| Free Patterns |
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Sale Patterns |
- Phlox Socks - the Robyn's Nest June Sock Club
Pattern will be for sale as of October 1 2008
(You can email me or leave a comment and I will notify you when the pattern is available.)
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| I Want to Knit |
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| Tuesday, May 30, 2006 |
| Sunday Monday |
I still haven't heard back from Knit Simple, but I'll post more on that as I do. I'm still seething.
Sunday afternoon I had some free time while Yannick and my mom went tux shopping, so I had some brilliant foresight. If I wanted to be able to work on Sunrise Sock the Second while at Aaron's grad, I needed to have the toe finished because I didn't want to have to fiddle with doing or removing the provisional cast on in the semi-dark. So by Sunday evening, the sock looked like this: Then Yannick had a little surprise for me. He'd made a reservation at Le Milsa a really funky Brazillian restaurant downtown. I couldn't get any nice pics to come out with my phone's camera, but check out the link. It's really cool- the waiters come around with all different kinds of meat (rib steak, roast beef, filet mignon, chicken, turkey wrapped with bacon, pork, sausage, lamb and others I can't remember) on these long skewers, and they slice off pieces right at your table. The meat is all-you-can-eat if you choose the "Turnstile" menu, and there are little disks at each person's seat that is green on one side with "yes please" and red on the other with "no thank you" so the waiters know if they should keep coming. The meat is served with what are supposedly the best sauteed mushrooms around, rice, baked sweet potatoes, and salad with a delicious dressing. It also includes dessert, which is either vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon, or grilled pineapple. The pineapple is on the skewers just like the meat, and the outside is basted in cinnamon as its grilling, for a delicious flavor. Really, really amazing meal! And, as a special treat, at 8pm a Brazillian dancer came out and spent at least a half hour dancing around the place to fun music, interacting with guests. We had a great time, and I really recommend it (but not to vegetarians). :)
Yesterday was a looong day. First my mom and I went to the florist to see a sample of the wedding centerpieces. There was some confusion, but in the end they look great, and we now have our florist booked too. :]
From there we went to St-Hubert St to see about finding shoes. I need them soon because I have my first dress fitting on Father's Day. We found one pair that I really liked, but they were a teensy bit narrow, and after stretching them they were a bit too large. The salesgirl was suggesting cardboard inserts. As in, torn pieces of cardboard. You know what? If I'm spending quite a bit of money on shoes, I don't want to have to tear up a cardboard box to get them to fit right. We took a card, but we'll still keep looking. At least now we know the style I like.
Then we went to McGill for Aaron's grad. He actually finished in December, but they do the grad for everyone at once, so it was today. It actually took less time than I thought, as a lot of students weren't there, so their names were skipped. After just about 2 hours, here is the proud new graduate: After the same just about two hours, here is the new sock: 
Now that I've heard back from the Lacy Shrug people, I am able to start on that for The Amazing Lace, so I might toss the sock into my purse as portable knitting. Or, I might just try to finish it so it frees up my needles for another sock. We shall see...
p.s. Robyn feel better! |
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:45 am   |
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| Sunday, May 28, 2006 |
| Holy Crap |
I was just reading the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of knit simple, a subdivision of Vogue Knitting.
I'm seriously flipping out.
On page 21 they BLATANTLY RIP OFF my Vegas Knitting pattern! Check this out:
ROLLING FOR RANDOM
Diane Kozak, owner of Unraveled in Douglasville, Pennsylvania, recommends experimenting with stash knitting through this "exercise in randomness," also referred to as Vegas Knitting.
You can play this game with a group or solo.
YOU'LL NEED: two dice; six different yarns
DIRECTIONS: Assign each yarn a nimber from 1 to 6. For example; red worsted-weight, No. 6; orange ribbon yarn, No. 4, and so on. One die will tell you which yarn to knit; the other will tell you how many rows to knit. Roll both dice. Say your yarn die lands on No. 4 and the row die lands on No. 6. You will knit six rows of orange ribbon yarn. Roll again and continue until you have knitted a piece of stash fabric.
You can play with one die, but do not knit the same number of rows for each fiber. Remember, the idea is randomness, not stripes.
They changed the coin to a second die, and didn't mention the fringe, but still! I know that people have knit random stripes before, I'm not claiming to have invented that concept. However, I will stake a claim to coining the term "Vegas Knitting", which is what they call their concept. How dare they? I even took a chance and Googled it, and guess what? The only references to Vegas Knitting out there are links to MY site. I coined that term back in 2004 and spread the word about it. It has appeared in many guild newsletters and even in the 2006 Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar.
