Nothin' much...

I finally got to knit again! Giving in to hand cramps, I just put it down after several very satisfying rows of the ridiculously wide purple scarf (RWPS). It's just stockinette, but man was it gratifying. *sigh* Maybe I'll give it to my niece next Christmas. Oh, how I missed your fuzziness, purple-mauve yarn...and the soft springiness of the wooden needles...and getting the needle in my left hand wrapped up in the yarn coming off the skein....and adding stitches...I digress.

I wasn't feeling very well today and stayed on the couch for about 8 hours with brief excursions elsewhere. I read a good bit in preparation for my final paper coming up in Hell on Earth - er, I mean Sociological Theory class and also squeezed in a bit of HGTV home redo's. Man, that's good television right there. Who's with me?!

One more thing...

I made my first order with Annie's Attic, a crochet and knitting catalog. I ordered a beginner's sock KIT, but what I got was only a pattern. No beginner-friendly advice or dumbing down, just a pattern. How can they call a pattern a KIT and how can they call your average knitting pattern a beginner's pattern?!

Has anyone else had a problem with Annie's Attic?

Bad Hair Day

I could go on and on about this, but I'll keep it mercifully brief. Today I paid ALOT of money for a bad perm. I know, perms are sooo 80's, but it was just a body wave. I am desperate to find something that will give my hair life and body. my hair is very fine and very straight, but I have sooo much of it. I look like a homeless person because I am not willing to spend more than 2 minutes on my hair. I mean, c'mon, I don't even wear make-up half the time.

So I thought I was getting body and life, but I got squigglies. Exactly what I did not want. Will I never learn? Perm = bad. Insert expletive here, repeat.

D talked me into posting more of my my crappy knitting, so here it is. My first experience with circular needles. It will eventually be a cowl. it has so many holes in it I have dubbed it the Spider Web. I figured out why I was dropping so many stitches and theoretically, I won't do it on my next circ project. I've already clocked in about 8 hours on this little lovely and it's not even half finished. Knitting is not for those who require instant gratification. And yet, I knit.

Another egg was in my yard today! It is very small. I don't know what kind of creature it belongs to, but we saw a mama dove protecting a baby dove on the ground in our bushes the other day.

Aaaaaand I rode my recumbent bike for 30 minutes today, even though I still feel yucky and really did not want to. Yea me!

Ramblings

I would just like to say I LOVE the kooky Sonic and Geico commercials. Who's with me?



And on the Fiber Front...

I have completed the practice cowl and have begun the actual cowl. This is my first time using circular needles and it's awesome. It's so fast! I think I love it. I have learned that it is important to keep the needles in the same position so you don't get two different stitches on the right side of the fabric. I put a dot of nail polish on the top of my left needle to keep me straight. Perhaps someday soon I'll have a nice photo to show you. Gotta tell ya', though, I feel like an idiot posting my stuff when there are sooo many true artists out there. I check out fiber arts blogs all the time and there's so much out there that's actually worth looking at. Then I remind myself that this is for me and my loved ones primarily and it's good to journal my hobbies. Ah well...good knitters need to have a laugh now and then, right?


Dear Lord could it be any hotter down here in Dixie? Wait - it can get hotter, since it's only the first of August. The older I get the more sensitive I become to such unpleasantness.

Randomocity

Welcome to today's random, babbling entry. I'm your host, Mother of Purl.



The following headline was in my local newspaper last week. I can only assume the reporter was making an attempt at humor.

Local obesity conference draws large crowd‎

Well, ok, it's a little bit funny.

I would like to plug my new favorite soda: FRESCA Black Cherry Citrus. My mom-in-law introduced us yesterday and we have been inseparable ever since.

Twenty bucks says you can't guess what my husband is doing right now. No, you're way off. He's boiling a hog head. And he owes me a new gumbo pot.

The purplish, knobby, fuzzy scarf (which is possibly for my niece) is coming along pretty well. I can't tell if it's my idiocy or the nature of the yarn that is to blame for the accidental increasing I keep doing. I used stitch markers at first, then started screwing up again. If I'm having this much trouble with a scarf, how am I ever going to make a sweater?! I am a slow learner, I suppose. Next time I'm using regular yarn.


Been thinking of some patterns I'd like to try in an inkle band. I think it's time to step up to pick-up technique. Maybe I'll wait until after the purple, amorphous scarf is finished. (Maybe I should call it the Barney scarf.) I have also been fantasizing about getting a rigid heddle loom. I have read and re-read a few sets of "plans" for building my own but I'm not sure about that. Has anyone done this? if so, e mail me and let me know how it turned out. I like the idea of just having a loom show up via UPS but it would be waaay cool if I made it myself. There's just not enough time to do all the yarny goodness I want.

