Blogger's Block

I've seen it goin around these days. Nasty infection. It starts when it gets too hot. Activity starts slowing down. Pretty quickly ennui sets in. Very contagious.

Weather is cooling and I suspect things to be back to normal soon. Tell-tale sign is the fact that I've finally decided on a pattern for my French Red Classic Elite Provence yarn

NEVER say Never

When I began knitting (Oct 2004), I said I would NEVER make a dish rag or a face cloth and probably never an afghan as I considered all these as ridiculous wastes of time. Well, as I've matured, the thought of a cute little red dish cloth gracing my kitchen began to plant it's little foot in my brain. Eventually I picked up a skein of cheap cotton - red of course. Today was the day. I knit my very first dish cloth. I foresee many many more in my future. On this one I did my first feather and fan stitch. I practiced my new combination knitting style with a garter edge. For those of you who do not know, when knitting combination style, with garter stitch or round knitting, you have to change the way you wrap the yarn to keep the stitches on the next row oriented correctly. Here it is in its virgin state


And yet again posing as a used dish rag.





Sweet.

Urban Aran

May I present another F.O. for your viewing pleasure?

Fellow Knitters, a word of caution. When you finish something you're very proud of, show it to your friends - knitting friends if you can. Don't show it to the man you live with and expect praise and head-swelling remarks like Mrs. Bear is well known for. In my haste to hear something kind about my project, I did show it to the man. He says, and I quote, Uh, that's really wintery. It doesn't go with that tho. I mean the sweater's nice - the last one as I was disgustedly leaving the room. I did not go in for a commentary on my "outfit" or my appearance. I was showing him a SWEATER!!!!! A SWEATER I MADE!!!! Get it?

Oooh Sorry.

Zipper Purgatory

purgatory
n 1: a temporary condition of torment or suffering; "a purgatory of drug abuse" 2: (theology) in Roman Catholic theology the place where those who have died in a state of grace undergo limited torment to expiate their sins

Here it is.
It was painful, slow. I suffered. It tormented me. This is as Good As It's Gonna Get














For those of you who care to know - my final analysis: Crocheted a border on to the edge so that it laid flatter. I then carefully based the opening closed. Then I based the zipper in place. I tore the sewing machine apart, cleaned it well, oiled it, put it back together. I sewed on the sweater side. Then I unbased and opened the zipper and sewed it again closer to the zipper on the zipper side. I can live with it.

Life with Denim may now move on.

Vintage Lace Shawl Finale

A job cancelled provided time for walking, biking, and most importantly KNITTING. Well, here it is in its blocked glory. Not too soft, but it was an experience. I'm sure I'll get some use out of it. The lace placement could have been adjusted here and there, but not bad...

Dreyer's Swiss Orange Sherbet

For anyone who hasn't tasted this stuff - it is the world's best sherbet! For those of you who like to try to make everything yourself:

Put one cup milk in blender with one pkg of plain gelatin and mix. Add one cup HOT milk and blend. Add one cup sugar. Blend. Add some melty frozen orange concentrate (used half of one). Add some orange cake pastey color if you like. Put in ice cream maker and freeze per instructions. Towards the end put in 3/4 cup of shaved Valrhona chocolate bar.

Pretty good copy cat!

Math Quiz - Zipper Hell and Biking Heaven

26 (length of zipper) x 2 (sides) = 52 (total length) + 26 (sewed one side twice) = 78 inches x 15 (minutes) = 1125 (minutes total) to rip out a stinking zipper that I have put in Denim. So is that right? 19.5 hours it's goin to take me to rip it out?

Mind you this is after ripping it out once already after machine sewing. I also sewed it in by hand once. I've based the zipper in three times. I basted closed the opening one time. To be fair it wasn't all my misdoings; my machine acted up as well. I thought I fixed it, but no. I'm getting WADS of bobbin hair.

