Knitting Cybrarian

Long time, no...

blog. 

The rain is coming down outside, as it has off and on for most of the past week.  At least it's not snow -- we had about 6 inches of snow towards the end of March!

Spring here on the edge of the prairie is pretty, unpredictable, and rainy, or at least this year it is.  The spring flowers have held up well despite wildly swinging temps and snow, rain, sleet, ice, you name it.  Hopefully the fruit trees have too.

The other night 5 wild turkeys visited.  They didn't come onto our property, but just up to the edge.  This is the first time we've had them this close.  The neighborhood possum has gotten pretty fat (unless that's a momma possum expecting!) and waddles around close to sundown.  Joel gets tickled watching it.  We've got raccoons around too, and we try to keep the outside cat dish empty.  Mooch and Evil Cat still visit regularly, particularly Evil Cat. 

And did I mention the deer?  We see a group of 6 deer back of our property around once a week.

While I enjoy this, I do miss the mountains.  The mountains back home are covered in redbud and dogwood right now, with green shoots coming out too.  When I was a small girl, Mom and I would hunt and pick wild asparagus in April and early May. 

Thinking on green things reminds me that my mother's mother used to hunt herbs and such for home remedies -- I wish I had been able to learn from her, but by the time I came along, her eyesight was not good and it deteriorated even more with time. 

Knitting, what have I been knitting?  I knit a fair isle bag and felted it for a Spring Runway Show at the Studio.  The leather handles didn't come in time for the event, hence the twisted yarn handles.

I'm knitting a breast too.  Yes, you read that right.  I'm knitting a prosthesis for a dear friend.  Still working on a pair of socks for me, and a few other items. 

My grandmothers and an aunt tried to teach me to crochet when I was small, and all I produced were tightly twisted crochet chains.  Perhaps they'll forgive me that, given how I've embraced knitting!  I'm sorry they're not around to see and feel my handiwork-- or to try to teach me to crochet again.

Happy Easter and happy spring!

And you thought...

cashmere was expensive!  Check this out!

Not enough

Not enough
Originally uploaded by lauragayle

Sometimes you just have to try, right?  i knitted a baby hat and a pair of baby mitts from one skein of ShiBui sock yarn.  I wondered if I had enough to make booties too.

So I started knitting.  Ripped back one pattern, because it was using too much yarn.  Picked another pattern.  I ran out of yarn with only 4 rows to go. Before I started using on the little ball to the left, I thought I'd weigh the almost finished bootie and compare it to the little ball.  The bootie weighed 11 grams.  The little ball?  4 grams. 

Oh well, no booties.  Moving along to the next item in my knitting queue now.

random observations

• Open message to the person who gave me this cold on Christmas Eve:  I understand why you wanted to come to services.  But why oh why did you have to sing?  And sing beside me?  You gave me this cold, and my respiratory system is an embattled one anyway.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize I had this cold until after I was contagious, which means some of my friends have now caught it.  If you are sick and are still within the period of being contagious, please either stay home or tell me.  And I'll stay home.  Now I'll be lucky to get over this by 15 January, because that's just how these things go for me.
• Because I figured I was past the contagious time, I went to Sip and Knit yesterday.  I enjoyed being one of the knitters and not having to answer the yarn shop phone or wait on customers.  I did help other knitters with their questions, but it was fun.  Afterwards a couple of us went to our favorite Vietnamese buffet.  I couldn't taste things as much as I would have liked, so I didn't go nuts.  It's okay, I could still taste peanut sauce.
• Joel got me the Tom Bihn Swift Knitting Bag for Christmas/Hanukah/our anniversary.  I love it.  Yes, I probably told you before.  I still love it.
• Portia has taken over my lap for most of this vacation.  I've not gotten enough knitting done (or movie watching done), but she and I've bonded, which has been wonderful.
• The weather in KC has been crazy.  Snow, ice, rain, almost 70 one day, down to -2 a few days before or later.  I follow a friend's advice to wear layers, and carry sunglasses and an umbrella.
• Ah.  Verizon.  I've used Verizon Wireless for mobile service for a long time.  They were Cellular One (I think) when I signed up in 1994 or so.  I also pay for my mom's cell phone through Verizon.  So when I got a flyer in the mail saying I was eligible for early upgrade, I thought I'd check it out.  I've been interested in a Blackberry for a while, but I've also been drooling over the iPhone (and AT&T is the only provider in the US for the iPhone).
• The vacuous young thing in high heels at my local Verizon store wasn't interested in my business.  She wasn't willing to go beyond quoting how much the service cost would change or anything.  And the phone prices she quoted me were not the same as I saw on Verizon's website.  I told her so.  Sigh.  My contract is up in April and I'm wondering if this relationship should be severed and if I could spring for an iPhone.  I don't have a Mac laptop yet, but boy... I'm hearing sweet things about the iPhone. 

