Transitions

Well, a couple of transitions this past week:

* Baby Helen has started walking!

* And I have finally finished her sweater!




I'm going to send the sweater to Atlanta this week, but I'm almost afraid to let it out of my sight and entrust it to UPS, FedEx, or the postal service. But I want Baby Helen to be able to wear it before she outgrows it! I will ask her mommy to take photos of her modeling the sweater with one of her pretty little dresses.

Taking a cue from CostumeChick, here are the stats:

PATTERN: "Cardigan with lace edging," by Debbie Bliss. I found this in a great book at the library -- I think it's called "Bright Knits for Kids" (even though the sweater I knitted was in white, as commissioned by Helen's mommy). The pattern calls for a shawl collar, but I didn't want to detract from the smocking detail on some of Helen's dresses, so I modified the collar & button band, and finished it all off with a single crochet edge (thanks again to CostumeChick, who taught me how to make buttonholes with a backward loop cast-on AND REtaught me how to single crochet!)
NEEDLES: #3 for most of the sweater, #2 for the knitted lace trim that was sewn on later. Don't ask what brand -- it's whatever metal circs I found at JoAnn.
YARN: Svale by Dalegarn of Norway -- 50% cotton, 40% viscose, & 10% silk -- bought at Yarn Garden's 41%-off Super Bowl XLI sale (yes, it's been that long since I bought the yarn).


And what's on the needles now? A blanket for the daughter of my friends Jen and Adam, due to arrive in early August. More photos to come!

Aristocracy!

I found this on passiminterie (sorry, I can't do linking on Safari), so I decided to try it. Apparently, they let any old riffraff into the aristocratic Establishment these days, because I have a title:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Entirely Miss Reverend Lady Anne the Ceaseless of Lardle St Earache Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I find anything calling me "reverend" a little funny.

New Meme -- I never...

Well, Costumechick tagged me for a meme -- items I've knitted, plan to knit, or have never knitted and don't plan to. It reminds me of that game "I Never," in which people say "I Never...." and then add something like "did it in a moving car" or something crazy like that. Then the people that DID do that are supposed to drink. It's kind of like a cross between a drinking game and Truth or Dare.

But this list is so much more tame, and seeing as how it's the middle of the day, there's no alcohol involved. Snarky comments, however, are in abundance.

BTW, when I say "did it" [in a moving car], I mean knitting, of course! Get your minds out of the gutter!

BOLD indicates things I've done.
ITALICIZED indicates things that I haven't done but intend to do in the future.
Normal text indicates things I've never done and have no plans to do.

Afghan/Blanket (baby sized)
I-cord - if a project calls for it
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire - If I knit myself a hat with metal wire, will it keep out the Government Mind-Probe Rays?
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn - maybe (it might get my allergies going!)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting - why not?
Participating in a KAL
Sweater - one of them was even a boyfriend sweater!
Drop stitch patterns - all my stitches have been dropped by accident
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn -- mmmmm...bananas...
Domino knitting (modular knitting) - not sure what this is, but it sounds fun
Twisted stitch patterns - again, I think I've already done this by accident
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting - definitely
Knitting with soy yarn (Soy to the World?)
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles - hated it at first, but now that's all I use
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) - huh?
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments - I tried this, but the result was less than I'd hoped for
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran) - definitely want to try within the next year
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money - although I don't think I'd be prolific enough to be profitable
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting - what on earth is Olympic knitting???
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit - I would, if asked
Bobbles
Knitting for a living - again, I don't think I'm prolific enough
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking - not sure how to do this, but I'm intrigued
Dyeing yarn
Steeks - maybe, if I knew what the hell a steek was
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting - does yarn barf count?
Short rows - again, I've done these, although not on purpose
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting - no idea what this is
Knitting a gift - oh yeah
Knitting for pets - would give Stitch & Bitch a new meaning, wouldn't it?
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair - Not enough Allegra on the planet to get me through that experience.
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

There are a few more I've thought of:
Knitting on the beach
Thinking about your knitting while you're supposed to be focused on something else
Knitting during a meeting (I don't think I could get away with it)
Knitting a boyfriend/husband sweater
Attending a Stitch & Bitch group
Asking for/receiving knitting-related gifts for bdays, holidays, etc.
Knitting on an airplane
Learning knitting vocabulary in a foreign language (until I learn how to say "purl" in Spanish, I guess I can only knit in garter stitch ;-)
Having a Wall of Yarn
Taking a knitting-related trip (including out-of-state yarn-buying junkets)

So now I tag KnelleyBelley. :-)

Red Spam

I don’t know how, but some right-wing Louisiana political group has gotten my e-mail address on their mailing list. Their blog is called “Operaton Red November”– I suppose they’re looking to make Louisiana more of a “red state” than it already is (don’t these people know that red is the color of Communism???) Again, I don’t know how they got my e-mail address, but they’ve failed to note two important things: (1) I don’t live in Louisiana anymore (nor am I registered to vote there anymore); (2) Anyone that knows me knows that I am more of a “blue state” kind of gal. So “Red November” is sending me lots of crap about David Vitter and how he doesn’t know any prostitutes (not in the biblical sense, anyway), as if I care. Three e-mails in one week. One was titled, “An Excercise [sic] in Irresponsible Journalism” – I guess that’s supposed to be an indictment of the “liberal media.” So I hit “reply” (to the g-mail address on the e-mail) and wrote the following:
I don't know how you got my e-mail address, but this is the 2nd piece of right-wing propaganda you've sent me today. Take me off of your list. Oh, and there's only 1 c in "exercise." So I guess yours is an Exercise in Irresponsible Spelling.
Ah, good times… You’d think they’d take me off their list, but I got another e-mail today. Unfortunately, their blog (operationrednovember.blogspot.com) isn’t comment-enabled (shocking), but if anyone feels like f***ing with right-wing spammers, the g-mail address is theivhorsemen@gmail.com (as in the Four Horsemen). Don’t forget to run spellcheck before hitting send. ;-)

RSS is awesome (and Really Simple!)

I'm neither a techie nor a gadget freak, but in the past couple of weeks, I've set up and figured out how to use RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") reader. I'm hooked up on Google Reader. I had set up some news feeds, but today I figured out that I can set up RSS feeds so that I know when other blogs have been updated. So very cool. I've added anphoe, costumechick, mad-knitter, and passiminterie so far. If anyone else (particularly Thursday night S&Bers) have blogs, please leave a link in the comments.

Now off to get some actual work done. ;-)

Work & Play

Well, last week had a rough start. We had a big deadline at work, so by Wednesday, I had put in 40 hours. But by Thursday the madness had leveled off somewhat. I was finally able to go to S&B on Thursday, for the first time in 3 weeks. It was so good to see everyone. And to have time to knit!

It was nice out this weekend – had a chance to sit out by the pool and run my errands with the top down. Still a lot of work to do tonight to get ready for the coming week, though. So, along with my resolution to be a more frequent blogger, I leave you with this little bit of sunshine – a photo of the family Glamour Princess: