In Knitting News

Flurries Cowl

2012-02-04T11:32:00.002-05:00

Greetings! Thanks to a heads up from my Knit Knite Bud Kristie I'm participating in the Feministy The Great Cowl KAL.

I'm stashdiving for this KAL. Check out this Grandma J Stash ball of old school Bernat 50/50. It's a wool acrylic blend sport weight. It has a nice feel to it, soft but not squeaky at all. I love that I could find a small project for this yarn. I even had a bit left over to keep in the stash.

Here's the completed cowl. (Ravelry project page) The kids and I raided my button stash for buttons. They are a bit too big, but I was honestly not planning on doing the suggested eight buttons. It's a fun little cowl. This was my first even remotely successful attempt at Brioche stitch.

There is still time to head on over to Feministy.com to knit up a Flurries Cowl by 2/8/2012 8PM CST to receive the next pattern in the KAL for free. The next pattern is A Very Good Cowl Indeed. Looking forward to it.

Happy Knitting!

What have you done for color today?

2012-01-17T10:10:00.001-05:00

I heard the tail end of an interview with Rosamond Bernier on NPR's Morning Edition while dropping H off at preschool this morning.

What stuck in my brain and refused to leave was a suggestion by Henri Matisse to Bernier. "What have you done for color today?" He then suggested that she wear a yellow scarf with her orange coat.

This got me thinking about color as I dropped off H to his classroom and headed home. I knew I had to chew on this a bit.

I thought about my personal use of color. I wear predominantly solid colored clothing, lots of black and dark muted tones. I wear very few prints, especially below the waist. I view my wardrobe as a bit of a blank slate for more colorful accessories. Most of my accessories are knitted.

For example all three of my current winter coats are black. The reasoning behind this is that I can wear any color hat/scarf and it will go with my coat. My scarf or shawl serves as the focal point. I'd prefer a shelf full of colorful hand knit scarves and one black coat to a closet full of colorful coats.

I got to thinking about my use of color in knitting. I have my favorite colors, Pink of course, and purple, and red and blue, and yes some gray/black. I prefer to knit with color. Part of this is practical. The thought of knitting black socks in fingering weight yarn on 1's makes my head hurt, I would struggle to see the stitches. Same for lace. I've knitted a few darker toned shawls and brighter colors are so much easier to see.

But what have I done for color today? For one I'm wearing a necklace. It started yesterday when I got dressed. I'd gone through my rather small, yet fabulous, jewelry collection over the weekend and decided I would wear a necklace, or some sort of out of my norm accessory each day this week. Yesterday was my heart shaped 'Forever' Surly Ramic necklace. Today is a purple/silver necklace and earrings set my sister gave me for Christmas a few years back. The kids are older and no longer yanking on my necklaces. I'm making a conscious effort to accessorize, to add a bit of color to my everyday wardrobe choices.

I've been wearing my knitted shawls out and about more. Never underestimate the power of a good shawl pin. I have one two piece pin and one stick pin and they give me so many more options for wearing my shawls. I love the added warmth, the texture and the color the shawls bring. I suppose it helps that it's currently winter in Ohio. It's cold and dark and dank.

This all brings me back to my current WIP. After attempting to start the Whispi Cardi, again, I cast on Percy. (Ravelry Link) I'm using Knit Pick's Gloss Lace in Kiss on my size 4 Addi's I'm five repeats in on Chart A. The plan is to double the Chart A repeats to eight to make the shawl a bit bigger. Chart C will most liklely be knitted in Knit Picks Shimmer Lip Gloss, it's variegated. I'm saving my Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint for a little neck scarf type thing, have not decided on the pattern. I'm thrilled to be knitting lace again. It's even in a fun hot pink.

So yes I'm contributing a bit of color to the world today.

Happy knitting.

2011 Year in Review

2011-12-27T11:49:00.004-05:00

Well Hello neglected Knitting Blog. I'm knitting, and reading and currently doing a ton of laundry.

Ok, I'm in between knitting projects at the very moment. I'm thinking of knitting a Whisper Cardigan in some Knit Picks laceweight but have not cast on yet.

Here is the 2011 year in review. Overall this was a good year for knitting. I was not as prolific as previous years. Here's the roundup of finished objects.

21 Dishcloths I knitted a dishcloth or two between most of my larger projects. It was a great way to take a bit of a break yet still feel productive. I gifted them every now and then over the year.

3 Sweaters I knitted Foliage Wrap, great design, wonderful sweater, my pictures of it are terrible. I have a new camera, yay! Nothing fancy, point and shoot for me, but it's green and it does not have battery issues like my old camera. Should take a new pic of the Foliage Wrap. Then I knitted Tarte, it turned out ok but not great.

Then there was Rambling Rose. Two and a half months of knitting, pretty much monogamous. It was a bit of a beast but I feel that I kicked up my intarsia skill set and I have a nice finished cardigan to show for my effort and time.

16 hats Love hats, love Stephen West hats.

1 Giant Harry Potter Illusion knit. Fabulous pattern, great yarn choice. Great FO.

2 pair of Duffers. fun little pattern.

2 Shawls

2 Cowls After the 2010 Cowl a thon I feel like I knit no cowls

2 stuffed toys, not hedgies

5 Hedgies After a nearly year long Hedgie drought I knit up five. I love this pattern.

1 Tissue cover for D's new office cube.

Sixty projects in total. Not a bad year. Would like to be a bit more focused this year. Who knows. Knitting is for fun for me not a job.

I have a list of goals for 2012 Knitting.

Lace

Try out new yarns

Learn the Mobius cast on

Hedgies = Happy, more Hedgies in 2012

Socks? Not really missing sock knitting. We shall see.

Basically I want to keep knitting, keep trying out new to me yarn and learning new techniques. That and continue to have fun knitting socially with my Knit Knite crew.

Happy Knitting!

Fabu Yarn Ball Post

2011-07-20T12:31:00.002-04:00

Greetings of sorely neglected knitting blog o mine.

It's the end of July and I'm slowly but surely plinking away on a Rambling Rose Cardigan from Interweave Knits Winter 2006 in Knit Picks Telemark. I'm LOVING this project.

I found this fabu post about yarn balls. Lots of yarn ball ideas all neat and tidy in one great post. I had to link it here.

Goodwill Spirit and Yarn Balls

Happy Knitting!

Cape? Big ol' Rectangle

2011-04-12T19:59:00.005-04:00

Tom and Lorenzo have a Fall 2011 Trend post on Capes and Ponchos.

Yes capes and ponchos.

I know.

But there is a camel turtleneck cape thing from Tommy Hilfiger that is calling to me.

Hard.

It's all the way at the bottom of the post. I'm loving the texture and the rectangular line. The boots are also calling, and the striped socks? How about the coordinating sweater?

It's calling.

Taking another look it's looking more like some sort of modified high low hemline and not a rectangle. Even though a rectangle could work. I must find more pictures. I am intrigued.

Found another post with a few different pictures. Maybe it is more rectangular.

http://www.theglassmagazine.com/forum/blog_post.asp?tid=2346

Found it in motion. http://www.beautyisdiverse.com/2011/02/tommy-hilfiger-fall-2011-new-york-fashion-week/#more-19098 It's not a turtleneck. It's a long rectangle that is secured in the back with one or two applied buckles. It's just another way of wearing a sizable scarf.

Couple more pictures. http://www.elle.com/Runway/Ready-to-Wear/Fall-2011-RTW/TOMMY-HILFIGER/TOMMY-HILFIGER#mode=base;slide=29;

http://www.elle.com/Runway/Ready-to-Wear/Fall-2011-RTW/TOMMY-HILFIGER/TOMMY-HILFIGER#mode=base;slide=12; Is this one lined? double knit?

2011 so far...an April Update

2011-04-10T14:30:00.006-04:00

Well Hello 2011. Time for an FO update.

I have a new WIP system in place, at least for now. The basic idea is that I knit a cotton dishcloth between each larger project. Knit something big, then knit a dishcloth. Can't quiet decide on what to knit next? Knit a dishcloth. Still can't decide what to knit next? Knit yet another dishcloth.

Let's just say I've been having some trouble deciding what to knit next. I've knitted 12 dishcloths so far this year. I really like having a low stress, easy, fast, inexpensive go to project for in between more involved projects.

I like solid, nubby dishcloths. My top three favorite patterns are Chinese Waves, Clover Tweed, and Tweedish Cloth.

I busted out Grandma J's size 19 straights and some Lion Brand Thick and Quick for a much loved (Ravelry link) Foliage Wrap. My pictures do not do it justice. It's a fabulous, ingenious, multi functional wrap. I can wear it at least three ways, if not more with a lovely shawl pin. It does not take that much yarn. It's amazing.

Let's see I tried out the new to me Paton's and Bernat Roving yarn. Knit up a hat I intended to mail to my Aunt Debbie and failed to mail. I screwed up reading the pattern on that one. The hat is perfectly lovely, just not exactly to pattern. The roving is nice, easy to find at JoAnn's and not that expensive.

I felted two pairs of Duffers, aka 19/21 row slippers. The first out of Paton's Classic Merino and the more substantial second pair out of the Roving. I love and wear the roving pair. I hand felted the roving pair. I've officially decided that I do not like felting in my front loader. I found a few youtube videos on hand felting. That's the new felting method of choice around here.

I knit the Harry Potter Illusion Banner for my ever knitworthy sister. Steve Plummer's patterns are clear, easy to follow and overall just awesome. I used Carron One Pound's in Sunflower and Claret. Excellent yardage, machine washable, not too squeaky, no joins, great colors. I don't usually enjoy large projects but this one was different every other row. It grew big and a bit cumbersome but was fine for winter knitting. This sized project would be miserable in the summer in the heat. Overall a great project and a much loved FO.

I continue to LOVE NORO. I knit a Rainbow Pimpelliese in Noro sock. This is my second side to side shawl in Noro. The colors are fabulous and the project was simple with just enough interest in the edging to keep it from being too boring. I am now out of Noro. I'm thinking of switching to Silk Garden sock for lace after squishing several Knit Knite projects in Silk Garden. Same great colors but softer yarn.

I bought four skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Shocking Pink for my birthday. I knit up Hawthorne from Twist Collective, it used a tad over two skeins and the large sized Brambles from Knitty. Can we say awesome projects. LOVED both of them. I learned German Twisted Cast On for Hawthorne and used Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off. LOVE this set. I am all ready for next winter.

I am currently working on a summer sweater. Tarte by Berroco. I'm heavily modding it to be in the round and to have the cables on both the front and back. I'm knitting it in my brown Mill Ends cotton. This is the 4th sweater for this yarn. Valpuri, Tappen Zee and my Henry sweater for Henry.

I have some ideas for my upcoming projects. In the meantime I'll be working on Tarte.

Happy Knitting to my ones of readers!

2010 Knitting Year in Review

2010-12-29T20:24:00.002-05:00

I'm still here and I'm still knitting and reading and going about my daily business. One thing I'm not doing is knit blogging. Bad blogger. I'm on Facebook and twitter way too much. Oh and Ravelry. Not on Ravelry too much.

I have tallies of my FO's for 2010.

Hats 9

Toys 8

Sweaters, I'm counting both child and adult sized here 11

Dishcloths 17

Blanket, lap but still blanket sized 1

Mitts 1 My Yarn Harlot Yarn winning Twilight Mitts for the Ravelympics.

Socks 3 This feels like a really small number

Phallic Recorder Case 1

Lace Shawls 4 I LOVE THEM ALL

Thong 1

Cowls 7

Felted Bowl 1

Coaster 1

That's a total of 65 FO's for 2010. I'm pleased but it also feels a bit anticlimactic after last year's 74+ number. It's still over one project a week.

I also frogged 5 items in 2010. Sometimes a project just does not work out. It's ok. There might actually be one or more additional trips to the frog pond that I did not put into Ravelry. When I crash and burn I crash and burn.

Knitting Goals

I jotted down the following list a few months ago. I did not date it. Who knows maybe I blogged about it. Regardless I'm going to go through it. I've accomplished a few.

Mosaic Knitting, I've done a tiny bit of this in the Linoleum Dishcloth. It's a fascinating technique.

Illusion Knitting, I knitted a little Hegwig dishcloth for Allison. It's a fun technique. The next step is to knit the big HP/Harry Potter illusion knitting banner for Allison. Need to get yarn first.

More socks. I can't believe I only knit three pairs. All three rock and I loved the yarn for all three. STR medium weight, Noro sock, and Stroll Tonal.

More Lace. Always looking for more lace. I love lace.

Shawl Pin. I have one! I'm wearing it now! I love it!

The Walker Books. Because Barbra is a visionary and a treasure. I will enhance my knitting library stash at some point with All of the Treasuries, From the Top Down and Mosaic Knitting.

Sub to Vogue Knitting, I go back and forth on this one.

Hedgies/Felting. I have not knitted a single Hedgie in over a year. Mind Blowing. I have felted in the new front loader. I'm thinking I will be hand felting from now on. Otherwise I love my washer.

I want to check out some new to me yarn.

Malabrigo, no longer new to me. How about some Twist and Rios.

Koiju PPPM, it calls a siren song.

Kidsilk Haze. Yes I want to go full out you can't tink this sh*t Kidsilk Haze.

Allie and I are going to see Lady Gaga and the Scissor Sisters this coming March. I want to knit something for this show. I have some ideas. It's a matter of making a decision, buying yarn and knitting. I'm thinking something lacy to go over something else.

I'd really just like to keep knitting, keep trying out new yarns Publish Postand learning new techniques.

Stuff I want to Knit

2010-09-19T14:04:00.004-04:00

Look at me blogging!

Spent some quality time with my Ravelry Queue a few days ago. Trimmed it up a bit and reorganized the order. I'm down to 46 possible projects that I'd like to knit at some point.

I took a few notes while I was working on my queue. This is a little early for a New Year knitting resolution list, it's more of a "What I'd like to work on next" open ended type list.

Mosaic Knitting. It looks so cool and complex but you use only one color at a time. Barbra Walker is calling.

I'm following the Walker Treasury Project blog. Now to get the books for my knitting library.

Illusion Knitting. I hear it's simple but I have not tried it yet. It looks fun. The Dalek Dishcloth and the Harry Potter banner are calling to me.

I'd like to keep knitting more socks. Really enjoying the socks. I have a (gasp) decent amount of sock yarn at the moment.

I'd like to try out some new to me yarn. The Cedar Leaf Shawlette is an excellent excuse to buy some Koiju.

Kidsilk Haze is calling. I actually like mohair and would like to work with it at some point.

More lace, I have a decent stash of lace yarn. More shawls please.

Shawl pin. Now to find a cool shawl pin.

Have not knitted a Hedgie in some time. I'm thinking it's Hedgie time soon. Time to try felting in the new front loader.

Allison and I are going to see Lady Gaga in March. I'm thinking I need to knit Louisa to wear for the concert. Or maybe Jordan.

Did I mention Malabrigo? There will be some more Malabrigo in there somewhere.

Otherwise I have a decent little stash. I'm going to keep knitting from stash as much as possible. In the meantime I'm plugging away at Dave's Petrol vest. It's not exciting, but I'm enjoying the knit. I've split for the armholes and am currently working on the back section. I'm thinking lace next. Something a bit more focused. Maybe it's time to go to two projects at a time. One focused and one simple. Hmmm.

I mentioned Malabrigo right? Elysium looks so darn yummy. Wait I did not mention Noro, more Noro.... :-)

Two Posts in Two Days

2010-09-16T23:09:00.003-04:00

Wow a new blogging record. Two posts in two days. Imagine!

Got to head back to Knit Knite after a two week hiatus. So nice to be back. So much yarn to squish. We have a new member who also does bead work. She had some of her work with her. Gorgeous. I love glass. So pretty.

I finally sewed buttons on E's Shalom Cardi and my Tappen Zee Cardi. Pictures eventually.

Yes I'm a broken record but I love my Tappen Zee Cardigan. It's just fabulous for summer/fall. I love the brown cotton. I love the pattern. I'm thrilled with the new buttons. Just love it.

I'm less then 2 inches away from the more interesting bits on Dave's Petrol sweater vest. It's bottom up with no shaping, yawn. I get to separate the front and back and the v-neck soon. I held it up to his torso earlier tonight. So far so good.

Maybe it's time to start blogging regularly again. We shall see.

Where did August Go?

2010-09-14T22:13:00.007-04:00

Bad blogger, spending too much time elsewhere and doing other things. Life is busy and full and I'm on the computer way too much yet I don't blog much lately.

On to knitting news!

I LOVE my Tappen Zee cardi. Love. Love. Love it! I still need to block it a tad bit larger but I've worn it quite a bit and LOVE IT.Recently purchased buttons and embroidery floss to attach the buttons. Thought I would try out embroidery floss instead of yarn or thread to attach the buttons. We shall see how that goes.

I bought buttons and floss for E's little Shalom as well. The sweater is so cute on her. So stinking excited to have matching Mother/Daughter sweaters.

I knit H a dark green vest covered in XO Hugs and Kisses cables. It's a little v-neck and it rocks. We were at my MIL's when he first got to try it on. He would not take the vest off until he had to go potty. Did not want to get poop on it. Granted poop is generally not an issue. The concern was pretty much unfounded but was sweet just the same.

I finished my Ampersands in Socks that Rock medium weight in Waterlilies. Love this yarn. Yes the legs pooled weird, yes I started them several time. Yes it's not ideal but I love them regardless. I have a squish pair of socks for my feet and some yarn left over for the sock yarn bits bag.

I'm currently working on a vest for Dave to coordinate but not match H's green vest. I don't see Dave wearing a hugs and kisses vest. I'm knitting Petrol from Knitty. Carol is a sweetheart. I'm excited to knit one of her patterns. No pics of Dave's vest yet.

