Sweet Sixteen!

I usually keep quiet about my sports leanings because I don't want to jinx things, but my team, UCLA, just beat Texas A & M 53-49 after trailing by as much as 10 points in the second half. Oh yeah! It may be Easter but Christmas just came to Bruin-land. Woo Hoo! I'm now going to lie down in a darkened room for a while to try to return my heartbeat to a normal rhythm.

Happy Spring

Happy Spring, Easter, Purim, whatever applies.

How do you like my new avatar?

Still working away on the Koigu jacket. The new Noni patterns for spring are out and I think it's a great group of designs. I especially like Flamenco bag.

Signs of Spring

1. Everything possible is blooming here, making it impossible for me to breathe. pollen, pollen, everywhere!

2. It is much warmer than it has been. Had to turn on air conditioning in the afternoon.

3. Car is now hot after being parked for a while due to #2.

4. Spring 08 Vogue Knitting is due out soon. Janice Rosema has a good looking piece in the issue. Congrats, Janice!

5. The Spring Knitty is out!! Lots of good stuff. I especially like the Lace Ribbon scarf by Veronik Avery.

Has anyone out there tried Zyrtec? If so, does it knock you out? I think it works really well, but I am so sleepy and "hung over" after taking it.

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

Give me my hour back

and nobody gets hurt! As a person with awful sleep patterns, it is really painful to lose this hour every spring. I know I'm in the minority, but I can wait for daylight savings time. a long time. So, it was an extra miracle that I got up, got ready and made it over to Unraveled (link in sidebar) to hang out with my peeps Sunday afternoon. Janice Rosema (link in sidebar) and I are both working on the Koigu Oriental Jacket. We are using similar colors and it was fun to brainstorm about the piece and compare progress. I don't think it would be telling tales out of school to say that the instructions can be less than clear. That said, the Painter's Palette book which contains this pattern and many other well known koigu designs, is half off at KnitPicks.

Knitdad (link in sidebar), Sylvia, the lovely Jillian and our gracious hostess Christine rounded out the knitting circle. There has been a great hue and cry in local knitterdom due to Knitdad being ill, but I can tell you that I personally laid eyes on him and he is on the mend! Now if he would just stop adding me to his spam list so that my mail would go through, things would be swell, heh heh.

My thanks to everyone who kindly offered to help me with my yarn in the event that I did quit knitting. I'm happy to say the crisis has been averted and all the Koigu, Habu, Handmaiden, kid crack haze and company will be staying put.

Thursday Thoughts (posted on Friday)

My first post for March and it's already the sixth! Where does the time go? We are in danger of turning into our own urgent care center. Sick kid, sick cat, terminal sinus problems for me...it's enough to make you drink. You know things aren't going too smoothly when you are gathering doctor and dentist notes into a folder to take to the school. Or, when you are leaning your whole self onto a 22 pound cat to force a cone back onto his head and losing the battle! Or, still, when you get the cone on the cat and he continues to loudly lick the inside of the cone--not at all getting it that he's not connecting with his intended target. Even I have to admit that's not too bright.

I've been feeling frustrated with my knitting lately. I want to do so many things, then get bogged down with details or my hands start hurting or some other distraction, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I found myself in a snit a few days ago, thinking to myself that that was that, I was going to just quit knitting, do something else. Of course, that has passed. I have restarted my Koigu Oriental Jacket.


I have started over, tweaked the colors and I really like how it is looking. I read on Ravelry that it took a woman 4 months to make hers. I'm going to see how much progress I can make on this if I concentrate. I'm not saying I won't go off on little side ventures, because I know myself and I will. But this will be my main focus.

Finally, the last of my Christmas knitting. This is the Nove scarf by Vyvyan Neel.


She also the designer of the popular Argosy scarf from Knitty. Nove was an interesting knit, although I have to say that the little "finger" fringes got a bit old.

On to TGIF!! It's supposed to be in the 80's this weekend (sorry!). Don't forget to Spring Forward this weekend. I am already missing my lost hour...

Insert catchy post title here

Flow tank top from Norah Gaughan Design Collection, vol. 2.

