Annie Knits

Tee Hee Hee

Shh.  Come in close.  I've got a little secret. You know how you have to put your name on stuff shipped internationally?  Hard to remain anonymous (Secret Pal 8) when you have to put your name on the package, on the shipping and customs stuff ... I think if I had had the shop ship it that would have been anonymous enough, but I've got something better.  Got an email from someone nearby with the same problem... You know where this is going.  I shipped hers and she's shipping mine.  Tee Hee Hee. 

So if you are looking for your Secret Pal and you got here via some shipping information?  Well.  Think again. [grinning broadly]  I really amuse myself.  And I have a small little life.  To get so amused by such a thing.  Well. 

Anti-Stash Along Along

I was thinking about this while I shopped for groceries today... and lo and behold, Scout made a button... channeling Stash-along frustration I think.  My post was going to be something schmaltzy like a memo from some guy in management complaining about Ann in acquisitions... 'Cause damn.  I got me some yarn this last few weeks.   

So... Sock bin number one?  Clockwise from 12 o'clock:  two more colors of Trekking (only 1 is new); the denimy knit-picks yarn I dyed myself; Lorna's Laces I got last week at Knitorious' sale, Forest something I think; Dani's yarn - Taos; more Lorna's Laces -- Lake colorway I think; next to that are two colorways of handspun sock yarn that Cara turned me onto -- the green is Good Vibrations and the red and orange is Wild Thing; under that,  STR Christmas Rock;above that, Dani's Earthday, Tiger, and Black Olive; Adrian's maroon and green and gray -- Temper I think it's called; and two more STR -- I forget their color names -- one is pinks, purples and brown and the other starts with A...

Sock bin number two?  You've seen all of this stuff I think... some Lorna's Laces, some Koigu... Opal and Sock Memories ... Dani's Rasberry Limeade ...  I have plenty to do.  Really.  But I love sock yarn and I work hard and often enough to afford it -- seriously, I'm not taking food out of anyone's mouth to buy yarn.

I tend toward compulsion.  No! you say.  Really?  Yes, really.  And funny this -- read in Stephanie's first book today about stashes and she talked about how effective yarn diets always were for her... She'd curtail for awhile and then, just like any other diet, she'd end binging on what she'd given up and heavier (owning more yarn) that when she started the diet. 

And on Friday?  This came from Dave at Cabin Cove.  Goodness gracious but that man can dye yarn -- called Tortoise I think.  Yum.  Thanks, Dave. 

So, you guys can go on a yarn diet if you must.  But just sose ya know... you're gonna have to watch me eat chocolate cake.

Edited to add:  Yikes.  Look at the timestamp on this entry.  It was late.  Nonetheless, I am the Ugly American of Yarn.  Do I have all the yarn I need?  Yes.  Will I likely buy more yarn any time soon?  Youbetcha.  Yikes again.

You've Got Mail!

I got a SP8 present today in the mail!   It's a "Trek-made" dpn holder -- yay!  Pics tomorrow.  I gotta throw a party.  Thanks SP8!  Happy Holiday Weekend!

A Little Bling

Holy Crap!  Are these not the cutest blingy flip flops?!  Yeah, I put the blog's name on them, but those letters also contain my monogram.  What else can I write?  Love these!  If you need some, my friend Janine's shop has them -- kids thru adult sizes, letters a-z and cute little charms like butterflies and hearts -- all crystal encrusted.  And comfortable.  You can't even feel the charms.  Which you slide on the strap -- see the buckles?  So cute!

I just checked and they're not pictured on the site yet -- she's working on it, but just email her and she'll take care of you.

Now I've gotta get me a pedicure!

Edited to add:  I wore them (couldn't help it, just slapped on some clear polish) to a Dr. appt. today and the ladies in the office went nuts for them.  I gave out all the cards I took from Janine today, you know for the website and the shop's address -- I'll have to go get more for when I wear them to work on Friday -- at the knit shop.  I KNOW!  SHUT UP!  I've gone crazy.  These things are seriously sparkly (and for those who know me -- I know you're thinking "sparkly?  Ann?") and seriously over the top... and I LOVE them.   Maybe I'm having a mid-life crisis.  Too bad I can't wear them with socks.

Worldwide KIP Day, Anyone?

I'm going to organize a World Wide Knit in Public Day knit in here in our South Side neighborhood.  St. Louis Knits! web-ring folks have gotten an email, but it'd be open to all who want to come.  June 10, 1-4 or so.  The problem?  June 10th is a direct hit with the Race for the Cure here in St. Louis.  Maybe we'll make it a Knit for the Cure / World Wide Knit in Public Day and donate to that cause that way.  'Cause I'm sure not racing. 

Leave a comment if you want to come and I'll email you details.