On top of that, see how they call it a "game" up there? That's because my Vegas Knitting pattern IS the original Knitting Game! Again, Google Knitting Game and guess how many come up? ME. That's it!
I'm seriously pissed. I don't mind putting the pattern out there, in fact I have it available on my site with a disclaimer that it CAN be posted around, but you must give credit where credit is due.
Guess who's off to write an email? |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:01 am |
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| 1 Sunrise Sock Down, 1 To Go |
 Look- a sock.  I love, love, LOVE this colorway. I think the stripes are too cute, and the sock is so bright and fun!  The Amazing Lace starts on Monday (I think) so I figured I should swatch now. As I've mentioned previously it's hard to do an accurate gauge swatch, because the gauge is listed as "8.25 sts x 12.75 rows = 4" in patt, blocked". I can't exactly knit fractions of a stitch, nor can I knit 9 x 13 since the pattern repeats don't work out that way. I thought I'd managed to calculate a 7 st repeat so I did a swatch 14 sts by 12 rows, but I think I made a mistake because it didn't really work out and by the end of it I was down to 12 sts. Come to think of it, I'm sure I was wrong in the counts because I included the end sts in the repeat, but they would actually be outside the repeat, so that's probably where my error was. In any case, I'm sure the gauge is fine, but I had a few questions about the pattern before I begin, so I emailed the company that put out the pattern and yarn. By the way, thanks for writing Susan! I'll be sure to post pics and send them your way once I'm done! |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 2:02 am |
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| Friday, May 26, 2006 |
| Knitting World Cup 2006 |
Thanks a lot Kadi. ;]
I've gone and done it. I've joined the Knitting World Cup 2006. Details here:
http://yarn-monkey.blogspot.com/
The basic premise is that you CO once the whistle blows June 9th, and have 1 month to complete the project. I'm going to work my little butt off to finish my Perfect Knitting Bag that I designed a year or two ago. Since this project is already started, I will have to abide by a Time Penalty to compensate for what I've already accomplished, since most KWCSers will be only allowed to CO on June 9th. So I'll knit a row, see how long it takes, then multiply that by the number of rows already completed to see how long I have to wait to be able to start working on it. I need to finish knitting the bag, the pockets, the handle, felt it, choose a lining, sew in the lining, choose zippers and then sew those in. In 1 month. It's a BIG bag. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 4:59 pm |
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| More Yarn Than I Thought |
I always finish work at 8pm on Thursdays, so by the time I get home there's nothing more I'd rather do than climb into bed in some comfy p.j.s, space out in front of the TV and knit. I had been planning on working on the concentration-intensive Enchanted Forest Cardigan, but instead an old WIP caught my eye. So I turned on the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance and knit for a while on its easy stockinette. I know, I know. It's Fun Fur. And Self-Striping. And I know that by the time I finish the knitting and sew it into a purse around the clear, round handles, neither fun fur nor fun fur purses will be in style. (Are they still in style?) But I thought the finished bag was very cute, and I'm already picturing the hidden hot pink lining I would sew in to keep it from stretching...and yes, I am cheesy enough to use a fun fur, self-striping, animal print-ish funky purse with clear handles and a hot pink lining. Wanna make something of it?
I had wanted to make the bag larger than the original pattern, so once I finished the first of three required balls of yarn, I measured and multiplied. Turns out that 3 should be plenty big enough.
 When the fun-furry goodness started getting to me, but I was still in a stockinette mood, I pulled out the Sunrise Sock and turned the heel. I came to a surprising discovery in terms of the yarn amounts. I had originally taken the large skein of yarn and divided it into what I thought were 2 equal cakes. I had turned out that 1 was 48g and the other 64g. I figured I'd make the first sock with the smaller cake and that way I would for sure not run out of yarn from the 2nd cake, to make the 2nd sock. Well. All I have left to do of sock #1 is the leg and cuff, and it occured to me that the remaining cake #1 still looked pretty big. So I weighed it. Out of the original 48g, I still have 33g left. So now there's a change of plans. I will make sure to only use a maximum of 24g on this sock, and make the second sock from what's left of cake #1. I have no clue what I'll use cake #2 for. And as for why there is so much yarn per cake? I finally checked the label yesterday. The original skein was 500 yards. I probably should have checked that in the first place. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:43 am |
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| Thursday, May 25, 2006 |
| Being Centered is NOT Calming |
Hey, can someone who knows anything about HTML take a look at my code and tell me why all my posts are suddenly centered? I know I played with the template when I added The Amazing Lace to the sidebar, but I don't see any "center" tags that I forgot to close. Am I missing something? |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:31 pm |
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| Stupid Knitting |
A brilliant idea popped into my head yesterday. I was so excited about it, that as soon as I got home from the gym and had showered, I ran around my office grabbing every needle I owned and all the left-over odds and ends from all my Finished Objects. I piled this mess on the bed, then went downstairs to have dinner with Yannick and Kevin (remembering to get dressed first).
