JenLa

For the respectable bag ho…

Back in February Stein Mart opened a new store in our town. Never one to miss the opportunity to check out new retail possibilities I went to their grand-opening, which just so happened to be the weekend of my mom’s birthday. Though not as impressed with the store as I would have liked, I did find the perfect gift combination; a marvelous bath collection in her favorite scent, beautifully packaged in the exact color scheme of her bath.

Now, fast-forward to 2 weeks ago. I’m visiting with my mom, and as we’re chatting I looked up and spied this darling little peaches-and-cream tote. I asked her where she got it so that I could go and get a similar one for myself. She just started laughing…“YOU gave me that!”
“Huh. I did?”
“Yes. That’s the bag that came with that amazing bath stuff you gave me for my birthday, remember?” Ha! No WONDER I was drawn to that set.

So she just gave it to me…”I’ve never used it. It’s too open for my liking. I like bags you can close” And that’s how I scored THAT little number. Sweet!

Now it’s a knitting bag. Well, it’s more a keep-all-my-shit-for-this-new-design-in-one-location-otherwise-if-I-lose-one-more-thing-my-head-will-explode bag.

Wanna a little peek?

DH - What’s that?
La - A new baby blanket design I’m working on.
DH - What’s it gonna look like when it’s done?
La - Hopefully a square that doesn’t resemble the other square I designed 2 years ago.
DH - (Looks thoughtfully at small square) What happens when you run out of sticks?
La - (blink…blink…blink) Uh, well, when it gets big enough, I’ll transfer it onto circular needles.
DH - But then it won’t be a square anymore!
La - blink-blink…blink-blink

You know, some days I think he totally gets it… other days, not so much.

As if losing Mayflower didn’t suck enough, Tink went down a few days ago with scours [farmer talk for diarrhea in ruminants] and anemia. I’ve been treating her with a combination of conventional and homeopathic remedies and it’s been an uphill battle. I believe I have a case of acute coccidiosis here, but I think I might be winning. She’s very slowly improving. I seem to have stopped the scours, but she’s very weak. She did fight me a little harder when I force fed her the kefir today. She hates that stuff, and I take the fighting as a good sign.

Out of around 150 eggs, we managed a hatch of five keets. Yes, five. Oh well, it’s better than zero. They’re awfully cute. It seems like most baby birds are hideous when hatched and grow to be pretty, whereas guineas hatch beautiful and grow to be hideous. I took some video, if you’re interested. I let the other adults in to get acquainted. They were very interested to meet their children, and although it doesn’t come across in this video, the adults [apart from the brood hen] were just a bit afraid of the little ones and would quickly back up when the babies came near them.

I was throwing proso millet to them, it’s guinea candy. The adults decided to spend the night indoors for the first time in months. The little buzzy/purring noise they were making is something that is generally reserved for millet, but the brood hen was singing it to the eggs while she sat on them. Awww. I like that noise, it’s a sweet little pleasant noise, as opposed to most of the eardrum shattering and incessant noises they usually make. Next comes the unpleasant task of getting rid of all the unhatched eggs. I’d also like to clean in there, but I think until the babies are a bit bigger, it’s not realistic. I may try to make a little enclosed aviary area for them in their little yard in a few weeks so they can experience some outdoors before it gets too cold for them to go out at all. Damn late bloomers. If they can survive the cold AND the cats, it’ll be a miracle.

Meanwhile, here’s what else I’ve been dealing with:

Corriedale, the hanks of finished yarn are slowly adding up.

It doesn’t feel like it’s going nearly as quickly as it should. I adore this roving, it spins up nice and even and drafts easily, but I confess it’s getting a bit monotonous. My eyes keep wandering covetously to the pile of handpainted roving in my stash. I take occasional breaks, of course, but I can’t help but feel like the corriedale will never run out. I go out to the pastures and I see:

Corriedale. On the hoof.

I go into the garage, I see:

Corriedale. In the bag.

I look up in the rafters and I see:

Another bag of corridedale to process.

So I go back inside to spin, thinking I’m delusional and it’s not possible for the corriedale roving to be regenerating and I see:

Corriedale. STILL overflowing the basket.

I’m sure it’s been well established that I’m a big Annie Modesitt fan. So when I was asked to review her newest book, Romantic Hand Knits I jumped at the chance. But I then realized, once I received the book, that I’d have to put my Geek Girl aside and go through it with a more neutral eye.

My first impression is that the book is extremely visually appealing; beautiful models in breathtaking settings modeling a wide variety of garments and accessories knit, for the most part, in lovely yarns. Its lay-out makes sense and is very easy to follow. The patterns themselves are well written, the charts are nice and clear, and include schematics! In addition, Annie has included useful information encompassing a wide variety of additional techniques like embroidery, crochet and lace knitting applications.

The variety of patterns, yarns and application of knitting techniques will appeal to a broad spectrum of knitters ranging from the traditionalists to the trendy. Basically, the book’s got a little something for every knitter, of every skill level.

Now upon closer inspection, the patterns, for the most part, did not elicit a strong response from me one way or the other. Some were too embellished, fussy or frilly. Others were knit up in unappealing yarn, while still others lacked the proper shape to draw my eye. There were, however, several wonderful exceptions …

Casablanca - I love everything about this pattern, the the lace, the yarn, the color, the lines. Well, everything except for the neckline. I’m not so thrilled about the whole “sweater falling off my body” look, you know?

