I Can Knit That!

A Post

2009-02-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

I am really a very lazy blogger. If I wanted to, I'm sure that I could blame it on the rigors of the freshman year of college, say I'm terribly busy writing papers night and day and have absolutely no time for fun. But that would be a lie. Really, I just haven't been bothered. I've done a little knitting and I've taken lots and lots of pictures, but I just haven't blogged about anything.

We shall see what happens... I don't know whether I'll make an effort to blog regularly or just stick my knitting up on Ravelry and be happy with that.

I love technology.

2008-08-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously though. I just got a new laptop computer, and for weeks it refused to log in to the blog. And today? Poof! Perfect! ...however, it is not talking to the printer. I cannot fathom the minds of these machines.

I've been gone a lot this summer. First, we went to Cayucos to visit my dad's side of the family and catch some waves...
It was big fun. Big cold fun. Hence the wetsuit. But still fun. I was using a surfboard that my uncle borrowed from his neighbor, so that was pretty cool. It may have been more a boat than a surfboard, but still...

After that, we went to Wisconsin to visit my mom's family.We sailed. We canoed. We kayaked. We paddleboat-ed. And we caught lots and lots of fish and fried them up for dinner.

In between all of this, I've been trying to get ready to go to college, and cooking, and knitting.

Lime green socks, an experiment in sock techniques. One is knit from the toe up, the other from the top down. I thought they were kind of neat.
Further details, etc. on Ravelry.

I'm knitting up a baby bumble bee

2008-06-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my bumblebee socks... just in time for the hundred-degree summer weather. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in "bee stripe." While both skeins were from the same dyelot, one of them has a bit more orange in it than the other... Not that anyone will notice except me.

I'm finally out of school, so I guess I'm free for the summer. I've managed to get through the heel turn on my current pair of socks, although when I'll finish them is anyone's guess. I'm still getting lots of use out of my new ice cream maker. Most of the recipes have been devoured before they could pose for a photo-op, but once I get the details figured out, I'll start posting my recipes.
Meanwhile, I continue my work on sewing the squares of fabric into long strips of fabric. Oy.

diversions.

2008-05-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done lately.
There are several reasons for this.
The first is that my parents got me an ice cream maker. This has been rather too much fun... I've made half a dozen flavors already.
The second cannot be revealed yet, but needless to say it involves lots of little pieces of fabric which I am dutifully sewing together.

The third reason is that I am taking the AP tests. Calculus and Literature were last week, and I have a physics test on Monday. So this is what my table looks like right now:
And even that's going slowly. Why? Well, this is what my right hand looks like right now...

I had a bit of a run-in with a tether ball yesterday. It's better now than it was yesterday... At least I can bend my fingers.
Really, I don't understand what it is about graduation parties that makes us all act like fourth-graders again.

Southern California & ice cream

2008-04-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

I am guilty of not getting much knitting done. I made one little tiny sock. It's hanging up in the store now. I'll get pictures of it soon, I promise... it's very cute.

We went down to visit the aunts & uncles for Easter, and my my is it WARM in southern California!
Evidently, there is only one thing to do when the world provides you with 80 degree weather for a week:
...MAKE ICE CREAM!
We went to the beach, too, and lots of other fun things, but when we got home in the evening, I decided that the proper solution to a long, exhausting day of beachcombing was some fresh homemade ice cream.
The ice cream recipe is from Desert Candy, it's this fabulous Sour Cream/Brown Sugar ice cream. It turned out fabulously... the flavour was reminiscent of cheesecake, but slightly more complex. The entire batch disappeared very quickly.

Now one of these days, I'm going to finish another pair of socks....

Walking into spring

2008-02-23T15:30:00.001-08:00

I took these pictures last week. I no longer believe that I am in the same reality: at the moment, it's dark and grey and pouring rain. Spring is taking her sweet time to get here. Anyways, at least I can feel springy by wearing my bright new Jaywalkers. I started these last summer on the way to Colorado, and haven't worked on them since. So I just finished them up. They're just another pair of standard-issue jaywalkers with picot-edging in some shade of Trekking XXL. I just couldn't resist the neon pink.

The Best Things I've knit all year

2008-01-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

...Well, maybe not the last one. I haven't delivered it yet, so I've been wearing it a lot. The blue sparkly scarf at the top was for Squeak, the green-ish one for Tavy. I gave the scarves to them when I took them to see Chanticleer at the Mondavi center in the middle of December, and both of them have been wearing their scarves ever since. I made a scarf for their mother, too, but rather at the last minute. I started it the 23rd, and dropped it off on their doorstep Christmas morning. Consequently, I have no picture. The same goes for the scarf I knit for the New Mormon: I gave it to her on the last day of school before break, just an hour after I finished it.

Now I'm making a scarf for myself. Tavy & Squeak & the New Mormon are all in Southern California, and I'm about to depart for Wisconsin. I shall have to trust my knitting to carry me through.

Thankful

2007-11-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

My granddad told me that as soon as he got home (he was in the hospital for undetermined bleeding) he would take pictures of himself & my grandmother in their vests.
Well, he did.
Aren't they just the loveliest grandparents anyone could have? I think so.

So, go off and be thankful for family and friends, people. And eat lots of turkey & pie tomorrow.

I reserve the right to change my mind.

2007-09-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

Auditions are frightening. Awful and terrifying. And frightening.

However, Tavy & Squeak are amazing and they made my day better.

In spite of everything

2007-09-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

I really do enjoy auditions, nerve wracking though they be, and I am not entirely dreading today's. Also, Tavy never fails to put a smile on my face, and his sister (I shall call her Squeak, she's a charming little soprano) needs more reassurance than I do, so I can worry about someone else, rather than myself all the time.
And here is a picture of a lot of ladybugs, taken by Tavy with my camera last weekend when we went hiking in Muir Woods.

Medieval Torture Methods

2007-09-29T06:21:00.000-07:00

In all honesty, I think that this is how they got people to confess to witchcraft or heresy or treason, back when torture was more accepted. The heck with unimaginable pain, if you really want someone to break down screaming and crying their guilt and inferiority, put them up on a stage and make them sing Italian and French to an invisible audience of judges. That'll put them in their place. Or maybe make them sing scales, starting on a different note every time. Or maybe make them sight read a passage that seems to consist mostly of random accidentals.
Auditions are very stressful. And I have another one today.
I'm going to go practice my French song until my brain explodes, I think.

Finally.

2007-09-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

School has started, so I've had almost zero creative time since last Thursday. I'm taking Choir and Photo and more choir, and also AP Physics, AP Calculus, Econ/Government, and AP Literature/Composition. The last of those classes is by far the most challenging and interesting. Our first assignment was to look at a picture of a sculpture and to take notes and analyse it as though it was a work of literature. It was great fun, if a bit confusing.
Oh, look, now I've lost you. Here, have some knitting.

I've FINALLY finished my granddad's red fisherman's vest! Unfortunately, I had to model it, and it doesn't look nearly as charming on me as it will on him. However, when he gets it, he will be under strictest orders to provide pictures of himself and my grandmother wearing their almost-matching handknit vests. I used size 8 needles and almost exactly 4 skeins of Nashua Creative Focus superwash in a rather bright red. The colour was my granddad's request, the patterning was more or less entirely out of my own head, with the exception of the shoulder shaping and v-neck, which were modified from the ones in the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. The XOXO cables match my grandma's vest, which is dark brown and has the same cables down each side.

Okay, now that I have you listening, I think you ought to watch this video:

I'm the one on the far right. The boy next to me (we'll call him Tavy, because we've taken to calling him that) learned the song in about two days, and spend much time complaining that his arms were in pain. I did not doubt it.

So, in summary: School is fun, the vest is finally finished, handbells are pretty awesome, Tavy has no upper body strength

Stardust, Sweaters, Sylvan Singers camp, high School relationships, and other things that may or may not start with S

2007-08-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm a horrible blogger, I admit it. Even when I'm finishing knitting projects right and left (which I'm not) I STILL never get around to photographing them and posting them. And even when my life is REALLY EXCITING and I go all sorts of awesome places, I don't blog about it because I get distracted calling everyone I know and going "Hey I just did something awesome!"

