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I Want to Knit
Friday, March 31, 2006
I Spanked My Yarn
It deserved it, trust me.

I was going to post pics last night. In my head, the plan was to go home from work, sit down and knit on the Comfort Shawl. Then I remembered that I'll be in TO this weekend and besides the CS I wanted something brainless and smaller to work on, so I figured "I'll cast-on a quick pair of socks". Painless, right? Yeah. Well. I grabbed the orange/red sunrise-looking hank of sock yarn I bought in Vermont with the girls last October. 75% wool, 25% nylon, irresistable colors...I thought it would be easy. I took my ball winder and the hank and went down to the kitchen so I could weigh the hank on the digital scale and wind 2 equal-sized cakes (1 for each sock). I started winding at 9pm.

I was done at MIDNIGHT. Arghhhh!!!! It was smooth sailing straight into Tangle City, with a right turn at Lottsa-Knottsa Avenue. 3 FREAKING hours to wind 2 cakes that ended up being NOT the same weight. I have one that's 48g and the other is 64g so I'll make the first toe-up sock with the smaller one and try to use it all...knowing I'll have a bit left over on the other ball.

I was so mad I actually spanked the yarn. (Well, I smacked it with an open palm- does that count?) There are no pics of the before, during or after because a) I thought it would take about 20 minutes and then I'd be up in bed, knitting, and b) I was too aggrivated once I was done to look at the orange blobs a moment longer. At least these socks will be for me.

So my TO knitting checklist:
-Comfort Shawl and 1 spare skein (just in case)
-Sunrise Socks
-knit-kit with scissors, measuring tape, etc...
-socks book that reminds me how to do the weird wrappy cast-on for the toe-up socks

I'm thisclose to bringing Clapotis too but I think that's pushing it. My main priority is the shawl, I'm only bringing the sock because the shawl is too big to risk pulling out in the restaurant. I think I can get away with the sock if I knit under the table.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:23 pm   5 comments
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Comfort Shawl Pics (In Progress)

posted by Jennifer Lori @ 5:28 pm   1 comments
...and a good time was had by all...
...I hope.

Last night we had an "unofficial" knitting meetup. Most of us assumed that we would be having one, because there wasn't one last week. Turns out that March has 3 Wednesdays, and with how the dates fall, next week is our "official" meeting. Whatever. We still had a good turnout of about 10 or so knitters, and still talked, laughed and knit until the wee hours. (I left at 9:30pm, so I'm guessing about the "wee hours" part).

I worked on the Comfort Shawl, which is what I just decided to name the shawl/pillow thingie for my family friend (see last post). Pics later, since my phone doesn't seem to want to email them over on demand.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 3:59 pm   0 comments
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Catching Up
I came thisclose to winning poker Saturday night. Rich and I were close at the end, and finally we decided to call it on a "best of 5" win. He won. I'm not bitter. ;)

Sunday I went to my parents' house to model the two engagement party outfits. I'd modeled them for Yannick Julie and Rich the night before and instead of there being a clear "winner", I was told to wear both. My parents couldn't decide either, so it appears that on the night of my engagement party I will be pulling an awards-show-host type deal and changing halfway through. I'll probably wear the lace dress first then change into the funky pants for the dancing later. Had to do some shopping for unmentionables (hehe) to go with the outfits, then went back to the parents' house to spend the afternoon making chocolates for the engagement party...then scrapping the chocolates for the engagement party. What were we thinking? It would have taken waaay too long and not been worth the effort. We stayed over for dinner then headed home to watch some TV, knit and snooze.

Monday was a busy day too. First I went to my LYS, then to a bulk store, then picked up lunch, then raced home to eat in 5min or less, then grabbed my library books, then went to the library to return them and take out some new ones, then went to Curves, then went to Loblaw's then went home. Whew! I left the house at 10am and was only home after 5pm! On my day off! So much for a nice relaxing day knitting by the TV. I did spend the rest of the day knitting on Clapotis. I have a few yards left and then the first ball is finished. Three balls would really have made for a short scarf, but I was lucky and found the same dyelot at my LYS so I bought an extra ball (and I know they have 9 more) just in case.

Had an interesting experience at Loblaw's. They have this new (to me) think now where they have the cashier's name on the monitor at the cash. First and last name. So I get to the cash and I see my cashier's name and it rings a bell for me. She's a young girl, looking somewhere between 15 and 18. So I ask her if she ever lived on XX street. She did. Holy cow. This is a girl I used to babysit for when I was in high school! And I DO mean BABYsit...she was 6 months old when I babysat her! MAN I'm getting old.

Got a good phone call too. One of my oldest friends called me with some good news and bad news. The bad? She wouldn't be able to attend my engagement party. The good? It's because she's 3 months pregnant and not feeling well at all and already coming in the week later. Woo hoo! I rambled on a bit there but the best part of that sentance is the part about the baby! Congrats Jessa!

Finally, before going to bed, I watched Canada's Worst Handyman. It was episode 3, so somewhere I must have missed episode 2. Darryl Darryl Darryl. What were you doing?? Resorting to sabotage? *tsk tsk And here I was thinking you were doing so well.

Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day at work, except I finally found out some info I needed. See, we have an old family friend. (Ok, not that old, but goes back a long time, friends with my parents since high school). This family friend has some kids, similar in ages to the kids in my family. This meant that when we grew up near them, we got together often. When we moved away we stopped seeing them as often (at least the kids) although they stayed family friends. I recently started seeing more of one of the younger kids because she works somewhere I go pretty often. Well, about 2 weeks ago she started feeling kinda sick and, well, fast forwards to the results and it's leukemia. It's really bothering me because this girl is so sweet and kind and nice and young. I really wanted to make her something because she's going to be in the hospital for a while and I wanted her to have something new and clean and comforting. But I was waiting to find out her favorite color and I finally found it out yesterday so right after work I went and bought some yarn in that color and started on a shawl-type thing. I'll be working more on it tonight at the knitting meetup so I'll post pics tomorrow or something.

Finally, 2 amusing moments from this morning, both involving Yannick. I was in the spare bedroom grabbing a purse when I hear him make a comment about something working out better when he was a kid. I peek out of the door to see him sitting on the top stair of our staircase.
Yannick: Remember when we were kids and thought it was fun to go down the stairs on our butts? How did we do it?
Me: Didn't we have diapers to pad our butts back then?
Yannick: Nah, I still did it when I was older.
He then proceeds to go sliding down the stairs on his jeans-covered butt. Let me paint a picture for you: Yannick is 31. 6'2". 230 lbs. He hadn't gotten down more than 2 stairs before momentum got a hold of him and he nearly flew down the other 20 or so stairs. I could tell by the fifth stair that this had gone from "hey this is kinda fun" to "ok this really hurts". I laughed. Oh how I laughed. :)

A little later we were having breakfast and he decided to try one of my new Silhouette Smoothies yogurt drinks. After it was finished he said "You know, it's just like having yogurt, but not having to spoon it." I asked him if he always cuddled his yogurt from behind. He didn't find it quite as amusing as I did.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:06 pm   1 comments
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Sleepy...So Very Sleepy...
Not from any deficiencies or sickness, just due to going to bed after 1:00am and waking up at 6:30am. We had a fun dinner at Fourquet Fourchette last night for Mike's birthday, and he was gifted with the aptly named Mike's Hat. It fits! That took a big worry off my mind, and I was able to relax and enjoy my food. Excellent meal as always there. They have a "maple" special going on so you had a choice of a maple-infused menu or the normal menu (which is still pretty spectacular). Couldn't pass up their little breads, even though they're not GI. Everything was delicious as usual.

This morning I was up so early 'cus I had a hair appointment. Finished by 11:00 (yes, it took 3.25 hrs to color my hair) and my dad wasn't at work yet so I went to the mall across the street and had some breakfast. I knit through the appointment even though my heart stopped every time a drop of color fell off the brush- I'm always afraid it will fall on my project! I also knit through breakfast 'cus a) I was alone, b) I didn't have a book with me, and c) I have books in my Palm but it's a huge battery drain and I was running low already. I'm about 10 rows away from being finished the increase section. I can't wait to start dropping stitches!
Whole Wheat Toast, Green Tea and Clapotis- the breakfast of champions!
Went blog-surfing at work to find finished items made using the Marble yarn and somehow found a link to this:
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/top-10-strangest-lego-creations Check it out- one of the top 10 Lego creations is an actual working knitting machine!
Now to go home. No knitting tonight, tonight we POKER!
wish me luck

To Darryl from CWH: How cool! Thanks for writing to me! Yannick and I loved the show. He's the handyman in our home so he was looking forwards to seeing what the show considered "worst" and I was looking forwards to seeing what he thought of the tasks and stuff. You 5 rocked! The show is very entertaining but it doesn't feel like fun is being poked at anyone's expense. I can't wait to watch the next episodes and see what happens! Yannick wants me to let you know that we both agreed that you definately deserved the Most Improved Toolbelt.


posted by Jennifer Lori @ 2:10 pm   0 comments
Friday, March 24, 2006
Berry Happy With My Clapotis Progress
*groan*

Of course, this probably isn't funny if you don't know that the name of the James C. Brett colorway in the Marble yarn is called "Berries". But now you do. And now you can laugh.

Since Mike's Hat is done and I don't have any knitting deadlines at the moment I snapped at the chance to work on Clapotis some more. I'm still not sure if it's the pattern or the yarn, but I'm loving every minute of it. I'm using stitch markers instead of purling the sts to be dropped like some people do, 'cus I like them. I will definately be buying more of this yarn in the future.

I've completed 4 full increase sections at this point. I'm going to do at least one more, then decide if I do the 2 others that the pattern calls for. Even though the yarn is supposed to be dk weight (there is no gauge given, it just says "knits to most dk patterns") I'm getting 5st to the inch on 5mm needles, which to me suggests worsted weight. Right now the scarf would be 12" wide. Each full increase section adds about 2.5"-3" but I haven't decided yet how wide I want this to be. I want it more as a scarf than a shawl, so I'd rather lose an increase section or two but add some straight sections to make it longer. I'll check it out in another 12 rows and see.


posted by Jennifer Lori @ 3:50 pm   0 comments
Thursday, March 23, 2006

In the spirit of honesty (if I can't be honest in my online journal to an unknown number of random strangers, where CAN I be honest?) I'm showing you the one thing I hate about the hat. It seems I didn't pay attention in knitting school on the day when they explained how to avoid a jog when you switch colors in the round. I must have skipped that day or been outside smoking or something. See, when you knit in the round it's not like crochet where you can (if you want) have actual rounds that meet and end, then you go up and do the next row. In knitting you're technically knitting an unending spiral. And this looks pretty fugly. My only hopes are that a) Laura or one of the girls buy a cute 2" square patch that can be sewn over this mess (OCC maybe?), or b) that Mike just wears the hat with the brim turned up. All the time. Learning experience, it's a learning experience. (To all the sticklers out there- please don't berate me for not starting over if I wasn't happy with it. Did I not mention the party is tomorrow night? Plus...I don't know how to fix it yet. I have to GFGI* first).



*GFGI- Go F&^%ing Google It
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:53 pm   0 comments

This shows the band around the hat. I only put his name in the front. The rest is a traditional OXO FI pattern, with some stripes I included to bring the colors together, as initially I wasn't sure if I liked black and brown together. BTW the yarn is Patons Decor, a worsted weight 75% acrylic, 25% wool that is machine washable and dryable. I used under a ball of the black, and bits from my stash for the other colors.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:47 pm   0 comments

But...I AM a knitter, and I wanted something a little more fun to knit than basic black. So I hid a little Fair Isle section inside the folded band. What? You say this hat is yours? I'm sorry, is YOUR name MIKE? (Can you see the screwup I did? I accidentally had 1 extra stitch, and did the bar of the K twice as wide. Ah well, design feature, no?)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:45 pm   0 comments

I wanted to make these nice thick cables that decreased into a star at the top...then I remembered it was a guy who would be wearing it. Something told me "the simpler, the better". As it was the decrease repetition made a quasi-star on the top, with cute little puckers around the edges.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:43 pm   0 comments

Now...on to the reason I've been so quiet lately. Let's see...Monday night I was asleep by 10pm. I'll get into the dress/outfit details tomorrow from work maybe, don't feel like getting into it now. Tuesday night I had a guild meeting for the Montreal Knitting Guild. At the meeting I cast on for Mike's birthday hat since his wife VERY patiently faxed me a photocopy of a hat he wears currently so I could get the proper sizing. I worked on the hat at the meeting and by the end of the night (at home) I'd finished the ribbing and the same height of the hat itself (which would be hidden behind the ribbing once it was folded up to be worn). Last night I finished the hat. Then I ripped it out, all the way down to that hidden part I just mentioned. Turns out that the way I'd arranged my decreases brought the hat in too much, too soon. By the end it was a snug fit even on me. Oh, did I not mention I'm flying without a pattern here? It's fun working from scratch! Since I can tell you without a doubt that this is my own pattern with no outside influence, no help, no shaping info from another source, NOTHING, I will be posting this as a free pattern soon. I will actually be making a little collection of free patterns and posting them, as a little "thank you" to those who visit me and choose to come back. Since the birthday party is tomorrow night I had to get a move-on, and when I got home tonight I sat down and knit my little butt off. Voila! A black hat any man would wear.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:42 pm   0 comments

This is the bag that Angela's markers came in. How cool is this? You register the bag online and can track where its been. I went to check, and I'm the first person to register this particular wrap sack. I can't wait to send it out and watch its' progress around the world!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:35 pm   0 comments

First of all, I received some stitch markers in the mail! I love getting stuff in the mail! These were part of a swap I participated in. The blue ones are from Elaine in California, and the multi-colored ones are from Angela in Virginia. I love them! I'm nuts for blue, and look at the cool (as in not hot) tones of the glass ones! (I accidentally dropped one on the floor right after taking this pic, luckily nothing broke.) I can't wait to use them! And thank you to both for them, and an extra thank you to Angela for sending me not 5 markers like was asked, but 6! :)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:34 pm   0 comments
Monday, March 20, 2006

