new knitting book

I just got myself a copy of Knitting Block by Block by Nicky Epstein. Love the hardback and the photography, more on the actual blocks once I get through the book )and maybe test knit a few)

Bitterroot is exhausting me...am at 80%, REALLY want to finish and block it before the ladies lunch at my place next week (vanity, vanity)....but the stitch counts have gone up and the purl rows are boring me...yeah my fingers are itching to swatch with the worsted silk i got off ebay, but i am being stern.

im back ...

with a new 'about me' writeup on both blogger and ravelry.

Startitis. Short attention span. Love lace. Knitting on circulars only. Love animal fiber. Acrylic works sometimes. but mostly merino, alpaca and wool blends. I. can't. knit. socks. Need to de-stash. Spend 60% of my monthly allowance on yarn (and knitty bits). TG for a tolerant husband! Homemaker. Displaced desi. Go through phases. Hats. Cables. Now, lace. Trying to write a novel. Knitting competing with plotting though :(

i love my writing (when it does happen!)

Fuzzy feet redux and camden hat too

i am leaving for India in approximately 3 weeks. and in that time i need to finish Lia (unhappy with the fact that i had to frog an entire skein's worth due to the negative ease which they published AFTER i had CO), make a hat for dad, and slippers for mum and the husband. i have the yarn ready...just can't seem to make the time to finish it all up.

ugh!

update: finished dad's hat and 1 of two slippers for mum. now my husband wants the hat and i still havent worked on lia at all.

Shiny new swift and a new pattern

Lots of updates, since I haven't written in a while. Finished my first felted slipper socks/clogs. they were HUGE, Hagrid sized but after felting are very thick and warm and will (hopefully) keep my feet toasty in the winter months. My hands and feet are already cold...and it is only fall. :(

Got navy blue bulky wool from knitpicks to make Lia. Gauge swatch finished and just CO. Row gauge is a bit off, my swatch is slightly longer but it should be okay. Could not figure out the stretchy/slingshot type cast on recommended, so used a knitted cast on (my knitted CO tends to be way loose anyway).

But here's why i am so happy today: My knitpicks swift finally turned up today...wooooooo hooooo! Used it to wind 3 hanks already and am so thrilled with it. Tried using chairs and the husband to wind a hank of bulky and sock yarn respectively with equally disastrous results. complements the knitpicks ball winder perfectly. Am so glad i have it.

Dr Scholl's costs me a 'dime' and more

I've learned my lesson and that means no cheap shoes for me ever. Come to think of it, everything I buy at Wal-mart turns out ruinous in the end...so I got these fruit of the loom knickers at like throwaway prices...but I'm shocked...at how scratchy the fabric is. I've worn their tshirts before and my husband uses their vest. they are generally so soft..but these are a major let down. hope washing will soften them up a bit.

I got these Dr scholl's mary janes at about $20. should have known it was too good to be true. They ate away at my skin, kept rubbing it off and in 15 min, rubbed off a dime sized circle of skin. I'm not kidding. Sadly.

Gauged for a pain or socks in knitpicks 'playtime' colorway. 8 st=1". Will cast on tomorrow on DPNs.

Must learn magic loop!

iblock

Blocking mats, wires, hundreds of T-pins and plenty of finished objects. All soft and squidgy and smooshy. I like soft things. Fuzzy-wuzzies which I can press my cheek to, fluffiness which I can sink my feet in and cocoon myself in comfort. Knit, purl, purl, knit. What a life, and what an art. Wearable as well as creative, so sucks to you, grandma, for calling me old fashioned and my art ‘old housewives sitting on the front stoop with nothing better to do than clack needles and tongues endlessly.’

My stash is threatening to take over my apartment and UFO’s in various stages of execution lay about here and there. A couple inches of ribbing on the sofa, an unpaired sock on the table, a poochie sweater with ends not woven in. Frogged (sigh, it took me so long to do that much) sweaters lying in an ignominious heap inside the telly trolley. And yarn everywhere, fuzzy ends on the floor, tangled and untangled and detangled cakes piled about just anyhow. From creation to chaos and from chaos to a cosmic (well almost) state of new creation. Such is life, as I said before, and here I am, with the fruits of my labor draped about me, cloudy trophies of my art.

You doubt my art, ma’am? Since it seems plebian to you, well everybody can knit of course and everybody, they say, can dance and paint a picture. Everybody is me, and yet, not-me, because I am everyone and I am no one. Sometimes I am an average Someone, point for point an ordinary little homemaker with few ambitions and some fulfilled desires. More often, I am no one because my writing and my words are me and if the well runs dry, then the bucket ceases to exist. Meaningfully, that is. Words and thoughts swirl away as the water does and whispers fade into the air. You don’t believe me do you? All right then, give me back my lost words. Words that used to be and may still exist in some dark, dank corner of the internet. Can you find them and bind them together? I thought not.