In other news.

I'm trying to be more proactive about the Holidays this year. I started my master list and did a bit of shopping back last May. One of my fave Etsy sellers had a B1G1 offer I could not pass up. I hope everyone likes their gifts.

I got my CEO's Christmas Countdown binder all set up last weekend. That helps. Why must some people be so easy to shop for and some so difficult? It does not help that we only see some on our gift list only once a year, if that. It's frustrating. I resign myself to the fact that no matter what I do for the Holidays someone will get their feelings hurt. So I prepare the best I can and try to just roll along through the Holidays.

I've decided to cut out most Holiday knitting this year. Dad will most likely get socks this year instead of a hat. We shall see. There will be no grand knitting plans for the group presents. No dishcloths, pot holders, etc. I'm taking a year off.

Went thrifting today for the first time in ages. Found a super cute little denim skirt. It's a funky little pencil skirt with a bias cut ruffle on the bottom seam. Quite fun. That reminds me...

Project Runway

I'm finally watching Project Runway. Just never watched before. Oh it's fun. Would love to see more of the actual design, shopping, patterning/draping, cutting, stitching, fitting and less of the BITCHING, Backstabbing, Drama but oh well. Makes me really want to actually get my sewing machine tuned up. I've already rearranged my office space a bit to bring in my machine and tools. Want to sew. It's a matter of just doing it. Must turn off the computer more.

Tappen Zee and WIP Ampersands

2010-07-31T22:54:00.004-04:00

There are still ends to tuck in in this pic but Tappen Zee is all finished. Ok I still need buttons and a nice blocking but it's wearable and I love it and it's finished and it's fabu in my book. Now to get decent pics in natural light at some point.

After crashing and burning with two summer sweaters with this brown cotton yarn earlier this season I was thrilled to get back in the old sweater finishing saddle with this summer cardi. It's a fab little pattern.

Ooooo I love this yarn. Behold my Socks that Rock medium weight in Waterlilies. There has been a bit of an Ampersand sock virus going around Knit Knite, lots and lots of Ampersands. Several Tappen Zee's as well. Yes I'm a knitting follower from time to time. Call me a sheeple but if I see something, especially in person, and I want to knit it I knit it. I'm loving this wip. The yarn is yummy. Yes it's pooling weird, I started the left sock three times trying for a complementary spiral like the right sock to no avail. Sometimes the yarn wants to do what the yarn wants to do.

In non knitting news most of my time is sucked up by facebook and Ravelry lately. I love to read other people's blogs, my google reader is stuffed with loads of feeds, but I am not compelled to blog. I don't feel like blogging about the mundane day to day minutia of life.

State of the Knitting Update: Quick & Dirty Edition

2010-07-14T19:38:00.002-04:00

Goodness It's been ages, well over a month since my last post. No worries life soldiers on.

Check out my incredibly phallic recorder case I knitted up for E, complete with Hugs & Kisses cables. E picked out the yarn I picked out the cable. I was not surprisingly teased at Knit Knite for knitting on such a naughty looking wip.

It's hard to see but this is my homage to the Twilight Saga. Twilight Cabbage: The Dishcloth. It's a cabbage patch dishcloth knitted in Midnight Magic. See the lovely little cabbages all in neat little Edward approved rows just waiting for a Veggie Vamp to nom on them? Healthy! Eco Friendly! Current!

The Lovely Haruni in Stroll Tonal. I loved this yarn and the pattern and this whole knit. Gorgeous! Fantastic! Great knit! Love the FO. Love the yarn.

Look at that pretty in natural light. It's so pretty!

It's a Noro party! The newest Noro member of the Noro family is 198 yards of heaven. Great little shawlet. It's a little small for me but will be perfect for Miss E to wear with her matching legwarmers. I can wear my Shoulder Holder and we can coordinate but not match exactly. Score! Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE Noro. I can live with the knots and the slubs and the bits of straw, I love this yarn.

Another Mini Alien. He was quick, he was fast, he was dirty. Ok he was not dirty. I love this pattern.

Last up my nearly MONTH LONG Traveling Woman shawl. Knitted up in Malabrigo Sock, oh the yarn goodness. Love this yarn. Had an epic fail on the bind off, dropped two stitches which resulted in a spaghetti like mess. Got the mess back on needles, tinked back a few rows, reknit and rebound off. Success! This wip kicked my butt for a few weeks. Still love the yarn and the pattern and the fo.

I'm currently working on Tappen Zee in brown cotton. This is the third attempt for a summer sweater with this yarn. I had several projects just crash and burn this summer. Two summer tanks, a Citron shawl and a SECOND attempt at Koolhaus. Oy. The frustration! It's all good. I keep on going.

Knitting Check List

2010-05-15T22:50:00.004-04:00

Found this on Ravelry. Let's have a go.

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan several lap sized ones
I-cord both applied and regular. Love I-cord
Garter stitch how can you not at some point?
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl Working on #4 right now. LOVE!
Stockinette stitch Again how can you not at some point?
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down Don't think I've done mittens tip down yet.
Hat About all I knitted between 1995 and 2000.
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting I have by mistake. The famed mobius cast is on my list.
Participating in a KAL KAL's can be super fun! Don't do quite as many now that I'm on Ravelry.
Sweater Several over the years.
Drop stitch patterns Can we say The Clap?
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn I've knitted with plarn but not with recycled yarn.
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting) I want to learn this!
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting I don't know what this is but I'd like to find out.
Charity knitting Yes
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing Some of my first projects were sweaters for my teddy bear.
Knitting with circular needles Of course.
Baby items Fun!
Knitting with your own handspun yarn Not yet, someday just not now.
Slippers Love!
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street That sounds fun!
Continental knitting I'm slow.
Designing knitted garments I'm working on it.
Cable stitch patterns Oh yeah!
Lace patterns More please
Publishing a knitting book Would be fun to do eventually.
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit Working on it.
Knitting to make money Been there tried that. As the Men on Film say "Hated it."
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting Not yet I don't think.
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours This would be interesting.
Knitting items for a wedding Trying to remember if I have...
Olympic knitting Three time Knitting Olympian
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn Does recycled sari silk count?
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting Yes, need to cut back.
Teaching a male how to knit Husband
Bobbles One word. Dalek.
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking Crumpets
Dying yarn Fun!
Steeks Companion Cube
Knitting art I have ideas.
Fulling/felting I have Hedgie Fever!
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO Yes, but I always have to look it up.
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads Odessa and Crumpets
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting Not really into buying an expensive machine.
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn Love
Stuffed toys LOVE
Knitting with cashmere Does a blend count?
Darning
JewelryKnitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern Sort of
Gloves Had one go terribly wrong ages ago, does that count?
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO I suck at Tubular CO!
Freeform knitting It sounds fun!
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug Trying to remember, pretty sure I've done something rug like.
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets Kitty Pi
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (my kitties hair slips in :-)) No thank you.
Hair accessories
Knitting in public Whenever Possible

Look at me Blogging

2010-05-10T20:36:00.003-04:00

I'm blogging! Look, fast, or you will miss it!

I finished the Valpuri, it's not a perfect mod but I'm incredibly proud of this summer sweater. I love the color, dark brown is one of my favorites.

I felt the need to knit up a little dishcloth between the recorder case pictured below and casting on the Tonal Haruni. Behold the Twilight Cabbage. The backstory is that this is a little patch of cabbages for the Vegetarian Twilight Vamps to nom on instead of humans. The colorway is Midnight Magic. Too fun!

E is playing recorder in her music class. She retested a knitted case for her new recorder to match her BELOVED knitted PIG. It's the Hugs and Kisses cable. The Knit Knite Ladies had a field day with this one.

Yay for Tonal Haruni! This pattern rocks. The charts are HUGE, so easy to read and follow. Why can't all lace charts be this big and clear? LOVE IT! Love the Stroll Tonal! Love it! I started this shawl on the first try. That's a long way from my first attempts at triangle shawls. LONG WAY.

Happy Knitting!

Product or Process?

2010-04-22T20:05:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking about Product and Process knitting lately.

I'd like to consider myself a process knitter, that I knit for the process, for the joy of the knitting.

There is a certain thrill in every project. There is the planning, the Ravelry searching, the queue wrangling, the stash perusing and sometimes the yarn/needle buying. Then there is the cast on and the sometimes tenuous first row. There are sometimes measurements to take and mods to make.

It's all very exciting and fresh and new and fun and all wow!

Until it's not.

Invariably the project switches gears and gets a bit tedious. The cast on excitement is a fond memory. The thrill of the mod is finished and you are faced with several pattern repeats of tedium. It's not that the joy is gone, just the excitement wanes a bit while you slog through the not so exciting bits until you find yourself rounding to home and the oh so sweet bind off and finishing.

Case in point my current WIP, a heavily modified Valpuri knitted top down instead of bottom up. The prep for this mod was mindbogglingly enjoyable, thrilling even. It's not perfect but it's working and I am thrilled with this sweater's progress and I am proud of myself for working out the mods to make this first summer sweater of the season top down.

I've split the body from the arms. I just tried it on and so far so good! Squee! I estimate at least 3 to 4 more 16 row pattern repeats until I consider the bottom ribbing. Thankfully there is a bit of cabling to keep things interesting, but it's not the excitement of the yoke increases.

I'm at that point where the process gets a bit tedious. This is where my admitted selfishness kicks in, my desire for the Product keeps me moving forward.

Check out my Striped Toe Up Noro socks! Oh they are yummy. I love them! Thank you so much for the yarn Julie!!!!! They are fraternal and oh so happy! They had a few tedious spots but the color changes made for a fun knit.

I suppose I'm a bit of both a process and product knitter. I love knitting, but I also love a yummy FO.

In the meantime I'm going to work on my Upside Down Valpuri.

Two for Tuesday

2010-03-30T21:32:00.003-04:00

Two FO's today. The Anthropology Inspired Capelet in Thick n Quick with Shoulder Holder (rav link) short row shaping for the bottom ribbing. It's a squishy and thick little sweater. I'm thinking I will wear a pin to hold the neck closed. This is my last cool weather sweater project for the season.

Check out my first attempt at an actual crochet project. I've crocheted before, mostly edging. I struggled to crochet with my right hand.

I've been thinking about learning to crochet for the last few days now, but I had to finish the Capelet first. The weather is changing and I had to get it finished. That and I just had to get it finished.

I went out on youtube and found Art of Crochet by Teresa. She has videos of stitches and projects done with the left hand.

Trying this out with the hook in my left hand was an a-ha moment for me! Yay!

I started and stopped a few times with some thick n quick and a larger hook. Then I thought Kitchen Cotton and a smaller hook would be better. I got out some sugar and cream and a size H hook from the stash, watched a few more videos and boom, a dishcloth.

The dishcloth is not exactly square or error free but it's a first real project and I am proud of myself and my fledgling crochet skills! I even get to add a new blog label, crochet!

The First Hedgie

2010-03-29T23:39:00.003-04:00

Going through my pictures a bit and came across this movie poster I made a few years ago celebrating my first felted Hedgehog. Just had to share the Hedgie Love.

Many Thanks to Lovely Stephanie

2010-03-28T13:49:00.002-04:00

Behold my package from the ever lovely and amazing Stephanie. The package included a signed paperback copy of her book Free Range Knitter and a hank of Fleece Artist Basic Sock superwash Merino. I'm not sure of the colorway but it's a beautiful mix of reds, pinks, and hint of brown.

This was a huge thrill for me to have a skein from Stephanie's stash. Now to get working on a pair of socks.

Recent FO's

2010-03-23T19:07:00.008-04:00

I'm way behind on my knit blogging, WAY behind. Instead of one massive post that might not get finished in this sitting I'm going to try for smaller posts. This one is dedicated to recent FO's.

I have lot's of other SUPER FUN stuff to blog but that will wait for now. Two words. Yarn Harlot!

Behold the second of two Baby Yoda hats(rav link)! This is a simple and fun little pattern that gets BIG reactions at baby showers.

I'd already been thinking about knitting baby Yoda hats for two upcoming babies when Allison asked me about knitting them. I consider myself a selfish knitter but I am happy to make the occasional exception, especially for Star Wars Loving Parents to Be and their little ones.

I knitted up my Birthday Malabrigo into a Sweet Little Nothing(rav). It's a little big around the neck but I'm not going to frog it, it's super soft and comfy and I love it.

I also knit up Wrenna from French Girl Knits in Wool Ease Thick N Quick (rav). I love this sweater, the whole book is filled with fun, sexy sweaters. This pattern is incredibly fast and easy and the sweater is super cute.

I knit up a second Modern Garden Cardigan (rav) this time on size 13's, it's a bit snug before blocking but we shall see.

Speaking of blocking I blocked this two days ago and it's still damp! I still have to add the buttons but it needs to dry first. I love this pattern.

Ok, FO's are caught up. I will save my Yarn Harlot excitement for the next post. In the meantime I'm knitting a fun little hybrid sweater for E out of my purple stash cotton. It's a mix of Oriental Lily and February Lady Sweater.

I'd Like To Thank The Yarn Harlot...

2010-03-10T16:06:00.003-05:00

Thank you Stephanie!

Welcome to my humble little knit blog to anyone who is happening by via today's Yarn Harlot post.

Apologies for not having a riveting acceptance speech prepared. I did not expect the random number generator to pick me, but I'm ever so excited to be one of the three random winners. Congratulations to Lexyjane , Chalicewitch, and to the nearly 2K knitters who sent Stephanie an email.

I met Stephanie in Cleveland back in March of 2007. Here is my recap of that experience if you are so inclined. It was a lovely afternoon.

Thank you Stephanie for all that you do for the knitting community at large. Happy Knitting!

Housekeeping

2010-03-06T21:43:00.006-05:00

Time to put down the Malabrigo and blog. This is my birthday weekend. We tend to celebrate birthdays all week at our house. I have several things to blog about but lets just start with the two skeins of Malabrigo worsted in Azalea that H and I bought at the Merc on my Birthday morning. I kept H in the stroller and let him hold the stuffed black sheep that lives near the front counter at the Merc. There was a sale going on but I only had eyes for the hanks of Malabrigo on the twirly, spinny thing at the front of the store.

The Malabrigo is going to be a Sweet Little Nothing (rav link). I'm doing seed stitch instead of 1x1 rib. I love this yarn. The only thing that would improve this knit is if I were knitting with addi turbos.

The Knitting Olympics!

I finished my mitts in plenty of time. This was a total team GK2 effort. Kim helped me learn weaving, Kristie flipped the chart, Jackie knitted up a pair of mitts as well, Ann designed our spiff GK2 Ravatars, and the GK2 team provided lots of support and motivation.

Winter Twilight Mitts (Rav project link)

Size 4 addie turbos

Knit Pick's Pallet in Asphalt and Iris heather

The mitts are a bit snug on my medium to large sized hands, but honestly I don't care. I loved the yarn, the pattern, and learning a new skill

I finished the mitts a few days before the Olympics ended. I just barely missed finishing a second project, that was never intended to be a Ravelympics project anyway. I knitted up a Modern Garden Cardigan (Rav link) in Wool Ease Thick N Quick in Cilantro on size 15 addi turbos. The needles are from the Grandma Janette stash and I love them.

The sweater came together quickly and was a fun knit. It fits me but not well. My sister was over for my birthday and I'd already decided that if it fitted her better it was hers.

Modern Garden Cardigan (Rav project link)

Size 15 addi turbos

Wool Ease Thick N Quick Cilantro 4.5 skeins

Let's just say that once she tried it on it did not come back off. Allie loved the sweater. I have already purchased more thick n quick and a pair of 13's with plans to mod a second go at this cardigan for me. It's an ingenious design, the shaping is in the leaf motif.

More birthday excitement. Check out the three pairs of mitts above. From left to right we have Jackie's Winter Twilight Mitt's, my mitts and Kristin's Endpaper Mitts. All three are in Palette. Nine members of GK2 met up on what just happened to be my birthday for a yarn filled adventure.

Apparently my backward loop cast on technique is well, different. Conversation stopped and I got quite a few stares at Knit Knite the night before. So different that I was asked to demonstrate my cast on.

We had a fun afternoon then I went back home to continue to celebrate my birthday with my family. But the picture above is a taste of how Knit Knite Ladies roll.

I had a great birthday. Great company, squishy yarn and my family, what more can a knitter ask for?

Hope Chest

2010-02-24T21:08:00.002-05:00

Had to document this idea somewhere, it's brilliant. Big idea is a Hope Chest that you start for your daughter when she turns 10 you give her items for her hope chest in addition to current gifts at birthdays and gift holidays. The big idea is helping a young girl see down the road to her future during the often turbulent teen years.

The discussion starts in post nine and yes this is a good idea for a son as well. Hmmm.

Olympic Knitting and Whatnot.

2010-02-22T19:12:00.004-05:00

My Noro Shoulder Holder that I started two days before the Olympics started. I was hoping to finish it right before the Olympics but did not quite make it, but had so much fun with this. I had 6 skeins to work with to get the stripes working. The stripes were a mix of luck, knots and yarn wrangling.

Knitting Olympics Cast On Party!!!!!!! Kim was a lovely and gracious hostess for our fab cast on party.

The Baby Yoda Hat for Baby E. I knit this the first weekend of the Knitting Olympics. The shower was the following Saturday and I had to take time out to knit this. The Dad to Be is a HUGE Star Wars fan, he has the Tauntaun sleeping bag. So fun. I hear the hat was a huge hit at the shower. I have one more to knit up for another Star Wars happy Dad to Be. Love the baby wave.

