Ten Gifts for Knitters

I am a knitter, I like knitting, I think about knitting a lot, and Clara Parkes has written up this year's list of 10 great gifts for knitters. As though I didn't put enough choices on my Christmas List already.

Oh, you know what else is super? I donated to Heifer International, and today I got address labels and holiday gift tags with livestock on them, including sheep. I was very excited, especially because my MSF/DWB ones are almost used up. I recently gave them money too, though, so I should eventually get a re-stock on their address labels.

All Done!

I took lousy pictures (that are up on flikr! if you care) of my sockapalooza 4 sock pal socks, so I'm not torturing you with any here. Instead, go on over to Lindsey's blog and check them out here.

And now, back to the baby pants that I'm test knitting.

A word problem about knitting

I may be in a funk, and generally cranky, but I've decided to knit the Sweet Baby Hat (Ravelry) for a small, related child. The question is, which size to knit that will give me the best chance of a hat that fits someone at Thanksgiving.

I have babies of cousins who are 19 months, 5 months and in utero. if my hat size choices are 6months, 1 year and 2 year, and i have no idea, nor do I particularly care about my gauge (there is hope of hitting it, so I'll be in the size ballpark), which size should I make to maximize the possibility that it will fit a small child at Thanksgiving?

I currently think that the 1 year size is where I'm going to head.

A contest!

Shelly Kang of "let's bury her house in yarn!" and the modular sock yarn blankie fame, is having a contest. The winner gets a copy of Victorian Lace Today and a skein of beautiful white laceweight yarn. She will even dye the yarn if the winner wishes.

So why am I telling you? Because if you go over there, and enter (just leave your email address in the comment) and tell her that I sent you (I suspect that Katy is good enough, but its not like my full name is much of a secret), then I get another entry in the hat.

I know that many of you are not knitters. That does not matter. Go over there, enter, tell her I sent you, and if you happen to win, have her send the prize to me, and I will send you a prize of some sort (TBD depending on who the winner is and what they would consider a good prize) for helping me win.

Go, now, yes, you! Enter the contest, and help me win a book and yarn! Why? Because you love me, and I'm a wool pig.

Calling all Knitters!

This shirt is out of print at Threadless, but if enough people ask for it to be reprinted, they just might. So make a difference, make some argyle sheep!

Via Theresa

Knitting Meme

I got this from Erin at My Best Friend's a Dork who got it from Molly Knits Sweaters.

Here are the instructions:
Mark with bold the things you have ever knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

I am adding: Strikethrough the things that you don't see yourself ever doing again/more than once/you actively think are a bad idea. If you started, but did not finish an object, bold it but then put * next to it

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl*
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk (blend)
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns (mosaic knitting? or am I missing something and I've done it?)
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)*
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments (do socks count?)
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art (knitting as art or knitted replicas *of* art? I would totally knit a replica of art, but not as art)
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO (if you'll start my socks, I'll be happy to graft your toes)
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting*
Knitting a gift
Knitting clothing for pets
Knitting toys/accessories for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public (there are people who don't do this? the mind boggles)

Just call me Captain Cook!

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.com Take this quiz!

Successfully Social

This weekend, I was, in an out-of-character manner, very social. As I thought about it, I haven't really made any attempt at socialization, outside of family and visiting with Nicole in Michigan, since Steph died in July, and I think that spring in the air is helping to really push me out of my apartment.

So what did I do this weekend? Here is a list of sorts:

Friday night, I went to Loopy Yarns for the knitting night, and I actually sat with other people and made conversation. It only took an hour or two for me to sit at the table with other people.

Saturday, Jennifer came over to help finish my mom's felted bag, intended for her birthday 2005 and abandoned due to finishing roadblocks circa August 2005. Please note, it is currently March 2007. Anne also came by for a little while to look through (and buy) some of Piddleloop's headbands. She got one as a gift and two for herself. Then, her boyfriend Nat came over and we all went to Thai Pastry for dinner. It was fun, big thanks to Jennifer for finishing mom's bag, now all I have to deal with is the yarn ends from sewing up. I think that I will needle felt them into the bag itself, rather than tie knots.