After supper practically kicked Yannick out of the house so I could go upstairs, get into bed, watch the rest of the American Idol finale, and knit my Big Great Idea. He left. I started. He came home a bit later to watch the Lost finale with me, and I proudly showed him what I'd completed of my Great Big Stoopid Idea.
Me: Look!
Him: That's nice honey.
Me: You didn't really look at it.
Him: (looks at it) What is it?
Note: the object I'm holding up is 2" wide and sorta resembles a scarf...if every inch or two the scarf changed needle sizes, yarns, tensions and patterns.
Me: It's a reminder scarf thingy.
Him: Huh?
Me: Isn't it a great idea? As I complete each project I'll add on a bit using the left over yarn and those needles and that pattern, that way I'll have it as a reminder of each project.
Him: You could also just take pictures.
Me: (turning over the Stoooopid Scarf Thingy to show him the back where I'd attached little labels with the yarn info and pattern info) But...but...look. Isn't it a good idea?
Him: (looking sadly at me) Do you want my honest opinion?
Me: (realizing that a long, skinny, 2" wide hodge-podge of stuff with annoying tags hanging off the back just waiting to get tangled is not so much of a Big Great Idea as it is a Big Waste of Time.) No.
At this point I undid the Big Stoooopid Thing and came up with Great Idea the 2nd. A big ball of yarn. I liked the idea of having a little bit of yarn from all the projects put together somehow, and since I have no idea how, yet, I'm going to tie the ends together and wind up a ball of yarn. Maybe I'll knit with it someday, or maybe it will become a Really Ugly Sculpture, who knows. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:55 pm |
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| Wednesday, May 24, 2006 |
| FO- Baby Pullover and Booties |
 Tada! I think this little outfit is so cute! The sweater is from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss, and the booties from 50 Baby Booties to Knit by Zoe Mellor. The funny thing is that the sweater is called for children ages 3-6 months, yet the booties are listed as 6-9 months. I got gauge on both, so I'm going to have to assume the sweater is meant to be roomy. But what baby wardrobe is complete without at least one slouchy sweatshirt for those "fat" days? hehehe |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:01 pm |
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| Puss and Boot(ie)s |
I had to bring Jackie her contact lenses today after work, so I took a few extra minutes and went inside to see Bradley. What a cutie! And each time he'd grin you could just barely see his first 2 teeth...so precious. Can't wait to have more babies to play with! (Robyn, I volunteer for baby-playing-with duty).
Then I stopped by my parents' house before going home. My mom was super excited because our wedding invitations arrived today. I picked up a copy to bring home and show Yannick, but I don't have his reaction yet because I haven't shown him yet. We had a little tiff this morning and I don't want to look at it with him while I'm still mad at him. ;)
 I have to show a photo of Sam. He was very upset to find out that he is NOT an Amazing Lace team member, and actually went off to hide his head in shame. Ok, no, not really. But I do love when he sleeps covering his eyes and finally remembered to turn the camera on in another room so the "zooming" noise doesn't startle him. For some reason he's scared of the camera.
 This morning I made a swatch before work. It took me 3 needle changes to get the right gauge, and I only did it 2" high not the full 4", but still, it worked. This is how the pair of booties looked when I left for work- a swatch.
 This is how the booties look now that I'm going to bed. I finished the first one and am so enchanted by it! It's the absolute cutest thing. Even Yannick kept turning it over in his hand and saying how adorable it was. Yannick. Weird. This is the second bootie. Or, rather, it will be tomorrow when I get around to seaming it. All the knitting is done, but it's late and I want to go to sleep now, so I'll seam it up tomorrow night and post a pic of the complete baby set. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 12:28 am |
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| Monday, May 22, 2006 |
| Challenge # 1- Meet the Team* |
Presenting the latest The Amazing Race team- The Kid & Me.  This is my partner, Crystal Palace's Kid Merino, henceforth to be known as "The Kid".
