And look what it's gone and done today...
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
New Day, New Blog
Or if I'm going to be accurate: new night, new blog.
I decided the knitting stuff was niche material, so I've given it its own blog:
The Clueless Crafter.
Seems to fit with the Witless Wanderer theme.
I decided the knitting stuff was niche material, so I've given it its own blog:
The Clueless Crafter.
Seems to fit with the Witless Wanderer theme.
Monday, April 14, 2008
He Loves Me
The Engineer and I went to the American Women Geoscientists annual silent auction and wine tasting on Saturday evening.
I saw an ammonite necklace that tickled my fancy, so I put the opening bid on it. It was upped a couple of times, so I rebid. I rebid again after a few more uppings. The Engineer wandered by just as my third bid was trumped. I sighed.
He asked, "Do you really like it?"
"Yes," I replied.
So he walked over and bid 50% over the last bid.
He's an engineer through and through, he's not comfortable with human emotion, but he loves me.
I'm more than a little fond of him too.
I saw an ammonite necklace that tickled my fancy, so I put the opening bid on it. It was upped a couple of times, so I rebid. I rebid again after a few more uppings. The Engineer wandered by just as my third bid was trumped. I sighed.He asked, "Do you really like it?"
"Yes," I replied.
So he walked over and bid 50% over the last bid.
He's an engineer through and through, he's not comfortable with human emotion, but he loves me.
I'm more than a little fond of him too.
The Continuing Story of Knitting Misadventures
Another blog about knitting to celebrate my invitation to join Ravelry. Ooh, ahh, folks who won't think this content is boring!
I decided to knit my brother a hat. I figured he needs one, he lives just south of the US/Canadian border. Cold, cold, cold in the winter and mosquitos the size of fighter jets in the summer. Obviously the hat should be made of 100% wool.
Being adventurous, I decided to make my first Internet yarn purchase and ordered two balls of "Superwash Chunky" from elann.com. I'm still very much in learning stages, so the yarn wasn't quite what I was expecting, but, what the heck, I started in with the knitting. When I was approaching the end of the first ball of yarn, I realized that I was not going to have enough to complete the hat.
Now I'm not so much of a neophyte that I don't know about dye lots. I'm not sure where I learned about them, but seems like I've been aware of them forever. I knew the problem with ordering more of the same yarn was that I would be taking potluck on the dye lot. The Engineer may not be able to tell blue from green, but I am very color aware, so I decided to make a new start on the BrotherHat. I got some Debbie Bliss "Donegal Tweed Chunky" and began all over again.
But what to do with the partially knit hat. Hmmm... My brother's daughters live up in the frozen northland with him, they need wool to keep them warm too. The color wasn't quite up to lively tween tastes, but I could work around that. I bought some Lion "Fun Fur" and knit it double with the rest of the green into a smaller hat. Learned about knitting by braille. Geeze o' pete, I couldn't see what the heck I was doing with all of those silly eyelashes in the way. Also ordered a couple more balls of the Superwash. I plan on adding scarves to both side of the beanie in stripes of furry and not-furry. I figure that way it won't matter if the dye lots match or not.
So I knit and knit on the BrotherHat until I had 12 inches, then moved to double pointed needles -- yet another learning experience. How the dickens does anyone gracefully maneuver that many needles at one time? It felt like I was trying to make love to a porcupine. I did manage to close it up, though.
I decided to knit my brother a hat. I figured he needs one, he lives just south of the US/Canadian border. Cold, cold, cold in the winter and mosquitos the size of fighter jets in the summer. Obviously the hat should be made of 100% wool.
Being adventurous, I decided to make my first Internet yarn purchase and ordered two balls of "Superwash Chunky" from elann.com. I'm still very much in learning stages, so the yarn wasn't quite what I was expecting, but, what the heck, I started in with the knitting. When I was approaching the end of the first ball of yarn, I realized that I was not going to have enough to complete the hat.Now I'm not so much of a neophyte that I don't know about dye lots. I'm not sure where I learned about them, but seems like I've been aware of them forever. I knew the problem with ordering more of the same yarn was that I would be taking potluck on the dye lot. The Engineer may not be able to tell blue from green, but I am very color aware, so I decided to make a new start on the BrotherHat. I got some Debbie Bliss "Donegal Tweed Chunky" and began all over again.
But what to do with the partially knit hat. Hmmm... My brother's daughters live up in the frozen northland with him, they need wool to keep them warm too. The color wasn't quite up to lively tween tastes, but I could work around that. I bought some Lion "Fun Fur" and knit it double with the rest of the green into a smaller hat. Learned about knitting by braille. Geeze o' pete, I couldn't see what the heck I was doing with all of those silly eyelashes in the way. Also ordered a couple more balls of the Superwash. I plan on adding scarves to both side of the beanie in stripes of furry and not-furry. I figure that way it won't matter if the dye lots match or not.So I knit and knit on the BrotherHat until I had 12 inches, then moved to double pointed needles -- yet another learning experience. How the dickens does anyone gracefully maneuver that many needles at one time? It felt like I was trying to make love to a porcupine. I did manage to close it up, though.
I tried it on. It was just a wee bit too big. So I had the Engineer try it on. It was just a wee bit too big. Dang! And then, to make it even better, that dim little bulb over my head finally lit up...
My brother is bald. No chance of getting out of it, my Mom's Dad was bald, so that's what she thought was attractive, so that's what she married. Brother gets the gene from both sides, he had no chance of retaining his hair past his early 20'a. Anyway, it suddenly occurred to me that his naked scalp might find the 100% wool tweed just a wee bit itchy.
Oops.
But, of course, I came up with an elegant solution. I got a couple of skeins of Noro "Cash Iroha", 40% silk with lambswool, cashmere and a little nylon for strength, and knitted a liner. 
Now to stitch the liner in and block it.
This is gunna be one warm hat. (Better be, it sure as heck wasn't cheap.)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Exorcising a Demon
I had a bad, bad dream last night. It was about someone I love. I'll call him Guy.
I was in a house in a semi-rural western mountainous area with the Engineer and Guy. The neighbor was over. We heard her dog start barking like a maniac. We looked out the kitchen window just as the dog started shrieking. He was being killed by four grizzly bears, a big sow and her three almost grown cubs.
We turned from the window in helpless horror.
When the dog's cries stopped, her horse started screaming. The Engineer and Guy ran from the room. I stood paralyzed for a moment before I realized they might be planning something stupid. I ran after them.
They were on the front porch trying to scare the grizzlies away by squirting them with the garden hose.
At first the bears looked puzzled, but then one of them started moving towards the house.
"Get in, get in, get in!" I shouted, "Grizzlies are fast, get in the house!"
The Engineer came in. I continued to shout at Guy.
He turned and came through the open screen door. He looked me right in the eyes, then he grasped the knob of the wooden door and pulled it shut while he was still on the outside.
I snatched the door open and stared through the slowly closing screen door as Guy stepped off the porch and walked deliberately towards the grizzlies. His back was straight and his strides were sure.
"Get in, get in, get in!" I screamed.
He stood between the bears and looked at them like he had looked at me, then he spread his arms and tilted his chin up to look at the sky.
I screamed myself awake just as the biggest bear rose to her hind legs and swung a sledgehammer paw to decapitate Guy.
I've been crying off and on all day because Guy is in a bad space in real life and there's nothing I can do to help him out of it. This dream was too real, too possible. I don't know what to do other than accept that he has to make his own life choices. I hope he knows I love him, though. And that I'm not the only one who does.
Writing this doesn't seem to have exorcised the demon. It's still gnawing on my heart.
I was in a house in a semi-rural western mountainous area with the Engineer and Guy. The neighbor was over. We heard her dog start barking like a maniac. We looked out the kitchen window just as the dog started shrieking. He was being killed by four grizzly bears, a big sow and her three almost grown cubs.
We turned from the window in helpless horror.
When the dog's cries stopped, her horse started screaming. The Engineer and Guy ran from the room. I stood paralyzed for a moment before I realized they might be planning something stupid. I ran after them.
They were on the front porch trying to scare the grizzlies away by squirting them with the garden hose.
At first the bears looked puzzled, but then one of them started moving towards the house.
"Get in, get in, get in!" I shouted, "Grizzlies are fast, get in the house!"
The Engineer came in. I continued to shout at Guy.
He turned and came through the open screen door. He looked me right in the eyes, then he grasped the knob of the wooden door and pulled it shut while he was still on the outside.
I snatched the door open and stared through the slowly closing screen door as Guy stepped off the porch and walked deliberately towards the grizzlies. His back was straight and his strides were sure.
"Get in, get in, get in!" I screamed.
He stood between the bears and looked at them like he had looked at me, then he spread his arms and tilted his chin up to look at the sky.
I screamed myself awake just as the biggest bear rose to her hind legs and swung a sledgehammer paw to decapitate Guy.
I've been crying off and on all day because Guy is in a bad space in real life and there's nothing I can do to help him out of it. This dream was too real, too possible. I don't know what to do other than accept that he has to make his own life choices. I hope he knows I love him, though. And that I'm not the only one who does.
Writing this doesn't seem to have exorcised the demon. It's still gnawing on my heart.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Keeping His Ears Warm
I knit my beloved Engineer a headband to keep his ears warm when he skis. After telling me he liked the color, he said it needed to be lined - and he didn't say "Thank you."
He accepts gifts so graciously.
Instead of strangling him, I went ahead and knit a whole 'nother ski band to make a reversible ear warmer.
I decided to be romantic. Our wedding rings were custom-made with a Latvian good luck pattern on them, so I did my gauge swatch (is the virtue shining out of me, or what?) then printed out some custom knitting graph paper from a Japanese knitting web site, tata-tatao. (Amazing what you can find on the web.) I graphed out the pattern of the wedding ring as best I could in the space I had. 
Then I had to knit the darn thing. It was (gee, have I ever said this before) a learning experience. I knit from the left side of the graph to the right side, then knit the other half while counting backwards. I put yellow highlighter on the graph rows as I completed them so I would know where I was in the pattern. I perled all the places I wanted to be flat and knit the places I wanted to be raised. It works with cables, so I figured it would work with lines too.
Wrong.
Ah well, edumacation, it's good for me.
I decided I liked the wrong side better than the right side, so I whipstitched it to the original headband so that the inside was the outside - or was it the inside was inside - or some such dang thing.
Anyway, here it is.
It looks better on because the pattern is more visible when it's stretched.
Dr. PickyEngineer likes it and thinks it will now be warm enough to keep his tender parts toasty. (And he didn't say "Thank you," again. Poo-poo face butt head!)
He accepts gifts so graciously.
Instead of strangling him, I went ahead and knit a whole 'nother ski band to make a reversible ear warmer.
I decided to be romantic. Our wedding rings were custom-made with a Latvian good luck pattern on them, so I did my gauge swatch (is the virtue shining out of me, or what?) then printed out some custom knitting graph paper from a Japanese knitting web site, tata-tatao. (Amazing what you can find on the web.) I graphed out the pattern of the wedding ring as best I could in the space I had. Then I had to knit the darn thing. It was (gee, have I ever said this before) a learning experience. I knit from the left side of the graph to the right side, then knit the other half while counting backwards. I put yellow highlighter on the graph rows as I completed them so I would know where I was in the pattern. I perled all the places I wanted to be flat and knit the places I wanted to be raised. It works with cables, so I figured it would work with lines too.Wrong.
Ah well, edumacation, it's good for me.
I decided I liked the wrong side better than the right side, so I whipstitched it to the original headband so that the inside was the outside - or was it the inside was inside - or some such dang thing.
Anyway, here it is.
It looks better on because the pattern is more visible when it's stretched.Dr. PickyEngineer likes it and thinks it will now be warm enough to keep his tender parts toasty. (And he didn't say "Thank you," again. Poo-poo face butt head!)
It Makes Me Think
This link, http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/gallery/2008/mar/31/lifebeforedeath?picture=333325401,
leads to a series of photographic portraits taken of people before and after their deaths. There are brief quotes from the talks they had with the photographer about dying.
Some of them look so at peace. Some of them don't.
I didn't find it disturbing, but rather deeply affecting.
leads to a series of photographic portraits taken of people before and after their deaths. There are brief quotes from the talks they had with the photographer about dying.
Some of them look so at peace. Some of them don't.
I didn't find it disturbing, but rather deeply affecting.
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