Shoe Alert! Shoe Alert!

Lovely Lois has sent along info about a new pair of clogs she found. And yes, for knitters everywhere who are also Sensible Shoe Fanatics, they are from Dansko.

Dansko Photo Real Patent, which look like a photo of knitting!

If I took every penny I might make at this year’s Guild sale, I would be able to buy these. And they just might be worth it. I mean, look how pretty and just darn Knitty they are.

Thanks for the head’s up, Lois!

Another audiobook on deck:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, because I didn’t get around to it last time I had it checked out.

“A reliable way of making people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.” ― Daniel Kahneman

Thrift Store Finds

$10, 14 pairs of knitting needles. Yes, metal, but useful to have around for sizes I don’t already have in bamboo.

Needle Treasure!

Another find from the thrift store this weekend; a plastic Weave-It Hand Loom. Something to do tiny samples on, or just a random piece to collect? Hopefully I’ll make use of it.

Weave-It

For more info on using these little gems, see the eLoomaNation site.

Current Audiobook: Having given up on the annoying Sister Grimm series, I’m moving back to adult books. Currently listening to 12.21: A Novel by Dustin Thomason

On Deck: Just picked up The Elgin Affair: The Abduction of Antiquity’s Greatest Treasures and the Passions it Aroused by Theodore Vrettos

“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” – Oscar Wilde

Give You One Guess

I’ll give you one guess. Starts with the letter “C” and involves two patterns from HeadHuggers. Cash Vero DK, size 7 needles.

Yes, another one

Recent Audiobooks: Unbelievably annoyed by the Sisters Grimm series. The characters are at turns completely ignorant or ridiculously knowledgeable. Are these supposed to make young readers feel better, that they can guess the answers long before the characters can? Or do they get as annoyed as I do and talk back to the audiobook about whether the editor slept through the editing process? Major knock off of the brilliant Fables series by Bill Willingham.

Other recent audiobooks: Starting the Stoneheart series by Charlie Fletcher, only because it is performed by Jim Dale of Harry Potter audiobook fame.

“There is no darkness but ignorance.” – William Shakespeare

Upcoming Yarn Crawls

For those of you (us) that actually think shopping for wool in 100 degree heat is fun.

Hot August Knits Yarn Crawl
Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming

Yarn Along the Rockies
General Colorado Yarn Shop Crawl

Oh to have a spare few hundred dollars and space for more yarn.

“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.” – Mae West

Where did those four months go?

Seriously. Four months since I’ve been on here? Apparently that chemo cap took the life right out of me. Always hideously depressing to knit those things.

My sister set me the challenge of making a baby hat that matched one in a greeting card. Did a mashup of:

Bean Sprout Baby Hat

Petite Pixie Hat

The cuter version

Knit the hat twice, because the first time it just didn’t have the cuteness factor. It was a good thing I had to knit it twice, since I once again tried to do my civic duty. I knit furiously before and after I spoke to try to release the adrenaline. I hate speaking in public, have I mentioned that?

Went out to tell a bunch of officials (volunteer and elected) that they were messing up once again. Dealt with one bully, an embarrassing appearance on the city’s tv channel, a newspaper article, and they were forced to change their minds. Temporarily.

I really need a new windmill to tilt against, because I’m never going to defeat this one. They’re never going to get this one right, I guarantee it.

Current audiobook: Just finished The Collected Stories of Winnie-the-Pooh performed by Stephen Fry, Dame Judi Dench, and Jane Horrocks (Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous, and LV in Little Voice. If you haven’t seen Little Voice, it will absolutely blow you away.)

Currently Reading: Reading most of the past year of Frazz online. Cannot get over how much I enjoy that comic.

“I’m an idealist. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.” – Carl Sandburg

Spring Restlessness

I am still looking at the yarn and baby hat pattern I set aside weeks ago. Somehow, I am just not motivated to attempt the redesign, or knitting it the way the directions state. Nor am I aching to unfold the loom for any great projects, because then it would be in the way of all things.

I think spring restlessness is setting in, about a week early. The cleaning has begun. I dumped a box of books at the used bookstore (they refused the other full box so that will be donated somewhere). I have another pile of papers to send through the shredder. I’m sure a bag of clothes will head to Goodwill soon.

And yet I seem to keep acquiring yarn, with no plan how to use it. Okay, I’m sure none of you ever do that. Buy yarn you might not use, purchase books you might never read. And I’ve discovered that Tuesday Morning is both 1) a yarn store and 2) a book store. Things I should not know, if I want to keep the clutter to a minimum and the yarn stash from exploding.

Current Book: Just started Then Again by Diane Keaton. This might end up being too deep and thought-provoking for me right now. No, I’m serious. It is an autobiography, but also a biography of her mother and all of her lost dreams, recorded in collaged journals over decades. Keaton Sr. even continued making these journals through her 15 years of Alzheimer’s, when some days all she could do was write one word or just a string of random numbers.

I need to plan to read something very very very funny right after I finish that book.

Current DVD: Big Bang Theory, Season Three, picked up today at the library; Some Kind of Wonderful, because I haven’t seen it in a very long time; Adventures of Mark Twain (claymation) because it contains a short version of Diary of Adam and Eve’s Diary, which are two of my favorite Twain stories.

“Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.” – Thomas Alva Edison

Yarn-Over Sale at Recycled Lamb Today!

Recycled Lamb Moving Sale Today!

Recycled Lamb in Lakewood is moving across the street tomorrow. 25 years in one place, and their big move is across the street? Well, it makes sense to the lovely ladies who run the shop, so why not?

Ordinarily RL is one of the few local fiber shops open on Sundays, but they are closed tomorrow for the Big Move/Great Yarn-Over. Today they are having sales to limit the amount of hauling they have to do. Sales on weaving yarn, as well as discontinued yarns and some pattern books are 30% . I know where I’m headed later today.

I was just there last weekend, seeking out Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in lavender and gray for a baby hat. I’m going to attempt a version of the “Sweet Hex Child’s Hood” by Lisa Shroyer.

This pattern involves something called a steek, where you cut apart your knitting. What? Of course I am terrified of the idea of cutting apart my knitting, so I am attempting to redesign the hat so I can knit it flat with no cutting. And I’m changing out the design, so I can use something from the fabulous Icelandic Book instead. As opposed to just following the pattern As Written by the person who actually knows what they are doing.

Current Audiobook: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Currently Reading: Anyone want to explain to me why I felt compelled to purchase a paperback copy of Conversational Japanese at the thrift store this morning? In my dreams someday I’d like to visit the Miho Museum, but seriously have no plans to make that happen. So why purchase the book? There’s probably an interesting psychological study in that; what do the books we purchase say about us?

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb

Hat for a Troop

Completed another cap, once again to the sounds of club mix and Tallis. This one is technically a Cap for the Troops, even though that program has been disbanded. A colleague’s son tried in vain to find a job, and when he couldn’t, he ended up joining the military. She is proud but terrified, so I poured lots of good thoughts into the hat as I knit it. Rustic Wool, Queensland Collection.

Be Safe, Be Safe

Spent four hours yesterday reading You Need Help Charlie Brown. In french (Ca Ne Va Pas, Charlie Brown). Because I’m feeling the need to try to actually learn something useful, like another language. Not sure how useful it is that I now know the Great Pumpkin is la Grande Citrouille in french. Struggling to read through those, I was reminded of how much deep though Charles Schultz put into those “simple” cartoons. Don’t believe me? Re-read some of them for yourself.

“You cannot open a book without learning something.” – Confucius

Chemo Cap – Sigh – Again

Unfortunately, another chemo cap is called for. I’ve mentioned before how I wish there was no need of these anymore, right?

The trick this time around is that the recipient is Chinese, so I’m a bit flummoxed on the color choices. After taking a quick read through some Chinese color sites, the obvious choices would have been aqua blue-green (health) or green (purity). Trouble is, in Chinese culture the giving of a green hat indicates infidelity. Yikes. So I settled on purple (joy and happiness; hopefully geared towards feeling better), because that seemed like the only choice.

Head Huggers Rolled Brim

Head Hugger

Knit on size 6s using Malabrigo Silky Wool in Light Hyacinth (No. 420). Randomly, I’ve discovered that knitting to a dance mix really speeds up the process!

Went to the yarn shop Monday, forgetting that they’re closed Mondays. Ran into another knitter who needed help learning how to purl. Spent 5 minutes teaching her how and pointing her towards www.knittinghelp.com. Tiny sense of accomplishment for the day. What a mensch as my friend B would say.

Current Book: Last of the Gaslight Mysteries by Thompson

Current DVDs: First season of Big Bang Theory

Current Audiobook: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

Current Music: Other than the club mix for knitting, listening to my latest indulgence, Tallis Latin Church Music by the Taverner Consort

“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.” — Alex Karras

H P Lovecraft anyone

I bring you the sparkly Cthulhu fingerless gloves. Because really, when you’re thinking of a malevolent entity (or god, depending upon your viewpoint), don’t you think sparkly? Black Panda Silk sock yarn and multicolored glass beads (Purple Iris set from Orr’s Trading Post if you’re curious).

Okay, you’re now wondering if the picture link is broken. Guess which crafter forgot to take a picture of the fabulous final product?

Based on the amazing Cthulhu Mittens by Diana Stafford

I knit these basically like wrist warmers just longer, so they are the same diameter all along the arm. That makes some parts extra loose, but I figure the tentacles around the wrist area can be fluid for effect. Right?

Not having measured my friend’s arms for this surprise gift, I didn’t want to make these too small through shaping. By doing the traditional provisional cast on, I was able to knit in a separate ball of yarn for one side of the thumbhole (back of the glove basically), then knit the two yarns together once each side of the the thumbhole was bound off. It seemed to make sense at the time. There is probably a better way to do it, but I’m stubborn-enough to want to figure these out on my own.

Current audiobook: On CD 19 of 38 of 1Q84 by Murakami.

Current book: Waiting for the next three Gaslight Mysteries to come in, starting Edison’s Eve : a magical history of the quest for mechanical life

Current DVDs: Pile from library is growing including Harry Potter Finale I and II, Young Victoria, Case Histories (yay Jackson Brodie!), Flight of the Conchords.

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” – H P Lovecraft