Knit-stigator

Sudoku

2005-11-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

There are many forms of Sudoku out there for the junkie. I have two friends that I've hooked, not to mention myself! Besides knitting, it is another form of enabling - enabling me to procrastinate that is. My book I picked up from Costco is well worn now. It travels well, and relaxes anytime.

Besides the daily Sudoku found in the newspaper, you have your Sudoku-A-Day Calendar (perfect for gift giving), books, and on line games. It's hard to shake once you're addicted. “First one’s free!” Both sites below have solving tips in addition to puzzles to help you get through some tough spots.

Daily Sudoku from UK

Daily Sudoku from the Los Angeles Times

Enjoy! If you haven't tried it yet, you don't know what you're missing.

Relevance

2005-10-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Capricorn's horoscope for today:
Be the best witness to your own life. Double-check your activities to make sure you are spending time on the things that really matter. Ask the opinion of people you consider "good."

It seems that this is the current theme for things in my life right now. My coworker who is into astrology says that I should wait for Neptune to come out of retrograde before starting anything (big) new.

Many Karens in a Small World

2005-10-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

I've run across NikkiKnits' blog before, and enjoyed it the 2nd time around, too. Everyone's done the Vanity Google, right? I got a big kick out of "(Your name here) needs..." that she had posted. Take the top 10 and list. Let me know what your favorites are!

KAREN NEEDS... (Courtesy of lacabezagrande.com)

1. Karen Needs to Grow Up!
2. Karen Needs A Lobotomy Fund
3. Karen needs to determine status of what we do and don't have.
4. Karen needs to learn the basics of spending and budgeting.
5. Karen needs to do is to develop some basic saving habits.
6. Karen Needs a New Job
7. Karen Horney
8. Karen needs money to buy the roller skates she desperately wants, so she becomes a partner in Pete's window-washing business.
9. KAREN NEEDS A MAN!
10. Karen needs Dr. Pelvic's knowledge, she needs to finish her thesis, and she needs his recommendation.

I found 2 Karen's (a knitter & non-knitter (her list above)) who had done similar memes and found another Karen in Australia who also happens to have a background in design. The funny thing is she has a link to loobylu and another knitter, and I hadn't found her name directly through another knitter's blog. What a small world.

I'll have to check out Chef Karen later.

"Karen" was probably one of the top 10 girls' names in the 60's. My grandmother's name is Esther, which she feels is an old-lady name. I wonder if, when I am her age, "Karen" will seem like an old-lady name because of name burn-out and it died off. When I was high school, a close group of friends were Karen, Karen, Sharon, Erin and Maral. There were 3 Karens in my French class, too. I had to go by middle name. Occasionally when there are too many Karens, I'll go by kd to make things easier ('cause they wouldn't call me Ren at Pottery Barn when I had a side job to hoard housewares and the other Karen had left.) Sometimes I just seem like I'm deaf until you yell my name twice. That way I know you're calling me, not someone else down the block.

'nuff said.

Cute Crafty Creature Creations

2005-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

I love bopping around the blog-0-sphere and seeing what others have been up to. Some refreshing things I have been returning to are:

Jess Hutch.com's fabulous new booklet of knitting her creations (hot off the press!) They are refreshingly offbeat. I have been waiting for this with anticipation. Her blog also has a link to knitted Zombies!

Knitted Babes (fresh off the boat from England). They come as a kit or there is a book available complete with wardrobes. I recently adopted Dot Pebbles. They have cute gift potential!
Poor Miss Finch has had a continual work in progress in adding to her doll family. Her inspiration is from an Interweave Knits' past issue. Click to see her most recent.
LoobyLu's sponsors a Month of Softies and has her own creations.

My mother used to knit my Barbie clothes as a child. Now that I am no longer a newbie knitter, I'd like to try something similar. Knitting a doll is in the same vein - I can hardly wait!

As Halloween Approaches...

2005-10-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hat-a-licious
Two weeks ago I had finished a pumpkin hat for a coworkers' daughter who has a penchant for wearing elasticized shorts on her head. This is due to a lack of hats. She is a hat lover in the earliest phase. A godsend to me, as any hat I've ever made for a child has been ripped off just as quick as it was put on. It's not just because she is old enough. My nephew of the same age still goes hatless. It's because she chooses to. She's a doll and everyone loves her! My dear, I will make you anything you want! She's a fan of over-the-ear styling.
Julian
My girlfriends & I went up to Julian, CA this weekend. They are known for their apples and hospitality. It was refreshingly crisp and quite chilly at night. Just as the daffodil bulb needs a chill to sprout next spring, I needed it to feel like Fall had begun. We had a tasty dinner at Romano's, a small Italian restaurant. We were lucky to have made it in right as the shops were closing and got the last non-reserved table. It was by the door, so dinner was a little drafty. We went back to our hotel room and enjoyed Kir Royales with chocolate. The next day we finished stopping by the little shops and antique stores and bought some apples and apple cider before heading back. Two years ago, So Cal had horrible fires raging, including Julian. It was good to see that it was spared.

Inspiration for Completion
We made a commitment to get together once a month and do crafting or project completion. It's especially enjoyable to do it with friends. One will be doing photo sorting, another organizing, and perhaps all-- starting a T-shirt quilt so that all of the sentimental ones are no longer laying around taking up drawer space. It looks like scrapping wasn't a popular option. It really is a chore to get everything together and then drag it to another location.

Fair Isle Rental

2005-10-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

NPR brought to attention a meager monthly $600 (USD) home rental in Fair Isle by the National Trust in Scotland. There isn't much job opportunity save for knitting. Is that a bad thing?

Death of the Olympus

2005-09-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

I was pretty lucky all these years. I banged the heck out of my poor digital camera and it served me faithfully anyways. I was the one at the wedding with rubber bands (holding my batteries in) on my camera. That damage occurred at a fancy restaurant at Christmas-time when the waiter took a group picture, them promptly dropped the camera breaking the battery door hinge. No apology by the way, either.

It had an optical zoom of 10x and had about 9 or 11 lenses inside. The inner workings came unmounted and were loose inside the lens casing; discovered when I tried to turn it off. It looked really sick. I was told that most don't get them repaired due to cost. When I first bought it, it had a beefy 2.1 mexa pixels. The time has come to look for a new camera. I'll be looking for something beefier.

In the mean-time here are some photos from last year. One year ago to be exact. I was on my way to my nephew's 1st birthday party with Patrick's Pumpkin Hat in hand. Now I'll be going for his 2nd.

The funny thing about toddlers and hats- most can't stand them. My nephew couldn't wait to tear the pumpkin off his head. In fact, he couldn't get it off fast enough! My friend at work has a little girl that loves to wear elasticized shorts on her head - in public. She's 18 months now, so perhaps I will knit her Miss Dashwood from Knitty. (The Fall Knitty is out by the way!) That will prove to be an interesting experiment.

This is the Reverse Bloom Chenille Washcloth from Weekend Knitting. I had the pattern from an older Interweave Knits mag. My sister-in-law received it for her birthday present last year. Us girls deserved to have pampering things now and again! She shares a birthday with her son and my other brother. Virgo-central!! The cloth worked up easily.

Photos!

2005-08-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Houston, we have lift-off!
I have posted a few darlings into older posts and am quite excited about it all!

Yesterday I went to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles for lunch. Years ago it didn't sound so good, but finally gave it a try and liked it! I would take my AZ sis there 'cause she knows good grits.

I have my 20th high school reunion coming up, too. What a shock to the system. More to come on that later.

Back to the Lacy Sweater...

Getting in some knit-time - Quality & Quantity

2005-08-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

I've been off my feet for almost 3 weeks now. (I had missed a step in a dark theater and am now crutch-bound.) I cheated and didn't use the crutches for a couple of days and morphed my foot into a softball with purple sausage toes. That was a real guy move (ignoring sound medical advice).

It is good to have a different perspective about things now and again!

I had taken my mobility for granted. I can appreciate what others go through with Handicapped facilities.
I have a great deal more upper body strength.
I can't staple anything with the sore, swollen heels of my hands. ;) Ice is my appendage friend.
There will be time to complete a knitted sweater for my niece's 1st birthday.