On my third start, I have about eight inches done. While I love this yarn, I don't know if I would recommend it. It is fairly treacherous to work with. I've spoken to several people on Ravelry who are also knitting Flow and they're all having problems with the yarn.

New yarn alert:

This is Birch from Teva Durham, Loop d Loop/Tahki yarns. 90% cotton, 10% silk. There's a nice little booklet cleverly named Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham volume 2. Here's a link to the Birch page at Tahki's site color card.

Random Stuff

It's starting to look like spring here...the camellias are blooming and the rose bushes are leafing up.


Arty (or as arty as my photos get) shots of my
Anne scarf.


Total length is about six feet so far. Just a little more and it'll be done.

I'll leave you with this gem from Paula Abdul. How does she come up with this stuff?

I want to squish you, squeeze you,
Hang you off my rear view mirror.

I'll admit it, I watch American Idol...

How'd they do that?

Amazing knitted animation from YouTube




It has been a fun weekend. Saturday, a freeform crochet class with Janice Rosema. These pieces are the start of a freeform vest.


Today, a mini yarn crawl with Knitdad. No photos taken today due to our joint participation in YAPP (Yarn Acquisition Protection Program). It was a beautiful sunny, cool day here in Los Angeles.

New Noro yarn! This is Taiyo, color #4. 40% cotton, 30% Silk, 15% Wool, 15% nylon. 200 meters per ball!



I think I may like this yarn more than Silk Garden. I've started MK Carroll's Anne scarf:

The photos are rolling in...

I've been on a roll lately, finishing things, which is a really good thing because I've come down with a wicked case of startitis! I'll save my startitis story for tomorrow's post. Here is a Noro Striped Scarf, ala Jared Flood (brooklyntweed), that I made in December.



These scarves are addictive. You can combine different noro colorways endlessly and they all work! My only problem with it is that the 1 x 1 rib really stirs up my carpal tunnel. Oh well, anything for art, right?



Speaking of Noro, did you know that there are two brand spanking new Noro yarns out for Spring/Summer? I have some of it right here. more tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Yoooooouuuuuu

Who's my favorite male knitting friend/dad/blogger? Why, Knitdad, of course. It's not always easy to be a man who knits, but Larry does it with aplomb and style. Everyone go over to his blog and wish Larry a happy birthday!

PS This is not a big reveal! I'm not saying that Knitdad is my dad. He's waaaaaaaay too young for that! He is a great dad to the lovely Lisa D.

Saturday Photos

I have finally taken some photos of some finished pieces, plus some WIP's.



This is my Forsa scarf done in the chocolate raspberry colorway of Trendsetter Tonalita.

This is a crazy neckwarmer for H, made of Ozark Handspun.

The so-called 200 Scarf, a birthday present for H. Huge yarn + size N crochet hook pretty much equals immediate gratification.

This is the new Seduce yarn from Berroco in the passementerie green color. For the Flow top from the Norah Gaughan Collection, vol. 2. love this yarn-rayon, silk & linen.

This is the front of Tink Knit's Flower Market bag, details have not yet been embroidered onto the surface. I'm really looking forward to using this bag this spring.

Finally, this is really a nondescript photo, but I've got about four feet done on the Babykid Ruffle shawl.

Like the Phoenix

I'm back and so are two old projects. I may have been premature in thinking that I was over the creeping crud a couple of days ago. Now, though, finally, I am starting to feel human. This would be great except for the fact that the kid is showing signs of falling prey to it now. Two days of finals and one day of Academic competition lie ahead....fingers crossed!

As many of my friends know, I am a big fan of Marta McCall, whose website is Tink Knit Months ago, maybe even a year ago, I knit the back for the Flower Market Bag. Well, I have finally dug out the yarn & charts and am now about 1/3 through the bag front. The plan to make the bag is quite clever: You knit in the basic shapes then put in the details after knitting the front with embroidery. It's still intarsia, but much simpler than having to knit in all the details.

I'm also working on the Tink Knit pattern Silver Leaf Satchel. The knitting is completed. Now comes all the finishing work, which in this case, is pretty extensive. I am going to start silver leafing the leaves soon. I love this bag and am looking forward to using it.

