Knitosaurus Rex

Hmm. Much Ado About Everything.

2005-06-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, eh? To tell the truth, I considered not blogging anymore, but I just couldn't resist. Here is an old picture of what the Scoop du Jour twins look like.

Since this picture, I have done some more on those backs. Will I ever finish these sweaters? I hope so.

BUT! I won't ever finish them if I get distracted... Too late.

I knit at Starbucks all the time, and this girl who works there just loves to check out my knitting progress, and the other day she asked me to knit two blankets for her two nieces who are both having baby girls this year. I was all over that because I just discovered that Pinwheel Baby Blanket, and what an innovative pattern it is!

Here's the first one that I am making for one of her nieces:

Click the picture for a slightly closer look.

Bitten by the PBB bug, I started another one with the Sugar and Cream cotton that I have 5 balls of. It's my absolute favorite colorway of any variegated yarn that I have, so I've been trying to find something to knit with it, but I always end up frogging. I don't know how practical it is to have a baby blanket made from Sugar and Cream cotton, but how often is knitting practical?

And here are some random weekend pictures for ya.

This is an awesome shirt that my mom bought for me from one of those trendy stores. American and Fitchostale or something. It's the brightest shirt that I own at the moment, but I like it.

And this is my gorgeous sister:

Isn't she just the most adorable little person you've ever seen? She's 4'11" and athletic as all get out. I love you, Becca!

Last but not least, here is a picture of the guy that I'm dating. We went to the beach. Doesn't he look great in this photo? Awwww, I wish you could see his freckles in the pic - they are adorable!

Well, salutations and Happy Knitting!

Anybody else... ready to start their new job in Cali but going to miss the guy their dating??? Me too.

Arizona is the BOMB!

2005-06-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working here in Scottsdale, Arizona since Sunday, and I'm LOVING this weather! It always feels so incredible to travel out West and experience pure heat sans humidity. The sun is so much more inviting that way!

As a result, I am nice and golden brown because we've actually had some time to tan by the hotel's pool. Go figure that I never have time to tan when I'm at home, but the minute that I take a business trip on which I am going to have to bust my ass to help open a new store, I get to lay out. Curious, eh? Well, I've been enjoying myself, for sure.

The girl that I was tanning with is from California, and she was talking about how it's too hot, and she had to jump in the pool. I just said to her, "Girl, in Texas it's hot all the time, and the humidity pretty much ensures you a sweat. I'm loving this dry heat!" She didn't get me.

On the knitting front, I'm past the armholes on the back Blueberry Scoop and I think that once I finish it, I'll move on to the rest of Vanilla's back, and finish that on the plane ride back to Texas on Sunday.

Oh, and my Secret Pal has recently contacted me and asked me where I'm moving to in California! On August 1st, I'll be moving to Santa Ana to help open a Chick-fil-A which will be next to South Coast Plaza (!). Then in December, I'll be moving to a different city in California to help open up another store for 4 months, and so on. I'll be joining a team of about 7 other awesome folks who head up the Grand Openings of these new stores. Talk about publicity! The home office adores these people, and it's the best way to get your foot in for a store of your own, which is my goal.

Anyhoo, y'all take care - I forgot my digital camera at home (boo hoo!) so I can't take pictures of the Scoop twins, but I'll post some on Monday, I think.

Toodles!

Anybody else... totally excited about Secret Pal 5? Me too!!

Hm.

2005-06-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, the reason that I haven't been posting lately is because I haven't had time even to KNIT, let alone post.

Why? Let's put it this way: I have a 70 hour work-week. And this isn't just chill out work, either. I'm on my feet all day, and constantly running around solving a million problems and answering two-million questions, so when I'm not at work, I just want to lay there and not move or speak.

However tonight, I've discovered that I'm about to start the ol' "time of the month" because instead of laying around and relaxing, I have eaten left-overs (all of them)/pop tarts/cereal/a corn dog (where did that come from?)/boiled shrimp/and a few mixed nuts.

And to top it off, I washed everything down with fruit punch... I feel like everything is my stomach is like in there getting to know each other - "Frosted Mini Wheats, meet shrimp. Corn dog, meet pop tarts." Awesome.

Yeah, so tomorrow at 4:45am when I get out of bed to be at work by 5:30am, I'm sure my tummy will feel superb.

And in the knitting world: I have been making snail-paced progress on the Scoop du Jour twins. I have a feeling that these two sweaters will be my only FOs before I move to California. I mean that is, if I finish them.

Anybody else... wish that the knitting fairies would finish their sweater backs? Me too.

Back-Tack!

2005-05-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yay for getting mail!

Here is a pic of the too-cute olive fabric that I received to make a notions holder/needle roll with for backtack:

I got the olive fabric with a complementary brown, two types of ribbon and a zipper, and some black buttons, all topped off with a nice card!

Thanks, back-tack fabric sender!!

Now the only question is: what to make? Good thing that there's a lot of inspiration out there.

And last up is my Scoop du Jour twins progress. I am past the ribbing on both Vanilla and Blueberry's backs.

Proof?

