Dawn of the Knitted Dead

Just in time for Halloween--check out cakeyvoice's knitted tribute to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Slide show here.

And for those of you who'd like to add some intestines, an intrepid knitter at craftster has come up with a pattern for a Knitted Digestive System.

F.O. - Lil' Devil Baby Hat

I made Kittyville's Lil' Devil Baby hat for an expectant mother at work. Now I'm faced with a moral dilemna--I don't know her all that well...suppose she's born-again or something and thinks I'm trying to enlist her baby into Satanism?? I suppose I can always say it's a red puppy hat. Anyway, cute and easy pattern (although I ended up knitting the horns separately, stuffing with yarn ends and sewing them on rather than picking up stitches and knitting round like the pattern said. For some reason, the picking up left me flummoxed. Stash Woolease, size 7 circular.)

Stash Update

Long time no post (again), but the camera has been out of commission and a blog without pictures is like a...boring blog. Anyway. A full stash is almost as nice as a full belly. Some recent acquisitions: from Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool, which always falls conveniently close to my b'day (10/18 for those of you marking your calendars for next year). My present from my family was $100 bucks to spend, which immediately sent me into a "what should I get?" freeze. I ended up with 3 skeins of variegated worsted from Morehouse Merino (totally forgetting the coupon I had in my bag) and a copy of Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays (which I probably could have gotten a lot cheaper online, but what the heck. It's a gorgeous book). Our weekend hosts gifted me with four skeins of Lamb's Pride in shades of pink and purple. In addition to the Rhinebeck swag, I received in the mail six skeins of amazingly soft Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud, which I won through Susan and Margene's Katrina Relief drive. So I'm feelin' flush and stricken with a bad case of startitis. The Morehouse is destined for another Multidirectional Scarf, the Lamb's Pride for some sort of big old felted bag, and the Alpaca Cloud for an Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style. However, nothing doing until I finish Sam's sweater, which I am determined to have ready for Xmas.

Multidirectional Flat Top Hat

DD modeling the Flat-Top Hat from Iris Schreier's Multidirectional Knitting, made from Noro Silk Garden Colorway 201 left over from the scarf (which used mostly Colorway 203). Used size 8 circulars although pattern calls for size 7--I've got a big ol' head (and the hat is for me--DD says it makes her look like a stoner. Whatever.) Hat took one full skein and a teeny bit of another, probably could have eeked out one skein if I'd used size 7 needles and wasted less yarn in my long-tail cast-on. It's a relatively simple pattern; I kind of fudged the top but, as always, Noro hides a multitude of sins. The hat looks a lot more impressive from above, so I'll be careful to only wear it around tall people.

Free Yarn...AAACK...MY EYES!

Today's mail brought a free ball of Bernat Disco yarn. Now, I don't want to sound ungrateful...free yarn is free yarn, y'all. But this stuff is fugly. Maybe in an endearing kind of way. It sort of reminds me of Cookie Monster. If Cookie Monster was a drag queen.

Then again, I've never met a ball of yarn I didn't like, and I'll find something to with it. Any ideas?

F.O. - Multidirectional Scarf

I finished Iris Schrier's Multidirectional Scarf (pattern available by joining knitalong). It's a fun, easy and quick knit--I used about 2 and a half skeins of Noro Silk Garden and a size 10 needle for 10 triangles total. Ended up fudging the last triangle a bit--for anyone trying this pattern, don't overthink the bindoff--you're slipping one stitch, passing that stitch over the stitch remaining on the right needle (binding off one stitch, not two). Anyway, the Noro hid my sins. Mmmm, Noro...is there anything it can't do?

Is it ok to laugh yet?

Is it ok to laugh yet? In any case, this cracked me up. Keep giving; back to knitting soon.

MD Scarf Progress

Life goes on, of course, and knitting, as ever, makes it bearable.






The Multidirectional Scarf is making swift (for me) progress, and it makes me smile a little that although it wasn't planned it matches the bowl of Mardi Gras beads my mother-in-law sent me last February. Carmen makes it into the picture because she matches Noro color 201.

Keep giving, y'all.

Katrina Relief

Please click here. Like most people, I'm thinking about New Orleans, connected to a place in a way that I haven't been since 9/11. I have no right to lay claim to the city--although my husband lived and worked there for many years and left family and friends behind when he moved to New York, I only visited a couple of times. Still, I can honestly say that New Orleans carved a permanent spot in my heart. Besides the obvious--what's not to love about a town where you can walk down the street with a cocktail in a to-go cup?--there was something about New Orleans that made in the only city I've ever seriously considered living in besides New York. Oh, heck, this article in today's New York Times says it a lot more eloquently than I ever could.

Anyway, I have no right to claim it. I remember how annoyed I used to feel when "outsiders" tried to lay claim to NYC in the wake of 9/11. Up in Washington Heights, I felt somewhat disconnected myself. I read somewhere that if you lived in Europe, they bombed the U.S., if you lived in California, they bombed New York, if you lived above 14th Street, they bombed downtown. In a strange way, the New Orleans tragedy is more real to me; at the same time, the devestation is unfathomable.

It's time to stop blathering and do something. The wonderful Margene and Susan have organized a knitter's donation drive on this blog. Give a little, or if you can, give a lot.

Presents!

Nothing like presents to pull a girl out of a slump. Yesterday was our 20th wedding anniversary (time flies when you're having kids). Since the etiquette books say 20th is for china, and I'm fresh out of funds for Haviland, and went down to Fishs Eddy on 77th and Broadway and bought a set of mugs (no more snagging our lips on chipped vessels) and an oyster dish and some forks (aphrodisia) and a bag of colored marbles just 'cause.