Look, I am quite fond of commas, hyphens and parenthesis. I will use them in situations where they are inappropriate. I will use them often. Occasionally I will even be conscious of the fact that I misusing them, yet use them I will.

DH and I put together my recumbent exercise bike today. Woo-hoo! It monitors my speed, distance, calories burned, and heart rate. We set it up in the living room in front of the T.V. Surely I can pedal away fat cells while watching the crab show. (Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel) I get so into that show! And also Man vs. Wild. That Bear is CRAZY! I wonder who would win in a competition between him and the Survival Man. People who drink their own urine are bad asses.

I am preparing for the greatest non-religious holiday of the year. Of course, I am referring to HALLOWEEN! I am like a kid when it comes to All Hallow's Eve. I love to dress up. this year DH and I will host our 2nd annual Halloween Party at our hunting property. I already have my costume picked out and I even have some backups planned. (squeals)

One last thing: Prancing Nougat in the Meadow

Randomness

I have two projects on the needles at present. I am experimenting with some yummy foo-foo fuzzy, knobby yarn which will likely become a scarf for my niece. It's a purple/mauve and it's sooo soft.The second project is a practice run, my first attempt on circular needles so I can make that cowl I mentioned. I've gotten to the second "loop" and it looks too small to fit around my massive gourd. For real, I have a huge head. In one of my physical anthropology classes we measured everyone's head during a cranial capacity discussion and mine was second largest, after some guy with a bobble head. I had the largest head of all the females. If the instructor was right, that extra capacity just means I have a bigger brain. Yeah, right. That's it.

Speaking of BIG, I joined Weight Watchers online and ordered a recumbent exercise bike this weekend. I've got to get rid of these extra lbs. Too bad knitting doesn't use up more calories.

The grad school ball is starting to roll. I think I'm going to take a methods class this fall, and it will be held at night. Yea! What luck. They sure don't make graduate classes for folks with actual jobs. In Spring I'm told I'll have to take Stats and Research, and I might have to take a refresher stats class so I don't fail completely. Hmmm...now when would I have time for that?! Damn you, Academia! I have a job! I have a husband! I have a fiber arts addiction! I don't have the money or the time to take a practice course that won't count toward my degree. I hate it already. (Bangs head against wall)

New Knitting Adventure

I have completed the new dishrag for DH's grandmother but I'm not going to post a photo because it's just a stockinette rectangle. You can picture that, can't you? I didn't have a single dropped stitch and it looks good. I started a trivet-type rectangle for my sister in cable stitch and it's OK, but not good. I manage to add stitches and get the cables cattywhompus (seriously, how is that spelled?) but it's only a matter of paying attention. Maybe I should go to an ADHD knitting class.

Progress is being made, however. I now know how to keep from adding stitches and my confidence is growing. So much so that I have decided to try knitting in the round. My evil plan is to make a cowl since it is really just a tube. I want to make it with a soft, fuzzy yarn, but I'm not sure if I am that skilled just yet. I'll try, as you know I will, and yes, even photograph it for y'all. Tomorrow I buy the circular needles. Or should I try to make it with double pointed needles? Decisions, decisions...

Most of the weekend will be devoted to making a skirt for my dear friend Cladee. She's waited so patiently.

I leave you with a pretty fladdo picture. (That would be flower to all you non-Disney types.)

Things to come...

I am almost finished with my second dish rag and will post the photo when it is complete. Really exciting stuff, I know. Try to hold out just a little longer. :) I am going to make one more lovely square or rectangle for my sister, then it's on to bigger and better things. Like, say, a hat. Or a bag. That'll really be worth posting, especially if I mess it up. My knitting buddy at work has thrown down the knitting gauntlet as she brought in a hat that she made this weekend. D-oh! Nothing like a little competition to make me try harder.

Just for kicks, here is an interesting photo that I saw on Flickr (I think).

Sticks and Stones

Note to self: Keep wooden knitting needles off of the couch. Failure to do so may result in the awesome weight of your butt breaking said needles, thereby rendering them useless (more or less).

Yes, I sat on a needle. Fortunately, it was lying horizontally on the couch when I did it. Otherwise, I would likely not be posting anything because I would be high on emergency room doctor-prescribed morphine. Plus the non-pointy end broke off, so I can at least finish my green rectangle, aka the dish rag. My edges are much better, thanks to advice from a fellow knitter. I've ordered more needles and even bought some double pointed needles to eventually try knitting in the round. I figure that'll be good for demonstrating at the living history event in November. Perhaps that will be sufficient time to become a real knitter! I'll be able to do some weaving, but I will have to buy a tape loom (oh, darn). Apparently modern inkle looms were not in use until the early 2oth century, at least in this country. Wouldn't want to be inaccurate when teaching future generations about Alabama's history. There are enough misconceptions about the South as it is.

