Last night I came back from the store, and as I came through the back door, I found the yarn in my purse had snagged on the doorknob. This isn’t that unusual. However, this time the yarn was running through the doorjamb, past the closed door. Uh-oh.
Pics and more under cut.
I’m 39 today! Really 39, not like “I’m turning 39 for the twentieth year running” like Jack Benny or my dad. (Love you, Dad!) So far, the bestest gift I’ve gotten is to sleep in until 10am and then wake up to the smell of frying bacon. My loving husband had gone out for my favorite kind of bagel and a cup of coffee and then fried up a little cholesterol for me. Mmmm.
He also got me Spike. Back off, ladies, he’s mine! My husband, that is, not Spike. What a guy. Again, referring to my husband.
Ooookay! Moving on!
My daughter decided, on her own, to make me a sweater. I made one for her, so she decided to return the favor. That’s what this is, it’s the sweater she made me. My camera is doing that thing it does, so you can’t really see it, but trust me. It’s a sporty little number that says “Here is a sweater” above it. It fits me perfectly.
This camera is giving me too many headaches, and I’m missing too many pictures. After running some experiments, we believe the problem is coming when the camera tries to white balance. We think it’s got a dead chip somewhere. It’s six years old and had been through the mill, it’s hardly surprising that it’s having some problems.
For this reason, today I’m using my dad’s birthday gift, the traditional big wad o’ cash (thanks again, Dad!), to get myself a new digital camera. Consumer Reports likes the newer models of the same one we’ve got (Canon Elph), and it looks like we can get one for a couple of hundred bucks. Heaven forfend you, the reader, be without a single blurry picture of my child’s artwork!
Shortly we’ll be going over to my mother’s house to help fix a computer problem. Not coincidentally, she also has a birthday cake. Nothing tastes better than cake from my mom. Tastes like childhood. Emily, still fearful of fire, has asked that we have no candles on it, so I guess we’ll just sing and then eat. That’s fine with me.
Tomorrow, the Jayne hat line reopens. I wanted to get the line down below 40 before it started rising again, and it’s down to 37 now, so mission accomplished! I may finish up the one I’ve got on the needles today. Then again, I may decide to knit something solely for my own or my family’s pleasure today. We’ll see.
One more possible gift to me – and everyone – an end to the Writer’s Strike? Dare we hope? I’m feeling optimistic, but then again, that’s what sleeping until 10am can do for you.
I’m having a great day, and I hope you all have one too!
Em: How can I be a zookeeper and a ringmaster?
Me: Maybe you can be a zookeeper in the Winter and a ringmaster in the Summer.
Em: Yes! And I can be a rock star in the Spring and an astronaut in the Fall.
Talk about living life to its fullest. I want to party with Emily!
I just got six 4-lb cones of my yarn. 2000 yards a cone, that’s 12000 yards of yellow. It had better last for more than a couple of months or I’ll be really, really irritated.
I’m getting a lot of inquiries this week from Browncoats wondering how long the wait will be when the list reopens. It’ll still be about eight weeks, most likely. Many of the people asking are from the United Kingdom. Apparently there’s a big convention in early April and people are wanting to wear Jayne hats for Adam Baldwin. All I can say is I’ll do my best. I love the image of a room full of Brits showing their Firefly colors!
Which reminds me, I’ve got a couple of books to return.
So late last week, I ran completely out of yellow Jayne yarn. Yikes! I ordered some skeins on Friday through my favorite quickie supplier, and it arrived today, so I’m back in business until my gigantic cone order comes from Brown Sheep. Currently, I’m working on orders from December 5th-6th. Those people got an estimate of 8-9 weeks, so this is still in line with what they were told. I was hoping to really pull ahead, but whatcha gonna do, eh?
On the up side, I got a good head of steam up on my dad’s Charlie Brown sweater. When judging the color on that picture, please remember that my camera is currently equipped with a Powerpuff filter. It photographs everything hot pink, which I correct for as best I can.
This sweater is not a very portable project, since I’m ready to start the stripe and that’s going to involve about a million separate balls of yellow and black yarn, all being held double-stranded. It’s definitely a house project.
I was going to start on some slippers for myself as a portable project, but now that I can knit more Jayne hats, that’s what’ll be in my purse instead. Just call me Sisyphus, pushing a giant ball of Jayne yarn up the mountain.
Yesterday our family went to visit our friends’ family. They’ve just moved to town from Maryland. They’ve got a great house out in the boondocks, with woods and a creek a couple of doors down. We all went out to throw rocks in the stream and explore.
Emily has trouble with balance and knowing where she is in relation to things sometimes (a sense called proprioception if you’re curious). In the past, she has tended to be fearful about physical feats, but that’s been changing lately. So yesterday, I helped her across the stream on some rocks. She was asking how she could get back across, and she spotted a log across the stream. She said she wanted to try it. It was fairly high up. If she fell off this thing, she could get pretty beat up, but I thought she could do it. Sometimes you’ve got to take a chance. I told her if she wanted, she could go for it.
She seemed nervous, so I said if she wanted, she could just use the bridge a little further down. But no, she really wanted to try. So she did. She shuffled her feet on the log until she was halfway across, then got a little more confident and walked the rest of the way carefully but normally. She stepped down at the end, turned back, and said, “I did it.” Then, adorably, she started jumping up and down pumping her arms in the air. “I did it! I did it!”
Of course, then she had to go back. And then return. And then go back again. There was much jumping and exultation. “I’m so brave!” Hee! That’s my girl!
I took a movie of one of her trips, but I’m having trouble getting movies to upload. I also took this picture, but unfortunately, my camera was doing that thing that it does. Even after color correction, it’s still pink. And runny. It’s like she’s crossing a stream on Saturn or something.
I’m so, so proud of my girl. This is good practice for Girl Scout camp in the Spring, if we go. And if we don’t, I still love that she’s becoming more daring. Today, the stream, tomorrow, Mt. Everest!
Pattern: Vinnland from the AntiCraft by Becca Compton, also known as
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 from a swap with
Needles: Size 1 US (2.25mm)
Notes: Made 9″ circumference foot, decreasing to 8″ leg. It’s easy to adapt sizing in this pattern. This works well in the Fleece Artist. I think a yarn with greater color variation would hide the pattern, and the pattern’s just too pretty to hide. The sock doesn’t look like much when it’s all folded up, as all that ribbing pulls in on itself. When it’s on, though, it’s very pretty.
The yarn is quite soft and easy to work with. I wore them for a day and got some light fuzzing from my jeans rubbing on the legs and some moderate fuzzing on the heel. I’m also a loose knitter, so fuzz is a consistent issue for me. Handwashed these this morning and some green bled into the water, but not an alarming amount.
The picture at the left shows how much yarn I had leftover afterwards. The Merino 2/6 has generous yardage. There’s definitely enough for a small project – kid socks? wrist warmers? Hmm.
I’m pleased with how these turned out, and I’d make this pattern again.