Secret Pal 8

I keep forgetting to post about this and I think I'm supposed to post weekly.  Whoops.  I've been taunting my pal and she's taking it well.  I'll mail her a fun summer knit-kit this week.  Don't want to post it and ruin the surprise.  Suffice to say it's incentive to join a KAL I'm getting a lot of mileage out of.  And my pal has of course been taunting me as well.  She says I might know her that that she might be a sometime-visitor to the blog.  Keep on skulking and taunting I say -- that's the fun of this secret pal thing, no?

I Got It... Just Barely!

Will you look at what that substitute no letter carrier delivered today?  And not even one of those plastic bags with an apology!  No wonder my dog wanted to eat her.  I suppose it's not likely that she actually peeled out her mail truck on top of my STR Sock Club packet, but sheesh.  Someone sure did.
Deep cleansing breaths, the yarn is fine.  Luckily, the Blue Moon folks pack the yarn itself (the important part, right?) in plastic and it alone doesn't smell like singed rubber.  Really.  And inside?  Up on the top right of Liz's Socks Talk?  Whatever ate the outside of the package actually rubbed a hole in the paper .... through a large envelope!  Luckily though.... the little yarn keyring didn't fall out.
Those of you who've received it, what do you think of the pattern?  I'm reserving judgment until I see it knit up and on someone's leg -- I'm afraid that it'll make my already Reubenesque calves look more ... well ... you know ... The yarn is the color of rainbow sherbet -- only a little toned down -- raspberry, lime and orange but on a rainy day, not a sunny one.  Fun and funky.

Trekking Along?

I knew I'd have to practice hiking and knitting at the same time for this KAL so I took my knitting for a walk today (urban trekking ok, Margene?).  I ran into two friends, one a knitter, one not.  The one who laughed hard?  The knitter.  The non-knitter apparently thinks we're all crazy enough to walk around the block a few times with a little bag hanging from our wrists, knitting away on a sock.  A practice sock, mind you.  Knit on 2's out of Knit-picks Parade in all stockinette, not on 0's out of Trekking XXL with a ribbing or something.  'Cause I don't think I'm ready for that yet.  But I did make myself some extra rules for the knitalong.  Feel free to use them if you need to:

1. Look up occasionally -- especially for sprinklers.  Because while it's kind of hard to knit and walk, it's a lot harder with wet yarn.
2. Plan ahead.  Get past the gusset decreases because you have to look at those when you do them and ... see above.
3. Wear comfortable shoes, preferably over handknit socks.  Makes for less explaining along the way.
4. The Magic Loop Technique will serve you well here.  Only one needle and it's attached to itself.  Less dropping.
5. Walk the dog another time.  'Nuff said..

I'll post more of these as they occur to me.  'Cause I'm gonna have to practice some more tomorrow.

Sisterhood News!  This Just in!

Lori has the box and she's trading!  Go see!

Wow.

I really thought I was just putting that The DaVinci Code stuff out in the ether and you all would just ignore me as you are wont to do when I rant.  Not So!  Hit a nerve.  Good healthy discussion.  And really that's all I wanted, rather than the off-the-cuff panning that was going on on the news. 

So, Dear Son and I went to Over the Hedge last night (cute movie) and as it turns out, there were protesters, both for and against, there too.  We got a little heckled on the way out until they got a good look at my tallish 9-year-old and realized that he was in fact 9 and likely hadn't seen The DaVinci Code with me. 

He wondered aloud what all the commotion was and I told him.  Right there, sotto voce, in all my glory, that we don't believe that books or ideas are bad in and of themselves, that we believe it is how people use these ideas and books that can be bad.  That the book the movie is based on is fiction ("Do you know what that is?" Rolls eyes, "Yeah, Mom, made up."  "Good boy.") and that its a murder mystery that also talks about how Jesus might have had a wife and children, and that some people don't like anything or anyone talking about Jesus unless it's from the Bible. 

"Oh," he said.  That's all.  He was done.  Just so long as he knew what the deal was, what he really wanted to talk about was when the animated squirrel made processed cheese come out of its nose and that it could burp the alphabet.  Boy's got his priorities.  [smile]

Sisterhood of the Traveling Stash

Ruth just finished with the box.  I should say Ruth and Lucia.  Ahem.  Funny.  Go see.  And it's on its way to only Ruth and I know where.  Wait, maybe Lucia knows too.  Whatever.

Socks, did you say?
 I hear that the Socks that Rock Sock Club has mailed out the next installment.  Didn't get mine this weekend.  Come to think of it, didn't get any mail this weekend.  Chicken substitute mail person...the dog is only 100 lbs.  And she won't come all the way down the driveway, she has an invisible fence!  Sheesh.  (Tongue in cheek -- I know, letter carriers don't like dogs and I wasn't home to make sure the giant, friendly-to-a-fault dog was in the house between 1 and 3!)