Olympic knitting the first of two Winter Twilight Mitts. I'm learning two color weaving mostly from help from Kim and from this video. It's a bit snug but I'm learning a new technique. I'm to the increases on the second mitt.

Check out my stash. This is it. Brooklyn Tweed's recent post on stash inspired me to post a current picture. I have a mix of LOVE yarn, nice yarn and I'll work through it yarn. I love my stash.

Winter Knitting Ravelympics

2010-02-12T16:57:00.003-05:00

Citius, Altius Fortius - Faster, Higher, Stronger

Are you ready?

I have my yarn. I have a bag of needle choices. I've printed up the pattern, even the mirror image of the chart courtesy of Kristie.

Ravelympics Team GK2 is having a cast on party tonight at Kim's. I'm really excited. I usually watch the Opening Ceremonies by myself.

I'm going to wear my 2006 Summer Ravelympics Gold Medal Monkey Socks tonight.

Yes I'm excited.

Valentine Lamb

2010-02-07T22:21:00.003-05:00

Valentine Lamb, the Lion Brand Little Lamb Sock Critter done up in stash acrylic. I started him yesterday and he was a fast and fun little knit.

Yes my pictures are dark. Maybe I'll try to get better pics tomorrow, we shall see. The tummy is cabled and super cute.

Sometimes it seems like half the work of a project is getting out then putting away all of the stuff necessary for the project. The yarn, the needles, the stuffing, the safety eyes/nose, the scissors, the needle, the pattern, etc. When I finish a project it's not completely finished until I've put everything away.

Tossed the stash a bit today. I'm slowly working through stash yarn and it was time for a bit of reorg. I went through my knitting baskets. Culled nearly a dozen pens and pencils from my regular knitting bag. Why I had so many writing implements in there is a mystery. I only need two or three.

Did I watch the Superbowl? Um. No. Dave built a fire, love it. We sat in front of the fire with WOSU on the good speakers for the second evening in a row. So low key and lovely.

Rainbow

2010-02-07T14:08:00.003-05:00

Hey there Piggy Dishcloth. E continues to obsess over all things pig related. I am slowly knitting up a stack of dishcloths for me. Yes it's hard to see the piggy in the picture but s/he is there and is cute in person.

The Amazing Technicolor Lizard Ridge Lap blanket is finished. It's a 29 inch square. I was finished knitting it after having it on the needles for five months.

I think if I were to do this project again, no regrets with this one mind you, I would be more random in the color selection. There would be less color grouping and more randomness. I do like knitting the short rows in variegated yarn, the changes in color make it an easier knit.

I've seen a few Lizard Ridge scarves on Ravelry. The same pattern just long and narrow. I also like the idea of bright variegated yarn with black ridges, it would be like stained glass. Love this pattern.

Lola, She was a Showgirl

2010-02-03T20:53:00.005-05:00

Lola the Showgirl is complete. Her snout is a bit misshapened, and I did not have as much variegated acrylic as I hoped. Regardless she is finished and she is cute and fun and most importantly the kids love her. I enjoyed knitting her and I stash busted a bit.

Yes Lola is good sized stuffed lovie. She turned out a bit bigger then I expected. It's all good.

Speaking of Good. Are you excited? Come on the Winter Olympics/Ravelympics are starting next Friday! I'm so excited. Knit Knite buddy Ann designed our team Logo. Check out this fab logo.

In other knitting news I have one wip that's been languishing a bit for the past few months. MyAmazing Technicolor Lizard Ridge Lap Blanket is going on 5+ months in WIP status. I tried to start one more project before the Ravelympics tonight and just could not do it, it was not happening so I frogged the few rows I started and brought out the stash busting rainbow lap blanket of doom.

While I love the concept and my progress so far I loath to work on this project. I do not enjoy the yarn. I don't mind a little bit of acrylic now and then, especially for little knitted toys, but this much in one project is driving me crazy.

I have a plan. I measured the width and plan on knitting it to the same length thus creating a square. It will not be adult lap blanket sized per se but it will be bright and fun and somewhat symmetrical and will have used up some stash acrylic and will be fun for on the back of my desk chair on to cover E's Bitty Baby or for H to play trains on, etc.

Most importantly I want to just get it finished and in the FO column preferably before the Ravelypics start next week. I only need a few more inches. I can do this then cast this puppy off. Then I will be WIP free.

Pink Shalom Cardigan

2010-02-01T19:39:00.002-05:00

Check out my latest FO. It's my Pink Shalom Cardigan (rav link) It's a tad on the big side but it's meant for layering and to be squishy and snuggy for winter wear. It's not perfect but I'm happy with this sweater overall.

Have you selected your project/s for the Winter Ravelympics? I'm knitting with Team GK2. Kristie and Jackie and I are knitting the Twilight Mitts. (rav link) I have yarn and several needle choices. Kristie flipped the PDF chart for the mitts for the mirrored palm, otherwise you read the chart backwards. I'm very excited about this project. The goal is to learn two handed colorwork with the long term being getting faster at knitting continental. We shall see.

I have a fun WIP currently. I'm knitting Lola Curly Pig (rav link) Lola is out of stash acrylic like most of my knitted toys. Oh I love knitted toys. Small, not a ton of yarn and so cute. I've decided that Lola was a showgirl.

Which gives me an all be it tenuous excuse to post the following Muppet Show sketch. I love Liza. I love the Muppets. Yes I have no shame.

Mister Stubbs

2010-01-16T17:17:00.005-05:00

My first knitted toy of 2010. A Pasha the Penguin from Knitty, Winter 2040. He's a stashbuster. I love having random yarn to toss to knit little toys. The knitting was fast. The seaming was not fun.

Mister Stubbs is all stash acrylic. He turned out super cute.

The kids love Mister Stubbs. This is one of the main reasons I enjoy knitting toys. The kids love them, my Dad (a big kid) loves them. I love them. There is something so happy about a random knitted toy. You can stashbust, or coldsheep, not use that much yarn and create something small, and fun with it's own personality.

Yes I love the knitted toys.

More Hats

2010-01-16T17:10:00.002-05:00

So far 2010 is the year of the hat. I do plan on branching out to other projects but for now I'm cranking out hats. The hat above is Hermione's Cable and Eyelet hat from the Half Blood Prince. My stash yarn for K-9, Knit Pick's WOTA in Lake Ice Heather was the perfect color for this hat. Love it. The plan is to give it to Allison for her Harry Potter installation.

Here is a Twig Lace Cap from Knit Picks. It's knit up in WOTA in Bittersweet Heather and Carnation. It fits me but it's tight and really stretches the lace. So I'm thinking this one will go to E.

Micro K-9

2010-01-16T17:03:00.002-05:00

I attempted knitting a larger K-9 several years ago out of the Doctor Who pattern book. The pattern is awful. I crashed and burned. It hibernated for ages and finally I just gave up and frogged it. Thankfully the lovely hells456 on Ravelry designed a Mini K-9. This little robot dog is little. I had to block the tiny pieces to get ready for seaming. Notice my spiff new Knit Pick's blocking mat above? I have an awesome Step-Mother.

K-9 met up with Cuddly Evil, aka the knitted Dalek. So far they have been getting along fine, no interdimensional warfare.

New Curtains

2010-01-16T16:45:00.003-05:00

Dave and I have been bemoaning the lack of privacy in the family room. The roller shades do make things a bit more private, and let in some light but you can still see in from the street.

I had some brown corduroy that was intended to become curtains for H's bedroom closet but it did not happen and most likely would not have happened anyway for a long time. H's closet is just storage for now, all of his clothes are in his dresser. In the meantime the family room has a new set of curtains. The rods are from our last trip to IKEA.

It felt good to bust out the sewing machine. I used to sew quite a bit but stopped. I culled all of my old works in progress but kept all of my tools. Ok, I still have some stuff from when I was building belly dancing costumes. That was fun, lots of beads and coins, and fringe.

Well so far...

2010-01-08T19:43:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year! Are you saying two thousand ten or twenty ten? I do a bit of both.

I was on a bit of a hat jag over the holidays. We received a ton of unexpected gifts from my Aunts at a family party. I decided to knit up hats as thank you gifts. Now if I could only get the thank you notes done. They are addressed and waiting personalization. Oy. JoAnn's had thick n quick on sale and I have a deep love for the Unoriginal Hat. Three Unoriginals, one Falling Leaves and one OSU/Rasta Shroom later I'm feeling a little hatted out.

I'm actually wearing the Shroom hat. It's super warm and comfortable. I'm thinking of seeing if I can find the pattern specified yarn for extra slouchiness. I'd like a solid color version. This one was a let's use up what I have hat.

Looking at the above picture reminds me of how much my blog/Ravelry project pictures suck. I know they are not great.

Check out Mister Stubbs, this is a Pasha from Knitty 2004. I've wanted to knit this up for ages. I used stash acrylic.

The knitting was fine, the seaming was not really fun. I love the FO and the kids LOVE Mister Stubbs.

I wound stash last Wednesday night while Dave's band practiced downstairs. This is random wool ease from Ruth's stash. I stuffed it in a bag and added it to the stash. I've been thinking about fair isle lately and thought it could be good for a little hat. Some quality time with my ball winder and I got this.

I also wound nearly three pounds of pink acrylic and two pounds of five of brown cotton I bought at Pat Catan's up north over the Holiday. Now to plan what to knit with it.

I'd love to knit Mother/Daughter sweaters for me and E. I'm debating patterns. I was thinking Shalom Cardigan, and Wicked, and others but can not decide. I'd like to use the 5 lbs of brown cotton but we shall see. I'd like to use stash.

I cast on a Mini K-9 last night at a Fantabulous Knit Knit. The Knit Knite Ladies are awesome and the conversation last night was fun as always. The K-9 is more micro then mini. I'm talking small. I knit up all of the pieces last night and am blocking them today to hopefully make it easier to seam this little robot dog together.

I have one long term WIP on the needles from last year. My Lizard Ridge Lap Blanket of Many Colors. It's pretty cool so far. I'm pounding through stash acrylic. One thing I've noticed is that I can't remember the pattern when I pick it back up. Part of this is just how my brain works. It's like I have to mentally start the project back up. This is one of the reasons I've been so maniacal about starting, working on then finishing a project before starting another. I struggle to get moving again. I tend to get a bit bored, frustrated in the middle of larger projects but I know it will be even harder for me to start back up so I solider on to finish. If a project is just not working I frog.

I really want to start a sweater. The pink acrylic is telling me it wants to be a Shalom Cardigan for me, held double. I see so many mods on this sweater, it's a bit overwhelming. I'm thinking it might be time to print out the actual pattern and look at the mods carefully. Not feeling like crashing and burning on a project so feeling a bit reluctant to cast on.

Happy New Year! Goodbye 2009 Hello 2010

2009-12-31T15:19:00.003-05:00

Oh dear neglected knit blog o' mine. I love you so yet neglect you.

Just did a tally of my FO's for 2009 over on my Ravelry project page. Here is how the numbers go.

Socks 7 pair I think one might be just one sock within the calendar year but it was deliberate for a set of three, it's complicated but no worries.

Sweaters 8, three were child sized, 5 for me. This was a watershed year for me regarding sweaters. I feel that I gained confidence in my construction and fit skills.

Toys 18 total, that's a mix of hedgies and quite a few of the small and fast Mini Aliens. I love knitting toys. Just recounted and I'm counting my 8 (ugg!) FSM's as 1 toy. Oy!

Mittens/Mitts 5 pair

Hats 9, not that many for me this year.

Bags/Bowls/ 3 and one was EPIC fail but was completed.

Shawls 2 I'm excited to do more lace knitting next year.

Dishcloths 19 I was a bit of a dishcloth monster this year. I love kitchen cotton.

Thong 1 it was fun!

Cowl 1 it was ok

Tissue Cover 1 it was stashbusting.

One last project that is the most simple but very special to me is the little square I knitted with Dave. He asked me to teach him to knit. We knit His and Hers coasters out of stash Thick N Quick on size 13 needles. It was quite fun.

Let's see that's roughly 75 FO's in 2009. Admittedly that is a mix of small, quick and simple along with more complex and time consuming projects. Wow. I'm proud of my knitting output this year. Approximately 35 of the items were gifted to friends and family. At least 18 of the items were for E, H and Dave. I'm counting around 18 were for me. I know the math is a bit off, it's ok. I'm looking for trends here not hard, fast data.

I'd say that's a nice mix of knitting for others, knitting for my family and knitting for ME.

I think the next piece is to do some knitting for others outside of my circle of friends and family in 2010. I still want to continue to knit for friends/family, my immediate family and of course myself. I consider myself a selfish knitter at heart. I knit what I want when I want and for who I want.

I made a concerted effort this past year to knit from stash as much as possible. I bought some fab yarn along the way. That's the next thing to track for next year. Am I using stash or am I buying new yarn for specific projects. Another thing to track would be where I'm buying my yarn, recently it's been Knit Pick's, JoAnn's and Knit Knite buddy Kristie.

Ah Knit Knite. Knitting with others has brought unmeasurable joy, inspiration and plain old happiness to my life this past year. I love seeing other knitter's projects and getting to squish yarn and chat about knitting and life in general. Knit Knite is a great group of Ladies and I'm so glad to be a part of the knitting.

Goals for 2010?

Oh I don't know, more knitting, more stashbusting, more skill acquisition and more social knitting. I love Ravelry as an organizational and planning tool. I can map out what I want to knit and see what yarn I have and need for said projects.

Oh and maybe I'll try to blog a bit more. Maybe.

A safe, happy and healthy 2010 to all!

Happy Two Year Ravelrversary to Me

2009-11-13T21:48:00.002-05:00

Today marks my two year Ravelversary. Wow two years have passed since I activated my Ravelry account. I know I'm a better knitter now then what I was back then.

I am grateful for the organization, the information, the discussion and the friendship I've found via Ravelry.

So in knitting news I'm pounding through my Nightsong shawl. I'm starting the final repeat and am excited about the edge chart.

I spent some serious quality time with my Holiday planning notebook last night. I now know the last few Holiday projects I want to knit for Holiday gift giving. But I want to finish the shawl first before starting any new projects.

We've been sick around here. Dave actually took work off today. Turns out H had an ear infection and is thankfully perking back up. I continue to fight my lingering cough that just does not want to go away.

Oh here is a fun knit blogging stat. This is my 555th post. How fun.

Not much else to say other then I love Ravelry!

Halloween and Stitch Markers

2009-11-09T10:03:00.003-05:00

Greetings one's of readers! I know at least one person reads this blog. So let's just jump back in shall we? Behold The Boy Who Lived Weasley Sweater I knitted for Henry LAST YEAR. Ok. Knitting children's sweaters a bit large is not a BAD idea, it's a GOOD idea. Kids grow.

The sweater, along with some Channel eye liner for a lightening shaped forehead scar, were quite the hit for Henry's Harry Potter Halloween costume this year. Pretty much EVERYONE recognized H's costume.

We raided the dress up, clothes we already have, dollar store for our costumes this year. Evelyn wore her green fairy/princess skirt and bolero Grandma Sue made her for Christmas a few years back. We augmented it with some Bright Green dollar store fairy accessories, some black clothing she already had and finished it off with a pair of lovely Noro leggings inspired by Lyra's leggings in The Golden Compass. So we had a Handknit Halloween!

I've been itching to knit lace. I've been wearing my Swallowtail and Kiri shawls recently. Oh how I love them. They add a little warmth, a splash of color and texture. I love them. This is Gail (Nightsongs) in Knit Picks Gossamer in Sweat Pea.

I crashed and burned during my first attempt on the Nightsongs shawl. I used all locking stitch markers and missed the very important center marker. I decided to toss my stitch marker stash.

Top row from left to right we have a section of drinking straw, yes I have resorted to drinking straw bits in the past. Knit Picks split ring markers, Knit Picks locking stitch marker, I don't like either of the Knit Pick's stitch markers, they are stiff, break easily and the pointy part of the open one is too pointy. The one of the end is a Grandma Janette stash old school plastic O ring. I think they were intended for hanging curtains somehow. I love them.

Middle row from left to right. Surprise stitch markers included in my Crazy 4 Dying yarn, I love these. One of my set of "Boob" markers from Just A Knit Wit's Etsy store. One of two markers I received from Laura from Crazy Miss Finch a few years ago. One of my favorites. It's metal wire and beads. I really like this construction. She has a tutorial, scroll down to find the stitch markers.

Bottom Row thank you markers from Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive.

The continuous metal wire and bead markers are my favorite. They are the least likely to come apart and get caught on the project in my experience.

I'm here and I knitting. I have more projects to share but many are Holiday gifts so I'll wait to post pics.

Huh?

2009-10-13T20:30:00.002-04:00

Maybe I should just take an official hiatus from the knitting blog. I'm loving my knitting. I'm slowly but surely working through my limited holiday knitting. Life continues to roll forward some days are great and some meh.

Between Ravelry and Facebook and actual IRL buds I'm tapped out for blogging right now.

Where did September go?

2009-09-27T22:23:00.005-04:00

I'm here, I'm knitting, I'm just not blogging. I spend more time on Ravelry and Facebook these days then on blogger.

I've finished seven projects since Wicked. Two dishcloths, a pair of Owling Mitts for my Sister's 30th birthday, two Hedgies for a swap with a high school friend, a cotton thong for a bachelorette party and a surprise. I'm not up for posting pics right now. Just have not felt like blogging.

I started a god awful looking blanket to try to work through some of my acrylic stash. I'm doing Lizard Ridge, but in acrylic. It's a brilliant, gorgeous pattern but I'm doing it in awful yarn. The last yarn I used was so scratchy and squeeky. I was ready to just bind off and call the project quits. Then I tossed my stash and realized that I was knitting with the single most scratchy, awful yarn in my entire stash. I culled several skeins of ultra awful acrylic to give to the kids to just tangle and mess with, meh. I'm going to journey on with the blanket in an attempt to create some sort of awful that transcends into the beautiful. I'm going for nausea inducing color vibration.