Dark Victory - In my opinion, Annie hit the ball out of the park with this one. I now have to go out and buy that exact yarn in that exact color to make that exact sweater, except that I will lengthen the body, and slit it at the hem. And I have to do it…Right. Now.

A Streetcar Named Desire - Oh, so romantic! My SIL who lives in Florida drooled on the book when she saw it and practically BEGGED me for one. I guess we know what she’ll be getting for her next hand-knit, don’t we?

An Affair To Remember - (on the cover) This is a beautifully curve-hugging skirt with a bit of flair at the hem. Yet another example of the wonderful shaping Annie is famous for. Remember her Corset Tank Pullover and her Red Carpet Convertible? Yup, it’s that good…just not on me.

Cleopatra - Though I would probably never knit this, it’s just so beautifully done! Love most everything about it, except for the prospect of knitting THAT long of a garment. And again, WAY too young and form-hugging for my 40-something-year-old curves.

In the Accessories section I love the patterns for Silk Stockings, and Some Like It Hot (lace opera gloves,which I might convert to just-above-the-wrist fingerless gloves for my MIL). She even has a couple of lace hats with a section on basic millinery techniques included.

Even in the patterns that didn’t appeal to me, I found bits and pieces of lace knitting and other techniques I could apply elsewhere, so those are not a total loss. Included in each design pattern is not only the yarn used, but the yardage needed of similar gauge yarn in case you want to substitute, which I almost always do. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being outstanding, I give it a 7.

What was I worried about? I started knitting Ribby Cardi [lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove]:

I took it to Sunday knitting at Knitch, where ESC proclaimed it scratchy. Much like when she called Claudia and The Chickengoddess lumpy, I’m sure she meant it with love. The kind of love normally reserved for oatmeal with ketchup and parmesean. But this morning, I finished the second sleeve:

Which puts me at 1/3 done with knitting Ribby Cardi. Knitting being the key word, because I haven’t finished spinning for the body, which means I can’t dye, which means I can’t start knitting it. Still, I’m feeling a little overly confident at the moment and before I have to eat these words, I wish to gloat. Heeeee~

I have a dead spot in my knitting right now. I can only devote so many hours to spinning at any one time, so I have to fill the after dinner hours with something and this is it. For now. Until I get the body yarn spun and dyed, anyway. But what can I take to knit on socially? Hmmm. Thinking…thinking…

Guesses? OK, I’ll give you a hint. What could possibly have been captioned any or all of the following?
1. Payback is a bitch.
2. Fashionably late.
3. Word pie with sugar on top.

That’s probably enough tempting of the wool gods for today.

If it weren’t for Carolyn, I’d have never known about the Knitting Scouts, because I never listen the founder’s podcast. In fact, a little while back I made it a point to let the world know that I don’t listen to her, no matter how fucked up and twisted my reasoning is. Well, time to heat crow cuz I have to give Brenda her props for this stroke of genius and send you all over to Cast On where you all can earn your own knitting badges. Here are mine, so far:

Proselytize Knitting Badge - A requirement for all Knitting Scouts, the recipient must do his or her bit to present knitting in a positive light, whilst at the same time avoiding all references to “hipness”, grandmothers, and yoga.

MacGyver Badge (Level One) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a non-knitting tool in a knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used paper clips as stitch markers, or successfully whittled and then utilized bamboo skewers as dpns. There are 2 more MacGyver levels, but in all honesty I think I will only ever qualify for level 1. How’d I earn mine? I’ve got 2 words for ya…

Nupp Wrestling

Oh! Wait! Let me ask you. Would Level 2 include using aluminun DPNs to successfully pick a lock? Cuz if so, I think I may have earned that one.

I’ve Been Rejected by Knitty Badge - Yep, Fibercrack earned me that distinction!

I Can Be an Asshole When It Comes To Knitting Badge - Yeah, pretty much self-explanitory, though I prefer opinionated.

Knitting Whilst Under the Influence Badge - Uh…duh! Hello!

I Will Impress You With My Math Prowess Badge - I prefer to refer to this one as “I Will Impress You With My Wicked Evil Spell-Casting Skillz” (Yeah, right) Cuz math is fun. No. Really.

Okay, 6. That’s a pretty good start. But I’m hoping to increase the number of badges I’ve earned by the end of the year. My current big project should earn me a few. And in response to your guesses regarding said project in no particular order…yes; I don’t know; yes; no; yes; possibly; and, are you kidding me?

I Will Crush You With My Math Prowess Badge - aka “I scoff at your Paltry Math Foo” Either all the math I’m having to do for this new design will earn me this badge or will make my head explode. Most likely both.

which then should summarily earn me…

I’ve Been Rejected IK Magazine Badge - See? I’m hoping to put all this designing and math to good use. This time, no futzing. I’m going straight to the top!

And one day I hope to finally aspire to and earn…

The “I’ve Knit Items With No Conceivable Practical Application” Badge - But Julie may be the only one who knows, and I’ll let her be the judge.

P.S. Anyone feel like checking some math?