Well, since a picture is worth a thousand words, THIS is where I was:
Beautiful, isn't it? And this is what I was doing. I'm the one ALL the way to the right. Those things I'm ringing? Well, if you've never been exposed to handbells before, they are as heavy as they look. According to the internets, the largest bell there (C3) weighs 8lbs 10oz, which is more than you might think because it's all out on the end of that handle, and it costs $962.
We are currently trying to get a grant to buy the next octave down. We're talking $4000 apiece for some of these babies.

While I was there, I got the chance to photograph the sweater which I finished at the beginning of the summer. It is very warm.
It's just a basic bottom-up raglan, with some ribbing added, and a turtleneck. The pattern is, more or less, the one from the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, A wonderful resource, which I can't recommend enough. It's knit out of Cascade 128 tweed in "Wine," is lovely soft and warm, and pills a bit at the elbows after some heavy-duty wear. However, I think that could've been avoided by the use of smaller needles. I used 10 1/2 US, which were probably a bit large.
Yesterday, several of my friends and I (finally!) went to see Stardust. I loved it. Lots. Sure, it wasn't exactly the same as the book, but I think that's for the best. It had action and adventure, but it was also extremely adorable. Captain Shakespeare, as played by Robert DeNiro, was the most loveable gay pirate ever. I also loved the way Yvaine (though grumpy as ever) glowed when she was happy.
Of course, now I need to re-read the book, because a couple of the totally awesome things that wouldn't have worked on screen just deserve re-reading, it it won't cost me $7 to read again.

book!

2007-07-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

I stayed up ~~till~~ past midnight last night to get a copy of Harry Potter the 7th. I woke up this morning and read the whole bit in one sitting.
I liked it. More or less. Mostly.
Except the epilogue. I hated the epilogue. A lot.

Yup.

And now, to avoid speaking about such things, I will mention that I have just watched Harold and Maude for the first time ever, and not only do I like it, I've dug out all our Cat Stevens albums and have been playing them over and over and over ever since.

In other news, I swear I am still knitting. I've finished the back of my granddad's vest, & am now working on the front. While watching movies.

Little things

2007-07-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, way back in 2005, before we had a LYS for me to work at and high-quality yarn available within a half-an-hour drive, I bought yarn at Michael's. Not that that's a problem. I really like Cotton Ease.
Anyways. Two years ago, I made my cousin Elly a sweater.
The pattern is ChildHood from Knitty, and I used 5 balls of Cotton Ease -- 2 in the dark colour and three in the light. Biggest size, needles one size smaller than called for, &c. &c.

This year, on a cold, foggy beach morning, I happened to look over at my cousin Elly, dressed in bright pink, waiting patiently for her breakfast.
Hey! That's the sweater I made for her 2 years ago and it still fits and she's still wearing it!

That is why I'm a knitter.

catch-up

2007-07-05T18:40:00.001-07:00

I am knitting. I swear I am. I have read The Scarlet Letter and Lord of the Flies for my summer assignments with needles clacking away the whole time. I have read Fragile Things and I think it is bloody brilliant. (My favourite is "The Day the Saucers Came"). I have read Good Omens, and I am re-reading it (AGAIN!) because it makes me happy. And while I do this, I am knitting.
You'll have to take my word for that, because I really do not like taking artificial-light pictures, but at the same time, it is FAR too hot to go outside and take natural light pictures. Especially of my latest finished object. But undoubtedly pictures will happen, eventually, once it isn't 108 degrees outside.
In the meantime, let's look at some old pictures of crafty things I've done, shall we?
Leetle tiny stitch markers. Aren't they cute? They're pink crackly beads, bought from the neighborhood friendly bead store. That's a size 9US needle they're on, so they're most suitable for little projects. I'm using two of them right now, on one of my little projects, but I'm actually hoping that someone will buy them from me at some point. Fingers crossed and all.And here's a record bowl from the bottom of the stack of files-which-I-have-not-made-public-yet. It was, in fact, a gift for my aunt when I went down for All State honor choir, and spent some time with my various relatives. And since we are all Polish, and have various accordions floating around. Not, you know, floating as in being in the air and defying gravity, but floating as in sort of being about. You know. Anyhow. Polkas. Because we are Polish. And I just love how bright the green label looks against the shiny black.

Next time (maybe) I will manage to post all of the knitting I have been working on. If it ever cools off.

Home again

2007-06-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

We just had an absolutely LOVELY trip to the Utah desert, complete with a paddle down the Green River. I should post the travelog now, but since I still haven't told you folks about the trip to Canada, both of those will be coming later.
For now, you can see my current projects.
The first one looks really scary:

That's what me in full handbell-arranger mode looks like. Not a pretty sight. And then I wander around all day waving my hands around in front of me and humming to myself. No wonder many famous composers were thought of as slightly crazy. For the record, though, this piece is almost done. Except for a pesky little middle section. And then I can go back to working on Shenandoah and Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.

On a more fibery front, I have made Great Sock Progress.
That, Sock one of Jaywalker pair the Third, is what can get done if one is in the backseat during a particularly long roadtrip. The colorway is now, forever and ever, going to be "Sunburned Zebra" in my brain, no matter what the Trekking people call it. I believe it is actually 167.

Incidentally, the jeans are not trendy. They are merely casualties of the Great Kitchen Remodel.

things getting done

2007-06-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Two of the cabinet doors have been painted & put back up in the kitchen, and another six are down and in various states of painted-ness. To what do I owe this surge of productivity?
SCHOOL'S OUT!

The last of the finals were yesterday: A big fat test in history and absolutely nothing in choir. We played Spoons with sharpies to entertain ourselves. Today, my duties are limited to singing at graduation with the rest of the choir. I plan to escape early. I am done with this school year. Done, done, done.
Other things are not done. The apricot tree, for example, is just starting to produce pound after pound of sweet, ripe apricots. This is a problem, because I'm leaving for Utah on Monday ((Watch out, Stephalumpagus, here I come!)) and all those apricots are going to be on the ground in various stages of ferment when I get back.
We've been madly picking and canning as many of them as we can, but I decided that there is only one right thing to do with a basket of fresh apricots.
Cobbler. O! how I love an apricot cobbler right out of the oven.

[Norma's Cobbler]
Fill a pan with as many apricots as you can. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over them.
Cover them with topping. Stick the cobbler in the oven until the topping is golden brown. Try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

[Topping]
1. Mix together:
1 egg
1/2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
2 T butter
3/4 t baking powder

overachiever

2007-06-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

My job, when I got home at noon from my first & second period finals, was to clean the kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher. The problem?
Our kitchen is on the "to-remodel" list. And has been since before I was born.

What's the point of cleaning that?
So, down came the cabinet doors, and out came the paint stripper & power sander & a can of primer.
I'm gonna show these doors who's the boss.

Socks...

2007-06-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

I finished these grey socks on the way to Canada. They got plenty of use there, I can tell you! Running around in the snow all day in Whistler takes nice snowboots and thick, warm merino socks.
They're also TALL.Very tall. All the better to keep the legs warm with, of course. Which is very nescessary when you're having snowball fights at 10 pm in the snowbank behind the hotel. Which was very easy to fall through if you weren't paying attention. It was cold, let me assure you.

ribbit.

2007-04-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

Potential comments about the sock, umodeled:
Nice color
Interesting ribbing
Looks kind of skinny, doesn't it?
Twisted rib cuff- interesting.
The modeled sock?
Arent' there a lot of holes in that?
Oh, it's a lacy look.
Very, um, high-contrast.

Yep. So, I ripped it out to the twisted ribbing, and I'm going to make the Undulating Rib socks instead.

Danger, danger!

2007-04-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

So, I'm back from Canada.
It was really lovely: We had tea while we were in Victoria, and it snowed at Whistler.

I have some knitting to report:Background black tiles courtesey of the lobby area in our hotel in Vancouver. I was waiting for breakfast. What better thing to do than photography your socks??
The toes charm me, with their blackness, and the little dots just before.
Does tha pattern look familiar? It might. Admittedly, my version was something to the effect of: Hey, that looks cool, let me chart it out and then get started on it while I am far, far away from my charts.
(also, am I the only one with chronic sock-end procrastination? I don't need to weave in that end. Nobody will ever see it.)
Whoops, sorry about that sneaking in there. Very sneaky, you know. I think I may be in danger of going to the dark side. I swear there isn't any more. Just a, um, three-ounce ball of roving sitting on my dresser. And plans to build my own drop spindle.
Nothing to see here. Move along.