 This is me. Um...wait. Turns out the Kid is more attention-seeking than I thought. I had a nice shot all lined up and it jumped up to block me out of the image! Lemme try this again...
 Well, that's not much better, but it's me. No makeup, scraggly ponytail, Yannick's old shirt and all. I'm not going to fool around, I know that the Kid is the real star of this team. (That's why he got top billing).
The Kid and I have a very short history, but clearly our meeting was in the stars. It all started May 5th, when I saw this pattern online. It seems like such a cliche, the corny old line used in all the movies, but for us it really was love at first sight.
We had our hardships, though. First came the doubt: was I good enough? I mean, I'm an experienced knitter, and it's not like I'm a lace virgin. But still. I recalled the first, forbidden foray into lace- the aptly-named Lace Socks. Then there was the lace inset in Bradley's Baby Outfit. Sure, it was just an eyelet zig-zag, but it meant something, damnit! Oh- then there was that thing with Yannick's Mom's SteeplechaseVest- it had garter stitch mixed in, but it was lace, right? I feel so dirty...I didn't think there had been that many yet the more I look back, the more I find. Like, I didn't even remember that there was lace in the Tasha Tudor shawl. Who am I? There was even the long affair with the Goldilocks, but I can't speak of that one. Last Wednesday I frogged that sucker, and the pain is still too fresh. Lastly, how could I forget that the Comfort Clapotis is lacy? All those dropped stitches? Oversized needles? Flowy fabric? Come on!
Ok, so looking back it seems that I really am good enough to take on this relationship. I have the experience, and the time necessary to devote to such an undertaking. But who would take this special journey with me? I spent so much time and energy trying to figure it out, even filled long blog posts with my trials and errors, when suddenly it hit me. Why not use the one who was in my sights all along? The pattern calls for Kid Merino- who am I to say that another would be better suited?
Once the decision was made all the pieces seemed to fit together. The needles were free, the yarn arrived quickly, and the pattern was free. The Kid and I were truly meant to be together.
It was the Kid's idea that we take on The Amazing Lace. It knows I'm getting married Labor Day weekend and wanted me to have this one last fling before the big day. We stand steadfastedly side-by-side, ready for whatever challenges might come. Bring on The Amazing Lace!
*I have joined a lace knitalong called The Amazing Lace (link in my sidebar). Every few weeks challenges are posted, and I will have a blog entry as my effort for that challenge. This will not take the place of regularly-scheduled blogging.
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| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 5:25 pm |
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| Saturday, May 20, 2006 |
| I *heart* baby clothes |
 I think this little baby sweatshirt is so cute! I'm already picturing it with the sleeves a different color, like those long-sleeved tshirts that are popular. I still need to weave in the ends, but I started this cutie Thursday morning before work, and by Friday night the seams were sewn. And I worked until 8pm on Thursday, and had a root canal Friday, so it wasn't like I had 24 hours of straight knitting time. Of course, that ruler is included for scale, so I know it's not surprising that a wee little sweater only took a short amount of time. I'm just really amused by this. Yannick isn't so sure if he likes it, because of the rolled edges I'm sure it doesn't look "finished" to him. But I know how cute and comfy it will be on the baby. I'm just a bit surprised that the pattern lists this as 3-6 months, as, while small, it's pretty big (for a baby). And I would have thought the body would be longer, or the sleeves shorter, but I guess infants aren't known for their long torsos, most of which are taken up by diapers. Want to know the best part? The whole sweater is one ball of Patons Decor. 1 BALL. I didn't even come close to running out...there are still a few meters left. (Ok, had I made any of the sections longer I probably would have run out, but still...one ball!) I'm already thinking of all the odd balls of Decor I have lying around and coming up with some cute Fair Isled or striped versions. I'm off to go swatch for the booties now, and at some point find the time to make a Skor Truffle dessert and Spaghetti Squash Mediterranian Salad, both for lunch tomorrow in the country. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 5:38 pm |
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| Friday, May 19, 2006 |
| I've Got Sunshine...On A Rainy Day |
