A Lazy Post

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Absolutely the most inaccurate results I've ever had. This doesn't even begin to sound like me.

Wild Hair Knitter

As explained so beautifully by Piggy, some folks are Pre-Process knitters. I can add nothing more to this except to say that I see Pre-process tendencies in myself:

• I have been collecting patterns since the mid-80's.
• I think about a project for weeks or months before I actually cast on.
• I have recently begun to make "Pre-Process notes" on my rav projects page.

If you will indulge me, I would like to propose another category: The Wild-Hair Knitter* (although I may be the only one.)

• First and foremost, a WHK is impulsive. I know I have squillions of impulse skeins in my stash. Just lone little skeins and  have no stinkin' idea why I bought them (I suspect it's because hitting the yarn store is my equivalent of hitting the bar after a tough day at work...guess that makes these little skeins "yarn shots".)
• The WHK has no intention to start a new project when, as they wander around ravelry, they are overcome with the urge to make a an apple cozy or a sweater for purse size tissue packages or any number of patterns they have no use for.
• The WHK may have items in their ravelry queue, but none of them ever seem to end up as FO's on their project page (probably because they are distracted by knitted engagement rings.) My queue is useless, really. For me, putting a pattern in the queue is like giving it the death penalty.
• The WHK has at least 4 FO's with no recipient in mind. I can't be bothered with figuring out to whom to give a project. I'd never make anything if I waited for my friends to get pregnant and have babies. Thank heaven for charities!
• And finally, the WHK has commitment issues. I love the courtship: finding the pattern, considering which yarn to use and looking over other finished projects on ravelry, but the minute I cast on my project, I begin to hate it.

*As I was writing this post (over the course of a month) Mooncalf had a post that made me think she has a bit o' the WHK gene as well. The first three lines could be from my autobiography.

Friday Fill-In 5/28/10

1. Baked Beans -- the best food to take on a picnic.
2. Summer is awesome.
3. I love flip flops.
4. To love someone is to sometimes overlook things.
5. There are a couple of people I wish would take a long hike.
6. When I crave food, it's usually cake.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to kniting, tomorrow my plans include enjoying a little alone time while Hubadub is out of town and Sunday, I want to knit some more!

Flashback Friday
On Tuesday I watched the 136th graduating class at our school toss their mortarboards into the air. Every year I watch graduation and it always reminds me of Offspring. After her graduation she declared that it was "anticlimactic". She said she was just going to school again in August, it wasn't like she was done with anything. If you ask her today, she will tell you she feels the same way, but that college is not as horrible as high school. (Little does she know being a groan [sic] up is THE WORST! lol)



I consider her my greatest and longest running  WIP. In current photos she looks a little older. The face has less of the rounded baby cheeks, but she'll always be my baby.

¿Dónde Está el Español?
Lo siento. Siempre olvido la traducción. Pero recuerdo hoy...con un post más dfícil de traducir. 

Pues, Friday Fill-in es un meme que pudes encontrar aquí. Cada viernes hay oraciones que puedes completar con sus pensamientos o opiniones. Generalmente no traduzco los "fill-ins", pero puedo decirte que todos los viernos la última oración es "y hoy por la noche espero a...." y todos los veranos yo la completo con "tejer!"


El martes yo fui a la ceremonia de graduación para los estudiantes de mi escuela (es graduación número 136 para la escuela, pero solo hace 5 años que estoy allí.) Siempre pienso en mi hija cuando voy a las graduaciones. (foto arriba) Cuando ella se graduó, dijo que fue un poco decepcionante porque todavía tuvo que ir a la Universidad en agosto....todavía no tuve libertad de los libros y estudiar.Cuando hablo con ella ahora, dice que la Universidad es mejor que "high school." Pronto ella va a descubrir que la Universidad es mejor que ser adulto. jajaja. 
En mi opinion, Hija es mi WIP más importante. En la foto todavía tiene mejillas de niña (es que quiero decir que son...gorditas...pero creo que no es la palabra correcta) y ahora tiene una cara más maduro (¿?), pero ella siempre va a ser mi bebé.

And On This Week's Episode of Craptastic Timing

• Hubadub wants to visit family on Saturday.
• In addition to the all day meetings on June 1st and 2nd, the school president has scheduled a professional development meeting from 2-4 PM on June 3rd. (My contract goes through June 2nd.) The topic? Customer Service. WTFBBQ? It's a school! Should I start asking if folks want fries with their grades?
• Paternal Unit called last night to say he will be arriving June 4 and staying at least until June 6. (My family can't make solid plans to save their lives. One very attractive thing about Hubadub is his planning OCD. I like solid dates and times, folks.)