Anybody else... super-duper tired today for some reason? Me too.

Hold On; Let Me Finish This Row.

2005-05-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

So, the night before last, I went to bed and all was well. Little did I know that I would wake up yesterday morning with two hunks of fat-marbled, raw steak in the back of my throat. Awesome.

I went to the doctor today and it turns out that (surprise) I have Strep. Again, awesome. Of course, I brought my knitting to the clinic, which entranced the little girl next to me in the waiting room. Don't you love that? She was the shy type, which you always know because they're staring at your knitting, but when you look over, they quickly focus on their fingernails or something.

They called my name after about 10 minutes, and I was in the middle of a row. Now, when this happens, I always want to say "Hold on and let me finish this one row," but I know that would just be ridiculous, so I cautiously fold my straights in half and push the knitting further down the needles, always sticking them points-up in my knitting bag.

In the little room where the doctor sees you, I got the usual treatment from a couple of the doc's assistants, and then they took a culture of my tonsils, which one assistant said looked "nice and lumpy." I was then ushered back to the waiting room to (you guessed) wait. For how long? "Well, fifteen to twenty minutes, but it depends on how busy they are in the lab." Of course.

About forty minutes later, I was up to a point in my knitting where without the pattern, I couldn't go any further. Y'all know how that is; you don't bring the pattern because you think you'll never get far enough to need it...

It was taking so long that I thought to myself that the doctor and the lab personnel must have had a chat which went something like this:

LP: Listen, as much as we'd love to run tests on this possible Strep culture, we have to run these other tests for this other patient which could take about an hour.

D: Well, I told her it would be 15-20 minutes, so can't it wait that long?

LP: Not really, no. Did she have something to keep her busy?

D: Oh yeah, she was knitting... Nevermind, that should be fine.

Yeah. Finally, they came back and told me it was Strep, and I got some antibiotics and am now going to take the remainder of the week off, to return on Monday. I have made knitting progress but have no pictures to show for it. Perhaps later on today. Until then, happy knitting!

Anybody else... not really mind being sick because it can mean lots more knitting time? Me either.

Distracted?

2005-05-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

Ya think?

I messed up on the sewing of the first CCK sleeve to the CCK body tube thing, so - I'm sure y'all can relate - I angrily threw it on my dresser, and don't plan on working on it again until later this week.

So, instead of making CCK progress, I cast on for Vanilla Scoop's back. But notice how I didn't even make it through Row 1? Yeah, I was distracted...

Proof that I at least *tried* to work on the Scoop du Jour twins:

And proof that I was almost immediately distracted by the awesome jacket in the VK mag. (See this entry.)

In this pattern, the body is knit back and forth from jacket front to jacket front all in one piece until the armpits, and then it's separated into the 3 pieces up to the neck. That fact combined with a 28st/4" gauge means that I had to cast on 287 or so stitches... Not Fun.

I suspect that I got the distraction out of my system and will continue to work on the Scoop twins tomorrow. At least now when I'm ready to work on the jacket, it's already cast on.

Aight, well it's bedtime. Happy late-night knitting y'all!

Anybody else... wish there were 30 hours in a day? Me too.

Secret Pal Survey.

2005-05-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is long, but here we go...

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

Well, to be honest, I've never knit with "nice" yarn, since I learned to knit in my college days. (Hee hee, my college days only ended on the 12th of this month!) I love Lion Brand Cotton-Ease (my fave yarn), and I really don't like Red Heart, but I think that I'd like to try some "nice" yarn, just to see what it's like. Maybe some Koigu?

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

In a word: no.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

Nope.

4. How long have you been knitting?

I started knitting in February of 2004, and I haven't stopped since!

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

No, but I guess I should throw that together. Now that I think about it, I probably won't do it, though.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

My favorite scent is pretty much the coconut/lime from Bath and Body Works. Mmm Mm!

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

I like chocolate for sure, and I like certain candy bars (no Snickers or Milky Way - yuck, yes Payday and Butterfinger and anything Reese's - yum!), but I'm the type who would rather have seconds than dessert.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

I used to sew my own clothes by hand - because I could never really get the hang of a sewing machine - but I really don't do that anymore. And even though I joined Back Tack, I pretty much just knit.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like 80's music (the pop, like Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, and Def Leppard - not the metal like Judas Priest and Metallica), and I really enjoy Latin music, my favorite Latin performer being Shakira.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

Oh my gosh, my favorite color is red, hands down. I have been trying to wear more green lately, and my boyfriend thinks I look best in blue, but basically, my rule of thumb is: If it it an object that can be bought in red, then I buy it in red.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I just graduated from college, and I'm waiting (6 weeks) to move to California for this job that I got (!), so I live with my mom and my sister. We are SO not a pet family.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

Well, career-wise, I plan to operate my very own Chick-fil-A. Family-wise, I plan to have as many children as I feel I can (very) comfortably afford. Personal-wise, I plan to become fully fluent in Spanish, and I plan to attempt to touch the lives of young people, somehow.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Lion Brand Cotton Ease is my favorite, right now. But I have knitted a swatch with Paton's Cotton DK, and I really like that, too. Like I said before, I don't know what it's like to knit with "good" yarn. I have dreams about Cashmere.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Well, I live in Texas, so I stay away from wool/wool blends. Cotton just feels so much better on the skin.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

I'm completely stuck in a cardigan phase, however I am also prone to be lulled into a tank-top phase now and again.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Shirts, with the exception of the occasional bag.

