Lazy Friday...

Moon Report: 33% of full. waxing crescent.

I know that the language of my passion

and the language of my art are not the same thing.

--Jeanette Winterson, Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery

So, again I am back to writing. Not writing as blog, but writing as actual pen on paper writing. I forgot how much I loved it. I forgot how much I love the story, the characters. It has been a homecoming--scratching pen on paper and inky fingers with doodles for figuring out how things work.

It's nearing three and I have yet to eat lunch (or breakfast for that matter). My tummy is rumbling. However, I think I am going to pack it down to the local grocery store where they have an enormous salad bar. Something green and leafy is what my body is screaming for. I think I've overdone it with all the squash I've eaten lately. The green beans I had yesterday just didn't cut the craving. Every once in a while I just need a gigantor salad filled with spinach and endive and garbanzos and peppers and carrots and celery and sunflower seeds and mandarin oranges and cottage cheese. Yum. [I'll be able to get most of this out of my own garden this summer!]

*****

Although I'd heard of it before, I stumbled on to this site a few days ago and joined: Ravelry. This is a knitting/crochet community where you get to see what patterns people have developed on their own or the projects they created with found/purchased patterns. Believe me, there is TONS of inspiration and lots of cool people to meet! It does take them a few days to add people so join the queue. I think they add a set number of people at a time as to not crash their system.

Ok, so my sweater has been postponed for a bit. I found a toe-up sock tutorial on WetCanvas! by BeeBlueFern. This is a great lesson and I'm half done with my first sock...meaning I'm about at the heel. We'll see how we get on... [Sorry about slipping into a first person plural. I may have had a Queen Elizabeth I moment.]

I've been trying to work my sweater in moss stitch, but it isn't looking right. I think I am pulling my thread too tight and it isn't leaving the "seed" visible. Although better than my first attempts at a granny square (which, by the way, looked like it was chewed by weasels), it still leaves much to be desired. I'll see if loosening my stitches will ease the problem. Or maybe it will come back after being blocked? I don't know...

knit fit

Moon Report: 14% of full. waning crescent


Ok. I figured out what my problem is with knitting: I was doing it all wrong! Apparently, when I taught myself how to knit by following bad pics from the 70s, I misunderstood something. My sister helped me figure it out and now I am finding knitting not to be a problem.

Sweater in Progress

I found the Carolyn sweater pattern free at an online magazine called Knitty. They have some amazing free patterns with each issue. Tons of socks and sweaters (among other things) to choose from. The one I am using can be found here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTcarolyn.html

I chose this sweater because it is simple enough to follow and doesn't have a complicated pattern (like cables) to it. I thought I'd do this in just plain cream with no stripes, but after I finished the ribbing on the back side I realized I wouldn't like it much. So I did change to navy. I wear more blue than cream, but the sweater will be trimmed in cream edging. I'm also trying the moss stitch (or seed stitch depending on your lingo) in place of plain stockinette which I dislike.

Since I fell asleep last night about two rows into starting the navy, I have little progress to show at the moment. When I have an appreciable sweater back, I'll take a picture to post.

My goal: to manage a sweater without too many goofs so that I can begin one with real wool instead of acrylic.

flaming freezing!

Moon Report: 25% of full. waning crescent.


Man, oh man, is it buggardly cold! We have been hovering close to 0 degrees all day--the upside: it was sunny. But now that it is dark we are sitting somewhere around -4 degrees at about seven. Don't believe me, have a gander: http://www.wsbt.com/weather

The SW Michigan counties are even under blizzard warnings and have been asked to stay off the roads. Luckily for us we haven't seen any snow although the local meteorologists keep swearing we'll be landed with 3-7" by morning. I think it is far too cold to get snow at this point.

So what is to be done on such a terrible day? Why watch all the Brit mystery shows I can, of course! I'm sucked into Poirot and Midsomer Murders while knitting my sweater. However, I do have to point out that being absorbed by the murder mysteries is not so good for following a knitting pattern. I have a forty stitch goof in the ribbing on the bottom of my sweater! Oh well, I guess that really makes it handmade.

i want a sven

I want a big Scandinavian guy to manage my life and give me sweaters...

Although this is the whole commercial, I only enjoy the first 20 seconds. I couldn't care less about the AT&T phone and wireless info.