Knitensity

Spring dress

2011-03-25T05:42:00.003-05:00

It's really been a while, right? Since my last post, I defended my dissertation, graduated, got a job, and moved to the D.C. area. I still knit and post pictures over on Ravelry (user name "mwedzi"), but haven't blogged. Anyway, I made my first knit dress, so that's pretty blog-worthy, right?

It's made with Berocco Vintage DK in green, brown, white, and magenta. And I finished in a speedy 3 1/2 weeks! I wasn't sure about the climate where I live now and wanted to make sure I finished before it got too warm to wear it. Needn't have worried about that, as this was in February. This area is warmer than Chicago, but it ain't that warm. Anyway, here's the finished piece:

With a jacket:

From the side:

And from the back:

Is it familiar? This dress is just the popular Knitty pattern Tubey, but made longer. I added a bit of waist shaping, but that's it.

I really like working with the yarn. It's a little itchy on my sensitive shoulders, but other than that, no complaints. It seems like the type of yarn that will not pill, yet is still soft. Is a little splitty, but I don't mind that.

I'm happy with it. :)

South Africa trip, Week 4. Hair Chronicles

2009-01-17T08:56:00.003-06:00

Well, knitters, I like to talk about hair more than knitting now. :) And I wrote this blog on a hair care forum, so I had to dedicate a post to hair styles.

**Notice, yes, I asked all the hair folk if I could post their pics**

Okay, last entry. When we left off, we were out on the town and I was looking for a pic of someone's hair. Thando pointed a woman out to me. Turns out she was a hair dresser! She was very flirty and asked if I wanted her number, haha. Too bad that I was leaving in 2 days and I like boys. But I got cute pictures anyway:

Let me stop here to say that, unfortunately, South African black women suffer from all the same hair ills that American black women do. Natural hair is a bit more common there, but there are also a lot of bad relaxers. However, I got nothing but love and lots of it for my hair, which really set me apart. Most people's hair is a lot shorter than mine. They abuse their hair just like black women do here. Uncared-for relaxers and very dry and broken off natural hair. The combing is brutal, just like it is here. It was kinda sad to see, though I guess I already knew it having been to S. Africa and Zim before. I was not into hair back then so didn't pay as much attention.

As far as I can gather, Zulu women traditionally kept their hair cut very low. Nowadays, braid extensions are really popular and there are braid shops on almost every corner in the city. It's pretty cheap and prices generally top out at $25 for braids but can be as cheap as $10 in the salon and cheaper if your friend does it. Relaxers start at $5 in the salon and seem to top out around $10. (these are not high-end salons; i wasn't in a high-end neighborhood). Dark and Lovely relaxers and products are popular. So are Sta Sof Fro, where that brand has waaaay more products than we do for it here.

So let's get a few more styles.

This was done by just take a section of hair and twirling it around the finger. No products were used:

This was done by washing hair and just pressing the palm against the head and rubbing in circles to force clumping:

Here is a girl getting her hair braided in the township. Her hair is relaxed here. They often do the braids really thick. I think they put about twice as much fake hair per section as I did for my braids:

There was some version of threading where they wrapped thread around the hair as it was cornrowed or braided down into place. I didn't see it often, but happened to get this girl's hair in a pic of a musical theater performance. You can see a piece of the thread sticking out:

Here's a short natural style, looking pretty nice I think:

Among natural styles, a short afro like above was popular, also the chunked look like in the picture of the guy on the beach. Also some locs, though definitely more popular amongst men.

So that wraps up my South African trip blog posts. I had a great time! Hope you enjoyed reading these.

South Africa trip, Week 4

2009-01-17T08:54:00.001-06:00

Well, you know I'm behind because I've actually been back in the country since Dec. 17th. Week 4 was the last week, though.

Let's see. That last week I wrapped up my research questions. But it's the kind of research where new questions are constantly popping up, so I already have more.

I took another trip to a township. The YMCA coordinator that invited me promised me the traditional food that I had wanted (amagwinya or ijeqhe (sp?)). I was fed, but the food turned out to be more of the same as what I had been having. I think he just wanted someone to take all the photos for the awards ceremony there were having and he didn't have a digital camera. I was extra mad, too, because other people who were supposed to come didn't and they were supposed to join me in going back home (to the YMCA). So I had to go back by myself after dark and, as I told you, my neighborhood is not the best. But it all turned out okay.

I was taken out on the town by a couple of guys. One was Zimbabwean (Ndebele), but he had lived in S. Africa since high school. He was a student in Johannesburg and was visiting friends in Durban that weekend. The other was Ugandan, though raised in Australia. I've already forgotten what he was doing in Durban. Anyway, we went out to try to find a hip hop club, which it seems are scarce in Durban. Durban is more of a house music city. But we went to one hip hop / raggae place, then one house place, then back to the first place, and finally to another hip-hop place which was kinda empty (cuz it wasn't free) but at least had better music and places to sit down.

Earlier that night, I had told Thando (Zim guy) that I needed a pic of someone's hair to round out the set of hair photos I promised to show my hair board and he pointed someone out to me. Which brings me around to our favorite topic, hair. For the continued discussion on hair, see Week 4, Hair Chronicals.

South Africa trip, Week 3, part 2. The crime report (group beating)

2009-01-17T08:52:00.001-06:00

And I needed to tell someone and everyone back home is sleep or out or whatever at this time. I'm in South Africa right now. I have written a few blog posts about it, but I'm behind now. Will update soon with posts about crime and, of course, hair. Anyway, I'm in Durban and in a really rough neighborhood (the first blog tells how I ended up here). I feel like the past couple of days have been so close to crime, it just keeps coming up, muggings, car jacking, anti-rape and molestation rallies, which I'll go into when I finally update my blog. But today was the awful climax.

First, because it's the southern hemisphere this is early summer. So the sun rises around 5am and I don't know if they do that daylight savings thing here. So I wake up really early cuz I wake with the sun. I was lying in bed watching Spongebob on my laptop (yeah, I brought cartoon comfort from home) when I hear yelling out the window. I am right across the street from a park, which is almost right next to the water, the harbour. Lots of homeless people sleep there, many foreigners as this is one of the places foreigners fled to during the xenophobic attack flare-ups. So I was lying in bed and I hear yelling like "woza la" (come here). I look out the window and I see a guy chasing a couple other younger guys, maybe teens, but it looks like they got away and they were carrying stuff which I assumed they stole. This was the second mugging I've witnessed in 24 hours. But wait, that's not the story. I just brought it up because, dang, this happened the same morning in the same spot.

So I went back to bed figuring that I might skip breakfast because what they serve us here at the YMCA is sometimes not even worth getting up for. Well, I fell asleep with Spongebob playing and was awakened again about 2 hours later by a loud commotion. I went to my window again and I hear the shouting of "woza la" again and also English "come here, n*gg*" (yes, they use that word here, too). But there are trees in the park so at first I couldn't see and couldn't tell where it was coming from. Then it was like chaos and it's hard to remember exactly what happened (now I understand why witnesses give such different accounts). But the next thing I knew a group had gathered and they were pulling and dragging this guy into the street. He looked like a homeless guy. He had long unkempt dirty looking dreadlocks (the kind mostly seen on the homeless) and dirty, raggedy clothes. Someone hit him in the head with something and he was falling down. They had picked up random stuff, shovels, their belts, stick-looking things with cords on the end (i swear, that one could have doubled as a whip) and they were yelling at him and would hit him or punch him or kick him. There were other people who seemed to be trying to stop it. At this point a couple people had him under the arms and were trying to drag him away and I wasn't sure whether they were trying to help him or drag him away from his protectors. Others were trying to pull him back the other way and would occasionally grab at his legs. I remember yelling but I was confused and didn't even understand who I was yelling at. Other people were yelling too. People were watching it from the windows, also passersby. Somebody pulled out a gun, he was on the side (physically at least) of people who were pulling at his legs. The beaten guy's clothes were torn and he was bleeding from the mouth. The guy with the gun was pointing it at people's heads. Some of them stepped back but some of them seemed not too threatened. I don't know how or why that was. They would still yell and occasionally whip or kick the guy.

The police finally came. They were not very forceful. I heard the people yell something about "criminal". That's when it occured to me, half the people yelling, beating, whatever, were wearing church clothes. Like slacks and button up shirts and ties and women around are wearing dresses. There's a big (and loud) chuch nearby and it's Sunday morning. People are still worked up and still trying to kick the guy while the police push them away. They put the guy in the back of the paddy wagon and take him away and at some point, I can't even remember when, one officer is spraying some of the church folk in the eyes with something. A couple of the church guys are holding up another guy (also in slacks) who seems to be hurt that I didn't notice before and they are slowly walking him away somewhere. Afterwards people stay and discuss it in the street, loudly. They seem to be telling the police what happened. They seem to be complaining to the police. One woman is yelling "the police always tell us . . .". The best I can guess, the homeless guy robbed or somehow attacked one of the church-goers and they caught him and beat him.

Sorry for the long story but I had to tell someone and don't want to wake my family and the two friends I feel comfortable waking are not answering the phone.

South Africa trip, Week 3, part 2. The crime report.

2009-01-17T08:47:00.002-06:00

Anyway, I wanted to touch on crime in this post. That week seemed to be filled with so many crime-related events. On the way back from 'Maritzburg, I talked to the guy sitting next to me in the khumbi. For a while he wouldn't believe I wasn't S. African, either. What was going on that day? He seemed surprised that an American would be taking this type of transport. Khumbis are like giant vans that people buy and they work essentially like a bus but they seem to be independently owned. Anyway, I was happy to talk to him because I needed to know where to get off so I could catch a metered taxi back to my place. It was night time and I was pretty nervous about going back to my place in any other fashion because my neighborhood is really rough. He was really kind and helped me find a taxi, accompanied me, and even paid for the taxi. On the way he told me he had been mugged twice in the last 3 months by the same guy. Even his laptop was stolen. He said he knew who he was but they wouldn't arrest him because he was the son of a policeman. Anyway, I remember really thinking my neighborhood was bad because when I told this guy, who had been mugged twice in the last 2 months, where I lived, he said "that rough neighborhood?!"

The next day I decided I'd go to the beach. On the way to the beach I ran into a rally in a courtyard, I think that bldg was City Hall. It was against violence against women and children, part of a big affair being called "16 Days of Activism". I've seen posts about it around town. Anyway, it was really interesting to hear all the stories people told. They had speakers from the community and church officials. Also there was a spoken word artist. She would sing a chorus and then she would recite verses about teen pregnancy, abortion, baby rape, etc. It was intense! There were t-shirts strung all along the courtyard with messages painted on them. I took a couple of pictures

Really powerful messages.

I left after a bit and continued on to the beach. As I was walking along the string of hotels across from the beach, I saw a couple of people running. Now, I try not to be the one who jumps to the conclusion that young black males running means they stole something. But, um, these dudes were running hard. It took a second before I saw what they were carrying. One had a small rack of sunglasses and another had several backpacks. A guy (Indian) was chasing them, but they got away, running right past me. The Indian guy went back to console another guy (black), so I guess they were the vendors. I looked at the hotel security guard like , but I guess he was only protecting the hotel, not the vendors across from it. He didn't even budge!

The next morning I heard yelling outside the window. It was 5-something in the morning and I looked out the window, where there's a park. I saw two young black boys running, again a little too hard. A man was yelling behind them and chasing them, but he soon gave up. They were also carrying something, but I couldn't see what it was. I thought to myself "again?" Twice in less than 24 hrs. for me. But I went back to sleep. A couple hours later I was woken by a lot more yelling. That's where this story (here I had a link to a post on the site. I'll post it separately in the next blog) comes in. Not saying necessarily that I'm against a community protecting itself, but it was still disturbing to watch.

All in all that weekend really unsettled me. The weekend before a student where I'm staying was car-jacked. She borrowed the family car to take her stuff from here back home and before she even got fully out of the gate she was car-jacked. Man, my 'hood is really . . . 'hood.

Next time it's the hair report.

South Africa trip, Week 3

2009-01-17T08:46:00.000-06:00

I am so behind! Yikes! Okay, let's see, when I left off I said I was going to talk about hair and why I was angry at this dude. I'm going to save hair for later but why was I angry at this dude? Long story short he sees me at the computer (either on 'net or doing my work) and suggested that I go out and do more. He asked where I had been other than Durban and I told him (the short answer) Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town. Then he makes some smart comment about those places being 19th century Europe, "didn't you realize that?" and in the scope of the conversation it was clear that he was saying that he didn't think I was experiencing "the real Africa" or whatever. Now I gave him the short answer, but the list of stuff I've done in S. Africa almost certainly includes stuff he never has done and stuff most visitors to this country never will. I:
-studied Zulu
-had several lectures on various aspects of Zulu culture
-lived in the homes of two (black) S. African families, one in a township outside of Pietermaritzburg and one in a rural area.
-been to Shaka's grave and museum
-went to where Mandela was arrested
-been to a virginity testing/celebration festival
-went to an inter-regional gathering of Shembe followers
-spent a long weekend at a game park
-went to a few art and history museums, malls, marine world, etc.
and other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting now. So I've done both tourist-y stuff and stuff most tourists don't do. My experiences were similar in Zimbabwe. And how does a city being influenced by white folk not make it African? This is 2008 and this was a colony, so most of the country and most of the world has had some European influence. If he thinks a mixture of elements from Europe invalidates something as really S. African, I wonder what he thinks of himself considering he's colored.

[/rant]

Okay, back to the current trip. I tried to visit my homestay family from the last time I was here last Friday, but they stood me up. I still haven't gotten in touch with them, but it was so odd. They asked me several times when I was coming and I called an hour before I left to say I was going there. But when I got there no one answered the phone (they were supposed to pick me up). I waited for an hour and a half in the rain, my shoes were soaked through, I was hungry, had to pee, and was annoyed by a couple of random men. After a while I just caught a khumbi (shared public transportation) back to Durban.

By the way, one of the men refused to believe I wasn't Zulu. People think I'm Zulu all the time, and I have no problem with that. But this guy just wouldn't believe me. He thought I was "trying to be clever". I told him, in Zulu, that I don't speak Zulu and when he asked what I spoke I told him English. This is common with me here. Because I'm black, they expect that I speak some African language. So he keeps asking me, "no, what's your language?" and I told him English, I'm American. I guess he didn't believe me because I can understand a teeeeensy bit of Zulu and say a few words and once I said them, he was convinced.

It's interesting, this thing. I was in KFC the other day and the servers greeted me in Zulu (everyone always does; they assume I'm Zulu). I can say the greeting back, but then I placed my order in English because Zulu is very awkward for me, can't really do it. But she switches back and forth between English and Zulu with me. I wonder if she also thinks I'm "trying to be clever" or snotty or something. Because some white people came in and I probably know little more Zulu than they do, but the servers spoke to them 100% in English.

This post is getting long, I'm going to break it up and put the next in part 2 for week 3. I'll talk about crime and have a couple of pictures.

South Africa trip, Week 2

2009-01-17T08:38:00.003-06:00

So here we are nearing the end of the 2nd week. Research is going okay, I guess. I think I'll set up another meeting tomorrow. It's convenient to be here because if ever my consultants disagree on a point, I can just ask random Zulu people what they think.

So the 2nd week started off with me attending a benefit dinner. It was hosted by the medical school at the Durban UKZN campus, with proceeds to benefit an orphanage. Actually, I think it was just a woman and her husband who adopted like 35 kids or something. She was there and spoke and thanked us. Dinner, live music, and dancing for $10. Not bad, but I think this meant that the bad was doing it really cheap and only a few hundred dollars was raised for the family. Anyway, I had a good time. A "benefit dinner" doesn't sound like anything I could afford to go to back home, so I was happy.

I've gone to the beach a couple of times. The weather now is very humid and usually warm, but often cloudy. So I try to wait until the sun is out. It's about a 25 min walk if you walk briskly. Here I am on the beach. Each ponytail is held by an xl flexi8 clip.

All these blue jellyfish things kept washing up on the beach. I heard one teenage boy (white, though I don't know that that matters.) point out a big one to another, and then he went over and stepped on it. Boys. Taking that hunting instinct too far. Why kill something just for the enjoyment of seeing it die?

Blue bottle (?):

I walked out on the dock (i think that's the right term) and took a video. It might have to wait for my next post. Right after I stopped recording, a man not 10 ft away was on his knee proposing. I heard a squeal and saw a black ring box. Awww.

Um, this city, at least this part, is covered in abortion signs. I mean, covered in them. Like they'll be 10 on a single wall, they might as well be wallpaper. "400 rand (approx $40), same day, pain free." Mostly in English, but occasionally in Zulu just in case you don't speak English.

They go along well with the condom and aids-prevention tv ads. Those make perfect sense to me, though, considering the outrageous rate of hiv-positive folks here. I mean, it is really really high. Stats vary, so I won't go there, but let's just say very high.

Okay, I think that's it for part 1 of week 2. I think in part 2 I'll talk about our favorite subject, hair, and also why I'm ticked off at this dude here at the Y.

South Africa trip, Week 1, part 2

2009-01-17T08:37:00.001-06:00

So when I last left off, things weren't looking so great. But they quickly made a turn for the better. The YMCA I'm staying in is in the hood, true enough, but there are also more people here. More people here means more people to help me figure out where things are, take me around town, to the movies, to the beach, etc. And we are really close to the water. I can walk to the beach or walk to the harbor for lunch, where they have a nice lunch special for about $3 at a Thai place. Where in the States can I eat on the water for $3? And this YMCA, unlike the other, provides breakfast and dinner, so that's 2 meals a day I don't have to worry about getting. So not so bad after all.

Also, I am instantly more popular here. I'm foreign and exotic (unlike foreign and hated, as in black foreigners from other countries with the recent rise in xenophobia). In the African countries I have visited, men are more aggressive than in the States. While I have to be cautious, it also means that if ever I need someone to help me with something, I usually don't have a problem getting that. Women, too, are warmer and friendlier. In fact, people just help me out quite a lot here and I just meet warmer and more friendly people. I am a shy person by nature, and introvert actually, and I am more than satisfied if I have a couple of social events a week (too many mentally strain me). So I have been more than satisfied here.