I started a pair of Noro Legwarmies for E today. I'm doing them two at a time like socks. Oh I love the Noro in all of it's imperfect explosive color.

I threw a surprise 30th birthday party for my sister. She knew there was something planned but did not know when where how or who so she was genuinely surprised when guests started arriving while she was over for dinner. She loved the Hedwig mitts I knitted for her. She received a beautiful stole knitted in Noro sock from her college roommate Erin.

I tossed my stash while transitioning it from plastic storage tubs to a new bookcase in my office. I can see my stash, all of it. It's awesome to be able to see it all at once. I have the Eames Lounger next to the stash with a nice light on the other side. Dave helped me move the bed out of my office, it went to E's room and her bed went to H's room and H's mattress went to the basement.

My office is now more open. I love the new arrangement.

Wicked

2009-09-01T20:31:00.002-04:00

Yes I'm still here twos maybe threes of readers. E is back in school, all day, as a 1st grader allowing me a huge expanse of time with only H during the day. So far we've gone on a walk nearly every day. It's wonderful to have some one on one time with H.

Those of you who follow me on Ravelry know I'm knitting dishcloths and little mini alien toys and lots of small items. I'm making slow but steady progress on my holiday knitting.

Wicked by Zephyr Style

Size 36-39inches

Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Ultrasoft in Velvet Orchid

size 6 for the neckline size 7 for the rest

I decided to do one last summer cotton sweater to round out the Spring/Summer sweater knitting/wearing season. I loved Green Gable so much I had to knit up another Zephyr Style sweater and decided on Wicked.

We were in downtown Hudson recently and had to check out Miss Chickpea's Funky Fibers. Lovely shop, beautiful yarn. Nothing called to me so I did not buy anything. It can be done.

I have a slightly super secret project on the needles. It's fun.

Knit Knite

2009-08-13T21:39:00.005-04:00

I've been away from the blog for some time. Things have been busy around here. E is going back to school soon. I've been knitting a ton of dishcloths. Sock Summit was last weekend. Intrepid Knit Kniter Kristie was our Ambassador. Tonight at Knit Knite Kristie shared her spoils. Lots of books and YARN. Prepare yourself for yarn pr0n!

Some of the new square needles. I want to to try these out at some point. They look nifty and I like to try out different needles.

Long time readers will recognize my Koolaid dyed Kiri shawl from my pre Ravelry days. I bought it to show Brandy, who is trying out Koolaid dying. That's her hank. Very nice.

A Mini Alien invasion is sweeping through Knit Knite! There was a lot of Mini Alien Love going on.

Darn my camera not showcasing Liz's fabu cotton sweater. Summer Rib looks fab in person.

Socks that Rock in the Sock Summit color way. I had this just sitting next to me most of the evening. I would pick it up and pat the yarn cake every now and then. It's so gorgeous in person.

Happy Belated Birthday Jackie! Kristie brought Jackie a signed copy of More Sensational Socks from Sock Summit.

Pink and Green goodness.

The Farmhouse on the left is calling to me.

Oh Barbra Walker your hands and brain have given so much to the betterment of the world around you. Behold a signed copy of Knitting from the Top Down.

It's not all Kristie's stash, here is some of Brandy's overdyed trekking sock yarn. Brandy is having fun with Koolaid.

Roving!

Nearly everyone. We were outside again tonight. We had a bevy of kids tonight, they were off playing most of the time. I'm going to miss the lovely weather.

Thanks to Kristie for bringing her Sock Summit loot and stories.

Maxwell's Alley

2009-07-26T20:20:00.005-04:00

Dave's band Maxwell's Ally had their first gig today. Several months ago I suggested a backyard picnic. We could invite and have a party. Dave and Marco could test out a playlist in front of a low risk, friendly live audience. Today was the day.

Several Knit Knite ladies and their respective kids, and hubby attended. It was a fun time to sit, knit, listen to live music, wrangle the kids and eat. We had fabulous weather, yummy food and great company.

Check out my latest summer sweater FO, Wisteria Walk. I received a ton of compliments on the sweater. It is quite comfy. I'm with my SIL Katie, she visited for the weekend. We checked out IKEA and Kenwood Town Center yesterday, no KI it was too rainy.

This was a long, sometimes stressful but overall quite fun weekend. I got to show off my new sweater, knit and hear my hubby and his buddy perform live. Much fun.

Wisteria Walk

2009-07-20T21:46:00.003-04:00

I have a few FO's to share. First off a terribly photographed Exfoliate. It's a happy key lime, bright green, not the neon mess that I have pictured above. Much more fun and bright and happy in person. Exfoliate!

Wisteria Walk took me 10 days. Ten days from start to finish. Granted there were a few drives to Cleveland and KI in there of relatively uninterrupted knitting, that helped. I love the Shine worsted. Am curious to see how it holds up and wears. Love the color, the pattern, the texture. But now I need a new foundation garment to wear under it, hot pink is just not going to work. I'll hopefully do a photo shoot soon. Ideally I love a flowy white skirt to wear with it, that would be fun.

In the meantime I have Who on the needles, a fun owl hat for Dad's upcoming birthday. The plan is to pound through some Holiday knitting, which I'm cutting back on pretty drastically. What will we give for Holiday presents this year?

Toss the Stash

2009-07-19T19:11:00.003-04:00

I tossed my stash over the weekend. I even got out the Grandma J. stash, nearly all of it, there is one unphotographed box of wool.

Top left and working to the right we have a bag of random acrylic that eventually went into the big bag of random acrylic. A bag of Patons Grace that was for Reid that crashed and burned, twice. I'm now thinking a top down raglan for E with an 'E' on the front, but done top down to measurements. Random Sock yarn bits that I'm saving for a random sock yarn pit project. I love this little bag of sock yarn. Opal HP sock yarn in Tonks, I love this skein of yarn, it will be cool socks someday. Top row right, Noro, oh yeah, leggings for E and a little sweater for her or a bolero for me, not sure.

Middle section on the left, the big a** bag of random acrylic. I'm thinking acrylic Lizard Ridge this year. Grey, blue and pink for the EPIC FAIL K-9 project. I found a knitter on Rav who has knitted a small scale K-9 that would be so cool. So the yarn waits. Directly below K-9 yarn is the bag of random fun fur bits. I totally want to do a Rainbow Pride Hedgie of All Colors for All peoples at some point, so I save my fun fur. The next bit over from top to bottom a skein of Knit Picks Gossamer, for a shawl, the Purple Malabrigo Sock yarn that makes me so incredibly happy and will be a kick a** pair of socks. A random bag of incredibly random scraps that I can't bring myself to throw out. Some random mohair/acrylic fuzzy stuff, A ball of mohair mix that I got for Grandma J and she did not use in her scarf. A bag of random bits of my super yummy yarn, aka the Yarn Snob bag, with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Leticia, some Manos, Malabrigo, Rowan Calmer and some Lamb's Pride bulky. On the right in the middle two bags of Knit Picks quarry and some other fuzzy yarn. I'm thinking either art piece or slippers or something.

Bottom row from the left the random cotton, cotton ease bag. Lots of cotton. Followed by the 'Red' Bag of yarn. Lots of red yarn, some feltable some novelty some just random. Not sure how I amassed so much red. Next is a bag of feltable wool. This stash section is too small. I need wool for Hedgies. Finally a bag of random non feltable yarn, mostly leftovers from Unoriginal hats for last Christmas.

Mostly Grandma J stash. There was more random bits that are not pictured that I combined with the other random bit bag. Top left lots of green mohair and acrylic. We are talking probably 20+ year old yarn. Top right some very fun summer tweed. I remember Grandma J making a sweater out of this, it was a wrap of some sort. Bottom left more random mystery acrylic/mohair that I wound in multiple strands for some now unknown reason and will have to be knitted like this because unwinding it would not be fun. A bag of Tiffany wool, it's nobbly and fun and I want to knit something cool. Finally a bag of random Wool Ease in multiple colors from Ruth's yarn stash.

This is an unfinished Grandma J throw that's been sitting in my stash for at least 10 to 15 years. The colors are super dated, but it's Classic Janette blanket knitting. She would pick out yarn and just sort of go, the pattern would evolve and repeat as she knitted. It was organic and textural and just so cool. There is no way I could continue the pattern even with the yarn. I'm thinking of binding off as is and tucking in the ends. It's a lovely little square as it is. It's super soft and just makes me happy.

That's pretty much the state of the stash. There are also two sets of two Swish worsted for Dad Hats. I have a few other projects in mind that would require buying some more wool, but we shall see. I have some good stuff to work with. Part of the fun is figuring out what to do with what you have.

Knit Knite

2009-07-17T19:22:00.001-04:00

This is from last week's Knit Knite. Our Hostess was out of town being fabulous so we met up at the local Panera. Not quite as fun as knitting alfresco on the grass but still quite fun.

We had TWO purple and black Hedgies, sporting the SAME FABULOUS purple eyes for hugging. It's the same pattern, the size depends on the yarn and needles you use and how much you felt your Hedgie. The felting process makes each Hedgie it's own unique little being.

Baby hat and booties! So little and so fun!

Ok this was the table I was sharing with Liz. This table is so full of win. At 12 o'clock we have Liz's Diminishing Ribs cardi in Knit Picks Simply Cotton worsted in Ginger, it's the same pattern as on the Interweave Knits mag at 9 o'clock. Around 2 o'clock we have Liz's Helena in Knit Picks Crayon. It is officially the Smoooshy Sweater. It's so soft and squishy. At 6 o'clock is my Wisteria Walk in Knit Picks Shine worsted in Wisteria. That's a bag of Hedgie eyes and noses around 8 o'clock.

Cath's Ten Stitch Twist in stash sock yarn. There is a square version too. So cool.

We dished Harry Potter. Brandy and I went to see HP at 12:01 with my crazed sister and her group of wild HP friends. Turns out Katie another Knit Kniter was behind us. Too fun. I'm not ready to dish HP here.

Hedgie Love

2009-07-14T19:06:00.002-04:00

Exfoliate is finished. This is one of two planned dishcloths in this pattern. The bobbles were a bit different from what I'm used to, but turned out fine.

Finished the Adam inspired Hedgie today. I went with the 12mm shimmer purple Suncatcher Eyes. The eyes look amazing in person. I ordered 5 sets all in shimmer, purple, lavender, blue, summer blue and pink. Love them! They take this Hedgie to 11.

I'm making good progress on the Wisteria Walk sweater. It's a DROPS design and I'm knitting it in Knit Picks Shine Worsted, in Wisteria. Love the yarn. I'm about 1/3 into the yoke.

I'm going to see HP6 later tonight with a group of Allison's buddies. I'm very excited. This movie is going to be brutal. Should probably pack some tissues with my knitting.

Matt and Brandi's Shower

2009-07-09T22:22:00.000-04:00

We helped celebrate Matt and Brandi's currently percolating little one last weekend. We were thrilled to see them. Turns out Matt is learning to knit, has even been to a SnB in Chicago. Here is Matt's second scarf, it's in black cotton, it's hard to see but he is knitting and purling in squares, quite spiff. I tried to not talk about knitting too much. Hopefully he will get a Ravelry account soon, before Baby arrives.

There were several shower games. I rocked the identify lines from famous children's books game. Yeah. The men folk were good sports and attempted to tie their shoes with balloons in their shirts. Of course this morphed into a somehow super hero themed photo op. Makes sense, carrying a baby is a heroic task.

When we found out they were having a girl I knew that Pink Mini Hedgie had to go to Matt and Brandi. There was much oohing and ahhing. I know Pink Mini Hedgie is going to a good home.

We had a great time. Brandi looks amazing with her big beautiful belly. We are looking forward to meeting Baby. :-)

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T16:07:00.003-04:00

A Happy and Safe 4th of July to all who celebrate. We are keeping close to home this year will grill out later.

I've been knitting quite a bit but not blogging. Booo! Thought I would post a few pictures of my recent FO's that I have not shared here.

The second Micro Hedgie ended up with a rainbow bottom. I refused to pay more for shipping then for the actual yarn so I stash dived. Also went for the big nose this time.

Lizard Ridge

I'm a bit obsessed with kitchen cotton dishcloths at the moment. All are plain old Sugar and Cream cotton in various colorways.

Five Point Star

I'm currently working on a Chinese Waves dishcloth, oh it's fun. I have yarn and patterns for a few more.

I officially gave the Tank to E. It's just too snug for me to wear out and about, but it's delightful on E. It was a fun pattern and knit. I was walking the don't want to run out of yarn line and make it snug but not too snug line. Oh well. It's a cute summer tank.

For now I continue to obsess about dishcloths and have some cotton coming in the next few days for a final summer sweater of 09. I'm excited.

Oh and I have an Adam Lambert inspired Hedgie all felted up and waiting for hand painted eyes to arrive from Suncatcher Eyes. He is a glittery, fuzzy ball of fun.

Knit Knite FO's WIP's and Mind Blowing Yarn Pr0n

2009-06-26T21:38:00.006-04:00

I brought my camera to Knit Knite again, I hope no one minds, seriously I won't post pics and am more then happy to remove pics if anyone wants. No worries. Liz shows off her skein of wonder from Knitters Connection. FYI I can't remember the details on all of the yarn, only that everything was fab. Please feel free to comment yarn details.

What's this our first FO of the evening. Julane's amazing Fountain Pen Shawl in Knit Pick's Gloss lace weight.

We have a Hedgie sighting. Cath's WIP Hedgie. CUTE! I attempted to start a Hedgie that evening but did not get past the tummy. Too much gabbing and wrangling E.

Lone skein of some super funky yarn from Liz's Knitters Connection goodie bag. The lighter bits are SUPER soft. Our first thought was what kind of Hedgie would this make.

It was a two Lace FO evening. Liz's Meadow Flowers shawl for her Mom in Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud. It's filmy and just plain yummy.

It's sock time. Cath's socks in Knit Picks Essential kettle dye sock yarn. Yum!

Brandy's Knitters Connection spoils. Brier Rose and oh shoot I can't remember for a cabled vest for her son. Both are fab.

Warning Extreme Sock Yarn Pr0n Ahead

Brandy's Mini Mochi sock yarn by Crystal Palace Yarns. OMFG it's amazing in person. Super soft and the color, oh the color. This is new and oh so amazing. You know you want to see it knitted up. Admit it.

It's a modified Sidestream by Cat Bordhi and the color in person is mind blowing. I think I need a moment.

Prepare for extreme cute. Ruth's mohair Guinea Pig is coming along nicely. Oh it's so little and cute and fuzzy.

Kristie's felted entrelarc bag is cruising right along. It's so colorful and awesome.

More socks, and a pretty spiff lawn chair. Karla is rocking two at a time socks. Very nice.

K and her first hat, ever. This hat rocks.

This hat rocks so hard it gets a back view pic too. Proud Liz looks on at her knitting apprentice.

Kim won yarn and a signed copy of 2 at a time socks! The yarn just sings Fall, it's so pretty and soft in person.

We took the party inside when the skies started to threaten rain, which turned into a deluge while many of us were driving home. Thankfully everyone got home safe and sound.

Jackie and I both wore our Calla tanks. I had to knit Calla after seeing Jackie's in person. Jackie's is true to pattern and mine is a bit modified. Both are awesome.

Thanks for another fun evening Ladies.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T08:32:00.005-04:00

Dad, Sue, Great Grandpa Bill and Aunt Allison came over yesterday for a visit. GGBill, Grandma Sue, Aunt Allison and E went to the zoo to see the baby elephant, the moose and several other animals. Dad and Dave went to buy a swing set for the backyard. H and I stayed home, he is a bit under the weather, but thankfully perking up.

Gramps brought a firetruck for H-Man. H is obsessed with firetrucks, firefighters and fire stations. The firetruck was a huge hit.

While I consider myself a fairly competent social hostess, I'm seriously lacking in the food selection, prep and presentation areas. I was somehow able to pull off two meals, outside, with help of course. This was a big accomplishment for me.

Dad and Dave put the swing set together. H has not played on it yet, he ended up in bed sleeping since he was not feeling well. E was thrilled with the new swing set.

Allison was most impressed with my new tank top. We even matched. Thankfully H seems to be perking up today. Dave is sleeping. We have no major plans, just a nice quiet Father's Day at home.

Modified Calla

2009-06-11T23:49:00.002-04:00

I finished my modified Calla tank at Knit Knite tonight. I love this sweater. I love the yarn, the color, which I was not thrilled about at first, the snug but not tight fit and the mods. I'm proud of myself for tweaking the already lovely pattern a bit to fit my needs. I even had yarn leftover.

Knit Knit was awesome tonight. We had a potluck, everything was so yummy. I put on my new tank after it was finished and walked back out to the group to much praise, that's such a great feeling. Everyone needs some encouragement every now and then. So thank you ladies.

Matt meets Urban Decay

2009-06-10T20:44:00.002-04:00

I HAD to share this video of my buddy Matt. It's classic, wacky Matt in full on Matt mode.

Swallowtail Shawl

2009-06-10T20:14:00.004-04:00

Check out the magic that is blocking lace. Take a wet blob of knitting, some pins, some time to dry and MAGIC!

E loves to unblock my lace knitting, she takes it very seriously removing each and sticking it back in the pin cushion.

This is an Evelyn Clark Swallowtail shawl knitted on size 6 needles in fingering weight handpaint generously given to me by the lovely Holly of Hollyarns way back in 2007.

