Hello Spring.
30 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in A Picture's Worth 1000 Words, Off the Needles
The weather has been a little confused here of late. We’ve enjoyed some wonderful 70 degree days, and yet last Saturday we got a foot of snow. I’ve been eager to welcome Spring and anticipate Summer by knitting some cute summer tops and lacy shawls, but part of me is still lingering finishing winter projects.
The Pattern: Dipped Infinity Scarf by Laura Chau
The Yarns: Various leftovers in all shades of blue!
The Needles: US 8′s
The Verdict: This scarf was a fun quick knit. Basically you pull together scraps (about 120 yds apiece) sock yarn and double them up for a scarf. You knit with 2 colors at any given time so if you plan it right you get a really neat shaded project. Several dyers sell kits, but I enjoyed using up my stash! I’ll have to try another colorway in the future, but you know how I love my blues!
Oh Mo.
29 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
In February of last year, Mo Rocca stepped in it….
This year, we had a bit of a followup:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
22 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, A Picture's Worth 1000 Words, Knitting Content Ahead
Well despite the fact that March is for WIPS, I did cast on something new this weekend.
In the past I have challenged myself to learn new techniques with some hand-dyed skeins of yarn. Of late, I have been very inspired by Wenat and her pooling stoles. You can see that I experimented with pooling colors around Christmas. Well I decided it was time to try again.
This stole is going to be a for a friend on Ravelry who sent me a skein of yarn she wanted knit up using the pooling technique. This particular skein of Wollmeise is in the colorway Raupe Nimmersatt, which is the German name for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Yesterday I dove in and with only a little tinking I had the first pattern repeat done:
Do you notice anything special about this?
How about now?
March is for WIPS
21 Mar 2010 1 Comment
For the past month and a little more I have been wandering around muttering this mantra. WIPS stands for Works in Progress. For the most part, when I start a knitting project, I finish it. In recent years I have become a little less monogamous in my projects; I used to knit only one at a time and today I usually have 3-4 projects on the needles at any one time now. Occasionally projects slip through the cracks or get set down and not picked back up. So I decided that the month of March would only be for knitting on these projects, until I completed all of them.
(So far I’m making pretty good progress, though I don’t know I’ll finish them all.)
The Pattern: Girasole by Jared Flood
The Needles: US 5′s
The Yarn: Two Windows Dye Company (a local Kansas dyer!) Laceweight in an unknown purple colorway
The Verdict: I could stare at this shawl all day! Despite the fact that I haven’t yet figured out how to wear a circular shawl, I really enjoy knitting them. This shawl in particular was a fairly easy knit because of the wonderfully simple and well-written pattern and the lace designs that were incredibly intuitive. I originally started this project in July of 2009 and only got through flower petals, which in terms of knitting is MAYBE a quarter. I finished it after our marathon car trip to Chicago, and bound off on March 16. I would definitely knit this pattern again and the yarn is divine!
RIP
19 Mar 2010 1 Comment
My father sent me the video below. He noted that it was so sweet and reminded him of when I lost my carnival goldfish, Alberta, when I was 5 or 6 years old. We buried Alberta in the backyard too.
Unexpected.
06 Mar 2010 3 Comments
On Friday afternoon, I went to lunch at the yarn store, a last hurrah of sorts. On the way there, my car started acting slightly odd. I decided that the smart plan was to get it towed to the local dealer and see what was up. What I wasn’t expecting was the phone call 2 hours later to tell me that my transmission was gone. Dead. Done.
Now I had the choice of ponying up $4,000 or so to fix the transmission or I was looking for a new car, STAT. Because my car really wasn’t even driveable, my options were limited. I could take what the dealer would offer me for it “as is” or I could find someone else who would tow it, appraise it, and start again. Add to that, that I owned my car outright and was really enjoying NOT having payments on it, and that we are hoping to buy a house later this year.
A little over 24 hours later, it’s all said and done. My Rav4, my first car that I purchased on my own, is no longer mine. I loved that car, and I can’t help it, I don’t love the new one quite as much.
But, we got a good deal on it. It’s a 2009 Toyota Corolla in a bright cheery Barcelona Red. I think I’ll be obeying all speed limits in this one, eh?
PS: For those of you reading along at home, I passed 80,000 miles just a couple of weeks ago. Her final mileage? 80,409. 
RIP.
Akimbo
05 Mar 2010 2 Comments
When I took on the challenge of knitting a sweater in 17 days (during the Olympics) I really thought I had nailed the spirit of the games: Take on a project that will be a challenge to complete in the time frame. And then I finished the sweater in a mere 11 days and didn’t know what else to do for the other six. Well cast on again of course!
The Pattern: Akimbo by Stephen West
The Needles: US 4′s
The Yarn: Bugga! in Faithful Beauty and Walnut Huskfly
The Verdict: This is my new favorite shawl! The yarn was amazing to work with – it is oh so soft and so rich in color and the cashmere content makes it feel like a million bucks when I wear it. The pattern was simple, but the edging really takes it from ho-hum to WOW! I’ll definitely be trying this pattern again.
Lost and found.
04 Mar 2010 1 Comment
in Deep Thoughts, Fabulous Friends, Knitting Content Ahead, Uncategorized
Lost.
Last night, at knit night, the local yarn store owner announced that she is closing the shop at the end of April. For most of us this was both unsurprising, and a shock, all at the same time. It is bittersweet news for the owner, who is closing the shop so that she can spend more time with her family – especially her new little one. We all are delighted that she will be able to do what she wants to do most right now. And yet, I know that we all are feeling a sense of loss today.
The yarn store, “my” yarn store, is one of the first places I went when I moved to Kansas City just over two years ago. I was immediately welcomed by the owner and by a group of wonderful women whom I have now been knitting with every Wednesday night for the last two years. I have made most of my friends here in Kansas City at this shop. When I first moved here and didn’t have steady work, I can’t count the number of days I enjoyed the hospitality of the store, just stopping in and knitting on the couch for hours at a time. This store truly has been a home away from home and I will miss it terribly.
***
Found.
Over the years, I’ve often marveled at how friendships are formed, how they ebb and flow, and how people I thought I would always be friends with have drifted away and people I thought would just be passing ships have stuck close to me. I was particularly reminded of this when my college roommate told me two nights ago that she was offered a faculty position at a university less than four hours from me.
This is someone I lived with three out of the four years in college. We have spent the last ten years with almost 2000 miles between us; when I left college I returned home to Los Angeles and she continued on to graduate school in the Midwest. How could I know that two years ago I would move back to the Midwest? Or that a year ago she would move to Texas? Or that now we would be so close that we could eagerly plan weekend trips to visit each other?
To be clear, I never thought that our friendship would disappear. And yet for many years it waned while we pursued different paths. I am so thrilled that our paths cross again though. It makes me once again feel like I’ve found something precious.