I went to see the new James Bond movie at night. I went with the only 2 white guys in this whole building, but none of us are speakers of a South African language, so we are a natural group. There was a Kenyan guy who was here when I first came, but unfortunately he left just a few days after I arrived. Which is a real shame because he was also a little older than these univ. students (like me) and we got along really well. Anyway, one of the white guys has a car so we were able to go out at night. Otherwise it can be kinda dangerous unless you have a large group. Even still I thought about car jacking, though it's not so bad here as in Jo'burg. In fact, someone was telling a funny (?) story about his friend who was attempted-car-jacked. He said they broke the window and tried to drag her out the window! It was funny because it shows that car jackers in Durban have no idea what they are doing. Why didn't they break the window, open the door, and push her out. He said when she told the police what happened, they laughed at the whole thing!

Then I was invited to a musical theater production. It was in the township of KwaMashu (this is where they put black people to live in crowded areas that were close to the city so they could easily commute work for them). The building it was in didn't even have a complete roof. But the performers were magnificent. Apparently they were 1st in a regional competition of 45 groups. They did 2 plays, one of youths being sent to prison and the other on village girls tempted by false hopes of wealth and glamour into leading lives of prostitution that lead them away from their families and put them in situations where they could be raped or abandoned by their pimps once they got pregnant with their babies. Yep. I'm amazed I understood so much considering I don't speak Zulu and it was 85% in Zulu. Here's a bad video. I'm not sure why it's appearing like this since my videos from this camera never looked like this before. Maybe it's something about Webshots but I'm having trouble with Photobucket now. I'll fix it later if I can. Though it's all pixelated, the sound is still good.

Anyway, I see I am going to need a part 3, but that might have to wait a bit. I'll come back to finish the report soon.

South Africa trip, Week 1

2009-01-17T08:27:00.003-06:00

Well, I know I let this blog lapse terribly. But I did want to finally update. Actually, I went to South Africa to collect some data for my dissertation. I wrote a small blog on another site and I want to transfer the writing here, to my real blog. So here is the writing for the first week.

Trip to South Africa, Week 1

Okay, so I am here in South Africa collecting data on Zulu verbs for my dissertation. I'm in my last year of my PhD program in linguistics with a focus in Bantu language family syntax. Today is Wednesday and I got here last week Monday.

It didn't start out too well. A couple of days before I left someone helped me figure out that I had put the deposit down on the wrong YMCA. The recommended one was the one on a univ campus, but when I was told to search for "Durban YMCA" and make the reservation, well, only one came up online. So I reserved there. Turns out this YMCA is in the hood. Once I found out the name of the neighborhood, whenever I mentioned it, people would be like and and and various other emoticons I don't feel like looking up. But I had already paid the deposit.

Then, my plane in Chicago was broken and we sat on the tarmac for 4 hours while they fixed it. Then we took the 8 hour flight to London, but because my plane was so late I wasn't able to meet other LHCF people in London for lunch. Booo!

Then, I was eating popcorn on the plane, caramel and cheese, and my freaking tooth fell out! Or my crown, more accurately. Stupid incompetent dentist! He put in 2 fillings and 1 crown and all of them fell out within a year! None of my other fillings ever came out. So now I'm here missing a molar.

Okay, so things were not going well even before I landed. But after 3 planes (Chicago to London, London to Johannesburg, Jo'burg to Durban), I finally arrived. They put me in a room on the 7th floor and the elevator is out of order. And since this is not American style, the "ground floor" is first, so it's really like I'm on the 8th floor. It was rough carrying my luggage up all those stairs, though I had help. I guess I should look at the bright side, right? I mean, I've been wanting to tone up and lose a few pounds, maybe going up and down these stairs all the time will help, right?

But things have brightened up since I've been here. I'll tell all the more fun stuff and show pictures in part 2 . . .

Cafe du Monde gloves

2008-08-29T11:14:00.002-05:00

So a long time ago, just as I was starting to learn how to knit, I saw the Breakfast at Cafe du Monde Gloves (Ravelry link). I was scared of them, thinking they were above my skill level, but I loved them. Earlier this year I discovered Punta del Este Mericash at Seaport Yarns during my trip to NYC for the Yarn Harlot's big event. I loved the yarn, loved the yarn store, and loved the gloves and figured making them would be one big love orgy, only this kind I could look at in front of my father and would be rated G. And sure enough it was. Okay, maybe once I decided the entire first glove I knit was too small, a couple of mild expletives made it rated PG-13, but for the most part, pretty clean love.

So I present the Breakfast at Cafe du Monde Gloves.
Specs: Needles: Size 1 and Size 3
Yarn: Punta del Este Mericash Fingering (merino, cashmere)

I had intended to wear them throughout the summer at my office because it can get quite cook with the a/c, but I never did. And I don't know how I feel about that ribbon. The organza was the only thing I had around. If I find something thinner and less slippery (leather strips), I might use that instead.

Did I mention that I love this yarn? The yardage is amazing. It's 50 grams, 263 yards. You might think that it would be really thin given that, but it is so lofty that it still works up like a regular fingering weight. This means that even after completing almost one whole glove (minus 2 fingers and a thumb) and deciding it was too small, I was able to do 2 complete other gloves from the remaining yarn. The pattern specs, on the other hand, call for 2 50 gram balls. With 2 50 gram balls of this yarn, I could make at least 5 complete gloves.

Anyway, they're ready for fall and I'll be anxious for the "where did you get those?!"

More Fitted (or not) Knits

2008-07-05T06:33:00.010-05:00

Well, I've had my first real knitting disappointment. Perhaps you remember the split neckline tee that I also did from the Fitted Knits book in that lovely Cotton Frappe. There was the peek-a-boo bra problem, but I knew that was a necessary part of the design. I still really liked it and thought I'd do another from the book, the Textured Tunic with side buttons. This was the cover design.

Now there was a lot of talk on how this design was not really fitted. That's very true. The body is just a rectangle. There was also a lot of talk on Ravelry on how the sleeves were separated from the body too early in this top-down raglan design. So I figured I could still make it and fix those things. I had bought this wonderful yarn on sale from Webs, RYC Soft Tweed in gray. Well, long story short, I tried and failed. I thought I would increase more slowly so that the diagonal measurement for the sleeve was longer than what was speciified in the pattern. It still ended up a bit too short, especially compared to the body, which I did add some shaping too but which still ended up too baggy. I hate this sweater, which is a shame because the yarn is really really nice. I think it's been discontinued but if you see some around I'd advise getting it. In my opinion it's nicer against the skin than Malabrigo. I think because it's already kinda felted sorta that any little hair that would have caused irritation have been smoothed down into the yarn. It's a totally smooth wool to wear against the skin. Wasted!

Now you might not think it's so bad from this angle:

And you might think "cute button". I had a great time choosing these buttons on a trip to San Francisco at a button store called Britex. They were not that cheap. Wasted!

But when you see it from this angle, you know exactly what I'm talking about:

As you see, this is the most ill-fitting garment I have made. Well, I guess everything can't be perfect.

Despite this disaster, I made yet another item from the book afterwards, the Two Tone Shrug. This time I used Classic Elite Four Seasons, a 70% cotton 30% wool blend that I also got on sale from Webs (screams "I love you, Webs!", *throws panties onto stage*). Despite the fact that I misjudged the color of the spotted yarn, thinking it the spots were black from the picture on my monitor as opposed to navy blue as I discovered once they were delivered, I love this knit. It's a tiny bit too big because it's based on the measurement across the back and I didn't know that and couldn't measure it myself so I did the second smallest size. I think the smallest would have been fine. Still, it fits well and is very functional. And the increases for the ribbing are really well-designed.

You can see from the back that it's a little too big.

I like this yarn, too, and may knit with it again some day.

Oh, one more thing. Since my last post, my birthday passed. I am now officially in the 30's club. I put on my Anthropologie dress,

and my necklace and earrings I got in South Africa

and made my 30th birthday the day of the most compliments and flirtation in my life. But due to my terrible social skills, I still find myself 30 and alone. Which is incredibly sad and disheartening. At this point I feel like to be alone is just a basic part of my life, of what it is to be me. So please forgive me if, these days, I am not as chipper in my posts as I managed to be before. It's getting a little harder.

'til next time, y'all.

Ran out of Excuses?

2008-05-26T23:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm sure you all know by now that Magknits has vanished. I saw it all happen on Ravelry, what a train wreck. That means Excuses has no home for the moment. You can still get it, I've still decided to offer it for free, but for now it's only on Ravelry. If you aren't on Ravelry, you must be on a deserted island in a heroine-induced haze (and on that good stuff) with whatever licit moments you have occupied by your own troop of the world's most talented belly dancers and entertained by your own love slave. Which is to say, if you aren't on Ravelry, where have you been? And can I visit you and will you share? So run off to Ravelry and find the pattern Excuses and download it for free. I may end up putting it somewhere else, too, but right now you now you can get it there.

A quick remider:

Okay, I'll be back with a real post about current knitting projects, but this needed its own.

Beautiful Things, Part 2

2008-03-16T06:28:00.007-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this blog! What happened? I got real busy with school and work and my other hobby (hair. yes, I said "hair") and time just kept passing. But I'm back as promised to show the other beautiful things.

Friendship is beautiful

Remember those flip-top mittens I made? I sent them off to a friend and she got them and sent me back pictures. I haven't seen her in person for a few years now. :(

Life is Beautiful

My bunny sitters' rabbit died over Christmas break while they still were watching my bunny. They are such sweet people. They watch several people's rabbits and volunteer at the shelter but only had two of their own, a bonded pair, Carl and Ginger. Ginger was an abandoned bunny they found outside. So to remember her by I knit a small likeness of Ginger using this pattern. Well, it was ginger-colored.

And so concludes our short series on beautiful things.

Back at the ranch, I've been working on a knock-off of the sleeveless cowl in the S. Charles Collezione Winter 2007 magazine. I'm almost done with the bottom, which I knit flat in garter. I think the top is knit separately. I'm just not sure about that cowl

What do you guys think? I'm not sure how to do it, and I don't want to pay $16.50 + shipping to find out. I guess I'll figure it out. Must be some other cowl patterns out there that could help me out. But hey, look at my fortuitously gorgeous color combo:

This is the RYC SoftLux you've been seeing on sale everywhere. I guess that means they're discontinuing it. Which is both happy and sad because I get a great deal but that means it won't be around for much longer. I haven't washed it yet, but I really like this yarn. Soft and pretty. Obviously you shouldn't use it for something that you want definition in, but it's great for this project. I originally got the green back last year in April or so when I visited Webs on deep discount. Then I got the camel and white when Ram Wools had their sale for super super cheap. Then I remembered I wanted to make this top and asked a friend for a recommendation for a fourth color and together we decided on purple. I love combo, something I would have never thought up myself but that looks very sophisticated.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully it won't be so long until the next update. 'til next time, Folks.

Beautiful Things, Part 1

2008-01-19T06:45:00.000-06:00

I feel like recently I've been surrounded by beautiful things. So many, in fact, that when I tried to write this post I realized it was going to become too long trying to show them all to you at once, so I am spreading them out in two posts. Next one to come in a few days. But for now,

Yarn is Beautiful

First, I discovered the world's most beautiful yarn.

Did you see that? No, I don't think you saw it. Let me try again.

Yeah, that's it. Gorgeous, right? This is from Tempted Yarns. She sells at The Loopy Ewe and also on Etsy. This is the Thigh Highs colorway. I hardly ever see this type of dying, and it surely is the only thing I have in my stash that looks like this.

Socks are Beautiful

Then I finally, after elevnty billion years, finished my pair of Jaywalkers. I wouldn't say I had Second Sock Syndrome per se, I just took a really long break. I always intended to finish and didn't cast on another pair of socks (except for the ones for my stepfather for xmas) in the meantime because I knew I was coming back. The yarn was gorgeous and the pattern was perfect for it.

Did you see it? Missed that one, too? Okay, let me show y'all how taking a picture of socks while they're on your feet is really done.

Mmmhmm. This I got from The Loopy Ewe many months ago in their signature colorway Loopy Blues, made for them by the indie dyer Yarn Pirate. It's a wool/tencel blend and has great luster. Especially before you wash it. Man, I washed that first sock and it bled soooooo much. I think I used regular laundry detergent like tide. So the second sock I just washed with diluted conditioner and it came out soft and didn't bleed so much. I'm sure you can see the difference in the photos.

Hand Crafting is Beautiful

Last for this post, I received as a Christmas gift a knit tote I had been wanting for a long time. Since early last year. Check this out:

What? You blinked, you say? Okay, just one more time:

Yes, the ribbon is pink in the first shot and blue in the second. I got it from her Etsy shop and it was posted with the blue ribbon. But I really wanted a pink and told the designer so. She knew who I was because I had already contacted her months ago about how beautiful her purses were and from a failed attempt by a friend to get one. So I guess after all that effort she decided to throw in a pink and brown ribbon, which I really appreciated.

Now let me speak to the price of her bags. I posted on Knitting Help when I first found these purses about how gorgeous they were. Everyone agreed, but some thought her prices were a bit too high. That you could buy some wool on sale and knit it yourself. Yeah, okay. Have I ever seen anyone's hand knit bags look this good? NO! Do a search yourself on Etsy and see what else you get for "knit bag/tote/purse" and compare. I don't want to diminish the value of anyone's work, but can we stop BSing and be real for like 5 seconds? Every piece of work is not made with equal skill. I have seen scores of knitters' hand-knit bags and none of them look this good. I gave it a try a couple of times myself. If you can't sew well, you have no hope of doing anything like this anyway. Did you see the inside of that bag? Now, I have to listen to knitters and crocheters complain about how people don't appreciate their hand knit gifts (why people think someone should care as much about our hobby and fall over fainting for some knit thing they never wanted in the first place is a rant of mine for another time). But when someone invests the time to knit and sew something like her knit totes and sells it for under $100 and the same people complain, I start rolling my eyes. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it and I couldn't either for a long while and that's why it ended up being a Christmas present. But don't say they are overpriced. Her bags are a steal at that price. *end rant*

On Beautiful overload? Take a rest, have a cool drink. When you're up for more, I'll be back with the rest.

Sweater Girl Goes Extreme

2007-12-28T16:32:00.000-06:00

I'm generally a sweater knitter, but with Christmas I turned to the extremities. Socks, mittens, hats, they all go faster than a sweater. That meant knitting a couple of little things for friends and family and, since I had to knit those by a deadline, knitting small things for myself as well during my selfish moments.

First I crocheted this hat for a book review I wrote over at Black Purl Magazine. It's the Soon Come hat from Get Your Crochet On! made in Encore and some leftover Patons SWS.

I knit these gloves for my friend Angel in Korea. They are the Convertible Mittens from the fall issue of Knit.1 . I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a very subtly heathered teal tweed. Check the errata on Knit.1's site!

I had been wondering why all mittens weren't made with a flap so your fingers could do their work. I discovered why as soon as I tried one on. Duh, the flap lets cold air in. So I added a button to try to keep the flap closed as much as possible. If I was good at adding zippers that probably would have been the best at keeping out the cold, though I bet the metal would have conducted the cold to the hand all too well, too.

I also lengthened the flap (even more than the corrected version on the errata page has) and lengthened the thumb. Hope she likes them. The yarn makes a great feeling fabric. I wish all the time I didn't find alpaca itchy. I can knit with it no problem, but wearing it gives me the itchies.

Also for a coworker whose b-day it was just a few days before Christmas, I made the Robin's Egg Blue Hat in chocolate in Patons Shetland Chunky. Very quick knit.

The button was one I had leftover from a headband I had been intending to make forever. I wanted a headband that I could wear with my afro puff and also one that buttoned so I wouldn't have to pull it off and on. So I made a simple ribbed band using Nashua Cilantro, which I absolutely love (the yarn, I mean).

Do you all think this pattern is worth writing up? Someone showed a lot of interest in it at knit night. I thought I wouldn't bother at first because it's so simple, but she was a beginning knitter and couldn't see how to make it. But I'm not sure how worthwhile it is for people who don't have afro puffs. Maybe I will write it up anyway.

Also I finally finished the socks I was knitting for my stepfather. Wow. Those socks took a long time. A looooong time. But he really liked the socks I made him last year, so hopefully he'll like these, too. Like? I take that back. He better LOVE these socks, as long as it took me to make them. I started these socks in . . . late July, I think. They took forever.

No, no, "love" is too mild a word for the depth of gratitude I expect for these giganto socks. It had better be passion. Lust. I'm talking Thinking Of Having an Affair With These Socks type love. I mean, Planning to Cheat on My Mother type love. For real, it should be a Mother Walks In The Room and Finds Stepfather And Socks In Bed kind of thing. I mean Got My Mother Checking The Cell Phone Bill's Call List For Suspicious Calls type emotion. Even to Planning on Running Away With The Socks and Growing Old And Gray Together type passion. Folks In Divorce Court, Socks Called To the Witness Stand, Family Members Blaming Me For Breaking Up A 20-Year Marriage type love. Only when it has reached this point will I say, "I guess he sufficiently appreciates the work I put in on these socks."

So now that I'm done with xmas knitting (almost; daddy's sweater didn't get finished in time), time to get back to my own stuff.

I'm in Magknits!

2007-12-01T21:28:00.000-06:00

This is so exciting, I'm in December 2007's Magknits for my pattern Excuses! I've made a lot of excuses during my life, but this is by far the best one (haha, I have been waiting months to say that line!) Scroll down past the pictures to read how to adjust the pattern.

I'd like to be able to say that I won't forget you all now that I've become an international superstar, but I'd just be raising false hopes. Just kidding, just kidding. I will happily sign a printout of the pattern for each and every one of you, with the certainty that you will lay it next to your pillows at night. Okay, let me stop. Hahaha, I promise I haven't been drinking (but that doesn't mean I won't start soon). :)

Okay, seriously, I'm really excited. It's my first time. No, no, don't speak, just hold me. (What is going on with me today? I think I haven't had enough to eat. Yeah, that's it.) My first time having a pattern published, that is. Oh, no, that's a lie, I do have a fingerless glove pattern in the Pattern a Day knitting calender for 2008. But this is a little different. I didn't even know that it would be in this month's issue, but got a congratulatory email on Ravelry (btw, y'all, I'm on Ravelry as "mwedzi". Please find me!).

