I finished the throw this morning (my last day in Ohio.)

I also grabbed some pics of the other (“Twin Peaks”) throw, created over several months in late 2002. It is a lot bigger and heavier than the green one. You will notice some pulled loops: that is the chenille that does that, I don’t know why… but I think the un-elasticity of that type of yarn is probably a factor.

Finally here is the mother’s day card. I know it’s a thank-you card and not a mother’s day card and the message (“you shouldn’t have”) is actually pretty weird in this context but c’mon. IT’S A SOCK MONKEY KNITTING. I found it at Kate’s Paperie.

Lia sent this link to me a long time ago, so I apologize for how dated it is, but it’s still worth remarking on how Charisma Carpenter could start an unparalleled knitted bikini trend.

I finally finished the fingerless gloves from “Alter Knits” that I started before the kitty ER snafu (and, incidentally, remembered my login and stopped posting as tooboo). I wanted to pose with Zoe the cat, but it’s a gazillion degrees outside and, frankly, neither of us was too excited by the thought of gloves. She’s poised to leap out of my arms in some of the pics. Luckilly for me, I also made pomegranate sun tea — much more seasonal. I asked Kate if I looked like Rogue in the gloves, but she said the fingerlessness of them was all wrong for the likes of Rogue.

Today was my first day of jury duty. Well ok I was summoned and I have to go back tomorrow, I don’t know yet if I’m going to be selected.

This morning as I was getting ready, I knew to grab the book I was almost finished reading but still had a decent chunk to get through, as well as a good, dense magazine (I was still on the Talk of the Town in this week’s New Yorker.) I also knew to take my throw–and all nine related balls of yarn. As I was transferring these things into a tote bag, I remembered the scissors. The dual-levered, sharp, pointy implements gave me pause.

Long story short yeah, they confiscated my scissors at the door. Which I sort of knew would happen, but I didn’t want to take the chance of it NOT happening and then being out of luck at the end of each row. Does anyone have experience with this? If I take in plastic safety scissors tomorrow, will they give me a hard time? What about fingernail clippers…? I could probably sneak those in, right? It’s too bad I’m not knitting something on one ball of yarn that doesn’t require snipping, but multiple stripes is the very essence of this project.

It’s weird that they do that though, I mean I’m auditioning to be on the jury, I haven’t actually committed a crime. I’m not in the orange jumpsuit yet. Is it because they know people tend to get feisty when confronted with institutional/governmental bureaucracy? I know a few people this morning who were. And I felt bad for the clerks because, you know, they hear the same shit every day, and you’re stupid if you think you’re the first one to complain to them about all your problems. Trust me on this, I used to work at the CRYBERRY.

Sorry for the unknittingrelated tangent. But I only have nine days left to finish the throw! Time is a-wastin!

Kate and I went to a wedding last night and as usual, Kate thought I should wear nothing more than a slip dress and a smile. I convinced her that we needed sweaters or shawls, and we found a sweater for her, but none of the others worked with my outfit. If we’d had the time, I seriously would have broken out the big needles and tried to make up a shawl. Alas, we only had five minutes, so I ended up grabbing a raincoat for the car. Does any one have any experience with last-minute knitted “emergency” gifts, clothing, etc.? A shawl will be my next project, for sure.

What do you think? Do you worry about making your yarn greasy or do you see a benefit to producing knitwear imbued with scentedness?

As a non-avid hand lotion user I usually don’t think about it. But I have recently found that it creates an effective barrier against jalapeño residue.

So, the smart person in me finally beat out the tech-tard! I can do it!

I was really afraid I was turingin into my mother! (She just mastered turning on the TV with those newfangled remotes, but instigating the opperation of a DVD or video? Forget it! ( I love you Mom!) )

Now all I need to do is learn how to type!

Here is the throw thus far:

I forget where this pattern idea came from, but it’s pretty basic. Cast on a hundred or so stitches on a circular needle, the one I’m using is an 11. And you know what they say, the bigger the needle… well the faster you get the damn thing done. There is no gauge to be following here.

Each row is knit with a different color/texture yarn, feel free to be as random as possible. I have a hard time being purposefully random but try just reaching into the bag and pulling something out. When you get to the end of the row, make sure you start the next one facing the right way so that it ends up being garter stitch (knit each row). You should see the little purl bumps right under the needle, that’s how you know you’re on the correct side.

Is that confusing? Sorry.

Happily, last night was banh mi knit nite REDUX. The sandwiches were good, and the conversation stimulating (can’t wait to try those Whole Foods vegan chocolate chip scones!) But I think that in the process of preparing the Vietnamese fixin’s I left some jalapeño juice on my fingers. It didn’t wash off and I continued to knit. Because now when I try to work on the throw my hands feel as though they are going to burst into flames.

At least it will keep my mom nice and warm.

Via Kottke, the Freakonomics guys look at why things like knitting, cooking and gardening have become leisure-time hobby activities, while things like laundry have not. One of the commenters made the insightful remark that laundry does not have an end product that others praise, but I don’t think that entirely explains it. Also, I think it’s problematic how they count knitting hours as labor hours when it’s often time that would have been spent watching t.v., on the train, etc.

I feel it’s important to point out that I am a process knitter with a solid objective. I say solid because it seems like some process knitters knit for the fun and the new technique and don’t really have a plan for the final knit product. I knit for those reasons and additionally to release knits into the wild!

Which isn’t always a welcome thing. Fortunately my friends are willing to be experimented on. For her birthday my oldest pal received a fulled bag, my very first. Not a huge deal, just a little felting. The experimenting comes into play when the bag is loaded up with various girly accoutrements. Can my worsted virgin wool handle the bounty of uber girliness? Or will I be saddled with sag related guilt? Good thing there are 2 more skeins in the stash just in case the bag crashes and burns. I may just have to reinforce the handles…

A couple notes about the project:
this was based on a pattern by Jana Trent published by Interweave Spin-Off. Click here for a pdf.
Yarn used: Lamb’s Pride, one skein
The pattern was modified slightly to feature seed stitch on the top third of the bag.