My Knitting-Type-Blog-Thing

Typepad!

2005-01-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been hankering after a Typepad blog for quite some time, and I found a promotion that gives you 3 free months (it's from Movable Type, and you put in "movable" when they ask about special offers when you sign up), so I'm trying it out.

So, here is my first real attempt at posting, with a photo of the Hourglass Sweater so far... go look? My Experimental Typepad Blog.

Possum??

2005-01-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, I just saw a post on LJ Knitting about knitting with yarn that is 30% *possum.* Ick ick ick ick ick.

Kitsch!

2005-01-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I don't usually laugh aloud when I'm by myself. I don't know why it is, but I just don't. I tend to get really quiet and still and meditative, and I appreciate humour in my brain, but my outward self doesn't get involved.

This Museum of Kitschy Stitches made me smile, though, and then when I got to the clown part, the caption for the first clown-item (the one that starts "Hey kid...") made me laugh (out loud!) until my eyes watered and I started to kind of choke a little bit.

So I thought it was worth a mention.

Also, last night I passed out cold in my comfy chair, in front of 84 Charing Cross Road (best. movie. ever.), which was annoying because I missed knitting group, but good because I missed the really sad end of the movie.

In an annoying turn of events, I'm thinking today is going to be just as exhausing as yesterday, mom-wise. We started in with the whining ("Why does LINDA have to come todayyyyyyy?") over breakfast, and there were hints of the Vast Conspiracy Theories beginning to rear their heads ("Oh *I* get it! I GET it all right, [mutter mutter mutter].") which is never, ever a good sign.

I think, when Linda gets here, I will hole myself up in my room and attempt to knit whilst curled into a fetal position.

Oh! Before I passed out last night, I looked at Booga J's Knitting Blog" to learn about felted bags, and she said you can shave felted items (I snark inwardly at any phrase containing "shave" and "bag") with regular safety razors. So, I sat in my chair watching Charing Cross Road and shaving the orange-and-pink felted item I made the other day, and it looks much more pleasant now.

Bye for now!

Poo.

2005-01-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

So, today has been a hellish day filled with chasing mom around and dealing with her craziness. I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I guess I won't be going to knitting group... unless I get a second wind or whatever in the next half hour! :( I think I'll save ripping out the Hourglass Sweater until Thursday, then.

Still, at least I'm out of the weirdo up-at-night sleep cycle I was in, so that's good. Got up at 5 today after sleeping all night, which was a new thing. I'm hoping I'll settle into my new normal sleep pattern over the next couple of days, and maybe have more energy?

Mmmf. Off to curl up somewhere.

Monday.

2005-01-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

1. My mother is driving me insane (yet again) today. Her hallucinations are getting interesting, though. So that's something. Sort of like a really weird gruesome fairy tale being told to me in soap-opera-like instalments, courtesy of mom's plaque-afflicted brain.)

2. Linda, while she is a lovely person, is not as good for mom as I hoped she'd be. She doesn't seem to have much initiative, and she does weird things like, say, leaving if mom tells her to leave. (Which is inconceivable to me -- I mean, mom has the mental abilities of someone who's had a massive head injury, and you wouldn't just take orders from a brain-damaged person if you were hired to look after her... would you?)

3. The supervisor of the caregiver agency says it's doubtful we'd be able to keep anyone better with mom, because caregivers tend to just quit when given a belligerent, demented old lady to deal with. (My words, not hers, exactly...)

4. I dyed my hair this morning, but the dye seems to have all washed out in the shower just now. Hmmm. I no like.

5. I am knitting one of Suzanne's beanies as a means of denying the fact that I'm going to have to rip out the hourglass sweater yoke *again.*

6. Tomorrow must start on diet, as otherwise I think I will keep gaining weight until I am morbidly obese like the people Maury Povitch used to have on his show whose whole families could fit into their fatlady muumuus.

7. Apparently cumin helps to break up & prevent the plaques that form in the brains of people with Alzheimer's, so Dad wants us to go on a huge Indian-food extravaganza. This will conflict with the diet a bit, but on second thought I'd rather be chubby than brain damaged. Indian food it is! I'm off to cook chicken curry now.

8. I think I will actually make it to knitting group tonight! I might take the hourglass sweater with me and rip out the yoke so I will have lotsa moral support around me whilst I do it.

Jail Alpaca

2005-01-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

Um, and the photo for this yarn auction makes me really really happy.

And another thing / Peace Fleece order

2005-01-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I remembered one more thing while I was looking at Suzanne's blog...

You see, at my first ever knitting group meeting, Suzanne was making a green cardigan out of yarn from Peace Fleece, but I thought sweaters were waaaaay to hard for me so I kept focused on my little triangle hat** and put Peace Fleece out of my mind.

But THEN recently Suzanne was knitting some gorgeous burgundy/wine colored yarn from Peace Fleece at knitting group, and as I am a sucker for anything burgundy-or-wine-colored, and as I have discovered that sweaters are more manageable than I thought they'd be, I went and ordered a kit from Peace Fleece. (It's the "Everyday Cardigan" on this page; I got the worsted weight version in Moldava Burgundy.)

So, I am muchly pleased. I've never knitted anything that needs buttons before. It's new.

**Which I have finally found a use for! My headphones are broken, you see, so I put on the enormous awful triangle hat, stuff all the headphones bits inside, and thus I am both cozy warm and able to listen to Monty Python and Harry Potter on my iPod. Yay for the triangle hat!

Meep! Knitting for Barbie!

2005-01-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that I ordered a ridiculous book, and I am hugely excited about it. It's called Knits for Barbie Doll (there's a crochet version too), and I am, I think, going to use a little bit of my Apple Green (read: fluorescent greeny yellow) hpy.com lace merino to knit a sweater for Kanna's Jem! doll. And possibly a snazzy skirt-suit for Roxxy or Raya.

Yay!

I saw the crochet version of the Barbie book at In Stitches a few months ago, you see, and I was all sad because there wasn't a knitting version, but then I saw a review for the newly-released knit version in Vogue Knitting magazine, and I was verily pleased.

I just thought I'd mention it.

Aaaaand, now I'm off to eBay to see if they have any Jem! dolls for cheap, because I've always wanted one (I only had Superstar-facemold Barbies, growing up, and to be honest I much preferred My Little Ponies) *and* I could use it for fitting. Jem! dolls, you see, apparently have wider hips and smaller breasts than Barbies.

Happy New Year / Weekend So Far.

2005-01-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

So, no progress on the Hourglass Sweater... plus, I found a kind of scary mistake (I caught two or three of the underarm live stitches in with the yoke somehow, but I *think* maybe I can sort of cut and darn them or something? Will bring it to knitting group tomorrow to see if anyone has any ideas, I think.) which makes me not want to knit anymore in case I have to rip it out again.

Yesterday I got to order my dad two Pendleton sweaters, and he gave me a moth-eaten Pendleton vest for my troubles, so I could maybe rip it apart and use the yarn. But it's, like, thread-thin, plus the whole moth-issue makes me want to burn it before it somehow leads the moths to my yarn stash. I don't know if moth-eaten sweaters have eggs in them or anything, but I am highly suspicious of the moth-eaten vest for some reason. Hmm.

Oh, but speaking of the Hourglass Sweater, the tigerlily merino sock yarn I'm using (from handpaintedyarn.com), is *gorgeous* and I want want want more of their sock yarn. Alas, their site has only a few oddments of it left, and I don't see any more on eBay, so I must to wait. Ohhhh, but it is just lovely. I want to knit myself a coccoon out of hpy.com sock yarn, and crawl in and sleep for days. Also I would like to make mittenettes and armwarmers (and ~gasp!~ possibly socks) out of it, yes.

Which is sort of how I felt about Kureyon at first... I seem to remember writing to Kanna and suggesting that if I were rich I would have everything made out of Kureyon because it = pretty. Whereas now I don't like it so much because it's all rough.

Oh, and this month I am trying Proactiv stuff for my ouchy skin, because Jessica Simpson told me to. This is day 3. Just saying.

Also, I am ambivalent about Lindsay Lohan. Do I like her, or is she a big snob? I can't decide.

But back to the knitting. I made yet another little felted bag yesterday, out of bulky thin/thick wool from handpaintedyarn.com, and I am much pleased by it. It's just a little case for the short straight knitting needles, so I think I will just sew in a snap instead of adding handles or a flap or anything.

OH! And also I bought a yummy-sushi-motif roll-up case for DPNs, because I keep losing them (and I am a sucker for any sort of yummy-sushi-print fabric, and I wish I had yummy-sushi-print jammies to wear in my sock-yarn coccoon). I have to call my bank to confirm my PayPal account thing, though, else I shall receive bad feedback.

Next I must find or make a holder for circular needles, because I keep losing *them* too, the slippery little bastards.

Ok, now I have babbled enough. Must go dress mom and make her breakfast and then try to get up enough energy to dye my hair. Or to call and make a damn appointment.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone survived the holidays all right. :)

Orange and Pink Felted Bag.

2004-12-31T07:05:00.000-08:00

The new felted bag is drying now; it's wide and short, but not quite so wide as the other bag, so that = good. I'm thinking I will fold in the sides and sew them so as to make a pleasant trapezoid shape, and then I will put on plastic handles.

Mother was hugely unmanageable all of yesterday, and the sedative didn't work until hours and hours later, so my quick nap before knittng group turned into a lengthy sort of coma-sleep, and I woke up at 10pm all sad because I missed knitting group altogether. Bleah. :(

Oh well; maybe I can finish the hourglass sweater and wear it on Monday or something. That would be pleasant.

Happy New Year's Eve!

2004-12-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hoo my goodness, mother is having enormous fit re: caregiver, etc. Apparently I am her jailer now, and I gave her Alzheimer's/am lying and saying she has Alzheimer's in some bizarre wasting-my-life type power-play.

Happily, since I'm already a big liar in Mumsy's eyes, I have no qualms about feeding her a sedative and saying it's vitamins.

Oh, what a morning.

I did manage to start a new to-be-felted bag, though, which is a combination of Chaun's free pattern and the Meema's Marsupial Tote pattern from SnB. Unfortunately, knitting with the Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride has given me a strage nasal-oriented headache, presumably from breathing in the gross mohair bits. Ow.

Going to go watch Great Expectations with Mom now, and see if she starts to behave in a... more sedate manner. Yes.

(For the record, in case anyone is reading this who doesn't know me, I did not, in fact, give my mother Alzheimer's disease, nor am I lying about her illness in order to convince her to stay home with me and watch bad Dickens adaptations.

I did give her the sedative and said it was vitamins, though.)

Really Quick Update

2004-12-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Um, so, I'm hoping everyone's holidays have been going well -- mine have been sort of interesting and odd, but things seem to be getting slightly better over the past couple of days, aside from mom starting to have bizarre (but mild and not-a-big-problem-y) hallucinations. I might even get to go to knitting group tonight, hurrah!

Felted a bag this morning, which I made *almost* according to Chaun's free felted bag pattern, except that I used Cascade 220 and made up my own stripe pattern. My own stripe pattern, I must say, turned out to be terrible andI will definitely be following Chaun's recommendation on the next bag I make. :)

The bag is kind of amusing, because it turned out that it felted interestingly... it shrunk vertically, but horizontally? No shrinkage. So I have a very long, very low felted bag with ugly purple stripes. I don't even have a box long enough to felt it on... and I have a *lot* of old mail-order boxes, so that's saying something.

This interesting shrinkage is good news, though, because it means the next bag I make will go much faster -- I think I can get away with 40 fewer stitches per round if I use the Cascade 220 again. Yay!

In other knitting news, I'm wearing my sweatshirt today (sans hood, which I haven't had the patience to sew on yet), and I *was* almost done with the Hourglass Sweater, but then I realized the instructions are all wrong as far as the yoke decreases, so I had to rip out 4 inches and start again on the yoke. Ah well. I tried it on pre-rip, though, and so far I like the body and sleeves part a lot.

Will post pictures when I find the damn digital camera, oh yes I will.

Oh, and I'm in the middle of an Irish Hiking Scarf with hpy.com merino worsted in Olive. It's kind of tweedy and pleasant.

Must go now, Linda is here to look after my hallucinating mother.

Update.

2004-12-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Frustrated with mom's sweater. Color is off because of weird non-matching skein, and I don't have enough yarn anyway, I don't think... hmm.

Knitty.

2004-12-07T13:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so Chaun and Tracy told me the new Knitty issue was out yesterday, and I'm so caught up in ~~apathy~~ knitting Christmas gifts that I didn't look at it until just now.

And this is the only thing that even remotely appeals to me in the whole issue. ~sigh~ Sad, that.

Oh, except my childhood best friend, Devon, once gave me this sage bit of advice about ordering from catalogues: "If those pants look bad on the model, they're going to look bad on everyone." Which leads me to feel that if they couldn't get the wavy scarf to block out well in the Knitty picture, it's not going to block out well if I make it. ~yet another sigh~

Back to mother's sweater from hell. (Linda has the Bad Cold everyone's been suffering from lately, so she got here late and went home early... hence the knitting at home instead of going somewhere and having a life.)

Depressed today. Can you tell? :)

Update & Monday Night, etc.

