Carrie!

The note was here at work the whole time – it’d gotten stuck on the underside of my calendar somehow. So my supercool secret pal was Carrie. Check out her blog at http://coveredinyarn.wordpress.com – she has some VERY cool photography (not to mention knitting)! Thanks Carrie for being so cool!

A Really Good Story

So much to share, so little bandwidth! First off, mad props to my supercool secret pal for spoiling me so much this go-round. Look at the last installment:

Shaken, not stirred.

Some totally awesome FibraNutura Flax linen yarn with a knitted bracelet and FINALLYFINALLYFINALLY some pretty stitch markers! I’ve been longing for pretty markers for ages — I use those ugly pink/blue ones — and my wishes came true. Thanks HushHush! Now here’s the evidence of my total dorkiness: I forgot to bring the letter that told me her blog and (gulp) name. Yes, I’m a dufus. I’ll add her blog tomorrow — sorry, pal!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting content for a funny story:

After deadline, we sailed off for a short vacation at China Camp, a nearby state park. Our friend Big Aaron (as opposed to Little Aaron) ‘buddyboated’ with us on his Valiant 32 and joined us ashore for a nice hike along the trails. We stopped for lunch and, by the time we started back, my feet were killing me so I suggested walking along the road, instead of the extra-long trail.

So we’re bopping along when Aaron says “What’s that?” He was pointing at something off the side of the road, down the embankment. He jumped down and when he came back up he was holding a 43″ flat screen TV! It was all bubblewrapped and still had the Open Box stickers from Best Buy all over it. Not to mention the $3,700 price tag! The remote and all the wiring was taped to the back so, minus the manual, this thing was basically complete! We couldn’t believe it! Rob said “Only my friend Aaron would find a flat screen on the side of the road” and it’s true.

There wasn’t much discussion on what to do: we just started lugging it back. Problem was that we were at least a mile from our dinghy — plus the guys were worried the ‘pick up guy’ was going to drive by and spot us carrying his goods. So the plan was to find a way down to the water, then Rob would fetch the dinghy to come pick us (and the ‘goods’) up. We finally came up to a pull out with a couple parking spots and a couple paths down to the water. Aaron hid behind a dumpster while we scoped it out. I swear, I felt all stealthy and spy-like (maybe “criminal-like” would be more accurate!).

We found a clear path and went back to the dumpster only to find Aaron laughing hysterically. Seems that while we were on our reconnaissance mission, he tore into the bubble wrap to find a piece of fiber board with three blocks of concrete glued to it! Our best guess is that it was a decoy to set up a thieving Best Buy employee. Once he snagged it, he obviously took off in his car before investigating further. Instead of dumping it in a dumpster, he chucked it out the car window. We came along, thought we hit paydirt (I mean, really, who finds a $4k TV on the side of the road?) and toted that bastard a mile before discovering its secrets! I’m counting my major neck and back problems this week as karmic payback for being such a naughty girl. But what a great story!

Interestingly, I didn’t do a stitch of knitting while we were on our little cruise. Too busy reading and laying about. But I have managed to finish Cherie Amour.

Remember that I switched between to skeins of yarn so I wouldn’t get any pooling, which I’m not fond of. I also picked up the armhole sts and knit each sleeve from the top down. About 2/3 of the way down, I increased 2 sts and again about 1 inch from the bind off for a slightly belled sleeve.

I have yet to block it but I like how it’s turned out. Now I just need to get a top to go under it.

I’ve also managed to finish my SIL’s Christmas trivet. They’re building a cabin in Bend, Oregon, which will have an ‘earthy’ motif when done. This was done with Patons and I have enough yarn leftover to do at least one more ‘placemat’ — I had so many issues with this pattern (found in Felt It!) so much that I think this is all I can do!

You see, I’m no colorwork pro so I didn’t automatically know to make three balls of each color before starting, which the pattern writer assumed you knew. I ended up breaking the yarn at every color change for a couple inches — what a pain to weave in all those suckers! But I finally figured it out and started doing it correctly thereafter. Only made one noticeable mistake, which I hope won’t be noticeable at all once it’s felted.

Next up is a pair of Fetching for mom for Xmas. I’m also thinking of Dashing for dad. In between, I’m working on the bottom ruffle for my sexy Vogue sweater — hope to be done for Xmas but man, that’s a lot of stockinette!

Sleeves the Easy Way

Ya gotta love it! No seaming!

This is Your Brain on Knitting

No pix but I have the bodice of Cherie Amour done. I got totally stuck right after the ribbing and screwed things up royally. For some reason, I couldn’t wrap my head around this part of the pattern (it comes right after the ribbing):

“From this point, the Upper Body will be worked back and forth in rows. The point which has been the end of the round is at the center front of the sweater.

Turn work so WS is facing and p 1 row, removing marker. This is Row 2 of Lace Pattern 2.”