Some additional shots:

It took me forever to get this shot, even though it's dark, so somebody's going to see it!:

And so you can see the shape flat:

Another shot that was hard to get. It is surprisingly difficult to get action shots of knits.

Oh, and a couple more notes about sizing that got edited out of the final copy.

For bigger busts (C and up): The pattern has severe decreases to go from bust to underbust, so it is designed to cup your breasts. I designed this pattern specifically because I was tired of knits only doing side waste shaping and ignoring booby shaping. But if you are larger on top, choose the size that corresponds to your bust size and knit that size to the point of the bust decreases. If your arms don't get as big (relatively) as your breasts, stop the decreases for the arms when you reach the number of stitches for the sleeves of the next smallest size. Then start the bust decreases 1/2" earlier than called for in the pattern and do enough decreases to get to the number required for the next smallest size. Continue the pattern as written for the next smallest size.

If you don't want as much negative ease: Simply choose the next size up. The pattern has 3" of negative bust ease. Notice, (clever me), that the sizes are also done in 3" increments. So if you want a sweater that simply skims your body, just go up to the next size (so that you knit your actual bust measurement, not the "to fit" measurement).

Okay, I have to go eat now, or give myself a tranquilizer, or something.

One Project, Two Projects, Three Projects, Four

2007-11-23T11:35:00.000-06:00

Too many projects, don't cast on any more! So, I was wondering why I haven't finished anything in a while. Was there anything lying around that I could finish quickly? I mean, I felt like I had been knitting, why didn't I have an FO? Oh, yeah. Right. Because of this:

Crocheted Hat from Get Your Crochet On! and Mesh Lace Cardigan from VK's 25th anniversary issue in the Tess's Designer Yarns Ivory and Silk yarn I got at Maryland Sheep and Wool and Kidzilk Night.

Sweater of my own design in the Cascade Superwash I got on sale for 70% off:

We got the ones on dpns, all but the toe done of the 2nd sock for my stepfather's socks (ran out of yarn!) in Wildfoote, 1 broadstreet mitten done up to the fingers (you know, the hard part) in Colinette Jitterbug, and the cuff of the 2nd Jaywalker whose mate I finished some months ago in Yarn Pirate merino/tencel blend:

There's the knit and crochet stuff for my voluminous hair both my own designs, the crocheted in Elann's Alpaca Silk and the knit one in Nashua's Cilantro:

The Foliage Hat from the most recent Knitty in handspun I bought in Cape Town and sweater from my own design using the super pricey and ultra precious Alchemy Sanctuary and Kidsilk Haze that I got for V-Day:

Under the white is French Girl Knits' Marguax in Filatura di Crosa Super Soft that i got for a steal on Webs.

Yeah, so that's why. When you work only 10 rows of a project and then put it down to work on another, well, yes, they will all eventually get done, but maybe not for a long time. What happened in some cases, I think, was that I would hit the part of the project that required counting and shifting stitches and concentration and I haven't wanted that much lately so I'd cast on for another project that started simply and then, you know, rinse and repeat. Can you imagine what life would be like if we did that for everything?:

*Here's that term paper, Professor. I only wrote the introduction and listed the data. I didn't do the analysis cuz, you know, that's the hard part. However I did start another paper and have the intro and data for that, too, so I'm turning that in as well.

*Well, yeah, see, the actual brushing of the teeth I find to be kind of annoying, so I just put the toothpaste on the toothbrush and left it.

*Okay, so I filled the sink up with soapy water and the dishes are in there. But who wants to actually wash them? I'll just use some more dishes and then put those in there when I'm done, too. Maybe if I don't look at them for long enough, they will have magically cleaned themselves.

*Yes, but, Doctor, getting pregnant was the fun part. I don't really have the energy to push right now. Um, how about you go away and come back later and we'll see how I feel then?

But hey, that's why we knit, right? It's a hobby and so we can do whatever the (edited for PG-13 rating) we want. We don't have to knit for our job, or our hygiene, or to rid ourselves of an invasion by a nutrient-sucking foreign body (aka "giving birth"). So I take plenty liberties with the knitting. But keeping it honest, what you see above is just downright ridiculous. And this holiday weekend I was going to start my Daddy's sweater for xmas, too. So no more casting on!

But wait! Somewhere in there there's an FO. Looking, looking, looking, found it! It's the Foliage hat:

And look, I have a third nipple! To make me extra special, it's on top of my head. See, this is why I usually crochet hats. Knit hats almost always give you an extra nipple. But I'm sure there's someone out there who likes it.

And speaking of strange fetishes, I saw a comment on my Flickr photo album for the knit bracelet I made recently. It said that I had lovely wrists and that my wrist would look so nice in a gold-tone Bulova watch. "Hmm," I thought, that's a special comment. So I went to the person's Flickr page and, while they didn't have any photos of their own, they did have many favorites, of which my knit bracelet was one. Many favorites. 28 pages of favorites. And all of them were of women's hands, wrists and forearms. Did you hear me? TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES OF WOMEN'S WRISTS!!! And the comments were all, "I love the freckles on your forearm," or "this woman has lovely wrists." Occasionally there'd be one of just a watch and the comment would be "this watch would look lovely on a woman's beautiful wrist." Unfortunately you can't see all the favorited photos now, since he seems to have deleted himself (or changed his name). Must have found out we were on to him. But wow, of all the things to fetishize.

Okay, 'til next time, Folks.

I was on TV!

2007-10-25T19:51:00.000-05:00

Y'all, I was on TV. TV! Me! I modeled some clothing on CBS Chicago news for an interview they were doing of Iris Schreier for her book Lacy Little Knits. For a brief moment in time, I lived the glamorous life of a model. Minus the glamor part, that is. No hair dresser, no make-up artist, no money, not even an autographed copy of the book. Not even a cookie. You know how when you're braggin' about something you've done and there's always some smart ass who says something like "what do you want? a cookie?" I'm like, yes! Yes I do want a cookie. Where's my damn cookie? I prefer macademia cranberry, thank you very much. I didn't get doodly squat. I got a styrofoam cup of water. It was probably tap.

Okay, why front? I loved it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It was fun. I played dress up in pretty clothes and I was on TV. Here's the link to the story and video! I don't know how long they'll keep it up. But y'all saw how the newscasters were jocking my 'fit, right? It was a gorgeous skirt, drapey luscious silk. But everyone agrees, it's the booty. Which is why I told y'all before, quit hating on the booty. As soon as I've done a few projects in my queue, this skirt is mine!

But in case the video link doesn't stay up long, an internet friend got a screen capture for me. It's kinda blurry, so I'm working on getting real photos from the other models who were smart enough to actually take them.

Go ahead, guess which one is me. Haha. The 'fro was banging that day, too!

Now for my own knits, I worked up this sweater right quick. You know how you get a hankering for a quick knit? Okay, normally a sweater isn't what you go for in such situations, but I promise this one was fast. I love it. But tell me why it is that the most boring things to knit are the things you most want to wear?

10 balls, size 10 needles, 3.5 sts/inch. The pattern is available at Webs, the cropped v-neck pullover, for pretty cheap and it can be emailed to you. I had to make it 3/4 sleeves because I didn't have enough for long sleeves, but I like 3/4 sleeves anyway.

This is my second time working with Karabella Aurora yarn. This one was bulky. The Drops Fair Isle sweater was in Aurora 8. Do y'all know of any others like it? The spin and plying, I love it. It's squishy, it's merino, it's machine washable. It's official, I'm in love with this yarn. Don't tell my parents that. They worry enough about my (nearly non-existent) dating life without knowing that I've fallen pretty hard for a ball of sheep hair.

My First Wire Knit, My First Gray

2007-10-07T15:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I lied about the next post being my own design. That design just got picked up so you'll see it soon. But I do have something really new, my first wire knit! It's from the Twist and Loop book by Annie Modesitt. This book has so many beautiful designs, and since I had been wanting to work with beads anyway, I decided I'd give it a go. The one that really caught my eye was this one:

Gorgeous, huh? I needed all these supplies to start that I didn't have, and wire can be kinda pricey. But over the course of a couple of weeks I picked stuff up here and there and in fact to do this particular project all I needed were the beads, the wire, and one of those round nose plier type tools. In truth for that last I could have just used scissors but the tool was a 3-in-1 and it was only $5 at Walmart. I know, Walmart, it's evil, but I was in Calgary with a couple hours to kill before my flight back so I stopped there because it wasn't too far from the airport. (I went to Banff National Park for a few days, absolutely beautiful, pics at the bottom of this post). I also got the beads at Walmart. They didn't have velvet ribbon, but fortunately I had some fancy ribbon in the right color from a project I never began. Walmart didn't have wire in the right gauge, but I got some at Boca Loca Beads in Indianapolis when I went to pick my bunny up from the bunnysitters. I needed much less than the pattern called for. It called for 50 yards of wire, but I didn't even use 2/3 of a 40 yard spool. And since my yo eyelets didn't come out as big as in the book, I couldn't make a wide ribbon lie flat like in the picture, so I made it wave up and down. Anyway, the final result doesn't look a whole lot like the book's, but I like it.

From the front:

From the back:

Not another headless knitting photo:

While working with the beads I kept thinking of my grandmother's house. You know, this color scheme and the simple fact that they're beads looks very 70's-ish and her house always looked/looks 70s-ish. I think the plastic furniture covers are the same ones from when I was kid. You know the ones I'm talking about, you sit on them and your thighs get all sweaty and stick to the plastic. The ones that act as dual protection against food spills and incontinence. Yeah, those. All the same, I think it's beautiful, even if my wire knitting is not very neat.

In other news, I've found my first two gray hairs. Well, the first two on my head at any rate, but we won't go there to protect the tender minds of the kiddies. It was a sad day when I saw the first. It was a young one, just coming in, only about 2 inches long. I thought it was lint at first, but it wouldn't come out! And can you believe the very next day I found another, also very young, just about 2 inches away. Dang, y'all, dang. Just when me and my hair were getting on good terms, it has to go and pull this bs on me. Damn, the betrayal! I know, Readers, that you are thinking that it's not the hair's fault but has something to do with me getting older and is just another symptom of this, like my raging uterus. That's just like you, always taking their side. Fine, be that way. But next time you want a free pattern ask my hair to write it for you! Mm hmm, now everybody's my friend. (I swear I'm not drunk. But for real, been wearing a wash and go recently and I'm able to do it w/o my hair becoming a matted tangled mass because of the braided roots technique, so email me if you want more details).

And finally, the promised pics of Banff National Park. It was gorgeous. Lakes in valleys surrounded by pine forests surrounded by glacier-capped mountains. I even saw a bear on the side of the road. Ate all fancy at Eden at the Rimrock Resort (5 courses and wine pairing for each course!), rode horses, it was fantastic.

Driving on the Ice Fields Parkway

Riding horses on mountain trail near Lake Louise.

Peyto Lake and Glacier:

Peyto Lake

View from hotel

Standing on rapidly receding glacier. In another 30-50 years, there won't be any here.

Til next time, Y'all.

Split Neck Tee from Fitted Knits

2007-09-23T12:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, who would have thought this would take me so long. It's in Elsebeth Lavold's cotton frappe. Really, I don't who comes up with the gauge on this labels. I knit it at 6 stitches to the inch on size 4 needles and really, it could be tighter. I like the yarn cuz, even though it's cotton, it has some stretch because it is a cabled construction (or is it chain?). And I love the color. When I saw it I had to get it. Navy blue with silver nylon parts running through it. The color is called "night", very fitting. For the trim I held together a strand of "dk weight" (again, totally false weight info) silk from Colourmart which is U.K. based (150 grams, aroudn 1200 yards for $16)and a strand of some pure sparkle hard stuff from Pinoguin that I got while in South Africa. It's really hard and scratchy, so a bit irritating on the neck, but it matched in color and I didn't want to order more yarn just for the trim so I used what I had.

The patten is not so fitting, despite coming from a book titled Fitted Knits. I added a little bit of waist shaping, but it's still mostly a rectangle. I think from now on I'm going to always include back darts as well as bust and waist shaping. I think decreasing in the back is more necessary than the front because at least in the front we have boobs (or in my case, booblets) to take up some of the volume, but in the back it's just a bunch of loose fabric with nothing to fill the void. Not flattering.

I had to adjust the gauge since I used a much finer yarn, so that I just knit according to the numbers for the 4th size. So I got a taste of what it's like to have to knit larger sizes. More stitches! And since it was knit in the round, all those tiny stockinette stitches just seemed to go on forever. I added the waist shaping in part just to break up the monotony. But actually, I like it. It's a cute design.

Oh, and for the clasp I got two little separate pieces and then linked them together with a ring. Got them at Walmart in Calgary on my recent trip to Banff National Park (I'll show pictures next post). Hmm, this top is pretty international.

Okay, enough info, here are the pics:

And that's it until next time, when I'll have another sweater of my own design to show. Til later, People!

Late Summer Special - Curves

2007-08-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

Just in time for the end of summer (Chicago's summer is soo short), here's a pattern that I've been working on. It's already written up and ~~will be available~~ is now available over at the fantastic Swanky Knits! Trying to decide what to do with the neckline nearly drove me insane. I knew I didn't want it to be plain. I pretty much stumbled onto this shape and liked it, so I kept it. The sections of ribbing follow your curves, hence the name. I chose SWTC bamboo and it is a pleasure to knit with and wear. You must knit it tighter than the ball band or you're going to get lace, but a little goes a long way. This took less than 2 full balls for the 32" bust size. The largest sizes will not take more than 4. And the finished fabric is so slinky and feels so good against the skin.

Sexy! Ribbing lines start with a little fullness at the hips, decreases for the waist, and increase to maximum fullness for the bust. In fact this shaping simply follows the actual decreases and increases of the top, with a bit extra for more visual effect.

So I'm happy to have this off the needles and I've already worn it twice. The folks at work really like it. :-) So do I.

In other news I'm proud to report that I have been slowing down on the yarn buying. I'm not sure how much of this is due to simply being incredibly poor and how much has to do with having another burgeoning interest (the natural hair thing). I think the poverty has kept me from buying but the hair thing has kept me from being too upset about it.

However, I did get a gift certificate for Jimmy Beans Wool. I worked their booth at Stitches Midwest for a few hours. This Stitches was so different from my first. I had the last shift, so I got there 2 hours before the whole thing was over and helped them pack up. I didn't go around the market at all. I planned to at least look around, but in true Chicago fashion, the el had problems / was under construction, etc. (how many times did I take the subway in Seoul? Tons. How many times did it have problems? None.) so I was 5 minutes late instead of 30 minutes early and didn't have time to do anything but work. And I was starved, too, and was working off a couple handfuls of cashews and the lemon bars someone's mother brought for us. But still, Stitches was a good thing. My LYS, Loopy Yarns, had a party the Friday before and I met folk from out of town and there was cheese and wine, and y'all know how I love free alcohol. Don't they all look so happy?

And for my work at JBW's booth, with the gift certificate they gave me, I got these goodies. Like I said, I've cut back on yarn, so all I got yarn-wise was a couple balls of sock yarn from the new Kaffe Fasset Line, the Landscape line in Fog. Doesn't the yarn look absolutely nothing like the pic in the link above? I'm really hoping it magically turns into the pic.

I also got a French Girl Margaux, a pattern for a cape. We'll see if I can knit this for Halloween.

But coolest of all is this bag from Lantern Moon. I love their baskets and bags, and this is pretty cute in person, too.

I'm off to California tomorrow to visit the family and I'll take along my Split Neckline tee from Fitted Knits and a sock project. I'll bring the socks and a book in this bag.

Til later, Folks!

Beaded Pillow

2007-08-21T11:37:00.001-05:00

Shhhh. It's a sekwet. This is for my first homestay family in South Africa. The son is the only one who knows my blog address, hopefully he's not reading this right now. It's a beaded pillow.

The yarn is Plymouth Encore in a cream color and a beige color. It was worked on size 7 needles. This makes the beige-ish beads hard to see in the photos, but they look very nice in real life. I prestrung the beads using dental floss threader. This works really well, so that I was able to get something like size 8 or 6 beads onto worsted weight with no problem. The pillow is a 14" form.

The back is a simple fair isle pattern I got in 200 Knitted Squares, which is where I also got the leaf pattern, and the edging is a crochet picot-type edging.

Closeup of pillow and beads

Whole pillow

Pillow back

A Letter to My Uterus

2007-08-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

Now you know I don't like to post without knitting content, but I'd decided to separate my post topics out a bit more. So tomorrow I'll post the pillow, which has actually been done for about a week now. For today, I have a letter.

Continuing the fine tradition of writing letters to body parts (see here and here), today I have a letter for my uterus.

Dear Uterus,

~~F%$#@! you!~~

Hmm, will all of my letters start this way? Okay, once more.

Dear Uterus,

Okay, I get it. For many years I didn't pay attention. I thought you and me were just chillin. Sure, you had to cramp all up like a MF'er every month but thank heavens for modern medicine because bc calmed that down significantly. But over the years your tiny little sweet girly voice has slowly turned into a loud and, dare I say, obnoxious roar. Now I don't think it would be an understatement to say that you are damn near yelling at me for not giving you what you want. And yeah, I know what you want. A baby.

Never mind the fact that I don't actually like babies. Never mind that I am always the one holding a poopy smelling baby at arm's length running around in a panic like "what do I do with this?" And never mind the fact that any child left with me for more than a couple of hours only has a 50% chance of survival. It's not that I'm trying to kill them, it's that kids are stupid and will kill themselves if you don't watch out. Really, I think babies would just walk straight off a cliff if you didn't watch them. And I won't watch them. I'll forget about them for a second. And then it'll be all "hmm, oh shoot!, was I not supposed to leave Jr. in the bathtub with the hot water running?", or "dang, did I leave all the plastic bags from the grocery store on the floor where little Nene was crawling?" or "maybe I shouldn't have painted all the electrical sockets with clown faces" (okay, that last was a joke. But really, People, you do not want me watching your babies.)