2004-12-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

Knitting group last night was lovely (not that it's ever distinctly unlovely, though!) even if it was a bit small. Marin and I were both there early (which is a Big Thing for me since I started taking care of my mom -- I'm sure it's not her fault I'm late all the time, exactly, but it *is* a very noticeable difference from when I used to be half an hour early to everything) so we got to talk a little bit. Marin is knitting a tiny sheep, which makes me very happy (especially as the pattern specifies that she must start with its bum, hee!), and just generally it is always nice to see Marin, so I was muchly pleased.

Also I got to talk at to Laurie (whose name I am probably spelling wrong) a bit, which was also v. good; I'm glad Tracy found her for our group! And Chaun and I ended up meeting at Kmart and having a lovely little shopping experience, which was unexpected *and* quite enjoyable, so that was a sort of highly pleasant bonus to my knitting evening.

Then, when I got home, I cleared out the broom closet in the kitchen, because Linda told me the cleaners were coming this morning (they aren't; they're coming tomorrow as per usual, but they phoned yesterday to say they need us to buy Windex and tile cleaner, so there was confusion), and I wanted a nice organized place to keep all the housecleaning products. Then I knitted a bit, and realized I'd totally fucked up one side of mom's Christmas sweater, so I have to rip that out today and redo it.

Which I do NOT want to do. In fact, I am nervous about it, and its possible effect upon my sense of mental well-being. Stupid damn sweater.

Ok, that's all; I am cold, and Linda is here so I am going to go out somewhere in order to enjoy my few hours of freedom. Just not sure *where* to go, yet. Maybe I should take the sweater-side with me to a coffee shop, so if I have a psychotic break whilst ripping it out, someone will be there to help?

I *hate* that sweater.

Will post pictures later. Blargh.

Sunday Coupons.

2004-12-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

So, I've always, on some level, thought that taking care of my mother through her Alzheimer's would slowly drive me insane. Today, however, she seems to have decided to speed things up a bit. Think will go spend the Michael's 40% off coupon whilst pondering what to do with the remainder of my ruined life, yes.

Yesterday was lovely, though; spent the late afternoon with Trace, then went to Michael's to buy yarn for a blanket I'm making for the parentals, and as Trace had given me her unused 40% off coupon for last week, I also got a dry-erase board so Linda and I can leave each other notes & various important information. Yay!

Oh, and then I went to Kmart to try to buy a humidifier (the furnace in my parents' house is drying me into a prune, and I feel all weak and faint and dehydrated all the damn time), but I couldn't find one so I bought a new pillow instead, and some pajamas for my mother. I figure the more pairs she has, the more chances I have of finding a pair (she tends to hide/lose them, even if I put them away for her in the mornings when I get her dressed. It's baffling, and really, really frustrating on days like today when I have no goddamn patience whatsoever).

Ummm... yes, so now I'm going to calm down ~~ha!~~, start the laundry, and then go buy one more color of Cascade 220 for the bag I'm going to eventually make following Chaun's free bag pattern. I think.

Catch-up Photos.

2004-12-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Well, Mom & Linda are still gone, and no panicked phonecalls from Linda so far... keeping fingers crossed. :/

In the meantime, photos.

Here is the sock yarn I got from handpaintedyarn.com yesterday...

...it's the first sock yarn I've got from them (for some reason, they still haven't emailed me or sent the "brownberries" color of sock yarn I ordered ages ago, but aside from that all my orders have arrived now), and it's lovely. I am swatching it right now, yay.

And then this is the Koigu dropped-stitch scarf after the stitches were dropped and I'd sort of pseudo-blocked it...

It's roughly 9 feet long now, whereas before the stitches were dropped I don't even think it was a yard long. And here are the ragged ends...

...any fixy-type ideas?

Mostly unrelated to knitting...

2004-12-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! I have just sent my mother and Linda The Caregiver Sent from Heaven on their first real outing in Linda's car! They've only been on walks before; never out to a store or anywhere in the car... but I thought since it's been almost three weeks since Linda started, they'd better get used to going out together now.

But ohhhhh what if mother makes a scene and is horrible and I have to drive down there and pry her raving self off of a shopping cart filled with cookies and Kleenex?

I'd better go get my cellphone and keep it in my pocket, now that I think of it... bye for now!

Oh, and I had knitting pictures but they're not formatted yet. Will do that after I fetch the cellphone, yes.

Hope everyone's having a happy morning, etc. :)

Tuesday, and Catching Up on Photos.

2004-11-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

So, today was kind of a weird day -- Mom seemed to get along ok with her caregiver, Linda, but then again, Mom's been put on a rather powerful antipsychotic medication, and it makes her even slower and more incoherent than usual. Which I have a problem with... I'm going to talk to her doctor about it tomorrow, but I know he'll be all pissy and say what-do-I-know-about-psychopharmacology-and-Alzheimer's, etc.

And, since I was quite sad about missing my Mom (the way she was before she got sick, I mean) last night, I got no sleep at all, and only a tiny nap today, so... I'm feeling a bit strung-out-ish. In a non-druggish way.

But I did take some photos, today and over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I thought I'd post them, oh yes I did.

This is a photo (and, clever girl that I am, I neglected to put anything in to indicate scale) of the scarf I started after Laura and Tracy and Chauntel inspired me to try the drop-stitch thing. It's with Koigu, but the tags aren't at hand just now (they're not lost, though, so I'll post the colorway number eventually); anyway, this is how it looked before I dropped every other stitch at the bind-off, and then let them ladder all the way down the scarf...

The "After" photo will have to come later -- I've blocked the scarf now, but the edges still look ragged because I used a dumb form of the provisional cast on method (it was dumb for this project, anyway, because it leaves kind of... well, *enormous* loose stitches when you take out the waste yarn). Still, I shall take a photo and post it later. Maybe one of my vast readership will be clever and kind enough to suggest a remedy to the ragged edges! ~hopes~

Then, since we're working on making afghans for charity right now at knitting group, I took a WIP-type photo of my first four attempts at making 8" by 8" squares with acrylic blend yarn...

Please note that the pink square of paper measures exactly 8 inches by 8 inches. Also, I was laughing at myself a *lot* when I took this picture. Just so you know.

No worries, though, because Laura reassured me that acrylic and acrylic-blend yarn is preferred in Japan for making dishcloths and the like, so I'm keeping the way-too-big one for a washcloth, and I've made a couple of washcloths out of Red Heart since then, and I love them oh yes I do precious they are so exfoliatory (if that is a word) and yet they dry so quickly we wants more.

Did I mention that I'm overtired?

Oh, and also, I've made a few more charity-blanket squares now -- including two on the EZ KnittR machine Chaun lent me!! I kicked that machine up the arse over Thanksgiving weekend, and now it respects me, dammit, and I wuv it and must use it to make blanket after blanket -- and they all turned out to be at least *vaguely* 8" x 8". Plus, I learned some new stitch patterns whilst making the squares, and that's always good. Will take photo of the rest of the squares later and post it. For me, though, not so much for you, because... I LOVE them. Lovely neat little pile of off-white knitted squares.

Secretly, I want to *keep* them.

Oh, and this is what I'm working on now: blocking The Sweatshirt. Here's my second attempt (and thank you so much, Chaun, for lending me your blocking board and gorgeous long blocking pin/rod things -- absolute life-savers, those things!) at blocking the sweater...

...the body came out ok, but the sleeves were about 4 inches past my fingertips, and there was NO way I was blocking the whole thing again, so when Trace suggested I try to unravel and shorten them, I went to work and fixed the problem that way. Now they're just the *right* amount of too-long. :)

But yet, The Sweatshirt is not yet finished! Behold my first attempt at steam-blocking the rectangular piece that will somehow eventually become The Sweatshirt's hood...

And don't worry, Chaun, the iron was cold in the photo, and it was only on your gorgeous blocking board because I *posed* it there so as to make a pleasing photographic composition.

I'd already blocked out the hood and let it dry, but I felt like it'd be easier to heat/steam-block while it's still flat, instead of trying to block a weird 3-D piece of clothing, so I unpinned it, put a bit of brown paper down underneath it (paranoia about ruining Chaun's stuff when she's been so generous about helping me along with my projects, you see), re-pinned it, and used the iron's steamer-setting to shoot steam onto the hood. Well, onto the hood via a thin white washcloth, because I heard from Catherine last night that one isn't meant to really let the iron touch the wool. And, let's face it, by the end I was using a hairdryer to get the steam-moisture out (impatient girl) and I just flipped the damned hood over and gently dry-ironed it from the wrong side.

I am irresponsible with wool, I guess.

Aha! I'm done now! I'm sure you're all sighing with relief (as am I, to be honest) so I'll end this huge post... and just post more later!

Hope everyone had great Thanksgivings, by the way! (And she's punctual, too; how *does* Summers do it?!) :)

Saturday.

2004-11-20T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ohhhhh, how much do I want this? (It looks better in the catalogue, though.)

Also, I feel like crap.

Ouchy!

2004-11-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

I have a cold. :( It's only a little one, but I felt like mentioning it anyway.

Up early (due to cold and new habit prompted by 8am weekday arrival of mom's new caregiver) and working on afghan squares for the charity blankets. I was inspired by how Tracy is using each of her three charity-blanket squares to learn something new. I haven't been hugely ambitious, but I did try two stitch patterns out of the Vogue Knitting reference book that I hadn't used before.

Annoyingly, however, two of my squares are a tiny bit too big, and one of them is enormous. Maybe I can hem it? Or turn it into a washcloth and do another one? Bleah.

Anyway, hope everyone's having happy weekends, etc. :)

Errata.

2004-11-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, so in the post below about my friend who nearly died, I titled the whole post "A Rant" or something, and then just now I re-read it.

So, let me just clarify that the stuff about spending the day with Chaun and Trace was *not* part of the rant. That part of my day, aside from my having a headache, was lovely. The rant was the bit about Dave.

And, by the way, I still can't reach Dave, and I'm still worried sick. Literally, even. I do not like feeling helpless, no I do not.

Trying to be cheery, though, and today my mom and Linda-the-caregiver didn't have any troubles, so that's a good thing for which I must be thankful.

And, finished one rather horrible-looking square for the charity blankets.

Have to go buy a fax machine now. Hope everyone's having lovely days; *somebody* ought to be! :)

Everything falls apart. (This Post = A Rant.)

2004-11-16T21:12:00.000-08:00

This post has fuck-all to do with knitting. Just a warning.

Today I spent a few hours with Chaun and Trace, and it was lovely even though I realized when I got home that I hadn't eaten anything but an apple all day, and I was all shaky and disoriented. But whatever, I had a nice time anyway, and I got to meet Chaun's wondermous little daughter, and later Trace and I went on a mission to City College, but the place we needed to go was closed. Still, at least Trace knows where it is, now, and what the hours are so she won't miss it tomorrow.

Then, just now I checked my email and my friend Ed told me that our mutual friend Dave -- who I was just telling a dumb story about to Chaun and Trace, and making fun of some of his more outrageous recent behavior -- tried to kill himself on Sunday night. His idiot doctors increased his medication -- which I didn't even know he was on -- without monitoring him or, I assume, taking into account the fact that he drinks, and the meds made him suicidal. I guess someone found him all cut up and took him to the hospital, and then his on-and-off girlfriend took the train up to get him and take him to her parents' house.

And the doctors did nothing. Took care of his physical wounds, told him to go to counseling every week, and discharged him after two fucking hours. Oh, and they increased his meds AGAIN.

The weird thing is, Dave and I don't really talk much, but he's no less my friend now than he was when we spent the majority of every day together. And somehow I have absolutely no doubt that he thinks of me the same way. I wrote him an email to tell him I care, even though I know he knows that, and all of a sudden I was crying uncontrollably, which is something I don't do lately.

I mean, I think if Dave isn't left alone for a few weeks, and if he gets good counseling and the right meds, he'll be ok. And I've stopped crying now, even if I do feel helpless because I'm 5,000 miles away from my friend, and I can't do a thing to help.

But seriously, if things keep falling apart, I am going to get very pissed off indeed with whatever Powers That Be.

That's all. Going to go knit and watch movies and drink the biggest glass of wine in history and then sleep.

"...the morning was a shining thing."

2004-11-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well, ~touch wood~ this morning is going ok. Dull and quiet, but... no tantrums as of yet. ~fingers crossed~

I'm washing a whole huge load of towels, so mom and Linda can hang them on the clothesline (no idea why, but mom LOVES doing that), and then... whatever. Mom will just have to get used to Linda, whether she (Mom) likes it or not. Because I'm *keeping* Linda.

Ummm... ok, I'm going to go and try to conquer the knitting machine again... or start an afghan (sp??) square for the charity blankets we're making at knitting group.

Ohhhhhh Bloody Hell.

2004-11-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I really like my mom's caregiver, and she and mom were doing really, really well this morning (I got up at 7 to give mom her bath and get her ready, and then Linda, the caregiver, arrived at 8), so I went to visit Chaun and Trace, and then I was on my way to do errands when I got a call from Linda saying mom had basically kicked her out of the house.

So that was fun. Linda went home, but (thank goodness!) she's coming back tomorrow, and I had A Talk with mom about the whole thing, and since The Talk lasted for a couple of hours, I am now *exhausted*. Calling Linda to apologise, and dealing with my Dad weren't fun things to do either, so that adds to the exhaustion.

I'm a-gonna rest a while, and *hope* I have the energy to make it to knitting group tonight. ~sigh~

Sunday.