I  have no idea why but I kept thinking this was the point where I separate the front from the back. I kept fuming at what a horribly written pattern this was and really, I was just a horrible pattern reader. But by the time I figured it out, I’d separated the front and the back, tried to fix it, frogged down to the ribbing, had the yarn in the wrong place, blah, blah, blah. After I got everything sorted out, the bodice practically shot off my needles! I didn’t even have any trouble with the lace pattern on the two fronts. Weird how the brain works. I would have sworn that it was made clear that separating the back and front was the next step!

Instead of knitting the sleeves flat, I picked up the armhole sts and am knitting them in the round. No seaming! I would never have thought of doing this but someone on a KAL said they had and, when I looked at the pattern, saw that it could be done. There’s no sleeve cap at all, just straight across. Hope to have it done by Turkey Day but am not holding my breath (it’s deadline).

Bar Brawl

We went to the most awesomest concert last week! Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades from Night Ranger (remember Sister Christian?) have joined forces again (remember Damn Yankees?) and have released a new album of acoustic covers of songs that inspired them. They kicked off their cross-country tour at Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre.

We stood in line for an hour and a half because the show was general admission and we had no idea what the seating would be like. Turns out the front row seats we had were worthless as there’s a big dance floor in front that everyone was gathering on, totally blocking our view. After the opening band, we moved our way onto the dance floor and managed to find a spot about 15′ from the stage.

I was a hair too young to have been a Styx fan when they were at the top but my bro was. Night Ranger was definitely more my era but I never got into the Damn Yankees. I had no idea what either of these guys looked like and, I’ll confess, I fell a little bit for Tommy Shaw (on the right). Apparently, I’m not alone. That blond in the front holding the camera kept jumping up and down from excitement at being so close to her idol. She even flashed him at one point! His reaction was priceless: he sorta jumped back, looked embarrassed and said “Whoa!”The Mystic is an interesting venue that, unfortunately, serves alcohol. I say unfortunately because it seemed packed with drunk ’80s metal-heads who just kept getting drunker. Thankfully, they were all just whooping and hollerin’ and calling out “FREEBIRD!” Except . . . the backup guy was this cute young dude from a local band called American Drag. Very talented musician but he drew the young girls like moths to a flame. This one particular young girl tried to edge her way in front of us but ended up next to us. Both she and her boyfriend were DUH-RUNK and she started swaying around to the music. Soon enough, she swung her hair into my face so I said “Excuse me” in a very friendly manner. She looked around and said “Humph! You . . . old . . . FART!” Yes, people, I am officially an old fart. At 38.

We continued enjoying the music — which was truly amazing — but she soon started swinging around again. The inevitable happened: she bumped into me. What threw me for a loop though was that she whipped around and screamed “How dare you lay your f*ing hands on me! You can’t touch me!” I calmly smiled and said quietly “I didn’t touch you, you touched me.” “F* YOU, YOU B*TCH!!” and on from there. I turned back to the stage and tried to watch the show, ignoring her ranting as her boyfriend tried to reel her in, when suddenly “SPLOOSH!” The full cup of beer she’d been sloshing around landed right down my front! Of course we were all packed in like sardines so everyone around me, especially the not-so-delicate woman in front of me, got hit. Girlfriend was still screaming like a banshee while Boyfriend was holding her back. I looked at him and quietly but firmly said “You need to get her out of here right now.” Poor kid looked like a deer in the headlights — several wet and angry faces had turned to him and he didn’t want to get his ass kicked because his dumbass girlfriend went psycho! He started dragging her through the crowd but Not-So-Delicate decided Girlfriend should pay for her crime: “Where do you think YOU’RE going?!” NSD reached out and grabbed a handful of GF’s pseudo-professionally colored hair and pulled one way while BF tugged the other. What a sight!

I just wanted GF to go away so I leaned into NSD and whispered “Just let her go. We’ll all have a good time if she’s gone.” NSD looked at me, nodded and gave one final hard tug, ripping out a big ol’ handful of GF’s bleached hair. BF dragged her into oblivion and NSD spent the next 15 minutes wiping GF’s hair off her! Yes, I stood soaked in a puddle of cheap beer but it was worth it. What a great show and terrific story!

Meanwhile, as old farts are wont to do, I’ve been knitting like crazy. I finally seamed the sleeves on my KP On Deck Pullover and now just need to block it. It only took me about five hours to get the first sleeve done, but the second sped by in just two hours! Is there anyone out there that will set in sleeves for pay?

Haven’t finished the ruffle around the bottom edge of the V-Neck Pullover but instead have cast on Cherie Amour in the Faux Malabrigo I was using for that ugly cardigan I ended up hating. I frogged it — I was about 2/3 done — straightened the yarn and am more than halfway through the new sweater.