Holy crap. I just want the school year to end and to be left the hell alone for a week. No one in my face. No obligations.

Shoot me.

We will return to your regularly scheduled craft programming soon.

Vote! Part Deux!

The second part of voting for the blog contest has begun. Be sure to stop by if you are reading this in a feed reader.

Ravelry Resolutions
Why wait until next January? I have some things I'd like to start working on now.

• Making better use of tags on ravelry.
• When I do begin buying yarn again, I should use the stash feature.
• I'm in squillions of groups, but I'm not very active in any of them. I need to cull my group herd.
• I should make the effort to comment on projects I love. 

10kH Report
With the completion of 198 yards of Heaven I can add 9.1 hours to my totals. (I can't believe it only took me 9ish hours to knit it. I must have forgotten to write some times down.)

Yesterday I finished up my Potions HW...


So that's another 18.1 hours. My total so far then is 71.81 hours. I only have 9928.19 hours to go! It'll be a cinch. (You can't see me, but I couldn't keep a straight face as a typed that.)

Swatches Lie
I know this is not news for many of you. I started my own Circle Shrug on Friday and Saturday. Yes. I started it twice. According to the swatch I was knitting 5 stitches per inch. So I did my little calculations and proceeded with gusto and glee. In actual practice I was knitting 4.5 stitches per inch and my shrug was ending up close to 3 inches larger than I wanted it. I discovered this about 5 inches in. So I frogged and started over, now I'm only 1/2 and inch larger than my calculations, which I think is pretty darn good considering swatches are lying little bastards and I barely passed math in my youth.

ETA KAL
I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but I'm joining Wife, Mom, Knitter's Shawl KAL that starts June 15th. I need to decide on a pattern and do some stash diving!

And this about wraps things up for now. Just living for the last day of school. Just 4 days left. Of course, there are post planning meetings, but I can knit during those so they don't seem so bad.

198 Yards of Hell

And I only call it that because of my inability to remember yarn overs.

I have finished my DADA homework for HPKCHC: 198 Yards of Heaven.
I'll get to pictures shortly.

I can't decide if 2010 is going to be the year of the hook or the year of the shawl. I've been crocheting so much more of late and I also find I am obsessed with shawls. (Which I never wear, by the way.) Right now I'm leaning toward "Year of the Shawl" because it seems every other pattern I put in my favorites is a shawl pattern. In fact, I had every intention of casting on the Old Man of Storr Shawlette tonight and I dutifully wound my yarn (Hand Maiden Sea Silk). Too bad that out of the squillions of needles I have, none are size 5 (3.75mm) 24" circs. *sigh* Patternworks to the rescue! (I'm in the Patternworks Club and have scads of coupons.) But I digress and it's a little early to decide for sure. I hope I even remember this in December and comment on it then. (Remind me, ok?)

The point of this post was the FO, so I guess I should get on with it.

I think one of the reasons I love lacy shawls right now is the magic that occurs with blocking. I think it is so cool to go from a blob-like thing with little definition:

Don't let the sweet face fool you. That's the little bastard that bit me.

and to watch it bloom:

I should have included the cat for scale.

Yarn: Cascade 220 in the Montmarte colorway. Kind of "meh" to knit with...kind of crunchy. It's still drying so I'm not sure how much it softened up with a soaking.
Needles: US size 7 (4.5 mm)
Commentary: It's a great pattern. Only my stupidity made it frustrating at times.

Here endeth the post. I'm off to cast on for my very own circle shrug.

Friday Fill-In 5/21/10

1. Hubadub never fails to make me smile.
2. I'm looking forward to the end of the school year and sitting on my bum for eight weeks.
3. The hum of the laptop fan is what I'm listening to right now.
4. Potato salad must have relish in it!
5. Coffee was the best thing I ate(?) today.
6. Today has not even begun. (I took some liberties here.)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to blocking my DADA project, tomorrow my plans include the Front Porch demonstration and Sunday, I want to knit!

Blog Content

If you really think about it, there is only so much one can say about knitting and finished projects. I know I sometimes talk about other things, but really I try to stick to incredibly mundane subjects. I don't know about you, but blog reading is a bit of an escape for me. I purposely choose to read blogs about knitting/crafting because, for the most part, I will not have to think about "serious" subject matter.