So when I get done, do you think the zipper will still be usable? Will I have shredded the sweater? Should I find another way to amuse myself? Is knitting really relaxing, or will it shorten my lifespan? Is it too much to ask for a Perfect Zipper in my dang sweater?

Mrs. Bear, a true friend I've met online, has kindly referred me to every zipper blogger out there. Yes, I've read them all. What have I learned? I will NEVER EVER decide to put a zipper in a sweater again (at least till next time).


NOW, on a more positive note:

People that buy fountains for their yards NEVER have water running in them - NOT ONE - well, one - my friend Genevieve, but she's odd). I say this because I really wanted one for a while. Now I know I don't. They don't have water running in them for one reason or another - motor burned out, water evaporates too quickly, water shortage... How is this positive? I didn't waste money on one!

I saw a raccoon on my ride! I don't live in the woods. The raccoon was as startled to see me as I him!

Biking this morning made me feel less guilty for eating THREE face-size bluberry pancakes heavily coated with Mrs. Buttersworth for breakfast!

Two songs kept running through my mind as I rode: Here comes the sun, dadadadada, Here comes the sun, dooodooodooodooo, It's all right.... (that's all I know and I hummed it over and over and over) and then I feeeel Goood dadadadada I feeeel Gooood dadadaa - (that's again all I know).

JennyRae is now my virtual biking partner - like it or not, Jenny. You have no control over this. I found her blog by searching biking and knitting, really wanting to find someone right next door to bike with. How silly is that thinking? What attacted me to her blog is (a) like me, she is not 20 yrs old. I have no idea how old, but she's a decent age. I don't know what her motivation is - health, exercise, weight control, just the feel goodness of getting outdoors, but that doesn't really matter. (b) I think we are compatible in terms of length of rides. (c) She posts her miles, which gives me something to try to keep up with.

So since my start date, I ride when I can, and the first thing I do upon entering the house is see how Jenny did. So Jenny, I implore you - please don't get sick, don't go on vacation, and don't have a computer crash. I need you to keep biking.

But today when I came home from riding and looked at my zipper, I don't feeel good, dadadadada

Victorian Lace Shawl

This looks beautiful already! But do I have ADD or what? Why isn't Denim finished? The body's done, sewn at shoulders with the collar finished. The sleeves are half done. And yet it waits there while I play with the VLS.

One thing I've learned on this shawl - I prefer patterns that are symmetrical. These lace patterns are beautiful but I want them to be exact on each side of the center. (I love it anyway tho) And though I'm not a shawly person or a lacey person, I'm hooked. So far have only yanked the needle out of these hundreds of stitches one time!

Biking to Knit

I thank Loves to Bike and Knit for the idea of posting bike stats to keep me motivated. One hour of biking equals about two hours of guilt-free knitting in my mind - not that I'm not going to knit more than that, just that I won't feel guilty for sitting on my butt so long. It's been ranging 100-102 degrees lately, but today it's forecasted to only 98. This means I set my alarm for 4:30 on a nonwork day so that I could be out by 5:30 on my bike to beat the heat. I could easily have talked myself out of riding today had I not posted a stats area. If you see it removed...

This was the best investment I ever made.

My favorite breakfast, especially in the summer, but I've been known to go on year-long binges of having this, is a berry smoothie. In the blender put about 3/4 cup or orange juice, 2 tablespoons of ground flax meal, 1 heaping scoop of protein powder, 1 small banana, and a bunch of mixed frozen berries.

The reason I love it so much is a, it's really cold; b, has fiber; c, is full of vitamins/antioxidants; d, is fast; and e, it tastes GREAT!

Urban Aran Quick Knit Becomes Lifetime Adventure

This is a pic of the pattern. I HATE the way that three knit right in the front gets chopped into a k2p2 collar at that point. I just modified it to be k3 and changed it at the shoulder to allow for the difference.


Big yarn, size 10 needles, good pattern - I'm getting there, slow but sure.