2004-11-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of time for knitting just lately, because of meeting and getting ready for my mom's new part-time caregiver. Lots of work, but it'll be good in the end... I hope!

I did manage to wash more hanks of yarn from handpaintedyarn.com last night, though, and this morning I enlisted mom's help (well, sort of pretend, make-work type help, but she needs that kind of thing to keep her happy) in balling up five hanks of yarn with the new swift & ball-winder. Yay!

Also, even though I get to use the little coat-closet for my yarn/knitting stuff now, there's just no way to fit it all in neatly without involving shelves. So, sometime this week I need to figure out what sort of shelves to get, etc., and put them in. Plus, my mom's sewing closet needs to be cleaned out, because it hasn't been used for years and years, so I sense quite a lot of closet-cleaning in my immediate future.

Took photo of sweater but cannot be arsed to put it up. Sorry. Will do it tonight, honest.

Button!

2004-11-13T01:49:00.000-08:00

So, I made this button for my blog, and it would be pleasant if you wanted to steal it for your blog or something. :) I'll put it into my actual template sidebar later, but right now I'm *really* going to bed...

Oh, How I Laugh!

2004-11-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I had a sort of freaky early morning, then a lovely afternoon, and then a huge errand-frenzy that I only got back from about 2 hours ago. Fun! Of course, one of my 'errands' was going to Borders to look at books, and another one was going to Kinko's to photocopy patterns, but *still.*

Anyway, I'm exhausted, and I have to meet the new mom-caregiver in the morning, which I'm really nervous about for some reason, and my Dad's being a jackass. BUT, I just tried on the handpaintedyarn sweatshirt -- which I tried to block yesterday -- and it is hilarity itself. I mean, it's fixable, but... clearly I stretched it lengthwise wayyyyy too much. Will try to get someone to take a photo of me in it, because... wow.

Night night.

Oh, For Fuck's Sake.

2004-11-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

I am sick AGAIN from the damned Good Cup coffee. Good Cup = BAD Cup. Yesssss. Or at least, maybe the brand of milk they use just doesn't agree with me? Because, I did notice that they used a fresh container of milk, right out of the fridge, both times I got my drinks, so... I don't think it was off, or anything. But... ouchy tum!

Ah well; I suppose it's best for me to avoid caffeine and sugary stuff at night (and in general, really), so next week I'll have Italian Sodas with diet syrup, I think. Much more refreshing anyway, that.

And THEN I got news from my dad that the evil Discover Card people (one person called "Ebony," actually) phoned and said my account will go into collections unless I pay them tomorrow. So I'm supposed to call "Ebony" tomorrow. I was TERRIFIED (I even had to text Trace about it because I was all jelly-legged over it) but then I set up an online-payment account at Discover Card's site, and paid more than they want from me, so even though I should really call "Ebony" tomorrow anyway, I don't think I really *need* to.

And obviously I won't because I'm a slacker with anxiety issues, but I do realize that I *should.*

Also, I wish my friend Ed would stop telling me stories involving my ex. Although the one he told me today was really rather important for me to know about because it involved another friend of ours, AND it was fucking hilarious. I am proud to know David J. Brown of Beverley and York, England, I have to say. And not just because he fucks up his life so spectacularly -- and, as I told Ed, with such STYLE -- that it makes me feel a bit better about my own life. I may just have to type out the whole story tomorrow, but for now I'm going to put it out of my mind because it makes me think about the ex, and that's not good. I prefer my life to be ex-free in all ways.

Owww, tum hurts. Back to the bathroom with me!

Rain.

2004-11-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

I really wish it would rain, because I'm officially tired of seeing my little Charlotte's blood all over the road. Considering filling a bucket with soapy water and going to pour it on the stain.

I feel mopey.

Off I go to knit.

Sweaters Galore.

2004-11-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm too lazy to take photos right now, but I feel the need to update anyway. I have the main part of the sweatshirt done, and ten inches left on the hood to knit. I'm going to take Chaun's advice and block the main part before attaching the hood, though, just in case stretching the whole thing lengthwise in an attempt to make it more flattering changes where I need to sew the hood to the neck.

Of course, whenever I think about blocking it, I suddenly feel incredibly tired. I had enough issues blocking out the Gryffindor scarf, for goodness' sake -- how many hours will I spend fiddling around with a whole sweater?

Then, yesterday I finished the back of the Purple Haze Cardigan from Knitwit, which I'm doing for my mom with Emerald merino worsted from handpaintedyarn.com. I thought it would be a good sweater for mom because a) it's a cardigan, and therefore easier on the person dressing mom than a pullover would be, and b) it doesn't have buttons or a zip, so as long as mom can keep it right-side-out and right-way-up, she'll be fine to put her new sweater on by herself. It's not guaranteed about the right-side-out or even right-way-up, though, believe me.

Anyway, I think I've already sort of messed up mom's sweater, but I think it might come out ok if I'm able to keep messing up the pattern directions the same way throughout. It'll be short and squat, but then my mother is quite short, and she'll be able to wrap the sweater around her and be cosy and warm with the extra room. I hope!

Um, and then I want to do the Skully sweater from Stitch n' Bitch, and I have the yarn and everything, but I can't seem to find my copy of the damned book. Which is always nice.

So mostly I'm spending my ~~free~~ knitting time trying to properly mess up the front of mom's sweater, and then getting bored, thinking about blocking the sweatshirt, feeling spontaneously tired, and then moping around instead of doing anything at all. It's a good system, I feel.

Ok, that's all. Will attempt to update later on with photos & that.

Hoo boy.

2004-11-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

So, I'm feeling really gross today. Quite dazed and weak, due (I think) to the coffee I drank last night not agreeing with my tum.

Just saying.

Charlotte.

2004-11-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

One of my cats, Charlotte, died today; she was hit by a car, and then I took her to the emergency pet hospital, where they put her to sleep. It was all very bloody and horrible, and I wish she hadn't died in such an awful way.

So anyway, I had sort of a shockingly bad day, but I'm ok. Very tired, and disturbed because of the gore, but I'm consoling myself by listening to Jane Eyre and learning to seam various parts of my sweatshirt together. I've done the tops of the shoulders and about half of a sleeve so far. Of course, I still have another sleeve and the hood to knit, so there's only a limited amount of seaming I can do right now.

Well, that's all for tonight. I think I'll try to finish seaming the one sleeve and then go to bed.

Ever So Impressed!

2004-11-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

You know, I was going to post something vaguely angsty and complain about being tired -- you know, my usual sort of post -- but then I read Tracy's blog and realized she's taking care of three little children all on her own! I mean... I may be tired and grumpy, but I've only got *one* extra person to take care of!

So, my day's been thrown into some much-needed perspective and I'm going to make a big effort to get over feeling tired and annoyed by relatively small issues, and instead I shall do my best to develop a sunshine-and-roses sort of attitude. Then, later tonight, I'll actually post about *knitting.* It'll be like turning over a new leaf and all that. Yay!

(Stop laughing! I really do mean it! ~g~ )

Tattoo.

2004-11-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

I've just realized that I may not get much knitting done today after all, even though I've got almost all day free! I've been promising myself a new tattoo for a long time, and I think I've finally dug out enough of my art books so that I can actually start designing something now.

The tricky bit is that the inspiration for the whole thing comes from this...

...which I suspect will not translate easily onto skin.

Any ideas?

Last Night, I Went on a Quest! And This Morning, I Organized Patterns!

2004-11-04T04:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, so you know those perfect knitting-project bags that Tracy, Chauntel, and Laura use? The ones Tracy discovered at Ross? The navy-and-cream-colored ones that're about the size of men's shoeboxes? And they're made of canvas, zippered all along the top, and adorned with ever so useful handles plus a little plastic label-window so you don't even have to open the bag in order to know which WIP is inside which bag? Remember those?

Well, I believe I have mentioned that a certain lovely friend of mine bestowed two of these wondermous knitting-project bags upon me recently (even though she *knows* Ross seems to be suffering from a massive shortage of the bags! Such a darling!)

I believe I have *also* mentioned that I am now addicted to the absolute perfectness of these bags, and I really, really want to find more of them. Especially since Chaun has a *red* one, and... yeah. Summers likes red, yes she does. :)

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I decided to go on a little shopping trip last night, to see if anywhere else in town carries the perfect wondermous knitting-project bags. My day had been really up-and-down earlier, you see, and all of a sudden I just *had* to get out and partake of that alone-in-a-crowd feeling that solo shopping provides.

And, *that* part of the shopping trip was really therapeutic. Plus, I got lots and lots and *lots* of exercise. But I'm sorry to say that, as far as I can tell, Ross is the only place in town that even *pretends* to sell the project bags, and yes, Ross is indeed still out of them. I ripped Ross apart for an hour, then did the same thing (but more self-consciously) at Linens N' Things, K-Mart, Staples (it was a whim, don't ask), etc., etc. By the end of it all, I was so tired and broken that I had to put back a few things I'd found for various friends' birthday pressies, because I though I might fall over whilst waiting in line to pay the cashier. Ah, well.

On a happier note, though, I did write down what these randomly-spotted birthday-presents-to-be were, and which shops I saw them in, so if I have enough energy later this morning, I'll go back and fetch 'em. Woohoo!

Oh, sorry, I got carried away as usual with spewing out my Tale of Fruitless Shopping, and I forgot to tell you the *good* knitting-project-bag news! You can get them online, from here. They're quite a lot more expensive online than they are at Ross, I think, and I couldn't find one single site that sells the red bags, but if you've got $8 lying around and no place to put your knitting, well... order away.

* * *

Um, and also since the house is still absolutely bloody freezing, I woke up really really early again today, and organized (almost) all of my knitting patterns! Yay!

Now, if I can actually find time to sit and do some knitting today, I might stand a chance of finishing one or two projects by Christmas! Wish me luck? Please? I promise I won't tell dull, verbose stories anymore if you... oh, no, actually that's a complete lie. Babbling is my life.

Bye for now!

Oh, the Hilarity! [ Edit: And the Horror. ]

2004-11-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

As it turns out, I was just informed that my parents will be out for most of the morning, because Mom has a doctor's appointment.

So, the one day I could be guilt-free about visiting my friends = the very day said friends have a big new job to start at work, and thus they can't be visited.

Welcome to my life.

(Actually, I totally can't stop laughing. This is just so. my. luck.)

[ Edit : Ok, so I went out for about an hour to buy the Rit dye I was too tired to buy the other day? And when I got home my brother was here -- he announced he's staying the night at my parents' house tonight. With absolutely no notice. And does *he* get to clean up the guest room my mom has taken over for hoarding things in? No. I get to. Plus, Dad says that Mom threw a huge strop at her doctor and refused to give a urine sample, so now I get to take a urine sample from her. And, obviously, Dad is in a foul mood.

Any guesses as to how much knitting I've got done today? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? ]

Oh, the Joys of the Political Process.

2004-11-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

So, I decided early this morning that I wasn't going to vote. The atypical depression is striking in force, so I was just too tired.

But in the end, I did vote. I'm just back from the polling place, which was a church. There's something fundamentally wrong with that, to me... you know, separation of church and state, and all that. I mean, the least they could do is *physically* separate them!

Here was my post-voting experience:

Me: "May I have two of the 'I Voted' stickers, please?" Little Old Volunteer-Lady: "Do you have a little boy?" Me: ~baffled pause~ "No, I just want two. For me. I like them." Little Old Volunteer-Lady: ~gives me frightened look~

So, I grabbed two stickers and legged it. All in all, I think this Election Day has been a success.

Stuck. Or, Real Life Issues Spill into my Knitting Blog Once Again.

2004-11-02T03:23:00.000-08:00

So, I've been trying to ignore it, but... when I got home tonight (well, last night, if we're being completely honest), Dad and I got into a huge fight. About what, you ask? About me walking in the door crying because of the whole Mom situation, and asking Dad for a hug.

A HUG.

He said I'm wasting my brain by knitting all the time, which is bullshit -- I'm wasting my brain by taking care of his wife, for fuck's sake, and because he asked me to do it!

Then? He denied ever asking me to move home and take care of Mom. Flat-out denied it. And, I mean, I have such a sharp memory of the conversation in which he asked me to move home that I can hear it, word for word, in my head.

But no, Dad's version of events = Summers couldn't keep a functional relationship with her fiance. Fiance dumped Summers. Summers moved home. Summers moved to San Francisco. Summers was then, somehow, "in trouble" -- I never got what *that* meant out of him -- in San Francisco. So, Father took pity upon Summers and allowed her to come home and take care of her invalid mother.

At the end of it, I just sort of sat, in shock, with not a single clue about how to get out of this situation, now or in the future. Not in any permanent way, I mean. Obviously I could steal the car and drive somewhere, or use my savings to fly to Australia or England, but the one really useful thing James taught me is that you can't rely on other people -- you have to get out of the really big problems on your own, because nobody can fix you except you.

After the shock wore off, I wrote emails (which probably sound manic because I didn't want anyone to realize I wasn't doing very well emotionally), spent an hour re-typing the knitting-group contact list, just so I 'd have something to concentrate on, and then after Dad went to bed I cleaned the kitchen.

Maybe I'll knit now.

[ Edit: Well one good thing about today -- most of my errands are done, and it's only quarter past 6 in the morning. Have cleaned the kitchen, made and packed up Dad's lunch, fed, bathed, and medicated Mom, and done one load of laundry. ]

Monday Night.