But no, you don't care about any of this. You have no foresight at all. You don't care that, should I have a child, I'd inevitably be forced to listen to the same joke (and trust, it will not be a funny joke because it will be a simple-minded thing from a kindergartener) 20 times because kids think the same joke is unendingly funny. What, you don't remember this exchange:

Kid: And then he did it like this!!! hahahahaha
Me: Wow, that's funny.
Kid: And then he did it like this!!! hahahahaha
Me: Yeah, I know, it was kinda funny.
Kid: And then he did it like this!!! hahahahaha
Me: Um . . .

Nope, none of this is important to you. You just want a baby on you, and you have no qualms about letting me know. I see cute little knit baby things, and you yell "Make baby now!" and I'm like "I don't have a husband" and you yell "go make baby now!" and I remind you that I don't even have a boyfriend and you yell even louder "me want baby, baby in me now, make baby, baby!" (um, did I tell you all my uterus sounds like a caveman?)

Really, it's starting to get embarrassing. I'm afraid others can hear you, since you are doing it out in public now. I used to not really notice most men. Seriously, unless he was damn fine I didn't even pay attention. Now whenever a halfway decent looking one walks by, you growl at them! Got me out here faking like I didn't hear it, looking nonchalantly up in the sky when they turn around wondering what nearby animal was growling at them. I still remember the first time it happened, shocked me to death. There I was, walking down the street all innocent like, and a well-groomed fairly good-looking guy passed by and you yelled "sex!" Hmm, don't mince words, do you? Now your goals are more clear, and you sometimes bypass me altogether and yell commands directly at them: "You can make baby, yes?! You make baby in me now!"

So look, I'm just saying I understand where you're coming from. Next birthday marks three decades here and you're getting tired of waiting. I know you got all these hormones and what not, and societal pressures, and worries about the expiration date on the eggs (yeah, don't act like you and the ovaries aren't in this together; I know). But you're going to have to give me just a bit more time and maybe one day . . .

Until next time,

The Body You're In

And the Winners Are . . .

2007-08-03T14:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, I don't usually have good ideas. In fact, my ideas are usually just plain bad. You know that person who's like, "yeah, I suppose we could just walk down the side of the mountain, but wouldn't it be better to go cascading off this waterfall? In a barrel? It's a barrel, so we wouldn't get hurt, see?" That's totally me. But this contest? This was a good idea. I got so many music suggestions. Thank you all so much! I have been able to add several new songs onto my Shuffle. Next music contest will be so you all can recommend some get crunk type music. Sometimes you just wanna break somebody off hard gangsta style, and you can't do that to no ultra mellow neo-soul. As it is, every time I hear some song and think "that beat is hard", almost before I can finish my thought somebody yells "ho" at me. I mean, I can take a little, but I have a 2 ho limit.

So I listened to all your suggestions, or at least tried to. Y'all were supposed to give me specific songs, not just artists. So if you didn't I just listened to the first song or two I came upon or ones whose titles I liked. Not all of them were the type of music I usually like, but actually I think they were all good. Like Jason Mraz. Not the music I like, but I had to find out what disintegrates Ms. Pixie's panties, and indeed, his voice is pretty damn appealing. Same thing for Chad Perron. He ain't no Johnny Gill, though. :) Van Hunt, too. He definitely has some panty melting powers. He had been recommended to me before, so I was glad to get some specific songs to listen to. Same for Lily Allen, though I had heard a song or two from her before. And Soko? Again, not my style, but that song is funny for real. Actually, there were lots of great songs that I couldn't make winners because I already knew them, like Chrisette Michelle's hit and also Corrine Bailey Rae's stuff, Robin Thick, Vivian Green too, among others. Hmm, what was I complaining about, I already had good music!

Anyway, with no further ado, the winners. Choosing between first and second place was hard, but first place has to go to:

Harlem Purl for Teedra Moses's - Rescue Me. I am really feeling this woman's music. All your music suggestions were great.

Second place goes to:

EmunaMoriah7 for Raheem DeVaughn - Believe. This dude's stuff, not just this song, is hot. In fact, while I was listening to it, I felt a breeze in my nether regions and looked down to discover that, in fact, I was no longer wearing panties. Looking around the room, it was obvious that my panties had simply exploded, the floor being littered with panty shrapnel. Even poor Enif the bunny got hit:

(You know he's going to get punked on the bunny playground for this picture. That crumb is a piece of cereal, the only way he'd let me take this photo)

There's something that reminds me a bit of D'Angelo with him. Emuna, I loved all your suggestions, too.

Third place goes to:

Aruni for Amel Larrieux - Beyond . This song was great, and it got me onto some of her other stuff, which is also great. Thank you.

And to mix it up a bit, fourth place goes to:

Ms. Pixie Riot for Jamie Cullum - "earlier stuff". That was real not specific, girlfriend. Even less specific than Melissa Knits "bonus tracks off the Japanese only CD". So since I didn't know what I was looking for, I just went to You Tube and typed in his name. The stuff that came up wasn't Japanese (sorry Melissa), but I kinda liked it. Different than what I would normally go for, but I did kinda like "Get Your Way".

Okay, winners, please email me so we can arrange your prizes. To everyone else, thank you so much for the suggestions, and conciliatory cookies will be making their way to your houses. I'm just joking, you're not going to get a cookie. :-( But I really do appreciate it.

So, back to knitting. My knitting has been dragging since I discovered this site for nappy-haired folk like myself. I love this site, so much info, and I have gotten over my hair rage. For now. I highly recommend this site to nappy folk, especially those struggling with their hair (you know who I'm talking to, and email me for the low-down if you want to know more). I even made a hair photo album. So yeah, knitting has been slow. But I am nearing completion on a pillow I'm making for my first homestay family in South Africa. I really wanted to knit stuff for each member of the family, but that will have to wait until next year, and that's if I start now.

The squares are for 200 Knitted Blocks or some such book. You know, the ones where they say they have 200 designs but really it's like 50 designs, each in 4 different color combos? Hello! Changing the color is not changing the design. So misleading. Anyway, it was my first time knitting with beads. Check out the results of my deflowering:

Isn't it pretty? Okay, I know you can't see the beads that well. They're a really light color, in the stockinette portions surrounded by the reverse stockinette. I pre-strung the beads using dental floss threader. I actually have no idea how you use dental floss threader when flossing your teeth, but they work really well for getting beads onto yarn. I did 4 squares like this for the front, and the back is a simple fair isle pattern that I did most of in the airport DFW while my plane was being delayed. People stare! They act like they've never seen a twentysomething with a fro knitting fair isle before.

The yarn is Plymouth Encore. I can't remember the brand or size of the beads. They are probably 8/0 or 6/0. I was really amazed they fit on worsted weight. Yay, dental floss threader!

Okay, time to wrap up. In my next post:
*the conclusion of the pillow
*a new top design and pattern
*a letter to my uterus

Thanks for reading, People!

Contest! Make It Like It Was

2007-07-05T13:29:00.000-05:00

The way it used to be . . . Do y'all know that song? Regina Belle. I don't know what got this song in my head. I think it was a box of Fruity Pebbles.

I saw Fruity Pebbles on sale at the supermarket. I know I liked this cereal as a kid. $2 a box on sale, can't pass that up. I went home, poured that stuff into a bowl with milk and started to eat it. It tastes terrible! It tasted like sugary pieces of cardboard, and the edges were all hard and jagged. And what's worse, they had the nerve to put this on the front of the box!

What the hell did it taste like before? And so Fruity Pebbles joined the ever-growing list of stuff that I could have sworn tasted good when I was a kid but now I realize is the lowest quality foodstuff available. This list now includes, among other things: Spaghetti-O's, Whoppers (the "chocolate"-covered malted milk balls), those giant red lips made of chewable and edible wax, and anything from Red Lobster.

Was stuff really getting worse, or were my tastebuds getting more refined? I didn't know, but it made me a little nostalgic. And that's probably what got me to thinking of that Regina Belle song. Which got me to thinking about music.

I could swear the music I hear on the radio is getting worse. I don't listen to the radio much anymore, but I should since I'd probably still like a song every now and then. As it is now, I live in a music vacuum. So I started downloading songs I used to like to see if they'd be as good or, if like the mushy flour rings with watery tomato juice on them that dares have the word "spaghetti" in its name, they had lost their charm. And the good news is, they hadn't!

Now, I'm not going to pretend that as a kid (or even now) I had sophisticated tastes in music. But I found myself still loving After 7 "Kickin' It", BBD "When Will I See You Smile Again?", Aaliyah "Age Ain't Nothin But A Number" (I try not to think what R. Kelly was doing to her 14 yo self that prompted that song), Troop "All I Do Is Think of You", Guy "Let's Chill", Tone Tony Toni "Whatever You Want", New Edition "Boys to Men", and Vesta "Congratulations" among many great others. The only real difference I noticed is a new sensation in the, um, loinal area when listening to Johnny Gill. He leads on "Boys to Men", and I also got "There You Go" by him from the Boomerang soundtrack. I don't think I felt this when I was 10. Well, not from Johnny singing. But now, yeah, it's pretty distinct. I think Johnny could just have his way with me (should he want it). Yeah, if he started singing to me like that, it wouldn't so much be a matter of me taking my panties off, so much as my panties simply disintegrating in nanoseconds. If you've ever wondered what it would look like for someone's panties to just evaporate off their body, find Johnny Gill and have him sing "There You Go" to me. It would be over. Resistance would be futile. This blog would no longer be rated PG-13.

But man, people can't have stopped making music I like. I'm just, for various reasons, not surrounded by as great a variety of the type of music I like as I used to be. So I turn to you, People. Help me find some good new music! Some more like the ones above, or D'Angelo, or Floetry. Gimme something good. And I'll give you something good (don't go there, PG-13, People!)

My first contest!

The rules are simple. Turn me on to a relatively current (say, released this decade) song I haven't heard before, even better an artist I haven't heard before, of a type I'd like as suggested by the groups and songs above. Give the artist and the song title. Each individual can give up to 3 songs. I'll chose the winner based on my favorite new songs.

And the prizes? What else, but yarn? Understand, I would not give you crap. It's just stuff that my tastes have changed from. First place winner gets their choice of these, the second place winner gets second choice and so on.

4 65 gram, 110 yard balls of self-striping single ply wool in black white and gray. It would make a cute felted purse.

One ball of Jaegger 50% wool 50% silk lace weight, 2 oz, 630 yards in a cranberry color. It is enough to make a lace scarf like this.

If you liked the socks I made in this post, you can make your own with this Elann house brand yarn. I originally bought 3 balls thinking I might make knee-highs. Since I only made anklets, I used just 1 ball and less than 1/5 of a second. The remainder could get you at least 3" cuff socks, or just go for some anklets like me.

Finally 2 balls of Elann Super Tweed, each 50 grams and 104 yards. I was going to make a hat or gloves with these, before I decided that I wasn't a big fan of coral colored yarns.

The contest will run until August 1st. Help me out, folks, and win some yarn!

Oh yeah, you know I dislike posting without knitting content. Here's the Lorelei I told you I was working on, being modeled by me at work with a crazy fake-looking smile.

Also a shot from the back, the loneliest photoshoot in the world.

'Til later, People

Damn, Coachella is hot!

2007-07-02T18:54:00.000-05:00

I've been one blog-happy woman this past week, and this post brings you another FO! It's Coachella, and since I already described it over on the Coachella KAL page, I'm just going to (mostly) copy and paste the description like a punk. But let me just say first that Coachella is soo sexy, so hot. Damn, for real hot. Like, you know, where you say "damn!, that's hot" and you sing the "hot" in a long note falsetto? It's that kind of hot. Okay, here we go:

So I decided to make a night-time going out type of Coachella. It's always a little risky to go for the hand knits on an evening out, but I was willing to try it.

Turned out to be the fastest knit ever. The only wearable I knit faster was the thong, and I didn' hurt my hands at all, taking breaks and stretching every 15 minutes or so. CO Thursday night, finished Saturday morning, wore it out Saturday night. I estimate total knitting time was less than 10 hours.

I swatched 3 yarns for this. The first was Louisa Harding Glisten in black. It, like the called-for yarn, is a 100% nylon tape/ribbon type yarn, and it has shiny bits. I really wanted to use this yarn for this top, I had just the right amount in my stash. But after swatching, I saw that it is rather stiff and would not have good drape, and to get gauge (or anything above the ball recommended gauge) gives me open mesh that is see-through and looks like a fish net.

Then I tried Berroco Bonsai, which is a 97% bamboo 3% nylon yarn. The nylon is shiny and adds sparkle. If I had had this yarn in black or white or gold, I would have chosen it, but I had it in a sage type color and it's not really what I want for going out at night. I think I will make it again in this color and yarn for a day look. This yarn is very drapey and very suited to this pattern, I think.

I finally decided on using some Alchemy Synchronicity that I had in my stash, which is a single ply 50% silk 50% merino yarn. It will be warmer than the others, but that's not too much of a problem since it's for going out at night. It has a nice drape. The color is Pewter. I got this yarn at 66% off (otherwise, who can afford it?) and was sawing it for something else, but I guess I can manage to do the other thing with another stash yarn.

Also, for the neck roll part I held together a strand of Drops Glitter yarn, which is very fine at 10 grams giving over 700 yards. It is a metallic yarn that adds a little sparkle. I'm going to copy the modifications I saw in someone else's Coachella and do arm edging as well, and I will hold the sparkly yarn for that edging, too.

I knit the smallest size even though I am the 2nd smallest size because from washing my gauge swatch (really, swatching and washing your swatch is worth the knowledge, people) I knew this yarn loosened up a bit after washing. I'm glad I did this, otherwise the drape would have been too much for me. As it was my bra sometimes showed. I wore it with a strapless bra, and in fact sometimes you could see the top of the band in the back armholes area. I saw it in some of the pictures I took, and had to readjust things so it wouldn't show. I don't know what to do about this, as the armholes were already as tight as could comfortably be. I have to say that I don't really think this top works super well with a bra, only if the top sits just right and doesn't move around too much. Oh, I'd also do fewer increases towards the bottom, as it puckers there as it is now. Anyway, here it is:

That's the thing about summer knits. Some people don't like summer knits, but I love them. No sleeves! You get done so fast.

A Letter to My Hair. And Socks.

2007-06-26T18:57:00.000-05:00

So some time ago I sent a telegram to Mother Nature asking her to hurry up already and make it spring. In typical Chicago fashion, she listened to me, made it spring for about 3 weeks, then made it summer. Also recently I read this letter from a black man to his average sized penis. These combined to inspire me to write more letters to things that couldn't ever respond back. Perhaps I will make it a series. Next in line is a note to the bunny about who ate the last Frosted Mini-Wheat. I know it wasn't me, and there are only 2 of us in the house. Fourth will definitely be to my uterus. Okay, wanna hear it? Here it go.

Dear Hair,

~~%$!~$% you!~~

Let's start that again, shall we? Must keep my PG-13 rating over here.

Dear Hair,

damn, Damn, DAMN! So what's up, really? Do you think this is cute? You think it's funny? Cuz the joke is getting real old real fast.

I'm not sure what I did to deserve this, except to be born black. The drama I have had with you is pretty much unbelievable and unforgivable. Even from the time when I was a little girl getting burned with the pressing comb and having my scalp fried with the straightening perm chemicals, you have been out torment me. Remember Comb-aloo, that little yellow comb that was obviously meant for the finest of Euro hair that Daddy used to chase me/us around the house with? Ah those were ~~good~~ times. *sigh*, times. I think the last time we got along was around this time:

(Why am I red? The best I can guess is, everything in the 70s was sepia. Just as everything in the future will be chrome.)

And now I wear you natural and really, though it's gotten cheaper and slightly more convenient to deal with you since I don't have to go anywhere to get my hair done, you still offer me a never-ending stream of pain. You, you are the sole cause of all those headless knitting FO photos I took. Don't try to blame the face, slap some lotion on the face and a bit of lip gloss, the face is ready to go. No, it was all you.

I even started a Natural Hair Meetup Group to try to learn to deal with you. I did research for handouts at the meetings. Motown Girl dot com became my buddy. I found out about the no-poo method. I tried it, you laughed in my face. Mocked me. "You think these triflin' schemes you have will make even the slightest impression upon me?! Ha! I laugh in your face! I mock you!" See how you actually said those words, "laugh in your face" and "mock you"? That hurt, Hair, that really hurt. And what hurts the most is that I actually like you, but you are intent on causing me grief. 짝사랑 (jak sarang), as the Koreans would call it, one-sided love.

According to my parents, you aren't doing me any favors in the dating world, either. I'm already a shy girl, which doesn't help, and apparently, so the story goes, the 7 black men left who are single, educated, and still interested in dating black women don't want to look at naps like mine all day long. On the plus side, white people tend to think my hair is cool (you know, it's all exotic and stuff), so maybe they'll be some luck there.

Hmm, maybe it was me tormenting you all this time? Hmm, guess I'll have to give this a little more thought. In the meantime, you, me, and the credit card have a date over at Miss Jessie's, and I hope something over here will satisfy you though I have to say quite bluntly, most of these pics look like folks who have somewhat fewer of the straight-from-Sub-Saharan-African traits than I do.

Until Later,

The Body You're Attached To

Now that that's out of my system, you know I don't post without knitting content. I needed a quickie, project I mean (PG-13, People!), and I've been wanting some anklets for summer, so I whipped these up, worked on size 2 needles. Started Friday, finished today. Just 48 stitches! The tiniest bit over 1 ball. Really, if you have size 7 feet or smaller I think you'd only need 1 ball of Elann's Esprit cotton and elastic yarn in color Licorice Allsorts. Don't they look cute with my black heels with the pink sole?

Not that I'll ever wear them like this. I don't wear socks in heels or sandals like this, maybe if I'm in a funky-friendly place, maybe, but in general, this is a big fashion no-no for me.

And don't you love that round toe? I am through with square toe socks forever.

Well, until next time, People.

Dancing Gangsters WIPed into shape

2007-06-21T12:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, first thanks to everyone for the nice comments about the shrug. The people at JBW were also very nice about my loserness. You make a loser feel so much better about her loserly ways in this moment of loserissitude. Extra loser points for that last faux-word.