2007 was a challenging year for our family. I found solace in my knitting during a dark time. I attempted to knit several lace shawls with Holly's beautiful handpaint. Nothing worked. I crashed and burned through several patterns. Much like how I was feeling through much of 2007. Continued trail and failure. In the end I put the yarn back in the stash.

I thankfully said goodbye and good riddance to 2007 and welcomed 2008, things calmed down. A new normal was established and the yarn sat in the stash. 2008 proved to be blissfully boring.

2009 came and brought new knitting and new knitting friends. And still the yarn sat.

Until May of 2009 when I decided I was ready for another lace project. I brought out the yarn, tossed the needle stash and printed up the Swallowtail pattern, which is a freebie btw. After a few tries with the cast on I got started and the knitting went great.

Until just before the swallowtail lace. I had two small mistakes. To tink or not to tink. Knit Knit Buddy Kristie encouraged me to just keep going, it's ok no one will see the mistakes. I kept going.

As I knit I thought about 2007. I thought long and I thought hard. Then the first row of the swallowtail chart pretty much kicked my a**. Again, to tink or not to tink. I left the errors and did not tink. I pushed forward knowing the shawl was riddled with errors, much like 2007.

I continued to knit through the swallowtail chart and on to the first of two edge charts. Continued errors. At this point I wanted to finish the shawl so I could revel in the magic that is lace blocking.

I finished the pattern and blocked it into a beautiful, filmy shawl. The errors are still there but you really can't seem them unless they are pointed out or the observer is an experienced lace knitter. The yarn is gorgeous, the colors vibrant and earthy.

The shawl is beautiful, it has it's imperfections but overall it's beautiful. Working on that shawl helped me see that 2007, despite the darkness was beautiful as well. There was beauty, and there was support, and there was joy, and there was growth mixed in with the hurt, and the guilt, and the loss.

And you know what I even have a bit of yarn left over to be incorporated into a future project. For now it's with my leftover sock yarn bits and makes me smile.

It's Knitting Time

2009-05-28T15:22:00.005-04:00

I'm still here. I'm still obsessed with Adam Lambert, he's just so dreamy and gives a great interview. Sigh.

On to knitting. I have a few FO's to share.

Little old school Cotton Ease vest for the H-Man to rock. H Man rocks the sweater vests. Love it on him.

We are attempting to fine tune the care and feeding of E's curls by following the Curly Girl hair care method. I knitted her a Little Night Cap, slumber cap out of stash Berroco Cotton Twist. It even fits me. The idea is you wear the cap at night to help protect the curls. There is an elastic head band knitted into the brim. E loves this cap.

I've really been in an Adam Lambert created fog lately. How could I not blog about my completed Green Gable sweater. I love this sweater. It's my first official top down sweater attempt in ages. Love the stash Cotton Ease even if the color is a bit bright for my personal clothing choices.

E helped me do a little backyard photo shoot with the sweater. The complete set is on facebook. I feel so good in this sweater.

On the needles. Lets see still need to order some Mango Fun Fur for the little Hedgie. I have an Evelyn Clark Swallow Tail shawl on the needles in some fab fingering weight yarn from the lovely Holly of Hollyarns. I won the yarn nearly two years ago and am just now ready to knit it up. It's a lovely hand paint in greens and blues. I'm on the 13th of 14 budding lace repeats before the swallow tail repeats. Loving this knit.

I have more green Cotton Ease from stash destined to become a Calla tank. The plan is to pound through the shawl before casting on Calla.

Otherwise things are good. I still have not blogged Mother's Day weekend and the Singing Angel excitement. I had a great weekend.

I Called It

2009-05-20T22:12:00.002-04:00

Congratulations Kris. I can't hate on the man. He performed consistently well and refused to buy into the culture war. Kris and Adam showed America that two people from very different backgrounds can see past their differences to work together and be friends.

I'm disappointed for Adam, but I'm confident he is going to do just fine without the AI title.

Can you believe that show? Oh my goodness. Santana is amazing. Steve Martin, so talented. I'm not a KISS fan but wow. So happy Adam got to wear his "Crawl Through the Fire" boots on the AI stage, imagine!

Queen? Was it really the surviving members? Are they all still alive except for Freddy Mercury? I know next to nothing about Queen. Dave will be excited about Queen tomorrow.

Wow.

Cyndi Lauper and Allison were stellar. Cyndi was rocking that dulcimer.

Bikini Girl got owned. I'm not exactly a fan of Kara but she out sung and showed up Bikini Girl.

Normon Gentle is hilarious.

Oh when the guys were all in their black suits singing "Do you think I'm sexy" how seriously cheesy and fun.

I loved how Allison was right up next to Adam with hugs and support after Kris won. I hope Adam does not take this too hard. He is a winner regardless.

Now we can get back to knitting!

Prediction?

2009-05-20T16:03:00.002-04:00

Shall I dare make a prediction regarding tonight's AI finale?

Adam is still my favorite to win but I have a feeling Kris is going to take the title.

My sister and her roommie watched AI together for the first time this season last night. Allison knew about and liked Adam already having come over to visit a few weeks ago. She limited me to 3 videos, would only watch 3. Anyway. Allie had no clue about Kris. She thought he was absolutely adorable. I agree. Kris is adorable and talented and not buying into the culture war TPTB are so desperately trying to wage between him and Adam.

Regardless of who wins I foresee both getting signed and hopefully having productive careers.

Now to the steaming pile of whatsit Coronation Song. I would not wish that on anyone. Oh it was awful. If there is one unifying factor that brings a large cross section of people together in agreement it's that song. Please don't force the winner to sing that awful song.

That's all for now. Marco is coming over to practice with Dave tonight so that will be fun. We shall see what happens tonight.

Before They Go Poof

2009-05-16T23:55:00.004-04:00

I finished E's Slumber Cap just now. A little NightCap. It's an ingenious pattern. You sew an elastic hair band into the brim so it's super stretchy. I'll try to get a picture of it in action on E's head tomorrow.

In American Idol news took off my Adam blinders long enough to check out studio versions on youtube to see if I wanted to actually buy any of the singles before they go poof from itunes.

I already had the entire Adam collection. squee. After some semi exhaustive youtube recon I purchased the following tracks.

Kris Allen
Ain't No Sunshine
She Works Hard for the Money
Heartless
Falling Slowly
To Make You Feel My Love

Allison Iraheta
Give In to Me
Someone to Watch Over Me
Cry Baby
Alone
I don't want to miss a thing

Anoop Desai
Beat it
Always on my Mind
Caught Up
Dim All the Lights

Michael Sarver
You are not alone

Scott MacIntyre
Wild Angels

Why did Michal Jackson have to go off the deep end? I'm loving the AI MJ covers. I remember MJ being so big when I was in the 6th grade. We had a door decorating contest for Right to Read Week or something book related. Our door theme was "Books are a Thriller." So fun.

I was pleased to hear that Lil sounded much better in her studio recordings. She sounded so manic and under pitch on the show. I just can't get into Matt and Danny. I love Anoop more and more.

Dave is out drinking, dancing and according to his last tweet 'discussing deep thoughts' with the Central Ohio Skeptics tonight. Time for me to read and go to bed.

Adam/Kris

2009-05-13T22:15:00.005-04:00

I was wrong. I honestly thought that Danny would sweep with his huge irl but not online fanbase. I mentally prepared for a Danny win. I was ready.

I don't wish the man ill, really I don't. I sincerely hope he sees a throat specialist and gets checked out to see if there is indeed damage to his vocal chords.

I am so excited for an Adam/Kris final. Of course I want Adam to win but I would also be happy for Kris. Maybe my wish for an Adam/Kris duet can still come true.

Hmmm. Do I want to get tickets to the tour? I'd put it totally out of my mind until this moment.

On to a few thoughts on the show. I'm going to get a bit fan girl here for a moment. The video of Adam singing at Miramar in front of that big old American flag choked me up big time.

This is one of my favorite videos from that visit. The base Commander looks like a total bad ass, then he proceeds to warmly welcome Adam to the base.

If you somehow missed Adam's a capella performance of the Star Spangled Banner then check this out. He keeps the vocal gymnastics to a minimum and pretty much nails it. I'm a sucker for our nation's patriotic songs.

The Cleveland Singing Angels close many non Holiday concerts with the Battle Hymn of the Republic. At Spring Concert there is always a big old American flag behind us for the Battle Hymn. Alums come on stage and squeeze in with the current Angels. This year Mr Boehm had us marching for the first 8 bars, then the song begins. In the middle interlude we bow our heads all looking up for the somber "In the beauty of the lilies." The song builds, ending with the first Sopranos doing their thing and all of us waving to the crowd as the curtain lowers. Hugs and squeals ensue.

This year I was more choked up during the Battle Hymn on Saturday during our alum rehearsal. After our barbershop rehearsal the alums went next door into the main rehearsal space where the Performing Chorus was practicing. We alums squeezed in with the kids and Mr Boehm started talking about solders coming home from war and had us march in time and I struggled to keep from sniffling. It's a wonderful memory.

So there is Adam in front of that massive flag in in the Bob Hope Theatre at Miramar. The Angels performed with Bob Hope on multiple occasions, including his 70th birthday party.

Oh and Kevin Bacon was in the audience of AI tonight. Everything is connected.

It's just fun to see little connections, here there and everywhere.

I'm just one excited fan girl at the moment.

Belated Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-12T22:48:00.005-04:00

First off a belated Happy Mother's Day to everyone. I spent this past weekend up in Cleveland, sans fam, celebrating the Singing Angel's 45th Anniversary Spring Benefit Concert. I have pictures, stories and just plain fun to share but not now.

I must brain dump my AI first impressions for J & J my knit knit AI buds. Must dish then sleep.

Danny Gokey - “Dance Little Sister Dance” by Terence Trent D’Arby

Danny if you seriously want a long term career as a vocalist PLEASE go see an ENT ASAP. Dude you can hear the damage happening live, it's painful. Please go see an ENT and then find a top notch vocal coach to help you with your technique.

Kris Allen - “Apologize” by OneRepublic

I must be the only person who had never heard of this song before. I did find a video of Miss Pole Dance World 2009 Felix Crane, performing to the song over at Gossip Candy. Honestly it's an impressive display of strength and flexability.

I thought Kris did a decent job, but the fleet of busses are coming for him.

Adam Lambert - “One” by U2

I'm not a huge U2 fan. I really wanted to hear "Wicked Game" tonight, oh well. Adam was off. I hate to say it but he was not stellar at the first listen. I'm wondering about the audio mix that was going on tonight. The guys were all wearing ear monitors tonight. Could they hear themselves?

Danny Gokey - “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker

See above.

Kris Allen - “Heartless” by Kanye West

Dave happened to be in the room for this one. I'd never heard the song before. Dave said it was typical Kanye and Kris really switched it up. I can see why Kris played the piano for one song and the guitar for the other. This showed range. I'd love to see an Adam/Kris finale.

Adam Lambert - “Cryin” by Aerosmith

Again not a stellar performance by Adam standards. Adam is competing with Adam and he had an off night. I usually love me some backup singer action but she/they were way to loud tonight. What was up with the mix tonight? Why did Adam take his ear monitor out? What is up there?

That being said even Adam on an off night rocks Aerosmith hard where Danny was simply full of fail last week.

I'm worried for Adam. Which is better for him, making the finals or bowing out before the finals? I would love to hear Adam and Kris duet, Krandem fangirls would explode in fits of squeeage but it would be very fun. Kris really got hosed by Danny last week during their duet. East coast lines are closed so all that I can do at this point is wait until tomorrow's elimination show.

In the meantime I need to look over Kris's itunes songs. Might just have to buy a few before they go poof.

Fangirl Squee

2009-05-07T22:24:00.004-04:00

Had ever so much fun at Knit Knite tonight. Got to dish AI and found a resource to help with E's curly hair. Time to tame the tresses.

There was much Adam/Led Zeppelin love at Knit Knite. (happy sigh)

Then I came home to peruse the old interweb and found Adam Dance Mixes.

Yeah!

Mad World, my favorite so far.

Black and White, not so crazy about this one but I love the bass.

Feeling Good, another fun base line.

Edited to add another, this is my current favorite.

Another Mad World listed as 'industrial' I like the bass.

Mad World is my fave. Must get sleep big weekend coming up.

Tool

2009-05-06T22:02:00.003-04:00

Sad to see Allison go on AI. She was never my favorite and I hope she gets a good diction coach but I am sorry to see her go before the top three. sniff. At least she left rocking and looking fabulous. Her hair was amazing and she rocked her swan song. Seriously her last two performances on the Idol stage rocked.

I'm happy for Kris. (Krandom!) At least one more week for Kris to do his thing. Then AI will have the big showdown, the culture war that FOX is so desperate to wage between Adam and Danny.

Dave actually watched the show with me, yes I'm shocked too. He even had a bass (Big Al named after my sister Allison actually) with him to play along with the performances, um Paula not so much. Dave's not worried about Allison, she already has a contract from her last win and has a ton of exposure from AI.

I'm curious to see what the contestants sing next week for judges/contestants choice.

Rock Week on AI

2009-05-06T13:27:00.007-04:00

I was too busy reading and voting last night to do a post show analysis last night. Hitting redial with my left hand and scrolling with my right.

Ok let's get to it.

Both E and Dave actually sat on the couch with me to watch AI last night. E is just excited to get to stay up late and watch Adult tv, that and she adores Adam. Dave watched because Slash was the mentor and he likes classic rock.

Remember Dave went a bit nuts, at least for him, when I told hm Adam wanted to sing Led Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love" last week.

E and I are on the couch and the show opens. I was not reading spoilers beforehand so I did not know about the drama. I hope Debbie the Stage Manager is ok and no one was cut or injured. Dave is still downstairs at this point so E and I call him upstairs when Adam's segment starts.

I think that having the menoring happen in a club was a cool idea. I'll bet the contestants were glad for a chance of scenery. I know very little about Slash but I thought he came across as interested and engaged in the process. Loved his fatherly peck on the cheek for Allison.

Let's just run through the show shall we?

I got this list from MJ's Big Blog. As an aside I think it is awful that MJ's photobucket account was delted. Her video stash was STELLAR, easy to navigate and about as perfect as can be. I'm sad to see it go.

Adam Lambert - “Whole Lotta Love” Led Zepplin

I'm not a big Zepplin fan so I was not really familiar with the song, despite Dave playing it for me from his itunes collection.

I was pleased to see 'Dirty' Adam back, sporting all sorts of potential S&M/D&S finery. The flogger is back, not that we got to see much of it. Thank you camera operator for backing off of Adam's pelvis. sigh.

I was interested to see that Adam did not change the pronouns this time around. Here are lyrics I found online.

You need coolin, baby, Im not foolin,
Im gonna send you back to schoolin,
Way down inside honey, you need it,
Im gonna give you my love,
Im gonna give you my love.

Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?

Youve been learnin, baby, I bean learnin,
All them good times, baby, baby, Ive been yearnin,
Way, way down inside honey, you need it,
Im gonna give you my love,
Im gonna give you my love.

Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?

(various mumblings and screechings with cool effects)

Youve been coolin, baby, Ive been droolin,
All the good times Ive been misusin,
Way, way down inside, Im gonna give you my love,
Im gonna give you every inch of my love,
Gonna give you my love.
Yeah! all right! lets go!

Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?
Wanna whole lotta love?

Way down inside, woman,
You need love.

Shake for me, girl(woman)
I wanna be your backdoor man.
Hey, oh, hey, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Keep a-coolin, baby,
Keep a-coolin, baby.

Not surprized AI cut the Shake for me, girl I wanna be your backdoor man, both for time and content. I'll be surprised if that makes it into the studio version.

Looking forward to the studio version.

Allison Iraheta - “Cry Baby” by Janis Joplin

I don't know much about Janis Joplin either other then she was hard core. Allison looked adorable. I loved the little snippet about Adam and Allison going to Adam's hair stylist to have her hair done. So cute. Allison's hair looked amazing. The red was evened out with lots of blue and purple undertones.

Allison looked and sounded a bit scared to me. Her diction did not bug me as much tonight.

Kris Allen and Danny Gokey - “Renegade” by Styx

I will admit I enjoy Styx. The BIL is in a band that focuses on Styx covers. I actually know and sort of enjoy this song.

Singing a duet is about give and take, working together, being better together then separately, oh I don't know 'blending' at least a little. Pretty much everything that Danny did not do while yelling over Kris.

Did Kris have a giant target on his check for the bus to hit him? WTF?

Danny was pretty much a jerk for that duet, oversinging Kris like mad and screwing with the phrasing. Ok both had bad phrasing. What was up with the gasping for air at bad times. Oh it was awful.

Then Kris got the hit during judging for not keeping up with Danny.

Hot Mess.

Kris would have rocked with Adam. snif.

Kris Allen - “Come Together” by The Beatles

Oh Kris looked so dejected after that train wreck of a duet. He really got the shaft this week. If I were a hard core Kris fan I would be furious.

This was not his genre. I wish he could have done more of a ballad. I'm going to miss him.

Danny Gokey - “Dream On” by Danny Gokey

I'm going to try to keep this clean and at least moderately productive.

WTH?

WTF?

WTMLELF? try to guess that one :-)

At first I wanted to give him some credit for trying. Dave was livid. His tweet later that evening pretty much sums up his feelings about the performance.

dmmaxwell: Has no respect for people who don't understand their limits. I'm looking at you, DANNY GOKEY.about 17 hours ago from web

Not surprisingly Danny got his usual tongue bath from the judges. Ok there was a little swat on the hand from Simon but come on. If anyone else took a massive dump on stage like Danny did last night they would have been eviscerated and gone the next day.

Danny is not going anywhere despite his very BAD song choice.

I will not be surprised, saddened yes, but not surprised if Danny goes on to win despite that little display of hubris.

Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta “Slow Ride” by Foghat

I've decided that Allison is going to keep singing songs that are in my opinion too old for her. The issue is obviously mine so I will deal at least for this duet.

Shall we check out lyrics?

Slow ride, take it easy - Slow ride, take it easy,
Slow ride, take it easy - Slow ride, take it easy.

I'm in the mood, the rhythm is right,
Move to the music, we can roll all night.
Oooh, oooh, slow ride - oooh, oooh ...

Slow ride, take it easy
Slow ride, take it easy

Slow ride, take it easy - Slow ride, take it easy
Slow down, go down, got to get your lovin' one more time
Hold me, roll me, slow ridin' woman you're so fine

{Rod and Dave riffs}
Woo!

I'm in the mood, the rhythm is right,
Move to the music yea, we can roll all night, yea.
Oooh, oooh ...

Slow ride, take it easy - Slow ride, take it easy
Slow down, go down, got to get your lovin' one more time
Hold me, roll me, slow ridin' woman you're so fine

(Slow ride, easy, slow ride, sleazy - Slow ride, easy, slow ride, sleazy)

The song is about going out for a drive in the car, right? We can roll all night is driving, yes?

Much better duet this time around. Allison came out to start things off then Adam came snarling in until he saw Allison then he flashed her a smile. I noticed that they did not touch each other at all during the performance, did not even look at each other during the more racy lines. There was more then enough Allison groping last week during the cake fight thank you.

Both Adam and Allison looked relaxed and happy during the performance. They mirrored each other at the end and oh my goodness worked together on the last bit of the song.

When the song ended Allison pretty much launched herself up into Adam's waiting arms. Adam kept a hand on Allison's back or shoulder during the judging sequence. Loved Adam's little sister comment towards Allison and the subsequent squeeze she gave him. Sweet, not creepy and cake filled.

Wrap up time.

Well E loved the show. Dave seemed to enjoy Adam's performance and liked the middle bit of Kris's. The less said about Danny the better.

My prediction, as stated above, is that Kris will go home tonight. I am sad to see him go, he is talented and sweet. Allison might go, but I will be surprised. If Adam goes well then so be it. I can deal.

I loved Adam's solo and the A2 duet, both were enjoyable and not painful or disappointing.

I have knitting to share. Did a photoshoot with E to show off my Green Gable sweater. I will post pictures later.

Now to see if I can get Dave to watch teh results show with me tonight. Probably not.

MFT

2009-05-01T18:41:00.004-04:00

Well look at that knitting! I'm making progress on Green Gable. I actually have the ribbing done on the bottom and both arms. I'm going off pattern and will add ribbing around the neckline to neaten things up a bit. It fits beautifully and I could not be more pleased.

Well look at that heap'n help'n of FSMs. I finished them up this morning. Meh. I detest multiples. I did receive a nice compliment this afternoon. I asked Dave where the 7th FSM was living. Dave gave it to one of his buddies months ago to help promote tomorrow's Skepticamp Ohio. Turns out little FSM has been living on the TV at his house. I'm tickled that my FSM has been living on the tv, hey it's a place of honor.

On to American Idol.

My Favorite Theory, not to be confused by My Favorite Martian, loved that show.

I found the Grassy Knoll thread over at TWOP. I don't usually read over there other then the general recaps, but I found my current fave theory regarding Adam.

I think Simon would like for Adam to go on second so he can snap Adam up and set him up as an international star. There is less marketing cost involves since Adam create his own buzzes and from the demographic of his fans - appeals not only in europe but in asia (southeast asia in particular) Simon also have the first choice to sign any of the contestants. Part of the deal for him to be one of the judges.

If Adam wins - they would have to focus in marketing Adam more in US since American Idol would mean - America. Europe and Asia would have to take a backseat. If Adam goes second - Americans can have their Gokey and the rest of the world can get Adam. Of course Adam would be huge in US too but he can also divide more his time to conquer the word!!! >_<

Perhaps that's why they are throwing the bus towards Adam?

My gut tells me that Danny is going to win. I'm mentally preparing for that outcome. I would like to think that Adam is going to be signed no matter when he goes home. I love the idea of an "International Adam" glob trotting around spreading glam and joy to his squeeing fandom, myself included.

Evelyn and I were chatting over her after school snack. She has three other friends who watch AI with their Mom's. E is the only Adam fan and the other girls like Allison. Interesting.

Well That Was Close

2009-04-29T22:12:00.003-04:00

Or was it?

When I told Allison I was watching AI this season she warned me. "Karen, America does crazy things, be prepared. If you have a favorite contestant vote for them." I've actually been voting, not crazy 2K+ in an hour voting or anything but I've been voting.

So was it vote splitting? Could have been the Producers going for drama, which they got. Could be Adam is just too polarizing. What about that tv show that featured Danny and not Kris, Michael and Lil. Hmmm. Is there really an email chain going around to vote for Danny? It's getting all a bit too conspiracy theory laced for me. That and I try to keep the blog happy and Hate free so we will just stop.

Well I'll keep watching and voting. I must say that once Adam is gone I will stop watching, and buying Adam's tracks from itunes. I'm genuinely looking forward to whatever Adam does post AI, win or not win. It's time to bring the glam back in glam rock.

Now I'm excited about Rock Week next week. Slash sounds fired up to have a rocking show. My suggestion to Adam is to go all out. If he's going then go out in a massive, glitter filled, glam rock blaze of fantabulous tight pant package centric, wailing glory.

Rat Pack

2009-04-28T21:07:00.003-04:00

I actually watched Ocean's 11, the original and the remake for the first time a few months ago. I enjoyed both versions. It was fascinating to see old school Vegas and just how far we've come as a society regarding race relations, not that there is still a long way to go.

So here we go and yes there will be knitting content at the end.

Kris Allen - “The Way You Look Tonight”

Going first really does not help does it. Wow. Kris is so cute and so pleasant and so nice to listen to but this did not wow me. Last week was wow factor, this week, oh I don't know. I am looking forward to hearing the studio version.

Allison Iraheta - “Someone to Watch Over Me”

I read a lot of buzz online about how Allison should sing this song, and she actually sang this song. It was nice to see and hear Allison dialed back at least a little bit.

Matt Giraud - “My Funny Valentine”

Up and over the note Matt, come on now. Sigh. Why did they use the save again?

Danny Gokey - “Come Rain Come Shine”

I love "Come Rain or Come Shine" it's a favorite of mine and I don't ever want to hear that rendition again, ever.

Adam Lambert - “Feeling Good”

Yes it was theatrical. You are going to love or hate Adam, much like Danny. Both are polarizing. MJ's Big Blog says this is the Muse version. I know next to nothing of Muse other then they were on the Twilight soundtrack and apparently the tweens love Muse.

The long sustained note? Yes that was showing off, showboating if you will.

But Adam worked that entrance , he owned those stairs. I loved the white suit. I think we saw a bit more of the self assured Adam during judging. I'm really excited to hear the studio version.

Oh and Kara, skanky?

Ok knitting news. I'm making progress on Green Gable. It's nearly to my navel. I should have enough yarn. I do have some more but it's a different dye lot, but I could use it for the ribbing so a slight color difference would not be a big deal as long as it is consistent.

You Are Kidding Right?

2009-04-27T18:38:00.004-04:00

Today has been total crap. Long, bad day all around.

Two bright spots, today. First H was not injured when a photo frame fell from the wall while I was dusting. There was glass everywhere. Thankfully H was in the very edge of the blast zone. It all happened in slow motion, absolutely terrifying. H and I calmed down then I cleaned up the glass, again without injury. H not getting hurt is a bright spot.

Second was E learned the hand sign for La today at Music and Me. She now knows, Me, Sol and La. This is cool stuff.

Edited to add a third bright spot. We found H's glasses. They were not lost long, but we still had to go to M&M sans glasses. Thankfully they were inside in a usual "I'm going to take them off and put them somewhere and not tell Mommy" location. I knew they were in the family room or in the backyard. Oy, the backyard.

So I'm reading a bit of AI gos about Matt Giraud being in a Jazz ensemble at Western Michigan. I think, Hmmm, wonder if he was in Gold Company. Turns out he was a member of Gold Company, and actually graduated from WMU, don't know the degree. I've already mentioned that I was not impressed with his scatting in a past performance. I'm sorry but a 'former member of Gold Company' should know how to scat. It iwll be intersting to see how Matt handles himself for Rat Pack, aka Jazz standards night.

Meh.

Well Then

2009-04-22T22:02:00.002-04:00

Disco Results Night.

Dave watched a bit. We discussed stage monitors. Looks like there are none, unless there are ones up top directed down on the performers. It's hard to sing in tune if you can't hear yourself.

I must say that Paula was one Proud Momma Bear after that dance number.

Wow that Disco show was interesting. The Ladies were working hard. I'd like to rock heels that well now, much less 20+ years from now.

Certainly did not waste any time giving Lil the boot. I did not watch last year so I have next to know knowledge of David A. I know my sister and Nicholas love him. He is a cutie.

I'm sorry to see Anoop leave. His last sing was the most relaxed I've seen him. It was like he just went f*^& it and sang.

I wish Lil and Anoop every happiness.

So what will be the next week's theme? Each contestant sings two songs right? I'm still hoping for full on Glamazon Adam next week. The man cleans up nice, I want to see him dirty, at least 8PM network TV dirty.

Disco Inferno

2009-04-21T21:12:00.004-04:00

And no one really burned the mother down.

Ok American Idol blather from yours truly. I actually let E stay up late and watch AI with me. Dave even emerged from the basement to see a bit of Kris, we have a strange love for Cajons in our house, and Allison, more on that later.

Lil Rounds - “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan

Lil, please go home tomorrow.

Kris Allen - “She Works Hard For the Money” by Donna Summer

Kris is officially my Solid #2 pick for AI. Fab arrangement, very TOMT like from a few weeks ago. The Cajon is back! Kris sounded great. I thought the Shopping in the Women's Section judge banter was hilarious.

Danny Gokey - “September” by Danny Gokey (I'm getting this from MJ's Big Blog, don't think this is quite right.)

The less I say about Danny the better. He did a decent job, did not crash and burn but was not on fire either.

Allison Iraheta - “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer

Oh my. Dave heard this one. His basic comments were, no power, I countered with lack of breath support. That corset was not doing her any favors for fashion or for proper breathing technique. Under pitch, oh goodness. The last riff was painful. I think Dave was disgusted by the pimptastic judging. He went back downstairs to the man cave and did not emerge until Adam's judge comments. Allison already won a recording contract why is she not using it already? Maybe Disney will sign her and do the Disney thing to her.

Adam Lambert - “If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman

Dare I say I was a bit underwhelmed with Adam's song choice and performance? He is still by far my favorite and I will follow his career closely if he wins or not.

I read earlier today that there is a new set of Idol Q&A's out. Adam was asked what one song would you like to perform on AI. I can't remember the name now but it's classic Led Zeppelin. I know next to nothing about Led Zeppelin so I told Dave the name and showed him the youtube results I found. Dave actually got a bit excited at the song suggestion. "Adam would rock insert name I can't remember at the moment." I had a live 1976 version playing on youtub. Dave ushered me downstairs to listen to his copy. I still did not recognize the song, sounded like classic, meandering Led Zeppelin to me.

I'm feeling like Adam played it safe tonight. Yes he can rock a ballad, we know that. I would like to see some more amped up full on bejeweled, hip gyrating theatre. Just don't think we are going to see that on the AI stage. I'd like a stage show. I must find the article that came out recently interviewing producers from The Zodiac Show who said even they had to reign in Adam a bit. Something about a flaming headdress that would not be safe. Hello Fire Marshal!

Matt Giraud - “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees

Oh Matt why did they use the save? I watch Matt and I see a JT cover band.

Anoop Desai - “Dim All the Lights” by Donna Summer

Nice job Anoop. I hope Anoop sticks around a few more weeks.

What was up with the guys and the scruffies? Looked like everyone but Adam was rocking the 5 o'clock + shadow.

My picks to go home are Lil and Matt. Danny is not going anywhere. Anoop will hopefully stay around a bit longer. My hope is for an Adam/Kris top two.

In knitting news I'm making progress on Green Gable. I hope this sweater fits. I checked out green flip flops online at Old Navy today. That could be fun to go with the sweater.

Knitting Content

2009-04-19T21:38:00.003-04:00

Going to attempt to forgo the AI Fangirldome for at least one post here. I have actual knitting content to share.

I recently finished the Malabrigo Mitts. Oh the Malabrigo is so soft and yummy. The colorway is Stonechat. I even have a little bit left from the skein. I'll probably turn it into a felted coaster. I'm itching to see how Malabrigo felts. Oooh Malabrigo Hedgie? I've used Knit Picks Andean Silk for H's Green Hedgie. Hmmm. The mitts match the Dean Street Hat I knitted last year. So yummy.

I finished Micro Hedgie. The nose is a larger sized eye per Julane's suggestion at Knit Knite. Thanks Julane! Hedgie is small and cute. I might go up to size 6's on the next one. The Melon one is in hibernation of sorts. It's a matter of getting around to ordering the yarn to finish him up.

I've watched Donnie Darko the last three nights once the kids are in bed. I watched the two commentary tracks as well, hence three nights. The movie is dark but surprisingly enjoyable. It's sci fi and a bit comic book like. Mad World fits into the movie like fine hand honed dovetails. Fabulous song.

Last night I swatched for several summer sweaters. I have a ton of stash old school Cotton Ease that I'm slowly working through. I trying really hard to not buy yarn and knit with what I have already. So I tossed the Cotton Ease stash and came up with 6 skeins of Pistachio, but three each in two different colorways.

So I hit Ravelry trolling for summer sweater patterns. I checked out the Cable 8 top, but I don't have that issue of IK. Then I looked at the Brioche Bodice, I have that IK issue, but it did not call. I considered Latoya but I did not like the straps. Seaberry Shell seemed like it would weight a ton done in Cotton Ease. Even swatched a bit. Came up with nothing.

Today I remembered that Brandy from Knit Knite is knitting Rusted Root. So I checked out Rusted Root and the other Zepher Style patterns. Ah Green Gable caught my eye. I read up on the pattern and tossed the needle stash this afternoon.

Lovely color huh? Yes it's less then ideal but I already have the yarn and I think I will look ok in it once I get a bit of my usual summer tan. It's a happy color.

I'm on Section C already. I'm knitting the medium. We shall see. So far I'm enjoying the knit.

Now to finish the remaining FSM's for Dave, he needs them by May 1st for Skepticamp Ohio at OSU. They are game show prizes. I really dislike knitting multiples. The FSM's are quick, easy and cute but I just don't enjoy multiples. I suppose the Hedgies are the exception, but no two Hedgies are ever exactly the same, even if you try.

itunes

2009-04-16T23:27:00.003-04:00

I loaded itunes for the first time to buy Dr. Horrible's Sing a Long Blog. Thing is I despise itunes as a media player. In my experience itunes is bloated and bossy. So I reveled in NPH love for several months, grew tried of itunes and took it off my machine.

Then along comes my latest Fan Girl obsession. Itunes went back on my machine, but I have not purchased anything yet. I'm waiting a bit longer for several reasons.

This past week boasts three studio songs I might just purchase, maybe. I finally listened to Anoop's rendition of Everything I do I do it for you. It's lovely.

After a bit of research on Falling Slowly I'm really enjoying Kris's interpretation. He's been a bit under the radar. Sort of in the background being all cute.

While I'm not thrilled with the thrown together mix on Adam's latest track I must admit I enjoy his interpretation of BTBW. It's like Manson lite, cleaned up a bit to make it more marketable.

I heard the studio version for the first time last night, way too late. I listened to the song only once. I was transported to around 10 years ago. Still single, childfree, in grad school, and going out to immensely fun, wild parties with Dave up in Cleveland where the bass rattled your insides.

In knitting news I'm nearly finished with the Malabrigo Mitts. I forgot my size 7's to finish them at knit knite. Maybe I'll finish them tomorrow we shall see.

Nooooooooooooo!

2009-04-15T21:52:00.004-04:00

WTH?

Why did they just save Matt?

Why?

Hello?

Two will leave next week.

Next Week is Disco Week!

DISCO WEEK!!!!!!

No more saves buckaroos!

TWO will leave. Five will remain.

It's like Thunderdome and I'm sorry but Lil is no Tina Turner.

Must calm down.

Jennifer Hudson was lovely. I have not listened to her album, congrats of course for the Grammy. The song selected felt cluttered for her performance. There was so much going on behind her lead vocals, either back up singers or her overdubbing herself I could not tell. Between the lead and all of the background with her singing alone on that bare stage it just did not fit. Was she singing along with a pre recorded track? I think she was actually singing with a live mike. The performance was cluttered and barren at the same time.

I actually sat through Ms Hudson's Foil's performance. I feel a rant coming on that would be neither productive nor becoming so I'm just going to let this lovely child actor turned diplomat speak for me at this time.

see more Lol Celebs

In knitting news the Pink Micro Hedgie is felted and has eyes. I have a larger sized eye that I might use for a nose, but I have not decided.

Hedgie all knitted up and unfelted.

Hedgie felted and with peepers. Palette seems to felt more like Telemark then WOTA unfortunately. I'm a bit disappointed in how the Palette felted but it's still a super cute little Hedgie.

Check out what my daughter wore to school today. Turns out it was group picture day. We did not know today was class picture day.

So E comes into the bathroom this morning dressed all in black and gray. I'm wearing purple cords, a lilac tshirt and a grey short sleeved cardigan tshirt type top. E declares that we are both dressed like Manatees today.

My daughter dressed up like a Manatee.

