Well shoot, I missed my own anniversary! My first post to this blog was made on March 1, 2007, although the first real content wasn’t posted until the 2nd. Belated happy anniversary to myself! Yay for one year!
ETA: Ha! Apparently this gratuitous, self-congratulatory post is also my 100th post! Yay for 100 posts! ;-D
Todd wearing his new hat
Originally uploaded by BronzePolgara
I configured my Flickr today to post directly to my knitting blog, so this is me, testing it out. Sadly, you can’t choose tags/categories in this window, so I’ll still have to sign in to edit a little, but I think I might post more often if I’m posting directly from a photo page.
This is the hat I made for my brother-in-law for (after) Christmas. It’s double-stranded Patons wool, ribbed brim with a stockinette base. I was afraid the 80-stitch cast-on might’ve made it too big, but I think it was just right. Not happy with the little peak at the top, though.
Also, I should probably mention that I did NOT chicken out Thursday night and did, in fact, go to the WeHo SnB group at the Farmer’s Market. It was scary, I’ll admit–I expected maybe six people, and there were closer to 20 people there–but I grabbed an empty chair, pulled out my crochet, and even managed to spit out a sentence or two before the night was over. And, I met Ellen Bloom, whose blog I’ve been reading for almost a year, so that was cool too. Which reminds me, I have to go look up the shawl she was working on, it was beautiful–Serephim? Serephina? Something like that.
I can’t say that I fit in right away, since it takes me awhile to warm up to new people and start acting like myself, but I do plan on going again next week, so I call it a win!
I was surfing the tags at Wordpress and found an excellent idea on Put a Sock in it: Born Again Knitter–she’s using one of those ticker counters to keep track of the last time she fell off her own stash wagon and bought yarn. I fell in love with this idea immediately! Sadly, I’m an idiot and can’t figure out how to make a post that always stays at the top of the page, so I’ve placed my ticker on my About Me page. As of today, it’s been three days since I last bought yarn. My current goal is to make it to 30 days. What will I do if I reach my goal? No clue. Hopefully it won’t be “buy yarn!”
In other news, the picture of my Little Coco bag, the one I posted last week? Has been hit 98 times already on Flickr. ?! I can’t imagine why, it’s just a bag. The visitors aren’t coming from here, ’cause to be honest, I don’t get that many hits. Maybe from Ravelry? I dunno, but it has beat out the cute baby hats as my most visited knitted item on Flickr. Weird.
I think I’m becoming addicted to my stats. Ever since NaBloPoMo started–heck, even before that!–I’ve had no zero-hit days. That’s kinda nice, knowing that someone out there is reading my ramblings. (And also sobering–more pressure not to say something stupid!)
I finished purse #4 yesterday–the knitting, that is, not the seaming or felting. It’s super-cute, with a white base yarn and a pink confetti-ish novelty carryalong that makes the whole thing look like a soft fuzzy pink. Makes me wish I’d saved it for a kid-sized purse, but fortunately I have another ball and a half to play with! I grabbed a ziploc of turquoise and purple to start a Little Coco at lunch, but didn’t have time today, so that’ll be tonight. I still need to divy up yesterday’s yarn haul into project bags.
Tomorrow I’ll try to post a pic of a scarf I knit over a year ago–maybe even as long as two years?–that I finally got around to blocking this weekend. It’s orange and red cotton in a feather and fan lace pattern, and holy moses, I can’t believe the difference the blocking made! It’s a whole new scarf! I totally shouldn’t have waited so long. Sadly, I don’t think it’s soft enough to be worthy of gifting, but at least it’s much more attractive now in its proper shape. 
It’s November first, alright–I’ve been sitting at my PC for 20 minutes with GMA on in the background and have already seen two Christmas commercials. Yay?
November also brings the start of National Blog Posting Month, and to celebrate this, I’ve committed to updating this blog every day for the entire month of November. (*fingers crossed*) My theory about this is that my content is going to suffer–coming up with something new to post about every day? I suspect within a week I’ll be transcribing the weather report and posting memes. Let’s face it, I’m no Yarn Harlot or Crazy Aunt Purl (my favorite knitting blogs, btw).
