moonfrog

As I try to moderate my caffeine and sugar habits, my head feels like the world is swirling around in it. Fuzzy headed — that’s it. So this post will be a reflection of the random topics cluttering my mind. Scary, huh?!

Have you ever read Too Much Coffee Man? The Bearded One introduced this comic to me at ComicCon a few years ago. A recent comic strip (follow the link) reflects my relationship with my cat lately. She has been locked out of our bedroom lately so sleep can happen. She still insists on sleeping right on top of me. I feel guilty, since this is the only time she feels comfortable with real closeness. I’ll probably let her in tonight, silly cat.

Yesterday, the TV news was muted while the political opinionaires spouted off about Edwards and Giuliani dropping out of the presidential race. As I read my Bloglines, some heightened action flashed in my peripheral vision. There was a monkey, yes, a monkey in a cowboy suit, riding a dog who was herding sheep. Here’s the You Tube video of it.

My son jokingly asked me if this was a metaphor for the political races. I think it fits. There are certainly some crazy, unseemly things going on, but underneath it all are some real workhorses, in this metaphor a workdog. While I don’t really agree with much of what goes on in our government, it would be a lot worse if we didn’t have one at all.

I hope the politicians will adopt this icon for the year:

The Third Annual Bloggers’ Silent Poetry Reading for the Feast of St. Brigid (Groundhog Day in the US.) will take place on February 2. If you would like to participate, the details can be found on Roots Up, Branches Down Branches Up, Roots Down. (Boy! Is that a clear picture of my head right now!) If you don’t post poetry yourself, be sure to roam around the blogs and read some fine poetry on others’ blogs. I’ll even post a 2nd time this week for this one!

On the knitting front: The Midnight Express Vest is coming along nicely with one side and the back done. With several projects going, though, I sometimes can’t decide which one to work on at the moment. I ocassionally skip knitting over this dilemma. I think I need to be strict about limiting my projects, which means I need to finish some up. I’m going to make a list of WIPs/UFOs and work on cleaning it up.

AudioBook Blurb

Earlier this year, I was hanging out with my (grown) kids as they were watching the movie of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. It certainly has an interestingly twisted plot, although it is quite disturbing. A few weeks ago, one son loaned me his audiobook of Choke, by the same author. I admire the creativity in Palahniuk’s stories. He writes like no one I’ve ever read, although Tom Robbins appeals to me in a similar way with his bizarre imagination and interesting word play. Even though it bordered on offending my sensibilities, Choke really held my attention. It was a trip into a twisted world that I had never visited before. If you can get past the shock, the twisted humor and weird situations provide a truly unique experience.

As a follow-up to Choke, I picked up Stranger Than Fiction. This one has short stories that Palahniuk has published here and there. The first story is raunchy to the max, border-line pornographic even. I persevered through that one and finished the book. Some of the stories were interesting and others were not-so-much. Overall, my trip into Chuck Palahniuk’s worlds was entertaining and eye-opening, although not recommended for general consumption. As Palahniuk would put it . . . “freakish ” isn’t the right word, but it’s the first one that comes to mind.

I guess that’s a fitting way to end this head-spinning post — with a head-twisting author!

Like many people around the country, I am trying to make the best decision I can for the upcoming election. The A Daily Show with Jon Stewart is doing a good job of pointing out the media twists that are sensationalizing the campaigns. There is one online source that has proven really helpful to me in gathering straight-forward information about the candidates. At Project Vote Smart there are bios, voting records, and measures of support for interest groups. I also enjoyed the Candidate Matching Quiz that is making its way around the blogosphere, although I consider that more of a game than real information. Get out and vote!

That’s enough campaigning for today . . . back to my knitting. Here’s the new black and red project I am so excited about. It’s not a secret project, I just wanted to be sure that it wasn’t a false start. Happily, I am thrilled with it and have made very satisfying progress.

I ordered a cheap wool/acrlic blend off ebay because I liked the red wrapped in black tweed effect. It’s a sport weight, so I am using it doubled on size 10 1/2 needles. Quick Knit! It’s hard to get a good picture of the two colors in garter stitch. The camera wants to record the black as shadows, but I love the color in person.

