New and grumpy

I noticed, so I couldn't help but point it out-- until today, my September posts were all on days that are powers of two! Definitely unplanned, but cool nonetheless.

Before I take a minute to grump, I thought I'd flash some knitting. I've been feeling all sorts of urges to cast on for all sorts of things, including several scarily large projects. So far I've resisted, but I did start one thing.

I blame it on my mom. She's just too easy to make things for. One of the things she pointed out (twice) was that the scarves on her piano are too big for the space. Rebecca to the rescue!


Which should look something like this when it's done.


I am not a doily person. I would not like to have them around the house. But... I'm fascinated. The super thin yarn, the small needles, the time and effort needed to make some of the more ambitious projects (bedspread? really?!? wow.). So, well, I'll take my opportunity to try it out on the small scale, without herculean effort.

I've found it rather fiddly so far. I like double pointed needles, but I'm not used to using three around. It makes sense for this design, since it's hexagonal, but the angles are worrisome. I'll likely have some extra space at their joinings. I'm going to look for a 16in, 2mm (size 0) circular tonight, since I think I'm about to the point where I can switch. That should make things quite a bit easier.

Grump. Our new project at work uses android, google's baby. It comes with all sorts of built in tools to be able to test android code. But! (and it's a big but, let me tell you) The documentation sucks. I mean, largely nonexistent. I want some good, solid examples (that actually run, for heavens sake) so I can get an idea the best way to implement it. Gah! I spent all afternoon yesterday trying to get stupid, simple stuff to work. And eclipse... man, I want to smack the people who wrote it! So not intuitive, even actively saboutaging me it seems. I can't run the main program if there are errors... even if those errors are in the tests that aren't being touched and not in the source code! *Grump* Oh, and if I set the instrumentation runner in the manifest file where it should be, I have to separately tell eclipse that I'm using it, even though it's right there and should be able to find it! And andoid says use another manifest file for the tests, but then eclipse whines about duplicate manifest files. Bah humbug. < /Grump >

Maybe flowers will help...

Fun but busy

Friday night Bill showed up at our doorstep around 10:30, so there was scotch and rock band all around. I watched, so that I could finish sewing down the binding on my mom's quilt and weaving in ends on Beth's shawl. I was actually ahead of where I thought I would be and finished them in plenty of time.

Saturday was my parent's housewarming. I gave mom her purple and bright green quilt, though I should probably still make a label for it.


Beth was also there, so I was finally able to give her her shawl.



Unfortunately, one of my parents cats (probably the one you can see in the window above) decided to run a little wild through the house with it. He managed to pull on a single thread and tighten all the surrounding stitches. Luckily nothing was broken, but I had to take it home for some fiddly work.


Besides the gifts, there was lots of badminton (wow, I'm still sore...) and visiting. My aunt Jan came up from northern California, so it was great to be able to see her. My other aunt and uncle were also there. With family, there was of course the obligatory group photo.


I'm rather impressed that no one has their eyes closed or is making a funny face. (I'm wearing a light blue shirt. )

James and I tried to stay up to see Bill get back from his conference, but I only made it till about one in the morning before I crashed. Turns out he didn't get back until 2:30! Gamers apparently are hardcore. We took him out to lunch Sunday before saying goodbye and I showed good blogger instincts and reached for my camera. Alas, the case was empty. I need to learn to put it away after taking project pictures. I'll get you next time, Bill! (Doesn't work so well without a two syllable name...)

Monday was supposed to be laid back, but a last minute call to help haul junk out of the storage unit (in the pouring rain!) stifled that idea. A little more badminton and the weekend was a wrap.

It's beginning to look like a busy weekend

There had been rumors that Bill, a guildmate of ours, was visiting and might need a place to crash this weekend. So, I did what any good procrastinator would do and figured I'd deal with it when it was confirmed. Well, yesterday we found out for sure. Much cleaning was furiously accomplished, though the kitchen isn't finished.

I made the mistake of thinking I could quick whip up some cookies before I finished cleaning. Um, so, I had a bit of a brain fart with the butter. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of butter, so I pulled out two sticks and went to town. Whoops! Doubling the butter apparently results in super spread out and flat cookies that do not want to let go of the baking sheet when they are cool. *Sigh*. I think the kitchen is actually messier than when I started...

In other, more cheerful news, I finally finished the shawl I've been making for my friend Beth. She threw my bridal shower last October. Yeah, it's really been that long (oh shit! thank you notes! I'm so awful...). I figure I would have finished this sooner, but it was my previous boring meeting/travel project, so it was only guaranteed about an hour a week. My parents just moved and are throwing a house warming party this weekend that I think Beth's coming to. I should be able to hand it over Saturday and hopefully get some pictures of her with it.

Until then, here are some shots to tide you over. For reference, the squares are 24 inches on each side.




Pattern: Madli's shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush.
Time: February 2 to August 6 2009 (blocked September 3rd).
Yarn: Knitpicks Shimmer in Sherry, ~1.5 skeins.
Mods: I used beads for the nupps in the edging, then omitted the nupps in the center section.

If I were making this for me, I might add a few more repeats in the center section to make it a little longer. I think Beth is a few inches over five feet, so it should be the right size for her (at least I hope so).

Ah, motivation

Nothing like posting a long neglected task to give me the motivation to finish it.


120 Square in square blocks sewn, but untrimmed. It only took about 40 minutes to put the yellow triangle on all of them and about the same amount of time to press and cut them apart.

I went stash diving last week looking for US4 circs and came across two old projects. I pulled them out, hoping to finish one and at least take pictures of the other before stuffing it back in a dark corner.

These are James socks that were just waiting for a toe to be sewn up and a couple ends woven in. Easiest finished project ever!


They're just simple socks knit over (* insert quick ravelry check here*) 72 stitches on 2.5mm dpns with k3p1 ribbing and a short row heel. Yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100g Uni/Solid, 7008 colorway.

I always see these cool lace or cable sock patterns that look like a blast to knit, but James prefers simple basic socks. Me? Well... I tend to be hard on socks, plus I don't like long legs. I am intrigued by being able to make a custom toe, since I dislike mixing left and right socks, but that's not enough to make up for the other issues. I think I need to find someone else to knit socks for...

Speaking of socks, the other project I pulled out were Lost socks.


The yarn is super pretty blue/green/gray called 4-8-15-16-23-42 by Yarntini. My friend Emily got James and I good and addicted to Lost, so I couldn't pass this up when I found it. I just don't think the pattern is quite right. I'll have to do some research and maybe find a better one. I hope these will become more appetizing when the show comes back this fall. Wait... early 2010? Really? Whatever happened to normal tv schedules?

No knitting was harmed in the making of this post

Because, well, I didn't knit last night. I found a good book and sat down to read. I did, however, get a wild hair and make dinner rolls from scratch. See? (Please ignore the not quite clean stovetop, where I messily made my first plain old skillet pork chops). I don't do this much anymore, so it was a nice treat.


I first tried bread making years ago and could never quite get it right. Things never came out as good tasting as I wanted them to. Eventually I tried a different yeast and I've never gone back (Bob's Red Mill yeast). Now even the super simple recipes like these 'Dinner Rolls' from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook taste delightful. These look a little funny because I didn't use enough flour when I was shaping them so they fused and then split. So yummy, though.

I did sneak in a little bit of sewing this morning, while James was taking a shower. I'm working on Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight quilt (finished one here), so I'm making hundreds of square in square blocks. The first set is done, but the second set is suffering from missing sides.

First set (untrimmed):

Second set (unfinished, with their butts hanging out):

Besides finishing these, I've still got to make a whole lotta little nine patches out of these strips.


At least I don't need to cut any thing else until I get to the setting triangles. I enjoy feeding piece after piece through the machine, but I get tired of cutting out hundreds of tiny, fiddly pieces after only a short time. Perhaps because I want to be too exacting. The initial squaring up of pieces is always the worst part, especially for fat quarters. Must. Get. Right. Angles. Does anyone else dislike the cutting (she asks her quite likely non-existent audience)?

The knitting moves on

The vest is sitting until I can find buttons and figure out how to steam it. I had just barely started the Bohus-Inspired Sweater from Knit So Fine when I got distracted by the vest. Though I was sorely tempted to start something else, I decided to pick it back up.

Here's where it was:

I realized when I wrote it up on ravelry that I had forgotten to increase before the turn row, so I tinked back and added an increase row. I wasn't brave enough to frog it since this is knit using two strands held together. I had thought it would be a huge pile of crinkly yarn, but it wasn't nearly as big as I was expecting it to be.


Since I was redoing it anyway, I figured I'd try different turn row that I heard about somewhere ages ago. Instead of purling, I k2tog, yo across. It gives it a quite dashing picot type edge.


We'll see how long I last before I give in and start something new and more interesting.

Busy sunday

First off, a yummy breakfast with the 'rents at Canyon Creek Cafe in Bot-hell as James prefers to call it. Pumpkin pancakes, quite delicious.


And since I tend to make funny faces in most of the pictures taken of me, here's Mom making fun of me (pardon the back lighting).


We then wandered around River Days, which was a bit of a street fair with local businesses and artists with booths. I don't tend to wear jewelry, or I would have been more interested. I did stumble upon a quilt group with a wonderful raffle quilt. I bought two tickets, well see if I'm lucky. I was shy and didn't get the lady's name, but she's current president of the Busy Bee quilters.


They also had a couple blocks of classic and collectible cars. Fascinating to take a peek under the hoods, where everything seems much simpler and less crowded than cars today.


Mom and I went shopping for various house type linens afterwards. I'm surprised how limited the color palette is, especially bedspreads. My parents just moved and have a really pretty, super dark green carpet. There was nothing even close in curtains, sheets, bedspreads and pillows. Everything is sage or olive green. After much dithering, a machine washable neutral colored bedspread was acquired, plus window scarves that I will get suckered into putting up later this week.

On the knitting front, I am basically finished with the vest. I only have a few ends left to weave in and buttons to sew on. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to block it... it doesn't lay flat after I put the armhole and neck edgings on. The pattern vaguely refers to steaming, but I've never done that before. More research, I suppose. Photographic proof of progress:


This was my first time picking up stitches around shaped edges. It's really quite a pain in the arse. I had to fudge lots of places and pick up around too many strands in other places or I would have left big gaping holes. The pattern always called for the decreases to happen right at the edges. I've seen elsewhere that you leave one stitch at the edge to be worked normally and decrease the two before it. I wonder if that would have made a cleaner edge. I'll have to play with it at some point.