periscope knits

the bright side.

Three things that made me happy today.

 

Two views of the Russian Mammoth sunflowers in my garden 

I look up to take these pictures, as the plants are eight feet tall or so. Their yellow faces look towards the ground as they prepare to drop their seeds.

Piko and Neko

They kept watch while I cleaned.  They haven't been my cats for long (a bit over a month), but oh!  My heart says they will be mine forever.

I am a lucky woman.

sockapalooooza reveal!

Late, as everything has been this summer.

Annette in South Carolina, thank you.  You have made every doctor and dentist visit much better since I got my socks - and trust me, there have been way too many.

More later.  For now, enjoy the pictures

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So much to say

And yet none of it is fit for print.  I've been grumpy and whiny and generally bitchy eck, so I've refrained from posting and answering emails  (well, mostly - sorry Sockpal!  You got the whine, unfortunatley).  I have personal journals for that sort of thing. 

This is a short, contest-only post so I can keep my whining complaining emo craziness to a minimum positivity to a max!!  Woo hoo!!! It's Monday!!!!!!

Gah. 

For the Contest:

What is one baked item you love making or buying and why?  Mmm, baked goods.  This contest thing is already perking me up.  I'm not sure I could pick one baked item, unless it was broad in scope, like bread. I love me some bread.  The mixing and stirring and punching out aggressions kneading; the anticipation and aroma; the slowness of it all... yum.  As an added bonus, the time the bread rises is absolutely perfect for making cookies and drinking margaritas.  I'm just saying.

If I'm buying a baked item, it'll be croissants every time. 

-What is one item you love to knit and why?  It's all love.  I love the process as well as the product, so there is no favourite when it comes to items.

-Favorite outdoor activity and why?  Swimming!  Swimming naked in the lake in the middle of a summer night.  Otherwise, I like taking walks and climbing trees.  I'd ride a bike if I had one.  Tag and Calvinball are pretty fun, too, but not many people my age like that sort of thing. 

and lastly -
-Favorite why to relax?  Hee hee hee.  I love this question with the typo.  I guess it depends on what sort of relaxation I need.  Baths are nice (if only I had a bathtub!).  Massages are good, too.  Gardening and dancing and cooking and making stuff - all excellent sorts of relaxation.  And knitting, of course :).

Back to the regularly scheduled whining.

Dishcloths to banish the kitchen blahs

Since my first cure for the blahs is working so well, I've decided that it's time to get specific.  I've been putting off the serious ass-kicking fiddly work that both my kitchen and bathroom need to be ready for entertaining.  The two combined are nearly a third of my (tiny) apartment. This swap is perfect - what better stimulus than the thought that someone might ask for a picture? 

Besides, it's spring!  I can throw the windows open and Simple Green everything to my heart's content without passing out from the fumes.  Not that pine is a bad thing, and Simple Green is far less noxious than most cleansers out there. 

Off to the Farmer's Market I go!  Tra la, tra la!

Dishcloth swap questionnaire:

1. When did you learn to knit? Who taught you? I learned to knit from my second grade student teacher, Mr. White. He had a slubby, pumpkin-coloured scarf on giant pink metal needles that he let me keep. I knit on the same project until sometime in fourth grade. I’d brought the yarn & needles to Mrs. Shaw’s fourth grade class, and someone stole ONE needle. I stopped knitting for quite some time after that, and concentrated more on crochet and latchhook and embroidery and sewing.



2. What was your very first completed object? Your most recent? I don’t remember my first – probably something for my parents or stuffed animals, but I have no idea as to what it might have been. I just finished a shifting sands scarf that I’m in love with.



3. What was the very first thing you sent to the frog pond? (pulled out and started over) Your most recent? I just pulled out the moss green swatch intended for knee socks, and cast on again for a gauntlet. The drama involved in finding suitable complimentary yarn is really more trouble than it’s worth (especially since I didn’t get the Sundara yarn I bid for). Again, I don’t remember the first thing frogged.



4. What is currently on the needles for you? Oh, lots: Hoh gauntlets, red & white striped ankle socks, Shedir, pink lace stockings, Lizard Ridge, two La La scarves from Greetings from the Knit Café, secret things for my KTE spoilee.