2004-11-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess not a lot of us made it to Andersen's tonight, but I did have a really lovely, relaxing and good time with Trace all the same. Yay!

Still, I hope the last hurrah at Andersen's was lots of fun for all of you who made it there tonight! I, for one, want to see pictures when we meet up at the new place next week!

Now I'm home, though, and... suddenly the depression is really bad. I think it's just the stress and being on-call almost all the time (even when I'm sleeping!) as far as taking care of my mom goes, and... yeah. Not even sure where to start with fixing the situation(s), either.

Think will curl up and watch a movie. Or... I don't know. Something.

Night night.

Sweatshirt Sleeves.

2004-11-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

So, since tonight is knitting group, I really want to get one of the sleeves for the sweatshirt finished. I'm sort of changing the pattern (I got up the courage to try it because Chaun showed me how she changed the sleeves on her sweatshirt) so the sleeves will be longer, and wider at the wrist... sort of with a little bell at the bottom, but not an obvious one.

Anyway, I'm not sure it's going to work, and I sense that I'm going to need some advice on how to fix my mistakes!

Also, since Election Day is tomorrow, I'm considering bothering Chaun (and Trace if she's not feeling politics-phobic today ~g~) and getting her to tell me more about her political views -- every Election Day, I wonder if I vote for the Democrat purely because I support him, or partly because my family = full o' Democrats.

Oh, and also today's the last day I can wear my "Republicans for Voldemort" t-shirt and have it be even remotely relevant, so I really need to find it and wash it. The only thing about it is that I wonder whether people understand it's a joke... I don't actually think Republicans = Evil, or that Bush = The Dark Lord. I just like the Harry Potter reference. Summers = simple, simple girl.

Really I just want a President who'll figure out how to make Alzheimer's go away. Not that either Kerry *or* Bush really have a To-Do List with "Note to Self: Fix Alzheimer's" at the top, but still. That's my wish; world peace can go hang. ~sigh~

This post is really not much at all to do with knitting, is it? Oops. I'm going to go work on that sleeve now. Wish me luck!

[ Edit: I notice that no one commented on how cute I looked in my costume. ~pouts in blatantly attention-seeking manner~ ]

Happy Halloween!

2004-10-31T18:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's tough being a dead Gryffindor...

[ Edit: I keep meaning to extol the wonders of a tip Tracy told me about -- dipping the cords of new circular needles in boiling water for a few seconds to relax them. I forgot to do it with a new set of circs that I was using just now, and the kinked-up cord was making me crazy, so I'm typing this as I boil a little pan of water to dip said obnoxious cord into. :) ]

Random Update.

2004-10-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

So, this is how tired I am: After doing some errands with my mom, I brought her home, put all the groceries and drugstore stuff (and to-be-dyed yarn) away, and then drove over to OSH to buy Rit fabric dye.* So, I get to the OSH parking lot, park, and then go, "Oh, for fuck's sake," and drive home. I was too tired to get out of the car and go buy the damned dye. ~rolls eyes at self~

Not that I really truly needed Rit fabric dye *today* -- especially since if I didn't have the energy to go into OSH, I doubt I'd have the energy to dye yarn tonight. Plus, I've got a sweatshirt to work on, dammit! Must stop letting myself get distracted from the sweatshirt, because I sooooo want it to be done so I can wear it! Oh, and the fake head needs another coat of paint too, so... yeah. Plenty to do.

I'm just hoping I manage to rest up, so I won't be tired for knitting group at Andersen's tomorrow evening! Overtired Summers = not good.

* I dyed some yarn with Rit the other night, and altogether it was a much nicer experience than Kool-Aid dyeing. More vivid colors, better, less-orangey reds and pinks, and the dyed yarn doesn't make my hands burn the way Kool-Aid dyed yarn does. Just in case you were interested. :)

Yay! (And Fake Heads.)

2004-10-31T09:11:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday was all kinds of lovely, and I am a pleased little monkey. Will write more on this later. :)

Sweatshirt going along well, except that I can't find my copy of the pattern. Typical me.

Happy Halloween!

[ Edit: Have found sweatshirt pattern, but have decided to paint the fake head I got yesterday at Craft Essentials, so I can start taking photos of hats. Also am trying to work out how to make the sweatshirt's sleeves how I like them, instead of following the pattern exactly. I *think* I've got it worked out, but who knows. ]

[ Edit Again: Am painting fake head, and Chaun, you're totally right -- the fake heads are really quite small compared to... well, real heads. ~sigh~ Oh well. At least they'll tide us over with the hat-photo-taking until we find real-sized fake heads! :) ]

BLOODY HELL.

2004-10-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

So, the central heating in our house is broken -- it breaks every couple of years, and makes its brokenness known by leaking buckets-worth of water onto my bathroom's counter and floor. So, the other day it started happening again, and most of my makeup got splashed a bit, but I rescued it in time.

I reminded dad that he needs to call the central-heating guy, but since it was raining whilst the leak was occurring, apparently he (dad) didn't believe me that the central-heating (which dehumidifies the air) was causing the leak. Still, I said it would be a good idea not to use the central heating, and dad agreed, so I put my makeup back out on the counter.

Now, when I left England, I thought I'd be going back, so I left nearly all of my possessions there, and my ex never thought it would be decent of him to go up to my college room and pack up and send the stuff to me (we were still engaged at the time, mind you, and I would have -- in fact I HAD -- done the same for him). So, I lost all my stuff.

Hence, the few things I have from England -- and a lot of that includes makeup from Boots, and Toni & Guy stuff -- are PRECIOUS to me. But yet my dad just turned on the central heating, AS A TEST TO SEE IF THE HEATING WAS REALLY CAUSING THE LEAK.

So now all my sentimental stuff is soaked, and about half of it's ruined, and... my dad doesn't give a shit about it. He doesn't believe in sentiment, so I'm an idiot because I do. I mean, for fuck's sake, even if he'd just pushed my stuff off onto the floor and kicked it out into the hall, that would've been better.

Sorry, had to vent. I wish Java Station didn't close so early, or else I'd go there with knitting. I just have this I-am-going-to-become-hysterical feeling that I don't think will go away unless I get out of the house. And this time? It's not hormones.

Hairdye Fiasco.

2004-10-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Um, and also my hair is... well, whatever the orange equivalent of magenta is, but mixed in with brown. I realised I didn't have enough money to go and have my hair cut and/or dyed, so I did it myself... and my self-hairdyeing is hit-and-miss at the best of times.

Yay for my plummet in self-esteem.

Gosh, I'm tired. Did I mention that? Like hell I'm getting any knitting done tonight.

Oh, but my skin is improving a little bit ~knock on wood!~ so that's a plus.

Exhausted. Again.

2004-10-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Spent first bit and then second portion of day running around town doing errands, again. So tired. Did stop and get pedicure, though, so that's something. And talked to Jenny more -- I need to phone her back, and Kelly too, but honestly I'm so tired I don't know if I can even manage to speak.

I know -- will have small dinner (big dinners = Sleepy Summers) veg a bit, and then phone people back. Yes. Must hope for second wind.

Random.

2004-10-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

So, not a huge amount of knitting done today, but I did clean out the hall closet, which my dad said I can have half of for my knitting stuff... so I'm off to Home Depot to buy a shelf kit to put in (or at least to look at shelf kits and decide whether or not I want to bother), and then to buy condolence cards and flowers, and groceries. Oh, how it amuses me that I'm a housewife whilst owning neither house nor husband.

First Sweater + Glittery Pumpkin Things.

2004-10-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was actually a good day -- had a lovely time with Trace and Chaun drinking coffee, winding balls of yarn, and generally being silly (in a good way), and then did lots & lots of errands.

Annnnd, before I forget, here is a picture of the glittery pumpkin things my mom and I made for Halloween (idea courtesy of Martha Stewart, because yes I love her to bits, shut up)...

They were loads of fun to make, actually, and Chaun even let me have a few of the little mini-pumpkin/gourd things she's going to use for projects with her kids, so mom and I get to make even more glittery pumpkins. Yay!

I went to Ross to look for some of the canvas bags Trace and Chaun and Laura use for knitting projects -- Trace gave me two already, but I am greedy so I want to find more -- but my mom was with me so I bought cheap shoes instead (having mom wandering around = not helpful when I want to be searching through piles of stuff at Ross). Then, I went back in the evening and still didn't find any canvas bags, but I did find lots of see-through storage bags, so I bought some and I'm hoping to organize my yarn stash with them. Will take photos when I actually do organize the stash.

Then, this morning I finished the back of the Sealing Wax (from handpaintedyarn.com) sweatshirt...

...and I've just started the front. I can't wait to finish it -- it's so cold out (and in our house because the central heating makes the ceiling in my bathroom leak profusely for some reason, so using the heating = forbidden) that I want to be all snuggly in my sweatshirt right now!

~sigh~

2004-10-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Um, so... my great-aunt (mom's aunt) died last night, and it's totally weird because the second I found out, I started thinking logistics. Do we have to tell mom? (Yes, and she's ok.) Can we manage to go to San Diego for the funeral? (No, too hard for everyone.) What can I do so mom will feel like she's able to mourn like a normal human? (I think we'll pick out flowers together, and send them to my great-aunt's daughter along with a card that mom can pick out.)

So... yeah. Anyway, it's weird because I really liked my great-aunt, but my first reaction was completely without emotion. Even now, I'm thinking about how she was ill and in hospital for a few months, and her husband died a few years ago, and she was starting in on having dementia, so really it's better for her, maybe. Odd how caring for an older person with dementia/Alzheimer's makes you see death as less scary for people in those circumstances.

And that all sounds so, so cold of me! Which isn't how I mean it -- I think after I get mom through her own mourning (and she's dealing *remarkably* well, I have to say) then I can get through mine. But I do wonder how much emotion there is left inside me -- it's like taking care of mom, and developing new friendships and hanging onto old ones are all there's room for in my heart at the moment. Caregiving and the Breakup of Doom with James have sort of forced me to be in survival mode, I know, but is it even possible to get past that anymore? For instance, Kelly, who I'd really like to get to know better because she seems like a really cool girl, suggested that a few of us go out cruisin-for-boys, and I love the idea of spending time with girls, but I seriously can't imagine being *able* to fall in love with anyone... even the meeting-and-flirting-with-boys stage seems like too. much. effort. And sex? Getting naked in front of a new person? Perish the thought!!

Still, I'm *so* not shooting down the cruisin' idea, Kelly! I just mean, when we go out at first I might be shy to the point of you thinking I'm not having fun, which will so not be the case... It's just that I'll be overwhelmed because I was really, really hurt so now love = hurt in my mind, you know? And I don't know if I know how to flirt with all the breakup-weight still on me. But then, maybe breakup-weight is a physical manifestation of needing to coddle myself psychologically?

More questions to ask Shrinkypoo at my next appointment!

And yet again, my personal stuff has spilled out into my knitting blog, so I'm going to cross-post this at Alden's Diary, which is my much-neglected personal LiveJournal/Blog. Not to mention that I really, really miss my LJ friends, and I need to tell them that I'm ok, but I'm not doing a great job of keeping up with them and I'm sorry for it, but I do think of them, like, every single day.

Oh, and also -- this is so trivial but I have to say it -- my great-aunt was a knitter, and I never told her that I'd learned to knit. Part of the not-telling-her was, I'm ashamed to say, my own laziness, and the other bit was that I just thought I'd have more time to tell her. So, now I'm the Last of the Knitters in the Smith-MacRae family -- and all the female members of the Case family are dead, so who knows if they knitted.

(Ooh, except I have a 20-something-year-old niece, Ananda Case, so maybe I can convert her and we can start a Knitting Dynasty.)

SERIOUSLY BABBLING now, so I'm going to go. Trace and Chaun, if you're free for coffee-breakness anytime today, I'd love it, but I totally understand if you're too busy. Just, it'd be nice to see you if it's not an imposition. :) ~hugs~

And, since I'm just going to cut-and-paste this over to LJ, ~hugs~ for my LJ darlings who (Kanna, Cal, is it who or whom in this instance?) I miss terribly and I know I've been neglecting. (Kanna, Cal, never mind re: grammar -- I've clearly become one of the uneducated masses and will never make it back to grad school.)

Love & Rainbows to everyone on Blogger & LJ, and I'm going to go take a Xanax and snuggle up with mom for a bit and let her cry on my shoulder -- I think she needs that just now. <333333 (r)x(r)x(r)x(r). (Oh and Becca honey where did you send your email? I haven't got one at s.j.case(at)mac.com, but I'll go check trotwood(at)gmail.com now just to be sure.)

Love from,
Summers.

Aha!

2004-10-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Um, ok, so I couldn't get onto Blogger for six billion years, so I made a new knitting blog here... not sure which will be the permanent blog, but I'm putting up the link because I'm too lazy to re-post over here just now. :)

Happy Mid-Day

2004-10-26T14:19:00.001-07:00

Had a lovely time with Chaun and Trace this morning (well, it would've been morning except that I got there a bit late and stayed for a long time drinking all their coffee -- yes, I am a conscientious guest), yay! I got to look through some of Chaun's many pattern books, and Trace made me copies of what I'll need for the sweatshirt I'm going to make. <3333

Then, went to Craft Essentials to buy the needles I'll need for the sweatshirt, and ran into Joanna and little Elise (I hope I'm spelling that right!), so we felt up some mohair for a bit, and then I went to get food for my mom and me so we could have a cosy rainy-day lunch.