Oh, but wait, I continued on with interacting with other people (normally, this would have been my limit for a weekend). I went to Justin's St. Patrick's day gathering for the "bar-weary" and met some of his friends and had a few beers and generally enjoyed myself without being a wallflower. The theorem that the world is small was proven once again when Justin's friend Helen turned out to be Lavina's friend Helen from Cherubs. And Helen is super. I like her a lot, as well as Katie and Courtney. Its always good to meet new people. At least, I keep telling myself that. =)

Today, Sunday, I was social from approximately 3:30pm to 11:00pm. That would be 7.5 hours for those of you keeping track at home. First, there was the Demons and Darlings Stitch'n'Bitch at the Urban Tea Lounge on Montrose. It was lots of fun, and I got to meet interesting people and get going on the second sock of the pair I am working on, in the hopes of having two matching socks at the end by working on both at the same time. Also, UTL had good food and beverages, including regular Coke in a can for those of us who prefer our caffeine to be cold, sweet, and fizzy instead of warm, adjustably sweet and creamy, and flat. I had the hummus plate, a coke (obviously) and a pint of Ceylon tea. Lisa and I left there around 7:30 to go and meet her friends Roger and Robert for dinner up in Edgewater.

First, we met up at Roger's, a place I had never been, to wait for Robert and drop off our knitting bags before hauling them to a restaurant for dinner. While there, I got to meet a sweet, attention-loving cat named Nicky (sp?), Roger gave me a book that he is the publisher of (I started reading it while waiting for the train home) and the Firefly TV Series DVD set to borrow and watch. Hopefully, watching it will make the Jayne hat craze comprehensible. Once Robert arrived, and I was able to greet him with, "So, I hear you are a four ball man." (in reference to the number of balls of yarn required to knit him socks, not his reproductive anatomy, silly), we headed off to The Little Mexican Cafe for dinner. I had the mahi mahi special and it was good, but I was hungrier than just that and chips and salsa, so I may still have a bowl of cereal tonight.

After dinner, we returned to Roger's place (around the corner) to retrieve the knitting bag (for me) and to fit Robert's sock that Lisa is knitting, and then we ended up just hanging around and talking about eBay business for a while before I noticed how late it was in relation to my alarm clock settings. So now I am home, finally getting sleepy, and telling you all about how social I was.

Here is the breakdown, by time:

Friday 5pm - Sunday midnight: 55 hours
Social time:

1. Friday knitting at Loopy: 6-10pm = 4 hours
2. Saturday with Jennifer, Anne and Nat: 3pm-8pm = 5 hours
3. Saturday at Justin's: 9pm-12midnight = 3 hours
4. Sunday at DnDSnB: 3:30pm-7:30pm = 4 hours
5. Sunday dinner etc: 7:30pm-11:30pm = 4 hours

Total Social Time: 20 hours

That is an incredible ratio of social time to awake time, if you figure that I slept for 9 hours minimum for each of two night of sleeping. I suspect that I will not want to talk to anyone in the morning at work. I think that I may be looking forward to the laundromat and my knitting tomorrow night.

Cheaper than the Gap!

If you like to knit socks, or use sock yarn, or wish to encourage others to knit you socks, go check out the Little Knits sock yarn sale. You can get enough sock yarn to make a pair of superwash wool socks with a clever little pattern for less than $7. Can't beat that with a stick.

I have a bunch of sock yarn, but I'm still thinking of ordering some of the more "manly" color schemes for Dad and Uncle socks for Christmas time and future knitting.

Just figured that I'd put this PSA out there for any knitters that happen on by.

Celebrity Writings

I emailed Schoolhouse Press about some books yesterday. Today, Meg Swansen, the Meg Swansen, emailed me back. She was nice, informative, and so normal. It makes me want to call and have her answer the phone, like she did for Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Just an update

Archer Farms Salt & Pepper potato chips are good, even though they leave your mouth with that pepper-y feeling. Maybe they should be called Pepper & Salt chips. Try adding Canfield's Seltzer Water for extra mouth zing!

