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January 24, 2005

I'm a big liar

So remember a while back (on January 19th to be specific), I said that I wasn't going to start new projects until I finished up some old ones? And that I wasn't even allowed to order yarn for the new projects? I'm weak. I started the project and even worse, I ordered yarn. And I didn't finish the stuff that I said I would finish first. It's just, Kim (who you may have seen around in the comments) is coming over to France. And I kept reading good things about the Peruvian Highland at Elann, so I cracked and I ordered it and Kim is bringing it to me (along with Cheerios and big ziploc bags - she's the best). Now go ahead and yell at me for being weak while other people I know are actually refraining from buying yarn.

Here's the Varsity project team line-up:
Laura - pattern is almost completely written out and the one I'm knitting for Evann is 99.9 percent done.
Lise booties - I'm thinking about it a lot. I just haven't had time to sit down and do it.
Lise hat - Just needs the pompom attached and then is going in the mail this afternoon.
Sweater #1 (aka "the dandy sweater which must get a new name") - I have a really long swatch. I think I'm just going to keep it and use it as a scarf. I need to make a final decision about a couple things before I can start. I'm pretending that this thing is just going to fly off the needles! I can pretend, can't I?
Sweater #2 (for which I ordered the Peruvian Highland) - several sketches, several swatches. On hold until I see the actual yarn and pick out the complementary yarn which is going to be gooooorgeous. You'll see.
Anouk - Done and will be in the mail as soon as I've eaten lunch and gone to the post office. It's too big for Tom, but it'll fit the baby.

Here's the JV team, which is hanging out on the bench and are only going to be side projects:
Kilt hose - I've got to order the yarn. I'm actually going to order the yarn soon even if I don't knit them right away because I promised Martin I would fix the holes in the toes of his socks before I send them back to him.
Too much cotton afghan - I'm thinking about it.

Posted by kate at 02:18 PM | Comments (15)

January 21, 2005

Just like decoration cake on a stick!

I was reading Molly's blog a while back (actually she has 2! one for knitting and one for life in Japan, both of which I love) and she was talking about Pocky. I said, "What's Pocky?" She was surprised at my ignorance and said she would send me a sampling of the best kinds. She did and now I "enjoy seasonal winter Pocky made of only the finest chocolate." I've also tried "Decorer Pocky Fraise au Chocolat." I haven't tried the Chocolate or Men's Pocky yet. I'm dying to find out what could possibly make something "Men's" (please read my mind and insert one of several crude jokes that I don't have the nerve to post) but I'm going to save them. Have you figured out that I am part squirrel yet? I save yarn. I save Pocky. I hoard my Cheerios until I know I'm getting more and then I binge. I save dishes and laundry... ok, no I don't. I just don't take care of them.

I blocked Laura and Anouk. They're nearly dry. The sleeves already are and I've already sewn one up. I'm actually wishing that I hadn't been so darn diligent about weaving in my ends. Then I would have been able to fix up a couple of the stitches at the seam that look just a little wonky.

Posted by kate at 10:54 PM | Comments (22)

January 20, 2005

Red wine and dark chocolate helped

Anouk showed up yesterday and she was really pissed at me (I knew as soon as I said she was missing, she would be in the workbasket where I had already looked twice). She was evil, but now she is nearly done. She just needs blocking, buttons, the some duplicate stitching and the pockets sewn on. I loved the original yarn I used for this project, but I couldn't get anything like it, so I bought some 100% cotton at La Droguerie. Everything bad I have ever heard anyone say about cottons could be said about this yarn. There was no stretch. It split. It was kind of rough and unpleasant to knit with... Besides that, I hate the colors (the light green in particular) and I don't like the stupid stripes. I guess that's my fault. Plus, I dropped stitches here and there and didn't even notice until I had worked several more rows. A couple times I ripped and reknit, but I noticed one dropped stitch when I had already bound off and weaved in all of my ends. The choice was either rip it back and use the frogged yarn to fabricate a fancy cotton noose to hang myself with, or fudge it and secure the stitch. Guess which I picked.