It *was* cosy, in the end, but there was a lot of "Mother, it's a taco. Think. You know very well what a taco is. You pick it up with your hands and eat it, remember? Remember? Just pick it up and -- Goddamn, don't dump it all over the table, just pick it UP!" ~sigh~ I feel bad for saying things like that, because I know it's her disease making her stupid and childlike -- it's not that she's just dumb or anything, but something in me can't accept that my mom, who used to know just how to do things and who I could turn to with my problems, now needs me to help her eat and dress and bathe, and her personality's so different that I don't even *want* to help her because she's such a complete resistant shrew about everything. So, that tends to keep me from being the sweet, patient caregiver I wish I were.

Hence, I knit a lot, and grumble under my breath and get horrible adult acne from all the repressed anger and stress. Woohoo!

But then, on the other hand, I have so many lovely friends who I wouldn't have met if I hadn't gone through the horror of the past year and a half, so I wouldn't take back any of the bad stuff even if I could, because maybe then I wouldn't have my friends, and that would so not be a worthwhile trade. :)

Can anyone tell I'm seriously hormonal? Damn you, uterus! (Also, I'm going to try to start up my regular my-life-and-my-angst blog at LiveJournal again tomorrow, so I don't go all wibbly here. This is a knitting blog, honest! I swear!)

Ohhhh I want my handpaintedyarn.com stuff to get here! But it only shipped on Friday, so I don't think it'll be here today. Curses, foiled again.

Happy Mid-Day

2004-10-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Morning of DOom.

2004-10-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

Knitting Group!

2004-10-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Knitting group was lovely, as per usual, even though I got nothing done (note to self: don't bring chart-followy type things to knitting group). And then I had cramps of doom and didn't think I'd make it home before my stomach started... well, too much information. But I made it home, and now am in happy dazed-relief thanks to painkillers. Yay!

Um... yeah.

So, my handpaintedyarns.com order apparently shipped on Friday, so I'm really excited to get it and start on the Chaun-and-Trace Sweatshirt. Which reminds me I must get the pattern for it. Patterns = necessary.

Oh! And Trace brought me a set of two of the Ideal Canvas Knitting-Project Canvas Bags, and I'm pathetically excited about them. Thank you Trace! I'm temtped to put the Alien-Head Scarf in one, so I never have to look at it again, but I think I'll save them for sweater projects. Eeeeeee!

Mmmmf. I wish I had a hot-water bottle to curl up around! And a knitted hot-water-bottle-cover would be kind of fun to make, I think. Hmmm. Can you *get* hot-water bottles in Southern California? Must look into that... until then, though, I shall try to get the kitten to let me curl up around her, and then I shall pass out, I think. No more knitting tonight. (Shock-horror!)

Ok, night night. :)

First Sock!

2004-10-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

I finished the sock! Yay!

The grafting on the toe looks decidedly suspect, but as a whole the sock works. Fits and all. I think. Will edit with sock photos later.

The irritating thing is I have to make a whole other sock, now. Hmm. Perhaps will start new one-sock trend instead? Seems like that would entail less work...

Sock and Alien Heads.

2004-10-25T02:51:00.000-07:00

Still on Alien Head No. 5. Oh the joy of it. And switched to two circular needles on the sock, because the DPNs were making me insane. Can't sleep again. Hmm.

Oooh, Tweed.

2004-10-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

~wants~

Four Alien Heads.

2004-10-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

Soooo... I've finished four of the alien-head chart things on the Alien Illusion Scarf, and I'm impossibly bored. Two more to go, though, and I'm trying to work out a chart for making Mia a pink & black skull-and-crossbones scarf, for part of her Christmas gift. Also, I'm not sure I like how the scarf's going to be even after it's blocked -- I think it'll curl or be wonky. So, Mia's scarf might end up being like the Gryffindor scarves -- double-thickness, but with the design on only one side. I think. Oh, and with a small hat to match, but probably without the skull motif because I haven't worked out how to make the illusion knitting go in the other direction.

Um... just thinking out loud. Or thinking in print, or whatever. Nothing of import to say, and the camera's out of batteries so I have no more alien heads to display.

Would it be horrible to buy a little cheapy digital camera on my credit card, and call it a Christmas-gift-to-self? At the moment I'm using my dad's, and it's the one he uses for his lab so it's all complex and battery-eating. Hmm.

Enable me? Please?

[Edit: Ok, I've been all nostalgic and Mia-missing an extra lot this weekend because I've been watching Alias and Mia's the one who made me love Alias in the first place, so in my mind Alias=Mia. So... I could make the scarf with a 47 hidden in it or a "< o >" symbol because that's the big Rambaldi thing in Alias.

Oh my gosh I just got a glimpse of what a complete nerd I am. Hee! Oh well. Yay for nerds.]

Oh nooooo.

2004-10-23T05:50:00.000-07:00

Oh no there is a petfinder thingy on wendyknits, and I keep clicking on the kittens and being all heart-wrenched over them. Am spinster with cats & knitting already. ~sigh~ Oh well. At least my current cats are black. It's very edgy and goth. ~~In my head~~.

Scallopy Link.

2004-10-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just putting up a link to this page, which has the two scallopy patterns I've been trying out. I'd somehow managed to print the page without the web address on, you see, so I want to keep track of it now I've found the page again.

I'm trying the first variation (the one without yarnovers) with the Dune yarn I bought, and it's working kind of nicely, I think. Plus, since Dune has two strands, there's no faffing around with knitting into the front and back of stitches; I've just been dividing the strands and knitting into each one, and it seems to be working out. That's probably really plebey, knitting-wise, but oh well.

Also, Chaun is making a felted messenger bag, and I keep thinking about it and going "that is *such* a good idea! I wanna make one toooooo except for me instead of as a gift," and then realising I have way too many projects planned. But, if I made a lovely roomy bag, I could carry my knitting around in it, and I do really ~~need~~ want a nice organised way of carrying around the knitting. Hmm.

Annnnnd I want to make a list of all the projects I want to do and then cross them off as I actually finish them (so as to feel all accomplished and that) but I'm going to go watch Australian heist films (this is my favorite one at the moment) instead. Yay! Will make the list later.

Quick Update: Pokemon + Dickens.

2004-10-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

So, I'm spending my Friday night knitting a case for my Gameboy, and listening to a new unabridged version of Great Expectations. And... the narrator is so, so, SO impossibly bad that I'm torn between being really annoyed and just laughing hysterically. Because Pip would be American, and Joe Gargery the blacksmith would sound as if he went to Eton, yes. Yay for accuracy in audiobooks.

~sigh~ If I ever become rich, I shall hire Hugh Laurie to sit and read Dickens to me, nonstop. Dickens and Harry Potter and P.G. Wodehouse. And his own books, because The Gun Seller was really good.

I'm going back to knitting now. And my headache that I've just noticed. I seem to have an issue with noticing I have headaches. I'll have them for ages and ages before I notice why I'm tired and grumpy. Hmm.

Ok, no more babbling.

One Alien Head, and Cardigan Musings.

2004-10-22T02:45:00.000-07:00

See?

So that's my first chart-reading attempt. Yay!

Also, I'm thinking of making Mia one, but with pink or lavender & black, and skulls instead of alien heads, so she can be all secretly-goth at her teaching job. Hmm. Which reminds me, must post Mia's Halloween pressie tomorrow. Eek. I'm so terrible about mailing things...

Oh, and also, I'm kind of confused re: my first sweater. I wanted to make the sweatshirt Trace made (which Suzanne is now making too) but I thought about it and the only sweaters I really wear are cardigans, so maybe I should make a cardigan? Because clearly once I make my very own sweater, I will feel the need to wear it constantly, so I ought to make it in a style I'd be comfy in, right?

I do like that sweatshirt, though. Argh!

Ok, off to bed at last. Night night!

Alien Head WIP & Dune & Thingy

2004-10-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

Um, ok, here is the alien head scarf so far...

You can sort of see the alien head, right? And it looks vaguely like an alien head? ~fingers crossed~

And here's the stupid Dune yarn I can't figure out what to do with...

And then this is a picture especially for Trace...

Yes, I am a child. Off to watch the Office special again now...

Dune Yarn = From Hell.

2004-10-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

Also, I'm seriously disturbed that I bought a skein of this because it's crappa novelty-yarn AND itchy and mohairy. Why oh why did I do it? Think must be form of self-punishment.

Awwww.

2004-10-21T23:08:00.000-07:00

So, Ed told me what was going to happen on the Office Special, and yet I still cried and cried because it was so lovely. ~happy sigh~ Yay!

Except that I really really miss England now. All the bad Christmas music...

Back to knitting, yes. The Alien Head scarf is killing me.

Meetup Thingy.

2004-10-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, the Meetup knitting group, which I've never been to before, was tonight -- it was lovely, except that my fingers froze, but I got about an inch of my sock done, and got to see Thuy and Suzanne again, and Chaun showed me how to crochet! Erm... not that I'll remember, but it's good to *see* someone doing something a few times when you're trying to learn, so you know at least vaguely what it ought to look like. :) So, yay! And there were new people there who seemed really pleasant, and I wanted to be sociable but I was way too tired so I just sort of sat like a small hermity snail and knitted my sock.

Annnnd I drank lotsa coffee, which is the main thing I miss on Monday nights at Andersen's. I wish there were more coffee shops open at night, yes. It's like... Andersen's = casual and all-to-ourselves and soup and sitting on the floor (which I like because chairs and tables = no) and Coffee Shops = other people around, but yumma coffee and comfy chairs. ...can't decide.

Oh, except that since US 2 needles hurrrrrt my fingers, and it was so cold out that my fingers went numb-ish, I could knit away happily unaware of the damage I was doing to my fingertips. Woohoo!

This is completey incoherent. Going to go text message Trace and then rip out the alien-head scarf because Summers + Following a Chart = Oh, the Humanity.

Night night!

P.S. It so amuses me when people introduce themselves, because for me names go into one ear, out the other, and fall onto the floor, unless I have the presence of mind to make up a mnemonic device or write the name and a description of the person down. It takes about three times, normally, for me to get names in a group situation. So here is an inspirational Tripod song to express my feelings on the subject...

Someday the Lord's gonna meet me at a party, And he won't say 'You don't remember my name, do you?' He won't embarrass me or put me to shame, He'll just be graceful and repeat His fucking name, And I will say to Him, 'It's nothing personal,' And He will understand, 'Cause He's the Lord.

I mean this all lovingly, of course.

I need sleep. Byeee!

[Edit: Matt, in case you read this, dear lovely friend, I'll call you just as soon as I find my phonecard, and I'm ok, just sort of... you know. Blah. But miss you and hope you're well! ~hugs~ (r)x(r)x(r).

And Jayme, you are a darling to offer your Gameboy charger, thank you so much, but I ordered a new one already so I should be Pokemon'ed up soon -- and as soon as I transfer all my favourite Pokemon to one game cartridge, you're totally welcome to my Ruby cartridge to try out, since your boy is all reluctant re: sharing of Leaf Green & Fire Red. Only after your midterms, though -- I've decided it's unethical to introduce Pokemon to students at exam-time because it's *instantly* addictive. :)

Hee!

2004-10-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Just a note to say I was just looking at Thuy's blog and it cracked me up. I'm still wheezing. In a good way, though.

we invited everyone we know here in town. and they both showed up!

Yay for meeting Thuy! :)

Pictures, Yet Again.

2004-10-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Um, so... pictures.

Here is the sock...

And then this is a fragment of scallopy stuff that has no purpose but I wanted to know how to make things scallopy...

Annnnd yesterday this yarn arrived...

...because apparently I thought it would be a good idea to knit the alien-head scarf from Stitch 'N Bitch and I ordered the yarn before thinking it through. Oh the joys of another stripey scarf, yessir.

Ok, now I have to go clean before the cleaners get here, because I'm a dork and I have to do that sort of thing. It's very Mommy Dearest, now that I think about it. Perhaps I'll make an effort to throw a fit about wire hangers later in the day. Bye!

Sock & Blanket & Meetup.

2004-10-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

Well, as my Gameboy is officially out of batteries and I can't sleep, I am knitting a sock. DPNs are apparently my enemy, though, so it's not going so well, and even if I finish this first sock, there's no guarantee I'll make a second one to go with it. Argh.

Also, Chaun is knitting the most gorgeous throw blanket thing, and I'm all fascinated by it. Especially since I realised -- when going through the Patternworks catalogue to circle things I want but will never buy because, expensive! -- it's the same kit as the waterlilies throw blanket thing (here) that I've been drooling over for about a year. AND, since I have a thing about making something my mom will be able to take with her when she eventually has to go into full-time care, I'm thinking maybe if I can be all economical and find the kit on eBay like Chaun did, I might be justified in making one for mom. Hmm.

Doctor's appointment tomorrow and then there's a meetup knitting group thingy in the evening, I think, so that will be nice. I might take the sock of doom with me. I really do want to get used to DPNs because the fingerless glove things Jayme is making are gorgeous and I want to ~~steal them~~ make them. Yessir.

Oh and I want to read more people's blogs because lately I've been avoiding the computer like the plague, and I feel all guilty when people say they've read this and I haven't read their blogs.

Ok, going to go take a photo of the sock, and post it.

Yay!

