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November 29, 2004

Two Thanksgivings

Bewarned: non-knitting content ahead - I'll return to the knitting world tomorrow or Wednesday:
On Saturday we had Thanksgiving at the house of some little girls I used to teach. It was really nice but I drank way too much wine and woke up a bit late on Sunday.
On Sunday, we had our own Thanksgiving. In years past I had cooked a lot more and been more concerned with setting a nice table and having loads of food... A couple years ago I carved out apples and put votive candles in them and made nice flower arrangements and stuff like that... This year I had already played Martha Stewart with my wedding so I wasn't so worked up about TG. I had my friend bring the flowers and had other friends buy the pies at the American grocery store. It was nice. I think everyone had fun even though I forgot the green beans in the freezer and served mediocre cornbread.

Posted by kate at 04:03 PM

November 25, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had chili for dinner... it's American-ish at least. Saturday we're invited to our friends' house for a TG dinner and then I'm having some people over on Sunday. So you may not hear from me again until Monday when I stop cooking and regain my sanity. Gobble gobble.

Knitting group tonight was fun. Any of you anglophone ladies who are in Paris, get back in touch with me. We'll probably be having a knitting get together one of these days.

Posted by kate at 04:04 PM

November 24, 2004

Gifted

These soft, warm mittens are the easiest way to make sure everyone on your gift list has warm hands this winter. Knit flat on big needles with chunky cashmere-blend yarn, they're incredibly quick to make. The thumb is knitted and seamed before you reach the finger area, without even having to cut your yarn. Before you know it, you're done--they're so quick you don't even need to resist the urge to keep a pair for yourself!

Thanks to test-knitters Kristine, Ellynne and Jody and thanks to Lee Ann for the brilliant blurb.

Posted by kate at 04:06 PM

November 23, 2004

That ain't yarn.

That's just twisted wool

On the left is the first stuff. It's thick and thin and too twisted and not twisted enough and I don't care. I was experimenting. On the spindle is the second stuff. It's more even and I'm having more fun with it. I was spinning it from the fold because I don't really like (read: am not good at) the normal way. Yeah. I know. One might say, why don't you learn the basics before you start doing all kinds of wacky stuff? It's like making something with lace and cables as your second knitting project! Well guess what. That's what I did when I learned how to knit so that's what I'm doing here. I'm hoping playing dumb and not knowing what's supposed to be hard will pay off for me like it did in knitting. That said, I think I need a spinning class. I didn't ply my yarn or anything. I was too impatient to try the other fiber, so I just kind of balled it up and played Scarlett O'Hara I'll think about it tomorrow!

In knitting news: Bunny seems to be coming together. I think he'll have a friend too. I just never end up with more than 5 minutes of peace and quiet to work him. I'd really like to get all my OLD patterns written so I can get working on my new patterns. I have all these ideas and not enough peace and quiet. Note to self: Turn off phone and stop reading so many darned blogs!

Posted by kate at 04:06 PM

November 22, 2004

knitters, museums and tools

Knitters and museums:
After trip to the Musée d'Orsay with Supergirl Rebecca and her friends Jen and Stephanie last Thursday, I got to meet the obsessive cyber knitter Kristine and her friend Annette on Saturday. I was an idiot both days and rushed out of the house without my camera, but they were smarter, so maybe they'll put up photos when they're home. Kristine brought me some lovely alpakka and she tried to get me drunk enough to sing, but I ended up so tipsy that I forgot to sing. We went to see and exhibit on bags at the Musée de la Mode et Textile. It was nice to meet two gals whose blogs I had been reading. I had a lot of fun.

I started trying to learn how to spin. I'll show you my "yarn" tomorrow.

Posted by kate at 04:09 PM

November 20, 2004

Worst knit along host ever

That's me. I haven't updated my info about the lace along in a million years. Forgive me. The wedding came, I went insane. I didn't look and see who had finished. I was too busy staring at my own belly button. Poor Donna and Krista didn't even end up in the list on my sidebar. I stink. I know. I've starred a bunch of people based on what Julia marked and I've hunted around in blogs to see if I could find the FOs. If you've finished and I didn't star you, please send me a little email at needlesonfireATkategilbertDOTcom. And if you have finished, send me a little photo of what you made so I can make a decent gallery. OK?

