Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from our little devil!

Sometimes things get so stupid at our house, I think that if there were a hidden camera here, we'd have to move. seriously. Tonight's escapade involved all three of us, myself, H and the cat. Scout had a raw spot on his stomach that he kept licking and picking at until finally, it has turned into a real mess. Since we don't have one of those cone things, we (translated=my friend Carole and myself) came up with a plan. Put on antibiotic ointment, cover with gauze and then wrap with an ace bandage. We put a lot of thought into the process, even deciding that we'd use safety pins instead of the butterfly clip so that he wouldn't swallow anything. easy peasy with a 22 pound cat. H was warily pressed into service to hold the cat while I put on the ointment and did the wrapping. I don't think I've ever seen his ears go back quite that far onto his head. When we got the bandage in place, Scout looked like one of those fat sumo wrestler cats that Kliban used to draw. I had planned to post a photo on my blog. That would imply that the ace bandage remained in place long enough for me to remove the lens cap from my camera. ahem...send bandaids.

Winter Interweave Knits

The preview for the new IK is available

here

Interweave Knits has pretty much superceded Vogue Knitting as my favorite knitting magazine, but I have to say, not this time. Perhaps it is due to the Vintage Knitting theme, but the sweaters are too close to the body, too much the same, and in some cases, dated. It is too soon to see if this will be the norm in future issues, but I was concerned about this when the new editor was announced. I think that an editor should include a variety of designs, beyond their personal tastes. Strictly my opinion, take it or leave it. I mean, come on, a TABARD?? good grief. It's a good thing I only have three readers, or I'd be in trouble...

I do like the Celtic Bag (big surprise, I know). photo here Other "likes" are the Logan River Wrap and Rosemary's Swing Jacket.

Devil Winds

Wow. What else can you say? From the mountains to the sea, southern California is on fire. You always know there are going to be Santa Ana winds in October, but this is just insane. There are so many fires going, I don't know which of my friends to worry about first. We are lucky enough to live in the "flats" of the San Gabriel Valley, not in any fire danger. I am sincerely hoping that everyone's friends and family will be ok. I have some very dear friends up in Crestline who are particularly on my mind tonight. be safe.

We survived endless shoe shopping, the PSAT test and Homecoming this weekend. H had a good time, I'll let her tell her own stories. On Sunday, H and I took a workshop called Antonia's Adornment at the San Gabriel Bead Co. I finished my bracelet last night and loved it. photo to follow.

What's in Your Queue?

Naturally, since I've hit the "boring" part of my ruana, I've started thinking about the next project. Last night when I couldn't sleep, I made a list. Here is it, in no particular order:

1. Modern Quilt Wrap A beautiful wrap from Folk Style, also available as a free pattern from Knitting Daily.

2. As previously mentioned, the Illusionist Shawl

3. The ubiquitous Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

4. Something made from Habu, e.g. the Kusha Kusha Scarf

5. Charlotte's Web shawl

I wonder if cats can have deviated septums? Scout is sitting next to me, snoring like a cement mixer.

I had a great photo to upload, but Blogger is not cooperating...

Monday night notes

Three posts in a week! I'm on a roll. Just some random musings. It was a wonderful, cool, overcast day. Very pleasant. I love days like these, they remind me of many days of this sort spent in San Francisco.

I have always been happy to be a girl, and now as the mother of a "girl," you get to reexperience moments from your youth, but this time as a parent. The preparations for the Homecoming Dance would make the people over at the Rand think tank weep. Seriously. You need a math major from Cal Tech to keep up with the shifting numbers of who's riding in the limo, how many kids will be at the dinner. Who is angry with whom and will the agouraphobic parent show up at the dinner? How many cars do we need to shuttle the kids over to the restaurant., and most importantly, who is getting ready at which girl's house? Eyebrow (yes, eyebrows!) and manicure appointments need to be made. Fill in the rest of the week with meeting reps from Georgetown University in Brentwood, the Homecoming football game and possibly a small outpatient surgery. I'm glad I don't have to live it this time around, but happy to be around for the ride. Gotta love the creatures known as teenage girls.

I'm working away on my Chevron Lace Ruana from Iris Schreier's new book, Lacy Little Knits. I'm using a lovely colorway of Silk Rhapsody, ivory, chartreuse and slate grey. It's gotten a little boring, but I'm trudging on. Trying desperately to hold off casting on the Illusionist until I finish. Here's a photo of the Ruana from the book.

The Ilusionist

Don't you love it when you wander into your favorite yarn store and discover that two new magazines are in? I found these two yesterday. Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts and Vogue Knitting Holiday 2007. I enjoyed both, but the edge definitely goes to IK Holiday Gifts, mainly because of Leigh Radford's Needle Felted Messenger bag.

Really attractive design, good colors, etc. I'm not crazy about needle felting, but will give it a whirl again for this bag.

In the Vogue Knitting, Alchemy Yarns had an ad for one of their new patterns, the Illusionist Shawl, which just happened to roll in with the mail a couple days ago:

I saw this design online somewhere and had to make it. Love the ruching. With all the increasing, knitting this will make the ruffled scarf in Kid Silk Haze seem like knitting a swatch, but I think it'll be worth it. If I get it done in time, it will be perfect for all my holiday entertaining (VBG, my entertaining is limited to cheese balls and triscuits).

Here is the yarn I'm going to use, Shibui Silk Cloud. 60% mohair/40% silk. It is like a cloud, too, a 25 gram skein contains 330 yards. This yarn appears to be identical to the Alchemy Haiku, which the pattern uses. My color is called Wasabi, which is so appropriate. My photo is on the dark side, all you sushi eaters can picture the real color. Ja, mata ne.

Back sooner than Haley's Comet!

Ok, I'm back, finally. And in less time than the next Haley's Comet (the year 2061, if you're keeping track). There are various reasons that have kept me from posting. In no particular order, they were: 1) extreme heatwave end of August. We're talking meltdown here folks. 2) back to school--a mixed blessing. More time to myself, belayed by the 6 am wake-up call. every day. I know people do that every day, even some want to, I don't. 3) we lost 2 friends, one very dear...attended 2 funerals in 5 days. enough said about that. We're moving along, working through stuff, looking forward to the future. Homecoming is in two weeks and there is much talk Chez Ward about dresses, shoes, limos and boys. very fun stuff. That's all I can safely mention without being killed in my sleep.

So, we're fully into Fall now. School has been on for a month, the fall knitting magazines have all come out, new knitting books have started to appear in the bookstores. Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, tempting new yarns are showing up in our LYS's.

A new book that I was most looking forward to:



I have been inspired by Kaffe Fassett since Glorious Knitting came out in 1985. I was, and still am, a Kaffe Fassett groupie. he influenced my knitting and appreciation of color more than anyone else. Kaffe Knits Again is a collection of previously released designs updated in new yarns and colors. It also happens to be a gallery of many half-finished projects of mine. One piece in the new book that I particularly like is the Foolish Virgins scarf. Foolish Virgins was originally a cardigan. The new design has the pattern included in a scarf with 4 other popular patterns of Kaffe's. A brilliant idea. The scarf has also inspired me to get out all my unfinished Kaffe projects and see if there is some way I can assemble them into a throw. That crashing sound you hear is me upending all my boxes of knitting, looking for these pieces.