Annie Knits

Nya Nya Nya Nya Nya

That whooping you heard was me getting (finally) my skein of Dani's Candy Cane yarn (check under sold items, 'cause there certainly won't be any in the shop).  Yeehaw!  I can barely contain myself -- I've been checking every day, but not religiously enough apparently, until today.  Pics when I get it.  Which will be fast.  Because Dani rocks...

Other Stash Enhancement

I ordered these 5 colors of Koigu for a shawl...what shawl, I know not.  Just that the spirit moved me and I had some cash in my knitting account.  You'll remember that I don't particularly like the Charlotte's Web shawl...nothing against it , I just didn't like knitting it.   But I like the idea of it -- the waves of color, the fringe...We'll see.  Oh.  And I like the Koigu.  I'm all about full disclosure.

And these two skeins of this color if Anne (Schaeffer's sock yarn) again, most likely for a shawl, but maybe for some Gathering of Lace gloves for someone for Christmas...Check on the gifts blog for updates on these.

And, drum roll please, this merino silk from Judy in the Spruce colorway.  It is fabulously soft and nearly a sin...but not.  OMG, I love this stuff.  I think a wintry shawl, but maybe something else.  I got enough of it to do a lacey jacket....So much to knit, so little time.

@#$%$^&*(*&^ !!

   Insert whatever string of swear words you want to in there.  I had an eloquent, pithy post all ready to go yesterday.  Then I hit the wrong button.  And you know, of course, on Typepad, if you hit the wrong button, an entire hour of your life can disappear into cyberspace, lost forever.  Pictures, links and all.  Shit.

    Well, I guess it's all for the better since I finished what I blogged about yesterday.  Then I ripped out the ribbing, ripped back the arms, and finished it again (almost). Just need to cast off the last little bit.  It's based on the  Camille shrug from the Daily knitter.  I fudged a little with the opening -- put an inch and a half of ribbing into it to give it a more finished look.   I did this one in a combination of Outback Wool and Outback Mohair in color 954 -- 4 rows of wool and 2 or mohair.  I love this stuff.  It's soft, the colors are really great, and while it might seem expensive, you have to realize that there are like 500 yards in the wool skeins.  It goes on forever. 

This shrug is the project I finally decided on for Dear Daughter's English Teacher, so I'm calling it a Reading Shrug , giving her a book store gift certificate and calling it a day. (I don't have to blog about this saga again, do I?  Suffice to say, I'm knitting for her from my stash because only 15 of the 48 families in the 7th grade turned in their room parent money so the fund is a little low -- but I'm not bitter.)  I actually really like this.  I want one for myself.  Someday.

    I've also been swatching these little things from the Louisa Harding Accessories book. I love the book and can't wait to try some of the things out.  The yarn is kind of middling expensive, so I'll likely try them with stash stuff for now -- I did buy some of her Kimono Ribbon and some Kashmir Aran in that pretty green.  Love the Aran, but the Ribbon is kind of catchy.  It's a railroad ribbon and I'm just no good at those.   

But back to the flowers.  They take about an hour and all this one needs it a button and a pinback.  It's about 2" across.  Cute.  Easy.  Just my cuppa tea.

Back to English Class for all of You!
Come on!  "I sound my barbaric yawp"?  Easy, peasy.  Rhymes with "Peeves my Ass"?   Quintessential American Poet on that quintessential American day, Thanksgiving -- you know, we consume everything we can reach then complain about how full we are?   Well...Ruth must have been sitting on her hands and Amanda really doesn't want any yarn...Watch for more allusions later this week.
 

Adding Another

I have read many an "I'm-Thankful-For" in the last few days, and I think I'll add my barbaric yawp to the fray.  Because I have many, many things for which to be thankful.