17. What are you knitting right now?

I'm knitting Scoop du Jour (2 at the same time!) and a Jerry-rigging of the Klaralund pattern, which I call "Copy Cat Klara." When I finish my CCK, I'm going to cast on for Pattern #12 in the Winter 2004/2005 Vogue Knitting. (It's a badass jacket.)

18. What do you think about ponchos?

No, no, no. Did I mention no? Well, no.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

I prefer circular because I always catch the end of straight needles on something as I knit, and because circs are a lot more manageable, but I knit with straights sometines if I have no available circs in the particular size that I need.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I like the slick metal that Susan Bates needles are made with, and I dig me some Bamboo, too.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

Ah, yes. Sock knitting... I've tried to knit a pait of socks so many times, and I just can't keep focused on them. I'll make all kinds of progress in the first sitting, then I get distracted and never look back. So, no, I guess I'm not.

22. How did you learn to knit?

I typed in "learn how to knit" in Google, and taught myself that way. I also learned by using a couple of knitting books.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

About six months. It's a blanket that I am about 4/10 of the way through.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

I am thoroughly addicted, and infinitely entertained by South Park. I love all of the characters on the show.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

I like Valentine's Day a lot, and Mother's Day (gotta show the love!), but my favorite celebratory event would have to be birthdays. I really love birthdays - my own and everyone else's.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Um, does yarn count? :P Let's see... I just started collecting John Travolta movies (look on my 101 Things About Me list to see which ones I have), and I collect Shakira video and audio, and All Things Jimmy Fallon. (I love you, Jimmy!!)

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Well, I don't have any, but I still seem to buy every VK and IK that comes out... Yeah. Also, I would give up my first born for a Rowan Magazine subscription.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?

Rowan Mag #35. Other than that, I'm not much of a reader, but I do enjoy pretty much all types of non-fiction.

There we are - all done!

Anybody else... excited about SP5? Me too!

Heeeeere Froggy, Froggy!!

2005-05-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

Something froggy this way comes.

I have frogged my CCK sweater sleeve. Why? Well, I know that the Klaralund pattern has extended Garter st on the shoulder part, which did like when I made a sweater like this before, BUT it looked bad in the worsted weight yarn and bigger needles. It looked too... chunky. So its fate was the frogging.

Proof of froggy endeavor:

This picture reminds me of the X-Men logo.

I started knitting the sleeve again, and I've gotten past the armhole, but I just can't knit anymore tonight. I have to wake up at 7am, and I haven't been getting much sleep lately.

I really want to fill out the Secret Pal 5 survey, but the website suggests that we wait until the end of May to post it so that our Secret Pal doesn't have to look through a bunch of posts to find it. I think I'll just fill it out and link to it in my sidebar...

Anybody else... incredibly tired? Me too.

Vanilla and Blueberry: A Tale of Four Fronts.

2005-05-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

I finished all of the fronts of the Scoop du Jour twins, and I thought about casting on for the backs right away, but I'm tired. Also, I want to make a little CCK progress before I zoom ahead on the Scoops.

Here is some proof of said four fronts:

I guess I should state that I shorted the body of Vanilla Scoop because I want her to have more of a cropped look so that when I wear her, the shirt that I have on will stick out from the bottom and the top.

Blueberry is 14.5" from bottom to armpit, I think.

Also, today I went to buy my backtack fabric and stuff!

I think I'm going to show a picture. I don't see why I wouldn't be able to, right?

Click the picture to see a darker close-up. The colors are truer in the lighter photo. I love this fabric set, and even though I don't know much about quilting, I'd say this would make a nice one. Great greens!

On the top of the fabric is a coordinating zipper (maybe for a pocket on the outside of the needle roll), and on the bottom is some light green/grey translucent ribbon. Who knows what for? Not I.

Well, I'm tired and I have to wake up early, so Happy Knitting everyone!

Anybody else... waiting patiently for retirement? Me too.

I Guess I'll Do it Too.

2005-05-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

So, everyone has this 101 Things About Me list on their blog, and it's always so alluring that I have to go read it. I can make one of those, I suppose...

Here we go!

1) I learned to knit via the beloved Google in February of 2004, and the longest amount of time that I went without knitting was 3 days, and that only happened once, a couple of weeks ago.

2) Knitting is the first hobby that I've ever stuck with.

3) I can't remember what I used to do with my free time before I learned to knit.

4) I have a sister who is 8 years younger than I, my Mom just turned 39 and my Dad is 43, and I am 22. (This was written in May of 2005.)

5) I am finally a college graduate. (WHOOP!)

6) Instead of mayonnaise, I like to put grape (or strawberry) jelly on my turkey sandwiches.