I have not fallen off the edge of the world

2007-04-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

Nor have I been eaten by the monster in the basement.
I was, however, in the grasp of the monster called Tech Week for a while. I offer you photographic evidence that I fought it and won:

There's me and my family, looking like trouble. The boy playing my son is actually in 8th grade, soon to be a freshman. I am shocked. He makes a very good Winthrop, though.
Professor Hill attempts to gallantly kiss my hand. The effect is ruined somewhat by the fact that his knees are practically inside his jacket.

AND I got to knit onstage. It was wonderful. Also, I swear I had more than one costume. All the good pictures were from the second half of the first act, though. I also had a orange dress, and a burgundy dress, and an interestingly colored apron. All were salvaged from Goodwill, of course.

On the knitting front, I made a scarf for some guy named after a cut of meat or a wooden post, and he paid me $20, plus the cost of yarn. I realise that the amount probably isn't nearly high enough, but since I knit the scarf in 5 days, and only knit at school, I'm not complaining.The pattern is totally and wonderfully reversable, and it's really easy, too. I've actually used it before, for Ben's scarf, but it was so much easier with the larger gauge.

The pattern:
[multiple of 4, plus 2]
*K3, sl1 wyif* across - you will end by knitting 2.
Repeat this row until the scarf is as long as you want.
Bind off.

Legwarmers

2007-03-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

I made these ages ago, still haven't delivered them. But I did manage to get up the gumption [as it were] to finish writing the tutorial for them. So here it is.

Naomi's Legwarmers

Size: 16 inches long x 8 inches around [unstretched]: one size fits most

Yarn: 3 skeins Muench BIGBaby [100% Acrylic // 50 g = 49 yds]

OR 150 yds bulky yarn

Needles: Size 13 [US] Double-pointed need

les [set of 4]

OR size needed to obtain gauge

Notions: 2 yds of ½ to ¾ inch wide ribbon

Tapestry needle

Gauge: ~2 sts/inch ... [it's not too important...]

Instructions:

CO 24 sts [8 sts per needle] and join in the round, being careful not to twist.

Rounds 1-4: [k1, p1] around.

Round 5: [k2, p1] around.

Repeat Round 5 until the legwarmer measures 14.5 inches.

Next Round: [k2tog, p1] around.

Next 3 rounds: [k1, p1] around.

Bind off in pattern.

Make another one.

Finishing:

Weave in all ends.

Cut the ribbon in half. You should have two yard-long pieces. Thread the end of one of these through a tapestry needle. Thread it in and out, under the knit stitches and over the purls, through the last row of 1x1 ribbing at the wider end. Make the two ends of the ribbon equal, and tie them in a bow after you put the legwarmers on.

warm.

2007-03-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Because my dad has been having some shoulder trouble due to his line of work, I decided that maybe I should make a rice-warmer for him. We have a hot water bottle, but the warmer seemed like it would be easier to deal with, and less likely to do weird things. So, this evening, I puttered over to the tutorial, and got out some fun fabric, and twenty minutes later, I hade a rice-warmer and two record bowls.
...yeah. Record bowls. Those things are addictive. I have four now. In my defense, two of them are gifts. Gifts! I swear!

I actually really truly have been knitting, but that will have to wait for another post. I'm in tech-week haze.

Camera surgery

2007-02-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

A short while ago, when I was nabbing my trusty camera to take a picture of some knitting, I noticed that the screen was broken. A bright light came on, but no display. It looked cracked. It probably was.

Now, this camera was a Christmas present, and has taken quite a few pictures in its life time, but replacing it would cost me around $300, which I, unfortunately, do not have. However, buying a new LCD display would cost me $50. I could afford $50.
So I boldly disassembled my camera, and waited.The parts came in an amazingly short time, and I was very glad I didn't pay extra for priority shipping.

So, I plugged in the little patch cable, cinched down the edges, put the plastic cover back on and screwed it down with the rediculously small screws and an equally tiny screwdriver.And then? Well, I put some batteries in it and crossed my fingers and pushed the "on" button.

And do you know what? It worked! And I am, once again, fully camera-ly operational!

Knitting to come next time. Maybe.

no more media journals!

2007-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

I am sick of them.
In other news: My dear readers who inhabit the Vacaville area really ought to email me [at youkaikagura-at-netscape-dot-net] for more information about my fundraising endeavour for the Sylvan Singers: 2 hours of handbell ringing [plus instruction for the uninitiated] for $20, to support our tour to Canada this spring.
And then there's the upcoming musical, the Music Man, which is at VPAT & ought to be seen either Friday night at 7:00 or Saturday at 2:00. Tickets are $12 for students and seniors, and $15 for the rest of the population.
I also get to TEACH A CLASS at work, which will be a magic loop sock seminar, which is a 4 hour long sock class. I think this is absurd, but I don't make the decisions, I just teach the class. I hope some people sign up. I could use the money!

More knitting to come soon, once I get around to uploading my pictures. And some sewing. And a few melted records. Isn't it exciting.

I now leave you with a picture of what my camera screen looked like a couple weeks ago. How is did I fix it? Maybe I'll blog about it next time.

... Oh, the suspense!

Media Journal no. 2

2007-02-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

Every time I visit MySpace, the popular teen site, I am assaulted by several blinking neon advertisements. Now, I have nothing against free expression of capitalism, but these ads are really horrible. Who clicks on them, anyway? If I was interested in an iPod, I'd be looking at CompUSA or BestBuy, not an ad that tells me that I can have a free iPod Nano if I just shoot twenty ducks. And then there's the asterisk. Anyone with a pair of brain cells to rub together knows that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Or, in this case, a free iPod. All of these flashing ads are just begging to be clicked on, but what purpose do they serve?

I understand that most of these advertisements work on a pay-per-click basis. The website that consents to paste one of these obnoxious banners on their page receives some small amount of money every time a visitor clicks on the ad. So, in exchange for some appearance, a website can obtain a healthy stream of cash for just existing. With advertisements for things such as concert tickets, insurance, or hair products, the source of the money is evident, and the advertising circle complete. However, in advertisements that promote something that is supposedly “free,” where does the money come from?

In the name of science, I was required to make a few sacrifices. I clicked on several of these advertisements, and looked at the root website. One was a product testing company that seeks customer reviews of all sorts of items. The other was a phone service that promised to send horoscopes to a phone daily for the low low cost of six dollars a week. That bit of information, however, was hidden in the fine print at the bottom of the page. While not a genuine scam, the company evidently hopes that people will be tricked into subscribing before they realize the cost. Other ads are for free cell phone ring tones, with the same gimmick built in. The costs of the service are hidden in barely legible fine print at the bottom of the page.

It's rather sad that the advertising world now relies on the gullibility and greed of human beings above all else. Admittedly, that has always been the chief aim of advertisers, but in the online world, they've sunk to a new low. The consumer is supposed to believe that they can get something for free. They shouldn't read the fine print, and they should then pay the surprise charges when they show up. On the flip side, an increasing number of people are becoming immune to advertisements. Unfortunately, this means that the advertisers will have to come up with a whole new set of hideous ads to capture public attention.

those politics I was warning you about

2007-02-12T16:14:00.000-08:00

In my honors english class, the teacher is having us write "media journals," where he asks us to question the media and pay attention to it and fun stuff like that.
Now, I'm not really sold on the idea, but it just screams "blogging!" at me, so I'm going to post my journals as I write them.
Here's my first:

Having grown up without a television, I sometimes feel superior to those who are slavish followers to the rectangular blue screen. Not that there's anything wrong with television. It can be very useful for such things as the local weather forecast. However, some of my friends have a devotion to the television surpassing all logical and reasonable levels of obsession.

Every time I go to Ming's house (name changed to protect the innocent) for a study group for some subject, I am treated to the perpetual murmur of the television set. My friends and I often ask for him to turn down the white noise, or to turn it off entirely. Most of us feel that it is difficult to study with commercials blaring in our ears. Ming, however, is often too fixed on the current tennis match to notice our complaints. He yells things at the screen while others are trying to talk to him, and it takes us minutes of our time to get him back on track.