5. What types of needles do you enjoy working with? What have you tried and hated? I really like wooden needles the best, with bamboo coming in second (but not for socks! The stickiness drives me batty). Plastic needles are my least favourite, and metal needles are only for sometimes – if I need the speed, or the slick surface.



6. Have you knit dishcloths before? Yep. Just two kinds, and I liked and disliked both of them for different reasons. I’ve knit your basic square dishcloth a few times. They’re a quick way to give yourself something bright and new for cleaning. How fun is that?  Then I knit the flower washcloth from Weekend Knitting as a gift. It’s lovely and soft and went over well. If I ever knit another one I’ll switch to metal needles. Chenille + wood = frustration.
7. Do you use homemade dishcloths or face cloths yourself, or give them as gifts, or both? Both.



8. What are your favorite and least favorite scents? (For your body, such as soap/lotion/etc) My favourite perfume oil EVER is Croquet, by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. How can one resist a line of scents inspired by Alice in Wonderland? For soaps and lotions: My skin is sensitive, so I don’t use bar soaps for my body. I like lotions and scrubs, though. Rosemary, lime, basil, lavender, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves are my favourites. For my kitchen, I love rosemary and lemon and sage and lavender. I’m not big on most other florals.



9. What are your favorite colors? Blue, followed by green and orange. I love colour in general, though. Of the rainbow, I certainly don’t have a least favourite.



10. What colors (if any) are your bathroom and kitchen decorated in? My bathroom is robin’s egg blue and white, currently with bright orange accents. My kitchen is pale green and white with copper accents.



11. What other hobbies and crafts do you enjoy? I sing, write, bellydance, garden, bake & cook, design, spin, dye, bead, embroider, weave, crochet, make paper, and sew all sorts of things. I’m a DIY sort of girl.



12. Chocolate: Dark? White? Milk? Ew? Good chocolate of any kind. Local and organic is a bonus.



13. Do you like salty treats? What kinds? Not usually, no.  Nuts are my exception, and I've got to be in the mood.
    



14. If you could go anywhere in the world for one day and spend the day any way you wanted, where would you go and what would you do?  Just one?  Ack!  I'll have to answer this later - probably in a blog post.  This is going to take some thought, as I have so many things that I want to see and do and experience.
    



15. Do you have any allergies? (Yarns, foods, etc. that might impact what your pal can send). Cigarette smoke. Air freshener, like Febreze and Glade and Oust. Also, whatever is used to scent dryer sheets and laundry detergent. (Aren't I fun? All of my clothing is washed with hippie-style Seventh Generation soap and fabric softener, and my house is scented by essential oils and candles.  A pain, but I like being rash-free.) Otherwise, no.

Is there a story to go with the yarn?

Perhaps not, but I am perfectly capable of making one up.

Given my love of fairy tales, Alice in Wonderland, and clever puns, how can I possibly resist a store called Curious Yarns?  Even if it's in the UK.  So I go look.

They have organic, DK-weight wool.  They have sock yarn. And sock kits.  And curious critter kits. 

When I finally leave this continent and head east, I'm bringing an entire suitcase just for yarn.

Update: There IS a story.  My lovely KTE pal, Lisa, graciously informed me that a)they're offline and b) ordering from them was not the smooth transaction it should have been.  I Googled them, and she's not alone.  Hmm.  Ah, well.  More room for other yarns in the suitcase!

Six

As promised: six weird things.

1) One odd trait – ah, ah, ahh!  Like The Count, I take great pleasure in, well, counting.  Counting anything, really: rows in a field, tortellini in my soup, rivers crossed while driving on the highway.  I notice patterns more often this way, and I use those numbers in designs. I still lose count when casting on, though.  Such is life.

2) What's in a name?  Plenty, if you're me.  I have the longest name of anyone I know.  Again with the counting: thirty-three letters!  Ten syllables!   My initials (all five of them) are palindromic!  Unlike most kids, I only heard my full name when my parents were especially pleased with me. 

3) Generally, I do my best thinking about one thousand miles into a road trip, solo.

4) Dictionaries rock my world. So do encyclopaedias.  Three dictionaries have pride of place on my bookshelf: the 1978 rainbow cover edition of Webster’s Unabridged; The Dictionary of American Authors, and a matched leather-bound set of Roget’s Thesaurus and Dictionary.

