color (mental) blocks pt. 2 and lots of pictures

I got to a temporary sputtering stop midway through segment #4 of the Noro afghan because of some color issues. I am not sure what to do next. This is what I've got so far:

I have these beautiful ones that I was going to save for segment #5:

These are just barfy:

And these are so muted or neutral I might save them for a different project:

In the mean time I decided to do some baby stuff. This green stripey deal is for the store where I work. We had some scraps that look nice together. My plan was a hat and mittens set. It was going great until I got to the thumb and remembered why I haven't made gloves in a long time - the separations for the small digits are a pain in the ass. I doesn't help that I'm not using a pattern. I think the little dude's gonna have to get frogged. Oh well.

I love this one though, I just need another skein of the yarn and it'll be done in a day. I have an adult sized version of this that's been hibernating in my closet for about a year, but I try not to think about it.

These small hurdles have steered me back to my Shetland Triangle, which is looking great.

I really should be outside. We have had such incredible weather here - perfectly warm and still with the beautiful October light and the changing colors of autumn. This what it looks like right outside my bedroom door. Along with this view I get the sound of the creek rushing again from the rain we finally got last week. Too bad I can't post that.

And I love standing on this little path right under the apricot tree. All the yellow feels like it's beaming up at my face..

Perfect light to get a long overdue decent picture of the Clapotis.

Hey captain! Here's another picture of Roxie!

Segment #3 done!

2 more to go. I am in love with this project and I hope y'all are too because this is what I'm photographing til it's done.

I went to an unofficial 20 year (McAteer) high school reunion in San Francisco on Friday. The actual one for my graduating class sounded lame and expensive so a bunch of us friends got together and invited some others and went out to dinner and to the Uptown. A couple of people remarked that as a group we appeared unscathed by time. I said they just got us at the right moment. Like, I know 5 years ago I didn't look so hot. I also am theorizing that most people's self destructive behavior (if any) probably has leveled off by the time we're 37 or 38, if it's going to at all. But, yeah, most of us look pretty much the same. I think it's interesting that out of 14 people only three have children and only two are married. Here we are standing on Valencia Street.

At the request of one of my new friends on Ravelry, here are some pics of the dogs. Sorry they're not in knitwear, it's hard to get them to sit still. And speaking of Ravelry, I started a stripe makers' group there, if you're interested.

Ace

Roxie

Trixie

Say hello to my little friend

I dug up some of my early projects today to photograph them on the most beautiful model at my house. Meet Horatio. His origins are a bit of a mystery. I only know he was acquired in Czeckoslovaklia in the late 50's.

I'd forgotten how much I like this red stripe scarf. It's really thick and cozy because it is a giant tube. I used Elsebeth Lavold Angora and Crystal Palace Merino Frappe. Don't ask me why Rudy Giuliani is on the TV in the background. There are no republicans in my house.

This is one of my favorite scarves. It is kind of dorky in its rainbowy-ness but I will always love it because it helped through a very rough time. I did most of the knitting during a long stay at a hospital where my boyfriend was in I.C.U. I got the idea from the Cascade 220 pattern book. It is all scraps of Cascade.

This scarf is very similar in design to the red one and is the same Elsebeth Lavold yarn. It has been sitting in a shoebox, unfinished, for at least a year. It's only about a foot long.

The other end of this one is on display where I work. It is the "Beads of Earth" design from Scarf Style. It is Cascade Pima Silk and size 6/0 seed beads.

Another project from Scarf Style, "Stripes and Bobbles" also unfinished. These strips need to be sewn together side by side. I don't think I'll do that using bobbles. I didn't use the Takhi Donegal Tweed that the pattern calls for. I like that stuff but it is hell of scratchy. I instead used Khroma WW from The Fibre Company.

Since I got Horatio all decked out today I got him to show off a few peyote stitch and right-angle weave bracelets I made.

I feel like I haven't been here in ages. It's true what they say about Ravelry. I've been home sick all week so I got to spend a bunch of time there. What a wonderland it is. It's kind of funny that with the 17,000 or so users one would run into the same people multiple times while bouncing around. My name there is taniask

When self-striping yarn isn't enough

In case you hadn't noticed, I like stripes. My old friend Michael Dean used to joke about how I should open a store that sells nothing but striped clothing and call it Totally Tania.