The pattern is Susan Esser’s Midnight Express, a vest that is knit side-to-side in one piece. This is a very simple, extremely clear pattern. The diagram and the written instructions work together to make it easy to adjust the size without any complicated math computations.

Here’s a detail of the fabric. It doesn’t show the nice vertical garter ribs very well, but the nice edging shows pretty well. Susan used a Knit2Tog through the back for the decreases, which made a nice match for the increases on the other side of the point. I really like how they turned out. The I-cord edging will be a fun new thing to learn. I’m planning to do it in black.

I felt a bit guilty about abandoning my Malabrigo raglan, but picked it up and did a row on it last night, just to keep the pattern fresh in my memory. If I continue to do that, it won’t end up a forgotten mess that has to be frogged. I’m finding it really hard to resist the siren call of new projects lately, but am determined to finish the ones I have started. I haven’t forgotten my toe-up socks, either. They will get some attention before too long.

The AudioBook Blurb will have to wait until next week. I’m off to get some things done on this cloudy, dreary day. Don’t you find that making progress on some project makes the winter blahs just a little bit more bearable? So I’m off to combat the doldrums with some extra activity. Stay Warm!

Like many knitters, I subscribe to several yahoo lists as well as blogs. Reading these often cuts into my knitting time. Imagine my amusement — and total understanding — when I came across these lovely techniques for multi-tasking on Knitlist. The discussion went from listening to audiobooks and holding books open with one’s feet . . . to surfing the web by setting the mouse to self-scroll . . . to the this most amusing product, a foot controlled mouse. One woman even admitted that her husband caught her using her regular mouse with her foot. All this in order to knit and read at the same time. Now that is creativity! While I don’t plan to start that kind of multi-tasking, I certainly can appreciate wanting to do it all.

In between reading about other people’s knitting (which I really do enjoy) I’ve managed to replace the neckline of the Malabrigo Top Down sweater and even passed the point I had reached previously. The end of one skein of yarn was approaching, so it was time for a try-on.

Rather than put all those stitches on waste yarn, then move them back on the needles, I got out my Denise needle set and joined a ton of lengths together. I just knit along that row and it was ready for a look-see. Now I can just knit it back onto my Knitpicks needles and not waste a single row. I feel so clever!

I’m also quite pleased with the new neckline. I made it only half an inch deep and used a 2×2 ribbing. It works great. I have a few more inches until I join the armholes, which has me a bit anxious since I’ve never done that before.

Another great thing is that I found someone who was destashing five skeins of the red mahogany Malabrigo. Woohoo! Now I can make long sleeves and make the sweater longer, too. I’ll probably have some left over for a hat to match, too. Is that a bit weird? A hat to match a sweater? No matter. I’m happy to have the extra yardage for whatever I need.  (Oh, and the color on this photo is true on my monitor. The last one was way off.  It’s nice to have a sunny day for a change.)

My attention is about to stray from this lovely project, even though I really am enjoying it. I bought some inexpensive yarn on ebay in a red and black tweed. I knew immediately what I wanted to make with it and cast on for a swatch — a real, full-sized swatch. This is unusual for me, but was absolutely necessary for this project. Not only did the yarn come without a ballband, it had scant information on the website. The seller listed it as washable, but I had my doubts since it is a 70% wool, 30% acrylic blend. Sure enough, it felted quite nicely. So, I guess it is washable, but not in the machine. I also wanted to check the shrinkage. It lost a bit in one direction and not the other. This helps with the planning for this project. I hope I’ll have a nice progress photo of it within the next week.

AudioBook Blurb

Back in October, I joined a read-along of the Anne of Green Gables books. I’ve owned the first book for ages, but couldn’t remember having read it, so I considered this a perfect opportunity. I enjoyed the first three books, gathering them from different sources — one from audible.com, one from Librivox.org, and one from my local library. I think my favorite one was Anne of the Island. It was suspenseful and engaging. My only complaint was that it got quite preachy in some parts.

