By the Power of Greyskull!!!!

I just got my October Rockin Sock Club package. That is all.

Stash Check!

I for one was not sorry to see 2006 go. Fortunately, since most of the hassle was connected with my job and that is making slow progress toward becoming more manageable, 2007 is shaping up to be far superior to its predecessor. And it's the Year of the Pig. How can that not be a fun year?

I am not a Pig, nor am I a Cock (which would have really been perfect for a chicken lover like me) but an Ox. Hmmm, not very romantic or feminine, an Ox. Last year was year of the Dog, and it was a dog alright. 2009 will be the next Ox year, though, and it really will be my year as it is the year we are planning our trip to Japan. We'll see if I actually get there.

So, some knitting, but lots of purchasing of the yarn type goodness. First, in keeping with the animal theme I seem to have going here, is the STR stash:


Colorways in order of appearance L to R: Lucy, Chanticleer, Henpecked, Rooster Rock.

Not only does Tina have an amazing talent for color, she has a thing for chickens of which I heartily approve. These are the most amazing color combinations. I am thinking of trying to get Ophelia to pose with them if I can figure a way to do that without putting yarn at risk. Oh well, we will see. Anyway, for the sake of completeness, here is the rest of the STR stash:

L to R: Cobblestone County, Queen Rock, Ruby Slippers. On order, Titania and Peasblossom.

So, as you see, I am utterly rejecting the whole knit from the stash thing that is otherwise storming bloglandia. My only joy when I am too busy working to knit is purchasing yarn. Also, remember that I have 9 evil friends who believe that the yarn gets way too much of my attention and do everything in their not inconsiderable power to get between me and the knitting.


They also love basking in the Ott Light. What's a knitter to do?

Next installment, my new obsession with Fleece Artist.

Dude, Where's My Blog?

For all of you who still have me on your bloglines, thanks for being patient (or just too lazy to remove me). I have been in the unenviable position of having so little free time I had to choose between knitting and blogging. And I chose the knitting.

But tonight I cannot knit, so I blog. Why, you ask, can I not knit? Well, I got bit above the wrist by one of my cats, and it seems I got bit bad enough to get infected in a mere 12 hours from bite to doctor's office. Ah, well, left handed typing is my amusement now. Fun.

When last we met, I had eight cats and two chickens and a small handful of baby fish keeping my big pair company in the pond. I now have nine cats, one chicken (these events are not related) and a gazillion growing fish in a too small pond. However, the remaining chicken, Ophelia, is a real trooper, giving us our daily egg and plenty amusement. Will I get a second chicken? We will see next spring, for now, I'll be happy to overwinter Ophelia. One chicken takes lots less precious time to deal with.

So, for the knitting. Right now, all uni-handed, I am too spazzy to get pictures together, but I will post some very soon. Not 3 months soon, like this weekend soon, maybe sooner if the meds get on top of this stupid infection. But I have finished the Fair Isle Sampler Hat, which was really rewarding, and am 3/4 of the way through the Paistu Mittens from 2 Pieceworks ago, I am almost done with some Trekking socks, I am acquiring quite a backlog of Petals Collection Yarn from Sundara's club (which is almost too pretty to knit!) and I have scored some of the new KSH purple color. Which brings me to this question.

Why do I keep buying KSH when I have yet to successfully knit with the stuff? Does anyone else have this sort of yarn problem? I can't stop buying it, I want all the colors, I love it, I adore it, I have big dreams and plans for it, and I can't make five freaking rows of lace with it without having to unknit it. Because you know it absolutely can't be frogged in the conventional manner. What is my problem here? And, to make matters worse, I buy it 3 balls at a time like I am going to knit a Birch in every flippin color. I have no idea. It is just a romantic dream I guess, but even I think it's weird.

Well, this is short but this is all I have energy for now. While everyone under the sun is at Rhinebeck this weekend I will be blogging (for real, with pics, finally), knitting (hopefully), and nullifying my antibiotics with a beer or two (definitely). What the heck.

Reboot

Welcome July and all the future will bring! As last summer did, this summer has taken me in unexpected directions. Lest all you folks in blogland think you're in for another whine-fest of why I'm not knitting, let me assure you that that won't be the case. We are learning to roll with it. We are open to new experiences. Most importantly, we are still knitting.