Sam got me a pair of earrings--nothing to do with china but lord they are gorgeous. Pictured on the right with the beginnings of the Multidirectional Scarf as background. This is a really fun pattern, going quickly--especially for me, the World's Slowest Knitter. Join the yahoo group and get it for free. As usual, I'm hypnotized by the Noro...Resistance is futile...Must. Buy. More. Yarn.

We went to dinner at Lavagna in the East Village--highly romantic, highly recommended. Then we had a beer at Great Jones Cafe, which is actually where we met lo those many years ago. Sam was a bartender; I was a barfly who tipped very well, and the rest as they say is history. Anyway, nobody in the bar looked old enough to drink. We chugged our beer and splurged on a cab home--and went directly to sleep. So much for aprhodisia. Like I said, time flies. And yes, Sam, if you're reading this, I'm having so much fun.

Consolation Yarn

Well, my first born is officially at college, and I am officially a wreck. I didn't think it would be so weird. Sam and I were going to stay overnight in Philadelphia, but our heart wasn't in it so we slunk home (and I missed my planned yarn excurstion). I still have two kids left, but there's a big ol' hole in this apartment. Sigh.

So, as a consolation prize, I went down to Purl and scored some Noro Silk Garden on sale to make Iris Schreier's Multidirectional Scarf; I joined the knitalong group a few weeks ago but haven't paid much attention to it. Hoping a new project will yank me out of my little slump. Sigh.

Post Mortem

Now that I've finished my copious weeping over television characters who aren't even real people, for chrissakes, a few random notes on the Six Feet Under finale:

• Ted: Nice butt, dude, but you're still a Republican.
• Maggie: You are so pregnant.
• Ma Chenowith: I loved the dumping of Maya's monkey--don't change, babe.
• Ruth: Frances Conroy, you are the best. actor. ever.
• Keith: How come the black guy is always the first to get snuffed?
• Brenda: OMG, Billy totally talked you to death--my absolute favorite moment of the epilogue.
• Nate: Shut up.
• Clare: Keep your eyes on the road, and I wish somebody would unfreeze my trust fund (more yarn).

Six Feet Under - The Definitive Finale

Great ending to a good show. I'll leave the analysis to the critics. I do, however, think it should be mandatory that every television series end with definitive answers about their characters' futures. I still obsess about whatever happened to Hope and Michael Steadman.

The Accidental Tea Cosy

Sometime last year, I made a hat based on this very nice free pattern. Well, I don't know how big Cameron's head is, but it wasn't working for me--the end result was big enough to carry groceries. I tried felting it, which (if I knew then what I know now--thank you French Market Bag) helped the height but did nothing with the width. So, I stuffed it in my closet.

Well, remember those flowers I was playing around with a couple of posts down? I made a few more, retrieved the failed hat and voila: The Accidental Tea Cosy!

Then again, maybe it should stay a hat; Pink does look rather chic:

I Made a Button

I loved this picture so much I made it into a button. Scroll down on my sidebar if you want to take it.

A Pocketful of Posies

Well, maybe not a pocketful...more like three. I took a break for a little instant gratification and made some flowers from stash yarn. Based them on the embellishment on Jill Moreno's Folly sweater pattern, then noticed that in their nascent state they looked a lot like the infamous Potato Chip Scarf, source of the great Knitters Review copyright controversy.















I guess there's not much new under the knitting sun; don't think I'm violating copyright if I tell you that to make an easy flower, cast on 10-20 stitches, knit a couple of rows, knit a row with a bar increase in each stitch, knit another row, knit another increase row, bind off, twist into a circle and sew together in as haphazard a manner as you please. If you want to make a spiral scarf, cast on a bunch more stitches and keep knitting until you die of boredom.

The Best Laid Plans

I had a couple of resolutions at the beginning of the summer: to get a lot of knitting done and to post more. I've fallen short on both accounts. I mean, I have knit quite a bit, but since I've been working on the big ole sweater and the complex scarf, rather than the instant gratification hats and baby stuff and facecloths of last summer, I have had less to show and less to write about. So, I remind myself that there is Life After Knitting...

I've been reading a lot this summer. Aside from the obligatory Harry Potter, the dominant theme has been retro-reads--returning to the books I used to sneak off my mom's bookshelves for the naughty bits. I plowed through Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar and Youngblood Hawke, and just finished Mary McCarthy's The Group. A very complex read...not as turgid as I remembered it and eerily timely, particularly the child rearing stuff--kind of like Urban Baby set in the 1930's. I loved the characters in spite of McCarthy's clinical detachment--she must have been a piece of work. Anyway, Peyton Place is around here somewhere...additional retro-read suggestions welcome.

F.O.'s--Not

So, Sam's sweater is a back, two fronts and one complete sleeve. And the Forbes Forest Scarf is long enough to go halfway around his neck. Can I stop now? Please?? Sigh, back to my knitting.

R.I.P. Nathaniel Fisher

Since watching TV is second only to knitting on my list of life's most important things, I had to note the passing of Nate on Six Feet Under. Lots of speculation on Television Without Pity, but I don't think Alan Ball and them are faking us out this time. At least I hope not--Nate has been a Class A jerk all season; from the beginning, actually. No redemption in death--broke up with his pregnant wife from his deathbed. Anyway, for obligatory knitting content, at left is a miniature coffin cover. It's crocheted, but still...

Stitch 'n Pitch

Way to go Seattle. I forgive you for Starbucks and grunge. Last night the Mariners hosted a Stitch 'n Pitch, and it's estimated that 1600 knitters were in attendance. Seattle Times link here. Somehow I can't see this happening here in NYC--something about knitting needles and the beer-sodden Yankee Stadium Upper Tier doesn't jibe--but hey, Front Office Dudes, it's worth thinking about. Meanwhile, I'm considering packing my bags for the dreary Northwest and taking Tino, A-Rod and Johnson back with me.