Then it was time for the fourth book, Anne of Windy Poplars. Unable to find an audiobook version, I borrowed the book from my library and promised myself that I would read it. It took a while, but I managed to start it, keeping it next to my bed to read a few lines each night. Unfortunately, it was in letter format. I’m not real fond of reading other people’s letters. I wanted more personal interaction, not just a re-telling. There were some interesting parts, but not enough to hold my attention as I sank under my cozy comforter. The audiobooks have spoiled me for reading.

The read-along/knit-along has ended, and I have decided to stop with the third book. The Windy Poplars went back to the library. I do have Anne’s House of Dreams downloaded from Librivox.org, so I might try it out later. Otherwise, I recommend the first three books for a light read full of healthy morality. It was fun to watch Anne grow up and change over time. Some day I’d like to finish the series to see how it ends.

The Malabrigo sweater is back on track with a new neckline and a few inches done. I had to start over, but it will be worth the extra effort. Then I got sidetracked for a bit.

The Bearded One was putting together a package to send to a friend’s son who is serving in Afghanistan. At the last minute, I realized that a hat would be nice to include, so he held off for a few days while I knit one up. It’s actually a helmet liner, aka ski mask.

First, I searched the internet for a pattern and found just what I needed easily. I love this pattern! It is easy and clearly written. I used a Russian bind-off which makes a nice edge and is easily tinked, if needed. I will use this bind-off again just for the ease of taking it out. (Russian Bind-Off:  Knit 2 together, put stitch back on left needle, K2tog, put stitch back on left needle, repeat to end.)

The yarn came from my stash and was the only one that would qualify. It had to be wool in one of just a few colors. I happened to have some Lorna’s Laces worsted weight in Chino. So soft! But this yarn has some variation in the color — a dark tint and a pinkish tint. It’s stash-wallowing, waiting to be over-dyed. It knit up perfectly.

Then I dunked it in a tea bath to darken it a bit and lessen the pink lines. Can you see them in the photo? The original color is next to the hat. It’s not much of a difference, but just enough to tone down the pink and make it a richer tan. The machine washable-ness was tested thoroughly and it passed with flying colors. I am very happy with this project, and it is on its way into a war zone. I hope my wishes for peace and wellness will go with it.

I actually liked this hat so much that I tried it on with my motorcycle helmet. Perfect! I am now looking for a very soft wool that has red and black as the primary colors. I may just have to give in and dye my own. I like this Lorna’s Laces so well that I may try it, but I’m not sure if I can get a good red over the tan.

Before and after the helmet liner, I have been working on two scarves that will go to a scarf drive for homeless teenagers in Colorado. These have to be machine washable, so I grabbed some Lion Brand Homespun and worked it up in garter stitch. It’s very pretty with sections of blue and purple and tan. Knitting with Homespun is less than fun, though. The next scarf is made with Red Heart Light and Lofty, which makes the fabric very interesting and warm. A bit more on the red scarf and I’ll have two pretty scarves on the way. It feels good to be using some of my stash, especially since the additions to the stash still far outweigh the subtractions.

And just so no one thinks my knitting is all self-less, my bigger projects continue and are all mine! The Malabrigo sweater is for me, and the toe-up socks are for me. Knitting for self is just on hold for a short time. And I’ve learned to use the queue on Ravelry, which is now full of great patterns to knit, mostly for myself.

I’ll save the audiobook blurb for next time. It’s time to get back to work. Have a great weekend!

There’s a new feature in my sidebar that I’d like to mention. It’s under the heading “Thanks for Commenting.” After seeing it on Natalie’s blog Keeping Me in Stitches , I installed a plug-in that lists the top ten commentors in a given period. Mine is set for half a year, so if you are in the top ten in the past six months, there’s a link to your blog as a thank you for your participation. I do appreciate the time you take to comment. I appreciate my lurkers, too, so feel free to read without commenting if that is what makes you happy! : )

I’ve actually stolen some time for knitting in the past two weeks. As usual, there have been some false starts, but a couple projects are off and running.

The yarn in the picture has been waiting in my stash since I dyed it a year and a half ago. I’ve been wanting to see how it knit up ever since, but needed to make time and also work up the nerve to try toe-up socks again. I want to use every tiny bit of this yarn and I’m not sure just how much is here. It has fairly long stripe repeats, just like I wanted. I love the intensity of the colors, too. No matter how I laid it out, the yarn is not going to stripe equally, so these will be fraternal twins. The stripes are not consistent and I like that quality, too.