What I hate about having a cold:

• Not being able to swallow -- you think you're going to swallow and yuck, there's this gunk... oh, you're grossed out already.
• Not being able to breathe through the nose.  Especially at night.  Ick.  I wind up sleeping with a cough drop in my mouth to try to avoid coughing in my sleep.  Bad for the teeth, good for the relationship (so Joel can sleep).
• Tissues, tissues, everywhere.  I stand up, walk into the kitchen, and when I come back I find wadded-up tissues on the floor.  I had no idea those were on my lap.  How did that happen?  And in the bed -- wadded-up tissues in the bed.  How weird!
• Deadened sense of smell and taste.  Popcorn tastes good because all you can taste is the salt.  Coffee is drunk because of habit, not because you can taste it.  The shower gel just smells weird -- hope I don't smell weird.
• Speaking is just too weird for words.  Making phone calls to check on things is worrisome -- I don't know if I can be understood.  Using the voice commands on my cell phone is difficult enough (there's not a Southern region or Appalachian region setting for voice recognition) normally, but with a cold it's even worse. 
• Zits and redspots.  Yeah, one's face looks so lovely during a cold.  I get zits and red skin from the tissues rubbing on my face (and I use Puffs with lotion), and it's just so lovely.  NOT.
  
  

And if you've read this far, I wish you a happy new year! I hope 2009 is kinder to us all!!!

Baby Mitts!

CIMG0290
Originally uploaded by lauragayle

These were knit to go with the lovely hat listed in an earlier post.  You can see how small one mitt is in this photo.  This pattern is free too -- from Jennifer's Blog.  I'm trying to eke out booties too -- all from one skein of ShiBui sock yarn!

Ravelry folks, here's the link to my version of the mitts.

Princess Mitts

CIMG0294
Originally uploaded by lauragayle

I knitted these for a friend's Christmas present.  Several of us swap names and then make/buy presents with a price limit of around $20.  Whoever I draw has about a 50/50 chance of getting a knitted gift from me, depending on how crazy things are and how inspired I am.

This year's recipient frequently comments on how cold her office is, so I thought these mitts might be a good solution to keep her hands warm, and fingers available for computer work.

The pattern is free from Potter Craft, and if you're on Ravelry, here's a link for more details.  I used Classic Elite's Portland Tweed, and these knitted up quickly.

Shaun in his new hat

Shaun in his new hat
Originally uploaded by lauragayle

Sometimes you just need to knit for babies. Baby knits are often fast and fun. I started this on Sunday, and on Wednesday found out Shaun and his mom were visiting work on Friday! I stayed up late a few nights to finish this hat (size 2 US needles, that's why!).

When Shaun arrived, he had a full diaper. To state it mildly. He wasn't happy to try on his new hat before a fresh diaper, but he gave it a go anyway.

I resemble...

this remark.

Subversive knitting and crocheting

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Radical Knitting

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Quiet Sunday

Sarah and I were quite busy at the Studio yesterday, so I decided to have a quiet day at home today.  I had considered going in to work at the library, but thought I'd be better off if I enjoyed time at home.

We had another cold morning, and I enjoyed lingering over coffee.  I finished knitting Joel's new socks and I also finished a child's hat -- to be donated.  I used a basic knit hat pattern, but since I was running low on the pink yarn, I purchased a coordinating blue yarn, and added alternating stripes using the Fibonacci sequence.  The blue stripes were in seed stitch, adding a textural element too.

I made bread dough in the bread machine, and made a bit of a mistake.  I added too much water, so when the dough cycle was complete, I had a runny dough.  At this point I thought I didn't have much to lose, so I added about a cup or so of flour, restarted the cycle and let the machine run about halfway through the cycle.  I stopped the machine, and let the refortified dough rise for about 20 minutes.  It worked, and the rolls were yummy!

I also gave in to my childhood memory, and made baked macaroni and cheese, adding some sharp white cheddar to the mixture.  YUM!

Portia and I watched Braveheart and started knitting another hat while Joel made pizza dough.  I'm behind on movies and had been wanting to watch this for quite a while.

A quiet, productive day.  I hope it's good preparation for the busy week ahead!