Balance

WARNING:

Non-knitting rant with some foul language followed by some knitting content below.

Blogger discretion is advised.

Ladies and gents, I have had a craptastic week. Without belaboring my gripes against the world, I hereby present the following rhetorical questions:

• Why is that, in a neighborhood where parking is a challenge to say the least, everyone suddenly decides that their car needed to be four feet away from all the other cars? If everyone would scoot their gas-guzzling behinds up a few feet, two more cars would be able to park!


• I am a grown woman and very rarely break down in hysterics at work; if you interview me and decide that I'm not your cup of tea, could you at least answer my emails regarding the position?


• What the fuck is everyone honking about?!?


• When did Jerry Springer start filming his shows outside my bedroom window at 3am?


• The pizza guy called me "Ma'am". I know that's not a question, but I don't give a flying sausage & cheese.

Sorry about that, but you have to let the bad stuff out to make room for the good stuff. Letsee, good stuff.... Oh yeah:

The Noro Sidekick has been satisfactorily re-blocked (4 empty dvd cases, viola). It looks a tad lumpy in the picture, but it's really faboo. That's one more thing off my to-do list!

Speaking of to-do lists, Ravelry.com just stole three hours of my life away from me, and you know what? Once I got the hang of it and spent some time playing with the features, I think I'm in love!

I got yarn in the mail today! I traded someone my duplicate IK magazines and she sent me Noro! Woot Woot!

And the best and brightest of the good things that put the universe back in balance for me: I found someone with a half-skein of Knitpicks Totem in Hematite. It should be just enough to make it through the $1.50 Cardigan, WOO-HOO!!!

Gee, Rating?

I guess they don't count "crap" as foul language...

KnitPicks Totem - Hematite Red #6036

So, I've been knitting on the cabled front of the $1.50 Cardigan and it has become just a little tedious. I still love the lace stitch, but after fifteen inches straight now and it has started to lose its charm.

The only reason I've been knitting on it as furiously as I have is that I am hoping that I will somehow alter time and space and knit faster than the yarn is being used up. The one ball alloted to this front is simply not going to cut it, and though the lighter patterning of the other front will probably consume less yarn, I am pretty sure I will run out before I complete to the button band.

So, if anyone has any Knit Picks Totem in Hematite Red, Lot # 6036, please let me know? I think I've already promised my first-born to someone, but I must have something around here you'd like.

Wrapping Up

I don't tend to talk about my mother, but I was winding up a little ball of yarn today and thought of her.


My mother knit, crochet, sew, and I'm sure that she could have spun and woven if given the opportunity and inclination. She had a scar on the back of her head from when she plopped down on the couch and the knitting needles she'd left on top of said couch inbedded themselves in her scalp. And, unlike the shabby example you see above, when she wound up a ball of yarn it looked nice, as if she had pulled it right off a store shelf. While she flatly admitted that she did not have the patience to teach me to crochet (Dad's girlfriend at the time), knitting (book), or how to tie my shoes (another little girl in kindergarten), she did get me started out in the fiber-arts, just by doing it herself.

On a lighter note, I am happy to report another successful Stitch & Beach night! I think I'm finally starting to come out of my little shell; it takes me soooooo long to get comfortable around people.

The Squatty Sidekick has also been sucessfully felted!


I'm unhappy with how it's sitting, so another block is in order, but look how pretty it turned out! My favorite part?


The needle-felted button, half left-over Noro, half batting from Spritely Goods.

The back of the $1.50 Cardigan was finished this morning.

I have two fronts to knit with two skeins and some change. Wish me luck!

Used Book Mini-Reviews.

I have had insane luck with used book stores; maybe good karma for donating Knitting Nature to the library? It's not on the shelves yet, but I have high hopes... They probably just need to get it plastic-wrapped.

I dropped into the defunct Walden Books down the street and, bless my stars, found a knitting book! The Knitting Goddess by Deborah Bergman for $5. It's a very basic technique book filled with fiber-related myths. It's a cute book and has great art and stories, but I've read so many books by women who've found knitting while on a great spiritual journey. I know it's little of me, but I get a little bitter hearing about women who have time to find themselves while I have to work. Still, totally worth the fiver.