Okay, I want to be a dancing gangster. Oops, I mean a gangsta. Don't laugh, this is serious, I'm quitting my day job (which is barely enough to pay my rent, anyway), quitting this non-successful grad school thing, and start working nights in underground dance battles where I may, or may not, depending on how the mood strikes me, get into violent fights after said battles. Now I know you're wondering what has inspired this, and to this I'd like to pose the question, "why does anything have to inspire it?" Hmm? Why can't a person just wake up one day and realize that they've gotten their calling, and it is dancing hard gangsta style, no matter how internally contradictory such a thing seems? Well, why can't they?

Okay, you caught me out. I was inspired, and it was by the movie Stomp the Yard. Now you just never mind that IMDB rating of 2.7 stars, those people are crazy. This is an 11 star movie, and I'll tell you why. First, 4 stars straight out of the gate for having dancing gangsters. Oops, I mean gangstas. I mean, since West Side Story or MJ's Bad, when have you seen dancing gangstas? (and You Got Served doesn't count cuz I haven't seen it. Yet.) Yeah, Boy, I'm bad, watch these twinkle toes! Second, homedude who was the star had some beautiful retro slang gems, including "That dude is straight up whack" (I was a bit disappointed that the "whack" was not preceded by "wiggity"), and "I already schooled you once today, homeboy, how many lessons you wanna learn?" C'mon, you know that line was hard. Those added 2 more stars right there. But for real, that dude could dance like nobody's business, he was killing people on the dance floor, and the stepping was entertaining, too. So anyway, yeah, 17 stars.

Now, on to knitting. No FO's this time around. Actually, I have one, but I can't show it right now. So we just got the WIPs. And even one of those is a secret for a little while, too.

I think I'm about 1/2way done with Lorelei, which is from Yarn Play. I saw someone else's over on Knitty, you can see it here. Though I already had this book, it wasn't until I saw an FO from it that I was overcome with desire to knit from it. You knit the bottom as a strip then sew it up to form a tube, then pick up stitches along the edges and knit the straps. Also the pattern lets me put random holes in where I want them. I'm more than 2/3 of the way through the tube and not even through my 2nd ball of yarn, so I suspect that for the second size it will take no more than 4 50 gram balls. In "Cornflower" blue in Cascade Pima Tencel. I don't usually go for this kind of blue as I usually find it a boring color, but I kinda like this one.

Speaking of which, I went to WWKIP day celebration in Chicago's Millenium Park where I met lots of great knitters, and at least one really bold one. The first sentence out of her mouth was that she liked my Tomato sweater. Why, thank you. *smiles* The second sentence was that she hated us skinny bitches. What?! Can I introduce you to the nuanced meaning of "familiar"? Cuz that was way too familiar way too fast. Okay, okay, it's all good, I wasn't really that offended. But let me just say the complaining about sizes was way exaggerated. Yeah, I knit the smallest size, took 3 100 gram hanks and 1 week. But unless your bust size size is 132", or unless knitting math operates in some dimension where normal math rules don't apply, you do not have to CO 3 times as many stitches as I did, nor, assuming a similar speed of knitting, is it going to take you 2 months to make. A size 50" bust is just about 1 1/2 times my bust circumference, so you can use 5 hanks and finish in 11 days, sheesh, so don't give me all this "woe is me big girls have to spend 700 years knitting a top" stuff, okay?

Where was I? Oh yeah, WIPs. Another one I'm working on is the Jaywalker pattern which everyone and their mother has done.

I'm just turning the heel on the first sock. This is kinda low priority, though, so who knows when it will be done. It's in Yarn Pirate merino/tencel colorway "Loopy Blues". I didn't realize how popular this yarn was when I bought it. People are crazy for it and every time the Loopy Ewe (where I got it from) gets restocked in it, it sells out within a day. Sock knitters are fascinating creatures, I tell you what.

Okay, that's all for now. I have another natural hair meetup tonight. Tonight's topic is Conditioning!

One more thing, you all have to go over and check out Rose-Kim's series Thursdays Are For What The Hell Is This? Those big ass knits are too much. Which brings me to one final point. Why is it that nowadays everything that stinks smells like ass? "This smells like ass", and "that smells like ass." People, I'm beginning to think you don't know what ass smells like. Really, it's very distinctive.

Shrug Springs Eternal

2007-06-08T11:14:00.001-05:00

This pattern is now at Ravelry!
----------------------------------------------
Something for the crocheters! I know y'all were feeling neglected, with countless knitters telling you that you make nothing but doilies and olive and burnt orange granny square afghans (btw, I admit to loving those colors).

This is how the story goes. I made this a couple months ago, and I found out about the Jimmy Beans Wool pattern contest the day before the deadline. I was just finishing this one up, so decided to submit it. It got slammed by a baby sweater, but they said they liked it and asked if it could be included in next month's contest, which I agreed to, where it got slammed again by yet another baby sweater. That's cool, it's not the most original thing in the world. So I'm releasing it to you all, for those of you who want something for yourselves or who have no babies (like me).

Crocheted in one piece from the top down in standard raglan fashion. Except that it doesn't seem so standard for crochet, which makes no sense because it's actually even easier to try on a top-down raglan in crochet because you don't have to take anything off the needles. Also in my current favorite crochet stitch. I don't particularly like the look of regular single or double crochet over and over again, but I like the look of this stitch which is a simple 2-stitch repeat and sub it in wherever I can. Don't worry that it's in fingering weight yarn. You don't have to get it too far past your boobs and, after all, it's crochet so it goes pretty fast. And check out those cute little puff sleeves. Huh, huh?

Okay, enough blab. With no further ado, the item (thanks to my boss for the name suggestion, which everyone preferred to his earlier suggestion of "Green Semi-Multi-Vest". yeah.) Um, it was done back in Spring, so the name made a lot of sense then. Patten is a pdf attachment, but you are forced to scroll through all of my trite pictures before you can access it. Mwahahaha!

Shrug Springs Eternal

Okay, and now the goods: Shrug Springs Eternal

It's my birthday!

2007-05-31T17:04:00.000-05:00

It's my birthday! I'm 29 today. I started out the day happy, but have gotten sadder and sadder as the day has gone on. Please wish me happy feelings!

The Sweater that Hurt Me

2007-05-26T07:15:00.000-05:00

If only it could be more like the sweater (or super hot spy) that loved me. The word for today is "pabo". That's Korean for "fool", and that's what I am for trying to knit a sweater in 4 days. Oh, I did do it, speeding away on some Addi Turbos, all top down in the round raglan. It was only after I finished. Several hours after I finished, actually, that my hand began to kill me! Painful throbbing, much worse than I'd ever had before. So I've been taking it easy. Took a few days off, then did a little crochet, no more than 15 minutes at a time with long breaks. Wow, that was stupid.

Anyway, here it is. Inspired by Tomato. I made the neck a scoop neck instead of a square neck, did a different color/texture pattern across the chest (I made it up!), and did a tiny bit of color detail on the neck, sleeves, and waist. I considered doing all those in corrugated ribbing, but ultimately decided against it as overwhelming. Anyway, 5 balls of Valley Yarns Colrain (merino/tencel) and a little bit of some Cascade Pima Tencel in white I had around, size 7 needles, done from Friday morning to Tuesday morning. Do you think this pattern is interesting enough to warrant being written up?

I've been noticing that other people's Tomatos have come out a lot more form fitting. Other people's tops in general. Like look at this lovely one. What is up with the tops I make? They never are that closely fitted. It's as though I need to do twice as many decreases after the bust (going top down). Is this because I have too small a waist? Cuz that's what I want to think. Yes, that's it, too small a waist.

In other news, I've been thinking about men lately. The trail of thought was brought about identity theft guy. Oh, didn't I tell you about him? I was walking home one night and some dude flagged me down, which happens, but he was wearing a suit and tie. So I thought I was about to be proselytized to. But he asked me to have dinner with him and his coworkers. Right then. No thank you, I just bought dinner. Also, that's weird. Well, he just wanted to tell me how sharp I was looking, blah blah blah, can he have my phone number, blah blah blah. And then he asks, "what do you know about identity theft?" skrrrrrreeech! That's the sound of the needle scratching across the same old record. Excuse me? He wondered if I knew that the previous week, thousands of Chicagoland teachers had their identity stolen. Um, nooo, I didn't know that, nor did I know flirtation nowadays was being mixed with infomercials. And then he handed me a DVD on indentity theft. I still haven't watched it, as I'm sure one of two things must be true: (1) it's like that video in The Ring that curses everyone to die within a week of watching it unless you make a copy and show it to someone else, or (2) There are just like 100 naked, variously posed pictures of himself on it.

And this got me to thinking of various men encounters I've had. This one was pretty mild and harmless. But there was the shouting match between me and about 6 dudes in Zimbabwe as they surrounded the telephone booth I was in and pounded on the glass. When they finally left and I made my international phone call to my Daddy, I burst into tears, not so much from fear, but from anger and frustration. I wanted to kill. I was 17.

There was the crazy dude in Korea who grabbed my ass, ran to the end of the block, and then started jumping up and down and pointing and laughing at me (this was the clue that gave me a hint that he might be crazy). I chased that dude for a full on 10 minutes. It was almost comical. We got tired, and the chase just turned into a fast walk. Then when we regained our breath, the running was on again. Across the street, through the park. Finally I did manage to catch him, tell him off in the most broken Korean ever, and hit him. At least I turned that one into a funny story, which won me "inki sang" (popularity prize) in a Korean speaking competition.
Here's my class cheering me own. Signs say "Go, Nikki!" and "We love you, Nikki!" Awww.

Then there was the group of drunk men in South Africa who wouldn't let me pass one evening as I was bringing home dinner. Really, one just kept stepping in front of me so I couldn't pass. So I hit him, and he let me go. Though I was always speaking English, they continued to talk to me in Zulu. I don't think they realized I wasn't Zulu.

And just this week some little kid hit on me. He looked about 18, but he showed me his ID that said he was 20. He had earlier lied to say he was 22. If you have to lie to be at 22, you're too young for me (my 29th b-day is Thursday). He invited me over for food, I told him I had my own food, he was like, "oh you got a Link card? Good, I'm tired of eating McDonald's." Oh, Kiddie got jokes? Then he touched my hair (!) and asked if I needed it braided. I was like, "look little boy, if you touch my hair again, I'm going to have to spank you." Come to think of it, maybe he would have liked it. Hmm, and I thought I left that whole strangers-touching-my-hair thing in Korea.

The point is . . . . wait, was there a point? Oh yeah, you know, girls aren't ever running up on me and grabbing my ass and touching my hair and shouting profanity at me. Or handing me possibly cursed and/or pornographic "identity theft" dvds. What is up, dudes? Why is this world so full of men hurting or harrassing women? Y'all need to chill on that, for real. I guess I should look at the bright side, since in both the Zimbabwe and South Africa cases, other men took the offenders away. Maybe I should focus on those men.

Roll wit' it, Tomato!

2007-05-15T15:56:00.000-05:00

So I made Tomato from No Sheep For You, which is a cool book and a cool pattern. Very easy, took me a week to make. I raised the neckline a bit cuz it would have been slightly scandalous otherwise. I definitely plan on making more, or at least more top down tops.

But this yarn. I used Blue Sky Alpacas cotton. Now, I distinctly remember liking this yarn and enjoying knitting with it earlier in my knitting history. Then again, I also remember having no problem working with 100% acrylic and that certainly isn't the case anymore. Okay, so a tiny bit of it is my fault, as usual. I did swatch, but not in the round, so my gauge tightened up a bit when I ended up making this in the round. I was already going for the smallest size, which was already 2 1/2" smaller than my actual bust size. But in reality, this top came out about 4" smaller than my actual bust. Don't worry, it still fits (knits stretch nicely, people, even in cotton), but it's a bit stiff. Actually, it's a lot stiff. Almost like I'm wearing cardboard. In the previous post, though I complained about the bleeding of Jaeggerspun Zephyr, I did note that it has exceptional drape, even when knitted at a tight gauge. This yarn, not so much.

And do you know what a stiff cardboard-y top does? I bet you can't guess. See, it remembers my rolls. Now, when I stand up, I'm a pretty slim girl, comparatively speaking, but I'm not going to lie, some rolls do appear when sitting. Well, I discovered to my great dismay, that my rolls leave an impression in the top! Yeah, I know it's funny. To you. I stood up the first day I wore this and lo and behold, what Koreans would call sam-kyup-sal (3 layers of flesh) was imprinted into the very fabric of this shirt. Just hanging away from my torso, still showing the fat rolls of a minute ago. Thanks a lot, BSA cotton. You're the best.

Plus, knitting this stuff hurt my hand like a mofo. I'm talking pains shooting up my right wrist for real. Owie. So I think I'm sticking to blends from now on.

In other news, I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool festival the weekend before last. Everyone I know thinks I'm insane, and with good reason, admittedly. Yep, my broke ass bought a ticket to the east coast, rented a car, got a motel room, and went to a festival OF SHEEP!

Wait, 2 quick diversions. The first, there was something freaky going on in the room next to mine. We've all stayed in one of those no-tell motels before, we know how it goes. But this was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was screaming. And I mean just that, screaming. Screaming. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! AAAHH, AAHHHHHH!" Not moaning, groaning, talking, just screaming. Don't know how many hours, cuz I lost track. So if ever you're thinking of offing someone, know that you can do it in a Red Roof motel without fear of anyone calling the police.

Second diversion, have you all seen this trailer for Black Sheep. Whoa.

Okay, back to MDSW. I took a drop spindle class and haven't touched my roving since. I suck. And I kept thinking I shouldn't suck, because sheep hair is a lot like my hair. I kept wondering, would I get any better at this if I first took my pick to it and sprayed it down with some afro sheen? I considered braiding it, or perhaps adding it as some sort of psychotic extensions to my own hair. Then I just accepted that I suck and moved on. But I did manage to spin this:

Um, since Ipod Cozies are all the rage amongst knitters (I don't want to ever hear a knitter who made one of these look me in my eye and tell me crocheters make a bunch of useless trivial stuff (like doilies)), what about an Ipod Shuffle Cozy? Those things are only about an 1 1/2". A coin purse, that can hold one coin? Huh? Huh?

But outside of the yarn, the festival was cool. I'll show you festival goodies on another post. So for now . ..

VK Fair Isle Sleeve Sweater

2007-04-26T13:58:00.000-05:00

or "What I Did at Work Last Night: A Photo Essay"
or "A Million and Seventeen Ways Not to Make a Sweater"
or "Vogue in Red: An Erotic Mystery-Thriller by Nikki the Shizknitter"
(oh, wait, that last was a mistake)

Vogue Sweater, how I hated you. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong with you. I knit the fair isle sleeve too big, despite the fact that I subtracted stitches (apparently not enough). I didn't wash my swatch, and the red in the fair isle bled into the white (curse you, JaggerSpun Zephyr DK!). I knit the front to an entirely different pattern because I didn't check the Vogue Knitting Errata before starting (curse you, faulty VK patterns!).

Fortunately, there is always a cure. The sleeve got cut, in my attempt at steeking. I say attempt because the outcome was not totally perfect. Though there were several tutorials on crochet steeking (I don't have a machine), none of them were for something like this, just cutting off the sides of the sleeve. But I did it anyway. And I cut off the bottom, too, as it was a little too long. Then I picked up some stitches along the bottom. Again, not perfect, but hey, that's what Fray Check is for.

The red bled a lot. A lot. A whole lot. I haven't had color bleed like this since the Sugar N Cream cotton washcloth I made. Why should this yarn have bled so much? Anyway, dye once it bleeds
onto the fabric, doesn't set immediately. I thought I had rinsed it all out. I set it down to dry. But I guess I missed some because some of the red dye crept back into the white. Damn. I used my RIT Color Remover which is to get rid of colors that have run, and it did the trick (mostly).

And the pattern errata was eventually found with the help of the wonderful folks at KnittingHelp.com You guys are the best.

But still, this sweater left me pissed. It's like it took pleasure in frustrating me. And so, I decided to murder it. "Murder" has been one of my coworkers words for a while. He's always going to murder something or somebody. So it was my turn, and VK Sweater, it was your turn to die! (insert maniacal laugh).

Now to be fair, this idea all started from this:

That's not Kool-Aid, people. And thus, it was on!

I first considered having it die from lonliness and starvation, just by dumping it in the trash.

But I thought a sweater that had come up with so many ways to torture me deserved a more inventive death. I considered shredding it to bits in the office fan. "Feel that breeze, baby? That is the wind of inevitability!" But then I realized that we still needed an office fan and didn't want to break it.

Aha! I had it! Steek this, bitch!

But in the end, I decided to just finish sewing it up and wear it. Now, VK Sweater, you are truly conquered!

Specs:
Pattern: Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006 Fair Isle Sleeve Sweater
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr DK silk/wool blend. 7 2 oz. balls Cinnabar, 1 ball each of Charcoal, Steel Gray, and Vanilla
Needles: Size 4
Yarn Notes: Despite knitting this to a tight gauge, this yarn has amazing drape. Also bleeds like crazy. Despite the silk content, not what I would call a luxury yarn in terms of feel. Spun such that at parts it is often flat like a tape yarn. Has mysterious tufts every now and then. Suspect will be fairly hard-wearing.

You know the pose by now.

And from the back.

The neckline is a little loose, despite the fact that I actually put in fewer stitches than called for. I may rip and redo it, but not now. I'm tired. There are a million more things to say about this sweater, so, um, maybe later.

Telegram for Mother Nature

2007-04-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

Dear, Mother Nature, it's April! Just thought I'd let you know. What is up with this weather? It snowed last week. Chicago makes me (more) depressed. I was riding on the bus, looking out the window. The sky was cloudy and gray. The buildings were brown and gray. The earth was brown, the trees were bare. Just nasty. I need sunlight. It's always around this time of year that I'm like "okay, Chicago, we get it, you're cold. You can stop now." Cuz we've had enough.