2004-10-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

So, knitting group was wondermous again, even if I must say I kind of miss having endless calorie-laden mochas at my disposal... but Andersen's soup may possibly make up for it. Yumma.

Also, I finally bought (just now) handpaintedyarn.com yarn in Sealing Wax for the sweatshirt I'm going to try to make, annnnd also one skein of another color by accident. So that was dumb, but maybe I'll just make a hat. I like making hats, yes.

Gave up on knitting the horrible Kureyon yarn hat (and could people please laugh at me *more* about snipping out the colors I don't like with the Kureyon next group? that would be lovely.) in favor of Pokémon Leaf Green, which I'm playing feverishly because a) I'm addicted to Pokémon, and b) I can't find my Game Boy's charger thing (oooh maybe Chaun's lovely delightful children have Game Boys and I can surreptitiously charge my Game Boy at her house whilst drooling over her yarnstash?) so I've only got a limited time in which to Catch Em All.

Um, and I'm hopelessly behind on blogging-type stuff (Trace, how did you make your blog's sidebar thingy? It's gorgeous and I want one.) and letter-writing and just generally being a reponsible human, so I'm going to do the only reasonable thing now and go back to bed. ~~And continue with Pokémon~~.

Will post hat pictures either next week when I take my camera to knitting group, or when I find a styrofoam head upon which to model them. Yay for fake heads!

"I wasn't born, I was knitted"

2004-10-18T02:58:00.000-07:00

Goodness. What a fun-filled weekend.

Finished one kitty/devil hat (but without either ears or horns), and it's lovely so I started another one in Kureyon, and it's not so lovely. Determined to finish it, though, if only as a reminder to myself to stop trying to make hats out of Kureyon because it never ever looks nice.

Also, as knitting group is tomorrow, and typically at 6pm on Mondays I go "Ooh, I should've made Trace a comedy cd, but now it's too late," I am currently making Trace a comedy cd *now* so I won't forget.

Actually at 6pm on Mondays I usually think "Ooh, I need a shower," and then right at 6:30 when I jump into the car I remember about the comedy cd, but who's counting. Besides me.

Should really go to bed, but after a weekend of extra-needy mom, I'm reluctant to give up free time. Also am in middle of i-cord for Kureyon hat, and I ought to finish it. It's all wonky. :( Bye!

Sigh.

2004-10-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

Not much knitting done lately -- although I did accidentally make a very small hat -- as I've been building the Hogwarts Express out of Legos and taking care of my mother instead. Hmm.

This post is clearly pointless, but ah well.

Oh, but knitting group on Monday was lovely, and I was lots more comfortable with Andersen's Bakery because I didn't get there late. Yay! <3 knitting group.

And Also, Photos.

2004-10-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here's the Triangle Hat for your viewing pleasure...

Photo is of the second attempt in this yarn (the first one was enormous, but provided amusement when my Dad went "You knitted a geo(something) dome!" and tried to wear it), and it's officially the last Triangle Hat I'm ever doing. It's just... well, it's still too big, and it's really unflattering and a weird shape.

I really like how the wrong side of this yarn looks, though, so I just keep *looking* at it and wishing I could think of how to utilize the wrong side of my hat...

And then these are swatches from the Kool-Aid dyeing I did last night...

I quite like how the yarn turned out, but I was hoping the one on the right would be more of a raspberry-pinky-red blending into orange, instead of a boring-orangey-red blending into more orange. Would try again, but am out of Kool-Aid.

Quick Updatey Post.

2004-10-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Um... I have sneaked into the guest room (in which a guest is currently staying) to use the computer, and instantly forgotten what I was going to post about. Lovely.

Oh, and I've just written a small paragraph and somehow selected and deleted it without meaning to. Even better.

Knitting group was lovely last night, despite my managing to spill coffee all over myself *and* Trace, and my distinct lack-of-managing to knit anything at all. Trace is making a lovely hat, though, so I mostly just basked in the loveliness and scowled at Chaun for her masterful use of DPNs.

Also I thought it was quite funny that two (very nice) girls from my high school class were there, on the exact day when, before leaving the house, I actually thought to myself, "Hee! I look just awful. Possibly people should be warned. No... maybe they'll think it is a costume?" because my skin is a General Plague Area this week. Yay for stress and hormones!

Then, Chaun told me handpaintedyarns.com (which I am *not* linking to because it is dangerous, yes it is) has a new yarn with Gryffindor colors, and I thought I was being all good because I didn't go "I must haaaaaaave it!" In fact, I managed to eat a muffin at Borders, babble at Chaun, and get home to get myself *and* Mom ready for bed before I became obsessed with said yarn.

So I dyed some yarn with Kool-Aid (1 skein orange/pink/red, and 1 skein lime-green/blue) using Trace's gorgeously simple method, and then went to bed.

Where I did not sleep, of course, because having my Dad at one end of the house and my brother David at the other creates a sort of rumbly snore-vortex centred upon my bedroom. Ah well.

Back to GRE-studying and Dickens-fangirling, etc. ~~And searching for the evil Gryffindor-color yarn.~~

[ Edit : Cannot find Gryffindor-color yarn. Think Chaun is playing mean trick. ]

Yay! Hallowig!

2004-10-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Aha! I've finished it! It's a bit short, and not very Sydney-from-Alias, but I like it lots. Will post picture when I have energy to put on makeup, as my skin is currently sort of a problem so I refuse to be in a non-makeuppy picture.

I'm all tempted to pull a Chaun and try other colors, but... well, the whole Hallowig thing was a struggle for me, I have to admit, so I don't know if I'm up for doing another one.

...or am I?

Feeling Icka, and Triangle Hat.

2004-10-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

So, I'm feeling gross this weekend so far, but I just managed to finish the triangle hat. Will take photo later, I think. No energy now.

But, I was all pleased because it's the only hat I've made that fits well, and then I looked at it and thought, "If I saw this in a shop, I wouldn't buy it. I might not even pick it up."

So that's a dilemma. Is an aesthetically unpleasant garment made better by the fact that I made it myself? Or is it just ugly *and* a waste of my time? Or, do I keep it in a box somewhere and take it out to giggle at it -- I swear, *everything* I knit ends up with some sort of jellyfish-theme -- whilst still feeling really rather proud of myself for learning how to knit and then knitting this from a pattern?

Hmm.

This will be a big consideration when I start on my First Sweater, which may not turn out to be To Dye For because I don't do well in things with no waists.

That's all for now.

Hallowig and Triangle Hat Progress...

2004-09-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'm working on at the moment. The triangle hat in a different yarn...

and the Hallowig...

I'm still not doing so well with the 2x2 ribbing (getting slightly better, though... I think), and there were some issues with adding on and joining-up the bangs, but in general all is well. Yay! I wish I had a fake head to pose it on, actually. Possibly wishing for a fake head is not entirely healthy? Hmm.

Um, and my camera seems to be having some color issues. Everything should be less blue.

Just so you know...

2004-09-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, apparently I am physically unable to do 2x2 ribbing correctly. My Hallowig's stitches are wildly inconsistent, and I am going to have to learn Continental knitting I just know it.

[ Edit : (11:05pm) Well, I've got 4.5 inches of the ribbing bit done, so 2 more inches to go, and then I get to the scary, following-diagrams bit. Also, switched over to using an Addi Turbo needle, so the yarn felt slippier and my wrists stopped hurting as much.

Quality of ribbing = still laughable, but improving slightly. Yay!

Plus, if you look closely at the sample-Hallowig picture on knitty.com, you can see that the ribbing on the bangs is sort of uneven, stitch-wise, so...

Why am I stressing about this? It's a wig. Made out of yarn.

Right, that's it, I refuse to worry about it any more! [/eejit]

Oh and also I tried Continental again, and I think I could do it if I could make the yarn stay in my left hand, but as it was I ended up giggling at myself for being a spaz, and switched back to labor-intensive English knitting. ~le sigh~ ]

Better Kool-Aid Experience.

2004-09-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

Um, so this is how I did the Kool-Aid dyeing the second time, which was distinctly more successful.

Since I have poor impulse-control, I'd gone out and bought more white mohair yarn with which to Try Again. This time after I'd unwound the yarn into hanks on the creaky rocking-chair and pre-soaked the hanks in cool water, I decided to eschew the whole tarp-and-pouring technique. Instead, I plugged up the kitchen sink, filled the bottom with about 3 inches of water, and mixed in 4 or 5 Pink Lemonade Kool-Aid packets.

Then after a few minutes when the yarn had gone a light pink, I put a hank around an old white cutting-board and painted different Kool-Aid colours (pre-mixed in warmish water) on with cheapo paintbrushes. And, I took an action-shot...

I also cheated and didn't *just* use Kool-Aid. Until a few days ago when I exhausted myself cleaning them out, our kitchen had quite a few drawers and cabinets that were filled up with junk. Happily, I discovered some old Easter egg dye tablets in one of said drawers, and the red & yellow tablets came in rather handy.

Plus, I had a half-empty jar of Manic Panic hairdye in Vampire Red (which is a blue-based, magenta-y red, in contrast to the largely yellow-based, orangey reds in Kool-Aid), so I diluted that with varying amounts of water and vinegar, and painted that onto the yarn too. I didn't use much of the hairdye on the fresh, new Pink-Lemonaded yarn, but when I got to the old, ugly, horrific first batch, I had to use a lot of it to try to blend the brown patches I'd accidentally made via mixing Orange and Berry Blue.

So, on the New, Lovely Fresh Batch of yarn, I used lots & lots of Pink Lemonade, and painted it with Strawberry, Cherry, and Orange, plus a bit of diluted hairdye. I'd added some of the red Easter egg dye to the Cherry, too, because it was all looking much too dark-muddy-orange for me, and put some of the yellow Easter egg dye in with the Orange Kool-Aid, since I was afraid I'd just end up with pink yarn instead of having it look at least vaguely interesting and variegated.

Here's how the hanks looked once they were rinsed and drying...

To fix the First Ugly Horrid Batch of yarn, I soaked it in the sink with 4 packets of Black Cherry and a couple of inches of water, then put the hanks over the cutting board and painted big chunks with the Easter egg red and the hairdye. I'm okay with how it turned out, but I think the first batch is my favourite.

Oh, and then when I'd almost finished cleaning up I realized I had a leftover, unfixed hank of the First Ugly Horrid Batch, and I kind of randomly decided to dye that one with nothing but the hairdye mixed with vinegar. It turned out to be lovely in a novelty, too-bright-to-wear way, so I think it's getting saved for a while until I figure out what to do with it. I also dyed one hank of this beige-y heavy-worsted wool I had, because a) it was there, and b) Yarnware.com sent it to me even though I didn't order it, and I didn't know what else to do with it.

So, here are all the colours I ended up with, dried and unravelled and re-wound into hanks again...

In an annoying discovery, however, I realized that I had about a swatch's worth of the First Ugly Horrid Batch of yarn left, and I decided to try knitting with it just to see what it would've looked like, and it looks fine. Perfectly acceptable. Possibly even quite a lot better than that batch looks now, actually, because it's lighter and more subtle. So, another thing I shall keep in mind if I try the Kool-Aid dyeing again is that it pays to let the hanks dry, then unwind them and knit a swatch. Even if the hanks are patchy and have huge spots of brown, when you knit the yarn up the colours spread out and I think more often than not it'd end up looking fine.

Oh, and I'd wear really heavy-duty kitchen gloves instead of the thin hairdye-package ones, and I'd probably even Vaseline my hands underneath those, so there would be a much smaller chance of ending up with citric-acid-and-vinegar-burned hands afterwards. And I plan to re-rinse all the yarn again, since the ouch factor when I touch it is still pretty alarming, so I want to make sure all the dye and vinegar are definitely gone before I start knitting my sweater.

Oh thank goodness that's all posted. ~intense relief~ I'm so sick to death of Kool-Aid and mohair and pictures of dyeing things I can't even tell you.

I'm off to curl up and listen to a book and work on the scary Hallowig.

How Not to Dye Yarn. A Visual Essay.

2004-09-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Well, after an exciting and cramp-filled morning, I am now ready to post some pictures of the Kool-Aid process.

I would like to file an official Note-To-Self at this point, however. Dear, stop taking so many photos. There's just no way to keep up, and no one really wants to see your favourite hank-winding chair, I promise.

There.

Oh, but here's the hank-winding chair anyway. It's the only one that works well for me, and it pleases me to use it because it's the rocking-chair my mom used to sit in when trying to soothe my infant self. I was big on the crying for the first few months, apparently. So here's the chair...

In an interesting (well, interesting to me anyway) side note, the above-pictured chair was left out in the rain once, so all the glue in the joins went to bits and now the chair, when rocking back and forth, creaks and squeals like anything. My mom used to sit in it when I was practicing the piano, too, and so the creaking and the chair are all very Mum-ish (new word I've just made up) for me.

So it makes me kind of happy to use my mom's rocking chair for the yarn-winding. Here is the creaking chair modelling the white mohair I used for the Kool-Aid experiment...

See? I was going somewhere with the whole chair story, ye readers of little faith. So there.

Now, after I read the instructions that go along with the To Dye For sweater-pattern, as well as a *staggering* number of online advice-pages on how to dye yarn with Kool Aid, I used my university education to distill all this information into a workable plan-for-dyeing-yarn.