So, I've got these.(What is it about this electric green yarn that will not photograph?  Evening, morning, stormy, daylight -- can't get a good picture of it -- really, it's not a biohazard!)   And I need to finish their mates so that I can be ready for the next STR installment, right?  ...So I tried to cast on for two socks on two circulars last night, figuring I'd just knit the two mates at the same time and be done with it?  Yeah, right.  Apparently I am physically incapable of knitting two socks on two circulars.  Really.  I tried.  Way too many wires and needles and yarn ends and balls of yarn.  Back to my trusty Magic Loop.  I'd better get crackin'. 

The Amazing Lace

I was all ready to post an entry in the "Introduce the cast" challenge, and then I went over to Pat's blog.  (ringing silence)

I have a little work to do before I ... ahem... post my entry.  See you.

A Little Knitting in Public...With a New Knitblogger Friend!

We met on the web, via the St. Louis Knits! webring -- a ring that formed as a result of the Harlot's visit here.  Anyway, SarahKate of News from the Petting Zoo stopped in to knit this morning at the mom's coffee klatch I attend every Friday morning.  Guess what SarahKate brought?  A sock!  Yessiree.  We're all doin' it, baby.  And fun to meet the locals.  Turns out we live just blocks from each other.  Now if we could only get a daytime, week-day knitting group together. 

And... I made the mistake of watching the news tonight.  And... I know that with this post I am, as they say, preaching to the choir.  But... I've just got to get this rant out of me.  It's boiling over.  And really, I don't have all that much to say except... IT'S A WORK OF FICTION!

Know what I'm talking about?  What I am and how I practice my faith is no secret to regular readers.  Probably, I'm more of a faux Catholic -- I'm really in it for the music and my little community.  And when my weekly Catholic newspaper's front page screams that I'm to stay away from a movie I usually wonder if they've heard the old saw about there being no such thing as bad publicity.  I mean the first thing my little passive aggressive butt wants to do then is go buy a ticket even if the reviews say it's a rather mediocre movie -- hey, it's forbidden. 

And I'll go see 'The DaVinci Code' ... because I really liked the book.  A real romp in the proverbial hay -- mystery wise, a very fun read.  A real page-turner.  And, hey it can't be all bad that it's got like 10 million more people looking at classic works of art, right?  Nope.  It's a sin.  I'm being prayed for  for even reading it.  Even though it's a work of fiction.  Shelved on the fiction shelf.  Filed under fiction in the card catalog (I don't think they have those anymore, but bear with me here.)  Yes, folks, it's Fiction. 

So, on the news tonight, here in St. Louis, they show the protesters out in force in front of a movie theater.  Talking of the blasphemy of it, every last one of them.  Polluting our society, one says.  Preposterous, says another.  Here's the key bit, and kudos to Channel 5 for at least including it in the report, when the reporter asks if the speaker has read the book?  "Never would," says one.  "Would you see the movie?" he asks another.  "Absolutely not," she says.  Another guy says something like, "Well I haven't seen the movie or read the book, but from what I heard?  Well, let's just say I'm here protesting."  Right.  The last guy says, "Well I hear it's just chock full of terrible things about Jesus and, while I know it's fiction, well...others just might believe it all."  What?!

I was an English teacher for 13 years and I've been an American for 43 -- and the response to this work of fiction boggles my mind.  To my knowledge, Dan Brown has never purported to be passing on some deep dark secret.  He's been pretty quiet over all I'd say, but he did classify his writing...as fiction.  Not like that bat-shit crazy guy with the handlebar mustache on the History channel DaVinci Code show whose book ostensibly inspired Brown's.  Not that the idea is crazy -- actually I kind of enjoy the idea that Jesus might have had a family and that that line could be traced through antiquity to now -- tweaks my romanticsm bone.  But that guy is barking.  Whatever.  There are people dying in Dharfur and Afghanistan and we're putting just a ton of energy into this.  How embarassing.

That's all I have to say.  It's fiction.  And, don't protest against a book unless you've read it -- and really, even then, it just makes you look stupid.

Good Morning

First I'll distract you with pretty knitting... this is what the spot next to my knitting spot looks like this morning.  On the left?  A footie I started last night at 6:30, roughly the time DS fell asleep on the living room floor -- more on that later.  I want more footies -- I love the Trekking ones so much, they're perfect with Birkenstock clogs this time of year, so I started these out of some Knitpicks Parade (I think) in a fun tri-color green for Project Spectrum.  They're done on 2's and go much faster than zeros... duh.  My footie pattern?  The same as my plain sock pattern, only just an inch of ribbing instead of a whole leg's worth.