While I was working on Anouk, I couldn't find the last bit of the pink yarn to make one more stupid stripe so I had to dump my entire cotton bag on the floor. I took advantage of that to catalog all of the cotton. In doing so, I reconfirmed that I have way too many random balls of cotton yarns. I think I'm going to have to turn them into a psychadelic squares afghan à la Kay, but mine will have to be knit with thinner yarn if the goal is to empty my stash instead of adding to it, and it will take forever and wil probably eventually be abandonned in the swatchworkbasket to linger with all of my other not-even-half finished projects and ideas. Let me restate that and try not to be defeatist about it before I even start: I'm sure this will be an exciting project that will give me the opportunity to use my extra yarn and time, of which I have plenty (of one of the two anyway). I will weave in my ends as I go and rejoice at how easy it is to mattress stitch the pieces together and I will have a wonderful throw that will be passed down from generation to generation... or maybe a baby blanket will suffice.

Actually, matress stich doesn't really bug me. And here's the proof:

OK, fine. It looked a lot better to me at 2:30 am when I did it, but it's pretty good. And overall, Loose Ends Day was a success. There are a couple things that I didn't get to ahem petit chou cough cough dishes ahem laundry cough but still...

And I don't usually speak about political stuff here, but...

40 million is a lot of freaking money!

According to Will Lester of the AP, it could buy "200 armored Humvees with the best armor for troops in Iraq, [or] vaccinations and preventive health care for 22 million children in regions devastated by the tsunami [or] a down payment on the nation's deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last year." Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's private money (besides the $17.3 million that DC is going to have to pay for) but I think it's just not responsible, whether there's a war going on or not and whether it's a Republican or a Democrat that's doing the partying. And I don't want companies to have more access to our government than the rest of us because they have the money to throw a big party for someone who's already in office. Sorry, but when I look at what's going on in the US and the entire world, I don't feel like celebrating.

Posted by kate at 08:45 AM | Comments (12)

January 19, 2005

Loose ends day

I finished knitting the Laura sweater. I just have to sew on the arms and get a couple buttons. I'll probably block it before I seam, but I've decided that as long as I was going to pull out my couch to block on, I might as well block a couple things at once. I wanted to finish and block the Anouk I was making for my MIL, but I can't find it! I thought it was in my work basket (which is overflowing with random swatches and bunny rejects rather than actual work in progress), but it's not. The stupid thing kept turning up like a bad penny when I was trying to ignore it. Now that I'm ready to just finish it, it's disappeared and the family room is pretty clean, so it's not clutter that's to blame. I really think it got ticked that I was ignoring it and insulting it so much and it left the house. I'm also determined to finish a Lise hat that has about 5 rows at the point that need to be done, plus the seam and pompon. I'd also like to work on my dandy sweater (which still desperately needs a better name), but I'm being really strict with myself. I'm determined to finish these other things first.

Posted by kate at 01:07 PM | Comments (10)

January 17, 2005

don't ask why I'm wearing a sweater on my legs

Posted by kate at 04:46 PM | Comments (21)

January 13, 2005

Don't you step on my green suede shoes

I caved and bought them this morning. They're suede. And won't protect my feet from rain. And I can't wear socks with them, so my feet will be cold as well as wet. They were the perfect choice for Paris, no? Although it's been really sunny for the last few days, so maybe they were a good choice after all.

Posted by kate at 01:16 PM | Comments (36)

January 12, 2005

no sale

warning this post is more about shopping than knitting.

8 am in bed. I'm half-asleep:
Frog: You know what today is?
Me: Uhhh... Wednesday?
Frog: Nope.
Me: Market day?
Frog: Nope.
Me: Uhhhh... the twelfth?
Frog: No! It's les soldes!
Me: Quelle horreur.
Frog: No! Not quel horreur! You need shoes and keep complaining that they're too expensive. Go buy yourself some shoes.
Me: Idonwanna. I hate the crowds.
Frog: Then don't go to les grands magasins. Go to the shoe place down the street.
Me: Nah.
Frog: YOU SHOULD GO! BUY YOURSELF SOME FREAKING SHOES SO YOUR FEET WON'T BE COLD ALL THE TIME!