I'm excited to start the sweater as it will be my first piece of clothing. I picked a pretty light pink cotton, but wasn't getting the gauge I needed. A hot pink micro-fiber yarn is making the transition. The edging and center medallion are very pretty. It is from Adorable Knits for Tots, by Zoe Mellor.

Cheers!

Cocktail Monkey Bag & Clapotis

2005-08-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

The folks at knitty are pure genius.

I finished the cocktail bag and lined it with a fun, black tiki-drink fabric. It is trimmed with a red furry yarn (Tiara) sewn behind an orange teenagery type of trim with translucent orange beading. It turned out nicely even tho I decided not to use the solid red Ostrich trim. Had I finished it a couple of days earlier, I could have taken it to the Tiki night & luau at the Egyptian Theater. It would have been perfect. Well, in thought anyways. As it turns out that night was my first day on crutches & I couldn't do much by hanging onto a purse anyways. Some of the monkeys later became victims of the crutches and needed to be replaced.

Clapotis is officially complete as well. It still needs to be blocked. Where, I do not know, perhaps a mattress? I loved the feel of knitting the merino. It left my hands feeling soft and the shawl smells of what I guess must be lanolin. I have some left which may wind up as a scarf from Scarf Style. The photo below was taken before letting the dropped stitches run (like a bad day for pantyhose!). Both ends have a bit different varigation to them because the yarn is hand-dyed. Even tho I can be anal-retentive about my projects, I'm OK with this! The colorway is "Yellowstone" and reminds me of the colored rock striations at the Grand Canyon.

Smooth-move “Exlax”

2005-07-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

Guess who wasn't so smart when traveling out of town? That would be me. I didn’t have my ID with me as I had taken it out to pick up a Rx and didn't have it in my purse. Zoinks! I was able to get through by the grace of God and the TSA agents both ways who went through everything. Believe me, I was O.K. with anything at that point and was so happy they could accomodate me with my Costco picture I.D. and downloaded boarding pass!

After my strip search, a male agent asked me what something was. He didn't ask about my honkin’ size 17 knitting needles from LanternMoon that looked like oversize golf tees. He asked me about a CreativeMemories folder that was stuffed to the brim with stickers, alphabets, and other Scrapbooking adornments. He must not have a girlfriend or wife...

Sign me -
Thankful and bemused

8 months

2005-06-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where did 8 months go? I still haven't fugured out how to post images from a Mac. I’ll try to resolve that which may lead me to use Typepad. Addendum: Blogger created a better way to upload photos which seems to work fine!

JUNE
• I am now a one dog family after losing a good friend (the wooly-bear at top) to Hemangiosarcoma. I am still getting used to it which changed many aspects of my life. (Therapeutic diversions have been painting ceramic plates fired at Color Me Mine and scrapping memories of el pooch.)
The following day-
• A happily married nephew wed under unusual circumstances: Besides being a beautiful day, the wedding was on the local news because the hospital would not discharge him. The wedding took place on the grounds with the reception under the overhang/drop-off area. It was momentarily disturbed by a landing chopper. We moved the tables out of the breeze-range area and scattered off with our dinner plates. The best news was that my nephew recovered and they will enjoy their honeymoon as planned in Hawaii. My 1-1/2 year old (& different) nephew was wide eyed & possibly in love with that whirly bird.

Miracles of miracles was that I caught the bouquet for the 1st time! I resorted to sneak-tactics. Those 20 year-old girls didn't know what hit them. Tired of being forced to stand in the back because of my height (and being out of coveted "catch territory"), I scrunched down and repositioned in the front to pop up and catch it mid-air. A young-un remarked, "That's not fair, you're tall!" to which I turned and replied, "I've been waiting 38 years for this!" She may have been frightened, but that's OK.

• My brother & his wife are expecting #2. I am soon to visit my little niece in AZ.

• I received a beautiful set of stitch markers from the generous & talented Laura & daughters. It really touched me and took some of the shock away from my dog's passing. The kindness that went into a Valentine's gift for a stranger was amazing. I need to pop off a Thank You note!