After dinner Koko came over and the 3 of us watched Waiting. I love Ryan Renolds. Funny movie. Don't watch it if you ever want to eat in a restaurant again. I needed something to knit during the movie and wanted to pay attention to the Clapotis pattern but the movie actually makes you watch more often than not, so I made up a little swatch. It's dk weight yarn and I didn't measure it yet, so I'm not sure if I get the 19st/25row gauge the pattern calls for, but you know what? It's a scarf. I'm not worried. If you look closely you can see how the bottom is plied with paler colors, and it gets more red in the middle, and as it gets towards the top it starts being plied with some purple. I can't wait to see the shots of blue and green pop in. I really, really love this colorway. There is a sheen to the yarn that is probably 'cus it's acrylic but I swear if I look really close at it I think it's silk. I think I'm really going to enjoy knitting this. I hope it doesn't stick for the dropped stitches.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:34 am   2 comments

After the dress shopping (more tomorrow after I decide which, if any, to get) we raced home 'cus I had to be at Yannick's nephew (and godson)'s 5th birthday supper. We had about 6 different kinds of gourmet homemade pizzas, then for dessert B pulls this out. Isn't it priceless? Can you tell what it is? A train. Made of Swiss Rolls. With Cheerio hubcaps. Marshmallow smoke and headlight. Reese's Pieces lights. I think it's amazing!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:29 am   0 comments

Right after discovering my brilliant idea wouldn't work with the wool I have on hand, I left to go engagement-party-dress-shopping with my mom. Imagine our surprise when the first store we come across in Carrefour Laval carries yarn! While she browsed the needlepoint stuff, I went straight for the wall-o-yarn. Lotsa stuff I hadn't seen before...Phildar...Pingouin (new, not really old)...sock yarn from Sockissima (or something, $18.99 for 100g) and sock yarn from someone else ($4.99 for 50g). Lots of cotton, and pattern books but all in French. Found this James C. Brett yarn called Marble. Hadn't heard of it before. I first grabbed a ball in a colorway of grays with beiges and orange, but then saw the jewel tones and couldn't decide if I wanted to be bold or neutral. My mom decided to go bold, so I bought 3 balls. I couldn't resist the colors. See where it goes blue and green in spots? LOVE that. It also gets pale in spots. LOVE love LOVE the color. It's 100% acrylic but they had no pure wool in anything under worsted. I think all I saw was Alafoss Lopi, which is thicker, and I can get it closer to home. What will it be? Didn't know at first. Kept pulling it out and fondling it and admiring the color. I wanted to do something that showed off the color changes. I finally decided that I'd make a Clapotis with it. (Pattern at www.knitty.com). Maybe it's from wanting to make it for a while. Maybe it's from meeting Kate last week. Maybe it's from finally finding a yarn I like instead of being indecisive about what color Shimmer I wanted to use to knit it in the first place. In any case, Clapotis is what it will be. I needed the retail therapy after the huge yarn bomb this morning, and really feel like following someone else's pattern for a day or so before getting back to designing my own.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:25 am   0 comments
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Crap.
Flat isn't going to work. Not in worsted weight, anyways. Not enough stitches in the size I need to do the designs I want.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:27 am   0 comments
Up Early Again
'Cus I can't stop thinking about knitting. This is getting repetitive.

Last night after work I still couldn't stop thinking about Flat and I really wanted to chart out some pattern ideas, but knew I couldn't until I had the right yarn. Then I remembered I had some Wool of the Andes at home from a previous design attempt that didn't work so well. (Hmmm...foreshadowing?) So when I got home I sat down and was right in the middle of casting on to do at least a stockinette swatch to measure the gauge and be able to create some graph paper when Yannick called asking for help with something he was working on. He's bailed me out more times than I can count, so I dropped everything and went to help him. After the work he, Koko and I went to Jack Astor's for a late dinner. I really mean late. I think we got there around 11:30pm. It's a good thing we didn't end up making plans for cards with Julie and Rich, 'cus they would have ended up sitting around for nothing. I had a salad with grilled chicken crusted with Asiago cheese- yummy!! (BTW- am I too old to still be using the word yummy?) Got home just before 1am and crashed. Tried watching the premiere of Canada's Worst Handyman with Yannick so I could free up the tape but kept falling asleep, so we'll watch it today.

Lying in bed just now and realized that the swatch that I'd planned to do in the round because I was thinking I needed to do Fair Isle and hadn't done it before with purling back...well, it turns out that what I sketched out to swatch is actually intarsia. Don't know why I made the mistake before, but it's clearly NOT Fair Isle. So I will end up doing my swatch flat. And the name works in the end. Flat will be swatched Flat. I'll take some pics when there's more than just a cast-on row. If you can't wait that long, picture an addi turbo with a bunch of stitches cast on in Wool of the Andes, color Carrot. No, this color has nothing to do with the eventual design. Just stash stuff lying around.

...or is it? Maybe the color has EVERYTHING to do with my design. Maybe by analyzing the color choice you can figure out exactly what I'm up to, what my design idea is, steal it, chart it out for yourself, knit it up, submit it, have it in print and impede me from doing anything about it- all before I even have more than a cast-on row. Maybe I've given you everything you need and the rest is in your hands...

...or maybe it's just the only ball of feltable wool in my stash that I didn't think I'd ever use, even if it was just for a felted flower or clogs or something one day.

...Damn I just gave away the fact that this project is going to be felted!

...or did I? Maybe it was just a clever ruse to get you to THINK its felted so...no. Too tired to come up with another knitting-related theft idea. It's felted.

...or is it?

Mwa ha ha
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:14 am   0 comments
Saturday, March 18, 2006
If Only I Weren't So Darn Creative
I was rushing home last night for our big family get-together when I was struck with another design idea. I think I rushed through saying "hi" to my future in-laws so I could pull out my sketch pad and jot it down. Can't share it here obviously (any design-stealers out there?) but man it won't stop running through my head. I Googled every possible variation on what it could be called and didn't find even one random scrap of a similarity out there, so if it works, and that's a big IF 'cus it's a lot of work, I'll be the first.

Had our big family supper. Tres exciting 'cus it was the first time both immediate families have gotten together since Yannick and I have been dating. Considering how many siblings and offspring there are, I thought it would be nice if we all knew each others' names before the engagement party. Didn't want Uncle Whatshisface asking my sister "who's that" and her not knowing it's one of Yannick's sister's boys, or whatever. Or Tante Jenesaisquoi from Yannick's side asking his brother-in-law "who that girl is" and he doesn't know but it turns out to be my sister. At least this way everyone got to meet, great and eat. And eat. My mom believes in cooking for 40 even when we're only 15. I think one of the desserts didn't even get cut into. But everyone had a good time (I hope?!!).