So if I can't make the sky blue and the trees green, guess I'll just have to knit and crochet those colors. So I have this lovely Touch Me scarf that I crocheted. I got this yarn on sale and it was still pricy, especially for the little yardage. And with the speed of crochet, I had gone though (censored) dollars in about 3 hours! It is luxuriously soft, though. The stitch is from 220 More Crochet Stitches, crocheted on an I hook. Chicago's brown and gray + the blue and green I'd like to see come along.

With the leftover, I also made this choker. Band is knit in 2x2 ribbing, flower crocheted, leaf knit. Chicago flowers, please come back!

I still have some leftover in brown and green, that I'm going to use for a small necklace. This one, I think. That's where I got the knit leaf instructions, anyway.

And I finished my Clapotis! In HandMaiden Lady Godiva "Nova Scotia". I used just a wee more than 2 hanks. I knit on size 6s, one less increase section than in the pattern and 2 more straight sections. So if I had only done one extra straight section, 2 would have been enough. The other 1 and 9/10 skeins will be for Perfect Periwinkle from Fitted Knits, I think. I also held with the Lady Godiva a strand of Drops/Garnstudio's "Glitter". Very fine, 10 grams gives 700 yards, so I only need one spool, and at $4, a very cheap way to add glitter to a project.

I absolutely love this thing. I think I've worn it every day since I finished, rather than the Touch Me scarf. I like that it's so much wider than a normal scarf, it's got heft (sorta like me since my recent weight gain). And it's purrrty.

So there are blue and green knits. Um, Mother Nature, take that as a hint.

In other news, I started a group at meetup.com for natural black hair, as I can use all the advice I can get. On occasion, my hair looks, I think the technical term for it is "busted". Totally doesn't help that it's all uneven from when I got angry and whacked it all off with the craft scissors. I have a lot of hair, it is really really thick, and it is a serious effort to keep it reasonable. So I thought I'd get together with other women who wore their hair like this and maybe share some tips. It was great, we're all so cute, trust me.

And my semi-miniature crown variegated African violet trailer is also looking happy. All crowns are in bloom or bud with color, which means it could be a good show plant with a little grooming. Unfortunately, not all the crowns are showing the variegation.

And one final thing, Bloggers, what's up with the restricted blogs? I don't subscribe to anyone's feed, but every now and then I go through the comments left for me and try to look at people's blogs. But for some of you, I click on your name and it tells me that regular folk like me can't view your blog. Damn, I never get invited to the party with the hip kids. Not cool, people, not cool. Ah, knitting, you never reject me!

It's getting x-rated over here.

2007-03-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

Warning, longest post ever, which makes me think I should post in shorter chunks more often.

What a trip! It was fabulous, people. I visited yarn shops, I went to hear the Harlot talk, I saw lots of knitters wearing their beautiful handmade goods, I ate good food. People were not lying when they said the Yarn Harlot was funny. I felt like I got two hours of free knitting-related stand up (if by "free" we mean the cost of a plane ticket). And she was right on point with the totally silly and unsubstantiated stereotypes non-knitters have about us. Like we're all socially inept and have no friends and nothing better to do so we knit. "Ha!", I laughed, eyes shifting nervously, "those crazy, crazy non-knitters. You so silly, you non-knitting, not-knowing-anything-about-me peoples, you," I continued, tiny bead of sweat running down my face. Crazy plastered-on grin, "no social life, soooo ridiculous!" And I'm sure you'll agree, and kindly not point out that I'm writing this on a Friday night.

On the down side, JerseyKnits, who I was supposed to meet but never actually got together with, did not ask the Harlot to sign her boobs, as far as I could see. And being the punk that I am, I didn't ask either. I had earlier suggested, both of us lacking in the boobal region (self-described! don't yell at me), that it might require all four of our booblets to get "Stephanie Pearl-McPhee" completely spelled out. But it seems it was not to be, and I find this disappointing for two reasons. One, I think it would have been hilarious to ask a knitting star to sign out boobs. And two, I was feeling a little boob-deprived. You would think I had gotten enough in South Africa, where by all measures, I saw about enough black breasts to lasts 17 straight guys' dreams for 17 years (17 is my number these days, I've counted about 17 thousand things as being "17" lately). So many breasts that by the end of the 17th "Festival of Topless 'Virgins'" (virgins, whatever you say) me and my group barely batted an eye. But no. And so I was disappointed.

Speaking of boobs (breasts have now become a recurring theme in this blog), let me offer you an example of what not to knit if you love your boobs. So there was a lot of hullabaloo about how Twinkle's new book Big City Knits had all these finished garments in it the chest circumference of the average person's head (like 22") in it. People were all worked up, "why can't we get away from anorexia as sexy" and so forth and so on. But the idea is supposed to be that knits stretch (I think we know this is true) and that chunky knits stretch even more. Okay, I decided to try it out. I'm a 34" bust. I swatched, I gauged (3.5 sts/inch), and I knit a vest at a 25" circumference. Which brings me to The Uniboob.

Cower with fear! The Uniboob sees all, with its giant darker-than-the-surrounding-area eye! Okay, maybe it's not so obvious in this pic, but trust me. It obviously fits, it obviously stretches, but it has to stretch so taut over the chest that there is not the slightest hint of a valley. Boo to that.

There are two pluses to this vest, though. First is the neckline, which I love. And the second is the back. Can you see it?

That's right. It says:

"Knitters are socially inept", ha! Proved them wrong, huh? Huh? Hello? Hey, no sass, or I'll sic the Uniboob on you! Anyway, I still remember the pattern, it's very basic, but I didn't write it out. Wasn't sure there'd be much demand for the Uniboob Vest.

So, back to the NY trip. I have to say I was kinda disappointed with the LYS I went to. I think I've been spoiled by my LYS (I love you, Loopy!), as I was generally not impressed, except with Seaport Yarns.

I went to Habu, which was all minimal and expensive, just like I expect a store of Japanese yarn to be. Really, the main room was just a beige mat in the center that had yarn on it, priced. That's it. There were benches along the wall, but you weren't allowed to sit on them. Then a tiny side room where everything was white and brown and priced by the ounce. Came away from there with nothing.

I visited Knitty City, which is a cute little store, but still more expensive than elsewhere. To be expected, I'm sure, as it's in Manhattan. What I wasn't expecting was for the Brooklyn store Knit-a-Way to be the most expensive of them all. Paton's Grace was $6.99! Cascade 220 was $7.99, the Plymouth chunky alpaca was $18, etc. And there were signs everywhere on how I was being monitored by security cameras. How can we pick out our murphies in such a place (not a word in your lexicon? check entry 2)? I didn't buy anything from either of these two stores.

I also went to School Products, which I was looking forward to because of their famous low prices for their own imports of cashmere and merino. But I swear, their cashmere and merino doesn't feel like the cashmere and merino I've felt before. It just doesn't feel as yummy, and I wasn't particularly excited about anything, so I didn't buy from there, either.

But Seaport Yarns was really fun. Just imagine an office suite, you know, reception desk, turn the corner, 4 or 5 offices down the hall, but instead of people working, every room and corridor is filled with yarn! I got lucky there, and after being disappointed elsewhere, made a second trip to this place. So from there I got these lovlies.

Blue Heron Rayon Metallic in "Water Hyacinth Copper" (a.k.a. "that's the spot") and Colinette Jitterbug in Marble

Aussie Wool (for friend to teach her to knit a hat), Louet Gems Pearl and Punta Del Este Mericash

The Mericash is exquisite, doesn't have any of that microfiber that the other "CashSomething" yarns have in them, and is nice and lofty. Cafe du Monde gloves, here I come!

But I was feeling all disappointed in my yarn field trips. I told the guy I was staying with that I thought the biggest yarn store, Webs, might be not too far. I saw it was a couple states away. I had my doubts, but he was like, nope, we can go, I'll drive. And he said this having a cast on his left arm. That's friendship, people ("friendship" is what we're calling it now). And so we went.

Look, people, look!

Webs has the biggest showroom I've seen for a yarn shop, but in addition to the showroom, there's a warehouse in back. A warehouse. Of yarn. A yarn warehouse. A large house, storing wares, which in this case, are all yarny. Eight long aisles of yarn goodness. And I cried, just a little.

And now to the Yarn P0rn that gives this post its X rating.

Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon and Webs' house brand Colrain (merino/tencel)

RYC Soft Lux in "Gigli" (whoever understands Rowan's naming practices?)

Rowan Chunky Print

Misti Alpaca Hand Dyed (alpaca makes me itch just a tiny bit, but in a "hurts so good" kind of way)

I will now let you all go take a cold shower. See you back here when you're decent.

Representing with the Harlot

2007-03-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, quick post, no pics, just a note that I'll be in NYC from Wednesday evening to Sunday morning, representing with all the other knitters at the Yarn Harlot's book release. I haven't read any of her books and don't know that I ever will, since all of my for-fun reading is in sci-fi and mystery. But I think the concept of a bunch of knitters and crocheters walking all over the city and making noise is cool. Plus the ticket was real cheap, I always get free room and board in NYC, and it's my spring break.

Plans are being made around the internet, with knitters planning to stand outside the window at the Today Show. I will not be there as getting up at 5:30 to be in front of the window of a show I never watch on my break does not appeal to me, but more power to all of you who are doing it. There will be knitters meeting in Central Park, Strawberry Fields at noon with their socks, and I may or may not be there. There is an exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design on Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting, and I won't be there, either since I don't get art (though I might be interested in any natural history museum around). But what I will definitely be doing is visiting some yarn stores, and Knit NYC and Seaport Yarn are on the must-visit list. So if anyone wants to tag along on Thursday or Friday to see one of these shops, I am more than happy for the company and someone to talk to about all the pretty yarn. Leave a comment or send me email or PM me on Knittyboard, KnittingHelp, or KnittersReview.

She Had Dumps Like a Truck, Truck, Truck

2007-03-13T12:28:00.000-05:00

Thighs like what, what, what. That's right, people, I'm talking about thongs. You might think after the ugly sun goddess, thong, and cursed sock incident that I'd be avoiding them, but I'm letting no one take away my thongs! And so I present to you, the knit thong:

And I'm going to tell you all right now, I wore the damn thing. That's right, 50% mohair content and all. And it felt good, so there! Whatever, doubt me, but you can't know until you try. People probably told Schaefer they were crazy for putting mohair in sock yarn. These are the most comfortable thong panties I've ever worn (probably cuz they're a little loose, admittedly), and I love 'em. and I look damn good in 'em, too!

Now, let me suggest that knit thongs be the new socks. Portable, fun and interesting construction, no seaming, and talk about quick. There's not much to a thong, people. Go ahead and try yours in a heavy machine washable sock yarn if you must, but you must try. Won't take you more than an evening, I guarantee. Pattern at Interweave Knits.

Now, this thong has brought along with it a chain of thoughts, and it goes like this. First, Knitters, stop being ashamed of your butts. I mean it, stop it right now! One thing growing up negro (good book title, huh? Growing Up Negro) gave me is a good appreciation of a decent sized butt. No more of this "oooh, this makes my butt look big" like it's a bad thing! No more, "I'm not knitting that skirt, it has a big ruffle that calls attention to your butt" and no more "triangle shawls make a big arrow that point to your butt, so I'm not knitting one". Love the butt, damnit! Guys do!

Second, this last reminded me of a good Korean friend of mine (you know who you are) who got teased and called "duck butt" cuz she has, what i think, is a cute little bubble butt in a land of buttlessness. Btw, my mother's nickname for me was, in fact, Ducky Butt. You love your butt, too!

And this in turn reminded me of a jewelry store owner I knew when I was in Korea. I visited his jewelry store often because, no need to mince words, he spoke English and I was lonely. This dude struck me as very gay, only he didn't seem to think so. I came into the store once and he said, "Nikki, I have a present for you" and proudly handed me photographs of himself. I kid you not. You know, one of those glamour shots type, and to top it all off, he had the studio insert little sparkly stars into his eyes in the picture. Yeah. So I asked him if he was gay once.

Me: So, um, are you gay?
Him: *placing hand against, presumably, fluttering heart* Me?! No! Why do you ask that?
Me: Well, you are wearing skin-tight black velvet pants.
Him: Oh, I can see how Americans would think that. But that's just the fashion here in Korea.
Me: *looking out of window onto crowded street, not seeing anybody in black velvet pants* Uh, okay.

And the glamour shot photo in turn reminds me of the one and only glamour shot photo I took. At my mother's request, with my hair straightened. For everyone who thinks my hair is really short, this is what it looks like straightened:

I do kinda like it, but getting this done (pressed, not permed) is painful and expensive, and I've gotten over the long-straight-hair-is-better thing that so many black women have had in them. So to Nikki (heehee, we have the same name), thank you for the compliment on the fro. And thanks to you too, Knitting Addict, for the compliment on my skin, though I must shamefully admit that you might be being deceived by the poor photography, as my skin is not all that great. I wish it was.

The hair thing reminds me of a movie I just saw on video, Something New. I friggin heart this movie. I was watching it at home and looking over my shoulder to see if there was indeed some scriptwriter taking notes on my life. Okay, not like me in all ways cuz I didn't grow up black bougie and I don't have a real job, but whatever.

And though none of these things reminds me of knitting, I think I should put some knitting stuff on here anyway cuz, after all, this is a knitting blog, so, here's the Falling Water Scarf I did in the most sinfully delicious yarn I've yet to work with Art Yarns Silk Rhapsody Glitter. Cuz my camera sucks (insert preferred cuss word here), you can't see the gold thread of glitter running through, but it's there.

And the sleeve of the Fair Isle Sleeve Sweater from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006. Holy Expletive, this sleeve was a lot of work! No short easily memorizable pattern repeats here. Did the back already, working on the front and still have the other sleeve to do.

Okay, I'm tuckered out. Time to go enjoy the nice weather, as it's short lived. Oh, and thanks to everybody who comments. You should know I read every single one of your comments multiple times. *smooches*

Something Old, Something New

2007-03-01T11:46:00.000-06:00

Something borrowed, something blue. Isn't that how it goes? I'm not getting married (would anybody ever marry me?!), but I do have some old stuff, some new stuff, and some blue stuff to show. Um, nothing borrowed for the moment.

So, last summer when I was in South Africa I knitted this cardigan. It's from the Yarn Girls Guide to the Basics. I didn't like it. It was all bulky and stuff, and the sleeves were a bit short. I've since learned to always lengthen the sleeves for knitting patterns since my arms must be like an inch longer than other people's my size. So I hung it up in the closet with all the ends not woven in with the idea that some day I would rip it out and recycle the yarn. Well, today I looked at it and you know, it's not so bad after all. So I weaved in the ends and am wearing it now. The yarn, Berkshire Bulky, is itchy to me, so it's a good thing this is a cardigan and not a next-to-skin item.

In true "you can take the knitter out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the knitter" fashion, instead of buttons like the pattern calls for or even a proper shawl pin, it's being held together with an old piece of a necklace I cut up and a darning needle.

Some time last year I also knitted, like everyone else and their momma, an Anthropologie Inspired Capelet. What is this yarn? It's Ironstone something-or-other. It's beautiful yarn, drop dead gorgeous yarn, and I got 2 hanks of it at Stitches last summer. So run to your yarns shops and tell them you want Ironstone Something-Or-Other, quick!

Anyway, I friggin love this capelet. Wanna know a little something about capelets? They look good on everybody. I've seen them on little people and big people, tiny tittied people (witness pic of me below) and boobalicious people (btw, I hate you people). And you know why? Cuz they add more bulk to your boobal area and no bulk to your stomach area, so that your stomach always looks smaller in comparison to your boobs than usual. And for the booby-impoverished like myself. It makes you look like you actually have a little something going up there. Here I am in my classic "you spent too much time in Asia" pose. I did this for the tank photo, too. Now, notice how busty I look.

Close examination of the curvature of the leotard above reveals, however, the true minimalness of the nah-nahs.

Close up pic:

And extreme closeup of the tie with beads. This tie is actually yarn of the discontinued Filatura di Crosa Ultralight, which has been waiting patiently for me to finish a lace tunic in it.

Thanks to my friend for taking these pics. I felt bad asking a married man to continuously take close-up shots of my breastiful area, but, um, not bad enough to stop asking.

*ding ding ding*, this post wins for Most References to Own Breasts in a Single Post! And what do I win, a booby prize! *duh duh, ching!*

Finally, to the new. I made gloves following the Ken Gloves pattern at Berroco. Fingers are hard. There are all these gaps at the base of the finger webs and you have to try your best to cover those up when you sew in the ends. I suck at doing this, but at least they fit. Sorta. I went down a needle size because I (hopefully) don't have man-sized hands and the pattern is for mens gloves. But I still made the fingers too long. Ah well, at least they work at keeping my hands warm. The yarn came from my ever-growing stash, Art Yarns Ultramerino I think, or whichever one is their worsted weight.

Oh, come to think of it, I do have something borrowed. It's this movie:

Man, this is a bad movie. To the couple who lent me this movie, y'all are real sweet and I like you, but this movie sucks (and not in the good way). John Carpenter's Vampires, staring James Woods. I shoulda known, right. The Blade movies, I like. The Underworld movies, I like. This movie? At least I lent you The Grudge, which may not be top notch, admittedly, but dang. Dang, y'all, dang.

San Francisco is YarnTastic!

2007-02-13T06:16:00.000-06:00

It was so cold in Chicago. So so cold. Last week Monday, it was -9 in the morning. I didn't know this, but when I went outside, I knew something was wrong. Very very wrong. I was bundled up and had a scarf around my face, only one strip of forehead and my eyes were exposed between the scarf and my hat. And that strip of skin hurt. After a while I began to notice my eyelashes were sticking together. I wiped them and ice chunks came off. Ice chunks on my lashes people!

But I was looking forward to the weekend because I would be in San Francisco. San Francisco, and I had been promised any yarn I want as a Valentine's Day gift. I asked around, and got some helpful suggestions from people on Knittyboard and Knitter's Review. I wanted a silk/wool blend, DK to worsted weight, hand-dyed, and with multiple plies.

