March 21st: Davidson 82  – Gonzaga 76

A slightly belated posting…

Pattern: “Foliage” by Emilee Mooney for Knitty, Fall 2007

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in color “Sealing Wax” (much less than 1 skein)

Needles: KP Options Size 7 – 32″ (for magic loop); KP Options Size 7 – 16″; KP Options Size 5 – 16″

Notes:

• Magic Loop Rocks! : No, seriously.  I had started this over a number of times since Christmas, always ripping out in frustration at trying to juggle all those needles for the top-down start.  Then I discovered <these> delightful instructions from the KnitPicks website on how to do the magic loop method.  *Bliss*
• Knit exactly to spec.  If I were going to do it over, I might consider taking off half a pattern repeat before starting the ribbing.  Then again, I might knit it as-is all over again.  It really is a great pattern.
• Super-super-fast knit.  I started at 930pm while watching ‘Eli Stone.’  I finished at 630pm on Sunday – and that was with taking Friday off!
• I love Malabrigo.  All things should be knit in this yarn.
• I love this colorway.  (Good thing I have the matching skein of laceweight in the stash!)

(Footnote: This project has the added bonus of counting toward “The Year of Finishing.”  I had bought this yarn a few months ago specifically to make this hat – now I have! So, the ‘Gargantusocks’ are January’s FO, and these count for February.  I’m well on my way to polishing off ‘Fusion’ for March – or even as a second February project – if only I can figure out how to graft the two halves together where they don’t look like crap…)

I’d like to say that my absence is due to some kind of wonderful and overwhelming real life event(s) that are draining my free time and depleting my creativity.  I’d be lying, though.  Truthfully, somewhere amidst the holidays, the battle with the Gargantusock, and some job-related soul searching - I just lost the will to knit.  Or read.  Or write.  And even more so to read and write about knitting!  I can’t really remember the last time that I just couldn’t get inspired to create, but the feeling hasn’t been easy to shake.

That said, I am trying to snap out of it, and I’ve got some belated yearly resolutions. 

I have decided to christen this “The Year of Finishing.”  (Because nothing motivates me in all of my geeky compulsiveness quite like being able to cross things off of lists.)

There are two parts to this plan:

1. Finishing Knitting: Now, I don’t mean ‘finishing’ in it’s usual knitting sense, although that’s certainly part of this theme.  I’m talking about the the inhabitants (read: UFOs) of the Cardboard Bankers Box of Doom.  I’m talking about all the yarn that I’ve bought for specific projects that never got cast on.  I’m talking about all of the patterns I’ve ordered and then filed away when the yarn substitution dilemma became too overwhelming.  I know better than to think that that I’ll really be able to get through all of these (especially given that this part of The Year of Finishing and bullet point #2 are pretty much impossible to accomplish at the same time), however, I’m going to make a point of trying to get through at least one of these a month – even if “getting through” means frogging, which can sometimes be as painful as trudging onward.  I’ve already checked off one item under the ‘bought yarn for project and never cast on’ category – ‘Foliage’ from Knitty Fall07 (post to follow later).
2. Finishing Reading: Knitters have UFOs.  Readers have UFBs (which doesn’t make nearly as nice an acronym, but whatever).  I have somehow accumulated a stack of books (that I paid for) which I have either started, found boring, and never finished, or that I have never even turned the first page on.  This year will also include making a concerted effort to decrease the height of this stack.  First up is Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, which I am now halfway through and which turned out to be much less boring once I got through the first couple of chapters about the creation of the universe…

So there you have it, The Year of Finishing.  Wish me luck!

(maybe I should also add ‘catch up on blog reading’ as item #3 – I see the unread RSS feed for one of my usual reads has climes to 19!)

The Scoop:

Pattern: “Twin Rib” from Sensational KnittedSocks by Charlene Schurch; knit for a men’s US12 shoe size

Yarn: KnitPicks ‘Essential’ in navy (a little over 2 skeins)

Needles: KnitPicks Options (metal) Size US1

Notes:  So, my reasoning for choosing this pattern was that it had been described by someone on Ravelry as being really stretchy.  Since my grandpa (the sock recipient) has both diabetes and heart problems, his feet tend to swell and what-not, necessitating the stretchy.  And the pattern is stretchy, I’ll give it that.  It’s also dull as dirt.  Unless you really, really need super-stretchy socks for someone that you really, really love … do not use this pattern for Size 12 socks!

The ‘Gargantu-sock’ has, unfortunately, sucked all of the joy out of knitting.  All of it.  I haven’t been reading blogs, looking at books, visiting the knittyboard, hanging out on ravelry, or even drooling over new yarns and magazines.  I haven’t even wanted to cast on something new to combat the Gargantusock doldrums; I am suffering from complete and unshakeable knitting ennui.