7) I used to be a Coca-Cola fanatic, until I met my current boyfriend. Now I like Dr. Pepper way more. (He also turned me on to Pepsi, and THAT is my Absolute Favorite.)

8) My favorite yarn is Cotton Ease, since I'm a po' twenty-something. Too bad it got discontinued...

9) I have a James Avery charm bracelet with 29 charms on it. It has 7 more spaces left, and I'm not sure what I'll do when it's full.

10) If I ever went back to school, I would Master in Linguistics. (Social Linguistics, that is.)

11) My favorite kind of music is 80's and New Wave. By 80's, I mean stuff like Prince, Madonna, Loverboy, Def Leppard, and George Michael - to name very few - but not Judas Priest or Metallica. Music from the late 70's to the early 90's flies with me.

12) My 80's mp3 collection consists of about 400 songs.

13) I also like pop music, and shamelessly, I went and saw Justin and Christina on the Stripped Tour.

14) Despite #'s 11-13, my all time favorite musician is Shakira. I speak Spanish very well, and really appreciate Latin music, and Shakira is a very amazing lyricist and she has a strong head on her shoulders about how she views the world. I adore her and her music (and her dancing).

15) John Travolta is pretty much my favorite actor, and I started collecting all of his movies on DVD. So far I have Urban Cowboy, Saturday Night Fever, Domestic Disturbance, The General's Daughter, and Face/Off. I'm looking for Grease...

That's all for now!

The Twins Grow.

2005-05-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

I always feel like I'm going to blog about my boobs when I write "Twins" in the title. I'll leave that for another day...

Knitting time is scarce at the moment because I have this great organization thing going in preparation for the job that I got. I'll have to move every 4 months (the company will scout out an apartment for me ahead of time), so I have to keep all of my stuff very compact and I really have to just put a lot in storage.

The job lasts just 2 years, so it's not like I want to get rid of everything.

But I did work a bit on the little Scoops while enjoying a cup of coffee and watching Desperate Housewives with my Mom. I had never seen this show before (I rarely watch television) but it was cute, and I liked it I guess. After it was over I said, "Mom, it seems like everyone on there is cheating on their spouse, or ruining someone's life." And she replied, laughing, "Yes, it seems you 'get' the show..." Nice.

Anyway, here's proof of the Scoop du Jour twins' progress:

Posing with the Scoop twins is my dear stuffed doggy, Agent Spoon. That little guy is so cuddly and soft, and great to sleep with when I'm at home (AKA: Sans Man.).

While I organized my stuff, I got a lot of the knitting needles that I had kind of floating around put back in my needle case, and I realized something. A lot of people have huge needle holders that separate needles by size, but when I bought my small, modest case, which only has 1 compartment, I thought, "Man, I'll never have enough needles to warrant a big holder like that." Hm.

Oh yeah, and that Spring Scarf that's lurking in the sidebar's WIP list? I hate it now. It curls like a weight lifter, and is really not for me. SO... I'm frogging it, and that awesome-colored Cotton Tots is going to become a little lacy tank top, like I had originally intended it to be. I'm actually thinking something with a lacy edge and triangle top, much like Honeymoon Cami, only with wider straps.

Should look good... just have to make negative ease since I don't have much of that yarn. Hellooo, short-row boob room!

Anybody else... wish they had more time to knit? Me too!

Show Your Tattoo Day!

2005-05-13T06:03:00.000-07:00

And Friday the 13th! How exciting. Anyhoo, here is my tattoo.

Click the image to zoom out!

This is the Alpha and Omega. A lot of people ask me what this means (I get a lot of "Oh is that your Sorority?" - Me. Sorority. Hah.) so I'll give a little mini-definition.

The Alpha and Omega - the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet, respectively - signify the enternity of the Lord, and the fact that He was with us in the beginning and will be with us until the end. In the Bible, God calls himself "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Some people say that this means that the beginning and the end exist in God simultaneously, so there is a lot of imagery of the two letters linked together.

Here are a couple of sites that have a little bit more info. I tried to pick non-biased sites. Some people are crazy and think they are priviledged enough to know everything about everything.

Bartleby.com and Answers.com.

This is probably the only time you'll hear me mention religion here, because I'm fairly private about it. I spent my life as an Agnostic (I used the term as a way to pretty up Atheist, because Christians tell you to go to Hell a lot less if you say you're Agnostic - Oh yes, ye who judges me and tells me to go to Hell, can I be part of your group? Riiight. Puh-lease. Jerks.), but about 6 months ago someone finally convinced me without making me feel like a total douche-bag.

So now I'll all Christian and stuff. It feels weird, I'm not gonna lie, since I made fun of, and could never understand all of those Christians all these years.

I'm glad that I grew up not believing, because it gives me an awesome perspective on religion. Yeah, I have to learn everything that everyone else learned as a kid (Who is Noah, really? I mean I know he made that giant boat with all the animals in it, but why?"), but I don't care, because since I didn't grow up with religion, I accept everyone, no matter what their feelings toward religion are.

