Friday, March 23, 2007

Thanks so much for your responses to my questions! 

One of my favorite answers to the droopy pants issues was from Linda, who told me about a friend who "accidentally" spilled some ice water into a similar offender's, um, crack.  Reminds me of the time I had an entire glass of beer spilled into my lap by a very drunken bar-goer.  I returned the favor with a glass of ice water, but said bar-goer was NOT amused.  At least he wasn't the one with sticky pants . . . or . . . er . . . anyway, it made me feel better.

Another great answer was from Dana, who said:  "I tend to be sarcastic by nature so for the guy with the plaid boxers I would say (with as straight a face as I could muster) my son has been looking for that EXACT plaid pattern for his boxers, can you tell me please where you bought them??!!"  I'll have to remember that one!  Of course, both of my sons were with me at the time, and would probably have been mortified if I had said anything!

For my latest pair of socks, I chose some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the color Black Purl, from Rob at ThreadBear.  I thought it would be fitting to use Rob's Broadripple pattern from the Summer 2003 issue of knitty.com.  Unfortunately, the yarn didn't agree:

Side 1:

Side 2:

At this gauge (teensy, on size U.S. 0 needles), with this number of stitches (72), the Lorna's Laces chose to separate itself into darks on one side and lights on the other.  Not my cup of tea.  I went back to the stash for some vintage ThreadBear yarn, from when the boys were still in Indiana:

Ah, much better!  This is Meilenweit Cotton Fun from Lana Grossa.  Purple, of course!  This sock is actually finished now, and I'm down to the heel flap on the second sock, which I'll knit along with my Basic Socks class at Lavender & Peonies in DeWitt tomorrow morning.  I may finish this pair over the weekend, although I'm not in a hurry (liar -- I'm trying to knit a pair of socks a month, in order to make some kind of a dent in my sock yarn stash).

I'm a little behind on posting my UFO Resurrection challenge for February:

This used to be the Tank Top from the book One Skein (seen on the 2006 Finished Projects page), but the linen merino blend grew upon washing, and the tank didn't fit like I had hoped.  I'll re-knit it into a plain old shell sometime soon -- should be a quick knit. 

My January UFO -- Meg's Fair Isle Cardigan -- was stalled due to a lack of yarn, but that's been resolved and it's underway again.  I'm running out of yet another color, though, so it may be set aside again soon.  I have both sleeves on the needles with about half of each to go, then I need to join them to the body and sew on some buttons.  Not too much longer for this project!  I should have it finished just in time for the warmer weather.

March's UFO Resurrection will probably involve tearing out another unworn sweater from the past -- I've got a stack of them!

Have you checked out Nanette's latest publication?  Glove Knitting promises to be a wonderful resource for knitting gloves that FIT, and that don't have those pesky holes between the fingers.  I had to confess to Nanette that I'd never knit a pair of gloves (shame on me!), but I went stash diving and came up with this beauty:

It's Sleeping Dragon Yarn (100% merino wool sock yarn), purchased from a guild trip to Marshall, Michigan a year or so ago.  Should make some yummy gloves!

Not much knitting happening here in the last few days, though.  I've been sidelined by a nasty head cold for the past week.  When I'm not teaching, I'm sleeping.  I hope to wake up one of these days and be healthy again.  Who am I kidding?  I'm just happy to wake up!

I tried my login and password again and backblog recognized it this time, so we'll give the comments another try. 

Sarah

Thursday, March 8, 2007

I've got some questions for you:

1.  Does anyone know of a pharmacy-type place that will accept prescription medication from one location, package it in blister packs, and then send it off to another location?

2.  If you are standing in line at the counter of a deli, and another customer is wearing his pants so low that you can see his entire pair of plaid boxers and make out the curve of his butt cheeks (because the plaid boxers are too small), what is the appropriate course of action, and to whom should it be directed?  If I knew the person, I'd yank his pants down around his ankles, but this was a total stranger and I wanted to show some class.  I held my tongue, but I need to know what to do next time, because . . .

3.  If you are sitting at a nice restaurant and another customer is wearing his pants so low that there is only a pair of underwear between his ass and the chair, what is the appropriate course of action, and to whom should it be directed?  I'm thinking I would have been justified in calling management over to my table in this case, but again, I held my tongue.