Today is idea day. I worked on swatching the idea I mentioned last time. Hmm...still needs a name. Let's call it Smoke ('cus that's the color I'm using and I'm too lazy to think of a more interesting name that doesn't give anything away). So I was swatching Smoke and realized that the required needles make a fabric that's too loose for what I want, at least at the point I was at. So I went down a needle size and started over. I'm only doing a 42 st wide swatch so starting over after 4 rows doesn't waste too much time. I've done 9 rows so far on the smaller needles and it's a bit stiff, but might suit my purposes.

I can't stop thinking about idea # 2, the one I thought of last night. I mean I really can't stop thinking about it. I even caved and bought the yarn. I tried my LYS but they didn't have the right colors in stock, so I called knitpicks to see if my order from a few days ago had been shipped yet. It hadn't, so I added some yarn in the colors I needed to my order and they said they'd ship it on Monday. I didn't even realize they'd be open today but hey, lucky me. Still couldn't stop thinking about it, and forgot to bring a book in for lunch time, so I ate my leftover salad and pickled brisket while sketching charts. I don't even have a proper scale yet 'cus I can't figure out a gauge without the yarn, but I was still sketching. Approximate charts. I'm really thinking of abandonning Smoke in favor of idea # 2 once the yarn gets here, that's how excited I am about it. It needs a name too, huh? Ok, idea # 2 is now...uh...Flat. Horrible name but at least I'll remember what I was talking about. Smoke and Flat. Better than ideas # 1 and # 2, anyways.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 3:24 pm   0 comments
Friday, March 17, 2006

...and finally, here it is on me. No you're not going to see a full shot. I look REALLY stupid in hats. Plus it's too small for me (needs to be longer).
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:26 am   0 comments

...here it is on my creepy model...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:24 am   0 comments

More show 'n tell: here's the Homespun matching hat with the jacket...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:24 am   0 comments
Sleepy
I was going to post last night, but by the time I got home, tidied up for our in-laws who are spending the night tonight, then showered, I was so exhausted. I had only enough time to wind a cake.

Really.

It took me at least half an hour to turn this

into this

The yarn is Briggs & Little Tuffy, color smoke. It's 80% wool and 20% nylon. I hear it makes great socks. Unfortunately I have this

much of it. (Note to self: use flash more often). That dark mess should show 10 skeins of it. I'm pleasantly surprised at how much is actually in one of these skeins, 'cus it looks much bigger in a cake than it does skeined. The yardage is probably on the label but I don't have it in front of me right now. I'm assuming I have enough for a sweater, which would be cool 'cus I have the same amount of the Red Mix color which I was hoping to use for Rogue.

Next step: swatching.

posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:12 am   0 comments
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Kick in the A$$
I went to the knitting meetup last night with Robyn. So many knitters showed up! Yay. Good thing too, 'cus when we first got there we were right about to sit down when the comfy couch-chairs became available. The 3 of us (Robyn, myself and Mary) got there and put our stuff down right as this solitary woman was about to set her coffee down. I explained that we'd be a rather large group and needed the space. She walked away, but I think I heard French expletives under her breath. We pushed the big chairs to the side and pulled in 2 of the round tables and about 6 more chairs to prepare for the group. We deliberately left one table and 2 chairs where the original grouping was so a couple could sit down. Sure enough, a few minutes later a man and woman come in, buy coffee and sit down at that table. Apparently it wasn't enough room for them, as they put their coats down on the chairs that we'd moved over to form our large grouping. We asked them, quite politely I thought, to move their coats. I explained that we had a large group coming and needed the chairs. The guy started arguing with me about how we didn't have a right to take over the whole place. I tried to explain that was why we'd left the other chairs and table, and he keeps going off about how he's there every day so he has more of a right to the chairs that us knitters, who are only there every week. I don't get it- they were only 2 people and he was arguing about not getting more than 2 chairs. They wound up moving to the wall not long after, and I was very happy that once the knitters started swarming in we not only filled the seats we'd put aside, but had to pull more over and around. Ha! See, we did need the chairs.

Had a great time knitting and chatting. I wore my new Homespun Jacket and got good reviews (even though I'm not so sure it looks that great on me). It IS wonderfully soft and squishy, which is why I spent the night (almost wrote knite there) knitting the matching hat. I'd met almost everyone there at least once before, but it was my first time meeting Kate. I got to touch the original Clapotis. I think I might have gushed a bit. I know I got Robyn to take a photo for me.

Clapotis- the first.

I stayed until 10-ish then stopped at Tim's on the way home to grab a BLT on whole wheat 'cus I hadn't eaten since lunch. I wish they'd make something sugar free, or at least whole grain at Second Cup. EVERYTHING is so fattening there! I could have had a tea, but wasn't in the mood, so I was stuck with a sugar-free vanilla soda.

I finished the matching hat when I got home then crashed before taking a pic. I'm still on paid meds before bed, and they knock me out fast (which is why I only take them before bed), so the pic will have to come tonight.

My original plan for tonight was to swatch for Klaralund, but now I'm thinking something else might come up first...which leads me to my subject line for today. I have so many designs that I sketch and so few that see the light of day. How many have I made? My Kosher sweater is still unfinished. (Ok, it only needs a row of ribbing at the bottom.) The Sweetheart Mittens were made (probably 'cus they were a gift), and the hat will be made 'cus it's a gift. But none of my sweaters or other designs get even swatched. So last night before knitting I went online and ordered all of knitpick's color cards. I really want to make my funky design...which needs a name. I'll come up with a name so I can talk about it without giving anything away. I need the yarn for the nameless design, so once the color cards get here I'll decide and get a move-on. In the meantime I was at the bank today for my dad and came up with a cute sketch for a sweater. I'm thinking I'll start that one for myself. I have 10 hanks of Biggs 'n Little (or whatever it's called) in a nice gray color, and I'm going to swatch some up and see how it drapes. Then I'll work on the design. It needs a name too. I'll come up with something by my next post. :)

posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:44 pm   0 comments
Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Ok...you asked for it. I can't look at the pic, myself. It keeps reminding me of a tarantula I saw once, curled on its back with its legs all scrunched up...the more I look at the pic the more creeped out I'm getting. I'll just post it for all of you to get creeped out by. :)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:14 pm   0 comments

I will be making a hat for Yannick's friend Mike as a birthday gift, and while waiting for his head size I decided to swatch possible designs. I was thinking of a row of mini moose around the base, but didn't realize how big they'd come out. The moose is borrowed from the Baby Norgi sweater (at www.knitty.com, check the archives) but I can't use it- it's huge. The whole hat would be moose and I wanted just a tiny 1" border of something. I think I'll just do a few rounds of stripes with a peerie pattern of some kind in between. Like how nasty the moose came out? I was trying to flub my swatch as if I was knitting in the round. Wanna see the back? Trust me, you don't.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:13 pm   0 comments
I Keep Dreaming
...about knitting. I wish I was making this up. This is the third or fourth time in the last two weeks that I can vividly recall dreaming about knitting. The dreams have all been different, and have been about different aspects like designing or finishing, but all about knitting! Weird. Last night's dream had something to do with scarves. I remembered it right away when I woke up and knew I should write it down but forgot, so of course I've now forgotten everything. Ah well.