And which denomination did I choose? Bah. Organized religion...I'm not a fan. Of course, I see the need for organized religion, and I'm the live and let live type, so people can do whatever they want to, but I'm just a plain Jane Christian.

Okay, enough of that. So um... that's my tattoo. Heh.

Oh yeah, I drew it, too. I drew it for about 4 months until I got my favorite style. My version was all red, but the artist suggested that I do the Omega black, so they would contrast. I like it.

When I move to California for my kick-ass job, I'm going to have a bad-ass tattoo artist touch it up and maybe put a triangle around it to signify The Trinity.

And about that knitting shtuff:

I've cast on for the other fronts of the Scoop twins. I am SOOOO lured by that jacket in Vogue (see previous entry), so it's hard to resist casting on for it, but I HAVE to.

Anybody else... have knitting ADD? Me too.

CCK Progress? I'm in a Rush.

2005-05-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

Why the rush? Because I know exactly what I'm going to use my gifted Patons Cotton DK! It's pattern 12 from the VK Winter 2004/2005 Issue. I couldn't find a picture anywhere on the web, so I took a picture of the one in the magazine. Click here for a big pop-up pic of it. Sorry about the shine on the photo!

I swatched in the Cotton DK and I got gauge for both pattern stitches!! YAAY!! This means that I can knit the exact pattern without any math or alterations, because I really love the look of the pattern as is.

I can't start this awesome jacket yet because I have a 3-sweater-on-the-needles limit, so I have to finish my CCK first. Hence the rush...

Here are a couple of pics so far:

Click to see the awesome wannabe slideshow that I made with the pictures of the sleeve that I took. It's a tribute to Fluffa, but I couldn't figure out how to make it scroll like she does.

I've finished the front and back and crocheted them together, and I did a sleeve to the armpit - I just started on the St st portion.

In the pics, the sleeve is folded over in half, across 2 needles, so that you could see what it looks like next to the body. Almost done! (Not really, but I HAVE to knit that Vogue jacket!)

Tomorrow is Show Your Tattoo Day!

I already took my tattoo pictures, but no peeking until tomorrow's post. I'm excited to see everyones tattoos (and a belly button ring!)!

Anybody else... wish they could knit faster? Me too.

Picture Post!!

2005-05-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

I took a bunch of pictures today because I have so much fun stuff to show!

First of all, I was gifted some fantabulous yarn from a friend of mine who tried to take up knitting and never really stuck with it. It's Paton's Cotton DK in a really nice navy blue. I think I'll knit something lacy with it because I can't see myself knitting with this tiny-gauged yarn on little-ass needles.

Proof of this gifting?

Next up is a picture of CCK progress. I am 1 repeat away from finishing the front/back, and then I'm going to crochet me some seams. (Fun!)

I can't wait until I get to the sleeves of this thing... Tonight perhaps?

Moving on to the twins, Vanilla and Blueberry. Scoop du Jour is a knit that just flies off the needles.

Here is a pic of the two fronts of my little darlings:

And here is the best picture that I've ever gotten of Vanilla's stitch:

And lastly, I got two new size US8 circular needles to knit my dear twins with because I had them on bunk ass needles, but Hobby Lobby was doing some kind of rearranging, and I could only find two, one a Boye (what I always get) and one a Susan Bates. Both were the same price, so I got them.

I pulled the Boye out and put my Blueberry on it. Same old same old. Then, I pulled the Susan Bates out. Never had one of these bad boys before...

Man. This thing is awesome. Okay, the cord on a Boye is unyielding and rigid, while the SB is fluid while still being substantially stout. And the needle part...wow. The Boye is sticky, sticky, sticky, and the SB is as slick as a suppository. But less gross.

Here's a comparison picture:

Notice how I have to hold the Boye needle down because it wants to fly about like a snake trying to attack me.

I slipped the SB needle into the stitches of Vanilla and man, it was love at first twisted stitch. No wonder Twisted St st felt awkward and unnatural - it was the needles the whole time!

Anyhow, happy knitting everyone, and long live Susan Bates' needles!

Schooool's Out ForEVAH!!

2005-05-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

I am officially finished with school for the rest of my life, unless I get a wild hair up my heinie later to Master in Linguistics.

No more school! Real life? Bring it on.

I got a sweet job in California that's a stepping stone for a bigger and better job in good ol' white bread conservative-ass Texas - gotta stay close to my mom. (Mom, will you and Becca (the little sis) move to Cali?)

It feels great to know what you're doing when all of your friends are like "Arrrrghhhh, I'm freeeeeaking oooout!"

Anyhow, the job starts August 1st, and it will cause me to have a new address about every 4 months... That's no good for knitting membership fun-times, but I probably won't have a whole lot of time for that. Only time for pure knitting - no frills.

The twins, Vanilla and Blueberry, are progressing nicely, with the right (or is it left - I can't remember) front on each almost done.

Happy knitting y'all, and congrats to the college grads! WHOOP!

Awwww, Twiiins!

2005-05-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I am proud to announce that my twins have arrived:

Meet Vanilla and Blueberry Scoop:

I've heard of knitting two sleeves, two socks, even two cardi fronts at the same time. But two sweaters? Well, here at Knitosaurus Rex, we've got twin scoops!