In yarny news, last night I pulled out the Berroco Foliage that’s been waiting for just the right project, and tried to start the short row rib scarf from Magknits…..and I didn’t get very far. I learned that NONE of my reference books includes instructions for “purl in front and back”. WTF? So I went to the go-to site for knitting techniques, knittinghelp.com, and guess what? They don’t have that technique either! I tried to improve the stitch, and it turned out, well, very badly. I gave up and put the yarn and pattern down and made a couple of granny squares to rebuild my confidence, then returned to the computer later to google the technique. I found some nice illustrations, but have yet to pick up the yarn to try again.
On the other hand, I’m building up a nice granny square stash! They’re so easy to make–I even made one last night while I was on the phone. So far I have twelve, but I think I’ll need double that to make a decent scarf. I promise to post pictures soon!
Yesterday I was catching up on my blog reading, surfing Wordpress blogs by tags, and I found a reference to “KnitWars.” Huh, I thought, I wonder what that is? There was no link, so I googled it and found Lime n Violet’s website, and what I read of KnitWars intrigued me muchly!
They had found a website called ChoreWars, whose sole purpose is to turn chores into a game resembling a D&D adventure. Sweet! Groups of people (families, housemates, offices, etc.) create their own gaming party and define their own adventures (i.e. chores), with rewards, treasures and risks attached to each one. Presumably these families set up a real-life reward/punishment system based on the scores people earn as motivations for the completion of chores and duties.
Lime and Violet created their own chore party, but instead of mopping, dusting and vacuuming, the adventures run more along the lines of finishing a WIP, frogging a lost cause, and spinning 4 oz. of fiber. You create your own character and keep track of your accomplishments to earn points, gold and treasure–meaningless in the general scheme of things, since this wasn’t set up to compete against other knitters, but a fun way to keep track of what you’ve done, what you’re doing, and what each goal might be worth on the scale of your own time. It’s fun and creative and fantasy-adventurish, and may not be for everyone, but for me, competitive and fantasy-loving me, IT’S AWESOME! So far I love it to pieces, and I’m hoping it motivates me to finish the many WIPs I have stashed away in drawers and closets.
In fact, I love it so much that I created my own private party of one, with all my single-living, nobody to do them but me, chores and activities (including exercise and good eating habits), in the hopes I can kick myself into gear to get those dishes done, and finally throw that old computer away, and earn points and rewards while I’m at it! (There’s a 5% chance I can buy myself a new dvd if I brush the kitties tonight!)
Yes, I am a goober, but I *heart* technology, especially the kind that makes the tedious necessities of life a little more interesting.
And since I want this post to count towards points in the KnitWars, I have to include a picture:
What makes a knitting blog interesting? Is it all the yarn/needlework chatter, or the little extras that differentiate each blogger as individuals? There’s only so much I can talk about my current projects, but I feel guilty for neglecting my blog for almost a week with no updates. Perhaps a mix of both would work best?
Well, on the knitting front at least, my Booga Bag is nearly finished–the knitting part, anyway. The colors are a bit more spring-like than late summer, but since I usually just put my bags on a shelf when I’m done with them, I guess it doesn’t matter all that much. I started the last color change last night, and as there isn’t much of that color left (or of the other two, for that matter), I’ll have to bind off very soon. I just can’t decide if I want a normal bind-off, or the i-cord bind off from the Little Coco bag. Hmm. I’ll also need enough left over for the i-cord handles. Oops. Maybe if I mix the leftovers of all three, I’ll have enough? Yeah, in retrospect, that was bad planning on my part.
I have done nothing in crochet since my last update; the bag has had all my attention this week. I even took it to the Red Sox/Angels game on Tuesday, although to be honest, I never took it out of my bag–afraid I’d miss something, I guess. It was also bloody hot until the sun went down. But I did work on it at my doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and at the hair stylist’s yesterday, while I waited for the bleach, and then the blue dye, to set in. (New blue! Squee! Except, it’s more of a purple blue right now, but it’ll fade and then I can make it my usual blue–new blue! Yay!) I did not work on it while I had lunch with my friend K, or at either of my two sushi lunches (I’m obsessed with sushi these days, can’t get enough of it), or at my phsyical therapy appointment, but I did work on it while watching my Netflix dvds–The Dresden Files, disc one, and Eureka, disc one.