While I was dreaming of and searching around for my new yarn, I was also making a sweater as a gift for the one who would give me the yarn. Yes, I know about the curse. In case you don't remember, I brought it about with just a pair of socks. But this relationship had, indeed, gone on longer than I had/have really wanted. Not to say he isn't a good guy who has helped me a lot, but I don't feel that way about him anymore. He's more like my travel and dining partner. The paying partner. No, truly, he's a really good friend. Anyway, I decided to knit him the Andoa Sweater from Berroco. I decided this about 12 days before the schedule SF trip. Hmmm. Not, you notice, a plain stockinette sweater. Textured, all over, front back and sleeves. Hmmm.

So I knit with an intensity heretofore unknown in this world. It was truly a Knitensity. I ordered some Cascade Ecological Wool. It arrived Thursday afternoon. The SF trip was the following week Saturday and Sunday. I started as soon as it arrived. By Friday night I had 15":

At which point I admitted to myself what I had known for the past 6 or 7 inches; it was too big, despite my gauge swatch. Somamabitch lying gauge. Damn, wasn't like I had all the time in the world to rip back and start again. I put it to the side thinking I might be able to cut it, before or after sewing it together. I would think about it. I set it aside and began to work on the front. I spent all weekend on it. By Sunday night I had this:

I decided I was just going rip back the back and start over. I did so, did the neckband, and started the sleeve. I was not getting enough sleep and was beginning to shirk other responsibilities. By Thursday, I had this:

Was I really going to make it? My wrists were hurting, I had shooting pain up one forearm. Was I going to give myself carpal tunel? Injury be damned, I must continue! By the next Friday night I had this. It's surrounded by the stuff I'm packing for the flight next day.

I was knittng on the bus to the airport, sewing up seams in the airport before I had even finished the sleeves. I needed to rip back about 3 inches on one to make it longer in the garter stitch section. I was knitting and seaming the whole plain ride. All the non-knitters "ooh, so pretty. do you sell? a gift? i wish i were your friend. 8 days you say? oh no, i'd never have the patience". As I was weaving in ends, the pilot announced the initial descent (speaking of which, I just saw the movie The Descent. A legitimately scary movie. I was impressed). I had to buy a pair of nail clippers at an Oakland Aiport store to cut the yarn from all the woven in ends. But I had finished. Later in the day, he tried it on. It fit!

Now, to the yarn. We went to Art Fibers, which was nice but didn't have really what I wanted. Actually, they had a nice yarn called Cheescake which was very pretty but I didn't want any of the colors it came in. They had beautiful silk yarns, but we know silk, with the whole lack of elasticity thing, I couldn't go for silk that didn't even have any plies to give it some springiness. Not for a sweater.

We went to Imagiknits, which is a truly great store. I'm still dreaming of some of the stuff I saw there. But not what I wanted. Lots of different companies making the same thing, but not enough making what I wanted to be at this store. We went to eat here. It was delicious. I got drunk, broke a wine glass. The next day I called around to lots of stores asking for a dk to worsted weight hand dyed silk/wool blend with multiple plies. No luck.

We went to Sonoma to drink wine. We stopped at a small yarn store that didn't have what I wanted, but she suggested we try one in Petaluma called The Knitterly. They weren't open yet, so we went to the Sebastiani winery. After the winery, we went to The Knitterly in Petaluma. I drove this time because he had gotten an urgent business call and it was going on and on and on. We used the super cool NeverLost GPS. I got there and Eureka! I got 8 hanks of Alchemy Sanctuary, a 70% wool 30% silk hand dyed blend, plied, DK, in the Rainforest colorway. Also a couple of balls of KidSilk haze. They will go into a sweater I'm designing for myself

Nice stuff, huh? Somehow, I feel strangely unsatisfied. Someone suggested it was all in the hunt. But I had a great time. SF and the surrounding area was warm(er), especially Sonoma where it was sunny and 60 degrees. And I had beautiful yarn I couldn't have got myself. The Andoa sweater was finished and it fit. What more could I ask for? But still not satisfied. I'm a spoiled brat.

Fear of the DH

2007-02-02T08:42:00.000-06:00

So I have chatted on several knitting and crochet forums and one thing that puzzles me is fear of the DH, dear husband. Everyone is like, "I know I shouldn't buy more yarn, DH will be mad." I guess it's cuz I've never lived with a man, but this both confuses and scares me. Grown women, income-earning women even, afraid to buy yarn because of their husbands. I know there are fewer male knitters and crocheters, but the ones that do post, I can't recall ever reading one of them saying something like "my wife (or SO) will kill me if I buy more yarn". Where does this come from? Is the husband always the one that controls all the finances in the house? Or is it a "i'm in a partnership and i shouldn't spend so much money on things that are not for all of us" idea? And if it's that, then why not just say that? If they know money needs to go elsewhere, well then they know that's their responsibility that they must see to. But no, instead it's because they're afraid of their husbands. Is the husband responsible for making sure the wife does not ignore her other financial responsibilities? And if it's not financial, the alternatives seem scarier. Husband-enforced yarn diets? What?

Makes me wonder sometimes, do I even want to get married? I don't know. I'm sure it doesn't have to be that way, because between my mother and my stepfather, it's definitely my mother who controls the purse strings. She never seems afraid to buy something because her husband wouldn't approve (I wonder would he dare even try to tell her not to buy something?). She either buys what she wants or, if she doesn't buy it, it because she knows the money is needed elsewhere. Her motivation isn't fear of being disciplined by her husband.

I'm sure what I'm saying must rub some people the wrong way. I'm also sure I'll hear the "you don't understand because you're not married." Maybe that's true. But looking at it from the outside, I'm not sure it's something I want to get into.

I've been tagged!

2007-01-29T17:40:00.000-06:00

Memeefly tagged me. Oooh, oooh, now I can play too! I'm it, I'm it! Okay, let's see, the rule is that I have to come up with 6 weird things about myself. Yeah. Um, only 6 huh? I think the much more difficult list to come up with would be to find 6 normal things about me. Ready for the crazy? And awwaaay we go!

1) I have this in my living room:

A friend of the (not tobacco) smoking type was sitting on my couch one evening. I turned my timers on to show him something and his eyes bulged and he was like "you have lights!" Yes, yes I do. And before any of you start calling the authorities (or suddenly deciding that I would make a really good best friend), those are only 40 watt flourescents, and I heard around the way (cough) that much more intensive light is needed for, um, some other plants. Like Vanda orchids, yeah, like them.

I'm a member of the Northern Illinois Gesneriad Society. A Streptocarpus 'Bethan' that I showed one best in class and special honors. When I go to the meetings, often I am the youngest by 25 or so years. Yep. Here's a closeup:

2) I also have this in my living room:

This is Enif the Bunny. Bunnies are the world's cutest animals, and I don't care what anyone says. I'm not saying they're the absolute best pets, but they are definitely the cutest. You think cute and sweet and what do you think? Balloons, rainbows, and bunnies. I had another but Toki passed away toward the end of last year. Whyyyy!

3) I also have these in my living room:

Yeah. I can't really think of any justification for this, so I'm going to just leave it.

4) I skipped 3 grades, 10th-12th. Early Entrance Program, at Cal State LA. The truly amazing thing about this is, I'm not all that smart. Test taking is a skill that can be learned, and it will get you all the way through college! Now grad school, that's another matter.

5) I have this thing about holes. Holes with stuff in them. Like goop stuff and creamy stuff. I know what you all are thinking. And you know, I think you might be right. All I know is, seeing a honeycomb with wax in parts of it, creeps me out. The idea of pores filled with dirt and goop, ahhhh! I got a forwarded email once, you know, the ones that tell you of the terrible things that will happen to you in foreign places (I'll give you the link, but I'm warning you, it's creepy), and I lost it. That image was in my head for weeks. And now it's back. Thanks again for bringing that image back, Memeefly, thanks a whole lot.

6) I speak, to a certain degree, some Korean. Do you see that pic of me in the upper right corner? Do I look Korean to you? Hmm, as a matter of fact, that pic was taken in Korea. Now, I want all of you out there in blogland to raise your little hands and count on your little fingers how many black girls you know who speak Korean. Go ahead, I'll let you count me as the first. Here we go, 한명, 두명, yeah right, like you even got to two.

Not wanting to forget the Korean I worked so hard to learn, I decided to sit in on the weekly Korean language table at my university this quarter. It's for students of Korean to practice their Korean conversation. Who was in that group last week? 3 Korean American guys whose speaking is fluent (even if they use 틀리다 instead of 다르다. why does that drive me crazy?), 2 1/2 white 1/2 Korean youngins, the Korean teacher, and me. It's weird people, it's real weird. Combine this with my small Zulu knowledge, and you get double weird.

Okay, so there we go. I wondered who I would tag if I ever got tagged. I think everyone on every blog I read has already been tagged. Over the course of the next few days, I'll find some untagged people. In the meantime, I'm tagging you, Angel.

Christmas break knitting

2007-01-10T18:05:00.000-06:00

I visited family for 3 weeks in southern CA where I couldn't take and download digital pictures. So this is what I made while I was gone. I made a hat out of Lopi. I like this hat, and the pattern is my own, but simple enough. I actually wrote down the pattern, but left it on my mother's computer, so I'll get her to forward it to me.

Also made some socks in Cascade Fixation. These socks knit up really fast, but I hate this color. I couldn't tell from the ball that it would be like 75% lime green. It's just gross. The crazy thing is, this was the most subtle color combination I could get in this yarn in the store I bought it in, an overpriced place in on Hawthorne in southern CA. They don't have price tags on any of the yarn or the bins, you have to look it up in a master list each time you're interested in some yarn. I hate that! But figuring I knew about how much Cascade Fixation costed because I had priced it at so many other stores, I didn't check the list. I was shocked to find they charged $7.25/ball, even for the solids! Won't be at that store again. Plus, I have ladders, which makes this the first pair of socks I've made with ladders. I'm sure it's because I heard not to knit this yarn too tightly or you would take all the stretch out of it. But I guess I forgot to at least knit the first and last stitches on each needle tightly, and I got ladders.

And is it just me, or do handknit socks make your feet and ankles look fatter? I think they do. Combine my fattened ankles with the blinding hideousness of that color, and this pair kinda left me cold. Good thing is I only needed 44 stitches on size 2s.

Finally, I made a booga bag with 3 skeins of Patons Soy Wool Stripes. Everyone warned me that it shrank fast, so I was on the lookout. I took it out in about 3 minutes and it wasn't as felted as I wanted, put it in for another 3 minutes and it was tiny. What can I fit in here? And once again, I'm not in love with my own color choice. I wish I had gone for the Natural Navy. This one is in Natural Earth, I think.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back home. Going to my parents house for so long always leaves me feeling 10 years old. And I have to borrow their cars since it's L.A. area and you can't do anything without a car. "Mommy, can I borrow the keys to your car?" I had a drink in front of my mother and stepfather for the first time, and I had to have a one hour discussion on alcohol. People, in case you don't know, I'm 28 years old. Good to be back in my own space.

Toki

2006-12-12T07:22:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I guess it's time to write about the passing of my little bunny, Toki. I got Toki about 2 years ago, and she died last Monday. She died so young. I should have rushed her to the hospital as soon as I saw her mushy poop, but I thought she could last a few hours as I was rushing off to work. So stupid. She was dead when I came back. I feel so guilty. I'm so sorry, Toki. Next time I will know better.

I cried a lot. I'm sure people will think it's silly, but she my was companion for two years. They live in my apt. with me, and my two bunnies were the last thing I would check on before I left the house and the first thing I would check on when I got back. I tried to take good care of her. Unlike Enif, who I adopted from a shelter, I got Toki from a pet store. She was so little, a baby Netherlands Dwarf. Here are some early pictures:

Here she is still getting to know Enif (the flash makes her eyes red):

Eating her veggies:

Somehow I had the idea that if she had been in a pet store being petted by lots of people, she'd be used to be touched and handled by people. But Toki was always a little shy of people, even me who she saw everyday, and Enif became more friendly. Go figure.

Her name means "rabbit" in Korean. Before I had her, I used to just call Enif "bunny", and I thought, "what will I do when i have another bunny?" So I named her 'rabbit' in Korean. Anyway, after I got her I stopped calling Enif "bunny" anyway. Some times I called her "Little Mama" because of her false pregnancy. When I first got her, she was too young to have spayed. Unspayed rabbits can sometimes go into a false pregnancy when mounted by a male. Enif had been neutered for a long time, but I guess it didn't matter because when she was around 4 or 5 months old, she had a false pregnancy. She went around the house gathering anything soft she could find to make a nest. Very destructive. She also took fur from her belly, and she turned their litter box into a nest. I think Enif was confused. See what she did to this doll's head!

So I got her spayed. Near $200! I cleaned her wound everyday, twice a day, though she hated it.

When I went to study Zulu in Bloomington, Indiana over the summer, I packed up my favorite plants, clothes, and my two bunnies and drove down there with them. Here is a picture of her all grown up from that time:

It was in Indianapolis that I found their bunny sitter, a volunteer for the House Rabbit Society. Even though I went back to Chicago after that summer, I still drove them down to their house when I went out of town because she is such a caring bunny lover. I will take Enif there next week while I visit family for xmas in CA. She said she would light a candle for Toki to help her cross the Rainbow Bridge. I'm not one for supernatural or spiritual stuff, but it is nice to imagine Toki as still being somewhere, curiously getting ready to cross a bridge where she will have other bunnies to snuggle with and get all the banana treats she wants.

I had her for two years. She was really special. Oh Little Mama, we will miss you around here. Goodbye, Toki.

Crazy for Colorwork

2006-12-06T07:31:00.000-06:00

Since the fair isle sweater, I seem to have just gone crazy for colorwork. I just got Vol 3 of Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, and I love it. It's just what I wanted. I wish there were several more books like it so I could have a collection of thousands of colorwork patterns. But in the meantime I am using it to make some fair isle gloves. I'm knitting them flat because I didn't want to figure out how to do the thumb gusset while working fair isle. I'll sew up the side and leave a space for the thumb and then add the thumb and fingers on after, I think/hope. This is where I am so far. Just started last night. I LOVE the yarn I used for this. Frog Tree Alpaca's Merino. Alpaca makes me a little itchy, though not on my hands I guess. I used it for the headbands below, and I bought some more as comfort yarn right after dropping my dead bunny at the vet (post coming soon).

These are a couple of head bands I did for my upcoming ski trip. One for me and one for my companion, I guess. I got the snowflake motif from this site . I LOVE the yarn I used for this.

And this slip stitch pattern. I love slip stitch colorwork. So easy because you only do one color per row. I got the pattern here. But we aware that there is a typo on rounds 8 and 9, and the asterisk should be after the first slipped stitch. Also, worsted weight on size 10.5s is very loose. I used size 8s and cast on 90 stitches. Karabella Aurora 8 is the gray and Dolce Mohair Rigato is the self-striping mohair/acrylic blend.

Drops pattern Fair Isle Sweater

2006-11-18T21:36:00.000-06:00

So this is my first fair isle project. I wanted to be really happy with this sweater. I wanted to LOVE this sweater. I wanted to love it so much, little kids would say "if you love it so much, why don't you marry it?" And then I would say "I will." And then we would get married and spend many wonderful years together and have 1/2 black 1/2 sweater babies, until one day I had a baby that was 1/2 black 1/2 blue Malabrigo, and Mr. Karabella Aurora 8 Fair Isle would scream "whose baby is this?!" and storm out of the delivery room.

But I don't love it as much as all that. I guess it's okay for my first time. But it puckers in places and my increases look sloppy. I still don't know what to do to make my increases less visible, but I did get advice on the puckering. Someone told me every color change or two to give the work a tug so that the carried yarn in back gets pulled out and stretched all the way across flat. I think for something like this, too, I will knit the fair isle part on larger needles.

This was knit in Karabella Aurora 8 on size 7 needles.

Closeup of Yoke

From the front - another headless knitting photo

From the back

My Patterns

2006-10-27T10:11:00.000-05:00

S'more Cables and Lace Sleeveless Turtleneck

I will update this post whenever I post a new pattern and it will be accessible from a link in the right-hand menu.

My first pattern for sale is now available. It is "S'more", my cables and lace sleeveless turtleneck, knit in Malabrigo. It's named for its marshmallowy softness and squishiness.

Specs:
Level: Intermediate
Finished bust size: 32.5" (35", 37.5", 40", 43.5", 47", 50.5")
Materials: 3 (3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5) skeins of Malabrigo, Continental Blue; size 8 (5mm) needles straight and 16" circular; cable needle; stitch markers; waste yarn
Gauge: 19 sts, 28 rows = 4" on size 8 (5 mm) needles in st st

2006-10-26T21:02:00.000-05:00

I Am a Winner!

Mommy always said I was a winner, and she was right! I won, I won! I won for the Stylish category in the Model Your Socks Contest. Thank you, Keohinani, for hosting the contest! Yesterday I got this wonderful package in the mail.

I got two hanks of KnitPicks Gloss in Woodland Sage. It's a 70% merino 30% silk blend, and boy does it feel like it. Yum. Speaking of yum, I also got candy. Pez in a Hello Kitty dispenser. In fact, I got a lot of Hello Kitty stuff, as you can see from the picture. The dispenser is on a whole new level of cute, though. Witness: The body is purple. Hello Kitty is winky. She has sitting on top of her head a little bunny. Both her and the bunny have flowers on their heads. The bunny is wearing pink overalls. I'm telling you people, I nearly exploded. Maybe we can get a Hello Kitty pic up a little later.

2006-10-22T16:19:00.000-05:00

Cables and Lace Sleeveless Turtleneck

This is a pattern I came up with for my three hanks of Malabrigo in Continental Blue. I love this yarn. People say it's like knitting clouds, but I think it's a wee too squishy to be what I'd imagine a cloud to feel like. Maybe like clouds while you're knitting, but a bit more substantial when it's done. More like a mixture of cloud and marshmallow. And now you know why people call it Mmmmmmalabrigo.

Anyhow, someone said I should write this pattern up to sell. Well, okay, I will. We remember what happened when someone suggested I send in a pattern to Magknits, right? Sadness, people, sadness and disappointment, that's what happened. But I figure I will give it a go and see if people actually want to buy it. It may take me a couple of days to work out the math for larger sizes, though, cuz of course my notes are only for my size. But in a bit I'll put it up for sale to download.