In his defense, Ming claims that complete quiet scares him. He needs the perpetual noise to stay comfortable. “A silent house really freaks me out,” Ming told me. I think that his fear of silence is strange—and probably a direct result of his perpetual exposure to television. Many children grow up surrounded by media, and never experience the unadulterated sounds of life. I, certainly, have never felt the need for sound to keep me safe, even when I'm home alone.

It's a good thing, too. I think I would feel handicapped if I relied on the television for company at all times. If one relies on someone else to make their life for them, they'll be stuck with nowhere to turn when that other life goes away. While I feel prepared to live on my own when I go to college, Ming is nervous. I respect him, and I respect his decisions, but I think that his over dependence on perpetual television will be a problem for him later in life, when he's separated from his home.

Knitting before politics...

2007-02-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

I just made some darling fuzzyfeet for a friend of mine. She's been begging me for a pair of slippers or socks for years, and she came by the yarn store just recently to buy some yarn for me to make the slippers out of.
Before:

After:

She actually asked if we had a BRIGHTER yellow, but I told her that this was the best we could do. She absolutely loves them. I am sure that her darling little sister will be jealous. I may be making mini-fuzzyfeet.

feeling like felting

2007-01-21T17:23:00.000-08:00

Fulled Lopi Tote from Hello Yarn, only in Cascade 128 and Ironstone Hot Stuff...

I haven't been getting so much knitting done lately. Maybe it's some kind of burnout. Nothing gets finished fast enough and I have a million projects going on at once. That's why I made this. The free time during finals let me whip up this bag, which went fairly quick-a plus.

Maybe it's just because I have 2 pairs of socks on the needles. Hm...

mavorneen pinchin', tara's hall minstrel singin'....

2007-01-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

We are doing The Music Man as the school musical this year.
I just got cast as Mrs. Paroo. I couldn't be more pleased.

more knitting to come later. Now I want to gloat.

lyrics for a grey day

2007-01-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

I like the way that your hands are so warm
I like the way you'll share your umbrella in a storm
I like the way of everything that you do
but I can't stand the days when I'm not seeing you

Aint got the blues, cause blues aint bad
aint got the blues, no, the blues don't make me this sad
aint got the blues, I'll be okay
It's just those old grey skies keeping me away

I like the sun shining down when we walk
I like the way you say my name when you talk
I like every day I see you when the sky is so blue
But now my life is grey and I'm not seeing you

Aint got the blues, cause blues aint bad
aint got the blues, no, the blues don't make me this sad
aint got the blues, I'll be okay
It's just those old grey skies keeping me away-hey

I still hear your voice when I walk down the street,
and I see your face in the people I meet
Who was put all these mad thoughts in my head?
And why can't I sleep when I'm lying in bed?

I aint got the blues, cause blues aint bad
aint got the blues, no, the blues don't make me this sad
aint got the blues, I'll be okay
It's just those old grey skies keeping me away

I aint- I aint got the blues
I aint- I aint got the blues
I aint- no I aint got the blues
It's just those old, cold grey skies....

I aint got the blues.

[Well, what do you think?]

we know how to party

2007-01-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

Every New Year's Eve, save one (that I can remember), we've celebrated with some good family friends who lived in Davis. However, just this summer, they moved to Laramie, of all places. So, we had to celebrate the New Year on our own, without them. Usually, we'd make a few dishes, and they'd make a few dishes. This year, each member of our family made a few things. We did absurd amouts of cooking.
I made some cute little appetizers using a general formula by my uncle.
Here it is:

[Wheat Thins Apperitifs]

some wheat thins
cream cheese
peppers / hot pepper jelly
marmalade / candied rind
plastic baggie

1. Put the cream cheese in the plastic bag & snip the corner of the bag off. Use this to pipe a circle of cream cheese on to each cracker.
2. Top each cracker with either

a] a dab of hot pepper jelly & a slice of pepper
or
b] a dab of marmalade and candied rind
3. eat.

The candied rind was an adventure of its own. I saw the idea over at Cupcake Bakeshop, and decided to try it myself. I omitted the salt and overnight soaking, and actually used grapefruit rind rather than orange rind, but it turned out delicious, and slightly like a gummy worm.
I also made creme brulee (just pretend that I put all the accent marks on), using an easy recipe that really resembles vanilla ice cream when you're mixing the ingredients. However, the ramekins that I got were really little. Really, really little.
What do you do with all that left-over batter? Well, I thought the answer was simple. You make a creme bru-pie! Yes, I know it isn't anywhere near gramatically correct, but it tastes so darn good, nobody cares.
I made a walnut crust, consisting of 1 3/4 cups of ground walnuts, 1/4 C brown sugar, and 1 T butter. I baked that for a bit, then I poured the creme pre-brulee in, and cooked it sitting inside a larger pie shell full of water. I made the carmel on the stovetop and poured it over. A word of warning: Carmel does not cut easily. You have to break it, like ice.
I also contributed the drinks: Very tasty, and entirely non-alcoholic. They're made out of seltzer water and juice, mostly from concentrates. The pink is cranberry-lime, the dark red is cranberry-apple, and the funny shade of brown is pineapple-pomegranite. We believe that this combination results in a chemical reaction that turns the pomegranite brown.
Other denizens of the household also contributed delicious dishes. A green salad and guacamole, accompanied by some yummy mini-nachoes and won-tons.

525,600 minutes

2006-12-30T17:05:00.000-08:00

I always think it's interesting how years are measured by their conclusions and not the days passed.
I celebrated by going to lunch at Strings with two friends and then going to see Happy Feet. It was cute, if a bit strange by the end. Environmental messages and all.
Hope all have a happy and prosperous new year.

more City

2006-12-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

The weather was beautiful for our Caroling trip--we took the ferry across the bay as the sun was setting, rang bells and sang in Ghiradelli square and then had hot cocoa, took the cable car to Union Square, and sang the whole way... Which started getting difficult as we were stopped for at least 20 minutes behind another cable car which had stalled (do cable cars stall?) in the intersection. This meant that we were too late for our actual caroling slot at Union Square, so instead we went and got Jamba Juice... and then we caroled anyhow. We even put out a hat, and got enough money to cover parking for a friend who lives in the city and drove over.

And now? I'm finishing my last Christmas gift and resolving to exercise some self control in the realm of chocolates.

wearing flowers in our hair...

2006-12-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

For those who didn't already know/didn't come over from there, I got published at KNITTY!
I am a happy person, oh yes.

Yesterday & today were spent in The City, where we did not get to play the gig at The Cannery like we were supposed to, and instead were given shopping time.
Meaning? We went to Lark in the Morning & played a theramin. It was interesting.

& then we went to wineries, & that was fun.

Knittings?

I got some work done on my artyarns socks during the car rides.
Life is good.

The christmas presents, some are done!

2006-12-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

I deserve a round of applause! I've actually gotten presents done. Madrigal has been an absolute killer, as always, but it was all worth it, because it went very well, and several friends (of the "former sylvan singer" variety) showed up and made us happy, especially the one who stood up so that they could see the handbells better.
And a picture to proove that I really did knit both of them--some little fingerless gloves in Cascade chunky baby alpaca. The colour is actually on the warmer side of grey, but the light was failing. The pattern is my own, using 30 stitches at the cuff, decreasing to 26, and proceeding even. Should I write out this pattern? This is the third pair off of the same basic design...

These are the Alina and Ben scarves, finally done... Alina's is in a yarn called "Caviar," which is two thick&thins that gradually change colour combined with a strand of glitter, which has a charming effect. The pattern is a simple 1x1 rib. Ben's is in a black yarn called "Ksar," which claims to be a mix of wool and camel. This intrigues me to no end.
The pattern is a multiple of 4 stitches, plus two, and each row is the same: Knit 3, Slip 1 with yarn in front. Repeat ad nauseum. The last two stitches will be Knit 2.
It is a shameless swiping and, in my opinion, an improvement on a pattern by the Yarn Harlot. Actually, it's the same except for the slipping instead of purling. And no twisting of stitches.

What this REALLY means is that I'm nearly done with my christmas gifts. I have the Rico scarf to make and the Sam scarf to make, but I have yet to fall in love with any convenient stitch patterns, so this may take a while...
In the meantime, I will be distracted by twenty pages of fiddle tunes which I found via Wikipedia, and the knowledge that I am going to THE CITY tomorrow for all manner of fun.