I finished the jacket yesterday while watching CSI: Miami with Yannick last night. I posted the pics during one of the commercials, then cast on for the matching hat and decided to stay up for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Man those guys are funny! I have the 10 rows of ribbing and 1 row of contrast color to show for staying up so late. I should have more, but it's my own fault. First I decided to get cocky and alter the pattern. It's a simple hat with simple shaping, but for some reason the pattern was written for flat knitting. I scanned it and KNEW I could do it in the round, so I cast on my sts and proceeded to knit in the round...until I spaced on the Magic Loop method I use ALL THE TIME. Once I'd remembered to pull the needle out and not try to knit with both halves of the hat on the needle tips I did a row around in rib. I was right about to do row 2 when I saw how horrible the gaps between the two needle ends was. I'd somehow gotten it twisted and with the twist of the yarn...ehh. It looked nasty and was obnoxious. I like seaming anyways so what's it to me to seam a hat together? Ripped the whole thing out and started over. So that's why I have only 11 rows to show for last night.

Did you catch that up there? Yup. I like seaming. I love it, actually. Does that make me weird? (It's probably one of the many things that does...lol). I find there's something so cool about winding yarn through two pieces and then pulling it up snug and having an invisible join. I love when I manage to do it perfectly and you can't even tell that there is a seam there. I love altering a pattern to do short rows and a 3-ndl BO on the shoulders and winding up with a gorgeous, even seam. I love knowing that once all those ends are woven in, the project is done, done, DONE. Did I mention I like seaming? :)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:18 pm   0 comments
Monday, March 13, 2006

...et le closeup. I love this pic, and I love how squishy and warm and cozy the jacket is. Unfortunately, either due to my body shape or due to the jacket design itself, the shawl collar doesn't lie anything like this when I wear it. It all bunches around the neck and looks funny. I might try basting it down and seeing if that makes it look better. At least it's done. Now I just need to make the matching hat...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:32 pm   0 comments

...le rear view...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:30 pm   0 comments

...le side view...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:30 pm   0 comments

Taa Daa!!! A completed, all ends sewn in Homespun Jacket!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:30 pm   1 comments
Value Village Location
Angela- the Value Village (2nd hand store) I went to is on Sources Blvd in the West Island. Corner De Salaberry, across the street from Wendy's restaurant. It's the end store in Centennial Plaza which is a long strip mall. There are other VVs around Montreal, I think they have a website with store locations. Each store would have their own items as they are dropped off by people (I think).
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 4:22 pm   0 comments

And before I go work on it some more, here's a shot of how the Homespun Jacket looks as of the time I went to bed last night. The "sleeves" are the two cardigan fronts, and the cream color is the shawl collar that starts at the front bottom, goes up around the neck, then back down the other side. Hopefully the next time you see it it will be a complete jacket!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:36 pm   0 comments

Finally, this one is men's XXXL also. And- it's 59% linen, 41% cotton!! I'm thinking cardigan too maybe, unless something more special comes along. It's remarkably close in color to the cotton/linen tank top I made, but the texture is not as slubby. I'm so happy I found this!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:35 pm   0 comments

This one is men's L and also 100% cotton. Also plenty to make something for myself. I'd like to make this one into a cardigan. I don't have a red cardigan, and I'm thinking this will be nice. Maybe with black accents if I need, or just the red.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:33 pm   0 comments

This is woman's M. It's 61% silk, 28% rayon and 11% cotton. Once I saw the word "silk" I knew I wasn't passing it up. I have no clue what it will be. Any ideas?
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:31 pm   0 comments

This one is men's XXXL. It's 100% cotton that's 14st/inch in 1x1 rib. I don't know what it will be, but I at least know there's enough to make a sweater for myself, even if I throw in cables or something!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:29 pm   0 comments

This sweater is a woman's L. It's 95% lambswool and 5% nylon. I'm thinking it will be socks unless I come up with a reason why not, or someone has a better idea. I do like the fact that the designer used the rev. stockinette as the outside- don't see that very often when there are no cables.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:27 pm   0 comments
Sweater Score
Yesterday Robyn and I went to the Sunday knitting meetup downtown. It was a lot of fun, there were more people than normally show up at the Wednesday meeting- I think we had about 15 people. It's amazing how many people are working on socks, especially the Jaywalkers pattern from MagKnits. Maybe I'll have to jump on the bandwagon...they do look cute. I also got to see the Regia city colors close up, LOVE the Montreal colorway. Went a little overboard this morning and ordered ALL the colors of the Regia Canadian Colors. There are 10 colors. Hmm...wonder if I can pay in installments? :)

When I got home last night I curled up on the couch downstairs and caught up on some of my video tapes while working on the monsterous (sp?) shawl collar of Homespun Jacket. Took a mini break when Yannick came home from indoor golfing in A-Ma-Baie and had supper together. Then he took off again to go help his sister with something, and I kept knitting. When he finally came home again at 11:15 I was just weaving in the last end after binding-off the FINALLY 3" wide ribbed band and then weaving in all the little ends from ball changes and piece edges. I "tried it on" as best as I could with only the shoulder seams sewn... I'm not too sure about this any more. I'm loving how it looks, and it's really soft...but I don't know if it's going to fit me. I'm still going to attach the sleeves and seam the sides and see, and just keep my fingers crossed in the meantime.

This morning I decided that since I had to go out anyways to the used book store to get the knitting mags the clerk was putting aside for me, I'd stop at the Salvation Army store and Value Village and see if I could score anything cheap. I went to SA first since it's on the same side of the street as I was heading in and was closer. They had no yarn or needles (NEVER see any of that there) but I decided to check out the sweater selection. I did find 5 sweaters I refused to pass up, and I'll tell you all about them in a minute when I post pics.

Then I went to Value Village. They had some yarn in bags of 2-3 skeins each, but it was odds and ends of acrylic stuff and not worth getting. There was one massive cone of polyester thread, literally as fine as thread. Only $0.99 if anyone wants it. Towards the cash there are stands of bagged items, and one had about 4 bags of knitting needles. A lot of Aero needles, some circulars too and many dpns. Each bag is $4.99. I didn't buy them. I was waiting in line with one of the bags of Aeros 'cus I love Aero needles, but I ended up putting them back and walking out empty handed. I don't really use straight needles anyways and I HAVE all the sizes that exist. Someone else can use them more than I can. So if anyone wants them, they're all still there.

THEN I went to the used book store, only to find out that what the woman put aside for me were old knitting books with nasty patterns that I would never make. So I didn't buy them either.

So now I'm home, I'm only out $20 and have about 5 pounds of yarn to wash and wind. I'm going to have all 5 sweaters dry-cleaned and then unravel them and wind them up.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:56 pm   1 comments
Sunday, March 12, 2006
I Don't Know Why I'm Awake
I really don't. I should be sleeping. It's 7:30 on a freaking Sunday morning!