They are indeed fraternal twins - Blueberry a bouncy, energetic baby boy, and Vanilla a lovely, angelic baby girl - born just moments apart, of the same pattern, and growing together happily ever since.

Here's a close-up comparing the two different stitches (twisted St st vs. plain St st):

Anybody else... wish they could be lucky enough to have (real) twins? Me too.

Oh, yeah and Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

Scoop du Jour KAL Weblog!

2005-05-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

I created an account for the Scoop du Jour Knit-along (started by Heidi) that will allow anyone who emails me to sign up access to be able to post progress shots, questions, etc.

Go over to the page and check it out!

When I showed Heidi the page, she kind of made me in charge of KAL sign-up so that we would have all of the information together.

Email me (53stitches AT gmail DOT com) with the following information if you want to sign up for the KAL.

1) Your name
2) Your knitblog URL (if you have one)

Also, email me if you have questions, comments, concerns, compliments ;), etc.

Happy Scooping!

Anybody else... excited about the knit-along? Me too!

Plain Vanilla? I Think Not.

2005-05-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

I was piddling around, checking out the knitblog scene, when I spotted this on the Subway Knitter's blog. I've never heard of this "Twisted St st" before, but it's uber-pretty and very simple.

Apparently you just knit your sts tbl and then purl normally on the backside. Who'd have thunk it?

So I says to myself, I says "Rachele, you have to make your Vanilla scoop in that stitch. You just have to." And I usually listen to myself, so I cast on for the right front of Vanilla and worked 4x4 ribbing similar to this (I don't want to give the pattern away):

Row 1 (WS): [p4, k4]* Until end.
Row 2: [k4 tbl, p4]* Until end.

Ta-da! Twisted St st ribbing! Proof?

Here's a kind of blurry (but kind of atrsy, no?) close-up of the stitch. Click on the pic to see a somewhat clearer version.

And I did up to 1 repeat on the CCK back/front.

I've cast on for the Blueberry Scoop du Jour, and I think this one will be best in a 2x2 rib instead of 4x4. 2x2 is more playful.

I feel much better with 3 sweaters on needles instead of just one... Kinda.

Anybody else... think knitting tbl is harder than knitting regular? Me too.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

2005-05-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Before I show you the badass completed Lacy Pulli, I have to say that I found this site on Carrieoke's blog, and learned a bunch of things. That pop-up window thing is the coolest thing since sliced you-know-what so, it's going on the links page under "Cool Tools."

Now, for the awesome tank thing:

Click here to see the neckline close-up.

I really, really like this one. Talk about worth the wait! Of course, the ends are not weaved in, but Ah dunna care.

Now let's talk about my next project... I only have one sweater on the needles right now, and that just won't do. So what's next?

Two Scoops, please!

I was having trouble deciding between two styles of the Scoop sweater: The exact one in the pattern - White Cotton Ease, exactly as pattern is written (scout's honor), or a Blue Cotton Ease one that looks more like this black sweater. I LOVE that sweater and was about to ask Carrie what pattern it was knit from, when I saw in the comments that it's from Target... Oops.

But yeah, I'm going to start the neck shaping later, and make a fold-over collar, like the one in the Ribby Cardi, and then shorten the bottom ribbing and add those cute pockets. Big, blue buttons, and we're done!

Anyway, I couldn't decide between those two, when my roommate (very jokingly) suggested that I knit both at once. "What a great idea!" I (very crazily) exclaimed.

So, ahem, it's a two-fer! Two Scoops: one vanilla and one, um, blueberry? Sounds good to me!

Oh, and I made use of that EchoEcho website again:

Click here to see today's snack (read: lunch) of choice.

Anybody else... hungry for ice cream now? Me too.

I'm Done!

2005-05-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Just kidding. But I am almost done. Yay.

I have to knit that other side up and then do the neck-band (I'm thinking I'll lift the instructions from the tennis sweater thats in this same issue) and then sew the shoulder. Then it's finito for this little bastard. Although if I try it on and I don't like the absence of sleeves, I might just do a little facing or a ribbed edging or something to make it more "finished."

Here's a close-up of the V-neck split:

That's it for now. I'm going to put this thing to rest until tomorrow, so any casual knitting that I do tonight will be on the CCK, because large needles and an endless sea of Stockinette sound absolutely delightful at the moment.

Anybody else... claim cheese and chips with soda is their favorite snack? Me too.

Proof?

Surprise!

2005-05-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

I decided on a whim to have a surprise deep V-neck for Ms. Lacy Pullover. I really bossed that biatch around!

And this surprise was totally not due to the fact that I am utterly sick of knitting this thing. Totally not. Okay maybe it is.

But yeah, it still has that gross rolled-bottom thing going on because the needles that I used to knit the ribbing, which are a size bigger, are not around me at the moment.

I have no more knitting pictures, but here are a couple of borderline artsy, but more like goofy, pictures that my man took of us. Originally the photos were upside-down, but I figured I'd spare y'all the sore necks and rotate them 180.