Posted by kate at 04:10 PM

November 18, 2004

Spoiled rotten

Clockwise starting with the Cheerios: Cheerios and Candy Corn from Rebecca, my yarn meter, really lovely yarn and bamboo dpns as a treat from Sheila, greenish bamboo yarn, red soysilk, pewter silk/wool blend, brown tweed and 2 pairs of bryspuns ordered from My Threaded Bliss, a book about spinning from Julia, a load of magazines from mom and a Rachel Ray book that was accidentally sent and then inherited by Rebecca, big fat addis, fiber and a drop spindle from Julia. Plus there was a whole bag of Christmas presents that are all wrapped and waiting. I'll be more specific about what the yarn is when I get around to using it.

Posted by kate at 04:12 PM

November 16, 2004

Queen Elizabeth for a day

Elizabeth is ready to go. WOOT! I bought some Noro yesterday because I was sick of being left out and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. This is color 84 and it's lovely. I really like the mixed up happy fall colors in there, but I think they must call it Silk Garden because of all the thorny bits of plants they leave in there. It's nice, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it, but it's not half as soft as the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb I used for Clapotis. this is not an ad... it's just my opinion - although anyone who would like to send me free yarn is more than welcome to! ;)

Posted by kate at 04:14 PM

November 15, 2004

One bunny, Two bunny, Red bunny, Fat bunny

I made bunny a couple years ago. Then I promptly lost him... or I might have sent him to my friend in Argentina. I really can't remember. In any case, I kept really bad notes back then (I've learned my lesson). So I spent all weekend knitting and ripping and reknitting bunny. He's getting close, but he's a little fat. I'm going to buy some yarn and reknit Elizabeth today because I'm being a perfectionist and fiddling with the flare agagin. She should be ready tomorrow and hopefully bunny won't be far behind. It's amazing all you can get done when you half quit your job, neglect housework and don't have a wedding to plan anymore!

Posted by kate at 04:14 PM

November 12, 2004

Domino effect

Thanks for your help convincing the frog that we won't suddenly hate each other if I knit him something. A surprising 70% of you believe that there is a curse. I didn't think it would be that many. I think the frog is reassured. I'd like to make a sweater for him by our first anniversary. Take note that I said that so you can laugh at me in ten and a half months. It would be nice to at least make him something little before Christmas. A hat maybe? Mittens? Idunno.

Yesterday was a holiday here too, except most French people use a public holiday as an excuse to take Friday off and have a four day weekend. So the frog and I went to see the Turner Whistler Monet exhibit at the Grand Palais and I walked around knitting while I looked at the paintings.

Oh goodness. This isn't knitting, but I have to tell you about it. I'm watching Domino Day on a German TV channel. It's a big thing where all of these kids come from all over the world and spend two months setting up millions of dominos in a huge gym in an attempt to break a world record. They put them into arrangements of pictures and patterns and then they let a celebrity knock down the first one (Shania Twain, this year) and then cheer (and cry when it doesn't work). A French guy is weeping now because he couldn't set up a bunch of dominos fast enough for this extra challenge they were doing. These people might actually be sicker and goofier than us knitters. I have to admit that it's kind of fun to watch, but at least at the end of two months of knitting, we usually have something to wear, rather than four million pieces of plastic to pick up.

Posted by kate at 04:17 PM

November 11, 2004

Puh-LISE!

It's worked flat on circular needles so the colors can be worked in uneven numbers of rows. Only one color is worked per row so it's a nice and easy knit. It pulls down over your ears to make a good winter hat. I hope you like it. Click here or on my big fat head if you'd like to look at it more closely or maybe even purchase it to make for a lovely Christmast gift. 44 days of knitting left!

Thanks to Kim, Jody and Kris for their test knitting brilliance.