First, let's contemplate the lotus blossom in the early morning light. I have never seen anything like it. The flowers actually glowed with a light I couldn't catch with the camera. They smelled like cotton candy and anise. Then one day I was looking in the pond and saw some new minnows. I thought, cool! Then I went inside and started to think about it for a few minutes. I decided that 1, minnows do not spontaneously generate in closed pond systems and 2, birds generally did not eat minnows from one pond and poop the seeds into another, thus spreading minnows like weeds. About now the brain actually starts kicking in, showing me a quick succession of snapshots of my memory. I remember the fish being all cute and synchronized swimmy this spring. I run outside and look really hard at the little plain bronze fish. Then a shubunkin splotchy minnow darts past and I realize my fish had babies! I know it happens, folks, but it was so unexpected! It is just amazing. (Granted, not as amazing as spontaneous minnow generation, but still...)

Then we saw the completion of the Dye-O-Rama swap. Somewhere in England a womans' eyes were burned out as she opened my package and "experienced" her yarn. I included some scented candles (she likes vanilla) so she would get something nice in case she thought the yarn was a booby prize. She was very gracious to me on her blog, I really hope she liked it. I am actually going to dye some more just like it so I can see for myself how that skein knits up. But that will be another project for another day.

I received my yarn and got a real surprise - 2 skeins! One from Susan W. who was my Dye Pal and one from her daughter! Bonus! (or like we say in Louisiana, lagniappe!) I would be hard pressed to tell you which I like better.

Aren't they beautiful? I just can't get over it. I can't wait to see what they look like knitted up.

The chickens are laying eggs on a pretty regular schedule now, we are finding new ways to use up the eggs (still at a 2 to 1 ratio to storebought - tiny!). I have reinstated the ceremonial gifting of fresh eggs to my friends (it's a chickengoddess thing, you wouldn't understand;), and am looking for some of those japanese boiled egg molds for making shaped eggs for bentos. I have always been intrigued by bentos and now that I am having to eat way healthier, I am studying the bento as an option.

Oh, so I haven't mentioned that I'm eating healthier? Let me share my healthcare odyssey. Remember, not whining. Really. Ok, there was overwork stress, then there was a hideous sinus infection, then there were general feelings of death-y-ness (it is a word if I say it is) which went way beyond mere summer cold. Then there were visits to multiple doctors (first one not my usual doc and I shant be making that mistake again) and much lab testing ensued. And guess what? My cholesterol medicine gave me hepatitis. Freaking hep. All those years of avoiding injecting recreational drugs, and for what? So, there was much discontinuation of medication, and supplementation with liver cleansing herbs, and then my MD suggested I consider acupuncture as a complementary treatment for strengthening my liver and for general good health. He recommended a TCM (traditional chinese medicine) practitioner. Let me tell you, I love my Doctor. And now, I love my TCM doc too. And my treatment, at first bizarre, has really been effective, and I have had many benefits from both the acupuncture therapy and the herbal therapy. Now, the final bloodwork was drawn yesterday, so this week I should know the answer to the most important question very soon. Will I be cleared to drink beer? Meanwhile, though, without the benefits of cholesterol lowering medications, I have to really watch what I eat. Did you know that shrimp are high in cholesterol? I sure as hell didn't. Not happy. Hopefully, I will remember to bring my camera with me next time I go. Good Lord, what's the use of being turned into a human pincusion if I can't post pictures and blog about it? Health effects aside, there's blogfodder there!

So ends the first installment of my catch-up. Stay tuned for actual WIP pics and the rest of the story.

Koyaanisqatsi

Many thanks to all of you who have been sending notes of condolence and good wishes. It is so nice to know that you all are out there thinking of me from time to time, checking the blog and being patient with me.

Things have been better.

They are, however, looking up. Remember my partner with the stress-induced vertigo? Her being out left us 3 pharmacists down, and almost gave me a case of stress-induced quitting. But I really do love my job, and that became my mantra until she got better and we hired two new pharmacists who I think will really work out well. So there. Now I can breathe again.

But enough about me working, lets get to me knitting. And dyeing. First, lets have a lovely shot of the finished yard from our last dyeing installment. It came out darker than I had planned, darker than the picture. But I really really like it. I even named it.


I am calling it Blood and Souls. Yes, yes, from the books about the ridiculously depressed albino superhero. What can I say? I had an Elric phase. And the color really is more blood-like than the picture. I was going to call it the Bloody Baron, then I remembered that he's a ghost and his bloodstains were silver, which totally wouldn't work. Blood and Souls it is.

In further non-knitting news, there has been much backyard improvement thanks to mother nature and DHL. First, from the water garden we have the exciting news that my asiatic lotus has five buds. I didn't get one flower last year because it was a baby, but this year it is very happy.

Two of the three buds. Down near the water there are two more buds just starting! Bonus!