Don't you agree that his green eyes are gorgeous? Mine are muddy water brown and blue.

That one's just me. Uber-close. But candid smiles are always the cutest so I'm not complaining.

Anybody else... hum along with the vaccuum? Me too.

Lordy.

2005-05-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

So it's been a few days, huh?

Let's just say that I didn't knit for almost 3 full days in a row, which hasn't ever happened in my knitting lifetime (1 year, 2 Months)

Project Goals Reevaluation Time

1) Finish Lacy Pulli by May 12
2) Finish CCK by May 12
3) RIP Hooded Pullover

Why RIP the Hoody? I just don't feel right about it. I like the style and everything, but it's just not working for me.

OH! Remember when I was going to make a copycat Phildar sweater? Well, that one never worked out, either and I actually think I might know why.

I looked at the sweater again:

And I realized that I still want to knit that thing up. So what's the fix? Twisted 1x1 rib! (I think.) Because the thing is that the sweater looks all tight and flattering on the model, especially the forearm ribbing. Mine was a 2x2 regular rib, so it was looser. Don't get me wrong; I'm in love with a good 2x2 rib, but I guess it just doesn't work with this design.

So, that's a future option. Because I'm so low on knitting options...

And now for Lacy Pullover progress:

Okay, last night I was all happy because I was going to have knitting time. This happiness melted away when it turned out that Ms. Lacy Pulli was a total bitch.I messed up so many times that it took me about 4 hours to get through 1 farking repeat. 28 blasted rows.

The first time that I messed up, I worked row 15 on the right-hand repeat, but worked row 17 on the left-hand side. "Oh, that's an easy mistake to make, and equally easy to fix," you say? Sure, unless you knitted 6 more rows after that! And this ain't no memorizeable lace repeat, at least not for me, anyway.

I decided to perform knitting surgery (AKA: I dropped a 22 st x 8-row section of sts):

And after that was totally FUBARed because I screwed up like a thousand times. (It turns out that not only did I work row 17, I had an extra stitch in there, too, so all of the rows after that extra stitch had like this big loop of extra yarn when I finished with them. NOT COOL!)

I cussed a LOT, and ripped out all of the offending rows:

Then I spent some time lovingly caressing the Lacy Pulli. "Lacy, don't be this way. If you loved me, you'd knit up. And I love you."

So now I'm this far:

That's the 1 repeat that I mentioned. *HUGE sigh* Oh, well.

Here's a gratuitous close-up:

Anybody else... sick of looking at pics of this thing? Me too.

Tip #2.

2005-04-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a tip for Selvedge stitch-lovers which involves screwing up a row in a lace pattern.

Okay, background info: I love the selvedge stitch. It makes everything look so pretty while you're knitting, makes seams so easy to crochet, and makes scarves look tidier.

My favorite selvedge? The (Sl 1st st PW, k last st) every row.

That being said, when I am looking over a pattern, planning out my project (since I like never follow the pattern as is), I check to see if the pattern author has accounted for selvedge stitches or not.

For example, sometimes the lace pattern is a "multiple of 10 sts plus 2" or something, and if the author accounts for a the selvedge, then it will say "C/O 84 sts." Which breaks down into this:

Selvedge st, (10 x 8) + 2, selvedge st = 84.

BUT sometimes the author thinks that if you want a selvedge st, you'll add it yourself, in which case, they'll tell you to cast on 82. I think this one is the most common in patterns.

HOWEVER sometimes I'm feeling saucy, and if the first and last stitches of the lace pattern are knitted in plain St st, I will incorporate my own selvedge stitch right into the pattern.

This means that I cast on 82, but since the first and last sts are always in St st, I have those sts as the selvedge.

Don't ask me why I do this. I don't know if it's because I think I'll be done faster w/o those extra 2 sts every row, or what, but I'll do this kind of crap on a whim. And it gets me into trouble, which brings me to my tip.

If you are a dimwit like me and love to make your knitting life more complicated, so you do the same thing that I described above, for Heaven's sake, don't selvedge without thinking about it because that's what you usually do! Here's a description of the mistake:

Okay, you're knitting along, concentrating on every lace row because you realize that a stitch in time saves nine or whatever, and you come to the next RS row, and it says "K1, YO, K4..." So you K1, YO, K4, and so on until the last few stitches are upon you, and you realize that there's only 4 sts left when you're supposed to K5. Aw, sheeit.

So. You silently pray that the mistake wasn't too far back, so you can just tink 10 sts or something, and then get on with it. You start from the beginning of the knitting, like you always do when this happens, to chant this row's repeat as you check to make sure you did it right, when ACK!!

Your %#@$!* mistake was at the mother %#@$!* beginning!! You selvedged and then started the repeat, without thinking, like you usually do, but in this case that was BAD because you should have just selvedged and then YO'd, but instead you offset everything in the damn row by1 stitch by K1-ing first! DAMN IT!

So, you have to tink back all the way to the beginning of the row, all because you're an idiot like me.

Now, what's the lesson here? Is it that we should pay attention more carefully, or is it that we should just add the %#@$!* 2 selvedge sts at the start so we won't have to %#@$!* worry about it?

