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Incognito
So I think Adam was relatively amused by his birthday gift. As soon as I gave it to him, he put it on and started curling his non-existant moustache between his fingers. Then he did something with his fingers and called it “dibbling” or “dabbling”—I’m not entirely sure, but it sounded like something you would do if you had a snidely moustache. Then he started poking me, and I didn’t like it. And then I ran away from him, shrieking like a little girl. Not my proudest—nor my manliest—moment in life.
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Ripley
Red is a difficult colour to match with the appropriate project.
There was a fine line being managed while knitting this project–on either side of which could be Papa Smurf’s hat (if too slouchy), or a lumberjack’s hat (given my beard, and if too plain).
And all things considered, I ended up with some sort of a hybrid–Papa Smurf as a lumberjack, if you will. I only did a half slouch after allowing for the smurf-factor, and did the plain band which lends itself to the lumberjack-esk of it all. Had I made the connection prior to starting, I would have thrown caution to the wind and tried my hand at the lace band–lumberjack with flair!!
I do really like the hat and the pattern, however. Easy to read, super easy to knit, and really quick given I had most of it done in one night (2 Golden Girls, Lost, and some Olympics) and finished after an hour this morning. I will definitely make another, slouchier version in a more appropriate non-cartoon-like colour. I’m definitely now a hardcore Ysolda fan.
Come to think of it, it may look just fine with my black winter jacket. I will just have to leave the red suspenders and axe at home–which is only a slight inconvenience.
Mods: Allowing for my last stashed yarn and smaller needle size (this was a last minute project decision, and didn’t have the appropriate materials at hand), I added 12 rows on the band (6 pickup stitches). I also made half a slouch with 5 extra rounds after the pleats.
Even though I’m harping on the colour I still need to thank Hellcat for the yarn. You saved me from a night of TV without knitting and school work! I’m thinking of wearing it with the pleats on the side. That way it screams: “beret”!
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Pomatomus
For these socks, I’ve gotten through two John Hughes movies (Sixteen Candles, and Breakfast Club). The Wizard of Oz and also the lesser known Return to Oz featuring Fairuza Balk. And I’ve also managed Buffy (Season 5, Discs 1 through 4)— though the socks were done by the end of the last disc.
And at this point, it felt completely foreign to me—staring directly at the TV screen with idle hands? Who does that? I’ve already forgotten how most of the Coronation Street characters look like and the Weather Man sounds like David Suzuki. ”Two a Half Men” is stupid—with or without looking at the television—only because it’s just not funny. It usually makes me angry.
Lost is confusing without the visuals, but not that much more. I’ve grown to love the show Bones and usually wish I were as smart as Dr. Temperance Brennan, though I’m still convinced she’s autistic. I’ve caught a few episodes of Cathouse (and by a “few”, I mean the first season in its entirety; and by “caught”, I mean I pushed play from my On Demand), though if you ask me I won’t admit to it. But if you did, I would tell you that Mr pimp-man-daddy is a douche.
The live performers on the Grammys sound exactly like they do on the radio. Peculiar.
I watch a lot of TV, apparently. Apparently, I knit just as much. I only need to work out a way to get as much studying done.
Ugh.
(pattern)
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Momma’s Ishbel
I am officially in love with this—and I would totally make one for myself if it weren’t for a lace shawl threatening my masculinity. Who am I kidding? Lace? Sure, why not.
A lot of fun and probably my favorite project so far. And this despite having to frog it back not once, not twice, but thrice. If anything, the stockinette was the most difficult part for me. Twas rather easy to forget an increase on one side and ending up with an unequal stitch count on either side of the center stitch. Once I conceded to stitch markers to keep count, everything went much better. The lace was consequently much easier, the pattern helping me keep track of the equal stitch count.
I love it so much—and I’m so happy that this is going to my Momma. Even the colours remind me of her. I really do hope she will love it, and I think she will. I don’t think she’ll wear it, however.
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Luxor
Paul’s socks are finally done.
And I have no complaints—except that boys socks are stupid and boring. I came home from Tangled Skeins (post bacon with Stephanie) with three wonderfully colourful new skeins I got from their boxing day sale. Paul was to choose which he would prefer. The problem, however, is Paul did not like any—so we returned and I let him pick out his own colour.
Not that the colour is ugly, by any means—I was only slightly disappointed in the outcome. Luxor shows through the self striping yarn only faintly. So if anything, I simply didn’t match the right skein with the right pattern. A simpler ribbed sock would have been fine with this yarn. Or the blue/green skein I had originally intended would have been much more appropriate for the pattern. Even a nice black yarn would have been enough for the pattern to show through.
I liked the short row heel, which I’ve never done before. Lovely experience, though I was nervous it would leave large holes at the seem—the stitches looked very stretched, but I soon realized that knitting the stitches together with the ‘wraps’ left a very solid seem.
Lessons learned: Boys have cooties, and never let boys pick out yarn.
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in the same boat
My first pair–and I really enjoyed it.
I generally have a guilty pleasure when it comes to buying funky socks in one shape or another, where my biggest sock regret (don’t we all have one) is not buying the pair of skeleton socks from the Body Exhibit gift shop in New York. Perhaps I am now filling that void with my now new found knit sock obsession–only proven by my slowly growing sock yarn stash.
Super enjoyable and really nice. The pattern is rememberable, and I could easily stitch a few pattern repeats in the car. I fell in love with the yarn as soon as I saw it in the store and, as I started the project, I could tell I had matched the yarn with the right project. The “little boaters” really stand out from the change in colours. I also enjoyed the heal pattern (k1, sl1 wyf)–it gives it something interesting, different from the typical ribbing and, with the colour of yarn, looks almost “folk-ish” (know what I mean Vern?). That being said, however, that very same pattern doesn’t allow for much stretch, which I unfortunately learned after knitting the second sock at a (unintentionally) smaller gauge. I now have a hard time sliding the sock over my cankle. The first, and slightly larger sock, goes on a lot easier but I still have to force it much more than I should really have to. Only a slight inconvenience.
All in all, love love love.
