Kiss My Knits!

I don’t remember who it was who asked what my eBay identity was, but it’s Emisanboo. I’m going to try to put up something new every day to keep stuff slowly flowing out of here. Today was a couple of books I picked up on a high school trip to New York, tomorrow will probably be a bunch of beading magazines.

Updated list o’ non-superhero graphic novels with these, which were scattered around the house:

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy DeLisle.

Essex County Vol. 1: Tales From The Farm by Jeff Lemire

Essex County Vol. 2: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire

Yeah, that Jayne hat’s not looking so silly now, is it? Man, that cracks me up. I might have to knit me one o’ them.

Speaking of Jayne hats, here’s the first of several non-orange Jayne hats. The color is a bit richer than the picture indicates. The person who commissioned these was concerned about the Lamb’s Pride itchiness, so I’m subbing Berroco Ultra Alpaca doubled. It knits up at 4 stitches to the inch on size 9 needles. It’s a little dense, but any bigger of a needle and it’s too loose, so I’ll stick with this. I’m a little concerned – by my calculations, this is 22 inches around and it’s for a 24 inch head. Is that enough negative ease? I worry about little things, and I always get nervous when they feel loose anyway. Of course it’s supposed to be loose on me, I don’t have a 24 inch head, but I still get nervous. The next one’ll be for a head 23 inches in circumference, and maybe I’ll snug it up a bit more. In my experience, people tend to measure their heads a little big.

Emily picked out the yarn for her doll. The body will be the same color as the others, but she felt compelled to choose the hair from among the colors at the yarn shop… so hot pink it is! I have a few more red options here at home which I will present to her, but I know from experience that once she’s picked something, she’s set on it. And that’s fine. It’s her doll, and if she wants it to have hot pink hair, then it will have hot pink hair.

I’m off in a few minutes to hit the post office to mail some Turino silk, then another yarn shop looking for a good green in Ultra Alpaca – with a stop at a coffeeshop along the way for a pick-me-up. Thanksgiving left me beat!

A Thanksgiving classic. It kills me every time. Thanks for the link, Dad.

Also, Mom stopped by, and I sent Emily out to look for leaves for the centerpiece with her. A task that used to be mine, that I’ve now foisted off passed on to my daughter.

As you can see, Emily decided to dress for the holiday. At 9am this morning. Heh.

This morning, I was awakened by my daughter coming into my room and telling me, “Today, you need to start knitting me a new doll. This doll will have green eyes and red hair. And a pink dress… with a heart… that says “Elizabeth.” Note artist’s rendition to the right.

Because I was asleep, I muttered my stock response. “Okay, sweetie.” I wonder if she’s figured that out yet. Hmm…

This child couldn’t say the words “yes” and “no” at age 2 1/2. So even though this is an utterly outrageous request, I’m very thankful for it.

Do you have something in your life which might seem to be a negative that is actually something to be grateful for?

Clear Converse! These would rock my handknit socks. The uppers are made of clear plastic and also transparent awesomeness!

I take size 8 1/2. Thank you very much.

Emily asked us to write down the names of the other eight reindeer. Results at left.

As you can see, she continues to revel in her karaoke triumph. On Monday she told me, “I want to do karaoke every day!” The closest we’ve been able to come is to go to The Sims Onstage, formerly Singshot, which is a site where you can do karaoke and upload it to their site. It’s got the music without words and flashes the lyrics up on the screen, karaoke style. She doesn’t want to actually record and upload them, though, more’s the pity. I tried my hand recording and it was fun, but we will politely say that I am not ready to quit my day job.

No school today. Since I didn’t get a chance to go to the grocery store last night (my energy level went down FAST) that means she and I are going to brave the huge Harris Teeter near us on the day before Thankgiving. And may God have mercy on our souls.

Mailed out eight kits and two hats today, trying to get stuff done before the holidays close the post office. Then I gave someone a ride, which took up another hour, and now I’m back at the Jayne mines again. At the moment I’m working out gauge on some Berroco Ultra Alpaca doubled. I’m knitting a Jayne in it on size 9’s, but I think it’s a little dense. How is it possible that I have no size 10 Addi Turbos, 16 inch length? I’ll try it on 10 1/2s and we’ll see how it goes. I’m a fairly loose knitter, though.

I’m using Ultra Alpaca because this client was concerned that Lamb’s Pride might be itchy on her giftees’ sensitive scalps. She’s also getting several different colors, so I’m delighted to work with something besides orange. The denim blue I’ve got is absolutely gorgeous. It would work up great in a sweater for pretty much anyone.

I’m enjoying the Fall leaves. I always do. Obviously my Yankee mother’s influence. Thanks, Mom.

…or kit, your choice.

To the first Aussie/Kiwi/Brit/other foreigner to offer to send me some cash in an envelope in time for my kid’s Dec 1st school unit on foreign money. It doesn’t have to be much, just a bill or a few coins. If you’re an Aussie/Kiwi/Brit, that’s a $40 value (or $20 for the kit) for the price of whatever you toss in an envelope and send to me. It takes about a week to ten days for stuff to get here from overseas, so you’re gonna want to jump on this.

Drop me a line at heather at jaynehat dot com.

My daughter just karaoked “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in front of 200 people at her school’s family fun day and she did GREAT. On key, nice and clear, in rhythm. She always tells me she wants to be a rock star when she grows up. Oh, me of little faith.

I am KICKING myself for not being able to get a video. Just trust me. She was good. Rock on, Emily!

Sweet Baby Jayne!

Yarns: Karabella Aurora Bulky in orange (28), yellow (27), and red (19)
Needles: 10 1/2
Gauge: 13 sts=4″

Eeee! The cuteness! Hard to get scale from the pic, but it’s modeled on a grapefruit wrapped in tissue paper. The orange is a little melony, but it was that or eye-searing traffic cone orange.

This is a 40 stitch cast on, earflaps are 10 stitches wide. Ties are braided to be less tangly.

Karabella Aurora is a great choice for baby stuff, price aside, because it’s super soft and machine washable. This is the first of several baby Jaynes in the Jayne hat queue and I’m glad, as I really enjoy working with this yarn.

I really hope the parents send pics of the little nipper in this hat. A baby scoots down the hall in that hat, people know he’s not afraid of anything!