ON THE NEEDLES

• I had started Clapotis early this year, but needed to order one more hand-dyed skein to complete it (late MAR). It would take some time as it was a special order. It just came in 2 weeks ago, so I will need to fire up the pattern I had memorized to complete it. It is a good exercise in tuning out anal-retentive tendencies. Since the yummy Merino wool ribbon is hand-dyed, the label said to reduce variation, one should alternate rows knitted with different skeins. I didn't because this project looks to lend itself beautifully to varigation (13 Ways of looking @ C). The color is Yellowstone with rich earthy browns, rusts and gold. The 1st skein has a touch of fuchsia in it which the others did not. My LYS was worried that the new one might be really different that the other 3 (they were right & good memory!!) It seems to match the 1st, so the ends will match a little better.

• The Cocktail Monkey purse was too cute to pass up. It took me a while to locate the Ostrich trim. It was hiding in Michael's bandana section! I settled for solid red. The other colors they had were solid black and purple -not the fun firey ombre one on the sample. The monkeys are on their way. It may be a future gift item if it turns out well.

• I bought some yarn at another shop (avec one helpful and one crabby sales ladies). My intention was to have some projects at hand while my dog was ill. That was mid-April. I started a Piuma Gold Shawl in Wine. It is beautiful with darker tinsel-like fibers running through it. It was a WIP at the JPL open house and now while recovering :( I tried publishing the photo of this textural wrap, but no go. You'll need to check out Karabella's Flash site and navigate to PATTERNS (on left) then PIUMA GOLD (on right).

• There is another k1 p2tog scarf in a varigated lavender (preferred by 12 year olds) in progress.

• I have the poncho completed from Chic Knits, but ran into a problem. I thought I could make it wider to make it longer. I accomplished closing up the neck space and increasing the length a bit. The yarn is beautiful but wasted I feel. It has mohair which makes it tangle to itself & impossible to frog. HELP! Perhaps Ponchos will be out of style soon.

• I hope to graduate to a garment soon and start a child's item. Smaller- and I would catch possible errors sooner.

That's it for now!

Back On Track

2004-10-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I took a bit of a break updating my blog. In the last month I had laryngitis, a sudden and difficult divorce in the family, a birthday party, visiting family, a visting elementary school friend and a night class in progress. "Photos at a later date" turned to weeks. We'll see if FLICKr works on posting photos, they haven't posted yet. I may have to link them somehow. A blog with no picks is a bit disappointing.

Completed projects:
Melody Shawl for birthday gift: completed and warmly received. I may have to "snail" another one for myself.
Scarf [front: yo k2tog/back: yo p2tog] to match my new suit (in Rust KidPrint Mohair + 24K in Rust/Burg/MetallicGold): snuggly and awaiting trip to DC. It seemed difficult at first to find a match for the 24K. I needed to subdue it a bit to match my outfit better, but not lose its charm. I found a lovely mohair to go with it. The two together knitted up beautifully. I am happy to report no sneezing with the mohair!

In the works:
Lacy Poncho 60% complete. It's progress was waylaid by the Rust Scarf. It will be making the trip to DC as WIP.
Bobbi Bear is awaiting his ears and stuffing. I may duplicate stitch a name on his chest.

Future projects:
I'd like to start a Knitting Journal with details of projects I've completed. I bought a commercial one for my quilting projects. It is such a clever idea. Additionally, knitting projects complete in a relatively short time compared to quilting!

Rewarding:
I have enjoyed helping my friend who knits get some projects back on track from time to time. She has helped me do the same with my life! A small price to pay...

Last night a northwest storm blew in. My friend from Texas believes she brought the rain with her on her visit. This kind of rain will give "Storm Watch 2004" segments on the news validity. I'm liking the rain.

Vacation Knitting

2004-09-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Project #1
I returned from visiting family in NoCal. It was my nephew's 1st birthday and I had grand thoughts of starting (and finishing) a sweater. For my first garment, I figured it would be easier to do a toddler-size item over an adult-sized one. Yarn procurement was a problem, so I opted for a pattern I had for Patrick's Pumpkin Hat, although I was not sure if I was quite ready for that! It worked up deliciously. Knitting in public is a bit of a boost as I got a complement from a lady and her young daughter as I was disembarking the plane. --Project pictures to follow at a later date as I didn't bring my camera.