Blocking mats and pins and shiny little points, prick my finger and feel the sting. I wish I could block the kinks off myself and be what everyone wanted to be. Frog that. Wish I could block myself into what I wanted me to be.

Clouds restarted and some cooking thrown in

I have an average of one craving per half hour. Not kidding. Sometimes, the want fades away, leaving a few soft sighs behind, more often however, it does not and I need to have it. The Cloud Bolero is one such thing. Wanting it in India where you can't get 8mm circular needles, frustration. Wanting ti in the US, with needles but no ring markers on hand. Sigh. Cast on. bliss. soft and easy? schmeazy! fatal mistakes and my poor bolero is frogged and reincarnated as two matching watch caps for husband et moi. and now- attempt 2. in a cheaper yarn, but hey what the heck. i need to have this!

i often crave non edible items and that guarantees non instant satisfaction. what is one to do then? simple enough- cook something every now and then. Today was Rajasthani day, with dal-bati and homemade gulab jamuns. The verdict is yet to come since we haven't eaten yet, but i live in hope. And the smell of cinnamon.

Irony

Here I am, eating crisps, while my husband works out at the gym. Ironic.

Here I am, buying more and more wool until it threatens to take over my closet (and sofa) and I'm frogging every other project. Okay, so the cloud bolero got frogged because I made a mistake in the pattern (ok, a really bad one) but I frogged the vest because I just didn’t like how the stitch pattern was turning out- and the yarn hurt my hands. Okay, I think, no more cheap yarns anymore. I finished a sleeve on the drops pullover, and slid it onto my hand to show my husband who loves the pale pink color. He strokes it and finds it a tad rough. Well, what else can you expect from an acrylic polyester blend?

I’m craving crisps again…not good!

So much cooking- chicken parm and samosa- rajma chawal and pav bhaji- kheer and pasta…sometimes I wonder- should I put up some recipes? Nah, I think- no one reads this anyway. And that’s fine.

I was so lonely when I first got here and now? I still don’t have any friends, but I go to a class occasionally, and I know my next door neighbor now (not well, they moved in a week or so back) but still it’s better than nothing. And I have knitting and watching the telly, dr who (and lusting after david tennant) and classic toons and unlimited Netflix on my DVD player…so yes, I am alone, but I’m okay.

Although I do look forward to my husband getting back- and I daydream about him off and on- mostly the creases about his mouth as he starts to smile. Not dimples, just creases. Intensely sexy.

And drooling over him while stuffing my mouth with lays crisps.

Irony.

destination: rhode island!

we're taking advantage of 4th of july weekend to go to rhode island for seafood, beach fun and general lounging about. we're talking 4 hours of driving time (+/-) and seeing as i am very likely to get bored, i am taking my jumper with me. ive gotten halfway through the skirt so i probably wont reach the waist shaping bit anytime soon, but its nice to have something to do seeing as i cant fall asleep!

hope this nasty cough im developing wont cramp my style. not that i have any to speak of, lol.

Cloud Bolero and Drops jumper

That's what's been keeping me occupied lately, apart from researching yarn and patterns on ravelry.

My cloud bolero is about 1/4 or so done (heck maybe less) this is my first top down so i can't really tell. I think i may have made a mistake with one of the raglan sides. can't figure out what though!

Jumper is at about 6". Relaxing telly knitting! I've been feeling like a lot of animation recently (aka scooby doo) after an overdose of audrey tautou films because i cant read the subtitles and knit at the same time. well i could but, no.

Getting cold-ish again. Lets hope weather's fine for 4th of july weekend.

Knitting College

Signed up for knitting college at The Lion Brand Yarn Studio.

Knitting I & II and III (beginners).

Why? When I obviously do know how to knit?

Because we weren't taught at school. Not properly. It mostly consisted of writing reams of patterns down and not knowing what the difference between k2tog and p2tog was.

Because I only know the long tail cast on and knit/purl bind off.

Because I know very little about gauge and yarn. Heck, we only got acrylic back home, and here I am, surrounded by cotton, hemp, silk and bamboo.

Because I can't block. I do what I think is steam blocking but that's about it.

What the heck are grafting, Kitchener stitch and why are cables so complicated? what are short rows?

Lord, seems like I know nothing. Anyway, 1 class may not solve all my woes, but its a step forward.

Because I really do enjoy knitting. I find it relaxes me.

Except when I make a mistake!!!!