 I leave for my root canal in a few hours. I'm not sure if I will feel much like posting later, so I'm posting now and leaving you with a bright, sunny photo to counteract the gray, rainy day outside.* This is the progress on the Sunrise Sock by the end of the Montreal Knitting Guild meeting. 104 rows of foot. I still don't know what treatment I want for the cuff...I'd like to do something that has the same slant as the stripes, but I'm afraid if I try to do slanted ribbing I'll just end up with a weird variation of moss stitch with no stretch to it. I'm going to go through my copy of Knitting on the Edge to see if anything strikes my fancy. In the meantime I'm making excellent progress on the baby girl sweater. Last night I finished the back (which I started yesterday morning) and did the front to the armpit BOs. I plan to finish the front before I leave this morning, and do the sleeves this afternoon. My goal, if it should work out, is to have a completed baby sweater by bed time. I LOVE baby clothes! *I say this for you sun-loving people. Me, I prefer a full-out rainy day everytime. If I wake up and sun is streaming in through the open window my first reaction is to squint and want to pull the blankets over my head. But if there's gray light coming in, a cool mist in the air and the sound of rain hitting anything...THAT energizes me like no sun ever could. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:29 am |
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| Thursday, May 18, 2006 |
| Success! |
 Last night I went to the Montreal Knits meetup after work. We were a smaller group this time, and something with the weather and my headaches made me so out of it, that by 9pm I left to head home. I crawled into bed at 10 to watch the season finale of CSI:NY and brought with me my Denise set and the Patons Decor I wanted to use for Rene and Vivianne's future daughter's gift. This time I would be prepared...no more running out of bed every 30 minutes to find a new needle size and spending time finding which wip it was stashed in. Nope, I'd be ready. Like the Denise advertisement says: Relax, we're all here. Being prepared worked- I hit the proper gauge with the size 10 US. I cast on this morning and, due to the wonder that is baby clothing, am 3/4 of the way finished the back (or front, they're the same). I love when a pattern says "knit until 4.75" and then you're at the armpits. Talk about instant gratification! |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:36 pm |
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| Wednesday, May 17, 2006 |
| Gauge Issues |
I'm having some gauge issues that are thisclose to making me just want to knit shapeless scarves for a while.
Yesterday I brought my Sunrise Socks to the Montreal Knitting Guild May meeting. All went well until I was finished the foot and about to start the heel. My directions for the foot said to knit until 103 rows were done. The 1st heel direction said "k ndls 1&2 until all but 1 st rem= 108 rows". Huh? Clearly I've made a wee error somewhere. I'm using the same directions that I used for the Fibonacci Sock (note to self: finish that pair of socks) and I think it was a bit long so I took out a few rows of the foot...and reminded myself of this by changing the row count...unfortunately that was my only note to myself so I don't know if I really meant 103 or if I was writing fast on my Palm's graffitti area and meant to write 7. I need to try on the Fibonacci Sock and see if it really fit well or not. Also, I don't know how I want to close the sock top. I'm not sure if I want to just do 2x2 rib or something a little more fancy. I think I want to find something that follows the swirl of the colors around the foot.
I also found out last night that Yannick's cousin and his wife are expecting a daughter. I knew they were expecting, but was holding off on the knitting until I knew the sex. So I broke out my Baby Knits book I borrowed from the library, and showed Yannick the pink yarn I currently had in my stash: 2 huge skeins, leftovers from the pink Comfort Clapotis, and 4 balls of dusty rose Patons Decor. We both prefer the Decor, so I started swatching. I got gauge for a pretty little dress, then realized I didn't have enough yarn for it. I decided I'd swatch for a little sweater, and went to bed.
This morning I got out the needles for the sweater and started swatching. No good. Tried on another size needles. No go. After the third try I gave up, and decided to swatch for a teddy bear pattern I've had the yarn for in my stash for about 2 years. I got the row gauge, but the st gauge was 1" longer than 4". I tried again...and still got 5". That's when it hit me- after getting too much width I switched to a SMALLER needle to keep trying. DUH.
Now I need to reswatch everything with larger needles, because clearly morning knitting is not my thing. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 5:24 pm |
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| Tuesday, May 16, 2006 |
| Sunrise Sock Progress |
Saturday night my family went for dinner with my cousin's family to celebrate her upcoming 40th birthday. Luckily I'd thought ahead and tucked a little knitting in my purse, because not only did we arrive almost 20 minutes before everyone else, but the food took another hour to take our orders, then half an hour to bring the appetizers, then about 30 minutes between finishing that course and bringing out the main course! It was loooooooong. There was an amusing, rather innappropriate commend made by my sister, but I won't post it here. Ask me in person about it...lol.
 I worked on the "Sunrise Socks", so named for the bright yellows, oranges and reds in the yarn.
