snow days
Scene - A man (lets call him Masshole #1) is sitting in his apartment, watching the school cancelation list roll across the screen as the snow continues to pile up outside his door. The phone rings, it is his friend Joe in Miami.
Joe: Dude, its like 85 degrees here and sunny. What is the weather like there?
Masshole#1: Cold and snowy, why you trying to rub it in? Where are you right now?
Joe: I’m at work.
Masshole #1: Yeah, well, I’m sitting at home in my pajamas doing bong hits. You tell me, who’s got the better deal?
It is an old joke, but I love it. I’ve been working like crazy lately and the only breaks I get are when I go out to shovel or take the kids out for some snowshoeing/sled pulling. As we get dressed to go out, I chant to my kids - there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.
The core of my good winter clothing is made up of some lovely hand spun, hand painted yarn worked up into an Elizabethian neck warmer (Knitwit Book) and matching hat (pattern from Amy @Boogie knits). Warm, stylish, practical and as soon as I add some button holes to that neck warmer, I can stop using diaper pins to hold it together!
Stay warm everyone, I’m going to try and sneek in a row or two on my funk busting Clapotis in Schaefer Esperanza, Indira Ghandi colorway. A bit thicker than the yarn called for, but since I’m a bit thicker than the model, I thought I could get away with it.
GSRP - delayed yet again - once I make it through the next few hurdles at work, I can return my attention to this. I’m sorry for being such a bad host!
Funk
Katy asked in my comments the other day “What is next on the needles” and the answer is nothing exciting. I’m in a funk. I just redid the front to my purple haze (converting the front from a cardigan to a pull over) and found out the raglan decreases line up perfectly, but I’m now two inches short on the the bottom. The sleeves on this tremendous waste of yarn are frou frou pom-pom yarn that I never really liked anyway and I’ve spent the past two evening unraveling the piece I stripped off the collar. I AM NOT HAPPY. I’ve gone over and over my stash and can not find anything that screams “knit me right now.” I’ve still got that green bamboo/silk shawl on needles - but last weekend I worked on it without my instructions and now I must rip back at least two rows, if not more.
Thank goodness Alison could feel my pain. Did you know Februrary is Fixit month? (Or as I like to call it - Fix it or Forget about it - February is the month I frog things that the universe is bound and determined to prevent me from finishing.)
Tonight I am going to bundle everything that pains my eyes to see into a big bag and put it away until February first. Then I can take it back out again and come up with a new plan. Until then, I am at a total loss. I need to fall in love again, it is cold here and I keep reaching for sweaters that I do not own. Maybe today I can swing a trip out to Cirlces for some fiber therapy?
Filler
I finished knitting the back/front of purple haze last night, can’t wait to seam her up and pick up stitches for the neck. I’m going to consult a GSRP book ( 1000 Sweaters) to see about what kind of neck I want. I’m thinking turtle neck, but will have to see what might work best with the layout.
I finished both socks this past weekend and immediately put them on. I love that I didn’t have to seam the toe, just slip them right on. They are a bit big, so I am thinking about putting them in a little hot water bath to shrink em down a bit. Thanks again to Anne for both the yarn and pointing me in the right direction for a pattern. I will definately make those again.
Today, I’m waiting for databases to run, so I may get to work on a dishcloth I surrendered before Christmas - I’d love to cross one more thing off my finishing list before I get started on a new - as yet to be determined - project.
Be Bop and Beautiful
You’re Putting Me On
Judy Gibson
Handspun yarn from Anne ~ formerly of Vermont.
Socks are everywhere, which I think says more about the practical need for warm and comfy feet than our collective desire to be trendy. It is cold here and I need some warm, house socks. This is the second sock - I cast on immediately so that my first, perfect sock would not go lonely this winter. I ♥ this pattern and the toe up concept.
050104
050104 050104 .. todays date - yymmdd - this is how I label all my files, so I know when I created them upload_050104 would be my database, for instance. (Speaking of databases, did you see the article about the database I built in the Wall Street Journal two days before Christmas? - No, not many people did, - one of the slowest market days of the year, and with the picture of the leather daddy from the Village People posed over our headlline - you might have missed it.) Anyway, my company is beginning to take off like the hot air propelled balloon car Cate and her dad made at the Providence Children’s Museum earlier this week.
Production cycle for me is about to begin and suddenly we have clients who can’t wait to come onboard. DH is transitioning into being a stay at home dad (is there anything sexier (if not a little taboo) than a handsome stay at home dad? Change and chaos swirl above my head - in a great way - but I need some ying to my yang. Good thing I checked my mail box.
Tara Manning is stopping by my lys for a reading on Mindful Knitting. Just what the karmic doctor ordered to keep the psyche balanced. If you are local and interested in going, let me know, I’ll get you the details.
Finally … Slip Stitch is back in motion! I sent the package off last week to Melissa and she’ll send it on to her captain and then we can begin the begin. Lace is still among the missing - only because of above mentioned time management crisis.
If you are interested in any of the books I listed, I’d be happy to waive postage in if you make a donation to either MSF (see yarn harlot) or Heifer International (see wendyknits.net)