In France, the government tells the stores when they can have sales. In Paris, they started today. I hate them. People are mean and the stores are crowded. Plus, everything is final sale and I always regret what I buy or regret not buying something I saw. Somehow, my mom's shopping gene is recessive in me and dominant in my sister, but after working all morning, it started to express itself anyway because I realized that the shoe search would take place in the same area as potential yarn bargains. I went to Phildar, a shoe store, Printemps and Le Bon Marché. There was a bunch of calmer on sale but only in yucky pastel colors I would never wear and it still wasn't a good price. And there was some ok yarn at Phildar for 1.30, but again, only in colors I didn't really want. I nearly bought 2 different pairs of shoes but as much as I liked them and the 30% reductions, I still thought they were expensive and I wouldn't have been able to wear them in the rain, which didn't make them great choices for Paris. I also tried to go to la droguerie to pick up a couple things I need. They were closed for inventory.
Today's purchases: 4 Petit Bateau t-shirts for 18 euros. I left the absolutely gorgeous 975 euro jacket at le Bon Marché (even though it was marked down from 1,550). Guess my shopping gene is recessive after all.

Posted by kate at 05:05 PM | Comments (10)

January 10, 2005

loose ends

I was desperately searching for a ball of soysilk today and looked EVERYWHERE. I realized I had about a thousand little bags full of yarn so I decided to organize everything. And inspired by Monica I decided to make the closest thing I could to a spreadsheet to keep track of it. I don't have any spreadsheet programs, but I faked it. And I found the soysilk.

I rediscovered that I have loads of single balls of stuff. I'm going to have to make a lot of hats or psychadelic squares afghans or something. I will no longer buy single balls. REALLY! or if I do, I solemnly swear use them to test and swatch very quickly. I just keep thinking What if I have to move this stuff?!

Posted by kate at 12:32 AM | Comments (18)

January 06, 2005

Photos and phrases

I'm working on these and thinking about the dandy sweater and another sweater and the kilt hose of course. By the way, two of my Scottish guy friends insist that they are "socks" not "hose" because (I'm quoting here), "I cannot imagine any self-respecting Scotsman would wear something called hose!"
I'm not sleeping and neither is Katie (who I went to high school with) so we've made an agreement to "pay attention to our sleep hygeine, meaning we will go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every day and not take naps. We agreed to start today. I forgot that the only TV show that Fred and I really like and regularly watch is on tonight. And it starts at 2 am... Maybe I'll start paying attention to my sleep hygeine at 3. That's 9pm at Katie's house. That's early to go to bed.

Posted by kate at 09:19 PM | Comments (9)

January 04, 2005

Haunted

I keep thinking about the damned things. I nearly ordered yarn yesterday. Last night, my mother brought me to my senses. The Kilt Hose will be made, but not for the wedding. Just for fun. And I might make them for me... or I might give them to my cousin who actually has a kilt. We'll see. Anyway, his feet aren't really much bigger than mine, so it probably wouldn't make a difference for the size.

I'm also being haunted by an idea I have for a sweater, but I'm trying to be strong. I've decided that I am not allowed to start this new thing until either a) I have finished the sweater that I bought all of the dandy for OR b) I have finished the Laura for my friend's son and written it up and written up the Lise booties. You all are allowed to kick my ass if I do otherwise. I'd better get my butt in gear.

Posted by kate at 09:51 AM | Comments (10)

January 03, 2005

Kickoff 2005!

Like I said, I needed some down time, then I would go into efficiency mode. Just five minutes ago, I didn't feel it. Then I looked at the never-ending list on my bookcase (see Oct 11) and I drew my priorities (since I wasn't in the mood to make a list - which is very unlike me) and now I am pumped full of desire to work and make progress. Kind of sick, no? Five minutes ago, I was tired. Now I'm ready to stay up working all night. Five minutes ago, I was feeling like I had a million things I had to and wanted to do and I would never get through it. Now I think I can get it all done in a week or two! Quick! Somebody slap me!

Priorities that I didn't draw:

redo my blog so it's not all blue and gray and stuff. I mean, this is needles on FIRE, not needles on ice, right?

reorganize yarn as I have become increasingly lazy with my organizational system

make more socks.

Posted by kate at 12:32 AM | Comments (15)