I have 23 more pattern rows on the foot and then 24 toe rows before I can graft and call it done.

Until then, this blog and any blogs I may read (as well as any projects in my queue, conversations on knitty, and my ravelry account) are going to be unfortunate casualties of my battle with the Gargantusock.  Hopefully, I’ll see you all on the other side.

For now, though, take some time for a little inspirational viewing.  In case you didn’t know, it’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the US.  We have the day off here, and while many people regard it as just another long weekend, I try to at least acknowledge the occasion at some point during the day.  So, enjoy this pod courtesy of YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/v/PbUtL_0vAJk&rel=1 (So, I tried getting this to embed, but WordPress evidently doesn’t like that and keeps removing it.)

Another Christmas come and gone.  Another year almost over.  Alas.  Alack.

At least I have these to make me cheery!

Combating Neurotic Tendencies Mittens 

The Scoop:

• Pattern: ‘Maine Morning Mitts’ by Clara Parkes from The Knitter’s Book of Yarn
• Yarn: Noro Kureyon (Color 180)
• Needles: KnitPicks Options Nickel-plated DPNs, US7
• Notes:
  • I hate it when self-striping stuff doesn’t match.  This project was an effort on my part to force myself out of my neurotic little box.  Know what? I do like them.  They’re such happy colors.  I think I’d like them better if they matched, but I’m living with the chaos – who knows, maybe mismatched socks will be next!
  • Another good thing about this pattern … it only uses one skein of Noro.  I’d had this lone skein of Kureyon sitting in my stash for almost a year – this was a great way to use it up.
  • Plus, since my red ‘Fetchings’ are still MIA, I needed new mittens!

The Knitter’s Book of Yarn was one of the knitting-related gifts I managed to drop enough hints to receive this year.  I love it.  The photography is beautiful, and I’m really looking forward to being able to use the wealth of information inside to better know which stash items can be subbed for patterns in my queue.

I’m actually quite pleased with how little ‘stuff’ I got this year.  I made my “if it has to sit/be stored somewhere, I don’t want it” mantra a little louder this year, and it seems to have worked.  I’ve been very anti-stuff lately, and I was dreading having to haul my family’s usual things-that-were-on-sale-so-we-bought-them mound of presents back to my tiny apartment.

Things this year were mostly books, these two skeins of STR from the Raven series that I asked for forever ago, a very few clothes, and some other random odds and ends.  The few household items I got look to be things I’ll actually use - with the exception of some Christmas-themed mugs/plates that I managed to convince my mom could be stored at her house.

All in all, it wasn’t nearly as stressful as it usually is, the passive-aggressive guilt-trips were few, and there was (thank Heaven) no repeat of last year’s shared stomach virus.

Now, I’m off to finish making my mom’s birthday cake – she’s a New Year’s baby! She has this incredibly complicated layered carrot cake recipe that she likes me to make … so I do.  My secret ingredient substitution? Golden Raisins – much nicer than regular raisins.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

 I know that posting has been sporadic (and it will probably stay that way until the first of the year), but here’s a quick shot of some finished gifts …

The Scoop:

Yarn: Fortissima Socka #1016 (less than 1 skein)

Pattern: ‘Fingerless Garter Mitts’ from One Skein by Leigh Radford

The Scoop:

Yarn: KnitPicks Shadow in ‘Vinyard’ (about 1.5 skeins)

Pattern: Feather&Fan Lace tutorial from Knitpicks

Notes: decided not to block to make it more ‘scarfy’ than lacey

See you all after the break!

No, I haven’t been on a train trip, but I have been on vacation and this is the only non-family-member-filled photo I took.  (Well, I only took four photos total – I’m horrible at that kind of stuff.) 

There’s nothing like a mini-break to keep sane while waiting for those blissful New Years days off.  (Of couse there are also the Christmas days off, but these are spent shuttling from one family dwelling to the other getting your soul crushed by passive aggressive relatives and the dreaded ‘so are you dating anyone?’ question.)

Also good for keeping sane?  Yarn.  And since it’s vacation yarn, it doesn’t even count!  Like birthday cake.

Stash Enrichment Roundup:

• Blue Sky Alpacas ‘Melange’ in color #806 to make the ‘Huckleberry Ascot’ by Kat Coyle from IK Gifts 2007.
• Lana Grossa ‘Royal Tweed’ in color #25 to make ‘tudora’ by Cheryl Marling from Knitty Winter 2007.
• ‘Neckdown Wrap Cardigan’ pattern from Knitting Pure & Simple.
• Blue Sky Alpacas ‘Baby Bobby Bear’ pattern and the Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton yarn in color#82 to make it.