These are the socks I'd started on the trip down to Toronto the first weekend of April. I'd done the short-rowed toe, then stopped because it got too dark to keep knitting in the car. The rest of the foot so far was done this weekend, mostly at the restaurant Saturday night, and a row or five before dinner on Sunday.
Julie and Rich came over after dinner (here's your "shout out" Julie!) and we played a board game for a bit, then Yannick and I crashed. And I mean CRASHED. This was the first night I can remember falling asleep before complaining about Yannick's snoring even once!
On Sunday I went to Curves, then came home and watched some tapes with Yannick while knitting and vegging in the living room. We ate a little breakfast together, then got our a$ses moving and did some cleaning up around the house. Even I, the pack rat extraordinaire, managed to fill 3 garbage bags with stuff to toss. Would you believe that there were boxes that we haven't unpacked since we moved in 4 years ago? (Ok, boxes that "I" haven't unpacked of "my" stuff that's just been taking up space in the furnace room. I apologize for the implication that Yannick would ever leave boxes packed up for 4 years. He's way too anal...uh, I mean "neat freak" for that.]
After our clean sweep we did a few errands then went to my parents' house for Mother's Day dinner. My dad had picked up barbeque stuff, so while he and Yannick got the grill ready, I set the table, made the salad, coleslaw, cut up the onions and tomatoes, put all the drinks, condiments and stuff on the table, and took the orders for who wanted cheeseburgers. What did Laura do? She went to buy fries at La Fleurs. Mike? He was in Florida. Aaron? In the shower. At least I got to sit with my mom and grandmother and watch the beginning of the finale of Survivor while Yannick and Laura cleared the table and put everything away.
After dinner we played a family game of Liverpool. It's a card game that starts with everyone getting dealt 6 cards and progressing to a total of 16 cards each. Each round has a specific objective, for example
6= 3+3 (3s are 3 of a kind, ie: 3 7s).
7= 3+4 (4s are 4 in a row, of the same suit, ie: 5-6-7-8 of hearts).
8= 4+4
9=3+3+3
10=3+3+4
11=3+4+4
12=4+4+4
13=3+3+3+4
14=3+3+4+4
15=3+4+4+4
16=4+4+4+4
Each turn you get to pick up and drop a card, trying to get your cards so you can go out, or at least go down. There are also penalty cards, and a scoring system. Fun game, not bad with a few people, but the more people the longer it takes! We started about 10 minutes into the Survivor finale, and finished 10 minutes before the recap show ended, so almost 3 hours. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:48 am |
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| Happy Mother's Day! |
A BIG Happy Mother's Day to all Mommies, Bubbies, and Mommies-to-be!
Enjoy your Sunday! |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:29 am |
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| Saturday, May 06, 2006 |
| La la la la la |
I'm feeling a little goofy 'cus I've been up since 6am. I need to take penicillin for my stupid tooth every 6 hrs, so I put myself on 6-12-6-12. Unfortunately I don't need to leave for work until 9:15am, but I couldn't fall back asleep. So here I am. Hi! Good morning! I wish I were sleeping!
 This is a swatch I made over Wed and Thurs. The gauge is 22st x 30 rows = 4" st st. Supposed to be with a 4mm. I tried it and got just 1 st and row short. I tried again with the next ndl size higher up- 4.5mm- and got it. It still seems a big small to me, but for this project fit isn't important so I'm not going to worry about it too much. But I am a little thrown at how .5mm can only ad 1 st and row over all those sts and rows. I thought I'd be too big with that size ndl. Hmm.....
EDITED TO ADD: No, this isn't for the lacy shrug. This is for another pattern I felt like trying out.
 This is a swatch for that lacy shrug I showed off yesterday. Here's my dilemma: I don't know what yarn to use. I've heard that Crystal Palace Kid Merino sheds, from the mohair content. So I don't want that. I want to start soon, so before going shopping online I checked my LYS. They had 2 options: since the CPKM is supposed to be doubled, and laceweight doubled is roughly dk weight, I can use Zara. Or, I can use Schjeepees (sp?) 4ply sock yarn doubled. I don't know what to do. I love Zara, but here's my swatch. See the problem? Check out the pattern gauge: 8.45 sts and 12.45 rows = 4" blocked in lace patt. Right. So I did a swatch of 7 st wide, because that was the minimum I could use to fit with the lace repeat. It was that or 11 sts, and I wanted to be sure I didn't get 4" 'cus I had too many sts. The pattern repeats over 4 rows, so I did 3 repeats. I'm aware that I'm almost a row short, and about 2 sts short. However, I don't get much more than 3-3.5" square, and that's with SERIOUS blocking. So I'm not sure if I can trust that the Zara will work. I'd like to hope it would, 'cus this shrug in black Zara would be too cute.