Nothing irks me more than to go to a craft blog and see a political rant or (worse) someone complaining about schools/education. Yes, I know the blog owner has the right to do that. I also have the right to not read and not comment (and believe me, I exercise that right.) I keep my blog boring because I don't want to infringe on your right to sit out in front of a computer and lose yourself in banalities.

I also stick to trivialities because I'm weak. When one writes about emotionally charged subjects, one opens themselves up to abuse. (An aside: as much as I dislike politics mixing with knitting, I hate mean, vicious commenters even more...see my note above about the right to ignore.) I am a wimp and I can't take the heat of the proverbial oven. When I do venture into social commentary, I try to be as bland as possible.

And that is why I have a boring blog.

Pues, yo he dicho mucho en inglés y ahora va a ser dfiícil a trducir al español. Ésta no es una traducción exacto (de hecho, "traducción" no es la palabra apropriada.) Ésta es sólo un intento de compartir en español, las opiniones de que escribí en inglés arriba.

En mí opinion todo ha sido dicho sobre lana, ganchillo y tejer. No hay nada nuevo. Pero no voy a dejar de escribir un blog. A veces, sí, escribo de otras cosas. Pero, trato de escribir solamente de mis proyectos o tejiendo y ganchillo.

Es que no me gusta leer de cosas políticas o de problemas sociales cuando estoy leyendo mis blogs. Quiero escapar de la vida diaria. Cuando voy a un blog y hay una diatriba política, me enfado. No quiero leer nada de eso. Y no lo leo, ni dejar un comentario. Y no escribo de tales cosas porque no tengo el derecho de molestarles a otros con mis opiniones.

Y por eso tengo un blog aburrido. 

WV- The Jewish History Edition

From Rae's blog


Rishi- Rashi's little brother.

Death and Taxes/Muerte e Impuestos

Are the only things we can be sure of, right? Well I say there are some other things that I, at least, can be sure of...

• I will cast-on or cast-off too tightly.
• I will choose the wrong yarn or stitch pattern for a project.
• I will forget a yarn over.
• There will be cat hair in my project.

And now for some completely random things

• As cute as slipper patterns can be, I prefer a good sock knitted in worsted weight yarn.
• People say mean things and I don't understand why.
• I need to organize my yarn, but I don't even know where to begin. I hate the disorder.

And if you will continue to indulge my lack of focus...
Remember this yarn?

When last we left these skeins, I was thinking they would become a Tantric Puzzle. Since the completion and subsequent coveting of my sister's circle shrug, I'm thinking they might prefer to become one, too. Shhhh. Do you hear them? Circle shrug...We want to be a circle shruuuug.

Podemos estar seguros de dos cosas: Muerte e imputestos. Pero les digo que estoy segura que...

• montaré/cerraré apretado.
• no escogeré hilo apropriado para un proyecto o escogeré un patrón de punto feo.
• olvidaré una lazada.
• Habrá pelo de gato en mi proyecto.

Y ahora, algunas pensamientos sin tema...

• Me gustan mucho los patrones que veo en el internet para zapatillas/pantuflas...pero prefiero un calcetín tejido de lana de peso medio.
• Hay personas antipáticas que dicen cosas malas y no entiendo porque.
• Necesito organizar las madejas que tengo...pero no sé donde empezar. Odio el desordén.

Y si me permitirían a continuar sin foco...
¿Recuerdan estas?

Hace un poco pensé que las usaría para hacer un Tantric Puzzle top. Pero debido al terminar el circle shrug para mi hermana y porque lo amo tanto, creo que voy a uasr las madejas para hacer otro para mí. Shhhhh. Escuchen "Queremos ser un circle shrug. Usános para hacer un shruuug."

What's a Good FO Title*

I finished my Ancient Runes homework!!!

It's a little big on me, but I hope it fits Sis./ Me queda un poco flojo, pero espero que le queda bien a mi hermana.

Now that it is done, I don't know why I ever worried about it. It's perfect! And in true sisterly fashion, I really don't want to give this thing up. I want one of my own. *pout* Oh well. Guess I will have to make one for myself!
Oh, I'm feeling lazy so you can get all the details here.

¡Terminé mi tarea para la clase de runas ancianas!
No sé porque yo estuve tan preocupada por el proyecto. ¡Es perfecto! Y como una buena hermana, no quiero compartir. Yo lo quiero también. *puchero* Pues, ¡supongo que tengo que hacer otro! 
Y me siento un poco perezosa...puedes encontrar los detalles aqui.

*The hardest thing for me to do is come up with titles./Lo más difícil para mí es crear titulos.

Vote!