5) Related to this love of lexicons?  I'm very peculiar about how I spell certain words, because of the aesthetics.  I like the "u" in "colour" and "flavour", but I'll keep the "z" in "memorize".  Gray is a warm colour, like the ashes in a fire.  Grey is cool - the pale moon and the sea.  The list is long and varied, and apparently I'm in good company.

6) I'll take juice over alcohol any day of the week.  I have the sophisticated drink palate of your average five-year-old.

my KTE pal responds with questions, and I answer on the blog

Hi KTE pal,

How funny that you have to ask me these things.  I have a blog, I should post!   And, now that The Event That Shall Not Be Named is over, I will.  Perhaps I'll even post the answers to your questions – what an excellent thing!   Thanks for the idea, and sorry for being such a mystery.

To answer your questions:

I'm not a monogamous knitter at all, so there are several things that  I'm currently knitting (and thus, last knit).   The last knitted item that I finished is a Shifting Sands scarf (pattern by Grumperina), while I was in Tucson.  There are a few pictures on my blog, though no finished ones as of yet.   I'm in love with it – the texture, the colour, the length.  It's like the surface of a pearl, or the moon, or a choppy sea, or the sky about to storm.   What good things!  With this same yarn, I made a pair of shootin' stockings for my dad.  I used a different stitch pattern, but the results are the same.   I'm a bit sad that I can't get more of the yarn.  But, then, if I could, would I have purchased it?  Sometimes limited edition can be a good thing – I have to get it then then then, or I regret the chance missed.

Now, I'm in a sock phase.  On my needles I've got:

1) moss green knee socks (though I might turn these into gauntlets instead, with perhaps a hat to match)

2) red and white striped anklets

3) pink lace stockings

I'm also working on a Lizard Ridge blanket, square by square, and a couple of little mohair triangle shawls as gifts for my niece and sister.   Accessories are easiest for me.  I'm busty AND plus-sized, so the investment required for a jumper or vest is quite a bit, even in an inexpensive yarn.   I'm looking at knitting a sweater in the vein of the hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I'd like to keep the yarn the same, but aiee!   I have to buy over a bag's worth of Cash Iroha, and that's stressful in more ways than I care to think about.

So, on my knitter's wish list?  Something to felt, I think.  I'd like to felt a bag, a largish-one to take with me to the farmer's market.  Maybe a neck pillow or something equally sweet and modern-ish.  Gloves.  Knee high striped socks.  Thermal, from Knitty.com.  Placemats.  A pair of socks using the motif that Eunny Jang created for this sweater.

What about you?

Janine

The power of knitting.

Today was not an easy day for many reasons.  Most of them had something to do with part one of The Event That Shall Not Be Named, but there were others.  Most knit-worthy was Sundara Yarn's update, and the fact that nothing I wanted was available twenty minutes after the update.  Just look at the Redwood over Sage yarn!  And the Spruce over Pollen!  Gah. 

However, I figured out how to make a horizontal cable. 

Life is good again.

Pictures: worth a thousand curses.

I am a woman of strong opinions, and apparently my blog has taken on this personality trait for itself.  My blog is against cell phone pictures. Really, all the pictures show up perfectly on my home computer.  Viewed from any other computer?  Well. My blog has done some editing.  Who needs to see the fabulous llama pictures?  Or my newest gauntlet swatch?  The blog says: No one! Granted, those (cell phone) pictures aren’t quite as lovely.  Still: Blech.  I do my best with the tools at my disposal.  At the top of my birthday list is a digital camera.  (Hi Mom!  If you want to get rid of your old camera, look no further than here!)

So, while my blog and I engage in a battle of wills, there will be no progress pics.  Instead, I give you this blog-approved picture.

The shingle for the dentist at Old Tucson Studios, courtesy of my mother.  It's a good transition from the blue/gray/white Project Spectrum trio to the current one.  I love the deep, sage-y greens and muted golds.  While I am no stranger to bright & bold (my favourite outfit involves a turquoise cardigan, fuschia sweater and lavendar tee), lately I've been drawn to the other side of colour.  I still dress like a jungle orchid, but I'm knitting and crafting with an eye towards the forested beaches of my home state.

A Post Wherein I Am Reminded That Life Is For Living

Thank you, Edna St. Vincent Millay.

"I, being born a woman, and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.

Think not for this, however, this poor treason
Of my stout blood against my staggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity - let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again."