Next to that?  A garter rib sock (Sensational Knitted Socks again) out of STR Queen Rock.  I LOVE the way this sock pools and flashes.  I know there are non-fans of this yarn behavior, but me?  Love it.  Pattern?  I cast on 64 on number 1 40-inch circular needles, k2p2 for an inch, then k2p2 1 row and k the next until it's long enough (about 6 inches here) then on as usual with a heel flap, etc.  Have any of you knit with Queen Rock?  I think Margene has, I'll have to go look... I am so in love with the genius that is this color-way.  See?  Screaming purple pairs with dusty green, and hot pink with orangy yellow -- a very pleasing combination, if a bit loud.  But we love loud socks, don't we?  I guess the pooling would make for an entirely different sock if there were fewer stitches cast on, say 56? 

And finally?  A bit of what should be stealth knitting, but since I can't make it work, what the heck.  I'm trying to find an afghan pattern I can live with.  Really.  I've tried three with this yarn, the Stormy Weather Cabled Afghan out of Gorgeous Knitted Afghans being the latest to get abandoned.  You can see that I'm only an inch into the center panel and already ... kaput!  Ever get so that you just can't accomplish a certain technique for awhile?  I'm there right now with cables.  Just can't keep them in my head.  The yarn is cream colored Plymouth Suri Merino... super soft, kind of weighty, truly lovely and cuddly knit up.  I've got like 25 balls of it... plenty to make a lovely wedding gift -- I don't think the giftee reads this blog too often... anyway, cannot commit!  I've got 3 months to knit it... gotta get on the stick.  Any suggestions?

Now for the Rant...
So, as I said, DS is home sick.  Yesterday, I got a lot of knitting done because he really just wanted me to sit next to him and be a warm spot.  So, I did.  Hey, he's nine, how many more times is he going to want to cuddle his mommy for the day?  I take 'em where I can get 'em. 

His teacher, whom I adore, sent home his work, but said something about his having an Italian test today and that she hoped he didn't miss it.  I thought to myself, "Italian?  What the heck, they don't even give them grades in Italian... why does it matter what day he takes a test?"   

Now let me preface with this statement:  I really do love my kid's little school.  They do a generally good job with the kids, the families are nice, there is a nice tradition of service there...all around, a pretty good place.  The middle school could use some tweaking, but what middle school couldn't? 

Anyway, the boy fell asleep on the living room floor -- no pillow, blanket, nothing ... just lay down and passed out.  At 6:00 p.m. ... give or take ... and he awoke this morning at 7:00 a.m.  That's one sick kid.  Really.  Those of you with kids, back me up here -- they don't pass out on the floor before dinner unless there is really something wrong.  Anyway, when he awoke this morning and I told him he'd be staying home again today, he flipped out.  "I have an Italian test," he said through tears, "And Sister said if I miss a day with an Italian test again, that she'll just take 10 points off before she even grades it." 

What?!  I got him to explain that he thinks that she thinks he skips school on days when they have Italian tests.  Did I mention that they don't give a grade in Italian!!! Well, I drove the carpool loaded for bear.  Yes indeed.  And after getting the girls off to 7th grade finals, I went downstairs to son's classroom to find out what's up.  His teacher, did I say I love this lady?, said that Sr. Italian Teacher did indeed mention that she's noticed a pattern -- that son misses school on test days. 

I blew up -- hate shooting the messenger, but the object of my ire wasn't in the building and don't think I didn't write her a choice little missive.  My kids stay home from school when they have a fever or when they're throwing up!  Or when there is a Harry Potter movie coming out, but that's usually an afternoon after 2:00 o'clock and really, come on!  Or when we take them to Canada, but that was last year.  As I said, when they're measurably sick!  Not on a whim.  Sheesh!  I'm honked off.  I feel like she bullied an 8 year-old, don't you?  Threatened him with something she should have talked to me about.  I left Sr. Italian teacher that choice -- but polite, really -- missive in her mailbox.  She'd better call -- this momma bear is on a tear!  Oh, I know, I promise ... I'll be nice.  Miss Manners personified.  Really.  But I will get to the bottom of this.  Italian, my @#$!

Go Share the Sock Love

My sock student MB has posted a picture of of her First Sock!  Finished just the other night.  Go give her some love for me, will ya?  Great job, MB.  (I think she'll post a pic of Heather's when she's done too.)  I have the best sock students.

ETA:  Now my other student (these guys seem to do most things together, and their cute little guys get me my little guy fix when they come into the shop) Heather has finished her sock and MB has posted that here.  What I loved about this Regia (I think) is that the colors, while they pooled and flashed, stayed together for the most part:  blue with purple and yellow with green.  Gonna have to get me some of this stuff.  Such cute stuff, girls!