4.  If your weblog comment provider deletes all of your comments and no longer recognizes your i.d. and password, should you take it personally?  Apparently backBlog was bought out, and apparently I'm not a customer any longer.  That's fine -- I was considering removing the comments from my blog anyway, because I've learned that I'm more likely to respond to an e-mail than a comment, for some unknown reason.  I'm too cheap to pay for a commenting system (I've been using the demo version all this time!), so I'll have to figure out something else to do.

So if you can answer any of my questions, please e-mail me (over there on the left!).

And now, a parade of gift knits:

Here's Brother-in-Law Number Five's Christmas socks:

I used a short row heel so as not to break up the stripes too much.  I don't like the short row heel as much as my beloved heel flap, but my brother-in-law liked them, so he'll get more hand knit socks!

Here's Sister Number One's Christmas scarf (and some moose feet):

It's Caryl's Kerchief, one skein of Koigu, and a couple hundred beads along the bind off row, which you can see a little flash of on the right hand side of this photo.  Sister Number Two and my mom each got one of these for Christmas as well, in different colors.  I've got some purple Koigu and beads for my own version, to be made in my spare time (ha!).

Here's Sister Number Two's Valentine birthday shawl:

It's the Gossamer Shawl with Ruffle from Karabella Yarns, using Ritratto from S. Charles.  Very fun to knit.  I made most of this on my trip to Mackinac Island last fall, but I couldn't show it to you until I had given it to my sister.

And now, a parade of student knits:

Here's a heap 'o mittens from my Easy Beginner Mittens class in DeWitt: 

This was the first time I've taught this class in three sessions (as opposed to two), and it allowed everyone to finish at least one mitten!  Yippee!

Here's Vicki in her hat from my Continental Knitting class: 

It turned out a lot bigger than she had expected, so she felted it down to size.  What fun!  It looks great!

Here's Annette in her Philosopher's Wool sweater from my Fair Isle Sweater class:

Annette requested that I cut her head off, so I did.  It was a really cute picture of her, but you'll never see it.  Sorry!

Rose isn't as shy.  She sent me this photo of the sweater she made in my Sweater Design class:

Doesn't it look great?  And it FITS (which was the whole point of the class, so that's a relief!).  I'm so proud of all of my students!!!

And now, a parade of my own, very unexciting, knits:

Socks:

I've learned that I like a lot of negative ease in my socks.  Tight fitting = doesn't ride up when I put my boots on!  I've also learned that ribbing is a challenge when your brain cells have taken a leave of absence.

Sweater(s):

I'm making a plain jane stockinette stitch sweater out of some scratchy Ballybrae wool (from the sadly out of business Brunswick Worsted Mills), because that's about all my brain can handle right now.  Or I thought it was, until I finished the body, tried it on, and realized it was three inches too short and about four inches too skinny.  So I'm knitting Attempt Number Two (on the right) directly from Attempt Number One (on the left).  No point in winding the yarn back into a ball, eh?

I've been knitting round and round (and round and round) in scratchy wool while watching Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of ER on DVD.  I gave up on looking for movies that fit my strict requirements and decided to dive right into death and dismemberment.  It's been fun revisiting those early episodes, although I've been staying up much too late.

Did I mention that we've been experiencing more than the average family's share of car repairs recently, what with the acquisition of the Grandpamobile and the refusal of my beloved Volvo station wagon to stay out of the shop for more than a couple of days at a time?  My Volvo has recently gotten new tires, a new thermostat, a new timing belt, and a power steering repair, and it currently has a headlight out and a mysterious rattle in its nether regions.  The Grandpamobile has recently gotten new tires, a brake repair, and a new engine mount, and is currently pulling sharply to the left.  Or to the right, depending on which way you last turned. 

Did I mention that I had to get a new dryer in January?  And that we're sending Son Number One to Orlando in May with the high school marching band?  And that my fancy schmancy new windows have to be paid for by November?

Did I mention that we cancelled all family vacations this year (including Knitting Camp -- sob!) and that I've been working my butt off to make some extra money? 

Did I mention that we moved my mom to East Lansing from Pittsburgh?  She's now 3 miles away instead of 350 miles away.

Did I mention that Son Number One will be taking his road test next week?  Do you know what that's going to do to our auto insurance?

I'm going to go lie down.

Sarah

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