Archive for April, 2005

kid-created_tiara_for_momIt was a *gorgeous* afternoon as I watched my younger girl take her first loss on the soccer field. Meanwhile, I took a few surreptitious stitches on my afghan. I will work on my knitting some more this evening if the folks in my house will *ever* go to sleep. Caitlyn lovingly decorated my hair and decided I needed a silver pipecleaner and pink feather tiara for tonight’s ensemble at the keyboard. So I am clearly ready for any occasion.

As you can see, I *finally* resolved my digital photo issues, so I’ve also included a view of the Tinky Brown Hairball Afghan, too.

Tinky_hairball_afghan

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My, it’s been an eventful week, although NOT for my knitting, which is only showing creeping-crawling progress. *sniffle* These are typical stories of my life:

Tooth Story — I had joined a craft book club, greedy gal that I am, for the cool knitting books whose titles I just couldn’t resist. The box got here on Tuesday, and it was a nice surprise when the box also contained a sample of one of those calcium chews. Yum-yum, orange flavored. One chew into it, and I was pulling out a calcium-enriched blob with one of my dental crowns attached. (Hint: Never look in the mirror at what remains in your mouth after a crown pops off. Eech!) My mother lives with my family, so the next morning I was yelling up the stairs to tell her that I’d be away from the office that afternoon because I had an appointment to repair the crown I’d lost the previous night. There was a puzzled silence, and then she said, “Where did you get a crown?”

(From the throne room, where I keep my scepters and tiaras.) But I popped that thought bubble ruthlessly.

Soccer Story — Enjoyed yesterday afternoon’s soccer practice, watching my little gal charge back and forth across the field. She’s got the attention span of a gnat sometimes, so she kept diligently guarding her opponent without paying any attention to that pesky soccer ball that kept interrupting her efforts by sailing by. Still, she was doing better than a teammate, who got her shoes so tangled up in the soccer net that she ended up sprawled on her back and needing rescue.

Sofa Story — I was madly typing away last night, sending my knitting guild’s newsletter out, and also trying to listen to TV when I noticed that I was having to adjust the volume upwards every few minutes. There was another person snoring in the vicinity — my dear hubby. He was stretched out VERY comfortably on the chaise end of our big sectional sofa.
“Uh, honey — don’t you think you’d be more comfortable upstairs in bed?” (hint, hint) “Uh, HONEY?”

“(yawn) Mmm-hmm, I’m going up in a minute …. (zzzzzz).”

A few minutes later as I mentally compare his snoring to a blender (too tame), an ice crusher (perhaps a bit too harsh) and a lawnmower starting up (that one’s close), I try again. He once again reassures me that he is on the very BRINK of getting up. I think his snoring begins again before he finishes the sentence. I sigh and crank the volume up a bit more — why keep torturing the guy?

I finally tucked in on the other end of the sectional to wait him out. This morning, I wake up to find him gone, his afghan neatly folded and his glass (not mine) put in the sink. But he has thoughtfully turned my Ott light off.

This morning: Now I think I’ll take another look at the Tinky Brown Hairball Afghan to see why there were only three stitches where there should have been four on one of the diamonds in my last row. Grrr.

This afternoon: One hour and near gale-force winds later (er, that’s the weather outside — not Dear Hubby’s snoring), I have to say “Woo-hoo! The Fusions are now 4-0!” (Thus speaks the Soccer Mom.)

This evening: I tinked two rows and the problem solved itself. And now I can proudly proclaim that I’ve gotten to row 57 on the Tinky Brown Hairball Afghan — YES! In more excellent news, I’ve found the cable that connects my digital camera to my laptop, so I can post pictures. In a typical development, I have also discovered that the USB port on this dratted computer is now … broken.

Technology taunts me.

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Between the Saturday soccer game for my younger daughter (the Fusions are 3-0 — woohoo!) and picking her up from a birthday party where we dropped her off immediately after the game, my family rode around to several neighborhood yard sales. I’ve been curious about what some other economy-minded knitters have mentioned and wanted to try it for myself. The new-to-me concept was “recycling” old sweaters from yard sales and thrift stores.

