farm, and I think they're destined to be a pair of intarsia (or perhaps Fair Isle) gloves (or mittens). On the left is Supersock superwash merino from Cherry Tree Hill in a colorway that I wouldn't normally touch. Maybe it was running into Claudia that got me looking at bright orange yarns, or maybe I just needed some brightness to counter the seasonal blues. Whatever the reason for it, the trend continued with the mammoth (665 yds.) skein of alpaca from Maple Creek Farm, which, if I can find a good pattern, will be a lace shrug.

The last item in that picture isn't something I got at Rhinebeck, but it arrived in the mail an hour after I got home, so I figure it's close enough. It's one of two bags of Orappa Creek mohair that I bought from a fellow chainmailler and hope to spin soon.

Sheep says:



"Come baaaaack next year!"

I will, sheepie. I will.

The Things... They're Happening!

I started welding school yesterday. Five hours of sitting on a hard chair, listening to the instructor read every word of the student handbook: not fun. Watching as the only kid I already don't like comes over to introduce himself to me: not fun. Getting a few rows done on the Greenery hat during lunch break: fun!



It's hard for me to focus on anything this week, between getting used to school and looking forward to Rhinebeck. I'm meeting someone there who I've been dying to meet for months, plus, y'know, there's the fiber and animals, so I'm vibrating out of my skin with excitement.

For those of you who are going, look for the girl in the BRIGHT NEON PINK vest. That's me. :D

Keeping the Blog Warm While I Sew

Six Quirks, a meme from Sunflowerfairy Knits:

1. I hold yarn between the middle and ring fingers of my right hand. Anything else feels weird and slows me down.

2. I pick up potato chips and popcorn with my tongue, unless I'm sharing with someone.

3. I signal before changing lanes. Around here, that's unusual.

4. I use "y'all" a lot, even though I'm not a southerner.

5. I call just about everyone "hon" on a regular basis.

6. I love clocks, and knowing what time it is. If I can't see a clock from where I'm sitting/standing, I get twitchy.

Payback's A... Spree!

My ex-fiancé, my darling CorBear, owed me for a massage I gave him a while back. To repay me, he took me to a fabric store, pointed me at the yarn section, and told me to pick out whatever I wanted. Isn't he sweet?

I didn't want to go overboard, and Lion Brand was on sale, so I wound up getting five balls of Wool-Ease and two balls of DMC Senso crochet cotton/wool.



All of the Wool-Ease will end up as gift hats, and the Senso will be for something I need to keep secret for the time being.

Surly Surcoat Sets Seamstress... Knitting

The surcoat that was coming together so well turned on me again. Rather than continue to fume about it, I picked up my US#8 Brittany needles and started the second half of the LemonEgg shrug. I also figured out how to take redirected-flash pictures with my sister's camera. It's a simple little thing, but with the recent project issues I've been having, any victory is cause for celebration. Eggs, anyone?

Otherwise Occupied

No knitting progress today, but my renfaire surcoat is coming together nicely. I had a little meltdown earlier because of some sleeve issues, but I finally figured things out, and now there's just a little bit of machine work and a ton of hand-stitching to do.

Blog posts with pictures are more fun, so here's yet another picture of my room. Several projects, a bunch of books, and a few LPs (vinyl rules!) are precariously perched on a chair that, if you're not careful, you'll trip over when you enter the room. So watch out. Y'know, if you're ever in my room.

Pay It Forward

I'm still working on the Greenery hat, but haven't made enough progress to warrant another scan. Instead, here's the blanket I've been working on for Project Linus.



The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver, which was free to me, so I figured making a blanket to donate would be a way of "paying it forward." The "Victoria" colorway is on either side of the white, textured section. The only problem I have with it is its weight. I'm so used to making hats and other small things that the bulk of this blanket is kind of a shock. I'm using circs to make it a bit easier on my wrists, but still... it's kind of a monster.

Spend Each Day the Color of the Leaves

Two inches of progress have been made on the Greenery Hat. Exciting, eh?



I wish I knew more cable terminology. Is there cable terminology? I want a way to describe what I want to do with these cables without drawing up a chart. Let's call the current working strands of each cable A and B. What's going to happen, I think, is that each A will reach out and twist with the B from the next pair, then come back to twist with its own B. That should get it to the point where I need to start decreasing.

The 2x2-rib-into-3x3-cable thing wasn't really planned. It was the best solution I could come up with when I realized my previous plan was screwed by an uneven number of ribs. Knitting is like writing: starting with an outline saves time, work, and frustration. One of these days I'll learn to follow my own rules. "Do as I say, not as I do," doesn't make me a very good mentor.

*title from Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green"

Greenery

It's time for yet another new project. Lion Brand Wool-Ease was on sale at the fabric store when I was picking up a few things for faire garb, so I picked up a ball of "Forest Green Heather" and started this hat.



I did the first inch of ribbing in the dark (watching a movie) and made a mistake that I didn't notice until two inches later. Rather than frog back to the mistake, I just dropped the stitch, took a crochet hook, and fixed it that way. Now that the ribbing is finished, I can decide how I want to do the cables. If it turns out well, it'll be a Christmas present for one of my uncles.

Time to call my doctor. I've been way too manic for the last week or two.