17 years ago by s t a c i

It Was a Hairy Bear, It Was a Scary Bear

Excited!

I’ve kept my lip buttoned for four months, but I can finally talk about it now that I’ve seen it with my own two laser-corrected eyes.

It’s Friday, so the topics are fast and furious.

	If you’re familiar with Laurie Perry, a.k.a. Crazy Aunt Purl, then you know that her new book was just released. Laurie is a very funny young woman who is gifted at putting her humor into writing. I’ve enjoyed her blog for years. I’ve also gotten to know her a bit, and she is as enthusiastic and charming in real life as she comes across in her writing. At the time of publishing this post, this book is #1 in THREE Amazon categories: Divorce, Knitting, and Needlecrafts. I am so happy for her!
	Imagine my glee, when back in May, she asked me to write a pattern for this book! Lookit! Here I am! Page 245!
	Here’s the photo of the shawl from the book. It’s made using the same lace as the Renee Baby Blanket, all sexified into a shawl, with a drapey silky yarn. I’m excited for Laurie, I’m excited about the book, and I’m so happy that I could be a part of it. Next…!
	The latest on the Wedding Gift Sweater…the back is finished. I should be able to finish it well before October 6th. Whew. It is a cropped sweater, after all. Next…!
	I have recently rediscovered my love for Schoolhouse Rock thanks to YouTube. After all these years, I was shocked by how non-PC some of them are! Especially the ones that have to do with the American Revolution. King George III and Napoleon are totally dissed. Not to miss: Mother Necessity, and We Unpacked our Adjectives. Next…!
	Abe has the whole big chair to himself…
	‘Cuz there’s a Red Dog Nap Party on the sofa. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to sit. Have a great weekend!

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

Now I Just Need to Knit It.

Yay! Boo! Yay! Boo! Yay!

Opportunity blossoms from disappointment, doesn’t it?

	My friend Meg emailed me last week about this sweater that I knit last year. Like a lot of other people she asked how to get the pattern. This used to be a free pattern on the Knit Picks site, but it is no longer available. Poof. Gone. I offered Meg my copy, but she decided that she wouldn’t have time to knit it before the wedding, anyway. (She’s getting married next month, and she wanted to wear it on her wedding/honeymoon trip.)
	“Wait!”, I said. “I gave the yellow one to my sister, but I made a pink one that you can borrow!” Wardrobe problem solved!
	Right after I hit “send” on that email, I did this. I had totally forgotten that I gave that pink sweater to my other sister, on my trip to Alaska in June. No sweater for Meg. I hated the idea of messing up the bride’s wardrobe plans when the wedding is so close.
	“Wait!”, I thought. “I have time to make Meg her own sweater, in any color she wants! As a wedding gift!” Meg was very touched with this news (she’s a knitter, too), and she did all of the appropriate thanking and gushing. Aww. See? Disappointment! Opportunity!
	The yarn arrived last night. So far I’ve knit up a curly strip of stockinette. Knit Picks Shine is such a lovely yarn. I have two weeks to turn this into a cute sweater. It WILL happen.
	Disappointment: the refrigerator spewed ice cubes all over the floor. Opportunity: free and plentiful low-cal treats!

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

Pokin’ at Ya, Pokin’ at Ya

Needles. Sharp needles. Always for good and not evil, but a bit painful at times.

Do you remember the tv commercial that said “Pokin’ at ya, pokin’ at ya”?

	Ever since I started my No More Short Socks Campaign, I’ve been working on these babies – currently my own nameless design. They fit my two newest rules: toe-up pattern (no yarn wasted), and massive yardage (Fearless Fibers’ sock yarn has 550 yards!). I’m knitting them on my most favoritest new needles – Knit Picks Options DPNs. These needles are SHARP, and it’s getting painful.
	You see, I knit funny. I knit fast, but in a strange way. My friend Laura isn’t satisfied with using the traditional terms “picker” or “thrower” to describe how I knit, so she made up a word: “flicker”. If you need to see this in action, I made a silent little movie. Shooting this video was a bit awkward with the tripod in my lap, but you’ll get the idea.
	Because of my weird way of knitting, the index finger of my right hand brushes the tip of the needle on every stitch. That’s okay, until my finger brushes for like the billionth time. All of the skin is worn off of my finger by then. Knit Picks Options have actually made me shed blood on my knitting. But they’re still my favorite. What doesn’t kill me will make me stronger, right? I figure if I keep at it, I’ll eventually develop a monstrous callous, and I’ll never be injured again.
	Speaking of being poked with needles, Gus is undergoing acupuncture treatment for a neck injury. He’s responding really well, and is nearly back to being the bossy little bastard I know and love.