And a big thanks to our service people, past and present, who helped and served our country.

Posted by kate at 04:19 PM

November 10, 2004

Curses

Back in the day, I didn't know about the curse of the love sweater. I never actually knit a love sweater, but I did knit two scarves and mittens. And it's a fact that one of these gifts actually caused (ok, partially caused) the beginning of the end of the relationship. When the frog and I got together and he found out I knit he asked me to make something for him. I immediately said no. I was kind of vague about why, but I eventually told him about the curse and the story of one of the nicest things I ever designed and knit and gave away and got dumped because of. He never asked again. But now that we are married, I figured it would be safe and wanted to make him at least a little something for winter so I asked what he would like. He doesn't want anything because, even though he is usually a thoroughly unsuperstitious person, he's afraid something bad will happen. So, the frog wants confirmation from the knitting community that if I knit him something, it will not mark the end of our very short marriage.

Posted by kate at 12:43 PM

November 08, 2004

Frogs have wool

Just a quiet weekend in fire-land. Slept a bit. Stayed up a bit. Listened to wnyc quite a bit. And knit our butts off. Yes, our butts. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. I knit my butt off and improved and formatted a pattern (see photo below) and the frog decided that it looked like enough fun that he wanted to join me. He bought some wool with the intention of making "une écharpe beetlejuice" then stashed it away for 2 years and now he's finally started it. I did a tubular cast on for him and he's knitting the whole thing in k1 p1 rib, but I think he'll probably go insane before he finishes it because it's pretty wide and he wants it really long. We'll see. His nanny taught him to knit when he was a little boy, but he didn't really remember anymore. He says knitting is "ok" but it makes his arm hurt and he's not sure how any of us can do anything else at the same time.
It's kind of like the love child of a tailored scarf and an Elizabethan collar. Sorry about the small, blurry photo. I'll have a better one as soon as it stops raining and being dark all the time or next summer, whichever comes first.

BREAKING NEWS: The frog just said the sweetest thing to me! He said, "Il est où mon tricot?" (Where's my knitting?) Two days ago he never would have even imagined that sentence coming out of his mouth.

Posted by kate at 12:44 PM

November 06, 2004

Workaholic

To those who read the first version of this post that I made in the 5 minutes before my morning class: My apologies for my terrible writing under pressure.

I worked my butt off the other day and got Lise done. It's being test knit so I hope I will have it up and ready next week! And for those of you who have been asking *ah-hem* Lee Ann and Susan I haven't forgotten about bunny. He is an evil little guy but he is next on my list, my very long list.

Last week I was an idiot and misread where the meeting was for Paris Tricot. I missed a huge get together. Last night I found where we were meeting and there only ended up being three of us, but it was really nice. I worked on Anouk and made some progress. I'm not 100% thrilled with what I did, but I'm not going to rip.

Thanks for your opinions on Michelin Man. I am taking everyone's advice and ripping it. I'll worry about it later. I'm kind of disapointed because it was going so fast and I really wanted a snuggly sweater for the winter. I'll have to find another yarn.

3:06 UPDATE: Look what I found under a suitcase and a pile of dirty laundry!

It kind of smells like a moldy barn or something, but at least I found it. And geeeeeez! Is that a wrinkle next to my mouth?

Posted by kate at 12:46 PM

Yarn anticipation

So, the other day, I got this little email from Ms Supergirl herself, Rebecca, saying that she was coming to Paris and wanted to mail me something from here. I told her not to be a silly goose and we eventually decided to meet up instead. She just casually said, "I would love to bring you supplies if that helps out!" Little did she know insert somewhat evil laugh here that I would first make one little purchase to send to her and when she said, "I have plenty of room! Please feel free to send me stuff" that I wouldn't hesitate to take her up on it. I just got off the phone with the lovely Sheila who is putting a bunch of stuff in the mail to Rebecca to bring to me. Sheila was way too patient with me when I was saying things like, "I want something thin, but not scratchy and not cotton and not too fuzzy and in a nice color, but not pastel and not bright." and "What kind of gold, baby shit gold or is it pretty?" She actually asked one of her employees in a loud and clear voice in what I can only assume is the middle of her store, "Is this the color of baby shit? How would you describe it?"I am so freaking excited I can't even stand it! How on earth am I going to make it another 11 days until Rebecca is here?! I will certainly be unbearable until she arrives.

