Kiss My Knits!

I’m postponing my morning walk a bit. When we woke up this morning at 6:15, weather.com said it was 57 degrees. An hour later, it was 55 degrees. I turned on the attic fan to bring in some of that cool air, but I kept it on too long and now it’s downright nippy in here. Fall is definitely in the air!

Since the weather’s turned, I’m glad Emily’s sweater is making progress. Yesterday I blocked the individual pieces. Last night, I seamed one shoulder and added the crewneck collar. You can’t tell, but it’s not the prettiest seam ever. I need to figure out what the best bind-off to use is when you’re going to be joining two pieces at the bind-off edge. It’s fine for this sweater, but this is a learning experience, so I’m taking notes on what to do better next time.

I added ribbing for the collar, but I’m a little concerned it might be too much ribbing. It’s an inch high, and the pattern called for 3/4″. It’s not a huge difference, but I’m trying to decide if I should go back a couple of rows or keep it as-is. I’m open to suggestion.

In other non-Jayne projects, the second Regia bamboo sock is about three quarters done. She and I had great fun at Starbucks yesterday, sitting outside in the cooler weather. I put the unfinished sock on my hand and pretended it was drinking her water and eating her food. Then I pulled out the finished sock I carry with me to check length and she put it on her own hand. We had sock fights, and after several epic battles, her sock puppet was victorious. Good times.

Emily’s continuing to enjoy Dan Gutman’s “Weird School” series. (I like the author’s rejection letters page. Persistence paid off for this guy.) We read these in bed, and she says she’ll be done reading at night when we’re doing with these books. There are, however, about 20 of these books. I want to check and be sure she’s not feeling like she has to get through them all, just for completeness’ sake. She does seem to be enjoying them, though, so I think it’s okay.

The other books she’s enjoying right now are the “Rainbow Fairy” books. There are seven, one for each color of the rainbow, so I think the series appealed to the collector in her. She’s warmed to the idea that yes, she can be reading more than one book at once. This is good, because otherwise I think she felt like she’d have to wait until we’d read all 20 of the Weird School books. We read the first chapter of Ruby, the Red Fairy yesterday, and I’m sure we’ll read another today. She’s really warmed to reading chapter books. It’s been very good for her.

In DR, I ran a merchant not long ago, and there are still a few vouchers floating around, so I need to track those down. I don’t like to leave those things hanging too long. Also, there are a couple of QCs that need my attention.

All right, I have to stop now. I’m making a crazy number of typos because my hands are cold. Must be time for cocoa! Yay!

In terms of geographic origins of hits for Jayne hats, the US is far and away the biggest country to visit http://www.wearwithstyle.com. Canada is next, with about 1/10th the hits. They’re usually neck and neck with the UK, although Canada’s ahead at the moment. Fourth comes Australia, then Norway, Germany, New Zealand, then it dwindles, with countries swapping places as there’s a flurry of Browncoat activity in any given part of the world.

But today, I got linked to in a Vietnamese craft forum. I have NO CLUE what the post says, except that it links to the Jayne hat. So today, locations like “Ho Chi Minh City” are moving up the charts. Watch your back, Brazil, you’re this close to being bumped down the Jayne hat lovin’ list!

Sorry, I’ve calmed down now. The hat thing is not a big deal. It was just a long day.

And hey, guess what brought me from Davidson? Another skein of yarn in the same color that I needed for that final sweater sleeve! Ten rows later, it’s ready to be blocked, have the collar added, and be seamed. YAY! Thank you, !

Illiane also gave me the gift that keeps on giving: by coming into my home, I was able to see it as if I were seeing it for the first time, which gives me a leg up on getting it cleaned. I’m also going to contact the fellow Browncoat for whom I’m holding some stuff and see when I can get it the heck out of my house. I’ve got enough clutter of my own, I don’t need to import more.

Hats up for: CA, UT, PA.

ARGH! Knitty just published this, but I thought of this years ago! Honest! Look how similar mine is, below, paired with a matching kid’s scarf! I modified the pattern and I even experimented with a flowerpot-type sleeve to go around the bit at the top, and was going to write it up. Then the Jayne hat biz exploded.

Of course I don’t have pictures to back me up, that would be too easy. Iocanthe bought the original in 2004! Look, there she is! She’ll vouch for me!

But now, can I ever make and sell mine and have anyone believe that I didn’t copy Knitty? AARRRGH!

AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHH!!!

(ETA: I didn’t say before, although I thought I had, but I did think of adding a flower to the top, and that’s what cheesed me off. Guess I shoulda written it up sooner, eh?)

I’m not normally a “joiner”, but I’ve decided to play along with the online “The Office” content for season 4. They’ve set up a website for internet “employees” of the Office, with rewards payable in SchruteBucks. Looks entertaining.

I signed up to be branch manager of the High Point, NC branch. If any of you motivated go-getters feel like joining the team, sign up with code uapx5furno at website http://www.dundermifflininfinity.com/.

I even made a new avatar for the occasion, as you can see. Thanks again for the artwork, !

Cribbed from

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their “Career Matchmaker” questions.
4. Post the top fifteen results

1.Writer
2.Critic
3.Communications Specialist
4.Furniture Finisher
5.Picture Framer
6.Print Journalist
7.Translator
8.Upholsterer
9.Sign Maker
10.Activist
11.Public Policy Analyst
12.Market Research Analyst
13.Director of Photography
14.Gunsmith
15.Magician

Magician? Do I have to wear a tux? Because that’s a deal-breaker for me. Oddly, many of the items after 15 seemed a lot more appealing than things like “market research analyst.”

Like , I can’t believe that Ruler of the World isn’t on there.

D’oh! I knew it would be tight on the yarn, but not this tight. I’m not gonna have enough to finish that second sleeve, I can tell. Crud! And I got this yarn from a store in Fort Mill, a ways away from here. It was on sale because they were going to stop carrying yarn. It’s not looking good for picking up more. Darn it.

Well, to offset the negative, let’s accentuate the positive. (Now I’ll be humming that song all day.) This graphic is awesome. It makes me giggle every time I see it. And I’m not a giggler.

I have a few nifty craft ideas that I can’t mention because I’m in a swap now, and depending on who my swappee is, these crafts might fit the bill for gifts.

No school tomorrow, so Em and I will be stopping by Mom’s in the early afternoon. I may also be able to sleep just a little bit late. Let’s hope!

I’m participating in a swap called Fiber Godmother. Here’s the required questionnaire.

Fiber Godmother Questionnaire

I worked a DragonRealms party tonight (actually, still am, there are always people who will stay to close the joint) but my GM character got caught in the same time warp issue that got some player characters. I’ve only now written for restoral, since I can function this way and a lot of players can’t, and I don’t want to butt in front of anyone. However, until my character is restored, she’s kind of… bland. I manually set my gender to female and put on some clothing, but because I kept getting comments about my male/female inconsistencies, I finally had to make myself a pin. So until I can have the flotsam and jetsam of 10 year of GMing returned to me, this is Tvini:

>look tvini
You are GameMaster Tvini Mielsadottir, a Human Commoner.
You have clear colored eyes. You are bald, with pale skin.
Tvini has transcended time.
You are clean shaven.
You are in good shape.

You are wearing a long burlap sack cinched at the waist with a rope and a metal pin reading, “Kiss me, I’m corrupted!”.

Great party, by the way. We have some really inventive players. This is the first time I’ve run arm wrestling, and it was a really lively contest. The party was really a blast!

Done!

This is that blue single I showed earlier this week, plied. I first plied it on Sunday, but I was in a hurry and did a lousy job. It was incredibly loosely plied. No amount of setting the twist was going to fix it. So I wound up re-plying it. In other words, I wound it onto a ball and ran it through the wheel again to twist it more. Much better! This is the second time I’ve had to do this, so clearly plying is an area I need to work on. Plying, for those who aren’t fiber geeks, is when you take two or more strands of fiber and twist them together. It makes a stronger yarn, and one that in theory doesn’t pill as much.

I had some of one bobbin left over, and rather than Navajo ply it onto the end of the skein, I decided to leave it as a single. This is part of what I spun at Simucon, which explains why the thickness and twist is all over the map. I actually think I like this yarn better as a single, though, colorwise. I worry that the plied is too random in its color shifts and may be a bit busy. Well, this was supposed to be a learning experience, so I call this a success, since I learned!

The final skein turned out to be 152 yards. Plenty to make a nice scarf or something with. , this yarn came from the wool that you gave me when we met up in Raleigh. You want I should make you something? It seems only fair.

A word of warning, though. In addition to gift projects for the other loved ones in my life, you’d be behind the Jayne line, which exploded last night as forward-thinking Browncoats geared up for Christmas. It now stands at 30 hats in line, including orders from this morning. (Brown Sheep, send me my #$*# yarn!) So you’d get your gift in, maybe… 2010. You can wait, right?

Because I’m just too proud, here’s the progression:

Big time fun. I look forward to doing this again!