2006-11-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

The play went wonderfully, with a different mistake every night. We just can't wait for the spring musical, which will supposedly be the Music Man.
So I have new shoes (from that play) and new socks... Which, of course, look rediculous together. The socks did get finished well within the socktoberfest guidelines, so I guess I got 1.1666... socks done... the green ones still languish.

They're Trekking XXL in some color or another, on size 1 addis, using the "You're Putting Me On" toe-up sock pattern. Which I quite like, except for the fact that I knit one of the heels upside-down. I seem to have sock gusset problems.

I'm getting impatient with my other 100 projects. I really want to start something and see it take off and fly. I think this would be the perfect time to get my feather and fan purple scrap shawl done....

Exhaustion

2006-11-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

I have no Socktoberfest socks that I finished weeks ago to post.
Instead, I have this little public service announcement:
That's what's been eating all my time. That's where I'll be Thursday night and Friday night and Saturday night. Yes, I am exhausted. But I am having FUN.

Maybe after this I'll get back to my knitting...

it's socktober, right?

2006-10-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Despite my joining of Socktoberfest, my sock knitting is languishing. So look. SOCK:

Isn't that good? The first of a pair of lovely stripey green trekking socks. With my own creative stitch pattern hidden below the ribbing. It looks nice, but is a bit tedious.

That audition I had been worrying about back there was a waste of worriment. I made it, and got one of the higher scores in our group.
I auditioned for the Young Performers Concert last week, though, and they didn't want me. I will say it was because I was sick when I auditioned. That will be my excuse.

And I'm an alto.

Done.

2006-10-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

The Sienna Cardi, she is done! I couldn't be more pleased. Well, I could be, if I didn't have to put it up on display in the shop for the next several months, and could wear it instead. But that's a little detail.

YARN: 7 sk. Cascade Pastaza (50% Wool, 50% Llama, 100g/132yds), colour 079
NEEDLES: Size 9 US Addi Turbo 24" circular
PATTERN: Sienna Cardigan (2006 Fall Interweave Knits)
size: 36" (the smallest size)
TIME: 2 or 3 weeks, not constant work... it was a fairly easy knit.
MODIFICATIONS: The pattern called for a rolled edge on the sleeves, made by working the entire sleeve in stockinette, and then picking up stitches all the way around the cuff and then immediately binding them off. I thought that was rediculous, as the bottom edge was ribbed, and I wanted it to match, so I did the entire straight section before the sleeve increases begin in 2x2 ribbing, which looks a lot better, in my opinion.
&c.: I love this pattern. In fact, I love it so much that I may make another cardigan based off of the same basic shape, but with several changes, including the front cable panels and the width of the neck. I would definately reccomend this sweater to a new knitter who wanted to make their first sweater.

Auditions

2006-09-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

There is no worse feeling in the world than to go into an audition feeling OK about it and feeling fairly prepared, and then having it turn out far worse than expected.
I've been sick, so my voice was kind of off, and when I had to do my solo, it came out very badly indeed for the first page, and it was just generally NOT AS GOOD as I felt I could do.
I hope I still make it!

That's what I actually accomplished. For some odd reason, my audition was at 9:30 (part of the reason I did so poorly!) and our last member's was at 11:40... hence, a lot of sitting around time. However, there was also a dog show going on, so we had fun watching the dogs going through their paces. Our favourite was watching a corgi do his routine, which included several jumps, and a routine where the dog would run as fast as possible towards his owner and then, at a signal, plop down on his butt. Corgis don't have very far to go. So, I made pretty good progress on The Scarf. And I have the stitch pattern memorized, and I should be able to finish it before the holidays!

interminable

2006-09-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

I am slightly delerious, due to sleep deprivation and a bad cold. That must be why I'm determined to finish the sweater this week, today if I can manage it. The collar took forever, and now I have to sew two little seams and weave in umpteen little ends, after which I can block it and take it button shopping.
In the meantime, I'd like to just fall asleep. I don't need to go to school! They don't teach us anything.

To recap:
Days of sickness: 5
Cups of coffee consumed: 3
Cups of lemon-ginger tea consumed: 19

I am floating away.

Patience, grasshopper

2006-09-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the sweater looked like this:
Yes, I HAVE been up since 6 this morning sewing seams. No, the seams are not done yet. And there is still a button band/collar to pick up.

Finishing work should not be attempted by tired, sickness-addled people.

Attack of the winter season

2006-09-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

I think that I am getting sick. I do not know whose fault this is. I'll blame Jori, because she came to a practice when she had a fever, because B wanted her there. And now I am sick.

Meanwhile, I attempt to write my bag pattern for Knitty. Woo.

More tea must be found to soothe my throat. More interesting news later.

the best laid plans...

2006-09-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

In this case, they're the best laid plans of women. I REALLY REALLY meant to get my Sock-In-Progress to one of the knitting people who were going to see the Yarn Harlot. The thought was this: I could not go, so I would send the sock as my envoy. Of course, things got confusing, and one of the knit meetings vanished, and so I still have my sock while the ladies are heading off for a yarn crawl before they go see the Harlot.
This sock of mine is rather unhappy with me.
I'll live. I'll just hear the stories from everyone else.

accomplishment in green

2006-09-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey lookie here, I finished something.
Actually, its nice to have something done and accomplished, for a change.
Pattern: Mrs. Beeton
Yarn: Anny Blatt kid mohair in some green (mislabled as orange), & Knitpicks Elegance in grass.
Needles: Size 4 & 6 DPNs.
Extras: The beads were from Michael's. It was a bag of little irridescent black-green-blue-purple beads, and they are lovely.
Time: Um... quite a while. The individuals didn't take long to make, but there was a bit of a lull between the two as I worked on other things.
Modifications: Needle sizes. I didn't have the size called for in the pattern, so I used what I had. And, of course, the yarn.
&c.: I would make these again. They're fun and quick and don't take much yarn. Also, it's fun to play with the combination of textures, and the beads.

...Especially the beads.

a bit of a rib

2006-08-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

School has started, and life looks like it might just get more hectic than it is already.
I got a copy of the new Interweave Knits magazine, and started knitting the Sienna Cardigan in Cascade Pastaza. I love the yarn- it has a great name, and it's half wool and half LLAMA. It feels good too!
I am currently trying to decide whether to knit the sleeves as written, or to modify & do ribbing on the cuff to match the bottom of the sweater. Thoughts?

Some of the knitting ladies are going off to see the Yarn Harlot on Sept. 9 at Full Thread Ahead, and since I'm not going, I'll be sending my sock along to meet the travelling sock. I'm sure it will tell me all about it. It will be a sad, sad seperation between me & my little travel project, though.

Also, I broke a head the other day at work. TOTALLY unintentional.

In which hand-dyed yarns stripe attractively

2006-08-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

...I ♥ the manual focus on my camera.

Whee! I was wondering how I would ever spend $100 on yarn. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's easier than I thought. Sock yarn adds up. So here's the first installment of such.

YARN: Artyarns Supermerino in colour 115. 1 skien per sock, and I cut it pretty close with the bind-off. As in, about 3 cm. of yarn left once I'd finished. Whoops.
NEEDLES: Size 3 (US) Addi Turbo circulars
PATTERN: Made up as I went along: I cast on with what one of the members of our knitting circle called a "Figure-8 Cast on," but Knitty seems to call a "Magic Cast-on." Oh well. I used a M1 increase to increase every other round until I got 50 stitches. The stitch pattern was the "cabled rib" out of Sensational Knitted Socks, which is a very lovely book, bytheby. I used a short-row heel (Bleah!) and knit a bit of 1x1 ribbing at the cuff before I bound off.
&c.: I think that I shall attempt the faux-gusset-and-heel-flap heel on my next pair of toe-up socks. I really like knitting socks toe-up, it solves those embarassing toe problems... but I find that short-row heels, especially in heavier yarns, tend to gap and pull. Also: I really like how the colours striped. I was a bit nervous when I started using it, but they ended up making a nice spiral all around. They are very thick and warm, and also very soft, and therefore will be used often for padding about on cold wint'ry days.

strawberry lemonade

2006-08-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

Oh so delicious and refreshing. My blender is getting a lot of use this summer--every drink tastes better when the ice has been finely ground & incorporated. Or, at least, colder.