The other ollllllllllllld project I've picked up again is my Color on Color scarf from the ubiquitous Scarf Style book. This project is so old that the knitalong group on Yahoo has apparently disbanded!

This is a photo of a completed COC scarf, I'm about 1/4 of the way through. Any other lapsed COC knitters who'd care to join me? FLM? AD? CH? Knitdad or Unraveled Gal, care to start one? come on, you know you want to!

TGIF!

And I really mean it, thank God it's Friday! What a week. The creeping crud caught up with me on Tuesday and I have been down and out all week. It seems to consist of 96 hours of unrelenting misery after which you feel a little better and stop praying for death. Then, there's this week's weather! Rain, lots of it, wind, hail and cold. If the weatherpeople are correct, we're in for another big storm due in Saturday night. I love the rain, I just don't want any homes to slide off hills...

If you are on Ravelry, you have to go to the Bobby's page and check out the nominees for most colorful project. Talk about eye candy! Our own Janice Rosema is nominated along with the incredible Prudence Mapstone. So many inspiring projects. I still love love love Babette's blanket. Actually, I love love love color.

Also out on the internet now is the Interweave Knits Spring 2008 preview. This time, I will reserve judgement until I have the issue in hand. However, there seem to be quite a few projects on small needles with negative ease. I'm just sayin'

I've finished two projects this week, no photos yet. The first FO is a huge crocheted scarf for the kid's birthday. Check out the blog, Yarn Ball Boogie for the original. Secondly, I finished my Forsa scarf in the Chocolate Raspberry Tonalita. I really love this yarn. It was cold enough today that I actually wore it. I have witnesses!

You Say it's Your Birthday

I need my sister here to sing our annoyingly raucous version of the Beatles' Birthday song. It is 11:30 pm on the 21st, the end of the Martin Luther King holiday. I remember how long it took for this to be a holiday and how much it meant to people when it finally happened. I will also remember this day, always, as the day I checked into the hospital to have my daughter. She was born a little after noon on the 22nd. Happy Birthday!!

Here are a few birthday haiku for Miss H:


today's the big day
for my beautiful sweet girl
It's your day, birdie



seventeen years past
dark haired smiling beauty mine
joyous birthday wishes



beautiful quirky
scary smart politico girl
chase your dreams always


=======================
hexagon count=5, only 290 left

I knew it!

A list of 50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2008 in the Dec. 20, 2007 issue of U.S. News & World Report contains #50--Knit LIke a Hipster! Yay! We knew it all along. I also like #46--Brew A Better Cup of Coffee. None of that Maxwell House stuff. seriously. They also list "Eat Dark Chocolate." Here's the whole list, presented by the US News staff on video

Unfortunately for me, there's been no actual knitting today because my arm is hurting too much. This hasn't stopped me from thinking about knitting. I've spent a lot of time on Ravelry lately, skulking around my friends' projects and queues. To no one's surprise, many 2008 items will be felted bags. Berroco's Doll bag & Pignoli bag are high on my list, as well as the Lucy Bag (Two Old Bags) and the Fat Bottom bag from The Happy Hooker. I still plan to make the Modern Quilt Wrap before the heat returns to L.A. as well as the Mr. Greenjeans cardigan or the Central Park Hoodie. Yes, I may be joining the CPH bandwagon, now that Knitting Daily has kindly resized the pattern to include us big boned girls. I discovered during this past unseasonably cold spell that I don't have a decent cardigan to wear when it is cool.

Let's see...what else? Well, it's on my Ravelry projects list, so I may as well come clean. I've started another huge project with many pieces and many colors. It is the Patchwork Throw from Erika Knights's Essential Crochet. Here's the "throw"

Rowan Cotton Glace, 12 colors, 7 balls of each, size D crochet hook. In my defense, I do have a lot of Cotton Glace in my stash from the early Rowan years, so this won't require me to sell blood to acquire the remaining yarn. Dye lots aren't a problem, except perhaps for the border color, which I think will be Dijon. I'll pause a few seconds while certain of my friends stop hyperventilating. You know who you are. It's ONLY 295 hexagons! I have 2 done. piece of cake. As one LYS owner said to me, "You always have something going on with lots of stuff." yup.

