It's 11 P.M. - Do You Know Where Your WIPs Are?

Finally...some knitting progress.

Lately I've been overcome with a bout of "finish-itis." Spring-cleaning for knitting perhaps? (Which is always much more fun and interesting than normal spring-cleaning.)

The first item is my non-noro striped scarf - made from Plymouth Boku.



For those interested in a more reasonably priced alternative to Noro, Boku may be a good choice. It's a bit softer to knit with. I haven't blocked the scarf yet, so it may soften up even more. None of the 4 skeins of Boku had any knots - a distinct advantage over Noro in my experience. One drawback was that I knit so tightly, and Boku is barely plied, so I broke the gray colored yarn a number of times.

The next is Wavy from Knitty.



The yarn is Mer-made Yarn from Blackberry Ridge. This yarn was fun to work with - tightly plied and very smooshy and springy.

To keep myself motivated, I've moved the plastic bin full of WIPs to the living room. It's a huge bin. I decided not to add to my shame by including a photo of it. Although, to be fair, it's not just storing the WIPs, but also all the yarn for them.

Lest you all think I've suddenly joined the sisterhood of Our Lady of Virtuous Finishing, the WIP ratio in the Haus has not decreased. Yes, I've also cast on.

This is the Heart Blanket from Fiber Trends out of Cascade 200 Superwash.

This shows the color



while this photo shows the pattern.



I've got lots of blocking to do - these scarves and Girasole need blocking. One of these days...

Let's see if I can finish more projects than I cast on from now until June 1st.

Dragged, Kicking and Screaming, Into the 21st Century

In many ways, I am a techno-peasant.

I've had the same cell phone for about 4 years. Surprisingly, I use it mainly to make and receive calls. It can take photos. I've taken approximately 3 photos with my phone. (Why - since I carry my camera in my purse?)

I have never sent a text message. It's bad enough when entering contacts into my cell phone to have to hit "2" four times in order to get a small "c" or "9" seven times to get a small "y." I already have a hobby that involves repetitive motion. Why risk TMI?

In doing my job I've had to read printouts of text messages. This is one of the circles of hell to me - the abbreviated spellings and acronyms get on my last nerve. I really don't want or need to know that you are NIFOC.* Spelling was drilled into me in elementary school with all those workbooks and weekly tests. I cannot stop now. I have a friend who will not respond to her kids' text messages unless everything is properly spelled out. You go, girl!

I am thinking of looking into the possibility of getting a crackberry or schmapple's version. When working I frequently end up waiting, sometimes for long periods of time. Rules of decorum prevent me from knitting during these periods of time and it's difficult to do other work also. However, with a crackberry-type device, I could surreptitiously be keeping up with work email or professional-related reading. One drawback is that my work takes me into rural areas where cell phone reception is not optimal.

Even if I get a device, I think I would still be a techno-peasant, partly by choice, partly due to laziness and partly due to not wanting to get sucked into the spending more time on the computer than I already do. Ravelry's bad enough without throwing Facebook and MySpace into the mix. Thank the gods I don't have to write code in order to blog otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.

Well, I've joined one of the online communities (because I had to join in order to access it and do some job-related investigating) and am now in touch with some friends from high school. Already I'm in over my head. I've gotten poked and I have no clue what that means. I don't know about you but I was taught not to write on walls.

Getting in touch with old classmates is really a double-edged sword. It's nice to find out that the kids you spent four years of your life with now have spouses/partners, kids, careers, homes, etc. However, I, for one, do not want to admit how long ago high school was...lalalalala! I can't hear! Let's just say that I have friends who have expensive, aged, single malt whiskey that's younger than some of my classmates' children.

When did all my classmates get so old? I'm not that old. Lalalalalala!

What's next? Wearing mumus? Retirement condo in Florida? Eating dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon and having the Early Bird special in restaurants?





* naked in front of computer

Forty-five Years Later...

(As always, click on any photo to enlarge it for a closer look.)


While visiting my folks on Thursday my mom had some items to show me. These are items that have survived 3 moves and have lived in a bedroom dresser drawer - possibly since before I was born.

My mother used to be a knitter and had given me her main tool of the trade. She used to do custom knitting as a way to supplement their income and was able to knit while breastfeeding - quite a feat in my humble estimation. She hasn't knit in over 30 years. She still sews and has taken up quilting in the last 10 years.

This is the only booklet (published in 1952) that survived the culling-of-items-before-moving process - probably because she still has a half completed saddle shoulder sweater still on the needles which I'm encouraging her to finish. It will be interesting to see if her gauge has changed.

I love the illustrations - very Leave It To Beaver. A pattern is available for each sweater/vest/pullover/tshirt that is pictured. Quite a lot of patterns are packed into this booklet.



A bargain at any price. It makes me wonder how many booklets were produced by this company. This booklet is volume 344 and the first pattern in the booklet is entitled Pullover No. 2297.















Notice the Mr. and Mrs. Ski Sweaters.


Yes, that's the actual name of the pattern...


which comes in 2 sizes.








I'd never realized how integral pipe smoking was to the manly activities of inspecting fishing gear, relaxing at your hunting lodge, spraying your garden with DDT, golfing, inspecting the hunting hounds, hitting on the Mrs. at the ski lodge, delivering milk, grilling hotdogs, and loading up the luggage for a golfing weekend. When did pipe smoking lose its vogue?

There are also patterns for those manly accessories - socks, wristlets, dickeys, and golf club covers.







What I don't understand are the names given to various vest patterns - in this booklet, they're called Pullover, Sleeveless Pullover (actually there are 3 different patterns named Sleeveless Pullover), Vest, Sleeveless Cardigan, and Sleeveless Sweater.

My mom knit a sweater for my dad out of this stuff.







I've now inherited seven and a half skeins...


and a 40+ year old gauge swatch.




This booklet also has the key to a successful relationship: "Whether he's 16 or 60, give that favorite man of your a hand-knit sweater and watch him glow with pride. He'll wear it and love it (and you too!) for years and years."

Good Habit

In the middle of last week I took a little trip out to the western hinterlands of the state



to see Franklin.



It was a delightful time and, thankfully, no hugs became the subject of international discussion.

He gave a bit of a talk about his journey from being an average-joe-knitter to a knitting humorist/cartoonist and also read from his book. All I can tell you is if you don't have this book...GET IT. My sister - a non-knitter - thought it was HI-larious. And the only thing I had to explain was what intarsia is.

He brought some of his knitted items along to show the audience. The lace was particularly admired by the crowd (which included Joyce Williams).



Christmas in March
This week, while traveling for work, I stopped at a yarn shop for a going out of business sale (because the owner is moving to another state). How could one resist after getting an email announcing 50% off?



This is 10 skeins of Cascade Lana D' Oro, 4 skeins of Wonderwool, 2 Addi Turbo circular needles, a pair of Homestead Heirlooms leather purse handles, and 18 patterns. All for eighty dollars.

And behold, there was light and it was good.
It has been such a rare thing lately to drive home while there is still daylight that I just had to take a photo or two.





Now - off to Late Night Knitting!