Squee!

Now, if only I could just make it through the gargantu-sock evilness, I might actually get to knit with some of it.

(Note: Pics may be added later if I’m ever home during daylight.)

I go on vacation Friday, and suddenly  negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP devolved into the kind of argument that I would have gotten my a$$ soundly whipped for in elementary school.  (Less sensational versions available here, here, and here.) 

There’s conflicting pseudo-information everywhere, but through my special deductive reasoning skills, I’ve come away with two conclusions:

1) The Writer’s Guild was bringing up a lot of stuff that never should have been part of the discussion when negotiations were obviously going so badly to begin with - making it seem like they were just looking to start some trouble. 

2) The AMPTP is scary and wants to control your mind – well, not really…at least I think not really [1].  Anyway, they issued a whole list of ultimatums (see previous link) relating to the stuff that the WGA should have known better than to bring up, threw a tantrum when the writers wanted to negotiate these non-negotiable ultimatums at the Negotiation, and walked out throwing a hissy-fit and immediately issuing a press release that it was all the writers’ fault – which had apparently been the plan all along .  As someone who was exposed to The X-Files at much too young an age, my conspiracy alarms are going off – they’ve got to be up to something, but I honestly can’t come up with a logical answer as to what unless they’re secretly part of some top-secret social experiment to see exactly how much reality television Americans can stand before their minds actually melt out of their ears. [2]

To recap: The WGA is bad at negotiating, and the AMPTP is negotiating in bad faith.  Everyone else in the entertainment industry is getting tired of the whole mess.  And the rest of us are watching promos for ‘Clash of the Choirs’ and wondering how whoever is responsible for this kind of drivel still has a job.

Which leads me to my title question … what the heck does this have to do with knitting? [3]

See, despite the fact that chemgrrl assures me we have six months until Christmas, I am afraid she might be lying to me.  Something tells me we actually have two weeks until Christmas.  Two weeks in which I traditionally pull late-night/all-night knit session to finish my last minute gifts.  Nights that are populated by people like John Stewart and David Letterman and The Soup (okay, so they’re not on strike, but they do watch stuff so you don’t have to!), all capped off by the SNL Christmas special.  Even if the strike ended tomorrow, it’s too late for the SNL Christmas special! How am I supposed to finish the gargantu-socks with no Weekend Update???

Someone has got to just swallow that bitter pill and take a little ego-beating for the greater good here – people who have no say in the matter are facing the prospect of a very bleak holiday.  As for the rest of us … we’re all going to be stuck watching ‘American Gladiators’ and ‘Farmer Wants A Wife’, [4] (and by ‘watching’ I mean watching it scroll by on the TVGuide channel before sighing and flipping off the tv [5]) or turning to those much-maligned dvd’s (about which I’m rapidly developing a guilt complex).  I have actually contemplated the feasibility of knitting to the “Ask A Ninja” videos, but I don’t think it’s going to work. 

So, first one to swallow their ego and start some sort of actual dialogue with the opposition gets a pair of socks. [6]

In conclusion, yes, I know I’ve been a little footnote happy in this post.  Blame it on Terry Pratchett. [7]

Notes: 

[1] I am, however, growing increasingly disturbed at the amount of ‘stuff’ owned by General Electric.  If my computer blows up after I post this, I may have to move to China.  Hopefully, that won’t happen, because half my lab went to China on a conference and came back noticeably thinner, paler, and more appreciative of environmental health codes.

[2]Parents: Yes, there should be an age limit to sci-fi television viewing.  Just because it’s make-believe, doesn’t mean it doesn’t leave a lasting impression. 

[3] Besides the apparent build-up of sarcasm that, so far as I can determine, is being caused by some combination of weird weather (yeah, it was eighty degrees today – wth?), low lighting, and the absence of John Stewart to be sarcastic for me.  I mean, now I have to be cynicial and snarky for myself, and it’s really starting to affect my outlook on life.  I swear, I never used to curse this much!

[4] Except for one brief shining hour a week after ‘Psych’ returns January 11th – woot!

[5] Alan Cummings is equally terrified of this prospect.

[6] See, now noone can say I wasn’t doing my part just because I didn’t see the value in buying a box of pencils!

[7] Apparently, compulsive Discworld reading is another by-product of a lack of Daily Show episodes.

Susubee-sock vs. Gargantu-sock:

If this were for me, I would be finished by now.

How many days did you say there were until Christmas?