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

ITZ FRIDAY!!1!!1!!

THIZ SECSHUN UV THE POST WUZ RUN THROUGH A DIALECT TRANSLATOR. FRUM ENGL1SH INTO B1FF,

FIRST OFF. I HAFTA SAY HOW THANKFUL 1 AM THAT HURRICANE HUMBURTO MISSED HOUSTON YESTURDAY. NOT ONLY D1D IT MISZ US. BUT WE R ENJOY1NG 1TZ WAKE WITH UNSEASONABLY DRY WEATHUR. AHH,

ITZ FR1DAY. + TIME 2 ZIP THROUGH TOP1CS. AZ USUAL…

Okay. Enough of that. Back to myself again.

	Hmm. I thanked my dogs for their help, then told them that I could probably handle the rest of the packing myself. Next…!
	Now that I’m a Harry Potter dork, I had to find my house. Please stop me before I knit a Ravenclaw sweater. Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into? Next…!
	I think the City of Austin will let me move there, now that I’ve met the UT t-shirt requirement. I was there on a game day last weekend, and the whole city was a sea of burnt orange. The enthusiasm for the team was really contagious! Next…!
	The Lace & Spit pattern can now be found on my Patterns page. Free! And no, I didn’t fix the mistake…err…design feature shown in this photo. The pattern, however, is correct. Next…!
	I don’t have a caption for this photo. If you think of a good one, please share. Have a great weekend!

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

Don’t Knock It…

Many thanks to Kim for sharing the Parody Motivator Generator.

If you really need to see a Basenji photo, here’s your fix.

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

Crash-Crash

I had a very exciting weekend. I stayed in Austin, saw my friends, and got to attend my first-ever Demolition Derby.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this rural southern US tradition, I’ll give a quick explanation. Men in helmets climb in to older, wildly painted cars and crash into each other. The end.

It was a BLAST.

The title of the post refers to something my friend Meg overheard a mother say to her toddler at the Derby (in a baby-talk voice), “Do you want to see the crash-crash?”

Hell ya!

	This photo isn’t great, but it is worth the effort to try to make it out. This is a baby, on his dad’s shoulders, with a full-on shaved mohawk. Maybe he’ll get a tattoo for kindergarten graduation.
	Here I am with Meg, between matches. (Rounds? Bouts? I’m really not sure what they’re called. All I know is the time between matches is a good time to open the cooler for another beer.) It was really hot outside.
	Here’s a little movie of the actual crash-crashing. I am not sure why parents let their kids stand so close to the fence. Exciting, isn’t it?!?
	This is another little movie. Meg didn’t know I was recording, but we laughed pretty hard when she found out. That’s Meg’s adorable, very cool fiancé next to her.
	This is the kid Meg asked about in the last video. We watched him sharpen a stick, then poke the other kids with it. He was totally violent and headed for preschool juvvie.
	Car fire! I tell ya, it was an exciting time. Meg and I have decided to never miss a demolition derby ever.
	I didn’t get to spend the weekend with my dogs, but I have a feeling this is mostly what they did.

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

Wool & Spit

Standard Friday fare. Sharp curves ahead.