Something from the Fred Flinstone collection

Wilma, your scarf is ready! This is from Giles Deacon's Fall 2007 line. In many ways, I love this design. It screams fun. It also screams, get me a neck brace. I'm thrilled that designers are showing so much knitwear and pushing the boundaries of the usual.

I've really been trying to post more, but things always get in the way. How about some actual knitting content? In my own crazy inexplicable way, I've cast on for the Forsa scarf

in three different colorways of Tonalita/Mille Colori (same yarn, different yarn companies). I've finally settled on Tonalita, #2398, Chocolate Raspberry (I kid you not). Here's a link to a photo.

I've finished the knitting of the Silver Leaf Satchel (see www.tinkknits.com). Now comes the felting, leafing, assembly, etc. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Breaking News

Date: Monday, 1/08/08
Time: 6:32 pm
Location: Von's Pavilion, Arcadia
Event: finally found the Winter 2007 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine!

I think that it is a really good issue. I like most of the pieces in the Shawls section, especially Cookie A's square shawl. Norah Gaughan has one of her hexagonal shawls--not sure if it is the exact piece from Berroco's Norah Gaughan, vol. 1 or not. BTW, there is a Norah Gaughan, vol 2 either out now or due out very soon. I always enjoy her designs, and I am really enjoying the collaboration between Norah Gaughan and Margery Winter that is going on at Berroco.

In other news, Storm Watch LA is over. Dallas and Fritz can go back to golf for a while. We actually had quite a bit of rain over the last 4 days, around 4 inches where I live. Too late to save most of the plants that died in my yard this summer, but more than enough for a bumper crop of weeds. Unfortunately, the gardener went AWOL a month ago, so things could turn ugly.

Happy New Year

May 2008 be a wonderful year for us all. So ends the wonderful little block party called the Rose Parade. One town over from here, Fiesta Floats and Raoul Rodriquez build their floats for the Rose Parade. Our New Year's Eve tradition is to stand out on Duarte Road and watch the floats go by as they are driven over to line up in Pasadena for the parade. We have a network of spotters and the calls go out down the street, "the floats are coming!" I'd say we see about 10-12 floats. My favorites this year were the Day of the Dead floats, the "aliens" in the spaceship and the FTD float. On New Year's, of course we all watch the parade on tv to see how "our" floats did. It was another beautiful Chamber of Commerce day in Pasadena. One of the floats that we saw, the Rainbird float, won the Sweepstakes award. My Dia de los Muertos float won the Extraordinaire prize. In fact, I think all but one of the Fiesta floats that we saw on New Year's Eve won trophies.

After the parade, all of the floats were on display up in Sierra Madre through today. This is a fun thing to go do--you get even closer to the floats than you do on the parade route. The fragrance in the air is insane. Tonight, when I made a quick run out to the grocery store, I stumbled upon the final trip for the floats--they were moving east, back to the Fiesta warehouses where they were created. The exit for the parking lot was blocked off, motorcycle cops escort these floral monsters on their route, so I got out of my car and watched. By now, we're old friends. Even with bad lighting and the fact that they are zooming by at about 25 mph, it's thrilling to see them one more time.

In other news, Scout is still under the weather and still having to wear his cone. He is not a happy camper:



Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
--Robert Burns

A Good Time Was Had by All

Scout was very happy to help open presents and roll around in all the tissue paper. Apparently he is real Space Cat, judging from his eyes!

Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse;

Clement Clarke Moore


I can't believe everything is done! No more shopping, wrapping, cooking, fighting insane traffic, nothing! Just a few cards to sign for my family. The Angel Chimes are lit and tinkling, the tree is beautiful, we even have lights in the window and some outdoor decorations. whew! Just waiting for Santa to come.

Merry Christmas to all my friends. Happy Yule, Winter Solstice, Hannukah and Kwanza. God Bless Us, everyone.