At Acres of Books the knitting book cupboard has been bare for weeks. A little digging around unearthed Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, & Arans by Gladys Thompson and Complete Guide to Modern Knitting and Crocheting by Alice Carol. I felt like I needed a second guernsey book, and the Guide has a treasury of vintage patterns. I've already found an argyle sweater that I'd like to wrap my needles around.

So go hit your local used book stores, thar be treasure afoot!

Boo-Boo

Look how far I've gotten on the back of the $1.50 Cardigan!


Look at the stitch I messed up two rows from the cast-on. A random purl among my knits...

I'm not ripping back. Absolutely, positively not. I don't consider myself a retentive knitter, but it will still bother me. I'll figure something out.

Freezer Felt

What? You don't shove your projects in the freezer?

After five runs through the wash I gave up and decided to combine the best parts of everyone's suggestions: hand felting by alternating agitation in super-hot water in the bathroom sink with rest periods in the freezer (same concept as ice water, but easier on the hands). The colors are glorious; it was totally worth it.

I'll post new pictures when the drying/blocking is done. Happy Father's Day!

On Hold

I'm in a bit of a slump lately. I have plans, but they are on hold until I get a certain phone call, hopefully Monday.

I'd like to try the TKGA Master's program, just to improve my knitting (oh, and the prestige). I know it's not necessary and I can be an awesome knitter without it, but I am a sloppy knitter. I'm hoping that being "forced" to focus on technique will help me evolve into the big K knitter I'd like to eventually be.

I'd like to go back to school and start working on my bachelor's degree as well. I think I've decided to major in marketing. I'd rather major in something much more obscure, but the tuition assistance is too tempting to snub.

Ravelry is neat, but it will take a lot of time and work to get properly set up. It's an awesome concept, but I'm not sure I'm sold on it yet.

And my Noro Squatty has gone through five or six washes so far; it's definitely starting to suck up, but I think new tactics are in order. Thanks to the Yarn Yenta for the boiling water idea, but carrying a pot of boiling water down two flights of stairs just doesn't seem safe.

I sure hope I get that phone call soon; I hate waiting!

Ravelry

If you haven't checked out Ravelry.com you really should. It's a really neat site that lets you easily track what you've knitted, what yarn you have, what you want to knit in the future, and more with a very easy, user-friendly interface.

Except that I suddenly can't remember my username or password. I'll sleep off the Guinness I had for dinner and try again later. Cheers!

By the way, we're on the fourth run through the washer for the Squatty Sidekick. Any takers?

Put Me In Coach

Apparently, the second Daffodil Jaywalker only gets face time during baseball games.

I sat in the stands, got some fresh air (and a hot dog and peanuts), watched a great game, and completed the entire heel while cheering my voice out. If you're in the area I can't recommend the Long Beach Armada of Los Angeles of California of the United States of North America Including Barrow, Alaska enough. The players are cute, the action on the field is major-league, and you cannot beat the prices in professional sports. General admission is only $7 (they also have lots of promotions where you can get in free), but I think next time I'll fork out the extra $2 for a reserve seat. Box seats are only $15 for you big spenders out there. Can I get a "Woot-Woot" for local sports teams?

Short & Squatty

I have been feeling short and squat lately... ala Amanda's Squatty Sidekick from Knitting Daily. It popped up in my email and I said, ooh, I want a Squatty! It has consumed my every free moment.



I finished the whole shebang this morning. I pulled the two skeins of Noro Silk Garden from the stash; the colors are incredible. Yeah, yeah, I know. Noro Silk Garden, while fabulous, has very little wool in it. But how could I say no to this?


I couldn't. So I did some hunting online and found a few folks (I cannot remember which sites, I'm sorry) who have actually felted it, though it apparently takes a lot of effort. How many times do you think I'll have to go down this hallway in my apartment basement:

To this laundry room:

To put four quarters into this machine:

and yank it out to see if there's been any progress? Anyone who guesses correctly gets sock yarn.