So …

I found four chenille sweaters, two angora mixes, and one soft lambswool top that I coveted, along with one ramie-cotton blend that I may just keep but still have in the “may unravel someday” pile. And I left a whole LOT of scratchy wools on their lonely hangers at the yard sales. (New motto: Life’s too short to knit with scratchy wool.) All had some signs of wear or staining, so I spent a grand total of five bucks and spent the evening happily snipping and ripping and rolling. (FYI, I did check — all of them were ones that were pieced together, not knit fabric that had been cut and sewn. So I got substantial yardage out of the sweaters’ yarns.) Haven’t unraveled the pink or the blue lambswool sweaters yet; when I tried on the pink, the fuzzy part of the yarn kept catching enough that it broke the fine thread. So that may not have been a good purchase; I guess it was a machine-knit sweater using really fine threads. But we’ll see. It’s a good lap project for some evening when I’m sitting in front of the TV.

I also scored two dresses, a blouse, one sweater, and a crocheted top for my older daughter and four books for my younger girl. Who says I can’t shop for bargains? *Triumphant grin*

[Update: I eventually decided I'm really NOT an unraveller at heart. The pink sweater's yarn was too hard to unravel (imagine trying to pick apart a much-washed sweater where the fibers have somewhat locked together), my older daughter claimed several of the smaller sweaters I'd planned to unravel, and even the chenille looked -- literally -- threadbare when I pulled the stitching apart. Oh well. Live and learn.]

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I am just waiting for “CSI” to develop an episode around a dead knitter whose only DNA samples can be found in … the zillions of strands of hair carefully woven into her fiber art.

Or at least that’s what I think of as I pick yet another long brown hair out of my short brown afghan. Honestly, I may need to join The Hair Club for Women. Is there anyone else besides me who continously finds her own stray hair stitched up in the knitting? It doesn’t help that we have a pampered elderly Sheltie who continously sheds long, crinkly white hairs, either, but at least those are easy to find and pluck off the yarn. (Yikes, it could be worse … it could be MY white hairs sparkling on the yarn.) I am going to have to put this afghan under my Ott light to inspect it carefully once all the stitching is done. If it ever gets done. (No, thinking positively … WHEN it gets done. Someday.)

Hold your breath, because I’m now on *gasp* Row 29 of the Tinky Brown Hairball Afghan and haven’t had to tink anything since, oh, … row 27.

*sigh*

Only another knitter would understand the desire to throw a “Row 30″ party once that milestone is reached in an afghan like this!

(Update: Eventually abandoned this project due to annoyance with my inability to keep track of the pattern, dislike of the yarn, etc. *sigh*)

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Despite taking some time off for “life” (younger child’s soccer, everyone in the house sick with a respiratory virus, and having to work all day Sunday on a special project), I *FINALLY* got past row 25 on my Tinky Brown Hairball Afghan! I could dance and sing! It seems that I was either omitting some of my yarnovers or absentmindedly tossing an extra one in when it wasn’t needed.

I can’t tell you how many times I did that dratted row 25 … but I swear I’d be around row 40 or so without all that tinking. I’m going to think twice before I do another afghan that has such a large repeat (rows 9 to 32) because it’s hard to memorize the moves and get in the groove when it changes so much. Especially when I can’t do just one thing at a time …

One good thing came of all the knitting and tinking — I can really “read” the stitches on the needles and tell what row I’m on without looking at my notes now!

(Update: Confession time: I frogged it eventually, recognizing that my attention span, with kids and pets and my skill level, isn’t going to improve dramatically anytime soon. Will try again someday when the house is quieter!)

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This afghan I’m knitting is making me (slightly) nuts. I seem to drop a stitch or get off the pattern every few rows. I did great right up until row 17, where I got hung up for a few days, and now I’m equally stuck on row 25, where I can’t seem to figure out how I am losing a stitch. Will *not* do this pattern again once I get this one off the needles!

Update: I didn’t like the way the rough acrylic yarn felt, nor did I like knitting a complicated (to me) pattern in a dark yarn. (Freudian slip, heh-heh: I originally typed “darn” yarn.) I eventually frogged this version, after wrestling with it for a while and naming it the Tinky Brown Hairball Afghan. But I must admit, the pattern was pretty, and it created a fabric with some heft to it — just what I like in an afghan. Will try again someday with another yarn. Perhaps when I have a longer attention span!

 

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