This is how my Noro Kureyon afghan version #2 is coming along.

I liked the old one okay, but it got boring. Then I realized how much more exciting it could be if I striped the [already-self-striping] yarns together! .. And I could have more control. And more to fuss over with the color combining. I actually haven't interrupted the yarns' own color sequences as much as I normally do. I'm trying my best to just trust them. This is some real progress for me.

I've got about one foot left to go on the second segment. I realized this afghan is starting to look just like the color palettes I used to make for the Hypnogenic Screen Saver.

Last week I went to the TKGA and CGOA show/conference at the Mariott in Oakland. I took a teachers' workshop there and it was ok. Not really worth going on about. Let's just say that the most important thing I learned in that class was that I already know a whole bunch. I had more fun in the vendors' hall. A guy (named Maat, I think) from Carolina Homespun showed me how to use a drop spindle. I liked it. So I bought this one.

I got to mess around with a knitting machine at the booth of the Machine Knitters Guild of the San Francisco Bay Area. It was fun. Oh, and I won a door prize! Many of the vendors were in a jovial mood and smelled like alcohol (champagne?). I also bought some fingering weight 100% cashmere and some addi turbo US #6 lace needles for my Shetland Triangle that I started today.

The cashmere came from Argosy. It is the Zen 2-ply.

The whole transaction was very pleasant and surprisingly affordable. I would definitely buy from them again. The woman also told me about a software program called Knitware that I'd like to check out some day.

The nice thing about living in the country

Holy shit I got my Ravelry invite! I'd kind of forgotten about it because last time I checked I was number 7,000 something. My user name there is taniask. I logged in and stuff but I haven't really gotten started with it yet, nor have I explored it at all. These things (as well as loading up a flickr account) are very time consuming to do using only a dial-up connection. Yes, like I said, I'm living in the middle of nowhere.

Speaking of which, we had our Pear Festival here in Kelseyville (the bartlett pear capital) on Saturday. It is the biggest street event of the year, and it starts off with a parade! It is actually the first of three parades we have every year that come right down Main Street. Number two is at like 9 in the morning on Halloween, and it is all of the children from the local elementary schools all dressed up in their costumes. Needless to say that is hell of cute. Number three is at night time right in the beginning of December, when it is nice and freezy outside, and it is a parade of (Christmas) lights. Even the miniature horses have lights all over them. And some dogs, too. I get totally verklempt during parades. It is the marching band (in our case the Kelseyville High School Band) that does it every time. I have no idea why this is. It doesn't matter what they're playing. I am a huge dork. Here is a shot of them looking cool and bored in their black t-shirts and jeans, with beautiful Mt. Konocti in the background. I believe they were playing "25 or 6 to 4" when I took this.

WTF?!? #9: Tonight I was watching some of that "War" series on PBS. The Ken Burns documentary. Anyway at one point the narrator was talking about how the acronyms SNAFU and FUBAR had worked their way into our vocabulary. When he said what those stood for, the word "fucked" was bleeped out. I think its a little ironic that the part that people thought was offensive enough to be censored was the profanity and not the carnage. I figured maybe PBS would let that one pass, especially in its historical context.

Happy birthday Aesop! I hope you found the cream tequila you were looking for...

If you are easily offended, look away... I'm hideous!

For the record...

Here are just a few words and phrases I'm totally sick of reading on peoples' knit blogs. I'd be stoked if I didn't have to see them anymore, but in the meantime if I see these terms used too many times in one place I will usually grunt, click, and move on. Unless, of course, I am blown away by the photos, or the person is talking hell of shit that I think is funny.

1. "rambling(s)" yeah. duh. we don't need to be told that you are rambling. it's a blog. I believe that's what they're for.
2. "musing(s)" see #1.
3. "random thoughts" again, see #1.
4. "occasional rants" when there isn't ever actually any ranting.
5. "yarn harlot" gasp! that's right. I said it. Sorry. Master of the obvious. Didn't learn anything from reading two of her books, cover to cover. I would probably like her if I met her in person, though.
6. "LOL" never funny. keep this particular one out of my text messages too, please!

Feel free to comment!

Oh yeah, if you're going to be at the K&C show in Oakland on Thursday, see you there!