Knitting Angst, Revisited

I am very frustrated with my slow progress. I know, I know, I can't expect to be great at something I have only been doing for a month, but I really should be further along. I frogged the green rectangle due to dropped stitches and messy edges. *sigh* When will I have a completed project to post? When, I ask?! (shakes fists at the heavens)

Perhaps I have too many irons in the fire. Gee, ya' think?! Knitting, sewing, weaving, photography...that's alot to learn all at once. But I had to get started before I begin grad school and certainly before we have a child. Having a job really interferes with my hobbies.

On the upside, my family is coming to visit this weekend. We're going to see a play and fish and just hang out. Yea! I can show off my skirt and get some oohs and aahs. That'll give me a boost.

In less than 2 weeks DH and I will be on vacation. No worries!

Hot Damn!

Today I graduated from Remedial Knitting for "special" students to Regular Knitting 101. Yea! The trick, it turns out, is to use wooden needles and coarser yarn. Aluminum needles + fancy, soft yarn = knitting angst. Perhaps when I am a more mature fiber artist I will be able to use soft yarn, but until then it's all about the cheap stuff 'cause it makes me look good. Happy coincidence.

I say, is that stockinette stitch? Indeed.

All hail the wooden sticks!

My green skein has an "outie".

I was beginning to think that I was too stoooopid to knit. Good thing I swam instead of sinking 'cause I've got LOTS of yarn. And I would hate to have wasted all that money. (Note to my husband: most of it was on clearance, if that helps.)

The Accidental Banana Hammock

What happened?! I keep getting worse instead of better. Let me just list the things that are wrong with this piece.

1. I started out with 10 stitches per row and ended up with 20 per row.
2. I was supposed to be alternating knitting and purling every row but I can't remember what I just did 2 seconds ago, so I've got big chunks of each stitch. The row counter was not helpful.
3. Look at those loopy, messy edges! I used the "slip the first loop off without stitching it" technique for a while, then swithced to knitting the first stitch of every row. Neither method produced the desired result, as you can see in the second photo.
4. I admit, I was watching T.V. while I knit this. Note to self: Don't. Ever.
5. Last, but not least, it looks like a banana hammock! Cod piece. Male stripper g-string. Call it what you like. I call it FROGGED!
   
   
   We all knew this would be painful, right? Documenting every failure as well as success is supposed to give me a sense of accomplishment and help others who endeavor to try their hand at fiber arts.

But it's so tempting to only show you the good stuff. Of course, if I did that, I'd never have any pictures to post! Haha!

Here we go, one more 'gin.

R.I.P.

As much as I enjoy the sensation of ripping out stitches that took hours of my time, I truly regret that I must start anew. (insert expletive here)

Death and life, life and death...My chives are rejuvenating but my knitting efforts have expired. Do I hear TAPS playing in the distance? Ah well, it's all about learning. As Cladee said earlier, Rome wasn't built in a day. The upshot is I recognize my mistakes each time I make them. :)

I will begin again.

Gettin' My Knit On

The knitting hobby is totally under way. There are two "efforts" going on simultaneously, but I think it's time to lay the first one to rest. I learned with inkle weaving that I do, in fact, get better each and every time I do it. As I am not OCD, I have taken shots of these less than perfect efforts to show you my progression. Just think how proud we'll be when I actually knit something like a sweater. Then we'll all look back with nostalgia and laugh at these pitiful attempts.

Okay, the photo above bravely documents my first time knitting more than two rows without having to rip it out. Notice the scary holes in it. Notice the even scarier loopy, uneven edges. As you can see, I got the purl stitch down and utilized it here. The problem is, I can't seem to pay attention long enough to remember if I just purled a row or knitted a row. I haven't learned to tell the difference until I'm several rows out. I put the bottom needle into it to stretch it out and show you better.

Now for effort 2:

Progress was made in effort 2. My edges are a little neater thanks to a co-worker who taught me a cool end stitch. There is only one hole that I can see. The worst mistake would have to be that I knitted with my tail strand once or twice. D-oh! You can kinda see it on the left in the second photo. Gotta watch that. Now what is going on with the rounded edges? There may have been some angry knitting goin' on. But that is getting better, too.

May I recommend Debbie Stoller's book Stitch 'N Bitch if you're interested in learning to knit. Now these are instructions I can relate to! Ms. Stoller breaks it all down for you with a sense of humor and in plain English. I find it easier to understand than some other knitting instruction books I've read. She has at least two other books on knitting and one for learning crochet. Buy it, man!