Last night we had a makeshift poker game between my dad, me, Yannick, my uncle Phil and my brother Aaron. I was first out after getting guilted into a hand and losing big (ok, I'm blaming them but still, I'd folded on that hand and got bugged into staying in 'cus they didn't think I knew I had a flush on the table...Kings & Little Ones...wound up staying in and losing over 40% of my chips. Never made it back after that.) I went upstairs to my parents' room and hung out for a while watching HGTV and knitting. I was hoping there'd be some miracle that would allow me to knit all 3" of rib on the 300-ish sts that make up the ribbed band on the Homespun Jacket, because after binding that off and weaving in ends, all that's left is to attach the sleeves, and I wanted to wear it to the knitting meetup today. Instead that will have to be for Wednesday's meeting, 'cus by 10pm I was yawning and I think I fell asleep somewhere around 11pm. All I remember is waking up at 1am royally pissed that I was a) sleeping in my contact lenses, b) still at my parents' house, and c) that Yannick was still playing and hadn't come upstairs to see what I was doing for the last 3 hours. I went downstairs to see and they were still playing strong...although by the look of the chips some people had definately been buying in again. I got Yannick to drive me home then go back, fuming all the while about how late it was and how little sleep I'd get, and how early I had to be up today 'cus I told my cousin I'd pick her up around 12:30 so we can get to the 1pm meetup on time, and I was sure I'd be exhausted. I fell asleep somewhere around 2am, and woke up at 4-ish when Yannick finally crawled home. I didn't ask how much he won or lost...I was too tired.

Which is why it really surprises me that I'm up right now. I woke up around 7 thinking about knitting and once I start designing in my head there's no way I can get back to sleep. I actually got out of bed to come print knitter's graph paper...really, is there a cure for this? :)

We got invited to a friend's birthday supper in 2 weeks, and after shuffling some things around (thanks Julie and Rich for switching the date!) were able to make the dinner. It was touch-and-go for a bit 'cus Yannick had said yes not knowing I'd already made plans for us for that night, so it's a good thing for us that we are going to be able to keep both sets of plans. In any case, I was trying to figure out if I could make the bday boy (M) something since he's a friend of Yannick's and a nice guy and I like the family very much, and wanted to make something rather than just out and buy an impersonal bottle of wine or funky beer. I still need to speak to M's wife, L, today to see if the idea is a good one, but Yannick thought he might like a tuque-style cap, like a beanie. I got the idea of working in some Fair Isle, and Yannick suggested a deer or buck or something 'cus the guy likes to hunt (for food not fun, don't write me). Sure enough my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs or whatever it's called doesn't have a deer, but I think I can make one up myself. Of course if he would prefer another animal or something, there are some really cute patterns in there. (I'm still holding on to my personal judgement about the book that all the motifs are done with square boxes and knitting stitches are not square so I'm expecting anything made from the book to end up squished, but I'll reserve commenting further on that until I actually knit something up and test it).

I'm thinking the hat would be in a chocolate brown Decor I have, with the Fair Isle done in cream. This would be sporty and woodsy, yet can be thrown in the wash with no ill effects. I'm just not sure if I want a simple cream stripe to separate the motif from the rest of the hat, or a little peerie pattern, or a combination of the two. I'm going to sketch some things out and then finalize after speaking to L and seeing what she thinks her hubby will like. I'm also gonna have to get her to surrepticiously (sp?) measure his head. How do you sneak up on someone and measure their head?

To Kai: After all that medical drama (if only I were as entertaining as House!) it turns out there is absolutely nothing wrong. The doc figures that because there is so little that holds your organs in place, the accident and the car spinning and getting hit and stuff probably made everything bang around and the pains I'm getting are just from everything inside resettling slowly back into place. Hookay.... :) (And BTW, if you can knit, you can make that sweater I'm making. Even with all the cables and trees and stuff...it's still just knitting and purling. Just sometimes doing the stitches out of order. If you take it one bit at a time, it's really not that hard! I promise...go out and pick something with cables. You'll see. I'll even walk you through it if you need help.)

To Jan: You're gonna love the Artemis series. I think they're listed as Grades 5-8 but I think so are the Harry Potter books, so you can ignore that. I'm 28 and looooooooooove them! I do have the Stephen King series, a few of them. I think I have 2 and read 1 from the library. Mine aren't that big, but they are soft-cover so maybe that's why. I remember enjoying the books but got tired of waiting for the 4th to come out. Isn't the main guy Roark or Roland or something? Or was that from a poem? (...something...child Roland to the dark tower came...??? Why do I remember that?) And there was a woman...I'm remembering something about the woman on his shoulders and a door on a beach...but haven't read them since high school or CEGEP, so it's been a while.

To Jenean: If I came to your house to clean up all that would happen is a quick pass of the Swiffer duster and then a few hours of knitting time! I'm SO LAZY at cleaning up! Perhaps I should have mentioned that for the few hours it took me to clean the office on that one Saturday night....the office has looked like that for the last 2 years!

To My Best Friend: :] Glad you got the comments working for you! I didn't throw any books out, don't worry. I just put them in boxes to move downstairs. I told Yannick he has 2 choices- 1) get rid of the useless desk downstairs and build a library for all the books in the house, or b) put my boxes in the basement as long as he builds a riser of some kind to keep them off the floor. We've already had one accidental flood and there's no way I'm letting my books get ruined. I don't know which option he'll go for, but it's been a week and they're still all sitting in the hallway upstairs so I don't think he's rushing to make a decision. And the only reason you read it before hearing it is because I didn't want to bother you by calling to say "guess what...have to have a camera stuck down my throat tomorrow...". Especially since it turned out to be nothing. :p

To Shelley: thanks for stopping by and especially for leaving a comment! I added you to the side there, if you have a blog would you let me know?

To Michelle T: thanks for leaving me a comment too! I also added you to the side bar, and wrote back to your email. (Possibly for the second time, couldn't remember.) Thanks for the compliment on my work. It's slow going 'cus you have to follow the chart all the time, but I'm not minding so much 'cus I know that once the chart is done I have 2 seed stitch sleeves to make, and that can get more annoying. :)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:29 am   0 comments
Friday, March 10, 2006

No caption. I just like to call it the "Who, Moi?" page.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:12 pm   0 comments

Girl's Bandeau
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:11 pm   0 comments

Mitts Knitted on 4 Needles (Yes I have a pinky finger, it's tucked under holding the page down. Like my brown nail polish? I like to coordinate with my knitting. I'm not kidding. Don't laugh.)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:11 pm   0 comments

Sunday Best
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:10 pm   0 comments

Sleigh Ride
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:09 pm   0 comments

This is the progress on the Homespun Jacket. It looks like a mess because it's all twisted around as I do the front ribbed bands. It will look good in the end, I promise.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:09 pm   0 comments

These are the mags I scored at the used book store. All of them for a grand total of $1.07 (after taxes). I didn't really go through them yet, but I did look at the pics in the little b&w booklet. They are worthy of their own pics, so they will follow. :)
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:03 pm   0 comments

Instead, these are probably more like the slippers I can make with some of my acrylic stash...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:02 pm   0 comments

I bought this yarn, some Patons Classic Elite wool, to make the clogs. I didn't realize at the time that I'd envisioned handing over a lovely gift bag brimming with clogs that it would cost over $21/pair going through my LYS. This yarn will instead make a lovely pair for me. If I gift any clogs I'll end up buying the yarn at www.knitpicks.com where I can get a ball for $1.79 US.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:02 pm   0 comments

Last time we were at Yannick's parents' house, his mom mentioned to me that it would be nice to get new slippers to replace the old crocheted ones they keep by the door for guests. I'd wanted to make these (yes, I kept the pic grainy enough so you can't see the pattern...don't write me with copy right stuff) clogs 'cus I've heard it's a fun pattern and they look cute.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:59 pm   0 comments
Where Was I?
Oh yes. My gastroscopy story.