And not only am I going to visit with one knitter, I am also going to see a second! Kris, the francophile Norwegian is coming for a long weekend with her best pal and has kindly agreed to see me to enjoy some pains au chocolat and red wine. I told her if we had enough red wine I might even sing a Norwegian kiddie song I learned from an exchange student in high school (If you're out there somewhere Gerd-Elin, I think of you and I'm sorry we didn't stay in touch! It's all my fault.)

Posted by kate at 12:45 PM

November 03, 2004

Laugh and point, then tell me what you think

First, let me show you a mistake I made a couple of weeks ago:

I turned around in the middle of the row (not on purpose). Here is where you laugh and point. I haven't done that since the very first thing I made 11 years ago. 12 years?

OK: Here's the Michelin Man dilemma. No 2 skeins are really alike. The color changes at the same rate, but one skein starts at the bright blue, another in the dark, others in the gray area. So I thought in order to have the front and back the same and the stripes continue around, it would just be easiest to knit it in the round. And that's what I did. But I don't really like it. It might be the yarn. It might be the color, but I just feel kind of blah about it. I got up above the armholes and was only working the back and the stripes became much more subtle and wider, plus you see the bright blue more. I might like that better. So here are my choices:

Leave it the way it is. I veto this option

Rip it all out and knit the front and back separately, but so they match.

Rip and knit the front and back separately and throw all caution to the wind and who cares if it doesn't match. The sleeves probably won't match anyway.

Forget about this yarn and use another... like the purple polar I never returned, although it's not really the same gauge, but I could recalculate my pattern.

I'm feeling kind of unconvinced when it comes to this yarn. I like it. I hate it. I can't decide.
Here is where you give me your most helpful opinions

Posted by kate at 12:47 PM

November 01, 2004

Unexpected Find

On Saturday my belle soeur wanted to stop at the fabric store on our way into town. The frog and I went in and looked around. They had a little knitting section with really horrid acrylics plus the typical French needle selection. There were lots of metal straights, a few bamboo straights and some circulars that were the kind with REALLY thick and stiff cords (you know the ones?) and then I saw these other circs that looked nothing like what I had seen in France.

The label said BOHIN like all the other needles in the store, but when I looked really closely, the cord said this:

This is the only time I have ever found addis in France and little did I expect to find them in Bohin packaging in Mondial Tissues in la Nièvre! They only had three sizes and I had them already, but I bought all three anyhow. How could I not for 4.50?!

My unrealistic goal this weekend was to start and finish Anouk. The more realistic compromise was to get a lot done on it.

And I did. I started making stripes and I just didn't like them, so after a few inches, I ripped them out. I didn't really feel like sitting down and planning stripes and I knew I would never be happy with unplanned ones so I decided not to stripe. I didn't have the colors I really wanted for striping anyway. So I did the skirt in pink and then I'm going to stripe the top... maybe in blue and green... or blue and pink... or all of the above. I don't have that much pink and I really want to avoid the horror that is La Droguerie, so I'm going to try to use what I have and limit my usage of pink from now on. That's why I worked one skirt from each end of the ball instead of continuing into the bodice.

I didn't have the chart for the pockets with me so I re-made it up. I worked the flower in fair isle (nope, not intarsia) but I got lazy and decided it would be easier to duplicate stitch the stem and leaves. I actually worked the pockets from the top down and then knit them right into the last row of green. It will only save me a tiny bit of sewing but somehow I felt like it was worth it. Now I'm not so sure.

I'm working at a totally different gauge so I'm kind of redoing everything as I go along, but I'm being pretty loose about it instead of working out every last detail like I usually do. I'd like to get it done quickly to get it out of the way.

Posted by kate at 12:47 PM