I can also use something from Knitpicks, or look elsewhere online. Here's my problem: there is no given gauge for the CPKM. It says "various gauges using needle sizes 3-8". Thanks, that really helps. They claim it's a laceweight, but doubled becomes dk to worsted. So can I just substitute any laceweight and double it?
Speaking of Knitpicks...I just remembered that I'd ordered the color cards, and never opened the box! It arrived about a month or more ago- what was I thinking? So take a look at these pretty things:
 I ordered one of each line they carry that offers the sample cards. So if anyone from Montreal Knits is thinking of buying from them, but wanted to see the colors close up and IRL (sorry, holdout from my mIRC days when I was an OP), let me know and I'll bring them to a meeting. Heck, I'll probably bring them to the next Wed meeting anyways.
It would be really cool if someone could help me figure out what I could use to knit the lacy shrug. *hint, hint*
Think I can somehow manage to fall asleep and get at least another hour and a half before work? I didn't think so either...but I'll go try.
EDITED A FEW HOURS LATER TO ADD: I did manage to get an extra hour of sleep, and as a result I'm a much more pleasant person right now. :]
The added rest did give me a bit of a brain boost, as I remembered another option for the shrug:
I have 22 balls of Sisu in my stash. I was supposed to make a long-sleeved top and matching skirt- the birthday outfit from Yannick. The pattern and yarn were gifts for my birthday when I really got "back" into knitting. I'm sure I can have enough to make the shrug, and still have left overs to make the top, and just skip the skirt. I'll get more use out of the top anyways, who really needs a long, black, A-line, eyelet skirt?
So will the Sisu work? I don't know. It's 80% Virgin Wool (although I think it's hysterical that in the original language on the label it says 80% god), 20% nylon (polyamid). This lace pattern needs a good blocking to open it up...will the nylon stop this yarn from holding the blocking? If I knit it, then pin it out, let it dry and have to watch it spring back to how it was before...I think I'll have one hell of a hissy fit.
It's a sock yarn I think, or around that weight. 160m for 50g. I *think* it's machine washable, but I'll have to find a label translation online to know for sure. It says "shrink resistant", so does that mean it's superwash? Can you block superwash? The little icons say I can wash it at 40 deg but no tumble dry. Suggested gauge on the label is 27 sts x 42 rows = 4" on 2.5-3. I'm going to assume that's mm, not US values.
Would I use this doubled, or singly? It's not laceweight, but not as thick as a dk.
Oy this is getting hard. I'm going to put a call out for help- Montreal Knits to the rescue! |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 6:28 am |
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| Thursday, May 04, 2006 |
| What Now? |
I need to add some pictures to this blog. I tried on Tuesday night, but the batteries in my digital camera died. Soon, my pretties, soon.
I'm listening to Inkheart in the car, by Cornelia Funke. Really good book so far. It's being read by Lynn Redgrave, and she's doing a great job at portraying everyone from a really evil man to a 12 year old girl. I think it's cool how it keeps matching my moods. I started it on Friday on my way home from work. I was in a great mood, and the story was just zipping along with all the hope in the world. Today, on my way to work, the story took a turn for the worse for the main characters. This was just perfect, as I had just been to the dentist this morning and he confirmed that yes, I would need to meet with a specialist to see about having a root canal done.
I'm so not thrilled about this. It's not the pain- I've had a root canal before. When I was bartending 7 years ago we had a popcorn machine at the bar, and I often filled up a basket to keep with me behind the bar. (Popcorn is my biggest snack craving). I was probably eating my 3rd or 4th handful when CRUNCH my tooth went down on a hard kernel and broke. It was my last tooth on the top left, and I didn't realize it was broken until I couldn't get the kernel to crack, and realized it was 1/2 my tooth. Yummy.
On the plus side, breaking my tooth led to the first really sweet thing Yannick ever did for me. We had just started "hanging out", weren't officially dating yet but more like friends who were interested. He'd told me he wasn't coming to the bar that night to see me because he had plans with his mom. His dad was working late so he told his mom he'd stay in and watch a movie with her. So just before starting the movie he calls me to say "have a good night" and that he'll call me the next day, and I mentioned the tooth thing. Wouldn't you know it, 10 minutes later he walks into the bar! He couldn't stay long because they had the movie to watch, but he was concerned that my tooth was hurting me or would start to soon, so he brought me some pain-killers!