Well, not long after we started waiting they brought me a gown to put on over my jeans and a bed to lie on. At this point we started to realize how long it would take to wait and Yannick asked if I minded if he left and came back to get me later, as he was working and couldn't miss the time for his deadline. I said "sure", because being the good little knitter I am, I brought knitting with me! So picture this: Yannick leaves, I spend 2 minutes sitting on my cot in the hallway before jumping off the cot, grabbing my knitting out of the Ziplock in my purse in the storage area under the cot and hopping back on. So there I am in the hallway knitting away on my lap with the yarn trailing off under the cot into my purse where the ball was. I thought it looked hysterical, but at least I wasn't bored! Soon enough a nurse came up and got me prepped for the doctor. She put a shunt (or whatever it's called) in the crook of my elbow to open a vein so it would be ready for the doctor's assistant to give me the drugs later when they would do the test. Next thing I know I feel liquid running down my arm. Turns out the shunt wasn't closed (or whatever the terminology is) so my blood was pouring out. The funny nurse says "At least I know I got a vein!" followed by "Don't worry, I didn't get any on your knitting!" I was just relieved that I'd brought the red Goldilocks Shrug instead of the beige Homespun Jacket! She actually had to clean up both the cot and the floor, that's how much spilled. Weird feeling, seeing blood everywhere with no pain. Anyways...

I only had a chance to do a few rows when they wheeled me in to see the doc. From that point on it was like I was in a revolving door- that's how fast it went. First they explained the risks to me (I'd refused to sign the waiver until I knew what they were) and then they made me open my mouth while the doc approached with a long narrow tube that looked like a can of WD-40 with the straw attached. He said "this is the only bad part" then sprayed the inside of my mouth a few times. EEEEUUUYUCH!!! He wasn't kidding! It tasted so bad that I actually had to say it out loud a few times. I even told them how the pharmacies are all advertising that they can add flavor to your meds...the hospital should really think of looking into that! (I know they won't, I was just saying...) While this was going on the nurse injected me with Valium and Demerol, so by the time I'd said "that was horrible!" for the 5th time I was already starting to slur my words. It wasn't even 2 minutes later when the doc covered most of my face with a towel (or something) and started sliding the camera down. I remember gagging a few times but it really wasn't that bad. I didn't feel the camera going down, I was only gagging because I could feel it at the back of my throat. 2 moments of gagging, a lot of drooling and it was done. [I'm so not going there so don't even wait for it.] They made me lie down for about 20 minutes to wear off the drugs, then I was allowed to get dressed and call Yannick to come get me. And that was it. No pain, it didn't hurt a bit and by the time he came to pick me up I'd even forgotten any worst of it, what little there was.

It would have been nice to go home and sleep off the meds but I'd promised to pick up my brother from the airport so I knitted away the afternoon and evening until it was time to go. I wasn't in any condition to drive but Yannick's best friend K (as he will remain until I get permission to state his name) was super-sweet and picked me up and drove me to go get Aaron. He played me some really cool songs in the car. Turns out there's a Bif Naked remake of a Metallica song that was awesome, as well as a really cool update on Black Betty that I think he said was from the Dukes of Hazzard soundtrack. There was also a Nickelback song...Holy Pornography Batman!

Wednesday I spent the night working on the questionnaires for the PenPals group I started in Yahoo. Just waiting for them all to come in so I can match everyone up. If anyone is interested in signing up here's the link: Needle Arts PenPals: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/needleartspenpals/

Yesterday I crashed after work and did a few rows on the Homespun Jacket's shawl collar before passing out. I actually just typed "I did a few rows before crashing" but decided to specify that the rows were of knitting and not of anything else that is done in rows. Just so we're clear.

Tonight I did a huge mitzvah and offered to pick my other brother up from a Metro station not really near work or home and drive him and a friend home. It basically entailed sitting in my car for an hour waiting for him then driving half an hour to get to her house and then another ten minutes to get him home. I'm still trying to come up with a favor he can do for me that's worth the hour and forty minutes of my life. ;) (Is it really a mitzvah if you're repayed eventually?)

Afterwards I met Yannick and K for a quick bite at Extreme Pita. On my way there I noticed that the used book store was still open, so even though they'd already ordered for me, I ran in to check out the knitting book stash. There was none but I got a few magazines. Pics coming up right away...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:33 pm   0 comments
Thursday, March 09, 2006
No Pictures
Sorry, but I'm at work. It's been a looooong week.

I know there are people I'm supposed to reply to who left me messages in the comments, but those emails get sent to my home addy and I don't have access to them here, so rather than leave anyone out I'll skip that until my next post.

My original plan for Tuesday was that since I had to be at the hospital for 2pm, I'd sleep in until 1:30pm, throw on some sweats and go. I don't normally enjoy sleeping so late, but I had to fast and wasn't looking forwards to the food commercials and cravings I always get when I can't do something. Sure enough I was awake at the crack of 8:30am and just couldn't fall back asleep for the life of me. For some unknown reason I decided it was more organic of me (don't ask me why I decided this, or what organic has to do with anything) to just watch whatever was on TV, rather than watch my tapes of the shows I recorded previously. I actually spent the first minute of each hour perusing what shows were starting on all the various channels (my TV has an online guide) and telling myself how "fun" it would be to watch shows I don't normally watch. Like I was doing the shows a favor or something. Weird...but it was a strange feeling just choosing what to watch based on whatever I felt like, not worrying about what else was on and time and stuff like that. I've been in the mood for stuff like that lately, like wanting to sit in my office and knit while listening to audio books, or in my living room by the fire doing the same, rather than in bed while watching TV. So I spent the day watching TV. :)

At 1:00pm I called Yannick and reminded him that he needed to pick me up in half an hour. At 1:30 I called again to remind him he had to pick me up right away. I got to the hospital just in time to go through admitting, get my file, go upstairs and wait.