New Technique: With this project I learned how to do an Inc on the green edging. Cute! I am proud of Becca, too as she is working on this as her first non-scarf (and kicking butt I might add.)

Project #2
Also started and completed in 2 days was the Reverse Bloom Chenille Washcloth. My sister-in-law received it for her birthday present. Us girls deserved to have pampering things now and again! She shares a birthday with her son and my other brother. Virgo-central!! The cloth worked up easily. --Photo later

New Technique: With this, I learned M1. I seem to put no limits on what I'll try in knitting. I wish I was that brave with other new things.

Project #3
Bobbi Bear from Blue Sky Alpacas, with sport weight alpaca doubled on #3 needles. Christened as a "he," he is awaiting an arm and two ears, having also been conceived in NoCal. I hope I can finish him with the one skein. I have about 1" of ball left. He will be about 6" or so instead of the suggested 20". He may rec'v some duplicate stitching on his chest with my nephew's name. (Idea curtousy of Ana at work.) I got the idea of #3 needles from my LYS, and came up with the yarn choice myself. The other stuff was too heavy & not soft enough. I am glad that I didn't have allergies while working on it. They may have been masked by the cat allergies I was tormented with the whole weekend.

New Techniques: This kid used the SSK and K2tog stitches for shaping the Pumpkin Hat taught me as well as dpn action from the Bucket Hat, flower washcloth and previously mentioned Pumpkin Hat, I learned to pick-up stitches and will look into doing them the best way later.

It was great to spend time with family! I really didn't miss out on conversation while knitting (much to everyone's surprise), but I realized it was cutting into my nephew-time and he had lots of fun to give. I had to put it down. He is the cutest thing ever. On that note, I have a brand-new niece who was born last Sunday. She'll need lots of niece-time, too! Knitting has to be put down for my brother's delicious birthday tri-tip, too!

Fall is here. It felt great knitting on Sunday as it was overcast and started sprinkling. I said I hoped it would rain - and got my wish. It poured for about an hour. When I returned home, the Santa Anas have started and it feels like fall. I will have to break out the Halloween stuff soon.

Other projects
Off the needles: from Melody/Shawl in Tuxedo. Ends need to be woven in. Knitty would call a project like that "Zombie Knitting" (http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/FEATmaniacs.html) or I've also heard of Valium Knitting. Either way, the garter stitch put me to sleep!

On the needles, 18% complete: Chic Knits Lacy Poncho in Ritratto #70 (Browns/Cream/Rust/Mauve /Charcoal) and 50% complete Chic Knits Bucket Hat in Aqua colored cotton. I used a coordinating yarn for the first 2 or 3 rows & a matching scarf is planned sometime later.

Bon Appetite! Karen

Knitting Blogs

2004-09-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

A little late on the scene - my first exposure to blogs was (sad to say) thru the Washingtonienne scandal. It lead me to politically driven Wonkette and others. The personal blogs were so different and interesting in that by reading the entries, you almost feel like you know them. A pen pal with one way communicating.

The first knitter's blog that I stumbled on to was http://savannahchik.typepad.com/
Her site and attention to detail was impressive. I tripped on thru Xtreme Knitter's blog (seeing my first bucket hat), and made it thru to self-taught fluffa . That girl can knit! In French, too. Another fave is ChicKnits' BonneMarie, who really creates some great stuff.
They all have hints on how to finish something better than the original pattern indicated. If there was a term I didn't understand, I looked it up thru Google. What was a dpn anyways??! Yarn suggestions and book reviews, too! I was surprised to see that quite a few knitters are lawyers. That must say something about knitting being a stress-reliever.

My favorite new term is "SEX" - Stash Enhancement eXcursion. Now I can transfer my buying quilting and scrapping goods for knitting. BonneMarie calls hers her "Marinating Chamber" complete with trunk picture. With the scrapping stuff, I have just been in the acquiring mode, having never actually scrapped. My scrapping friends must be so disappointed in me. Knitting is portable and unlike my (altho portable) quilting applique, I never stick myself. Both fry my eyes. I am a bit retentive with my crafting, I need to ease up on that a bit.

Knit now, scrap later!

Hello!

2004-09-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Join me as I start my journey.