More Noro love and cute baby

I almost forgot to show this thing all done. It's one of my favorite FO's next to one of my favorite things at our house - the engraving Tom did of his and my moms' names on the picnic table he built. I think this shot also kind of captures the light of the beautiful early autumn we're having.

While we're on the subject of striping with Noro, here is a section of my Kureyon afghan in it's new form, in the crotch of this lovely mossy walnut tree. Yes I ripped out the heinous section, and yes, I will rip out the rest to use it for parts! Further confirmation that I am in fact a "process knitter".

Somewhere in Paris is a baby named Sacha, my friend's nephew. I love seeing pictures of him because he looks healthy and robust now, and he's also incredibly cute. This picture is actually one of the few I've seen where he isn't smiling. Usually he has visible dimples, which I am a huge sucker for. At birth he was quite unstable so it is a joyous relief to see him like this. Sacha now has the sweater I made for him. The intarsia part of it was treacherous, but definitely worth the trouble. It fits!

Last night I watched the movie American Splendor, about Harvey Pekar. Paul Giamatti played him in the movie but Pekar also appeared in it as himself. I loved it. It made me realize that I could have had someone else illustrating this running comic strip I've had going in my head, instead of just figuring it couldn't be done.

Ace update: his stitches are healing well. He's such a good boy. We still don't know what bit him, but my bets are on one of the many coyotes I've heard partying on our property in the middle of the night.

OMFG!

It's hailing outside! Hard!

Pictures I promised

Blocking is real pain in the ass without the ideal surface, but so worth it. These are only partially done, but see how much better they look?

ooooh...

And the sweater is finally done

I actually hemmed it! I'm excited about this sweater cause I just made it up as I went (no pattern - just a basic formula) And I figured out how to do the hem part. I ripped out and redid so many sections of this thing because of dissatisfaction with certain colors next to eachother. A couple of areas still bother me but I think I can live it. Now any of you who are insisting that I don't look like a rainbow clown in it better not be lying...

Today's project was this tiny pair of booties for some friends who are expecting in October. I made up this pattern as I went too!

Here's my cast on for Muir. I must be nuts. It'll probably take me 3 years. This silk (Schaefer Andrea) is like thread! But I've been trying to figure out what to do with it for like 8 months now.

So our dog Ace got into something pretty serious this morning. We're not quite sure what exactly, but it left him looking pretty gruesome. The vet says it's a bite because of the multiple punctures and the location - below the neck between the shoulderblades. It had to be a carnivorous animal I presume. Either another (really large) dog or a coyote. We figure if it were a big cat he'd be dead. I'd post a picture but it's pretty horrifying. Instead here's some pictures of our grapes.

cabernet

and the yummy for eating kind

Happy Birthday Tracy Quick!

And another thing...

I need to rant about some shit before I post anything about knitting.

1. Ok I just saw Larry King (don't ask me how I caught this, I never ever watch Larry King) presenting a pair of Ed Hardy custom designed sneakers to Ryan Seacrest to wear to the Emmys. They're gold with a skull and crossbones. They matched some lame suspenders that he also gave him. WTF? What's the world coming to? I got a tattoo from Ed Hardy in 1989, at age 19, and thought he was the coolest guy ever. I still think highly of him and wish him the greatest of successes, but this is just weird. I'm not quite sure what to make of "Sailor Jerry (who has been dead since 1973) Spiced Rum" either. Actually I'd rather not think about it or I'll just get all peeved.

2. I never thought I'd be blogging about people who are already being feasted on by ruthless media, but I must say something about Britney Spears. I know, she looked like a total buffoon stumbling through her drunko performance at the Video Music Awards. (I also happen to think she is a complete nitwit whose appeal I've never understood.) And she clearly had made some short-sighted decisions regarding her wardrobe that evening - like I think she would have had an easier time dancing in some sneakers. BUT her body looked great. Juicy! Anyone (including BS herself) who thinks she's fat is delusional. It pissed me off when I heard Keith Olberman and Michael Musto (whose commentaries I normally like) saying that shit about her. Maybe K.O.'s a little clueless about females - he thought the "leave Britney alone" guy from youtube was a woman.

