Mommy & Me

We have no room on our boat for a washer/dryer so to the laundromat we go. To felt up my slippers, I am at the mercy of whatever machine is available. Luckily, there’s a clean, quiet ‘mat in our marina with newer front-loading machines. Unfortunately, you can’t just pop them open to check the felting process.

Happily, my slippers felted up nicely even though it took three washes. I think I’ll do it one more time as they’re a little flopsy but otherwise, I love them! So does my mom. That worries me. We’ve never had the same taste in clothes. Am I becoming my mother? oh god.

The Fringe of Society

I just learned about the Red Scarf Project about a week and a half ago so, since the deadline is the end of January, I knit up a couple big gauge scarves with stash yarn. The yarn is all recycled wool (from sweaters) that I bought in an eBay frenzy months ago, before I found the bliss that is STR. Regardless of its past, the yarn is nice soft wool (mostly lambswool) that needed a home I probably would never be able to give it – appropriate for an orphan knitting project, no?

The the scarf on the right is a mixed brown and white yarn in seed stitch (with a stripe of off white thrown in). It was a quick knit and seed stitch is so fun for me that knitting it was never boring. There was still so much time before the deadline, in fact, that I decided to whip up another scarf. I puttered around with this one for a week but only for two reasons: 1) I’m on deadline so my knitting time is limited and 2) I made it really looooooooooong. It’s just a simple 2×2 rib with 5 strands of yarn held throughout on size 19 needles but the fun part is the fringe. This was my first fringe experience and I can happily say I survived. Seriously, the recycled yarn is very kinky so I had to straighten it as much as possible first. There’s still a slight wave but it’s pleasing to my eye.

I wrapped them up with Melissa’s fabulous wrappers, tucked a box of organic chocolate truffles and gourmet cocoa inside and shipped them off today.

Heaven…I’m in heaven…

Yesterday Julie wrote about her new skein of ‘G Rocks’ Socks That Rock by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Her lovely description and photos made my heart ache for the skein of ‘Fire on the Mountain‘ I ordered a few days ago. I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like because, as Julie put it, every skein of handpainted yarn really is different. Guess what was in my mail this morning!

It’s so pretty it makes me want to cry just a little. The gals up there in Scappoose are true color geniuses! Just look at the vivid colors . . .

And the subtle blending . . .

When I started knitting two years ago, I would never have imagined being so happy about spending $25 on a skein of yarn. I’m a spendthrift by nature and have spent many a happy hour frogging a thrift store find but the scales have fallen from my eyes. Next time I won’t wait for Christmas cash before buying some yummy yarn. Oh, yeah, thanks Mom!

Paging Jill

I’m a chronically honest person. I feel tremendous amounts of guilt when I lie about even the smallest thing — “No, your new haircut is great (inwardly cringe at the lie).” So when the barista would ask for my name after I ordered my tall non-fat latte, I’ve always sighed and said “LaDonna . . . L-A-Donna . . . like ‘Madonna’ but with an ‘L’.” They invariably looked at me with a mildly frightened expression, furrowed their 19-year-old brows and laboriously wrote down what they think I said. It was always interesting to hear the kid at the end of the line try to pronounce such classics as ‘Ladawnna’.

We moved to Marin County in the Bay Area last year and I quickly found ‘my’ Starbucks — the one on my way to work, when I needed it most. For the first few visits, I used my real name only to have the same trouble as usual. Then it struck me — an idea I couldn’t believe I’d never contemplated before, which I blame on my honest streak. I needed a Coffee House Name! Yes, it would be ‘lying’ but these kids don’t really give a damn what my real name is. They just want to make sure the coffee gets to the right person.

The guilt relieved, I now needed to come up with the perfect Coffee House Name. It needed to be short, preferably one syllable, easy to pronounce, and had to have only one accepted spelling. I bounced around a few names — Sue, Jane, John — but all were disqualified for one reason or another. My new name, my new persona, hit me like a lightning bolt: Jill. Only a freak would spell it any other way, the letters were all pretty much one line — no compound curves — so it would be a quick write, and everyone knows how to pronounce it. Success! How creative and innovative am I?

The switch from LaDonna to Jill only confused one barista because he remembers everyone’s name. He still calls me LaDonna and occasionally, to screw with the new coffee pullers, will write “Jilladawnna” on my cup. Always good for a laugh, that one.

One pleasant morning I was waiting for my drink when the new kid on the line put a tall non-fat latte for Jill on the counter. I reached for the cup at the same moment as another lady. She’d been standing there for awhile so it was obviously hers but we laughed at the coincidence that there would be two Jills waiting for the same drink at the same time. Then she leaned over and whispered conspiratorily “My name’s not really Jill, but my real name’s too hard for them.” When I caught my breath from laughing, I told her my story.

I guess I’m not so original after all.

Me Seester Fie Dallah

My sister is precious to me. Even though she’s nine years older, we are absolutely the best of friends. Plus she’s the sweetest thing ever (except in the morning – a word of warning: NEVER say “Good morning, Sunshine!” in a sickly singsong manner upon her arrival at the breakfast table . . . unless you like grapefruit juice shot in your eye). That’s why I couldn’t say no when she made the request. And, if you recall, I made a wobbly scarf with the remaining yarn as a surprise. The only requirement was that I get a picture of the items being worn. Did I get such a photo? Nooooooooo-oooooooooo. I don’t mean to be a selfish knitter but come on.

A nasty voicemail shamed her into finally calling to grovel for my forgiveness – given, of course. How could I resist? And here are the promised pix. She is just preciousness embodied!

I’m still in love with the way the color swirled around in the knitting – yummy!

The scarf didn’t swirl but obviously matches. She loves it, or so she says. What else can she say?

Charity case

I finished a nice little seed stitch scarf for the Red Scarf Project last night. It’s recycled lambswool from a sweater in mixed brown/cream. I have no idea what the WPI is but I used 11s and it knit up with a loose enough gauge so the finished product wasn’t stiff as a board.

Now I have all that Fun Fur just waiting to be made into hats for cancer kids but the RSP ends at the end of the month and I thought I’d whip up another big gauge scarf to use up some stash, so the Fun Fur will continue to wait.

Red Jenny Rackam

That’s my lusty new pirate name and I love it so much, I think I’ll change my official ‘Coffee House Name’ of Jill (easy to say and spell, as opposed to LaDonna) to RED JENNY RACKAM! That’ll send those baristas’ caffeine riddled brains reeling.

Get your own pirate name here.

Dusty Wine Blues

I put Hubbo on a train last night (he hates to fly) for a long trip up north which leaves me with an abundance of free time on my hands. Well, not an abundance – I’m in deadline till next week but after that . . . knit city, baby! Anticipating a need for new projects, I decided to join Kate’s charity KAL for cancer kids. I found out about it from Cara – particularly interesting since she’s a self-proclaimed ‘selfish’ knitter (never knitting for charity) but she has her reasons for breaking her own rule. I quickly emailed Kate, as per her instructions to be added to the quickly-growing list of knitters but had to wait till Hubbo was safely ensconced in a steel tube before buying the Fun Fur.

Which I found at Joann’s today for 10 balls for $10! As requested by the kids themselves, I picked a bunch of fabulous neon colors but I couldn’t resist one ball of pale pink for a sweet little princess. The Bernat Boa (in the foreground) was also on sale for $2.50 and thought it would be a fun change.

And this in addition to the scarf I’m whipping up for the Red Scarf Project.

Just call me Ms. Carnegie. But is all this ‘generosity’ pure altruism? If I’m honest, my answer is no. It makes me feel good to help others, of course, but there’s darker purpose. A desire to be part of the group, to make a connection, to belong, even if it is to a group of online charity knitters. The cancer kids or orphans probably don’t care that those unpure feelings sneak into my knitting – hopefully they just dig the the FO. But it is vaguely disturbing to recognize – and admit – my motivations.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, my favorite Aunt commented on the pressure this online community places, no matter how subtlely, on knitting bloggers. In reality, we put the pressure on ourselves which helps explain why I bought 10 balls of Fun Fur, instead of just a couple. Hopefully the fun colors will keep the knitting of the hats from feeling like a chore – I have my doubts, and whose fault is that?

To deaden the pain of these realizations, I stopped by my local Safeway to pick up a bottle of Pinot Grigio for tonight. Living in California is great in many ways but if you prefer a white that’s not Chardonnay, life ain’t so grand. Check this shit out:

This is HALF the wine aisle and it’s ALL Chardonnay. I kid you not. These people love their Chard. I finally found a half dozen dusty bottles of Pinot Grigio tucked away on a bottom shelf in the “Ethnic Wine” section. At least it’s well aged . . . like me.

Dreams

I dreamed of knitting last night. No specific details remain but I woke up with a cozy yummy feeling. Much better than the dreams where I realize during finals week that I signed up for a class I never attended.

The dreams are undoubtedly due to the fact I’ve been totally screwing off at work. I’m checking out everyone’s blogs, free patterns, yarn sites – anything remotely to do with knitting, I’m there nosing around. That and the fact I’m knitting a great pair of Fiber Trends felted clog slippers in Cascade 220 purple and red, coincidentally the official colors of this cool club.