That is, I put a tarp down on the floor, put the hanks of mohair in the bathtub to pre-soak, mixed up the Kool Aid (and cleverly taped the label-bit from the packet onto each glass so I'd know what flavor was inside), and prepared to start pouring...

You may be interested to note that the above photo is saved under the name "knit-koolaid-tarpidiot.jpg" -- just in case it gives you any idea about how well my carefully-prepared Ideal Dye Setting worked out.

See, I may have mentioned this in my immediate-post-dyeing entries, but if you just pour the Kool-Aid on, or squirt it on with a turkey baster or whatever, it just sort of goes right through and pools underneath, where the tarp keeps it from draining away. So really, it's like one side of each hank is stewing in a combination of all the colours you've used.

This is not a good thing if, like me, you used Orange and Berry Blue together. No, no, no. My advice is, if you're not experienced with the Kool-Aid dyeing, use either warm colours or cool colours, but not both. That is, I think, my Kool-Aid Golden Rule.

That and don't use a tarp.

Using a tarp and the pouring-method, in addition to the nasty mixed-colour stewing effect, also makes it difficult to get all the yarn covered. So you end up having put in all this effort to get lovely subtle variegation, when really you've got something like this...

And when you were going for subtle, having your shower-rail full of dripping, pulpy, bludgeoned-jellyfish-looking** stuff, and then turning around and seeing how very much you've got to clean up before you put the whole episode behind you? Not good. Not even one bit of good.

So, that was Night One of the big experiment. I'll just post this and then move on to how I kind of managed to fix the old icky yarn, and also make a prettier batch from new white mohair.

**I do actually know that jellyfish don't have blood, as such. Still, I feel that the image evoked by my bloody-jellyfish description is accurate and worth distorting facts of biology.

Also, I'm reading Hard Times right now, and thus I have Very Little Respect for facts and reason when they conflict with imaginative pursuits.

Just, um, please don't tell my Dad all that. He's a marine biologist so my attitude would get him right pissed off.

My Friend Once Dated a Girl Named Tuesday...

2004-09-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

...and (I kid you not) he continued to tell people, for *years* afterwards, that he would start conversations with "So I woke up on Tuesday, and--"

I don't think one single person thought it was funny. Which is sad, because my Friend-Who-Dated-Tuesday is actually a stand-up comedian. In England, though, so maybe...

Ok, back to knitting stuff.

This morning there was drama, but that all stays in my LiveJournal. The upshot of it was, I didn't get to go for a 9:30am coffee-break with Trace, Chauntel, and Suzanne like we'd planned. But, I did get to go visit Trace and Chauntel at work a bit later in the day, and that was quite pleasant. I even got a couple of rows of the damned Hallowig done.

So now I have about 4 rows finished, in total. It amuses me no end that I'm faffing around so much and doing anything possible to avoid working on it...

<<<<>>>>

Right. Have taken photos, and now just have to format them, etc.

You see, Trace insists upon seeing the mess I made with the Kool-Aid dyeing, so I'm going to post that whole process, and then I have a few more things I'm working on -- not actually knitting things, but trying to get organized, etc. -- that I ought to update/post about.

But you know what? I've just decided something... I've been up all night for so many nights in a row, and I have cramps and a headache that won't quit, so I'm not going to format photos tonight. I'm going to sit up and knit for a while, and watch Buffy DVDs. Because I just *get* to.

Oh, and I'm going to obsessively put Trader Joe's Colloidal Oatmeal Lotion on my hands, because they still hurt quite a lot. In another shocking revelation re: The Glories of Red Heart, I discovered today that the cheap acrylic I'm knitting the Hallowig with doesn't bother my hands one bit, whilst everything else still burns them. Owie.

Night night!

Monday Night.

2004-09-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Well, really it's Tuesday morning, but hey.

Knitting group was really good. Tracy and I both started our Hallowigs -- hers is a lovely bright blue, and mine is, after all the pink-vs.-red agonizing, red.

I have indeed formatted two more photos of the Kool-Aid yarn, but I'm so tired I can barely see, and I still have to clean the kitchen and one of the bathrooms (I forgot we're having a visit from the plumber tomorrrow... or today, I mean), so... no photos. Again. Sorry!

Oh, but before I go, I must mention that Suzanne started a knitting blog! It's here, and since Suzanne is lovely (as is her knitting) you should go look at it. Tonight she was working on her green cardigan, and I'm hugely impressed by it. :)

All Better Now, Except for Mysteriously Ouchy Swollen Hands.

2004-09-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Even though I usually have this really strict Never Delete Posts principle when it comes to online journally stuff, I decided to take down my freaking-out post from last night, because I like to keep all my angst over at my LiveJournal. I don't mind people knowing I take care of my mom, or that she has early-onset Alzheimer's, or even that there are definite ups and downs to the whole situation, but I kind of want to keep the majority of my posts in *this* blog at least vaguely knitting-related.

That said, I'm feeling much, much better today, and I'm realizing that being overtired, having PMS, and caregiving are an iffy combination at the best of times. :)

The only thing is, I did lots and lots of housecleaning last night -- clearing out cupboards that I don't think have even been *opened* for years -- and obviously I've been doing lots of Kool-Aid dyeing-stuff, and winding up balls of yarn by hand, so now my hands are all... ouchy.

So that's annoying, because I shall be impeded in my knitting!

Plus, my fingers are all weird colors from the Kool-Aid staining but I'm afraid trying to scrub at them or use nail polish remover or anything.

Ah, well.

Off to do non-knitting-type stuff, and then print out the Hallowig pattern (and directions to the new coffee house knitting group is at tonight), and then ponder the question of whether or not I really do want to have a red Hallowig, or whether red is going to be less Sydney-from-Alias and more Raggedy Ann, so maybe I should just go with using the hot pink yarn I bought ages ago?

Oh, the agony of choice!

[ Edit: Oh hell, and I have the rest of the Kool-Aid yarn photos to format and put up. I keep ~~avoiding~~ forgetting to do that. ]

Quick Kool-Aid Update...

2004-09-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I think I may possibly have improved the look of the Kool-Aid Yarn of Doom. But, it took *hours* (again) so I'll post before-and-after pics later, and possibly also something for my own future reference about how to get the yarn looking halfway decent when Kool-Aid dyeing.

Ok, running off to Michael's now because... well, partly because I have a 40%-off coupon, and partially because of family stuff I need to get away from.

<3

Happy and Sad.

2004-09-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

First, the Happy -- met up with Suzanne and Tracy tonight for coffee, dinner, margaritas (well, one margarita each; that counts as plural in this context, right?), the more coffee, and a tiny bit of knitting.

Actually, I did no knitting because I was so rushed before I went out that I forgot to bring my pattern along. But I still had a really nice time, and Suzanne & Tracy are both rad girls. Officially. ~grin~

Now, the Sad -- Java Station, where the usual knitting group meets up on Monday evenings, has decided that they're going to close at 5:30pm every night from now on. Aside from the "WTF???!" factor, this means we have to find somewhere else to meet, and Santa Barbara isn't exactly filled-to-the-brim with suitable coffee-houses for us to meet for knitting group.

So now I'm feeling... well, really rather sad, actually. I only just found this great group of women and a really fun knitting group, and now... kaput.

Tired, but I have a few pictures to put up, a bit of Kool-Aid yarn-fixing to do, so I've decided I may as well get out the Santa Barbara yellow-pages, make a list of all the coffee houses in town, cross out the ones I *know* are unsuitable, and then call around and/or visit the remaining ones tomorrow.

The visiting-errand-thing is something I can take my mom along for, too, and she really likes going out in the car, so that's something positive.

But... we're not just going to stop having our group, are we? ~wails in melodramatic fashion~ I liked it so much!

It's important.

Poor Impulse Control, and Halloween/Hallowig Musings.

2004-09-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

~cough~ I may or may not have just accidentally bought a skein of magenta tweed yarn to cheer myself up. Think will make my wondermous Kanna a hat with it, yes.

Also, the girl at Craft Essentials complimented my jacket, so I officially love it there now. I worked there when I was 20 -- when it was Craft Village and was absolute crap -- full-time, and it was really quite hellish (aside from the fact that it was my first full-time job and I was really proud of myself for not chucking it in). So, up until a few days ago, I avoided it like the plague.

Happily, no one who worked there when I did is still there. Oh, except for the sort of handyman type guy. Right when I was leaving, I saw him and almost spit out my gum from laughing, because I had this random memory of him telling me -- in all seriousness, I promise -- to be careful when I moved to San Francisco because there are so many "gay-types" there.

Drinking bottled mocha frappuccinos like mad so I won't be dead on my feet by 5:30, because I don't wanna miss the mini Saturday version of knitting group. Yay!

P.S. My best friend, who is, astonishingly, not in possession of a blog so I can't link to her, is a darling gorgeous slightly goth girl, and she loves Halloween, and she invariably spends too much money each year on Halloween presents for me. I love Halloween too, but I suck at presenty stuff. I cling to that whole "it's the thought that counts" idea, actually, although I *do* try so shut up.

Anyway, I want to find something to knit for her that has a bat on it. Which will be an issue because, a) I also really want to do the Hallowig in bright red so I can be Sydney-from-Alias for Halloween** and b) I am baffled by intarsia.

Just so you know.

Back to the frappucinos!

**Except, obviously, my Sydney-from-Alias costume won't feature Jennifer Garner's sinewy body and lack-of-breasts. But still. I didn't get to dress up last year (I just *said* I was a pirate, but I just sat around in pajamas and watched Buffy with Mia and Ed and Bedel), so no one's stopping me this year. ~defiant~ I may even trick-or-treat.

And, here's Sydney in her (non-knitted) red wig. Putting this up just because I like Alias and everyone should look at Sydney whenever possible...

Death By Kool-Aid.

2004-09-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Um... well, the Kool-Aid dyeing didn't go so well. I want to disown the yarn I dyed, it's so horrible. But it was kind of fun to play around with the Kool-Aid (I haven't dyed Easter Eggs for years, and it was kinda like doing that, so I was a happy little monkey for a few hours), so that's a plus.

I'm not quite in the mood to put up pictures of the unfortunate dye-job yet. Will wait for it to dry completely and see if it looks any better then, I think. And I may go get some more of the Pink Lemonade flavor Kool-Aid and see if adding lots of that helps.

Argh!

Oh well; I think I know what to avoid when I try Kool-Aid dyeing again, and I've got some ideas that I think will work for next time. I'd put them up here, but since I thought my other ideas re: dyeing were good ones, and then I tried them and they didn't work, I think I'll be keeping the new ideas to myself until I see if they're crap or not. ~grin~

One thing, though -- I'd recommend either doing most of the dyeing outside, or at least in a wipe-clean sort of place like a bathtub or kitchen sink/counter. I, brilliant thing that I am, just put a tarp down in the guest bedroom and went to town with the dyeing. Nothing got stained, but transporting the liquid-covered tarp to the bathroom without splotching the carpet was kinda tricky.

Also, don't start the dyeing at midnight when you're already tired. I didn't finish until about 4am, so I'm kind of out of it today (going to have a nap before knitting group tonight, yessir I am) -- but at least by the time I realized the dyeing was going terribly wrong, I was aready so exhausted that I thought *everything* was hilarious. Yay for silver linings, etc., etc.

Work to do now, have to run.

Preparing to Attempt the "To Dye For" Sweater... Eeek!

2004-09-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't tried making a sweater yet, and I've no idea whether or not "To Dye For" from Stitch n' Bitch is the best one to start with, but... well, it's the only sweater pattern I've seen (at least in Sn'B and the few knitting magazines I've looked at) that I actually like.

Here's what it's supposed to look like when it's done...

...but whether or not mine will resemble that in the slightest remains to be seen.

Anyway, I couldn't find the yarn Sn'B recommends, and to be honest I'm terrified of sweater-knitting, so I didn't actually search in any comprehensive or dedicated manner.

But then, I went into Craft Essentials (a store which I will be writing more about later, oh yes indeed) and found -- purely by accident -- a comparable yarn. And for less money (still expensive, though, argh.) So now I'm in possession of the specified amount of white "Classic Elite La Gran Mohair," and loads of Kool-Aid with which to dye it.

I had quite a bit of fun avoiding making an important phonecall earlier, via messing with Photoshop, so here's a picture of the Kool-Aid I bought, for your viewing pleasure...

I apologise for the tackiness. Sort of.

Next up: Summers Reveals to Her Reader(s) the Process of Kool-Aid Dyeing (or Absolutely Ruining) Mohair Yarn.

Albion and Tweed -- My Current Projects.

2004-09-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well, actually I only really have one current project, because the other one bores me to tears.

I'm supposed to be knitting scarf for my friend Ed, in white and navy blue, because they're his beloved West Bromwich Albion's team colours.

So here it is so far...

You may notice it's a lot like the Harry Potter scarves I've been doing, which is probably why I'm bored with it. The thing is, though, I offered to make it for Ed, so I really ought to get going on it.

Oh, one interesting thing about the scarf, though. I knitted it with Red Heart acrylic, and then I thought, "No, that's horrible and ungenerous to give to a friend" so I bought the same colours in Brown Sheep Nature Spun (the nice wool-and-a-bit-of-mohair stuff I knitted my favourite Gryffindor scarf with) and started over. To my infinite surprise, the Red Heart version looks much better, so I'm chucking the Nature Spun one and going back to the Red Heart.

If I ever stop being bored out of my skull with the whole idea, that is.