Root canal #1 wasn't bad, primarily because a) it was about $1000, but b) I had insurance so they covered it. I finally realized, about 4 years later, that it had never stopped hurting, so the guy had to redo it, but he didn't charge me because he was fixing his own work. This new one will be a b!tch. I don't have insurance. I also don't have $1000. Based on the x-ray, it seems that a filling I had done back in '02 could be a little close to the root. Why it's hurting now is beyond me. All I know is that since waking up Sunday morning, there have only been brief 5-minute lapses when I didn't think about the tooth. Killing me. Probably the cause of my recent migraines, too. My dentist can't even fix it, he needs me to go see a specialist*. Why do I get the priviledge of getting to visit this specimen of the dental elite? Because, lucky me, my tooth has 3 roots. Not 1, boring old Vanilla root. Not even 2- with chocolate chips thrown in. Nope, I get to have 3 roots- the Rocky Road of dental procedures.
Tuesday night I finished the FNWC, which I guess I can say is a sweater. (That's a bit like saying I read LRRH, which is a book. Not exactly giving it away. Although- my dad and I often talk with acronyms, and I've gotten freakishly good at figuring them out. Sometimes I need a context to put it in, but other times I can just "get" it. Wierd.) Anyways, I finished the thing, save for a little glitch that I couldn't do anything about.
Last night was the Montreal Knits meetup. Yannick was running late (and enduring BIG teasing from his buddy about "being late for the knitting meeting") so Robyn came to get me. My headache wasn't too bad, more like a dull thud than a migraine, although my tooth was killing me. There were many of us there, and I met Diana and Kelli Ann (and Zoé) for the first time.
I had no idea what to bring to knit. The pay job is finished, the pay finishing job is finished, my friends who are having babies don't know the sexes yet, and I have no knitting priorities. Feels odd. So I brought out the Goldilocks shrug and worked on that. It doesn't ever seem to get much longer, but it must be because I can slip my arm into it and have it go from my armpit to my hand, so I'm probably 1/3 done. No matter what I'll need to stop once the ball is done because I only had the one hank, and they are hand-dyed yarns. I could probably call up Fleece Artist and describe it but it wouldn't match *exactly* so it will be what it will be and that's that. I think I'll gain some extra room if I block it, so depending on the final length I might just get a little more out of it.
So what now? Do I pick a new pattern? Do I dust off an old wip? Do I get off my butt and work on one of my own designs?
I don't know. But I'm sure I'll be knitting something in the meantime!
*someone who does the same work but gets to charge 3x the price for it. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 3:56 pm |
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| Tuesday, May 02, 2006 |
| Tagged- What's in There? |
I was tagged by Robyn, so here goes. I am at work though, so this is from memory, although IMHO my memory is pretty darn good. :)
What's In your Fridge?
eggs, skim milk, butter, margarine, light mayo, diet soda, Brita water filter pitcher, baby onions, olives, pickles, 3 kinds of coffee, ketchup, jams, jellies, hot salsa, some kind of coffee-flavored syrup (like chocolate milk but for coffee- don't ask me it's Yannick's), lettuce, some apples, mini fruit cups, mini applesauce cups, wet cat food, juice
What's in your Closet?
my pants, skirts, dresses, sweat pants, sweat shirts, dressy shirts, button-down shirts, shoes, a fur coat, a bunch of belts, a bag with a bunch of smaller bags inside
What's in your DVD Player?
Ooh..I don't know. There are 5 or 6 spots but Yannick watches movies often without me. Knowing him, there are probably at least 2 seasons of Smallville in there!
What's in your car?
2 books on CD, Sanitary Hand Wipes, a water bottle, gum, some CDs, my library books, an umbrella, my snow-scraper, a tool kit, a mug, some old mail, a yoga mat, my sunglasses
What's in your purse?
my wallet, my keys, my cell, a knitting bag, some pens, some sugar-free breath savers and candies and gum, Advil Migraine, a "cheat-sheet" for my diet, my Palm, about 4 lip balms/ lip sticks, a flashlight, some "thank you" notes I'm writing for the engagement party, old receipts, my Lotto folder
I tag: Kadi, & anyone else who wants to participate. |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 4:15 pm |
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