Second, from the back forty, DHL delivered my eglu about a week ago. I'm just waiting on my chickens to arrive. This picture's kind of blue, but it was just about to rain when I took it.

Last but not least, I have been knitting. In dribs and drabs, surely, but knitting did happen. I went on a bit of a starting binge. First, because two colors just weren't enough for me (it seems)...

The insanely long and cool Fair Isle Sampler Hat from IK Fall 2004. Yes I am tired of weaving in ends already.

And last because when charts were too much for my brain there's nothing like the instant gratification of Trekking XXL...

With a picot edge. God, I am such a follower. But I made my own decorative stitch markers, so neener neener neener.

And where, you may well ask, are my previous WIP's? They're still there, I've just been fickle as hell. And in the true spirit of someone who's largely too busy to knit, I have still managed to buy. But that will be another post for another day. I have to dye more yarn and update my template now.

BTW, koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi indian word which means "life out of balance". I thought that pretty well summed things up. It is also a movie I really like.

Chapter 12: I am driven to madness

I know I went too far. The finishing of all the projects before the due date, coupled with too much beer and repeated watching of the awesome "unpimp your ride" VW commercials combined synergistically to unbalance my brain, and when it came time to cast back on, suddenly the instruction to "cast on 299 stitches" didn't seem unreasonable to me at all.

But it isn't my fault, (it never is, you will soon come to learn about me) it is Eunny and Monkee's faults. Poor Eunny, she doesn't even know me, but I would swear she timed her awesome lace tutorial just to catch me at my most vulnerable. Just like Lolly got me all excited about socks, Eunny has taken advantage of my impaired state to hook me on lace for good. Even though I am sucking at it at the moment, I am loving it. And Monkee spreading all these great lace vibes around the place. Ladies, the damage is done. Lace is the new sock.

I like to call this "Still life with Birch, HP and Cat Butt"

In continuing sock madness news, however, even as I am inching fearfully forward to casting on the 2 color turkish socks, I must tell you a tale of frustration. A little while ago I saw these socks on Claudia's blog. Candy socks. Delicious. Had to have.

I have learned a lot about the self patterning sock business since this whole thing started. About the evils of limited runs, and the equally nasty ways shops lure you in with promises of wonderful self patterning color ranges only to produce large piles of grey, brown, black, and greybrown yuk they haven't been able to unload over the past humpteen years. In desperation, and in the throes of a creativity streak that had me designing candy purses to go along with my socks, I wrote Claudia asking for help. She was very kind and gracious, especially considering that I must have come across as a complete lunatic, and she shared her source as well as some other places to start my search. Nice lady, talented as all get out, too.

You know how it is once you have your mind set on something. After several attempts to purchase from various online sources only to receive an email of regret followed by removal of the item from their online catalogues, I was on a freaking mission from God to track down the last Trekking XXL Color 126 on this planet. And because when I am on said mission I am as stubborn as a mule on crack, it was inevitable that I triumphed.

Now, I'd like to say that tracking this yarn to a shop in Berlin is not even a little extreme, but I would be lying if I did so. I think I have gone round the bend, twist or any other metaphor I can think of, as long as it means I am completely mental. And I am having a hell of a time denying it. I had to pay for my yarn in freaking Euros. EUROS. But I am happy. Is that wrong?

Taking it to a new level entirely

Today is a day that will go down in infamy. It will be remembered as the day I got serious about my knitting. What made this day different from all the rest? I went shopping, people, shopping. But in a very different way.

Since I began knitting, the general shopping experience has been a formless and chaotic thing. I wander into a yarn shop, look at the bewildering array of yarns needles books and tools and let it sort of wash over me. Sometimes something would swim up to my notice out of the deep, other times some yarn or useful tool would leap out and assault me until I had to purchase it just to regain some inner peace. Then there's the stash, the ever-growing stash. It speaks to me. It forces me to bring home more yarn for it. It is hungry.

{Begin Digression}
In Kitchen Confidential, author Tony Bourdain names the bread starter at one of his kitchens "The Bitch" based on both it's requirements and the difficulty of dealing with it. For those of you who don't know much about baking, starter must be "fed" regularly by adding small amounts of fresh ingredients to it, mostly to feed the yeasts and keep it risable and useful. "Feeding the Bitch" was the way he referred to the daily difficult task of dealing with the starter. Well, this is like unto my stash now, it demands feeding with new yarn in a way that makes me think I should name it soon. And although one could possibly more accurately compare it to Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, it will more than likely be known and referred to hereafter as The Bitch.
{End Digression}

So today I name the stash. This is not, however, where our story began. It began when I realized a very specific item was needed for a specific task, and with intent and focus I went shopping, found just the thing, bought it and only it, and came home, mission accomplished. Let me tell you, people, it was awesome.


I dared to enter the testosterone-laden halls of the temple. I moved easily amongst the giants of NASCAR fandom, Budweiser imbibement and plaid flannel. I strolled confidently past the giant stuffed mooses near the hunting and meat processing section and through the maze of clothing that was made by men, for men and which could only impress other men. And why this heroic (or psychotic) endeavour?

Because I knew that 50# test fishing line would make the best material for lifelines for lace knitting. And it does.


HA! Today is a day of greatness. Today I name myself as I never thought I would, and I never hoped I could.
And because I can hardly deny a project I am actually showing you pictures of, and also because now that I'm a bad-ass knitter I don't care if you all know, I can also admit that I joined this:

Now, for a well deserved beer.

Breaking news!

This just in! Literally! I was sitting at the computer working on another post entirely and bemoaning my tepidity (is that a word?) or boringness (also not a word) and suddenly my husband returns from picking up the Chinese take out with a Priority Mail box he spotted under the carport. It is the ridiculously soft and wonderful yarn I ordered from A.L. deSauveterre. So I jettisoned my previously uninspired post infavor of a brag shot of my new wonderfulness. Yes, I love myself enough to knit myself socks out of Italian Cashmere. Merlin approves.

Colorways Japanese Maple and Cornish Pixie. I can't do these colors justice. Wow. Hey, I never said I couldn't buy yarn before March. Heh.

Rumors of a secret project patently untrue!!!

I deny any knowledge of a new project. I deny that this project is taking place at work on my lunch break. I deny that this was any justification for starting any project prior to my March 1st starting date established and duly ratified by me. I did not receive any packages from Canada recently in the mail. This is a complete fabrication. Any information you may receive regarding the alleged stealth project is wrong. After all, I don't knit lace; how preposterous!


The alleged "project"

It's Saturday. There's yarn. Somebody stop me!!!

Yes, yes, yes, I am sticking to my plan, but somehow my stash keeps growing. As do the projects I want to do. My latest acquisition - Satakieli from the nice ladies at Schoolhouse Press.

And the socks I will be making from it. This is going to be a trade item. I will be getting a costume from one of my best friends who is one hell of a seamstress. Still, I am not casting on till March. Or maybe later this evening. I don't know. I said I would only finish pieces through February. Well, this is Finnish. Close enough for me. La, la, la, la.......

Me and Mr. Noro, we got a thing going on (or the evil Japanese conspiracy)

I am firmly convinced that Japan really is designing exactly what I always wanted solely to force me to buy it. Is that a bit conceited perhaps, that an entire country would be somehow involved in a conspiracy to separate me from my cash by making stuff that makes me want to own it? Well, let me tell you that being saddled with the responsibility of being a chickengoddess was quite enough of a shock, but once you get comfy with the idea of being a deity to poultry, then yeah, it's pretty easy to see a pattern emerge that has me written all over it.

First came the Nissan Murano. OK, it is the coolest car EVER. It looks cool, it drives cool, it has a cool transmission, cool dash panel, cool colors, and is named after the island of Venetian glassworkers, which heaps coolness on an already awesome car (for a glass making poultry deity like me). It was obviously designed for me with me in mind, thankyouverymuch Nissan. I knew the first time I saw it it haaad to be mine in that special way that makes you feel a little worried. So the whole purchasing thing was pretty secondary considering it was all over from the start, and Japan knew that. I know they did.

So about two months ago I thought I'd take a knitting lesson. I needed a stress reliever and a change of pace from my ordinary hobbies, and my LYS had a sign posted in the window advertising knitting lessons, so I drove my awesome Murano over and signed up. One, I had no idea that knitting could be so expensive! Two, I didn't know it at the time, but Japan had once again anticipated me, and this time it was a trap that would probably cost me as much as the Murano given time.........

Noro.

I know I am not the only one who has fallen under the spell. Crazy Aunt Purl has recently waxed rhapsodic about it in a way I understand oh so well. I just want to know what it would be like to actually fill the Murano with Noro and drive it home. And then roll around in it all for a while. Every time I go looking for yarn I find some new perfect yarn, in the perfect color or texture, only to pull it out and see that black label. So out of the 4 WIPs I have going on 3 are Noro, and my FO is Noro, and now I will have to do something with that Transitions. It's an evil Japanese conspiracy, I tell you.

Meanwhile, if I save enough of these labels I should be able to completely cover my dining room table in them. Decoupage, anyone?