I’m following Queen Kahuna’s recipe for these and using two size 1 circulars, doing two at once. I’m already dreading the heel, but I have quite a bit of foot to enjoy before I deal with that.

My other project is a top-down raglan with the Malabrigo I bought at Stitches West a year ago. I’ve been searching for just the right pattern to use 3 skeins of the purpurs colorway and 2 skeins of red mahagony. I finally chose the Faux Fair Isle Sweater from Spin to Knit, which I bought recently and also received for Christmas. Ha! (A friend graciously took the extra book off my hands. )

I love the colors and the yarn is so soft to knit, but this one is not going so well, although I am certainly enjoying the knitting. I followed the pattern . . . except . . . I used size 6 (instead of 8 ) needles to do the seed stitch neckline, hoping it would not be too big and loose. It turned out floppy and stands up instead of laying down. Now I need to decide whether to knit it again with larger needles and maybe doing some increases in the neckline or do a ribbed neckline. The ribbing sounds easier, but I did like the seed stitch. I’m just not sure if I can figure it out without giving up on it.

Leaving it as is was also an option. My goal for this yarn are to make something I can use often that can be worn next to the skin. I want to feel this yarn! It does not have to be something I can wear in public, although that would definitely be a bonus. Since I’m making a sweater, not a lap blanket, it would be best if it looked nice enough to wear out of the house. I see a bit of frogging in my future, which hurts a little since knitting time is still limited. Ah well . . . .

A scarf was on the needles briefly, until I found out that the group I was making it for needs machine-washable only. That will be started again soon. Right now I have enough projects going. I think three is my limit, otherwise I feel overwhelmed and never finish anything. I will have to squeeze in some hats and scarves, though, before the month is over. Yikes!

Audiobook Blurb

Talk about overwhelming — I have listened to so many books that I can’t keep up with the reviews! I can knock out a few at once by just talking about Neil Gaiman. (The link will take you to his journal/blog; the photo will link to a Wikipedia entry about him.) After reading Good Omens several years ago, it became one of my favorite books and one of the choices offered on my high school reading list.

I started my Gaiman read-a-thon by re-reading Good Omens, which is an extreme rarity in my world. Then I moved on to American Gods, which was every bit as good. I love the way the author mixes the divine with the worldly — like the song by Joan Osbourne,  If God Was One of Us. (Click the first link for a You Tube video of the song or the song name for the lyrics.) The gods his books are the stuff of legend and myth, although the characters in Gaiman’s novels are often passive creatures; life just happens to them.

Next, I gave a listen to Anansi Boys, which elaborates on the sons of one of the characters from American Gods, but can stand alone. It is a story of two brothers — with a twist. The tale opens by setting an ethereal mood with a simple and profound view of creation, then segues into karaoke at amazing speed. Way to mix it up, Gaiman!

Stardust went in another direction, being a shorter novel in the realm of fairy tales. I found the story unique and creative and quite romantic. This one is a young adult book, not a children’s book, but has only one short sexual scene. The movie came out in August of this year. Check out the cool interactive site. I hope to see it soon. In fact, I think I’ll order the DVD now. : )

Lastly, I used my audible.com credit for the month to download M is for Magic, a collection of short stories which contained a variety of stories, from adult to children’s. Some of these were barely stories, some were enchanting. I would guess that one of them is the precursor to his book-in-progress about a boy who is raised in a graveyard — by the usual residents. I would recommend this book to those who find they like Gaiman’s books and want to discover more about him through his writing. I recently downloaded a children’s book called Coraline and look forward to listening to it soon. There are more that I haven’t read, so I don’t even have to wait for him to finish new ones to get my Gaiman fix.

If you do not like mixing religion and myth, many of these might prove to be offensive, much like The Golden Compass , but I’d recommend any of these books if you like modern, fantastical-yet-rational stories that are firmly rooted in mythology and magic.  Can you tell I am a total Neil Gaiman fan-girl?!