I’m alternating between two balls of yarn every other row as I don’t really care for the color pooling that comes with hand dyed yarn. I’m also not crazy about the pattern’s sleeves and am thinking of changing them but that presents a whole new series of challenges. Any suggestions? I’d like to make them stockinette or something a little less ‘bulky’ looking. Lord knows I don’t need my upper arms to look any bulkier.

What else? Not much but it’s been an exciting ride so far!

Nearly Dead

Deadline is always a killer. Last month, I really did nearly lose my mind — this month, not so bad. November is a smaller issue though I swear I wrote half the content for the largest section of the magazine this month. While it may be a smaller issue, nearly all editorial staff is going to Mexico for an annual cruisers rally we’re associated with. Not me, and I’m fine with it, trust me.

But as of . . . well, 20 minutes from now when the final proofreading is handed to me, I’m done. Hubbo’s in Bodega Bay on the boat he’ll be racing to Hawaii next year, and I’m gonna join him for the weekend. I hope to hit a yarn store . . .

But even if I don’t, I’m still well stocked with new yarn. Just look at what my Secret Pal sent me for Halloween:

Two luscious skeins of the lucsious Araucania Limari (70% Merino/20% Alpaca/10% Silk). I just wanted to nuzzle into it all night. Seriously, I’d pick it up, rub it against my face, gaze at it for a few seconds, put it down, only to pick it up again a minute later!

Also included were a big ass jar of wool wash, which I’ve totally been needing, a kitty tape measure, some Halloween candy (SP may notice that the bag is significantly less full than when she sent it) and the coolest pen ever:

Her note said it was in memory of the kamikaze bird that killed itself and our wind generator!With the craziness of deadline, I still haven’t had the time or mental capacity to seam up the shoulders on my TWO finished sweaters. Well, to be honest, I still have miles of mohair ruffle to knit on the bottom of the body but still . . . so close.

But I did have the mental capacity (and itchy fingers) to start on my SIL’s swirl placemats. Very odd construction. I’ll post progress but as I’m only on like row 4 of flat stockinette, what’s there to post?

I’ll leave you with this adorable pic of Lauren in her equally adorable crocheted hat — taken at Sunday’s U-Knitty.

Razzle Dazzle

I hearby nickname Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 Pattern #11 (aka V-neck pullover) “Razzle Dazzle”. There’s a lot of flash in this deceivingly quick and simple knit. I finished the body in about five days and knit up nearly an entire sleeve last night (I would have finished but we had errands to run) but it looks like it’s time/effort intensive. “Give ‘em the ol’ razzle dazzle . . .”

There was some confusion when I got to the front shoulders but a few minutes of reading the pattern over and over and over while looking at the photo helped me puzzle it out. You can just see at the top of the pic the extra length of ‘collar’ that will get sewn to the shoulder and back, creating a yoke look. Another puzzling piece of this pattern: the neck edge calls for one st of garter along the entire length. At first, this looks wrong and I was tempted to switch it to stockinette the whole way but decided to trust the pattern. After all, what’s the worst that could happen? I have to frog back 15 minutes worth of knitting? Big whoop. So on I knit and wouldn’t you know, that one st garter edge helps stop the neckline from rolling a bunch – just enough to tuck the garter edge under so it’s invisible. A very neat little trick!

It’s still raining. Hubbo is planning on a little trip while I’m on deadline. If you’ll recall, he’s doing a singlehanded race from SF to Hawaii next summer. Remember Tess? Remember that we sold her because we found a better boat? Well, he has the new boat pretty much ready to do his qualifying sail – 400 miles non-stop, sail-only, singlehanded. Should take about 4-5 days. Usually October is a lovely month here – no fog, mild winds, sunny skies. Hopefully this system passes and no more roll through before he finishes the trip. Wish him luck!

I Styled My Hair Why?

I haven’t even thought about my umbreller in months — months, I tell you — so I had to root around the boat to find it last week when a small system passed through. Of course the sun was shining brilliantly by the time I left work so who needs an umbreller? I’d look at it sitting forlornly in the corner and think “I really should take that home” but never did. Of course, this is what I woke up to:

At least I remembered to close all the portlights (windows) this time.

Of course Miss Brilliance over here went up and took a shower and styled her hair anyway. Now for you landlubbers out there, you may not realize what the big deal is. Take a shower, do your hair, step into the garage, get in the car, open the garage door with a handy dandy remote control and drive to your covered parking space at work. That’s not how it works when you live on a boat.

First, you have to gather up your toiletries bag (mine is literally an overnighter bag with all my ‘products’, hairdryer, makeup, etc. and weighs at least 10 lbs.) and towel. Then you walk the green path up to the showers. Hopefully there’s not a line of ladies waiting. After you shower, do your hair and apply the makeup, you pack your bag back up and follow the pink path back down to the boat. There you get dressed for the day, have a cuppa tea, pet Freddy, give Hubbo a smooch and trot back up the blue path to the car. Sometimes I’m lucky and find one a little closer but not always. That little trip is just about like walking across a football field three times! Now imagine doing it sans umbreller.