The poll is up for you to vote in the first round of the contest! You may choose more than one. The top five will go on to round two. Voting ends May 23rd.

A Mis Lectores Hispanoparlantes (Si los tenga)

Hace poco decidí escribir el blog en inglés y español...pero no he sido constante. Lo siento. Es porque soy my perezosa y... ¿Les he dicho que mi español no es muy fuerte? Pues, no más excusas. Volveré a escribir en español...lo haré pronto. Les prometo...

Around the Blog

I'm not sure how many people actually come to the blog since I publish a full feed, but I wanted to tell everyone about some new things since I recently changed my template.

• Header-Now features a picture of my own knitting.
• Pages- Blogger now makes it easy to have pages and links to them on the home page. I have the usual "Home" and "All About Lazy" (Blog description) pages and a couple others.
• Also check out my Blogging Pledge page.
• Lately I've been to trying to embrace "Drafts." I will start a post, but not publish immediately. I'll let things percolate a few days, and sometimes I find I can combine posts. I'm hoping to avoid post spamming your readers.

Now on to some other things kicking around in my head...

10kH Realities
I did a little math and discovered that if I were to knit/crochet for 12 hours a day for 365 days I would have completed 4380 hours. Sooo, it may take me a little longer than a year to reach the 10,000 hour mark. No worries, though. I still like the idea of doing something for 10,000 hours.

Is anyone else doing this challenge? How are you keeping track of time? I'm being very old fashioned and just keeping a pen and pad next to my nest. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to write down a start time and I'm just working away when it hits me: Crap! I don't know how long I've been sitting here stitching!

Let the Countdown Begin!




Soon school will be out. This means:

• The annual craft room clean up/organization spree.
• Posts more often...sometimes multiple posts in a day (this would be the  "post spamming" I mentioned earlier. Note to self: Facebook is for status updates not the blog.)
• Weekly redecorating of the blog (although I'm pretty happy with the current look.)
• I may not get out of jammies for days at a time.
• Free stuff for readers! (a side effect of craft room clean up/organization)
• The end of the yarn diet!

If I may digress here. The yarn diet has not been as harsh as I thought it would be. I actually think when all is done I will be able to say it helped to improve my knitting. Maybe not the knitting, but how I go about knitting. I used to buy yarn randomly and usually for no reason. Over the last year, though, I've been forced to really think about projects and the yarn I have on hand. I've been much better about actually finishing things. I wouldn't say I've completely converted to "Product Knitter", but I'm much closer to being one than I used to be. I can really see myself becoming a "only buy yarn for a purpose" shopper (which is good, 'cause the stash doesn't seem any smaller than it did last July.)

The Final Whine
Because no post would be complete without some kvetching from me. I am currently enamored of Kiama. (On it's own merits, may I say, NOT just because the Harlot knit one.) I am going to buy this pattern. Too bad I have to print out an order form, fill it out, write a check, put it in an envelope, address said envelope, stamp it and mail it. Sheesh! In this day and age, why wouldn't it be possible to order on-line? Someone please explain!

Friday Fill-In 5/14/10

1. I just had a great night's sleep.
2. Whatever is, is.
3. The third sentence on the 7th page of the book I'm reading: unavailable right now. The book is in the car.
4. Right now, nothing tickles my fancy.
5. I was walking and talking.
6. My husband makes me laugh!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to knitting and crocheting, tomorrow my plans include more knitting and crocheting and Sunday, I want to finish at least one of my projects!

A Contest Addendum

It's only Wednesday and I've received 25 suggestions so far. That would make for one loooong poll. So there are going to be two rounds of voting.

• Round One will run from May 16th-23. You will be able to vote for more than one choice. The top 5 will then go on to ...
• Round Two, which will run from May 24-30. From there the ultimate winner will be determined.

I Am The Yarn Whisperer

Well, not really. I wish I was, then I wouldn't suffer from so many bouts of Knitting Induced Depression (K.I.D.) You know what that is, right? That's what happens when a project is a complete flop. The sad thing is most of the time I know it's going to be a complete flop, but I just don't listen to my gut. I don't know about you, but when this happens, I just want to crawl into bed and wallow in my "I suck at knitting" self-pity. My Ancient Runes is beginning to look like one of those projects.



I've been working almost exclusively on this thing and I'm tired of it. It seems huge. I'm using the measurements my sister sent, but I can't believe she is as big as this thing is feeling.

When I knit, I tend to think of ways I could have done something better. This is definitely the case with this shrug so I'm kind of itching to be finished so I can make a new and improved one because frogging and starting over is NOT an option. (And I freely admit that to do so and keep the better one for myself is completely selfish.)