No real recipe for this: Just throw a bunch of ice cubes in with a little lemon juice and water and some frozen or fresh strawberries, blend, and add sugar to taste.

fisch!

2006-08-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Chocolate-Mint cupcakes! And oh, are these things minty. The frosting is a Portsmouth frosting, but with mint leaves steeped in the milk before.

I consider them a success. I only wish that I had some of those little tiny chocolate chips to use as garnish on top instead of cocoa powder.

And now the real subject: DOCKTORFISCH SOCKS!YARN: Opal Rainforest in the Docktorfisch colour, 1 skien.
NEEDLES: size 1 (US) addi turbos.
PATTERN: the wonderful Jaywalkers. (My second pair!)
TIME: Started in Germany on the tour bus when I got my yarn, finished while visiting Trout Lake, WI.
MODIFICATIONS: I made the small size, and used the picot edge described in My Fashionable Life, on 8 less stitches than called for in the first round. It still flares, though. Bother.
&c.: Funfun! And I happen to really, really like the German way of spelling "fish." They do not match very well at all. And my kistchner stitch is better on the toe of one than the other. I'm improving.
And some more pictures from the photo shoot, as the lake in the morning is a beautiful thing:

The land of cheese

2006-08-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Ah, Wisconsin, how I love thee.
We got back from visiting my grandparents last night. They live on a lake in northern Wisconsin so as you might imagine we spend every day lazing around in the water and fishing and every other pleasant thing.
My granddad has celiac disease, either causing or because of a surgery that removed most of his small intestine.
Anywho: He can no longer eat things with gluten in them.
Now, I like to bake, so I happily accepted the challenge of cooking as many things as possible without. They had a whole array of flours that I could safely use: White rice, brown rice, buckwheat, garbanzo, tapioca, potato, almond, and sorghum, not to mention potato and corn starch. Wow. Before I'd left, I researched some recipes at the blog of Gluten-Free Girl. She had some very interesting recipes, and I put many of them into use. To the right are gluten-free ginger molasses cookies, using one of her recipies. They were pretty good, but they didn't turn out right. The dough, which she shows neatly rolled into balls, really just went onto the cookie sheet in spoonfuls with a blop. They were good, but they had an unpleasant dry, powdery taste. I would have to try some more.

Next, I made her banana bread: The verdict? AMAZING. All in the house agreed, it was darn good banana bread, and my mother and a few others actually preferred it to the normal wheat-flour recipe. Since she doesn't specify the flours in the gluten-free flour mix, I used half Sorghum and half Rice. Allow me to sing the prases of sorghum flour: it doesn't squeak. It feels just like normal flour, not all squichy like cornstarch and nearly everything else. This little loaf of banana bread didn't last long.

And then there was pie. I'd read her accounts of the trials of pie crusts. I copied down the recipe and showed it to my granddad. He was eager for me to make a pie, as he hadn't had one since he discovered his illness. I showed the recipe to my grandmum. It was vetoed instantly: too fattening. So, I struck out on my own, modifying from the stirred pastry that I always make at home.
Apologies to all who have struggled with pies: this is so simple.

[Gluten Free Stirred Pastry]

1/4 C milk
1/3 C oil
1 C sorghum flour
small amount almond flour (optional)
1 T sugar

1. Stir milk and oil vigorously until emulsified.
2. Stir in flours
3. Press into pie pan.

The pie was a cherry pie, as my grandmother requested. It was devoured at great speed.

This is the final dish I made. The cookies are modified from a Cooking Light recipe and topped with light vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, and chocolate shavings.

[Chocolate Yogurt Cookies]

1/4 C oil
1/3 C brown sugar
2/3 C white sugar
1/4 C & 3 T cocoa powder
1/3 C yogurt
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 C sorgum flour
1/2 C white rice flour
1/4 t baking soda

1. Mix the oil and sugars. Add the cocoa powder and stir until the mixture is like damp sand
2. Stir in the yogurt and vanilla
3. Stir in the flours and baking soda.
4. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. The cookies should still be soft when they are removed.

It was a lovely bunch of baking.
In other news, the fish socks are done, but I won't be posting those until I can properly do them justice.

In which I still am doing more cooking than knitting

2006-07-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ice cream sandwiches taste better homemade. Even if they are fat free frozen yogurt sandwiches, and the cookies are made with no eggs & minimal fat & more yogurt.
They are from Cooking Light, after all.

I got some Artyarns Supermerino, I think it's colour 115, and a measuring tape of my very own at the yarn store with some of my earnings after work today. Now it's time to design some SOCKS. yeehaw.

(pst, Jenipurr... I think that your shawl is going to ouclass their booth at Lambtown all on its own...)

blended chai shakes

2006-07-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

It is too too hot.
What does one do when the mercury approaches 108 in the shade?

That's what.

[Blended Chai Milkshake]

1 C cold chai
12 ice cubes
1 large scoop vanilla ice cream
1.5 T sugar
Cinnamon to taste

1. Throw it all in a blender and blend on a high setting until smooth.
2. Pour into glasses. Or just one glass.
3. Garnish with cinnamon.
4. Enjoy! Keep cool.

demon yarn!

2006-07-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Working at a yarn shop is not half bad.
I have discovered, however, that there IS such a thing as too much yarn. I know, it seems impossible, but it's true.
All I have been doing is inventory, inventory, and more inventory. Which is all good and well when you're inventory-ing, say, twenty balls of Trekking XXL in various amazing colours, or maybe fantastically dyed handspun, or Rowan tweeds. However, when you are faced with several hundred balls of Anny Blatt no. 4 & no. 5, which take up an entire table and all the surrounding floor and there are still more hidden in the backs of shelves and are in every imaginable colour and there are maybe 20 of some colours, and they aren't even particularly nice, just generic superwash wool.

Oh. And this is what a ball looks like:(swiped from a yarn vendor's site, found thru a Google search...)

Do you see a problem with this yarn?
If you don't, observe the way that the ball is wound. And observe that the label doesn't go all the way around.
Yes, friends, this is a yarn nightmare. This is a ball of yarn that falls apart if you look at it. So imagine the results of taking them all out of their shelves, sorting them, counting them, relabling them, and then putting them back into baskets.
Yarn barf. Everywhere.
And their novelty yarns are worse. Although, thankfully, there aren't quite so many balls of those.

Aside from that, it's pretty good. She wants me to make the Artyarns Supermerino socks using a store pattern. She doesn't have a good store pattern, though. I'm thinking of designing a pattern myself, and then suggesting she give it for free, with purchase of the yarn.

The inner geek.

2006-07-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it is just not safe to let a person sit down in front of the telly with their knitting and put in a couple dvds of something she should watch "because it's a classic."
That's how I got hooked (well, really hooked. I liked them well enough before) on The Beatles. Someone sat me down to watch A Hard Day's Night. That's how it went with Star Wars. The original ones, not the new knockoffs. And now? Star Trek.
When we were in Cayucos, hanging out on the beach and generally having fun, my cousin found that someone had written "SCOTTY" in large letters on the sand, and we were discussing how funny it would be to write "beam me up" just above it. So we did. Somehow, in the process of this, my father realised that I had never seen a single episode of Star Trek. Something had to be done.
Thankfully, we have a well stocked local library, and soon enough I was knitting away on my fish socks while watching an episode about, apparently, a giant space amoeba trying to eat the Enterprise. And then the episode about Khan, and then a big space vampire cloud (Apparently deadly amorphous beings are a popular theme here), and then the one about the war fought by computer. Through the viewings of these episodes, I have decided: Spock is awesome, and that the chessboard that was in the corner of the room for about ten seconds is really cool. Letting the inner geek in a knitter decide that something is interesting is not safe. It results in graph paper and measurements and the construction of a paper and cardboard mock-up of such a chessboard. I realise that I have yet to add the four extra movable boards or white pieces, and I have yet to determine the best method of differentiating the "Black" pieces. Okay. So maybe we have a limited amount of colours of paper. So pale purple it was. My geekish constructions continue. This is not the first time that I have launched into some creative project that was inspired by something I watched or read. Unfortunately, these little hobbies do distract from my languishing knitting.

