a little more selfish knitting

I think my knitting mojo is returning. I'm having fun, and finishing lovely things for me. I'm puttering with yarns, and imagining projects for both me and others. But no timelines to meet!

So, without further ado, some lovely socks:



Yes, they are especially knit for me -- extra stitches to accomodate my high instep, and a favorite yarn from chasing rainbows! They are almost dry -- and ready for a fun time in December.

And another FO is blocking. It's the Inside-Outside Scarf -- free on the XRX website, and a great way to use variated yarns. There are some good extra directions on the WEBS site by Pixie that provide some helpful extra thoughts. Here's a not-so-great photo of the blocking in progress:



This is actually way better in person. If you have a couple of balls of varigated yarn in your stash, you too can have a wonderful scarf. Actually, if you have only one ball of slowly repeating varigated yarn, you can make a scarf just like mine!

The afghan is now in strips, but I have not had the space to do some blocking before I sew the strips together (my mom is visiting for the week). Photos soon.

Feline Inspection

Log Cabin 4
Originally uploaded by skatfantoo

The selfish knitting continues. I did fall off the wagon a bit by making a couple of pairs of mittens for Afghans for Afghans, but I'm now back to completing my own afghan -- the first I've done for myself since forever.

The kitties did their inspection of all the log cabin squares last night, and approved the layout. I've now put together two strips of 4 squares, with three more to go. Trying to decide if blocking the strips is the best way, or wait 'til the whole thing is done.

Hey Congress: Where's my yarn bailout?

Since all parts of the financial industry seems to be finding a way to get all the money that they can possibly squeeze out of the Federal Government, and now the auto industry is not far behind, I think that my knitting personal bailout should have priority and receive special treatment from FiberFannie Mae, the loan fiber-consolidation experts.

Seriously, if people who managed to squander other peoples' money in buying a house by simply having stated their incomes on a form without any documentation whatsoever, then I freely confess the following:

1. I have bought yarn without showing any ability to pay the credit card bills within the year. My LYS (aka "my dealer") freely pushed onto me fibers and yarns with words like "silk","hand-painted" and "handspun" knowing that my ability to refuse such fibers was impaired. I was sucked into the vortex of "doesn't it feel great!"

2. The spirial soon started. I bought yarns, tools, and patterns, and began to haunt online websites like Knitty to feed the illusion that I would actually knit all the yarn that I was buying. The stash bubble began to grow.

3. My transformation into a fiber victim was twisted yet higher by the introduction of the truly seductive and seemingly innocuous website called Ravelry. Oh, yes, Jess and Casey profess to be community-minded small business owners running a start-up, but have you noticed that their mascot, Bob, never smiles? Yeah, he's the brains behind the whole operation. They provide the ability to check out patterns and ways to use any yarn in your stash, so I bought more and more yarn with the thought "I'll figure out how to use this on Ravelry." Any reason not to buy yarn was effectively and efficiently eliminated. Yarn piled higher and higher. Who needs a mortgage when one is buying yarn?

4. Since September 15th, the value of my stash has declined by over 50 percent, meaning that my fiber 401k is now in the tank. I hear from fiberconomists that it is because my sister knitters have also bought yarn that they have told me that they could not afford and do not intend to use until at least retirement. This "fiber bubble" has now burst and we spend our evenings touching Kidsilk Haze and crying, "Why, why!!!" Soon, the fiber eviction notices will come, our yarn will be sold at auction to unworthy knitters who will be taking advantage of our circumstances and we will be reduced to acrylic "pound-plus" yarn from Big-Box stores. Our knitting community will wither and die, and friends and family will be asking us to go get anti-depressants. It will not be pretty.

I therefore plead with our elected Representatives Truly, the only solution is in a yarn bailout. I need it now, but can you ask FiberFannie Mae wait 'til I finish my UFO?

more than a bit of partying

So, it was me and the cats on watching TV and surfing sites like FiveThirtyEight.com and Daily Kos ("R" friends -- don't say I didn't warn you), and flipping between CNN, MSNBC, and yes, even FOX news. Yes, I yelled when Brit Hume had to admit that Obama won.

Needless to say, there was more than a bit of partying. Alcohol was imbibed, family members were called and screamed to. Even the cats got overcome by the fiber fumes:




Yes, Brandy was a little overwhelmed by the news.


We are recovering today. But I'll always have this for a memory of this time:

election nerves and garter stitch

I can't wait for the election. I check fivethirtyeight.com about 5 times a day (see right for my widget). It pleases me to see my candidate have a 90-percent plus chance of winning.

Yet, I'm still anxious and nervous. The last two elections have made me a bit paranoid.

So, thank goodness for garter stitch. You can watch TV with garter stitch, and since I've knit for more than 30 year, so I don't even need to watch my hands all the time. In the last two weeks, I've knit these:



I finished the one unfinished square in the middle row and there's one more completed since the photo. Given my excitement, there's no telling how many will be done on election day.

in which I engage in more selfish knitting

I'm back into knitting for me again, so I'm "back on the wagon."

See, here are some socks that I'm working on:



Yes, wild crazy colors, and so fun for the feet.

and I've started on a big project for me - a log cabin afghan. I'm estimating that I'll do 20 squares so that it ends up being about 42" by 52". A nice mindless knit that will use up worsted scraps! Fortunately, Isadora approves:



And I had this totally interesting thing happen:



What? You say that you can't see anything? Let's take a closer look:



They look different sizes, but they are not. The sock on the left was caught at the bottom of the laundry bin, and then was washed by hand with other socks with shampoo (the cheap Trader Joe's stuff. The sock on the right was put into the washing machine and dryer -- it's Regia, it can handle it.

The left sock is relaxed and happy, the fibers are soft and pliable. It feels nice. The sock on the right is tighter (the result of the dryer, my guess) and a little scratchier. Not hopeless or unwearable, but there is a difference. Quite a difference!

pretty shiny stuff

A few weeks ago, a couple of friends and I went to SF to the opening of a cute little store in the Sunset area. It was totally jammed, so we went to Artfibers (I don't think either of them had been there before). Peaceful, and very lovely stuff.

I kept ooohing and aaahing over things, to the point that I was probably going to walk out. While I love the yarns, the colors aren't to my liking, and I don't have the dying skills at this point to try something out.

But I did get some Patois - a lovely alpaca, silk and nylon tape that is sewn down the middle. A whole cone of it, and I'm hoping that it's enough for a scarf and a hat (it should be).

Then I found a free Annie Modesitt pattern called Netty, a cowl pattern, but one that is knit side-by-side, so it easily translates into a scarf. And see what I've got with about 20 minutes work?




This is fun!