• First and foremost, for my Dear Husband.  He is my partner, my support, my love, and my grounding.  I am thankful for the wonderful way in which he parents our children.  I love him for his dedication to his work and to us, his family.
• I am thankful for my wonderful children.  Dear Daughter is brave and loyal.  She watches and waits -- something I cannot do for the life of me.  She is creative and adventurous.  I'm so proud of her spirit.  Dear Son makes my heart sing.  He's funny and smart.  He's a handful.  Yesterday, when I threatened him within an inch of his life if he and a friend messed anything up while I cooked, he asked, "What will you do?  Throw us in a volcano?  With a clown named Fred?  Who is a Vegetarian but sneaks bacon from the closet when no one is looking?"  Diet Coke came through my nose.
• I'm thankful for my extended family -- both sides.  We are blessed with many loving Grandmas and a Grandpa still, aunts, uncles and cousins.  There can't be too much family, as I always say and mine is a spectator sport.  Half of them will be here today, the other half in Minnesota and Columbus.  Much love to all.
• I'm thankful for the example of loving fidelity set by my own parents for me and my sibs.  We are fortunate beyond measure.  We miss my Dad terribly on holidays as he loved them so much -- we lost hime nearly 6 years ago.
• I'm thankful for my home -- knock on wood, no hurricane has leveled it, no tornado torn down its trees.  It's in a beautiful neighborhood full of World's Fair Era homes of which it is not one.  I get to look at architectural gems all day long and my husband doesn't have to climb a 40-foot ladder to clean out the gutters of one.
• I am thankful for my friends.  They are spiritual, smart, funny women and I love them all.  More of them need to knit.
• I'm thankful for the fact that I have what I need.  We have enough to send our kids to private catholic school, to shop at the good grocery store and order clothes online when we need them.  Husband works hard at a job that he loves and we have plenty.
• I'm thankful for our Urban neighborhood, where I am reminded daily that there are many, many folks who do not have what they need -- be it shelter, medication, food...I see daily the face of the poor and I am fortunate to do so.  I am not allowed to forget that each failed social policy, each Medicaid cut, each time we lash out at the faceless "Other" using code words like "welfare recipients" and "unwed mothers" and "urban poor" we lash out at these people, these faces.  That swaggering urban youth is my conscience.
• I'm thankful for the blogosphere -- I really love the ready exchange of ideas here. 
• I'm thankful for my pets.  They take me outside of myself and my worries to the sheer delight of fetching a frisbee 20 times over. 

There are likely more things for which I should be thankful, but ... Turkey calls.  And family.  And Thanksgiving.  A Blessed one to you and yours.

*  Hmm, I wonder if there is an allusion here somewhere -- cause while I'm thankful for my stash, it needs thinning....

Done and Done-r

Yes, I did finish the Gryffindor socks.  Yeah!  No, I did not finish them in time to see the movie in them.  Only to wax poetic about the movie afterwards.  About 2 hours afterwards...Loser.  I did pull the kids out of school two hours early to go a see it -- there were only about 20 people in the whole theater at 2:05 on Friday...They were expecting larger crowds later in the day.  I hope. 

What did I think about the movie?  I'm a bad person to ask.  See, I'm a former English teacher, Anglophile, Harry-Potter-Head who would gladly go see (and pay extra for)a set of 3 hour movies back to back (with an intermission, of course) that held to the plot of the books.  Rowling, whatever else anyone says about her (and they only say it once in my presence, believe me), is a true tale-spinner.  Very few details are fluff.  The movie is LOVELY -- Daniel Radcliffe is dreamy. The dragons are magnificent.  The underwater scene is truly disturbing -- Ron was like a corpse there. But it skates on the surface of what was a very important book in the set.  So, that said, it was good.  For a measly two and a half hour movie.  I didn't like Snape being funny -- I didn't want to laugh at him after reading the 6th book.  So...

Teacher Gifts

I'm about to throw in the towel on this and move on.  I've swatched three sets of mittens (all ripped), one felted bag (not right for her, better for me -- it's Arucana Nature Wool Chunky, color 101 in my own design -- the two balls I had were so different that I had to alternate rows, and the skeins we have left at the store of this color are somehow different from this one, so as much as I love it, it might have to go...) and I'm on my third scarf, two ripped. 

Maybe this is right.  Maybe not.  I'm ambivalent about this gift in the extreme.  And I'm making myself complete this one before I work on the two I've got started that I like...not particularly logical, but neither is my propensity toward procrastination.  Interesting how I came up right away with knitted gifts that I love for the two teachers that I love...Mrs. G. gets the Wool Peddler in yellow silk and merino, and Mr. E. gets the mistaken rib scarf ( and maybe hat if there's enough yarn) out of the Inca Alpaca.  As for this poor teacher, she's dear daughter's English teacher and I don't much like her style.  It doesn't help that I'm an opinionated know-it-all when it comes to teaching English.  She's probably ok, it's just me...So, ho hum.  I've settled on the Mulitdirectional Diagonal Scarf out of this color of Kureyon -- 164 I think.  That I wanted to make a felted bag for myself out of...

And I did finish the spiral scarf...and I don't like it.  But I can't rip it out because it's mohair. The cast off is messy..too loose.  Crapola.  In a last ditch attempt to like it, I'm going to crochet some sparkly ribbon on the edge, like one version in the book, and see it it lays better with a little weight on the ends...Grumble.  One whole week of Christmas knitting time spent on trying to find just the right thing for someone I only marginally tolerate.  What kind of passive aggressive doormat am I?

Acquistions

I have now missed three, count 'em, three rounds of Dani's Candy Cane Sock yarn.  I assume it's a lot like the Gryffindor only with white and bright red.  I'm determined to get me some.  I just keep missing the updates.  I did get two colors of Fleece Artist Sock merino late last week at the shop -- one steely gray and one blues and grays -- they had been returned and I snarfed 'em up.  Both are gorgeous.  And mine, all mine, bwhahahahahahaha.  Pics when I get them started.  Which will be soon.  So I don't have to decide on that cursed gift...