That's my poor Elphie, the Starbucks shawl. You have to admit that the needle colour really does inspire those comparisons. She's about 2' 6" tall now... which means QUITE A WAY to go. Meanwhile, I carry her around in a Starbucks cup and work on her periodically.
And her costars:
The fishy socks. They are not on a track to match perfectly by any stretch of the imagination. I'll just have to pretend that I'm not anal about things like matching stripes and deal with it. Due to the fact that I've currently run out of Star Trek episodes (or anything else) to watch, these will be languishing a bit until the library hold system catches up with me.
Or I'll have to work harder at keeping books open with inanimate objects.

And then there's this poor thing. It is, in fact, Knitty's Zigzag, which I started some point last summer.
I have yet to reach the sleeves.
I think I should work on Not Neglecting her, so I'll have a new sweater this winter, yeah?

To the needles I go.

Actual Knitting Content

2006-07-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I know. Shoosh.

I love socks. Especially toe-up socks. But I love top-down socks too. Except for one small detail.

Kistchner stitch toes.

Hideous, I know. Really, I swear I am a good knitter. And my seaming is great. It's just kistchner stitch toes. I think they hate me. They're probably plotting to make me insane. But I shall not fall. I will not give up on the toe of the second sock until it looks good.

The next pair of socks I make will likely be display socks for the yarn store in which I find myself employed.
What sort of pattern would you make with Artyarns Supermerino?
I'm thinking something simple with little cables up the sides, maybe.
Hmmm.

The weary travellers return

2006-07-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, Germany just won their consolation match. However, it wouldn't've been evident had I not been checking the scores religiously, seeing how we are no longer in Europe, where there is no need of TV or news to tell you who won the game, one needs only to open the window and look at the flags.
We left the 25th of June, arriving the following day in Milan and venturing from there to Lake Como. The first thing that happened upon our arriving there was Italy winning a football game. So, as we were walking to dinner, every person who drove by was waving an Italian flag and honking and screaming.

And we aren't talking little pidly flags here. We're talking full size flags flapping in the wind. EVERY SINGLE CAR, I kid you not. It was a very entertaining experience. On our short walk (Our British tour guide, Chris, was big on short walks. They tended to be rather longer than we had expected) to dinner, we found ourselves assaulted by fans at every turn. Of course we cheered right back at them. What else could you do? And when we'd finished dinner, there were still people zooming up and down the streets with flags in hand.We took the first opportunity we got to get gelato, the tasty, smooth, inexpensive Italian version of ice cream. The stuff is heavenly. Typically, it would cost between 60 and 90 cents for one scoop and came in every flavour under the sun. I got chocolate and "After Eight," which was quite possibly the best mint-chip anything I have ever had.

Tuesday we went to Lake Maggiore and took a boat ride out to Isola Bella, which lived up to its name of being a beautiful island. There were carvings and pretty things everywhere. It was one of those castles built for some lady. They tend to be very pretty. All the rooms were incredibly ornate, and the gardens were fabulous. For whatever reason, Italy has the most beautiful hydrangeas I have ever seen. They're blue and pink and every shade in between and perfectly enormous. The other amazing thing about the gardens were the peacoks. There were two pairs of the most beautiful white peacocks wandering around. One of the females had a collection of three little ones around her, and her mate was showing off nicely for photographs.

We went over to the next little island over for our lunches... it was rather boring, and we ended up just lounging on the shore and watching the world go by, after having lunch in a quaint little cafe that we were the only customers in. When we got back to Como, we went out hunting for yet more gelato and I sought out a yarn store, where I spent €5,70 and got two balls of black & glittery stuff and one of blue/white/yellow varigated wool. We took another "short walk" to dinner, which was quite miserable due to the heat and humidity, and Jeremy was about dead by the time we got to the restaraunt due to some problems he'd been having. It was Jen Ramenski's birthday, so her dessert was brought out covered in candles, a comical sight because it was hardly more than a cupcake, and after dinner, the Stephanies & I took her out for more gelato.
Our hotel had a pool, and after some lounging lazily, we tried to organise a synchronised swimming of W C W. It was less than entirely successful, but a great deal of fun. We didn't get a great deal of sleep that night, due to a loud and beautiful lightning storm that lit up the sky at about 3 am.
That was alright, though, because all we had to do all day was sit in a bus. Kris, Ben, Jen and I all went to a cafe across the street for breakfast because the hotel fare was less than stellar. We had lovely litte croissants and hot chocolate you could stand your spoon up in. It was very Discworld-esque. We drove to the outlying islands of Venice and from there took a water taxi into the city.
Venice was beautiful, but the downside was that it was even hotter and more humid than Como had been. Jeremy, Jen and I took a walk about before dinner and took many, many pictures.
And how could you NOT?

We took another long walk out to St. Mark's Square to find our dinners. Jeremy had recovered by that point, so we didn't have to put up with him whining. The food was good & the restaraunt was very pleasant. Unfortunately, the food was the same as it had been the past several days: Pasta, meat & some small amount of overcooked veggies, dessert. Actually, that was about it for every meal, and we were very greatful to get to Germany and have a few salads.

After dinner, we walked a bit more to a dock for the hilight of the evening: a gondola ride.
Our boat consisted of Stephanies (Ross & Pedersen), Monica Ross, Jeremy, Kyle, and myself.
It was really quite nice, except for the fact that Stephanie and Kyle didn't shut up the whole time. And it was, of course, rather dark for taking successful photographs, but we got a few.
Our hotel room ended up being small and hot and lacking functional air conditioning. That's not our room. The hotel was split in two pieces across a street. Our half was dull and white. That would be Ben & Jeremy's room. It was VERY small, and the walls were more apholstered than papered. They were slightly padded. It was rather funny, actually.
The breakfast there was exponentially better than the one in Como. After eating, we went off to the Doge's palace. As anyone who has ever seen The Court Jester will understand, Stephanie and I kept saying "The Doge did what the Doge does. Um, when the Doge does his duty to the Duke, that is." Anyhow, the palace was quite impressive, and many of the rooms had wallpaper quite reminiscent of the sort in the hotel. From there, we went to a demonstration of glass blowing, which was just crazy. Because IT'S HOT MOLTEN GLASS and some person is just swinging it around in the air.
We watched them blow a glass vase, which they did in all of two minutes, becuase apparently they only have a minute that the glass is workable between coming out of the oven and solidifying, so they put the blown glass back in the oven for a bit so they can work with it longer. Jen took us (Mr. Chan, Jeremy, Stephanies, Kristine, Kyle, & myself) over to Murano, but way of a free personal ferry, obtained very easily. In St. Mark's square, there are people belonging to each glass workshop looking to bring people to buy things for them, so all one has to do is talk to them and explain that you're staying in the city and they whisk you off to Murano. We got to watch their craftsman make another glass vase, but a coloured one this time, and a fish, which was really amazing. It only takes a minute to make a fish, so it was like some sort of mad taffy puller, and then there was a fish.
I made several glass purchases on Murano, including one from that shop. The little snail is for me, the orca is for Addison, and the frog is for my grandma. The others are for other friends who I need to give gifts to. They had everything made out of glass that you could possibly imagine. Jeremy found a little glass jewish man, which we were all quite amused by. Jen got a glass peacock, and Mr. Chan got several pieces of glass candy. We had some problems getting back to the hotel, though. We figured that if we left at 3:30, we'd have plenty of time to meet at the hotel at 4:45. Which somehow we didn't. So that was very exciting, and Chris was mad at us and somehow pegged Jeremy as the troublemaker responsible for all of it. It ended up being okay, though, because we ended up waiting for another hour after getting to St. Marks Square to go into the cathedral. And while we were waiting, we found Megan.
She had just come to Venice, having been touring Italy for a while already. They'd just been in Rome and she had just tons of things to talk about. She stayed to watch the mass we performed in St. Mark's Basillica. It went very well, but it wasn't a very pleasant seeming place. All the glass that surrounded the lamps was red, because that was the most expensive sort and the church had been rich. everything about the interior seemed very gory and threatening.
We ate dinner in a funny little restaraunt around the corner, which was nice, and the walls had very interesting modern art-esque semi-religious paintings that incorporated CDs and motherboards.
Friday morning we packed up and left Venice. The bus ride was exceptionally long, and we ended up annoying every nearby person on the bus by reading mad libs.
We stopped in a funny little town called Villach for lunch, and lacking any better place to go, Clarrisa, Amy and I went to a NordSee, which is a fast-food fish chain that is very popular in the german-speaking countries. We had a delightful meal of fish and chips for lunch, and then carried on with the interminable bus ride to Salzburg. We finally got there in the evening, and had a bit of a laugh at all the World Cup fans, as Germany was playing Argentina. We didn't get to see the aftermath in the streets, though, as we had gone in for dinner.
Dinner was an amazing affair. We were treated to a performance of some of Mozart's music by a string quintet and two singers. Part way through, the soprano actually called up someone out of the audience to sing. He was an amazing tenor, probably a member of the local opera company or something. We ate with Chris, and had a long and interesting conversation about religion. Since we'd done nothing but go into Cathoic churches, it was a bit stressful for the Jew and the Mormons and myself, the not-particularly-religous.
The breakfast the next day was even better than the one in Venice, it had pastries and hot meats and eggs. We went on a three hour walking tour with some crazy Austrian lady as a guide. We went up to the castle that's above the city. It was really quite pretty. We also got to look at the house where Mozart was born. It had been turned into a museum with quite a modernistic style to it. It was fun enough, I guess, but by that point I'd started to get sick, and I had a killer fever and really didn't feel well enough to look at modern art. I went to lunch with the Stephanies, Monica and Jeremy. The place was called Carpe Diem, and apparently served food in a cone. We didn't know any better. We tried to order hamburgers. This is what the waiter brought us:
What the heck? It was... good, I guess. But very very strange. And small. So afterwords, we went to McDonalds and got salads and these "tomato kicks" things that were breaded and fried mozzarella balls with tomato sauce in the middle. They were amazing.
Later we had a rehearsal with the Salzburg Cathedral's orchestra and the other choir that was singing with us, a Catholic church choir from Tennessee. We did a lot better than we'd expected too, and the conductor was amazing. He really liked us, too.
On our way to dinner, we encountered complete and total madness. Bleachers full of hundreds of people, vendors selling goods, fans wearing their team's colours and shouting out cheers ("Portugal, Ole! Ole!")
And all of this in front of an enormous screen playing the game live. Yes. A screen. We stayed and watched for quite a while, as it was Britan vs. Portugal, and our guide was most definately hoping the Brits would win. However, he eventually had to take us down for dinner in a little cellar of a restaraunt. He went out at some point, and then came back in to report that they'd lost. We all offered our condolences. We had three pretty Austrian girls playing music during our dinner. I think Mr. B scared them quite a bit though. Kyle spent the whole night lusting after them and we spent a lot of time teasing him. The rest of the time was spent listening to Stephanie Ross wish harm upon Jeremy because he wasn't sitting with her, and instead was sitting and drinking with Angela and Jen Kile.
Sunday morning we had a very early practice, and then went into the cathedral to sing the mass. It went amazingly well, and we found ourselves thanked profusely by the conductor and the Tennessee choir. The Salzbourg choir didn't seem to want to talk to us much. The Tennessee choir invited us to have lunch with them, so we did. They were very friendly people and we had a nice meal before hurrying off to the salt mines. No, I'm not even kidding. We went on a tour of some salt mines. It was lots of fun, and we got to go down two large slides, which were the best bit of it. I went down the first slide with the Stephanies, and they were laughing and smiling the whole time, but I was just feeling kind of feverish. I went down the second with Jeremy and we both were sort of bored with it, which was very funny as everyone else was trying to run to the top and go on a second time. We went to another church and sang another concert, which was less than fun because I felt absolutely lousy. It was, however, my ONE opportunity to sing my solo. I'm not bitter, of course not. The church was interesting, it had a very modern-looking PINK pipe organ. We had a decent audience, and we more or less had fun. We went to dinner at a random little restaraunt where they served us an enormous slab of wienerschnitzel and we all laughed at Jeremy while he tried to convince us that it would give us brain worms.
Monday morning, Stephanie and I went out and got stamps and mailed our postcards before we left Saltzbourg. From there, we bussed to Füssen, with a stop for lunch in Innsbruck. We visited Maxamillian's tomb there, and it was very interesting. There were bronze sculputres of all sorts of notable people, including King Arthur. After, we went to a little cafe to find a meal. Our lunch was very large. Stephanie and Jen bought a €7 pizza to split and still couldn't finish the whole thing. My €8 bowl of pasta was not nearly as big.
Upon our arrival in Füssen, Mr. B managed to find some random church for us to go up and sing Ave Verum Corpus in. So we did. We didn't quite get the point, but we did as we were ordered and it sounded good, I guess that's what counts. We had dinner with Chris & Jörg, much to the delight of the girls. Kyle and Jörg had a nose-spoon contest, which Kyle lost. It was a good night.

Tuesday (July 4th!) we went to Neuchwanstien, the castle that Disneyland castle was based on. It was very pretty, and the walk up to it was very long. A lot of people did a lot of complaining about the hike. I say that they're wimps. However, to each his own. The castle was quite spectacular. There was even a lake below with a pair of swans on it to go with the theme.
Afterwords, we all went to Oberammergau, the rather boring city in which we spent an awful lot of time. It was pleasant there, and after paying for lunch, we ended up with 5 euros extra and we couldn't decide whose they were, so we just went and bought some pastries and sat around on the grass eating pastries. They were really very good.
We went on to sing another catholic mass and a concert in Weiskirche. It was a rather frightening rococo church, just dripping in ornamentation. It was OK, I guess. Several songs went less that well.
We ate dinner in a cute little pub-type thing, where all 50 of us were being served by one woman who was running around fetching everything and trying to watch the football game (Germany & Italy) at the same time. Jen boldly put on her Italia baseball cap. The game ended once we'd got back to our hotel, and there was quite a lot of noise and celebration, especially considering the fact that Germany had lost.
The next day, we continued on to Rothenberg where we looked at a church containing a massive carved wood altar that housed a relic, and ran out of time to do anything else before we were carted of to our final hotel in Frankfurt. We had a few hours of milling around before we went off to dinner, which was in a funny little restaraunt in a train station.
In the morning, they packed us up into the bus again and took us first to Ruedesheim, a city on the Rhine. It was a pretty little town, and we all visited a museum of clockwork instruments, which was quite interesting. They even had one that played both piano and violin. There were also some small birds, which reminded me of the story about the nightingale and the clockwork one that is made for the king. Well, if you know the story, you know what I mean. Afterwords, we ate lunch in a cute little cafe with yellow umbrellas and tablecloths and green plants everywhere. Some of our group found little solar-powered fan hats and bought them, and by the time we left Ruedesheim, nearly twenty people had them.
We took a quick "cruise" on the Rhine, getting on there and getting off only half an hour after. The river is very picturesque, and there are castles every mile or so. At our destination, the bus picked us up again and took us to Klingenberg, the ancestral home of Mr. B. We were welcomed there with open arms. They had prepared a reception for us and sang a song for us when we had our rehearsal.
We sang mass for them, and they translated the mass into English as well, evidently a kind gesture, but not appreciated by all. After our concert, they gave us each a bottle of wine, and we ate dinner in a very nice restaraunt that had big picture windows overlooking the town. We drove back afterwords, and hardly got to sleep before 1 am.

Which didn't really help with the plane ride the next day. It was a 10.5 hour flight, more or less, and I didn't manage to sleep through any of it. I knit until the needles I was using broke, which got me through the heel turn of the first of my pair of socks. I'd got the yarn in one of the little towns we spent almost no time in. It's Opal in the rainforest Doctorfish colour. I'm doing the Jaywalker pattern again.

We went to my uncle's house for dinner after arriving home and are all still quite jetlagged even a day after.

It was a good tour. We're all ready to go to Cayucos on Monday!

(World Cup Final tomorrow! Go Italy!)

We have a winner!

2006-06-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

No, not him. This little fellow was trying to help me with my laundry this morning. What is he? I don't know. I'm not the plant pathologist.
The cookies I made last night are keepers for sure. For whatever reason, every single time I've made chocolate chip cookies, by the next day they're chocolate chip rocks. So let it be known: The cookie recipe on the back of the Ambrosia brand of chocolate chips is really good. If you use half the fat & a few spoonfuls of yogurt.

A Very Good Place To Start ♪

2006-06-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

So as to start off on the right foot... I decided that I should begin with posting the cookies I made today. They DO look good. With any luck, most of them will be devoured by my friends in our final rehearsal before we depart for Europe. Oh my.