Even starting a project paralyzes me with fear. There are tons of patterns that I like enough to actually make which doesn't mean anything since I'm very easily pleased, pattern wise...which is why I have the problem. Not to mention my out of control stash. When you throw in the feelings of inadequacy brought on by K.I.D, casting on becomes even harder.

Currently I want to makeTantric Puzzle Top; I am just fascinated by the construction of this sweater and how easy it is to personalize it. Rav user sarasaki made a great crocheted one. (That's a link to her blog, but be sure to look for her Tantric, too. This gal can crochet! No tacky crap, no siree!) I think that this yarn is yearning to be a Tantric Puzzle, but I'm not sure and I don't know if 630 yards is enough:

Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red

A Mish and a Mash

Posts in the Spotlight
Often while I'm reading my blogs, I come across a post that makes me think, or laugh, or smile or validates some of the crazy things I do or think. (Those validating ones are my favorite; so nice to know I'm not the only one.)

During Knit and Crochet Blog Week '10 ('cause I'm hoping there will be a K&CBW '11 and I should start distinguishing now, right?) I read a post over on Kismet's Companion that really hit home for me. It was about yarn snobbery (which is perhaps the knitting world's equivalent of douchebaggery, but I'm not sure.) I just thought I would share it with y'all.

For the record, I am not a yarn snob. I will knit with pretty much anything. Some say life is too short to use crap yarn. I say there's too much knitting to do to be picky.

But that's not the only post I have to share. If you know anything about me, you know I am a dishcloth ho. I can wash dishes for 12 hours a day for the rest of my life and still not use all the dishcloths I've made. That's why I loved this post from KLC Creations so much.

Contest and Comments
Wow I've gotten a lot of ideas! If you've suggested more than one, I'm going to pick my favorite to put in the poll. Otherwise, there will just be too many choices.

Eskimimi mentioned to me today that Knit Picks will not ship outside the US, so if you are an international reader and you win the contest, I will buy you $20 worth of patterns from Ravelry. I hope that is an acceptable prize, too.

Oh, and if you want to change you comment text and you use blogger here's the way to change that:

• From your dashboard, go to "Layout"
• Go to "Page Elements"
• Click on the "Edit" button under "Blog Posts"
• In the pop-up window about 4 boxes down is a space to change the comment text.The default is "comments". You can change that to anything you would like, but "steaming piles of comments" may be in bad taste.

FO Forgetfulness
Did I share my Herbology homework with you?

I'm just too lazy to really go over details right now, so I direct you to the Ravelry projects page.

I shall leave you all with this. I am off to eat some raisin bran and take a shower. Until next time!

Contest-What's a Synonym for "Comments"?

I just discovered how to change the text for comments. You know, down there at the bottom of the post where it says "0 comments"? I can change it to say anything (Could we refrain from laughing at my stupidity at just now figuring this out, please?)

Most folks use something like "reactions", "yarns" or "shout outs". I'm afraid all the interesting choices may be gone.

That's where you can help. Leave a suggestion in the comments and I'll set up a poll. The winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to Knit Picks.

• Please leave your suggestion by May 15th.
• I will set up the poll and voting will begin on May 16th.
• Voting will last for one week and will end on May 23rd.
• Winner will be announced on May 24th.

Of Word Verification, Ancient Runes and Comments.

Word Verification
The subject of WV came up a couple of times recently (on the I Blog Ravelry group and in this post) and it got me thinking. Being the weak-minded, easily-swayed kind of gal that I am, I have changed my Blogger settings and enabled Comment moderation and no longer will readers have to use WV to comment.

The thing is that I really don't find WV to be a hot button issue for me. WV is quicker than some blogs where you have to fill in name, URL, e-mail and submit to a retinal scan before you can comment.

I take umbrage at being called lazy because I have (well, now "had") WV. Ok, maybe I don't take that much umbrage 'cause it's true. I'm lazy. I find WV terribly entertaining. The other day, one of my commenters (which isn't a word if the red squiggly line is any indication) said they got the word "breasts." (If that was you, could you let me know? I was too lazy to go find which post and everything.) If it weren't for WV, I wouldn't even have anything to post about sometimes.

But I'm willing to go WV-less if it makes things easier on the readers. I have seen/read more negative talk about it than positive. Besides, with my Blackberry, I can approve comments at work even if they do block Blogger from my computer. I've had the new settings in place for a couple of days now and haven't found moderating comments to be much of a bother.

Ancient Runes Progress:
I've now joined both ends and am knitting the k2 p2 ribbing in the round...after a near breakdown. Once I got the shrug to where I was working in the round, I had 336 stitches. Well, I kept messing up the k2 p2 pattern. I would do a k1 p1. At the beginning of the round.

And didn't notice until the end of the round.

Twice.

Have you ever had the pleasure of tinking back 300+ stitches twice?



 Back off, folks! She's gonna blow!

I had to walk away and come back to it, but now it has all been fixed and it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

Comments
Can we talk?

Really, can we?

What I am about to say may upset you. Please know that is not my intention. I really wouldn't have had the chutzpah to say this if Michelle hadn't been willing to talk about the elephant in the room.

You see, I love, love, love to acknowledge the comments I receive, but I can't if your blogger account is not set to show your e-mail address.
Did you know you could change this? The link to Michelle's post tells you how.

Now, that being said...I completely respect your privacy and understand and agree with your decision if you choose not to. Sometimes I can still respond because my notification e-mail includes a link to your profile, other times I have no information to go on (This happened recently with Shelby) I just don't want anyone to think they are being ignored or that I do not appreciate the comment.

So I think that will just about do it for this post. I hope everyone has a happy Mother's Day.

Ancient Runes

I'm participating in the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry this term and it's taking up a lot of my time. (Or rather, I'm allowing it it to take up a lot of my time 'cause at this time of year, I really need the escape.) I finished a project for Charms and I've started something for Ancient Runes. I'm also wanting to do something for Potions, DADA (Defense Against the Dark Arts...but I guess most folks already know that)

I'm most excited about my Ancient Runes project. From the class description:

"These Runes are Norse in origin, and it is said that they were received by Odin after spending 9 nights hanging from Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Read a good summary of that story here!
Your assignment this month is to craft something based on ONE or more Runic symbols from the Elder Futhark (as described in the link above). You MUST tell us which symbol you chose and how it relates.
OR
Craft something based on or related to Norse mythology, or a god from the Norse Pantheon."

I thought I would tell you all about my project and my thoughts behind it before I officially submitted it (that is, if I finish it in time.)
I have chosen to knit a project inspired  by this rune:

 raido

I will be using the Circular Shrug Pattern to represent it.

• Raido's phonetic equivalent is "R". I am knitting this for my sister, Risa.
• One of raido's meanings is reunion. I have not seen my sister in 3 years. We do not speak to each other very often. We aren't estranged or anything, but she is older than I and she moved out of the house by the time I was in 7th grade, so I've never felt super close to her. I hope we can change that.
• Raido can mean relocation. Both Risa and I have moved many times and each time it seems we move further and further away from each other. (And more than just physically.)
• According to this site, raido can represent the path a person's life and how it intersects and interacts with others. The circular shrug is knit as a rectangle, then is folded on itself (intersect) to form a circle.
• Raido is about a journey: physical or spiritual which constantly changes and leads us to new places. Sometimes back where we started...like a circle.
• If that's not enough, I'm using a charcoal gray and seed stitch which sure must be reminiscent of the fjords of Norway, right?

Here are my swatches:

Word Verification-International Edition

Since I haven't hit you with enough posts today (What does this make, 3 in one day?)

From Gracey's blog
blusig-German for bluesy.

Porqué no he escrito bastante hoy (¿Cuántos posts...3?)

Del blog de Gracey.

blusig-Alemán por...blusey (en inglés usamos la palabra "bluesy" para decir "un poco triste")

Finally Friday Fill-In 5/7/10

1. Salsa and Salero.
2. I'm drawing a blank and you've even got mustard.
3. By the time I get home I'm tired!
4. Finding new things is what I look forward to most when grocery shopping.
5. And I was dreaming about that.
6. Alone time...is there anything else better?!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to being alone, tomorrow my plans include seeing Offspring and seeing Iron Man 2 and Sunday, I want to knit!

See, told you I would get to it.

I Live Under a Rock

I just saw this video for the first time today. How many of you have already seen this?



PS: I'll get to Friday Fill-Ins eventually.

Charms Class May 2010 Term

Since the Friday-Fill Ins aren't up yet, I'm going to be a wanker and copy the report I made to my Charms professor that I posted at Ravelry this week. Lazy, I know, but again I direct your attention to the name of the blog. 

Good morning Professor,
I am sad to report that I have not mastered the Draconifors charm. I suspect trying to turn cats into dragons instead of small statues may be the problem.
I am a first year Ravenclaw and while I trust the sorting hat, I have to wonder if there was some magical malfunction. Ravenclaws are brilliant. Ravenclaws have spreadsheets. Ravenclaws have Merry Beasties that make fondoo and toast marshymellows. All I have is cats. Boring (but sweet) cats. I just wanted a leeetle golden dragon that could help toast marshymellows and warm fondoo pots. Now I just have cats with patchy dragon scales.

Pattern: Lacy Dragon Large Scale Dishcloth
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton
Needles: US size 4 (1.25 mm)
ETA: 10kh time 2.86 hours (time left 9975.69)

At My Age I'm Allowed to be Cantankerous

I woke up with a headache this morning and I know this doesn't give me a right to rain on your parade, but I just feel like getting a few things off my chest.

Kits-I totally understand the point of kits. Sometimes you just want to have it all done for you. I get it. But why not at the same time offer the pattern individually. I just want the pattern. I will screw up my yarn choice on my own thank you very much. I do not want to pay $280 just to get a pattern.
Links- If it has it's own page you should be able to link to it. I'm pretty sure the link I just gave will not lead directly to the Origami Jacket I wanted to show you. Now you have to go looking for it. (It would be on page 3 of the Women's Apparel section.)
Fiddly Patterns-This is just too much effort on my part. Yeah, I'm that lazy. (hmmm, that should be my new tagline.)
Thursdays- They aren't Fridays. 'Nuf said
Bulky Yarn-Should only be used for blankets. Winter blankets. Not Summer Sweaters. I love you Emmaline, but I can't fathom actually wearing you in the Summer. Maybe in cooler weather...with a turtleneck. And then only if you were made of worsted weight or lighter. Bulky yarn does nothing for my figure. (Does it help anyone's figure?)
Monthly Goals-Are a waste of time, really. I rarely accomplish them. (But I can't help it. Must.Make.Goals.)
Whiners-They just bring you down pointing out the negative all the time, don't they? ;-)

Bounce Rate Epiphany

I know, paying attention to Google Analytics will drive me batty. I'm not really thinking about them a lot. I promise I just had a thought as I was writing a post a while ago.

If bounce rate has to do with how long a person spends on the site, then really my stats are a little skewed since most of my posts can be read in minutes, if not seconds.

Whew! That's a load off. :-)

PS: The only real stats that matter to me are comments. And I get those regularly. I don't say it enough, I love you guys! (In a non-creepy way, of course.)

SQUEEE Tuesday

It started as a regular day. A Tuesday to be precise. I was avoiding getting ready for work, but first I had to submit my charms homework.Which, thanks to the nature of cats, took a little longer than expected, but it got done. I went on my merry way and trudged skipped off to work.

Work was dreary. The students had the audacity to actually show up. I was forced to accomplish things...and not knitting things. But wait, what is this I see in my Ravelry inbox? I request from Annette Petavy to use a picture of my Echarpe Pointes Violettes project on the Rav pattern page (among others.) Flattered does not begin to describe it. Unworthy is more like it.

But oh my goodness teh squeee doesn't end there. I get home to discover that Isisonearth has given me a Star of Isis "award" for my Charms HW.

If I didn't have to work, it would have been a perfect day.

I Wonder How Many Blogs Wendy Reads

So I have over 100 blog in Google reader.

Why?

'Cause if you comment on my blog and you have a blog, I'm going to subscribe to you. It's the nice thing to do, right? So now I have an out of control blog list. AAACK!

Speaking of comments. I try to acknowledge every comment I get. I'll respond if your e-mail shows up on my blogger notification. If not, I'll click over to your profile and comment on your blog (or message you on ravelry.) Every once in a while, I will get a comment from someone with no blogger profile link, no e-mail, no way that I know of to respond. So let me take a moment to thank all those who have stopped by and commented, but might not have heard from me.

Yo tengo más de 100 blogs en Google reader (¿Lector Google?)


¿Por qué?


Porque si me dejes un comentario y tuvieras un blog, yo voy a suscribirme  a su blog. Es simpático, ¿no? Y por eso tengo una lista de blogs descontrolada. 


Hablando de comentarios...trato de responder a todos los comentarios que recibo. Usualmente por correo eléctronico o yo dejo un comentario en su blog. A veces, no hay una dirección de correo ni un enlace a un perfil y no sé como responder. Yo quiero decir gracias a todos que me dejen comentarios...¡Gracias!

Done!/¡Termindado!