I think I'll need a catchy name for it, though. Can anyone help me? Would it be an incentive if I said that if I choose your name you get a copy of the pattern for free? (wish i could pay, but you know how my wallet always is: empty)

Okay, here are the pics. Hopefully by the time this is up for sale, there will be prettier pics (where I don't look so busted) that will make you want to buy 17 copies. Why should you need 17 copies, I don't know, but that would make me really happy. ;-)

In other news, my blog is now officially rated PG-13:

The other side reads "I have needles and I'm not afraid to use them". Get your own at Cafe Press.

Finally, I won the Stylish category for the Model Your Socks contest. I'm thrilled about it, but think I will wait to blog about it until I receive my prize in the mail.

2006-10-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

Flowers and Vines Crochet Neck Warmer

Yay, I finished something! Yay, crochet! This is a neckwarmer I made from one ball each of two colors of RYC Cashsoft. I used absolutely all of the green, but about 1/3 of the pink ball was left. A tutorial for how to make this is below the photos.

How to make it
You will need 2 50gram balls in your choice of color in your choice of a light worsted/dk weight yarn. I used RYC Cashsoft.
Color A: That green color
Color B: That pink color

I used a size F hook.
Gauge is not critical. But for me 15 sc = 2 1/2 inches on size F hook.

Neckwarmer band
With A, ch 16.
Row 1: skip first ch and sc in each ch across. (15 sc) ch 1, turn.
From this point on for the whole band, you will be working your single crochet in the back loops only.
Row 2: sc across in the back loops, dropping A and changing to B in the last st.

Repeat row 2, changing colors every two rows (do row 3-4 in B, 5-6 in A, 7-8 in B, and so on). Do not break the yarn for each change, just carry it loosely up the side.
Continue this until your piece measures approximately 11 1/2 inches. The next row will be the buttonhole row.

Buttonhole row: sc in first 3 sc, ch 2, sk next 2 sc, sc in next 4 sc , ch 2, sk next next 2 sc, sc in rem 4 sc. ch1, turn.
Next row: sc in back loop of each sc and each ch across.

Work row 2 once more. If this last row is green, continue with the vine portion below. If not, work one more row so that the last row is green and continue with the vine portion. You can break A (the pink color), but do not cut B.

Neckwarmer base
ch 1, now turn the work so that you can work along the ends of the rows. sc in the end of each row until the end. ch 1, turn.

Below I tell you how to make the parts of the neckwarmer, the vines, leaves, and flowers, so refer to those instructions as you go along. The general procedure for putting all the vines and flowers on the neckwarmer base is as follows:

After completing the row of the neckwarmer base, sc in first 2 sc, make a long or short vine and however many leaves or offshoot vines you want to off this main vine. Once the vine is completed and you have joined the yarn back to the neckwarmer base, sc in next 5 sc and make another vine of your choosing. Continue this across until you have fewer than 5 sc remaining on the neckwarmer base. sc in those last few stitches and fasten off. Sew flowers onto whichever part of the vines you desire. I did mine on top of the leaves.

Vines
Do not break the yarn at any point.

To make a long vine: ch 40.
Row 1: sc in second ch from hook and each ch across. ch 1 turn
Rows 2-3: sc in each sc across. ch 1, turn, except at end of row 3, join to next sc on neckwarmer base with a sl st.

To make a short vine: Do as for long vine except start with ch 30 instead of ch 40

To make an offshoot vine: On row 3 of your long or short vine, at whatever point in the row you choose, ch 15, sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch back to beg ch, join to next stitch on main vine with a sc.

To make a leaf: On row 3 of vine, at whatever point in the row you choose:
ch 1, turn.
Row 1: sc in 3 sc (so this looks like you were going to start a 4th row on the main vine). ch 1, turn.
Row 2: 2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next sc, 2 sc in last sc (5 sc). ch 1, turn.
Row 3: 2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in last sc (7 sc). ch 1, turn.
Row 4: 2 sc in 1st sc, sc in next 5 sc, 2 sc in last sc (9 sc). ch 1, turn.
Row 5: sc across. ch 1, turn.
Row 6: work 2 sc tog, sc in next 5 sc, work last 2 sc tog (7 sc). ch 1, turn.
Row 7: sc acroos. ch 1, turn.
Row 8: work 2 sc tog, sc in next 3 sc, work last 2 sc tog (5 sc), ch 1, turn.
Row 9: work 2 sc tog, sc in next sc, work last 2 sc tog ( 3 sc), ch 1, turn.
Row 10: work 3 sc together. ch 1.

Now working along the side of the leaf that will get you back down to the main vine going in the direction back up towards the neckwarmer base, sl st along the edge of the leaf in each row. This is done just so you can get back to completing row 3 of the vine without having to cut the yarn. Once you are down to the bottom of the leaf, sc in next sc of row 3 of the main vine and continue to sc across until you are back up to the neckwarmer base, and you have just completed row 3.

To make a flower:
ch 5. join to 1st ch to form a loop.
Rnd 1: working in loop, *sc, ch 3* 5 times. join to first sc with sl st.
Rnd 2: work (sc, hdc, dc, trc, dc, hdc, sc) in each of the ch 3 spaces. join to first sc with sl st. fasten off.

Closure:
Okay, so at this point you should have a long strip with vines and flowers dangling from it. Now you need to sew two 3/4" diameter buttons to the side of the neckwarmer that does not have the buttonholes. Make sure they will approximately line up with the position of the buttonholes once you fold the neckwarmer into a circle.

Make a flower and a leaf as above, except for the flower, start with a ch 8 (so that the ring that is formed will be big enough for the button to go through) and for the leaf, start it by chaining 5 and working a sc in 2nd ch from hook, ch 2 and sk next two chains (this is buttonhole), and 2 sc in last ch. Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc and ch across (5 sc). Continue leaf construction as above, starting from row 3.

Now sew the flower and leaf onto the neckband so that the buttonholes on the neckwarmer are aligned with the buttonholes of the leaf and flower.

Now you should be able to fold the neckwarmer around your neck and button it by pushing the buttons through both the buttonholes on the neckwarmer itself and through the flower and leaf.

If you have any questions, please send an email or post a comment and I'll try to clarify. If you make it, please show me a pic as I'd love to see.

2006-10-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

Lantern Moon Basket "Indochine" for Birthday!

Okay, so my birthday was May 31st. It had to be special ordered from a lys in California, and my Daddy told them to send it directly to Chicago. But by then I had already left for South Africa. So it was returned to the factory. Then they shipped the basket to the lys, where my daddy picked it up and kept it during the summer. Finally, he shipped it to me, so after the 3rd shipping and 4 months later, I have it! You can see all the beautiful Lantern Moon bags at the following link, which is where I chose my favorite, Indochine
http://www.lanternmoon.com/AA.asp

2006-10-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

Tales from the Silly Side: Yo Ugly Mama

Why did you get angry with me when I called yo mama ugly? It's not my fault yo mama ugly. I, along with the rest of the world, feel sorry for yo ugly mama. And yet, you were angry with me. With me! As though I was the one who made her ugly. Why weren't you angry with your grandparents? They were the ones who produced such offspring. All I was trying to do was warn the general public, particularly those with weak hearts, that yo ugly mama was approaching, and that they might want to look to whatever precautions they deemed necessary: hiding, yelling and running in fear, gouging their eyes out, collectively putting a giant paper bag over her head, and one over their heads just in case hers came off, removing their glasses before they see her lest they spontaneously shatter into a thousand tiny pieces from the horror of it all. And really, I was thinking of yo ugly mama, too, because I saw that she was fast coming upon a full length mirror and I didn't want her to inadvertantly glance into the mirror, causing goddess-knows-what damage to her psyche. Truly, like the astronomical expanse of the the multiverse, human psyches are not prepared to contemplate the enormity of yo mama's ugliness. I was only doing what I thought was a kindness to yo ugly mama and all around her who have to endure her presence. Is it a crime to want to prevent further damage to our corneas in a world of rising vision care costs?

So next time someone points out yo mama's ugliness, don't get mad at them. Don't blame the messenger. Instead, let us work together for a future where, hopefully, there is never again born an individual who is quite as ugly as yo mama.

2006-10-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Save the Socks at All Costs!

You'd never expect to hear that phrase twice in a day from separate people, and yet, I did. I was knitting these things like crazy. Knitting while walking to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, on the subway, transferring trains, crossing the street. So I could finish in time for the Model Your Socks Contest. Wish me luck. They're my first pair of socks! On size 3 needles using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in colorway Black Purl. I was helped through Silver's Sock Tutorial . Thank's, Silver!

I like the one below better cuz it makes my legs look so sexy! But unfortunately, it doesn't show enough sock for a Model Your Socks contest.

2006-09-27T18:09:00.000-05:00

I Cut Off My Hair!

Aaahhhhh! I cut my hair off! Again! Every couple of years, I feel like I just can't comb through so much nappiness even one more time, and I take out the scissors and just start cutting stuff off. Look at my fallen hair!

And since I don't actually know how to cut hair, I was looking all busted. Or so I thought. So I wore a hat for a few days and today decided I'd better try to do something with it, so I braided the front and gathered the rest in a poofball in the back. Then I wore my favorite high heel sandals and also a new red cotton dress to compensate for my bustedness. This is how I look.

Btw, you can also see where I have to work all the time now, in "the dungeon" as we call it. No natural light. We just moved our office and so everything is in boxes. It looks like a storage facility. Thank goodness I only work 12 hrs a week!

For comparison, my hair used to be this long, if I ever blew it out or flat ironed it. I look a little shocked because I had just drunk bee wine in this pic. Yep, bee wine. Scores of bee corpses floating in the bottom of the bottle. I think I actually swallowed a wing.

So anyway, I was walking home, trying my best not to look busted, when some dude asks if he can introduce himself to me from the car. Considering my to'-up state, I was a bit shocked and decided I could do with the flattery, so I let him spit his little game. Aw, fellas, c'mon fellas. I'm going to have to run a class. "How Not To Flirt 101". But okay, so I'm beautiful and if we weren't in the street and he wasn't so shy he'd just stare at me in my red dress, looking beautiful in my red dress. And several things popped into my mind. One was Crazy Sotho Guy, about whom I will have to write a post some day (but you don't understand how I feel, Nikki!). Another was some other dude who gave me one of my all-time favorite lines: I wish I had all the time in the world to look at you. Come to think of it, he was Sotho, too! And the next thing I thought about was Smoove . If you don't know, it's time you know. It is time you got Smooved. And so I'm like, "do you read The Onion". You know what? I think I will call him, if only to get his email address and forward him an article from Smoove.

2006-09-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

Pretty Princess Fingerless Mittens

I'm posting pics and the pattern now so you all are welcome to it. Update: This pattern will be in Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar 2008. It's April 21st, Earth Day!

Isn't my bunny Enif cute?

Description: Fingerless mittens with the body knitted in ribbing to stretch to fit the average woman's hand, with big crocheted ruffle trim on top and bottom, and matching crocheted bows at wrist level. No ruffle on thumb or underside of glove to allow fingers to still move freely. For maximum girliness, try it all in pink.

Design: by Nikki Adams

Difficulty level: Intermediate

Materials:
Yarn A: 1 ball Cascade Pastaza (100 grams, 50% wool 50% llama)
Yarn B: 1 ball of Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in coordinating color (50 grams, mohair blend)
Size 7 / 4.5 mm double pointed needles
Size H / 5 mm crochet hook
stitch markers

Substitutions: Cascade Pastaza is very warm, but slightly itchy. You might try Malabrigo, RYC Cashsoft Aran, or DB Cashmerino Aran . I knit a bit tightly, so other knitters may go with these slightly less bulky yarns to get gauge anyhow.
Substitutes for the Lion Brand mohair could be Trendsetter Dune or Valley Yarns Wildwood.

Size: To fit the average woman's hand.

Gauge: approximately 6 sts=1" / 2.5cm, 24 sts = 4" / 10cm in 4x1 rib with A on size 7 needles (approx. 5 sts/inch in st st), 25 rows = 4" / 10cm in rib, or any yarn/needle combo to give gauge. Gauge is not super crucial as ribbing will stretch.

Notes: You could make the ruffles slightly smaller by using a G (4.25) hook instead. For a slightly different look, weave a ¼ " ribbon around the wrist instead of the crocheted bow.
When number of stitches increase (as while working gusset) or decreases (once gusset stitches are put onto waste yarn), continue working the rib pattern as the stitches lie. That is, do not incorporate the new or lost stitches into the rib pattern; work these in st st.

Glove Body:

Cast on 35 sts with A. Divide over 3 dpns.
Work 4x1 rib (k 4, p 1) around until glove body reaches approximately 4 ½ ".

Begin Thumb Gusset:
Rnd 1: k1, pm, k1, M1, M1, pm. 5 sts between markers. Continue around in 4x1 rib (see notes).
Rnd 2: continue around in 4x1 rib pattern, slipping markers.
Rnd 3: slip marker, k1, M1 a total of three times evenly across sts between markers until you reach last st, k1, slip marker, continue around in 4x1 rib pattern.

Repeat rounds 2 and 3 until you have 14 sts between markers. Repeat Rnd 2 up to the point where you reach the 2nd marker. Slip stitches between markers onto waste yarn. Continue working around in 4x1 rib (see notes) for another 1 ½ ". BO loosely in rib pattern.

Thumb:
Slip sts from waste yarn onto 3 dpns.
For a small thumb:
Pick up 2 sts around the gap between gusset and glove body for a total of 16 stitches. Work in (k3, p1) rib for 3 rounds. BO loosely in rib.
For a medium - large thumb:
Pick up 4 sts around the gap between gusset and glove body for a total of 18 stitches. Work in (k2, p1) rib for 3 rounds. BO loosely in rib.

Crochet Trimmings:
Bottom ruffle: With hook and yarn B, sl st the yarn to join at any point on bottom end of glove body.
Rnd 1: Ch 1, sc in same space, and sc 24sts evenly around this bottom edge (or about 2 crochet stitches for every 3 knit stitches). (25 sts)
Rnd 2: sc in 1st st, *2 sc in next st, sc in next st* around. (49 sts)
Rnd 3: 2 sc in each st around (98 sts)
Rnd 4: repeat round 3 (196 sts). Fasten off.

Thumb edging:
Join B wth sl st, ch1, sc in same space, sc 12 sts around evenly (13 sc). Sl st in ch 1, fasten off.

Top ruffle:
Join B with sl st to align with thumb placement. Ch 1, sc in same sp, sc 24 around evenly. (25 sc) .
For right hand glove:
Turn. Working back and forth in rows now.
Row 1: ch 1, sc in 1st sc *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc*, repeat from * to * 6 times more. (25 sc on this row). Turn.
Row 2: ch 1, 2 sc in each sc across (50 sc). Turn.
Row 3: ch 1, 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in each sc across to last sc, 1 sc in last sc. (98 sc) Fasten off.

For left hand glove:
Do not turn, though you will be working back and forth in rows now. Do as for right hand glove from Rows 1-3, omitting the first ch 1 in row 1.

Bows:
Ch 15.
Join ch on top of glove at side opposite that of thumb, around wrist height (approx 2 ¼ " above body bottom).
Sl st loosely across knitting every 2-3 knitted colums (if it helps you do it more loosely, use a bigger hook) all the way around the glove until you reach the point where you first joined the ch.
Ch 15.
Fasten off. Cut off loose ends. Tie the chains into bows.
Weave in all ends and you're done! Try them in pink for the ultimate in girly princess-hood.

2006-09-19T12:44:00.000-05:00

Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton Vest

So I started this a looong time ago (back in May, maybe?), but my seaming was so terrible, the result was ugly and I couldn't wear it. So it went into the stash box. I pulled it out yesterday (since I was home anyhow having stabbed myself quite deeply in the ankle with some scissors. ouch) and ripped out the seams, re-seamed it, and added some ribbing to the neckline and armholes. Now it's wearable, and just in time for fall!

I used 3 hanks of Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton (it's soo soft, the nicest 100% cotton I've worked with) in the Tomato color on size 9 needles.

2006-09-08T21:48:00.000-05:00

After knitting a couple of garments, it was time to design my own. I'm currently submitting or thinking about submitting these patterns, so I can't really show them to you. But I can tease you! Both incorporate crochet as well. If they aren't accepted anywhere, I'll show you the whole photo and perhaps post the pattern.

Teasers

2006-09-08T21:40:00.000-05:00

My second knitted wearable was this Evening Star Top from summer '06 issue of Interweave Knits magazine. I used Lorna's Laces DK Swirl in the Chino color.

Evening Star Top

2006-09-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

Then I started knitting, some time this past February or so. I made one dishcloth, and it was nice, but it was not the reason I started knitting. I started knitting to make clothes. So this was my first item of clothing. It's made with Blue Heron's Rayon Metallic yarn. This yarn is heaven to work with. It's soft and beautiful. But to be honest, after several wearings, the top is a bit floppy. Now I know what knitters mean when they say a yarn doesn't have enough "body".

This is not my design, it's a slight modification of the free pattern you can find here:
http://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Artyarns_Free-Lacy_Silk_Tank_Top_Free-1981.html

My mouth is all twisted up because I'm chewing a potato chip. Oops.

Lacy Tank Top

2006-09-08T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is a hat I crocheted in Paton's Classic Merino. Despite the gazillion hat patterns there are out there, none of them fit my big natural afro hair. That's why I had to make one. This is also my design. This hat is even cuter than it looks here. People are always stopping me to tell me my hat is so cute. Will have to take a better picture.

Paton's Merino Crocheted Hat

Gold Crochet Summer Top

2006-09-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, so here's another top I crocheted. This one is also my design. It was done in Elann's Endless Summer Luna. This yarn is sooo pretty.

Gold Summer Top

2006-09-08T20:57:00.000-05:00

Ripple Sweater

Okay, my first post in the knitting/crocheting blog world. Just going to put some of my pics up. The first is this ripple pattern sweater I crocheted. The design is my own. The white yarn is Lion Brand Yarn's MicroSpun. The turqoise and ginger yarn is Berroco Softwist. The glittery yarn is Trendsetter Dune in "Copper Patina".

Here is a closeup: