Redeemed

Remember Dearest BF? The one with the very nice qualities as a knitter's mate, but one I had started to worry about? The other day I was swatching, and realizing that I needed smaller needles to get gauge, began to add up the amount of extra yarn I would be needing. This cost is of concern to me: I have a number of large expenditures on the horizon, and can't really be plunking down the cash right now. However, the matching dye lot has miraculously appeared, and I feel like I need to swoop it all up right now.
I was voicing this dilemma aloud, when DBF said,
"Yeah, but isn't yarn more like an investment?"

He's a keeper.

One Down...

I completed my first Bayerische sock this weekend, and to avoid Second-Sock-Syndrome I began the Second Sock immediately. I am loving this pattern. Some things I am learning:

• Cables. I have made one cable in a test swatch once. So this is my first foray into cables, before I begin the Aran sweater.
• Cable-needleless cables. Does anyone else get nervous dropping stitches?
• First time on tiny tiny number 0 needles. I am using the two-circulars method, which I like (but have done before. On larger needles).
• First use of Knitpicks yarn. I like it, and it is affordable. The colors don't match very well on my monitor, but these are a pretty coral orange color, and if I like the yarn it's pretty affordable!
• I am such a tight knitter. I am attempting loosening techniques on the areas where my knitting is binding. Cast-on, set-up rows, heel flaps. The good thing about being so tight is that the edge of a cable is missing those gaps that can sometimes occur.
• My feet are smaller than I think they are. I am trying to get to that perfect size where a little stretch keeps them tight on the foot. Negative ease for the feet, in a way.

I'm hoping I have time to finish this sock. I should be studying and writing and working. And now with no TV to "listen" to while knitting... Well, maybe the second sock will go faster now that I am more familiar with the pattern.

Been tagged with a MEME by Stilaholic Nartian Knits and have answered on the non-knitting blog (Is there such a thing as a non-knitting blog?). Fun! I love quizzes!

Baby Couture!

I just received this photo of the adorable baby for whom I knit the baby kimono from Mason-Dixon knits. Cute?

Don't Worry, The Yarn is Fine!

Hawai'i earthquake, right near where I live. 6.7! And plenty of aftershocks! This is what my house looks like after the Earthquake that hit today (okay, we stacked those 3 boxes on the right while searching for the cat). Shelves empty, all glass broken, drawers open, pictures off the wall, cracks in the plaster, door doesn't shut right, and cat headin' for the hills! No electricity, gas shut off, no water...no cable TV but since my television did a faceplant onto my wood floor, it's not like I can notice. Outside it is even stranger: Several cracks across roads and bridges, huge landslides and boulders in the roads, broken water mains flooding the streets. All the streetlights are out (Drive with Aloha people! And an out streetlight means a four-way stop!) but since there are only 3 streetlights in town, we are doing okay.
My mother and I went through the 1989 earthquake in Northern California, so we are jaded Californians about it. When the shaking started, we knew instantly what it was, and for the first few seconds it is a bit of a fun ride. Then the knowledge kicks in, and in our heads we go through the following thought process: "Earthquake! This is fun!...Wait, this is strong! Wait, this is going on too long! Okay, fine, I'll get up and head away from the windows...Hmmm...About a 6, maybe 7..." Funny how I didn't notice things falling. I moved away from the walls and windows, and I watched the walls shake. I guess the structure was more of a worry than the falling items. Immediately afterwards, I went outside, of course. Checked on the neighbors, all whom were looking for pets. The first aftershock came while I was outside, the ground surging in P-waves, like dirt surfing, under my feet.
Ironically, my big strong father is taking it the worst. He was away during the 89 earthquake, and maintains this was the worst earthquake he has felt in his life: Stronger than any in California or Japan. My mother and I set to work cleaning up the glass, but since we have moved alot, been through earthquakes, and, well, we are both pretty clumsy, we had experience in briefly mourning and throwing out the broken shards of favorite things. These items are just possesions. They are with you for awhile and then they break and you move onwards.
What is more important is the blessing of everyone's safety, and family and friends are fine. Utilities are back on, our service-people in safety and utilities sprang to work, and I hear we are under a state of emergency. The beauty of it is how everyone pulls together, sits outside, waves at cars, calls all their friends to make sure everyone is okay. Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, texted, and checked or commented on this site! What aloha!
Update: The Cat came back Sunday afternoon, hungry and dirty and acting like he hadn't freaked out at all! Noooooo! Not him! I'm at work now and it's a mess here, too, but we get paid to deal with that mess! Thanks for all the emails and comments! Knitters Rock!

Study of a Man-Who-Doesn't-Knit, and a Woman who Does

Subject appears to have all the proper qualities for the ideal mate-of-knitter:

• Is very enthusiastic of knitted projects. Asks questions. Gives praise. Thinks I am overly smart and talented.
• Is very appreciative of knitted gifts.
• Is manly, tall, handsome and well-built, but posseses non-huge feet and non-huge shoulders. Could conceivably be outfitted in knitwear relatively quickly and cheaply.
• Adores Aran cables and all things Irish due to family heritage. Wears Aran cables on his rings. I could knit all things cabled and the entire Alice Starmore collection, and he would never tire of them. Likes Green.
• Wears lots of different colors and fibers.
• Wears socks every day. Wears socks I knit him only in the house on comforting occasions.

However, Subject has exhibited recent worrisome behavior.

• When I was ripping out the Kyoto, did not understand what I was doing. Thought I was "just being annoying" or deliberately attempting to distract him from his book with strange repetitive winding motions.
• Accused me of knitting in a huff, or knitting to avoid paying attention to him. Not true! Just need to have hands working, and after my attentions were rejected, yes, turned to knitting. But never in a huff! (Can't do cables in a huff! Have you seen Bayerische? Really!)
• Lives in a non-wool environment. Well, okay, so do I. Scratch this one. Hawaii is a knitting desert for men. (No sweaters, scarves, hats, lacey shawls, purses...Socks and dishtowels is about it for men. Knitted golf-club cozy?)

Now, it is a given that a mate-of-knitter can't reject the knitting. Immediate Lemon-law would be enacted, Sweater curse would make it's magic, over, done, etc. But what we have here is not a rejection of the knitting (see above: he is very appreciative). Nor is it just ignorance of the knitting (he asks questions, I provide short answers, the rest comes with time.) No. What we have here is use of the knitting, and not in a woolen-hat-on-a-cold-day kind of way. He sees the knitting as not just knitting, but an escape I use to ignore him or show my displeasure. Knitting as substitute for marching off in an angry huff, or turning my back on him and pretending to be asleep.

All charges I deny vehemently.

And yet... Perhaps I am using the knitting as well. Obviously we have some tension (Not guage-tension. Emotional tension. Much harder to fix.) and some communication issues. I think he doesn't want attention so I knit to, you know, knit. He thinks I am mad and knitting to ignore him. So we are using the knitting as excuse or communication tool...

And I am using the knitting right here. I'm not addressing the real issues, but instead drawing the line and faulting his criticism of the knitting. Knitting is not our problem, nor is it a good excuse for either of us. And when it all ends, will I blame the sweater-curse? Blaming a sweater would be way easier than really examining our problems, now wouldn't it?

Kyoto body is ripped out, finally. After much measuring, calculating, and swatch-manipulation, I faced the fact that the sweater was just too damn big and there was nothing to be done about it. Consoling knitters on Wednesday night helped me rip part of it, I did the rest, well, see above. Bayerische Sock #1 has it's heel turned and I am about halfway down the foot. Plan on casting on the second sock immediately to avoid the "second sock syndrome". Although I have never experienced SSS on a sock before, I still only have one celadon green silk and mohair glove. Third on the list is, of course, the second glove. Fourth? Maybe I will begin a green Aran BF sweater, just to really put the nail in the coffin of the relationship.

Sock Wars: I'm Dead.

Agent Kel, following check-in procedure.
Status of Agent: Dead. Toe-up. Toe-tagged. Six-Feet-under, no-longer-kicking. Appeal for assistance, backup, safehouse, or a leg-up were kicked to the curb. Although intel foretold immanent death, was still a kick in the gut.
Assassination package delivered via the foot-soldiers of the United States Postal Service (Level of involvement in mission by this government agency still undetermined). Confirming sock death as of Post Office opening Thursday October 5th 0830 HST (1830 Zulu).
Method of assassination: Sock. Lovely creamsicle orange socks in Dale of Norway Svale Cotton/Viscose/Silk! (And lovely handmade stitch markers! And crafty goodies! And wool-wash!)

Agent of Assassination: The very precise and talented KAT!
Status of Agent's own mission: Complete. Socked-it-to-her! Target acquired, knitted-for, and assassinated via UPS. Confirmation received Friday September 29th 1530 hours EST (2030 Zulu). Method of assassination: Sock. Wooly fuzzy fawn-colored sock!
Agent Footnote: How fun was all this? Props to Yarn Monkey for the great idea and all the wild and wooly organization amid hurricane Gordon! Anyone for getting a foot in the door for Sock Wars II?

Week One: Sock Wars Debrief

Assasin ? (In Australia) Status: Unknown
Assasin Kat: Still alive. Has sucessfully assasinated Katskratch.
Assasin Katskratch. Dead. Has mailed off socks to me.
Assasin Kel: Me! Still alive, but my death is imminent, as my socks are on the way carried by the loyal agents of the United States Postal Service. I have sucessfully killed Kelli.
Assasin Kelli: Dead. Sucessfully killed Kelly.
Assasin Kelly: Dead. Sucessfully killed target.
Assasin ? Dead: Sucessfully killed Kerry.
Assasin Kerry: Dead. Has sucessfully completed socks of doom but has not yet mailed them to her target.
Kerry's Target: Status Unknown, but weapon is complete and death is imminent.

Theoretically the unfinished socks down the line somewhere must travel back through us all to the one still alive (and we are of course attempting to save postage by skipping the partial socks right to the live assasin!)
This is so wild I just can't get over it!