Fun House Mirror of Life

I am typically a one-project-at-a-time kind of knitter (and reader--I have a theory about knitting and reading, for another time), but I currently have three WIPs. How did this happen? I blame it on blocking.

I made a five-pointed star stuffed toy out of Mission Falls 1824 cotton. I would have sewn up the two halves immediately, but the bumpy texture of the cotton made it hard to see the bars between stitches. So I blocked it.

In the meanwhile I started a Zig with some Berroco Boboli Lace that Brian's mom gave me for Christmas. The instructions said to block the brim. So I blocked it.

So I started a Cuppa Tea Cowl with some leftover Wool Dispensary yarn (I miss your yarn, Sam!). Of course now I just want to work on that. Forget seaming or picking up stitches: I've got cables and lace to knit.

In reference to my last post, this multiple-project phenomenon seems to be mirroring my working life. I've been doing contract work through TaskRabbit and had a short task last night; I've been doing some contract admin for a friend's cousin's company; and I have a 4-hour temp job on Friday. Just like the knitting, I'm enjoying all these projects and can't wait for more. Maybe once I get a full-time job I'll feel like knitting a sweater.

June Sucks

Here are some photos of the things I finished lately. Thermis and Honey are cowls I finished back in May.

Thermis

Two, count 'em, two knots in Calmer. Thank goodness I was only a couple rows into Thermis!

Wonderhorse modeling Honey

Zoz I finished when we were in Mountain Home, Idaho, to pick up my car after having its clutch replaced. I have been working on Mandel since mid-May, but after knitting the body and most of one sleeve, I ripped it out. Since we were in Mountain Home (the weekend my clutch went out), I didn't have anything to knit after ripping out the sweater. I've restarted it now, but I didn't want to risk being without knitting, so I took along Zoz. It was so fast! I knit it all in one night.

Wonderhorse modeling Zoz

Mandel, take two

Why does June suck, you might ask? Work. My clutch went out. Money woes. Mysterious doorbell ringing at 2:30 am when I'm home alone. Brian away in San Francisco. Messy house. No time for grocery shopping. And much, much more.

There's a major deadline coming up at work. It's always a struggle to get everything in by the deadline. Some of it is just communicating with artists, some is interoffice disagreements and strife. A big part of it is total disregard for established deadlines. For whatever reason, I'd like to just skip over June and head into July.

I don't think anyone from work reads this blog, and I don't think too many colleagues read it, either, so I'm going to put this out there: I need a new job. The WFC has had us on furloughs for the three years now. I simply cannot afford to live in Elko anymore. Add in the trouble like I described above, and I'm ready to leave. It's rather disconcerting that I'm deeper in debt living in a small town than I was in Chicago, where I actually pulled myself out of debt enough to buy a condo. I'm also done with the desert. I want to be somewhere lush. We're mainly looking at San Francisco, but at this point, if there's grass, a lake (or ocean), and it's in a city (or very, very near one), then I'll consider it. So if you've got leads for work in the cultural sector, please let me know. Or if you know of a well-paying retail job or office work. I can do that, too, as long as I can afford to eat.

Luckily, I have vacation planned for the end of the month. I'm so excited to make it to one of my uncle's pig roasts. Not for the pig, of course, but for the fun and family. We're then heading to a wedding and spending some time in Toronto. Where there's grass. And a lake. And a city. I can't wait.

Oh, and one more thing!


That's me with the blue knees!

In Like a Lion

It's been a rough couple of months. But let me back up to the giveaway. It was fantastic! I gave away everything but one pair of fingerless gloves that didn't photograph well. I even got a friendly knit monster in trade! Gerald R. Ford sits on the couch-bench with us, watching TV while I knit.

Even though it's been rough (99% of the hard times are at work), I've been busy and knitting like crazy. The first-ever Roller Derby Bout in Elko is on April 16. I made the roster! I'm sure I'll be a second or third-string blocker, but I'm excited to play. Practices take up some time, and the Sunday morning one is right in the middle of my weekend, so Brian and I have been staying in Elko. We made a quick run to Salt Lake so I could buy some things for my derby outfit. I bought eight pairs of tights to try out!

Some deadlines at work have changed so my April is going to be much busier than in years past. Add derby practice to that and I'm stuck here for a while. I haven't had a real break since Christmas. Brian and I are heading to San Francisco over Easter, for a friend's birthday. I'm trying to plan the early part of that week, too, so I can finally take a vacation. I need a rest. A serious, not-at-home, no-responsibilities kind of vacation is the only thing that is going to keep me sane.

Here are some knits I've finished since the giveaway (plus a couple that were finished before but not picture-ready).

Duck Feet for Julie's baby. Finished 1/18, sent much later.

Surtsey in Yellow for Donella's babies. Finished 2/9. Buttons made (by me!) and added later.

Surtsey in Green for Donella's babies. Finished 2/22. Buttons made (by me!) and added later.

Indian Summer. Finished 2/24. Button made (by me!) and added later.

Toorie. Finished 2/28. So cute.

Cassady. Finished 3/10. I made this to try the technique. It's clever.

Java Socks for Brian. Finished 3/16. The next pair of socks I make for Brian will be tighter, I promise. He wants more socks, so I'll be able to get it right.

Scallop Lace Hat. Finished 3/27. It looks better now that it's blocked.

I also knit a cover for one of my knee pads. but I didn't take a picture of it. It's just a black blob anyway. It was a two-hour knit last Saturday, 4/1. I may make another cover with a tighter knit, but probably not before the bout.

Full Moon Blanket WIP. This is an ongoing project since 3/17. I don't normally knit blankets, but I'm waiting for some yarn from Pickles, which is in Norway, so I can knit their Impress Dress for another baby (Annelise). I got distracted while at their site and cast on for this blanket. I'm sure I'll pick up another project in the meanwhile. Brian picked out some more Malabrigo Sock, which I used on the Java socks, for another pair of socks, and I just impulse-bought two full bags of yarn (twenty skeins for $45!). I'd like to start a sweater or vest. It's time for a full-sized garment.

So that's it. I'm tired. I'm working hard at derby. I'm burned out at work. Knitting is my salvation right now. Thank goodness for knitting.

FOs and WIPs

I've been thinking about the content of these posts. I'd like to get back to more thoughtful posts, rather than just lists of things. I think it says a lot about the priorities and the anxieties in my life since I moved to Elko. I'm busier than ever, but I'm also less contemplative. Except during my "crisis of faith" last year, I don't give much thought to my life and my circumstances. I don't take time out of my schedule to think, or to do things that are meaningful and thoughtful.

I've been on a hat kick lately. Hats and mitts. This rest of this post is yet another list of finished objects and works in progress.


I made this hat to go with the fingerless mitts. I also made a pair of very colorful fingerless mitts (with partial fingers, even. I hate fingers) for my sister to give to a friend. I forgot to take a picture before I sent them off.


I also forgot to take a picture of the washcloth I made for Brian's mom. Her birthday was the Monday after Thanksgiving, but we were in San Francisco. We did go up for Thanksgiving, though, which was nice. I finished the parts to Flo there. I haven't had the steam to seam yet, though. I'll probably have to redo one of the bodies, though, since I think I skipped a few rows on the second side.


I knit this on the way to and from San Francisco. I messed up the cables the first time they crossed. I dropped down and fixed them. Or so I thought. One of them is still messed up (on the side not shown in the photo). It was dark, and I was in the car. Oh, well. My fabric is a bit dense. I held two strands of RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply together. It will be a very warm hat.


I picked up a skein of Malabrigo Twist at ImagiKnit so I could finally finish these. I have mixed feelings about that yarn store. They have a great stuff, but it's a bit overwhelming. Especially the plant-fiber and synthetics room. I can't seem to find yarns in that room that I like, and it takes me a few go-rounds to find what I'm looking for in either room.


I bought two skeins of some Noro Chirimen, which only has 16% wool. I get the love for the fun colors, but the yarn just doesn't do it for me like it does for the Noro cult. This hat shows off the striping perfectly. I should have used smaller needles, though. The hat is a bit more slouchy than the pattern. Paired with the yarn, I think it will be a nice springtime hat for someone.

Today I started on Windscheif.


I'd like to start on a sweater. There are about five that I can't decide among. Of course, now that the weather is cold, I don't have the right yarn for any of these sweaters. I focused on increasing my cotton DK-weight stash this fall, but now I'm without a sweater's worth of yarn in any animal fiber. Sigh.

Project Post

I've finished a couple things since my last post, and have started another. I still have to finish seaming Laccaria. It's hard to do when Brian's around, since I usually seam while watching something like Dr. Who and spreading out the work on the coffee table. Seaming takes up a lot of space! Brian and I watch a lot of silly stuff--we're starting Dark Shadows soon--but I don't feel like I can spread out and zone out for seaming. Stockinette and the like are better for that, which is why I'm knitting the Playful Stripes Cardigan for Renée. That is, if I see her before she's going off to college. I miss those guys and can't figure out a time to visit before Christmas. Sad.


I also finished a cowboy bib for a friend's baby. She is a rancher, so her kids will be cowboys (at least while they are kids). Why not show it off from the get go?


As I mentioned in my last post, I was intrigued by a yarn that I have in my trade or sell stash. I'm still happy to sell it, but I don't dislike it as much as I thought I did. It's Filati Sailor FF, and it has some nice colors. It's like knitting with cotton string, but that was perfect for this market bag. The bag, however, turned out pretty small, and the opening is tight. I think I'll go back to making Everlasting Bagstoppers for market bags, though I'm interested in trying the Monteagle Bag, just for some fun with stitch patterns.


Since this was the most knitterly post I've had in awhile, I just have to mention some travel, right? Brian, Yarny and I went to Salt Lake last week. I had the most torturous hike ever on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, but it was great weekend. Friends joined us for food and shopping the day before and that was really fun. The real travel news is that I'm headed to the UP next week. I can't wait.

Hot!

It's 100 degrees in Elko right now (8% humidity, which is rather high for around here). Can you believe that all I want to do right now is to knit? Maybe because I'm procrastinating about cleaning for upcoming company. Still, I don't even have the swamp cooler on (yet).

Brian and I tried to escape the heat of the last week of June by heading to Big Sur and Northern California.


Apologies to all my friends in San Francisco. We stopped only long enough to take some pictures.


Yarny was our constant companion, keeping careful watch over Brian as he drove along steep, winding, ocean-side Highway 1. I miss the water. And trees. Oh, how I miss trees.


We saw two, count 'em, two Paul Bunyans and Babe the Blue Ox...I'm not sure how to pluralize this. Grammarians, please forgive me. Please keep me in your graces. Anyway, I adore Babe, so this was the highlight of the trip for me.


Besides Big Sur, we didn't have any goals for this trip, so we ended up in the north part of Lassen Volcanic National Park. This was probably my favorite camping spot (rivaled only by the one in Big Sur). We headed to the southern part of the park our second day there, intending to hike to a fumarole and bubbling mud pit, but we were snowed out. On the Fourth of July.

Overall, lots of fun. I didn't knit until we got home. I've got all the pieces finished on Laccaria, but I've gotten distracted by a market bag. A knitter on Ravelry asked to trade some yarn, which I declined because I didn't want the trade. She inspired me, though, to dig out the yarn and give it a try. I get protective over bags of ten balls, so I hesitated over using just one or two for a market bag. Research on Ravelry showed me that anything I would make with this would only take about six balls, so I took the plunge. I'm moving slowly on the bag--the yarn is a thin cotton, so it's not too different from knitting on Laccaria (except the stitches, of course). I think I might pick up a third cotton project for some variety that will turn out to be more of the same. Ah, well. It's summer.

Adventures Abound!

Life has taken a good turn lately. I've settled into being in Elko for another year, at least, and that's put my mind and heart at rest. No more soul-searching about where I need to be right now. I'm going to be here. Well, except when I'm traveling, which I seem to be doing much more of these past few weeks.

I went down to Lubbock and Alpine, Texas, at the end of February. It was a declaration of my commitment to Cowboy Poetry. I also got to know Alissa and Andy Hedges, Andy Wilkinson, and most of the members of Cowboy Celtic better. I discovered I really enjoy the way Andy Hedges sings, plus we made friends in each other, and I like that most. Visiting another Gathering was pretty interesting. I was on the fringes of the inside, which was a nice place to be. It was so great, in fact, that I'll be visiting the Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering over Memorial Day.

Besides that, I went to Sensory Illumination. I got to wear cyberlox. I want some. We did a little bit of climbing in Boise. Then I took an impulsive road trip to Portland with a new friend.

Trees and water. Oh, how I miss you both.

This weekend we're headed to Zion for some camping and hiking. We climbed last weekend, but there really hasn't been enough climbing.


Ah, but has there been any knitting, you ask? Of course! In fact, I've been knitting a lot. I started Side Impact on February 7 and I'm only just rounding the corner on the second sleeve, but it's lace and stockinette. I never promised to move quickly through the lace panels. In fact, I finally memorized the six-row, seventeen-stitch, lace pattern yesterday.

In between I've knit two cozies. The first wasn't for anything specific, just because someone joked about whether that was what I was knitting.

The second is an iPhone cozy, sort of for the same reason. Lesson learned: do not be flippant about knitting or you might end up with cozies.

Red Rocks

We climbed this past weekend in Red Rocks, outside of Las Vegas. Great fun. I led a 5.7, which is a step up from what I usually lead. Here's me on lead.


I got a few centimeters of Side Impact finished, but Jacque and April drove off with my knitting on Sunday. I could have gotten a lot finished on the drive home, but instead had to content myself with tormenting one of my friends by fiddling with the radio. Oh well.

So far Side Impact is fun. I'm terrible at lace, even in small side panels, so it's slow going. I'm thinking of starting a second sweater in a chunkier yarn for that instant gratification.

Another "Why I Don't Blog" Post

I've been teaching a theatre class at a dance studio in town. It started as two classes, but the younger students' class was too small, so it was combined with the older class. Now I have one class and the students range from 6 to 16. It's been interesting. The classes are fun, but it's still hard to gauge what they've learned this month. They know the areas of the stage as much as they know left from right, and last week they caught on pretty quick to vocal expression. There are a couple of kids who are really outgoing and a couple shyer ones. Overall, so far, it's been fun. But (here's the blogging excuse) I seem to have no time for anything anymore. Which really isn't true. I'm just having too much fun hanging out to get the important things done. At least the class forces me to sit down and write a lesson plan each week. This week we're going to talk about beats. I'm having a little trouble planning for this one since there are a few students who can't read much yet (being only in first grade).

In my knitting world I'm all over the place. I started a rattle for Aimee's cousin's new son, but I need a cat toy for the inside and I haven't made it to the store for one yet. So I started the shorts for Sandman. I think those will move pretty quickly, but I don't get much couch time to work on them. I've been watching Firefly with Jacque, and we're going to try some game knitting on the next episode. I think I need something wacky right now. I need to seam the Audrey sweater and do some finishing knitting, but I haven't been interested in that since I picked up the other things. There's also a hat I really want to make for a friend in Chicago, where I'm going in a couple weeks, so I'll have to pick that up soon, too. I can probably knit most of that on the airplane, though, so I'm not too worried.

I don't have any new knitting pictures, so here's a photo from last week's climbing adventure. Picture courtesy of Karl.

Summer Photos

I have a post in mind (what I've learned about knitting from climbing), but I've had such a busy summer that I thought I'd get the photos out of the way.

First, thank you for all the kind comments. I might have put the sweater in the UFO pile if left to my own devices. I'm still enjoying knitting Holly and made great progress on a recent flight. I have two other somewhat pressing projects to finish, but I can't take my hands off Holly.


Jacque and I hiked the Ruby Mountain Crest Trail a few weeks ago. I had never done a multi-day backpacking trip. I also grew up where it's relatively flat. I think I've acclimated pretty well to the altitude, because that wasn't a problem at all. I could breathe even at 11,000 ft. Jacque helped that by keeping our pace slow. I have a tendency to walk fast and then get out of breath. The trip was amazing. It was hard in some places, and simply fun in others. These pictures are chronological.

A gazillion-mile switchback at the end of the night. Just before Overland Lake (below)*

The Crest (we saw this same view after climbing that peak, and then again five more times)

Liberty Lake

The Parking Lot!

Then a group of people drove up to the City of Rocks to celebrate my birthday (and Jason's but he had to stay home on doctor's orders. Boo). I had no idea my friends in Elko were so amazing. I knew they all wanted to climb--that was really the point of the trip--but they also surprised me with an awesome gift, which I opened after cake.

Presents!

Last weekend I visited Jen and family. I just needed to see their faces. It was soul-soothing.

Now it's September and I'll be around for awhile. Maybe I'll actually get some knitting done this month.

*edited to add photo. My apologies for multiple versions of this post.

I Love this Hat!

This is Jacque.
I taught her to knit in January. She's made four hats. Hats are the way to go for a beginner, I think. She's accomplished so much in such a short time. She's going to make a vest of her own design next. Her latest hat is ribbed the entire way up, so Jacque had to figure out how to decrease in pattern, rather than using the standard spiral decrease I taught her. She's been knitting on straights and has had some trouble with her hats having nipples at the top, so I hope the ribbing and the different decrease pattern will solve her nipple problem.

In spite of this weirdness, every hat Jacque makes is a joy for her. She exclaims "I love this hat" while knitting them. She realized she said it for every hat and asked if I felt the same way about what I knit.

It's got me to thinking. I don't love everything I'm working on. Lately I feel like I've put down or frogged everything I attempt. I'm supposed to be working on a dog sweater for Jacque's dog (also in the pic), especially since it took much convincing of her husband that a dog sweater is still macho. But the yarn I picked is too bulky for the wording I want to incorporate. I thought I'd just make a prototype, then, since I wasn't using a pattern, but I haven't touched the sweater for weeks. I am working on other things, of course, but I don't love anything right now.

The closest I'm getting is on Patti. It feels good to make progress. I'm sure I won't finish until the sun is warming Michigan, but Jen will still appreciate it, I think (hope).

So I how do I get the love back? I still need to knit. I still want the feel of the yarn growing on the needles. I just don't love anything I'm working on. Nothing is bringing that joy.

Here's some Misti Hand Paint Sock Yarn I wound for Tympany. Tympany is fun. I'm almost onto the earflaps. I'm not going to have enough yarn, since I'm using some leftover yarn from a pair of socks, so I'll have to get creative.

Sheep and Knitting

Last week I was in Ketchum, Idaho, for the Trailing of the Sheep. There was lots of wool and plenty snow.

Most of the progress on this mitten was made in the car to and from Ketchum and while at the festival.

I also worked on this sock during the festival.

I bought some great yarn at the Puffy Mondaes booth. I wish they were closer. I have to take pictures of the yarn yet, so I'll post them later. In the meanwhile, here are the sheep. They were supposed to go straight down Main Street, but those photographers you see in my video weren't staying to the sidewalks, so the sheep took the first opening they saw and headed down the side street instead. (Isn't there some sort of professional courtesy about not getting into another photographer's shot? You should see my other video--it's mostly this one guy's head as he's "ducking" to stay out of my way.)