YO dilemma

In working on the lace pattern for the Hoodie, I think I may be making a critical error in my yarn overs. I am fine when I YO knitwise, but when I YO purlwise I seem to have a larger loop. I think I may be creating YO and half in the purlwise YOs. Is it possible?

I think I've got the YO to the knit side down. Here is my YO knitwise:


Here is my YO purlwise:


It is hard to tell from the photographs, but when I YO to the purlside the yarn starts in the back, so I end up making an entire loop over the needle. When I YO to the knit side the yarn starts in the front, and I simply lay the yarn over the needle to make the knit stitch in back. Am I YO'ing to much on the purlside? Or too little knitwise? Will it tighten up in when I block it? I should add that I am knitting with cotton, so I don't hold out much hope for shrinkage.

Aside from my YO confusion I am loving this pattern. And now that the boooooooooooooooring sleeves and the endless back are finished, the rest is gravy. Can't wait to sew it together. I actually enjoy finishing ever since I purchased The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques.

Dear Mr. Bird,

Please note that this:


Not such a good place for this:


I poke around in this, deadhead the flowers, fertilize it with Osmocot, drench it with water. Do your young need that?

What were you thinking? Just because the basket looks like nesting material, and is easy to get to, does not mean that it is a good idea. You placed your nest above the dog door, were you just going to let your baby chick flop out into the waiting mouth of a hungry Labrador? Or worse, be dragged into the house by one of the miserable cats in a sadistic, feral moment?

I do not appreciate you scolding me from on top of the fig tree, nor do I appreciate your shrewish partner dive bombing my shins.

You are a very lazy bird. Next time try real estate in say.... oh.... any one of the many trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains, there are one or two, here and there.

Respectfuly,


The Gardener.

(This little story ended in tragedy, hence my cautionary tale for future bird parents in my neighborhood who are eyeing my hanging baskets as potential real estate booty: DON'T. Last Saturday I went to deadhead the pansies in the basket. The basket exploded with baby birds, seemed like hundreds, turned out to be just one. Mama bird and Papa bird started flying at my head and shins, scolding me furiously, Junior fled into the veggie patch, and then into the blackberry brambles. I moved their "nest" into the brambles in the hopes that Junior, nest and parents would all find each other. The chick was not at a stage where it could fly. The photographs were taken yesterday after I had assured myself that the birds had not moved back into their nest. The egg pictured in the nest did not hatch; I have to think that maybe the Osmocot and the regular waterings had something to with that. I am truly traumatized by the whole event, knowing that I am the likely cause of that chick's demise.)

WHY??????

Why????? Waahhhhh!

I have developed an acute case of chronic Sunday night insomnia. Last Sunday night I slept nary a wink, but I attributed it to the large chocolate sundae and the double espresso shot (albeit decaf, I am sure it had a psychological impact). So yesterday I was really careful, nothing remotely chocolate or containing caffeine hours before bed. Was it the decaf latte at 2pm? Did I get caffeine by mistake? Was it the shopping buzz? Crammed in a small dressing room on Union Street with my friend AMB trying on poorly made peasant skirts that we decided we needed RIGHT THEN? Was it working on the reversible frost flower lace too late into the evening? Is it my re-reading of 1984? Aggggh!

At 11 I finish swatching the reversible frost flowers lace pattern.

The swatch looks great. .I decide to go to bed, even though I am not terribly tired. I get in bed, frozen solid because I have been sitting in concentrated knitting pose, barefoot, for several hours. I weasel my feet over to the husband's side of the bed and place my Popsicle toes on his warm legs. Diva dog glares at me as I disturb her sleep trying to get in near the husband's radiant calves (it never seems to occur to her that I don't take kindly to the 6 am ear shattering wake up barks, so I figure a little dog jostling is not out of question, but the looks that dog gives when she is disturbed - wow!). I start to read 1984. Winston is about to go to visit O'Brien. I know how it ends, but for some reason this reading feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The book is affecting me a little too much this evening. I put it down. I decide that a little light creative reading is in order. I pick up Knitting on the Edge. It’s too cumbersome to read in a prone position. I put it down. I get up, go downstairs to get water. Return to my office and pull out the latest Rebecca and Interweave magazines. I flip through Interweave, and realize (again) that I wasted my dime on this issue. Put it down. Make the mistake of looking at the clock. Shit, its 12:36am. I have to be up in 5 1/2 hours! Ok, ok. I'll pee, again, and see if I have any of those Exedrin PM's left. Pee, pop the Excedrin PM, and pick up Rebecca. Read a couple patterns, make mental lists. Look at the clock! Agh WHY did I do that???? 1:09am. Decide that a shot of bourbon is the only way to make it work. Go downstairs, pour healthy shot of bourbon. Go back to bed, worm re-popsicled toes over to warm side of bed, stick tongue out at pissy dog. Turn out light. Close eyes, and immediately begin to hallucinate reverse frost flower lace pattern. Glare at clock with one eye... 1:25, 1:52, 2:36, 3:02. 5:30 rolls around and some guy starts talking loudly about traffic in Fremont. Husband gets out of bed and showers. I pull all of his pillows and pile them on my head. This will make me sleep. He leaves the house at 6:15. I need to be up at 6:30 to get to work on time. The pillows do their magic. I wake up at 7:24 after 69 minutes of sleep, not a one of them refreshing. My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, my hair is dirty, and it feels like someone has poured sand in my eyes. I can't get to work by 8 and not look like I spent the weekend on a bender. So I am late. Hopefully the artful application of blush and mascara has tricked my co-workers into thinking I am awake today. I'm not.

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? Do I have this Sunday night disease? I don't even have a particularly stressful job.

On a completely different subject, is it ok to put up a link of a blog that you read without first having contacted the author? What is the protocol? Since I am so new and all....

Beginning my studies the first step pleas'd me so much *

Photographs from the rock garden in late evening




Right now I am a menace with my digital camera. I am making a practice upon returning home for the evening of taking photos of anything I can. I clearly have issues with composition, focus and exposure. But I figure if I practice daily, I can only get better... right? I am really frustrated with the focus issue - the composition looks focused when I get ready to take the picture, so what happens? Dunno. Any hints? I am using a Pentax Optio. I really do love it, and when I take good pictures they are out of this world, its just that is a 300 to 1 ratio right now.

I am going to take a few classes this summer. Promise

And now for knitting content

Godiva thinks that sleeves are reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllly boring


I am plugging away at the Hoodie. I only wish that sleeves would knit themselves. These sleeves are particularly tedious, as they have NO shaping! Just big ole rectangles of endless turquoise cotton! Bleh. This brings up a question that has plagued this newbie knitter - why are sleeves always listed last in patterns? Is there some reason that we should knit our sleeves last? If so I am screwing myself by knitting the sleeves second? I think that the front is going to be great fun to knit. More on the hoodie later.

The choli pattern came in the mail on Monday. I have swatched for the choli project. This weekend I will take the swatches and the pattern and try to figure out how to make a flat pattern into a knitting pattern. Has anyone out there done this? Any suggestions?


These are the yarns that are candidates for the choli.


*Walt Whitman from "Inscriptions" Leaves of Grass.

Alpha and Omega

In the begining there was darkness and a banister.



And then, after the miracle of the Internet and WEBS, there is light, time, well wound and stacked balls of yarn.



Goddess Bless the UPS man!

No knitting, just photography




I love Bugs, they are so cute! From the Volkswagon Show and Swap Meet at Kelly Park, San Jose. April 17, 2005.


Unreasonable? Arrogant?

...of me to think that I can knit a choli? I just purchased "South Asian Tops and Wraps" from Folkwear, which includes a good, basic choli top. I have made the pattern a number of times... out of fabric. With summer coming, it just seems like a good idea. I assume I will need a fiber that does not have much give - silk? cotton silk blend? Any ideas?

Anyway how hard can it be? Shaped pieces for the front cups, under bust panel, and side boob framing pieces (like my technical language?), a fairly basic back, some additional shaping in the sleeves. Since it will be knitted I think I can forgo the underarm gusset, the knit fabric should have a little more give to it, and I think gusset seams might add too much bulk in the pits.

Did I mention that I have only been knitting for about two years? That I am fairly incapable of following directions? That all of my projects are deeply personalized with little love flaws? That I am generally very driven to finish things so I can get on to the next project, hence I rarely frog unless it is the only recourse? And for my next trick, I'll knit a farthingale! HAHA!

I am sure you are wondering why I purchased the pattern if I have made it in the past... well, the pattern wasn't mine. I used to work for a designer/costumer at a small shop in San Francisco, Labyrith Phassions and Costumes, where the choli top was one of our staples. We made them up in traditional sari fabric, printed velvets, brocades; you name it we pretty much made it. I had a lovely one for a number of years, made of vintage sari silk, which smelled like onions (most of our sari fabrics did) and finally shredded along the seams.

I finished the back of the hoodie, but it hardly merits a photo. Looks like a big 'ole greenish/blue cotton square (dish cloth, perhaps?). Instead, I leave you with a photo I took in the ancient royal city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, August of 2003.

Mating Rituals of Pom Poms

On a recent trip down the stairs I was lucky enough to observe and photograph the pom-pom mating ritual.

Here we see the lonely male pom-pom. Note how the male pom-pom is grey in color with two long "feelers" or antennae.






An interesting characteristic of the pom-pom is the additional "neuter" sex. Note that neuters can be of any color, but lack the long, waving antenna of the male or the short, pert antenna of the female. We see a neuter pom-pom passing by the male. Note that the male pom-pom does not exhibit any reaction. Pom-poms react by waving and bunching their antennae.






Ah, we see a female pom-pom approaching. Note her deep purple color. Her antenna are neutral at present.






The male and female pom-pom engage in the age old dance of love. This female does not appear to be very receptive to the male's advances.






Male pom-poms are not easily discouraged, but they know when to move on. This male has spotted a large blonde that strikes his fancy. He will start his courtship ritual again...

"The Learning Curve", or "Why it is wise to follow directions"

I have just learned how to lose a post! Oh joy!

A number of weeks ago I was loading the dishwasher, in my own style, when the husband suggested/pointed out/kindly advised that my placement of the wooden spoons in the flatware basket would interfere with the free movement of the spinny/washy thingie. He went on to ask why I was doing this when it had not worked in the past, and that since he had told me this on several occasions, he did not understand why I persisted. To which I replied, " 'Cos, I don't listen".

This illustrates one of my more endearing personality quirks. I don't listen, I don't follow directions, I don't like to swatch, I don't like to save. Hence I have lost a post due to my unwillingness (blithe disregard for the kind suggestion "SAVE AS DRAFT" staring me in the face from the bottom of the screen?) to save. I have knit more than a few oddly shaped objects. To wit the oddly shaped French Market Basket (from Knitty) pictured with the laborious, boring progress on the back of the hoodie. (This photo does not do justice to the irregularity of the market basket - looks kinda groovy from this vantage)



The Market Basket is really cute, but weirdly shallow and the handles are not easily placed for carrying. I attribute this to the fact that it is one of my earliest projects, and the first that I felted (this is of course my excuse and a cover up for the whole unwillingness to follow directions/swatch/listen thing).

How about that tape measure!



In an effort to free myself from the fetters of patterns and directions in general I am attempting to whip up a felted summer bag of my own creation.



Love those colors! And I have found that Cascade 220 felts up like a dream (a small, tight dream, but a dream nonetheless). Will post bag if it turns out (and perhaps even if it doesn't).

This is what Corsa thinks about following directions, and vegetables.



Disclaimer: I have since listened to the sage advice with regards the dishwasher, and our dishes are cleaner... and lest anyone think ill of the husband, he is the most wonderful guy out there!


Testing the photo posting waters

IMGP0488
Originally uploaded by chelajanenoto.

My inner ludite is rearing her ugly, truculent head. I am lost with this photo hosting business. Why can't I just drag and drop... Oh well bear with me as I figure out how to post, format, move about etc.

I suppose that I might have more success if I read the directions, but I am very, very, very resistant to reading directions.

On to the photo: I just completed this wonderful sweater (and no that is not a tarantula crawling across the waistline, but an ornate purple rhinestone broach). The pattern is from White Lies Designs. I used about 1200 yards of 4 ply baby alpaca that I picked up at Stitches West. The yarn was in two unmarked hanks, so I don't know who produces it, only that I am totally in love with alpaca, and now want to knit everything in alpaca.

Currently I am working on the Norah Gaughan's wrap front hoodie from the Spring/Summer Vogue Knitting. So far the back is extremely uninteresting, just an episode of Seinfeld and last Monday's 24 worth of 2x2 ribbing and stockinet stitch (translates into 10 inches... with variations in tension based on proximity of Jack Baur to the bad guys... will President Keeler survive??? Yikes. Will my hoodie be all discombobulated? Will summer ever come to Los Gatos?) But I am looking forward to working the two-sided frost flower lace on the front. (Will summer arrive? Please tell me that it will!)

Ahem...

...the best laid plans have an uncanny way of falling to the wayside in my life.

I am sure, dear reader (that being the Oosband so far), that you're waiting with baited breath for pictures of projects past, guest appearances by the cast of characters from my previous post, and of course Dolores II. I promise this post will not disapoint. My darling Oosband gave me a snazzy digital camera for Christmas, so I have been digitizing and cataloging madly ever since.

A final note, I did dress my friends and family in caplets and ponchos for the holidays. Sadly they all hightailed it out of town in their fancy new garb before I was able to get any nice digital photos (read - before I read the directions for my new camera and stopped taking picutres of my thumb).

PS just picked up my own copy of Yarn Harlot's "At Knit's End". Laughing butt off! Thank you!

PPS this post did disapoint with regards to photo posting. The learning curve is steep, and I just highsided.