My real work-in-progress is a hat. Surprise, surprise. It's interesting, though, because it's made out of triangles, and you sort of pick up stitches from the edge of one triangle, knit another triangle from those stitches, and then start again, and at the end you put it together in a sort of spiral and join it all up with mattress stitch.

It's a lot like Epcot center, really. Except it's a hat. And it's not so goddamn boring it makes you throw up.

Here's what I've done so far...

The yarn is kind of tweedy, and I love tweed so much it hurts, so that's why I went for that instead of the Noro Kureyon the Lucy Neatby pattern (which you can order from here, or find at In Stitches on Figueroa if you live in Santa Barbara) recommends. Oh, and the above link also shows what the hat's meant to look like when it's done.

I'm really quite enjoying working on it (even though I only bought the pattern because In Stitches was out of the pattern for this hat, which you can make bigger and all one colour so it's cloche-y), but I have to admit I'm a bit worried about the mattress-stitch part.

To be honest, I don't even know what mattress stitch is, let alone how to do it. Oops.

Next up, I shall reveal to you my recent yarn purchases and beg for advice as to what to do with them.

My Swatching Comeuppance.

2004-09-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

After I went to my first knitting group at Java Station on Monday (way too many prepositions there, sorry), I looked up Tracy's blog and made a snarky comment to this post about how swatching is no fun.

At the time, one of my works in progress was a hat using this "wave-lattice" cable pattern around the brim, and I was quite pleased with it. Later -- just after proclaiming just how much I think swatching is crap, actually -- I realised that my poor little lattice-y hat was fatally flawed.

See? It's all tiny...

...even though I used the same number of stitches on the same needles with the same type of yarn as I used for all my other (admittedly misshapen-in-their-own-ways) hats.

So, I guess cabling doesn't always stretch so much as regular knitting. Who knew. Now my lattice-y hat is ruined, and is so small that I don't even think it would fit a baby. Maybe it'd fit a pet or something, but pets don't wear hats so much. Unless I sent it to the Unfortunate Fun Fur Dog.

Actually I think my lattice-y hat would complete that ensemble quite well. Hmm.

All Shall Try Novelty Yarns And Despairrrrrrrrr!

2004-09-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

This entry is about how crap novelty yarns are.

Tracy was all hilarious at coffee the other day, expressing her disapproval for Fun Fur. She asked how I feel about Fun Fur, and then had this wary expression on her face until she was satisfied that I do not, in fact, like it.

Except for the fringy bit on the cat bed I made. But I was naive then. And to be fair, chewing on the fringe does provide Eureka with the only pleasure she gets out of the damn thing.

Since I've been forcing my LiveJournal Friends to come over here and read my knitting blog, and not many of them knit, here's a bit of a visual aid for them so they can appreciate the full horror of Fun Fur...

And yes, I hotlinked the above photo of this unfortunate dog, because Fun Fur is just. that. bad. It makes ethics not count anymore.

Right. Back to the story. I saw this yarn called Allure, by Patons, about a week ago at Michael's, and it was all soft and tempting and evil so I bought a skein of it in a lovely wine sort of color.

Later that night, whilst watching The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Becca go watch Priscilla omgrightnow, btw), I began to knit a scarf with it. I found this pattern for a bias-knit scarf, so I was using that, and the excitement of having a pointy-ended scarf made me quite happy.

Then I ran out of yarn, and my scarf was only about a foot and a half long, so I had to go back to Michael's the next day to buy more yarn. And I did. I also bought two skeins each of green and black.

Here's how the scarf looks, close-up so you can see the fluffy aspect of it...

And here's what I discovered as soon as the initial evil spell that sucked me into buying the stupid yarn wore off...

On the right is the fluffy scarf I made. On the left is the belt from my dad's ancient terrycloth bathrobe. Can you tell the difference? I certainly can't.

I'm not sure what to do with the extra yarn (and don't say "return it" because that's far too logical for me). I started another bias scarf in the green color, but I just don't think I'll ever be able to wear it, so maybe I'll use the remainder to make an ugly hat for my obnoxious brother's kid. That'd work, I guess.

Anyway, the moral of this post is, Just Step Away From the Stupid Damned Novelty Yarns.

[Note: Title of this post is an homage to my dear sweet friend Meredith, who is going away travelling soon and I shall miss her heaps. Not long after I started reading her LJ, she had a post called "All Shall Loff Me And OMG Despair!111" (or similar) and it was the hilarious. LJ's indexing system is kind of crap, though, so I can't find the post. Otherwise I'd link to it. Sorry.]

"Glitter Hats," or "Paillettes are Officially a Pain in My Arse"

2004-09-23T02:57:00.001-07:00

Oh what the hell, why not post again whilst delirious from sleep deprivation.

The spangly hat in Stitch n' Bitch looked like it'd be quite fun to make, so I tried it. But first I had to find the damned paillettes (sequins with holes in them that're larger than usual so you can string the paillettes onto yarn as opposed to just thread).

I tried going to Michael's (where the staff was absolutely no help, but I don't blame them because I worked a craft store once and it was a completely shit job from hell) and buying bag after bag of mixed larger sequins, because there are quite a few round paillettes in those. Then I sorted through the bags, and I shall summarize that process by telling you the carpeting in my room *still* has sequins embedded in its pile.

See, I wanted to make a pink spangly hat. With pink spangles. And each bag of mixed sequins/paillettes was yielding an average of one pink paillette. One bloody paillette!

I gave up. Then, I went to Longs and saw that they had bags of metallic confetti -- I bought a few little packets of the baby-themed confetti, because there were lots of white, blue, and (wait for it...) pink pieces, just the same size as the paillettes from Michael's. There weren't any holes in the confetti-discs, so I punched holes in them with a regular paper-punch, and then used the improvised-confetti-paillettes and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Victorian Pink to go to town on the spangly hats.

Looks quite a lot like a wounded jellyfish, doesn't it? And it's too long. Covers my ears and makes my head look like a mushroom with pink coins sewn all over it.

But it's a bit better than my first attempt, which hardly covered the tips of my ears. Here's a bit of a compare-and-contrast for you...

Oh well. I'd rip them out and try again, but I've got too many other projects to work on, and the paillettes -- even the real ones that aren't made of cheap baby-shower confetti -- tend to bend/crease if you're not careful whilst you knit.

Next up: Why Novelty Yarns Are a Bad Idea.

One More Harry Potter Reference, Plus My First Reader is a Sweet Mumpkin!

2004-09-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

I ordered an "official" Gryffindor tie, just for the hell of it, a while ago, and it arrived yesterday.

Now, I don't actually plan to dress up in Harry Potter regalia (or at least not in a scarf and tie at the same time), but it would be awfully satisfying if tie and scarf didn't clash so.

See?

Stupid tie-making people. Obviously they have small willies.

(I'm so going to have to erase half of what I've been writing; it's nearly 3am and I've been rushing--in my miniscule and widely-separate bits of spare time--to get this blog and all the photos going, so I may possibly be delirious just now. Many apologies.

Except to my dear darling friend Reblog, because it seems to be amusing her. She's officially my knitting blog's first reader, *and* first commenter! ♥ her. But obviously not just because of the reading and commenting.

I think I need to be going to to bed now.)

Summers Attempts Cabling.

2004-09-23T01:36:00.000-07:00

I went for quite a while without knitting, but then in May I decided to try making a hat.

I love 1920s-style cloches, and they tend to look decent on me compared to other hat styles (maybe it's the short-ish, bobbed-ish hair and complete lack of modern fashion-sense?), so someone at LJ Knitting referred me to a site with lots of easy hat patterns to try out.

And, as soon as I re-find that site, I'll post the pattern I used for this hat...

I used Lion Brand yarn, and an Addi Turbo 16" circular needle (US Size 8) for it, and did the decreases with another US Size 8 circular (an aluminum Boye circ, I believe) instead of using double-pointed needles. It worked out really well and the method was easy to learn (I'll link to that too when I find the site I learned the two-circular technique from -- gosh I'm organised).

I also realised what a good investment Addi Turbo needles are. So far, I prefer them to any other sort of needles, but I admit I haven't tried any really high-quality bamboo needles as yet. Still, I'm trying to convert Tracy to Addi Turbos for the gorgeous ruched blanket she's working on, since she says the yarn she's using isn't slippy enough on her bamboo needles. Yay for Addi peer pressure!

More Harry Potter Scarf Stuff (I Did Warn You, You Know)

2004-09-23T01:03:00.000-07:00

Aside from being an exceptionally pretty site, atypically.net has a really good set of Harry Potter scarf patterns. The webmaster, Lauren, seems really nice -- I don't know her at all, but she returned my email within minutes when I was having a problem, and I got the definite impression that she is quite smart *and *a sweetie from her reply.

And, you know, niceness is always a good thing, I find. Bastards can just piss off, really.

What was I saying? Oh right, Harry Potter scarves.

Lauren's site has an entire section on Harry Potter scarves -- patterns, yarn and color recommendations for different budgets, and links to knitting-instruction pages.

This is the scarf I made using her Prisoner of Azkaban Scarf Pattern...

I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted--Bordeaux for the main color (Lauren recommends Brick Road instead, I think), and Sunburst Gold for the stripes. It took me ages because as you can see it's quite a long scarf...

...(or maybe you can't, because I forgot to put something in the photo for scale. But I happen to have the scarf right here, and I just held it up to compare it against my height. I'm 5'10", and it's a tiny bit taller than I am, including the fringe.

Then, as I had yarn left over (I bought two Skeins of Bordeaux and one of Sunburst Gold) I made a hat to match. I used the same pattern as in the cabled hat I just posted about, but with stripes and without the cabling.

Out of everything I've made so far, the scarf is the thing I'm proudest of and most pleased with.

I'd like the hat quite a lot too, if it weren't a little bit too short. As you will soon see, I have Major Hat Issues as far as getting them to fit right.

First Felted Thing -- Catbed Much Disliked By Cat.

2004-09-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

After the wonky-stitched Harry Potter scarves, I took a lesson from BB at BB's Knits. I'd already fixed the wonky-stitches problem through use of a cheesy book from Michael's, so all BB did was make me never want to go to her shop again because she's a big damn bitch.

I mean, I asked what I needed to bring to my lesson, and she glared at me in silence for a bit, then said -- with ultimate sarcasm, or at least as ultimate as Americans' sarcasm gets -- "yarn and needles." Um, hello? What type of yarn? Any particular size of needles? I was hugely tempted to bring in a coil of rope and two sharpened broom-handles, but I didn't, and I will admit BB's quite a good knitter.

Anyway...

I wanted to knit this felted cat bed from wendyknits, but BB's didn't carry the Noro Big Kureyon yarn the pattern suggests, so I used regular Kureyon in colorway #134, with two strands held together.

Here's how it looks now, after a few months...

The cat I made it for, Eureka, isn't hugely fond of it. I mean, if I happen to put it in the spot she usually uses for the sleeping? She'll sprawl on it a bit. My outdoor cat, Wednesday, loves it to death, but I think that has to do with the catnip I put in it when I was trying to entice Eureka.

This led to the disturbing realisation that one of my cats clearly has a major drug problem, but hey. Anyway, I've noticed on LiveJournal's knitting community that women who knit talk about -- and photograph -- their cats incessantly, so I'm going to try to avoid that.

I will say, however, that valancystirling (an absolutely gorgeous knitter and generally rad girl from what I know of her) has encouraged me in my desire to make a LiveJournal user icon out of a photo of Eureka. The plan is to wait until Eureka eats enough yarn to make her throw up (again), then pose her next to it, take a photo, and iconify it with some sort of bitingly-witty comment about cat-plus-knitting-photos being cliché.

Of course, I secretly like all those photos because kitties are cute.

Ok, back to the knitting part. Here's a detail of the bottom (wrong side) of the cat bed...

You start knitting the bed in the middle, and I was thinking I didn't like how the colorway variation (I've no idea what it's called; what I mean is, how the colors of the handpainted yarn go in a certain order in each skein) in the held-together strands wasn't matching up. So, I skipped a bit in one skein, and you can see how the stripes get more regular towards the outside of the cat bed.

Now, however, I quite like how the un-matchy middle bit looks, especially after the felting. Ah well. Such is life, or whatever.

How I Learned To Knit. Incorrectly.

2004-09-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

So, a little over a year ago, I decided that I needed both a therapeutic hobby and a Harry Potter scarf. So, I learned how to knit, from various websites with knitting instructions.

Here's the never-to-be-finished fragment that is the first thing I ever knitted...

Apparently I wasn't really paying enough attention to those web-instructions, because the I knitted ended up with wonky slanted stitches. Since I was knitting the scarf on circulars, there was a strange (my best friend Mia called it "special," the darling) spirally effect.

Behold!

I switched to Plymouth Encore and knitted an entire scarf with the "special" spirally stitches and gave it to Mia, but then I lost it at a club. It wasn't *entirely* my fault, but her replacement scarf is still one of my works-in-progress.

Here it is -- I'm holding the tube open so Tracy can see what I was trying to explain about how you can knit a scarf as a tube. You just hold the tube shut with fringe when you're done.

There'll be more about Harry Potter scarves in a bit, but I'm going to post this now and see if all the pictures worked...

Hiya.

2004-09-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Um, so this is going to be my knitting blog. So, I'm off to take a couple of photos of the things I'm working on. Oh, the excitement.