A small part of me is a bit mortified. The picture does not show the Safety Town Stop Light emblazoned on her back. Yes she is wearing the tshirt backwards, purposefully. I'm actually quite pleased with her creativity. She was so happy this morning to announce that she was dressed as a Manatee.

In other knitting news before I go off to read American Idol fan sites, I'm so obsessed, I am working on a pair of Malabrigo Mitts. Oh the Malabrigo is pure bliss. It's so soft and fabulous. I'm knitting them two at a time on two cirs. I think I already mentioned this WIP in the last post but I don't care they are fab.

AI Inducgence and Hedgie Love

2009-04-14T21:16:00.006-04:00

Ok watched AI tonight, on my couch in front of the actual tv. I'm sort of between projects, have a few uninspired fsm's to finish by the end of the month and the melon colored Micro Hedgie continues to languish. So I went stash diving and brought out the last of my Mother's Day Malabrigo and cast on a pair of mitts. I'm doing them two at a time on two circs!

Ok on to AI chatter. I was hoping for more scathing Quentin Tarantino but we got the fuzzy huggy Quinton tonight. Regardless he seemed excited to be there.

Allison - “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

Going first really does suck doesn't it. I thought she was under pitch for most of the song. I think this was one of the weaker song choices of the evening, too commercial, too over the top. I want to like Allison but the performance was a bit painful and was not thrilling.

I'm so glad this was not a Disney theme night.

Anoop - “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams

Another over played song but Anoop did a lovely job. Probably one of his best performances.

You know Anoop should do a guest apperance with Straight No Chaser. That would be fun.

Adam - “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf

Yes I'm an Adam Fangirl. But I do agree with Simon tonight's performance was not as riveting as Mad World. Mad World was lyric, haunting, sexy cosmic emo goo bathed in blue light sitting in a Navy 1006 chair.

Adam has set the bar so high. I hope he can keep his performances at a high level of intensity and creativity. As predicted Adam went high energy, while the rest of the pack went ballad. We got to see a glimpse of Adam Glam Rock Lite. Love the haircut and costuming. LOVED Adam's interaction with the band and the Backup Singers. Everyone looked like they were having fun. Adam is a performers performer.

Edited to Add Dave's take on the performance. Dave and I were discussing possible song choices during dinner. He kept coming back to Billy Idol. Rebel Yell was a popular guess before the official spoilers came out. So Dave watched the video, after finishing the 4th installment of the Homestar Runner game. Anyway. Dave agreed with Simon thought Adam did a good job, but it was not as good as Mad World, and the song choice was not ideal. Dave would have liked to hear White Wedding by Billy Idol.

I heard some vintage GNR there for a bit. I'm far from a GNR aficionado, but they had a cool sound before their decent into personal issues.

Matt - “To Really Love a Woman” by Bryan Adams

More Bryan Adams, yawn. So over played. ugh. Part of me wants to like Matt. The performance was forgettable.

Danny - “Endless Love” by Diana Ross

Kudos to Danny. This was his first performance that I enjoyed. Loved the harp up front with him on stage. The performance was gentle and heartfelt. He went sans glasses which made him look like Kris to me. Dave came upstairs at the end of the show and watched the little recap. I was sitting there watching and knitting and running commentary for Dave but not really paying attention. I thought Danny was Kris, then Kris came on and I went "Where was Danny" and Dave was all that was just him.

I love glasses and I love funky glasses but seeing Danny without his glasses makes me wonder if his reported 18 pairs (yes I'm jealous) are wearing him and not the other way around.

Kris - “Falling Slowly” From Once

I've never heard of this song or the movie. So I have no preconceived notions about this song. I like Kris, he was pleasant to listen to but was not exciting or inspiring.

Lil - “The Rose” by Bette Midler

Oh Lil. I wanted to like you so much, but you lost me tonight. I'm sorry but I'm done. Admittedly I have some baggage on this song. Tracy used to sing this one for karaoke, in addition to Alone, she had a sizable list she would sing. I hear Tracy when I hear this song and Lil just did not nail this song. I just could not get into the mixed up interpretation. I'm sorry but the show ended up as a big ol Hot Mess.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jennifer Hudson perform tomorrow night. She was an inspiration in Dreamgirls. I think she has carried herself with grace this past year. Then there is Ms Hudson's foil who will also be performing.

I want to get some Hedgie pics posted but my Easy Share software is not being easy, it's being bloated and stubborn so I'll post the pics later.

Wrong Again

2009-04-09T22:05:00.003-04:00

It's not Disney night it's Classic Film Night, or Songs From Movies Night or something much more broad for next week's American Idol theme. Oh and Quentin Tarantino is a celebrity mentor.

Despite my list of Disney songs I listed in the last post I would not suggest Disney for next week. Movie week is another wide open theme like the 100 iTunes theme. Will we see brilliance or full of FAIL?

So do I have song suggestions? I have a few. I've read a ton of suggestions online.

Behind Blue Eyes by The Who. This is one Dave sings with his acoustic from time to time.

Thing is Adam is expected to do an upbeat song next week, but will he? You never quite know what Adam will do.

I have some suggestions on songs for Adam to stay away from next week.

Absolutely NO My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. Overplayed to the point of absurdity.

I see Adam staying away from well known musical theater songs. So no Phantom, no Jesus Christ Superstar, no RENT, no Chess. Admittedly I'd love to hear him do One Night in Bankok from Chess high energy and raging.

Hmm. Adam will go mainstream but not well known. I'd love to see him do an homage to Mercery or Bowie in full on wild gyrating, beglamed, stratosphere hitting Adam, but I think he is going to keep reining it in. We shall see.

I must say I'm enjoying reading song suggestions. Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire seems to be a popular suggestion for the group sing.

Enough AI.

Knitting stuff. I had a link for hedgie eyes and noses around here somewhere but can't find it, rats.
I did find two etsy shops that sell eyes and noses. 6060 and Suncatcher Eyes.

Disney Week?

2009-04-08T18:05:00.005-04:00

The online rumors are that AI's theme next week is Disney. Here is a list of the top 100 Disney songs, is this the definitive list? I don't know. It's somewhere to start.

Since I did such a craptastic job predicting songs of 1982 for Adam this week I'm having another go for Disney week.

Ok here we go. Remember this is me being indulgent. Good chance Adam won't do any of these. I get a bit ridiculous with my list. It's kind of like being out doing karaoke with people who can actually sing. How about you do...

95) "Sing, Sweet Nightingale" (Cinderella)

One of my favorite Cinderella songs. I love how the pampered, nasty step sisters sing the song then Cinderella comes in with her easy, lilting tones all drab and domestic but graceful and beautiful.

81) "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" (Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier)

. I actually like this song.

79) "He's a Tramp" (Lady and the Tramp)

The Dog who sings this in the movie has massive eye and rump action going.

52) "Poor Unfortunate Souls" (The Little Mermaid)
.

36) "I'll Make a Man Out of You" (Mulan)

Donny Osmond Power Ballad all the way! Now I want to listen to that song that Donny Osmond did with Dweezil Zappa, but I can't find it on youtube.

I'd love a Zappa night on AI, it will never happen, Frank is unfortunately dead. Now I want to listen to The Yellow Shark, we have it around here somewhere, loved Zappa's later orchestral work.

After watching the Mulan video how about an Osmond theme show? You know Donny would love to be a mentor to the contestants. Adam could sing Solider of Love or Puppy Love.

Adam won't do this one, but it would be cool to have male back up singers singing "Be a Man" behind Adam.

35) "Cruella De Vil" (101 Dalmatians)

16) "Someday My Prince Will Come" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

5) "Part of Your World" (The Little Mermaid)

This ties in with Black and White, and Mad World, the idea of inclusion and equality.

Ok that was a train wreck but I had fun. I am curious to see what the contestants pick for next week. Making up lists of potential songs is fun.

In knitting news I felted the Flocked Hedgie. The boa did not fare well, it's sort of pilled, it lost a bit of it's luster. I'm not pleased but the Hedgie is not a total loss. I'm going to try to trim it up a bit. We shall see.

Ok I was a bit off, but not with the Hedgies

2009-04-07T21:21:00.009-04:00

I was off by a country mile with my list of songs for Adam to sing tonight on AI. I've heard of Tears for Fears of course but was not familiar with Mad World.

Tears for Fears version

Cover by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews for the movie Donnie Darko

Ok here is a video of Adam's performance tonight. I must say the childhood picture with the cowboy hat is too cute! Want to squeeze! Audio only.

Adam stripped it down, literally and figuratively. My current guilty pleasure is reading Adam Lambert fan forums. I know, I know. Like I said guilty pleasure. Well there was much chatter about Adam performing naked and in a sense he delivered. The arrangement was a bit bare. Adam dialed down the vocal gymnastics and the hip gyrations. We have an old, not that large TV so I did not get a great look at his face but it looked like he was wearing very little makeup and his hair was trimmed to look more like his audition. I'd read that his hair can't take much more processing with all of the multicolored highlight action. I'd say the performance was low key for Adam but still filled with energy and focus.

After listening to the song a few times to hear the lyrics I think the oppressive lighting made sense for the song. You could 'see right through' him bathed in light as he sang. Adam was telling a story, it could very well be his story. It was theatre, and no that's not a bad thing.

I keep reading that Adam is googling himself, taking the good and the bad into consideration to fine tune his performances. At first I was wondering if he wanted to win this competition, if he was only using AI to be a spring board for a larger music career. But with his continued adjustments I'm starting to think he might want to actually win. I like the eyeliner and the flogger on the belt loop and the black nail polish, and the gyrating hips and the counter tenor rocker stratosphere vocals, but I also like the toned down version as well. I hope Adam can remain flamboyant, artsy, fabulous Adam.

Ok while I'm hear I might as well give my impressions for the rest of the contestants.

Danny Gokey - “Stand By Me”

Ok, not memorable, but Danny is not my thing. My heart breaks for his loss.

Kris Allen - “All She Wants To do is Dance” by Don Henley - Played electric guitar in the mosh pit

Kris is doing better. He was working the crowd a bit in the mosh pit. I like Kris.

Lil Rounds - “What’s Love Got to Do with It” by Tina Turner

Oh Lil. I want to like Lil. Ok I really like Lil the person but Tina was a bit too big of a bite for Lil. I LOVED her video with her Mom telling it how it is regarding Lil's name.

Anoop Desai - “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper
I like Cyndi Lauper and I want to like Anoop but Anoop is just not doing it for me. What was up with the photography hate on his parents in the video. Anoop's parents seemed to be doting, loving parents who wanted to document his childhood.

Scott MacIntrye - “The Search is Over” by Survivor - Played electric guitar
Scott and Lil are very similar for me, I think they are fab people who are talented but their performances are not strong. I give Scott credit for getting out from behind the piano and playing his guitar. He is so charming. Loved the Punk comment. I will say that I like how Scott is included in the show, accommodations are made but it's not a huge deal. At least that's what I see, a talented musician who happens to be sight impaired.

Allison Iraheta - “I Can’t Make You Love Me” - by Bonnie Raitt
Allison and her Mom are adorable. I wonder if I was the only one who felt a little dirty listening to a teenager sing that song. I can come off as a prude in person, but I'm not, not really, but that song was a bit racy. Maybe I do need to go out dancing. I thought Allison did a great job. I just felt dirty listening.

Matt Giraud - “Part Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder
I keep reading about Matt's confidence issues, stage fright, whatever you want to call it. I thought he seemed quite confident and looked a bit like JT rocking that hat. Stevie Wonder is a big bite to take, much like the fabulous Tina Turner. I think Matt overreached. I almost hate to say this but E can scat better then dear Matt. He was competing with the backup singer/s at the end with the scatting. Oh Matt.

Adam Lambert - “Mad World” by Tears for Fears

See above. I'm a fangirl.

I"m also a Knitter and I have KNITING CONTENT to share, Hedgie Content.

Three Hedgie WIP's from left to right we have Flocked Hedgie in Boa and Paton's Classic Merino, Black and Tan Hedgie in Telemark and WOTA, and Micro Hedgie in Pallette.

Black and Tan took three trips through the wash to felt. Telemark will felt, but not nearly as well as WOTA. Thankfully I'm pretty much through my meager Telemark stash. I finished knitting Flocked Hedgie watching AI tonight.

Hedgie side profile time. The photo does not convey the soft flocked goodness of the Boa, it's lustrous and super soft.

The plan is to felt Flocked Hedgie tomorrow. Then assemble both hedgies in time for this week's Knit Knite for Hedgie love.

Hedgie Fever

2009-04-06T21:39:00.003-04:00

I currently have 3 Hedgie WIP's. The black and tan is waiting for felting. I'm out of yarn again on the micro hedgie, oh it's cute and little and fun. I cast on a third hedige in red and black with boa. After knitting micro hedgie the regular sized hedgie feels HUGE. The plan is to get some pics of a regular sized hedgie with micro hedgie unfelted for scale. Then I can felt the black and tan hedgie. Who knows at this rate I might have the red/black hedgie done to felt with black and tan.

I made Amish Friendship Bread with the kids today. Sometimes it's fun to bake with the kids and sometimes it is really frustrating. Today it was frustrating. The resulting bread is good but tastes quite a bit like my Wine Cake recipe, just with more work and less booze. I'm going to try cinnamon and sugar coating on my next wine cake. We shall see.

E is thankfully back to school this week. I don't' know why they had spring break so early. She goes to a public school so spring break is not automatically tied to Good Friday or Easter weekend.

I'm still waiting for the next In Death book from the library. The one after the one I want is in and I continue to languish at 2. Grr. In the interim I've spent way too much time on AI themed messages boards the last few days. I think I've hit critical mass and will be able to look away for a bit, at least until Tuesday night.

Thankfully Dave does not mind my Adam Lambert obsession. He's seen this behavior before just with different men. I think the massive man crush was John Barrowman. Sigh. I wonder what the next fixation will be.

What Should Adam Sing?

2009-04-02T22:55:00.004-04:00

My knitting is stuck. The lace sweater is not happening. It's just not the pattern for me to knit.

In good knitting news Cathy from knit knite has a skein of Mango fun fur she is going to give me toto finish the Micro Hedgie. Thank you Cathy! There is much anticipation surrounding the Micro Hedgie. I must finish it in all of it's tiny glory.

Apologies for this turning into an AI blog, at least for now, don't worry the AI posts will stop eventually.

Next week's theme is songs from the year you were born. The Adam fan group on Ravelry posted a link to the top100 songs from 1982. I recognized more then I expected.

I wonder how many he will have to chose from as they try to get song rights. Here are a few I think could be fun.

1. Physical, Olivia Newton-John Adam could go and update this one with his own spin. Embedding is disabled on this one.

2. Eye Of The Tiger, Survivor Can you imagine? I think Adam could pull this off. Now that I think of it I'd love to hear my husband attempt this one, not sure if he has this in his range at the moment. This song has a theme of survival, of fighting for something. Hmm.

3. I Love Rock N' Roll, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts Adam's tribute to Joan Jett? He could be a dark and surly? The younger crowd will know it from Guitar Hero. Hey it's the only Guitar Hero song I've made it through. Would rather knit.

8. Hurts So Good, John Cougar Come on Baby! That would be John Mellencamp now. More embedding disabled action. Adam could totaly twist this one all dark.

11. Tainted Love, Soft Cell No embedding on this one. I like this one. Adam could do the whole dark, industrial thing. Just checked out the Marilyn Manson version. Goodness. Reminds me of parties Dave and I used to go to back in the mid 90's till I got pregnant with E. I miss going out dancing.

16. 867-5309 (Jenny), Tommy Tutone Can you see the audience singing along? Ok, maybe the over 30 crowd. This one get's stuck in your head.

19. Waiting For A Girl Like You, Foreigner Hmmmm. Would he change it to Waiting for someone like you?

22. Always On My Mind, Willie Nelson As a ballad? Willie rocks. No embedding for you! This song might draw in the more mainstream middle America demographic. I've been reading Vote for the Worst. Dave and I decided that I would indeed be considered a HouseFrau acording to VFTW. Whatever.

25. We Got The Beat, Go-Go's Full on high energy Adam? We are too cool to be embedded. Could Adam pull off a girl band song?

30. Who Can It Be Now?, Men At Work This could be comical. You tube is staying this is 81. Might not be the theme he wants to convey, there is a lot of stay away, I'm not here imagery in the song.

34. Open Arms, Journey I think Adam might just be able to pull off Journey on his own. Love it or hate it Journey is not easy to perform. The range needed is crazy high. Might as well pimp out a recording of the BIL doing Loving You by Journey.

37. Even The Nights Are Better, Air Supply Since I found you....ok maybe not.

44. Private Eyes, Daryl Hall and John Oates Hmm I don't usually like a lot of eye makeup on men but Adam has amazing eyes. Seriously check out Adam's eyes in the latest AI Ford commerical. Yes he's gay and I don't care. Who am I kidding I think Biillie Joe Armstrong from Green Day is hot, at times.

58. Think I'm In Love, Eddie Money Maybe Embedding is disabled so you can check out the link. Maybe not. Bit meh.

67. I Ran, A Flock Of Seagulls Could Adam pull off the Flock Of Seagulls guy's hair? After watching the video I'm not so sure about this one.

73. Don't Stop Believing', Journey Already did it as a group song this past week.\

Ok I just spent way too much time on this post and on you tube, but I had fun. I think Adam can pull off just about anything he chooses and can get the rights for. I'd love to hear Eye of the Tiger or Tainted Love. I think he could rock Tainted Love in full on Glambert mode. If he wants to play it safe then he can go for a ballad and middle America with You Were Always on My Mind by Willie Nelson.

What do you think Jackie? Anyone? Am I full of it? Way off? Right on? Are you just waiting for the knitting love to return?

