The Angora Hairshirt

What's this? A post?!

This post is probably the proverbial tree falling in a forest after how long I've gone without posting, but I'm getting back into the knitting thing -- I swear!  Actually, I never got out of it... I just got wrapped up in other things.  Now I remember how much I love it, and have started making an effort to make time to do it.  I found that personal and work stress was making me a vegetable -- I never did the things I wanted to, even when I had time -- I don't know what it was when I wasn't doing "work" like things.  So I've turned over a new leaf and am not letting time get away from me so much anymore.

Of course, now there's ravelry... and if one has been so lucky as to get her invite, and has knitting-related time to spare, chances are it will be sucked into ravelry.  At least it will be if that lucky person is me.

Anyway, if anyone is out there and has any good comparative knowledge of what knitting-related stuff is available in Europe (I'm looking at you, Donni, if you still come 'round here once in a while), I'd appreciate recommendations -- I'll have some time in Germany next month, and might be able to twist my host's arm to let me pick up some sock yarns, back issues of Rebecca, and other goodies (yay!).

And maybe I'll be back here soon, too.  But for now, I've got to get back to imminent birthday knitting -- a Sideways Spencer (Interweave Fall 2004) in Knit Picks Swish Superwash.

I *heart* Rowan 41

Wearable garments!  Oodles of sizes!  Yay!

I want to run out and buy enough Calmer to make Foxglove now -- and I don't crochet!  And Lords & Ladies?  So lovely.  Honorable mentions to Sarita, Tulip, and Regan (the last of which I like the look of, but the gaping hole in the front means I can never ever wear).

That's all I have to say for now.  I'm taking baby steps back to this blogging thing... not to mention my long-neglected knitting.  You should be looking at your new Rowan, anyway.

yummy

Seems like something happened in my brain over the holidays, and all the domestic goddess-ness that had me knitting and sewing my way up to the holidays was re-routed back to cooking and baking.  Not surprising, perhaps, considering that I was known as the domestic among my friends for a long long time based almost entirely on my penchant for cooking and baking.

Anyway, I have a plan to get back to knitting this weekend (someone actually asked for something I can knit!), so to fortify myself, I'd better have a "last breakfast" of some of the fruits of my labor.

Yummers.  A tender and delicious blueberry muffin (from a Cooks Illustrated recipe from several years ago -- it uses a good amount of sour cream, which gives them a nice tang), and Meyer lemon vanilla bean marmalade, made with Meyer lemons from my own little lemon tree!  I almost hate to corrupt one with the other... so I'll probably just eat the marmalade straight.  If you've got it in you to make marmalade, and have some home-grown lemons (I'd hate to think of all the wax and whatnot they spray on store-bought lemons), I highly recommend the recipe.

And here are a couple other recipes I've been making over and over again -- nothing too complex, just simple, wholesome, home-made goodness.
- Cavolo Nero (Dino Kale) "Pesto"
- King Arthur Flour classic whole wheat bread (I think I'm going to try some multi-grain this weekend, too)

The Scarf That Stole Christmas

I gave up scarf knitting pretty quickly after learning to knit.  For one, I live in a place where it has exceeded 90 degrees fahrenheit in the past few weeks.  And I also decided to get adventurous pretty quickly and left scarves a distant memory.  Until I needed a handknit gift that was meaningful, but not too taxing, and not subject to any curses (if you know what I mean...).  Hence:

One thing I wish I had remembered that I forgot about them, though:  scarves are long.  The one in this picture started feeling really really long about a foot ago.  And with every inch, my pace has slowed.  It's the only "Christmas" knitting I'm committed to -- but thankfully I actually have until the 26th to finish it (guess what I'll be doing while everyone else opens their presents... well, actually it had better be blocking by then).

It's amazing how such a project can start as a lark ("Yes -- I'll make a scarf -- it will be quick and easy, and thoughtful but not too over-the-top.  What lovely yarn.  So Soft!  Perfection!") and end up feeling like a punishment ("Two feet?!?  I still have to knit two feet of this %(!*&@! thing?!?!  He'd better like it.  And wear it.  And not lose it.  Harumph!).