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for the rest of this story 'cus I need to start shutting down to go home. More later!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:30 pm   0 comments
Monday, March 06, 2006
Is There Such a Thing as Knitter's Lung?
Anyone else ever inhale the loose bits that fly off Lion Brand Homespun as you scrunch it down and live to tell the tale? (As me how many times I typed that wrong before getting it down...) I keep coughing as I'm knitting, and finally noticed the gobs of fluff flying through the air each time I scrunched the slack of the yarn down the working strand. Finally had to pull my tshirt over my mouth and breathe through it so I wouldn't get more strands down my throat. Note to self: don't work with Homespun in bed any more!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:18 pm   0 comments

...and here's the view with the curtains open. I can't believe I somehow managed to take over 200 books out of my office (at least, I didn't count) and after re-arranging the books I chose to leave...still only wound up with the first shelf and half the second one free. True, I took out the side shelves to push the white storage thing deeper into the closet...but still... There weren't even books on those shelves! Ah well. At least it's clean. Next time: I tackle the filing cabinet!
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:34 pm   2 comments

This is the corner next to the door. I moved the chair over here because I couldn't bear to part with it. It's a monstrosity, but it's really comfy.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:32 pm   0 comments

This is the now-clean far wall of my office. See the mess? I don't either. Yay me! I was only up until 3am Sunday morning...who needs sleep?
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:31 pm   0 comments

In case you were wondering about the little scrap of paper on the wall above the trunk, it's not peeling wallpaper. A long time ago Yannick and I were at a restaurant that has paper for a table cloth...I think it was Montana's. Anyways, I don't remember if I drew the first "I heart U" or if he did, nor who drew the "I heart U 2". But I do remember that he took the red crayon and drew the middle heart at right-angles to the table and then drew the little arrows to connect us. I thought it was really sweet (and uncharacteristic of him) and tore up the paper to keep it. I take this moment to apologize to the staff at Montana's for the mess.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:30 pm   0 comments

This is the wall that used to house the chair. I brought that big old trunk up from the basement (big shout-out to my brother Mike for trekking out all the way over just to help me before going out on a Saturday night. Ladies, he IS single...) and filled it with the giant acrylic stash and as much other yarn as I could find that didn't fit in the wall baskets.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:28 pm   0 comments

Et voila... the new view of the entrance to my office. "What's that shiny thing?" you ask? Oh, silly me. Ahem. That's the FLOOR. I know. It's been a while since I've seen it too.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:26 pm   0 comments

I was about to show off my newly-cleaned office when I found this pic on the camera. Clearly Sam enjoyed the boxes much more than I enjoyed packing up 3/4 of my book collection. (There are more boxes down the hallway...I have a lot of books).
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 8:25 pm   0 comments
I Should Clearly Still Be Asleep
I woke up early this morning because Yannick and I had a 10:00am appointment. The first thing I did, like usual, was to put on my contact lenses. I must have been REALLY tired, because I glanced quickly at the side of the case I was opening and then kept telling myself "put it in the 7th eye, 7th eye". This is probably clearer in my head, but instead of remembering "right" or "left" based on the R or L on the case, I saw the L upside down and thought it was a 7. Not as funny when I have to explain it.

Our appointment was at a local Linen Chest to finalize some stuff for our registry. It turned out that the dishes that we loved at LC were also available at the Bay (where our registry already is, along with Deco Decouverte- same owners) so we were able to add them there and not have to open a 3rd one. I like the fact that TB and DD have the same owners so technically it's like one registry...people just go to one website (www.hbc.com) and can find everything. Makes their lives easier, which makes ours easier.

(On a side note- to whoever purchased the first item on our registry- YOU ROCK! This is so cool... thank you!)

After leaving the mall Yannick brought me home and went to work. I prepared some mail to send out. Yesterday afternoon I made the stitch markers for an exchange I'm a part of. Instead of waiting until the 15th of March, I was ready so I figured I'd send them out today.

First I had a doctor's appointment to deal with. When I'd gone to the hospital after the car accident I was complaining of stomach pains. The tests showed everything was ok, but they persisted so the doc gave me a referral to a stomach specialist. I saw him today. I was a little taken aback when the doctor said he needed to see my stomach. I was wondering...how? In an x-ray? By pulling up my shirt? Cutting me open? Nothing that drastic, thank God. He wants me to get a gasteroscopy (sp?) and since he had a cancellation...I can do it tomorrow afternoon. Eep! I'm a little nervous, my mom's in Florida, my dad is just annoyed I need the time off of work (wants me to wait a few months so I can schedule it on a Monday- my day off) and Yannick is trying to scare me. Right away he told me he doesn't want me to do it because a friend of his did it and now has a few viruses in his stomach, one of which is cancer. I'm really hoping that he got the story wrong, that the friend did the test BECAUSE of the viruses in his stomach. In any case, I AM doing the test tomorrow. It's at the hospital. Supposedly the test itself takes 2 seconds, but the prep takes a while. They are going to give me an IV or shot of demerol, and freeze my throat so the snake can go down with the camera.

To cheer myself up I deliberately went to the post office that just happens to be in the mall where my LYS is. I treated myself to some Classic Wool to make a pair of felted clogs.

Now I'm home, and sleepy. I think I'm going to take a nap, and then to cheer myself up even more about tomorrow, go out and pick up some yummy supper. There's a place around the corner that makes sushi maki rolls with brown rice, so I think I'll cheat for a little bit and have that. Besides, I have to fast all day tomorrow until my appointment...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:02 am   0 comments
Saturday, March 04, 2006
To Jan: first of all, do you have a blog and can I add you to my sidebar under "people who read me"? Secondly, if you like sci-fi...or fairy tales...or just a hell of a good intrigue...I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. I've been listening to them on audio from the library. #1- Artemis Fowl. #2- Artemis Fowl: the Arctic Incident. #3- Artemis Fowl: the Eternity Code. Found out a few weeks ago that there was a 4th in the series, Artemis Fowl: the Opal Deception. Finished it tonight on my way home. Nearly cried. Not that it was sad...I had missed the characters so much that I was punching the air with excitement when the new book started. Now I'm sad all over again that it's over. I don't know how to describe these books and really don't want to spoil anything, but I guarantee if you like a good story, a good plot, a little fantasy or sci-fi and characters you will love, check this series out! The author describes it as "Die Hard" with fairies...and he's not far off! Really, really good stuff.
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:36 pm   1 comments
In any case, the reason for this yarn porn and trunk excavation is that because Yannick is out for the night, I have decided to spend my Saturday night cleaning up my office. Considering the fact that most of the clutter is yarn, and I refuse to get rid of any of said yarn, it comes down to the fact that I don't have enough yarn storage space. Hence the trunk emptying. It was that or go out and buy storage boxes, and I already have the trunk. It will take some creative finagling with my office since the astute ones of you will note that there is no room in my office for a 3ft wide trunk, but I've got all night to come up with something...
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:27 pm   0 comments

...can it really be angora? Really? On the other side of the label is Hebrew writing that proclaims this yarn as 88% something and 22% something else. I tried taking a pic but don't know how to get good closeup shots with our digital camera yet so nothing came out. Has anyone ever heard of this stuff? Any ideas?
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:24 pm   0 comments
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