I'll moisturize my hands before trying to open an envelope.

For Giveness

I don't know if it's the late Spring that seems to be hitting me like a ton of bricks or all the extraneous (non-knitting-related) things happening in my life, but I have a sudden urge to decrap. Not saying that my stuff is crap in and of itself, but the fact that I have too much of it makes it crap. How many more times can I say crap? Hmmm, crap.


For example, I recently received the Knitting Nature/Last Minute Knitted Gifts bundle that I practically stole for under $11 (you can now pre-order for $54.90) thanks to the quick thinking of Aija. It was a fabulous deal and I do not regret it in the slightest, but it left me with two copies of Knitting Nature. Well, I went online and checked: I had two copies and my public library didn't have any. I am happy to report that this has been rectified.

I even gave them the brand-new copy with the cover on it. I hope it hits the shelves soon.

Ronni of http://www.chemocaps.com/ is looking for leftover sock yarn to use for lightweight caps for chemotherapy patients. I had plenty, and I bet you do too!

Stinker helped me fit all that yarn into the tiny envelope. It was a heroic effort to say the least.

I finally gave up and subscribed to IK Knits figuring I buy almost every issue anyway. Well, I received my first issue through the mail; Spring 2007. Now I hate to be a pain, but I had to send them a little note pointing out that, when I sent in my subscription request, Summer 2007 had already been out for a while. Not to mention that I'm already halfway through two of the projects in Spring 2007 (the $1.50 Cardigan and the shawl-who-shall-not-be-named).

I'll wait to see what they say before I pass judgement, but in the meantime I have an extra Spring 2007 issue of IK knits, as well as duplicate issues of Summer and Fall 2006 I picked up at a swap meet when I could not remember which issue Stinker had expressed her displeasure with me on. Anyone want them? They are the subscriber issues, complete with secret passwords even. I would like to trade, seeing as I'm not buying anything for the rest of the year, so let me know if you have a loose skein you'd like to send my way.

Spring Comes To The Wounded

I have been in a knitting funk lately. Not just in the actual knitting, but I haven't been feeling knitting all together. I stopped updating the blog regularily, reading my favorite blogs, stopped window-shopping online, stopped hitting the Knitter's Review forums.

Well, it seems that the funk is over; knitter's Spring has sprung in the Knitting Wounded tent. I am catching up on all the blogs on my list (if any of you get a new comment on a two month old entry, my bad) and making a serious effort to reconnect with my in-person and online knitting communities.

It's awesome to be back, thanks for waiting up!

Living on the Edge

Thank you all so much for the kind words! To show my appreciation, here are some current photos of the $1.50 Cardigan sleeves:

I am thouroughly amused by the stitch pattern so far, let's hope my facination lasts through two fronts and the back of this bad boy. Another thing I'm hoping will last is the yarn supply. I very rarely use the prescribed yarn for any given pattern, but lately I've been doing larger projects with rarer yarns, which makes for an utterly paranoid knitter. Let's go to the math portion of the blog, shall we?

Pattern calls for:

14 balls of yarn at 94 yards each = 1316 yards

I have:

8 balls of the discontinued Totem yarn at 164 yards each = 1312 yards

If you've all done your stashonomics homework, you'll note that, if my gauge is dead-on and I don't have any bad patches of yarn, I will be

4 yards short

I know that there should be a certain amount of yardage padding in the pattern, but if push comes to shove I may be forced to sew up the sweater with a different yarn.

Then, I'll go on to my next yardage nightmare: the Kyoto Bolero from Knit.1.

Pattern calls for:

6 hanks of yarn at 236 yards each = 1416 yards

I have:

320 grams of the precious Kyoto yarn at 2.2 yards each = 704 yards

I am going to add a new element to our studies now, the concept of doubled yarn. The pattern yarn calls for the yarn to be doubled, so we will only need half the yardage of our substitute yarn, which is not doubled. So, take that 1416, split it in half, and we now have 708 original yards, which leaves me... let's see...

4 yards short

Class dismissed.