I had some trouble at the beginning with the sole but everything else has been a snap, even though I’m learning some new techniques as I go (like short rowing). I absolutely love them. They’re kicky, they’re wacky, they’re fun! (By the way, that scrap of red yarn on the top slipper is all I had left after casting off!)

I’m also ripping out a 100% cashmere Ralph Lauren cowl neck short-sleeve sweater in light blue that I picked up at a Salvation Army store for $15. It was brand new (with the tags) and the yarn is about worsted weight. Boy, that is some fluffy-ass yarn! And soooo soft…. I just love rubbing it on my face. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with it but where else can you find oodles of cashmere for that price? Hubbo wants a big thick blanket (no throw for him) made of cashmere. I told him he’d have to become a millionaire first!

I got a swift and ball winder for Xmas and wound up all my lovely purple and red yarn with it. So much fun! Hubbo was astounded. But as I’m knitting along, the nice criss cross pattern on the outside of the ball is replaced with a much denser stranding – I assume because I’m collapsing the yarn from the inside out. It doesn’t cause any problems but it is curious. Why don’t the LYS-wound balls do that? Am I winding too fast? Too loose? Is there really a technique to winding balls? Or is it just a mystery of the universe like these?

No wonder knitting rules my dreams!

Over the hump

Christmas should be fun and relaxing but I don’t know very many people who actually emerge from the holidays well-rested. There’s all that Christmas knitting to finish, for one. And I didn’t escape.

I finally finished the hateful Bro Blanket – in the car on the way home! It’s very cute but so so so teensy tiny. I swear, by my test square, this sucker was gonna fit a king size bed. Nope. It barely covers a lap. I was sorely disappointed for many reasons, not the least of which being that I didn’t have time to knit a border, but Hubbo convinced me not to say anything (as I normally would, ie: Bro: “What a great throw!” Me: “It’s too small, doesn’t have a border and, if you look closely, you’ll find that one of the squares was knit too loosely and is waaay bigger than the rest.”). And guess what. They loved it! I just stuffed my pie hole with some of Mom’s killer pecan pie and let them gush. By the way, I also didn’t mention that it was made entirely with ‘recycled’ yarn from cotton sweaters!

Here my one-and-only niece Maria models said throw (note the log cabin box I put it in on the left).

But the giving wasn’t over yet! During the summer I knitted up a stack of wild MD warshclothes for the ladies in the family. Then while in Hawaii, I picked up a bunch of little Hawaiian soaps. I sort of forgot about them till I looked in the official “Christmas Box” (a tub that holds all the little Xmas gifts I pick up throughout the year – don’t tell me you don’t have something like it?!) and then began to wonder how to package them.

I just let it roll around my brain for a few days until I made it to Cost Plus. What a great store! Wandering around, looking for inspiration, I found these adorable ice cream dishes and the lightbulb went off. A little wadded up paper for the stuffing, white ribbon/whipped cream to hold it all together, and a garnish of red ribbon/maraschino cherry to top it off. Are these just the cutest ever?!

So are these (my sis Sandy and sil Jane):

So once the stress and hoopla of Christmas was finally over (deep cleansing breath. . . aaahhhhh), I felt the urge to pull out the needles. But of course I didn’t bring anything but that damnable blanket with me. Jamie to the rescue! Jamie owns the Brownsville Stitching Parlour (sorry, no website, but the next time you’re in Dinksville…I mean, Brownsville… her shop is right in the middle of downtown) and I always always always buy something from her. Her clientele is so meager that I’d much rather support her than some mega shop in the Big City. Plus she’ll spend hours gabbing with you!

My sis and I found ourselves there, of course, and I was pressed by dear sis to knit her a hat (toque style) in yellow, to match her new ski coat. Now sis knits herself but hasn’t moved past garter stitch scarves – she’s never much cared for reading instructions – so I agreed. Besides, she’s so sweet and pretty and loving, how could I deny her? I left the darn yarn labels at home so will have to edit this later with that info, but here’s the finished hat

with adorable pom at the top.

The pattern’s from Sally Melville’s The Knit Stitch.

But I still had nearly half the ball of yarn left. What to do What to do? It wasn’t enough for a big scarf so I referenced my new One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant and found the lovely wobbly scarf pattern. A few adjustments and voila!

I told sis that I forgot to send the remaining yarn with the hat (I had to get it off asap), and that I’d send it all to her later. Little does she know. . .