A baby blanket:





Pattern: Purely Square Baby Throw
Yarn: Lion Brand Baby Soft
Hook: US Size I (5.5 mm)
Time: 7.85 hours (I started it before 10kh so, like Multnomah, it actually took longer.
And now I'm off to work on my homework for the HPKCHC Charms class. I'm trying to turn my cat into a dragon.

Una manta de bebe.
Patrón: Purely Square Baby Throw
Hilo: Lion Brand Baby Soft
Ganchillo: I (EEUU)/ 5.5 mm
Tiempo: 7.85 horas. (La empecé antes del 10kh y como Multnomah, hace más de 7 horas de completarla.)
Ahora voy a trabajar en mi tarea para la clase de Charms en HPKCHC. Estoy tratando de convertir mi gato en dragón.

K&CBW Day 7 and Wrap-Up

Wow, we've come to the end. I'm a little sad.

7 days and 7 posts...and in that time...

• My blogroll list grew.
• I met some neat folks and made some new Ravfriends (yay! more projects to stalk!)
• My ravelry favorites list grew.
• I got a little jealous. (Of couches and chairs,natural lighting, and comment numbers.)

What a Yarn
There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar. If it is a yarn you have used you could show the project that you used it for, perhaps writing a mini ‘review’. Perhaps, instead, you pine for the feel of the almost mythical qiviut? You could explore and research the raw material and manufacturing process if you were feeling investigative.

I'm not sure this is going to be in the spirit of the topic, but I'll go for it anyway. I have a couple of yarn disappointments I want to tell you about.

I had heard so much about Noro and Malabrigo on the 'net and I really wanted to try them. I don't have an LYS, but I didn't want to buy them on the internet either. I felt like something like that should be seen in person before spending that kind of money. (I'm cheap as well as lazy.) So I took a trip to Tuscaloosa. I told Offspring it was to visit her, but really it was for Serendipity Needleworks. I found some malabrigo lace in a lovely shade of royal blue and some Noro silk garden (I think?) with purples and greens and blues and purchased them. They languished for a while until I found the perfect patterns.

At least I thought they were perfect. I tried the Pi shawl for the malabrigo and yes, it is very soft, but before I had even finished the yarn started to look ratty, felty and pilly. Eventually, I frogged the Pi and I'm using the yarn for a crochet shawl. By the time I'm done the yarn is going to look like hell.

With the Noro I've been less lucky. First I tried the Noro Spring Ripple Scarf. The pattern is great. The yarn, not so much. There are sections of it that are thinner than crochet thread and sections that are almost worsted weight. Really frustrating. The granny shawl I tried didn't fare much better. I finally just gave up on Noro and took the stuff to the Guild yarn swap. I hope the person who took it likes it better than I did.

So I have learned that just because everyone on the 'net is using it/raving about it/selling their souls to get it, that doesn't mean it's the right yarn for me.

knitcroblo7

April Report/Reportaje de Abril

The goals:

• Survive it without hitting a student.
• Finish reading Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate... but in the original Spanish.)
• Finish the Plume Shawl
• Mail the Dancing Dishcloth on time

The results

• No students were harmed during the month of April
• I did not finish reading the book.
• I did not finish the shawl (but I'm close!)
• Dishcloth was mailed on time.

50% Success rate. I do believe that is a failing score.

Las Metas

• Sobrevivir sin pegando a un estudiante.
• Terminar de leer Como Agua Para Chocolate (en español)
• Terminar el chal Plume (enlace arriba)
• Mandar el paño para el grupo Dancing Dishcloths a tiempo. (enlace de ravelry arriba)

Los Resultados

• No hice daño a ningún estudiante.
• No terminé de leer el libro.
• No terminé el chal (pero casi lo hice...)
• Sí mandé el paño a tiempo.

Un indice de éxito de 50%. Yo creo que el mes de abril es un fracaso.

K&CBW Day 6

Since I've gotten in the habit of mentioning the topic of the day before, I think I will continue.

I am utterly jealous of all the comfy couches and chairs and huge natural-light-providing windows you all have. *pout*

Be warned, today's post is l.a.m.e.
Revisit a past F/O
Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted, whether it is the hat your sister wears to school almost every day, or a pair of socks you wore until they were full of hole. Or maybe that jumper that your did just didn’t like that much…

I think the only FO that I've really really gotten use out of and loved is my Seraphina. I find myself using it year round because I'm always chilled no matter the season.

Of course, I can't find the darn thing right now. Hubadub kept hanging it on a coat hook so I folded it up and put it somewhere safe. So safe I can't remember where it is!

knitcroblo6