I cannot keep focused

Someone, teach me restraint.

I have six projects on needles right now, and justifications for all of them. 

Project #1: Well, this is the gift sweater I can only work on at home,
because it’s too big to carry when I go everywhere on foot.

Project #2: Pomatomus socks. Portable, pretty, and I need to do something
with that bright blue sock yarn.

Project #3: Nice simple mistake rib that I can mindlessly work on at work.
The boss approves.

Project #4: The former at-work project –a woven herringbone scarf my
sister demanded- but I kept forgetting to psso and would grossly snarl
up whole passages of it. Cannot work on while reading e-mail and
answering phones.

Project #5: I need to learn how to work on those 00000 needles. A hat is
a great starter project!

Project #6: Oh, but I really want to design another pair of mitts! I can’t
possibly not do that now!

I’m going to scrap the mitts for now; beyond a fetishistic urge to use the
Italian tubular cast-on, my plans for that yarn have changed too much. The
hat should technically be a small project (it’s half an inch tall, really) that I
can finish quickly.

As for the rest… sigh. I guess four on the needles isn’t as bad. It wouldn’t
bother me as much if I had a place to put the sweater other than various
chairs in my apartment.

The Lunchsack, Finished (for now)

My first felted project, now actually felted. It's modelled off the Swiecki lunchbag pattern in Knitty a couple of seasons past. Altered, the better to fit my lunch tupperwares. The bag itself is knit from two skeins of Reynold's Lopi, which was a bit too little-- my excuse for the lame flap. I used black grosgrain for the strap, a large hook-and-eye for the front clasp, and a pair of crazy faux-retro buttons from Jo-Anns. I need to shorten the strap a bit, and eventually want to switch the ribbon out for an ecru-colored natural fiber strap. Or maybe a belt... just something sturdier, but I didn't have luck finding anything (and I've looked! and looked!)

Once again, the kindness of people baffles me

I have no idea how to respond. I probably had a stunned-stupid look on my face all through the check-out line.

The Awesome People I've Never Met

Wow. Remember miniature knitting? More specifically, me saying something like: "blahblahblah, I'm so artsy, blahblah blah, collaborate with my little sister"?

The means are now at hand. This afternoon, expecting to find, at best, another annoying Comcast leaflet in my mailbox, I stuck my hand in... and came out with a manilla envelope. My first thought was terror -is that my grad school application?- and then my next thought was "I knew she was up to something when she asked for my address." She being B. Zedan (http://bzedan.us/), a collaboratrice, fellow crafter, and entity of the internets. I clawed through the packaging and found:


This picture (my camera is getting closer and closer to death) in no way justly portrays this gift. Two sets of eensy teensy dpns! TWO!

So awesome.

Proof that I am Not Unique

http://learn-to-knit.com/left.htm

This is exactly how I knit. It’s been pretty obvious (to me) that I mirror-knit, given that when I read patterns my left gloves turn out as right gloves, but finding no literature on it (and having been told by a few knitting tutorials to get over myself) I’d chalked it down to being a self-taught lefty who got hand cramps whenever I tried out regular Continental or English. But! Unique I am not. Enough lefties exist out there to compile tutorials on it. The internets have come a full circle.

I ought to print this link onto cardstock to hand to people who stare at me on the bus. “Why, yes ma’am, this is an actual technique!” Or, better yet, I’ll use it as a come-on: “Hey, cute boy, I bet you didn’t know that I knit lefty. Wanna come purl some stitches with me?”

Right. That would be why I’m dateless.

Pomatomus in Progress

Pomatomus aux aiguilles fines avec les lettres, 7 mars 2007

This is a Celebration

There is light and hope in the world. The Doomsday clock has been turned back two hours, for despite a week of refusing to engage in negotiations with any piece of hardware I hooked it up to, my camera has now backtracked and is speaking with my laptop.

But it ate my pomatomus pictures. There will be trade sanctions for this, my friends!


This is just me celebrating. Nevermind it. Unless you like games, then I have to refer you to: http://march32nd.blogspot.com/

'Ware when March comes in May...

Bundling Up

I hate unexpectedly needing to bundle up-- half the time I don't notice until I'm out the door, and then, wait, I need a scarf? And gloves? And another sweater under this jacket? Oh hell...

On the other hand, this very gentle snow is pretty.