	Pink and Sturdy baby blanket = Finished. I thought about duplicate stitching a snowflake pattern into it, but then I thought again. This is made with a washable wool, and I want it to be well-loved and used, with no details that can start to look ratty. This should be a nice warm blanket when Molly Renee needs to be bundled up during the Alaskan winter. She’ll be warm and pink and girly. Next…!
	I started and finished another project…a scarf made by using a little of the massive amounts of Knit Picks Palette that I have leftover. I knit it double-stranded, and changed colors seventeen times. The cool thing is that I used spit-splicing, so I only had the cast-on and bind-off ends to weave in.
	I don’t think I’ll be modeling any more knitwear myself until it cools off a bit here in Texas. Lucky for me, Anne Boleyn stepped in to help. Next…!
	Next socks = Started. These are my own design. Lookit me. Modeling knitwear when I just said I wasn’t going to. Next…!
	Another great fortune! Several nice people have asked me about what is going on regarding the divorce, etc. The situation is that I’m still here in Houston, waiting for things to get sorted so that I can move to Austin. If fortune cookies are any indication, this move is going to be GREAT. Next…!
	I hope your weekend is as relaxing and peaceful as Lou’s. I know I’m biased, but he is so freakin’ cute. Doncha want to kiss and squish him?

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

Ess-Oh-See-Kay-Ess

There used to be a radio ad that you might remember. It was for a set of audio cassettes to help one learn Spanish, but with a trick. The ad told us that you could speak Spanish just by spelling words in English!!

Really.

I spoke with my Spanish-speaking friend (in Spain!) yesterday, and I asked him if he could think of any other examples of spelled English worlds that made a Spanish sentence. S-O-C-K-S is the only one he could think of, only because he remembers the radio ad, too.

Those audio cassettes probably didn’t teach much Spanish.

This phrase isn’t even especially useful. “S-O-C-K-S” (eso si que es) in Spanish means, “That is indeed it.” My friend tried to give me an example of a conversation where this phrase would be most appropriate, but his example included Yul Brynner being in the room, and I got terribly confused.

Anyway, on to some SOCKS…

	In my new signature sock pose. Go With The Flow Socks, from Interweave Press Knit with Araucania Ranco sock yarn, on size 1 US Knit Picks Options DPNs
	I am on a mission to knit less obnoxiously-colored socks. So that I won’t be embarrassed to wear them out of the house. No where in these socks will you find any hot pink, orange, or disco green.
	In fact, there more of a coffee-and-cream color. Nothing obnoxious about that. Ahhh.
	As much as I like these socks, I realize that I have a sock-knitting neurosis that I need to address. While knitting traditional, cuff-down socks (like these), I am paranoid the whole time that I’m not going to have enough yarn. So I end up making short cuffs. No more! From, now on, I will knit toe-up socks, and knit and knit and knit without paranoia.
	You may remember these socks that I knit several months ago for my niece, when we still didn’t know that she was going to be a niece (and not a nephew). Everyone who saw these socks said, “Are you sure those will fit a baby? They’re really small.” I honestly didn’t know the answer back then, but now I do…
	Molly Renee’s feet, in the socks. She seems to be kicking one of them off, but they fit! Sent via camera phone.
	In case you were worried, I can assure you that my bodyguards were present for the entire sock photo shoot.

Main

17 years ago by s t a c i

As Promised, and Expected

The Expected: a fast-topic-changing Friday!

The Promised: The pattern for the Renee Baby Blanket, in celebration of my niece’s being-born-day!

I have a few more details on Molly Renee…she is 21.5″ long, with curly dark hair. Personality-wise, she’s really laid-back…sleeping straight through her first night, even. She’s a pretty girl, and a relaxed baby.

	The Renee Blanket. A lovely combination of lace, warmth, and wash-ability. This pattern uses 400 grams (8 skeins) of Dale of Norway Baby Ull, or 1440 yards of a substitute yarn with 6 stitches to the inch.
	Five bucks buys you an instantly-downloadable PDF file, which includes the pattern, lace chart, photos, and the Renee Blanket story. $5.00 US, via PayPal. Next…!
	I had a strange sensation when I stepped outside early this morning. It was the sensation of not sweating. Could it be? Might I make it through this Texas summer?? Next…!
	I can’t be the only one this happens to. Relaxing in the evening, knitting on a pair of socks, drinking some wine. I take a sip of wine, and DANGER! Needle! Eye! It’s all about living’ on the edge, I suppose. Yes, that’s orange soda. It was a little early in the day. Next…!
	The dogs got…
	Stinky new chew hooves yesterday.
	I think giving dogs chew hooves must be like giving human children a new video game. I didn’t hear a peep from them for hours. Aside from the crunching, of course. Next…!
	I couldn’t have handpicked a better fortune for myself. Have a great weekend!