Yes, I look beautiful today.

Sweater Fever and Catnip Armpits

I’m still procrastinating on seaming that sweater but I have a great excuse! Hubbo and Big Aaron have the Valient hauled out so I have been running up there and fixing meals, etc. I really want to be focused and have a good amount of time before tackling it.

In the meantime, I cast on Vogue Fall ‘05 #11 (aka: V-neck Pullover) a couple nights ago but twisted the cast on apparently. I was about 3 inches into it when I realized I was knitting a moebius sweater! (Why on earth did Cat Bordhi expend all that energy figuring out a ‘moebius cast on’ when all she had to do was twist a cast on stitch in the round?) Frogged and started again last night after Big Aaron left. Already 4+ inches into it!

How the heck do I get that mohair to distribute more evenly?

Normally when you change a flat knitted pattern to knitting in the round, you have to subtract two sts so the shaping doesn’t look like this (I forgot this step while knitting Miss Thang).

You can see two rows between the decreases in Miss Thang.

Since there’s no shaping in this sweater (actually, two increases), it doesn’t really matter so I’m just knitting the original number of sts. The Big Wool and size 15 needles really makes it go fast. I should have it done by the weekend!

Freddy loves Aaron – especially one particular part of him.

Speaking of Big Aaron, Freddy luvsluvsluvs him. As with any person who a cat really likes, Aaron’s allergic but he thinks Fred’s a cool cat. I wonder if Fred burying his face in Aaron’s armpit like it has catnip growing out of it has anything to do with it.

Disturbing.

Seamingly Done

My KP On Deck Pullover (my first sweater ever hello how cool is that?!) just needs the sleeves set in and I’m finis! I weaved (wove?) in all the ends and even tightened up the cast ons. I’m a big fan of what’s known as the backward-loop cast-on (Sally Melville calls it the E Cast-on). I use it almost exclusively because it’s nearly guaranteed to never be too tight and bunch up, and because I’m lazy. I don’t have to figure out how much yarn to pull off a skein to do it and I never run out 2/3 of the way through. Lazy. Anyhooters, I find that if I go back and slightly tighten up that cast-on, the item lays just a little flatter.

One step left to finish my first ever sweater.

I’m ever so slightly worried about setting in the sleeves – I’m a virgin. I suppose I’ll just tackle it and if it looks like crap, I’ll just frog it and try again. I’ll block it and hope that wetting it will ’shrink’ it just a tad. No biggie if it doesn’t – it’s just a kick around sweater anyway – but then it would fit perfectly. That’s the thing about sweater knitting that always put me off it. You never really know if what you’re knitting will fit in the end and that’s a scary-lot of time to invest it something so uncertain (can you tell I’m not much into the stock market?).

Of course I’m already planning two more sweaters so you can clearly tell I’m insane.

Wish I had her shoulderblades (and stomach and thighs and ass . . .)

I swatched for Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 V-Neck Pullover last night. I got stitch gauge but I got two extra rows. Puzzling, especially since I’m normally a fairly loose knitter. I usually have to go down two needle sizes to get gauge and this time I hit it (well, stitch gauge anyway) spot on with the recommended needles. The advice I’ve been given so far on Knitty Coffeeshop is to just adjust the pattern so any instructions that read “knit XX rows” to read “knit XX inches” based on the pattern’s gauge. I think I’ll give it a shot.But I’m also sorta hankering for Knitty’s Cherie Amour. I have all that Faux Malabrigo from Handpainted Yarns just sitting there waiting to be frogged from my disenchanting cardigan. Maybe it’s fortunate that I don’t have size 13 needles to swatch with. Must . . . Order . . . Size . . . 13s . . .

I know this may come as a surprise, but I have a little bit of a life outside the office and knitting. Last week Hubbo and I met up with our friends Brad and Kim to visit the Legion of Honor and de Young Museum in the City. A $10 bill gets you into both of these excellent fine arts museums – can you believe that? Brad & Kim had been to the de Young the week before so we started with the Legion, which is featuring a very large Rodin collection. Me, I’m rather ambivalent about sculpture so I was all “Whatever.” But I really enjoyed the majority of the paintings (some of those Catholic-centric ones are a little creepy).

Obligatory ‘Thinker’ pose.

We took our time meandering over to the de Young, not realizing it closed so early, so we only had 20 minutes to check it out. B & K led the way to their favs with us oohing and aahing along the way. The security guards cracked up that we were trying to see everything in such a short time! We may have ’seen’ everything, we’re definitely going back to really check it all out. Of course you know how much we like to travel into the City – gack!

Freddy loves to help with the dishes.