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I love my blue basketweave sweater from Eddie Bauer, and I would link to it or show you a picture, except that it appears to be gone from both the main website and the outlet website. Last week, they were down to only having them in cream size medium, which is not my size, otherwise I would have bought a second one. There is just one problem, it seems to shed and pill an awful lot. I hope that I am imagining it, but it seems that the underarms may even be developing holes at the seam, from fiber loss. I wore it over a white shirt today and discovered that I can't take it off because I am now wearing a white and blue fuzz shirt. I think that when it dies, I might have to use this sweater as a template for knitting myself a new, sturdier one. This sweater is 60% cotton, 20% wool, 10% nylon and 10% angora rabbit, so that is a majority of the component fibers as short-stapled, prone to pill and shed, fibers. I don't think its a very wise decision. But I bet that if I put my mind and needles to it, I can make an even better sweater (this one is just the right fit and proportion for my slouchy preferences) with something in a sturdy wool. I'm not certain that I have the patience to knit an entire sweater in what appears to be 14 sts/inch basketweave, but I will probably be able to figure something out. First, of course, I should finish some other projects. Like my fun fur hats and mom's hat and my fair isle sampler sweater.

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I am 11 pages from the end of Jeanette Winterson's Lighthousekeeping and I'm considering not finishing. I have no idea what the point of the book is, who the narrator is (or maybe there is more than one?) or why I should care. I mean, I think that the main narrator and voice of the story is the orphan girl Silver, but I'm not sure. Also, the pages are not laid out like regular pages. There is a lot of white space for a novel. This book might be over my head.

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Sarah Louise sent me a book of Psalms on Friday and it showed up today! How's that for speedy postal service. We must have a site visit going on at the 60640 post office or something. Its a fairly modern translation and I look forward to giving it a try. Also, a book of the Bible in book format is much less daunting than the freaking gigantic things I checked out of the library.

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Continental fixed my flights for the birthday trip to Denmark. So we won't be flying from Chicago to Newark, NJ by heading southwest, or Newark to Copenhagen via Antarctica and Finland. It was very prompt of them and even Lacey looked into it for me, as it was clearly a ridiculous (and possibly funny) database error.

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I had to wait at the Field Museum today in the main hall while my boss and other assorted co-workers had a meeting in the depths of the offices. (they left for the meeting while I was still measuring a room... leaving a note that they would be back to get me... and there is no way to find where they were without a guide.) While I waited, I had a lovely conversation with an old lady who worked as a guide-type person for the Sue dinosaur. We talked about interesting things on the internet, and I told her that digital cameras were really easy, even though they were much less so five years ago, so she should make the switch. We also talked about how Frango mints have changed and expanded their range in recent years. Of course, she also told me all about Sue, and explained the weird sticking out bone underneath the tail.

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Speaking of work, there is a creature living in the ceiling and maybe the wall of my office in the blockhouse. We have rats, and two cats that are living in the building, both species of which are feral and decidedly un-pet-like. Over the weekend, one type of animal or the other fell through the acoustical tile (it shifted, the animal fell) in the women's bathroom in the blockhouse. I am terrified that the creature (which will probably turn out to be an angry 15# rat) is going to fall through the ceiling in the middle of the day, when I am sitting right there, probably on the phone, and it will be followed by an army of creepy crawlies.

Ick.

I hope that Scot figures out how to get it out tomorrow. The main trouble is that above the acoustical tile, the floor of the second level (storage) is 1/4" plate steel. So whatever is in there is pretty much stuck at this point, and we can't get to it. Ewwww.

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We are finally having seasonable weather here. I should learn not to leave fizzy, canned beverages in my car trunk, in Chicago, during seasonable January weather. At least the ice doesn't get everything wet.

The Bears helmets for the Art Institute lions look really great in the shop. I hope that they look even better on the lion-backers.

Thanks for reading down this far. Sorry that there are no links or pictures, but I'm just not up for it today.