A Quickie in the Morning

Good morning, all.  I've got a little to post, but not much.  I've finished one Gryffindor sock, and I'm a third through the next.  LOVE them.  36 hours to finish them.  I've purchased tickets to see the movie Friday at 2:05.  Yes, I know pulling the kids out of school for a *gasp* movie puts my Mom of the Year trophy in jeopardy, but dang.  It's a Harry Potter movie.  And we've got knitted things to wear.  'Nuff said.

On the Teacher gift front, the Saga continues.  I swatched several types of mittens with these yarns:  Noro Kureyon in the gray and turquoise colorway and Laines Du Nord Dolly Maxi turquoise yarn.

I want something fair isle that shows the color change in the yarn.  Tried these -- the hat first... too hard to get gauge (that's the Fall '03 IK).  The pattern wants you to knit worsted weight yarn with 2s.  My little hands can't knit that tight and do fair isle. 

Next, these.  Again, worsted weight yarn on small needles, 3's this time (the Fleur de Lis mittens from Knit Mittens). Tried it, got this far.  Don't like it.  Hmmm....her coat is turquoise, her hair is salt and pepper...this is the PERFECT yarn combo, I just can't come up with something to knit out of it!! 

I have to work today so I'll look around at the shop for something perfect.  You'd think, with my prodigious stack of knitting books and magazines, I'd have something!  I've got bupkiss.  Nada.

Some Shepherd Sock in the Bittersweet colorway is winging it's way to Ruth of Woolyheaded -- she guessed the last literary allusion.  Keep your eyes out for more...I've got way too much yarn and I want more...something has got to give and I've got the Christmas spirit.

Ouch

Your Birthdate: July 30

You have the type of personality that people either love or hate. You're opinionated, dramatic, intense, and very outspoken. And some people can't get enough of you - they're totally addicted. Others, well, they wish you were a little more reserved. Your strength: Your flair Your weakness: If you think it, you say it Your power color: Scarlet red Your power symbol: Inverted triangle Your power month: March

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Making Progress...

On Christmas knitting.  I decided to do a spiral scarf based on the one (don't know what it's called) from Handknit Holidays  for one of the teacher gifts.  You know, you cast on like 200 stitches and increase in every 4th row until you get 3200 stitches and it makes this great spiral thing?  Sounded like a good idea at the time.

I had this discontinued Berocco Mohair Classic Heather in my stash even.  Got it for a song.  None of the yummy colors sold, and this is the reason:  it is hellishly scratchy and crunchy in the ball.  So much so that it reminds me of some kind of unpleasant hair dried in the shower drain.  Really bad.  In the ball.  But I know from experience (because I bought a grey of the same discontinued yarn because I loved the color and ) that this stuff is really soft and warm and did I say soft? once it spends a half an hour in a cold bath with one drop of Dawn dish detergent. So...here I am about a fifth of the way through casting off 3200 stitches.  I said based on the scarf in the book because since we sold the last one before I could buy it, but I had already read the pattern, I'm reconstructing while waiting for the re-ordered book to come back in...it says, I think, to cast off loosely.  Well, I can't do that, so I'm using the cast off from the Flower Basket Shawl.  You knit two, put the left needle through the fronts of the two stitches, knit them together through the back loop, knit another stitch, and repeat.  Now that's a loose cast off.  Lets the spiral really do it's thing!  The pattern also calls for the cast off row to be a different, maybe blingy, yarn.  But this mohair is so different that I couldn't find anything I liked.  The core of this yarn is dark purple and red.  The mohair is brown and red and -- get this -- lime.  I swear, there are lime colored fizzy bits if you look at this stuff in the sun.  It reads rusty copper, but it has great depth.  So I left it alone.  And miles to cast off before I sleep...

Also progress on the Alpaca Mistake Rib Scarf.  But, I've been making lots of mistakes in the ribbing though.  Hmmm...so it's been in the knitting bag while I work on the spiraly thing.  This one, at least is lovely and soft and drapey without a long bath. 

Oh, and, by the way...literary allusion lurking above.  Prizes anyone?   Guess it and win. 

Every Little Kick in the Pants Helps

Just a quickie tonight.  I've joined a holiday gift knitalong that Alison of the blue blog organized.  Hop on over to see what everyone's knitting for the holidays, the link is in the knitalong side bar.   Maybe join up if you need a little cheering on like I do.

Political Rant Ahead...Again

Look away now if you are anything but a disenfranchised, Democrat-leaning, fiscal-conservative, pro-child (do NOT read that as pro-life--I think all children deserve chances, not just the unborn), anti-war (do NOT read that as anti-soldier -- these brave men and women are risking their lives daily and deserve my homage and prayers) U.S. citizen.  I'm serious.  Look away, go somewhere else...