I guess scarves (and Christmas knitting in general) bring out the Grinch in me.  Will make a note of that for next year.

(I swear I might get to all the posts I should have posted over the past month and a half someday... or start posting semi-regularly again... but at the moment my life is a little topsy-turvy.  I'll be back with more once the room stops spinning)

mini yarn review

Okay, I don't spin, or know the technical bits and whatnot of how yarns are manufactured.  But I know I yarn I like when I meet it.  And this is a yarn I like.

Here's my oh-so-technical review:  Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre is beautiful.  It is soft.  It has a silky sheen, with just a hint of a mohair halo -- but with no mohair ickiness (and I am pretty sensitive to mohair).  It was a great discovery in Sydney.  Apparently it's been available there since the spring, but it's arriving here in the states now.  It's 30% superfine alpaca, 40% kid mohair, and 30% merino.  Just lovely.

I've started a really nice dressy yet manly scarf with it in this great pewter color (shade 859).  Wish I had bought more!  (much like food diets, vacation means not having to yarn diet!)

Back from the dead...

... in so many ways.  I am out of my life-sucking law firm job, and in a great new job doing interesting work for the federal courts.  I am back from my amazingly fantastic two-week vacation in Australia, and the subsequent post-vacation, new-job-adjusting funk.  I am back from the sad world of internet limbo -- 5 days between ISPs with no service at all (the horror!).  And I am back from the knitting dead -- I think I went 4 weeks without touching needles!

It's taking me a little while to shake off the rigor mortis, so I can't post much now, but I did want to at least post this lovely picture of my gorgeous former secret pal Donni, who I was lucky enough to meet while I was in Sydney.

  Donni and a tasty moscato 

Donni was so nice -- she drove up to Sydney from Wollongong to hang out with me for an afternoon (we had a great time at the Sydney Food & Wine Fair), shared all sorts of interesting tidbits about Australia and Sydney, brought me some lovely gifties (which I will post soon!), and was just plain
charming.  Thanks, Donni!  It was a wonderful afternoon that made my fantastic vacation even better.

Oh, and okay, I'll post one more thing.  It's my favorite ever souvenir -- and it's not even really a souvenir -- I didn't have it until after I got home.  Meet Speedy the platypus:

The actual souvenir is this book, which I picked up at Tapestry Craft in Sydney.  I forsee many knitted marsupials in my future... not to mention the frilled neck dragons, which are the cutest lizards ever.  I finished Speedy just a few days after returning home (hence the name), and just in time to do his civic duty on election day.  I even made him with Australian yarn -- I just happened to have some perfect colors of Jo Sharp dk wool sitting in the stash.

Well, Speedy and I have to run, but we'll be back soon!

So much to say, so little time

Things have been nuts lately.  I don't even know how October got here.  I've had a lot of stress and big-decision making going on, which has weighed heavily on me and made all other aspects of my life a blur.  Hence the complete lack of blogging, not to mention knitting and all other relaxing free-time activities.

There's a big up side, though (I've been careful not to title e-mails to friends and family as "big news," lest they think I'm engaged or (gasp!) pregnant...).  As of Wednesday, I have quit the law firm grind.  This may not mean much to you if you aren't a big firm lawyer or know one, but it's a big step in a decidedly non-stressful direction.  Still, it was a stressful decision to make.  In a couple weeks I'll join the ranks of public servants, working as a staff attorney in the federal court located here in Los Angeles.  I'm looking forward to the new challenge, new people, notably shorter work weeks, and the ability to go a whole evening or weekend without obsessively checking my blackberry for messages.  Yay!

Double yay for the between jobs vacation.  Tonight I'm headed to Australia for two weeks of sun, fun, and adventure.  Not to mention maybe my first meeting of another blogger!  (Well, aside from the ones I know from my everyday life.)  I have a former secret pal who lives near Sydney, and I'm really hoping that we can find some time to meet up while I'm there!

I'm going to try to update my other blog, which I had a great time doing on my last international vacation, with pix and whatnot about my adventures in Australia, so feel free to check in there (I think there's a link on this page somewhere... don't have time to check, still packing...).