That's for you to decide. :)

Lacy Pullover Revival.

2005-04-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

I finally buckled down and took the Lacy Pulli with me to class (which means that I HAVE to work on it between classes, because I don't have anything else to work on), and I fixed that messed up row. Then, on the next row, I did the unthinkable. The unSPEAKable.

But I'll tell you, because I think everyone could benefit. I'm too nice, I know. I'm going to make it Tip#2, I just decided, so wait for that in a sec.

As for now, I have proof that I worked on the front of the LC:

This picture is cool because it shows the two bottoms (ribbed and rolled) for a comparison shot. See how the ribbing shows off the pattern better?

And you can also tell, I think, from the picture that I inverted the two lace patterns like it does in the original pattern. I made this one into a pullover, when it was a wrap sweater before, if you can recall, and here's how I did it:

I just cast on the same amount of sts as for the back, and then it was just a matter of doing the math to get the lace pattern inversion to work.

Then, I broke the st count into 3 parts, as diagramed below in crappy .gif format, and matched up the stitch count as well as possible. I was very fortunate because the middle ended up with 22 sts, and that ribbed lace pattern is a 10 + 2 repeat! Perfect!

And there's a little more to it, but I don't want to get too much into the pattern. If you've bought the Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005 issue, and you want the naughty details, then email me at my new badass Gmail account: 53stitches aat gmail doooottt cooooooommmmm.

And lastly, here's the reason why knitting has been at an all time low:

Yes, if you look closely, you can see that I have romance novels, a book of erotic stories, and a couple of total smut comic books. Then to the right of that, I have a pile of library books about sexual consent itself and about sexual consent as it relates to literature.

My paper covers sexual consent in 3 levels of sexual literature. (From sweet to seductive to scandalous!) I'm glad that I chose this topic, even if it did grow to kind of large proportions - it started out as being only about sexual consent in romance novels - because the data collection process for this paper was the most interesting that I've experienced yet!

This was me: *Skim skim skim.* Sex scene! Okay what's happening here? *Reads sex scene.* Okay, she says no, but she actually wants to have sex. And, okay, he says yes and he means it. *Scribbles check marks in appropriate boxes.*

Repeat 14 times, 5 times over each genre, and there you have it! Research!

Also totally awesome is the fact that the data that I've collected really is interesting, and shows very salient patterns. Always a good thing when you're trying to prove something.

Anyway, on that note... paper writing must commence! Peace!

Friday. Kind of.

2005-04-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

It's just reeeaaally early on Friday... Yeah, that's it. But seriously, I consider this still Thursday night.

Anyway.

I did a bunch in the way of paper writing today. I'm doing a paper on sexual consent for a linguistics class (Language and Gender) that I'm taking, in which I analyze the sex scenes in 3 romance novels for the dialogue and/or described body language surrounding sexual consent.

I had never read a romance novel before but I was really not surprised when I encountered a sex scene about every 30 pages or so. Methinks I might have to limit my discussion to 3 scenes per book.

So why am I blogging about that? Because there was a severe lack of knitting around here because of it.

I managed to finish CCK's back (or front) and knitted about 2" of the front (or back), and I am a little over halfway done with the right front of the Hooded Pulli.

Here's the debut picture of the CCK pieces along with the balls of yarn that are helping to create it. What a pretty and colorful picture these make!

At first, I was skeptical about this stripe sequence, but the more I knitted, the more I loved it! My roommate says that the single purple stripe in the sequence is the coolest part (can you see it in the pic? It's between the navy blue and the white. On my moniter, it looks like something is there, but I wouldn't have known it was a light purple stripe. Well, now you know.)

And here's one of the Hooded Pullover progress:

The front piece is so thin because that's only 1/3 of the total front width, since I'm going to be adding that ribbed center.

Also, I have somewhat of a dilemma: I don't know the first thing about drop sleeves, since I've never done them, but I made my sweater front slop a little on the center side so that the white ribbed part won't just go straight up, or be too floppy, but now I'm regretting doing that, because I think that the drop sleeves will pull the shoulder out enough as it is, so the ribbing rill pull out to the side TOO much. I have no clue.

Maybe I should rip back and knit this without any shaping like it does in the pattern. Oh, and in the pattern picture it doesn't seem like the lace part sticks straight up or behaves too frumpily.

Perhaps I am in good shape.

Incidentally, I am NOT in good shape, because as further evidence will point out, I had a weak moment tonight...

SNACK ATTACK!! Total evidence of severe snackage.

And on the Lacy Pulli front (ha!), I still only have like an inch of knitting done on the front because I royally FUBARed the last row that I worked on, and it was one of those moments where I redid it 3 times, and still screwed it up, so I didn't want to even look at it for the rest of the day.

So it's just chillin' with the messed up row still intact. I wanted to take a picture, but my roommate is asleep and probably wishing that I would be follow her lead instead of taking pictures of my knitting at 2am.

On that note, I'm going to sleep. An uber-long day awaits me, full of class-attending and paper-writing.

Awesome.

Peace.