Ok, are we alone here?  This morning on the radio, I heard the current Congress's plan to alleviate the suffering due to Katrina, Wilma, and all the other natural disasters that have befallen the nation this late summer and fall.  Here's what they are going to do to raise the millions, no billions it will take to rebuild, house, feed, etc.  in the wake of the storms:

1. Cut a chunk of the funding for Headstart programs.  To the tune of millions over several years. God knows that there must be waste in a program so warm and fuzzy -- so off with their heads.  Don't let the fact that Headstart serves the very people you are trying to help; the poor of urban(now you can read in here: Democratically held) areas in hardest hit Southern Coastal areas get in the way the feeding frenzy on traditionally Democratic leaning programs.
2. Hmm...what else can we cut?  Oh, I know, the school lunch program.  Those dang lunches have gotten so expensive...lets drop the income threshold on that one so we can exclude some (I think it was)200,000 lower income kids from the federal lunch program.  I fill out that form and you can't make more than $26,000 a year in MO to qualify a family of 4 -- hmm, that's $2167.00 a month. All you sponging bums, you can make your own damn lunches!  And again, don't let the fact that the school lunch program serves the very people disproportionately affected by these tragic storms affect your opinion on this subject.
3. Oh, yes, and let's cut $15,000,000 from the college loan funding over the next 5 years too.  Lots of that money goes to Liberal Arts colleges and universities and anything with the L-word in it has to be bad, right?

OK, those are the only 3 they talked about this morning -- they said they'll do more later.  To be fair, they did have a Republican on and he said they were looking at it all wrong, that the Republican Congress of the last 5 years (what?  It's a "Republican Congress" now?   Gosh when did that change?  I thought it was the country's congress...yep...can you spell disenfranchised?  Used in it's traditional sense meaning that your vote has been taken away) "has spent more on Education than the Clinton era Congress ever did."  Disingenuous I think, due to inflation, increased medical insurance costs, and the primarily unfunded mandate that is "No Child Left Behind".  Sure they spent more money -- we all do.

Ok.  Deep cleansing breath.  Now, I've got to go compose my letter to someone powerful.

Here In the Lou

Yes, notice:  the Lo"u" , not Loo -- the Lou is apparently what young, hipster gossip columnists call St. Louis now.  Obviously not well-read young, hipster gossip columnists.  Or well-traveled. 

Call us what you may, our trees are singing right now.  Here is the view out my front door.  Look tipsy, don't I?  Anyway, that particular Sugar Maple is singing what is likely its last song -- it's absolutely hollow and leaning to the left in an alarmingly increasing fashion.  My neighbor and I are waiting for it to fall on their house or the house next door -- prevailing storm winds being what they are, my house is an unlikely target.  It resides on city property and is not a priority item for the streets department.  Which is fine for now, because it is really beautiful. 

And here is a fall St. Louis sky for Sandy.  That is actually a shot of the squirrel highway which is comprised of 18 of the 21 trees on our property.  That highway is the bane of my sweet dog Sophie's existence.  Squirrels run from branch to branch and jump easily from tree to tree across our yarn, above Sophie's head.  She spends hours patrolling the perimeter, keeping the varmints overhead rather than in her yard.  I enjoy watching her.  She is a rescue dog, a Great Pyrenees mix -- her mom was AKC registered, her dad got over a very tall fence.  She is a super dog -- we should have named her Nana.  She herds kids into manageable groups by nudging them and running around them.  Maybe part Border Collie?  She actually looks like a Border Collie...on steroids.  She weighs a hundred pounds.  Her one parlor trick is this:  I pat myself on the chest and say, "Big Dog" and she stand on her hind legs and puts her front paws on my shoulders.  She is as tall as I am.  She, to her credit, will not perform "Big Dog"  on small children, even when they ask her to. 

On to knitting

Mr. E's scarf is coming along.  I decided on a broken or mistaken rib pattern rather than cables.  I don't have time (or patience) (or uninterrupted concentration) (or, frankly, inclination) for the intricate cables in those books and I knit an Irish Hiking Scarf for one of the home-room teachers last year.  Out of Odyssey in the Granite mix colorway.  It was lovely.  Anyway, can't repeat as they teach in the same hallway.  I made a little progress on it  yesterday.  The stats for those who care:  Knit out of Inca Alpaca, on U.S. #6 needles.  Cast on 54.  K2P2 ribbing for one row, knit all stitches the next row.  Repeat until the yarn is gone or it's long enough.  Whichever comes first.  This yarn is surprisingly heavy when it's knit up. Satisfyingly so.  And this pattern is masculine enough and lies flat as a man's scarf should.  To fringe or not to fringe?  A question for another day.  This is the back of the scarf...can you tell the difference in a photo?  Not so much.