Now I'm off to find some things to keep me busy on the ungodly long flight -- NO KNITTING on Aussie planes -- doesn't that suck?!  Talk to y'all when I get back!

stitches have been cut.

I know I've been a tease about finally getting around to cutting the steeks on the cotton Dale baby sweater I've been working on for AGES.  But last night, stitches were finally cut.  Did you hear the screams?

Step One:  Pour a stiff drink, just in case things don't go well.

Step Two: sew, sew, sew

Step Three: Take a deep breath... and... CUT!

Step Four: Admire and pray.  Even if you don't believe in prayer.  Pray anyway.

Step Five: Bask in moment of triumph.  Go get drink from Step One, you'll need it.
Step Six: Realize moment of triumph will be followed by joyless hours of seaming, weaving in, and still more sewing and cutting, then picking up for neckband and button band, and just be content to get one sleeve done.

The Missing Link: Socks, Monkeys & Rockford's Industrial Past

I had no idea what a minefield I was about to step into this afternoon...

I've been thinking about all the little knits I could bust out from the stash and in a short time to get the holiday gift stash going, and came back to the sock monkey hat from knitty.  I love it -- it's hideous but hysterical, like all things sock monkeyish.

My sister and brother-in-law seemed to be perfect candidates for such a hat: they live in a cold climate, they're fun and a little bit goofy (my sister refuses to cook the Helly Kitty pasta I once sent her because it's "just for show"), and they live someplace where no one cares about maintaining a dignified, professional air (Rockford, IL).  I thought they would eat it up!

WOW was I wrong.  My sister's immediate response to my "will you wear this if I make it for you?" was, and I quote: "HEY-ALL NO!"  I replied, incredulous at her dismissiveness.  Who knew sock monkeys were such a sensitive subject?!

So she educated me.  Apparently sock monkeys and Rockford have a bit of a history... I'll just cut and paste straight from her e-mail to me, which pretty much says it all  -- ENJOY!:

http://www.midwayvillage.com/default.asp?page=upcomingevents&nav=upcomingevents&neventid=9

http://www.illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A4578

http://www.geocities.com/BubbasSockDrawer/SockMuseum.htm

'nuff said? If not, how about...

Cheap Trick star Rick Nielsen clowns with the new Cheap Trick sock monkey statue after he and the artist, Jane Petersson Hooker, unveiled it in Rockford.

A bad boy is coming to town. And he might smell bad. The city's newest sock monkey, inspired by hometown favorite Cheap Trick, will be unveiled today. Unlike other monkeys, this one has a cage, because he totes a 12-string electric guitar taken fresh from Cheap Trick

"And he might smell bad."  Hee!  Why no, I did not know that the sock monkey originated in Rockford, IL, nor that the red-heeled sock that is its signature was known as the "Rockford Sock," and was manufacturered by a sock company started by the inventor of a sock knitting machine.  I don't know why, but I feel like this revelation satisfies a week's worth of "you learn something new every day."

Too good to be made up: the title of this post was the name of an exhibit at the 2006 Sock Monkey Madness Festival.  Not to be missed -- the middle school's sock monkey display and the "Olympic Training Course for Kids & Monkeys" ?!?!

The socks WILL rock...

I am confident that I will get some rockin' socks out of this yarn, but it seems as though maybe the mill that sells yarn to Blue Moon Fiber Arts may not rock so much.

Foremost, let me say that I am muy impressed that the first business day after I sent my perhaps slightly cranky e-mail to Blue Moon's customer service e-mail address, I received a prompt and polite e-mail from Tina Newton of Blue Moon stating (in excerpt):

Sorry about  the inconvenience. We have had a problem with our mill. We try to catch these but  unfortunately some do get through. We have been told by the mill that this is just how it is,which is unacceptable to us. So we are working on rectifying this situation.

They offered to replace my yarn, which is generous and speaks of an enterprise that would like to maintain its excellent reputation, not to mention win new fans.  I have to say that if they are indeed successful in getting their mill issues in order, they will definitely have a new fan in me.