3. I had to stop reading my knitlist digests the other day and here's why: some thoughtful readers had posted about knitting something to honor the victims of the September 11 bombing of the WTC. That's nice. That's great. I'm all for it. THEN I started seeing all these responses saying that one could knit helmet liners and socks and a bunch of other shit for our soldiers overseas. Ok whatever, knit for them, I'm sure it totally sucks over there. (Although why they need our donations after the billions of our tax dollars are funneled into "defense" is beyond me. You'd think all that would be covered) But wtf does that have to do with the victims of the tragedy in question? Absolutely NOTHING! I had to write to the list mom. And yes, I was very polite. The knitlist is such an awesome resource for zillions of knitters and normally does a great job keeping other topics filtered out. I'm sure they hadn't even made the connection (or lack thereof as the case may be). I had to point out to them that the thread had become political in nature. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed. And while I'm on the subject of the knitlist, can people please stop addressing the group as "ladies"? grrrrr.

Alright, enough about that. About my knitting. I finished but did not block my diamond fantasy lace shawl that I was working on forever. I got stumped at the i-cord bind off edge, so I wrote to Sivia Harding and asked her about it. She responded right away and clarified everything for me. Wow. Not only is she a brilliant designer/pattern writer, she's totally nice too! I'll post pictures after it's blocked. I also finished all the knitting for that Noro sweater I started months ago cause it's finally starting to cool off a tiny bit here. Yay! And now I'm going to cast on Muir from the new issue of knitty that just went up. I've never done the crochet cast-on so we'll see how that goes. After finishing that other lace thing today I'm feeling like I could do just about anything. Oh yeah I did a real simple 2x2 ribbed beanie for Dees with some of the leftover grey from the Hemlock Ring. It was fun figuring out the decreases while maintaining the rib pattern. Pics of all this stuff soon I promise!

Many of y'all may have already seen this but I'll leave you with a link to this baby monkey and pigeon story anyway cause it's so goddamn cute!

Happy birthday Gabe Pinar wherever you are! I miss you!

Hemlock Ring Blanket

I'm blown away by how huge this Knit along has gotten. There were like 39 members or something when I joined it and there are now 600 members! It hasn't been two weeks even. So the knitting for this is done and I'm still scoping out the appropriate surface to block it on. The body was quick, but the bind off row took FOREVER! I've got to figure out the backwards knitting thing so I don't have to turn my work in situations like these. Then maybe I'll try entrelac again.

Octopus attack!

Ok this is weird. A woman came in to the store where I work about a month ago and told me (imagine in a really thick Hindi accent) "You really are very organic looking". She said it to me two or three times. She was really friendly and smiling really big when she said it, and I decided to take it as compliment. I figured that what she meant was that I'm not coated in make up, I don't have acrylic fingernails, a push-up bra, frosted hair, and I don't smell like I've been hosed down with "green tea", unlike a large percentage of the female population here in Kelseyville. That's good, that's fine, I thought. But then today these 2 weird guys came in and one told the other to "go talk to the hippy girl" referring to ME! WHAT? I am confused by this.

Oh, speaking of green tea, have you seen this? It's one of my favorites. Ooh wee T-Shane!

WTF?!? #7: I thought the days were over of being tormented by that Romantics song "What I like About You". Remember last year, hearing it during trailers for dumb movies like Benchwarmers (and I believe some computer animated movie also) and various commercials for snack foods and travel services and whatever else? Am I crazy? I swear I thought it was never going to stop. And I was right! I JUST HEARD IT AGAIN ON A FUCKING E-SURANCE COMMERCIAL! AAAUUUUUGGH!

Fair

Here's the bunch of pictures I promised. None of them are of my finished knit items. I went to the county fair in Lakeport today. I like to go there to eat junk food, to see the animals, and to look at the "home arts". It is not my favorite place for people-watching. This is what 6 dollars' worth of curly fries looks like.

It was hard to get good pictures of most of the animals. They refused to look directly at me once I had the camera out. Except for this scary guy, who apparently is my neighbor and I didn't even know it. I don't even know what kind of animal he is. Four horns?

Here's a sort of OK shot of a miniature burro that I thought was very cute.

I was excited to see that a really nice person that I took a spinning class with got a blue ribbon for this felted (fulled?) bag she did with her hand-spun. Congratulations Chris Love!

And of course, the cake that looks like a litter box. mmmm.

And this Roy Rules! digital short is what had me giggling to myself today.

P.S. Okay this is funny: I just told Dees that I was about to log out (yes, as in get off the internet, turn off the computer), and he asked me if that meant that I was about to take a shit