Time to Say Goodbye

2009-04-01T22:23:00.003-04:00

to the HOT MESS.

Goodness gracious. Tonight's AI was how not to leave with dignity and class. I have no productive comments about David Cook or Lady Ga Ga. Did not watch AI last year and had never heard of Lady Ga Ga before.

I will say that I must give Ryan Seacrest credit for how well he maneuvers Scott around the stage. Seacrest somehow manages to get Scott where he needs to be in a somehow respectful way. So maybe Seacrest is not a total tool.

On to knitting. I tossed the stash and am giving Reid another go. I crashed and burned a few years ago attempting to knit this sweater for E's first day of preschool. Turns out there was a mistake in the lace chart. So I'm trying again. Thankfully I bought enough yarn for the largest size and E is a petite little blossom of a girl. I cast on and am three torturous rows in. Oh boy am I up for a lace sweater?

This One's for Jackie

2009-03-31T21:41:00.004-04:00

Not that my other fives of readers can't read this post as well. Hope my buddy's Avant-garde theatre videos did not scare anyone too much.

Ok just watched AI on the actual tv. Goodness I detest watching commercials, especially the same ones over and over.

I must say I love MJ's Big Blog for AI info. Thank you Jackie for the heads up.

Anoop, did not get to see him perform, read that he did an Usher song that I would not have recognized anyway.

Megan, saw her unfortunately. Hot Mess. Like Usher I've heard of Lauren Hill but would not recognize her work. Megan is awful. Not only is she awful she is delusional.

Danny ok he can do Country and Christian Contemporary. Can we just get him the record deal now so his fans can enjoy him and I can move on. I suppose that last sentence was rather self indulgent of me. Rascal Flatts, yes I've heard of them, no I can't place them. Do we see a trend here?

Allison a song I recognize by a group I've heard of before. I thought it was sloppy. I don't see why the judges spent so much time talking about her outfit. Don't the contestants have people who pick out their clothing?

Scott, the second song and artist I'm familiar with of the evening. Two points to anyone who can tell me in comments, without google, the name of Billy Joel's first band. I had a friend in high school who had it on vinyl. I want to like Scott but I just don't like his sound.

Matt I've never heard of Fray or this song. Meh. It felt forced.

Lil, unfortunately I'm somewhat familiar with Celine Dion but have never heard this song before. I really want to like Lil. Pretty much anything by Celine Dion is not a good choice. Lil's kids are super cute and that little one clinging to Randy was sweet, but let's not play the cute kid card please.

Adam did a song I know, could not have told you the artist or the year or anything but I've heard it done in karaoke I think. Trying to remember where I've heard it, multiple times. I'm going to ask Dave tomorrow if he did this song when we used to karaoke regularly. Loved Adam. He owns that stage and he was gracious to the band. Part of me does not want Adam to win so he can just move forward and go straight to a record deal or Broadway.

Adam is to Showman as Megan is to Hot Mess.

Edited to add that I remember where I heard Play that Funky Music over and over. Dave played songs like Play that Funky Music, At the Car Wash, Disco Inferno, etc and dance with Evelyn in the basement when she was a baby. She would fall asleep to Disco Inferno. Dave tends to sing along quite a bit. That's where I heard this song, over and over.

Kris I actually like this song. Trying to figure out what version I've heard over and over. I found it on you tube and I don't think it's the original Bill Withers version, or the Sting version. Did Ziggy Marley do this song? The Ziggy Marley one I found on you tube is not the one I'm thinking of. Did Bob Marley do this? I know so little about this genre so I'll just stop. I did not like Kris's interpretation.

It probably did not help that I was in a foul mood when I finally sat down to watch the show. That and I'm stuck on my micro hedgie project. Ran out of fun fur and can't find it locally. Debating ordering a skein online. Maybe I'll felt the full sized hedgie. Felting a hedgie is always fun and satisfying. I'm feeling frustrated trying to just knit from stash. It can be exhilarating to figure out how to make something fun out of just what you have on hand but it can also be frustrating.

Shameless Non Self Promotion

2009-03-28T15:49:00.004-04:00

In knitting news I'm working on another Hedgehog. I've tossed the stash and found yarn for two more Hedgie projects a Mini Hedgie and a Micro Hedgie. More info to come. Ok knitting content is out of the way.

Behold fives of readers it is Shameless Non Self Promotion Time here on In Knitting News.

If you find yourself in the NYC area April 1-19 around the Abrons Art Center check out Beowulf A Thousand Years of Baggage . There is a New York Times write up about the show you can check out. Dave and I knew the composer Dave Malloy back at LHS.

It's so cool to see someone you remember as a bit awkward freshman all grown up and doing avant-garde theatre. So check out Beowulf. Dave plays King Hrothgar, there is video, it's a bit out there. I did not know Dave could play the accordion. As a warning some of the lyrics and simulated stage violence might be considered NSFW.

While I'm suggesting the delights of the stage what about Journey? Styxs? Covers from the 70's and 80's? Eclipse is playing tonight at Sadie Rene's in North Canton. Dave and I are trying to figure out when we will go see them live again.

Hmm Beowulf staged as an opera of sorts and a Journey cover band, just like chocolate and peanut butter.

Hey Cupcake

2009-03-24T18:51:00.002-04:00

Cast on another cupcake today during E's dance class. This is cupcake #2 for my girlfriend Michelle. I'm stashbusting some acrylic. Oh the yarn is feeling plasticy. It will be just fine for a fun little pink and black cupcake but it's hard on my hands.

I am so dreaming of Malabrigo sock yarn, Malabrigo in general. Drool.

So that's what I'm knitting for now. Seriously considering a shawl next.

Watched the last episode and the Reunion show of RuPaul's Drag Race online last night on LOGO. All eight episodes and lots of extra video goodies are online.

Warning RuPaul Drag Race Spoilers Ahead!

More Gay & Lesbian Videos At LogoOnline.com

I was rooting hard for Nina Flowers. Nina is beautiful inside and out. She was beyond gracious in defeat. She spoke her mind with kindness and compassion. Sadly Nina did not win and came in second place. Bebe won the crown. Bebe will be a great ambassador for the Drag Queen community. Snif.

Toe UP Sock FO

2009-03-22T20:16:00.005-04:00

Finished the latest pair of socks last night. Learned the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn cast off from Knitting without tears. What a fab cast off. I'm loving learning new techniques. The socks are snug and a bit itchy. Ok they are super itchy. Still need to order a bottle of wool wash from Knit Picks. So many wants, while the needs keep rolling in, like shoes for the kids.

Anyway thrilled about the sock FO. I'm thinking two at a time on two circs is my new sock knitting technique of choice. Now to fine tune the needle stash a bit and think about another set of socks. I paged through my new Cat Bordhi sock books. Drool. I think I may be ready to tackle CB socks soon.

Also thinking about knitting a shawl sometime soon. Jackie from Knit Knite suggested a possible KAL in comments. I think that would be fun. I have not done a full blown lace project for some time. Hmmmm. Need to percolate.

In non knitting Geek Girl news Jenny the author of the GeekDad blog post about meeting Wil Wheaton stopped by in comments. How cool! Thanks for stopping by. She also blogs over at her personal blog Imaginary Village.

In reading news I'm on book three in the In Death series. Yes it's already getting a bit formula but I'm having fun. I love the character Mavis. She is so flamboyant.

Let's see family news. E has two new pairs of sandals and a new pair of tennis shoes. Who knew new sandals would elicit so much joy and excitement. I have a little fashionista. H could care less about fashion, just like Dave.

Wheaton FTW

2009-03-21T19:58:00.002-04:00

Any of my fives of readers remember my Geek Girl plea to go vote for Wil for Secretary of Geek Affairs?

It was looking grim for Wil who refused to rally his Minion. Joss was way ahead for awhile there but Wil, possibly with some help from the WIRED GeekDad Blog readers pulled ahead and won the title.

Turns out I'm not the only Wil fan out there. GeekDad has a new GeekMom writer named Jenny, she is also a Wil fan. Her write up for GeekDad detailing her thought process, and preparation to meet Wil at last year's Phoenix Comicon is a fun read. I can relate to the desire to be a memorable and not scary fan.

Enough with the fangirl stuff.

I finished the knitting on the socks at Knit Knite. Still have not bound them off. Maybe tonight while getting caught up on Dollhouse on Hulu.

In other Knitting World News that's fit to publish Jeanne of Life in Cleveland welcomed her new baby girl Nidea Catherine on St Patrick's Day! Congratulations to Jeanne and Matt on their super cute daughter.

Socks

2009-03-19T21:53:00.003-04:00

The socks are nearly complete. Only thing left is to bind them off. Going to do a sewn bind off or something like that. I'm just going to follow the directions in the Fleegle heel sock directions. I predict that the socks are going to be a bit snug but should loosen up with wear.

My stash for wool is dwindling fast. I'm not up for enhancing stash much at the moment. It's also getting warmer. I do have some laceweight in the stash and have been thinking about a shawl. Not decided on the pattern yet.

Had fun at knit knite. Always nice to get out of the house and pet yarn that is not mine. I"m really jonesing for a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn. Might just use some birthday $ for a yarn treat.

Started going through my closet today. It's time to make the shift from winter to spring clothes. The little bit of Wardrobe Therapy I did last fall was helpful. I have an idea of how I want to approach my closet. I needed to cull a bit. Now to fill in the thin parts, er non existent parts, like shorts. Who knows I may go nuts and get a pair of Capri's or a few more dresses and go sans shorts. I do need to find a pair of everyday sandals. Hmmm.

Happy St Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T18:45:00.003-04:00

I'm here and I'm knitting and reading. Had a beer today to help celebrate my Irish Heritage. Mom's Mother's side was quite Irish. Thankfully no one pinched me today. Both kids wore green, E a hodgepoge of green and H wore the Green Star Wars raglan that was his sister's. It has green sleeves and has Chewbacca on the front with the words Mommy's Little Monster. Neither Chewbacca nor H are monsters but it's a cute shirt.

I'm in the cuff ribbing on my two at a time socks. Did not get a lot of knitting done over the weekend. We were north for our buddy Jason's Triplet Boy's 1st birthday party. The cute was intense, we are talking mind blowing cute levels. The kind of cute that just melts the soul. It was a great party. Then I friended his wife on facebook and got to see some of the pictures she's taken of the boys. They should do print work, the cute is intense.

I'm going to try watching AI tomorrow night. I read somewhere that it is a country theme this week. Oh goodness. Should be interesting.

In reading news my sister gave me a copy of Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb first book in the series Naked in Death for my birthday. I read it yesterday. Oh goodness Allie was right I loved the first book. I'd heard about the series over the years but never checked it out. Let's just say I have the next five books on reserve at the library. The series started in 95 and there are around 25 books, so lots of reading ahead of me. Yeah!

Heel Turn and American Idol

2009-03-11T22:13:00.003-04:00

Turned the heel on my socks. The self striping yarn pattern is just a bit off between the two so the heels look a bit different. It's ok. I have a bit of laddering in spots, nothing horrible but something to improve on for the next pair. I'm totally loving two at a time socks. Now to fine tune my technique.

Attempted to watch American Idol tonight for the first time in years. I have a Singing Angel buddy who worked with Adam Lambert and I was curious. Ugh. Watching tonight reminded me why I stopped watching. Ryan Seacrest is a tool. What is up with the new fourth judge? Why? Are they afraid that Paula is going to totally loose it and want to have a back up?

Could not sit through Kanye West's performance. I just don't get his music. I read his blog for awhile, it's interesting. I can't remember why I stopped reading it, just got repetitive I suppose. I do find West's design aesthetic interesting. His LA home is a fascinating mix of clean modern with pop culture art. I'm still curious about how his NY apartment ended up being furnished. I would be interested to hear him speak on his thoughts about art from both a historical and modern day perspective.

Could not watch Kelly Clarkson. "My Life Would Suck Without You." Really? To think I sometimes wonder why I don't listen to top 40 radio.

I'd forgotten about the prominent Ford and Coke product placement. It's so obvious. I suppose I should not complain too much. Knight Rider is pretty much a huge Ford commercial filled with Ford vehicles and Ford commercials during the breaks. But KITT is so pretty, he puts all other Mustangs I see out driving around to shame.

That's another thing the commercials. Ugh. When I watch shows online I can switch to another tab during the commercials if necessary, or just have the show play in the background while I read something else.

I'm going to try AI again next Tuesday. If I'm going to watch it makes more sense to watch the performance night rather then the elimination night. They way the show draws out the elimination is so contrived.

My sister usually watches the show once it gets to the top 12. Will have to ask her what she thinks of this season so far.

Oh Well

2009-03-10T20:46:00.002-04:00

Regarding my past post. Looks like Wil is taking a beating from Joss. The Whedonverse Minions are many and Wil is not campaigning, if anything he has already conceded and asked Joss fans to stop ragging on him in a recent twitter update. Yes it is only an online poll.

Dear Joss fans: I love him too, and Joss has been my master for a long time. Maybe stop it with hatin' on me? It's just a silly online poll.6:34 PM Mar 9th from web

If Wil can concede I can concede.

On to knitting. I'm on the heel increases of my toe up socks. I'm curious to see how this heel turns and fits. Yes curious indeed.

Please Vote for Wil

2009-03-09T18:47:00.003-04:00

It's Wheaton vs Whedon for Geek Secretary of Geek Affairs. Please go vote. Yes it's a hard decision but I stand behind Wil as a Geek's Geek. No my long standing crush on Wil is not influencing my decision. Ok, maybe a little, but he is so cool.

It's going to come down to who can mobilize their minions more effectively. Joss has the Whedonverse but Wil has Fark, his Twitter legions and the Wired Geek Dad blog behind him.

In knitting news I'm read to start the heel on my toe up socks. Very excited to try out a new heel technique.

Toe Up Socks

2009-03-09T11:48:00.003-04:00

I'm making steady progress on my first pair of toe up socks, two at a time on two circs. I'm using size 2.25 mm 47" knit picks circs with Paton's Stripes sock yarn in Mulberry.

I'm enjoying the knit picks circs. Yes I still prefer the addi's but the knit picks are 1/3 the price of a pair of addi's. So it depends on how much you want to spend. I'm not crazy about the super long 47 inch circs for two circs at a time. It's just too much cable. I do think that 47" would be great for magic loop.

I'm loving 2 socks on 2 circs. Yes my current needles are a bit long but it's just so much easier. Yes getting started was a bit dicey. But I've done it once now and feel like I can improve for the next pair.

Magic loop is great, I love the old magic loop technique but I'm thinking that my less then then ideal intro to 2 socks on one circ from that hot mess of a book 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes soured me for 2 socks on one circ for some time.

For now I'm happy to work on the two socks on two circs technique. I'm slowly figuring out what works best for me for sock knitting. Two at once is definitely the way for me, no second sock syndrome. I'm trying a Fleegle heel on this toe up pair. But so far I'm not that thrilled about toe up. I am glad I'm trying it so I can feel like I can do toe up when the pattern calls for toe up. Otherwise I'm looking forward to trying two socks on two circs top down for the next pair of socks.

500th Post

2009-03-03T19:11:00.004-05:00

Welcome to my 500th post for this blog. I'd like to thank Google for Blogger, my Husband for continued tech and yarn stash enhancement support, the Beautiful Knit Knite Lades for their inspiration and support and of course my children for their love of all things knitted.

I have knitting content to share. Oh yes I do. I have a few FO's to share.

First off the Rainbow Blanket of never ending Garter stitch. I made it to block 32 out of 55. This project languished. It MOCKED me for months. I finished it off with a rainbow applied i-cord border. The i-cord gives the blanket some stability. It's a fun pattern and I found parts of this knit enjoyable. I also learned that I do not enjoy knitting blankets out of worsted weight yarn. I would try again with a bulky weight yarn but no more worsted weight blankets for me.

More felting fun. The Felted Needle Vase felted up nice but lost it's fun little roll at the top. It's a solid little vase/deep bowl. I want to try this pattern again in the future.

I knitted up another cupcake for my girlfriend Michelle. I must say I LOVE magic loop. I knitted this on my size 4 addi turbos, love those needles, LOVE them. The cupcakes are fun and quite fast little knits.

I'm making slow and steady progress on the set of 10 FSM's. I have two completely finished and noodly appendages and meatball pairs for five more knitted. So three more sets to go.

I have some new Knit Pick's circs to try out. I'm thinking two at a time socks. Fleegle's toe up sock pattern is my first choice. We shall see.

More Knitting

2009-02-25T20:35:00.003-05:00

Went stash diving last night for black and gray. I love stash diving. I get a thrill from trying to figure out how to use lots of little bits and pieces together into something hopefully usable.

I've been eyeing a felted needle vase for awhile now. I thought it might be a good stashbusting project.

I dived into my needle stash as well. The pattern calls for a size 13, 16" circ, 15, 24" circ, 17, 29" circ and 17 dpns. My only size 17's are plastic straights. So I downsized a bit based on my current needle stash. 10.5, 16" circs, 13, 24" circs and get this a pair of 15, 39" metal circs that have got to be old school addi turbos.

Here I had a pair of addi's all this time. Turns out I still have not logged all of my needles on Ravelry. I had a few larger and longer circs still undocumented. I'm nearly certain that the size 15's are addi's. I've had them for ages, just never used them before.

Thanks to magic loop I did not need the size 15 dpns. I just magic looped the bottom of the vase.

I'm really pleased with the gradation I was able to achieve with the yarn colors. Now it's a matter of felting it up.

In other knitting news I agreed to knit two cupcakes for a girlfriend. I selected and wound yarn last night, two pinks, black and red. It's more stash yarn. It's fun how even cheap acrylic seems a little more fancy when wound in a yarn cake.