Ha! Didja see what I did there? I shared my week while still making it knitting related! Yes, I am a goober.
Let’s see, what else? I’m terribly behind in reading my favorite knitting blogs. I haven’t bought any new knitting or crochet books or magazines this week. Oo! I have been considering changing my stance on socks. I have always been anti-sock, because I despise DPNs with the heartfelt blackness of deep space. But! Two weeks ago, Wendy of Wendy Knits talked about knitting socks with two circulars, and she included a link to a video demonstrating the technique. (I’ve always known that awesome video site exists, but I always forget about it when it’s time to research a technique.) The video made it look not-impossible, and possibly even do-able. I’m not saying I’m gonna be starting a sock this week or anything, but I’m turning it over in my head, and I’m no longer saying never.
Jack wants attention RIGHT NOW, so that’s it for today.
First up, a sale!
If you’re a subscriber to Knitting Daily, then you’re already aware that Interweave Press is having a “hurt book” sale, selling off damaged books at deeply discounted sales. I was verra excited about this, as I’ve been barely holding back purchasing 200 Crochet Blocks and I figured this would be the perfect incentive. Until, that is, I went to the website.
Now, I’m at work, which means I’m on a pretty fast connection–usually. The Hurt Books website, however, is agonizingly slow. Like, having a car park right on your foot and the driver can’t hear you so he leaves it there for awhile, slow. Agonizing. But I stuck it out, ’cause I wanted that book. Took about 20 minutes, but I finally got the main page, then the “shopping” page, then the specific book page to open. (Three pages, 20 minutes. Why don’t they just stick a pen in my eye and get it over with?) I added it to my cart. (Another five minutes.) Then it was time to check out! Except….there was no link to my cart. No “view cart”, no “checkout” button, no nuthin’ to indicate it was even a shopping site. WTF?! I had to go back to the homepage (……………..load already!…….) to find a “View Cart” link in the left nav, and when I clicked on it? A 404.
I gave up. A half hour to buy a book at 50% off, and no way to checkout? I’d rather pay Amazon’s price.
Now granted, it’s entirely possible, even probable, that the site’s problems are due to a higher than usual traffic rate, but in the end, it just wasn’t worth it to me. But if you want to try it out, I wish you luck, speed, and much patience.
In Crochet News
Last week I was doing my usual blog sweep, and found the coolest bag on L.A. Is My Beat. It’s called “Larger Than Life,” the pattern for which was included in the spring issue of Interweave Crochet. It was so beautiful, with so many vibrant colors, I just had to have one! I hit Borders on Independence Day and picked up a copy of the magazine, and I got started on my first square this past Sunday.
Wow, it’s harder than it looks! Also, it’s my first square, so I’m still learning the basics, but this square is definitely teaching me lots! It’s not finished–one more round to go–and I have no pictures yet, but this first one is yellow in the center, green in the middle layer, and purple on the outside–perfect Mardi Gras colors, actually. I’m verra proud of it so far, and can’t wait to make more, but it requires concentration, which makes it difficult to work on when there are distractions, like conversations and dvds and inquisitive cats. I’ll try to remember to take a picture tonight.
Also this weekend, I crochet my first flower, from a pattern in The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches. It was easy–boring, really. I made two, one in yellow, one in purple. I’ll take pictures of those tonight, too.
And finally, today I brought Grace’s blanket with me to work. I’ll be weaving in ends and adding a lime-green sc border during lunch, as it’s about time I got both hers and Noah’s blankets finished, washed and delivered to their rightful homes.
And that’s what’s up with me in the world of yarn. I haven’t picked up the knitting needles in what seems like ages–crochet is just so much easier and quicker. Maybe once these projects are complete, I’ll try to knit some booties from a little booklet I got at the grocery store checkout line.
Until then, always remember, you’re only young once, but you can be immature forever!
I realize I am way late in finding this gem, as it was originally posted in March of 2006, but now that I’ve found it, I want to make sure I remember where it is:
Needles & hooks: Knitting Blog Drinking Game
So clever! And so true–lordy knows I’m guilty of more than one of those drinking triggers myself!
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